Yesterday when i had my first trip here. It was about 16 years ago. Got off the plane in the middle of a hot summer. Had fresh new boots on my feet. I was a newly enlisted private headeded to fort jackson for my basic combat training. My introduction to your kind southern hospitality. I deployed to iraq just one year later where i experienced firsthand the high human cost of war and i had the great privilege of serving alongside so many great americans who sacrificed so much. And who truly embody what it means to put service above elf. The founders of our nation had a great vision for us. That our government should be of the people, by the people and for the people. But that is not what we have today. Instead, we have a government that is of, by and for the rich and powerful. And we the people are left behind. You deserve a president that will put your interests ahead of the rich and powerful. And as your president , as your president , i will bring that spirit of service above self to the white house, putting people ahead of profit, putting your wellbeing and the interests of the American People above all else. Because it is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that one in 10 south koreaians re South Carolinaians remain uninsured. You have higher rates of diabetes than other states in this country. As your president ill crack down on big pharma and insurance who extort the sick putting their profits of the health of our people. Work you to pass medicare for all and make sure that every sick american in this country ets the care that they need. Now my aunt is here today. She has been a Public Schoolteacher here in South Carolina for her entire career, almost 40 years. And she shared with me the challenges that teachers in this state face. That teachers here remain under paid and overworked. As your president , ill make education the priority it deserves by investing in our children and listening to our teachers about how we can empower them to do what they do best. As your president , ill end the failed war on drugs. That has ruined so many peoples lives, that has overcrowded our prisons and torn families apart. Ill reform our criminal Justice System and the marijuana prohib i guess and end cash bail and ban private prisons. I will crack down on the big tech monopolies who are taking away our civil libities in the name of national skirt and corporate greed and protect our constitutional right to privacy and free speech. And ill tackle Climate Change by ushering in a green century, ending taxpayer subsidies to big fossil fuel giants and business. Nal agri ban offshore drilling, protect our environment and harness technology. Harn es the innovation that we have to create jobs and Renewable Energy and provide better opportunities for our farmers to make a good living and make sure every american has clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. But here is the truth. We will not have the resources we need to invest in our people unless we deal with one central issue, the cost of war. The most important responsibility that the president has is to serve as commander in chief. Ill be ready to do that on day one. Having served as a soldier for over 16 years shes deployed twice to the middle east, served in congress over six years on the Homeland SecurityForeign Affairs and Armed Services committees, i know importance of our National Security and i know cost of war. For too long, warmongers from both parties have been dragging us from one regime change war to the next. This president now is leading us closer and closer to the brink of a war with iran. Now these same warmongers, they are hyping up a new cold war, a Nuclear Arms Race pushing us closer to the possibility of nuclear war, an unwinnable war that would destroy our country, planet and future. As your president , commander in chief, ill end our long standing reform change war policy that has taken so many laws, that has cost us trillions of hard earned taxpayer dollars and made the American People less safe. Ill work to end this new cold war, this new mexico warms race and lead us away from the abyss of nuclear war. Ill take the trillions of dollars. Artilleryons of your hardearned tax pair dollars and invest them in serving the needs of our people. Ill are the courage to meet with both adversaries and friends understanding that unless we exercise that courage, the only alternative is war. Finally ill bring the soldiers principles of service above self to the white house restoring integrity and honor and respect to the presidency. Now there are challenges that we face. There are obstacles that stand in our path, but know this. When we stand united, inspired by this love and care we have for each other and for our country, there is no challenge that we cannot overcome. So im here today asking you to join me. Stand with me as we join hands to bend the arc of history away from war and towards peace. A Bright Future with opportunities and justice and equality for every single american. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having us. Aloha. Nice to see you. Thank you South Carolina. It is a little hotter down here than it is in ohio, ill just tell you that much. My district is in northeast ohio. T is at the epicenter of the industrialization. It is where i grew up and where my wife grew up. Where we raised our three kids, mason, 16, bella 15 and brady just turned 5. I can tell you stories about the valley where i come from going back 40 years and telling you a story about my father in law who lost his job when youngstown closed. Back then they just locked the gates. They didnt give you a 60day notice. He had just had his second daughter. He had just bought a house. Just borrowed delr 4,000 from his parents for a down payment. I can go back 15 years. I can tell you a story about my cousin donny who was a vietnam veteran dressed in blue jeans, worked in factories, his last act at the factory that he worked at that used to have 13,000 people, now it has just got a few, his last act was to unbolt the machine from the factory floor,. It in a box and ship it to china. I can tell you a story about just a few months ago when the General Motors factory that used to be 16,000 workers is now idle. And i can tell you about the Trucking Company that was tied to the General Motors facility. They just laid off 600 workers and the workers got a text message at 8 00 on a saturday night just leave your truck where it is. Youre out of work. And i share these storys with you for this reason. I believe that the next president of the United States must deeply, deeply understand the struggles that the American People are going through today and have been going through for the last three or four decades. E pain, the suffering, the addiction, the Mental Health issues, the erosion of the tax base. The lack of investments in our schools and in our health. Are a direct result of us not having a robust middle class. Nd i can tell you and i can tell you that i will help change that. I think it is important for you to know that when those factories closeed down, i know who is working in them. My wife teaches their kids. When the General Motors factory closes down, my daughter calls me in tears because her friends dad lost his job. This is deeply personal to us. And i am not going to sit around and wait one more election cycle to ask some president from somewhere else to please, please understand what were going through. Please understand the pain. Please understand the suffering. Im in this race because i believe the next