The prevalence of online ads that are targeted. So i think that youre seeing that there are many more channels the people are going to have to manage. That is why we went down or pathway with the innovation platform, which is a hub and spoke model, or you can have a hub where we know truck across where you can have a hub where we know across all of these channels, and begin plugin i spoke when there is a new travel. New channel. Gentlemen, thank you very much. Thank you as well. Cspan, created by americas Cable Companies 35 years ago, and brought you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Campaign 2014 will be the topic on tomorrows newsmakers. Johns is dawn lee agunesy jones dawn le has tried to neutralize this issue. Was the first Senate Candidate to come out for overthecounter Birth Control. Ther nominees followed suit democrats have not had a good response to that. How should democrats be entering republicans on that . Republican orto democratic, independent women giving garner a second look because of this . The best question is, are these issues working . Airink that the amount of trying to backpedal from the record and find something to say to women on these issues should shows how important and critical and affective they are for this race. Control,counter birth first of all, speaking in the planned parenthood voice. And a legitimate effort to expand Birth Control and access for women, and supports. Supports. Parenthood this feels to me like the red sox rooting for the yankees, it is not believable. What we find with overthecounter Birth Control is that when you combine it with the fda saying it is not repeal ofet and the what covers all womens access to Birth Control and you cannot go to a cbs and get a iud. That could cost women in colorado and across the country, not just hundreds of dollars that thousands of dollars to lose that benefit. Theother issue is that goals that garner supports are aimedvery much and at outlawing a certain forms of Birth Control and the absolutely bad abortion in all cases. Absolutely than abortion in all cases ban abortion in all cases. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann recently spoke at the Heritage Foundation about the tea party influence on the political process. She is the founder of the house to party caucus. She is set to retire in january after serving four terms. This is one hour. Us. Hank you for joining i hope we will get out before the rain starts and you will not have trouble leaving. We are delighted you are here for the special session today. In Boston Harbor in 1773, about patriots got angry about a bunch of bakers got angry distantxes imposed by politicians. Bunch ofard, a patriots got angry about taxes imposed by this distant politicians and through the politicians overboard. The Tea Party Principles were simple. Tax less, spend less, and get the government out of our homes and businesses. Inir roots, however, late layellectual history in the intellectual history of americas founding. Beyond that snake is a deeper message then dont tread on me. It is a bold philosophical statement. Liberty is of more fundamental importance to Human History then paternalism, and a government former forices the the latter travels on the rights of its citizens. Few have exemplified that ideal more than our speaker today. Represented her district for six years, and she is the Founding Member of the House Tea Party caucus. Which has remained and she has remained a strong force for keeping conservatives true to principles in congress. I believe she ran for president one time a couple of years ago. Although she will soon leave washington, and we will dearly miss her, i assure you of that, and she will return to the real world. At she will always remain shining light of the Tea Party Movement and a testament to what good people can achieve when they get fighting mad. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome representative Michele Bachmann. Thank you so much for that warm introduction. That is the question that everybody is asking the right now. Michelle, will you do when you lose congress . I told him that, number one, i will take an extended vacation. Found a perfect secluded place, it is msnbc primetime. Actually, that is a lie to want to thank you for that introduction. It is an honor for me to be here. I cannot think of anywhere i would rather be to give one of my final speeches while i am an official member of the United States congress then truly the Gold Standard for conservative thought, and that is the Heritage Foundation. It is a thrill to be able to be here. This is a stellar organization. I am thrilled to be here with aei and cato and the Family Research center as well as your forum, concerned women for america. This city is filled with terrific organizations that have stood long and hard and valiantly have fought for american principles and american exceptionalism. And for 40 years heritage has been at the top of the heap. And in many ways, i believe that, as you said, the American Values and principles that heritage has espoused for these years, has provided the framework for the tea party. It is limited government, it is strong families, it is Free Enterprise. There is nothing new here. But just because it is not new does not mean it is not profound. These are not new ideas. They are the same values that have been espoused since the time of the american revolution. But what is that it was time for us we were in desperate need of a reawakening. And that is what the tea party was all about republishing the American Values of american greatness. All the media wanted to talk about was whether the tea party was up or down, whether it was dead or alive. But that missed the point entirely, because the tea party never was, never has been, never will be a political party. Because, you see, it is a movement. It is a movement about returning us and our nation to our founding principles. Front and center, by contending for them in public discourse. Said, theas you patriots through the tea into Boston Harbor, they were not just protesting an unfair tax. I am a former federal tax lawyer. I hate high taxes. That is not with the Boston