>> i just keeping my respectful distance. there's nothing wrong with that. ok. >> we're together. that's right. now we're really going to get in trouble. you have to let me -- so i was in charge here but i think it's awfully important -- i'm the chairman. basically i'm the host for everyone that speaks here. what we want to do is give you interesting content about the issues that are happening in society. all of them and we want to give you a different perspective. some of you know i will go on cnn and msnbc and i've been on the bill mahr show. i was on "the view" and i think it's important to do because it's important for people on the right and on the left to be able to talk to each other in a civil way so i think we ought to appreciate the fact that dan jones has a lot of courage and character to be here today. and people are standing. >> it's an honor. i appreciate it. >> and, of course, we're going to disagree, if we went into all of the political issues, we probably disagree on most things but like every few human beings there are things we agree on. >> on that note. van jones, what are you doing here? [laughter] >> i thought it was an aclu gathering. [laughter] turns out it's not. >> i can really help you. acu. > oh, acu. almost as good as the aclu. i'm here because i'm concerned. there are battleground issues we don't agree on and we should disagree where we don't agree. that's what democracy means. democracy means you don't have to agree. democracy means you get to disagree so that's good. where we don't agree we should fight, try to fight. my problem is not the battleground. my problem is there are common ground issues where we do agree and we won't work together on those all too often and that's got to stop in america. that's got to stop in america. saagar: you are one of the few democrats that will work with the president. what blowback have you gotten from the left for doing so, for appearing at events like these? van: look. when you say the left, who do you mean? are there people on twitter? matt: i might be able to help you with that. [laughter] van: jump in. are there people on twitter who say mean things? yes. here's what i will say on criminal justice reform. if you're on twitter calling me a sellout for working with trump on criminal justice reform, here's what i know about you. if you're on twitter you're not in a federal prison because they don't have twitter in federal prison. i don't have to listen to you. i care about the people who are locked up. hat's what i care about. saagar: what's the second step for conservatives on criminal justice reform? is it prosecutorial reform? tell us a little bit about that? matt: i would say pat nolan, who runs our -- if you haven't seen pat around cpac, you ought to see him. his personal story is -- i'd almost say it's almost un-american what happened to him, really. it's really a travesty. my opinion, sometimes we criminalize our political disagreements and i think pat was a victim of that. it's affected his whole life. he's a good christian man who puts the best face on it. so people like that -- my view as being chairman of this organization, there's a lot of people like that i should listen to. i will tell you, i approach criminal justice reform from probably my own experiences. you know, when you do battle in the swamp and you work for a republican president, you -- and you're a staffer, it seems sometimes that political disagreements turn into legal jeopardy for you. and it is a strange thing that every modern republican president has a special counsel. each and every one. and they always seem to find themselves -- and the people around them find themselves in a situation where, you know, once again their political differences turn into them having to hire a lawyer because people are coming after them. i think we need to call a truce on these things. look, i know, van, you and i will disagree on this. i think that plays into what's happening today with the special counsel. there are times for special counsels. but you know why they call them special? it shouldn't happen every time. special should be a very unique set of circumstances. it's turned into constant. so i think we need to have a truce on certain things. we need to take our political disagreements to the ballot box. let's see where the american people are. van: i think clinton had a special prosecutor as well. matt: he's the only democrat that got one so it happens every once in a while. he had to do a terrible thing to get that so -- van: well -- [laughter] van redon't want to go there. we have 12 hours we can talk about that. let's talk about it, though. if you think it's tough, and it is tough to be at a high federal level and have a prosecutor come after you -- matt: it's nothing like these people. van: think about the people who don't have a dollar to their name, who are in plauch, who are in -- appalachian, who are in chicago, who are in native american reservations, when prosecutors go after them they can't defend themselves. what we have to recognize here, both parties have sacred values and principles that are being run over by excessive incarceration. at your best, the republican party and the conservative movement believes in the idea of liberty, which is limited government and respect for individual rights and dignity. at our best, we believe in the concept of justice, making sure that the little folks don't get run over by the big folks. that's why we tell our kids, liberty and justice for all. ok. because if you don't have -- if you have justice without liberty, we want social justice, we want to make sure the little people aren't run over but we don't care anything about individual rights, what we get is totalitarianism. justice without liberty is totalitarianism. and liberty, let the market do whatever they want to do and don't care about the poor and planet, gives you too much -- a corporate. too much corporate power in the system. so liberty without justice is also a nightmare. we tell our kids, liberty and justice for all because i've never seen a bird that can fly with only a left wing. not even in berkeley. i've never seen a bird fly with only a left wing. i've never seen a bird fly with only a right wing, not in mississippi. we need each other. on this issue of criminal justice reform, it is the most anti-liberty, anti-justice thing that we built. and i learned it from newt gingrich, who i had a tv show with. newt told me, van, you are doing a bad job on criminal justice reform because you only speak about it from the racial justice perspective. he told me as a conservative -- newt gingrich -- he said, we have now a big failed government bureaucracy that eats up money and eats up rights and has no accountability. sends people home bitter and not better. that's wrong. he said the libertarians in my party feels this is eating up too many rights. he said as a christian conservative, van, where are the second chances? where is the redemption? somebody makes a mistake, fine. when they come home, they can't get a job. they're not welcomed back. they can't get a student loan. he said, we have to do something. i said, newt, where have you been all my life? where have you been? saagar: who has been better for criminal justice reform? was it former president obama or is it president trump? audience: boo! van: well, i tell you what. i tell you what, on so many things both parties should be proud as on both things. listen, president obama -- president obama, give him his credit now -- president obama was willing to raise this issue and willing to reach out to the koch brothers and willing to go into prisons and his attorney generals tried to make him change it. he was not able to cross the finish line. president trump, to his credit, got it across the finish line and now we got the first step back. so both -- we have a relay race going. both parties should be proud. saagar: this is a conservative conference. some people like tom cotton, they looked at this and said the first step act is letting out bank robbers, letting out carjackers, felons who assault kids, people who assault cops. why is it a good thing? this is to both of you -- that those people are getting out early? matt: let me try first real quickly. my -- my entry into this issue is a basic concept which is, we all will spend this whole conference talking about how the federal government gets a lot of things wrong and spends a lot of money getting things wrong. why out of nowhere do you think someone waved a magic wand and everything they do when it comes to our federal prison system is unimpeachable? we know as conservatives we should be skeptical with the idea that government gets everything right. so the first step is if -- excuse me -- the first way to look at this, you look at states like texas -- you and i were talking about this backstage -- but the texas example is a great example. rick perry did in texas, he had financial issues because they were building prison after prison after prison. what he decided to do, hey, let's look at some of these reforms. let's make sure inmates are closer to their families. let's make sure inmates can learn skills. you know why? 97% are coming back into society anyway. wouldn't you want them coming back into society with good, healthy family relationships and the ability to get a job and get off we will fare? this is stuff we can agree with. -- get off welfare? this is stuff we can agree with. for my friends that criticize the bill, they are trying to find a way that's not perfect. we all know there is not a perfect legislation that ever passed. yes, i'm sure there are things that each one of you would want to change but the concepts are as i described. understand that this prisoner is coming back to you unless they are a horrible, violent offender. if not they are coming back into society. i want them coming back into society ready to succeed. van: hey, listen, i have to say something against my own interest here. here's the deal. the conservative movement in this country unfortunately, from my point of view, is now the leader on this issue of reform in that you look at mississippi, a rock, rib, totally conservative, former jailer there is governor, governor bryant. governor bryant has cut the prison population and crime at the same time. deal in georgia cut the prison population and crime at the same time. rick perry cut the prison population, prison expenditures and crime at the same time. ohio, south carolina. what you're seeing now are republican governors being tough on the dollars, tough on crime and shrinking prison populations and showing the rest of the country that it can be done. now, my problem is i now have a conservative movement that for libertarian reasons, for christian conservative reasons and fiscally conservative reasons is actually doing a great job on what should be my issue. this is supposed to be my issue voice] g in high tone . you are stealing my issue. saagar: they're welcoming you. van: look, i will stay in my party. i will stay in my party. [audience booing] van: take some credit for being smart. >> we do. credit some dadgum for -- if you take some food -- don't take my food. i'm the socialist, according to you. i should take your food. just kidding. matt: probably not go there either. van: you guys understand how this happens. we passed a bunch of laws 30 years ago, throwing the book at everybody for everything. and then we didn't look at it again. a lot of people didn't. it's just like when you get food you go out to eat, you get a bunch of food, put it in the refrigerator, don't look at it for three weeks, six weeks. you open that up, it doesn't look like food anymore. this doesn't look like justice anymore. this system has got so much stupid stuff we allowed to accumulate and conservatives and liberals are coming together. us for justice reasons, you for liberty reasons, and we are getting something done. let's keep doing stuff that works. the three issues that we should stay together on -- we should fight on everything else and i'm happy to do it. the three issues -- please, please -- i've been to appalachian. i've been to the border. i've been to native american reservations, i have bean to inner cities. it's the same pain. poverty, addiction, and a broken criminal justice system in red counties and blue cities wherever you go. and neither party has done enough for the people at the bottom who have those three issues. and yet -- and i have to say this -- trump on poverty did opportunity zones. on addiction did opioid package. and on criminal justice did first step. and i'm here to say on those three issues, i will work with or against any republican or any democrat to help the people that neither party has helped for way too long. that's why i'm here. that's why i'm here. i've seen them, saagar. matt: i've seen van be willing to walk in the gates of the white house with trump -- saagar: that's not issue. matt: we need more of that in our politics. saagar: absolutely. van, one thing is, you look at this and your passion for this is clear. but is there any chance you can come to regret this legislation? one of the reasons that there was appetite for this, crime is at an all-time low. van: yes. saagar: we talked about this in the past, we could see the rising crime, one person that's released an commit a horrible act. how do you recover from that? would there ever be any regret on your part to see criminal justice reform passed? van: look, couple things all in that. we have a strong economy. i think both president obama and president trump -- i thank both president obama and president trump for that. crime is coming down. listen, the liberals are wrong. if trump got there he would destroy the economy and he didn't. they said obama would point the economy down and it was pointing up. both presidents can be proud and both parties can be proud and now is the time to move. you have a strong economy, you need more workers. low crime, be more braver. we have leadership on both sides. i think, let's hold up the examples of the positive people who are coming home, thousands of people are going to come home and do a good job. if somebody comes home and does something terrible, we need accountable and make sure it doesn't happen again. let's not hold back tens of thousands of people who can come home and do a great job as happening in red states. saagar: i see david out here. matt: i just want to finish this texas example. a conservative governor, rick perry, someone who we all respect, closed seven prisons. eight prisons. closed another one recently. saved $3 billion. i was born in 1967. the crime rate is the same today as it was in 1967. so to maybe a senator cotton or others, they didn't see an explosion in crime. by the way, violent felons i don't think should be part of this conversation. we're talking about people who committed crimes and some cases it was the furthest thing from aify lent crime and sometimes they just made a terrible mistake and we shouldn't quit on these people. pat nolan, who was really the godfather of this movement, who works for the a.c.u., said we ought to stop putting people in prison we're just mad at and put people in prison who we fear. and that is a limited understanding of government. there's a role for prisons. i don't want my five girls to be unsafe on the street. there are people that cannot live amongst us. but there's just a chance that aggressive prosecutors and big government have color too wide on what those lines are and who does get thrown away. i don't want those people thrown away we know as conservatives, there is -- every kid that doesn't get to live up to his full