Transcripts For CSPAN DNC Meeting With The Democratic Presid

she talked about a number of issues, including immigration, and health care. she also spoke about gun violence, referencing wednesday's on her shooting of two journalists. this is 25 minutes. mrs. clinton: thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you all so much. thank you very very much. thank you all so much. it is great being here with a room full of democrats. and i want to thank stephanie, i want to thank debbie, and all the elected officials, party leaders, and grassroots organizers who every day help strengthen families and communities across our nation. you are building our party in every district in every state. i want to be your partner every step of the way. [applause] i also want to give a big shout out to a giant of the democratic party, someone who has devoted his life to serving his fellow americans, and who has inspired and encouraged so many of us over the years. the great walter mondale. [applause] we democrats believe in an america where no matter who you are, for where you come from, you should have an equal shot at success. that is the america we love, that is the america we are fighting or. and fundamentally, that is what is at stake in this election. whether our country keeps moving toward opportunity and prosperity for all, or whether republicans get another chance to rip away the progress we have worked so hard to achieve. we have come a long way these past six and a half years. but let's not forget what we inherited from the republicans. the worst economic crisis since the great depression. thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the american people, and the leadership of president obama -- [applause] we are standing again. but we are not yet running like we should. this election is about the best understands the pressures facing the families of america and the challenges facing us in the world. and who has the skill and tenacity to tackle them. today families are stretched in a million directions and so are their budgets were costs for everything from prescription drugs to childcare to college are going up faster than wages and minimum-wage jobs cannot lift you out of poverty. middle-class paychecks have not increased even the corporate profits and ceo pay keeps rising. and at a time when more women than ever are their families main breadwinner, they do not get equal pay. and unions are under conservative attack by republicans and their allies. [applause] and think of the millions of americans held back either student debt. they cannot start a business, they cannot buy a house, they cannot even get married because of the loans hanging over their head that is not the way it is supposed to be in america. in america, if you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. that is the basic bargain that made this country great. and that democrats have worked so hard over the years to strengthen and defend. that bargain is what kept my grandfather going to work in the scranton lace mill factory every day. it is what led my father to believe that if he saved and sacrificed, his small business printing fabric in chicago could provide us with a middle-class life. and it did. when my husband put people first and made that bargain mean something again in the 1990's, we had 23 million new jobs, a balanced budget, and for the first time in decades we all grew together, not just those at the top, but everyone. [applause] and when president obama did it, we pulled back from the brink of depression. save the auto industry, curved wall abuses and provided health care to 15 million people. [applause] the evidence is pretty clear. the basic bargain works. if everybody does their fair share, and everybody gets a fair shot from our whole country succeeds. and that success just not just go to a few, it is widely shared. democrats have proven that again and again. now it is up to us to renew that bargain for a new generation. to do what we know works and what we know is right. we have to make sure that every american gets a chance to pursue his or her dreams to live up to their god-given potential. that is what i would do as president. that is what people tell me they want. as i crisscrossed the country, listening, like the single mom who is juggling a job and classes at community college i'll while raising three kids alone. she is doing what you have to do to give herself and her kids a good life. she does not expect anything to come easy, but she asked me, is there not anything we can do? so it is not quite so hard. or the student who told me that paying for college should not be the hardest thing about going to college. [applause] or the grandmother who is raising her grandchild because her daughter is hooked on heroin, and now she needs help with childcare while she goes back to work. i believe raising income and supporting families is the defining economic challenge of our time. [applause] and that is why i have made it the focus of my campaign, and it will be my mission every single day in the white house. these are not new fights for you, or for me. my first job out of law school was not at some big firms, was at the children's defense fund. and if you years later i started an organization called arkansas advocates for children and families. my whole life i have worked to even the odds for people who have the odds stacked against them. that is what we democrats do. that is why we are here. it is what keeps us working and fighting through every up and down. for the values we share in the country we love. democrats believe that corporations should be held accountable when they gouge us on drug prices or pollute our environment, or exploit workers. that they just cannot be allowed to write their own rules that everyone else's expense. [applause] i believe in strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth and that the rewards of our success cannot just go to the wealthy. that would a company does well that shareholders and executives are not the only ones who should benefit. the people who work at that company in and day out and produce those profits should share in them too. [applause] democrats believe americans deserve a raise, that women deserve equal pay. [applause] we are the ones fighting to help families afford college. democrats understand you cannot go to work if you cannot find childcare. we do not believe he should lose your paycheck or your job when you have a baby or someone in your family gets sick. we believe that everyone deserves access to quality affordable health care. [applause] we are the ones standing up and saying the affordable care act is here to stay. [applause] we have come to far and not too hard to let anyone destroy that now. and we are ones who want to make social security even stronger and who will fight any attempt to weaken america's commitment to our seniors. we believe in a pathway to citizenship or the millions of immigrants in this country who contribute to it every single day. [applause] democrats believe that no matter who you are, what you look like what faith you practice, or who you love, america has a place for you, and your rights are just as sacred as anyone else's. [applause] by the way, we do not just stand up for these values here at home. we stand up for them everywhere. that is why i traveled the world nonstop or four years as secretary of state, calling for equal rights for women and girls, for lgbt people. [applause] for religious minorities, or all of oppressed people because the united states has always been a beacon of hope to the world, and we need to keep that light shining for all to see. that is what it means to be a democrat. those are the values we cherish. if is time to stand together and defend those values. because others are doing everything they can to take our country in a very different direction. who watched the republican debate a few weeks ago? 17 candidates, all trying to outdo each other in their ideological purity. all either oblivious to how their ideas would hurt people, or just not interested. not one of them had a single word to say about how to make college more affordable. not a word about equal pay for women or paid family leave or quality, affordable school for our kids so they can get the best start in life no solutions for skyrocketing prescription drug costs. no promises to end the era of mass incarceration, or say clearly and loudly black lives matter. [applause] i did not hear any credible plan to promote clean energy or combat climate change. and no one is standing up and saying what we all know to be true. we need to put an end to the gun violence that plagues our communities. [applause] you know, after the terrible events of wednesday, with two journalists killed on live television, plus a police officer killed in louisiana, and many more lost every day in carnage that largely goes unnoticed now across our country, i do not know how anyone could not come to the conclusion that something is deeply wrong. i believe we can have common sense gun reform that keep weapons out of the hands that should not have been, domestic abusers, the violently unstable, while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. i know politics are hard. i know that some would rather throw up their hands or give up the fight. but not me. i am not going to sit by were more people die across america. [applause] republicans do not want to hear about any of these things. their flamboyant front runner has grabbed a lot of attention lately and but if you look at everyone else's policies, they are pretty much the same. they are trump without the pizzazz or the hair. [laughter] a lot of people have said a lot of things about my hair over the years. [laughter] i do kind of know what donald is going through. [laughter] and if anyone wonders if mine is real, here is the answer. the hair is real, the color is not. [laughter] [applause] and come to think of it, i wonder if that is true for donald as well. [applause] you hear mr. trump say hateful things about immigrants, even about their babies. how many others disagree with him, or support a real plan for citizenship or draw the line at repealing the 14th amendment? today the party of lincoln has become the party of trump. think about it. now of course, mr. trump also insults and dismisses women, and by the way, just yesterday he attacked me just once again. and said i do not have a clue about women's health issues. really? [laughter] you cannot make this stuff up. trump actually says he would do a much better job for women than i would that is a general election debate that is going to be a lot of fun. [applause] but listen to the others. senator rubio bragged about the nine victims of rape and incest tell that to the mom who was breast cancer.er or anyone who has been protected by an hiv test. all of the stuff they are saying might be red meat in a republican primary, but it is dead wrong in 21st-century america. [applause] and i know that when i talk like this some people think there she goes again with the women's issues. republicans say i am playing the gender card. [laughter] if calling for equal pay and paid leave and women's health is playing the gender card, deal me in. [applause] so, my friends. we democrats are not going to sit idly by while republicans shame and blame women. we are not we just a quiet when they demonize immigrants who whether they are latino, asian, or anything else. we are not with you silent when they say climate change is not real, or same-sex couples are threatening our freedom, or trickle-down economics works. we cannot let them take us backwards. we are going to fight, and we're going to win. it is no secret that we're going up against some pretty powerful forces who will pay, do come and spend whatever it takes to advance their out of touch and out of date agenda. as far as they are concerned, if our democracy pays the price, so be it. we have lived through this before. the robber barons of the late 19th century had a public official's bags of cash. now we have secret, unaccountable money that distorts our elections and drowns out the voices of everyday americans. we need justices on the supreme court who will protect every citizen's right to vote. [applause] instead of what they have been doing, protecting every corporation's right to buy elections. if necessary i will pass a constitutional amendment to undo citizens united. [applause] so make no mistake, this is not going to be easy, you know that and i know that. but i have been fighting for families and underdogs my entire life. i'm not going to stop now. in fact, i'm just getting warmed up. [applause] i am here to ask for your help. i'm not taking a single primary voter or caucus goer for granted. i building an organization of all 50 states and territories, with hundreds of thousands of volunteers who will help democrats win races up and down the ticket, not just a presidential campaign. [applause] look, in 2010, republicans routed us on redistricting. not because they won congress, but because they won state legislatures. look where we are now. we cannot ever let that happen again. it is time to rebuild our party from the ground up, and if you make me the nominee that is exactly what i will do. [applause] i've been around long enough to know every county and local office counseling every school board and statehouse, and senate seat counts. every single one, so we have to compete everywhere. when our state parties are strong we win. that is what will happen. and when democrats win in america wins and so i hope you will join me because we are building something that will last long after next november. [applause] i want to be president to take on the big problems that fill our screens every day at home and around the world other candidates may be fighting for a particular ideology, but i'm fighting or you and your families. i will take on the kinds of problem's that keep people up at night. how are you going to work if you cannot find anyone to watch her kids? what happens if you lose that job you worked so hard to find? where can you turn when that but loved one who is battling addiction or struggling with mental illness finally once -- wants help? all of the challenge that millions of americans deal every day that they talk to me about. challenges our leaders should care about but do not nearly good enough attention. i'm paying attention. i hear you. i want to be the president to fight those fights, to fight for every american every day. to fight for each and every one of you. let me say at the end here that i am a proud new grandmother. an 11-month-old extraordinary granddaughter. and obviously her parents and bill and i will do everything we can to make sure she has every opportunity to pursue her dreams. but you know, that is not enough. because what kind of country and world will she grow up to live in? that all of america's children will live in? you should not have to be the granddaughter of a former president and secretary of state succeed in america. i want the granddaughters of factory workers and grandsons of farmworkers to have exactly the same chance. let's keep working with all our hearts toward a better future for all our children and grandchildren. they deserve to live in an america where everyone has a shot at achieving their dreams. where everyone gets to live up to their potential. and yes, where a father can say to his daughter, you can be anything you want, even the president of the united states. thank you. god bless you. [applause] ♪ candidatearks from bernie sanders. he spoke about immigration, social security, and trade. this is 25 minutes. ♪ mr. sanders: thank you. thank you all very much for inviting me to be with you today, and thank you all for the work that you do every single day making this country a better country for working people, for low-income people, for women, and for all of those people who are struggling to make ends meet. thank you for what you are doing. and let's thank our friends from minnesota for hosting this event and for giving us some of the great political leaders of the last century, including our great friend paul wellstone. i understand that there are republicans who proclaim how much they love america, but at the same time, how much they hate the people who work in our government or who are involved in the political process. i disagree. in my view, what you are doing, participating in the political process, trying to make this country a better country for all of our people, is the most patriotic thing we can do as americans, and i applaud you all. when i announced my candidacy for president less than four months ago, i think it is fair to say that few took that candidacy seriously. in fact, the word "fringe" was heard more than once. but i think it is also fair to say that a lot has changed in the last few months. [cheers] . . 