Even recruiting is a problem now, folks not getting into a culture were Sexual Assault is a problem. Where Sexual Assault is a problem. The new congressional directory is a handy guide to the 114th congress, with colorful photos of every senate and house member, plus contact information. Also, district maps, a foldout map of capitol hill, and a look at the president s cabinet, federal agencies, and State Governments. Order your top order your copy today. Order it at cspan. Org. During this month cspan is pleased to present the winning entries in this years student can documentary competition, the annual competition that encourages middle and High School Students to think critically about issues that affect the nation. Students were asked to create their documentary based on the theme the three branches and you, to demonstrate how i policy, law, or action by one of the three branches of government has affected them or their community. Nicholas fechnermills prim phoolsombat, and jack russ focus on the supplemental nutrition program. President lyndon b. Johnson signed the food stamp act to help low income families with food costs. Today, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program known as snap, provides nutrition assistance to low income households. It is nutrition assistance in the form of a benefit that people can use at grocery stores. The program is state operated but the federal government pays the full cost of the program. In maryland, it is called the food supplement program, or fsp. The United States department of agriculture says that one in seven americans received snap benefits in august 2014. Next to Unemployment Insurance snap is the biggest federal program that affects low income households during economic slumps. Almost any household with low income is eligible to receive snap. Most of the people are children, the elderly, or the disabled. One of the things i think is most important to keep in mind about snap is that it is really responsive to the economy. Even though it is a nutrition assistance program, because it is based on how much income a household has, it will be available when the economy gets worse, when people lose their jobs and income goes down. We have seen people join the program in the recession in record numbers, because unfortunately the recession was harsh. Snap really helped. In 2009, the government launched the american recovery and reinvestment act to help struggling americans during the recession. It boosted funding for snap and boosted monthly benefits by 13. 6 , helping millions of americans through the recession. The recovery act did boost benefits to everyone on snap. That was done partly because people are hurting during the recession, but it was also done in order to inject money into the economy. The positive effects are clear. A study by the u. S. Department of agriculture found that after the boost, low income households spend more on food in their Food Insecurity dropped. And their Food Insecurity drops to 2. 2 . It was designed to be temporary. It did and in september of last year. End in september of last year. All of the households who it had enjoyed a benefit. A benefit boost saw a benefit cut. The repercussions of these cuts are felt throughout the nation. Every food stamp recipient lost on the average of about 90. Households of one person received an 11 cut. Two persons, a 20 cut and a three persons, a 29 cut per month. For a four person household, a cut of 36 per month. In addition, snap now provides about 1. 40 per meal. You cannot live on food stamps alone. People were astounded by how hard it was to go into the supermarket with the snap benefits. We did it for one week. We had to live on 24. Extraordinarily difficult. The ending of ara was not the ending of cuts to snap. The farm bill, passed every five years, renews snap and reforms agricultural policy. The current farm bill includes 18 billion in cuts to snap. These cuts hurt the citizens enrolled in the program. They were the results of an effort by opponents of snap. Some members of congress argue it is a wasteful program and that funding hurts the economy. It has created lots of problems. That is food stamps. In 2001, there were 2. 3 million total nonworking foodstamp households. On the contrary the program , stimulates the economy as more snap dollars are used. When you are buying food, you are stimulating the farm economy. You stimulate the economy in a lot of ways. Another misconception is that people are freeloading because they do not want to work. The majority of ablebodied people who are on snap work for a living. They are in so little that they still qualify for snap. They earn so little that they still qualify for snap. Snap is the last program one could accuse of being inefficient. There are so many who want to say there is fraud in the program. It has the lowest error rates of any federal program, 3. 8 . But the denigration and humiliation of people who find themselves in difficult straits, some who never thought they would have to apply for food stamps, that we would say no. It is not what we are about. We ought to tackle this problem. We can solve it. And if we solve it, you know what . I think we could be a good example for the rest of the world. Pope francis recently gave a speech at the end of a nutrition conference in rome, several months ago. He talked about the right to food, and that it was our obligation, a moral obligation. To make sure that people have enough to eat. America is one of the richest countries in the world, but despite its wealth, millions of americans cannot afford to eat. Congress, you need to realize that hunger is a real problem in america, and that people need snap. As i tell my colleagues who say the government should not be funding programs like snap, we cant afford to, my response is, we cannot afford not to. It is not a question for programs. It is a question of who we are as a nation. Congress, it is your moral obligation to prevent hunger. Snap to it. To watch all of the winning videos and to learn more about our competition, go to cspan. Org. Also, tell us about what you think about the