Transcripts For CSPAN Washington This Week 20160109

When you go to high school, and when you graduate, you are not just getting a high school diploma, you are certified to work. [applause] we have lowered Vocational Education to the seventh grade. It is already done in our state. Secondly, we have to Pay Attention to Early Childhood education. We cannot have people who are extremely poor, where they can not have the kind of development in their brain that they need because as we know, if they dont get it, as they get older, they lose the capacity to do as well as they can do. Early childhood education, Vocational Education. Here is another thing. We have to raise the standards of our Guidance Counselors so that they actually died the students and are not just involved in monitoring the gym or the cafeteria. I think it should be done across the country. We know the end demand in state. Jobs in our we need to be sure be are educated people, k12, for the jobs that exist. A the old days, you could get High School Education, and if he did not do it well, you can get mill or aa still Chemical Plant and support your family. Those jobs dont exist. The k12 system will have to foruce the kids with skills 21st century jobs. That is not something the federal government ought to do. It is something that every School District must do. In addition, we have now unleashed a mentoring program. If you are a business and involved a faithbased organization and agreed to take over a school in the standpoint of mentoring a child, we will give you a three for one match. Why does that matter . In a School District where the businesses have gone in and they are mentoring, they have a 97 graduation rate, mentoring and encouraging children of all income levels. Speaker ryan three principles that we, as conservatives, talk about and act on that are sorely needed here. Number one, federalism. Dissolve powered back to the states and localities of the government closer to the people can govern best. That is what you are talking about here clearly. The second is customize. Individual persons have different problems. Customize eight and aid and support. A liberal philosophy cannot accept that. It is contrary to their view. The third one that we talk about quite a bit, and we practice this in our economic philosophy, but in our social philosophy is how do we measure outcomes . How do we rewire the entire based from an input tas system to focus on results . One of the things i think we is you also have to break up these government monopolies. Governmentollect benefits, but save you go to Catholic Charities or lutheran , or look at America Works a forprofit institution they are in the business of providing this holistic support. They are providing it raised on competing results. Breaking of the provision of services so that it is. Ompetitive getting people out of poverty, tracking them. People rubberstamping through the system, and they go out of business. Y that be appl principle to the space . Gov. Kasich we have taken the welfare operation and put in with job training. We are moving them all into one facility. Know some people as you need to get up to a benchmark. Dore are people that really not know how to set an alarm, get up to work here and we have benchmark and a thes tough requirement that you must return. You cannot just walk away. This is an amazing and comprehensive reform in the state. Br making progress on it, but some of the welfare departments dont want to do it. Im telling them, if you dont will privatizei it. Skills at we need help skills out, help skills grow. Your idea that any idea is acceptable. The first principle if this idea that we have reached in this country that the thatmoney you spend on, is evidence that you care about it. To spendse here is not more money, but does it adjust the underlying problem . Our safety net in america does not cure poverty. It treats the symptoms of it, it does not cure it. The only cure is a good paying job. The second point is the answer does not always lie in a government agency. Foring up these funds competition, for innovative programs that can provide a solution to a problem. This is a huge impediment in higher education. Today, you can only get a fouryear degree from an accredited college. Meanwhile, we have dozens of highquality learning programs that you can learn in a selfdirected way. You can get credit through work experience, military experience, life experience, selfdirected online course work. You should be able to package that all into the equivalent of a degree or Certificate Program and expand an outdated and crediting model a crediting model. [applause] speaker ryan this is the fight that is coming. We will cross the coat and attack the root causes of poverty. On all of these monopolies, the. Tatus quo monopolies what do you think is the key for ,aking on these monopolies decentralizing power, and injecting competition for results so we can actually crack this code . Sen. Rubio i think it begins by convincing people that you care about what they are going through. People say that conservatives dont want to fund our agency the way it has been funded traditionally, that means they dont care about you. That means that the work is done it is so critical. If you dont talk about what people are going through, they think you dont care about. Eople like them it begins by dodging that we do have a problem in america, there are people being left behind, and we have to fix that problem. We cannot be the great country that we want to be if we do not solve that problem. Reason why we are changing is because what we are doing now does not work. What we are doing now is leaving people behind. What we are doing now is trapping people. What we are doing now is condemning a sevenyearold child to not be able to break the cycle of poverty that they inherited from their parents and grandparents because they are condemned to failing schools because of all of the underlying issues in their lives not being addressed. The monopolies exist for the purpose of existing, for theetrating perpetuating status quo. It is a hard fight, but a fight we must have because america is special. It is a nation where everyone can go as far as their talent will take them. If we lose that, we stop being a special country. [applause] gov. Kasich i will tell you. I think, you are right. You have to establish the credibility. All the efforts we have made, not just to grow the economy, but make sure people dont get left behind. Was unveiling my tax cut you know where i did it . At the annual meeting of the Community Action agency. That is not a place where a republican typically goes to announce tax cuts. What i told them is i helped you , but you have to understand, we have to create jobs, so i have a tax cut plan that will create jobs, and i expect you to supportive. They did. I think that when you have resulted show people that you toe, people are willing change, to make changes. Bureaucracy is another deal, and you have to sometimes take them on. Give them a chance, but if they dont have any choice. Sen. Scott they are truly the warheads, in my opinion. There has to be a philosophical discussion of where we are in this country, and how we get to the next level of opportunity. To make people believe that the federal government is the first place you go when you are in need, and not the last place. Majore these debates on the minimum wage. Frankly, the poorest workers lose one we increase that minimum wage. Without the access to the skill set that you typically get in entry level jobs, you are stuck. You are taking wrongs out of the latter. Sen. Rubio that is exactly right. The first thing we have to explain is what Everyone Wants is a country where everyone has a chance to go as far as their talent and work will take them. The impediments that people face are different. One of them is skills. You talked about the minimum wage. ,n this era of automation minimum wage is a threat to jobs. Most of the National Fast food chains will be automated at some point. You will only make that happen faster. The jobs for creating the machines pay, but you have to have the skills. If you dont have a System Training people with those skills, they will be left behind. That is what we are facing today. A dramatic transformation of our economy. We are living through an Economic Transformation on par ,ith the Industrial Revolution but it is happening every five years. It threatens to leave people behind if we do not equip people with the skills they need to succeed in the new economy. We are a country with a retirement system signed in the 1930s, poverty plans designed in the 1960s, Energy Plants from the 1970s, and nothing looks like it did five years ago. We have an outdated government that is more interested in protecting the status quo than modernize our policies to address the challenges of the 21st century. That is a huge issue in this campaign. [applause] speaker ryan one of the things that i found so profound is using and like my mom says, i have two years and one mouth, using them in that proportion. Seeing these incredible stories of people