Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141006

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] jindal will discuss u. S. Defense policy at the American Enterprise inns to two washington. The governor is vice chair of the republican governors association. You can see the speech live at 11 00 eastern, about an hour from now right here on cspan. We will be live when bill clinton campaigns for mark prior. Twoterm democrat killing the third term. Twoterm democrat running for a third term. Debate between Renee Ellmers and democratic challenger clay aiken. Here is a look at some of the advertisements that voters in the district are seeing. I am clay aiken, and you might wonder why i am running for congress. When my mother escape my violent father, we slept on the floor in the living room. This life led me to be cam a special undertake ship Education Teacher with autism. And running for Congress Approved this message because every child deserves a chance, but too many in washington are letting them down. I was very concerned about the past that president obamas have this country on. I talked to many every day not knowing what is coming, not knowing if more regulation will tie their hands. They need to be given certainty so they can invest in their own businesses, creating jobs. This is what we need to do so we can turn the economy around for our children. I approve this message. The website real clear politics shows the incumbent leading the race and end of september poll. We can see that race tonight. It 00 eastern here on cspan. Four candidates in the race for the Arizona Governor seat met last week in phoenix to debate educational and economic issues. The democratic candidate for independent a local candidate discussed the current immigration crisis. This they can earn through 12th grade educational system and the state budget. This is about an hour. Good evening, and welcome to the special boat 2014 addition of arizona horizon. Tonight show is a debate sponsored by clean elections. We will hear from candidates looking to leave the state as the next governor. This is not a formal exercise. An open exchange of ideas. An opportunity for give and take top office. Interjections are allowed provided that all sites get a fair shake and will do our best to see that that happens. Or candidates are competing for chief executive. They are republican state treasurer in businessman ray doug ducey. Each candidate will have one minute for opening and closing statements. We drew numbers to see who goes first and that honor goes to fred to ball duvall. Good evening. I love arizona. I grew up here and we love this place. I am running for governor as we are worried arizona is headed in the wrong direction and our children are losing out. The deep cuts in education have been too severe. We are losing jobs and opportunities. Will stop the cuts to public education. I will use the veto if necessary, but no more cuts. Not anotherdollar, penny. The voters have a choice. The Supreme Court has recently made a decision that the voters instructed the legislator to invest in Children School. I believe we should enforce this immediately and reinvest in our childrens schools. Doug and other candidates disagree with that. I think the most important thing we can do to turn the economy around is to invest and the Children School and invest in the future. Was the next Opening Statement we turn to john mueller. I am an independent constitutionalist. Here is my opportunity. I agree with fred about the education being in need of heavy repair. I detail away to play for this. We need to increase revenue. Believe arizona needs to run arizona. No longer special Interest Groups out of the sea come a which happened to be both parties. And wouldndependent like to serve you as governor. Thank you. My name is doug and i want to be your next governor. My wife and i have been married 24 years this october and we have three sun. Jack, joe, and sam. I am running on real world experience as a smallbusiness owner of Cold Stone Creamery, chief executive officer in current treasurer managing 12. 5 billion dollars of Arizona State tax. Asill have a clear agenda your next governor. I want to kickstart the economy so there are more jobs for hardworking arizonas attorney into hardworking careers. I want to restore the educational system to the level of excellence we expect to better serve teachers, students and parents. I want to take charge in the direction of the state. I want to be an independent voice and am proud to announce tonight to endorse the Democratic State legislator that i have been endorsed by the state democratic agenda. I have reached out to catherine. She has joined the campaign. I am running to be governor of the people. Tofinal statement, we turn barry hess. As you can artie tells, i can tell you what is going to happen. The democrat telling you he knows how to spend your money, raise and educate your children and control your personal life that are then you can. The republican will be a little different. He will tell you he knows how to and spend children your money. I am a libertarian and have to tell you, i believe these are things only you can do. I do not agree that we have to continue funding an excessively bloated education program. We are not getting our moneys worth and more money is not the answer. Otherwise washington would not be a willing us out of last place in the state. I think you will see all whole lot of differences that mindful always be focused on the rights of the individual and protecting you. That is why i want to be your governor. Lets get the discussion started. How are you going to balance the say youou dont court have to pay for them. How will you pay for them . The Supreme Court has ruled and said the voters were quite clear that we needed to pray pay back the money. The first place to start is the Rainy Day Fund. The rainy dayuse fund to begin the process of a multiyear commitment. Then we need to go through a variety of other steps to make sure we can make State Government more efficient. I think it offers many possibilities that much is must establish the priorities. My absolute prayer theory priority is no more cuts. We see the largest class sizes. Record levels of teacher flight from our state and these are all a result of the sustained cutting of education and balancing the budget on the backs of education. That has to stop. 300 million every year. Wanted tost thing we do is make sure were spending the money in the proper places. I want to see the dollars go to teachers in the classrooms. I wanted to go to funding what works and want to focus on literacy that can make the biggest difference in the state of arizona. 1. 7 billion dollars cash today at 454 in a reserve account earning interest. I am going to balance the budget one fiscal year at a time. Sure we are properly spending the dollar so were best serving our children, teachers and the parents. Like that money will have to be accounted for somehow. How will you balance the budget that so we will look at everything going on in the budget. I am a business person. I want to go through the budget line and dollar by dollar. We have 27 of the states work force outside of education that is eligible for retirement in the next four years. You do not have to let one person go but through disciplined hiring and the use of technology you can find savings and efficiencies, and that is what i will do as governor. We are not talking about three point one million in back pavements how will you balance the budget . I believe with the industry kit and it is all detailed in the book that i have. I detail how we can take the state trust fund or trust land and break it down with taxable property. Industries have been knocking on our door for at least 25 years. In. Eed to bring them we need to allow the taxable property to be taxed. Think . Do you i think if we have a surplus, we can just pay it off now. Calls for using the Rainy Day Fund and reclaiming haveof the lands the feds taken it and selling it for the purpose of education. Willimportantly what i strive for is asking the voters to repeal the mandatory spending. It is not about money. We have artie seen that. We had to cut the spending because the education budget absorbs almost 50 of the budget. Can i go back to this. I want to talk about the two ideas doug has put on the table. The notion we can capture hundreds of billions in reorganization of the State Government. This was the effort to do just that. We lost children Detective Services in the process. Sometimes the agency stand independently say you have accountability. We are nothe notion going to fill state positions as they come open is a foolish risk. Are we not going to replace dps officers on the border . Are we not going to replace Corrections Officers when they retire . That is a very dangerous idea. The notion he would not put Public Safety first is a distortion of what i am talking about. 