issue the students addressed in their documentary, on facebook and twitter. New hampshire tv station wmur conducted interviews with several president ial hopefuls. One was former new york governor George Pataki. This is 25 minutes. Josh good evening, and welcome to our kickoff of our conversation with the candidate series. I am josh mcelveen. We will be getting to know governor george for tacky and where he stands on the key issues. I will talk to the candidate about some of the questions and issues, and after the break, we will have our studio audience ask their questions in a town fall town hall format. First, the candidates biography. Former new york governor George Pataki was born in new york, race on his parents farm. He went to Yale University and colombia law school. He first won elected office in 1981 as mayor of his hometown. He was later a state senator and served three terms as the 53rd governor of new york. Pataki has been a longtime advocate of tax reform, welfare reform, and the protection of open space through the brownfield program, which he founded. As governor, he led new york through the september 11 attacks and their aftermath. He is married with four children and one grandson, and lives in garrison, new york. Governor George Pataki, great to see you. Gov. Pataki good being with you. Josh you have dabbled with this idea a couple of different times. You have looked at the presidency, never taken the formal steps. A lot of people might question your sincerity. Why is it different . Gov. Pataki first of all, the world is a more dangerous place. Second i think the change for washington is the largest i have seen in my lifetime. As you mention, i was governor of new york 12 years and did follow washington closely. Now, i see washington expand its powers. It is too big, too intrusive trying to dictate too much of our lives from washington. My own concept of government is that the politicians are servants of people. The people. We see a government that tries to dictate everything from health care to how people live their lives. I think that is wrong. It is important to change it. I believe i have the experience and vision to do that. Josh what is different this time than in 2011 or 2008 . Gov. Pataki the difference is how much larger washington has become. We did not have obamacare in 2008. We did not have crisis in 2012. I look at what is happening we did not have isis in 2012. I look at what is happening. I was governor in september 11, and i saw the consequence of thinking that because radical islam is a thousand miles away, it does not pose a threat to us here. It does. I fear we are at greater risk today than we have been since september 11 of another attack her, yet we have a president who does not have a strategy, who equates the crusades somehow with radical islam, and i think we need to change that to protect the American People and to give everybody here to give the future of this country the sense of optimism that we are entitled to have as americans. You know this is a country that has always been optimistic and believed the future is going to be better. Right now if you ask americans many of them say no, the best of america is behind us. I do not believe that. I believe the problem does not lie with the people, it lies with washington. Josh you brought up isis. To what degree do you think the u. S. Military should deal with this threat . Gov. Pataki we need a president who says this is radical islam. These are not the buddhist state. They are the islamic state. We have a president who does not acknowledge that this is a cancerous, malevolent, brutal offshoot of islam that must be defeated. I think we have seen in the past two different models, and i dont support either. We have spent a trillion dollars, hundreds of thousands of troops overseas, trying to create a democracy where one has not existed. I dont think that works. The other is that because it is thousands of miles away it does not pose a threat to us. It does. What i would do is, first of all, i could go on forever and i know this is an introduction. I would provide the support, the training, the military equipment, and the im dancing to the kurdish army, the peshmerga. And the financing to the kurdish army. I would encourage the jordanians. Egypt Just Launched an attack in libya. We would not support that. Why our government would not support an antiradical islamic islamic country taking action against isis is beyond belief to me. And i would rebuild our military. Josh on record do you put boots on the ground in a massive, widescale . Gov. Pataki we have boots on the ground now, 3000 troops in iraq now. When necessary, i would have a quick strike. Whatever forces are required, go in there, destroy their training camps, Recruitment CentersPropaganda Centers for social media. Get in. Destroy as much as possible as quickly as possible, and then get out. Josh airstrikes and precision . Gov. Pataki but i would also put in if necessary, and i think it is necessary, troops on the ground, for a limited time, to destroy the isis training and recording facilities, and then get out. Josh one other issue has crept into this race. A lot of governors are in this president ial race, potential candidates in this race. What is the difference between a u. S. Senator or congressman running for president versus a former governor . Gov. Pataki i think it is very different. I was a legislator before i became governor. When you are a legislator, you cast a vote, yes or no. That is the act you take. You do not have to live with the actual consequences of that. When you are governor, particularly of a state like new york, you are the executive. You have to do with the consequences of what the legislature has done, and have to run a large, complex government. I think that is invaluable experience. When you look at washington today, it is largely disk dysfunctional. Gov. Pataki josh does it make you more qualified . Gov. Pataki i know one of my colleagues said it has to be a governor. Of course, he is a governor, so it fits his profile. I know it is a norm of sleet helpful if you have that executive