400,000. in this day of super pacs and huge campaign contributions, i'm very proud to tell you that our average campaign contribution is $31.20. this is a people campaign. [applause] most importantly, i believe that the issues we are running on are generating and enormous amount of enthusiasm and that our grassroots campaign, which is calling for a political revolution, is striking a chord all over america. my friends, my friends, the republican party did not win the midterm election in november. we lost that election. they did not win. we lost, because voter turnout was abysmally, embarrassingly low and millions of working people, young people, and people of color gave up on politics as usual, and they stayed home. that is the fact. and let me be as clear as i can be. in my view, democrats will not retain the white house, will not regain the senate or the u.s. house, will not be successful in dozens of governors races all across this country unless we generate excitement and momentum and produce a huge voter turnout. [applause] with all due respect -- and i do not mean to insult anyone here -- that turnout, that enthusiasm will not happen with politics as usual. the same old same old will not work. the people of our country understand that given the collapse of the american middle class and given the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality we are experiencing, we do not need more establishment politics or establishment economics. what we need is a political movement which is prepared to take on the billionaire class and create a government which works for all of us and not just corporate america and a handful of the wealthiest people in this country. [applause] >> bernie! bernie! bernie! mr. sanders: in other words, we need a movement that takes on the economic and political establishment, not one which is part of that establishment. we need a movement -- a movement which tells corporate america and the wealthiest people in this country that they will start paying their fair share of taxes, that we will end the situation of living in the country when the top .1% owns as much as the bottom 90%. that is not the kind of economy we want. we need a movement which tells wall street that when a bank is too big to fail, that bank is too big to exist and we are going to break them up. we need a financial system that works with small and medium-sized businesses, not an island unto itself only concerned about the profits of a few. we need a movement which works with our trade unions and ends our disastrous trade policies which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs. and that includes defeating the tpp. corporate america has got to start investing in our country, not just countries all over the world. we need a movement which says that every worker in this country deserves a living wage, that understands that the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage and we will raise that minimum wage over a period of years to 15 bucks an hour. [applause] that we are going to end the disgrace of women making 78 cents on the dollar compared to men. we are going to have pay equity for women workers. and we are going to end the international embarrassment of being the only, only major country on earth that does not provide at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. [applause] we need a movement that says that when real unemployment, including those who have given up looking for work and those who are working part-time, is over 10%, when black youth unemployment is over 50%, that we need a massive federal jobs program to rebuild our public infrastructure. our roads, our bridges, our water systems, our wastewater plants, our airports, our rails are falling further and further behind other countries. we can create millions of jobs rebuilding our infrastructure, and i intend to do that. we need a political grassroots movement which tells the koch brothers and the billionaire class that they will not be able to continue to buy candidates and elections and that we will. [cheers] >> bernie! bernie! mr. sanders: i have not made many campaign promises so far. [laughter] but let me repeat one to you that i have made, and that is that no nominee of mine to the u.s. supreme court will have his or her name go to the senate unless that candidate is loud and clear in saying that one of the first orders of business for that candidate will be to rehear and overturn citizens united. [cheers] mr. sanders: but we have got to go even further than overturning citizens united. if we want a vibrant democracy, where all americans who want to run for office are able to do so, we need to move toward public funding of elections. and, by the way, together we are going to end this cowardly voter suppression that republican governors are imposing on people all across america. if a politician is too cowardly to face the voters, if a politician needs to think that he must suppress the vote in order to win, that politician should get another job. we need a movement that understands that climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and that we are going to lead the world in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy. and, brothers and sisters, that means defeating the keystone pipeline. we need a movement that says in a highly competitive global economy that all of our people who have the ability and the qualifications will be able to get a college education regardless of the income of their family. [applause] and that is why i have introduced legislation that does two things. first, it makes every public college and university in america tuition free. secondly, it substantially lowers interest rates on student debt. and we pay for that by imposing a wall street speculation tax. >> bernie! mr. sanders: when wall street collapses because of this greed and illegal behavior, the american people bail them out. now it is their turn to help the middle class of their country. [applause] we need a political movement which will end for all institutional racism in our country and reform a very, very broken criminal justice system. we must not accept more deaths of on armed blacks like michael brown, walter scott, and too many to name, too many to name. we must not continue being the country in the world with more people in jail than any other. and the people in jail are disproportionately people of color. we must become the country in the world which invests in job and education, not jails and incarceration. and when we talk of bringing our country together, we cannot forget that there are now 11 million people here who are undocumented. we must provide legal protections for them. we must pass comprehensive immigration reform. and we must provide a path for citizenship. and we must be clear that the racist and un-american idea that we are going to somehow round up millions of people in the dead of the night is not what this country is about and it is not going to happen. you are looking at a former congressman who did not believe george w. bush, dick cheney, and don rumsfeld, and voted against the war in iraq, a war which turned out to be one of the worst foreign-policy plunders in the modern history of this country. and you are looking at a senator who will stand with president obama in preventing iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but will do it in a way that prevents war. let me conclude by saying this -- one of the demands of my campaign is that we as a people think big, not small, not accept this right-wing ideology and world view. it is not a question of cutting education by 2% or 4%. we can, if we do not allow them to divide ourselves by race or gender, whether we are gay or straight or born in america were born someplace else, if we stand together, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. we can live in a country where health care is a right for all people, not a privilege. we can live in a country where when mom and dad go to work, they know their kids have the best-quality child care in the world. we can live in a country where seniors retire in dignity and security and not be forced to choose between their medicine and their food. and that is why i am helping to lead the effort in the senate, not only to oppose the privatization of social security or cuts in social security, but to expand social security benefits. we can live in a nation where our veterans, of men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us, get the quality health care and benefits they have earned and the respect that they are due. brothers and sisters, we can live in a nation where everyone, no matter their race, their religion, their disability, or their sexual orientation, realizes the full promise of equality that is our birthright as americans. this is the country we can build. it is the country we must build. and if we stand together, that is the country we will build. thank you very much. ♪ >> the dnc also heard from martin o'malley who called for more debates. the former maryland governor spoke for about 15 minutes. ♪ mr. o'malley: thank you very much for your kind introduction. to the chair of the democratic national committee, and to all of the distinguished officers of the dnc, including my colleague and friend and the mayor of my home city of baltimore. and to all of you friends. it is a great honor to be with all of you here. my name is martin o'malley. i am running for president of the united states, and i need your help to rebuild the american dream we share. i love my country. i love my country. and i have carried a lot water for this donkey. and i for one will not remain silent in the face of the lies, distortions, and the racist hate being comes out over the airwaves from the debate podiums of the once proud republican party. as all of you are aware, the republicans held their first two debates earlier this month. they will hold another in a couple of weeks. and you could easily have mistaken their debate for a reality tv show. like "survivor." the difference between the republican debate and "survivor" is that one involves tried challenges and contestants on the very edge of sanity. the other takes based on an -- takes place on an island. but here is the sad truth that we must own. while the republicans put their backward ideas forward for an audience of more than 20 million americans, we put our forward -thinking ideas on the back burner as if we are trying to hide them from the airwaves. think about it. the republicans stand before the nation. they malign our president's record of achievement. they denigrate women and immigrant families and they tell their false stories, and we respond with crickets. tumbleweeds. a cynical move to delay our own party debate. four debates? four debates, and debates we are told not to ask before voters make their decision. this is unprecedented in our party's history. this process has never been attempted before. his decree is this exactly? -- whose decree is this exactly? where did it comes from? what national party interest does this decrease or? how does this promote our democratic ideas for making wages go up and household incomes go up against instead of down? how does this help us make our case to the american people? one debate in iowa? that is it? that is all we can afford? the new hampshire debate is cynically wedged in the high point of quality shopping center so as to people watch it as possible. is this how the party selects its nominee? are we becoming something less, something else? what ever happened to the tradition of open debate and of a 50-state strategy? [applause] their party leading candidate launches racist attacks on entire ethnic groups of americans to the delight of david duke and other white supremacists, and our response is to limit debates? if all of this bothers you, it should. the leading republican candidate talks openly about forced expulsions, taking away the birthright of american-born children, and we turn our democratic party into the appalling silence of the good, silence in the face of the complacency of hate is not democratic off for the party of the united states of america. [applause] we must stand before the american people and show them that we have a better way. it was in a series of debates that abraham lincoln first forged a new national consensus to continue the work of affirming the dignity of every individual and the common good as a nation. now in an ongoing series of debates, the party of lincoln is led by donald trump. donald trump whose deep understanding of the law is such, he said last week that part of the constitution is actually unconstitutional. [laughter] donald trump, whose foreign policy insights are, he said, based entirely on what he has seen on tv. we let the circus run unchallenged on every channel what we cower in the shadows under a decree of silence in the ranks, or do we demand equal time to showcase our ideas, our solutions, and real leadership for real results? [applause] let their party be led by a hate spewing carnival barker. our party must be led by compassion, by generosity, by love and concern for one another, and a focus on our country's better future and the future we want for our kids. we must stand up. we must stand together, and we must speak out for the ideas that unite us. believe in the dignity of every individual. i believe in our own responsibility to advance common good we share as americans. make no mistake about it, these are volatile and fear filled times in our country. this is no time for silence. our party must not cower from this debate. >> republicans say that americans need to work more hours. we must raise the minimum wage pay15 an hour, pay overtime for overtime work, and pay women equal pay to move america forward. we need debate. what are we afraid of? republicans belittle teachers. they want to outlaw labor unions , scoffing at people who would bargain collectively for wages. work and the right to bargain collectively for better wages because we know that that makes wages rise for all americans. we need debate. republicans talk about raising the age for social security. democrats care that there are who get up, work in factories, clean buildings. hard-working americans should retire in dignity, not poverty. we need debate. we need debate. republicans traffic in immigrant hate, walls, and turn them forced expulsions. democrats understand the enduring symbol is not a barbed wire fence. it is the statue of liberty. we need debates. my friends, i am not the only the office ofing the president of the united states who holds progressive values, but i am the only candidate with 15 years of executive experience as a big-city mayor and as a governor , turning those progressive values into actions, turning progressive goals into progressive achievements, getting things done, new leadership, actions not words. in baltimore, together we saved lives by reducing violence, black lives matter. it's about actions, not words. as governor in the face of a national recession, i led our state forward, not back. we increase funding for public education by 37% and made our public schools the best public schools in america for five years in a row. we froze college to wish and in order to make college more affordable for families, actions not words. we passed a living wage, raised minimum wage, expanded family leave and voting rights, passed driver's licenses for immigrants , and banned the sale of combat assault weapons in our state. leadership is about actions, not words, about forging a new consensus. we passed the state version of the dream act and marriage equality, and when a republican brothers and sisters petitioned those measures to kill them at the polls, we took the case to the people and one at the ballot. it is about action and not words. thoughtsou with these come the great american poet wrote, webrooks once are each other's business, we are each other's harvest, we are each other's magnetism and bond. whether or not we make the american dream true again for all american families, it is up ,o us, not about the big banks big money trying to take over our elections. it is about us. it is about our party. i have afford 15 goals to ,ebuild that dream one by one policy action by policy action, each one reinforcing and commenting each other, bowl, progressive ideas, concrete plans, actions to make our country stronger, for only actions can make the american dream true again around the most important places in our country, the kitchen tables of every american family. to put theseow ideas and all the best ideas of all of our candidates forward before the american people. the american people deserve it. to the cause of our countries better future demands it. we are the democratic party, not the undemocratic party. the topic should be how many, not how few. when the lights come up, we will speak to where america is going, not to where we have been. we will ask one another what we can do for our country, not what we can do against immigrants. we will speak to the goodness, compassion, and generosity of americans, for our party is the party of opportunity, the party of the people, the party of our children's better future, so let us engaged this debate, let us make this case to the american people, and together we will rebuild the truth of the american dream we share. thank you very much. may god bless america. and may god bless our democratic party. [applause] >> now remarks from lincoln chafee. he spoke for just over 10 minutes. ♪ >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you, mayor. good morning. what a beautiful city we are in. here very lucky to be yesterday afternoon to take a walk by the mississippi, great city, construction going on everywhere. [laughter] is a good sign. we are five great candidates running for president, and if you add up all the years of facing the voters, there are 92 years of serving in elective office. the leading republican has not survey minute of facing the voters. we have 92 years combined. in 2016. decision i believe that three things should come to mind if you decide who will be the next president, past record. secondly, character, who are you . thirdly, what is the vision? where were going to take this country? i would take about myself, and as the mayor says, i'm the only candidate running who has been a mayor, senator, and governor. level, and that means i know how to plow the snow. i now to pick up the trash. schools andf a good had a key property taxes down. i've been reelected three times. and lebanon and beirut, the government will be toppled, but they can't take up the trash, very basic stuff at the local level. then the united states senate, and i was there for the bad years, bush and cheney, those were bad years. republican i was back then, right away i knew they were on the wrong track and i voted against the tax cuts that favor the wealthy and took surpluses and turn them into deficits. had september of 11 and the drumbeat for war in iraq, that sold to the reasons saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction and i voted against the war in iraq. minnesotans, your two senators, one of my heroes, paul wellstone, to minnesota senators adjoined the 23 to see through those false premises of war in iraq. i was a reliable vote for the environment time and time again, recognize carbon dioxide and human activity were creating climate change. in aed to prevent drilling wildlife refuge. i stood strong on civil liberties, on abortion rights, writesd over again, lgbt over and over again, immigration, mccain-kennedy, nine cosponsors, 2005, i was one of the nine who stepped up and said we need a path to citizenship, and i was one of the cosponsors of that bill. i think we should bring it back and get it passed. i voted against samuel alito to the civil court -- supreme court , and stop john bolton from going to the united