80 separate agencies representing a billion in annual spending. Cannotwho thinks they tighten the belt for bits and cannot do better in the bloated bureaucracies. I think we need to look at the core functions. That is why i talk about the Education System, moving arizona in the right direction. We can do a whole lot better than we are doing today. The push for a temporary sales tax hike and she thought it was necessary in the voters said it was ok one time. Would you push for a temporary tax hike of any kind if the Education Funding became a burden . I will not raise taxes. We will fund k12 education. We can do this. I am looking at this for the next fiscal year. We have to kickstart the economy. There is only one candidate at the table that has been endorsed by the Arizona Chamber of commerce and the National Federation of independent businesses. These are business and job creators origin small. The way to grow the economy is to reform the tax code and simplify it too late in regulation and make burdens less. Her think you have to be on honest with voters about the choices. This is 40 of the budget. It means cut. Medicaid is voter protected. If you want to see income tax, you will cut education. I have been candidate. I center like to improve the tax code. Simplify ourould tax code, flatten it. My opinion is it is the viewers money. They have earned it and i want them to keep more of it. We can go in a better direction with the tax code but it will take time. It will take a growing economy and a more effective government. You proposed 4 billion in additional spending. You said you wont raise taxes. That is a ridiculous notion. What i am saying is we have we should enforce the voters decision that we pay back the schools for the cuts we took. You want to appeal it and defy the order. Looking forever a opportunity. For an opportunity. You opposed it. I am not for tax increases. Every opportunity you have had, you have been on the other side. I have sat on the board for teach for america, the school board at Arizona State university. Spend the dollars responsibly and get them to the classroom. Not just blow more money. Enough. Quit it. A spirited debate. What we have to talk about is education in arizona. The nation is down there in the world. We used to be number one. I think a lot of it is they have gotten us away from the competitive schools. Innovation hallway comes into play. I am sure we will talk about common core at some point. It is really not about the money. It is about restructuring. We sought tuition in the College Going up incredibly. How did that translate to the students cap geoeye think a more ubiquitous education is a lot smarter. It. T. Started the distance learning. Showing you can get a far better education than brickandmortar counterparts without the spreading of disease, bad behavior come logistics of security and the other stuff that comes with government schools. The idea. You better have a lot of connections to make up for hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Actually, i do. I believe this will take people business,ream of a the dream of growing the existing business and put them into the fiveyear plan where they can go public if they would like to and retire. My plan is that solid and thats good. As far as the industries, the hemp industry, we need to legalize hemp. Replaceproduct that everything from rubber to fiber class. That is huge. That is an industry well into the trillions of dollars. Lex you think the idea of putting a tax on marijuana sells . Legalizing cannabis. We should do that as well. Arizona property rate higher than the National Average and the poverty graft poverty cap is growing. Our job recovery is not what the National Average is. What is going on out there . This should weigh on all of us. We want to point out who these people are. These are seniors, single mothers and children and unacceptable. My commitment is to serve all so that we can have a better future. Way to do this is to have an economy where it is growing. And hanging out help wanted signs and where Companies Look to arizona as the Perfect Place for which to do business. I am tired of politicians job creators rhetorically. I want to go to california and bring businesses here. Are leaving chicago. Businesses are going to indiana, florida, and texas. Lets bring them to arizona. Think is theu reason the poverty rate is higher than the National Average and job recovery rate is lower . The poverty rates are going down in the rest of the country and going up and arizona. That is why i started by saying were headed in the wrong direction. Increasingly what i hear from businesses looking to relocate if they look at the tax rate and think verizon has made a lot of progress. They look at the Regulatory Environment and say arizona is not bad. Then they get to the core question, will the employees have the talent i need to be successful . Will the employees and might employees children have good schools to go to cope we have to be able to answer that question and show a commitment to our school. Inse cuts that have resulted 500 classrooms. The largest classrooms in the United States. Were not making the assurances that Business Needs to see from us. You have talked about tax cuts repeatedly. Is zero. H they have a budget deficit about as high as it is in the nation. Schools closing and classes closing. Is that what we want . Lets talk about texas, florida, comparative states where people are already moving to. We know how to educate a child. Three of the top 10 high schools in the country. No other state has that bragging right. Standing 10 billion dollars to educate just over one million schoolchildren. In many places we know how to do it well, but for the past decade there has been a decreasing percentage of resources going to the classroom to support our teachers. That is going in the wrong direction. I want to see every available dollar supporting teachers teaching and student learning. That is where you make the difference. Can you compare arizona with texas or florida or kansas when it comes to low or zero income taxes . My plan calls for eliminating on the moral basis. Even if they come with a gun and say it is for the children. So how do we raise the money cap coke i have moved it to a transaction tax. A single tax on businesses. 4 on the gross. No deductions. That will create the environment to bring the jobs here and money here. We cannot have politicians picking and choosing who they will visit. We have to create an atmosphere where we are business friendly and open and honest. Fund with that, we have to education. I think we have gone overboard trying to teach all of our students everything about every job when in fact we should narrow the focus to be able to learn the School Skills so they can master that and allow the corporations to come in and then further the education for what they specific we need. It makes better sense to pinpoint the education at that point than trying to teach everyone everything in a government school. You have the property tax that is different as well. Can you compare or mers honor to texas and florida . Kansas sitting out there like a sore thumb. I do not think any of them compare. Theyll have different states and have different geographical differences. States do not compare. Students do not compare. The tax code cannot compare because they have different needs and wants. I can tell very clearly how we can take anyone at the table who wants to create their own job, exactlyne, id telling where it comes from. Company . Yes. Detail exactly where the money will come from. Take you to be in a Global Company if you want. I think it is more important to get government out of the way. We saw in california with a repealed one law and created 1000 businesses in three days. That is how government creates businesses, by getting out of it the way. I think kansas is a warning sign to avoid race to the bottom and the complete collapse in the bond market. Getting new ratings, this investing in schools. Employers are concerned they will not have the workforce they need. Schools have taken massive cuts. We want to stop the cuts and get back to investing in our childrens future. The big spenders want to take one year and become an alarmist. Better, moreave a preferable tax code. To only are we comparable places like wyoming and new hampshire, we are competitive. States compete and governors compete. These companies are leaving and place and looking for a to go. A great place to live, work, play, retire and visit and in many places, get an education. We have to stop the blame Arizona First mentality. I will talk to leaders and influencers and we will drive the economy in the right direction. I hear what youre saying and keep hearing how the cornea is the double on the west coast. Ofy are always at the top job creation. Always at the top of wages. Companies are moving to california to benefit from a variety of things that seems like an arizona were still debating on. Things like education and such. California is driving people and producers out. State. Not a wellrun the largest growth has been met migration from california and illinois. Beautiful state and has been incredible innovation but they are doing everything they can to kill the golden goose. For the next decade until they straighten that direction out, the governor should take full advantage. I visited a Company Last Week that had moved here from california. They could not take the tax burden or quality of life. How do you explain the fact california still leads in job creation and the other metrics . They have an innovationbased economy. Goingfts that keep because they are going after 21st century innovation. Valley and i. T. , etc. That is the connection we need to it need to commit. The idea we can be texas or nevada they simply capture the revenue someplace else. I do not know whether doug is proposing a property tax or a sales tax. Repeal, youing to you cut k12 education or will raise taxes someplace else. That is a distortion of my record. We know the model state is california. My model state is texas. Perry retires in november 2014. Texas has led the nation in economic development, business relocation. I want to be the next governor. I believe arizona can leave the way. I did not say we should follow california. What i said is investing and each investing in education has worked across the country. Time for us to make sure our children have the skills to succeed in life. Your proposal to cut education. I am saying i would settle the lawsuit that i want to see the dollars go into the classroom. I have no power to settle a lawsuit. You would be all right if the lawsuit was settled . I would much rather pay teachers the moyers. That base suit is important. I want to make sure we can be responsible going forward. This is a hypothetical. This andike to settle put the appropriate amount of money into education. Any cheap executive when asked, where are the moneys being spent and had we best serve teachers and children . Would settle the lawsuit. I want to negotiate the baseline. The baseline is important. Down. D sit to theenminded settlement. I want to see us have a smaller baseline to protect the budget going forward. You have 4 billion. If that is the math, at least at my house that delivers a buck or two under my sons pillows. At your house lately than i owe you. It will not be money left with the amount of spending you have in front. May stroke lost his tooth last week and i assure you he got his money. Carefulto be look looking for job creation. The jobs are very short term. They get a lot of them because of legislation. They are not longterm highpaying jobs. Is going round. As opposed to standing outside waiting to get a ticket. It requires higher taxes and higher education. Is that an option . Not with me. States, i amking picking arizona. I believe it would be successful if we did not have Party Politics getting in the way. Someone with a good idea should not need to drive bribe someone to get a vote to make something good happen for our state. For