responsibility -- and i don't know about the rest of you but i didn't need a second chance. i've needed a lot more than a second chance in my life. my mom is out there. she knows that. don't talk to her. she knows too much. saagar: i have to find mom after that. matt, a final political question. i get to determine -- matt: i get to determine how much time we have. i don't want to get credit you don't deserve. van: you mentioned dave who has done an extraordinary job. happy to sound with newt gingrich, a bipartisan group called 50. they have impacted people who have been to prison or had loved ones that went to prison like louis reed, topeka, fought the fight every day. jared kushner, whose father went to prison who understands we have so much stupidity in the system. you can handle the worst of the worst if that's what you want to call it. there's a lot of stuff happening here that doesn't make any sense. so let's listen to the people in their millions who have had contact with this big failed government bureaucracy and can tell you how dumb it is. let's give them some credit. and then also, you know, there's a way that we have been stereotyping each other and missing each other. i shouldn't have just found out all the good stuff conservatives have been doing inside prison ministries. if you heard some of the stories coming from some of our communities, your hearts would break. we talk about each other. we don't talk to each other. i think about my muslim friends. as i've gotten to know them, they embarrass me because the muslim community, they have the lowest crime rate. american muslims. lowest crime rate. highest entrepreneurship rate. muslim family moved in next door to me i would be happy because my kids would probably get in much less together because they pray together, work together. we talk about each other. we don't talk to each other. undocumented immigrants right now have a lower crime rate than the rest of us and yet we don't talk about that. no. hold on. [audience booing] matt: i told you i controlled the time. van: there are stereotypes about trump supporters. there are stereotypes about trump supporters. there are stereotypes about straight white men. m sitting next to one of the best people who is a straight white man and trump supporter. we have to talk to each other. whether it's family leave or infrastructure, we can get stuff done together. i just want to speak from my heart and say being invited here, even just now we didn't agree on everything i just said but i think the spirit of what i said -- don't go with my -- the spirit of what i'm trying to say is, as i've gotten to know more people working on this issue, my mind has been changed. my heart has been changed. . my understanding much what we can do together has been changed and that needs to happen. saagar: on a positive note, e've got to end there. [applause] >> the word education comes from latin word. it raises the question. how do you know you are going in the right direction? the easy answer in our time is it just depends on which way you want to go. young people say that today. they have been taught to say that. but that's the wrong answer. we understand education to be the pursuit of the highest answer to that question. discovering the right way by reading the greatest books by the greatest minds in history. coming to see the meaning of three ultimate and related things, the good, the truth and the beautiful. this is the way forth. this is education. america's is built and based on liberty and freedoms. the liberty of choosing your own doctor, the liberty of choosing your own hospital. ignite your liberty starting at $199 for a single. no matter how big the family. $529 for the entire family. learn how to save go to igniteyourliberty.com. >> [snerble] >> are you looking for these things in your own health care. $529 tarting at $199 or for the entire family. are. igniteyourliberty.com >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, pat nolan and deborah saunders. you just sit there and here i am talking to pat nolan for you. you can't beat that. pat is the director of the american conservative union's center for criminal justice reform. i have known him for many years. he was first elected to the california state assembly when he was 28 years old and became the california assembly leader and that's when i worked for him. and he has a lot of distinctions. thinks he is the only convicted felon to be at the white house for three bill signings. >> four now. any way, let's talk about your life, pat. you started out as one of the cavemen in the california assembly and one of the young ones. what did the good conservatives think about the criminal justice ystem and what they should do. cpac great audience of knows. regulateonite. myself, dana rohrabacher, sean steel had our teeth in reagan and taught us we should raise the banner of gold pillars and not pale pass tells. when we got to the assembly, we were there to stir the pot and we were part of the tax reform revolt, prop 13. [applause] >> and as reagan said, it was a prarie fire that set the country. and we were tough on crime. i grew up on crenshaw boulevard and not only myself but my brothers and sisters and neighbors were victims of crime. so the victim of the crime was, get the bad guys, toss them in prison and we'll have safer communities. >> fast forward to 1998 when the f.b.i. came into your life. they raided your office, what happened? >> we are seeing some of my friends have said, i was the can ari in the tunnel. conservatives should have been paying attention. the f.b.i. targeted me for prosecution on a bill that was absolutely a good bill. i never asked for or accepted a contribution while it was still pending for my vote. i voted for it in good faith. they contributed to me. but through a series of leaks and this thug tactics, they tried to pressure my supporters into saying that they had contributed to me as a way to influence my vote. and it was not only conservatives, but liberals reacted in horror at that, as many people told them, i was one of the good guys. i was a straight arrow. i learned a lot from the process through that. not only did they intimidate and threaten witnesses, but one of the things i learned is, when the f.b.i. interviews you, they won't allow you to tape the conversation. instead, they write it down in what they call a 302 and put things in quotes that aren't quotes. there aren't stenographers and then they come back to you and say, you said this and that contradicts that. when you object to that and they said that to many of the people that worked for me, who are they going to believe. fine upstanding f.b.i. agents or someone who works for a crooked politicians. >> you hung in the wind for five years. in were indicted in 1993 and 1994 -- >> scheduled to go to trial. >> you pled guilty. you came out of the courthouse and said you weren't, explain that. >> i thought like most people, you don't plead guilty unless you're guilty. children were five years, five years and 10 months and stacked charges against me. the one they attributed to my campaign, not to me personally, but they got six felonies out of it in the charging. and i was facing a minimum of 21 years in prison. i would have lost the whole childhood of my children. and to me the calculus is easy. i worked very hard to change. i fought willie brown every day on the floor, he was the speaker. brought our caucus from five votes. and they took me out. but i couldn't afford to miss all those years with my children. so i lied and said i did something and walked out of the courthouse and said i just lied because i didn't do anything, but i need to protect my family. but god has a plan for each of us. and as joseph said to his brothers, they tried to kill him. they sold him into slavery and man intended for evil, god intended for god. leading conservatives and said this big government, if they can do that to me, think of what they do to a young kid from abusive family that runs away from home and gets in trouble. >> that's what van jones was talking about. we chatted before this and don't want to give this poor me in prison talk, but how did your faith get you through this. >> thank you for that. i always wondered if my faith would stand a serious challenge like this, but every step of the way, god made it clear that his hand was on me. he doesn't save us from the pain of situations, but he does remind that he's there and i'll give you an example. i arrived in prison. and we have seen movies of prisons and i was a republican politician going into prison and i had some trepidations. and they sent over the guard on rotation. normally, it would have been my can counselor and there were 700 guards that worked at this complex and as i stepped through barbed s of bashed -- wire. he said i know who your he said my praying group is praying for you. what are the chances of that? he is the only one that would have been praying for me. yet by god's hands he was there. through so many occasions he made it obvious that he was preparing me. my wife said this, too. pat, he has a purpose in this. what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. but god would want us to be as strong as we want to be for a while. >> you have been involved and i want to go through some of the names of the people that you have dealt with. you have been involved with the ligious land use and first step act, prison rape elimination act and you have dealt with people on both sides. let's talk about some of the people you dealt with. chuck, who played a big part in your life. >> here again, this is god really blessing me. chuck recruited me while i was still in prison. and he was like an older brother to me. he took me under his wing and i learned so much from him. and his vision was that conservatives should be involved in criminal justice reform. we shouldn't leave it to the liberals because he didn't feel they would run it right. and so, he did that for me. ut also, teddy contendy, who i thought was evil inkaren ated but when harry reid tried to strip it, he and john ashcroft said this is wrong. i was blessed to put together a press conference with the two of them. and just as matt and van, i found there is power. when kennedy wanted to sponsor the prison rape elimination act, which is a stain on our character. you get sent to prison, your sentence doesn't include being raped, but thousands of men and women, half by guards, about half by other prisoners. they wanted to have arlen specter. and i said he is a liberal republican a wanted jeff seeings. he did do it. the moral issues was such that he said yes, we need to take a stand and say this is wrong. so it was that type of left-right -- sam brownback was a great hero. dick durbin was great to work with, not on anything else. you have worked with bill clinton, george bush, barack obama, donald trump. who is the best for you to work with? >> i think trump. [applause] >> he had a passion for this. he was skeptical, but i don't have time to go into this. god put me together with jared kushner when neither of us thought trump would be president. but we worked together and trump was convinced that this was wrong, that we really hurting our society by having so many people unable to support their families. >> i hate to do this. tell me what's the next thing you want to get done? >> prosecutorial abuse. we need to hold them personally accountable when they violate our rights. second, mental health, we have so many people that are mentally ill that get sent to prison and they're not evil, they're sick and need help. >> what's the third thing. i think it's trying to give shorter sentences but more things that prepare them to come out. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> that was wonderful. [applause] >> we just heard about your story and thought it was an appropriate time to give you one of our highest honors, the award for conservative excellence. >> thank you. and hold our music, the american conservative union has our center on criminal justice reform, pat nolan is our dreblingt tore and renaming that the pat nolan center for criminal justice reform. >> thank you. >> thank you. really touching. >> unfortunately, well deserved, right? >> yeah. please ut further ado join me in welcoming charlie. hoo! >> these policies are working, despite what you hear and read, we can make america great again. thanks for being a part of it. >> thanks you guys. e appreciate it. >> you don't have self-government if you don't know what the government is up to. judicial watch is a team of lawyers know what questions to ask and lawsuits to file and legitimate them in court. we have over 30 federal lawsuits asking for documents about the targeting of donald trump, the abuses of the deep state, the mueller special counsel investigation, other basic requests for information that judicial watch is asking for documents on. you don't get these documents unless you are in court. without judicial watch, we wouldn't know about the i.r.s. scandal or the benghazi scandal and hillary clinton's email scandal would still be see dret but for judicial watch. >> we are coming together at a crucial time in our nation's history. america is making great strides towards freedom and liberty, but she also confronts determined foes and faces enormous challenges, challenges that strike directly at the core principles. free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values and national security. across america and the world, we see where liberalism has left its devastating mark, in homes, in schools, in communities and in capitals. that's why our work is so important and it's what the heritage foundation is all about. at heritage, we are not just a bulwark against the left, we are battleship for liberty. we will guide america to renewed greatness and take the fight to liberalism. that's why i'm proud to serve as the heritage foundation's president and why i am so honored to join with you here at cpac and fight for the greatest nation on earth. >> this aims to design an ecosystem -- >> this is the liberty ecosystem, a flexible federation of local partners working together. >> allowing six billion of us. >> giving us access to fundraising, from individuals and groups around the world who share our mission. >> making it more difficult for authoritarian governments to impede on local organizations like us because there is no centralized group. >> together, we can keep the free world free. in the movement at www dth libertyeco. from the white house please elcome director larry cud low. >> i i have a couple of things to share with you today and going to ask a big favor. the share is easy. we have our economic report this morning. the economy is growing at 3% and that's what we told them. [applause] trade reform, energy opening, conservative judges, foreign policy strength, blue collar workers are booming for the first time. i think the highest employment of blue collar workers since the reagan 1980's. small businesses are booming. wages are rising. 