overcoming amazing adversities. That is the best lesson there is. Seeing what other people have done. Our job, as policy makers, is to get behind them so we can empower more. Who is a person that you know that fell on hard times, was in destitution, went through a struggle, and really succeeded, really flourished, that found their potential . Who is a person that did that, and why do you think they made it . New kasich i have two in hampshire. In 1998 or 90 99, i wrote a book he read was a story of ordinary people who do extraordinary things. One of the people in the book was a woman who went to university. She and her mother lived in a car. Her mother was an addict. I met her at princeton. I dont even know how you apply to princeton when you live in a car because you are homeless. I had not seen her. She traveled with me on the book tour. I had not seen her in 20 years. I saw her in New Hampshire. She is now running one of the National Antidrug programs in america. The other day, a woman who had been human traffic to. She busted out of it. She is now running Human Trafficking on the National Lever in New Hampshire. What happened . The lord has a lot of miracles, and we are not running out of them. There is one out there for someone else. It,is determination, gr not allowing yourself to be defined as a victim. When we were kids, our parents taught us, if you get knocked down, you get up again. I happen to believe that the power of faith makes a difference. You were created for a purpose. The lord expects you to carry out a mission to help heal the world. When i looked at these two women, they were miracles. I pointed to everyone in the room, if you dont believe in near goes look at these peoples lives. They are very inspiring. The stories go on and on. It is always great to put them together and tell people that they can be what they are meant to be, and it raises all of our games and gives us hope and determination and love. Sen. Rubio in the course of my the campaign, i have interacted with so many people. My son has a sports team that is facing extraordinary challenges. People who have worked for me. The one story that i always tell of people who influenced me is the story of my parents. My parents were both born in cuba. My father when he was nine years old, his mother died. He had to stop going to school. He had to work at nine years of age. The bottom line is he never went back to school and worked for the next 70 years of his life. In 1956, my parents came here. It was the only place in the world where people like them could have a chance. They barely spoke the language, didnt know anyone, and had no real education. It was hard. A jobtruggled to find that they could do, my father in particular struggled. They took whatever job they could find. They persevered. Let me tell you what happens less than 10 years later. My father found a job, working his way up to being a banquet miami beach. My parents were never rich, never famous. My parents were successful because working as a bartender and a maid, just a few decades removed from the difficult circumstance, they owned a home in a stable neighborhood, they retired with dignity and security and left their children better off than themselves. The thing i love about this country is this is only place in the world where they could have done that. It is the story of millions of people including people sitting here today and on the stage. We are all one generation or two removed from that story. That is what makes us different and special. We are at risk of losing. If we ever lose that, we risk stopping being an exceptional country. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, we have about 22 seconds left. [laughter] gov. Kasich i guess we were out wore at theers protesters. Sen. Scott lets not encourage them. You have been a fantastic audience. [applause] we have a really special treat from 1 00 to 2 00. We have morning joe. Does anyone watch morning joe . We have joe scarborough. They will be speaking with speaker ryan and senator scott and some other leaders on issues facing poverty like arthur books. They will be up your 1 00. We have a 20 minute break. When everyone paused one moment. This will be my last chance to do this. I want to recognize my mom, kemp who is down here. [applause] one of the things that my dad said when he was passing away my dad had melanoma. He dealt with it for five months that he knew about it. He had a longtime before that. He told all of us that his legacy, where he cared about was not having politicians talk about him, having people think about tax cuts im sure he would like that what he cared about was that his legacy would be his family. Its a privilege, and honor, on behalf of the kemp family to welcome you to our family. Y mom we all love our moms we love you, mom. Im so grateful that you all what be here to see civil competition of ideas could look like. We need citizens that are willing to engage in discussion without shouting, without being rude. We want people to engage. Like i said, go to kemp up, and whatever you are thinking, we want to engage you with folks who are making important decisions on the issues that we care about. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining our family. Another break. [applause] we are alive today on cspan at the Camp Foundation form camKemp Foundation forum. You just heard from john kasich and marco rubio. We would like to get your thoughts on what you have seen so far from the republican candidates who have appeared at this event in South Carolina. The numbers are on your screen listenerscspan radio , democrats, call us at 2027488920. Republicans, 2027488921. We are in a lunch break now. Event to continue with the pound discussion in about 20 minutes or so. Until then, we will take your calls and tweets as well. You can tweet us at cspanwj or leave a facebook comment on our facebook page. Kyle, you are up in San Francisco on the republican line. Caller thank you for covering the forum and taking my call. I wish the forum would have a q a. I was surprised we did not hear too much about immigration. I heard rubio mentioned it once it once or mention twice. I would ask him why he supported a bill. Poverty and the issues facing Everyday Americans today many jobs have been lost due to the massive influx of illegal aliens and foreign labor being imported into the country, as marco rubio is fine with importing into the country. It was a big elephant in the room. I wish donald trump would have come today. Q ash there was a because it would have been a Good Opportunity for the audience to ask the questions that needed to be asked. Mentioned donald trump not be in attendance today. A number of candidates did not make it. Ted cruz was not there. Carly fiorina was scheduled to be at the event but missed the plane and was not able to attend. We will cover donald trump later today in iowa. E has a rally at 5 00 we will go next to shelley in pennsylvania on the republican line. Toler i have been listening all candidates for many months now and it is hard for me to understand why the American People are not looking more at donald trump. E is a businessman he has friends throughout the different countries. He has not politician. I believe this is what we need to run our america. The call. K you for janet in tacoma, washington, democratic caller. Caller yes. Im janet. I listened to the republicans today. I think that marco and john. Asich have very good ideas i think it would be really good if they became the president. I was thinking maybe john would be a good one. Im a democrat. Ive always voted with the democrats. They have never let me down. I love hillary. I know she would do everything for the world. She is so intelligent. There is man never anything thae does not know about. When she first ran years ago, i wanted her. Clinton so well. When clinton went into office, we were broke, we had no social security. He pulled us out of it. She was helping every bit of the way. Of hillarying clinton, we will cover her event tomorrow in manchester, New Hampshire. She is expected to receive the endorsement from planned parenthood. We will be live at four clock eastern time on sunday as cspans road to the white house coverage continues. Back to your calls now to get your thoughts on the republican President Shall field and some of the candidates that you may have heard from today. Ron joins us. Go ahead. The minorwas one of organizers of this poverty form. Orum. I just want to say that the role of evidence raised prevention policies and strategies to help offset poverty and reduce the bad effects of poverty are underutilized both in the private and the governmental sectors. I would encourage candidates on both sides of the aisle in the president ial as well as the congressional races to draw on the sides that we know to prevent things like addiction, school failure, difficulty in. Etting job training, and so on and, reducing the context in which poverty occurs. We do have a lot of talent in this country in the area of prevention. I would encourage that. Host to the democratic line, greg in arkansas joins us. For