the past two years that is all we have had. John is right. We have seen the border issue. Border issue has been exactly the same. The same is true of education. We have to really step back and ate an intelligent look reshaping our government and how it interacts with the people. I think it is critical. With the way everyone is talking, i am amazed anyone lives in arizona. It seems like 70 or 80 of the hands go up. People are moving here. We need to maximize the population growth to economic development, job creation, and win more companies coming here. It is very doable. The chief executive for this can make it happen. We hear a lot about this, getting government out of the way. Cutting income taxes come of corporate taxes. Republicans have been in power for quite a while now. To get the going arizona turnaround . When you get the governor who will break the tie and take sensible action based on the ideas, not the party. I am literally the only one who can walk the aisle without fear of political repercussions. I have brought all the groups last year together in a historic moment over 35 years and 35 tries in putting forward a citizens referendum on some of the most egregious flaws that had ever been devised trying to steal the election. We turned it back and make them eat it. Took everyone from the super liberals and super conservative and was the only one who could bring it together. I am the other guy. The one who has no ties and does not care about a political life. I am the guy that has the plans written down. Lets just say i am not elect it. Leastveryone agree to at hear me out on this plan, because it is the only thing that will save arizona right now. Legalizing hemp would be a great plus. People badmouthing arizona, negative image of arizona. What is arizonas image around the country . We are the but of joke on some programs but people keep moving here. I love arizona. I love eric every part. We have opportunity to remind the rest of the country how innovative we are, how much we are a startup economy and what their grades economy this is to. Tart businesses and grow we have to answer the questions if were going to get the job growth we have had in the past and want in the future. Has anthink verizon image of intolerance . I do not. I think we have real issues but i think whenever you have a state where so many people have moved here from all across the country, you place that is warm and welcoming and optimistic were good things can happen. There have been folks that have communicated issues that i would do differently. That is what i talk about when i say i want to take charge in the direction of the state. Who is one candidate known and loved around the country. I think of arizona in many ways as a blank slate. I want to communicate this out. You think there is no reason to attempt to repair the image that so i think we have to go forward. Theyre here in 1995 when were here. I would say it was worse. It is not that we did not get the super bowl, the nfl took it away. We will have it in january where the eyes of the world will be focused on the state. Nothing like a new governor to set a new tone and new direction. 1050 two did do damage to the reputation. 1062 did do damage to the reputation. They are bad for describing who we are. We are a tolerant place. We need to celebrate our diversity and grow with the diversity and make sure we are communicating place where talent can succeed. When you would you look at it again echoplex i said i would be told that. I said with any issue i will bring people to the table. I said this is democrats sitting state legislator Catherine Aranda has joined my campaign. I am reaching across the isle to show i will do what is in the best interest. My campaign is about opportunity for all. You can tell a lot by how someone will govern either campaign. That is something you want to continue to broaden. This is just like i have been listening to parents and teachers across the state. My coalition includes hundreds of republicans. Republican 20 some elected officials with whom i worked. Democratic governor with republican legislature. We did the groundwater coat. Some of the greatest i partisan achievements, we were growing and succeeding in a bipartisan collaborative way. I have carried that through my life. I am a problem solve or and can demonstrate my capacity to create collaboration. I can see a problem with that in saying bipartisan. There are more than two. The air against is pervasive. When you were talking about the reputation of arizona, i think most people separate the more colorful personalities from arizona it self a cousin to hear from all of us it is a great place. E have great weather business is not so much. We have to get kids who can learn. That is why i said lets go to a competency test. That would make more sense. Do not care for once make sure you are educated. So you can work on them without the whole blanket idea. I think we have to bring them here with the idea we will do something bold, different and enjoyed seeing arizonans. Schoolsg your own dam here and teach the kids what they need to know to work for you. Your investment ideas, can they work if arizona does not have a Strong Enough image that attracts businesses . Yes, because they are to be based on arizonans becoming the people they want to be. Not all one to sit around living on minimum wage or welfare. There are millions that one to get to work, create the jobs. Thoughtfrank now blocked anyone from investing in the business. We need to get beyond that and and be crossed and across. Going to immigration ideas. Driversrnor says no license for those with a deferred status. The rule of law has to be applied at some point. Is that valid . 48 states allow them. I think we should join with the rest of the nation. These dreamers have been raised here, successful here and have served in the military. It is in our interest that they be all they can be. That they be as successful as they can be. It will be the first thing i do as governor, to repeal the prohibition. It is important for Public Safety reasons. A dismissive way of treating members of the community and it is bad policy. Backthink we need to step and look at how we got here. Discussions around Border Security and immigration is not just one partys fault. There is enough lame to go around. This is the federal government that has not paid attention to the first duty to arizona. I have agreed with the governors decision because i will have respect and compassion for everyone. I do not think anyone gets the privileges and benefits of hardworking arizona families that are paid for by a hardworking arizona taxpayers. We are a nation of immigrants and lost. Critics say it is a meanspirited move and counterproductive. I say to the federal government am a what are you doing on the southern border . That has a wide , andand unprotected border this has been going on for years. We have agents by the thousands that are in the states but not inside the border counties. I would like to see us be able to work not only with county and Law Enforcement agency we can address the very real issues and then deal with the other issues around immigration. Not meanspirited and counterproductive . I want to start with Border Security. It is counterproductive in meanspirited. It is bad economic policy. We want to make sure these dreamers can fully contribute to Economic Growth in the success. It is really important we give them the tools to succeed. Do you think they should be deported . I have never said that. I am for opportunity for all, and that is the type of governor i want to be but i have talked about the priority for how i would like to see this issue unfold. Some point, no deportation. I somewhat start with the poor patient. I have had the opportunity to travel. You can get insurance for crying out loud. People are still going to drive but they will drive uninsured. That is a big issue these days. Not just the dreamers either. Anyone should be able to come here on a visitors pass. If they want to work, find and we can tag them with 5 for nonnationals working here to go to a fund to take care of education, medical care and whatever they want. Let them do that for access to our markets. That is where the distinctions have to be made. Government, unfortunately, it does not run like a business. That is what becomes scary. You have to know how to spend money. With of business you have to know how to make money. Needs to be from fica government but protect the businesses. You cannot run it like a business because there is no profit. We need to break even. We are not doing that because we need businesses to exist to pay in the taxes. For theerty taxes business on property that is not normally taxed. The idea of running government like a business, does that sound palatable to you . Something government should look harder at . There are elements that apply to government but a different function. In the business of Public Safety in creating a climate. There is no question you want to bring accountability measures. Ive propose an entirely new funding system. Them more accountable for output for graduation. These are applicable to us. I asked the question because as mrs. Are in the business of. Aking profit can you really run a government like a business . Government is not a business. As mrs. Are intended to grow and make a profit. What you can do is there are business principles like paying the proper attention to the people for which it serves. Accountable, living within your means. When you are in a business setting, a budget means something. In government often times it doesnt. The business principles paying attention and serving in this case not the customer for the taxpayer i think are the best principles of government you can add from the business community. Do arizona voters deserve to know who is paying for the advertisement attacking you and you have to do we deserve to know that . Yes. I wish there was full disclosure. I issued a dark funny challenge to all the candidates it joining me in calling out the funding. One took me up on the offer. This has become very corrosive to our ability to have an exchange of ideas between the candidates taken over by folks that are nameless and faceless. Do not live here and do not know the candidates. How do you find out the names and faces . They should be disclosed. We should have state and federal laws that require the disclosure. They are not going underway away. The best we can do, get them to be a part of