3% growth as far as the eye can see. hottest economy in the world and i'll let the ankle biters just bite our ankles. i'm so tired of it. i'm so tired of it. now, here's my plea. we have to preserve and build on the policies and the successes. we have to maintain a strong and prosperous america. in short, we have to keep america great. [applause] here's the problem. our opponents are proposing to overturn america's success and its greatness. it's crazy stuff. it's crazy stuff. i have been around a while. i suppose nothing should suppose me. high taxes, health care takeover, impoverished poverty traps, socialism. socialism. so i'm going to come to you day with a request, really with a plea and stay with me on this. i need your help. i want everybody in this room and your friend and your ighbors, i want you to put socialism on trial. that's what i'm asking you to do today. [applause] >> i don't want us to stand idly by. i don't want to let this stuff fester. i want it challenged and want it debated and want it rebutted and i want to convict socialism. [applause] >> president trump has already started this leadership. let me read you or remind you of a couple of passages. in the state of the union message and i'll quote, here in the united states, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. america was founded on liberty and independence, not government coercion nor domination or control. we are born free and we will stay free and tonight we renew our resolve that america will never be a socialist country. that's from the state of the union. [applause] ago, iami a week or two president trump said, socialism promises prosperity, but it delivers poverty. socialism promises unity, but it delivers hatred and delivers division. socialism promises a better future but it always returns to the darkest chapters of the past. it never fails. it always happens. i ask you to join president to putnd me and the rest socialism on trial and convict it. [applause] put that to bed 30 years ago the last time i was here. some facts. some facts. the top 1% of income earners actually pay about 40% of all the taxes. 1% pays 40%. the top 10% pays nearly 70%. the bottom 50% pay 3%. so who pays the taxes? successful people, men and women, entrepreneurs shoulder. don't let this argument go by. use the numbers. the green new deal will literally destroy the economy. literally. [applause] >> it would knock out energy, transportation, airlines, jobs, 10% toses, probably lose 15%. that's what our opponents and critics are saying. universal health care, ending private insurance. 180 million americans use private insurance, that would be gone under these crazy ideas. cost about 35, $40 trillion. those who don't want to work. i'm using the american action corps numbers. maybe $75 trillion is the cost of the green new deal. and its associated policies. so, they are proposing essentially a state government control of the entire economy. central planning on a grand scale. now, look it. it's never worked. it's never worked. the old soviet union proved it won't work and can't work. nowa days, venezuela is proving it gep. now some good news on this, a capitalism. favor 25% favor socialism. that's good. we have something cooking. there was a guy on tv, 15 years or so that would say free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. i don't remember who he was. [applause] but he meant it. he has ended the war on business and ended the war on energy and nded the war on success. [applause] >> economic terms, we, you, are now awarded by the extra hour work, for the extra investment, for the extra risks taken. one of the strongest parts of our economy, men and women, once again, starting and owning their own businesses because it pays to do so. [applause] >> as my colleague said, if you tax something more, you get less of it. if you tax something less, you'll get more of it. our socialist friends want to tax and regulate more of everything. we cannot permit that. stop prosperity killers, stop job killers, stop incentive killers and i'll end on this note. we must not let government action run this country. i prefer human action, the actions of individuals, men and women. we prosper america when we are god-given se our talent, our god-given talents of creativity of ingenuity and inventoriestiveness and our gifts from god of faith and life. [applause] >> socialism, government control, government coercion and all the rest will block out these god-given gifts. if we let that happen, we will permit them to block out america's greatness. we have made great strides in a couple of years. now we have to build on them. so i'm here with just one simple ask, please, join us to keep america great and join us to put socialism on trial and then convict it. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> wow! thank you everyone. great to be here with you. man, this is a rough audience. i am here today with two of my heroes. we are an important infleck shon point in our nation. in fact, there has been an unmasking on the left on the issue. as sad as it is and hard to watch, it's important we take note and we have an honest conversation. what happened in new york with the passage of the law that basically struck down any limits on abortion, all the way up until birth, which, by the way is not a new position. what happened in virginia with the same bill being offered, and that's being offered in a cood natured manner around the country. and then the discussion that ensued by my governor in which he had this clear-eyed discussion of what happens if a child is able to survive an abortion that the babe is kept comfortable and the mother have a discussion about what happens next. that is ter tying. but it's honest and it's real. last week, we had 44 senators, i call them the dirty 44 that stood on the side of infantcide and o our instagram page follow us. i have the names for you. take note and give them a call. let your senators hear your voice. it's our moment. now the issue of the sanctity of human life is important. it is a see him national human rights issue. we must at this moment nderstand what's at stake. christians, we believe in the principles. we as human beings are created in god's image and because of that, we have intrinsic value at every stage from conception to natural death. and what people in this world see is an adequacy where you have issues that make life harder for you, doesn't mean that you are less, it means you need more protection and need to stand on your. i want to turn my guests here and such a privilege to be here with both of you because you have done so much. nd starting with congresswoman cathy mcmorris rodgers. who is one of the few members of congress who has given birth as a sitting house member -- you did it three times. not only have you shown leadership publicly, but in your personal capacity. you have walked out an epic of sanctity of human life. i would like to hear your story and son cole. mrs. rodgers: this is an amazing journey. i was 35 and single when i was legitimated to congress and pro-life. got married and married a great guy, retired from the navy. but -- we -- we got pregnant right away. i was older mom, 37 at that time, but we got that diagnosis that we anticipated that our son d an extra 21st chromosome which is known as down syndrome. and not the news you expect to receive, but yet i have embraced cole for his potential for his life, everything that he has to offer. and today, 12 years later, i can testify that he brings us so much joy. cole loves to tell jokes and -- your life with laughter [applause] you mrs. rodgers: cole reminds me every day as to the value and the potential of every human life. i felt like i knew it in my head. now i know it in my heart. he has influenced my work on capitol hill. we are celebrating the great economy and trump economy and driven by tax cuts. i introduced legislation, able to work that is going to give those individuals who have a disability the opportunity to et an intern ship or part-time job and explore work without being counted against their benefits. it gives them the opportunity to live the american dream. the opportunity zone that dr. carson has championed. but we are here to ensure that everyone has the opportunity that was laid out in our declaration of independence and those opportunities of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and cole is a remarkable person that reminds me of that every day. and i'm grateful for his influence on my life as well as my work in congress and the work we are doing now for millions of people who want to have that opportunity tore a better life. because a job is so much more than a paycheck. it gives you purpose and dignity and foundation for the american dream. [applause] >> one of my heroes said people and children with disabilities are on the front lines of human life and how we treat them. the way that we value them has implications for our culture in every single way, if we respect the least of these, then we respect everyone. but if we don't, we don't mean it. dr. carson, don't mean to leave you out here. 'm so excited to have you. people know who you are. you are a famous neurosurgeon who has been the only person to successfully separate twins concxds con joined at the head. [applause] want in a what you neurosurgeon. he is unflappable. you are up on the medical science of all of that and you have literally held and seen a human brain. tell me, when does life begin? >> that's a very good question because with all the technology and all the knowledge we have acquired as human beings, we still don't have the ability to create life. and we don't the ability to create a human being, but god has or chest traited an incredible situation where an egg and sperm come together and within a matter of 10 to 12 weeks, you can see the little fingers, toes, the face, the heart is starting to beat. it's absolutely amazing and goes on to develop rapidly. the brain, hundreds of thousands, neurons every single day. and i have had the privilege of being able to operate on little babies that were 25, 26, 27, 28 weeks gestation. and i can guarantee you, they can feel, they can react and you have to give them anesthesia you are going to cut them. but they can respond to comfort and to warmth. and to say that is a meaningless bunch of cells, honestly is just totally ignorant. [applause] the secretary: i had the privilege of operating on babies womb. not -- mother's so what really gets me and most people have never actually seen an abortion, but in the early stages, you have the uterus on the ultrasound and can see the baby, the foot, the arms and the legs and then they introduce a grinding, n on the sucking machine and next thing you see is all the blood going through the tube and the thing disappears. i mean it's barbaric. stage n it goes to later abortion, you have a baby could live outside of the womb. but some people feel that it's ok to murder that baby. the level of ms. barragan:ism that that requires, i don't know how people can do it quite frankly. and try to shield the mothers from the knowledge of what's going on and try not to let them see the screens. but how many of those mothers end up psychologically damaged. they say they are doing it for the health of the mother, what about the mother's mental health that she has to endure for the rest of her life. >> you know about silent no more which gives women the ability to share their regret. s a believer, i believe in redemption and you can always bring it to the cross of the feet of jesus. nobody has to live with that regret. nobody. [applause] or believe this idea that less has crested into our society that sometimes we are impacted by it. and i'm going to tell a story that exposes my own ignorance. i was in a church several minutes late and snuck in the back row and in front of me was a family, older parents and adult daughters with significant disabilities. in a wheelchair. the wheelchair held up her head and limited use of her hands and arms and i felt sorry for them. so i'm there and wore shipping and go to a church where we have -- out of the corner of my eye make a movement with her hand while we were singing. praising. ht was she did she mean to hold up her hand and i started to watch, yes, she did. at a certain moment, she was joining in praising and worshipping her god. and i started to feel sorry for myself because who am i to say that she is more valuable than i am, the fact that she has an uncomplicated and less life where she can pray and pray and worship her god, which means she is more valuable to our god and how dare i i feel sorry for her. we as a nation have to get past of this idea. i would like you to comment on that. the secretary: some of my favorite patients were those who were disabled that many would say don't deserve to live and should be killed. o this very day, i know people bafida and down syndrome. i remember a young woman who came to me who was 33 weeks and the child had been diagnosed with a considerable abnormality and she was on her way to kansas to get an abortion. and no one in this area would do it in that late stage and i talked her out of it. i had to operate on that baby. the baby is fine and so grad she didn't do it. but i was telling that story to e head of the aclu who say what about that baby, 32 weeks could live outside of the womb unsupported, what about that baby? after i told him that i operate on babies, i said would you speak to those babies. but the one who is further advanced and in the safest place, you won't speak for them. i realize that doesn't make any sense. but i believe a woman can kill that baby the second it is born. i said would you say that in public? he said, no. now they are willing to say it in public. and it's going to be up to us, people with morals and values to stand up to it because we cannot et this happen in our society. [applause] cold cold being cole's mom has opened my eyes and i wonder how god does view us because we have our own definitions and put labels on people as having disabilities. god looks at us all and sees people in need. we are all developmentally disabled in god's eyes and kind of changed my view there. i have been in elected office and met with different families and people advocating for people with disabilities. i cherish that community. any family who has been touched by someone with special needs or disabilities, they are the strongest advocates and strongest proponents because they understand firsthand the impact of that person on their lives. the positive impact. and i am -- today i'm just grateful for this community of people celebrate what every people has to offer. it is a community that celebrates step, every success, everything that that individual can conquer and focuses on the way -- we should all be focusing on the ability and focusing on what someone can contribute, their strengths rather than being so focused on ourselves. it gives us a different view of viewing the world and how god would view it and the way our founders set up in our constitution and our declaration of independence that we would be a country that cherishes that life, lit and the pursuit of appiness for every person. [applause] >> well said. it's not necessarily popular to consider being a servant. as you know as cole's mother, even the mother of when i had young children, you are in a servant's role. and that is essential and part of being a compassionate society. we will talk about the politics of this issue. i was saying earlier we are at this pivotal moment, there is a recent poll that showed after the new york vote, after what has happened in virginia, we have seen a 17-point swing in favor of life. [applause] >> we are waking up as a society and leading that group and that's why i'm so happy to be here at cpac are young people and democrats are coming to our side on this issue. so as we talk about this, not everyone has thought through this issue. but let me just tell you, it impaths you. it is important. and it is your time to speak up and tell the truth. to all the young people here in and the young women are to seek truth to power and speak for the weak in society. you can be on the front lines of human life. and let me ask you today, urge you to take on