experience. I would not it is enormously helpful if you have executive experience. There are excellent candidates in washington running. I think it is valuable to show you have been able to run a complex government. Josh does it matter which state . Gov. Pataki [laughter] gov. Pataki it has to be new york, i think. Governing a state that has a large, complex, difficult government, and where you have a legislature that, in my case one of the houses was more than 21 democrat, and i am a republican, where you have to put together a Bipartisan Coalition would help washington become a functional government for the American People again. Josh after a quick break, we are going to bring our studio audience into this conversation. Stay with us. We will be back. Josh welcome back to our camper station with the candidates conversation with the candidates. Our guest, governor george the tacky. Time for questions from the audience. Our first question comes from cynthia duncan. Cynthia many in the republican as well as the Democratic Party are worried about growing opportunity gaps. They are worried the American Dream of getting ahead by working hard is disappearing. I wonder if you agree and if you do, what measures you would propose to make sure every child succeeds in america. Gov. Pataki cynthia, i think that is one of the most important questions. Earlier, when i was with josh, i was talking about how i am an optimist and believe the best of our country is ahead of us. But sadly, too Many Americans do not think that today, and it is because of what you are talking about. We do not have jobs, good middleclass jobs we need. We are in the seventh year of an economic recovery from the decline, and we have never achieved a rate of growth we should have. We still have too many unemployed, too many underemployed. There are so many things we have to do, to create jobs as one example. Earlier this week, the president vetoed the Keystone Pipeline. That means thousands of good solid construction, bluecollar jobs that we will not have in this country. And i think it is tragic that so often things like that happen. Right now, american corporations are sitting on 2. 2 trillion. Think about that for a minute, 2. 2 trillion sitting in Bank Accounts overseas, not in the United States. These are American Companies but they cannot bring the money back, because we have the highest Corporate Tax rate in the industrialized world. And when you are an apple or ibm or company like that, competing with Companies Like samsung and others when you are competing globally, you build your factories overseas, you keep your money overseas, because you cannot compete and pay american Corporate Tax rate. One of the things i Hope Congress does today, this year, is finally get together, working with the president , and lower those tax rates. The Bowles Simpson bipartisan deficit Reduction Task force came forward and recommended a lower those rates dramatically and bring that money back. We bring those 2. 2 trillion back, invest them in american jobs, create american factories here, and we would have those jobs, and we would have that sense that we are rebuilding america, we are industrialized and, we are creating the excitement about the 21st century. The other important part is, we all know that in the 21st century it is not just having companies willing to invest and Small Businesses willing to get started, ready to get started. It is having an educated workforce. Right now, our educational system, particularly in low income, innercity, minority communities is an embarrassment and a moral disgrace to this country. We need to have schools that work and teachers who can teach, and right now, in many inner cities in this country, we have schools where we know that those teachers cant teach and the schools cant educate, and yet we are telling those parents generally minority parents, that we are going to require your kid to go to a school we know cannot teach that child. When we think about the jobs and opportunity in the 21st century we know education matters. All we have to do is have accountability and be able to empower that parent with a choice. When i was governor, i did that in new york. When i was governor, we traded a Charter School system, where within the public system you could have competition, and a parent would have a choice. We started testing so that parents would know if their school was working and their child was learning. So, improve education educational choice for parents. Lower the tax burdens of companies and invest and create jobs in this country. And get government out of the way of things like the Keystone Pipeline so americans can have those jobs and confidence in our future. Josh cynthia, thank you for our question. Our next question comes from brenda and focuses on a controversial issue centered on education. Brenda hi, governor. What is the responsibility of the federal government versus the State Government in regards to education, specifically the common core . And how does that relate to special needs students . Gov. Pataki did you all hear that question . Federal Government Role and how it relates to State Government, and parents, particularly with special ed. First, i think education should be left to localities and states. I think the federal idea that they can create a system that works for every state whether it is an educational system or a medicaid system, does not make sense. I was a governor and i know the needs of new york, the planes and desires of new york, are very different from some of the small rural states. No two states are exactly the same. With respect to common core, i am for high standards. I believe we need to have high standards and encourage our children to learn math, science and technology. But common core is not the way to do that. You know, i did really well in math when i was in high school and in college. One of my secretaries students is in kindergarten. They are doing common core. She brought in his kindergarten math homework area kindergarten math. I could not do it. Instead of two plus two equals four, the most convoluted concept of trying to