nations. a bipartisanud group got together to work to ,ross that partisan divide seven democrats, seven republicans coming together. that's what we need more of in washington, obviously. i am proud of the total vote s i took under pressure, and proud of those positions in the united states senate. then, became governor of rhode island in the depths of the recession, one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, people losing their jobs and their homes to foreclosure. we stepped up and do the hard got a people back to work and we had the biggest drop of unemployment of all but four states. at the same time, passing marriage equality -- and we had the highest roman catholic state in the country -- so that was an easy, and i made it a priority and put it in my inaugural address. i think it's important for people to love each other, but also for our economy. i want a tolerant atmosphere. that's what makes an economy grow. controversialry you see it playing out nationally on getting undocumented students the right to have in-state tuition, the dream act. we worked hard for that i got it passed. it was an easy. there were a lot of protesters as we push that through. act, thatable care did not just happen. i had to work at it and ensure we had a good team ready. this will not be easy to get people to sign up for an exchange could we did it and i am proud of that. all through these 30 years of public service, i've had no scandals. [laughter] >> that's not easy in rhode island. so i'm proud of that. courage tothe take tough votes. i don't flip-flop. future,on for the ladies and gentlemen, i served on the senate foreign relations committee when i was in the senate and elected to chair of the western hemisphere subcommittee, so i've been all to this hemisphere and down through central america, south castro ininner with havana, met world leaders in venezuela, bolivia, ecuador, brazil, peru, throughout the western hemisphere. then i became the chair of the middle east subcommittee, traveled throughout israel, jordan, egypt, afghanistan, iraq, many of the countries in the middle east, lebanon, and that the world leaders there. and we see now with what happened with the chinese currency how it effected our stock market that the cliché is true, the world is flat. we are all connected. presidentg for because i know we have big challenges out there. i want to address them, make it a priority. we see the refugees, the war-torn nation's of afghanistan, iraq, syria, libya, and not only a human tragedy, destabilizings of the governments there. you see what right ring groups can do when you have fear an nd anger. , let's have a hand for president obama. [applause] kerry.secretary addressthe way we will conflicts overseas. everybody's talking how we stopped iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but the other positive element of this deal is that it was put together with the help of the russians, with the help of the chinese, with the help of the brits, germans, french, and that's how were going to solve these conflicts in the middle east and north the russians,ally chinese, and europeans, so that's why it's so important to get this past, not only because it stops iran from getting a nuclear weapon, but brings us together to work in resolving converts overseas, so i do believe that prosperity does come to peace, and that's why i'm running for president. i want to make this a priority in addressing these converts overseas and ending them. agree on many issues, environment, women's issues, affordable care act. i'm the one talking about ending these conflicts overseas. i came up through the vietnam era, and i do not want to see generations go through these conflicts. [applause] that 2016 iselieve going to be a great year for democrats. i do believe that. because, we are right on the key issues. [laughter] we are right on income and equality. the republicans are all wrong. they turned surpluses into deficits. they like giving the rich more tax breaks. they are wrong on that issue. democrats are right. who wants to go to the emergency room again for a five our weight to get your sprained ankle taking care of. we are right on immigration. the facet voting block -- growing voting block in the country. of course you want that. environment, the and republicans are wrong. human activity is causing climate change. we are right on that issue. we do see it happening with extreme weather, and everybody knows that the supreme court affects our lives for decades to calm. a democraticve president, democratic senate, democratic house. [applause] right.we are these are republican wars. they started these wars. we are going to end them. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, prosperity through peace. thank you. thank you. [applause] ♪ peace in the valley, people have got to be free ♪ >> we will hear more on newsmakers this weekend with schriock. tre watch the interview sunday on c-span. >> florence harding once said that she had only one hobby, warren harding. she was a significant force in her husband's presidency and adept at handling the media despite hardship, scandals, infidelity, she would help define the role of the first lady. this sunday night at 8:00 eastern on first ladies, influence and image, the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady, from martha washington to michelle obama. sundays at eight ago p.m. eastern on c-span3. -- at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> former president george w. bush was in new orleans with his wife to mark the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina. the visit is coming up next on c-span. then, more on the recovery effort in new orleans from today's washington journal. our guests include the former new orleans mayor, army corps of of newer, and editor lens newspaper. orleans newspaper. former president george bush wife to with his mark the anniversary of hurricane katrina. this is 20 minutes. [applause] laura bush: thank you very much. lauren is such a wonderful example of a student at warren easton high school who goes on to college and comes back and teaches here. i think that is so meaningful. i was thrilled i got to meet her here when i visited when she was a student and now get to come back while she is an english teacher. i also want to thank jared for the leading us in the pledge of allegiance. mayor, thank you for joining us today. thank you for the roundtable discussion we just had, which was really like a reunion. it is great to see so many people we have seen on other visits. general, thank you very much. dr. norman francis, senator landrieu, thank you. we have met here many times before and then again today. thank you for all of the work each one of you have done to bring new orleans back. we really appreciate you. i met her in 2001 when she was teaching as a teach for america member in baton rouge. she is now the executive director of teach for america greater new orleans. she is also on the louisiana board as a board member on the board of elementary and secondary education. she and thousands of other educators have committed their lives to improve and expand educational opportunities for students in new orleans. and for that, i am grateful. thank you. and a very special thanks to the principal. thank you very much for your leadership and for hosting us today. we are thrilled to be back here at warren easton charter high school. i am happy also to be introducing someone who is traveling with us today, secret service agent tj mathews. right here. [applause] bush: tj is an alumna of warren easton high school. [applause] bush: as a teacher and librarian, i care deeply about developing every student's love for reading and learning. this was important to me as first lady of texas and of the united states. in 2002, with the help of the ambassador, who is over here, i established the laura bush foundation for america's libraries to provide funds to update, expand, and diversify the print and book collections of america's libraries. in 2005, after hurricane katrina devastated the gulf coast, and many school libraries, we were having our final board meeting of the laura bush foundation. we had raised all of the money we wanted to for our endowment. i told our board members, i just can't quit thinking about those libraries across the gulf coast. one of our board members, also with us today, said why don't we keep raising money and whatever we raise now we will give way to gulf coast schools? rebuilding a school library is difficult, and the lara bush foundation for america's libraries wanted to help. so at that meeting, one month after hurricane katrina, we founded the gulf coast school library recovery initiative, , raising more than $6.4 million to rebuild the library collections across the gulf coast. the gulf coast initiative has given grants to 124 school libraries. warren easton is one of them. and warren easton is one of 46 new orleans schools that have received library grants. after the hurricane, warren easton was under five feet of water. the cafeteria and the gym were demolished. the second-floor library was damaged from the third-floor roof leaks. the computer systems were ruined and over 9000 books were destroyed by water and mold. today, we just have the roundtable upstairs and the library is filled with books, approximately 16,000. warren easton's library is again a great place for the next generation of students to study, to learn, and to fall in love with reading. i'm happy the laura bush foundation could contribute to the recovery of so many gulf coast schools and i am thrilled that books are back on the shelves and in the hands of children where they belong. , thanks to each and everyone of you went to all of the volunteers across our country and to the citizens of new orleans. thank you for everything you have done to help rebuild the gulf coast. and a special thanks to the librarians who came from all over the country who donated , their time and talent to help the gulf coast libraries rebuild and restore their collections. george and i are grateful to the work of so many of you and we are happy to see the big easy is thriving. thank you all. [applause] and now i invite my husband, president bush, to the podium. [applause] pres. bush: thank you. thank you all. as has been mentioned, in 2006, laura and i came here to warren easton charter school after katrina hit. we are honored and pleased to be back in the 10th anniversary of that devastating storm. i can't think of a better place to come here in new orleans, except for some of the restaurants. [laughter] the slogan that guided the school when we visited is true today. we believe in success. and because of that success, the -- that schools like this have achieved, you have given all americans reasons to believe that new orleans is back. and better than ever. mr. mayor, thank you for your hospitality. you and the first lady have been so gracious to us. we want to thank you for your leadership. if enthusiasm and a good strategy counts, new orleans is in good hands. and we thank you very much. [applause] by the way, i do bring greetings from one of the cochairman of the bush-katrina fund. 41. one of the great lines of all time, he said who would have thought getting out of bed at age 91 would be more dangerous than jumping out of an airplane at 90? [laughter] i want to thank david garland, the president of the charter foundation board, all of the folks who have shown up. as laura said, we had a roundtable discussion. many of our friends were there. people we work with. i think of norman francis, for example. one of the great leaders and great minds of new orleans. [applause] pres. bush: in spite of the devastation, we have many fond memories. i remember sitting on top of one of those big ships strategizing. i think you were drinking. i wasn't of course. [laughter] it is great to see you. we are honored you took time to come. obviously, members of congress, members of the state house, superintendent white, on and on. thank you all for coming. i really want to thank the leadership of the school. i'm going to talk about them here in a minute, although i must confess a principal is always a teacher. so she tried to teach me with the band here. i know she did not say it, but she was thinking this boy needs a lot of work. [laughter] pres. bush: we are thrilled with your hospitality. in a cruel twist, hurricane katrina brought despair to what should have been a season of hope, the start of a new school year. students who had recently gone back to school had no school to go back to. many had nowhere to live. the floodwaters, as you know, claimed schools and homes alike. as laura mentioned, the ground we are on today was under water. all of those who are old enough to remember when never forget the images of our fellow americans amid a sea of misery and ruined. we will remember the lives lost across the gulf coast. their memories are in our hearts and i hope you pray for their families. hurricane katrina is a story of loss beyond measure and of commitment and compassion. i hope you remember what i remember, 30,000 people saved in the immediate aftermath of the storm by u.s. military personnel, by louisiana law enforcement, and by citizens who volunteered. i hope you remember what i remember, and that is the thousands who came here on a volunteer basis to provide food for the hungry and find shelter for those who had no home to live in. there are people around the country who prayed for you. many of whom showed up so they could say they helped a fellow citizen who was hurting. one of the groups were the educators of new orleans. at a time when it would have been easy to walk away from the wreckage, the educators thought of the children who would be left behind. you understood bringing new orleans back to life requires getting students back to school. and even though some of the educators had lost almost everything you owned you let , nothing stand in your way. today we celebrate the resurgence of new orleans schools. we honor the resilience of a great american city whose levees gave out, but whose people never gave up. out of the devastation of katrina, you valve to do more than just open the schools. vowed to challenge the status quo. long before the great flood, too many students drifted from grade to grade without ever learning the skills needed for success. parents lacked choices to intervene. principals and teachers lacked the authority to chart a more hopeful course. 60% of the students were failing. it was the soft bigotry of low expectations. the decisions made in the dark hours after katrina sparked a decade of reform. rather than reopen the schools, reorganize charter schools that are independently operated and -- but publicly accountable for achieving high standards. more than nine in 10 students in the city now call our charter school home. administrators of these goals -- schools have the freedom to slice through red tape and the freedom to innovate. parents have choices if dissatisfied. and the results of the schools have been extraordinary. the reason we know is because we measure and any attempt to , undermine accountability in our school system does a huge disservice to the students who go to the schools in new orleans. [applause] bush: according to a new report, the percentage of new orleans students graduating on time has soared since katrina. the percentage of students who scored better than the state average almost doubled. and so has the percentage of students meeting basic standards. you've got to ask why. it just did not happen. a lot of it was structural and a lot of it required strong leadership. people who stared into the eye of the storm and refused to back down. so laura and i are here in new orleans to remind our country about what strong leadership means and are here to salute the leaders. i think of jenny here at warren easton. after katrina, jenny left new orleans. was forced to leave. she started a website called warren easton in exile. the site reunited students. when jenny returned, the first-place she went was not her house. it was this school. as she puts it, i would rather see my own house burned down than this school. jenny would give anything for warren easton and today we give teachers like her our sincere thanks. [applause] bush: amazing what happened in the city after the storm wiped out the school system. educational entrepreneurs decided to do something about the devastation and the failure. i have met a lot of them when i was president and subsequent to my presidency. one person took a leadership role in an organization called new schools for new orleans. he worked with others to launch dozens of schools and turn ideas into reality. as a theoretical exercise, it is important to look at new orleans and realize this is an exercise of implementing a plan that works. he was so encouraged by what he sees here, he's talking up the reforms to other cities around the country. isn't it amazing that the storm that nearly destroyed new orleans, and now new orleans is the beacon for school reform? [applause] bush: he represents the virtues bill clinton and i had in mind when we announce the new presidential leadership scholars program. we are honored he was among the first class of scholars. achieving these results took librarians salvaging the collections. i know something about librarians. i married one. i'm really proud of the laura bush foundation. she has talked about the grants, citizens who supported the foundation who they did not stay very long and yet like many around the country, they care deeply about the future of the city. i hope the students here -- and we are thrilled you're here and thank you for staying awake. i hope you realize the compassion of others in helping you realize a good education. it turns out at every good school, a school that is succeeding and we know it is succeeding because we measure against other standards, requires strong principles. and there is no doubt that medley is a strong leader. [applause] bush: i love what she says if you fail, we failed. , the student is our product. we don't believe in putting out anything but the best. in order to succeed, in order to lead properly, you got to set high goals and high expectations. xi and thist le school have done. as you heard, the school has graduated 100% of its seniors for the past five years. [applause] bush: you have earned our admiration and gratitude along with our best wishes for a happy birthday tomorrow. [applause] bush: it is the story of schools like this and others, we see a determination to build better than before. it is a spirit much stronger than any storm. it is a spirit that has lifted communities laid low by tornadoes or terrorist attacks. it is a spirit that i saw in new orleans 10 years ago. it is very evident today. we see the spirit in the population that has picked back up as family settled down. we see it in the tourists who are drawn here by the hotel rooms and restaurants. rit of it in the spi laura. we met her in 2006 when she was a senior. she is happy to be back at the school she loved. she was happy to be back at the school she loved at the time. you know what she told me? she said i want to be a teacher. and here she is as a member of this faculty teaching english. i probably needed her when i was in high school. [laughter] bush: when i asked how students have overcome adversity, she said we teach them to be resilient. that is in the culture of the city. she is right. the resiliency you teach is the resiliency that the city show the world in the wake of hurricane katrina. on this anniversary, the work of making a stronger and more hopeful new orleans goes on. you have achieved a lot over 10 years. and with belief in success, and a faith in god, new orleans will achieve even more. the darkness from a decade ago has lifted. the crescent city has risen again. and it's best days lie ahead. thank you for having us. [applause] >> one moment before the band comes up. i want to give -- we want to give president bush a token of our appreciation. we hope you wear it. ♪ [applause] ♪ >> this weekend on the c-span network, politics, books, and american history on c-span saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern, hurricane katrina 10th coveragery with live of the commemoration, bill clinton, and new orleans mayor. on the road to the white house coverage, speeches from hillary clinton and bernie sanders in minneapolis. on c-span two, book tv on saturday at 10:00 p.m. eastern. the book traces his journey in the united states from a undocumented immigrant to the top of his class in princeton. to mark the 10th anniversary of hurricane katrina, several programs and former mississippi governor and investigative reporter. american history tv on c-span3, saturday afternoon, a few minutes past 2:00 p.m., don, it discusses the history of space station, comparing the development of russian-american programs is the early 1950's, and looking at the future of international space station efforts. sunday at 4:00 p.m. on america, a film docketing the course of world theatern the pacific , through the surrender ceremony in 1945. get our complete schedule and c-span.org. >> coming up next, more on the 10th anniversary of he hurricane katrina from washington journal. i look at the recovery effort with the city's mayor. -- a look at the recovery effort with the city's mayor. then, the new orleans levee system and what's being done to protect the city from future storms. ss shows hismo expansive covering katrina and its aftermath. joining us is the former mayor of new orleans mark morreale. good morning. you are quoted in the washington post as saying with regard to new orleans and the rebuilding, we are at halftime. what do you mean? guest: i mean the city has not been fully populated. all neighborhoods have not fully come back. they are still pending reimbursement claims the city has with fema. the rebuilding, the renaissance, the resurge into the city still has a still quite a distance to go. we at the urban league applaud progress that has been made. but we also pointed out -- we have a report released by the urban league of greater new orleans this week -- about the continuing challenges of poverty, jobs, income, and education that still plague the city and confront the region. poverty, jobs, income, and education that still plague the city and confront the region. 10understanding where we are years later, it is important that people not spike the ball. not pop the cork on the champagne bottle. but applaud the work that has been done but commit to the continuation. it took san francisco 25 years to come back after the devastating earthquake in the early part of the 1900s. this rebuilding of new orleans will still take another 10 to 15 complete.e full and host: we are some of the successes and not so successful areas? guest: the success has been that lots of public interest structures have been built. there is a new levee system. that system is considerably better than the levee system of 10 years ago. .ith new engineering those being flood and storm gates. publicy, 38 a.m. you schools. because the old schools were destroyed. thirdly, through a combination of private insurance, their own savings, have built their homes, rebuilt their businesses. parts ofible in many the city. i really think the real should be the perseverance, the commitment of people because of the culture and history of new orleans, has been a driver of all we have seen up until this point. host: 202 is the area code. 748-8000 if you live in new orleans and want to talk to former mayor marc morial about the current conditions of the city. did you face any large hurricanes when you were mayor and what was your reaction? guest: i faced several hurricanes, perhaps the most serious of them was hurricane georges in 1998. it required us to call for a voluntary evacuation of the city and required us to use of the dome and the convention center at shelters of last result. hurricane georges could have been katrina. diverted, as many hurricanes due at the end, and hit the gulf coast of mississippi. was the moste serious threat on the city in quite a bit of time. new orleans also had flooding incidents, occasioned by heavy rainfall. or two memorable flooding incidents as a result of rainfall. nothing of the scale of katrina. it is important to emphasize and re-emphasize that the failed flood walls on what are called out while drainage canals, and the failed flood while on the industrial canal, where large contributing factors to be flooding that took place after hurricane katrina passed by the city. we faced that. it was a challenge. i made it my business, during the years i was mayor from 1994 to 2002, to be briefed extensively on hurricane preparedness. each and every may. i wanted to make sure the city was fully prepared. there was nothing of the scale of katrina. i would emphasize, that in a , federal, state, and local cooperation is essential. ofis not that one branch government or the other is fully responsible. the response required requires a if there isffort going to be an evacuation. certainly if there will be the kind of humanitarian response needed from people who may be stuck. is that lesson learned there has to be a transportation plan to help of those who may not have automobiles, those who may not have private transportation, to evacuate when there is a threat. host: the black population in new orleans decreased. 118,000 since katrina. what is the significance of that? guest: it is important to recognize that the city still remains this cultural gumbo. this mix of people. proximally 60% of the population remains african-american, with the remainder eating white. givenamerican, primarily enemies. and latino. primarily vietnamese. and latino. but for those who are renters who did not own their own homes, it was difficult coming back. to this day, many are not restored. secondly, much of the black middle class was displaced. there was a layoff of some 700-5000 teachers. in areas of the city like pontchartrain park in new orleans east, they got a very slow start, primarily because , are was an effort by some plan by some, that those neighborhoods should not be rebuilt. up in thelaying catch rebuilding process. it has been difficult. now you have a large new orleans in places like baton rouge, houston, atlanta. some of the river parishes between new orleans and baton rouge. many of the people who evacuated remain in the region to such an extent that now baton rouge is the largest city in terms of population in the state of louisiana. host: property taxes have doubled in new orleans since katrina. flood insurance rates have tripled. water bills, will more than double by 2020. and home prices in some historically black neighborhoods have doubled as well. marc morial, our guest. larry is in bowling green, kentucky. hi, larry. caller: i want to challenge to listen to what i said. what is that -- take a crowbar and do some good down in new orleans? easy for -- avenue is a rich -- thank you, c-span. host: mr. mayor, do you have any comments for that? guest: donald trump proposed a high-rise apartment building if i recall, in new orleans right after the hurricane but it didn't get built. host: he has a hotel down there, doesn't he? i think he's got one down in the c.b.d. guest: i'm not sure of that. but interesting. i'm going to stay away since he's a presidential candidate and stay away from commenting on presidential politics this morning. host: if you're in new orleans and you want to talk to the former mayor, call us. steven this st. louis. steven, you're on with marc morial. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i'm a retired federal employee up in st. louis here. i have watched all the town hall meetings all through the week. and i remember very vividly. i tried to go down there and to volunteer work and i didn't get selected. and i've got two very quick comments. i've been seeing and i remember this back in 2005. there was a lot of comments about the poor people couldn't get trailers to live in phenom -- fema was slow. there were bodies all over the place, that we lost all of these people. i need some understanding. this was a catastrophic -- just looking at some of the pictures this morning, i can't even imagine what those poor people when through. i don't want to use the -- thing, but what were some of the problems back then? i know that people were utterly frustrated and i understand. my heart goes out to them. that's the first thing. the second thing is the job issue. we need to get these young people to work. i mean, i'll be quite honest with you. if i didn't have a job, no way to get a job, i might be doing something illegal. i'm going to be quite honest about that. these young people, this is our livelihood. this is our future. and i put that on the politicians. , en you get elected to office one of your main goals to me is to be a salesman, to get people, to get companies to come into your joerger. i know that's a difficult thing. i've never been in sales. so maybe i shouldn't be saying that, but i looked at our politicians and they've got to hit that road. they've got to get these companies in there somehow so that we can get these young kids to give them some hope. and that's host: steven in st. louis, thank you. guest: i agree fully with steven with the idea that there is no more important issue in america today than trying to provide employment opportunities which lead to positive quality of life for young people. and what the country has to do is step away from the traditional political conversation which says well, is it a government responsibility? is it a private sector responsibility? is it all about education? it is a private sector ability. in my work at the urban league, we encourage the private sector towns the great hope and possibilities of america's urban communities which have seen tremendous disinvestment over the years. but it's also a government responsibility. we can spend trillions in iraq and in afghanistan, if we can spend significant money, public dollars on foreign aid to assist other countries, if we can provide tax incentives, some of which encourage investment abroad, then we can, if you will, spend and invest in providing job opportunities for the young people of america. you've got do better with schools. yeah, we have to do that. but some of this is also by young adults. and young adult who is do want to work, do have the capability of working, and there isn't enough opportunity for them. and i'll give everyone a number between 16 and 24. one out of every five young people in america is neither orking for -- nor in school. that's. seven million people. we the urban league have an nitiative. we've got programs in new orleans and in several communities, many, communities around the nation. and we do this work. however, we have long lines of people who want to be part of our programs and so we're fighting every day for more, if you will, investment to fund more job training slots in communities across the country. host: next call from marc morial comes from stephanie in wilton t p.a. hi, stephanie. stephanie, we're listening to you. just listen to your telephone and turn down the volume on your. go ahead and start talking, ok? caller: ok. i'm just -- host: you know what, stephanie, i'm going to go ahead and move on. to all the callers, once you get on, turn down the volume on your. you'll be able to hear everything through your telephone and if you leave your tv up, then we get this feedback and it slows the program down a little bit. jeannie this new orleans. jeannie, you're on the air. caller: hi. yes. my husband and i returned to new orleans in march of 2006. i write a little neighborhood column which i was asked to do because i started a kind of a blog after this -- aftermath. but one of the things that really bothers me here is that the amount of insurance that people are paying for their properties is just horrendous. and nothing has been done to control.that under this has caused so many people to lose their homes and yes, there are new people who have come in here and are building and were grateful -- we're grateful to have them but a lot of the people who were here before katrina and came back and tried to rebuild have been not only unsuccessful, but have lost their homes. people who were in their 60's and retired and, you know, their house is almost paid for and suddenly, they an enormous mortgage because of the failure of both the government and the banks for not helping people to be able to get back on their feet without causing them such distress. so we're talking about middle class people here. host: jeannie, can you give us an idea of what the insurance cost changes have been and what neighborhood do you live in new orleans? caller: i live in lakeview. and i can tell you that our insurance just for basic, and i mean, not great insurance, but basic insurance costs over $6,000 a year now. and with property tax the way they've gone up, it's about $10,000 a year just on those two items. it's ridiculous. it just has really hurt the people who came back early on in this game. and we saw many of our friends who have lost their homes because of this. they couldn't afford to live here anymore. host: thank you, ma'am. let's hear from former mayor marc morial. guest: i'm glad jeannie has raised this issue because all of the mubs show that the cost of living whether you're paying a mortgage or rent plus insurance, the housing costs have dramatically increased in this community. what i would say to jeannie is that insurance companies in the state of louisiana are regulated by the state commissioner of insurance. and i would encourage him to be provide to come on this show and talk specifically about increases in homeowners insurance that really is making it difficult for people who have return to the stay in the city and for many, many others to come back. this is why i've called this a continuation because the city, the region,, neighborhoods -- regions continue to face challenges. lakeview is one of those great communities of homeowners, tightly it in. any of whom came back. and these issues need to be addressed and i've said to people, look, southeastern louisiana is always going to be at risk of a severe weather event. but so is coastal mississippi, coastal alabama, coastal florida, all the way around south carolina and north carolina, over to texas. the beauty of the coast is that it gives us beauty. it gives us abundance. it gives us fisheries. it gives us offshore oil and gas, but also the gulf of mexico in the summer time because of the warmth of the waters is really, really a feeder that strengthens hurricanes so communities are going to be at risk. this insurance issue needs to be addressed certainly by those first line who are responsible and i think that's the state the commissioner of insurance and i think members of legislature have to raise this as a high priority issue. host: clifton is calling in from rochelle, georgia. hi, clifton. caller: good morning. the best i remember there was some $2 billion in credit card fraud that went on during the hurricane. i would like to know how much of that money has been recovered and how many people have actually been prosecuted for that fraud and i'll take the answer off the air and you guys have a good day. host: mr. mayor? guest: i don't know what the number is and i'm not the best person to answer that question. that should probably be directed to the law enforcement authorities and the district attorney and the united states attorney here to determine what in fact may have occurred with that. but i couldn't address that. host: i want to read two tweets to you, mr. mayor, and get your view on this. this is the first one. 52% of black males in new orleans are unemployed, yet obama fights to give five million illegal aliens work perments. and what impact of the influx have on the vacant of low cost housings for those who would ike to return? guest: the people who request work permits for undocumented workers are businesses. restaurants, sometimes, hotels, meat processing plants, if you will, large farming concerns. and the law gives these businesses under the current law the right to ask for work permits. secondly, and i have to say this, many of the immigration reform bills would involve a tightening of the eligibility for work permits and i know at the national urban league, we fought for a system where less work permits are available for businesses when unemployment is high in the united states. and i think it's important to recognize that the main proponent of work permits are many business concerns in the country. not president obama. host: paul, chesapeake, virginia. you're