that role. it's your time. you are the pro-life generation. >> amen. [applause] the secretary: i should mention that next month in march, there a movie coming out called "unplanned." it's wonderful. and it is rated r because i don't think they want to allow young women to see it because it is a very powerful movie. what they don't know is that the young people, they don't want to see a pg movie. but it does tell the story of and by johnson who worked in an abortion clinic and became the director but never had seen an abortion and called into the room and saw the horrors and changed. and it's really very powerful. >> back to the politics of this, i have to just say and i would love to hear your thoughts, i am o grateful that we have been pro-life in my lifetime. thank you donald j. trump for standing up for human life. [applause] >> it is so refreshing to have a president who makes a promise to the pro-life community and actually follows through and leads on the issue. the fact that every single one of his great nominations to the court have been people who are constitutionalists. so i want to -- one of the that we are making elections have consequences for life. our time is wrapping up. i would love to get a final statement on anything that was said and what people should be thinking about as we go into 2020. mrs. rodgers: science is on our side, technology is on our side, we need to stand for life and we have a president who is on the forefront of this. election election is going to be so important. the left, planned parenthood is active in every congressional district. they are using their data base to motivate people to get out and vote and encourage people that you need to engage and create an army of people that are going to stand for life heading into 2020 and stand with donald trump as we go into 2020. [applause] the secretary: it is critical tore people to recognize as we go into this election, this is not really a traditional election about democrat ideals or republican ideals, this is about those people who understand the foundation of the creation of this nation and the values and principles that allow us to rise from nothing to the opinion call of the world in record times and those who want to change this country into something else into a model that has never worked anywhere else and what we need to recognize, yes there are flaws in our system and flawed people in our system but never been a system that has elevated so many people giving so many people opportunity and freedom in the history of the world and we need to keep it. >> well said. that was great. great. [applause] >> remember this, elections have consequences for life. seek your priest, reverend or rabbi and i want you to own this issue and be on the front lines of human life. thank you and god bless you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please senator lindsey graham. cheers and applause] senator graham: thank you very much. wow! . i came to the right place. i'm from the federal government here to help you. [laughter] senator graham: speaking of rocket man, he couldn't be here. and if he doesn't get a deal with trump, he won't be anywhere much longer. [cheers and applause] senator graham: the president is on his way back. here's the question, why is rocket man talking to trump when he hasn't talked to anyone else? it's because he knows trump means business. why is taliban at the peace table? it's because we have been kicking their ass. why is the caliphate destroyed? ecause trump left the military do its job. [cheers and applause] senator graham: why is iran on the run? because trump understands a bad deal when he see one. why is cavanaugh on the court? because trump is tough. [cheers and applause] senator graham: i want to thank every person in this room. how many people were watching the hearings? how many people were pissed. i'm going to get through this without getting mad all over again. so here's the deal, without people like you, this wouldn't have happened. and without president trump, it wouldn't have happened at all. i want to thank the president for nominating brett and doing something that people in washington don't do, have somebody's back when it really matters. [applause] there were a bunch of people telling the president, oh, we need to move on. and the president said, no thank you. that is truly training the swamp. would me tell you what have happened if we'd let this go and basically threw brett over. who would be the next person on our side? who in their right mind would want to be a judge if they're able to take brett down doing what they did? there's a lot at stake here, right? and why is it always our people? really. clarnte thomas. bjork. kavanaugh. alito. why is it always our people? i'm here to tell you i have never been more proud of president trump than i was during the brett kavanaugh hearings. [applause] they tried to destroy him and it blew up in their face. i'm hoping that they understood that america is not exactly where they are. and if they don't understand it now they're going to understand t in 2020. elections matter. i'm chairman of the judiciary committee. that matters. [applause] judges, more judges, then some more judges. so mitch mcconnell has been great on this issue. we're going to process as many conservative judges as we can. we're in charge of that committee and we're going to use it wisely. every day somebody in the house stands up and begs nancy pelosi to bring to the floor the pain-capable bill which would ban abortion on demand in the fifth month of the pregnancy. she has not -- she is not listening but they're trying in the house. i'm going to bring that bill up in the senate. [applause] elections matter. lections matter. we're one of seven nations that allow abortion on demand in the fifth month of the pregnancy. i'm ready to get out of that lub, aren't you? social media. how many of you worried about your content being taken down? [applause] because the person making the decision may not be the -- see the world the way you do. the bottom line is the social media companies have got a lot of power, they're pretty unregulated and we're going to take a long, hard look at that ecause i'm the chairman. how many of you are worried about chinese espionage? how many are worried about chinese students and professors coming to america to basically steal our stuff? because i'm chairman, we're going to take that up. i've got the greatest group of republicans on this committee, this is not a place for the faint hearted. look at the people on the other side. every day is like a super bowl event. so president trump and i did not start off well. i remember meeting him after he got elected and he said, hey, lind ', i don't have your phone number and i said, there's a reason for that. [laughter] so i've given him my phone number and trust me, he uses it. and i couldn't be more proud of the fact that he talks to me and he asks my opinion and we've got a lot in common now. i like him and he likes him. [laughter] so go figure. the guy from new york, the guy from south carolina. but he's doing a hell of a job as commander in chief, he's rebuilt our military. he's put our enemies on the run. and he's a better friend and nobody stood by israel better than donald trump. nobody. [applause] four more years. we've cut your taxes. we're deregulating the government. we're giving you more say about your life than you've ever had. we're putting conservative judges on the court who understand the difference between their job and mine. the best is yet to come. god bless you all. [applause] ♪ >> it's a project that aims to design an ecosystem -- >> this is the liberty ecosystem, an agile, flexible federation of local organizations and international partners working together through blockchain technology. >> allowing the six billion of us to counterbalance the two billion of them. >> giving us access to fundraising from individuals and groups around the world who share our mission. >> making it more difficult for authoritarian governments to impede -- [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> ladies and gentlemen, the politics of realignment and impact on 2020. featuring realclear politics' tom bevin, "the washington times"' charlie hirs, "the bill press show's" bill press. hosted by the american conservative union chairman matt schlap. [applause] >> all right, everyone. some people are leave, bill, i don't know what that's about. i'm uncertain. >> stay! stay! it's going to be interesting. >> so i first want to start off much like i started off earlier in the day to say that we are kind of disappointed that there are folks that are unwilling to go ahead and sit down with someone they disagree with from time to time and have a cordial conversation. so whenever we do this annually, we always try to find a brave, shall we say, left of center person to sit with us. in this case, bill, you took the short straw, you're here because and we want atured to hear what's on your mind. go ahead. >> that's not true. i know that lanny davis was your first choice. and i'm only hear because lanny davis refused to come but lan nee davis did arrange for tom stire to pay i pay my transportation. >> carbon neutral, i'm sure. >> oh, yeah. >> i think lan nee davis just does whatever bill and hillary clinton tells him to do. i think we figured that out loud and clear. so let's start off with talking about a theory that i have that -- we talked about this theory as we started the conference that there's a lot of political realignment going on. i don't know if you see this in your own life. sometimes families are getting together for holidays and people are fighting about things they never used to fight about. and the republican nominating process obviously an outsider like donald trump was ail to capture the nomination, win all these primary, win all the debates and eventually become our president, thank god. and on the democratic side, bill, ewe saw a lot of change going on over there as it really became a bernie sanders vs. hillary clinton fight with some similar dynamics, obviously, with different policy traditions. what's going on in the democratic party? >> ha-ha. the democratic party. we are on fire. [laughter] well first of all -- [laughter] in fact, if anything we've got too much energy because we have too many candidates running. there may be nine or 10, there'll be 20 by the time we get through the first debate in june. and i can just -- >> i can just tell you that always works out great. >> and i remember that you guys had the varsity and the j.v. >> that's right. >> he's a good guy, good friend, never got off the j.v. stage he should have been on the varsity stage. come on. but you had varsity and j.v. i think we're going to have varsity, j.v., and middle school. three different levels of debate but there is -- you can speak for the realignment if there is in the republican party, i'm not an expert on that realignment. but in the democratic party there's been a big realignment and it's bernie sanders. i was bernie bro in 2016. if you've read my memoir, which is called "from the left," it's still up on amazon, it's still available. "from the left." >> how much does it cost? >> shit, i don't know. sorry. [laughter] i do want to mention, i talk in my mem way, the bernie sanders campaign started in our living room on eighth street, capitol hill, just around the table, 12 people we p put together for a little dinner there. i was a bernie broboro from the beginning. >> we can thank you for all the socialism? >> my point is that bernie moved the party, woke up the party, moved the party back to its roots, i think, fighting for working class americans and bernie in 2016 and donald trump had almost the same message. which was we got to fight for the middle class, fight they are little guys, raise taxes on the wealthy and in fact get the country moving again. >> charlie, jump in on -- >> where was bernie's platform on illegal immigration? >> i don't remember that one. >> border security but not for deporting everybody. >> it's fascinating to look back. if you look back, a lot of it played out in this room. or at this conference. when you go back and look at the tea party insurrection inside the republican party, and i mean, it was a crackup obviously and it was painful and cost republicans seats and probably even in some ways in the short-term hurt conservatives but in the long-term, in the long run, those growing pains have been terrific for conservatives. and i think makes the republican party stronger. you're not going to agree with this, though, bill. but the reason for that is that the tea party was dragging republicans back to the more conservative principles, like the constitution, meaning exactly what it says and not something else. what i see, the problem i see for -- let me back up. the exact same thing that happened to the republicans back, you know, eight, 10 years ago is what we saw happen two years ago in the democratic party and we see going on right now. and it's the insurrection within the party trying to, you know, dismiss leadership and take the party in a new direction. the problem is that this insurrection is taking the party in a direction that is not more toward the principle -- principal tenets of our founding but toward -- i don't know what it is. socialism. and whether it's the environmental stuff or it's the really militant economic stuff i don't know that in the end if it ends up helping the democratic party. >> i want to hear what tom has to say. but i do want to respond to that. >> you get to hold the marker. fundamental premise here is there's a lot of realignment, a lot of change. people that would have always associated themselves as republicans maybe are rethinking some of that. same thing is true with democrats. and then you have these ideological, philosophical movement. i think the conservative movement is the most important part of this republican coalition and you have the socialist, progressive, liberal, whatever terms you want to lose. that's animating the democratic side. that's causing some change. is this right? do i have this right? is that fabricated? >> absolutely. as you look at the populism that is royaling the parties and a lot of it, donald trump represented anti-establishment anger and fervor, you can draw a straight line back to the economic crisis in 2008. the great sorting of our life, our culture, our politics has been going on for decades. and it's been progressing sort of apace but 2008 was really a dividing line. as you look back on it. when people really looked and lost faith in congress, institutions, washington, did not feel that anyone was hearing what they were saying. and you saw basically in 2016 the parties almost changed positions. it was something that we had an inkling of but we were still surprised by how well donald trump was able to communicate with folks who made less than $50,000 a year, who had less than a college degree. those had traditionally been democratic voters by and large. conversely, democrats did well with higher income folks, more well-educated folks. so the coalitions have sort of switched in a way. donald trump was able to take the republican party, you mentioned the tea party, that was almost an exclusively ideological purity test on fiscal issues, right? it was driven by the bank fail baleout of 2008. donald trump is not a fiscal hawk he doesn't pretend to be one. it is not a part of -- as much a part of the conversation now as it was back then. but you look at all the other issues, whether it's trade, whether it's foreign policy, certainly on immigration, trump has reordered and