Tea Party was about. It was also about cementing the soul of our nation and the soul is this. Opposition to an overreaching government and a fierce passion for selfdetermination. And it is the idea of a the declaration of independence that infuses really the meaning and being of what it is to be an american. It is this. It is the idea that there is a creator, and we acknowledge that in the declaration. That a creator created all of us and created us equal. That in itself is profound. As the declaration of independence says, it is not a government, it is not a politician that gives any of us our rights. We were given those rights by virtue of birth, by the fact that a creator created us and gave us these rights. They are inalienable, which means no politician, no government takes them away because only a creator can give them to us. It is a phenomenal philosophy upon which the nation was founded. Those three inalienable rights that the founders enumerated were these the inalienable right to life. Only a creator can give it, and only a creator can take it away. The second was liberty, freedom, the franchise that was intended for every human on the face of this earth. Every human does not enjoy it, but that is what makes this government exceptional. Because we recognize that freedom is yours, not something government can give. And certainly something government should never take away. The third is the pursuit of happiness. That is not just wanton hedonism. What it means, quite profoundly, is you have the right to earn and keep the fruits of your own labor. What a concept . Life, liberty, and the right to earn and keep what you earn. They are not just nicesounding words. When i say to you is this. Our founders gave us the ultimate social compact, that governments were instituted for among men for one reason. Just to secure the inalienable rights that were given to us by a creator. So government cannot interfere with them, and certainly government cannot take those fundamental rights away from us. And that is what makes us an exceptional nation. Said, the modern tea party stands for three very basic things. Number one, we are taxed enough already. Number two, government should not spend more money than what it takes in. And number three, government should live under the constitution. Pretty extreme, right . Pretty radical, right . Last night our Vice President , of the United States joe biden, said that the tea party is crazy and lacks judgment. Well, that is rich, because if these are the principles we stand for, i think whether you are democrat or republican, they are ones that you would agree with, that this is what brings for american greatness. If this is extreme, that is all we need to know about the challenges in the arena of ideas. On each of these three, unfortunately our current president has a failing grade. Every step of the way he has pushed for government with a more intrusive role in our lives. He telegraphed his intentions during his first inaugural address when he said, it is time to begin again the work of remaking america. He went on to say that we should no longer be asking question of whether government is too small or too big. Instead, he offers we should simply pursue government to get the job done. Well, mr. President , the job is not getting done for the American People, and i think we know that all too well. Of course, some of us realize that the question of whether the government has the right to do something is far more important than the question of if government has the ability to do something. There is nothing in the constitution that says that government is a charity. There is nothing that says that government is meant to be our family. It is not meant to be the church. The constitution is clear. And it certainly, government should never be our doctors office. Though the president wants it to be all of the above, including our banker, student loan officer, and even our car dealer, placing government at the epicenter of our life it changes the game of the social compact. You see political liberty and , economic liberty are in peril. They are intertwined, woven together by our creator who provides them both of them to us. You do not get political liberty without economic liberty. And you do not get economic liberty without political liberty. History teaches that people are most productive, happy, and successful when they are free and when they can be independent. If you restrain freedom. If you sap a persons independence, you will lose the vital spark that made the country great. The love affair with Big Government occurred with the bush administration. It occurred long before that, harkening back to the days of fdr and lbj or you can even go back to the time of give me liberty, give me death. Pedro castro was worried about big element. But president obama took the mistakes of his predecessors and hit the accelerator with a quantum leap of unimaginable proportion. It began when i was here with the wall street bailout. I was a freshman member of the United States congress. It was one of my first major votes. I was sitting as a member of the Financial Services committee, in the midst of this very consequential debate. As you recall, this was a blank check for a 700 billion bailout. It has never been seen and never been heard of before in United States history. Sent over from the white house was treasury secretary hank paulson. He came to our republican conference to sell us on the bailout. And i confronted him at the microphone with a few important questions, none of which received an answer. One of my questions was, where did the number 700 billion come from . The second one was what will you use it for . Since we could not get a straight answer to either of those fundamental questions, not only did i vote against him, we put together a great ad hoc group of both democrats and republicans who came together and said maybe this is not a great idea, and we are giving the treasury secretary a blank check for 700 billion. The first vote failed. You could have seen heard a pin drop in the chamber that day when the vote came up. Nancy pelosi thought she had the vote in the bag. She did not. Four