Transcripts For CSPAN 2015 Congressional Year In Review 20151231

You can follow all of our coverage online anytime at [indistinct chatter]. Anytime at cspan. Org. We hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday, and happy new year. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] ,nouncer today, it is q a with evan thomas on his book, being nixon. We will also hear about nixons relationships with personal advisors, friends, and staff. Q a airs today at 7 00 eastern on cspan2. Announcer three days of featured programming this new years weekend on cspan. Friday night at 8 00 eastern, Law Enforcement officials and journalists examine the prison system ands on minority communities. The first and primary reason we have the first and primary reasons we have prisons is to punish people for social behavior and to remove that threat from society to keep us safe, whether they are going to rehabilitate the prisoner or deter future crimes i think is secondary. But the primary purpose is to keep society safe from the threats imposed by those folks. Announcer saturday night, a Race Relations town hall meeting with elected officials and Law Enforcement from areas experiencing racial tensions with police. , they get the job saying well, and do their jobs saying, im protecting the public. Their idea of the public are those who gave them their marching orders. And that is asked. That is us. We need to look at those rules that they have to engage themselves with our communities. Announcer and sunday evening at 6 30, a discussion on Media Coverage of muslims. 9 00, young people from across the United Kingdom gather in the house of commons to discuss issues important to them. This issue is so much this issue is so much more than buses and trains. Wait told, i couldnt experience a train journey. I looked forward to it. However, when we grow up, we see trains lose their smiley faces. We worry whether we can afford the bus to school tomorrow. Announcer for our complete schedule, go to cspan. Org. Cspan has your best access to congress in 2016. The house and senate will reconvene on generally forth to mark the second session of the 114th congress. On tuesday, generate five, the house is back for legislative work and first votes. 11, on monday, generally the Senate Returns at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. Be sure to follow cap itll cspans capitol hill producer craig kaplan for daily updates. Cspan, live coverage of congress on tv, on the radio, and online at cspan. Org. Welcome to cspans a year in congress review, including debate on the iran Nuclear Agreement, the historic appearance by pope francis, the resignation of House Speaker john boehner, and the election of the new House Speaker paul ryan. The year started with republicans taking control in the senate. The day after he became majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell laid out his priorities. The American People have simply had enough, mr. President. And this past november, they had their say. The message they sent was clear. Fourters hit the brakes years ago, this time they spun the wheel. They said they want the administration to change course and move to the middle. They said they Want Congress to send legislation to the president that addresses their concerns. This november, the American People did not ask for a government that tries to do everything and fails, and they did not demand the government that aims to do nothing and succeeds. They asked simply for a government that works. They want a government of the 21st century. One that functions with efficiency and accountability, competence, and purpose. They want a washington that is more interested in modernizing and streamlining government been adding more layers to it. And they want more jobs. More opportunity for the middle class. And more flexibility in a complex age with complex demands. Pursue why we plan to common sense jobs ideas. Including those with bipartisan support. Reforming a broken tax system to make it simpler and friendlier to job creation. Opening more markets to American Made products so we can create more jobs here at home. And moving forward with bipartisan infrastructure projects, like the keystone xl pipeline. Americans are changing this congress and this president. What they are saying to us, they are challenging us. This congress and this president to work for them. They are challenging lawmakers and washing to work for jobs for americans, not just jobs for themselves. Seems simple enough. End, in the era of divided government control, we are going to have to work hard to meet expectations. And we are going to have to Work Together. Step one is Getting Congress functioning again. That means fixing the senate. House sentn, the over countless common sense bipartisan bills. Too many of them died right here without so much as a hearing. And senators from both parties with ideas for jobs and growth savage. Utinely set we need to return to regular order. We need to get committees working again. We need to recommend to a rational, functioning appropriations process. We need to open up open up the legislative process in a way that allows more amendments from both sides. Sometimes it is going to be mean, actually, working more often. Sometimes it is going to be meaning it will be working late. But restoring the senate is the right thing to do. And it is the practical thing to do. Because we are only going to pass meaningful legislation when members of both parties are given a stake in the outcome. That is the genius of regular order. That is the genius of the senate. Marcos joins us for the year in review. It begins with Mitch Mcconnell lang out certainly a lot of optimism, talking about a return to regular order and the things he would like to pass. Encounter early on. Just like his predecessor, harry reid, refusing filibusters to bills they did not like. Very early on, we saw these repeated votes where senator mcconnell wanted to prove to House Republicans who are eager for the showdown that, no, in fact the votes were not there to pass a spending bill. Votesy had these multiple over a series of weeks. And because democrats proved yet again that republicans didnt have a super majority. Host did he at all think the minority leader was in a weakened position . Certainly he had some issues with his vision. I cannot remember exactly when he announced his retirement, but you think they thought this was an opportunity for the republicans to take advantage of that at all . Ms. Marcos certainly coming out of the midterm elections, republicans thought they had a mandate because they had control of both chambers of congress. So they felt they had this mandate from the public, at least, to move forward with their priorities. Had smalleremocrats numbers at the start of the congress. I think some republicans were also hopeful, too, thats when hughes was majority leader, harry reid prevented any amendments on bills. So i think republicans were hoping that maybe democrats might be more willing to play ball. But as we saw, it did not quite work out. Host one of the major legislative debates was over the Nuclear Agreement reached between the six major world powers and iran. In the spring, president obama signed legislation that would allow congress to vote on whether to block that agreement. And in september, the house and the Senate Debated that resolution. Historic occasion for the house, and a very emotional time for me because, unfortunately, i have known war, i have known the horrors of war, and i speak for all of those that had this prevent this experience to say that we should always give diplomacy a chance before we put any american in harms way. Withnot think any of us any degree of certainty have any idea whether this agreement is going to hold. Contain the criminal and human ambitions of the leadership in iran. Know is that the , not justnal powers of china, not just of russia, but of the United Kingdom, of france, germany, and the thinking of the United States of america truly believe that this is the best possible way to avoid war. Me that now iso in the time for us to engage exchanges that separate and bring us apart as a nation. Of the house or senate make it abundantly clear, but whether you like it or not, this is going to become the policy of the United States of america. This will not be the policy of president obama, of democrats or , but the policy of our great nation it pains me as i am about to leave Service People body that we have in this chamber that have such hatred and disdain for the leadership of this country that they would put this feeling the best policy for the security of this great beloved nation of mine. The president of the United States was able to walk on water, there would be people in this chamber that would say, see, we told you that he could not swim. Ind so what i am saying dont think i can do that because you said that china and russia supporting this because they want to sell arms to iran and i think that is despicable because that includes the United Kingdom, that includes france, that includes germany, that includes people that are talking about this is the best way we are able to do this. This. What i am saying is , a terrible thing happened to my country, to my ony, when terrorists struck 911. 9 11. Now we have the opportunity to bring our country together now the way we did then. There were no democrats, there were no republicans, there were americans that said we have to come together. This is the policy of the United States of america, or soon will be. Should we not be saying what is the enforcement . What are we going to do . What happens if they violated . Are we here to embarrass president s, republicans, or democrats . The gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Or are we here for the to preserve the dignity and the integrity of the United States of america, no matter who is the president . If ever there was a time for us to come together and support the policy, the time is now. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. [applause] the gentlemans time has expired. Speaker, i give myself 15 seconds. Trick in the book, if you cannot win a debate on the merits, is to impugn the other persons motive. People who are opposing this agreement are opposing this agreement because it is a terrible agreement, and there is no other reason. I yelled one and a half minutes to the gentle lady from tennessee, mrs. Black. The chair reminds a persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the house and any manifestation of approval or disapproval his proceedings his proceedings of the house rule. This deal is not much of a deal at all. It is a gift to the iranian regime. For starters, we gave them sanction related to the tune of 150 billion in exchange for temporary enrichment restrictions. Mr. Speaker, the ayatollah calls the United States a great satan, and just this week said that israel will not exist in 25 years. Imagine the evil that regime can carry out when they cash in their billions. Iran will undoubtedly become the central bank of terror. With this deal, we sure got the opportunity for true anytime, anywhere inspections. Instead, we gave iran an opportunity of at least 21 days to slow walk their investigations and conceal signs of comply meant. Ideal, wethe secrets learned that iran will be allowed to self inspect. So to be clear, members of this body who vote for this agreement will be voting for a deal that they have not seen in full. Mr. Speaker, i am not prepared to tell tennesseans that i represent that the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism without knowing every last the. We cannot and should not leave anything to chance when it comes to the security of america and our allies. I will be casting my vote on behalf of tennessees sixth district. I yield back. The gentleman from wisconsin reserves. I yield another two and half minutes to mr. Lewis from georgia. The gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Rise inpeaker, i support of diplomacy, a pathway to peace. For many months, i have thought long and hard about this decision. I attended briefings, read documents, and met with citizens of my district. I even had a long executive section with my staff. I reflected on the words of dr. Martin luther king jr. When he called upon us to rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter , but beautiful struggle for a new world. The way of peace is one of those principles. I believe that this is a good deal. No, it may not be perfect. But do not let [indiscernible] i remember standing on this very floor several years ago, and speaking against a war in iraq. I have said it then and ill say it again today, war is messy. It is bloody. Hopes, the the aspirations, and the dreams of a people. The American People and people around the world are sick and tired of war. Moreo not need need violence. Missiles and guns. When you turn on the news, when you read the newspaper, you see a mass dislocation. Too many people are suffering and many are desperate for a chance at peace. Heartsve in my heart of that this may be the most important vote that we cast during our time in congress. To put it simple, it is nonviolence or nonexistence. It is my hope that my vote today, along with the votes of others, will be a down payment for keys toward a World Community at peace with the a down payment for keys toward a World Community at peace with itself. Together as aome family of human beings. Mr. Speaker, we have a moral obligation, a mission, and the mandate to give use a chance. Give peace a chance. Thank you. I yield back. The gentleman from wisconsin. I would like to yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from ohio. The sticker of the house is recognized for one minute. Let me think my colleague for yielding. My colleagues, later today, we are going to cast two. These votes will be among the most consequential holds that some of us will cast in our careers. Our Founding Fathers charged but the president and the congress with providing for the common defense for good reason. It is the core responsibility of our federal government. It is the key to our freedom. And for all of our opportunities. Of that is why at the front the oath every member takes, it states, i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. So as we consider this agreement with iran, it is our duty to determine whether it will keep america safe. Sadly, this deal is far worse than anything i could have imagined. Why . Because the president and his negotiators broke every one of their promises. Deal dismantle Irans Nuclear program are shut off their path to a Nuclear Weapon as they promised it would . No. Instead, it allows iran to keep thousands of Nuclear Centrifuges spinning, as they are today. And within 10 years, in the best case, it allows iran to achieve a nuclear status. Was this agreement built on verification . No. It appears this ideal will entrust iran to self inspect a key site where the regime conducted tests a nuclear detonators. Of course, we have not seen that actual side deal. Does this agreement allow inspectors to have anywhere, anytime, 24 7 access as they promised it would . No. Inspectors will have to wait of the 24 days for access to its spacious suspicious sites. Will sanctions snapback . No. The Administration Admits that nothing at the u. N. Happens in a snap. Does it shut down the Ballistic Missile program as they promised it would . No. Actually, the agreement lifts she arms and missile embargo in five and eight years, respectively. And it allows iran to build icbms capable of delivering a Nuclear Warhead right here to the United States of america. Does this affect iran status as the worlds leading sponsor of terror . Yes, it does. Iran billions of dollars to support more of their terrorist activities around that part of the world. Theit gives amnesty to commander responsible for the deaths of hundreds of american troops in iraq. And this is all without iran cheating. That is right. This is such a bad deal, the ayatollah will not even have to cheat to be just ups away from a Nuclear Weapon. Today, we are going to cast two votes. These votes are aimed at stopping obama from unilaterally lifting sanctions on iran. My colleagues, in pursuing this deal with iran, president obama refused to listen. He ignored the concerns of the , nationaleople security experts, and a bipartisan majority here in the congress. Preparing to enforce this deal over our objections. Never in our history has something with so many consequences for our National Security been rammed through with such little support. Today is september 11. The day for all americans to come together. And for us, to keep the oath we swore to our constitution. So our fight to stop this bad deal frankly is just beginning. Will not let the American People down. I yield back. [applause] host looking at the senate side on this iran debate, democrats had the power and the minority to prevent this moving forward to a vote on this resolution of disapproval, which the house had already moved on. What tactics do they employ . Ms. Marcos the senate need 60 votes in order to advance legislation. And they were prevented from reaching that threshold. Act thatiran review was signed into law, democrats made the point that, you know, the iran review act did not say things only had to be an up or down vote. So they can justify that the legislation allowed them to make that move. In keeping with the iran review act, a bipartisan majority is wishing to have the opportunity to vote on the substance of the deal. Myt is happening and friend, the minority leader is here he began saying and august that he wanted to filibuster this. And my understanding is the administration has supported that. So what we have now is a partisan minority of people that are keeping the spirit of the iran review act from coming into play by blocking our ability to actually vote up and down. So that is what is happening. I want to make sure the American People understand that. And no members and members of this body understand that. I want to close with this. , when thereasion has been an opportunity for this to devolve into something that was partisan, and there was concern on the other side of the aisle about certain things that were occurring, at every point, the majority leader has acquiesced and agreed for things to progress and away that the minority would feel that this was not a partisan effort. I want to also point out that the majority leader, when we brought to this motion to the floor, filled the tree. He filled the tree. My friends on the other side of the aisle did not want a bunch of amendments. They wanted only to vote on a motion of approval or disapproval. Is ais case, since there bipartisan majority in support of disapproval, that is what we are hoping to be able to vote on. But unfortunately, what is happening again, it appears tonight but just last week, 42 senators blocked the ability debate andte to end vote on the substance of the deal. So i hope that changes. I hope tonight at least two senators on the other side of the aisle will give us the ability to express ourselves on the substance of the deal, not block a bipartisan majority who wants to express themselves through a vote of