reprioritized the republican party in a way that none of us really expected to the degree he has done and so it has been, i think we'll look back on 2016 and see it as a realigning election, not something that is just unique to donald trump that's going to live on for the republican party and the democratic party for a few cycles. >> i know you have a marker there, bill, we'll let you jump back. in he brings up an interesting point in this whole idea of the tea party. charlie and i would probably say it's more a focus back on the constitution and its words but it was definitely seen as a pushback on profligate spending, by republicans too, by the way. >> the bank bailout, charlie. bailing out all the big banks my guess is you and bill might have a similar position on that we shouldn't bail out all the big guys because, you know, there's a big moral hazard in saying just because you're big, the middle class has to pay for all your mistakes. would that be right? would you agree? >> absolutely. >> let me ask you another question. can you kind of understand, even though i think a.o.c. is -- doesn't understand from my point of view very much about economics, that's a nice way to say it, but i mean by the same token as a conservative i don't love the fact that the c.e.o. of amazon is getting a multibillion dollar tax break and kind of a subsidy. that's something maybe both of you would say that opportunity make sense. >> also, i cop consider myself a fiscal conservative. the most -- when people talk about washington, what's going on now b this is not normal. i'll tell you what's not normal. what's not normal is $22 trillion in debt your grandparents, your grandchildren and great grandchildren will spend the rest of their lives paying off without enjoying any of the benefits of it. it is absolutely despicable. that said, that said, when people and tom is right about huh how president trump is -- this has not been a big cornerstone of his platform. and i done like that. i wish it were. i wish he was going around -- i wish he eliminated seven departments tomorrow of the federal government and nobody would notice it for about 15 years except the press would tell them about it. but the thing is, and this is -- we're on a political stage here, who in all of washington has a leg to stand on to complain about misspending money? these people have been doing it for decades. and that's why i just -- i agree. i wish donald trump was a fiscal hawk. he's not. but at least, thank god, he didn't claim to be. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. here's my marker. >> you're not a shrinking violate. >> $7 trillion of the $22 trillion. >> did i say that? >> is from the donald trump tax cuts in november. >> no it's not. >> yes, it is. >> no. >> it is. >> no. >> i'm sorry, check it out. yes it is. the facts -- wait, wait, fact, you can't dispute the facts. donald trump has -- >> i thought you were going to say -- >> this is what i'm trying to say. donald trump has added to the deficit and all these so-called fiscal hawks like bob corker or others, they ran for cover under donald trump. they didn't fight that. bob corker said i will not vote to add one dime to the deficit and donald trump said we're going to pass that texas cut for the rich and bob corker said how high do you want me to jump. >> i think there might be a response from charlie or tom here. >> you are creating your own problem and you're looking the other way when donald trump does it. >> in, no, no. >> i thought you were going to say -- i thought you were going to say that president bush was responsible for x trillion dollars. >> yes, yes too. yes also. >> exactly. that's why i think so many people got so frustrated with the republican party. and that's why -- i don't think anybody in washington has a leg to stand on to complain about this. i do hope we get become to this and figure out a way to solve this very grave problem. t's the gravest problem. >> george bush added to the deficit and donald trump. >> and obama. >> hold on, hold on. >> this is exactly what we wanted. tom, jump in here. >> real quickly. look, the trump administration, larry kudlow was up here talking about, growth helps a lot with deficit and debt to the extent that the economy cons to grow, that solves a lot of problems. the second thing, this is all relative. when donnell trump is going to run against a nominee that's proposing $90-plus trillion of spending for the green new deal, universal health care, i'm sorry, single payer health care, universal childcare, free college tuition, whatever that plan is going to be, he'll look like a fiscal hawk by comparison, he'll be able to put his record up against the democrats' and that's where he can make the case for fiscal conservativeism. >> but the good news, a.o.c. will rebuild all your houses. [laughter] >> i love this. there's one member of congress, a freshman member of congress, who introduces a nonbinding resolution which -- so basically even if it passes it has absouth -- absolutely zero impact and the republican party is scared to death of a.o.c. >> no. no. >> bill. >> i salute her. she's the smartest, most powerful member of congress and she's a freshman. >> they think it's so funny. >> you can laugh about cow fa trmbings s all you want. that's not the green bay deal. wasn't -- >> mitch mcconnell said cow farts. >> let's pull this back a little bit. we have had some fun as conservatives looking at the firebrands who have been elected to this new house republican caucus but i'm going to -- i look at a.o.c. and i think every policy i've heard from her i disagree with. but i actually do think it's rather amazing that this young person beats joe crowley out of know where and now she's pretty creatively,ic, become the head of the democratic party. i think she is the most important democrat in the country. you like that, charlie. i love her at enthusiasm. she may be the least educated person in all of washington. and zero life experience whatsoever. but what i really like about her she reveals just how -- the very tenuous grip that democrat leadership has on their own party today. >> you are so full of it. i can't believe it. [laughter] rst of all, in the spirit -- >> talk to my wife. >> in the spirit of a.o.c., i do want to thank you for the diversity you've shown on this panel. >> fair enough. >> by the way, i don't know if you know this but you're a white guy. >> i know, i'm saying. four white guys, that's all i'm saying. lookment the thing about a.o.c., he's young, she's got some big ideas and bold ideas but don't worry. the person in charge is the smartest politician among the smartest politicians washington has ever seen and that is nancy pelosi. [laughter] thank you. >> look where she is. look where she is >> nancy pelosi -- >> she's speaker for the second time. first female speaker, and then again. and she won 40 seats last time. you can laugh at nancy pelosi but she knows what she's doing. >> charlie, sit back. tom, i've lost my credentials as a moderator here. i'm trying to grab them back, trying to grab bang my dignity here. tom, let's switch just a little bit to what is going on in these presidential cob tests, right? on the republican side, i'm one of those people that says i think donald trump actually will have at least one primary opponent. i actually think that that is going to be good for him. and i'm -- i think there's going to be a lot of democrats who run and i don't think that's necessarily bad for them. give me your take on how these fields are shaping up. >> well, yeah. i mean, bill welch is already somebody may get else. >> where is bill running to? >> the point is, it's a kamikaze mission against trump. 95% among 5%, 90%, the base. so bill well or james casey who whoever you choose is not going to pose a real threat to him, or any threat actually. on the democratic side, we're going to see this again. i actually think the problem about nancy pelosi, the problem that a.o.c. poses to the party, this is a democrat who got 16,000 votes in aprimary, that's why she's a congressperson. but she got over 3.5 million twitter followers. she has a huge mega phone, more than any other democrats, centrists who are gnashing their teeth over what's going on. everything she proposes is reflected back on the 2020 candidates. kamla harris, what do you think of the green new deal? i'm for it. she's going to drive the conversation. all these democratic candidates has to answer to whatever she says. which is not necessarily a good thing. but i do think, look. this is a critical moment for the democratic party. it reminds me if you go back through history uric look at 1968 election, richard nixon, hubert humphrey, democrats have a choice. do they go back or go left. they go left with mcgovern and got wiped out. i think the party is moving to the left and the question is, whoever they nominate -- >> do you think the country is moving to the left? >> i think there is a sense if you believe the public polling data, that some of the ideas they're proposing, medicare for all, sounds great. who doesn't want free college tuition for their kids? it is how are you going to pay for it, whose taxes go up to pay for it, then it becomes much, much less popular. the question is whether they ever get that far or not. there's a sense they're moving left. but the question is really, who -- whoever the democrats nominate, will they be able to reconnect with the voters in the seven states that matter that voted for obama once or twice an then flipped to donald trump, can they connect with those people and -- people and bring them back. i'm not sure we know the answer to that. it certainly depends on who they end up nominating. >> if you look at the polling in those states today, number one, raising taxes on the wealthy, en the a.o.c.'s 70% tax rate on income tax for income other $10 million, in the fox news poll, fox news poll, 70% of americans said, absolutely they support it. so you know, these ideas are not necessarily that far to the left. i think that's where mainstream americans are. if you ask people about medicare for all, there are variations on the theme, medicare for all also polls up in the 60%, 70% nationwide and democrats won 40 seat osen that last time. you accuse them going too far to the left, i think there's already issues that those states you talk about, hillary clinton did not campaign, where democrats have to campaign this year, those are very popular issues in those states. people got elected on them. >> there was an article in the new york times the other day about moderate democrats who just went home, right? over 20 of the 63 new democrats in the house of representatives are from swing districts, districts that donald trump won and they are getting an earful from their constituents about the green new deal and 70% tax rates and all these things. it's going to be an issue. it's going to be an issue not fnl for the -- not only for the democrats in congress but the presidential candidates. >> and nowhere is the green new dream a bigger killer than in those very districts where donald trump came in and stole those voters from democrats. the last time democrats, the democratic party, hated somebody as much as they hate donald trump right now was of course in 2004 when george w. bush was in office. and they hated him. and you remember the whole thing they david dean, mary cary ran off with howard dean and he had all these crazy ideas and the looney guys, there were even some dean -- remember the deaniacs going crazy about him. chased him out to iowa and everything. had a scream and everything. so all these people -- they got right up to the iowa caucus and then they were like oh my god. we hate this guy so much. are we going to take a flyer on this guy? no, let's go with he safe guy from central casting, let's go with this idiot, john kerry. at the end of the day they -- dated dean, married kerry. it was all because their entire campaign was fueled by their hatred of the guy in office. the same die nam ins now. now there's like 50 howard deans running around spouting crazy stuff and everybody is running around, everything is exciting and everything. my question is, if at the last minute, do they stop and they go running to, you know, some staid character from central casting who can run. i hope they don't. i hope they go with the craziest person they got. but if they bush the other part is, even if they do, you have the situation with the superdell bats -- delegates. i think it's going to be verying very hard for the elder, senior, old guard of the democratic party to pull voters, to skew this in a direction that's more moderate or less looney. again, i think -- >> again, i think you've been watching too much fox news. that's not where the democratic party -- look, the democratic party took over a couple of weeks ago in the house an everybody said, oh, once they get in there, it's going to be all bash trump, that's all they're going to do. >> did you turn on the tv yesterday? it was the first hearing of the whole thing. like a godfather series. >> what have they done? that was not -- no matter what jim jordan said, the first hearing of the house oversight committee. the first house oversight committee hearing was on prescription drugs. they voted on prescription drugs. >> first witness. >> i'll take you on that one. watched it all tai. they vote offend gun safety yesterday. they have a billen medicare for all. they voted on voting rights my point is, they're not just bashing trumps. they've got a legislative awren da. that's what the democratic candidates are talking about. >> here's the deal. we're all going to get to watch how this unfolds. the democrats have the majority in the house. we're going to -- they're going to show the country what their values are, what their priorities are. they won't be able to hide. a.o.c. will push the and these other hard-charging house members. i want to ask you a couple of questions as we commercefully to the end of our panel. [laughter] >> thanks a lot. >> bill, you're a great sport to be here. >> let's go back to the fundamental question. i want to ask starting with tom, i believe trump will have a primary opponent. if you agree with me, who is it going to be? who is it most likely to be? >> i know it's a humding -- >> i know it's a humdinger to end this the thing on. charlie, do you have an idea? >> no. i agree with what you said earlier. i think there's a good chance he does. i don't think it amounts to anything. within the republican party he's probably the most popular republican president we've had in history. i just don't think that it's -- it'll make him stronger. >> do you have an opinion or who? >> when i was driving down here today from washington, i got to the maryland line, i pulled off to the side and said a prayer for larry hogan. >> so you think larry. >> let's go to the other side. there's what did we decide, 520 democrats running for president or whatever the number is, who do you think it's going to be? >> public pli there's a lot of pressure move -- publicly there's a lot of pressure moving toward nominating someone younger, probably a woman, possibly a person of color, because they pose a foil to trump. but privately you hear kems say, we need a white guy to win this election. do you agree with that? >> no. absolutely not. >> i'm just saying. >> i've heard one more democrat say that to me privately, they're worried about the idea of nominating someone like kamla harris in the general election. >> i would like to make some news right here, right now. i am officially endorsing hillary clinton for the democratic nomination. [laughter] [applause] >> all