What happened is we rescued the School Systems. That is not an exaggeration. We did it. What ended up happening . Not totally because of that but now we have the highest Graduation Rate of over 80 for the First Time Ever and we have a dropout rate among blacks and hispanics that has dropped over 25 since you guys started running the show. Nobody knows that. It is like a tree falling in the forest. Anybody come up to you and say lately, thank you, you did a great job on the dropout rate . Thank you, you rescued my school . We upgraded our infrastructure. The largest public works project contained within a recovery act in history. Bigger than eisenhowers interstate highway program. 15,000 new projects, 42,000 miles of new roads, and 7700 bridges. 700 Drinking Water systems upgraded. I could go on and on. Providing broadband across america and in the process, we created hundreds of thousands of jobs just doing the project and it created a virtuous cycle. When youre building the bridge in delaware, the construction workers all go to the local diner. That means they need three waitresses instead of one. They make more money. It is as simple as that and it is asked obligated as generating Economic Force in small and large communities. We did it together. Other than busing, the hardest thing i ever had to do was explain the tarp program. [laughter] do you guys agree . Of a very guys that caused the recession were spending billions of dollars to bail them out. Looking at i remember, there was a woman who had a little dress shop where we live. She looks at me and says, you know, chase is too big to fail but how about me . The truth of the matter is, it was impossible to explain. The least popular initiative. Probably the least popular vote. We are attacked from the left in our party for not nationalizing the banks. Remember that . How we did not nationalize. We were attacked from the right for demanding too much accountability and transparency for Financial Institutions which would as we were told, have a direct effect of causing them to pull back from investing. And, we said, which they really did not like, you have to pay back every penny we are lending you or we are going to come for it. We not only stabilize the financial system, we made it more accountable and in the process, we generated 15 billion in profits for the American People. They pay back and they pay back with interest. Does anybody know that . It is important they know it. Not to say great job, to say you guys knew what you are doing. Maybe you know what you are doing now. Maybe these other guys are wrong with their simplistic bumper stickers. Barney frank, chris, what a job they did. They got the hell kicked out of them. They got the devil kicked out of them by democrats on the left and by republicans on the right. But they reestablish transparency in wall street and rules for wall streets taxpayers to not be in the position of paying for their greed. Actual results, more transparency, compliance by wall street. You have been the bulwark in stopping the erosion. It has been a nonstop effort to undo dodd frank. Here is what it did. Ask our businesses. It generated confidence. I come from the state of corporate america. The major corporations were not happy with the wall street brokers. They were wondering what was happening. There are getting affected. The irony is by making a more transparent business, it generated confidence. The business in the business community. So much for being antibusiness. It is not a consequence but have you noticed when we took office that the discussion was, is the stock market going to fall below 6000. The most Phenomenal Growth in the stock market in history. I know sandy and i are known as the auto guys. Remember the plates we had inside the white house . We were told we were sitting down and we were being told that we have to understand that they are not going to be able to generate and build more than 9 million automobiles a year. We have topped out. We will never again see 30 million. 2014, because of you, we sold 21,600,000 automobiles around the world. The number will go up. [applause] the actions you took not only save the millions of jobs along the line we would have lost, it is not about bankers, it was about going on a business. We created 500,000 new jobs because basic, oldfashioned democrats like us stood our ground. Because we had faith in the american worker. No one knows better than you debbie, the sacrifices our workers make in order to make this happen. Health care. Still, you are hearing this line. That what we did would bankrupt the system. Period. Health care costs would skyrocket beyond what they have historically been doing. You all remember. Actual results. Slowest growth in Health Care Inflation in the last 15 years. [applause] 10 million more people with health care insurance. Your county, your hospitals will be able to remain open instead of close because there are people that are able to pay for their care. I could go on. The point is, we own it. So stand up about it, talk about it, stop nitpicking that we should have done a, b, c, or d. Make the case. Fight. We had a chance to generate a new consensus in america. We have a giant opportunity to set us on a course that our policies or the domino policies of the next 15 years we have a chance to close a chapter on the failed policies of the Republican Party. We have a chance to generate consensus in the public so they will look at what we did and trust us to continue to do things for them. So we can get public support focus on the resurgence of the middle class. You may remember, the president and i, when he asked me to join the ticket, i asked him one question. I said, do you mean what you say about the middle class . Do you mean it . And he did. From day one, we have said that the single most significant responsive move we had to do is to restore the middle class. That is what we are determined to do. We will not relent. The next step to deal with the middle class is a deal them back in the bargain. Affordable childcare, paid leave, tax breaks for working families, that will put thousands of men and women back in the workforce who cannot be there now because of those impediments. Easing the burden on Single Parents and two wage earner families. Things republicans used to, 30 years ago, support, before they adopted this economic theory they have been working on. The republicans have discovered the phrase middle class. Think of the debates. Did you hear it cross their lips . It is time to give them a choice. Welcome back to the club. The question is, do you want to continue to pay for a trust Fund Loophole that. 8 of the taxpayers in america qualify . Or do they want to join us in eliminating that wasteful expenditure . The other millionaires and billionaires cannot get it. You only get it if you go out and buy 50 million worth of stock. You leave it to your heirs, they sell it for 100 million. We pay the difference between what they inherited it at and what it was worth when they sold it. This does not affect middleclass people, this does not affect anybody in the stock market that is the 99. 