Seen him since he became speaker. Congratulations. Our country is better off. [applause] governor bush we share a common bond. Inspired by jack kemp in the political realm and meeting bob woodson, not as governor, but as a person seeking knowledge and truth in the 1990s, i became sensitized to the fact that poverty is a lot more complex than what the smart people in washington describe it as. It is not just economic. There are all sorts of limits to peoples aspirations. How you deal with it is important. Compassion is not measured by how much money you spend through washington through a big and administrative bureaucracy and send it back down to other bureaucrats filling out forms to eventually get back into the community. Compassion is, in the greek sense, acting on your sense of consciousness. The only way we can become a more just society is from the bottom up, where people act on their sense of consciousness together. In also the ways ive learned that. One of the ways was in 1977, i set up one of the first Charter Schools in the state of florida. The law was passed in 1996. I helped lobby for that. With the urban league of greater miami, i set up the liberty city charter school. It was a phenomenal experience. This Little School just outside of liberty city, we basically got the parents to create the culture of the school. What they wanted were kids with uniforms. They wanted a contract where every parent had to commit to a certain number of hours. They voluntarily wanted to see this happen. We had to fight with the School District because they wanted corporal punishment. The School District said, oh my god, you cant do it. We got it. We got it done in a way that makes sense. They wanted discipline, respect for the teachers. They wanted to be engaged. It was an incredible experience. I will never forget, on the opening of the school, beware we were getting already, and ready, and we did not have a flagpole outside the school. I learned to set cement on a sunday with some friends. On monday, when school started, 90 kids with uniforms were outside, saying the pledge of allegiance. It was a phenomenal experience for me. It is important for all of us to not just look at this not just from a policy point of view i believe in policy, ideas, i have unveiled a serious plan as it relates to welfare reform no one should put limits on their aspiration. If we become a society that you are stuck, if you are wealthy, you will stay there that is a society that will be in decline. [applause] senator scott mr. Christie, so often states are referred to as the laboratories for democracy. Can you talk to us about what you think are the answers for the federal government and dispel the notion that the federal government has all the answers for poverty . Governor christie i think most people in the world are looking at our federal government, understanding that they cannot even do the basic things right, let alone things that are more complex. In reaction to what ben said, the first time i went about i learned about poverty was from both of my parents. My mom was the product of a single mother. She was the oldest child in that family. My grandfather was gone. My grandmother had to take three buses every day to go to work and my mother had to raise her two younger siblings. They were abjectly poor, to the point where my grandmother would, for christmas, recycle the gift that she had given the year before. They had nothing. My father, the same way. His father died of cancer when my father was 15 years old and left my grandmother. In those days, there were not some of the supports that are available today. My grandmother both my grandmothers were left to go out and work and the kids to work to keep a roof over their heads. Both of my parents brought that sensitivity to the family. My dad was the first one in his family to go to college. He went at night when he was working at the ice cream plant during the day. We would go at night on the g. I. Bill because he served in the army. That was his only option when he graduated from high school. When your parents bring those sensitivities to you, no matter how much success they ultimately had, and my parents had some success my dad did. My mother stayed at home to support the family. It helps to understand everything you see as a governor, you can see a reflection of yourself. If you got to where you got to as governor, you want to make sure you can do everything you can to give those young people an opportunity to achieve whatever they want to achieve, whatever their dream is. Whether it is to be a governor, a neurosurgeon, and onto for newer an entrepreneur. The function of the states is to look at our individual communities. We get an option to do that in a way that the federal government cant. What we are doing and camden is setting up not only Charter Schools but renaissance schools, we are reforming the police. The High School Graduation rate has increased. Those kids are now graduating from high school. Now they have a chance to achieve things educationally that they would have never had a chance to achieve before camden. That is not the same solution for the city of newark. Bigger city, more complex, we have to get in there with different tools. The state has the ability to pick and choose based on the merit of what is going on. If you leave it to the federal government one thing that jeb and i have learned as governors is we can really get in there and pick and choose the right tools to use depending on the challenge of the city. I think that is why the government should be empowering the states much more than they are to make these choices. The president does not trust us. It is not just me, jeb, or scott walker. He does not even trust him and that should democratic he does not even trust democratic governors to make choices. That is a mistake. It is not helping those who we are looking to lift up. [applause] representative ryan if we gave out trophies to people who fought against all odds, and lead by example, and showed us how to beat poverty, you would win the lombardi trophy the greatest trophy of football. Mr. Carson really . [laughter] representative ryan you did it. You are beautiful example of overcoming adversity and odds. Now you are aspiring to be president. Looking at the federal government, what is it that the federal government is doing that is hurting or putting barriers in front of more ben carsons of america . What would you go at right away, those barriers that may prevent more ben carsons from materializing tomorrow . Mr. Carson it really started in the 1920s with the wilson administration, insinuating itself into everyones lives. By the time we got to the 1960s, the government said we will eliminate poverty, the war on poverty, this great society. How did that work . 