on with former new orleans mayor marc morial. caller: yes, sir. i understand as a marine that new orleans is a major port city for a lot of imports through the gulf. however, i grew up just northwest in the state of oklahoma and moore, oklahoma, has since 1999 has had three f-5, f-4 hurricanes and they have had very, very little federal support, but they have rebuilt on their own. so what is the issue with new orleans besides that the -- it's a major port city and one of their major sources of income, of course, is not only the port, you want to see how howe a city rebuilt, they've rebuilt three times in oklahoma and that's my comment except that -- you know, i understand new orleans has had is issue and also i could go on about this after 10 years. but also the crime rate new orleans dropped almost 75% after katrina and in houston, it when up over 50%. guest: many american communities have faced natural disasters. new orleans faced a natural disaster and a man made disaster. the flooding, the devastation that took place in new orleans took place because of failed levees. levees which were improperly engineered, constructed and maintained. but for the levy breaks -- leavie breaks, we would not be having this conversation about new orleans. but we would about southern mississippi because southern mississippi also received a scombrunt much of alabama received a brunt of hurricane atrina also. people would have gone to federal court and sought compensation. in this instance, the army corps of engineers is immune from most lawsuits involving how they design, how they engineer, how they construct and how they maintain the leavie systems around the united states. that fact's got to be clear. if i said 10 years ago and i say now, i think that people suffering -- i would suggest that most people who suffer from natural disasters don't realize that the federal government has probably played a role. if they've been victim iced by flooding that they may not realize. there's an automatic right under the stafford act in a natural disaster for public infrastructure to receive compensation for people to be rebuilt so a lot of times there, may be federal support that people may not, if you will, realize. people in the gulf region, new orleans, mississippi, i think have rolled up their sleeves and really worked hard to rebuild. and mayor landrieu here in new orleans has also been very upfront about thanking the philanthropist, the volunteers, the faith-based organization, the community-based organizations and foundations from all over the world who have helped the gulf coast fa time of reat need. katrina was an extraordinary catastrophe for this nation and for this region and for this city. host: and according to fema, 738,000 households in louisiana were approved for assistance after katrina. 274,000 in mississippi, 55,000 in alabama this was on the fema website. you want to see these facts and figures for yourself, here is a map of the city of new orleans and the red dots are where bodies were found. 1,073 is the official death toll from katrina. this down here is the garden district. over here is the french quarter. this is the central business district this area here. and over here is the lower ninth ward. here in new is up orleans. christopher is in palm bay, florida. you're on with marc morial. caller: hello, sir. how are you doing? i just wanted to thank you for your words. you know, i'm an african-american male and i live here in florida. and two agree things are happening. i just moved to florida and my baby girl was born that same year. and i was one of the community emergencey response members that had to help transition with the families that came here. i lived in florida and i don't know if you guys are watching the weather but we're facing some hurricane warnings and so forth before next week. and i just wanted to make sure that we as a country is doing what we need to do. i do a lot of community work and i go through the struggles and experiences of just looking another-at-how we are put across, how we are looked as young men and women of color. and the disadvantages that we may face and not by any fact, though i play on that, but i do see that there is a disconnect when it comes to servicing some of the low income areas. i, myself, i've done a lot of community work, worked with the youth immensely and i'm a candidate for u.s. congress for my district here in florida. and i see this as an opportunity with this 10th year anniversary and recovery to fortify our efforts in supporting communities, making sure that neighborhoods are safe but not only that, making sure that our response time to storms. because we have a lot of seniors here in florida that are worried about this upcoming storm, erica. and i just want to know if you have any take on that. host: christopher, thank you very much. guest: i think you're elevating the idea that every community, particularly gulf coast communities have to have a strong disaster response plan, and that disaster response plan has to understand that there are people in nursing homes, senior citizen centers, vulnerable people in every single community who may need help and assistance in evacuating or in responding. maybe someone like me can get in a car, travel to another city very quickly, put down a credit card and stay for a week, 10 days or two weeks in a hotel. and that's what many people did when they had to evacuate. if they had the wherewithal. if they didn't have the wherewithal, maybe they continue do that and every community needs to be super serious about its distance ser response plan and specifically, specifically, think about what its most vulnerable communities need. vulnerable communities are communities of color, senior citizens, communities that are not communities of color. the older or if you will, senior citizens in a community, the disabled citizens in a community. what are you going to do with people who are in hospitals? how are you going to provide for that? every community absolutely needs -- and with katrina, i think -- was, was a wake-up call about how we respond to indeed, disasters. and i live because the national urban league is headquartered in new york. and hurricane sandy was an interesting example as i watched community leaders and politicians and elected officials aggressively work to respond to sandy even in that instance. there's still a lot of rebuilding that needs to be done in parts of new york and new york three years after hane sandy. -- hurricane sandy. host: when i was down there earlier this week, two things i heard from a lot of the residence was there seem to be kind of resistance to being called resilience and a little bit of takings of -- office at the narrative that -- office that were coming out from people utside of the community. guest: it allows you to applaud the progress being made. member those who lost to those that face great difficulty. but also there needs to be this commitment and this continuation. this community still has, if you will, deep emotional and psychological, if you will, scars. but this community, i think, is also demonstrated -- has demonstrated this example of human perseverance. one really may not know what it's like to get knocked down, to not know if you're home, if the people you love, the place you worship, the relationships you have, the job that you've invested in, the community that you know, is going to be there because in an instant, it seems to all be gone. yet 10 years later, the perseverance and strength of people and if there's something to celebrate, that's what needs to be celebrated. the ability to overcome, the ability to withstand the pressure, the ability to rebuild even after one of the great human tragedies. and i would say that for my american anywhere in the nation, if you're community faces this kind of challenge, we all need to be there, assisting, helping, lifting, you up also. host: marc morial, president and c.e.o. of the national urban league and former mayor of new done, all americans will have something to be very proud of. host: care and durham-aguilera is with the u.s. -- karen durham-aguilera is with the army corps of engineers. has the levee system been rebuilt as president bush called for in 2005? guest: good morning. he has been a great week to be here in new orleans, 10 years after katrina brought such havoc and devastation to people that live here and a big wake-up call to the nation. yes, the levee system -- we really call it the hurricane storm risk of damage system, around metro new orleans has been ill stronger and better than we could have ever imagined. incredible it an system for the people of new orleans, but it is also great for the nation. it shows what we can do. all week long, i have been hearing people talk about it being a world-class system. host: how much has been spent on this system? guest: we were fortunate to have twocommitment of administrations and the u.s. congress to provide for nearly $14.5 billion program. about 11 billion dollars of that has been for the hurricane system around new orleans alone. there were other parts of that program to make further improvements, such as interior drainage in the area. temporary pumps and closure structures we installed in 2006 around the canals. and the permanent replacement of those are going on now. there are other things done. storm proofing they numerous pumping stations owned by the local parishes. strengthening other components to provide for environmental mitigation. overall, an incredible piece of work. phonewe will put the numbers up. we want to hear from new orleans residents, especially those who want to comment about the levee the work the u.s. army corps of engineers has done. if you are a new orleans residents, call (202) 748-8000. country,s around the including those on the gulf coast, because we want to hear from you as well, (202) 748-8001 is the number for you. durham-aguilera, has the levee system rebuild been finished? guest: the hundred year system of a storm 1% chance happening each and every year, that system is complete to it was complete in september of 2011. you may remember hurricane isaac hit in august, 2012. dayn years almost to the katrina hit. we were pleased to see that the designed.formed as people in metro new orleans, everyone stayed dry. the people outside the system, with different levee systems partly in place, did experience flooding, as well as considerable flooding on the north shore. the hurricane system we built for that hundred year storm is in place, finished, and doing what it is supposed to. hit, did thetrina levees break or were they overrun? guest: several things happened when katrina hit. first, the existing system, which is totally different from what we were able to design and construct after katrina, averaged about 50% finished on the east bank, the lake potter inain -- lake ponchatra vicinity, was finished. the in the area around new orleans, it was about 32 feet -- it was about 15 feet. it was 32 feet on the coast. the other thing responsible for the flooding were there were four floodwalls on the canals that failed. waves topping the the floodwalls and causing upward pressure on the walls, causing them to fail. orleansom nola.com, new area is upgraded levees not enough for next katrina, engineers say. here is a quote from retired vantenant general robert and fall. the new levee system, though it would not be destroyed by another katrina, would most certainly be overtopped and there will still be a lot of people that will be inundated. guest: we call him general van. when he was the chief engineer, at that time, we were still designing and building the system. -- thing we were able to do and it was a true lessons learned from all the engineering analyses that he examined after katrina. part of katrina we designed for was the standard probable flood. what type of large flood or hurricane happened in the past? katrina taught us that was not good enough. katrina, the size and surge of it, no one imagined. we took 152 past and potential tracks -- in50 other words, different paths a hurricane could travel, and apply that over the physical features on the ground and forrated 63,000 hydrographs any storm from a five year to 100 year rate of return. we added risk and uncertainty on top of that. we also projected out 50 years for both subsiding and sea level rising climate change. that is what we designed and built two. that means the system is resilient. first, the amount of surge expected from the 100 year storm, 1% event, is much lower than the system in place. that is 25 to 32 feet tall now. hit, in august of 2005, a lot of those floodwalls were only 12 feet high. now some of those areas are over 30 feet. katrina is said to be a 100 year storm. so if you have a storm the size of the train or bigger, heart of this system could he overtopped -- could be overtoppe you could get interior flooding. basically what we have done is put in a perimeter to lock the search that comes in, minimize it, and then there is an interior drainage system that removes the water. host: final question before we go to calls. from the "new york times" yesterday, they described the levee system in place in 2005 as a "fatally defective system to begin with." is that accurate? describe it lots of different ways. the system in place was not a system. it was a series of projects. everything was as weak as the weakest components. thesurveying data we based previous system on was designed years earlier. the datum turned out to be inaccurate. another thing responsible for what happened with katrina is that the foundations of those floodwalls were shallow and they were not able to hold up under the waves that came overtopped and ended up up lifting them. based on what we knew at the time, the system did not perform. it is fortunate we were able to spend time after that to do hydraulic modeling and all the design changes to make sure at we truly built a hurricane system that would reduce risk for the people in new orleans. 202 is the area code for our numbers. we want to specify we have a number for new orleans area -- new orleans residents only. (202) 748-8000 is that number. we begin with peter in pennsylvania. you are on with karen durham-aguilera of the u.s. army corps of engineers. caller: hi. i am calling in favor of the army corps. i inc. it is a regional problem, as opposed to a -- i think it is a regional problem, as opposed to a national problem. torything the court did control flooding in pennsylvania was relevant. i think it is a systemic problem, where maybe the core is corps ismore on -- the focusing more on certain areas and eliminating others as a priority. that is it. host: ms. durham-aguilera? for yourank you for interest and calling in. every country we deal with, and the u.s. is no exception, unfortunately waits for a catastrophe to happen before they take action. katrina was a wake-up up call. it was bigger than just new orleans and louisiana. it truly made us rethink the vulnerability of numerous areas of the country, whether coastal -- in this country we are subject to hurricanes, tornadoes, river flooding, wildfires -- it truly made as re-examine everything we were doing. if we look at different events country, hurricane sandy. when it hit in october of 2012, area ofwrought in that searches that people were not fast it also brought -- it also brought in those areas a search that people were not aware -- were not ready for. everyone was working together to first respond to sandy. but especially in the wake the recovery happened. everything we are doing on the north atlantic seaboard, from adding the further protection in engineered dunes along the shorelines but also the recovery strategy that we were able to publish this year, called the north atlantic coastal comprehensive, put together a risk framework for the atlantic seaboard but that people can use across the country to make decisions on floodplain management. the trina taught us a lot. we have been applying those lessons not just around the country, but we do a lot of technical exchanges with other countries. we are sharing the lessons learned with other countries. the focus has expanded the way we think about risk reduction and resiliency. elo from new orleans. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i am 68. and stayedfor betsy for katrina. as far as london avenue canal, which broke -- i used to catch turtles when i was a kid there. corps of engineers it seems like -- every project they get into, they tried to cheap it out, cut corners. the corners they cut caused me to lose a corvette, a chevy tahoe. katrina was not a bad storm. until the corps of engineers made disaster a man , that the corps of engineers and the portland's gas industry industry,eans gas with all the canals dug out of the wetlands. on thesed to be islands outskirts that would slow down out of some of the brunt the storm. the islands are not there anymore. they are gone. the wetlands need to be restored. levees, rtant than the wetlands, restore the please. host: thank you. then durham-aguilera of army corps of engineers. host: thank you for calling in and for living here and doing everything you are doing for the community. asked a lot of different questions. essentialof faerie topics we worry about. after katrina, our chief of engineers was lieutenant general stock. tookmediately responsibility for what the u.s. army corps of engineers aid. the way we had a series of projects that were not held -- were not built the way they should. he commissioned a study called ped, api review of over 150 people from different federal,'s date agencies, academia, different countries, to examine what happened with the existing work and what we need to do to come up with a system that is stronger and better and able to truly reduce -- truly reduce the risk of flooding for the people of new orleans. that is the system we built. but there are so many other factors that have been going on for decades. one of the most significant is subsidence. there were 1900 square miles of marshland that has been lost in the entire state of louisiana. that subsidence factor is one we worry about. it is far more significant than sea level rise. the other thing across louisiana that has been happening is the loss of the wetlands. the loss of environmental features that can help slow down the energy that hurricane surge can bring in and are so vital to the cultural and economic and lifeblood of louisiana. there are numerous efforts that have been ongoing. the state of louisiana has a master plan. working with them on louisiana coastal activities. a lot of projects plan that can be part of the restore act that came in under the bp oil spill. there are lots of different efforts and plans. some are ongoing. there is so much more work to do to make a difference. host: how do you rebuild a barrier island and what is the effect of having one? guest: some people say you rebuild a barrier island through moving sediment. some say you can do it by moving material in. one of the things we know -- and going back to hurricane sandy, i was along the shorelines of new jersey and new york a couple days at their sandy and i felt like i was back in louisiana. in every area where people had an elevated home and they had an anchored foundation and there was room between their property and the coastline, they suffered the least amount of damage. with that told us is, in those areas where we had what we -- so wegineered dunes had shoreline protection in place to help block the effects of the waves, we know that type of thing does make a difference. it does mitigate the damage can do.rge barrier islands are other environmental features, combined with the structural things we have done, combined with surge barriers and with elevated homes and zoning and people having flood insurance and listening to evacuation orders, all of that helps mitigate risk and reduce the risk of flooding. it really takes a motley line of defense, where you put all of these together to get to the best solution on how you can reduce the damage hurricane surge flooding can cause. lph, you are on with the u.s. army corps of engineers. from washington, d.c. caller: i am glad you are doing these projects, bill your initial projects destroy the wetlands. there are new estimates. assumes we have taken carbon out of the atmosphere. you are talking about sea level rise by 2050. these are heroic efforts and yay, we are bringing louisiana back, but i am wondering if your projects work with sea level rises. but what you do about manhattan and new york and boston and the southern part of florida. you will build dikes around that . we are chasing our tail on the initial thing. unless we change the way we are why don't we we -- move these people inland 15 or 20 miles? in 20 years, we will not have coastal cities anymore. situation.o joke the ipc see is assuming some dracula's thing with the lowest common denominator every century, which every scientist it is as salt says ridiculous number and assumes we have some dracula's way of carbon out of the atmosphere. you have to look at the big city. picture. the big we will lose the coastal cities. resourcest have the to do what is necessary. guest: thank you. on a lot of topics in a lot of different areas. i will try to answer as best i can. first, there are lots of different models that show different rates -- i will talk about subsidence in louisiana -- but also different rates of sea level rise. local and relative sea level rise. they all give you different numbers. central point is that people make a choice where they want to live. people like to live around water. that comes with risk. there are different things you can do to mitigate that risk. when you choose to live in these places. i do not think it is a practical matter. i lay back to the politicians to tell people where they live. people need to decide where they want to live and be smart on the risk of doing so. one of the things we have done -- i do not just mean the u.s. army corps of engineers. i mean the things we are doing ,th noaa, fema, universities other countries. we are looking at how do you tackle sea level rise. we have a calculator starting on the atlantic seaboard that applies to manhattan and other areas. looked at scenarios in 50 and 100 years on different changing conditions. fema put maps together. we are putting that together so we can work with floodplain managers and city manager is to make decisions that affect people in communities and try to plan the community around what can happen. the biggest thing is to anticipate what could happen and make smart decisions on what people can do to absorb that. balance that. to the story is still being told. there is no lack or white answer on what to do with changing climate. but we are doing a lot of engineering analyses and working with colleagues and other scientists to project what future conditions could be. people need to be able to decide where they want to live and accept the risk that goes with it. mike is calling from baltimore but originally from new orleans. when did you leave? guest: -- caller: my name is john connor. the president said, is a melting pot. i agree with that. but america has to understand it is a melting pot of richness. all different flavors. that should not be watered down or replaced with a starbucks. because we are all americans. in that melting pot of richness, we make the flavor for each other. clinton in new orleans. you are on the air. aguilera, thank you for your candor. the levees on the 17th street canal, the west levy is higher than the east levee. the water pours over the east side of the levee. is the situation going to be remedied? the: d live in the lake area of newer -- do you live in the lakeview area of new orleans? caller: yes. host: where you flooded in 2005? caller: yes. guest: earlier, heard peter talking about -- and president bush -- talking about new orleans being below sea level. what we know is that the topography around new orleans varies widely between the mississippi river and lake ponchatrain. around our folks lived the london canal. when the reach is occurred, he was not flooded and his neighbors were. the reason that happens is the natural ground that there is at different heights and elevations. that makes the engineering design the how we levees hard and it makes it harder to try to halt people understand what the risk could be when they see different heights of the levees and floodwalls. so based on the typography and you end up,deling, in some places, with different heights of levees and floodwalls, because it is based on what we expect to happen when the surge comes in. we are working on other parts of the system. the 100 year system is completed. but other components are being done as well. one of the things no one has mentioned yet that causes us to that, if you happen to have high river levels in the mississippi river, which could happen when you have a have ane, in -- hurricane come in, what would happen if we surge overwhelms the mississippi river levees? that is something we have done to improve those levees, especially when they tie into the new hurricane system. so you may see different heights, but it is based on the model and we have done with the uncertainty and resiliency and with the fifth the year life taken into account -- the 50 year life taken into account. host: did the mississippi river over run its banks during katrina? did not. but when we look over the past years when we were designing a hurricane system, we realized it could be possible. that you could have high enough river levels and you could get surge that will come up the river. improvedhat we have the mississippi river levees as well. up until a few weeks ago, the river level was high. it has dropped several feet, but still higher than normal. it rocked five feet in the last few weeks. an occasionuld be where you have high river levels at the same time during hurricane season. host: 202 is area code. 748-8000 if you live in your lens and you have a specific question for the army corps of engineers. former be joined by the mayor marc morial layer, -- by the former mayor marc morial later. pat, good morning. turn down the volume on your tv. i just turned it off. i am calling more about the city of new orleans and the people of new orleans. i started going there 32 years ago when i go to the golf course in james, louisiana for the weekends. married in wisconsin in 1983. we have been to new orleans at then.15 times since we have been there six times since katrina, most recently last september. each time we come back, we find the town is much better, cleaner. i feel much safer there. i think the police force is more friendly. mainly to the people of new orleans, the people that own the businesses, are much friendlier. even the prices have been lowered, i think. i feel much safer now with the way they have built the levee in case they would unfortunately be caught in a hurricane. overall, i think of the town has improved so much, as far as being cleaned up. the restaurants have been added. we still go to the same ones. friendlier then before katrina. i think the town has improved 100% as far as safety. people being friendly. i can't believe president bush actually wanted to close the town down. he could see the difference if yet ever been there before and now. i feel much safer the way that -- host: i think we got your point. anything you want to add? for your loveou of new orleans. i have spent many years of my life here. now,e in washington, d.c. what that pool and love to new orleans continues. this town has a spirit. after katrina, a lot of people came in to help. entrepreneurs, love people. tulane university made it mandatory to have a year of community service for the students. so many people have come here to add to new orleans, help it recover, and also to make it better. hasmayor, mitch landrieu, his resiliency strategy he launched a few days ago. ,verything the city is doing with partners, nonprofits, volunteers, a lot of the new people and the entrepreneurs in, as well as the incredible people that have lived here for many years and are from here, that has made new orleans a resilient place. continued improvement in education, business is. lots of examples. it is wonderful to see how the continuestinues and to improve and get better. i appreciate your passion and think you for coming back here time and time again. homa, louisiana, close to new orleans. caller: i was wondering, i know over -- once or twice over the , the army corps of engineers breached levees to relieve pressure, i guess. every time it has been done, it blue-collarour neighborhoods, low income neighborhoods, are destroyed. i am baffled by how -- white -- -- how higher income would you say it -- rich arele's neighborhoods always protected and looked out for to try to divert water from flooding those places? how do you come up with the way you will breach and where you will breach the levees? several things. thank you for calling in. i will talk about the area of new orleans in new orleans east first. new orleans east, st. bernard, that area was one of the most economically disadvantaged in the area prior to katrina. it was one of the most vulnerable areas, as far as risk rum surge flooding -- as far as risk from surge flooding from a storm that would go into lake pontchartrain. in those areas where the outfall canals, where prior to katrina, we had floodwalls but no closure to help block the surge. the system we have put in, one of the linchpins of the system, is a over $1 billion surge barrier with closure structures surrounded by floodwalls. these are some of the highest ones in the area, over 32 feet. on the west bank is the west bank closure structure, also a surge barrier. it has a copying station. those things together, with the interior features, reduce the risk for new orleans. one of the things you mentioned -- i will talk about hurricane isaac. the 100urricane isaac, year system around new orleans performed as designed. areas,look at other those areas were flooded by the search isaac brought in. there is no improved levee system there -- the levee systems that work the state tried to make better. those areas where the water was building up and there was danger of people losing their life, the pairs and the state decided to use a common engineering technique to try to relieve , when you have water against the levees. you called it a breach. it relieves the pressure on the water, which mitigates flooding. it is something people do in extreme flood situations. mother nature does not care how much money people have and where they live. inher nature will ring storms and water anywhere she chooses to go. durham-aguilera, this final tweet for you. eithernt to know what actuation plans does louisiana/new orleans have in place citizens now? are there designated safe places? guest: imb disaster emergency manager for the army corps of engineer's. speaking of evacuation plans, after katrina -- this was in --thewhen gustav hit state of louisiana has a considerable evacuation plan which includes contraflow, shelter, arrangements with other states. to include the things they can industries so you can get things open quickly, whether it is pharmacies or gasps patients -- gas stations. but there are those things in place. the director with of the program. i was impressed how comprehensive the plan is. but the army corps of engineers, along with fema, we run a hurricane evacuation plan. cities do studies for and counties along coastal areas to look at evacuation plans and help them get better. you can get this information online. they describe the evacuation plans and scenarios of what people can do. everyone who lives in an area like this needs to know what to do and have their personal family prepared nation -- preparedness kit. had two kits.e, i a personal one and my federal one because i was part of the federal response team. host:recommitmented to every ci he neighborhood too. host: and now joining us is jim amoss from the tao "the times-picayune" newspaper. what is the significant of this 10th anniversary? guest: the importance for us is it's a milestone we've always looked forward to we've always been told when our reporters when to other disaster areas right after katrina that you will measure your progress at that 10-year mark. that will be your yardstick. and you'll be able to see whether you've made significant progress as a community. and indeed, we have. by most measures. certainly by the measures of education of our children and by economic developments, the growing entrepreneurial class in new orleans, of course, many areas that new orleans as a very poor city still has a lot of progress to make. but i don't think anybody in the morning hours of august 29 and e days after that would have -- would have reasonably expected that we would come as far as we have come in these 10 years. host: where were you on august 29, 2005? guest: i was in a sleeping bag in my newsroom, not sleeping, however. because the storm was just beginning to hit. i had just pervaded my wife and my son to evacuate which took hours to do. they were very resistant. and then i when to our newsroom where many of our reporters and photographers and editors were bedding down to await the arrival of the storm and then the coverage of the storm. and in the middle of the night, the power left our building and you could hear the full force of the wind. a really terrifying sound as the new begin to bear down on orleans. and of course, we didn't know at that point what the extent of the disaster was going to be and we didn't know at that point that the levees that the floodwalls that had been shotsly built by the u.s. army corps of engineers would collapse and the floodwaters would inundate the city, an area. this really bears repeating. an area seven times the size of manhattan. an urban area seven times the size of manhattan under water and staying under water in brackish salt water for three weeks. a really unimagineble and equaled disaster in the united states. host: and the video that we were showing while mr. amoss was talking, that included some videos that c-span shot one year after katrina in august of 2006, just to give you a sense of what the city looked like and then some of the destruction around there. mr. amoss, for those three weeks, did you remain in new orleans and what was your life like? guest: no, we weren't able to remain in new orleans beyond the next day because the water was rising around our newspaper building and we knew we would be cut off and not be able to communicate with our journalists. so we -- we got into newspaper delivery trucks and fled to -- and fled to baton rouge where we established a headquarter and managed our staff from there. and at the same time, reporters and editors from the -- "the times-picayune" stayed in the city and covered it and went into some of the really badly stricken areas, even helped save eople's lives. host: jim amoss is the editor of "the times-picayune" and kevin is a former new orleans resident, now in houston. kevin, you're on the "washington journal." caller: good morning. guest: good morning. caller: my personal interest about what's going on in new orleans and what has happened in new orleans is strictly about the treatment and the disenfranchisement of persons of color in new orleans all my life. the seriousness of politics not only gotten to move away from new orleans but they're making it almost impossible for persons to move back. mortgage rates have doubled. everything is making it almost impossible for blacks to return. why is that? for one. number two, being disenfranchised has a lot of psychological scars that's attached to that. you want people to do what's right and this government has never been fair. we do know now that this was a federal disaster, not caused just by katrina, but by the improper structure and the design of the levies. -- levees. so hard for people time to o be -- it's do something, my friend. guest: kevin in houston, you raise an immense question that has lots of facets to it and that is really a question as you have indicate not just for local leaders in new orleans, but is a national question. and if you look at new orleans, the dark side of over things that we're celebrating today, a lot of them have to do with the african-american population of new orleans. the fact that 50% of african-american males in this city are unemployed. the fact that in our prison system, 90% of the people who are incarcerated are african-americans. and the fact that the majority of the estimated 5,000 people who are still displace right hand poor and are african-american, are all factors that should weigh heavily on our national