approval. Mr. President. The senator from illinois. I respect him. I have said it on the floor and ive said it in private. I want to the record to make it clear, though, senator reid and the democrats said there will be no courts are necessary cloture necessary. We had an opportunity to obstruct, block, whatever you want to say, and did not do it because what we believe that what we had heard repeatedly that this would be a 60 vote was ultimately going to be the standard grade there is nothing in the going to be the standard. There is nothing that a limits the 60 vote requirement. There is nothing that does that. When your site discovered they did not have 60 votes, which was the beginning of last week, they changed the standards. So that was your decision based on the fact that now 42 Democratic Senators see this issue differently. We have had eight weeks on this issue, and we should have taken eight weeks on this issue. And every senator, i think, should stand up and say where they stand on this issue. Every senator has to it up and announced where they stand on this issue. This has not been glossed over. We have not made light of it. People are not trying to find some sneaky way to avoid responsibility. Each person is on the record. I know where you stand, you know where i stand. So what are we doing tonight . Are we going through a replay of what we did last week . And now with the threat of amendment. They want to be on the iran agreement per se, which was the underlying statute, but could be on Something Else. But to say that we have not taken the time, dont put this in a bipartisan way, dont with it in a serious way, we have done it and we have cooperated in doing it. You dont let the results . I have been to believe it is a result where we should be as a nation. I support the president. We should stop iran from developing a Nuclear Weapon, stop america from going to another war in the middle east. That is what i want to achieve. Inspection,bject to it is subject to reports. And if the iranians decide they want to breach this agreement, then we start back on the sanctions. But i would say to the senator from tennessee, as he has faced the votes on the floor about war and about the deaths associated with it, i conclude, first, try diplomacy. , thenlomacy does not work you have to pursue whatever is necessary for security. Said 42lieve, we have out of 46 Democratic Senators, we support diplomacy. And to argue that this is somehow partisan because 4 senators the differently i think there may be some partisanship in the fact that not a single republican member supports the president s decision. I think there may be some partisanship and the fact that 47 republican senators on march 9, 2015 send a letter to the ayatollah in iran and basically said stop negotiating with United States of america. , ever, everr happened in diplomatic history. Prejudgeenators would a situation under the president of the United States. They announced in march they were against the agreement no matter what it said. I do not know why we are going to keep repeating these votes over and over. We have nine legislative days left until this fiscal year ends , and we end up closing down the government. I think it is time for us to move on to important issues that should command the attention of the senate. Mr. President. The majority later. I am going to proceed under my later time. I want to start by congratulating the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee for an incredible job in giving ane senate and opportunity opportunity to express itself on what the president has described as an executive agreement. I think it is important for everybody to understand the next president is going to take a new look at this. Did not wantdent us to have anything to do with it at all. And the chairman of Foreign Relations committee skillfully negotiated with the other side to give us an opportunity, as elected representatives, to express our views on his unilateral action. We proceeded, as the senator from tennessee pointed out, in a matter that respected the process and gave the senate the opportunity to vote on that deal own, even though technically it was open for amendment. And yet we have been denied the opportunity to get an up or down vote on the agreement that the corkercardin bill give us an opportunity to express ourselves on could i want to congratulate to the senator from tennessee. The senator from tennessee is someone who admires and respects and is willing to talk to the other side. And frequently good things come about as a result of it. But we are where we are. This evening, Senate Democrats will have one more opportunity to do the right thing. And end their blockade on a vote of the deal. Host in the end, Senate Democrats blocked a vote. And the agreement went into effect a month later. After the iran debate wrapped up, pope francis arrived on capitol hill in late september. He became the first pope to ever speak before a joint meeting of congress. House speaker of john boehner had worked 20 years to see a people address to congress a papal address to congress. All of us are quite aware of and deeply word by the disturbing social and political situation of the world today. World is increasingly a ,lace of violent conflict hatred, and brutal atrocities. Committed even in the name of god and religion. We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. Must bens that we especially attentive to every fundamentalist, whether religious or of any other kind. Requirede balance is to combat violence perpetrated religion andf ideology, or in economic system. While also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom, and individual freedom. [applause] i think of the march, which Martin Luther king led to from selma to montgomery 50 years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his dream of full citizen and Political Rights for africanamericans. [applause] that dream continues to inspire us all. America happy that continues to be, for many, a land of dreams. [applause] [applause] lead to actions, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and good in the lives of the people. Centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dreams of building a future and freedom. Continentople of this , are not fearful of foreigners. Because most of us [applause] us were oncest of foreign foreigners. [applause] i say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descendents of immigrants. [applause] tragically, the rights of those who were here long before us were not always respected. For those people and their in the heart of american democracy, i wish to reaffirm my. Ighest esteem and appreciation those first contacts were often turbulent and violent. But we know that it is very byficult to judge the past this criteria of the present. [applause] nonetheless, when the stranger in our midst appears to repeat the sins and the errors of the past. [applause] we must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible. Generationse new not to turn their back on their neighbors and everything around us. Calls us toation recognize that we must others,ly relate to of honor to mindset adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity in a constant effort to do our best. I am confident that we can do this. Our world is facing a refugee seens of a magnitude not since the second world war. Us with great challenges and many hard decisions. On this continent, thousands of persons have left in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones. In search of greater opportunity. Not what we want for our own children. [applause] we must not be taken aback by the numbers, but rather view them as persons. Seeing their faces, and listening to their story. And try to respond as best we can to the situation. Isrespond in a way which always humane, just, and fraternal. Avoid tension. Let us remember the golden rule. Do unto others as you [applause] do unto others as you will have them do unto you. This points us in a clear direction. Let this treat others with the compassion with which we want to be treated. Maker others the same possibilities which we seek let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek ourselves. In a world, if we want security, let us give security. Life, let us give life. If we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. Yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time uses for us. [applause] the golden rule also reminds responsibility to rights and defend human at every stage of its human life at every stage of its development. [applause] with conviction which has led me from the beginning of my ministry to different levels, the global abolition of the death penalty. [applause] i am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred. Is endowed person with a dignity. Benefitety can only thosehe rehabilitation of convicted of crime. Bishops, my brother here in the United States renounced the call for the abolition of death penalty. Only do i not support them, but i also offer to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the damage and of hope and the goal the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation. [applause] it goes without saying that the path of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth. The right use of natural resources. The proper application of technology. Of enterprisesing are the essential elements of an economy which seeks to be more inclusive and sustainable. [applause] business is a noble vocation. Directed at producing wealth and building the world. Prosperity source of from the area in which it if it seekspecially the creation of jobs as an service toart of the the common good. [applause] good also includes the earth. Which i wish to enter into the dialogue with people about our common goal. Conversation which since theveryone, environmental challenge we are each human isd and theed in effect facts. Effects. [applause] i called for a courageous rt to redirect our steps of the environmental deterioration caused by human activities. I am convinced that we can make a difference. Im sure. [applause] thisd i have no doubt that congress has an Important Role to play. Now is the time for courageous action and certainties. And implementing a culture of care, and integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded. And at the same time, protecting nature. [applause] being a service of dialogue also means being truly in thened to minimize end the many conflicts that harm our world. [applause] ourselves have to ask beingare Deadly Weapons given to those who inflict suffering on individuals and society . Sadly, the answer as we all know, is simply for money. Money that is drenched in blood. Often innocent blood. Shameful andf the dutyble silence, it is our to confront the problem can to stop the arms race. [applause] i cannot hide my concern for fromlies which is within and without, for the relations are being called into question the very basis of marriage and family. I can only reiterate the importance, and above all the richness and this beauty of family life. [applause] in particular, i would like to call attention to those family members who are the most fun noble, the young. Who are the most vulnerable, the young. ,ountless possibilities beckon yet so many seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse, and despair. Problems are our problems. [applause] we cannot avoid them. Together, face them to talk about them, and to Seek Solutions rather than getting boggled down. Oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture with pressure. Cannot start a family because they lack possibilities for the future. Yet the same culture presents froms with so many options which they are dissuaded from starting a family. Greaton can be considered liberty, asnds he defended aen culture which enables people to dream of all rights for all brothers and sisters, as much as the thinking sought to do. , as it strives for justice walk,y did by her silent which becomes dialogue and promote these and the contemplative style. Soughte remarks, i have to present some of the richness ofthe culture and heritage this place of the American People. This placesire that continues to develop and grow so that as many young people as and dwellan inherent in the land which has inspired so many people to dream. God bless america. [applause] [applause] host after speaking to the joint meeting of congress, the hope spoke pope spoke on the speakers balcony. The next day, Speaker Boehner announced he was resigning from congress. My, oh, my. What a wonderful day. [laughter] i like to sing that on my way to work in the morning. My Mission Every day is to fight for a smaller, more accountable government. Over the last five years, our majority has advanced conservative reforms that will help our children and their children. We are now on track to cut Government Spending by 2. 1 trillion over the next 10 years. We made the first real entitlement reform in nearly two decades. And we have protected 99 of the American People from an increase in their taxes. And have done all this with a democrat in the white house. So i am proud of what we have accomplished. But more than anything, my first job as speaker is to protect the institution. A lot of you now know that my plan was to step down at the end of last year. 2010,ded in november of 10 selected speaker, that serving two terms would have been plenty. But in june of last, when it became clear that the majority leader lost its election, i frankly did not believe it was right for me to leave at the end of last year. And so my goal is to leave at the end of this year. So i planned, actually on my birthday, november 17, to announce i was leaving at the end of the year. Me it has become clear to that this this morning i informed my colleagues that i would resign from the speakership and congress at the end of october. As you have often heard me say, this isnt about me. For the people and the institution. We witnessed pope francis addressing the greatest legislative body in the world. I hope we will all heed his call to live by the golden rule. Last night i started to think about this and this morning i woke up and said my prayers as i today do, and i decided is the day im going to do this. That is the code ive always lived by, if you do the right things for the right reasons, the right things will happen. I know good things lie ahead for this house and this country. My 25th year here, and ive succeeded in large part because i put a staff and a team together, many of which have been with me for a long time. Andcant be a great member a great speaker without a great staff. I want to thank my family for putting up with this. 35, theirrls, 37 and First Campaign photo was in july of 1981. Thisve had to endure all great its one thing for me to have to integrate. The girls and my wife had to put up with a lot over the years. Gratitude tos my my constituents, who have sent me here 13 times over the last 25 years. People ask me, what is the greatest thing about being peaker . I said, its the people you get to meet. People in my district i would never have met other than that i decided to run for congress. Traveled onrs as i behalf of my colleagues in the party, ive met tens of thousands of additional people all over the country. You meet rich people, poor people, interesting people. That 99. 9 of the people i meet on the road, could not be nicer than they have been. It has been wonderful. It has been an honor to serve in this institution. With that, junior, go ahead. [inaudible] surprise. At a [laughter] you reach this decision last night. Did pope francis lead you to this decision . John boehner was i emotional yesterday . I think so. As really in an emotional i was really emotional at a moment that no one saw. The pope and i were getting ready to exit the building. We found ourselves alone. The pope grabbed my left arm and said some kind words to me about to kids andt education. The pope puts his arm around me and pulls me to him and says, please pray for me. Who am i to pray for the pope . But i did. If it wasnt the pope, what was it . There wasnt any doubt as to whether i could survive. I dont want my members to go through this. Especially when i was thinking about walking out the door anyway. Mr. Speaker, ive heard you say before that a leader who doesnt have anybody following him is just a guy taking a walk. John boehner i have punted a people following me, but this turmoil that has been churning now for a couple of months is not for is not good for the institution. If i was not planning on leaving soon, i would not have done this. There are people who are on the right in your caucus and even outside this institution who have been wanting you to step down for some time who might feel that they have a victory today. Do you feel that you were pushed out . Madeboehner im glad i this announcement at the congress with all my republican colleagues. It was a good moment to rebuild the team. I feel good about what ive done. Every day ive tried to do the right thing for the right reasons. How can there not he a moment of turmoil . John boehner i will be here for another five weeks. Going to sit around and do nothing for the next 30 days. I plan on getting as much done as i can before i exit. Make it easier in some ways to make some tougher decisions . Boehner i will make the same decisions i would have made regardless. What about your frustration that some members and outside groups use words like knuckleheads and some other words he probably cant use on television . John boehner probably. It the enough be enough . John boehner thats not it at all. When you are the speaker of the house, youre number one responsibility is to the institution. Having a vote like this in the institution i dont think is very healthy. I have done everything i can over my term as speaker to strengthen the institution. My move today is another step in that effort to strengthen the institution. How will washington be different to kaz you leave this you areion because leaving this institution . John boehner if the Congress Stays focused on the american the goalorities here as one of the leaders is to. Ind the Common Ground ive talked to president bush and president obama this morning, ive talked to all my legislative leaders who i have a Good Relationship with all of them. At the end of the day, the leaders have to be able to Work Together to find the Common Ground to get things done. The Congress Stays focused on what is important to the American People, they will get along just fine. About how your conference reacted to the news . John boehner they were shocked. More on that, maybe on how the leadership reacted . John boehner i told mr. Mccarthy about two minutes before i spoke. I told him five times because he did not believe me. Should mccarthy be the next speaker . John boehner thats up to the members. Think kevinthat, i mccarthy would make an excellent speaker. Who was the first person you told and what did they say . John boehner i told my wife. What did she say . John boehner good. [laughter] my chief of staff and i talked late yesterday. I told him i was thinking today might be the day, and i would sleep on it. Before i went to sleep last night i said, i just might make an