Keep track of the Republican Congress and follow members. New congress, best access on cspan cspan2, cspan radio and cspan. Org. Coming up, new Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a dinner. And then a state of the nation speech by japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe. And then another chance to see q a about internment camps in world war ii. The British Parliament was in recess last week so Prime Ministers questions will not be seen to. New jersey correct. Tonight. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke at the Lincoln Reagan dinner. He discussed leadership in washington and reestablishing amount reputation in the world. This is an hour and 10 minutes americas reputation in the world. It misses and i wanted 10 minutes. This is an hour and 10 minutes. [applause] good evening. Thank you very much. Thank you. I have all of one town in a merrimack county, so im not running for anything. I wanted to come here and spend a little time with some good americans and good republicans. Very pleased that governor christie traveled up in this weather to be with us this evening as well. He is obviously not afraid of a little snow. Nor are we here in the granite state. I wanted to talk for a few minutes before i have the pleasure of introducing governor christie. I wanted to talk a little bit about why we are here and what we celebrate. This is president s day. And as i think of great leadership in america, i think of different time periods. Different leaders that we required over building our great nation. And i think of quotes, there are so many we could pull from. But i have a few i wanted to mention and talk about. The first is from our founding father, first president George Washington. Someing that we hope we can and should live by. And it is a very, very simple quote. But it has a very different meaning to a lot of people. To me is not just part of being a strong leader is a quote but it is a quote that i think embodies the republican party. It is very simple. The constitution is the guide which i will never abandon. Think about George Washington speaking about the importance of the constitution. As we endeavor on the challenges today, both here in concord and washington dc, far too many people ignore the basic evidence premise of following the constitution. But it is in part why we are here today. There are other quotes from great leaders. The first president that i remember that i grew up was ronald reagan. America is too great for small dreams. He was a visionary. Somebody who thought that america could always be better. Then what we were being offered, at the time. Something that i think again is a challenge that we have facing america today. Far too Many Americans feel that our best days are behind us, not ahead of us. Which is why the next election , the 2016 election, is such an important election. Not just for our party, but for the country. Requiring real leadership. Bold leadership. That is why we are excited in New Hampshire to once again host the first of the nations primaries. And then there are people like Teddy Roosevelt who said we must there to be great. Dare to be great. We must realize that greatness is the fruit of the toil and sacrifice and high courage. Another leader that took the world by his hands, demonstrated what leadership meant at a critical juncture in our nation. Well, i have had the fortune the good fortune of represented representing the first Congressional District for six weeks now. During the period of time, there are many quotes that i could quote from our current president. The one that i think frustrates americans the most is if you like your doctor, you can keep your dr. Not exactly a bold statement of leadership. In the first six weeks that i have served in congress this year, the president has issued more veto threats in this state of the union than any other president in the history of the state of the union. Think of that for a moment. Think of the difference between a ronald reagan, a George Washington, and what we have today as the current occupant of the white house. But in the house of representatives, you started, i think, we have started, i think we have started, i think, on a pretty good path. We are bringing conservative thoughtful, pragmatic leadership and thoughtful, pragmatic initiatives to the floor of the house. Bills that by the way, are getting bipartisan support. We are getting moderate democrats that are starting to realize the error of their ways. Energies that streamline and reform the Energy Process of america. And we actually voted in a bipartisan way to defund the president s amnesty proposal. This is just in the first six weeks. [applause] we also voted again to eliminate obamacare which we will continue to focus our efforts on because we know a topdown system is wrong for america. [applause] just last week, i found legislation to eliminate the cadillac tax which will hurt every taxpayer in the state of New Hampshire. We are only getting started. Trying to find not just Common Ground among republicans but finding Common Sense Solutions for america. So i am thrilled and pleased that i have the opportunity to represent our great state. And i will continue to do everything i can to represent not just you about not just do what not just you but the best interests of the state of New Hampshire. [applause] thank you. I would like to get on with introducing our guest speaker. Governor christie was sworn in as governor of new jersey on january 19, 2010 and reelected to a second term on nove, 2013. November 5, 2013. Under governor christie, new jersey has taken on the biggest and toughest challenges with Real Solutions and bipartisan