taking myyou call. As my wife and i were listing to john kasich, as well as senator rubio, one of the things that i noticed is he was talking about, we,ed the phrase, ascerning upward mobility far as using trade schools. Where i havethis a problem with his phraseology. Some of the things they are talking about is something that president obama talked about in his first four years in congress fought him. When he talks about that we are not able to do it, i think the problem is that he is part of the we. I wish someone would address fat in a possible another orum. This one talks to upward mobility through vocational schools, trade schools, but now, it seems to be that they have spiritual amnesia. I would like to touch on that and maybe someone could address that. Host thanks for calling. Mario in naples, florida, a republican caller. I would like to know from the candidates if they have s,en money from pac special interest groups, and if it influences the decisions they make because of that money. Thank you very much. Raju joinson, texas, us on the independents line. Caller i would like that candidates to talk about issues such as college of 40 billion college affordability. It allows people of lower socioeconomic status to prove themselves. Also, to discuss the minimum wage, whether to increase the earned income tax credit and how that could be a better medium to alleviate poverty in the United States rather than increasing the minimum wage. Host thanks for calling. Lets look at a couple of tweets that have come in from folks watching the Camp Foundation Kemp Foundation form. Taylor writes, long ago, i thought the cas john kasichmaro ,ubio campaign was the ticket convinces mem so. Bob says, night 5 of people i talk with your are absolutely trump, hands down. John on Vocational Education for patient education in ohio is half of what it was 15 years ago. We are taking a calls for another 10 minutes or so while we wait for this event to continue in columbia, South Carolina, hosted by the Kemp Foundation. A number of republican presence of candidates speaking there today. If you missed any of it, we will reair it tonight starting at 8 00 eastern. Mary joins us from danville, virginia on the line for republicans. Caller when i first became a lastlican, it was in the primary, voting for huckabee. I will love t would love to seea fiorina ticket. I have lived this cycle. I married a batterer and ended up on welfare. I had one child. I was middleclass, intelligent, capable of working. Ive lived a cycle. I would get a job to get us off welfare, get an apartment, and the job. Ed out of that was the new york state. I advocated at the time for an intelligent policy to give women who were battered, trying to get their children out of a battering home, and immediate section eight rants. That way, i could have rescued my son. I did a whole lot of it on my twitter. That is the bottom line. I always said, if i had eight lyars solid progressiv responsive experience, two years of college, and i could not rescue one child from about her can peopleer, how without a High School Education do it . My story dates back to the 1980s. Im 55 now. I made the right decision becoming republican. I have always been too afraid for the Poverty Community to do it, although i am a religious person. Very much opposed to planned parenthood and abortion. Host thanks for calling. Now on the line for democrats. Are you with us . Pleased to sayry that, as a democrat, i was very, very impressed with the discussion that i heard today. I had the privilege of meeting jack kemp and i am a retiree. I have some comments about things that they did not talk about that will help people get out of poverty. Those go directly to the local resources and cities across this country that do not do their jobs well. In the state of ohio, there are many people who are getting benefits that do not deserve them, who do not really qualify for them. There are those who need them who cannot get them. People wake up in the morning and do not know how they are going to pay utilities are buy groceries. They cannot get a food stamp card because of the arduous, regulatory issues around that benefit. To hear republicans talking about helping poor people was very refreshing. I would really like to hear more of that conversation, as opposed to hearing about donald trump every day, who i think is an idiot. He would be a horrible president. He played to the fears of this country. That is not who we are. I love my country, and there are ifmany people republicans plan to do that, how do they plan to commence their commence congress their peers in congress . I would like to hear more discussion about that from them. Host governor nikki haley spoke today. O,s article from politic beginghts, deep debates as nikki haley takes the spotlight. South carolina governor nikki that thel speculation is choosing her as a Vice President ial pick. Heldvate event to be aboard the uss yorktown in mt. , north carolina. Again, nikki haley, one of the speakers at todays event. The entire event will air later starting at 8 00 eastern time, including the early speakers who we did not have an opportunity to get on in their entirety. Jeb bush, ben carson, and Chris Christie on the initial panel, your screenee on now. Time now for a few more of your phone calls to get your impression so far, and your thoughts in general on the republican present shall candidate field. We go to california, the line for independents. 74. Er im congressne, i think should be like president s, they should change. That is never one. Number two is many of the media what are you going to do about isis . You do not tell the enemy what you are going to do. You never tell that to nobody. Surprise. O keep the a surpri ia marco rubio is a good talker. He talks may well, but he is like all the other politicians, they know how to persuade people, but they dont do anything once they win. Trump is the only one that really from his heart, with no papers, no teleprompter, nothing. I voted for clinton, bush clinton, he was good because of was keepingh, who the congress. He is the one who helped him get where he was. Host thanks for the call. To edgar next in texas, line for democrats. Listening toe been the Republican Party saying that they want to help the American People. Im curious as to how many times i hear them say over and over again that they want to help the American People, but they also doy that they want to stop everything they can to stop obamacare. It is not really obamacare. It is Affordable Health care. If you are going to help the American People, what do they have against Affordable Health care for the American People . How much money are they going to spend in order to stop it instead of trying to spend time and money on improving it, or make it better for the American People . Thank you. Host brad, you are up, calling from california. Good morning. I want to make a couple of comments. It seems like a few colors earlier were touching on the importance of the welfare system in our country. A lot of us, especially in my communities that i have lived in , and noticed the abuses going system withlfare food stamps. Marco rubio touched on the fact up ineople get caught that system a lot of times. It is less affordable for them to get off that and get back in the work market. I believe that the key is excuse me to get yourself up said,morning, like you hit the alarm clock, get dressed, go into a Government Office and show that you do something to earn that. It gives you a chance to get back in the workplace. Tweetscouple of have come in. This one rights, where is the kemp . Next jack janet tweets, i was very impressed by the ideas from marco rubio on small business. This is the fuel of what makes our economy great. Regulations and tax reforms. We are live in columbia, South Carolina. We expect the form there to continue in a few moments. We will take you back on the road to the white house coverage will continue. We will be on the campaign trail with donald trump later today. He will be at a rally in clear lake, iowa. At go in columbus, ohio on the line for independents. Go ahead. Caller i just wanted to call in and say it was very refreshing to hear both the candidates talk. Bout generational poverty if you have never been in the situation where you are in that mindset, or you inherit what your parents give you to cut youl have off, i apologize. Ae event is continuing with panel discussion. We will take you back live. On scarborough usually saturday afternoons, it is when she is talking with the young marxist league. Ms. Brzezinski i was wondering where you were going. I have to say, im glad to be here. I was sitting in the back with joe. This is a Republican Party that could win the white house. [applause] mr. Scarborough it is very interesting, being a republican, sitting back there, and listening to other members of the national press. A lot of people saying, we have not heard this much in 2015. It is really, really impressive. It is really the reason why i know you became conservative, why a lot of you became a republican. The reason i did is because of people like jack kemp, people like ronald reagan. What is so inspiring listening to this and listening to speak by the way, how great does that sound, speaker ryan. Congress,st got to little paul ryan was 23 years old. He was a staffer, helping a ,roup called the new federalist who were trying to abolish for federal agencies. Yes, i can remember what the four agencies work. I was impressed with the guy from the first day. To turn on the tv set, and see the are republican fire are Republican Party has paul ryan as speaker was so excited. Ms. Brzezinski he still looks 23. Mr. Scarborough the thing about paul, and the thing about jack kemp is these are the people, along with so many others who have been appeared today, who make me a republican. They do not believe that we are speaking to 47 or 53 . Ronald reagan believed, and paul ryan believed, and jack kemp believed that what we believe is not just relevant to 47 of americans, it is relevant to 100 of americans, and is not just as relevant to a inyearold latino working southcentral l. A. As a 65yearold Hedge Fund Manager in greenwich, connecticut, it is more relevant. 