president of the United States must come from an area that has experienced that deep suffering and use every ounce of power that he or she has in the white house to help build the middle class of the United States of america. Now all of this has happened while the top 1 runs away with all the gold. The top 1 now controls 90 of the wealth in this country. I want to help us with an industrial policy in the United States so we Start Building things again in the United States. We start manufacturing things again in the United States. And we cut the workers in on the deal. So that we rebuild the middle lass here. And the right wingers have tried to divide us. Who is black . Who is white . Who is gay . Who is straight . Who is in a union. Who is not in a union. Who is from the north . Who is from the south . Who is urban . Who is rural. Divide, divide, divide, divide. While they have divided us, they run away with all the money. It is like the old Country Music song, they get the gold ine, we get the shaft. Im telling you, folks, im telling you i cant make any promises but i will promise you this, when i walk into the oval office every morning, and i will show up in the morning unlike some president s, when i walk in there in the morning, no one is going to have to explain to me who im there for or what im supposed to do. I swear to god i will pull every lever, i will use every ounce of power that i have, every ounce of convening power, executive authority to help us rebuild the working class in the United States of america. And thats white people, its black people, its brown people, its gay people, its straight people, its americans and were going to rebuild this iddle class. And the spinoff from that will help waitresses and teachers and construction workers and increase the tax base. I want to talk politics with you for one quick minute. I wanted you to imagine a tim ryan as the nominee. I want you to imagine that our ominee changes the center of gravity for the Democratic Party. We will no longer be a coastal party. We will no longer be an ivey league party. Imagine us a Blue Collar Party with a nominee from a place like youngstown, ohio. I want you the imagine this. I want you to imagine it because it means not just a fact that we can pull those voters in person p. A. , ohio, michigan, wisconsin, thats not all it means and send donald trump packing. You know what it means . It means our party can start competing in places like kentucky, for senate seats so we can send Mitch Mcconnell home. It means it means we can build a longterm sustainable majority by wing senate seats in North Carolina by making them play defense. Im so soird as a democrat of playing defense, im an old quarterback. I want to Start Playing offense. All of us are going to Start Playing offense. I want us to play offense in the senate races. I want to go to iowa and win that senate seat. I want to go to missouri and win that senate seat. I want to win senate seats in florida and North Carolina but most importantly, i want to make sure that i can be the nominee that comes back to South Carolina and helps the send candidate here Lindsay Graham packing. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, South Carolina. Thank you very much. For having me in your great state and for all that you do. It is an honor to be here. Seth moulton. I want to tell you a little bit about who i am, what i believe and why im running for plt. I served four combat tours in iraq. A war i spoke out against. Starting as a platoon commander leading part of the First Company of marines into baghdad in 2003 and during those tours, ma leans asked me a lot marines asked me a lot questions from big things like what rocket to use to small things like how to send a postcard home to their families, but there was one question that was the hardest. Hell are we hy the risking our lives for this . The marines who asked that question held many ranks and came from many places in america. Some came home in one piece and some didnt. But all of them were right to ask it. And i was asking myself the same question. Because fundamentally we were fighting a war that should not have happened. Started by leaders who did not live up to our values. I tell you that story today because i think Many Americans are asking a similar question right now. What does it mean to fight for a country that lets you down . A country whose leaders let you down . The answer today is the same as it was then. Were fighting to uphold the values our leaders have abandoned. Were fighting for who we are. Because in the past few years, donald trump has taken us from a country of yes, we can, to a country of no, you cant. If youre a muslim you cant live here. If youre an immigrant, you cant dream. If youre black, you cant vote and if youre a woman, you ant choose. And thats what trump and the republicans are running on. They are running against our values. Well, im running for them. Thats what i want to talk to you about here today. Why we fight. We fight in 2020 because this election is about our basic human rights. Not the right to carry an a. R. 15 around, but the right to know that our kids are going to go to school and come home n one piece. The right to get the healthcare you need without starting a gofundme and having to beg for lifesaving medicines on the internet. The right for women to make their own healthcare decisions about their own bodys with their own doctors. Ithout a male politician or an unworthy Supreme Court justice, brett kavanaugh, standing in the way. We fight in 2020 for justice because justice isnt being done when a young plaque man in louisiana gets life in prison for selling delr 20 worth of marijuana while our president obstructs justice from the oval office. True justice means that we dont have a racist criminal ustice system that kills black americans for doing the same thing that white americans do every day. And true justice means that we need to start impeachment proceedings on monday. Because neither power nor wealth nor skin color nor office should place anyone above the law. We fight in 2020 for opportunity. Lets try a little experiment here. Raise your hands if you paid more than a dollar in taxes last year. Ok. Im in good company. Think about this. That means that each one of us paid more in taxes than amazon and netflix combined. And more than donald trump has parently paid in the last 30 years. Thats not capitalism. That is crony capitalism. That is not opportunity. That is oppression. So we need a tax code, a country that rewards hard work, not tax evasion. We fight in 2020 for our democracy. Because in the greatest democracy in the world, we shouldnt have voter suppression, the filibuster, gerrymandering or the Electoral College to tell people when their votes dont count. It is time for d. C. And puerto rico to be states and it is time for a new Voting Rights ct in america. And one more thing, South Carolina. We fight in 2020 for patriotism. For taking back that idea from the right wing politicians who claim to own it because we know patriotism. I saw it in the men and women i served with in the marines. We see it across this country today in women marching for basic respect, in students walking out for gun reform, in teachers striking for basic fair pay. That is patriotism. Not hugging the flag. Not just standing during the national anthem, but fighting every single day to make sure the flag stands for something. Uth carolina, what is on the ballot in 2020, our values, our country, and we are going to win, but we have to do it together. Because