Live in a highly competitive economy. Why are we making it harder for kids to go to college because the cost of college is off the wall . In countries throughout the world, germany, scandinavia, it costs zero dollars to go to college. They understand it is an investment for the future of the country. I will introduce legislation shortly that will make public colleges and public universities tuition free. That is a good thing for our people and economy. Making it affordable and ending that outrage that so many children are struggling with with this huge student debt, this is about changing National Priorities. You do not give tax breaks to billionaires, you do not spend more than we should on the military, and then tell working families, sorry, your kid cannot go to college. I am very much in favor of changing National Priorities and paying attention to these young people. Free tuition is great, but how do we pay these bills . Bernie i can think of many ways to fund higher education. Host this question from facebook, over the years there has been a variety of labels placed on you, not the least flattering of which is socialist, do you feel that you are a socialist . Bernie i am a democratic socialist. What does that mean . It makes sense to look at then went countries like denmark sweden, countries and that have accomplished great things that work for them. You go to denmark, they do not have discussions about whether or not people can afford health care, it is a right of all people and they spend much less per capita van we do. That is true all over the rest of the world. We are the only nation that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right and we end up spending a lot more than other countries. There is something to be learned. Higher education, a huge issue in this country. Cost of higher education, country after country in europe which has had Labour Government democratic socialist governments, there is zero cost for the family. At Retirement Benefits stronger in those countries. In denmark, the minimum wage is 20 an hour. That is if you work at mcdonalds. Not bad. As a nation we should learn from those countries who have combated child poverty, to provide health care for all people. Free College Education and have a tax system that is fair and progressive, which says to the people, you have a lot money, we will ask you to start paying your fair share so we can have a strong middle class. Host back to the studio audience, a question from eileen. How can clients that i work with at a homeless shelter be part of the political process when they are totally convinced that money buys campaigns and they are very discouraged and unfortunately i think it contributes to the huge percentage that do not vote . Bernie that is an anonymously important question. I think it is not only Homeless People, congratulations for your work, taking care of the homeless and most Vulnerable People in our society, it is not just Homeless People that think that the deck is stacked against them. It is tens of millions of people that understand that while they may have the right to vote billionaires can spend hundreds of millions of dollars and by a politician. In teaching that is not going and changing that will not be easy, it will be a Major Mission if i run for president. I would hope, that no american is happy when 62 of the people did not participate in the last election. What we need is to give hope to people through an agenda that speaks to their needs. What do low income people need . They need decent paying jobs. We need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. People in this state, they make 25,000 a year and they dont get any overtime. Women make . 78 on the dollar compared to what men make. We need to change that as well. In terms of low income people we should not have homelessness. I introduced and passed legislation to build low income housing, rental housing, so people can live with dignity. We have some 45 Million People in this Country Living in poverty, that is almost more than any time in modern history of america. That is the crisis we face and that has to be changed. Host a question from will andrews. My question is about isolationism, in order to not send men and materials overseas until we get our own Social Security taken care of. Bernie i am hearing you say before we spend millions abroad take care of the needs of the american people. I certainly was chairman of the Veterans Committee and worked as a by partisan to pass legislation for many years that was exactly improve health care for our veterans. Clearly we need to take care of people in need in this country but i would also say that we cannot bury our heads in the sand. It is a dangerous world out there. I just mentioned a moment ago, i do not support sending american, troops into iraq to take on isis. Thats primarily a job of saudi arabia of the u. A. E. And jordan. We cant be isolationist. But what you are really talking about is changing National Priorities in this country. Taking care of those people who are hurting and not giving more tax breaks to corporations who stash their money in the cayman islands. Why does that happen . Why do we ignore the needs of the middle class and provide for the billionaire class and that is the power they have today and that is what we have to change. Host another