announcement tomorrow. What kind of announcement . To go. Time this morning i woke up and walked up to starbucks as usual and got my coffee and came back and read and walked up to pete steiner and saw everybody at petes and had gone home and said, yes, i think today is the day. My senior staff was having a meeting at 8 45. Kind of walked in before i opened the house, told them, this is the day. Its can happen someday. Why not today . [inaudible] what advice do you give to him to avoid the same pitfalls you have come across . Told kevin his number one responsibility is to protect the institution. Nobody else around here has an obligation like this. Secondly, i tell him the same thing ive told you. You just do the right thing every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen. You all know me and my colleagues know me. They may not like the answer they get, but they will get an honest answer every time they come to my office. Its an easy way for me to do my job. You originally planned to announce this on your birthday . Just all this stuff i read about in the paper, you know its i dont want the institution hurt, or my colleagues hurt. I dont want to put my colleagues through this, for what . What will you miss . John boehner of course all of you. Know what im going to miss because i havent missed it yet. I will certainly miss the camaraderie of the house. Story. Tell you another , democraters and i from southern california, came here 25 years ago in the same class. This nothing about my politics litics that is anywhere yesterday at 5 30 she called my office. I called her back. Forsaid, ive watched you 25 years here. Says, i want to tell you something. Im really proud of you. Ive got the best relationships on both sides of the aisle fairly i treat people and treat them honestly. Im going to miss my colleagues, yes. Scene ofk to the trying to stabilize the institution. You can becomek more stable . Said they dont think a new speaker will mean any new outcome. How could it become more stable . John boehner the fact that i did this with my colleagues this morning, then we proceeded to have an hour and a half conversation, i thought was a unifying moment. Between that and the popes call for living by the golden rule yesterday, hope springs eternal. Talk about what you think your legacy is. What will you do on november 1 . Are you moving to florida . John boehner i was never in the legacy business. Im a regular guy with a big job. Thought i would be in congress, much less ever be speaker. People know me as being fair, being honest, being straightforward, and trying to do the right thing every day on behalf of the country. I dont need any more than that. You seem very relieved. John boehner zippity dooda. [laughter] have you spoken to john boehner when you make a decision this morning, you havent had time i have no idea. But i do know this. Im doing this today for the right reasons. The right things will happen as a result. Thank you. [indiscernible] story of John Boehners resignation started two months before, when mark meadows filed a motion to vacate the chair. The motion to vacate the chair is a procedure that allowed in the house rules but has never been used in history. House were to approve a motion to vacate the chair, that declares the speakers chair empty. Succeed, thato would result in needing a new election for speaker. The day after congressman meadows filed his motion to vacate the chair, Speaker Boehner seemed confident in his position as speaker of the house. John boehner ive got broad colleagues. G my have you spoken with congressman meadows . John boehner i have not. Why . Two months later, Speaker Boehner announced his resignation. That took everybody by surprise. Trainss feels like a that is close to being off the tracks but it never quite does. No one saw that coming. After the surprise announcement, the race was on to find a new speaker of the house. He announced his resignation, and what happens after that, Kevin Mccarthy comes in as the next heir apparent as speaker. Everyone saw that to mccarthy shes a relative newbie on capitol hill the he would be the next speaker. As the weeks unfolded, it was clear that he would encounter the same problem that boehner did, wherein the conservatives in the House Freedom caucus, that they would not support him either. When the Freedom Caucus announced they were going to , ran againstebster januaryon the floor in he wasnt a real viable candidate for the vast majority of the conference, but as long as the Freedom Caucus kept endorsing him, that prevented anyone else from becoming speaker. In the short period after John Boehners announcement, Kevin Mccarthy goes on fox news and is talking about the benghazi. Committee Benghazi Committee. His comments indicate the political nature of that committee. How badly did that damage him among the congress . Very bad grade he has no he has been known for not necessarily speaking in the clearest way at times. When youre the speaker of the house, not only are you your partys leader but also the highestranking official in congress. Once he made that gaffe on was subjected to much higher scrutiny than he had been in the past, that demonstrated that may he wasnt quite ready for it. Hes got some challenges out there. The conference is going to meet in a large meeting. I guess its the ways and means meeting room. Reporters are outside, cspan cameras are on and all of a sudden the doors bust open and theres news from that as well. What happened . Imagine the scene. Least 100 reporters gathered in the hallway outside the ways and means. We were waiting for this result we were expecting. Within about 20 minutes after the meeting began, you saw member starting to file out. All of us are wondering, why are you coming out so early . [inaudible] come on over, guys come on up. All right, i think i shot some of you, huh . Shocked some of you, huh . Listen, we have been going through this campaign, talking to a lot of members, but the one thing i said to earn this majority, we are servants. There is something to be said for us to unite, we probably need a fresh face. I will stay on as majority leader. The one thing i found in talking to everybody, if were going to unite and be strong, you need a new face to help do that. Nothing more than that. I feel good about the decision. I feel great to have my family here, my colleagues. We are only going to be stronger. We fought hard to win this majority and turn this country around. Best l be the you were going to run for the speakership, why change it at noon . You know, we had our conference, and theres calls into the district. I dont want to make voting for speaker a tough one. I dont want to go to the floor and win with 220 votes. The best thing for our party right now is you have 247 votes on the floor. If were going to be strong, we have to be 100 united. First. Ut the conference [inaudible] we have been thinking about this throughout the week. I think its best we have a new face. Your comments about and ghazi last week, benghazi last week that wasnt helpful. I could have said it much better. The Benghazi Committee was created for one purpose, to find the truth on behalf of the families for the 4 dead americans. I should not be a distraction from that. That is part of the decision as well. Thank you very much, guys. [inaudible] no. Come on. Who do you think could unify the conference . The conference should be able to decide. Thank you. Christina marcus of the hill after the surprise by Kevin Mccarthy, you said Speaker Boehner did not tell anybody. Meansme of the ways and chair, paul ryan, is floated out there. How does he get elected as the next speaker . What is his path . Within minutes after mccarthy announced he wasnt going to run for speaker, there was utter pandemonium that erupted outside this meeting room. Paul ryan issued a statement saying he wasnt interested in the speakership or any leadership position, essentially saying leave me alone, guys. That changed in the days after, after boehner personally called the paul ryan and implored him to run for the sake of the party because a lot of people felt that paul ryan was the only person who everybody could coalesce around. But he did not want to do it unless the Freedom Caucus endorsement. One big factor for ryan also was he did not want to sacrifice too much time with his young family. , paul ryaneturned told the republican Conference Meeting that he would only run if he had the endorsement of the three main factions, the centrist group, republican committee, and the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus. Everyone understood this was implicitly aimed at the Freedom Caucus. It all hinges on whether the Freedom Caucus would get high and him behind him. Tonight i shared with my colleagues what i think it will take to have a unified conference, and for the next speaker to be successful. I made a few requests for what i think is necessary and i asked my colleagues to hear back from them by the end of the week. We need to move from an Opposition Party to being a proposition party. Because we think the nation is on the wrong path, we have a duty to show the right one. Our next speaker has to be a visionary one. Second, we need to update our house rules so that everyone can be a more effective representative. This is the peoples house. We need to do this as a team. It needs to include fixes that ensure that we do not experience cost a leadership challenges and crises. As a conference should unify now and not after a divisive speaker election. Personal. Oint is i cannot and will not give up my family time. I may not be on the road as often as previous speakers, but i pledge to try to make up for it with more time communicating our vision, our message. What i told members is, if you can agree to these requests, and if i can truly be a unifying figure, then i will gladly serve. If im not unifying, that will be fine as well. Here is how i see it. Its our duty to serve the people the way they deserve to be served. Its our duty to make the tough decisions this country needs to get our nation back on track. The challenges we face today are too difficult and too demanding to turn our backs and walk away. Multiplerror, war on persistent poverty, flat wages, skyrocketing debt, but we cannot take on these challenges alone. Now more than ever we must Work Together. All of us are representatives of the people, all people. We have been entrusted by them to lead. And yet, the people we serve, they do not feel that we are delivering on the job that they hired us to do. We have become the problem. If my colleagues in trust me to be the speaker, i want us to become the solution. One thing ive learned from my ringing in janesville upbringing in janesville is it nothing is solved by blaming people. We can blame the president , and blame the media. That is fun sometimes. We can blame each other, dismiss our critics and criticism is unfair. People dont care about blame. People dont care about effort. People care about results that are measurable. Results that make a difference in their daily lives. The american idea, its not too late to say, but we are running out of time. I believe that the ideas and principles of results driven common sense conservativism are the keys to a better tomorrow, a tomorrow in which all of gods children will be better off than they are today. The idea that the role of the federal government is not to facilitate the pendency dependency but to create an environment of opportunity for everyone, the idea the government should do less and do it better, the ideas that those who serve should say what they mean and mean what they say, the principal that we should all determine the course of our own of ceding that right to those he think theyre better than the rest of us. We will stand and fight when we must, and surely this presidency. Ill require that a commitment to natural rights, a commitment to common sense, compassion, and cooperation. When rooted in genuine conviction and principal is a commitment to conservativism. Let me close by saying that i consider to do this with reluctance. Like many of you, i have children that are in the formative Foundation Years of their lives. I genuinely worry about the consequences that my agreeing to serve will have on them. Well the experience the viciousness and incivility that we all face here on a daily basis . Greatest worry, my greatest worry is the consequence of not havingg up, of someday my own kids ask me, when the stakes were so high, why didnt you do all you could do . Why didnt you stand and fight for my future when you had a chance to do so . None of us have a chance to do so. I have shown my colleagues what i think success looks like, and how my family commitments come first. I have left this decision in their hands. Should they agree with these requests, then i am happy and willing to get to work. Thank you. [inaudible] this is not a job ive ever wanted, ever sought. Conclusion that this is a dire moment not just for congress, not just for the Republican Party, but for our country. Our country is in desperate need of leadership. [inaudible] paul ryan i laid out for our conference what i think it takes to unify the kong congress, and is in their hands. Its in their hands. [inaudible] thats what we always do. Would you want a unanimous vote . Paul ryan i laid it out today with our conference about all the various groups having their endorsement. Im not going to get into that now, that is something that has got to be done as a conference as a whole by consensus. Thank you very much. How big was his vote in winning the caucus . He won the speaker vote quite easily. The Freedom Caucus, they did not make an official endorsement of him, but put out a statement saying we wont object to him, there are some of us that will support him. This is the peoples house, this is the peoples gavel, and the people same. It is my privilege to hand this raffle to the speaker of the house, congressman and honorable paul ryan. [applause] paul ryan thank you, nancy. [applause] paul ryan thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Leader. U, madam before i begin, i would like to thank all of my family and friends who flew in from wisconsin and all over for being here today. In the gallery i have my mom betty, my sister janet, my , anders stan and tilden more cousins than i can count on a few hands. [applause] thyere all over. Most important, i want to recognize my wife and our children. [applause] i also want to thank Speaker Boehner. For almost five years he led this house, for nearly 25 years he served it. Not many people can match his accomplishments. The offices he held, the laws he passed. Ist really sets john apart he is a man of character, a true class act. The without a question gentleman from ohio. Please join me in saying one last time, thank you, Speaker Boehner. [applause] now i know how he felt. Its not until you hold this gavel, stand in this spot, lookout and see all 435 members americahouse, as if all is sitting right in front of you. Its not until then that you feel it. The weight of responsibility, the gravity of the moment. Here, i cant help but think of something harry truman once said. The day after Franklin Roosevelt became president and he told a group of reporters, if you ever pray, pray for me now. Yesterday whatme had happened, i felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me. We should all feel that way. A lot is on our shoulders. If you ever pray, lets pray for each other. Republicans for democrats, and democrats for republicans. [applause] and i dont mean pray for a conversion. Pray for a deeper understanding. When you are up here, you see it so clearly. Wherever you come from, what ever you believe, we are all in the same boat. I never thought i would be speaker. Early in my life, i wanted to serve this house. I thought this place was exhilarating. Here you can make a difference. You could improve peoples lives. The boundless opportunity to do good. Lets be frank. The house is broken. We are not solving problems, we are adding to them. Im not interested in laying blame. We are not settling scores, were wiping the slate clean. [applause] maynor the members are satisfied with how things are going. We need to make some changes, starting with how the house does business. We need to let every member contributes, not once they have earned their stripes, but now. I come at this job as a twotime committee chair. The committees should retake the majorn redrafting legislation. [applause] if you know the issue, you should write the bill. Lets open up the process, let people participate and they might change their mind. Neglected majority will minority will gum up the works. A respected minority will work trade we need to return to regular order. Faith. We need to return to regular order. I know this sounds like process. Its actually a matter of simple. We are the body closest to the people. Every two years we face the voters and sometimes face the music. But we do not echo the people, we represent the people. We are supposed to study up and do the homework they cannot do. When we do not follow regular order, when we rush to pass dontand a lot of us understand, we are not doing our job. Only a fully functioning house can truly represent the people. If theres ever a time for us to step up, this would be that time. [applause] america does not feel strong anymore. The working people of america do not feel strong anymore. Im talking about the people who mind the store and grow the food and walk the beach and pay the taxes and raise the family. They do not sit in this house. They do not have fancy titles. They are the people who make this country work, and this country should work for them. Here is the problem. Hard, they areg paying a lot, they are trying to do right by their families, and they are going nowhere fast. They never get a raise, they never get a break. The bilski piling up and the taxes and the debt. Theyre working harder than ever before to get ahead and yet they are falling further behind. They feel robbed. They feel cheated by their birthright of their birthright. Are not asking for any favors. They just want a fair chance. They are losing faith that they will ever get it. ,hen they look at washington and all they see is chaos. What a relief to them it would be if we finally got our act together. What a weight off of their shoulders. How reassuring it would be if they actually fix the tax code, put patients in charge of their health care, grew our economy, strengthened our military, lifted people out of poverty and paid down our debt . [applause] at this point nothing could be more inspiring than a job well done. Nothing could stir the heart more than real concrete results. Scoff grade they will say its not possible. You Better Believe we are going to try. We will not duck the tough issues, we will take them head on. We are going to do all we can do so that working people get their strength back and people not working get their lives back. No more favors for the few. Opportunity for all. That is our motto. [applause] i often talk about a need for a vision. Im not sure i ever said what i meant. Solve problems here, yes. We create a lot of them too. Life. Dicate a way of we show by our work that free people can