i can say is i hope you run as successful a campaign in 2020 as you did in 2016. >> that's right, that's right. >> my candidate -- >> who is your candidate? you went with bernie last time. >> i was with bernie from the beginning last time. i have not -- i wouldn't want to speculate who the nominee is going to be but i think that -- i'll say this. if joe biden gets in, joe biden will be the nominee. joe biden will be the next president of the united states. >> but. -- wow. >> what a terrible way to end this panel. [laughter] >> what a terrible way to end the panel. i want to thank you guys for being here. tom, you're a good sport you may be fake news but we love you anyway. thank you, charlie. >> that was fun. >> we are coming together at a crucial time in our nation's history. america is making great strides toward freedom and liberty but she also confronts determined foes and faces enormous challenges. challenges that strike directly at the core principles that all of us here hold so dear. free enterprise, limited government, individual freedoms, traditional values, and national security. across america and the world we see where liberalism has left its devastating mark. in homes, in schools, in communities and in capitals. that's why our work is so important. and it's what the heritage foundation is all about. at heritage, we're not just a bulwark against the left. we're a battleship for liberty. we are determined to guide merica to renewed greatness. that's why i'm so proud to serve as the heritage foundation's president and why i'm so honored to join with you here at cpac. and the fight for the greatest nation on earth. >> i want somebody with the executive, the judiciary and the legislative branch of government but there are career employees, folks who man the headquarters elements of each of the departments and agencies who are here for decades. they are professionals that have their hands on the levers of government tai in and day out, an they control many of the functions that people think of when they think of government service. they are not terribly interested in answering you or answering members of congress or members of the media because they have their own objectives and their own timeline and don't wish to be disturbed or exposed in any way. well, that's where judicial watch comes in. our investigations, our lawsuits, we uncover information. we're a constitutional republic and what our constitution guarantees is that we the people are sovereign over our government. the public, the people, are owed service by their trusted ervants. >> that's $529 for the entire family. to learn how to save go to ignite your liberty -- igniteyourliberty democrat. > what happened? to good old fashioned values. >> when kideness was a currency. >> when people were honest. >> and people are loyal too. >> if you're looking for these things in your health care, choose your own doctor and hospitalful plans start 59 $199 or no matter how big the family, $529. that's $529 for the entire family. go to igniteyourliberty.com. that's igniteyourliberty.com. >> ladies and gentlemen, a conversation with secretary alex acosta, secretary alex azar and linda mcmahon, hosted by grace arie turner. [applause] >> all right. welcome. we are here to talk about the untold story of the successes of the trump administration in health care and enabled by congress' success in getting rid of one of the most egregious and unconstitutional part poffs obamacare, the individual mandate. [applause] so the three cabinet secretaries we have here today are responsible for the successes and the economic boomic i think that has perpetuated by the tax cuts and jobs act but also by the many changes that they've been able to make for the regulatory structure to create this vibrant economy and to deregulate the health sector and the -- and the whole department. maybe we could talk about a specific idea with one of the health care choices you've been able to provide the american people, the short-term plan, the bridge plan. >> actually, you know, president trump has been bringing personalized health care that is patient centered, that put you in control of your health care and lets you be treated like a human being and not like a number. that's about bringing choice to you. so for instance, as grace marie mentioned, he got rid of the individual mandate tax. 90% of the people paying this tax were tax paying americans paying less than -- who make less than $75,000 a year. that's millions of americans paying billions of taxes to buy insurance they did not want and could not afford. and what we're trying to do is offer affordable options in addition to what the obamacare plans have for people. so one of them as grace marie mentioned is short-term limited duration plans. so these, especially for the folks who are recent college grads here in the audience, these are plans that may help you as you move off your parents' plan into -- before you get a plan through your work. these can be plans that maybe 50, 60, 70% cheaper than an obamacare plan. they don't necessarily have all the coverage that obamacare plans would have in them but it's an option. it puts yo in the drive 's seat. these plans can last up to a year and be renewable up to threees. we've also created what are called h.r.a.'s, health reimbursement accounts, through obamacare exchanges. what that says is your employer now can take money and actually create an account that you get, you get this money, and you can go and buy the insurance that meets your needs. we think up to 10 million americans could get insurance through that approach. and then we're giving greater flexibility to states, unprecedented flexibility to states to redesign the mess that is obamacare in their own image to meet the needs of their citizens. >> and secretary acosta -- [applause] >> secretary acosta, there's one provision that republicans have been talking about forever, conservatives talking about the importance of giving people the choices to buy outside their workplace other than individual plans. talk to us a little bit about association health plan. >> that's right. these are called association health plans. let me just say, i was with the president when he announced it. at the national federation of independent businesses. and the applause was deafening. they bf asking for this for years and years and years. and it finally happened. so here's what these are. you know, as conservatives, we believe in the market. we believe the market works. but all these small businesses across the country really can't negotiate for health care. if yao got five employees, 10 employees, you can't go out and gesht. you just get a price given to you. and that price is incredibly high. so small businesses don't -- a lot of times can't offer health care to their mes. and that's where association health plans come in let me give you an example. yesterday the president of the las vegas metro chamber of commerce was in my office. and she wanted to stop by to say thank you because they started an association health plan. these are only been in effect a few months and right away almost 500 small businesses joined. [applause] and here's the magic of these. instead of 500 small businesses of five mes -- employees or 10 employees going ton -- going to an insurer and saying we'll pay whatever price you demand, you now have thousands and thousands of lives, a large risk pool, that can put it out for bid. and here's the result that they got. they got lower premiums, they got a two-year lock, an these were all high quality plans. so across the nation in a few short months we have had 30 different association health plans starting up. everything from chambers of scommers to national organizations. it's called, let's create economies of scale so businesses can better negotiate for health care and drive down the price. as conservatives we need to say markets work. >> so true. and a ren cent -- [applause] >> a recent independent analysis showed that these plans are absolutely comparable to the plans that large companies are offering and the pre-existing conditions that come along with them. so they are very important. >> that's right, a quick point to make, when we proposed this, "the washington post" came out with a story talking about how horrible an idea it was. and about three weeks ago i i saw a headline that really caught me. "the washington post" saying experts said this wouldn't work. but they do. and they pointed out that these are quality plans. so it worked. >> they had to write the article. so second re-- administrator mcmahon, you talk to small business owners all the time, i wonder if you can tell us a little bit about what they're saying about the kinds of option this is administration is offering to give them more choices and more affordable health coverage. >> small businesses are delighted with this plan. as i've traveled around the country and listened to them. most of our small business owners want to provide health care for their employees. many times in years past they covered the full cost of health care and then premiums became so costly, co-pays increased, doubled, tripled, finally small businesses had to get rid of their plans totally because they couldn't afford it. they're delighted for this opportunity. i think one of the things we need to look at with this, and i want to thank secretary acosta, because it's his rule making and he got this back out there with association plans but small businesses now are really able to purchase for the first time ever a sole proprietor can buy into this and get the same benefits that big businesses offer to their employees. and for small businesses, this is really terrific because, you know, we do have such a robust, healthy economy with unemployment staying right at 4% or slightly under. 7.3 million jobs. available. and not enough people for those jobs. so small businesses are competing in the same marketplace as big businesses are for, you know, for these employees and for talent. so having the opportunity to provide this benefit does give small businesses now a bit of an edge that they didn't have to ecruit and retain employees. so businesses are delighted that the free market system is offering them an opportunity for choice and for reduced cost. >> and i think that's really the theme of what this -- what the trump administration's agenda is. there are so many other options. i know that, you can see back here health sharing, another option, a million people involved in health sharing. we have two billion people estimated to participate in the short-term limited duration plans. the down soifl economic advisors issued a statement shing the benefit to consumers is $450 billion over 10 years. rather than a large effort to come down on this, and maybe secretary azar, i could ask you a little bit about the threat out there for medicare for all and what is going to mean to really collapse this choice economy. >> the threat is a -- an immediate and complete government takeover of health care. and you know, when the same folks promised obamacare, or brought obamacare to you take promised you that you could keep your insurance if you liked it. this time they're not even promising that. this time they're at least being explicit in saying that the 17 million americans who get their insurance through their employers, who love their insurance, will have it taken away and you will be put on a one size fits all government insurance plan. they're at least being transparent this time about what they're about. you know, that also is going to violate the commitment that we have made to our seniors in the medicare program. because when you put all of these other americans in the medicare program, you're going to have the best doctors and the best hospitals are going to jump out of that program because they'll be paid under market rate and it'll be just like europe and other socialist systems where you have to create a two-tyre system of health care and to get quality care you'll end up going outside the system if you've got the money to do so. so it violates our commitment to our seniors, it takes away your private employer health insurance, it's an immediate government takeover of health care, and we don't need this. we d not need this. we do not need this in our system. this is not the problem that needs to be solved in health care in america today. [applause] >> $32 trillion estimated additional taxpayer cost to produce this job-killing and really would sig canly deter quality and innovation. and then i guess, imagine the regulations that would be required to tell every doctor how they could practice, how much they'll be paid. i know secretary acosta, the deregulatory agenda has been high on your agenda. we have two -- the top two deregulatory cabinet secretaries here in the country. [applause] secretary azar, and over there have been 12 regulations excised for every new one, i don't think any secretary, quong there's been a single major proposed new regulation. >> it's all been deregulatory. >> that's right. so talk to us a little bit about that. that's part of the prosperity and the economy. to free up business to be able to -- >> it really is. last year alone, the department of labor took $3.2 billion in regulations off the books. [applause] i use that figure often but here's a figure i really like to talk about. there are now 40 million paperwork and compliance hours less of regulations on the books. [applause] what does it mean to have 40 ?illion fewer paperwork hours because businesses do not thrive by filling out paperwork and filing with the federal government. they thrive by getting out there and manufacturing things and building things and hiring folks, not to comply with regulations, but hiring folks to grow a business. and so we'll stand up here and we'll talk about the billions and billions of deregulatory dollars. but i think we should think about this in terms of hours saved in the economy and 40 million fewer paperwork or hours. that's just one year. this year, you're going to see an even deeper deregulatory effort, certainly at the department of labor, and just about every other federal agency. [applause] >> i know you see again, this is the engine of our economy and our prosperity. when they have fewer regulations and they can know they can do what they want to do without the federal government telling them what to do an how to do it that creates energy and creates new jobs that have been such a huge success. 