days later, i voted no again. But enough arms had been twisted. You could hear bones breaking from here to san francisco, and the vote got rammed through. That so hundred billion dollar 700 billion bailout led the president for bailout mania in washington, d. C. Once again, taxpayers were on the hook to bailout private companies to the tune of billions of dollars. It upset 150 years of bankruptcy law. Worse yet, the government gave pink slips to 3400 privately held automobile dealerships. This was shameful in our history. Many were ordered to close their Stores Within 30 days. Imagine that. You own a private business, and the government sends you a pink slip, shut your doors because we tell you to . You have 300,000 worth of spare parts and inventory in your back office, and you are told we are telling you, close your door . Unconscionable. Next came the trillion dollar stimulus package. You were a politically connected ally of the obama administration, you have a leg up. Socalled Green Energy Companies like solyndra receives hundreds of millions of dollars. Before they went bankrupt, it was cronyism at its worst. The department of energy became the epicenter of loans to obama donors. Then there was obama care, the crown jewel of socialism. It amounted to a government takeover of 1 6 of our economy. And look how that has turned out. Politically connected allies, one after another, got a waiver to obamacare. False promises like, you can keep your Health Care Plan if you like it. Or you can keep your doctor if you like him or her. Or you will save 2500 annually on your healthcare premium. Ell, it is not so funny for the American People who have to live with this abysmal healthcare system. 2 billion were spent on a dysfunctional website. That was not funny, and that does not include all the money that was wasted on state websites either. W, conveniently, the government will not reveal its insurance class for next year until after the Midterm Election is over. The American People watched all this unfold. Fed up, the modern tea party was born in a positive turn of the pendulum. I founded the Tea Party Caucus in congress. Just so every day, real americans can have a voice and a way to share their concerns with their elected representatives. More than anything, it proved to be a listening caucus because ulse of reale poll people who live outside the beltway bubble. This was pretty refreshing for washington, d. C. Americans of all backgrounds organized rallies. They went to town hall meetings. They showed up here at the u. S. Capitol. It was a spontaneous organic uprising. So, of course the left called it , astroturf. It could not possibly be real people would actually stand up and say they wanted to have selfdetermination. A rally to stop obamacare that i called produced tens of thousands of americans, showing up at the capitol. They had less than one weeks notice, no organization, and no one paid them to come. And they came here simply to legislators, not with my health care you dont. One woman from hawaii came and told me she saw me make the call show, andn hannity she said i ordered a plane ticket on the spot so i could be there with you the following noon, thursday at the capitol. People came from alaska. All 50 states, over 20,000 people doctors, lawyers, people from all walks of life saying the country cannot embrace socialized medicine. Well, the Grassroots Energy sent a wave of freedom loving reinforcements to washington, d. C. , in 2010, including the likes of senators mike lee and rand paul. And it took the gavel away from nancy pelosi in the house of representatives, and with the largest number of seat pickups since 1948. I wonder what this election this year will yield. Even the establishment moved toward embracing the tea partys messaging about constitutional principles Like National debt and balanced budget. You know you are effective when Tea Party Organizations were systematically targeted by the irs, which tried to diminish their voice in 2012. The irs admitted they had wrongly asked conservative and faithbased groups for their donor lists and membership lists. Even for the content of the prayers of people who were in Tea Party Organization meetings. All to intimidate and all to slow down applications for tax exempt status before the crucial 2012 election. Ironically, president obama himself once made the case for Less Government intervention in the marketplace. Yes, he did. During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire in 2009, president obama said, i mean, if you think about it, ups and fedex are doing just fine, right . No, they are, it is a post office that is always having problems. Thinkingont of clear rare moment of Clear Thinking from the president. On one side you have president obama, our post office president. Bigger government and more spending is the solution to every problem that comes along. If a better model exists, the answer is not change the model. But spend more money to prop up the old model. On the other side, you have a philosophy that believes in maximizing your choices, not forcing you to choose the government preselected choice. It encourages entrepreneurs to create new models and let a free market decide whether or not your idea will succeed. Earlier this year, i had the privilege of traveling to england to speak at the oxford union, both about innovation and about the bureaucracy that stifles innovation. In that speech i told the story of a Great American. His name is norman, a phd biologist from the university of minnesota. He is in a very unique class. He is one of only three americans to win the nobel peace prize, the congressional gold medal, and the president ial medal of freedom. Those distinctions go to luminaries like Martin Luther king jr. And like the rise of. Eli wiesel. As an iowan and minnesotan and myself, i am pretty proud of norman. It illustrates why Human Capital and human creativity as an innovating force has to be nurtured, it has to be defended, and it has to be allowed to thrive. The short version is this. His research led to thousands and thousands and thousands of failures. Failure upon failure upon failure, year upon year of failure