govern themselves. They consult their own problems, they can make their own decisions, collaborate and get the job done. We show that selfgovernment is not only more efficient and more effective, it is more fulfilling. It is that struggle, that hard work, achievement itself that. Akes us free that is what we do here. We should not hide our disagreements. We should embrace them. Fromd nothing to fear honest differences honestly stated. [applause] if you have ideas, lets hear them trade i believe that a greater clarity between us can lead to greater charity among us. Theres every reason to have hope. When the first speaker took the gavel, he looked out at a room of 30 people, representing a nation of 3 million. Today as i look out at each and everyone one of you, we represent a nation of 300 million. When i hear people say that america doesnt have it, we are done, i dont believe it. I believe with every fiber of my being that we can renew the american idea. Our task is to make us all believe. My friends, you have done me a great honor. Country have this done all of us a great honor. Now lets prove ourselves worthy of it trade lets rise to the occasion. When we are done, lets say that we left all of the people more united and happy and free. Thank you. [applause] we are back with our year in review look at congress with Christina Marcos. At the october 22 appearance of Hillary Clinton before the select committee. And ther clinton Benghazi Committee and republicans had been trying to work out the time for her to appear before the committee and testify about what happened on the night of the september 11, 2012 attacks. How was she treated in that hearing . It was an extremely partisan affair. You have republicans who had very pointed questions aimed at her purely decide to create easy soundbites for television. One, asked her if the ambassador had her personal email, while noting that her friend had access to her email. He was trying to make the point that perhaps the ambassador did not have the same access as some other people. In while democrats asked questions clearly aimed clearly decide to be easy answers for her. Democrats also made an effort to delegitimize the committee in terms of getting the committee disbanded. This was all happening about the same time as the whole speaker upheaval. October was a wild month on capitol hill. Democrats on the Benghazi Committee were quoting whether they should even continue to serve on the Benghazi Committee. Had were arguing that it devolved into such a partisan affair, perhaps designed to undermine Hillary Clinton, particularly in the aftermath of majority leader mccarthys comments that partially derailed his speaker bid, suggesting the benghazi team was created for Hillary Clinton. Duck people in, both parties who have suggested that this investigation is about you. This investigation is about 4 people who were killed representing our country on foreign soil. What happened before, during, and after the attacks that killed them. Its about what this country owes to those who risk their lives to serve it. Its about the fundamental obligation of government to tell the truth, always, to the people it purports to represent. Madame secretary, not a Single Member of this committee signed up to investigate you or your email. Signed up to investigate, and therefore honor the lives of 4 people that we sent into a dangerous country to represent us. And to do everything we can to prevent it from happening to others. Our committee has interviewed half 100 witnesses. Not a single one of them has been named clinton until today. You were the secretary of state for this country at all relevant times. Of course the committee is going to want to talk to you. You are an important witness. Witness. Ne important i understand you wanted to come sooner than today. Let me be clear why that did not happen. You had an unusual email arrangement which meant the state department could not produce your emails to us. Exclusive use of personal email on a personal server. When you left the state department, you kept the Public Record to yourself for almost two years. It was you and your attorney who decided what to return and what to delete. Those decisions were your decisions, not our decisions. It was only in march of this year that we learned of this email arrangement and since we learned of this email arrangement we have interviewed dozens of witnesses, only one of was solely related to your email arrangement. That was the shortest interview of all because that witness invoked his fifth amendment privilege against incrimination, making sure the Public Record is complete is what serious investigations do, so it was important and remains important that this committee have access to all ambassador stephens emails, emails of other Senior Leaders and witnesses, and its important to gain access to all of your emails, madam secretary. Your emails are no less or no more important than the emails of anyone else. It just took us a little bit longer to get them. And garner a little more attention in the process. I want you to take notes during this hearing how many times Congressional Democrats call this administration to make longawaited documents available to us. They wont. Take note of how many witnesses Congressional Democrats ask us to schedule for interviews. They wont. We would be much closer to finding out what happened in writing the final definitive report if democrats on this committee had helped us just a little bit pursue the facts. If the democrats on this committee had their way, dozens of witnesses never would have been interviewed, your public ,ecord would still be private thousands of documents never would have been accessed, and we would not have the emails of our own ambassador. That may be smart politics, but its a lousy way to run a serious investigation. There are certain characteristics that make our country unique in the annals of history. We are the greatest experiment in selfgovernment the world has ever known. Part of that selfgovernance , even of therutiny highest officials. Our fellow citizens expect us to pursue the truth wherever the facts take us. This committee is going to do what we pledge to do and what should have been done a long time ago, which is interview all relevant witnesses, examine all relevant evidence, and access all relevant documents. We are going to pursue the truth in a manner worthy of the memory of the four people who lost their lives. And worthy of the respect of our fellow citizens. We would like to do it with our help and the help of our democrat colleagues. Make no mistake, were going to do it nonetheless. Understanding what happened in benghazi goes to the heart of who we are as a country, and the promises we make to those we sent into harms way. They deserve the truth, they deserve the whole truth, nothing but the truth. People we work for deserve the truth. The friends and family of the lost their lives to serve the truth. We are going to find the truth, because theres no statute of limitations on the truth. Set of this select committee with no rules, no deadline, and an unlimited budget. They set them loose, madam secretary, because youre running for president. Clearly it is possible to conduct a serious bipartisan investigation. What is impossible is for any reasonable person to continue denying that republicans are squandering millions of taxpayer dollars on this abusive effort to derail secretary clintons campaign. , hehe chairmans interview tried to defend against this catchism by attempting to himself as the victim p complained about the credibility of this elect committee. His argument would be more compelling if republicans werent leading the charge. As we all know, representative Kevin Mccarthy, Speaker Boehners second in command, and the chairman admitted that they established a select committee to drive down secretary clintons phone numbers. Democrats did not say that. The second in command in the house said that, a republican. Republican congressman richard hanna, that the select committee was quote, designed, designed to go after secretary clinton. One of the chairmans own selfproclaimed conservative republican, said that he was fired for not going the quote, hyperfocus on Hillary Clinton. These missions reflect exactly what we have seen inside the select committee for the past year. Lets take a look at the facts. Since january, republicans have canceled every single hearing scheduled for the entire year, except for this one, secretary clinton. They canceled numerous interviews they had signed with the Defense Department and cia officials. They said doing that, what they were going to do, republicans zeroed in on secretary clinton. Her speechwriters, her i. T. Staffers, and her campaign officials. This is what the republicans did. Not the democrats, but Speaker Boehner established the select committee, he justified it by arguing that it was quote, cross jurisdictional lines. I assume he meant he would focus on more than just secretary of state. Madam secretary, you are sitting there by yourself. Is notretary of defense under left. The director of the cia is not on your left. Thats because republicans abandoned their own plans to questionofficials. Instead of being cross jurisdictional, republicans crossed them off the list. Last weekend, the chairman told republican colleagues to shut up and stop talking about the select committee. , andi want to know is this this is a key question. Why tell republicans to shut up when they are telling the truth but not when they are attacking secretary clinton with reckless accusations that are demonstrably false . Why not tell them to shut up then . Carly fiorina said secretary clinton has blood on her hands. Mike huckabee accuse her of ignoring the calls from dying americans inman ghazi. In then ghazi. Nghazi. E Lindsey Graham tweeted, where the hell were you on the night of the ben ghazi attacks. Everyone on this panel knows these accusations are baseless. From our own investigation and all those reports. Yet, republican members of this committee remained silent. On monday, the democrats issued a report showing that none of the 54 witnesses the committee interviewed substantiated these wild republican claims. Secretary clinton did not order the military to stand down and she neither approved nor denied requests for additional security. I asked that our report included in the official record. Without objection. What is so telling is that we issued virtually the same report a year ago. The same report. When we first joined the select committee asked my staff to put together a complete report and database setting forth questions that have been asked about the attacks and all of the answers that were provided in the eight previous investigations. I asked that this report be included in this record. Without objection. The problem is that rather than accepting these facts, republicans continue to spend just been new to spin new theories that are outlandish and inaccurate. The chairman recently tried to argue that Sidney Blumenthal was secretary clintons primary advisor on libya. This past sunday, representative pompeo claimed on National Television that secretary clinton relied on Sidney Blumenthal for most of her intelligence on libya. Earlier this week, the Washington Post fact checker awarded this claim four pinocchios. Its worst rating. Select committee has spent 17 4. 7 million of taxpayer money. We have held four hearings and conducted 54 interviews and depositions. Yes, we have received some new emails from secretary clinton, ambassador stevens him and others. Yes, we have conducted some new interviews. But these documents and interviews do not show any nefarious activity. In fact, it is the opposite. The new information we have obtained corroborates the facts we already knew from eight previous investigations. To provide more detail but they do not change the basic conclusions. Time now for the republicans to end this taxpayerfunded fishing expedition. The terrorist attacks at our compound and later at the cia post in benghazi, libya on september 11, 2012 took the lives of four brave americans. Ambassador chris stevens, sean smith, len doherty, and tyrone woods. Im here to honor the service of those men. The courage of the Diplomatic Security agency and the cia officers who risked their lives that night. And the work their colleagues do every single day, all over the world. I knew and admired chris stevens. He was one of our nations most accomplished diplomats. Mother liked to say he had sand in his shoes because he was always moving, always working. Especially in the middle east that he came to know so well. When the revolution broke out in libya, we named chris as our envoy to the opposition. There was no easy way to get him into benghazi to begin gathering information and meeting those libyans who were rising up against qaddafi. He found a way. To get himself there on a greek cargo ship just like a 19th century american envoy. Much 21stas very century, hardnosed diplomacy. It is a testament to the relationship that he built in libya that on the day following the awareness of his death, tens of thousands of libyans poured into the streets in benghazi. Signs reading, thugs dont represent benghazi or islam. America, thisof is not the behavior of our islam or our prophet. Chris stevens, a friend to all libyans. Although i did not have the privilege of meeting sean smith personally, he was a valued member of our state department family. An air force veteran. He was in Information Management officer who had served in pretoria, baghdad, montreal, and the hague. Tyrone woods and Glenn Doherty worked for the cia. They were killed by mortar fire at the cias outpost in benghazi, a short distance of the diplomatic compound. They were both former navy seals and trained paramedics with distinguished records of service including in iraq and afghanistan. As secretary of state, i had the honor to lead and the responsibility to support nearly 70,000 diplomats and Development Experts across the globe. Losing any one of them as we did in iraq, afghanistan, mexico, during mylibya tender was deeply painful. Asked chris toho go to libya as our envoy. I was the one who recommended him to be our invested or to the president to be our ambassador to the president. After the attack, i stood next to president obama as marines carried his casket and those of the other three americans off the plane at Andrews Air Force base. I took responsibility and as part of that, before i left office, i launched reforms to better protect our people in the field and help reduce the chance of another tragedy happening in the future. What happened in benghazi has been scrutinized by a nonpartisan, hardhitting, accountability review board, seven prior congressional investigations, multiple news organizations, and of course, our Law Enforcement and intelligence agencies. I want to say a few things. It your a looking at an email you sent to your family. Heres what you said. At 11 00 that night, proximally one hour after you told the American People you say to your family, two officers were killed in benghazi by an al qaeda like group. You tell the American People one thing, you tell your family and entirely different story. , athe night of the attack call with the president of libya. Heres what he said to him. Claiming responsibility. Interesting. One of the guys arrested and charged belonged to that group. , the nextficantly day, within 24 hours you have a conversation with the egyptian Prime Minister. You told in this. We know the attack in libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest. Think, not ite might be, we know the attack in libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack, not a protest. State Department Experts knew the truth. You knew the truth. That is not what the American People. Got. Why did you not tell the American People what you told the egyptian Prime Minister . I think if you look at the statement i made, i said clearly it was an attack and there were some who try to justify on the basis of the video congressman. Calling it an attack is like saying the sky was blue. Of course it was an attack. A statement on benghazi and you say vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material on the internet. If that is not pointing to the video, i dont know what is. Was a lot of conflicting information that we were trying to make sense of. The situation was fluid, fastmoving. There was a claim of responsibility by on sarao sharia. By al claim ofis was a responsibility by a group that was affiliated or wanted to be affiliated with al qaeda. Sometime after that, the next day, early the next morning after that, on the 12th or 13th, they retracted their claim of responsibility. I think if you look at what all of us were trying to do we were in a position of trying to make sense of a lot of incoming information and watch the way the Intelligence Community tried to make sense of it. Madam secretary. There was not conflicting information the day of the attack because her press secretary said if breast there is no connection. There is non heres what i think is going on. Slide. E this is from victoria nuland. She says to jake sullivan, subject line reads, romneys statement on libya. Thenl says, this is what was talking about. I assume ben was ben rhodes. 