100 ofbelieve lives americans. That is why im so honored to be here with you guys today and why here toso honored to be listen to the side of the Republican Party that can take back the white house, and will take back the white house. [applause] mr. Scarborough with that, why dont we introduce the panel. Ms. Brzezinski we have a distinguished panel. We will start with paul ryan, speaker of the house. No beard . Speaker ryan no beard. Ms. Brzezinski also, bob goodson, known as the godfather of the movement to empower neighborhood organizations. And, are their books, president of the American Enterprise institute. By the way, we will be calling this what we learned today. Joe, take it away. Mr. Scarborough i want to start with what mika told me, listening to you moderate several of these panels. She said, im a democrat, this Republican Party could win the white house going away. Talk about that. Why do we not see that everyday . Speaker ryan hopefully you will see it more and more. We have our country locked in a very bad trajectory. Be are on the wrong track. Deeper poverty, more consistent poverty, the world on fire. I will not get into all of the issues, but if we do not have a vibrant, inclusive, inspiring majoritarian Republican Party, we will not be able to fix these problems. Mr. Scarborough a party, who you always say, has to be for something, not against something. What are before . What have we learned today . The are notkispeaker ryan just in opposition party, we are a proposition party. This really should not be about. Parties wouldnt you, if you are a person, one both parties want thos both parties to compete for your vote . Mr. Scarborough you are telling me there is even hope for mika. Ms. Brzezinski without being partisan, we oh people an alternative. We need to talk about the solutions. Week to go experience and see what people are experiencing, listen, hear and learn. Only five success stories, get behind them, back them and empower them. Take the lessons. Mr. Scarborough how do we take what we hear today . What we learn from think tanks . Why we debate on College Campuses and apply it to the realities around and make a difference in peoples lives . We have got to do with paul and others said. We have got to go and listen. The wall street journal is doing an article. The last president ial election in a candidate visited 100 poorest counties in the country. All change that. Its important to go and listen but it is important that we stop the sing wishing ourselves by what we are against. People are not motivated to change by always inviting them of injuries to be avoided. They want to know victories that are possible. We should go among the poor and deal not with what people dont have, but what they are doing with what is left. We should look at the capacity of the poor. Go in and ask not how many people in these low income neighborhoods are raising our are onare drugs, but how many are not dropping out of school, in jail in art and drug on drugs . Mr. Scarborough what we have seen in harlem and a lot of the Charter Schools for a lot of the students, its nothing short of extraordinary. Speaker ryan ms. Brzezenski its hard not to avoid some of the systemic problems from the jail system to other problems pertaining to raise that are Holding Americans back. Arthur, can you talk about that . It pretty encouraging sitting to these panels. Great job, paul. [applause] the tenor upeping and its about ideas. We heard a bunch of great policy ideas. I am very optimistic its clear that paul and these candidates go beyond just the what of trying to figure out what we need to do about poverty. The expansion of the earned income tax credit. What we are starting to hear is an optimistic philosophy about the poor as a people. Bob just mentioned this. Its important to go work for people are and talk to them as our brothers and sisters, to see them as people. Whats happened is interesting. When i was a child, from then until now and the war on poverty, the metastasizing of Big Government programs that make that made more dependency. Have started to see poor people as liabilities to manage. That is a terrible thing. Anybody does not want to feel like we are assets. Oar in the amn water and we deserve to be part of the solutions. Mr. Scarborough whether it is in the National Media or on the floor of the house or the senate, whether it is from the white house, success is always measured by spending more money in government programs. We as a country spend more money per student than any other country on the planet. We spend more money per hospital patient than any other nation on the planet. And yet we failed miserably. How do we move beyond the National Media. The politicians, washington dc as measuring success by pouring more money into failing systems . You measure the impact in terms of peoples lives. The conservative movement has always been about impact. Mr. Brooks its always been about seeing the results of things. The problem is the conservative movement has not been involved enough in harmony in poverty and given the territory to the left. The left generally speaking measures how much money is spent on the input, and the right is about the impact. What the expected we give the poverty to the left . They will waste three generation of poor peoples lives. Thats why were in this game. This is a real challenge. When we go out of here sometime the next days or weeks we will be confronted with actual poor people. What do we take away from this . The answer is our responsibility as conservatives to remember that the reason for the Free Enterprise system is to help poor people more. The reason for high levels of education and good family values and the faith we have ins so we can help people create more. Thats the impact we can have. That itmpact mentality is the impact mentality that we need to bring to life. Mr. Scarborough bringing it back to policy we talk about the Free Enterprise system and ever many things about how the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the system is rigged against middleclass america. Mr. Woodson we have got to take responsibility for that caricature of us. First of all we have been on the forefront, like everyone else, and that is harvesting the failures of the poor and reporting enemy merchandise. We have treated a commodity of the poor were . 70 of every dollar goes to those that serve for people. Poor people. You would be hardpressed to get to a republicanrun state and see any difference in how we treat the poor. Re are structural reasons 23 a commodity it means people profit from serving them. Have professionally professional people whose income and careers have been other people being dependent and they are conservative as well. That is why what weve got to talk about is how to structurally do we structurally give authority to the poor themselves. The leadership of the communities that paul visited are the ones who should be running these programs. I dont see that. Bill bennett says when liberals look at before they see a sea of victims. When conservatives look they see aliens. Youbrzezenski mr. Speaker, have so many ideas and yet one of your concepts is a little bit about the government having too much sometimes he needs to get out of the way. Isnt that you at this point . I never really looked at it like that and i still dont. I see myself fighting it. I think when you go back to the macrolevel nbc this 50 year experiment of this war on poverty, 80 programs, trillions spent, the philosophy is it so big we will make it in washington. We are going to create this bureaucracy and would have left programs and all this stuff and we will get really smart experts who will figure out how to do all of this. That is basically the governments philosophy that is taken over the federal government. What it does is it ignores the individual. It ignores how people in the communities actually are. It crowds out the space between ourselves and the government where we live our lives. The crowds