cooperation. He has implemented an aggressive reform agenda to restore fiscal accountability to stay local state and local government. He has lowered jerseys property tax, and help benefit systems, and improved Public Education to ensure every child has access to a quality education. In his first term, governor christie fought for and achieved passage of a 2 property tax cap, Landmark Health and if it health and pension reform that will save taxpayers 130 billion, balanced budgets, and did not raise taxes. After years of decline, new jerseys economy has turned around. And more than 143,000 private sector jobs have been created under his tenure. In addition, governor christie has made education reform a top priority of his administration. Working to turn around failing schools, improving accountability, creating fair and meaningful Evaluation System for teachers and principals and increase School Choice in the states worstperforming district. He has provided billions of dollars in additional aid for schools. Setting a historic high for School Funding in three consecutive years. And in august of 2012, governor christie signed into law a landmark bipartisan tenure reform to increase teacher effectiveness and accountability in new jersey classrooms. Since Superstorm Sandy struck, in 2012, new jersey has made real substantial strides towards recovering and rebuilding. The administration has launched dozens of programs and services at a record pace to to place New Jerseyans back in their homes, reopen businesses, that were destroyed by sandy. A lifelong new jerseyan, governor christie has deep affection and a strong commitment to the state in which he has spent his entire life. Born in newark, raised in livingston, he has lived in new jersey is his entire life with the exception of the university of delaware. He and his wife have been married since 1986, where they are raising their four children. We are thrilled to have governor christie here in hampshire. We hope that governor christie will return to New Hampshire many times. We wish him Great Success in any endeavor. But please help me land a warm welcome to governor chris christie. [applause] thank you for thank you very much thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. It is good to be back. Frank, thank you for your introduction. Most of all let me thank you for your continued service. I was happy to lend my support to frank. He is exactly the type of person that we need down in washington , d c to keep that i am the ball eye on the ball and get our country moving forward again. I want to thank carrie and kathy for putting together the event tonight and for your invitation for me to be here. I want to thank jennifer burnett, it was great to see her again after being here many times before. Steve dupre, and susanna bergeron. Thank you for your service on the National Committee and to our party. And one thing i would like to make sure we do, i was talking about this to a number of votes folks i met with earlier today. Any of the veterans of the armed forces we have in the audience with you please stand and be recognized for us . [applause] thank you for your service to our country and thank you for making the world a better and safer place as well. I am really happy to be back in New Hampshire. I was here at least half a dozen times last year in 2014 to help support the candidacy of my friend will have an stein will. [applause] walt and judy, as you know, are great people and he was an outstanding candidate for governor. When i first started coming here to campaign for walt, i got all kinds of flak and commentary from my own state. What are you doing in New Hampshire . This is not even a race. What are you doing up there . We know what youre doing. You are getting ready to run for president. It has nothing to do with walt have an stein havenstein. I know the kind of man walt is. I knew what kind of candidate he would be. I let them keep talking about that and i kept coming. As chairman of the rga, i was proud to have our organization invest 3 million in walts campaign. And he ran again campaign a Great Campaign against the incumbent governor and we came just a bit short of victory. Nowhere the blowout some people in the press were predicting. It was a close race. When i watch what your governor is up to here now, presenting her budget, you need walt now more than you needed him last november. [applause] i love these politicians who run one way and then govern another. You did not hear the government talking about any of this stuff. I was up here a lot. Imagine if she had campaigned on what she is now proposing. Higher taxes, more spending, more employees in government and kino. Keno. Keno, always one of the keys of a free and prosperous state. Keno. Imagine if she had actually campaigned on the way she is governing. I expect we would have governor havenstein right now. It is something to remember. Certain politicians who try to pretend to be Something Different than what they are never really change. We saw the kind of campaign she ran in 2012 and then how she governed for two years. And that is why i believed we had a great shot with walt to defeat her. But the way she is governing now and what she did in 2012 to 2014 should be a cautionary tale for everybody in New Hampshire, no matter whether you are republican, democratic, or independent. She will use this platform as a way to try to increase her own visibility and run for the next job. Lets be careful. We have enough of those types in washington d. C. Already. We dont need you to send a more there. New jersey is more than filling your quota. So lets watch very carefully. And make sure we Pay Attention not just to what