conscious. and i know -- conscience and i know the difference between people of means -- many people of means have their houses flooded have lost them altogether. my colleague who have lost everything they owned, but they have the resources. they have the -- just the know-how to deal with bureaucracies. they had recourse in other parts of their family to be able to eventually get back and to rebuild. many poor people haven't been able to do that and as you said, weren't given enough money. take, for example, the so-called elevation grant, which was given to people a few years after katrina in order to elevate their houses and put them more out of harm's way of a hurricane in a future hurricane. many people who got those grants use them for other kinds of renovations just to make their house habitable. and then they were told by the government well, you didn't use it to -- and therefore, you must pay us back. and it's only recently that the tide has changed on that and they are going to be given forgiveness for that. but that's just one example of the many obstacles that poor people have faced in trying to come back to new orleans and it's telling that the black population of new orleans have not come back nearly as strongly other ethnic groups and the disproportionately, the recovery, the difficult part of the recovery has been born by people of color. host: ted is calling in from ennsylvania. caller: how are you doing? on the river from the chesapeake bay to new york, we feel we've all been lied to. a lot of us are born and raised here in this land. -- along the river, one way or the other. that after the 1972 floods the corps of engineers told us if the dams up towards new york, upper pennsylvania were in operation, they would have lowered the river three to four feet. well, we had a flood in september of 2009, they didn't lower the river one inch. everything that was the worst flood we ever saw in this river and we got no help from fema, from nobody. all of the people up along this river got nothing. now, another incident. when you -- they have several people after the 1972 flood, excuse me, that wanted to come in and dredge the river section by section for the materials in the river and they were stopped. they wouldn't let them dredge it. i know they've got a lot of excuses. the next thing i want to talk about -- host: hey, you know what, ted, we have to stop you. we have a lot of callers and we want to get as much as possible. any response to that, mr. amoss? guest: yeah, the agencies that safeguard our cities and notably, the u.s. corps of engineers, they're human agencies and they're indeed, fallible and that certainly was born out in katrina. the big canal that connect the port of new orleans to the gulf of mexico more quickly than the mississippi river would caused tremendous damage over the years to our wetlands and our marshs and only yesterday did a judge in new orleans finally say that the federal government has to bear the entire cost of repairing the damage that was done by the federal government in the 1950's. that's one of the example that needs to safeguard the coastal cities in particular. host: and that is your lead story this morning on the president's visit. also want to show a map. this is the new orleans diaspora. all the people who were living in new orleans down here and where they have applied for aid and this is a map of the u.s. and all the counties that are not in white are places that new orleans residents fled after katrina. constance is on our line with jim amoss from "the times-picayune." caller: good morning. i lived in carrietown which is right across the mississippi river from new orleans and i took all my kids, one live down in -- lived down in, oh, down in the southern part of indiana. she lost everything. and my other daughter, she sold her house and she was supposed to buy another home two days after the hurricane hit. well, that house is flooded. that was in the other side of lake pontchartrain and a tree fell down on it. but one of the problems. i left there with all my family d we when to indiana and i couldn't get money out of my credit union for whatever reason it was. i when everywhere to get money from my bank and none of the banks or the credit unions in indiana to give me money because they closed down my -- i guess the whole banking system that i was under there. the second thing was is that when i did come back because they kept saying we could come back and look my home in terry town was damaged. i guess it was a tornado right in that area. i had trees in my swimming pool and the house roof was messed up. host: constance, how much of your damage was covered by insurance? caller: well, i had had pretty it took so e, but long to gets the money back that i had to drive all the way from where i lived in terry town all the way to baton rouge just to see the people and then i think they only gave me about $2,000 or $3,000. but it couldn't -- i couldn't get all the money that i needed for the repairs. host: and are you planning on returning to the new orleans area at all? caller: i'm scared to because i the mold and om the -- they kept -- i lived right across the street from a huge apartment complex. and they threw all this stuff out the doors and they had hired about 40 mexicans and they lived in this building with no food or, i mean, no electric, no nothing. and they were somehow or another, gotten heavy equipment and crushed the refrigerators with all the gas sitting in it and pushed all that stuff all down to the side of the road. host: all right. i think we got the idea. jim amoss, any response for constance? guest: well, constance, your story really resonates with me and it's one that in part, i've experienced or watched friends live through. i remember in the days immediately after the storm standing in endless lines in banks in baton rouge where there was just utter chaos and the -- in the banking system and accessing your account was virtually impossible. your ould like to alive fears of new orleans as a much safer place to live and to raise a family and now, the mold problem, thank god, is long gone the water is long gone. and the flood protection that we njoy while it's not at the level of the kind of infrastructure that the netherlands, for example, enjoy, it's not category five protection, but still, it's an immense up gradkowski and it is the main reason why people in new orleans feel confident enough for the most part live in neighborhoods and rebuild. host: allen is calling in from louisiana by the airport. . caller: good morning. how are you guys? can you hear me? host: we're listening, sir. go ahead. caller: ok. i would like to say it's been 10 years and a lot of people have been -- haven't been coming back because of the fact that it thinks that, you know, another one is going to come. and if another comes and they assume they're not going to be well protected. and the levees fail and the jewel of the city this french quarters. and if you notice, every time they have a big stone, they open up the industrial canal and let the water go in the ninth ward, the lower ninth and that's where most of your black people live at. and the jewel never gets destroyed because that's the french quarter. guest: if you live in a coastal city of the united states, you're just about as vulnerable as new orleans is. it's been repeated by hugo and sandy on the east coast. and it's something that we have to face as a nation and we have to muster the political will that it takes to protect our cities. these are the places where most of our population is and where most of our customers and our trade originates from. but secondly about the french quarter, i would say and it is the jewel. certainly the tuvik -- tour risk , it soints jewel higher land and in some case, eight to 12 feet above sea level because to the deposits of the mississippi river over the centuries. it wasn't until the 20th century that new orleans expanded toward the lake into what we know is the bowl or in some cases, eight feet below safely. -- sea level and is more vulnerable than some place that are high. host: what about his point about the industrial canal and the effect on african-americans? guest: it dispurportly affected the lower ninth ward, which was ajority african-americans. and it inundated neighborhoods like you, which is a middle class white neighborhood. so the water was unsparing and in some sense, it was an equal opportunity disaster in terms of who was damaged and whose house was under water. the industrial canal happened to be the biggest body of water and it was right adjacent to one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. host: julian is calling in from louisiana. go ahead. caller: yeah, just in reference to that last caller, the river had nothing to do with the lower ninth ward. when they opened to the industrial canal, i goes in a lake unless the levee falls down. i notice the 17th streets with lake view, that was an engineering failure. did you ever find anything? when you say engineering, when you're talking about building a levy or a dike or whatever, you get -- that dictate what is the engineering's going to be because whatever you're going to put in the ground is only good for the soil you put in. and if you set a set of blueprint it's got an engineering stamp on it. was it a real engineer? guest: that's a complex question. but the corps of engineers itself acknowledged the floodwalls on the side of the drainage canal which is collapsed were not sufficiently anchored in the soil. and that eye walls were not appropriate for that kind of situation. and so when the water rose not only to the top of those floodwalls, the pressure loosens the soil below. they weren't sufficiently anchored the walls collapsed. the water inundated the city. as for the industrial canal, it was built to connect the river to the lake. and the lake waters were able to come into it. and so that's what caused the pressure on those floodwalls. host: next call, albert in lafayette, louisiana. albert, go ahead. caller: okay. what i was calling about is the fact that the city is trying to get people to come back to new orleans. and i'm thinking that with all the political stuff that's going on down in new orleans, why is it that they only have these corner grocery stores? they need more supermarkets where people have to go like winn-dixie, different supermarkets down there in the lower ninth ward as well as upper ninth ward. now you only have one. and that's winn-dixie connected to a bridge. if they moved more supermarkets down to the lower ninth ward, i see the area that was destroyed by katrina, you will draw more people. but all the place they have is winn-dixie down there and everybody down there in the lower ninth ward and upper ninth ward have to go to st. bernard parish and they wonder why we don't have enough money when it's going to another parish. those people are established down there. everywhere you go is a corner grocery store. if they took the money and time to put in a supermarket, you will drum more people back to new orleans. host: albert, i think we got the point. and mr. amoss, if you could, talk about how the city has changed in the last 10 years, its racial makeup, its economic makeup, etc. guest: sure. well, it's still a majority african-american city. but less so than it was in 2005. in 2005, the african-american percentage of the population was at about 67%. and it has gone down to about 58%. and these are the people we've been talking about for the most part who just have not returned, have not been able to return. another big demographic change has been the influx of hispanic people. used to be a relatively small part of new orleans's population. now, almost 6% of the city's population is hispanic. a lot of them hispanic construction workers who came in to help rebuild new orleans after katrina and stayed. and we also have a significant vietnamese population, which has been true since the 1970's. another big change in the city. have mistaken er new orleans for an entrepreneurial magnet before 2005. and now, the number of start-ups and just the entrepreneurial pirit, the idea that is an incubator is a remarkable switch. and i would say that in the years after katrina, for a good four or five years after the storm, there was not a day that you couldn't go to new orleans airport and see large group office young people from high school kids to kids -- people in their 20's arriving as volunteers to help rebuild, to work and teach for america, and many of these people fell in love with what they came here to do and stayed and they have changed both the demographics and the spirit of large neighborhoods in the city. so those are striking changes that i think are palpable today. host: you mentioned if you go a little more in-depth about the improvement of the schools and the changes in the new orleans public schools. guest: yeah. the biggest change is that new orleans public school system under the so-called recovery district, which is run by the state of louisiana has become almost entirely chatter school. it's a one giant charter school experiment. the biggest per capita in the united states. and not that charter schools are the solution to all the ills of schools, but governorsed by parents on location has proved to be a big reform over the corrupt public school governance that we had before 2005. and indeed, that's born out in of new s, about 30% orleans' public school children met state standards in 2005. hat number is now up to 88%. e influx of young people who became teach for america teachers has had a huge effect on the quality of teaching in our schools. all of those things are among the great bright spots in the 10 years after katrina. host: annie is in san diego. annie, you're on with the editor of "the times-picayune," jim amoss. caller: hi. yes. i remember watching this all on tv about 10 years ago. i remember a black -- a couple of black women assisting a white woman in front of the camera and a white woman was carrying a limp baby and she was talking about her baby needed water. they had a lot of -- and i wondered why it was so hard to just get these people water. if i had a helicopter, i would drop in water. how many children died because they did not get water? i thought we would see some statistics that we'll never get. thank you. guest: what you're talking about especially in the early days after the storm, it's utter chaos and disorganization of the relief effort especially on the part of the federal sector and the federal government really has to take some blame for that. it was -- you could see in the first couple of days after the storm had hit, you could see private retailer trucks, wal-mart trucks and the like, crossing the mississippi river bridge and yet it was days before that kind of relief came from the federal government. and i think that's -- that was a national scandal and it was there for all the world to see. and hopefully as a nation, we learned something for that and we'll all be prepared. certainly in this city, we are. host: there are some discrepancies in the numbers of deaths in new orleans. here are some of the reports. this is from the 538.com website. state of louisiana, 986 deaths. television station in georgia says 1,200. accuweather, 1,800. and "the times-picayune" says 18 33 deaths in new orleans. why this discrepancy? est: i don't think the the "the times-picayune" said 1,800. it is the entire gulf coast region plus new orleans by most estimates including everything from new orleans through waveland and bay st. louis and gulfport and biloxi. and so that is the main discrepancy you're looking at. but again, it's hard to -- it's hard to draw a line between the tcheaths were caused directly by flooding and drowning, the death that were caused by being in an attic for days and the stress of that and the deaths that were caused simply by older people, especially not being able to bear the stress of their lives being turned upside down and therewithin months of the are several ways of calculating that and each will yield a slightly different number. i think the overall number that most statisticians agree on is a little over 1,800 for the entire region as a result of katrina. and somewhere between 900 and 1,000 for the new orleans metropolitan area. host: here this front page of "the times-picayune" published in paper on wednesday's friday's and sunday's. nola.com is the website associated with "the times-picayune." jim amoss is the editor. mr. amoss, thank you for being >> on the next "washington journal" we will dedicate our three-hour program to your tweets. we will look at the events this week marking the storm's 10th anniversary and archives. that is tomorrow beginning at 7:00. and our conching with former president bill clinton and he will be joined for a commemoration ceremony, live on c-span. the democratic national committee held its annual summer meeting in minneapolis where hillary clinton, bernie sanders and lincoln chafee spoke. that's followed by former president george w. bush. then later, we'll hear more about the state of new orleans mayor city's former l.rc mo rmp ia hointhoipt was featured in minneapolis and talked about a number of issues, immigration and health care. she spoke about gun violence dnesday's on-air shooting of two journalists. his is 25 minutes. [applause] secretary clinton: whoa! thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you all so much! [laughter] secretary clinton: thank you very, very much and thank you all so much. it's great being here with a room full of democrats. and i want to thank stephanie and debey and all of the elected officials, party leaders and grass-roots leaders who strengthen our communities. you are building our party in every county, every district and very state and i want to build your step every part of the way. i want to give a big shutout to of the democratic party and who has inspired and encouraged so many of us over the years, the great walter mondale! [applause] secretary clinton: we think no matter where you are and where you come from, you should have an equal shot at success. that's the america we are fighting for and fundamentally, that's what's at stake in this election. whether our country keeps moving towards opportunity and prosperity for all or whether republicans get another chance to rip away the progress