10 35. Mail is at 27 minutes after you told whilene it is a video americans are still fighting because the attack is still going on. Your top people are talking politics. It seems to me that night you had three options. You could tell the truth, like you did with your family, like you did with the libyan president , like you did with the egyptian Prime Minister, tell them it was a terrorist attack. You could say, were not quite sure. Dont really know for sure. You couldve done that. You picked the third option. The video narrative. And youwith no evidence did it because libya was supposed to be this Great Success story for the Obama White House and clinton state department. A key Campaign Theme that year was bin laden is dead, al qaeda is on the run. Now you have a terrorist attack. A terrorist attack in libya just 56 days before an election. You can live with a protest about a video. But a terrorist attack will hurt you. You cannot be squared with the American People. Tell your family is a terrorist attack, not the American People. You tell the president of libya and not the American People. You can tell the egyptian Prime Minister it is a terrorist attack but cannot tell your own people. The truth. Americans canry, live with the fact that good people sometimes give their lives for this country. They dont like it. They mourn and pray for those families that they can live with it. What they cannot live with is when their government is not square with them. Mr. Chairman, i yield. You are welcome to answer the question if you would like to. I wrote a whole chapter about this in my book, hard choices, i would be glad to send it to you. I think the insinuations that you are making do a grave disservice to the hard work that people in the state department, the intelligence committee, the Defense Department, the white house, did during the course of confusing and difficult days. There is no doubt in my mind that we did the best we could with the information that we had at the time. If you would actually go back and read what i said that my that night, i was very careful in saying that some have thought to justify. In fact the man that has been arrested as one of the ringleaders of what happened in is reported to have said it was the video that motivated him. None of us can speak to the individual motivations of those terrorists who overran our compound and who attacked our cia annex. There were probably a number of different motivations. I think the Intelligence Community, which took the lead on trying to sort this out, as they should have, went through a series of interpretations and analysis. We were all guided by that. We were not making up the intelligence. We were trying to get it, make sense of it and to share it. When i was speaking to the minister, or in the other two examples you showed, we had been told by ansa r alsharis that they took credit for it. 24 hours later they took they retracted. We also knew because my responsibility was for what was happening throughout the region. I needed to be talking about the video because i needed to be putting other governments and other people on notice that we were not going to let them get away with attacking us as they did in tunis, khartoum. Tunis, there were thousands of demonstrators that were there only because of the video. I was calling everybody in the tunisian government i could get and finally the president sent his guard to break it up. There was example after example. Thats what i was trying to do during those very desperate and if occult hours. And difficult hours. I am not insinuating anything. Im reading what you said. Plain language. We know the attack in libya had nothing to do with the film. That is as plain as it can get. Why didnt you just speak plain to the American People . If you look at my statement as opposed to what i was saying to the egyptian Prime Minister, i did state clearly and i said it again and in more detail the next morning, as did the president. Im sorry that it does not fit your narrative. I can only tell you what the facts were. The chairman has said that this will be the final, affinity findefinitivehe report. There will be nothing final about this report. Whenever we finish, we do not know what we are looking for. There will not be a final conclusion. There will not be anything definitive about the work of this committee because unlike the accountability review board that operated in a nonpartisan it is unlikely the majority here will even consult with us on what their final report looks like. Those who want to believe the worst will believe the worst. Those that want to believe this is a partisan exercise will believe it. As i said from the beginning of this investigation, the only way this committee will add any value to what has gone on before is if we can find a way to Work Together and reach a common conclusion. It is plain that is not their object. The chairman might say ignore the words of our Republican Leadership and ignore the words of our public and members. Ignore the words of our own gop investigator. Judge us by our actions. But it is the actions of this committee that are the most damning of all. They have been singly focused on you. Let me ask you, briefly. I want to expand i want to expand on what i think is the core theory and give you a chance to respond to it. As a prosecutor we are taught that every case should have a core theory and all the evidence and witnesses go to the core theory. I wrestled as i listened to my colleagues today, what is the core theory of their case . What are they trying to convey . I have to say, it is confusing. I think the core theory is this. That you deliberately interfered with security in benghazi and that resulted in people dying. I think that is the case they want to make. How many in notwithstanding how many investigations that found no merit to that, that is the impression they wish to give. My colleague pointed to an email suggesting that you were not aware we had a presence in benghazi so if you were not aware you had a present we had a presence, i dont know how you could interfere with security. Nonetheless, i think that is what they are aiming at. I know the ambassador was someone you help pick. I know the ambassador was a friend of yours. I wonder if you would like to comment on what it is like to be the subject of an allegation that you deliberately interfered with security that cost you the life of a friend. Painful very personally accusation. It has been rejected and disproven by investigators but , continuing to have it bandied around is distressing to me. I would imagine i thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been racking my brain about what more could of been done. R should have been so when i took responsibility, i took it as a challenge and an obligation. To make sure before i left the state department that what we could learn, as im sure my predecessors did after beirut and nairobi and after all of the other attacks on our facilities, especially of them where there was loss of american life, said, what must we do better. How do we protect the men and women that we send without weapons. Without support from the military into some of the most dangerous places in the world. Andll continue to speak out do everything i can from whatever position im in to honor the memory of those we lost and to work as hard as i know to try to create more understanding and cooperation between the state department, our diplomats, our Development Professionals from usaid, and the congress. So that the congress is a partner with us. As was the case in previous times. I would like us to get back to those times, congressman. Whereas i think one of you said, beirut, we lost far more americans not once but twice within a year. There was no partisan effort. People rose above politics. A Democratic Congress worked with a Republican Administration to say, what do we need to learn. Out of that came the legislation for the accountability review board. Iner we lost more americans the bombings in east africa, again, republicans and democrats worked together and said what do we need to do better. I am an optimist. Im hoping that will be the outcome of this and every other effort so that we really do honor not only those we lost but all those who as we speak are serving in dangerous places, representing the values and interests of the American People. Book harde in your choices that you were directing the state Department Response the night of september 11, 2012. You also stated you left office on the night of the attacks and went to your home in northwest washington because you said you knew the next few days were going to be taxing and the department was going to be looking to you. I want to talk about a few things. You have a skiff in your home . I did. Where you alone . I was alone. The whole night. Yes, the whole night. [laughter] i dont know why that is funny. Asa little note of levity 7 15. What is the future of the Benghazi Committee . When will they wrap up their investigation . Right now there is no x version date there is no expiration date. The committee is expected to continue throughout 2016. Congress passed a major education law this year replacing the no child left behind law with the new version, every student succeeds. It was rarely frontpage news as it worked its way through the house and Senate Education committees and the law was finally approved in december. The bill gets done at the end of the year. Is it largely a product of this senate . It is it largely reflects the senate bill. The version out of the house was more conservative and included his visions that would included provisions that would allow students to opt out and testing for the students. That position was ultimately left out. The United States senate, congress, and the president by the end of the week, will have a Christmas Present for 50 million children and 3. 4 million teachers in 100,000 Public Schools across this country. Something they have been eagerly awaiting. Today, the senate should pass by a large margin our bill to fix no child left behind. A lot has been said about how the bill repeals the common core mandate. How it reverses a trend toward a National School board that has gone on through the last two president ial administrations and how it is the biggest step toward local control in a quarter of a century. Local control of Public Schools. That is all true. The legislation specifically prohibits the United States secretary of education from specifying in any state that it must have the common core standards or any academic standards, not just the secretary but future secretaries. It gets rid of the waivers the department of education has been using to act in effect as a National School board. Causing governors to have to come to washington and play mother may i if they want to evaluate teachers or fix low performing schools or set their own academic standards. It is true that it moves a great many decisions at home. It is the single biggest step toward local control of schools in 25 years. This morning, as we come to a vote which we will do at 10 45, i would like to emphasize Something Else. I believe that the passage of this legislation and if it is signed later this week as i believe it will be by president obama, will unleash a flood of innovation and excellence in student achievement across america, community by community, and statebystate. Why do i say that . Look at where innovation has come from before. My own state, tennessee, was the first state to pay teachers more for teaching wealth creating a Master Teacher program in the 1980s. Of florida came right behind. At the not come from washington. The Democratic Farmer Labor Party in minnesota created what we now call Charter Schools in the early 1990s. That did not come from washington. The governors themselves met with president George H W Bush in 1989 to establish National Education goals. Not directed from washington, but with governors working together with the president involved in leading the way providing pulpit support. The governor since that time have been setting Higher Standards, devising tests to see how well students were doing to reach the standards, creating their own state accountability systems, finding more ways to evaluate teachers fairly. My own state has done pretty well without Washington Post supervision starting with a Master Teacher program. Nessee pioneered to relate donor gratis and realized that our standards were really low. We were kidding ourselves so he working with other governors pushed them up higher and our current governor, bill haslam, has taken it further and our children are leading the country in student achievement gains. The states themselves have been innovation and excellence over the last 30 years. We have learned Something Else by the last 10 to 15 years. Too much washington involvement causes a backlash. You cant have a civil conversation about common core in tennessee or many other states. The number one issue in republican primaries even in general elections. Mainly because washington got involved with it. Now washington is out of it and it is up to every state to decide for themselves what the academic standards ought to be. The same with teacher evaluations. Brawlin a year and a half. Vote in our state senate. When i came to washington a few years ago people said, senator alexander is going to want every state to do that. They were wrong about that. The last thing we should do is tell states they must evaluate teachers and how to evaluate teachers. It is hard enough to do without somebody looking over your shoulder. Too much washington involvement has made it harder to have Higher Standards and harder to evaluate teachers. Thatieve we are changing this week. I had dinner with a democratic senator last night who plans to vote for the bill. He said he would have given me five to one odds at the beginning of the year that we would not have been able to pass this bill. Why are we at the point where we are . Where we are likely to get votes in the mid80s in favor . We worked on it in a bipartisan way. I have given credit to senator murray from washington, d. C. For suggesting from the state of washington for suggesting how we do that. I see senator mikulski from maryland. Our Committee Work and it bipartisan way. So did the house of representatives. The president and Staff Members and secretary duncan have been straightforward in dealing with us and im grateful for that and we knew from the beginning and said to the president , mr. President , we know we cant change the law, we cant fix no child left behind, unless we have your signature. He dealt with us in a straightforward way. And then we found the consensus and once we found that consensus it made it difficult problem a lot easier. Keep the important parents teachers and schools will know how parents students are doing. 17 tests administered from the third grade to the took great, keep those report the results, and then leave it to classroom teachers, School Boards and states, the decisions about what to do. That should result in better and fewer tests. That consensus underpins the success we have had. Six years ago in december we had a disagreement in this chamber. We passed the Affordable Care act with all the democrats voting yes and all the republicans voting no and the next day the republicans went out and started trying to repeal it and we have not stopped. That is what happens with that kind of debate. This is a different kind of day. If the president signs this bill as i believe he will, the next day people are not going to try to repeal it. Governors, school board members, teachers, are going to be able to implement it and they will go to work doing it. They will be deciding what tests to give, what schools to fix and how to fix them. What kind of tests should be there. It will be there decisions. From the day the president signs this bill. It only lasts for four years until it is supposed to be reauthorized but my guess is this bill and the policies within will set the standard for policy and elementary and secondary education from the federal level for the next two decades. It is a very wellcrafted piece of work. It is good policy. There are some things that are undone. Senator murray has a list of things that could not get in the bill and i have mine. Make glad to see us progress on Charter Schools. I wrote a letter to every School Superintendent in the 1990s asking to try at least one of those start from scratch schools. Today, 5 of our children in Public Schools go to charter Public Schools. That is a lot of kids. 6 million children. Schools where teachers have more freedom and parents have more choices. We have not made as much progress on giving low income parents more choices in schools for their children so they have the same kind of opportunity that better off financially parents do. My scholarship for kids proposal got 44 votes here. I thought it was a very good idea. They would give state the option, not a mandate, to turn all their federal education dollars it to scholarships were children. That would be to 100 for each of those children and it would follow them to the school their parent that would be to the 100 for each of those children and it would follow them to the school their parents chose. Dollars forbe 2100 each of those children and it would follow them to the school their parents chose. We can celebrate the fact that we are coming to a great conclusion. While it does repeal the common core mandate and it does reverse the trend to a National School board and is the biggest step toward local control in 25 years , what excites me about the bill is i believe it will unleash a flood of innovation and excellence in elementary and secondary education that will be a wonderful Christmas Present for 50 million children in 100,000 Public Schools being taught by 3. 4 million teachers. I yield the floor. Senator from maryland. Mr. President , i rise in support of the bill of every child succeeds at. Today will be a great day in the United States senate because we will actually pass a bill that is the result twoipartisan effort, led by very able and dedicated leaders, chairman alexander and Ranking Member senator patty murray. They have done an an outstanding job in encouraging open debate, extensive hearings, consultation with members, committee markups that were long, hard, sometimes quite feisty to say the least. That is the way congress ought to be. Shows that inon the senate we acknowledge the , rankinghairman kind member scott in the house. Here we were led by two educators. Former president of the university, former secretary of education. Senator alexander and in senator whoay, a teacher herself has taught us many lessons in our caucus on how to do the right job in the right way. Today, we come now with the rewrite of a bill that started 50 years ago, when Lyndon Johnson wanted to have a war on poverty and had passed the elementary secondary education act. It was the first time that the federal government was going to be involved in education and wanted to be sure that there were federal resources to help lift children out of poverty. With what agree Condoleezza Rice has said, that education is the civil rights issue of this generation. Education is what opens doors today and opens tomorrow. The registration the legislation we passed today will make sure we correct the problems of the past and do the right thing in the future. When i knew that the committee was going to be serious about doing the bill, i crisscrossed maryland consulting with parents, teachers, administrators of school systems, to get the best ideas. The first thing i asked is, what are we doing right, what are we doing wrong, what do you want us to do more of, and when do you want us to get the heck out of the way. They said to me, the problem and washington is you have a onesizefitsall mentality. Washington wants to write the same rules that apply in new tok city and apply them ocean city, maryland. You cannot have a onesizefitsall for every School District in the United States of america. The second thing they said is, you need accountability. You do need metrics. What we have come up with is over testing that still does not result in high performance. So i worked in a bipartisan basis with the leadership to do what we could to get rid of those excesses of onesizefitsall, all decisions made in washington and the fact that we should not be racing to the test. We should be racing to the top. Joining for a year in review of congress is Christina Marcos of the hill. A lot of november on the house floor was spent in reaction to the terrorist shootings. The attacks in paris and then in San Bernardino, california. It was more than just the usual floor speeches. There was debate on issues like immigration, the refugees. And how to defeat isis. What came out of the house floor in particular in terms of the overall legislative effort . Less than a week after the november 13 attacks in paris, house leaders rolled out a bill to enhanced security screenings for syrian and iraqi refugees entering the u. S. That bill was passed with technically a veto proof majority. Later on, this was included in the omnibus spending package, a