the public assess. I would like to see more transparency. I think it is interesting that fred says that. You are not the money man. The same Organization Running these advertisements, you collected the money to buy the advertisements in your past career. Curious as to your position now. Millions of dollars spent to attack me. Millions of dollars. Before that you did that with christine jones. You have been succeeding in the process by tearing down the opponents. I think you should stop it. This is about creating an affirmative agenda. This has been a positive, optimistic projob creation message. I am new to politics. People know what i have done with my career. I have been selling ice cream, you have been peddling influence. Like you know my background. It is completely open. You sold the business and it is a closed file. The voters deserve to know whether or not you are accused of ms. Misrepresentation. Were you accused of material misrepresentation cap go the people who purchase Cold Stone Creamery said there was complete satisfaction that i built a great company. Iswhat you have not done calling about transparency. Would you disclose your list of clients as a lobbyist cap go sure. They are on your tv advertisements. You have done full opposition research. I would like to know what happened in the arbitration and whether or not you will answer the question if you were accused . There was complete satisfaction. Come on now. Dark money, about talking about money that is not supposed to be correlated with campaigns. I would think there would be a great penalty if any of the if they did coordinate it would disqualify the candidate and make it something serious. Even more so, there is dark money and friends of god and everybody. We wereke the debates excluded from on channel 10 and 12. That is inkind advertising for republicans and democrats. That is all it is. That is as dark as it gets. When it comes to the advertisements that are attacking these gentlemen shouldnt we be able to know who is behind the advertisements . We know who is behind them. Democrats and republicans. We could probably find out the individual. Tied to parties. That is where the trouble comes from. That is where it will stay. Thats move on. Access. Restoration. Did arizona do the right thing . The governor and the legislature have done what they have done. I have spoken out aggressively against obamacare. I think it is a disaster and monumental failure. On is governor 1512 focus the budget situation so we are spending the proper dollars to restore education and move the economy in the right direction. I am not a fan of any expansion of government. What we have is a three year guarantee from the federal government. Something next governor will have to look for ways to improve and reform. My ideas are more Price Transparency and Health Savings account. The Legislature Passed a repeal, what would you do . It is a hypothetical. If you look at the budget, my first job will be protecting arizona taxpayers. Because we have the guarantee from the federal government, i think we would not want to do that. Think the opportunity i would like to dive in on this is for reform. Access toants to have a superior health care system. I just do not think the federal government has done a good job in delivering it. You said the government did what they did. I said i am running on the issues of the future. I would have wanted to tinker. Of these have gone for block grants. Innovative and inventive. I think it was not delivered. Dairy difficult decision. She was the leader. I have said what i said. This is certainly coming. A legislature that is certainly coming. The next governor will have to make a decision whether to repeal or not. And then against it. Now one is done is done. So it is a little unclear. I have had one position. It is a National Best practice. Extremely proud of the bipartisan coalition. The first waiver of its kind that enabled us to do this very successful model. The Bipartisan Team of legislators and governor who put it together were correct to repeal it. It will devastate health care. Not hundreds of thousands off hill out of your help help care. We have an Access Program here second to none. Get in access,to and unfortunately they are. A real burden to the taxpayers. I would like to see the taxpayers absorbing the risk of being alive like we used to. I think that would be smart. When you do have to scale back access, it is not a plus to say it is growing and expanding. Like a welfare program. This is an abysmal failure. We do not want people on the government dole or depending on like we sawbecause with welfare cards, we shut down for a week and then it drove people into a panic. Want to see in arizona where we get back to the responsibility. Take care of ourselves and encourage others to do that so when the power goes out, we have a battery pack that we do not go out. We are not just try to hold onto the past but see what we have now. We can do better. Access has its problems right now. Has cancer. Certain treatments cut off transient. That is where were sitting. We cannot deal with that type of the system. We can do better. That explains how we can get the best insurance for every arizona and plus some. It is not insurance or health care. I think it should be health care. I saw the arguments which to left give everyone insurance. The countyevitalize Hospital Program so people are not dying in the street. It is not government first on ensure them . More people are uninsured right now. Hospital getting two more tenable situation. Is that a bad thing. My concern is what happens over the course of time. That is why i talk about a Healthcare System putting the patient in charge of the doctor relationship. I think there is a lot of opportunity for improvement in. Merican health care i think we have the best system in the world but not the best distribution system. What we have seen is a redistribution of insurance benefits. I think we can do better. There are many doctors refusing to take access. Why do we want to put more people on an Insurance Program that doctors do not want to accept. Penny wise type thing . I think the Circuit Breaker is a good idea. I have worked with governors across the state and i am very confident the federal government will not walk away from its commitment. Veryeimbursement rate is high. If they do, we have the Circuit Breaker. We have a 90 reimbursement rate. This is a result in a taxpayer money that will go to other states that have taken the opportunity to do restoration and would be foolish to repeal it. Did fred just say he is very confident the federal government will not walk away from its commitment . I believe we need to move forward and not repeal it. I still think the federal government, they are here to help us. What i believe is the Circuit Breaker is her own tool. Stabilize the economy, ensure Health Care Opportunities and do it at this kind of reimbursement. Gethis makes more sense to government completely out of Peoples Health care because investments are running between 60 and 80 of all aspects of health care. 60 of the different things. They do have a compliance and all that. The whole point is we would be able to handle health care out of our own pockets. That makes more sense than advising convoluted confluent it Insurance Programs. We are running out of time. Works arizona supposed to with things like immigration for example and other aspects in which a relationship is important if we have an antidomestic government. I want to make the case for what we want to do here in this data verizon and i am willing to work with anyone. I want to be the governor that brings the most innovative and inventive ideas. I would like to get our dollars back in the state so we can be in charge of many of the programs. I will work with the federal government but i would like to be the governor and take charge of the directions. Very quickly, how do you how do you avoid the federal intrusion when you are trying to work with Something Like the federal government . Speak fore to arizonans. Frequently washington is out of touch and does not understand the west or arizona. Arizonas governor has a Important Role to play in making sure that what is unique to arizona, that they respect what is unique that we can chart our own destiny as who we are. We are pioneers, innovators. Well i just want to say i hope everyone has seen the debate and understand the whole idea of growing will come back to haunt all of us. I want to ask everyone first to go to my website and see complete issues where we have put them up there for people and is pretty serious. When we are talking about the an idea thatit is once to homogenize all of education. That is what destroys education. What made us great is innovation and competition. We used to say my school is better than your school and we could back it up. With common core they say my school is just like yours. Do not let the future of arizona rest on sameness in a lack of innovation. My name is doug ducey. I want to be your next governor. It has been great running for the debate. I am running on real world experience. I have spent the last nearly four years managing 12. 