out our communities, our civil society. A crowd that our responsibilities. It crowds out the responsibilities. Government has this taken care of, dont worry about it. That is wrong and unfortunately will be basically have said and done for the last 50 years. We are trying to break this. The philosophy is paternalistic. I think its condescending and arrogant and it ignores the fact that in our communities are the answers. With people are the answers. A personsok at problems and party, sometimes it is materialistic. That is what Economic Growth fixes. A lot of these problems are so much deeper than that. It requires another person to help them, or a group of people to help them. Some bureaucrat in washington is not that answer. How do we break up this government monopoly, reengage the citizenry, reignite the notion that we have a role to play in our communities and revive some of society and stop government from displacing it . This is not a budgetcutting exercise. Take the same amount of money. It should be a lifesaving exercise. That means the government can provide resources. It can be the supply line, but it should not be the front line in the world poverty. People, communities, churches, civic groups that is the frontline. Thats the kind of attitude we need to have. [applause] mr. Scarborough let me ask you. We have had a lot of president ial candidates come on stage. We interviewed some of them backstage afterwards. Whats the one thing you would do to combat poverty . What is the big idea . There are only so many things you can prioritize when you step into that office or speaker of the house. If you have the ear of the next president like you have the ear of the speaker of the house, what would you tell them to get together on . Whats the one big idea to help the poorest among us . Mr. Brooks the most important thing in thing to be thinking about is work. Its always work. Its funny. There are two kinds of people. People who believe work as a blessing and think its a punishment. On the left there are people that say we should not have work requirements on food stamps because we should not punish the poor. Work is not a punishment. Their people in the right to say i am going to socket to the mud making work requirements as it were if it were a punishment. Thats a mistake. We need a philosophy that says there are four sources of happiness. Faith, family, community and work. Those of the four things in all of our lives. Are the poor different. No, they are us. This is what we are all built on. When you look at the foundations of the constitution, look at the founding documents, and you know what they are saying . The pursuit of happiness who was it for . It was for the riffraff coming into the country. That is us. We are ambitious riffraff. That is the beauty of it. We cannot see that faith, family, community and especially work are the happiness of poor People Justice for us than we are treating them as the other and is the basis of our problems. All Public Policy and philosophy has to start with the meaning of good work. Reject the notion that work is the answer for poverty. If the answer for the people of the first two categories. Brokeit that are just but their character is intact. But for the people in category four that are poor because of moral feelings, drug addicts, prostitutes, predatory lifestyles. A job for people like that is not available to them. What they need is transformation. We need to acknowledge that people have character deficits. That does not mean because they do they cannot be redeemed. Our grassroots leaders around this country have specialized in bringing about major redemption and transformation of some of these very broken people only after they have gone through a process of transformation and redemption can they take advantage of a job or training or anything. A job does not create redemptive redemption and a person. What we need to do is provide every source in those low income neighborhoods, to those Indigenous Leaders that have demonstrated they have the ability to be moral mentors and character coaches. We need to empower them and therefore attach resources, opportunities to a process the personal redemption and transformation. Mr. Scarborough give us the four mr. Woodson there are people that are just broke. They lost their jobs. Have character intact but a look at the disincentives to work. Therefore they make a decision to withdraw because the price is too hard. Three would be people who were physically or mentally disabled. We need to take care of them. Category four is the poor person who is poor because they engage in risky behavior. They are the ones that are filling the jails. They are the ones that are committing the crimes. The people that the center for neighborhood enterprise serves are the people who specialize in category four. They are in some of the most drug infested, crimeridden neighborhoods and they have created islands of excellence in these neighborhoods. When jack kemp helped us for 10 inrs, he helped us generate crimeridden Public Housing and they drove out drug dealers. They put 600 kids through college. Yet not one researchers ever came to the community to examine what these groups did to help themselves. Mr. Scarborough talk about with kemp did in helping you find the moral leaders that could help make a strong leadership role and make a difference in the community. Mr. Woodson jack came at a time when it was not leading the politically expedient for him to do so. All his friends asked what you care about these people . Jack was a man of principle. Did when i paul ryan asked why you want to go on the tour, he said because im deeply concerned about this nation. He used his considerable celebrity to listen to the grassroots leaders. He traveled with me as paul has done. To Public Housing he said bob, im willing to sponsor legislation. I can get you 100 republicans if you give me one democrat. Recruited Walter Foster were following and we won 930 in the senate and over 400 in the house. Lawld reagan signed into flights by myself and six resident leaders. I thought the Republican Party was on its way to redemption itself. But what they did is they walked away from it. They went back to just whining and complaining about what the left is doing. Im so encouraged because he has done the same thing. Crime visited more high neighborhoods in the black caucus even. [applause] but what he is doing, he said i dont want any press. But once he is there i said paul, you have got to explain the reason we did this video. You have got to show the people what you saw. Saying and expecting him to blow up in the community. He has become a celebrity and to walk away from it. But he has not done at the rate other republicans have done. Mr. Scarborough when i worked with him he was such a diva. Just the opposite, actually. Arthur was talking about how republicans and conservatives, other than people like jack kemp and yourself a failed miserably on the focusing on the disadvantaged. How do you tell them how important this issue is . Not for political gain or a moral responsibility. Speaker ryan most of us are driven by our faith. Even still if you look at this howtry how polarized it is, so many people are slipping through the cracks, how we were raised to think this american idea is beautiful and accessible and everyone can get it. But there are so many people who just do not buy that anymore. For generations now. Wethat is what continues on, will lose what is so precious about this country. We will become france without an america to back it up. [laughter] nothing against the french. They recentlyh have wondered why america is not there to back them up. Speaker ryan the reason mr. Scarborough french jokes to work anymore with barack obama as president. Speaker ryan the reason i wanted to learn after elections without press was to experience and to learn in to see that the party of kemp and reagan can take the same principles which we all purport to believe in and see them on display. See them being driven and put into place and to see the results. And to see if we can go apply them written large writ larg e. If we can succeed in doing that and have a conversation in this country where we truly offer the country a better way forward, a real agenda, that it is based on these principles, the way i see it is we can get the people of the country the choice. What kind of country do you want . We should not be trying to cut deals in washington and just going to the lowest common denominator. If we really think we are on the wrong track, we have to snap ourselves out of it and say this is with the new trek next looks like. You cant reignite the american idea if we are letting people continue to slip in the cracks. The point he is making about all the very various types of party, some of it is really deep and intractable. Thats the law we have to get our minds around. Is our policies, principles are perfect because they empower those on the ground doing it. [applause] mr. Scarborough i think it was 1979 and i was in northwest florida. I finished watching the Atlanta Falcons was another Football