of trials in his research, but ultimately it led to a strain of wheat that was able to thrive in environments. Wheatlt, his close was heartier, resilient and covered it writing that have. Or he is credited with saving the lives of 100 across the world can say that matter because of what they did billion lived today back up his remarkable. How fortunate it was that he had a friend in test as you have to go to some bureaucracy every time he needed to get approval for each of the 6000 varieties of wheat he bred. That when he saw an opportunity that no one else saw, that none of the experts could dictate to him , where he could or could not plant those seeds or how he needed to do his work. He himself saw the bureaucratic threat to innovation. More than 40 years ago. This is what norman said. One of the greatest threats to mankind today is that the world may be choked by an explosively pervading but well camouflaged bureaucracy. This urge to control progress from the top down is exactly what stifles innovation. It privileges the status quo over the new. It embraces the powerful over those who are powerless. It embraces lifting up the rich over those who are poor. And it helps the big at the expense of the small. Centralized control discourages the thousands of tinkerers across the country and Small Businesses who move america forward. We see this in uber, revolutionizing the industry. But instead of making their companies more competitive, the taxi lobby has called on to impose more regulations on the upstart service. Where this in california, education bureaucrats are trying to forcibly shut down and levy fines against computer software. Learn to code. Code camps. Their offense . These new and exciting promotions of learning do not send inside governments frequency vibe. We see this in the medical technology industry, where the fda is stepping in. We could talk about all the developments that are going to change our lives in the next five years in the realm of health care. Just exactly when we do not need government to put a net over innovation, we see explosions and greatness in the medical industry. The fda is stepping in to regulate one of the most innovative markets in the world, particularly when it comes to mobile apps that would allow each one of us more personalization and more control of our health care. Imagine, if you have a disease, your Prescription Drug could be designed exactly to fit your dna. Not just a onesizefitsall penicillin but a penicillin designed for you. To get you healed. All these regulations caused google ceo sergey brin to recently say health is so heavily regulated, it is a painful business to be in. Government. T just there is no shortage of Big Companies who want counterparts in government to fix the Regulatory Environment to advance their particular business interests and protect themselves artificially against competition. Crony capitalism, that is what corrupt nations do. That is not what america does. It is no coincidence that the greatest explosion of industrial innovation in industry accompanied our very first experiment of clinical liberty and Free Enterprise political liberty and Free Enterprise. It is because only Freedom Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, scientific region, scientific freedom, and certainly Economic Freedom allowed us the freedom of experimentation, the debate and the chance for risktakers like the great Norman Borlaug to start and yes, fail time and time again. It is in the youth, as the great economist f. A. Hayek once said, of the particular time that innovation demands. It is the genius of an idea that no one else sees. The environment of freedom has caused the greatest leap ever in our human wellbeing, not just for america. Our ideas and innovations here are seen almost immediately and replicated even in third world and developing nations. You can go to the poorest country in the western hemisphere, haiti, and you will see cellphones by impoverished people all across the world, because impoverished people want a leg up, too. You see, trickledown does work. When you have innovation, when you have growth, you have new wealth that is created, it is those at the bottom of the economic ladder who have the most to gain. Because the environment of freedom has created the greatest leap ever in human wellbeing, improving our lives by an order of magnitude. It represents the opportunity to thrive, regardless of age or race or gender. The recipe for success is simple encourage work, dont discourage it. That is what england recently found. Embrace human creativity and Human Capital, dont limit it. Dont limit it. Expand freedom for people to follow their dreams. Dont stop people from the benefit of failure. Because those who overcome failure ultimately learn how to succeed. And here is just one example. I am a former federal tax lawyer and i know firsthand that our tax code has become too complex, too unfair, and blatantly a tool for political cronyism and control. That is what lobbyists are all about. We need a flatter, fair tax system that levels the Playing Field for everyone and encourages innovation and growth and stops taxing investment and productivity. Last year saw the 100th anniversary of the United States federal income tax code. Hardly something to celebrate. Just go back down a trip on memory lane. In 1913, the top tax bracket in the United States this is how the tax code was sold was going to be a 7 tax rate, and the tax code was 400 pages long. 100 years later, the top tax rate bracket has ballooned to nearly 40 . That excludes state and local taxes. Excuse me. And the tax code today is over 74,000 pages long. And that doesnt include the rules and the regs. I just returned from speaking at the Reagan Ranch Center in california. I had the privilege to speak to a Wonderful Group of young conservative women. When Ronald Reagan came into office in 1980, the top tax rate was, hold onto your seats, 70 . Sound like france . Not working so well for them. It didnt work so well for the United States, either. But by the time Ronald Reagan left office, our top tax rate dropped from 70 down to 28. 