4 billion of the assets that by any measurement are growing faster than they were just a short time ago. I have built the broadest coalition of any candidate and will continue to reach out. You can tell a lot about how someone will governor governed by how they will campaign. Im proud to have catherine a rant on my team and proud to have everyone of my republican opponents endorsing the campaign, unifying the party and moving forward. To be an independent voice to kickstart the economy so the arizonans displaced by the downturn can find a job and a for filling career. I want to restore the greatness of the Education System and take charge of the direction of the state. Doug ducey on facebook if you want more information. Enqueue, and now for our next closing statement, we turn to john baylor. I know everyone will introduce this as well. To runve arizona needs arizona. I do not believe parties are acting in the best interest. They are located in d. C. Released outlying areas. I do not think there is really a debate of is the money paying for the candidates now are paying for the elected official later you go doing both actually. It will pay definitely for the elected official. We have been in statehood for 102 years and has not changed. They leave us out, you know, arizona is left out in the middle and we need somebody that can create jobs that has a plan already on the table. Somebody thats willing to do what needs to be done and doesnt have a political future to worry about. Thanks. Thank you very much. Freed duval with his closing statements. Thank you, ted. We have a lot of work to do to move arizona forward but we are filled with opportunities to do that. But it all starts with our children. It all starts with making sure that all of our children have the tools to succeed and we need to stop the cuts to our Education System in order to provide that kind of future. So my vision is an arizona where test scores are going up, where class sizes are coming down. Where our teachers are paid a liveable wage so they stay in the classroom and give our students the kind of skill that they need to succeed. Where we transform our Education System in a way that provides the skill to work for us in the future. When we do that, new businesses will come, new technologies will come. They are hungry for an educated work force for the future. Thats the kind of arizona that we want. It means jobs, it means opportunities, it means a new day for arizona. Thank you. All right. Thank you candidates. And that is it for now. Thank you so much for joining us. You have a great evening. We take you live now to the American Enterprise institute where louisiana governor is about to present his plan for u. S. Defense policy. Hes also expected to talk about president obamas Foreign Policy, including challenges from russia and the terrorist group isis. He is vice chair of the republican governors association. Now live to the american nterprise institute. Good morning everybody. Thank you for joining us here today. Im the Vice President for foreign and defense policy studies here at the American Enterprise institute. We are very pleased and honored to welcome governor here to the American Enterprise institute, to give a talk on rebuilding american defense. He has an enormously impressive bio, so impressive in fact that im not going to go through all of it with you today. Quickly, hes in his second term as governor of louisiana. He represented louisianas First District in the house of representatives with his freshman class president in the house. And well the rest of his bio is available on our website, as will be the text of his talk here today. After the governor speaks hell sit down with a chat with the co director of center of Security Studies and take questions from the audience. Now, you all may ask why is the governor of louisiana giving a talk on defense here at a. I. Setting aside the American Service men and women who are based in or are from louisiana, i want to point to a larger reason. The world is falling apart, just in case you hadnt noticed, from hong kong to crime arn, to the outh china sea, libya, iraq, yemen, iran, and i could go on here. This mail strom of war, terror, death and disease has implications for every american, not just for white house political strategist. As we have been sounding the alarm on this issue for some time now, im delighted that this is an issue that more americans are beginning to think about, because the fall out from this, if they continue unmanaged, if we fail to lead, if we cannot afford to lead, will affect every one of us. Over to you governor. [applause] thank yall very much. Thank you for that generous introduction. I do want to thank our host here at not only the work you do. I want to recognize and thank the senator who co authored the paper theyre releasing through america next that goes into greater detail on the topic well be talking about today. Jim, thank you for your friendship and leadership on these very important issues. As we draw to a close the politically relevant portion of the Obama Presidency the years in which the president had the power to get anything done and the interest in doing it. Were at a point where we can assess the nation and the world that president obama is leaving us. Much of the recent Media Coverage of the obama president si has focused on the frustrations of the president with the political process. Time and again he turns to the third person to explain the ineffectiveness of his leadership. It is always they who stand against his noble aims to help the people. They who botch obama care. They who underestimated the threats of isis. For this president , theres also somebody else to blame. For all thats been written about president obamas negative impact on american businesses, ill give him this. No president has done so much for the strawman industry. Every day he sets one on fire. Whatever you want to say about his golf game, this guy knows how to use a flame thrower. But i would argue this this blaming of the third person is actually wrong. Because for the most part we actually live in the america that president obama wanted to create. We live in the country and the world that progressives wanted. Where we are didnt happen by accident. It didnt happen because president obama was frustrated by the political process. It happened because as Richard Weaver told us, ideas have consequences. And what is an america governed under those ideas look like . On the domestic front, we are a nation faltering slowly through a lackluster recovery. One that has been marked by profits gathered by the powerful and well connected and stagnant wages and dim prospects for those who are not. It is a nation with effectively a cradle to grave welfare state, with a federal government that robs the state of taxpayers dollars. To grow programs for adults that trap them in a lifetime of disincentives for success. It is a nation marked by exhaustion discourage and fear. Where wealth and power are centralized in an immense and out of control federal government. It is a nation where people feel they no longer have a voice, where the massive state seeks to control almost every aspect of our lives. It is a nation of back room deals, where regulators run the show and those who play ball get bailouts. On the international front, thicks are arguably even worse. Here, president obamas ideas have had even less restrictions, so the consequences are clear. Im hardly the first troifert to criticize president obama for his lack of commitment to ideal of american conceptionism. But it is a real critique and im going to explain what it means. When president obama rejects american conceptionism, what hes really doing is embracing the idea long held by progressives going back a century that we are simply members of a global village. All of the sharing principles and culture of equal merit. No country has principles that are better than others. Theres no nation, no system of government, or understanding of rights that is exceptional. I wish president obama had watched the incredibles, because then hed know that when everybody is special, actually nobody is. The danger of this idea is that it ignores the unique and distinct role that the United States is called to play in the world. Because of our strength. Our resources and our historical commitment to freedom and human dignity. Ideas do have consequences. It is only when you conclude that were all just citizens of the world. With ideas that just as valuable as anybody elses. That you would come to the conclusion that the United States should lead from behind, which really means of course not leading at all. It would take too much of your valuable time for me to lift a bill of particulars of all the consequences of president obamas failure on the international stage. Today we see a world in which the Obama Administration has neglected or abandoned americas long standing allies. Our special relationship with britain is gone. Nato is drifting. Eastern europe is disaffected and israel has been purposefully alienated from the United States. Consider the consequences of just the past year. It has brought us the rice of isis and the capture of mo sull. Russias expansion in ukraine. New heights of crisis in the middle east and israel. More chinese aggression conflict in the south sea. More bombing in libya. More rattling from north korea. A dangerous trend of antisemitism and a refugee crisis on our own border. For anyone with a degree of introspection, this would be a time to consider whether the ramifications of your ideas were leading the world to experience more chaos and less clarity. But that is not what president obama has done. He has not reconsidered whether his approach to leadership is perhaps a part of the reason that the world seems to be spinning off of its axis. Instead he once again reviews himself as a noble, deliberate thinker who takes his time and gets it right. Peter baker recently wrote a piece about a series of off the record dinners president obama has held with Foreign Policy thinkers. Of course as it always is in washington, not even the president can really go off the record. The attend yis recall the president sarcastically imitating his adversaries saying its a shame when you have a president with no Foreign Policy other than dont do stupid things. I do not make apologies for being careful in these areas, even if it doesnt make for good theater. Now, i dont get invited much to this white house. I wasnt at that dinner. If i had been i can tell you what i would have said when he rolled out that strawman and set it aflame. Respectfully mr. President this isnt about good theater. This is about life and death. This is about freedom and december pot ism, order and chaos. This is about the role of the United States of america as the leader of the free world. This is about nothing less than whether we will squander americas ability to continue in that role, or whether we will pass onto our children a nation that is secure, well armed and confident in its ability to sustain a just piece in the world. As Walter Russell wrote in response to that, the real criticism of the president isnt that his Foreign Policy is too deliberate, is that his deliberations dont seem to end well, work. That, the truth is that none of us would care how long president obama takes to make a decision if it were the right decision. As the great military strategist colonel john boyd once said, decisions without actions are pointless. Actions without decisions are reckless. Time and again this president as managed to do both. The problem with the smart diplomacy was supposed to make everything better isnt that it doesnt make for good theater. Its that it isnt very smart. This isnt about disliking how long it takes him to come up with an idea. Its about the ideas and what