5.4 million since the trump administration began. >> it's really interesting. if you think about small businesses, you know, they don't normally have either the time or the money to have, you know, compliance staff on board. so often the c.e.o. can be the janitor and the receptionist an everything in between. i can attest to that. and so it is very difficult to comply with these regulations and one step that always floored me was that for small businesses, compliance costs per employee are about $11,700 per year. more than what the same regulatory costs are for big businesses. so getting rid of more and more regulations. let me give you a quick example. every -- we need regulations of the right kind for sure. but i was visiting a small business, i asked how is the regulatory environment. he said let me tell you a story, that one of the regulators came in, didn't find anything wrong, i thought i was going to have a clean slate and he said oh, got a problem. the signs on the restrooms aren't regulation size. and fined him $5,000. now, that's a lot of money for a small business, comes right out of the bottom line. those kind of regulations we dent need. the kind of regulations we do need, we need to monitor and keep in place for the health an safety and welfare of employees and for their business and for the country. >> secretary azar, you -- your department released a new proposed rule, the last couple of weeks that would really pull the curtain back on a lot of the regulations that pertain to, and the sort of behind the scenes deals in the pharmaceutical industry. i wonder if you can talk a little bit about this rebate rule because i know the president says every time he talks to you he asks what are you doing to get prescription drug prices down? >> i think my colleagues can vouch for the fact that he has never spoken to me without asking what are we doing to get drug prices down in america, he's adamant about. this one of the key things we can do is get rid of the kickbacks currently being paid by drug companies to middlemen. what happens now -- [applause] what happens now is you go into the pharmacy to buy drug that costs $3,000. you may spend $300 to buy that drug or may be asked to pay a percent of that $300 when you go into the pharmacy. what president trump discovered is that behind the scenes that drug company is giving on average a $1,000 kickback to the middleman to get you to use that drug but you're not getting the benefit of that $1,000 when you're in the pharmacy. so what we propose for our senior citizens is we would actually take away the protection for those kickbacks being paid from the drug companies to the middlemen and instead require that those moneys go right to you, when you're at the pharmacy, and that's $29 billion a year just in our medicare program alone, the seniors would get the benefit of at the pharmacy starting january 1, 2020. [applause] >> absolutely. i know that that's one of only 30 major proposals in your american patients firth proposal that the president released in the rose garden about maybe six or seven months ago. you were going full bore to provide a lot of other choices for people. >> delivering results for the first time in almost 50 years urn president trump's leadership, the measure of inflation for pharmaceutical prices in the united states came down. first time in almost 50 years. [applause] >> i think it shows the -- just the successes in two years when an administration believes in the american people and believes that if we just unleash their power, that we will be able to create jobs an be able to get people more choices in health care, get prices down, rather than thinking that washington has to do all of it. and so i guess my question is, what's next? what are some of the things that you see on the horizon that could happen in the next couple of years that you want to happen to be able to really continue this record, which is dramatic achievement in just two years. >> let me take, let me take one idea and present it because this is something that the president announced and that he asked me about -- asks me about all the time as well, and that's called association retirement plans. and it's kind of like association health plans but for retirement. so many americans across the nation don't have retirement accounts and 401k's. because they're -- because the small businesses out there don't have time to set them upful what small business owner will file a form 5500 and take on fi durenary only gailingses and do everything else necessary to set up the 401k's that people have in big corporations. so the concept of association retirement plans is what if the las vegas metro chamber can tell all its members, come to us, we'll be one big pool for health care and we'll negotiate as a big group for health care and at the same time you can offer your employees retirement benefits through our 401k? and this is and this is transformative. if you have that retirement option available through chamber or an association, all these employees, all these americans, men and women across the nation, will have access and one final point. you know, if you've got a big retirement account, on average you pay 1.25% less in fees per year than a small account. imagine making an extra 1.25% return on your 401-k every year of your life. year after year. that makes a big difference when people go to retire. [applause] so for all these businesses, along with association health plan, association retirement plans. >> time value of money. i know there's another proposed rule that is percolating through the system for health reimbursement arrangements. i think you talked a little bit about the same kind of thing. where you can give employers control over the money, for an employer that may not be able to provide a health plan but can provide -- provide a stipend. >> absolutely. what we've done and secretary acosta and secretary mnuchin and i put this proposed rule out and what it would do for the first time ever is allow an employer to give you money in a health reimbursement account. so this is an account that then -- this is money you can use. and instead of getting one-size-fits-all insurance from your employer, whatever plan they happen to pick, you could actually take that money and go into the marketplace and buy the insurance that meets your needs. and that could actually even be money that is subsidized through the program that we have. so you take that money, you choose the plan that meets your needs. maybe you only -- you want lower cost insurance that only has a certain hospital system in your area. you could choose that one. you don't have to choose one that has every single hospital system in the area, with every package that you want. you can do something that's more tailored, that's one of the exchange-based plans for you. so what they've done is be able to lower premiumsance bring more people back into the market. that's -- premiums and bring more people back into the market. that's been a huge success that's based on the federalist philosophy of our government. >> absolutely. the president is deeply committed, he's always been committed to ensuring that people who have pre-existing conditions or people who lose the health care lottery, that they're taken care of. that's part of the flexibilities we're giving states through these waivers that grace just mentioned. they're called reinsurance waivers where we allow a state to basically peel off those individuals who impose the greatest cost to the system, because they have a major pre-existing condition or a really bad health condition. they get the care they need, but we don't force the other people, the tax paying americans who are in the individual market, to have to bear all the burden of paying that cost. instead, we do that through these waivers and spread that around more people so those folks get the care they need, but we reduce the cost for the other people in the obamacare market. 9% to 30% reduction in people willum -- premiums for people in these exchanges as a result of this flexibility to states. >> and people are desperate for this. we did a program, a state senator of virginia talked with us about a constituent who said, reading the email from him, he said, his health premiums under obamacare were $4,000 a month. he said, this is more than my mortgage. what am i supposed to do? and what you're all doing here is giving him more options. through association health plans, short-term limited duration plans, through the health reimbursement arrangements, through health retirement arrangements. and through the kinds of things that you're doing and really helping small businesses to see these opportunities. >> absolutely. absolutely. small businesses can be now more competitive, again, for the talent pool. they're going to bring down their costs. going to be able to offer health care and retirement plans hopefully. they're just kind of coming onboard to learn about that a little bit. anything they can do to provide benefits at a cost savings, to help them be more competitive is certainly something that is a good thing for small businesses. >> as we wrap up, this theme of choice and giving people more options, i know secretary acosta, you talked with secretary devos recently, who is not here, i think today, but she has some news that she wanted to share with the group. >> that's right. so i was speaking with secretary devos today right after lunch time and she had just come out from an event that she did at the department of education. and she had done this event with students from across the nation that have benefited from school choice. and she did it because she just announced and she has an opinion editorial today in "u.s.a. today," she just announced a proposal whereby individuals that contribute to organizations that provide scholarships to children can get a dollar for dollar tax credit for those contributions. [applause] and i wanted the cpac audience to know about this. when i told her i was going to be here, she wanted all of you o know about this. [applause] because this is designed to give children across the nation greater ability to exercise choice. and their parents. and go to the schools of their choice. and so this is so related to everything we've talked about. what are association health plans about? more freedom, more access, more choice. what is secretary devos' proposal about? more freedom, more access, more choice. you know, president trump's approach is trust in the american people. empower the american people to make decisions for themselves. folks want a good job. well, they've got that. as administrator mcmahon jobs ned, 5.3 million new since november, 2016. [applause] they're higher paying jobs. we've seen an increase -- you know, we haven't seen this increase in wages in more than a decade. incredibly low unemployment. record low unemployment. more open jobs than individuals looking for jobs. and so the next stage is take all those americans that are working across this nation and trust them to choose their health care choices for themselves, to choose their educational choices and make it affordable for themselves, and that's really how we're going to make america and this country great. more freedom, more access and more choice. >> absolutely. and one of the things that i know you all know, because you've worked in the private sector, is that once you give individuals more choices, as you all are doing, the market responds with more choices. once you provide school choice, once you begin to offer more choices in health care, then the market responds with more choices. how can i meet the need of consumers? we're starting to see new insurers coming back into the market because of the health care choices -- the health care options you're making, secretary. and you're starting to see -- hopefully we'll see new schools and teachers saying we want to be freer to teach the way we know students need to learn. by giving them more educational choices. so that's really a wonderful thing. i think that we need to make sure that small businesses, as the engine of the economy, really see the incredible choices this administration is offering. >> absolutely. >> that's great. thank you all very much. it's really a pleasure to talk with you. and thank you. i want -- hope the audience will join me in thanking them not only for speaking today, but in the incredible work they're doing in fighting what really are difficult bureaucratic forces, to not only propose these regulations, but do it according to the rule of law. not just making it up as some previous administration decides. [applause] these are legal, by-the-book and yet transformative. and so thank you very much. and join me in thanking our panel. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2019] >> not too long ago two friends of mine were talking to a human refugee, a businessman who escaped from castro. in the midst of his story, one of my friends turned to the other and said we don't know how lucky we are. and the cuban said, how lucky you are? i had some place to escape to. in that sentence he told us the entire story. if we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. this is the last stand on earth. and this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of people except that of the people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's trollings man. -- relation to man. [inaudible] >> this is the liberty ecosystem. international partners working ogether with -- [inaudible] -- >> giving access to fund raise. [video inaudible] >> you don't have self-government if you don't -- [inaudible] -- highly skilled team of investigators and lawyers that know what questions to ask and know what lawsuits to file and how to litigate in court. we've had well over 30 federal lawsuits asking for documents about targeting donald trump, the abuse of the deep state, the mueller special counsel investigation, and other basic requests for information that -- [inaudible] -- asking for -- [inaudible] -- judicial watch -- inaudible] video inaudible] >> america's built and based on liberties and freedoms. liberty health share brings that to health care. the liberty of choosing your own doctor, the liberty of choosing your own hospital. liberty health care makes health care affordable to millions of americans. starting at $199 for a single, $399 for a. could you no matter how big the family, only $529. for the entire family. to learn how you can save, go to igniteyourliberty.com. > what happened? [video audio indecipherable] >> ladies and gentlemen, protecting the freedom of jerusalem. featuring ambassador of the jerusalem center for public affairs. hosted by hudson bay capital's sander gehringer. . -- gerber. >> hello, cpac. [cheers and applause] it's a great honor to be able to introduce my very old and dear friend, ambassador. dori has filled most of the top foreign policy jobs in the state of israel. he was foreign policy advisor to prime minister netanyahu during his first term, where he served as an envoy to egypt, jordan and the gulf states. he was also then israel's ambassador to the united nations , and most recently he served as the director general of israel's foreign ministry. today he leads the jerusalem center for public affairs, where i'm honored to be a fellow. the jcpa is one of israel's think tanks and dori is its president. his book, "the fight for jerusalem," was a "new york times" best seller and was read by senior members of several administrations. he combines the skills of an academic, as well as practitioner of diplomacy. his talk is entitled "protecting the freedom of israel" and i give him to you. dori gold. [applause] >> thank you very much. and i thank cpac for hosting us for this important message. ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to be here. as all of you know, president donald trump honored a longstanding commitment that hadn't been fulfilled by previous administrations. mr. gold: it was the 1995 jerusalem embassy act that propose -- that was proposed by senate majority leader bob dole back then and senate minority leader tom daschle. it was adopted by an overwhelming vote of 93-5. it called for american recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel. [applause] and it called for the establishment of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem as well. [applause] that was in 1995. this past year it was president donald trump who finally moved the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. cheers and applause] politics tigses make promises. few -- politicians make promises. few of them actually fulfill them. president trump did. [applause] i was privileged to be at the opening ceremony last may. i recalled in 1999 when i was israel's ambassador to the nited nations and i sought instructions from my foreign minister about how to respond to a palestinian initiative against the state of israel at the u.n. i wanted instructions. he told me to read over the speech of israel's first prime , in which he 1949 announced in the knesset that he was moving israel's capital to jerusalem. he declared that the people of israel had, quote, faithfully years the oath00 sworn by the first compiled by the rivers of babylon -- exiled by the rivers of babylon not to forget jerusalem. today, even before president trump announced his intention to relocate the u.s. embassy in israel, an intense diplomatic struggle has been waged regarding jerusalem's ultimate fate. jerusalem was under assault in all the main united nations bodies over the past 15 or 20 years, propped up by that organization's notorious block voting. within days of president trump's announcement, the u.n. general assembly convened to oppose the move. this was the latest action taken at the u.n. to replace historical truth with fake history. in order to advance a hostile diplomatic agenda against the state of israel. during the next 15 minutes, we will look at that hostile agenda in order to understand what it is trying to do. unesco, the in 2016 united nations education, science and culture organization , asserted that the temple mount was connected to islam. but unesco refused to acknowledge any jewish connection whatsoever. or for that matter, any christian connection. in its resolution, it used only the islamic terms for the area. another. mosque and the words temple mount were completely missing in that u.n. document of unesco. israel's adversaries and their allies took their campaign to the u.n. security council as well. th the infamous resolution 2334 adopted in december, 2016, during the transition period in washington, between the outgoing obama administration and the incoming trump administration. by yet again branding jerusalem as, quote, occupied palestinian territory, the u.n. was insinuating that israel had no standing in jerusalem and that its old city, the temple mount, and even the western wall, were palestinian. [audience booing] apart from the u.n., another front to try to be used to erode israel's ties to jerusalem opened in july of 2000. when the p.l.o. leader, yasser arafat, stated at the camp david summit that there never was a temple of jerusalem. arafat had said that there's nothing there. his loyalists would go on to say , you know what, go prove there was a temple. but president clinton to his credit responded, quote, not only the jews, but i too believe that under the surface, there are remains of solomon's temple, unquote. [applause] ma what clinton did not have to -- what clinton did not have to spell out was that the temple was also significant for christianity. by the way, just go read the new testament. it's right there. denying its history entailed in a front -- an affront to the christian faith, as well as the jewish faith. now, what do the u.n. resolutions on jerusalem actually do? they legislatized doubt beyond the walls of the u.n., to the mass media, and to academia. you see, words really do matter. "the new york times" entitled an article in october, 2015, historical certainty proves illusive at jerusalem's holiest place. now, what does illusive mean? this isn't an s.a.t. test. what does it mean, illosive? what elusive means is it's hard o prove. a professor of the university of michigan argued in 2010, quote, archeology does not show the existence of a jewish kingdom in jerusalem. unquote. no kingdom, no temple, no historical connection for israel. is all that true? well, here's the answer. these are royal seals from the king of judah. [applause] they were found at the foot of the temple mount in jerusalem. they all carry the names of biblical kings of judah and some of their descendents in ancient hebrew. this one here is the seal of we call in ea who hebrew -- [speaking foreign language]. he was a direct descendent of king david. and here's his royal seal. so guess what. there were jewish kings in jerusalem. contrary to what may have been said at the university of michigan. now, does anyone in the audience here read ancient greek? well, watch this then. this 2,000-year-old stone found next to the temple mount is an original sign post in ancient greek marking the rules of entry to the temple in jerusalem. the stone on the left is from the israel museum in jerusalem. you can go to the israel museum. you can see it. but the full text of the greek inscription, which we've transscribed here, is from the arclogical museum in istanbul. it makes specific reference to the temple precincts. you remember what arafat's lieutenant said, go prove it. the word highlighted in orange greek right is ancient for the word -- ancient greek word for temple. let's go fast forward to the year 70 of the common era. the roman empire sent the roman general to march on the kingdom of judah. titus, who went on to become emperor, cesar of rome, vanquished judah, conquered jerusalem, and destroyed the temple. you see here the boulders toppled by the roman legions which tell the tale of that destruction to this day. you know, the romans did not have polaroid cameras. or cnn. but to celebrate their victory over the jews and the christians they created this relief, which you can see if you visit rome and go to the arch of titus. it's right around the corner from the coliseum. you can see the roman soldiers carrying the sacred treasures a lotted from the temple in a victory -- looted from the temple in a victory march. you see the minora there which was one of the items which they stole. you know, people today might wonder, what is all this fuss about the temple? in the bible, the temple's construction was the only event dated in relation to the exod us from egypt. -- exodus from egypt. 480 years earlier. the temple was where the two tablets with the 10 commandments were stored. were housed. therefore, the temple symbolized freedom and national identity. the romans did not manage to snuff out the will for freedom, which we talk about so much in this conference. some 60 years, 60 years after the temple's destruction, a jew dean general -- jew dane general rose up in rebellion -- jew dayan general rose up in rebellion and fought six roman legions. his letters have been discovered in the jew dane desert like this one here. [speaking foreign language] stated the goal of his campaign on coins that were minted at the time. and not long ago just found. you know what they call for? the coins? for the freedom of jerusalem. [speaking foreign language] speaking of the romans, one last historical fact before we continue. after crushing the revolt in the year 135, the roman occupiers decided to annihilate all jewish hope for freedom. they feared that freedom would be contagious and revolts would certainly spread across the roman empire. in germany, in gall in africa. and ey renamed jerusalem they also gave the land of judea new name. syria palastina. this is the actual origin of the name palestine. this was a roman defeat. an attempt to erase judea from the world's consciousness. you know what, that was the methoding to then, and that is also -- methodology then and that is also the methodology today. attacking our very identity. today it's called the de-legitimatization of israel. nd it lies at the heart of the movement. you know, b.v.s. is boycott, divestment and sanctions. that movement is there to tear at our identity and the legitimacy of our cause. . so let me just tell you something. clearly the roman effort didn't work then and we're not going to let it work now. [applause] the drive for freedom survived centuries, even after barcocba's army was crushed by imperial rome. thousands stream back whenever they could. yet there are those who claim the rebirth of israel represents a foreign colonialist implant. the facts show otherwise. by the mid 19th century, the british consulate in jerusalem determined, according to this diplomatic cable, that jews had already restored their majority in jerusalem in 1863. at the time of the american civil war. long before theodore heart zell, the british i-- hertzl, the british arrival or the establishment of the state of israelen, we were back. as this, this gentleman here, william seward, president abraham lincoln's secretary of state, the guy who bought alaska for you, in 1870, he completed his term in office in washington and he visited jerusalem. and his memoirs, which you can read today show that he understood there's a jewish majority in jerusalem in 1870. you cannot attach the jewish return to jerusalem that occurred in the 19th century and even earlier to the european colonialist locomotive. last fast forward to 1948. the newly proclaimed state of israel found itself attacked by five arab armies. by the way, they were assisted by the colonial powers. the old city of jerusalem was besieged. its jewish population was ethnically cleansed. as you can see on the left. this is the jewish population rushing through the zion gate to protect themselves. as -- as artillery shells and bullets of the arab legion were being fired. israelis were prevented from visiting their holy site. and what you can see on the ight is the bombardment of the shiva in the old city in the jewish quarter, that's what happened to our holy site. and that's something to keep in ind for the present tense. while they proposed to internationalize jerusalem, the u.n. back in 1947, 1948, 1949 didn't lift a finger to stop the wanton destruction that went on. let's move on to may, 1967. israel was encircled again. in israeli-controlled jerusalem, 6,000 build wrg hit by jordanian artillery. which despite those difficult conditions and despot being outnumbered israel prevailed. liberated. and reuniting the city. these are the israeli paratroopers at the western wall. in june, 1967. today, military threats have not ended. across the middle east, the holy sites of all the great faiths are under a new assault by the forces of jihad. in afghanistan, 2,000-year-old buddhist statues were destroyed by the taliban. in syria, the legacies of thousands of years were destroyed by isis and al qaeda in iraq. in egypt, coptic churches burned and their worshipers killed. across the entire region, christians with persecuted and driven from their homes. you know what, even mosques are destroyed by the same violent intolerance. right next to israel, joint forces of the palestinian movement and hamas invaded the church of the in a tave -- nativity in beth he mem -- bethlehem, the birth place of jesus, in 2002, which you can see here they can smoke rising. desecrating it, taking its clergey as hostage. -- its clergy as hostage. here you see the tomb of the biblical joseph in -- which was overrun by mobs carrying hammers and crowbars to dismantle the tomb. what is clear today, more than ever before, is that the only force that will protect jerusalem for all the great faiths is the modern state of israel. [applause] israel has not forgotten how its enemies sort sought to forcibly cut its connection with the holy city in the past. it should come as no surprise that according to a 2017 poll, ordered by my center, the jewish center for public affair, from israel's leading pollster, 79% of israelis believe it is important to retain a unified jerusalem. [applause] what they are saying is basically, jerusalem is not for ale. [applause] i mean, that is the applause line. [applause] now israel has fended off assaults on jerusalem and will continue to defend itself. but i want to remind you, i want to remind you and it isn't bragging that we are an important ally for the united states. [applause] here you'll have in the "new york times" of all places, you have the head of u.s. air force military intelligence being quoted in 1986 that israel is worth five c.i.a.'s. no offense to anybody. but the main point is this. we never ask your sons and daughters to come to defend us. [applause] you have big american contingents in europe, in nato. you have big american contingents in korea. we want to defend ourselves by ourselves. [applause] and that is israeli military doctrine. but we do need your help for one thing. to -- help us defeat the diplomatic assault that israel and jerusalem faces even today. [applause] we need your help to fight fake history. [applause] we need your help to fight for the truth. the founding fathers of this country, the united states of america, studies the -- studied the bible and learned what freedom meant. with the rebirth of israel in 1948, we learned it back from you. we are bound by our common love f liberty. and you want to know something for cpac? that is part of what makes america great. the las vegas of liberty must be based on truth. not temple denial. israel's ancestors fought for the freedom of jerusalem. that's what the holiday of hanukkah is all about that we celebrate in december. and that's what this coin from the revolt attests. looking at this -- this history, freedom must never been taken for granted. but faithfully protected by every generation. that's what america has done. and that's what israel will do as well. thank you. [applause] >> here's a look at our prime time schedule on the c-span networks. starting at 9:30 p.m. eastern on c span, public health officials examine the current measles outbreak in the u.s. at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2, testimony from military service members and defense department officials on president trump's transgender military ban. and at 8:00 eastern on c-span3, a lock at military readiness and what the impact could be for a wall on the u.s. southern order. >> coming from the tucson festival of book fless grounds of the university of arizona. starting saturday at noon eastern featuring republican strategist rick wilson with his book "everything trump touches dies," then journalist shane prison," h his book " and author lin vincent with the shipwreck in orst american history. on sunday, our live coverage continues starting at 3:00 p.m. eastern with journalist dave llin and his book "parkland: birth of a movement." and then, nina berkley with her book "golden handcuffs: the secret history of trump's limit" and then the author of "growing up with missiles," watch our coverage of the tucson festival of book this is weekend on book tv on c-span2. >> coming up, u.s. army veteran irene riverts on her book "beyond the call" about three women who went beyond their regular duty to help women in afghanistan and further the mission. >> one thing shaina scared with me, she felt there were times men tried to break her and test her and see if women could hack it. they had their gearing thashe weapons, carrying it and she pulled the women aside and said no matter what happens, don't you dare start crying and you better keep up. because she's like i have a feeling they're going to try to test us. that's exactly what happened. the women kept up step to step. >> eileen rivers, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." >> earlier today, house speaker nancy pelosi held her weekly briefing with reporters at the capitol, she spoke about president trump's summit with north korean leader kim jong un and yesterday's testimony from president trump's former personal attorney michael cohen. this is 20 minutes. ms. pelosi: good morning. with all the excitement going on around here and in the world, thank you for being here this morning. we talk about while that's all going on, keeping the house running here. very proud of joaquin castro's legislation to overturn the es

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