you know what else i said to the men who asked me that question, about why we were fighting that fight. I said were here so that nobody has to go in our place. Were here for each other. Because it is when our country lets us down the most that we need to work the hardest. It is when our values are under assault that we need to fight for them. To beat donald trump, we need to bring together voters from all parts of the democrat party. Obama, trump, independents and a few disaffected republicans. I can bring that type of Diverse Coalition together to serve a Bigger Mission because i have done it before. I have seen americans do it before and know what it takes. It is the hardest and the best job i ever had. Thats what i will do as your president. Challenge americans to believe in our values so much that were willing to stand up and serve our country to protect them. It is time for generation that fought in iraq and afghanistan. It is time for generation that will bear the brunt of a changing climate in an economy, to step in for the generation who got us there. Thats why we need to win. Thats why we need to win. Thats why im in this fight for all of you. Thank you so much South Carolina. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you senators. Thank you South Carolina. I have a question for you. When you put us in the majority in the house of representatives by sending us joe cunningham, were you done with your work . No. Youre not done with your work. And we are at a we cant wait moment in our countrys history, because right now, as we are in this hall, latino families in america are under assault by this president. Right now. For many latino families, there is nothing this president will not do to break up your families, cage your children and erase your existence by weaponizing the census. Hes doing that right now. Are we going to let him do that . No, were not going to let him do that, and know in this room across this state, there is nothing you wont do to raise your voices in the streets, to make your cases in the courts and to move your feet to the ballot box and make change. Are you up for that . Families belong together. Say it with me South Carolina, families belong together. Now i hear a lot of people in South Carolina asking me, well, when is a senator going to stand up to this president . When is the senator we fought in we knew, senator graham going to stand up to this president . Never. Never. South carolina, this is a smash and grab presidency. Donald trump is leading a smash and grab presidency. He started the riot and Lindsay Graham and Mitch Mcconnell are the looters. They are the looters. They are taking from the treasury to give tax cuts to the wealthy. They are taking a womans right to choose and a workers right to organize. Were not going to let that happen. My pledge to you today, make me your nominee and you will see me beyond the first of the south primaries. Youre going to see me all the way to november because were going to beat Lindsay Graham. But i believe in you. That this election is about more than just beating donald trump. Lets not aim so low. Lets believe that we can bring the promise of america to all americans. And it is a promise that was fulfilled for my family. My dad was a police officer. My mom worked a number of odd jobs and raised four boys. They had a simple dream. If they worked hard enough, they could see their firstborn son the first in the family to go to college. I went to college and came home and worked as a prosecutor and a City Council Member and went to congress at age 31, but with my eyes open, i see all the people across our country who work really hard and run in place and they are not getting ahead. These issues especially are affecting the next general riggs. My generation is the first ever in americas history who by all measurements will do worse. I have hope, though, this last election, we elected 28 new members of congress in their 40s and under. Ts seize that moment on healthcare. Lets have healthcare for all. Medicare for anyone who wants it. And lets not just have a coverage debate. I want to challenge the country to believe we can do what we do best. Find the unfindable. Solve the unsolveable. Invest Public Research dollars in a way that we can cure the incurable. Our country is up for doing that again. When it comes to educationing, being the first in my family to go to college is paying off. Im still paying off my student loan debt. It is like a first date conversation now. Zero lets have percent interest on every student loan in america. And free college for any american who signs up for Community Service hours in their community. When it comes to womens healthcare, it is a womans body and a womans choice. Lets not just fight what so many of you marched for decades ago, lets repeal the discriminatory Hyde Amendment so every woman has access to healthcare. South carolina, when it comes to Climate Change, lets stop calling it Climate Change. It is climate chaos. Sometimes change can be good. But there is nothing good about floods in the midwest, fires every season in california and more and more hurricanes to the southeast. Thats chaos. Lets invest in a green collar economy with new jobs and winds and solar and fusion. Now in america, if we get that right, addressing Climate Change will no longer start an argument, it will start a workday. Finally, my top priority, my top priority is to believe that we can End Gun Violence in america. We can honor the emannuel nine and every person whose name we have never heard by taking action and believing that your right, your right to hug your kids when they come home, your right to dance at a concert, laugh at a theater, pray at a mosque, a church and a synagogue is greater than any other right in the constitution. So lets pass background checks on every firearm purchase. Im the only candidate calling for a ban and buyback of every single assault weapon in america and to address block by block in each of americas cities. This challenge was summed up for me a couple of months ago in philadelphia. I talked to a trauma counselor who has visited with several thousand families affected by gun violence. I said what is one thing i can do to reduce gun violence and make a difference . He said it would be putting a turn to quiet on every block. He did not have a failure of imagination to bring a deeper and long standing solution to this problem. He believed there is a failure of will in washington to do it. I am running for president because i believe in you and i believe when we are posed with the question of do we want to stop the bleeding or the shooting, we can go big, be bold and do such good to stop the shooting to take on all of these problems. Thank you so much, South Carolina. I need you. I need your help. We can make the change that we need. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, South Carolina. Thank you, senator malloy. Thank you all for putting me up this afternoon. I want to thank the party chair. One of the greatest mayors in america. I also want to thank representative jim clyburn for that wonderful fish fry last night and i also want to thank all of you volunteers who are here to work electing democrats, knocking on doors in thankless t is hard, work, but you on the front lines of protecting our democracy. Now donald Trump Reminds us every day that our democracy is something we neglect at our own peril. He is fueling a National Crisis of division unlike anything our nation has seen since the civil war. He has emboldened the culture of hate. E has defended White Supremacists from the oval office. Beating donald trump is absolutely essential but it is not the mission. We have to heal the division tearing this country apart. I know that bridging that divide sometimes seems impossible. Dreams most worth achieving often feel out of reach in the beginning. I learned that from my mother. My mother was fivefeet. She claim she was. She wasnt quite. Everybody called her shrimpy, her whole life. She was widowed twice before she was 40. She raised four of us kids on her own. She always said you cant control what life throws at you but you can control how you respond. Whether it makes you better or. Orse, stronger or weaker that grit served me well. When our company was sold, i got laid off along with thousands of other jeelingses. I was out of work almost two years. After six or eight months you begin to see a different person in the mirror. You dont have that same resilience and confidence. We started a group up in an abandoned warehouse. Per ent was one dollar square foot per year. I could not even get my own mother to invest. It was hard. We finally got open after a couple of years and after a while, we got other Restaurant Owners to Work Together with us and slowly we transformed that forgotten corner of denver into vibrant center of denvers downtown economy. In 2003, never having run for office in my life, never ran for Student Council, im oy might be the only person running for president who didnt run for Student Council but i was elected mayor of denver in a tremendous upset. Immediately we were tested. Three weeks before i was sworn in to office, a 15yearold black High School Student with Developmental Disabilities was shot down by a Denver Police officer in his own home. His name was paul childs. It was a difficult, tense time for denver. The community was in tremendous pain. It took a lot of time and a lot of dialogue but ultimately with the help of denvers ministry alliance, the association of 35 black pastors and reverend, we transformed the way the Denver Police department handled issues of Police Misconduct. 10 years before ferguson, we required officers, all officers to go through crisis, deescalation training, we established an office of independent monitor to make sure any allegationsor Police Misconduct can be we created a civilian Oversight Commission to make sure neighbors had a voice in how their neighborhoods were policed. We change discipline so officers did not just get a slap on the rest. Some police officers, around 700, or angry with the reforms we proposed an protested on the steps of city hall. We did this because our basic american compact says the people have a right to be safe, unafraid, and secure in their communities. [applause] in 2010, i became the first denver mayor to become elected governor of colorado in a hundred 20 years. This was one of the worst years for democrats since ronald reagan. With a divided legislature, as governor, reproduced the progressive change that washington had failed to deliver. We made colorado the number one economy in the nation for the last three years, we got to near universal Health Care Coverage we beat the nra and became the first purple state to get universal background checks. Protected and expanded the right to vote. And we transform the criminal Justice System at the same time. We closed to prisons. Expandedamatically access to reproductive health. 54 andage pregnancy by teenage abortion by 64 . [applause] bigid not get any of those progressive goals done by using ideological litmus tests, saying you had to do it a certain way. We did a by bringing people together. Trump. Ty will be we will be trump like a drum. Beat trump like a drum. We need a dreamer and a doer. Need a progressive and a pragmatist. Being a pragmatist does not mean saying no to big ideas. Being a pragmatist means figuring out how to get them done. Carei am president , health will be a right and not a privilege. [applause] we will create a real public option. We will tackle climate headon when im president. Jobsith a federal guarantee, but with a laserlike focus. We will make college more therdable and stop ignoring two thirds of americans who do not have a fouryear degree. An expansion of apprenticeships and skills training. When i am president , we will beat the nra. And will protect a womans right to choose. Thatly, we will replace nonsense in washington with common sense. If you believe in that we will link arms shoulder to shoulder and change this country, start moving it forward again. Thank you so much. [applause] ive been everywhere man hello South Carolina. How is everyone doing. Are you getting tired of this . We have a long way to go. That you for that lie nice introduction. It is great to be here with you this weekend and see so many ready to go, ready to fight, ready to end. Right . Right. You, as someone who has lived the american dream. I am so grateful for the opportunity this amazing country has given me. The opportunity to learn and get a great education and be the first in my family to go to college. The opera to unity the opportunity to be an createeneur and thousands of jobs and get an award from the Obama Administration for the work we did in disadvantaged communities. Right . [applause] you gotta invest in communities. Unless someone invests, nothing happens. We need more investment in some any communities around this country. And i know how to do it. The opportunity to serve my country in the congress and the United States, and fight for kids like myself who grew up in working families, and need a shot, and opportunity. And, most importantly, the opportunity to be last with an amazing family. Happily married and with four daughters im so proud of. Gettingtory is just harder these days. Young people today will be the first generation of americans that do not actually do better than their parents. Think about that. The first generation ever. We are leaving them debts that they cannot read pay, fiscal debts, climate debt. We are leaving them a world where half of the people cannot afford a 500 expense. Where 40 of hardworking americans cannot afford their basic necessities, like the rent, their food, their utilities. How did this happen . It is simple. The world changed really fast. Technology and globalization, all the stuff we talk about, all the stuff we read about, has caused so many in our country to be left behind. We did not do the basic things we should have done a long time ago to prepare them for this world, and invest in them, and invest in their communities. That was our failure. Would havele nation created a universal Health Care System a long time ago. Absolutely. That is what a response will nation would have done. A responsible nation would have looked at the condition of hardworking americans, and said we are going to do tax policy that helps you. And doubles the earned income tax credit and and raise the minimum wage. And create paid family leave. These are the kinds of things you do when you put the worker at the center of your agenda. A responsible nation what have built infrastructure. Trillions of dollars of infrastructure that so many of our communities need. We would have done that a long time ago. We would have reformed our immigration system. An after issue we have let the American People down. I do not think that what the American People need is more gridlock, more partisanship, or more ideology. You know what i think they need . They need solutions. They need us to get real things done that matter in their lives. [applause] which