follows from them. The russian reset, iraq, afghanistan, israel, egypt, iran, libya, europe, china, and the list goes on. And each of these areas its not just the president took too long to come up with an answer. Ts that the answer was wrong. If all had the help of a wise steady hand, a policy expert in dealing with foreign affairs. He would have come up with better answers. But instead he just had hillary clinton. How did we get to this point . Just ask the people who can be honest about what happened. Ask former defense secretary who says that he and others advised the president to negotiate a status of forces agreement with iraq that could have forestalled the rise of isis, but says the white house refused to lead. As former ambassador to iraq Christopher Hill who said he was abandoned and ignored by secretary clinton. Or ask the outgoing chief of the Defense Intelligence agency Michael Flynn who says the world today is more chaotic than nytime since the 1930s. Today we are living with the consequence of the Obama Clinton ideas when it comes to foreign, domestic and defense policies. And those ideas have set america on a path that will create more chaos, more conflict and more wars. Secretary rumsfeld, ambassador boldin and others understand that weakness is provocative. What we see time and again from this president is a projection of weakness. Peace through strength caused infinitity less than american blood and treasure than does war precipitated by weakness. President obama has misused the tools of soft power. He had to be dragged in the imposing sapingses to iran for the new year program. Has yet to use the full force against russia. When the crowds are applauding him overseas at the beginning of his administration he never effectively used americas moral authority to challenge the human rights records of our adversaries. Now hes no longer summonned with a global statue to do so. He leaves to the next president tools of power that have fallen into disrespare. Military strength should not be the primary means by which the United States execute its Foreign Policy. But it is the element that underpins the other tools. Of all the mistakes president obama has made, this strikes me as the most dangerous. The same progressive motivations that led to foolish levels of disarmment in the 1930s are now once again leading us down the road toward a military that cannot do what we needed it to do when we need to do it. It is all the more frustrating that were pursuing this course t a time of threats when the technology of weaponry is spreading and the ability of nonstate actors to inflict terrible destruction on innocent citizens is only increasing. Since the cold war we have seen the decay of our defense cape willities and our growing gap between mission and resources. In the wake of the humanitarian effort and smaller conflicts of the 1990s, president george w. Bush understood the need to modernize the armed forces. He and others anticipated in the absence of the threat of the soviet union we would be able to invest heavily in leaphead technologies, yesterdaying a smaller, leaner, more lethal force. But the september 11 attacks brought that to a halt. Instead of a transformation of the force, we found ourselves in wars which we assumed would never occur then. Conflicts of boots on the ground for long periods of time. The Defense Budget was increased substantially. But its important to understand what that money doesnt do. It did not rebuild the military as was needed. Instead it was eaten up by the cost of the wars. By the greater maintenance needs of an aging inventory. It is an illusion to think after the war spending increases that we have seen over the past decade and more that we as a nation are better position when it comes to our National Defense. In fact, the reverse is true. By the time president obama had taken office, the American Military was an increasingly fragile condition. The navy had fewer ships than anytime since before world war i. The air force inventory was smaller and older since the inception of the service. While the size of the army and marine corps was increased in 2007 to support the surge in iraq, both lacked the personnel they needed forcing far too many units to serve multiitll tours of duty in iraq and afghanistan and increasing the human cost born by our war fighters. Secretary gates identified 400 billion in cost reductions beginning in 2009, and an additional 78 billion realized beginning in fiscal year 2012. The effect was to cancel the remaining programs, including the transport and the f22 fighter which will harm our military capabilities for years to come. The Bipartisan National Defense Panel created by congress that same year issued a unanimous report in the spring of 2010 in which it recommended heading in the opposite direction. They supported substancal additional funding for the military, primarily to increase the size of the navy. They warned this the aging of the inventories and equipment used by the services, the decline in the size of the navy, escalating personnel entitlements, overhead and procurement cost, and the growing stress on the force means that a train wreck is coming in the areas of personnel, acquisition and forestructure. In the spring of 2011, secretary gates responded to these with modest increases in funding. That didnt go as far as the panel recommended but it was a step in their direction. Two months later, president obama threw it all out. He anoungesed his intention to reduce the proposed budget, his own administration Defense Budget by approximately 40 billion a year. The president essentially jumped his own Defense Budget in a speech, pulled a new number for defense spending out of thin air. There wasnt even an analysis of the impact of the new funding levels on the armed forces or American National security. The president s proposal was codified in the 2011 budget control act. That was followed by the sequesteration law which had the effect of cutting another half a trillion dollars from the Defense Budget over the next 10 years. Think about how ridiculous this is as an approach to governors. In the course of a year, the udget priorities reduced by an analytical process was completely jettisonned in favor of an entirely political driven Budget Reduction process. The consequences of this foolish nearly trillion dollar cut over the coming decade are unacceptable. Under these cuts america will not have a global navy anymore. Well be almost a hundred ships smaller than the chinese navy. The army and the air force will shrink dramatically. We have just seen the release of a second Bipartisan Panel report which further documents the declining condition of the military. So to recap in the past five years, congress created two National Defense panels to review the condition of the armed forces. Both panels for bipartisan. Both panel reports are unanimous in making the case for restoring the strength of our National Defense. Yet the president has gone in the opposite direction. Youve all seen the footage of the tomahawk missiles our navy is firing at isis. Those tomahawks are on track to be fazed out under president obamas plan even without a replacement ready. Were supposed to buy just a hundred next year and zero the year after that. Investors business daily did the math. They found out in one night president obama used a 47 of next years planned purchases. We have to sustain that, we could only fire that level for 85 days before we were out of missiles. We must take steps to rebuild americas military. At the very least as we argue in the paper that america next is releasing today. We must return to the 2011 budget proposed by secretary gates. The last time there was any real analysis or threat assessment undertaken to determine what ought to be spent. We must also take steps to shorten the design and build cycle for procurement. We must engage in immediate reforms to support our forces readiness. As experts here at a. E. I. And elsewhere suggested i share the belief, which is set as a guideline spending approximately 4 of americas g. D. P. On defense. The reality is that there is les snead to use the military when it is feared and respected. The best approach to reducing the level of global risk would be to move to rebuild the tools of military power. This force should be used careful. Not to nation build overseas. Not as a police force or as a jobs program, but as a deterrent to our adversaries. As a tool to eradicate threats to american lives and interests. While allowing Global Threats to fester, while allowing our material to rust and decay, it only declays the day of reckoning when the United States will have to address these threats and increases the cost of both time and treasure of doing so. It will put america in an increasingly weaker position. Put our fighting men and women at greater risks and decrease our ability to respond to the very real and increased threats that president obama is leaving behind. Now im a fiscal conservative. As Calvin Coolidge said, i want the people of america to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. But within the arena of National Defense, the need now is for more funding, not less. That funding must be smarter, not motivated by domestic political priorities, but by what real threats america faces around the world. The same problems which cause waistful domestic spending behavior can also motivate waistful defense spending. The worst kind of waste. It leaves our forces unprepared and i will equipped for the missions we give them. Thats why i support the bipartisan efforts of others, the demands of the pentagon provide what every other department and agency already does, an audit of its books. Originally the beaurocrats there were supposed to be ready for an audit this year. Now they say theyll be ready in 2017. If we are going to spend more taxpayer dollars on defense we must also demand that these taxpayer dollars be spent wisely. That we know where the money goes and what it does. We should know that now, not later. The defense of our country is too important to tolerate waste and irresponsible spending in this arena. But we should not think that waste means that overall cuts are justified. On the contrary, it means that we must spend what is needed based on the threats we face even as we fix our procurement process. To do any less would stretch us even more thin in the years to come. I know politicians like to talk about waste and fraud. But waste and fraud alone will not make up the