question from robert. Senator, as president we pursue a carbon tax to make all forms of Energy Competitive and give muchneeded dollars to Infrastructure Projects . Bernie that is what i have done along with other senators. We introduced a carbon tax to congress. Let me touch on an issue that is controversial and sensitive. I happen to believe and agree with the overwhelming majority of scientists who tell us Climate Change is real caused by human activities and if we do not get our act together, the situation will only get worse in years to come. We need to transform our Energy System away from fossil fuel. It is unacceptable to me have you have all these companies putting forth all this carbon and not paying the cost for it. Yes, i support a carbon tax. Host to be clear, when you talk about Climate Change to be real in your opinion, how far should the government go to combat it, deal with it . Bernie i agree with the World ScientificCommunity ClientClimate Change is the major Environmental Crisis facing the planet. They are estimating in this country the planet will become 510 degrees warmer fahrenheit by the end of the century leading to floods, droughts, extreme weather disturbances coastal communities under water. I think we have a major crisis and the government has to be very bold along with governments throughout the world. It is an International Problem in the world and it is a huge issue. Host now we have a question from jeffrey flanders, he writes where do you stand on the nationwide legalization of marijuana . Sen. Sanders i was one of those kids that used to smoke marijuana, that was a joke but that was not an issue that we felt that was of the highest priority, kids smoking marijuana. I am also on board with legislation and have cosponsored legislation with marijuana. I think colorado was the first state in the country to legalize marijuana, and i want to take a good look at the pluses and the minuses of that and we can go from there. Host lets go to the questions in our studio audience now. Audience member welcome to beautiful downtown manchester. To deal with alzheimers and other dimensions, the numbers are rising at alarming rates. To prevent these debilitating diseases, the Research Funding has been inadequate. Would you support funding highlevel research in order to incur future costs, and could that bankrupt medicare and medicaid at some point . Sen. Sanders the answer is absolutely, and you are right the costs in dealing with alzheimers is going to be many, many, tens of billions of dollars, so it makes a lot of sense to us from a human point of view, as well as effective point of view, to find cures for that terrible illness, and yes i would support an increase of funding. Host that is all the time we have for the television portion, coming up, we have a conversation with republican donald trump, he is going to be on the program and this is the conversation with senator sanders that will continue online as well as on our mobile app. For now, thank you very much for watching, have a great night. 1 the announcer the road to the right House White House gets more crowded, dr. Ben carson plans his announcement, and we will have that live you at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan, and at 11 00 a. M. , it is former governor Mike Huckabee wash turn, Nash Huckabee huckabees turn. Remarkable partnerships, iconic women, their stories in first ladies. The book. She did say the portrait of washington, which endured her to the entire nation. What she was doing, what she looks like, who she was saying, that was going to help sell papers. She takes over a Radio Station and helps run it, and how do you do that . And she did it. She exerted enormous influence to make sure that her husband was protected. Announcer first ladies first ladies, now in a book, based on original interviews from cspans first ladies series. First ladies president ial historians on the lives of first women. They survived the scrutiny of the white house, sometimes at a great personal cost, sometimes changing history. It is an illuminating, and inspiring read, now it available as a hardcover or as an ebook at your local bookstore or online bookseller. Announcer next, commerce secretary Penny Pritzker outlines her department to enforce skills and job training and talks about job training. From the Aspen Institute, this is one hour. All right, good morning everyone, and welcome, i am Maureen Conway, imd executive director of our opportunities program, and i am so delighted to welcome you all today to our lunch and Work Partnership program. We are happy to be working with the Commerce Department on this really important initiative. I just want to say a few things before we get started, because we have a real treat for you today. We are being joined by Walter Isaacson, but a few things first, i would also like to acknowledge ands and thank the important initiatives that help us out, and we are filming this and if you are here in the room please do quiet your phone. Third, following the event today, we will have application materials for the regions up on our website. That website address is written down in materials and everything so you wont lose it, but just wanted to let you know that that will be going on today, and that is all i need to say for my announcements, but it is my distinct pleasure