19 trillion later, we have 10 times more people on food stamps, more broken homes, crime and incarceration. Everything is not only worse, it is much worse. That is not to say that the government is evil, it is saying that they sometimes overstep their boundaries in terms of what they think they should do. Maybe they should read the constitution. I think that would be helpful. [applause] mr. Carson maybe they did read the constitution. They read the preamble and it talks about the duties of government. It says to promote the general welfare. They probably thought that meant put everyone on welfare. Obviously, it means to create the right kind of atmosphere for people. I believe that the real answer for poverty is not government, but the private sector. That is the reason that i have indicated that one of the ways to jumpstart the private sector is look at that more than 1. 2 2. 1 trillion that is overseas in terms of corporate money that is not being brought back because we have the highest Corporate Tax rate in the developed world. What i would propose is a six month hiatus for that money to be repatriated with no taxes whatsoever, and in the process, require that 10 of it be used in enterprises and to create jobs for people who are unemployed and on welfare. You want to talk about the stimulus . That would be the biggest stimulus since the new deal, and would not cost the taxpayers one penny. That is low hanging fruit, things that we can do. What happens is the business, the corporations start thinking once again about how we invest in the people around us. We need to get business, industry, academia, churches, all involved in creating the right kind of atmosphere and helping people around them. I have been involved in a lot of nonprofits. Particularly, right to life organizations who create these homes and atmospheres for women who have gotten pregnant. When a woman gets pregnant out of wedlock, particularly in innercity, her education typically ends. That child is four times more likely to end up in poverty and end up in the welfare system or the penal system which hurts us as a society. They help that woman and provide child care for her so she can get her ged, get her associates degree, get her bachelors degree. She can learn to take care of herself. That is how you break cycles of poverty. That is not done by the government. You can put people in places to teach that woman that you are worth something, that jesus christ died for you, and you are a worthy individual or you dont get to hear that when it is a government organization. Those are the kinds of things that will help us build the fabric of our society. Once again. It is our duty. We are our brothers keepers. [applause] senator scott jeb, in the last few days, you rolled out a new plan on expanding opportunities. You want to explain the main points of your plan . Governor bush first, i think what we should do is not just talk about the lebanese of democracy, but mean the laboratories of democracy, but mean it, do it. People are stuck, they are stuck in poverty. The notion of some that somehow they want to be there is totally ridiculous, wrong. We will never win elections with that. We will become a minority party. I know people in this room do not believe that. If you start with the premise that the state, if they got the chance to do in the unique ways, each community would do it. The statefederal relationship would be focused on outcomes how many people are getting in poverty, not how many people are staying in it. Right now, you measure the poverty programs by how many people are on the rolls. We have to turn that around. Secondly, we have to have one income eligibility requirement. When i travel around, i see a lot of people not receiving government assistance, but they are one paycheck away from real disaster, or two. They are struggling, working as hard as they can they may be working two jobs. The fact is there should be equity between people receiving government assistance and though those striving to live an independent life. Work needs to be the single biggest requirement. No more waivers, as this a dministration has done. There should be real work eligibility. That means we have to transform our education and Training Programs. Right now, we have a skills gap. If they do not have the skills to get a job, that is the first step. All of our workforce programs have to be revamped. Imagine a system where you were starting from scratch. Not the one we have today. If you have the same amount money, but could deliver these programs to help people get out of poverty a different way. You would reward marriage, not penalize it. You would reward work. You would promote, in a dramatically different fashion, education so that more and more of our young people were college or career ready. And, Training Programs so that you customize it so that people achieve their dreams. Smallthree things, plus communities, that is what we need to do. Communities back to and allow those four pillars for an upward mobile society a radically different Education System, a focus on work, a focus on marriage because that is important, and having Education System that allows people to rise up. We can make this happen. Particularly when we have a president that is committed to it. The old way has failed. It is easier to make this case because people know this has failed. Look at the number of people who are completely dependent on government they and have no hope. They cannot live life. They are creating strains for their families and themselves that is unjustified in this great country of ours. [applause] representative ryan you made work supports an important part of your agenda as new jersey governor. You increased your states earned income tax credit. You focused on the work first progress. How have you been able to measure successes . How would you translate that policy . Governor christie we have to really reward the people out there doing it. As the economy got better and more jobs were available, especially in the private sector, we wanted to encourage people to make that transition, like jeb was talking about in his answer. If you give people the choice of earning more money on the couch than getting a job that is what people are facing now. It does not make any sense for me in my family. If i went and got a job, i would make less than i would write now right now with all the programs put together. Doubling the earned income tax credit was one of the ways of doing that. It is essentially refundable tax credit meaning that when you go to work, even if you are not paying income taxes in new jersey because your threshold is too low to pay, we are going to give you a check that based on the fact that you are earning your income and you will get a check that supplements your income from the government. It is based on the fact that you are working, you are earning your income. I hear people complain about this all the time but dont articulate it completely. They say, people are on the couch, not working, we have to change the system. You are right, but for some of those folks, they are confronted with the ugly truth that if they did get off the couch and went to work, they would make less. Representative ryan in some cases, without it, a person would lose materially if they take the job. The eitc helps reduce that problem. Governor christie thats right. That is why doubling it made so much sense. Remember, our state is a very high cost state. 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