learn by doing one thing and combining it with another. And it does not make sense. So i dont support common core. I believe education should be left to the localities and the states. I do believe in higher standards. When it comes to special ed, that as well. I believe that states know best what works in their particular communities, and it should be left to them. Josh thank you. Our next question comes from facebook. Heidi asks, what are you going to do to stop the heroin epidemic that is killing our kids . Gov. Pataki you know, it is a disaster, i know, here in new hampshire, but i still live in upstate new york. And it does not seem like there is a month goes by where we do not lose a young person to heroine. Heroin, and it is a tragic thing. When i was governor, some of the things i did we were the most dangerous state in america, and it included very serious drug problems, drug gangs and every thing else. I said, we are going to restructure our criminal justice system. I think when it comes to heroin or any drugs, you have to have a multipronged approach. First of all, a strong aggressive criminal justice program. Drug dealers, drug pushers those who would trap our kids not just on dependency, but ultimately result too often in their tragic death, deserve serious sentences to be caught, convicted, and put away for a long time. Not the casual user. Not someone supporting their habit. We changed the laws to make them tougher on the big dealers and the kingpins in the drug areas but we had an alternative plan where we had a sixmonth program, similar military shock incarceration program, to try to rehabilitate those who were the addicts who got trapped in their addiction. You need the appropriate criminal justice. Second, you have to have an Educational Program and a deterrence program. You have to do everything in your power to let our young people know this is not something that is simply going to give you a momentary sense of euphoria. It is something that ultimately is going to kill you. And we have had very good success with programs like dare and we need to expand them. Third, we need to have an emergency response. Tragic as it is, one of the things that has been done of late is to actually provide emts and others with an antidote, so on the site, when you see someone who is in danger of dying from a drug overdose, they can get the Quick Response to try to save their life. But ultimately what it comes down to is bigger than that. It is about inspiring people giving them a sense they are part of a great country and a bright future. And as i said earlier, and i will say again i am sure, when a majority of americans do not see that greatness ahead of us that we have experienced in the past, they start to wonder about whether or not to devote their lives to building a better future, to creating a family, to having children. We have to get americans to understand we are all in it together. We are not divided, although the politicians and the media would sometimes want you to think that. And we stand together, shoulder to shoulder, we can accomplish so much. It is a tragic epidemic. I do not think we are doing enough. Particularly at the community level, as opposed to political level, people have to get that message out there that this is not a momentary high. This is a path to death. Josh thank you governor. Thank you, heidi, for that question. Mike, what is your question . Mike governor, what is your plan to protect our energy, economic, and climate security . Gov. Pataki energy, economic, and climate security . In 30 seconds. [laughter] gov. Pataki first of all, we need to develop domestic resources. We have started doing that. In spite of the federal government imposing barriers constantly and State Government imposing barriers constantly, a tremendous increase in oil and gas production. This is a great thing for america. There are still barriers, like in my state, tragically. It gets back to the earlier question, cynthia, about jobs. In new york state, we have the same shale gas they have in pennsylvania. In pennsylvania, they have 60,00080,000 jobs developing that domestic source of clean gas. In new york state, we have a moratorium. We have nothing. We need to develop resources like that. The second thing on energy is, create an integrated north american concept of integrated of energy independence. Canada developed massive resources. That is why the Keystone Pipeline was going to bring canadian oil to gulf coast refineries, replacing oil from venezuela. That would have been a good thing. Mexico just changed its rules so they can bring in American Investment and technology to develop oil and gas resources. We can create a north American Energy powerhouse that makes us not reliant at all on the middle east or unstable overseas sources of oil and gas. I also am a great believer in green technology. When i was governor, we put in place a lot of initiatives moving towards that area. Right now, i think we are seeing where technologies like solar power are becoming economically competitive. As the technology improves, the costs come down and the efficiency goes up. And i think within the next decade we are going to see the ability, in places like the southwest, to have solar farms that can power a large part of this country with clean, renewable energy. And i dont believe anymore that we need massive federal subsidies like we have with solyndra. I think those days are passed. We can encourage market solutions. Whether it is wind power from the great plains or solar power from the southwest transmission you cannot get the power from where it is generated to where the Consumer Needs it. Generally, i want to take power away from the federal government to build Power Transmission lines to access clean, renewable domestic energy. Good for the economy, good for the environment, and good for our independence from foreign sources of fuel. Josh governor, i do want to follow up. Do you believe, when it comes to Climate Change that humans have responsibility for making it happen . Gov. Pataki there is no question. I think everybody, regardless of what side you come down