and thrill to introduce to you jay williams, the assistant secretary, sorry, i was promoting you, and he is going to provide a welcome and some thoughts. Thank you, jay. [applause] asst. Sec. Williams thank you maureen, and im excited to be here today. As we launch the communities that Work Partnership, this is a partnership that will build the critical and Publicprivate Partnership program that will help job skills across the nation. As we know, the availability of a Skilled Workforce is cited as a primary factor considered by businesses in their Investment Decision processes. The learning changes will help to meet the skills of businesses by identifying, promoting, and expanding on successful industrydriven, industry partnerships for talented development. I encouraging such partnerships, we encourage the regional pool of workers with skills that are in demand by employers that are in their communities, leading to job investments. Eda is pleased to be working with the Aspen Institute on this initiative. Through our partnership, we will help to build, sustain, and scale existing new and regional partnerships from telik from Talent Development in support of Regional Economic development. We will also inform on a longterm talent and the Skills Development strategies for the Economic Development administration. This Partnership Offers many exciting opportunities ahead as a testament to the focus of secretary of commerce, any pritzker who, for the first time in the history of the Commerce Department, has made a Workforce Development a key focus of the department of commerce. Secretary pritzker is a Business Leader with more than 25 years of experience as a Business Leader and a builder of businesses in various sectors. She has focused the department of commerce to spur American Innovation and unleashing Government Data to benefit businesses and developers alike. All of these priorities are of the most important to our committees and our regions. We are proud of the key role that the eda plays, and im very honored to work very closely everyday to work with secretary pritzker. Were obviously, of course, honored to have Walter Isaacson here today to lead our discussion. Walter is a man who wears many hats and wears them all exceptionally well. Walter, thank you so much for your leadership, and it is my privilege to turn this over to Walter Isaacson. Walter isaacson thank you very much and thank you for being our partners and selecting us as your partner. Why is Skills Development such a priority for you now . Sec. Pritzker walter, first of all, as you know, this has been a passion of mine to make sure that we not only develop a workforce that businesses need in order to grow into continue to create jobs but that the workforce in itself is getting the training and the opportunities that it needs so that our individuals in our country can be successful, so this is something that has been a passion of mine since we have started to Work Together, i think since 2009, on this subject. It is very important to bring it the subject of Workforce Development and skills training to the department of commerce because our job is to set the truth set the conditions for the american businesses to thrive, and then our economy will grow and we will have a prosperous society. So it is a Pretty Simple formula. Without the workforce, with the skills of that are in demand, in an everchanging economy, the formula does not work. So it is important, particularly because we at the department of commerce have the relationship with businesses, and ultimately at the end of the day businesses need to lead by defining what are the skills that they need, and i dont think that has been so clear lately. Walter isaacson when you do Manufacturing Day, which is an innovation that you have had what do you learn when you go and visit manufacturers of the 21st century . Sec. Pritzker i am really excited, we are going to have her third annual Manufacturing Day, and one of the wings that why Manufacturing Day . There was a real is understanding in the United States as to career manufacturing today, and what is the interface between the human and the machine that is necessary to make product in the 21st century . We have been working with manufacturers and last year we had 1500 manufacturers that opened their doors to over 300,000 people in the United States mostly, lets call it great school and High School Kids with their counselors coming in and saying, oh my this is not my fathers or my grandfathers manufacturing plant anymore. This is about manufacturing computers and a lot about humans working alongside robots great things. And we have learned that there is a real image issue with manufacturing, it is hard today to know what that is and to know what manufacturing means, so we are trying to change the awareness and the understanding that emilys know, all my goodness, if my i go in if i go in or if my child goes into manufacturing as a career, is that something that has longevity . For the first time in the United States since 2009, we are growing manufacturing, and we have grown almost 900,000 new manufacturing jobs, so this is becoming an area of growth, but it is a different career than it was 25 years ago. Walter isaacson so what kind of skills do you need to go into it . Sec. Pritzker you need knowledge as to how a computer wor