Could join us on this particular occasion. Being cast in marble is something that every Vice President looks forward to. Not only a high honor, it is our one shot at being remembered. [laughter] you see, joe, the is much to look forward to. [laughter] in the case of Vice President biden, he will be remembered for 44 years of faithful service in the senate, and the white house, and we appreciate you being with us this morning. [applause] i also want to note the presence of my good friend, and one of the great justices of the Supreme Court come also a hunting buddy, and next year scalia will mark his 30th year of the Supreme Court. [applause] im pleased as well to have the highest Ranking Member of congress here, my friend paul ryan. He has lately become a reminder to me that we dont always get exactly what we want in the world politics. Somehow, i once aspired to be speaker of the house and wound up as Vice President. You ran for president and wound up as speaker. You got the job for the actual power and authority and i got a very nice marble bust. [laughter] anyway, i can tell you, mr. Speaker, the position you are now in suit you very well. Im glad you are here and i think the country is much better off that we have now been able to persuade you to take on this assignment. I want to thank our Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell, any chairman of the rnc for their presence. Ive known mitch many years, we did a great deal of work together. It was always a pleasure to deal with the issues. I want to thank many of the cheney staff and alumni in the room were colleagues on the hill, or the pentagon, and the white house. Men like scooter libby, mary matalin, don edmonds, people i was pleased to share many years with. I especially want to mention and thank the members who served on my secret service detail. Some of them are here, like a jimmy scott who pulled me out of the office on 9 11 and brought me to a secure location. They took great care of us during those years. They looked out for me and my family and will always have our gratitude and our respect. Close observers of portico will note this morning that the cheney bust arrived a little ahead of turn to as the honors at not yet been done to the 45th Vice President , my predecessor al gore. Apparently, there have been some delays on his likeness. And it may be that i am somehow easier to carve into stone. [laughter] the Senate Rules Committee was kind enough to schedule this event anyway and i appreciate their kindness. The rules committee staff, i thank its all the architect of the capital and everyone on the senate Curators Office for arranging my place in our diverse pantheon of the Vice President s. A special thanks to barbara who retired recently as the curator of the capital. As the sculptors work, i guess im not the most objective judge, i would not be the first politician to went into the sculpting process thinking that no peace from the quarry could ever do justice to that face. But you can decide for yourself, personally i think it is excellent. I think he is on a superb job as a true master. Thank you very much. [applause] as a young man unlike john Adams Theater was about. I wouldve been amazed. Any such an area wouldve seemed like a real stretch for the man in my early 20s. The short version a few breaks came my way. One job always led to another. It is taken me to far more places than i ever expected. It took me to this capital for the first time in 1968 with the hopes of working for donald rumsfeld. During that first interview he made it clear to me that i was not what he was looking for and threw me out. If you months later he saw the error of his ways. He recruited me to be his assistant during that first term of the Nixon Administration when gerald ford became president. He accepted me and made me white house chief of staff. Donald rumsfeld and gerald ford fundamentally changed my life. Decades later, i returned to the capital as a member of the house of representatives. I want to thank the wyoming delegation for being here today. I had the fortune of when i arrived to begin a lifelong friendship with bob michaels was with us today. Bob, from illinois, was the republican leader. He taught me everything i needed to know to speak to the people of wyoming. Im glad youre here. I fully intend to spend my career in the congress, but bloodless be grateful to president george h. W. Bush for asking me to join his administration as secretary of defense. It was a special privilege to serve the men and women of the 90s dates military and to work with the president through operation desert storm. The collapse of the soviet union, and the end of the cold war. If you had to design an individual to serve as commanderinchief during those times, it wouldve been a lot like a george h. W. Bush and i was proud and honored to serve. I dont recall exactly when i was first introduced to his eldest son, but i must admit a half decent impression. When the time came, governor bush needed a running mate and got the notion that i could help him find one. That Search Committee was a diligent enterprise and before long we found our man. [laughter] in political history, the names of the running mates are always bound up together, all the more thing and up winning. The bush cheney ticket managed to win twice and not without a little suspense. All through those 2900 days we served together, handling serious matters in serious ways. I worked for someone who i respected and liked without reservation. He is a man of great strength, and great gentleness. He had integrity, a sense of humor, and in other lack of pretense. All of these are what we share and will remember. I have been granted a few distinctions along the way in politics, and there is not a prize more than two have my name there in the story of those years aside the name of our president , george w. Bush. [applause] you will understand, i think, if today i think of another richard cheney, my dad. Anyone who knew him can tell you that the name was plenty good by the time he was given to me. I know my sister, sue, and brother bob would take the same. Only more in the season of life i remember and appreciate both my dad and my mom, marjorie. What a good, kind, upright people they were and how enormously lucky i am to be their son. How could i conclude an occasion like this without mentioning my historian wife . She is not a woman easily impressed, but i thought surely this final honor would do it. A bust of me in marble here in the capital building. However, im reminded at this moment that if the cheney family had not moved to casper, wyoming in the early 50s we never would have met. And she would married someone else. Today, we would be dedicating his marble bust. [applause] that is not to say that im glad that fate worked as a did placing me in proximity