is why i believe in what i call the politics of progress. Sure, we should have a battle of ideas. We should debate the big issues of the day. But what we also need to do is to roll up our sleeves and get things done. To things done that matter hardworking americans. My dad was an electrician. He worked with his hands every day. We did not have complicated political discussions at the dinner table, except for one thing he told me 1000 times. He said, if you care about workers, you vote for the democrats. [applause] that was our party. And we have got to get back to that. We have got to be the party that puts forth commonsense solutions, not impossible promises. Where we can actually get real things done that matter to the American People. Do things to create jobs in every community. Do things to invest in infrastructure in every community. Two things that boost wages in every community. Create a universal Health Care System, improve public education, so every kid, no matter the condition of their birth, gets the same Educational Opportunities as every young person in this country. These are the kinds of things that have to become the true north of this Amazing Party of ours. And i am running for president to be the person who can get those things done. Things that matter to the American People. [applause] in 1958, john f. Kennedy gave a speech when he was a senator. Theaid we should not seek republican answer. We should not seek the democratic answer. We should seek the right answer. He went on to say that we should not seek to fix blame for the problems of the past. We could sit here all day and point fingers. What we should do, is own our responsibility for our future, as americans. That is where the Democratic Party has to be. I do not want to just be your president to be your president. I want to be your president to do the job. To do the job. And the job of the president of the United States and 2020, is to take this divided nation, where american has been pitted against american, and start bringing it back together. And reminding us of this notion of common purpose. Which is worth fighting for every day of our lives. When we do that, we can start getting real things done that matter. We can start solving problems. And we can fulfill our most sacred responsibility, wishes to leave this world better than we found it. And we can do it. But we have to do it together. And it is the calling of the Democratic Party. That is why am seeking the presidency of the United States. Thank you for having me. God bless South Carolina. God bless the United States of america. And lets win in 2020. God bless you all. [applause] thank you everybody. Thank you chairman malloy. I want to thank congressman clyburn for his leadership and willingness to share his wisdom. When i first joined the race, which was late, you must be the most Patient Group of people in america to sit through all of this. I am grateful for the chance to be here with you late in the afternoon. To introduce use myself. I was later in the race because i have not spent my life running for president. And partly because i had some Health Issues to deal with, which are fine. Thank you. And i have not spent my life in politics. I was a School Superintendent of the Denver Public schools before i was in the senate here. And im in this race because we are at risk of being the first generation of americans to leave less opportunities, not more, to the people coming after us. Years,over the last 40 90 of the American People have not seen a pay raise. Our Education System across this country is reinforcing income inequality in the United States, not liberating people from it. And that needs to change. Our politics are not up to the task of fixing that problem now, nor the others that we face which you heard about today. That is why last week i proposed a set of ideas to overturn citizens united. Two and partisan gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering. [applause] Congress Members to ever become lobbyists. To restore the Voting Rights act. To create automatic and sameday Voter Registration all across this country. [no audio] arelso need democrats if we going to beat donald trump, and if were going to win the majority in the senate, and send Mitch Mcconnell packing. We need an agenda that unites america. [applause] thatbennet we all agree we need universal health care, and that we have to fight Climate Change. As a former School Superintendent, there is more that we need to do. There is Something Else we need to focus on. An Education System for the 21st century. [applause] i know that you know this. I know that everyone in this room knows this. That when one group of American Children has access to highquality preschool, and the others, through no fault of their own does not, when one group has high access has access to highquality k12 education, and the other, through no fault of their own does not, when one group of students enjoys tutoring and the advice of parents who themselves went to college, and the other does not, then equal is not equal. And unequal is catastrophic for Students Holding the short end of the stick. [applause] we need preschool in america for every kid that needs it. And that is every kid in america. K12 schools all across this country that any senator with all the choices in the world would be proud to send their own children. My daughter and is here today. We need people to be able to go to College Without bankruptcy their families, and for the 70 of kids that do not go to need them to get training so when they are finished with high school, they can get paid a living wage,. Toad of the minimum wage be donald trump and make progress, we need to take this agenda to the American People into unusual places, not just the usual places. To the middle of the country. I know something about winning a race or two in a purple state. In harlem carla rado in colorado. The first time i ran, there was more money spent in that race then anywhere in the country. If you have a you and agenda that an agenda that unites people, you can do it. Joe cunningham did exactly what im talking about. That is what we need to do across the country. So we can take back the white house, and send Mitch Mcconnell and the Freedom Caucus to the dustbin. And so we can govern this country again. The reason we have to be urgent said, my like i daughter and is here did with me today. She is 14 years old. Like millions of kid across of kids across the country, they worked hard to finish the year in a strong way. Their hands are full. I need to learn english. They need to learn science. They need to learn mathematics. They cannot figure out how to fix our broken immigration system, although they can probably do a better job than congress, now that i think about it. Not have time to fix Climate Change before we have irradiated the planet through inaction. They cannot give themselves the quality education they need. They cannot restore americas place in the world. They are too busy for that. They have a job. And they have a reasonable expectation that we will do our job. And that we will not be the first generation of americans to leave less opportunity, not more, for the people coming after us. That is why i am running for president. That is why im asking for your support. Please go to michael bennet. Com and sign up. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for having me today. Thank you South Carolina democrats for your leadership. [applause] la, la, la, la, la la thank you, senator. I can say something, South Carolina democrats, about your chairman. I want to eat for breakfast whatever he is eating for breakfast. That man is a force of nature, isnt he . Wavenk there is a blue starting to come here in South Carolina. Can you feel it. State like we have a blue about to happen. Is someone very special i want to acknowledge. She has done extraordinary things to make sure that people who suffer Mental Health challenges get the help they need and she is the love of my life, my wife of 29 years, the first lady of new york city, shoreline mcrae. Chirlane mccray. Lets talk about how we change South Carolina. Lets talk about how we change america. Lets do some audience but to the patient. Are you ready . Are we the party of the 1 . Are we the party of the elite . Are we the party of the status quo . We democrats, we the party of change . Are we democrats the party of equality echo are we the polity of working are we the party of working people . Let me tell you. It is time in South Carolina and in this country, that we put money back in the hands of working people. You that, as you talk about working people and invest in working people and our community, as you talk about health care and education and better jobs, you are going to hear those voices that come up and say, wait, wait, wait, we cannot afford that. Theres not enough money. You have heard that before, havent you . There is not enough money to help everyday people. There is always enough money to help bailout the banks, the 1 . There is always enough money diva tax cut to the wealthy. But theres not enough money money to give a tax cut to the wealthy. But there is not enough money for the working people. There is plenty of money in this country. It is just in the wrong hands. [applause] itnew york, we have done some ways very very differently. Mayor de blasio we have done it the other way around. We put money back in the hands of working people. Prekate to day every child in our city for free. To every child in our city for free. Do you want that in South Carolina . You think people need that all over this country . We decided that working people should not have to decide between going to work and earning a days pay, and going to the doctor when they have to be sick. Not many people can afford to lose a days pay. We said working people deserve paid sick leave. So they can cake care of themselves they can take care of themselves when they get sex. Dont you think working people would you like that in South Carolina . Of waiting for washington, d. C. To address the question of health care. I got sick of seeing millions of thousands hundreds of of people in my town, who did not have insurance and can knock the health care they need. I decided, lets just go for it. Today in new york, we are guaranteeing health care for everyone who does not have insurance. Physical health care and Mental Health care. We are givingio them a health care card. So they can go and get a primary care doctor in our hospitals and clinics. Imagine if people get sick, they actually get to go to the doctor. They need to be the party of working people again. And when we are the party of working people, we will win. Are you ready to a great victory in 212020 . Lets bring home, South Carolina. Lets bring home a great victory and lets make it a country that puts working people first. Thank you and god bless you all. South carolina, democrats, it is great to be with you. Thank you. For your kindness. For the warmth, for the hospitality you have shown to us. Our gratitude to all of these great supporters and volunteers who are making this campaign possible and for the knowledge that at the end of the day, come summer of 2020, we will all be behind the same nominee to make sure that she or he is successful against donald trump. And successful in bringing this great country back together again. I bring you greetings. My home town of el paso, texas. The largest bi National Community in the western hemisphere. Three million from two countries joined, two languages not separated by the Rio Grande River to form something more powerful than the sum of our of people. E number el paso, texas, is one of the safest cities in the United States of america. Safe, not despite the fact that we are city of immigrants and Asylum Seekers and refugees, safe because we are a city of asylumseekers and immigrants and refugees. Their very presence makes us stronger and safer and more successful than we would be otherwise. And, yes, despite those facts, and that truth which we know ourt now and we nenjoy freedom in this democracy in columbia, South Carolina. In my hometown of el paso in a Border PatrolDetention Center there are children sleeping on cold concrete floors with aluminum foil for blankets in the worst, most inhumane conditions. This is the same administration and government that place those kids in cages, supported their mothers supported their mothers back from the very countries from which they fled and lost the lives of six children who were in the custody of this country. That cannot be us. That cannot be america. For a long as this man is in office it will be. So, we must do everything we can to ensure we live up to the full character and potential and promise of this country. We must heed the words of robert kennedy. A time of7 at division and polarization reminded us that, no matter are differences we share one precious possession and that is the name american. To be an american, he said, is to have been a stranger, a outcast. To have come to the exiles country into know that he who denies the outcast or the stranger, he also denies america. So, at this moment of truth, which will define is forever after, let us not deny america. Let us celebrate and embrace america. Us make sure that, whether you just got here and u. S. Mexicoe border, or whether you are here in South Carolina, your story is part of the american story. On one of our first visit to a middle school in boston, we listened to the stories of Public School educators. Labor under high stakes in standardized test that in no way to measure their performance or the potential of the children in front of them. Who have already sacrificed so much and yet away what many think is the inevitable moment when an active shooter walked into that classroom and takes the life of that child who may have struggled to improve so much already. We need to make sure those teachers who told me they are working two and three jobs just to make ends meet right now are treated with the respect and the dignity they deserve, are paid a living wage. And are allowed to focus on just thejob unlocking lifelong love of learning inherent within every single cand so that they and we achieve our full potential. Going to Voorhees College and listening to students who tell me about a water system from wech they cannot drink, do not lack for resources and the wealthiest most powerful country on the face of the planet. Only the political will to invest in their safety and the theic health in flint, in Central Valley of california and every community where the air is too dirty to breathe and the water is on safety drink. Let us heed their story with our commitment to make that investment in infrastructure and Public Health for every american including clean, drinking water. Marching in charleston with miss louise brown, who 50 thes ago in 1969, led strike at musc with other hospital workers denied the respect and equal treatment they have deserved, who is marching again in 2019 because those hospital workers today, despite delivering care for those hospital,n that