Game on cbs. I was walking away from the tv and i saw these for 60 minutes. It was about this guy named jack kemp. Force 1980 he could be a in president ial politics. I stopped and watched him and was transfixed. Sure enough, they were right. They guy transformed republican politics for the next 2530 years. Could you talk in closing about is jack camp kemp relative to our movement and our party and to our country in 2016 . Thanks for asking that question. Just talking about politics for a second, things that are bigger. The moral imperative of helping your brothers and sisters. Lets talk about politics for a second. Is this orientation helpful . Will it help the Republican Party . There is data on this, my friend. You are right in your hearts. Here is how it works. We know that if conservatives capture the traits that are typically associated with liberals, empathy and compassion, that fact will swing independent persuadable voters by 10 Percentage Points to the right. That is not something that can when. Win. Its the only thing that will. What is written on your heart will win the election. The country looking back to conservative ideas and be able to help those people. You have to be a warrior for this stuff. Remember jack kemp. The host first vote for a republican ticket i cast was in 1996 because jack kemp was on that ticket. We get to do that again and win to boot but we have to do it together and think dr. Paul ryan. God for paul ryan. Mr. Scarborough the reduced compassion to a percentage point. Im impressed because of not good with numbers. I went to the university of alabama. But the good alabama, you dont have to be good at math he does every year well have accounts of the number one. Roll tide. Ms. Brzezenski how many times i heard that . Mr. Scarborough god bless your hearts. Four things. Poor things. Speaker ryan you dont ms. Brzezenski you dont need to pander now. Sinal thoughts on jack kemp legacy . Mr. Woodson i said when you go to chicago you dont you got it Public Housing. They had big signs up. I said you invite the liberal mayors because they are never been there. Jack would do that and they were embarrassed and always came. Jack,so if you look at there is no protest against jack. When he came to Bromley Heath in boston, the people came on the bus. 12 brothers stopped him and said you didnt get out of here. Jack had that kind of relationship. He was never picketed. Whenever he gave testimony you will see all black and brown faces because we feel that fill filled the room three hours before he testified. Up fort is when you show grassroots leaders, they are not sunny day friends. They will show up for you. Jack had a passionate support among lower income people because he was the kind of person that showed up for them and they showed up for him. Paul ryan made a commitment what he became speaker of the house. People, one 1000 Million People praying he would become speaker of the house. He said i will put my family first. I dont think i can be speaker while putting my family first. He somehow figured out how to do it but he told the Republican Party, i will do it, but i will be home every weekend. With my children. Know i want you guys to this is the one saturday in a year that paul has not been home with his family because that is him. Jack lkemp means to i want you to close by talking about his legacy, not only for 2016 but for the next 40 years. Speaker ryan i have to catch a flight home in a minute. Kemp that drew me into Public Service inspired me by taking freedom, liberty, Free Enterprise, selfdetermination, the great lesson of the american idea and our natural godgiven rights, these things were on paper in our founding. Personally is me brief life into them. To see what they look like. To see how they feel. How they are as relevant today as ever before. More important, he would breathe life into it for everybody. You may go into inner cities and proselytize about limited government and Free Enterprise and how it made a difference and how it can help heal the country. He took our party and he added it to Ronald Reagans agenda and given reaganomics. ,e gave us an optimistic inspiring, inclusive majority party. Belief,at spirit, that that enthusiasm that got me where i am and got me into this in the first place. You. Er ryan thank ms. Brzezenski thank you. Mr. Scarborough thank you. Ms. Brzezenski thank you. Thank you so much. You are wonderful. They would love to do anything they can to help you. [applause] ms. Brzezenski we have more to do here. We have another panel, very distinguished. You might know the next guest. Senator tim scott. He grew up in north charleston. Served in the u. S. House from 2011 to 2013. Put him in the middle. Fromve monica watts southeast washington dc. She lost two brothers, two boyfriends and many rents and neighbors to violence. She got involved in an antiaging g nonprofit. , son ofave jimmy kemp jack kemp. Mr. Scarborough that senator told me he cannot move forward until we resolve the crisis of monday night. Alabama or clemson. Senator, you have the floor. They had a group alabama, singing a song. Roll tide is not the one they were singing. It was sweet home alabama. Thats the only place several re the left because clemson will win by two touchdowns. [applause] senator scott i believe in miracles. Mr. Scarborough that would be a miracle. Senator scott we shall see. Mr. Scarborough your story is extraordinary. Its a story that unfortunately my party, your party has not heard enough about. Talk about the challenges that the Republican Party has reaching out to the truly disadvantaged. It feels like we are not listening and we dont care and we dont have solutions. Kempare not enough jack s in our midst. Senator scott we need to do a better job of articulating conservative principles more. The reason i am compassionate about it is because ive seen it firsthand. I was flunking out as a freshman. A conservative mentor ran the local chickfila. He comes into my life and teaches me about entrepreneurship and dreaming the american dream. Not just owning a home but being an employer. All that resonated in me and helped to focus and harness my energy in a positive way. What we need to do is get out of car ande, get into our walk into neighborhoods where they are desperate for help. What we found is that if youre desperate for hope, the federal government has not served you well. The policies have been an abysmal failure for people trapped in poverty. It is now time for real leadership on the issues of poverty to take a stand. They will work every single time. Mr. Scarborough by the way, chickfila. We finally got one in manhattan. Ms. Brzezenski he is so happy. Mr. Scarborough my southern children have never been happier. And you have proven that all things begin at chickfila. Ms. Brzezenski monica, we would love if you could share your story. Certainly a very tough road, especially in the beginning, right . Ms. Watts like the majority of most africanamerican families that come from Public Housing, they have similar issues like me i was homeless. I came from an addict family. A dysfunctional environment. When you come from that type of environment the community is forced to raise you and guide and guide you in the way he should act. They condition you to save this is how you should be based on what you see in the community. We came in contact with role models and Community Leadership that got me to the next step, to network and no people were i could be able to reach my full capacity. I really think the people i came in contact with in the program and assisted me to be the best i can. Ms. Brzezenski how many kids in your family . Ms. Watts two of my brothers passed away. One of my brothers is in his 12th year on a murder charge. Two of my sisters are locked up. I dont knowster, where she is because she was arrested when she was young. Ms. Brzezenski how were you able to break through . How were you able to get to a point in your life are you are graduating college and looking at a future . Ms. Watts believing in something higher than yourself. Coming in contact with people that are constantly motivating you and dont let down on you because you make a mistake. They constantly stay around you and motivate you, even if you fall or make a mistake. They are genuine people being around you. That helps me be the person i can be. Mr. Kemp i met her through ron motton. He is on the streets and he is engaging young people who think nobody cares about them. I think that is what the discussion was about today. How we make sure we are empowering the folks who are on the ground and who are able to love when we know the government cannot love. Investing and i know other people as well. And given giving monica a better opportunity that she had. This forum, this is a big event. We are thrilled with it. We have done other kemp forums on issues that are really significant on the ground. We have talked about returned citizens and entrepreneurship, exconvicts returning to society. ,e have been a southeast dc and had a conversation with them. Talking about policecommunity relations. Thats the front lines of