to her, keeping a close by those 50 years and more. It has been a gracious walk through the years and such a joy for our daughters liz, and mary, and their families. Now with the seven grandchildren ive lived in no and cherish. I want to thank this morning my medical team, some of whom are here today. They saved my life on a number of occasions and made all of this possible. Over the years, they not only kept me alive but made it possible for me to lead a full and active life. I am very thankful for what they have done for me over the years. It is a tremendous honor to think this will reside here in the u. S. Capitol. Every now and then, even in the distant future, someone will surely wonder by the old cheney bust. Maybe even stop for a moment or two, trying to recollect something of the man here. Whatever else that name might evoke, i want them to know this much at least here was a believer in america, so fortunate in his life experiences, so blessed and his friends, and so grateful to have served as Vice President of the united state of america. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please stand as barry black gives the benediction. Let us pray. The eternal god, who rules the raging of the seas. Thank you for the gift of Vice President richard cheney, and for his many contributions to this great nation. Continue to bless and keep us. Sustain us as we seek to take a stand on the side of love, peace, and justice. Lord, use us to cause, justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Continue to keep us without stumbling, or slipping. Present us before the presence of your glory one day with exceeding great joy. You are the only wise god, and to your name we ascribe glory, majesty, and might. Dominion, and power, now and always, amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated for the departure of the official party. Ticketed guests are invited to a reception and statuary hall. Please see in usher for guidance. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] the hill newspaper reports today that jimmy carter is cancer free. He shared the news to a sunday school his church, telling the group he received a scan that shows no signs of the disease. Mr. Carter has gone through radiation and drug treatment since first announcing his diagnosis in august. Tosident obama is set address the nation tonight in the oval office, the Ongoing Investigation into the deadly , as well in california as steps the u. S. Is taking to Counter Terrorist threats. We have him live today at 8 00 eastern on cspan followed by your calls and reaction on facebook and twitter. We have a question on our Facebook Page now asking what you want to hear from the president tonight. Jamie said she wants to hear that the iran deal was a mistake and that we will stop pandering and trying to be best friends with countries that support islam and terrorism. We will tighten our border and immigration system. Another rights writes you can go to facebook. Com cspan and see what others are saying. This weekend, the cspan cities tour takes us to monterey, california, to explore the history and literary culture monterey served as inspiration for author john steinbeck. Missionswn for spanish and heritage and was the capital of california under both spain and mexico before becoming part of the United States after the mexicanamerican war. Tv, we will tour the National Steinbeck center, which houses a collection of books and artifacts from author john steinbeck. , author of discusses Howard Hughes experimental helicopters and other aviation first. Stephen,ill join author of the death and life of moderate day, a story of revival , as he shows us the bay and talks about its recovery from the polluted body of water to one healthy and teeming with sea life today. Is ago, this was a place he would not want to be standing, right on this beach, doing anything. Because the water was polluted, the air was foul, the seals were gone and the wells were gone, the otters were gone, fishing was bad. Sardines were eventually taken as well. So all of that was happening 80 years ago. The difference is that moderate day got better. On American History tv, we will visit the customhouse and learn about the importance this Historic Building had on trading from california to new mexico. Next, we will go to carmel mission, where we will hear about the missions founded by franciscan priest father sarah. The missions were designed primarily to bring the catholic faith to the native people. Cold hall, were californias First Constitutional Convention was held in 1849. Historian Dennis Copeland shares the significance of this historic call, along with items related to the convention. We have original documents from the Constitutional Convention on display. This is one of them. Fors the registration sheet all of the delegates. It is a great source of information that lists every delicate, where they are from, what state and country, how old they are, and which district of california do they represent. Piece. Quite an amazing it is obviously unique. Watch today at 2 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. The cspan cities tour is working with our cable affiliates and visiting cities across the country. House Speaker Paul Ryan detailed his top priority for republicans next year, including a continuing commitment to repeal the 2010 health care law. This is 30 minutes. Good afternoon. Visitede who is ever knows, it is a was a privilege just to be here in this building. I always will at least 10 smarter being here. Winston churchill used to say we shape our buildings and then our buildings shape us. It is truly the case here at the library of commerce. The key to being in this building is walled up by by me now with scholars, friends gathered here today for this important speech. I dont know if there has been ever a greater aggregation of conservative knowledge, thoughtfulness and thought leadership in the library of congress, at least not since you all have been here all alone. Course, the honor is further compounded by the opportunity that brings us here today to introduce my good friend paul ryan. A reflection of pauls daring and innovative spirit that in his first major address as speaker of the house, he is violating the number one rule in american politics. Never ever give a United States senator an opportunity, an invitation, to give brief remarks. [laughter] ryans election showed, among other prizes this year, the rules in washington and in the republican party, are changing. Has been a part of the change ever since he first arrived in congress. He has been at its forefront since the Ranking Member on the house budget committee. He began pulling and initially reluctant gop. Principled policy innovation and reform. He now has the opportunity to lead in the house, policy entrepreneurship. And