unable to a for the care and that hospital. Nd all of us stand for guaranteed, high quality, universal health care for every single american, meeting their stories with our action and our commitment. In beaufort with queen quet who describes to me the challenge they faced in the low country, every time it rains it floods. They are bearing the brunt of Climate Change. Not by mothergod, nature but by all of us, our emissions, our inaction in the face of the facts, and the science. So, when she tells us her story, she tells us our story, let us meet that with our commitment to free ourselves from the dependence on fossil fuels, to embrace Renewable Energy technology, and keep this planet from warming so much it is uninhabitable for the generations that follow. In then right here, columbia, walking the grounds of the statehouse, with the House Minority leader who tells me that if we cannot pull down the statue that honors ben tillman, a White Nationalist terrorist, at least tell the full story of what he did to the people of his state and make sure that we elevate the story thehose on whose backs wealth and the greatness and success of this country was built in the first place. It is only when we tell everyone story that this country is going to live to its full potential. It is only by bringing everyone in that we defeat donald trump and bring this country together. And achieve our true success as a country. Thank you, South Carolina, for having us out. Thank you, South Carolina democrats. Thank you. Thank you. Senator booker all right. All right thank you, South Carolina of, look, look, a whole lot people running for president these days. For thes not stand year. It stands for the number of people running. You all know in this room where power comes from. It does not come from an individual or an office. It comes from the grassroots. You all are the power. You all are the purpose. You all are what is going to help us win. Income,live in a low innercity community. We dont mistake wealth with work where i live. We know where power comes from. I first came to the inner city of newark, new jersey, the neighborhood i live in, i had this idea i was going to help turn around the country, i was going to leave things. But i met a grassroots leader who is a tenant president. In the projects in which i lived for almost a decade and i still remember when i told her, why you hear . If you want to help me, you got to come down to the street and tell me what you see in my neighborhood. And she goes, describe what you see and i described the projects and abandoned buildings being used for drugs. I talked about graffiti and i described what i saw. I talked the more this woman looked at me like she was upset with me. I finally said, throw . To goes, boy, you need understand something. The world you see outside of you is a reflection of what you have inside of you, and if you are one of those people who looks around my community and all you see is problems and darkness and despair, that is all it is our is ever going to be. If youre one of those people who sees hope and opportunity and you see love, then you can be one of the people that helps me. I want to tell you a lot of folks are talking about themselves, but i want to talk about you. Because what i learned in the city of newark, becoming the mayor of that city, that the hope for our community did not lie in one individual and one office. Ouries with the people and ability to come together and stand together and Work Together and fight together and win together and so, let me tell you right now, let me tell you right now, a lot of people want to make this election all about donald trump. Let me tell you. Im running from is because we will be donald trump. But let me tell you, let me tell you, thats not all we need to do. Beating donald trump is the floor, it is not the ceiling. Beating donald trump get this out of the valley but it does not get us to the mountaintop. Im running for office because i believe that we as a people can get to the mountaintop im not running because of what we are against. We as a party must stand up for what we are for. We are for in the United States of america. Once and for all health care being a right for all americans we are for every job in america having a living wage, the right to organize, the right to retire with security. Education andlic making sure that Public School teachers arre paid what they are worth and raising their salaries the schoolending to prison pipeline makee for standing up to sure that we do not stick our heads in the ground on climate a nationut this is that leads us out of this crisis. Know this all to election has to be about us so many people think that we want to make it all about him. I walked into a town hall in iowa. A man puts his arm around me and says, man, i want you to punch donald trump in the face. And i looked at that guy and i go, man, that is a felony. Beat donald trump by fighting him using his tactics on his terms. He wants this election to be about hate. We better make it about love. He wants to make this election about tearing people down. Were going to make it about Building People up. He was to make this election about dividing folks. We are going to unite this country and put more indivisible into this one nation under god i want you all to know i still go home to newark. We have seven people shot in my Community Just last week. Goingoblems we face were on before donald trump was in office. We live in a perilous time. We can be the first generation of americans to have lower Life Expectancy than our one before. You see, this nation now, baby are better economically than their parents and we are down to 50 50we have got to beat donald trump at there is Something Else in the balance. It is a referendum on who we are to each other. And we are a nation of love. So, i want to tell you right now, they made a mistake giving me a hammer. I want to tell you all right now, where Martin Luther king was slain, i was taught by that woman of the projects that hope is the act of conviction that despair will never have the last word. N Martin Luther king was slain they decided not to write attribute to him. They decided to write a challenge to us. Slain there are Joseph Brothers words that they uttered before they grabbed him and threw him into a ditch. The words, challenge to us, the words from genesis that says be hold, here cometh the dreamer. Let us slay him and see what becomes of the dream. This is a referendum on the dream. We now in our generation have to stand up and dream again, bold dreams and defiant dreams, dreams of love, dreams that are answers to fight and die for. When will you stand in dream with me again . Will you dream, america, again . will we dream this country and are . Bold dreams, defiant dreams. If we dream together and Work Together and love together, we will not just beat donald trump that we will make it to the mountaintop, and we will get to the Promised Land thank you thank you, South Carolina it is time for the dream again thank you [chanting corey] whoa. Vice President Biden thank you. My times running. Hey, thank you, everybody. I never like to cut off cheers but my time is running here. Welcome, South Carolina, to were happy all to be here. Fritzly thing i miss is holling, he is one of my mentors. This election is more important than anyone you have ever been engaged in. We have a president who has promoted hate and division and encouraged White Supremacy and embraces dictatorships around the world. Look, our children are watching, they are watching. It matters what the president say and do. Barack obama they watched and the emulated, they wanted to be like him. Of donald trump ultimately change the character of this country. We cant let that happen. We have to beat donald trump is the overwhelming imperative that we have to folks, we can begin to rebuild the backbone of this nation. Hardworking people, middleclass people, ladies and gentlemen, wall street did not build america. You built. America. Errors people given a chance in america average people given a chance in america. Now the bottom is falling out of the middle class. Income inequity is at an alltime high. Trump tax cuts and enormous giveaways to the top 1 10 of 1 . Its time we start to reward work over wealth. We need to big bold. The tax loopholes built in that have no social redeeming value. And put that money to good use. Health care, ladies and gentlemen, we need to save and build upon the Affordable Care act, not said it, jettison it. 20 Million People are covered that were not before. 