we have worked so hard to achieve. we have come a long way the last 6 1/2 years, but let's not forget what we inherited from the republicans, the worst economic crisis. thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the american people and the leadership of president obama -- plus [applause] secretary clinton: we are standing again. this election is about who best understands the pressures facing the families of america and the challenges facing us in the world. nd who has the skills antennas ity to tackle them. today, families are stretched in a million directions and so are their budgets. costs from prescription drugs from child care to college are growing up faster than wages. job, -time minimum-wage middle-class pay them checks haven't raced. and at a time when more women than ever are their main bread winner, they still don't get equal pay. nd unions that help create the eat middle class are under attack by republicans and their allies. [applause] secretary clinton: think of the millions of americans held back. they can't start a business. they can't buy a house or get married because of the loans hanging over hair heads. that's not the way it's supposed to be in america. in america if you work hard, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. and that democrats have -- worked so hard over the years to strengthen and defend. that bargain is what kept my grandfather going to work in the scranton lace mill factory every day. it's what led my father to believe that if he stays and sacrificed, his small business printing fabric in chicago could provide us with a middle class life. and you know what? it did. when my husband put people first and made that bargain mean something again in the 1990's, we had 23 million new jobs, a balanced budget, and for the first time in decades, we all grew together. not just those at the top but everyone. [applause] [applause] and when president obama did it, we pulled back from the brink of depression. save the auto industry, curved wall abuses and provided health care to 15 million people. [applause] the evidence is pretty clear. the basic bargain works. if everybody does their fair share, and everybody gets a fair shot from our whole country succeeds. and that success just not just go to a few, it is widely shared. democrats have proven that again and again. now it is up to us to renew that bargain for a new generation. to do what we know works and what we know is right. we have to make sure that every american gets a chance to pursue his or her dreams to live up to their god-given potential. that is what i would do as president. that is what people tell me they want. as i crisscrossed the country, listening, like the single mom who is juggling a job and classes at community college i'll while raising three kids alone. she is doing what you have to do to give herself and her kids a good life. she does not expect anything to come easy, but she asked me, is there not anything we can do? so it is not quite so hard. or the student who told me that paying for college should not be the hardest thing about going to college. [applause] or the grandmother who is raising her grandchild because her daughter is hooked on heroin, and now she needs help with childcare while she goes back to work. i believe raising income and supporting families is the defining economic challenge of our time. [applause] and that is why i have made it the focus of my campaign, and it will be my mission every single day in the white house. these are not new fights for you, or for me. my first job out of law school was not at some big firms, was at the children's defense fund. and if you years later i started an organization called arkansas advocates for children and families. my whole life i have worked to even the odds for people who have the odds stacked against them. that is what we democrats do. that is why we are here. it is what keeps us working and fighting through every up and down. for the values we share in the country we love. democrats believe that corporations should be held accountable when they gouge us on drug prices or pollute our environment, or exploit workers. that they just cannot be allowed to write their own rules that everyone else's expense. [applause] i believe in strong growth, fair growth, and long-term growth and that the rewards of our success cannot just go to the wealthy. that would a company does well that shareholders and executives are not the only ones who should benefit. the people who work at that company in and day out and produce those profits should share in them too. [applause] democrats believe americans deserve a raise, that women deserve equal pay. [applause] we are the ones fighting to help families afford college. democrats understand you cannot go to work if you cannot find childcare. we do not believe he should lose your paycheck or your job when you have a baby or someone in your family gets sick. we believe that everyone deserves access to quality affordable health care. [applause] we are the ones standing up and saying the affordable care act is here to stay. [applause] we have come to far and not too hard to let anyone destroy that now. and we are ones who want to make social security even stronger and who will fight any attempt to weaken america's commitment to our seniors. we believe in a pathway to citizenship or the millions of immigrants in this country who contribute to it every single day. [applause] democrats believe that no matter who you are, what you look like what faith you practice, or who you love, america has a place for you, and your rights are just as sacred as anyone else's. [applause] by the way, we do not just stand up for these values here at home. we stand up for them everywhere. that is why i traveled the world nonstop or four years as secretary of state, calling for equal rights for women and girls, for lgbt people. [applause] for religious minorities, or all of oppressed people because the united states has always been a beacon of hope to the world, and we need to keep that light shining for all to see. that is what it means to be a democrat. those are the values we cherish. if is time to stand together and defend those values. because others are doing everything they can to take our country in a very different direction. who watched the republican debate a few weeks ago? 17 candidates, all trying to outdo each other in their ideological purity. all either oblivious to how their ideas would hurt people, or just not interested. not one of them had a single word to say about how to make college more affordable. not a word about equal pay for women or paid family leave or quality, affordable school for our kids so they can get the best start in life no solutions for skyrocketing prescription drug costs. no promises to end the era of mass incarceration, or say clearly and loudly black lives matter. [applause] i did not hear any credible plan to promote clean energy or combat climate change. and no one is standing up and saying what we all know to be true. we need to put an end to the gun violence that plagues our communities. [applause] you know, after the terrible events of wednesday, with two journalists killed on live television, plus a police officer killed in louisiana, and many more lost every day in carnage that largely goes unnoticed now across our country, i do not know how anyone could not come to the conclusion that something is deeply wrong. i believe we can have common sense gun reform that keep weapons out of the hands that should not have been, domestic abusers, the violently unstable, while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. i know politics are hard. i know that some would rather throw up their hands or give up the fight. but not me. i am not going to sit by were more people die across america. [applause] republicans do not want to hear about any of these things. their flamboyant front runner has grabbed a lot of attention lately and but if you look at everyone else's policies, they are pretty much the same. they are trump without the pizzazz or the hair. [laughter] a lot of people have said a lot of things about my hair over the years. [laughter] i do kind of know what donald is going through. [laughter] and if anyone wonders if mine is real, here is the answer. the hair is real, the color is not. [laughter] [applause] and come to think of it, i wonder if that is true for donald as well. [applause] you hear mr. trump say hateful things about immigrants, even about their babies. how many others disagree with him, or support a real plan for citizenship or draw the line at repealing the 14th amendment? today the party of lincoln has become the party of trump. think about it. now of course, mr. trump also insults and dismisses women, and by the way, just yesterday he attacked me just once again. and said i do not have a clue about women's health issues. really? [laughter] you cannot make this stuff up. trump actually says he would do a much better job for women than i would that is a general election debate that is going to be a lot of fun. [applause] but listen to the others. senator rubio bragged about the nine victims of rape and incest tell that to the mom who was breast cancer.er or anyone who has been protected by an hiv test. all of the stuff they are saying might be red meat in a republican primary, but it is dead wrong in 21st-century america. [applause] and i know that when i talk like this some people think there she goes again with the women's issues. republicans say i am playing the gender card. [laughter] if calling for equal pay and paid leave and women's health is playing the gender card, deal me in. [applause] so, my friends. we democrats are not going to sit idly by while republicans shame and blame women. we are not we just a quiet when they demonize immigrants who whether they are latino, asian, or anything else. we are not with you silent when they say climate change is not real, or same-sex couples are threatening our freedom, or trickle-down economics works. we cannot let them take us backwards. we are going to fight, and we're going to win. it is no secret that we're going up against some pretty powerful forces who will pay, do come and spend whatever it takes to advance their out of touch and out of date agenda. as far as they are concerned, if our democracy pays the price, so be it. we have lived through this before. the robber barons of the late 19th century had a public official's bags of cash. now we have secret, unaccountable money that distorts our elections and drowns out the voices of everyday americans. we need justices on the supreme court who will protect every citizen's right to vote. [applause] instead of what they have been doing, protecting every corporation's right to buy elections. if necessary i will pass a constitutional amendment to undo citizens united. [applause] so make no mistake, this is not going to be easy, you know that and i know that. but i have been fighting for families and underdogs my entire life. i'm not going to stop now. in fact, i'm just getting warmed up. [applause] i am here to ask for your help. i'm not taking a single primary voter or caucus goer for granted. i building an organization of all 50 states and territories, with hundreds of thousands of volunteers who will help democrats win races up and down the ticket, not just a presidential campaign. [applause] look, in 2010, republicans routed us on redistricting. not because they won congress, but because they won state legislatures. look where we are now. we cannot ever let that happen again. it is time to rebuild our party from the ground up, and if you make me the nominee that is exactly what i will do. [applause] i've been around long enough to know every county and local office counseling every school board and statehouse, and senate seat counts. every single one, so we have to compete everywhere. when our state parties are strong we win. that is what will happen. and when democrats win in america wins and so i hope you will join me because we are building something that will last long after next november. [applause] i want to be president to take on the big problems that fill our screens every day at home and around the world other candidates may be fighting for a particular ideology, but i'm fighting or you and your families. i will take on the kinds of problem's that keep people up at night. how are you going to work if you cannot find anyone to watch her kids? what happens if you lose that job you worked so hard to find? where can you turn when that but loved one who is battling addiction or struggling with mental illness finally once -- wants help? all of the challenge that millions of americans deal every day that they talk to me about. challenges our leaders should care about but do not nearly good enough attention. i'm paying attention. i hear you. i want to be the president to fight those fights, to fight for every american every day. to fight for each and every one of you. let me say at the end here that i am a proud new grandmother. an 11-month-old extraordinary granddaughter. and obviously her parents and bill and i will do everything we can to make sure she has every opportunity to pursue her dreams. but you know, that is not enough. because what kind of country and world will she grow up to live in? that all of america's children will live in? you should not have to be the granddaughter of a former president and secretary of state succeed in america. i want the granddaughters of factory workers and grandsons of farmworkers to have exactly the same chance. let's keep working with all our hearts toward a better future for all our children and grandchildren. they deserve to live in an america where everyone has a shot at achieving their dreams. where everyone gets to live up to their potential. and yes, where a father can say to his daughter, you can be anything you want, even the president of the united states. thank you. god bless you. [applause] ♪ >> >> remarks from vermont senator and democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. he spoke about immigration, social security and trade among other topics. this is 25 minutes. trade. this is 25 minutes. ♪ mr. sanders: thank you. thank you all very much for inviting me to be with you today, and thank you all for the work that you do every single day making this country a better country for working people, for low-income people, for women, and for all of those people who are struggling to make ends meet. thank you for what you are doing. and let's thank our friends from minnesota for hosting this event and for giving us some of the great political leaders of the last century, including our great friend paul wellstone. i understand that there are republicans who proclaim how much they love america, but at the same time, how much they hate the people who work in our government or who are involved in the political process. i disagree. in my view, what you are doing, participating in the political process, trying to make this country a better country for all of our people, is the most patriotic thing we can do as americans, and i applaud you all. when i announced my candidacy for president less than four months ago, i think it is fair to say that few took that candidacy seriously. in fact, the word "fringe" was heard more than once. but i think it is also fair to say that a lot has changed in the last few months. [cheers] . . many young people and working people who have previously not been involved in the political process. more than 100,000 americans have signed up to volunteer on bernie 2016. we have received more individual campaign contributions than any other presidential campaign. [applause] some 400,000. and in this day of superpax -- superpacs and campaign contributions i'm very proud to tell you that our average campaign contribution is $31.20. this is a people's campaign. most importantly, i believe that fewer deny that the issues that we are running on are generating an enormous amount of enthusiasm and that our grassroots campaign which is calling for a political revolution is striking a chord all over america. my friends the republican party did not win the mid-term election in november. we lost that election. they didn't win. we lost. because voter turnout was abysmally embarrassingly low and millions of working people, young people, and people of color, gave up on politics as usual and they stayed home. that's the fact. and let me be as clear as i can be. in my view, democrats will not retain the white house, will not regain the senate, or the u.s. house, will not be successful in dozens of governors' races all across this country unless we generate excitement and momentum and produce a huge voter turnout. [applause] [applause] with all due respect -- and i do not mean to insult anyone here -- that turnout, that enthusiasm will not happen with politics as usual. the same old same old will not work. the people of our country understand that given the collapse of the american middle class and given the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality we are experiencing, we do not need more establishment politics or establishment economics. what we need is a political movement which is prepared to take on the billionaire class and create a government which works for all of us and not just corporate america and a handful of the wealthiest people in this country. [applause] >> bernie! bernie! bernie! mr. sanders: in other words, we need a movement that takes on the economic and political establishment, not one which is part of that establishment. we need a movement -- a movement which tells corporate america and the wealthiest people in this country that they will start paying their fair share of taxes, that we will end the situation of living in the country when the top .1% owns as much as the bottom 90%. that is not the kind of economy we want. we need a movement which tells wall street that when a bank is too big to fail, that bank is too big to exist and we are going to break them up. we need a financial system that works with small and medium-sized businesses, not an island unto itself only concerned about the profits of a few. we need a movement which works with our trade unions and ends our disastrous trade policies which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs.

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