africanamericans who come across police. What a difficult job Police Officers have. Those are clearly complicated relationships. When something goes wrong we have a lot of problems. We need to have conversations. I know governor casey kasem a lot in ohio talking about how to manage some of those challenges. They had some unfortunate incidents that had similar reactions. Here in South Carolina with governor haley, and her leadership, that makes it difference. Mr. Scarborough how do we do in washington dc . How do you guys do in congress . Like jimmy did, getting republicans, democrats together. Finding Common Ground and making progress on these issues. Senator scott there is a reason to be hopeful. There is a silver lining. We found some Common Ground in some very important issues. One of the important issues is really on criminal justice reform. We have seen outside groups from the Koch Brothers to the Heritage Foundation to the aclu and the unity naacp. They are Holding Hands and that is a miracle working on criminal justice reform. You have senators, people on the far right, cruz, and people working with people on the far left. We found some Common Ground. Its just not celebrated very often. Another place is on apprenticeship programs. If we want to put people to work and they have graduated, we will have to help people create incentives to hire folks so they can earn and learn the skills necessary to be productive and having a successful life. Ms. Brzezenski are you working now . I am currently a Mental Health counselor in South Carolina. I am still looking for a better job with a better pay and South Carolina. [applause] if arborough mr. Kemp i would like to ask her what she thought of today. We heard a lot of candidates talking about issues. That does not happen often enough. What did you think . Ms. Watts i think it was very impressive for you to point out that the system was not working and that youre now looking for a way to fix it and rebuild it. Acknowledging the fact it was not working and you are able to come up with the system and listen and understand ways to make the system better and able to work for america as a whole. Mr. Scarborough talk about today. How to follow up what i said about the very beginning. We watched a lot of this roof over started interviewing the candidates. Mika was blown away by this Republican Party, by this group of conservatives talking about poverty. Ms. Brzezenski . A real conversation mr. Scarborough real conversations we dont seem to be getting on the president ial campaign. Was that part of the goal of this . If it was, did you accomplish it and how you continue after today to spread the message across the country . Mr. Kemp i appreciate you to being here two being here. Its important to have this civil competition of ideas. I know where the number one trending twitter hashtag. People will know about this. Thanks to senator scott and speaker ryan. Dont want to just do it we did invite the Democratic Candidates to come this evening and they were not able to join us. We had to democratic moderators. We will try to do something with the democrats down the road. I would love to do this with democrats and republicans. Wouldnt it be incredible to see that civil competition of ideas . [applause] that is with the country wants to hear. John kasichugh said it here. We have got to do that. Party, one governing philosophy cannot fix the problem. Your dad knew that better than anybody. Mr. Kemp the best line he misappropriated and credited to president clinton was you serve your party best when you serve your country first. [applause] saw a bunchthink we of National Political leaders who embody that phrase and want to put America First and they recognize that the american idea is not a reality if in our inner cities where young people like monica are coming out, if they dont have a chance, if we cant help people like ron motton who are helping, the american idea is not a reality. Connecting all these dots is what we want to do with our forums and political party. Mr. Scarborough there is such a disconnect from what we see every day on the campaign trail in what we are hearing in this forum. Another thing i said was one we are coming here, you are going to be seen. The cream of the crop. This is the part of the Republican Party that is not against something. That is for something. That wants to make a difference in the country. How discouraging it is to watch the president ial campaign, to listen to the negativity. How do you break through that . Sells. Scott fear what we have seen is the selling of fear. Easy to harness, easy to identify, and is very easy to divide our country into little fiefdoms. Thats a challenge we have to overcome. Today we saw candidates on the stage [applause] who are all competing for the exact same job giving deference to other peoples ideas. I have posted 12 these candidates for president here over the last several months. As individuals drilling down into the issues, you get a richer response and a more thorough response to the questions when you have a oneonone. Its as if in the middle of the debate you put red meat on the floor, but they are tearing each other apart to get to it. Was sonica said that important and it reinforces what paul said on the stage, speaker ryan. You have two ears and one mouth. Go into the communities and listen. She didnt say anything about the government and her response to the question about how did you get here. It did not include the government. Its not that the government cannot play some role in the process. Mr. Scarborough there is a place for the government obviously. Senator scott i have two pages of solutions we heard today. Earned income tax credit to eliminating the burden some resolution regulations of dodd frank, Charter Schools, criminal justice reform, Mental Health, drug addiction. If you start with solutions you repel people. If you start with people, you attract solutions. That is what we have to do. [applause] ms. Brzezenski i think as an odds you lived against. Monica, now you have a College Degree and you want an advanced degree. You are looking for a better job. That comes from the concept of today and rons inspiration and also from you. You are amazing. [applause] we have a lot of kids. We have kids that come through and work for us and cannot do half of what you have done. There is something really, really incredible that you should take ownership of for sure. What an incredible story. There are lots of people out there. Weber wherever we come from on the scale, each of us needs love and investment. One of the greatest points my dad ever made was what rfid says arthursays says. Much challenge we face ourselves in ourselves. In this country you are giving it given a chance to be free and engage the world around you and make decisions. The last thing i would say is something i said earlier about quality of political leaders. There is such disdain for washington. When you get to know your leaders and you actually hear them interact and talk, they are Extraordinary People who are motivated by Public Service. Soh of us is called to serve each of us should play our part to get involved. Senator scott is such an incredible example. It is great to have speaker ryan. American african republican senator in congress is a wonderful thing. He does not lead with that. And we have two. There is senator booker. It should not be such an anomaly but we are proud to have senator tim scott serving the state of South Carolina. [applause] i. Scarborough senator, would love to close with you kidding roll tide as loud as you can. And the kemp family here, when i say that im talking about all of us. Ms. Brzezenski pretty good. Andscarborough mrs. Kemp the children and grandchildren, but talk about his legacy in 2016 about how it lives on with you and so many of us. And what the best thing we can do is move forward as we leave this place today to make sure it continues living on for the next generation. With a bit of a revival. We are in need of a revival. Can somebody say amen. You, and you can get m. Com andat thekempforu become opportunity voters. In 1996 my dream came true. Bob dole was running for president. He was looking for someone to provide inspiration and hope to the country. He leaned over and chose your dad. And i was excited because the one thing i knew about jack kemp was he loved with a colorblind kind of love. I saw it on the football field when he was playing. I saw it in politics. Id when i grew up in politics wanted to be like jack because he had a compassion for people but he had in mind for policy and numbers. It was not one or the other. It was fusing the two together. For america to be great is not for the Republican Party to be great. Its for the american country, the u. S. To be great. That requires real leadership. [applause] senator scott for all of us, if paul was still here, i would say wisconsinites, for all of us kempites, its important for us to feel and think. Monica is a classic example of who we should follow in the direction of the kemp legacy. Ms. Brzezenski seneca senator scott, monica watts, jimmy kemp. [applause] ms. Brzezenski thank you. Mr. Scarborough lets get a picture real quick. [applause] ms. Brzezenski thank you so much. Great job. Mr. Scarborough thank you guys so much. Senator scott how many of you guys have had a great day . Just remain standing and let me say at the center for South Carolina is been my privilege to serve the citizens of South Carolina. Its been an amazing privilege to have president ial candidates come back to our state and talk about the issues that truly motivate people to listen. If we have people listening, they will be informed. If they are informed, they are educated. If they are educated, they will make the best decisions for the trip our country. I believe that 2016 will be a pivotal and defining year for the nation. Lets make good choices by being opportunity voters. God bless you and enjoy the rest of your day. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] attending theor 2016 kemp forum on expanding opportunity. We ask you to please exit the assembly hall. We look forward to seeing you again send. Soon. [indistinct chatter] the kekmp foundation kemp. Republican candidate donald trump will be speaking to supporters at a rally in clear lake, iowa today. We will have live coverage at 5 00 p. M. Eastern time youre on the span. Tomorrow another Campaign Event with democratic president ial candidate hillary clinton. She will be in manchester, New Hampshire alongside planned parenthood president cecile richards. They are endorsing the former secretary of state, the first time it has done so during a president ial primary. That is live sunday afternoon at 4 00 eastern on seas. Cspan. A discussion from the Foundation Forum this morning with republican candidates jeb bush, ben carson and Chris Christie. They were interviewed by South Carolina senator tim scott and House Speaker paul ryan gave introductory remarks. Hi everybody. How are you doing. Good morning. This is great. So nice to see you good morning. One thing i wanted to add is how many people are wisconsin badger fans . One person, great. She is wearing red. I wanted to take a few moments to explain why were here today. First i want to introduce some of my colleagues he traveled here from the house of representatives. Congressman nick mulvaney, tom rice, and joe wilson thank you for being with us here today. We appreciate you guys attending today. One of the reasons why i am here today is because jack kemp was my mentor. There was no one more passionate about fighting poverty than jack kemp. That is what i think its so fitting that the host of this forum is a foundation that bears his name. He was passionate about the american idea. We have been fighting a war on poverty for over 50 years now. I dont think you can include anything other than this for has been a stalemate. Years, trillions of dollars, yet today if you were born poor, you are just as likely to end up in poverty as you were 50 years ago. We have 46 Million People living in poverty today. I am not saying no progress has been made. Yes, some has been made. When you look at the war on poverty i think there is a problem. It has been our strategy. Most of the thinking about the war on poverty has been the idea that it is about deprivation, about materialism. People just dont have enough money. For the past 50 years the government has created 80 different programs. We have treated poverty like they are potholes that need to be filled up. And then move on. You have a nifty wallet, fill it and move on. We created programs for energy, health care, you name it. The catch is this. All of these programs stack up on top of each other with no coordination among them. We now have a safety net that is designed to get to go falling into poverty when what we need is a safety net that is designed to help get people out of poverty. If you work a little bit, you lose a lot of benefits. We think we have been filling but from the government standpoint we have been building a trap. Make a little bit more, lose a time. Ton. Dont work. We need to rethink the approach. This is where conservative principles are so sorely needed. This is why i think we can watch a conversation in this country about truly fixing this problem and opening up a renaissance. Stop measuring success in the war on poverty by measuring input, effort. Measure success by outcomes, results. How many people already actually getting out of poverty . Go after the root causes. Dont simply treat the symptoms. And what i know are two things. Learnedne, what i have there are incredible people in this country doing this well. Fighting poverty successfully. It is amazing. You will see some of it in these videos. I have learned from people traveling the country that the ideas are out there. Poverty is not just about deprivation, its about isolation. Lots of different kinds of poverty. We are isolating the poor. We have to stop reinforcing this notion. They my taxes, if governments responsibility, they will take care of it. That does not cut it anymore. We have to reintegrate the poor. Isolation is the problem, not just deprivation, that means people need a mentor. They need a job, abbas, a teacher, a friend, a community, a church. Some of the trust with credibility to health and get to where they need to be. Is thatnd thing i know the american idea is the most beautiful idea. We are the only country founded on an idea. The condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life. You work hard, you play by the rules, you can get ahead. You make a mistake, you can redeem yourself and build your life. That is the american idea. That is what jack kemp talked about. Here is the problem. It is not true for everybody. There are a lot of people who do not believe we are there for them. That is not true at all, is it . Our job is to figure out how to rebuild the american idea. Have a conversation. What we are doing here today is starting a conversation. Talking to the people aspiring to be president about their ideas. Bringing attention to this issue. I want to thank you for being here today and welcome from our candidates. First i would like to welcome my friend, your senator, is senator tim scott of South Carolina. [applause] from welcoming and welcome from florida, governor jeb bush retired surgeon jeb bush. Retired surgeon ben carson and from new jersey governor Chris Christie. They told us the lineup for a photograph. [laughter] senator scott thank you for being here. We are looking forward to your comments and having a robust discussion about people as well as policies. Then, what a cute kick us off this morning and talk about your experience in poverty in what makes this issue important to you. Dr. Carson its critically important to me because as a kid growing up in poverty i hated poverty. Some people hate rats. Some people hate roaches. I hated poverty. I was absolutely certain of was born into the wrong family. [laughter] i will tell you the thing that really changed it for me. Who had a much worse upbringing than i did growing up in rural tennessee. A huge family. Got married when she was 13. Tried to escape a desperate situation. They moved to detroit. She discovered my father was already married. He was a bigamist. Now she had to raise us on her own. She for some reason felt that education was the key. Was, she her life never felt sorry for herself. That was a good thing. The problem is you never felt sorry for us either. [laughter] there was never any excuse they can be made. She prayed for wisdom and god gave her the wisdom in her up in it, not in hours, to turn off the tv and read books. When i was reading about people i read about people of great accomplishment. Scientists and explorers and philosophers. One thing i began to notice was at the person who has the most to do with what happens to you in life is you. Is not somebody else. Its not the environment. Once i understood that, poverty did not bother me anymore. Because i now have the ability to change it myself. That does not mean that we dont need to help each other escape from it. No question about that. Its one of the reasons that my wife and i put reading rooms all over the country, particularly in title i schools for a lot of kids come from homes with notebooks. They get to a school with no library or a poorly funded library. These are places that no kid could pass up. They get points for the number of books they read. They can trayvon enterprises in at the beginning they do for the longs but it is not take before it shows up in the academic performance and puts them on a different trajectory. School dropouts are functionally illiterate. If we change that downstream we have a profound affect upstream. [applause] [applause] representative ryan governor bush, let me ask you i learned from my mentors that the only way to really know poverty is to try to walk in peoples footsteps, learn from people struggling. You were governor of florida. A big, diverse state with lots of issues and challenges. How did you come into understanding this issue . What touched you to give an appreciation for the problem of poverty . Governor bush paul excuse me, mr. Speaker i have not