28 . He also secured a 25 acrosstheboard reduction in income taxes for all americans in every tax bracket, and the simplified he simplified the tax code from 16 brackets down to 2. In addition to cutting taxes, he also reduced spending. He reduced regulation, and he maintained excuse me he maintained a strong excuse me. That is what a long airplane ride will do for you. Sorry, sorry. And he maintained a strong u. S. Dollar. That is the winning formula for strong economic growth, no matter how you cut it. The result was 92 consecutive months of economic growth, the longest peace time expansion in american history. And, as we saw from reagans example, what drives innovation ultimately, and growth is a free , market enterprise environment that fosters it. Today, too many of our policies and institutions are on the opposite end of the free market spectrum. One example in the news recently, coming from the Financial Services sector, is this. The export import bank. It doesnt sound terribly sexy but it overwhelmingly subsidizes the most politically connected corporations in the world. Last year a handful of fortune 500 companies received more than half of the banks financing. Nobody would care if this was a private bank. But this is a government subsidy. It amounts to cronyism that is financed by tax dollars and puts american businesses at a competitive disadvantage is. Do you see where i mean . When i say government is lifting up the big at the expense of the small, enabling the rich at the expense of the poor. Thats not what government is supposed to do. It is time to let the free market work and allow the Exportimport Bank to expire. We can and we must invent opportunity for all america is americans without getting special handouts to the select few. After six years of barack obama s presidency, it is no wonder that the American People feel that this is a government for government, not a government for people. And i believe the president obamas Lasting Legacy will be that the American People saw what a lawless presidency looks like, what Big Government overreach looks like, and the American People are going to say, nah, i think i will take a rain check. President obama set out to make government cool again and he did just the opposite. The principles that make america an exceptional nation are too valuable to throw by the wayside. These principles are what will allow america to shine as the enduring beacon of freedom and liberty around the world. The tea party awakened the country to the values that we hold dear, and it made us the greatest nation in the world. The tea party embodies the revolutionary american spirit that rises up in each of us when our freedoms and rights are being taken away. It is a spirit that built the nation from the bottom up. It did not build us from the top down. America hasnt been preserved by officials in washington dc, as much as we would like to see it. It isnt. It is preserved by the men and women who rose to the challenge and made the nation great the Norman Borlaugs of the world, the Martin Luther king jrs. Of the world, and elie wiesel. George washingtons ragtag army come to the painters across our continent and covered wagons to settle the american west. To the freedom seeking immigrants who cross oceans to claim the promise of americas ideals. That is what keeps us rich and strong. It is the faith and spirit of our citizens, along with the opportunity for a better life that built the country and made it great. Freedom and opportunity, they arent political, they are not republican and they are not democrat. They are American Values also but if we dont stand up to defend these ideals, then who will . In the last few years, it was the tea party, the creaky little and the squeaky little voice of the tea party that said i will stand up and defend these great, enshrined American Values. Death in the last line have been the last line of defense to stand in a way of an ever expanding government that taxes too much, that spends too much, and tries to extinguish one liberty of the American People after another. The tea party will never be content to let the principles of american greatness slip away, and with two more years of president obamas pen and phone yet to come, contend with them for them we must. I thank you, god bless you, and god bless the United States. [applause] should we do questions . Yes. We have time for a couple questions. Let me kick things off this since you are not going to be around, let me put this in policy terms. Assuming the elections go the way people are talking about, you maintain a house, maybe gain the senate, there will be this ballot that comes up all the time, with republicans and democrats, too. Do we go small ball to show we can get things done or do they go after some big ideas and do Something Like the exim bank or the pipeline was an issue like that . Or some issue like that . What is your advice to the leadership im sure you are giving it privately what is your advice on how to manage that, and how would the tea party react to those situations . That is a great question. If everyone heard the question, it was fundamentally this if the republicans have both the house and the senate this year, what is it that republicans in congress should do from a policy standpoint . Should they go small ball or big ball . I have only had one lever in my life, it is either on or off. You either go bold or you dont go at all. When i came to congress i decided to take the dice and roll them, and give it everything i had. I have been a mom at home. Five biological kids, 23 great foster kids in our home. When i was a mom, around the Kitchen Table listening to the radio or watching tv, looking at what was going on in faraway pc, d. C. , my opinion was this what is wrong with these people . Dont they know how we live, dont they understand what it is like to raise a family . We had our struggling small business. Dont they know what it is like for us . We just want to create jobs. We just want to grow. We just want a better life like our parents and grandparents did. I say now and always, it isnt about d. C. , it isnt about politicians. It is about finally getting her your act together and listening to the American People