the way we make it. This new conservative project follows the example of our founding generation. The original tea party, talking about the tea party that took 1773, was aon in righteous protest against the kind of government we as americans did not want. But that event would now long have been forgotten in history. If that generation had not made the journey from boston to philadelphia 14 years later. To create the kind of government that we as americans did want and still want today. To follow in the founder passes footsteps, conservatives today must first resolve starting right now to apply our principles to todays challenges, restoring upward mobility, it will opportunity, and Community Solidarity to every sector of our economy and every neighborhood in our society. Coalition,iverse good faith disagreements on the right, and within the right, are inevitable. And they are welcome. It is the job of leaders on all sides of these days to ensure that our differences of opinion are sources of strength and not division. Sources that can strengthen us rather than weaken us. Paul ryan is uniquely capable of doing. At his core, he understands that for this new conservative generation to succeed, ideas much must drive our politics and not the other way around. I am thrilled speaker ryan has to layout the challenges and solutions, the ideas, same kinds of ideas that efficient initially motivated our generation to move from their boston moment to their philadelphia moment, that will guide his work in the coming year as speaker of the house. I am confident that, inspired by the declaration of 1776, by the constitution of 1787, and informed, we all hope, by the wisdom of the ages, how straight here in this treasury of human knowledge, those in service of ideas will lead our nation to a restoration of freedom, opportunity, and solidarity in america. In a rebirth of the grand old party that serves them all. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my high honor and privilege to richard is to you the fourth speaker of the united dates house of representatives, my friend, paul ryan. [applause] mr. Ryan thank you. [applause] hey, guys. Thank you. Thanks a lot, mike. Thank you remote. Senator lee, thank you very much. I am delighted to see so many of my good friends and colleagues here. And i also want to thank the library and their staff for their wonderful hospitality. D you toon that i aske come here today is i wanted to lay out my number one goal for the house next year. I became speaker just over a month ago. And i would like to think we have hit the ground running. We are dealing with everything from highways to isis to funding the government. But before we get too far along, i want to take a moment and i want to explain the big thing i think House Republicans need to do in 2016. A great frustration in our party is that we have not had a Real National majority in seven years. We have controlled congress, sure, but not the presidency. And we need to. This country has enormous problems. But if we do not have a president who will work with us, we will not solve those problems. That is, while they are still solvable. And whatever the left may say, i in the houseagues republican conference. I know why they got into politics. We are not here to be someone. We are here to do something. To serve our country. We believe in the american idea. The condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life. And what we want to do is our part to pass that idea on to our next generation. We do not see politics as a popularity contest. To us, it is a calling. We do not care for the tricks of the trade. What we care about, what we love our ideas. So it is with great dismay that we have watched our president transform the country and not for the better. And it is natural after losing to your opponents for so long, it is natural for people to start thinking, maybe they are onto something. Maybe the way to win the debate is to play identity politics. You demonize, polarize, turn out your voters and hope the rest stays home. And i would say yes, it is possible that we could win that way, but to what end . I dont think that many people are walking away from this presidency thinking, that went well. The [laughter] well. T went [laughter] divided in the federal government has grown arrogant, it has grown kind to send it, and outright paternalistic. So i would say what we have seen in the past seven years is the allusion of success. Tactics are not solutions. They can win an election, but they cant win a mandate. They can make you popular, but they cant solve problems. They cant save a country. So why in the world would we want to act that way . So if we want to save the country, if we want to do what we believe in, then we need a mandate from the people. And if we want a mandate, then we need to offer ideas. And if we want to offer ideas, then we need to have ideas. That is where the House Republicans come in. Goal for nextone year is to put together a complete alternative to the lefts agenda. [applause] this is a work in progress no doubt. Today, i want to talk basics. What kind of country do we want to be . I do not presume to speak for all republicans in all particulars. But after giving it a lot of thought, this is what i think a conservative division looks like. We want america to be competent again. If you dont have a job, we want you to be confident that you can find a job and take it. If you do have a job, we want to be confident that that job can tape pay well. We want seniors to know that all those years of hard work, all those years of paying taxes will be rewarded. Medicare and Social Security will be there when you need them. We want all americans when they thatat washington to see going down, taxes going down. We want to see progress. We want people to believe in our future again. We want a country where no one is stuck, where everyone can rise. And on the world stage, it is no different. We want a confident america, a purposeful america. We want to know we stand for freedom and show it. Steady action. We want our military to command respect from our adversaries and to inspire confidence from our allies. We want they come home, to give our veterans the care they deserve. [applause] we want our president , whatever the party, to always keep in i and our interests an eye on our interests. We want america to lead again. That is the america we need. That is not the america we have right now. The people are not confident. They are downright anxious. And they have every right to be. But there is reason to hope. For a long time, the left has thought that if you wanted to solve a problem, we get a group of highly trained experts to come up with an answer and impose it on the country. Nowadays, most of us agree that is the last thing you should do. The world moves too fast