funding gap which prevents us from having the modernized force we need. So because i am a fiscal conservative i believe we need to shrink the cost of our government in other ways. The debate over how to deal with ever expanding entight lts, some of them have pushed for plans where theres a med for replacing obama care. I think we need to focus on the cost burden for the consumer and the taxpayer, so our Health Care Plan would rely on forms which lower cost and save taxpayers billions while fixing existing inequity in the tax code. As we seek to bolster our military force we also need to be willing to use the economic weapons at our disposal. While we all understand the disincentive of losing the ability to trade with us, we have another powerful weapon at our disposal now, one which the rest of the world wants and needs. Our energy supply. The Energy Resources america has unleashed have enormous benefits for our economy and job creation. They also represent a tool in our arsenal to help offset the ability of russia and other nations to effectively blackmail our allies. As ive laid out in my energy plan, the more the governor removes the barrier to a thriving energy sector, the more well be able to balance against our adversaries without ever firing a shot. It is no accident that the threats to america are now growing. Theyre growing because the Obama Administration has repudiated all the operating principles of an effective global strategy, by leading from behind. By abandonning our long term allies. By failing to effect tivetly use the tools of soft power and by cutting the size and capability of our armed forces. They are growing because ideas have consequences. And we must be prepared to face them. Without a strong defense, our allies will not trust our promises and our adversaries will not believe our threats. The most important task of our government is to defend our homeland from attack. To defend the freedom of access to the common areas of the world for our people to travel and trade. To preserve the stability and peace. With a watchful eye on those who would do us harm. All nations have vital interest. The difference between the United States and other great powers throughout history is that america defines her vital interest in a defensive and benign way. All america seeks is to live in peace, secure in our homeland, enjoying rights common to all nations. And a world where, to the extent feasible, relations between nations are determined less by power and coercion than by agreed upon rules and a the object of defense . To preserve. Preserving peace is difficult. The founders understood that is not automatically bequeathed to future generations. Won its own way in each generation. We have to be willing to pay the price for peace. Undo the president s harmful spending cuts and ensure that our men and women have the tools they need to succeed. We would also send a powerful message to our allies and our enemies overseas that america will not shirk her leadership role in the world and will remain actively engaged in promoting and defending her final Vital National interests. In his epistle to the corinthians, st. Paul asked a question applicable to our country today. If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle . For far too long, our country has given the uncertain sound, hoping to avoid problems, only to find that american up on enemies, sensing weakness, have taken the battle directly to us. It is time for politicians once again to embrace the postwar consensus of the need for a strong National Defense, having , the best waysson to avoid battle is to prepare for it. Thank you all very much for allowing me to come speak with yall today. [laughter] [applause] [applause] thanks. I like your socks. Siery. Noted for my hose o there are worse things to be noted for. [laughter] governor, i would like to exercise the prerogative to ask a couple of followon questions before we open it up to everybody else. That was an extraordinarily strong and stark speech. I would like to pick our way through a couple of the issues, if i may. First of all to talk about American Leadership. Second of all to think about what a rebuilding of the American Military would look like. Then we have to talk a little bit about the politics of the issue. To do this by casting our minds ahead a couple of years from now. You give a chilling assessment of where we are today. Things are likely to be worse in the International Arena with the budget cuts and the withdrawal of our forces from various and then in the context of a hardfought election campaign. What it we start with the question of leadership. Imagine where we will be in two years and ask ourselves what the path for a president might be in january 2017. It could be a steeper uphill climb than the one you described in your speech. With two more years of this president s dangerous policy, we will have two more years of disengagement from the world, two more years of america leading from behind. I think for the next administration, the first task will be to rebuild a bipartisan cold war consensus. This should not be only a republican imperative. We must rebuild the strategic consensus that america cannot lead from behind. America cannot disengage from the world. To restore the belief in american exceptionalism. This is the first president that i can remember that does not believe in american exceptionalism. Even before the budget changes and the defense buildup, with their needs to be a change in our strategic positioning, visavis our allies and enemies. And his strategy without the a new strategy without the investment of the military will ring hollow. We need to increase the investments in military for things like the modernization. We should get to 4 of gdp. It needs to be informed by threat analysis. We dont simply give the pentagon a blank check, but we can start by going back to the the last time there was a comprehensive and consistent threat analysis done with a undergirdnumber to the military establishment. We or men and women the tools and readiness and training. Realizationsowing is our oceans dont keep us safe. We face asymmetrical threats. We face threats from transnational terrorist groups. We face cyber warfare and biological warfare. We are going to have to have the commitment over the longterm to deter these threats. I do think the world is hungry for American Leadership. Our allies are hungry for that leadership. I think a new administration supported by a Bipartisan Congress can take some decisive steps fairly quickly to begin rebuilding that role. No other country can fill the vacuum we have left on the world stage. Is really enormous in scope. Of years ago, nobody could imagine a piece of europe being at risk. We talk about people underestimating isis capability. We consistently underestimated chinese commissions ambitions and capabilities. Then to return to the middle east, which is not been a happy seee, it is pretty easy to that it is worse than it was in 2009. The war with isis is not heading in a positive direction. Is it even possible to prioritize . I do think we need to take a comprehensive approach. I would identify three challenges. , we are in a war with isis. Whether he wants to call it that are not, that is a fighting conflict. We need to exterminate isis. It is about hunting them down and killing them. We have got to complete that effort. One of the things i say in my longer paper is that americans must prepare our Defense Forces not just to win wars, but decisively win wars to act as a deterrent against future conflict. The thing that concerns me the most, the greatest concern on the shortterm, the mediumterm iranon is the lessons that must be taking from americas failure to lead over the last few years. The world cannot accept a nuclear iran. That is a threat to the United States. A year ago now, the United States announced a this reprieve with iran. We have seen no meaningful action since that time. They are only hastening the day until they become a nuclear power. Our time for Decisive Action is running out. The second concern is what lessons iran has taken away from americas lack of decisiveness. President i think the rightot toward asia was to announce intentions. It was not followed up by the resources to do anything about it you look at the growing strength of china and that is the rising threat in the mediumterm. You have china, who wants to exercise more influence. You have allies like south korea and japan looking at their leadership. You have countries that were not aligned. Vietnam countries like who are looking to American Leadership and are willing to join with america, under americas leadership. The president did a great job giving a speech about pivoting attention and putting more resources there. But without investment in the resources, it is going to ring hollow in those countries are not going to follow unless we follow through. When you look at russia those are the three in terms of prioritizing. I do think this is a situation where if america is serious rhetoric,ing up our you will see a safer world. The more we withdraw from the world, the more chaos there is going to be all over the world. , it is hard to believe for quickly europe has gone from where it was in the cold war to where it is today. It is no coincidence that putin is in crimea and threatening ukraine. He looked at the unilateral oferal withdrawal interceptors. He looked a nato. He took note of the president s weakness. We could still secure europe, we , if wetill deter russia were willing to put brigades and allied countries, if we were willing to work within the framework. If we dont have the manpower and forces to deter russian aggression, europe becomes less stable. The chaos we are seeing is not inevitable. It is predictable due to the this engagement. You mentioned the gap between strategic needs and the resources available. That is another whole we have dug that has not bottomed out. Sea17tioned cutting the and the f22 but that is the tube of the iceberg. Of the iceberg. There are few modernization programs left to invest in. Torpedoes have not made it into laboratory. Another sort of reagan like buildup being necessary in the next administration . Ts absolutely absolutely. We are not calling for 4 of gdp overnight. Pentagon isk the 80 million well if we were to give it to them today. Will call process. Deployp and apply technology in a window. It has taken us so long to develop and Deploy Technology that by the time it is deployed, it is obsolete. We need to talk about changing the procurement process. We need more accountability. Im calling for multisourcing components of programs and speeding up the delivery and holding folks accountable for delivering ontime, on budget. There is waste and abuse and we have to root it out. Is leavingand abuse our forces unprepared and without the equipment they need. Waste and abuse is not enough. That should not be an excuse for disinvestment in the pentagon. Yes, lets weeded out. Yes, lets shorten the procurement cycles and acquisition process, but that is not an excuse for not investing in the military and leaving our men and women without the training and resources they need. We have to increase the investment. We point to the reagan buildup as a successful example of buildup and military hardware and buildup and forces and deploying the soft power tools available to it administration. They did support the democracy, the freedom units in eastern europe. Happen forat things world stability and peace. The cold war without firing a shot, as Maggie Thatcher said. We are getting a hollowed out military thanks to this administrations neglect and disinvestment. My last question. We have been told for the past six or seven years that we as a , that are weary of war under any circumstances we would never deploy Ground Forces. Poll, notck by an nbc exactly take it for what it was in that poll, if recommended by the military, would you agree to the did climate deployment of Ground Forces in the war against isis . 