bill that passed the house easily that would restrict visa waiver programs and allow citizens from 38 countries to enter the u. S. For up to 90 days without a visa. The chair would ask all present to rise for the purpose of a moment of silence. Chair asks that the house observed in moment of silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks in france. The world watched in horror as paris endured terrorist attacks bys lowest radicals. By islamist radicals. My thoughts and prayers go out to france. President Francois Hollande reminded the world that france is a country of freedom. In the last month in the global war on terrorism, isil has russian 224 and a jetliner. Now what hundred 29 were murdered acros paris with a threat to attack washington and rome. The president should change course to eliminate safe havens for islamist radicals. Terrorists are trying to break our will with cowardice. We will fight together to protect our values and protect american families. As cochair of the french caucus of french heritage i appreciate our friendship with the citizens of france. May the president by his actions never forget the global war on terrorism. France is the latest direct target in the global war on terrorism. It is with a heavy heart that i rise today to honor the memory of a bright student who was taken from this world too soon. Nohemiy Gonzales Gonzales was murdered in the paris terror attacks while she dined at a restaurant with Three Friends who were also students at cal state long beach. She was in paris for a semester abroad studying at the Straight College for design. She graduated from whittier high school. A first generation mexicanamerican student who was passionate about design and life. Nohemi was a star in the Design Department and she touched the lives of many. In her own words, she was highspirited, orderly and self driven. She had a Bright Future ahead of her. I hope that her friends can find some solace in the outpouring of love and support from our community. We grieve for and with you. At this time, i would like to ask my colleagues to take a moment today to honor nohemi and the other victims and those fighting for their lives in critical condition. The debate in congress turned to Syrian Refugees. Its clear the American People are concerned about the administration possibility to vet thousands of individuals from syria. Governors of both parties have demonstrated their concern. Members of both parties every as concerns as well. Given all that is happened in paris, instantly makes sense it simply makes sense to take a step back and press the pause button so we can determine the facts and ensure we have the correct policies and security screenings in place. That the most responsible thing for the administration to do right thing. That is the most reasonable and balanced thing for the administration to do right now. We should also not lose sight of why we are in this position to begin with. The Syrian People are fleeing syria because of a brutal civil war. The ultimate solution to this problem is to make syria a place the Syrian People can continue to return to. The administration has never had a coherent strategy to settle the conflict. Everyone of us knows that isil presents a threat to the homeland. Our homeland. If not contained. If the administration is serious about starting to turn the situation around, its going to have to develop a serious and workable strategy that can swing and when strong bipartisan support. I have been disgusted to see some of my republican colleagues shun the tradition of displaying compassion for those in need. Frankly, i have been disappointed by republican fear mongering and bigotry. Apparently they have learned nothing from history. We cannot repeat the dark days of the 1930s when Many Americans result to turn away the helpless refugees fleeing nazi germany, adolf hitler. Imprisoning of innocent japaneseamericans during world war ii. Colleague and his family, those mistakes were based on misguided fears of people we dont know. How many people died because of unfounded apprehension . Far too many. It seems many republicans are destined to go down that same path again. The Republican Party have suggested we block all Syrian Refugees. One republican candidate for president suggest we turn away even fiveyearold refugee children. Two other candidates for president implied the United States of america should have some sort of religious test for refugees. They are saying only christians. This is the latest in what has become a disturbing pattern of hatred and i intolerance. There are jews, christians, lots of them. During the course of the current president ial cycle, we heard from the Republican Party, the , that we should be shutting down muslim houses of worship in america. Close the mosques. That we should ban muslims from government service. We have two of my friends who serve in the house of representatives who are muslim. And proud. That religion has made them better people. We we are suggesting that project refugees based on the grounds they are muslim. That is not america. That is hate emanating from some republicans. A propaganda bonanza for isis. The area the issue of Syrian Refugees is not one that they are done with. Its on but they will take up this issue in 2016. Mitch mcconnell has indicated that bill may come out when the Senate Returns in january. When 14 people were killed in San Bernardino, california, three weeks after the terror attacks in paris, members of congress debated gun control. Mr. Speaker, today i rise with a heavy heart to pay tribute to the 14 innocent lives lost on december 2 in San Bernardino, california. In this terrorism attack at the inland regional center. In the wake of this terrorist attack, our community has come together and supported one another during this dark chapter of our region and our nation. Today i ask my colleagues, fellow americans, and those who hear this message around the world, to pray for the families of the 14 victims. The speedy recovery of the 22 injured, and that countless First Responders that helped that day. And the resilience of the San Bernardino community. In the aftermath of this pain ive seen firsthand the tenacity in spirit of the area we call the inland empire. We have said as one community that this tragedy will not define us and will not divide us. We will not be afraid to come together in fellowship. To Work Together, to mourn together, or to rebuild together. Across faiths and culture we will support one another in this time of need. San bernardino has been forced to soldier through difficult times before. As we face this new and different hurdle, i know my community will continue to stand together to show our country and our region the resolve of this city and of these people to heal. We are San Bernardino united. Mr. Speaker, im joined by my colleagues and ask the house to pause for a moment of silence in honor of those affected by the terrorist act in San Bernardino. The house will observe a moment of silence. One of the immediate reactions to San Bernadino was. His effort to restrict sales but up as legislation by peter king in the house. It was called on by people like arbor boxer in the senate like Barbara Boxer in the senate. Democrats seized on that particular bill as a potential solution in the aftermath of these terrorist attacks that also were gun massacres. The way for democrats to tie the terror debate into a debate about gun control. Mr. President , when i will got this morning i hope yesterdays tragedy in San Bernardino was just an unimaginable nightmare. And then, as i usually do in the morning, i go through the clips from my state. I read the headlines. Bloodbath in San Bernardino. 14 slane at California Office party. Carnage in california. Sows terror ine california. At least 14 dead in mass shooting. Party. Rampage at holiday horror. Horror hits home. Horrific. Just one word. Mass, mass murder. These are from papers all over my state and a couple national headlines. My heart is broken. After this rampage. That led to the tragic loss of life. So many injuries, so much trauma and pain for the people of San Bernardino. I want to thank the medical personnel who are working as we speak to save lives and all the brave lawenforcement officers who rushed to the scene and later stopped these killers. We know that the victims in this attack were county employees at the San Bernardino department of public health. I began my career as a county supervisor and i oversaw in marin county the department of public health. I know how dedicated those county employees are. Theyre right there in the communities. The facility was really dedicated to helping disabled people. For this to happen at a Holiday Party, where these employees were gathering in friendship, it is a stunning shock. While details about the motives behind this despicable attack are still unknown, here is what we do know. Because these killers used military style weapons, 14 people died and 17 people were wounded in a matter of minutes. The purpose of these guns is military is to kill a lot of people very fast. The scene looked like a war zone. There is a reason for that. Again, because these weapons are designed for the military. Designed for the police. I have to be honest with you, i have never heard one persuasive argument about why anyone else would need to have this type of weapon. These weapons of war do not belong on our streets and in our communities. ,y colleague, senator feinstein for years has been pushing sensible legislation that would keep these weapons off our streets. We need to stand with her. We need to stand with her across party lines and pass it. It is so discouraging, mr. President , that we cant even pass legislation here that would keep the suspected terrorists on the nofly list from legally buying a weapon. Any kind of weapon. It is not enough for us to keep lamenting these tragedies. We need to take action now, before Something Else like this happens again in your state, in my state. Office, take an oath of we swear that we will protect and defend the American People. I dont think we are protecting them when we allow these types of weapons to get into the wrong hands. We are averaging more than one mass shooting every day. Multiple People Killed by guns. Innocent people, every day. This is america. This does not happen in other industrialized nations. 31 people die every day from gun violence. 31 people. After 10 years of the vietnam war, we lost nearly 60,000 americans and people were in despair. We lose more than that to gun violence in less than two years in this nation. Cost was anything else the the deaths of 30,000 americans a year, every single senator would be in their chair and we would be demanding action and we would be crossing over party lines to stop it. Because that, my friends, is an epidemic. People deserve to feel safe in their communities. I dont understand it. They deserve to feel safe when they go to a Holiday Party at work. Safe. Eserve to be they deserve to be safe going to a movie theater. They deserve to be safe in their school when they are six years old or 16, or 26. They deserve to be safe in their work voice their workplace. At a shopping mall, in a restaurant, at a health care clinic. Job, to keep our people safe. We know the threats that face us abroad. We have threats at home. We need to do both. We need to protect our people abroad from threats abroad and from threats at home. The very best way to honor the victims of gun violence is to take sensible steps that are supported by the American People , like universal background checks, keeping assault weapons in the hands of our military and guns, safety features on keeping guns out of the hands of people who are unbalanced, unstable criminals. And then we can prevent these tragedies. Will we prevent every tragedy . No. My friends will say, someone could have a knife. Yes. It is a lot easier to get away from a knife than an automatic weapon that moseyed down before you can even look up that mows. Crying out for a. Regardless of motives, we need to make sure military weapons are in the hands of police. It is straightforward. I do not care what city you look at, what town you look at San Bernardino is a beautiful place. I do not live far from there. I have an office about 15 minutes or less from there. People deserve to feel safe in our communities. Prayers,d my love, my my solidarity to the community to the families, to the First Responders. To everyone there. And we are going to pull together, like all of these communities do, but we need to prevent these things from happening, because if we do not, we are libel. I believe we are liable. We know what is killing people every day. It is gun violence. And we know it. I am not a lawyer. But i have a lot of love a lot of family members that are lawyers my son, my father was, i husband is. Somethingce you know is happening and you can do something about it, and you do not do something about it, you are libel maybe not in a legal sense, but a moral sense. So, i hope we are going to come together around this. Every time the press comes and asks me after tragedy, after tragedy will something happened now, and after sandy hook i said absolutely. We will come together. We did not. I want to close with this. In california we have tough gun laws. I do not know how these weapons got where they were. We will find out. People say you have these gun launch look at this. Reduction in 66 gun violence since 1993 in my great state. We have taken action. This is one nation under god. Somebody comes from a nearby rate, from north, from east, and they have a gun. So that is why it is important for us to Work Together and have sensible, National Laws universal background checks. Almost 90 of the people support it. The majority of nra members support it. What is wrong with us that we cannot do that . What are we afraid of . These military, assaultstyle weapons that kill so fast, and so many people, we should make sure they are in the hands of the military and the police. President , my heart is will remain so. This was supposed to be a great day for a lot of us that worked long and hard on a highway bill. This is a moment we were waiting for, and that is what life is about, you know . There are moments that you savor, and moments that you wish to god you never had to talk about or experience, and that is the kind of day it is for this particular senator, and i know senator find time feel senator feinstein feels the same way. Thank you. I yield the floor. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Since the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, leftist politicians have called for more gun control on americans. They have opened the doors to immigration from hotbeds of islamic extremists. The most effective defense against an armed terrorist is an armed american. If one person in that will in San Bernardino would have been able in that room in San Bernardino would have been able to return fire, many innocent innocent lives would have been saved, but californians are subject to the most difficult gun laws in the country, making it difficult for individuals to exercise their right to defend themselves, and in a Society Denied its right to selfdefense, the gunman is king. The most effective defense against an armed terrorist is an armed american, yet the president and his followers seem to increase the number of terrorists entering through porous borders and lax Immigration Laws, while at the same time looking to decrease the number of armed americans. It was to the point of disrupting the work of the house. Words,president s congress should act to make sure no one on a nofly list should be able to buy a gun. He asks, what could be the argument against that . While serving in the california state senate, i discovered i could not check in. When i asked why i was told i was on this government list. The expense was kafkaesque. My First Experience was to ask why i was on the list, what criteria do you use that is classified. How do i get off the list . You cannot. I soon discovered another california state senator had been placed on the list. A few months later, u. S. Senator Edward Kennedy found himself on the list. I at least had the office of the starch sergeant at arms in the state senate to work through, something an ordinary american whatnot. Even so, it took months, working with that office with repeated petitions to get my name removed from the list. The farce of it all was this i was advised in the meantime to fly under my middle name, which i did without incident. In my case, it turned out it was a case of mistaken identity with an ira member the British Government was mad at. This could happen to any american. During this administration, the irs has been used extensively to harass and intimidate or americans for exercising their First Amendment rights. Is on theent proposes whim of any federal bureaucrats, an american can be denied their Second Amendment rights as well, with no opportunity to confront their accuser, contest the evidence, or a valve themselves of any of the other Due Process Rights under the constitution. The concept the left is seeking to instill in our law is that mere suspicion by a bureaucrat is sufficient to deny lawabiding american citizens their Constitutional Rights under the law, and given the lefts demonstrated hostility to freedom of speech and due process of law, it is not hard to see where this is leading us. I said would support the proposal if it would establish a judicial process where an individual could only be placed on the list once he had been accorded his Constitutional Rights, to be informed of the charts, given his day in court, accorded the right to confront his accuser, contest the evidence against them, and submit himself to a decision by a jury of his peers, and that is the furthest thing from the left by the left agenda from the lefts agenda. The terrorists were not on any watchlist. One was admitted from saudi arabia after vetting the president keeps assuring us was rigorous and thorough, and several of the guns were not even acquired directly, but rather through a thirdparty. Of course, the American People do not want terrorists to have guns. The American People do not want terrorists in our country in the first place, but the president policies have left the nations good wide open while he seems to take from americans big wide open, while he seems to take from americans their means of selfdefense. The besti began defense against an armed terrorist is the armed american. It is what the Second Amendment is about. Our constitution is the best defense of all, and it must be defended against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Are you back. Items on thet agenda were extending several tax breaks and passing a 1 2016. On spending bill for this came after the regular appropriations process broke down in the middle of the year. Again, the end of the year ended with an omnibus spending bill. How did things break down in the house in particular . Broughte house, they appropriation bills under a process known as an open will, where lawmakers can offer as many amendments as they want. There is no limit. Six of therked for bills that passed, but once they got to spending for the