and recognizing that the world isnt stagnant. Things are changing. We have got to do what we can so that the United States maintains its position as the economic powerhouse of the world. Because when we are the economic powerhouse of the world, then we can also be the military powerhouse of the world. The world is a safer place and better off when america is strong on both of those levels, economically and militarily. And what is phenomenal about this Great American experiment in liberty is that it is all rests upon maximum liberty for the individual. What country does that . Only us. Only america does that, l ifts lifts up the greatest amount of liberty for the individual and, shazam, you have the greatest country in the world that is also a powerhouse. You dont do that with small ball ideas. You do that with the ball ideas. The taxginning with code you change it now, immediately, and you either go with a flat tax or a National Consumption tax. You figure out which one. I will leave the debate. Lead the debate. You want somebody to lead the debate . I will lead the debate. Guess what, folks, this isnt working. Americas Foreign Policy is isnt working. Literally thousands of innocent people across the world are getting killed, including women and children who are buried alive in august by the Islamic State. You see, there are consequences when we are not strong. And that is why i say we dont have time to play around with around. Now is the time to reclaim greatness, and you dont do it by drips and drabs. You do if i bold moves. You have to compromise . Yes, you do get not your values, and principles. But you do get there. We have a microphone. Please use the microphone. I just want to say what a hero you are to the silent majority, the christian coalition, just mainstream america. My question is, i just got back from Southern California, which as you know is run by the democratic and, and between that and the seiu and the undocumented immigrants, i want to know if you in congress realize that if you according to walter moore, candidate for mayor in los angeles, Southern California looks like a third world dump and that is what it is becoming trauma and out of those of you in congress realize that if you pass immigration reform, that is what america will head towards, unfortunately. I just want to know what you have to say about that. Well, thank you for your question. I think no human being ever would be considered a dump. That would never happen. All human beings have worth and all human beings have value. When it comes to the issue of immigration, i think the most cynical move was made by the president of the United States. When the president of the United States announced publicly that yes, he was going to buy himself by himself, unilaterally grant amnesty to potentially millions of people illegally here in the United States, presumably some of them could be terrorists that are in the United States who have recently come across our southern border. That is one of our greatest fears. We dont know, but that is one of our greatest fears. He is going to wait until after the election, just like he is going to do with not publishing how much obama care premiums are going to go up until after the election. Let me say this about immigration. I spent four days on the southern border, i looked at this issue and studied a lot. I thought i knew a lot about this issue until i went to americas southern border. I drove from the mouth of the rio grande all the way to laredo, and what i learned with this. It was shocking the border. Border patrol does not stop anyone from coming into the United States, and it is not their fault. It is the politicians fault. Any Foreign National who wants to come across the southern border comes in. They do not get tuesday, necessarily, but they definitely get to come in. Two standard, necessarily, but they definitely get to come in. America is the most generous nation in the world when it comes to immigration. We allow in legally over one Million People from across the world, every year. Legally. If you took every other country of the world and you took the number of people they allow in thru immigration and you added up every other country in the world, every country in the world together doesnt equal with the United States allows in immigration in one year. And we are not the most populated nation in the world. We are an amazingly generous country. And immigration is good for the United States. We are a nation of immigrants. That doesnt include the number of Illegal Immigrants who come into the United States every year. Illegal immigration is estimated between an additional one million to two million per year. That is an enormous amount of people. We have had great waves of immigration into the United States, but then we also hit the pause button so that wee had time to assimilate could we may assimilate. Could we may get time now. Calvin coolidge did that in the 1920s. He hit the pause button and we haved a period of time where we dealt with assimilation. What is very different now from previous waves is that today we have open borders combined with the welfare state. We didnt have that prior to 1965. That has changed our equation. So you cant talk about immigration without talking about americas current welfare state, because those are two issues that come together. The question down here a question down here. Yes, talk radio news. What i wanted to ask is i know a minute ago you were talking about introducing legislation to help ban people who have western passports from entering america who had fought with Islamic State. I wonder if you would talk about the latest on that. Thank you. That is a great question. I just returned from the middle east, and it is very concerning what is going on. And i confirmed when i was in europe with our that the eye and our department of Homeland Security our fbi and our department of Homeland Security a scenario i find it concerning, quite concerning. Think,is one that, i would offend the average american person. I come from a state just by way of background, i come from minnesota, a state with a tragic nexus to terrorism. We have the only convicted terrorist