politicians say during campaigns, but what they do when they actually have the levers of power. Imagine if we had learned that lesson in 2012. After watching what four years of barack obama did to the United States of america. I know in 2008, he gave a speech about hope and change. He gave wonderful speeches about how we were not red states or blue states that the United States. That he was going to be a unifier for our country. That he was going to bring a different type of politics to washington d. C. Well in that respect, the president has been good to its word. Washington has never been more divided or less productive than it has been in the last six years under barack obama. As i traveled the country in the last year as the chairman of the republican governors association, i can tell you that the reports you hear from around the country that voters are angry is wrong. They are not angry. What i saw when i traveled across the country was a nation of voters filled with anxiety. Worry about our countrys future. Worry about their childrens future. It was personified best buy and 82yearold woman that i met in florida. I was working a rope line campaigning for rick scott. She summarized what i found the mood of the country to be. As i was shaking hands with people, i shook her hand. They teach you in politician school, keep moving. She grabbed my hand and held onto it. She said governor, i have a question for you. What has happened to our country . We used to control events. Now events control us. If you look at every aspect of this government under this president , she summarized the problem. A tax system that is grossly unfair and Encouraging Companies to leave our country. He does nothing to fix it. An Energy Policy that is not taking advantage of the resources that we have to provide stability for the world. He does nothing to fix that problem. He says his Energy Policies are all of the above. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not an Energy Policy, that is a bumper sticker. And it is beneath the office that he holds. A round the world in 2008, he tried to convince the American People that america is the cause of violence in the world. That if america would just pull back and give some nice speeches and tell people we like them that violence would decrease peace would increase, and stability would come to the globe. [crashing sounds] i had nothing to do with that. I swear. Nothing. [laughter] [applause] i think you can tell, i was nowhere near the scene. I cant say i have never done it, but i did not do it that time. Think about the world today, everybody. I am 52 years old. And i dont believe that i have ever lived in a time in my life were the world is a more dangerous and scary place. Think about it. I was just in Great Britain two weeks ago. I have not seen security to that heightened level since immediately after 9 11. It is difficult to move in certain places in london. Because of the concern for terrorist attacks. We saw the murders in france. And we watch people concerned about radical islamic terrorist attacks throughout western europe. You moved to the middle east area you move to the middle east. Iraq is on fire. Syria is on fire. Egypt is under martial law. Jordan is being besieged by a third wave of wartime refugees. Now from syria. Israel feels less secure today than it has in decades. Turkey is also threatened. You look at the entire region. Not only is there not peace, there is not stability. And running over it is a terrorist threat brought by both isis and al qaeda. This president had the audacity to tell us that terrorism is on the run. As they are burning jordanian pilots alive, as they are beheading hostages, does terrorism look like its on the run . We have not even gotten to Eastern Europe and russia. Vladimir putin has decided that it is time to get the old bands back together. He moves into crimea and ukraine and looks at the baltic states. And lets remember, it was secretary of state Hillary Clinton who hit the reset button with russia. Removed missiles from Eastern Europe and told us that we are moving to a new era of americanrussian relationships. And we sure did. We sure did. It was this president who drew a redline in syria. And said if assad uses chemical weapons against his people, america will not stand for it. And then when he did, he said never mind. And allowed russia to intervene in syria. Another moment of failed leadership for this president. You see, if you listen and start to list some of these things, i almost feel bad for the president. He is like a man wandering around in a dark room, feeling along the wall for the light switch of leadership. Well let me tell you something everybody, he hasnt found it for six years and he is not going to find it in the next two years of the white house. This is been an abject failure of leadership by this president and it is time for him to go. [applause] and one of the saddest things is that so many of these problems are solvable. But they are only solvable through the exertion of strong leadership by the person sitting in the oval office. See, my mother taught me a long time ago that if you have the choice between being loved and being respected, to pick respect. My mother said to me love without respect is fleeting. But if you have respect first, love can grow. Of course, she was talking to me about women. But it can apply just as much to politics and does. It does. You see, the problem around the world right now is that America America has lost respect in the world. See, folks used to try to be like us because they respected what we did. They wanted to emulate us. Our government worked well. Our leaders spoke strongly directly, and unders