interior, this was right around the time of the shooting in charleston that was racially charged at an historically black church. So, at the time, when the nation was having the debate about the display of the confederate flag, democrat started offering amendments regarding the display of confederate flags in national parks. Werenally, these memos adopted. Then, when seven states found out about them, leadership tried to go back to undo the amendments. At that point, they realized they would have to take these potentially highly embarrassing votes on the house floor because there were a good number of republicans that did not want to measures to pass. So, at what point do you think the leadership thought it was going to go to an omnibus, this is the way it is going to be . Ms. Marcos right essentially because they, even knew they would likely have to go to an omnibus in the first place, they were doing individual bills for show, really, a way of showing House Republicans were allowing regular order and rest an open process in the house, but once it was clear it would result in this highly toxic vote in the wake of the charleston shootings, they likely encountered a lot of criticism if the state took the vote, so at that point republicans decided to cut their losses. The yearand taxing and spending legislation ended a 40 year van. Credits for wind and solar energy, and permanently extended the research and Development Tax credits. Both democrats and public and saw the legislation as a victory for that their side of the aisle. Representative pelosi it will create jobs, strengthen the future, and grow the paychecks of the American People. We have finally renewed the 9 11 health and comprehensive national and [applause] representative pelosi it is such an account a competent. Congratulation to than native Ranking Member, to whom 9 11 was a priority, for all of us, but for new yorkers, this is your day. Because of your leadership, we passed the best possible, under the circumstances, appropriations bill. I think our success with our republicansn the obsession with the oil and export ban. They really gave away the store. The democrats were able to strip out scores and scores of destructive poison pills, some which they had to have, which they ended up not having. They are called poison pills because they have a toxic effect, not only on the legislation, the number of votes, they could get or not get, but because of what they do they wanted to dismantle womens health, eliminate the clean power plan, prevent oversight of wall street, sabotage finance Campaign Finance reform, and devastate organized labor in our country. I had my own problem with the oil, but i decided i could not empower big oil to overcome the successes in this bill. We entered ins limiting about 10 times more Carbon Pollution than the exports crude oil will add. Of course, the omnibus was a compromise. We came a long way. It is a monumental improvement over the special interestridden Appropriations Bills that House Republicans were offering this year. Win. Is a big i am very proud of the votes we had with our members, once they saw what was actually in the bill. With that, i am pleased to yield to our distinguished with, who played such a big role in the distillers vote. Madamyer thank you, leader. As leader pelosi has said, it was a win for the American People. Was it perfect i said on the fort was not perfect. We do not pass perfect bills. We passed bills reach to cover my stupid democratic process, this was an extraordinarily big victory, in my opinion, as i said, for the American People. I want to congratulate leader pelosi. I want to congratulate Ranking Member lowly. I was on the phone with them a lot. I know they were working around the clock to reach the objective that we got to. Congress has now approved the omnibus appropriations bill that will keep the government open, but more importantly it will increase investments in two prioritiesomestic that will help our economy and our people. What members return to the hundred 14th Congress Second session in january, when members return to the 114th Congress Second session in generate, we have to fix our broken immigration system, and restore Voting Rights protections. We ought to proceed in the same bipartisan, cooperative fashion, that allowed us to reauthorize the highway bill, the elementary and secondary education act, passed the Export Import Bank we authorization, and pass the bill which will try to make america safer. So, if we could do those things, surely we could address additional priorities in the year to come. We also must take action on puerto rico. It should have been in this bill. Leader pelosi fought hard to have it in this bill. , luis gutierrez, jose serrano were indefatigable in fighting for it. It should have happened. I am glad that paul ryan has said he will address it next month when we return. It must be addressed and done. The last several weeks saw a number of bipartisan successes, which i mentioned. It is going to be successful, America Needs to replicate that, and again, i david, thank nita lowey, her staff, the staff worked around the clock. I also want to credit the white house, who worked, as leader pelosi would say, shoulder to shoulder, making it very clear that we would not take riders not just the poison pills but they would undermine the health, safety, and security of our country. I want to join you and wish as i close, all americans, especially , and theving overseas famines, a joyous Holiday Season and a happy new year. Anytor mcconnell by objective standard, i think the senate is clearly back to work. We had a dysfunctional body in Previous Congress is. One way to measure dysfunction is how many votes you are having on a minutes. 15 in all of 2014. Right at 200 this year. Another way to measure dysfunction is not passing a budget, which is required by law , five four of the last five years the previous majority did not pass the budget. Admittedly, some would say that is a low crossmark, but that is the beginning of ending dysfunction, and we have done that. The other thing that was important in ending dysfunction was to quit the marginalization of members. How do you do that . You bring most of the bills through the regular order, members work on bills in committees, they become invested in the bill, and then they want it to pass. Divided government is not unusual. Often than it more not since world war ii, and i said in my own reelection in louisville, what i want us to be is a responsible, right of center, governing majority. One of my favorite former colleagues, phil gramm used to say never take a hostage or not prepared to shoot, and it seems to me a pretty obvious lesson from previous efforts to shut down the government or to default on the national debt, that is a hostage you are not going to shoot. It is a hostage that is not worth much. I wanted to and those, kind of, rattling expenses the American People do not like. It never produces a positive result anyway. I took goes off the table the day after the election, and we began to figure out how to get the Senate Working again. Now, the evidence of the Senate Working again is things like that keystone pipeline, the trade for motion authority, a behind,of no child left a multiyear highway bill, cyber things thatlot of have been languishing around here for quite a while. I am told my democratic colleagues came in here a few moments ago, and took credit for a number of things. Let me give at least the followership of the democratic side the credit. I will be the highway bill as an example. Senator boxer and i found that we actually agreed on what all to be done here. The democratic leadership, schumer, read, and the white house, try to torpedo the way we were doing the highway bill, but senator boxer, with her skillful skillful knowledge, it allowed us to move the highway bill across the floor. I think the way you get the is forworking again members outside the leadership level to begin to have confidence in each other, work on bills together, think it is worth passing, and work to make it happen. The year, by any objective standard, it has been a year of significant a competent, and i want to thank the democrats that did cooperate. Senator murray was spectacular on education. Senator boxer was unbelievably good on highways. Senator feinstein was good on cyber security. Obviously, having the cooperation of the other side in a body that requires 60 to do most things is essential, and that is the way to good results in the senate. Host thanks for watching cspans Congress Year in review, 2015. The house and senate are back for pro forma sessions on january 4. The senate is that generally 11 is back in january 11. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] reminder, if you missed any of the look back, we will show it at 8 00 p. M. On cspan. The house returns on january 5 and plans to work on a budget reconciliation bill that the funds planned parenthood, while also repealing the health care law. The Senate Already approved that measure, but the president said he will veto the legislation. 11,tors return on january set to consider a bill from kentucky senator rand paul that would require an audit of the Federal Reserve to follow the scent Federal Reserve. Follow the senate live on cspan2, and the house, on cspan. Areur facebook page, we asking, what was the most significant event that happened this year in congress. Several have posted their thoughts, including steve who says conservatives taking back the senate, and paul ryan taken over as speaker of the house, the honest fact they did next to nothing for the money they are paid, and are proud that it. Now we want to hear from you. Log onto facebook. Com cspan to join the conversation. This new years weekend, book tv brings you three days of nonfiction books and authors. On new years day, encore represent presentations. Thom hartmann on his life and career, and responsive your calls and questions. His many books include the crash of 2016, rebooting the american dream, and threshold. Then, robert williams, whose books include race and economics, and up from the project. Saturday, ethical p. M. Eastern, karl rove looks at the william discussingmpaign, the political environment in 1896, including political gridlock and mckinleys expansion of the republican base. He is interviewed by richard burr kaiser, senior editor. Rove the Republican Party has been eaten. Beaten. Mckinley has seen the country descend into a depression, and republicans think the election of 1896 is going to be theirs and he wants to be the nominee, but he is not the front runner. He is not the favorite of the party bosses. Directly following, at 11 akaka is an, join book tv 11 00 p. M. Eastern, joined book tv as we attend a party thrown for karl rove. Books include a detroit story, and first in his class, a biography of bill barack obama the story. This weekend on book Tv Television for serious leaders. Road to the white house continues with republican potential candidate marco will be a. He called for a Constitutional Convention of the states to establish a establish a balanced budget amendment. Introducing the Florida Center is South Carolina congressman trey gowdy. This is one hour, 10 minutes. [applause] trey gowdy thank you, senator. This is going to be hard, because they tell us in South Carolina, not to talk to people behind the back. If you see me turn around, that is why. I want to thank you for your warm, if that is the right word, and hospitality. This is my First Time Ever to iowa. 50 years, i have been to a lot of states. Cannot return to some. Until the statute of limitations this is my first time to iowa. My wife told me to go buy a coat before i came. I did, she asked last night, you are wearing your coat come arent you . I do have one, i didnt wear it. I want to thank you for your courage. I want to encourage you to keep fighting. What i mean by that, in South Carolina, it does not take a lot of courage to be republican. There are no democrats i dr. Lena to fight with in South Carolina. So we fight amongst ourselves. There are no democrats left to fight with. Iowa is different. It is the quintessential battleground state. They can go either way and 2016. This is not hyperbolic, it may well be that the white house depends upon what you do in iowa. I want to say thank you for the courage of being a republican in a state where it is not always cool. I want to encourage you to keep working heading into 2016. The second thing i want to do is talk to about 2016. You have an obligation to analyze and investigate candidates for yourself. I did not come from South Carolina to tell you to who to vote for. This experiment we call america only works works with an educated moral, citizenry. You have the responsibility to educate yourself. How in the world can i come here and tell you what you want to do. What i can do is tell you i have done exactly what i am asking you to do. I know what issues are important. I know that i will vote for marco rubio. I want to tell you i. Why. National security is one of the most and port things government does. I am looking for a commanderinchief, a president that does not view his reign job as filling out march madness basketball brackets or sampling golf courses on the east coast. But really knows his primary function, his number one job is to be the commander in chief and provide for our National Security. When you hear micro marco rubio taught, and i have been talking to him for years, he is an expert on National Security. There is no one running for president that is more knowledgeable, more principled, and has taken the time to educate himself on issues of National Security. The most and port things in my life are my wife and children, i am looking for a president that will keep them safe. I include in that border security, and interior security. I am the author of the toughest interior security bill that you will ever read. Because a sovereign nation has the right to determine who gets come here, and how long you to a, get to stay, and what is the background check. It is a privilege to immigrate. You do not have a right to immigrate. Sovereign countries have a right to determine who gets to come, and how long you can stay. If you dont stay, we have the right, just like the uncle at christmas time, to say, it is time to go home. If i were not 100 certain that marco rubio is committed and principled on the issues of National Security, including border security, interior security, and employment security, i would be in South Carolina, not in iowa. Trust me when i tell you, i have done my research. I am at peace he is the best candidate on issues that matter to me. Do you care about fiscal responsibility . Do you want a president who will put us on a path towards fiscal responsibility . He is our guy. I promise you he is a fiscal conservative. I got a copy of his book. Paperback. The wrapping cost more than a gift. If you doubt he is a fiscal conservative, swap gifts. You will find out he is. He is better at something then i am or ever will be. I heard him in 2010 speak on a message of conservativism in a hopeful, persuasive, aspirational way. I am a former prosecutor. You dont want prosecutors that are aspirational. You would like them to be persuasive, but i cannot do what he does. Tim scott can do it. President reagan can do it, i cant do it. I know that hope is important. I was in it of that when my wife made me go to a wedding with her this past summer. I shouldnt say she made me. My wife and i went to one. I didnt want to go, but she said, you have to go to your sisters wedding. I went, it was the same verse you here at every wedding, these things remain the greatest, hope and faith and love. It is ok to have faith in this next decade. It could be the greatest american decade. It is ok to have faith that that could be true. It is also ok to be helpful as you are delivering the message of conservativism. You dont have to be angry or upset, you could be helpful. Hopeful. If you told me five years ago i would be in iowa getting ready to introduce the son of cuban immigrants, the son of a bartender, the son of a lady who did housekeeping. I would first of all tell you, that is only in america. I would say, are you sure . I have done what i am asking you to do. I have analyzed the candidates. I have picked mine. You need to do the same thing. I hope and i think when you get done hearing him, you will reach the same conclusion. He will can fence you as he has me that he is our best hope he will convince u. S. He has me, that he is our best hope. Help me welcome marco rubio. [applause] senator rubio thank you. Thank you very much. First of all of me take this opportunity to verify family. To embarrass my family. They are here. This is my daughter amanda. This is daniela. She is 13. She is on the news sites. Were so proud to have her with us. This is anthony, who is 10. He is the third oldest. Were so proud. This is dominique. I think one day he might stand on one of the stages. Right . Dominick yes. Sen. Rubio and of course my wife, jeanette. We met in 1991. I think the first time i saw her she was playing sand volleyball. There was a cute girl in the bleachers. We met months later. Somehow i convinced her to marry me seven years after that. We also have a friend. We have so many good friends that do not get to see snow. Were glad they are here. I want to thank all of you for being here. Thank you. [applause] sen. Rubio i want to thank jack, campaign chairman. He has done a phenomenal job for us from the beginning. Has helped us get around the entire state. Where so honored by his help and confidence. I want to thank tray for being here. He is a phenomenal look servant public servant. Trey gowdy is trying to make a difference. He is a strong and principled believer in the constitution and the deliveries liberties. I am grateful for his testimony about the campaign. I am here today because i want you to caucus your caucus for me in iowa. It is the most and port in privilege we are given in this republic. It is the most important right to be able to choose our leaders. Here in iowa, you place such a next ordinarily extraordinary role in choosing a president. When the country decides who will lead the nation in the aftermath of a barack obama, i hope iron that support. I earn that support. If you already are on our scene, our hope is to find more people to support us. I cannot emphasize how important this election is for america. This is by far, they greatest nation in human history. There has never been a country like america in the history of the world. It was founded on a principle that our rights come from god, not the government. On the principles that all human beings are equal in the eyes of our creator. Therefore, that is why we believe that all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws. We were made the freest people in the history of the world. From that flows Free Enterprise, which made us the most prosperous people. The rest, as they say, is the history of this great country. A nation that for over two centuries has served as an inspiration to the world, and a place for millions, including my parents, came here in search of a better life. The history of america has no parallel. We are