from 9 11. We have had over 50 leave minnesota to join alshabaaab, an affiliate of al qaeda. Theyve gone and struck suicide strapped suicide vests onto themselves and kill themselves fighting for alsha baab. We have had cases of terrorism financing, over 20 minnesotans leave minnesota to fight on behalf of the Islamic State. The first two americans killed fighting for the Islamic State were from minnesota. We have recently had a three young women from st. Paul, minnesota, go to join the Islamic State. We have a tragic nexus to terrorism. And as i saw the uptempo rise of the Islamic State, i sit on the House Intelligence Committee and we deal with the classified secrets of the nation and also terrorism i asked for a private classified meeting with the fbi and i asked our fbi, are there any minnesotans who have left to fight for the Islamic State . And they told me yes, there were two. At that time it was classified and now the whole world knows. This said that there were two that we are watching. Presumably if they dont blow themselves up or if they arent killed fighting for the Islamic State, will they be allowed to return to america if they choose to . And they said yes, they would, because they are americans and have an american passport. Now these are terrorists. , these are terrorists who have taken up arms against the United States. And they would be allowed free passage to return to the United States of america . There isnt a citizen ive spoken to who thought that was a good idea. I just had that confirmed again within the last two weeks by our fbi and Homeland Security that that is how they read along. Read the law. I have read the law, United States code section 349a. Law, i believe our government would not be required to allow them to come back into the United States, but i want to make it absolutely clear, so my legislation would add another subsection that would say if an individual who is an american citizen with a u. S. Passport is either affiliated with or a member of a foreign terrorist organization, u. S. Designated, then the government would have the right to pull their passport and begin the process of the naturalization denaturalization. In other words, they would have full Due Process Rights but wouldnt have the right to return to the United States, because presumably they have battlefield experience, they have relationships with other terrorists, and potentially a plan for terrorist acts in the United States. We know the uptempo of the Islamic State. We know what they have stated. They have stated unequivocally by their leader in january he made this quote, we will be in direct contact with you soon, meaning the United States. He said we are with you. We are watching you. We are with you. Just recently again in the last month or so he made another comment to the United States along the same lines, that they intend to have activity in the United States. No one thought they would be able to get into baghdad. Today mortars are going into western baghdad. And our Islamic State cells in baghdad. There are our Islamic State cells in western baghdad the question is, will baghdad fall . I think when a mad man speaks, you listen. We need to take the threat from the Islamic State seriously, i recognize that we could see violent activity here in this nation as well. That is why on every level we need to secure our borders. I am sorry to say i dont believe that our government is fully securing our borders today. In fact, i know they arent. Not on the southern border through illegal immigration, but certainly not from legal immigration, when an american citizen who becomes a terrorist, in my mind they did not have a right to come and upset the safety and security of the American People. The American People have the right to feel safe in their homes and safe in your community as, communities, and that is what my legislation is doing and we have members of congress coming on that legislation. I think it should be fast tracked. When we come back into washington, d. C. , the legislative companion by ted cruz in the senate needs to be fast tracked. We need to stop terrorists from coming into the United States. We have one from the web addressing campaignfinance issues, and the fact of the beltway seems to have so much control over who wins and loses because of the National Developments in campaign financing. They propose having alternations all donations restricted to spending within the districts from which the candidate is running. Would you care to comment . That is an interesting concept. Ive never heard of that before. For the benefit of the camera, the question from the internet from an anonymous individual is was power of who gets elected seems to come from washington, d. C. Because so much of the money comes from lobbyists and organizations in washington. End of the suggestion and the suggestion was how about it all the race comes from i assume individuals who live in the district, right . Is that your understanding . Ok, from individuals who live in the district because anybody can open up a po box and bank account and defeat the purpose. So that is the question. I have never heard of that idea before, but i do know in minnesota let me tell you, one thing that worked pretty well for us, maybe it may be counterintuitive, but i believe it is ridiculous the amount of money were spending on this election these elections caps on into the realm of bizarre and absurd, even by washington, d c standards, because the election president ial last time, about 1 billion was spent on either side. I was told recently that we may be looking in 2016 at about 2 billion being spent on either side to elect the president of the United States. Why would that be . The reason why is whoever becomes president holds the key to the Worlds Largest atm machine, and the people who are giving the money to elect the president want access to the atm machine. And from my remarks i mentioned solyndra. That is exactly what it was, an individual organization giving money to elect barack obama president of the United States, and lo and behold they get a loan of hundreds of millions of dollars and shazam it goes up in smoke and too bad, it