45 said yes. 63 of republicans said yes. Of people who identified as t Party Members said yes. 32 of democrats said yes. Do you think within the conservative universe come of the politics of these issues are shifting . Three things. I do think there is any american that ever wants to go to war as a first choice. There was an american that wants to use Ground Troops as a first choice or military as a first choice. Ironically enough, a stronger military, that is where you avoid wars. Have a stronger defense, have the tools. Peace through stress is better than war through weakness. Our president universally announces what we are not going to do. He tells people what we wont do instead of what we will do. He does this again and again. Nobody is arguing that we needed to lead with Ground Troops. It seems to me to be a very foolish way to deter our enemies. I think theint, American People have shown time and time again, decade after decade, through the cold war, through two world wars, challenge after challenge, the American People are willing and want to rise to the challenge when they trust their leadership , when they feel like there is effective leadership that is leading us to protect our nations vital interests. I think there was overwhelming bipartisan support to defend our nations vital interests. I think you will see that whether it is against isis or any other threat we face as a country. I am a conservative republican, but this is a bipartisan consensus. Was a bipartisan consensus throughout the cold war and it should be so again. There should be a bipartisan consensus. My hope is that the responsible leaders in both parties that will stand up and say, this is vital to protecting americas interests here and abroad. Our federal government is doing many things are Founding Fathers never intended. The first and most important responsibility of our federal government is to secure the homeland, to secure the nation. It is in the constitution. The one thing the federal governments order to do, the one thing congress is told it is must do is to secure the country. We are not living in a time where the government is spending a record share of our economy. At the same time, we are spending a record low amount actually defending our country. We are spending more of our economy on the government at the same time we are spending less to defend our country. The federal government has got its priorities backward. Whatever you think about the roles. The first and most important responsibility of government is to defend our country. More effective and better for us to do so ahead of time, not only in terms of blood, but in terms of the danger and threats to our country, than to try to lead from behind and lead from weakness. Have about 10 minutes for questions. Im going to begin. The elephant in the room when you talk about spending more on defense and it was not something i had to face in the early 2000s. Leon panetta complains that would he argued against the sequester, he had no one to back them up. Presumably if there is a change in a couple years, we will fight to get rid of the sequester. Do you see any possibility of doing that before the next two years are up . Defendously, a lot will depend on the november elections. I absolutely agree. When it comes to defense cuts were an absolute mistake. President op of obamas on reductions then you add the impact of sequestration and you have a trillion dollar reduction to what the last responsible assessment of the pentagon actually needed. Would argue that secretary gates did not go far enough in his analysis. It is remarkable to me that in the space of a speech, the throw out hisd own secretarys words and pick an arbitrary political number and on top of that number would impose arbitrary reductions. I think it was a mistake for republicans to except sequestration cuts in defense. We do need a lot of cuts and the other portions of the federal budget. When it comes to defense, the sequestration cuts were a mistake. Honest, the administration would admit that they played a backend trick with the Nations Defense and we all lost. I think it is irresponsible. The men and women in uniform will suffer first and the most and they will be tasked to missions without the resources and that is simply irresponsible to send them without the tools they need to successfully complete their missions. We absolutely need to undo the sequestration impact. Im going to identify the young woman. For your terrific, targeted speech. Elizabeth sinclair. Regular citizen. Believe of americans is effectively waging soft war against the United States itself. Should we be lucky enough to survive two more years of these clear and daily dangers, what arsenal tools . I would encourage everybody that is concerned to know that we cannot wait two years. I will say this. Have been a vocal and persistent critic of this administration in a number of areas. Ofave called for a repeal obama. Im suing over common core is a breach of the constitution. I called for eric holder to be removed from office. I could go on. The point is, im not a fan of this administration. [laughter] i will say this. I have been very specific in my concerns. I believe those to be true. Im still an optimist about the future of our country. I still believe in my bones that this is the greatest country in the history of the world and despite the challenges we have seen, i think it is still within our reach for this generation to renew those principles of freedom. I dont think it is inevitable that america remains the greatest country. I dont think it is etched in our dna. I dont think there is something magical. That does not make us inevitable. I think the Founding Fathers got it right when they stressed freedom in the founding documents. I think our 40th president was right. To chooseration has to renew the principles. I think it is up to us. I am frustrated. To your litany of reasons, there is not one point in the world you can point to and say that it has become safer or better since this administration took office. We were supposed to reset relations in the world was going to love us with this administration. Become, the world has much more chaotic and much more dangerous. But i dont want the American People to become so frustrated that they think, our best days are behind us. I dont think that is true. I think it is still within our grasp to renew the principles of freedom. I think we have work to do on the world stage and at home. To remind folks throughout policies and rhetoric that the American Dream is not about government and redistribution and taking from others, it is about equality of opportunity. I think one of the most the good news is that the American Dream is still possible. We have work to do to ensure that it remains possible. Going to the back of the room. Is it imaginable that we will have the resources to reach and defense investment in without some pretty uncomfortable reforms of entitlements . We absolutely have the resources because we have to fund defense first. Is 4 percent. It is based on a strategic analysis. That does not mean it is automatic. It needs to be guided. We need to put aside those resources first. That is the federal governments first responsibility. Our first and most important obligation is to defend our country. To the second half of your question, i think we should reform our Entitlement Program separate and apart from defense. The Entitlement Programs are not sustainable on their current trajectory. The president added another Entitlement Program to the ones we already had. To maintain the promise of our Entitlement Programs, specifically medicare, medicaid, social security, for future generations, to keep the promise we have to strengthen. We should a program on health care reform. Absolutely, and to reform the Entitlement Programs. That is separate and above and beyond what we have in defense. We need to make sure we strengthen and improve future generations. That is simple. The nonpartisan actuaries those you have run tell out of resources we finished paying for the Healthcare Benefits of the baby boomers. Absolutely we need to reform the Entitlement Program. That was key back in the 1990s. There was a bipartisan proposal including groups like the dlc and the wall street journal and a concept ofd premium support. It is possible to reform them in a bipartisan way to strengthen them for future generations. Reform thoseto programs, but that is true regardless of whether people agree with me or not about the need to invest in defense. Oma good in, all the time is gone. Im very sorry about that. This was a very important conversation governor. I think it will be our job to try to get you into the white house, so that you can give the commander and vice commanderinchief some advice. Well it aint that hard to get in now. [laughter] only if you are carrying a weapon, i think. Failing that, our doors are always open. Thanks everybody. 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