140 Million People with preexisting conditions. I am i was proud every day to serve with barack obama but let me tell you, never prouder than he got done what no other president was able to do. Folks, we have to create the jobs. Under my plan, whether youre covered by employer on your own or not at all you will be able to fly into a Public Health care option like medicare. And you will be able to have it and if you do not have the money you will automatically be enrolled in that. We can guarantee that the poor are in fact covered because they can be, and it is within our interest in it will save billions of dollars. Ladies and gentlemen, education. Longer enougho for the 12 for century of education. Folks, that is why wanted triple title i funding for schools. And, by the way, we can afford to do this. 15 to 45 billion, we need universal prek we need to raise teachers pay and we need to fully Fund Special Education number of school psychologist, Guidance Counselors and nurses because teachers cannot do it all on their own. Folks, we can easily afford Free Community college cutting in half the cost of four year colleges for everyone qualified to get in and, we have to reduce the student debt which i do not have time to go into now but we will. Chapter. Childcare. I know what it was like to be a single parent. I was one for five years. I cannot imagine what it is like for people who do not have the help that i had. I think we should provide an 8,000 tax credit for every Single Person who has a child that needs childcare. Ladies and gentlemen, Climate Change. We have to restore what barack obama and i did in terms of fuel economy and doubling the fuel economy as well as coal fired plants. Windan double our shores energy by 2030 providing 400 billion in the next 10 years for Clean Energy Research and innovation. More than twice as much as we spent going to the moon. Ladies and gentlemen, we also have to hold a leaders accountable. You saw the headlines todays paper. It said, South Carolina 2 billion pipes like tissue paper threatening Public Health. It is on except unacceptable that that occurred. It is not just in South Carolina. Around america. Criminal justice reform. There it too meet people in prison and too many black men and black women in prison. In our administration we started to address the problem and reform prisons by 38,000 people came out. We passed the support of School Districts and initiatives to break the school to prison pipeline but we need to pass bobby scott from virginias safe justice act. I got to add a few things. No more mandatory minimums. Period. And private prisons which we did in our bill. Period. Fund my drug courts, to about 1 billion the year. No one should be going to jail because they are addicted. They should be going into rehabilitation, not to jail. Bail reform. Is because you do not have the money should not mean you should languish in jail. Ladies and gentlemen, no juvenile as an adult prison and mandatory treatment in jail for people who also suffer from addiction. Gentlemen, decriminalize marijuana and automatically expunge records for those who have been convicted. And, by the way, instead of kicking people we should be educating people in prison. It is in our interest to do so. Automatic restoration of rights, meaning not only you can vote but you qualify for every Program Including pell grants to get your education. It makes no sense. Look, folks, we have to unite this country. That is why the only way we are going to be able to harness this. We are in a couple of major changes and cancer, diabetes and alzheimers. We can do this by doubling nihs budget and set up a new project that like what happened in the Defense Department to come up with the whole internet, provide billions of dollars for basic research. Healthcare, focus on research and take all the technology we have to focus on solving problems that is within our reach like that Cancer Initiative and the moonshot. Nra before. T the we ought to ban assault weapons and magazines, and, by the way, new technology, you cannot acquire a gun unless yo uhave biometric print on it. No problem in terms of Second Amendment and you have to pass a background check which i put into law as the consequences of the brady amendment. Science andolks, technology can fundamentally reshape our lives. Im never more optimistic about this country. We have to pick our heads up. I remember the phrase from john kennedy going to the moon, because we are unwilling to postpone. Im not willing to postpone any longer the potential of this nation. It is totally in our power to change it. Godbless you, and may protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, appreciate it. Thank you. Get off the stage. Thank you, all. Ok. Here is a look at our live coverage tuesday. On cspan, the house is back at 10 a. M. Eastern for general speeches with legislative business at noon. Members will finish work on a 2020 spending package that , justicethe v. A department and transportation and housing. They will also consider a bill billion ands 4. 5 emergency assistant at the u. S. Southern border. The senate is back at. 10 a. M. To resume debate on a bill that sets 2020 defense policy and programs and on cspan 3, the head of the Transportation Security Administration testifies on capitol hill about potential vulnerabilities and other priorities for the agency. From federalhear and state Emergency Management officials about Natural Disaster preparedness efforts at a House Oversight and reform subcommittee hearing. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up tuesday morning, two members of the house Foreign Affairs committee discussed the ongoing tensions between the u. S. And iran. First, Pennsylvania Republican congressman scott perry. Then were joined by democratic congresswoman abigail spanberger. Also from aarps Public Policy institute, the purposeful discuss the new report on specialty Prescription Drug prices and how the increases have affected consumers and employers. And be sure to watch washington journal thursday and friday following the first democratic president ial debates of the 2020 race. Join the conversation both mornings with your phone calls and Facebook Comments and tweets. Is a budget schulz reporter with political. This week the house is taking up a 4. 5 billion emergency spending bill to address the humanitarian situation on the border with mexico. What are some of the details of that bill, and where is the majority of the funding going . So, the house released its version on friday