is the taxpayers money. It happens over and over again. In minnesota, this is what we did. And maybe this is too pollyanna, but in minnesota we have limits on what you can spend on an election, actual limits. When i ran for the state senate for the first time, our limit with Something Like 50,000. To me, as a young mom and Kitchen Table maker, i thought 50,000 was the moon and the stars. I thought how would i raise that kind of money . Today i have his distinction as the member of congress who has raised more money for a house seat than any other member of congress. I did that because i was always pelosis top target to defeat and i didnt want her to win, i wanted to win, and people were very generous. Over 2 million in a twoyear election cycle. That is crazy money, crazy get that is crazy that any candidate should have to raise that kind of money. So i think the question is a great one because money is buying influence, rather than real people going to the polls. So one would be limits, caps on how much could be spent. The other idea that i have heard in california, maybe with local elections, there was a limit there was a booklet that was sent to every persons house, and on the booklet was a list of each of the candidates by their name with their photo, and then it had basic questions of basic and basic answers to certain issues, so people would get that in the mail and they would have a sidebyside comparison of the candidates and people would go and vote. Seems like a fairly rational idea. There is things we can do, but what we are doing now isnt working. It is leading to a game of bigger and better, and we are at the point of bizarre and absurd. One thing i love about the Heritage Foundation is this is a wellspring of thought and ideas. Dont we need more of that in our politics . We need more ideas. Whose idea will win rather than whose crummy 20second soundbite on tv is going win . Great question. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me today. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, thanks for joining us. And, again, welcome to michele for joining us today. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, phil. [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. 2014] here are just a few of the comments we have reason we received from viewers. Cspan, ido not watch miss such important things, i will call you. Tell you. I only heard a small portion before the questionandanswer part. Which was very revealing. Know the other what she had it does not matter. I was horrified. And i was so glad that there is ,span for the American People to let her have a voice, so we can really hear what the conservatives are like. Ive watched cspan for years now, quite a bit. The usual complaint is that you are prejudiced. I do not know if you are prejudiced in each and every individual speaker, but certainly in terms of the think tanks. Yet again watching, frankly bloviating aei, American Enterprise institute. Mouthpieces they are for greed and militarism. On about putting a group that actually espouses stuff like democracy and peace and justice . Thank you. I am calling in regards to your comment lines, you have republicans and democrats and independents. You should have a fourth line, none of the above. There are a number of citizens of this nation of voting age e not registered to vote who are not registered to vote and do not vote for whatever region reason. They would like to comment, but they cannot call in on any of your lines. Continue to let us know what you think. Call us. Email us. Or send us a tweet. Next, a town hall meeting in st. Louis focuses on how it the news media has focused on events in ferguson, missouri, and then a discussion of voter id laws and the impact on next months elections. Harassed Oh State University harrisstowe State University in st. Louis recently hosted a panel discussing whether media ensuing protests, and the National Media on a local story, and adversity diversity. The Panel Includes a blogger and the president of black journalist, and this is just under two hours. Good evening. Unfortunately, we need feedback, so we need feedback. So good evening good evening our faculty,of staff, as students, we would like to welcome you all today. Hallis our fifth town meeting that we have sponsored , and i willisstowe be attending a meeting in the systemicegarding meeting systemic problems within a community. We are looking forward to a fruitful dialogue that will go on and continue to has to stomach impacts on continue to have systemic impact on our community. We look forward to having a great program. [laughter] [applause] good evening everyones. Everyone. I am here to actually be a very brief and introduce you to our moderator and get under way. Our moderator is mr. Bob butler, and he is the president of the association of black journalists. He flew all the way here are this event from california. He has been in the industry for 20 years where he works as a reporter in san francisco. Bob was truly is her mental in the ferguson coverage as far as helping journalists on the he immediately released a statement on behalf of of our organization, and helped in any way he could in making sure that journalists on the ground would have their rights protected, essentially. Him, andsed to welcome i hope you will welcome him as our moderator this evening, mr. Bob butler. [applause] [laughter] thought i heard my name. Thank you. We were back there kicking it, thats why are did not hear my name. Good evening, and welcome to this town hall meeting, this is on how the media has covered ferguson following the shooting death of michael brown, it is being brought to you by the st. Louis association of black journalists, and the National Association of black journalists, my name is rob butler, and im the president of the nabj. Notes,e of housekeeping we do have a twitter, you can write your questions to us, we also have cards if you question of the end, and we will go to the panel and then we will go to your cards. Panel. To introduce our to your far left is mariah stewart, she is a ferguson with huffington post, she started covering ferguson right after her graduation. [applause]