blessed to be citizens of the single greatest nation in all of human history. And yet, despite everything america is and has done, there have always been these people in american politics have you america as a flawed country, in need of radical reform. People who want government more in charge of our life. They dont trust you to make the right decisions. They dont trust me to make the right decisions for my children. People that want more government involved in our economy. They believe that Free Enterprise is unfair. But only a handful of people make all of the money. Everyone else is left out. They believe the only way businesses can make a profit is by exploiting workers and customers. People that have used those with traditional values with great suspicion. We have a president that has said people with traditional values cling to their guns and traditions. People who think people with traditional values dislike anyone unlike them. We have had this view that america is a arrogant global power that needs to be humbled. We have had people that believe these radical things. Problem is, one of them was elected president in 2008. Now we are seeing the results of it. A government takeover of our economy, our health care system, and now trying to take over our schools. You have an allout assault on our Constitutional Rights. With getting rid of the Second Amendment, and of session with the eroding our religious liberty. A Foreign Policy that is about betraying our allies, cutting deals with our enemies, weakening our military, and apologizing for america. The truth is, barack obama and Hillary Clinton do not want to fix what is going wrong in america. They want to change america. They want to change america. What youre left with is, instead of a president who has undertaken the systematic effort to redefine our country in every aspect of it. What you have now is a society where people hold views that they support traditional marriage, they call you a bigot and a hater. If you are prolife, they say you are waging a war on women. Instead of focusing on the people that are struggling and harder than they have ever worked in making less, we have a president that is accessed with creating more government programs, oftentimes that benefit people at refused to work. We know that isis is actively recruiting people to infiltrate into our country using the syrian refugee crisis as a cover. You say you want to restrict the refugees, they say that is hateful. We have terrorists beheading people all over the world. Isis is crucifying people, carrying out attacks in paris and then bernadino. We have the runway risk of radical jihadist and the president thinks the greatest risk we face is climate change. We have the gutting of our military. We are on pace to have the Smallest Navy we have had in 100 years. We are on pace to have the oldest and Smallest Air Force this country has ever had. Instead of worrying about funding the men and women in uniform, we have a president who spends more time fighting for funding for planned parenthood, for example. This is why people are so angry. This is why the people with a most money and the most endorsements that have been around longest are not winning. This is why people are so angry and frustrated at both political parties. This has been building for a while. Is this why in 2009 when i just added to run for the u. S. Senate, the entire republican establishment in washington was against me. I ignore them. Thats why right now this year, when i announced i was running for president , any of the same people came to me and said, you cannot run. Its not your turn. You need to wait. Wait until what . This is a time for action in this election. If we get this election wrong, there may be no turning back for america. Thats why this election is so important. Thats why im here today in hopes of earning your support in the iowa caucus. Someone who clearly understands what we are facing and what we are dealing. And i do. No one running understands it better than i do because i have lived many of the same challenges our people are now facing. I want to know how is Hillary Clinton going to lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck, since i happen to grow up paycheck to paycheck. Jeanette and i have had to live paycheck to paycheck. How is Hillary Clinton going to lecture me about Student Loans . I had over 100,000 of Student Loans just four years ago. Jeanette and i happen to be raising four children in the 20th century, and we have to work harder than ever to ensure that our children grow up with the values they teach in our church, not those being ramped down our throat by hollywood and the media. We need a president who understands what our people are facing, and i do because i have faced them, and in facing them now. We need a president who understands the that me what must happen for us to reclaim america, reclaim the american dream, and make this nation greater than it has ever been. I understand this and will put it in place when i am in office. I will place my left hand on the bible and raise my right hand in the air and swear to protect and defend and uphold the constitution of the United States of america. Im going to appoint judges and an attorney general who will respect and protect the Constitutional Rights of all americans, especially the Second Amendment and are religious liberty. I will immediately begin the work of undoing the damage barack obama has done to america. On my first day in office, i will repeal every single one of his unconstitutional and illegal executive orders. We will get rid of all these crazy overreaches by the employment prevention agency. We will repeal all of the overreaches. Any work the federal government is doing on imposing, core, we will stop it. We have republicans out there who have supported common core. Im going to make sure common core will never be imposed on our local School Districts. We dont even need a department of education. We should close it and give its important functions over to the treasury. [applause] sen. Rubio on my first day in office, we are going to stop any and all taxpayer funding of abortion overseas. This is a bipartisan commitment the nation made that the president has reversed. We will change it on my first day in office and i will now that as president , i will put the full weight of presidency behind it effort to call a Constitutional Convention of the states. And why . I will tell you why. Because thats the only way we will ever get term limits on congress and federal judges. Thats the only way we will ever get a balanced budget amendment. Thats why our founders created a mechanism in the constitution for us to take control of our government and our future. I will use the bully pulpit of the white house to push for and hopefully succeed in calling a Constitutional Convention so we can have term limits on congress and a balanced federal budget. [applause] sen. Rubio i will cancel Barack Obamas deal for the ayatollah of iran. It is a betrayal of israel. When im president , we are not going to abandon Free Enterprise. We are going to embrace it. We will fix the tax code, they cap regulation and produce more american energy. That means solar, wind, bio fuel, oil, natural gas. We are bringing jobs back to this country but reembracing Free Enterprise and creating the best paying jobs of the 21st century. On obamacare, every republican running is against obamacare. Im the only republican running that has ever done anything about it. In 2009, the Big Insurance Companies cut a deal with barack obama and Hillary Clinton not Hillary Clinton, but nancy pelosi and harry reid. They created a bailout fund with your money. A fund designed to bailout by the Insurance Companies who lost money under a obamacare with taxpayer money. They did that back in 2009. In 2014, i wiped out that fund and we saved the taxpayers to billion dollars. There are experts now saying the loss of that bailout fund may ultimately lead to the collapse of obamacare. We can only hope so. One way or the other, when i am president , we are getting rid of obamacare once and for all. Once and for all. Trey touched on immigration. There is no one running for president that understands immigration better than me. My father was an immigrant. My mother was an immigrant. My grandparents were immigrants. Jeanettes family are all immigrants. All of my neighbors or immigrants. I grew up in a community of immigrants. I still live in a community of immigrants. No one understands this issue better than i do. Heres what i know to be true. Enforcing Immigration Law is not antiimmigrant. It is what sovereign countries do. They have a right to have an Immigration Law in the have a right to enforce them. When im president , we will. First of all, i understand the immigration issue has changed in just the last two years. Its no longer about new people coming here looking for a better life for a better job. It can no longer be a debate about what to do to get more votes in the next election. This has become a National Security issue. Terror groups are looking to use our immigration system to get people into this country. The issue has changed and so too must our approach. There was a time not long ago when people do not lock their doors. They lock their doors now. The world has changed. You dont lock your doors because you hate people on the outside, but because you love the people on the inside. When im president , if we dont know with 100 certainty who you are aware youre trying to come, you cannot come into america. That will be the principle that guides us. We are not going to have amnesty. If you are a criminal, you are going to be deported. Sanctuary cities that flaunt our federal Immigration Laws will lose federal winding. We will enforce our borders. Border security is not rocket science. We know what it takes to do it and we will. We need 20,000 new border agents. We need at least 4 billion of new technology so we can identify people are trying to cross illegally certain sectors of the border. We need an entry exit tracking system to prevent these the overstays. If we do that, you will see illegal immigration, and control dramatically. When im president , we will do it for the first time in 30 years, it will happen. On National Security, it is the most important issue the federal government faces. There are talks of how they will carpet bomb isis. They will make the sands of the middle east glowinthedark. Talk is cheap. National security is not. National security is the most important thing the federal government does, and being commanderinchief is the most Important Role of president will play. You cannot kill terrorist or carpet bomb them if you dont have airplanes or if you dont have bonds. We wont be able to do any of that if we keep cutting the military. I dont understand how the commute republicans running for president who support these defense cuts and want them to go even deeper. When im president , we are rebuilding our military. We will ensure we remain the most powerful military in the world. The world is a safer and better place where america is the Strongest Military in the world. [applause] we will take care of our veterans. If you are a veteran, we thank you for your service and for being here today. When i am president of the United States, if youre not doing a good job working at the v. A. , you will be fired. The benefits will be like the g. I. Bill. The veteran will not have to chase down the benefit. You can take your v. A. Benefit to any hospital, any doctor, any clinic, any provider you want to go to instead of the v. A. Because these benefits belong to the veteran, not the bureaucracy. We will have a real war on terror, not a rhetorical war on terror. Which means we will find terrorists wherever they are. If we happen to capture them alive, they will get a oneway ticket to guantanamo bay, cuba, and there we are going to find out everything they know about threats to the future. There is no middle ground. The sooner we take it seriously, the safer and better all we are going to be. I know that times are difficult and it is true that after seven years of barack obama, by the time we elect a new president , eight years of barack obama. It is true that america is a great country on the road to decline. But it doesnt have to remain this way. We are not a week nation. We just happen to have a weak president , and we are going to change that. Thats why this election is so important. We cannot afford four more years like the last eight. Thats why Hillary Clinton cannot win this election. We cannot afford to elect just any republican. Its not just a choice between two political parties. This is a generational choice, a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a will. The question before us is, do we want to remain a special country . Or do we want to be a nation in decline, the way we are right now. Im running for president , because while america owes me absolutely nothing, i have a debt to america i will never repay. This is not just the nation i grew up been or was raised in or was born in. America is a country that literally change the history of my family. America did not become an exceptional country by accident. It became exceptional because for over 200 years, each generation did their part. They confronted the challenges and embrace the opportunities and let the next generation better off than themselves. For 200 years, each generation left the next better all. Now our turn has come. The time has come for us to do our part. Thats why im here today to ask you for your boat at the caucuses. If i am president , we are going to reembrace the principles that made america great. We will not just run away from, we will confront and solve the issues of our time, not leave them to my children and yours. We will embrace the opportunities of 21st century. If we do this together, we will not just say the american dream. We are going to expanded to reach more people and change more lives than ever before. The 21st century does not have to be as good as 20th century. We have a chance to make it better. So i hope that in the time we have today i can earn your support. I know of no greater cost than what we are doing in this generation. That is ensuring that our children inherit from us what we inherited from our parents, the single greatest nation in the history of all mankind. In a moment we will begin to take your questions. We have one microphone. Is there a second one . We will be happy to answer any questions you have. Lets get to work. Who is going to go first . Ok. Yes, sir. Nice hat. In regard to obamacare, is just cutting the funding on a year basis, is that going to eliminate the actual legislation that was passed . Is there something that needs to be done besides just cutting the funding . Sen. Rubio the only way to get rid of obama care is to pass a law that repeals it. When im president , i will sign that law. We can get around the filibuster in the senate. We can repeal it the same way they passed it. With a process called reconciliation, you dont need to know all the legalese a use in washington. We will have a majority in the house and senate that will pass and i will sign it and obamacare will be gone. Then every american will be given the opportunity to buy any insurance they want from across state lines. Whether its a refundable tax credit or money from your employer that you dont pay taxes on, you will be able to use it to pay for Health Insurance the way you want to pay for it. Some people want a Health Savings account. Catastrophic coverage. They can buy it from any company in america that will sell it to them. It will be better for you and better or america. As president marco rubio, which i would like to see, how are we going to balance approximately soon to be 20 trillion and rebuild our military, which we have to do. Sen. Rubio National Defense is the most important thing america does. We should fully fund our National Security before we pay for anything else. Its why we have a federal government. It is not the cause of our national debt. This president has built up faster than any other president in the country. Its being driven by the way Social Security and medicare are structured for future generations. In florida there are a lot of people on Social Security and medicare. One of them happens to be my mother. I dont want anything to change for her that is negative. We dont have to change medicare and Social Security for her. We can leave them on disrupted for her, current retirees, people about to retire in 10 years or less. But is no way Social Security and medicare will look the same for me or my children as it did for her. It either goes ankara or we reform it. Instead of retiring at 67, i may have to retire at 68. That is not an unreasonable request after what my parents did for me. Its not unreasonable reform. Medicare can be the option of using medicare money and using it to buy private plan that you like better. We have versions of that now called medicare advantage. We can help bring our debt under control, save Social Security and medicare for future generations and we dont have to disrupted for people who rely on it now or people who are about to retire. If we dont do it, the problem gets harder to resolve. When you become president , what are the chances you will name trey gowdy to be your attorney general . [laughter] [applause] sen. Rubio i think if he is willing to take the demotion no, he is phenomenal. He would be great in anyones cabinet. Im not sure thats what he wants to do, but i have tremendous respect for him because he is a Firm Believer in the constitution of the United States. We desperately need an attorney general that believes in the constitution. It is such a unique document. Other countries have constitutions. It is largely a document that says here are the powers the government has. Our constitution is a document of limitation. It says here are the powers that belong to the people. The people have allowed you to have a few powers, and that is it. If the document of limitation. We have lost perspective. So we dont have a Justice Department that enforces the rights of all americans under the constitution. We dont have judges that do that either. We have a growing number of judges that believe the is something to be manipulated, something to be creative with. Thats the reason they gave us the constitution, so we would not have that sort of thinking. We need an attorney general that will do that. We also need judges that will do that. Thats why we need term limits on the judiciary. There is no reason these people should be on there for the rest of their lives. We should have term limits for the president , for members of congress, and for the judiciary and we need to appoint people to the bench that know that their job is to interpret and apply the constitution, not manipulated or create loopholes in it. Back again, all right. You mentioned earlier your student loan debt. As president , how would you fight the rising cost of Higher Education . Sen. Rubio i feel personally committed to the cause of dealing with student loan debt. We have so many other americans who are inheriting thousands of dollars of Student Loans often for a degree that does not even lead to a job