92 . We have to make the case. Do not let them make this it is wealth envy. Give them a chance. Lay out the case. This can benefit hundreds of thousands, millions of middleclass people not by giving them a handout but by giving them an opportunity to meet their expectations. I can hardly wait for this debate, as you can probably tell. I can hardly wait. Like the debate we had with romney and ryan about their tax policies to the wealthy i can hardly wait. This is in my wheelhouse. This is the debate we should have. A fight we should look forward to. That is a fight that clearly demonstrates that this Republican Party has no notion no interest, no desire or no belief in growing the middle class as an important element of economic policy. I am always talking about the middle class. I know a lot of people are tired of hearing it. It is the game. Let me tell you something. The thing we do not talk about the middle class here, the reason why we have had, unlike any other democracy in the world, as much political and social stability in times of great difficulty is because we have had a rising middle class. That is the reason. That is not an economic point. It is a national point. That is why we have had the stability. We continue to read headlines where american middle class is no longer the wealthiest in the world. The middle class declining. Like i said before, go back to your old neighborhoods. Look at the people you grew up with. Ask them if they have the same confidence their fathers had. Ask them that. When the middle class does well, you know it. The wealthy do very well. This is not about antiaccumulation of wealth. The poor have a way up. That is the way we grow this economy. The president and i mean it when we say the defining issue of our time is whether we can restore the middle class. You never read this before. You did not read this in the 1970s, 1980s, 2000s. What is the mantra lately is the mantra of the intellectual. the middle class has to learn how to downsize, this is not postworld war ii. serious people. they have to learn to downsize. downsize your dreams. how many times have you heard that . it may be better for the middle class if they rent instead of buy their homes. i love a phrase by larry summers. People do not go out and wash their rental cars, he said. [laughter] renting is not bad but think of neighborhoods where everybody rented. Could you get together and make a collection to put flowers in the rotary circle . It affects the quality of our life. I refuse to accept the idea they have to downsize their dreams. It is what we were told about the automobile industry. Where is it addressed we cannot be the leading manufacturer in the world . Where is it written . [applause] i am serious. There are serious economists our side. Modify policies to encourage the following alternative behaviors come on. These guys do not get it. Middleclass is not a number, it is a value set. I asked my economists it is not a number. It is about being able to own your own home instead of rent it. It is about being able to send your kid to a local park and not being worried about if they will get beat up, sending your kid a to a school that if your kid does well, theyll get to college. If they get to college, they can figure out a way to get them there. If your geriatric mom or dad is in trouble, you can hope your children will never have to take care of you. That is middleclass. That is what people think. That is how they operate. [applause] look, we will only accomplish that goal we just started to turn the fundamentals around in terms of wage growth. We have to convince people and the middle class that we have their back, we know what we are doing. This is what we are going to do. Again, stick with it. Own it. I know we have been a political heavy load to carry. But, embrace us. Support it. We have turned the corner because of the sacrifices you have made. Lets start fighting back. Lets talk about what we did who we are, and what we stand for. That is why i loved the president s state of the union speech. It was about what defines us and our values as it was a checklist of individual things we had to do. [applause] lets resolve the double down. Lets resolve the double down right now and take the case to our republican friends and be open to compromise, to change. I mean it sincerely. Those of you know i have a lot of good friends that are republicans. I disagree with them. But lets keep it open. Lets not make any apologies for what we did, explain why what we did worked in order to make the case to what we are proposing now will take us even further. I really appreciate your willingness to listen to me speak. We have to win this place back. We have to take it back. Not just for us, for the American People. Thank you all very much. [applause] courts would look house their current leaders spoke to the news media in philadelphia. They discussed policies and strategies for the next few years going into the 2016 elections. Javier basares speaks first and talks about the partys agenda to assist the middle class. This is about 30 minutes. Still here, huh . Ok, were ready. Mr. Van hollen. Just to give you a warning, we have buses filled with members who are waiting for us so we will all try to be brief. We will scoot out so we can make sure it continues to be a great conference. Should we start . Let me thank you all for being here. Im with the House Democratic caucus. The vicechairman will say we just how to a rousing finish. The cleanup a batter did a great job. We know why we were here. We came understanding the mission we were given by the American People. We had it in the title of our conference grow americas economy, grow american paychecks. That is what it was all about for us. Honing in on what we need to do to make sure it is clear who the real job creators are the middle class. It is the middle class that generates demand and they are the ones that builds the market. The middleclass drives our economy. We understand and we choose to begin a gratz because we choose to be the party of the middle class, not the party of we understand there has to be solutions. Strengthens the middle class with not just jobs, higher wages, improving the roads, we have to do something more to make sure more than 10 million americans get security. The land and home of american democracy, unnited shoulder to shoulder with the middle class who want to dream even higher. We are here with the aspiring class who dreams of becoming a part of the middle class, the job creators. That is why we came. We know where we go from here. Let me ask our vice chairman to tell us a little more about the conference. We had a rousing im so pleased to have the opportunity to introduce the Vice President today before our caucus. I want to thank the president for his speech last night. There is really no better way to end of the conference then with joe biden. I want to thank javier and all the caucus staff for a wonderful caucus retreat. I want to thank the leader and the membership of the leadership on focusing our attention and continuing to a good job of focusing our attention on growing our economy for the middle class. Giving a leg up to those who need it most. People are struggling. People in the middle class today. Thank you all. With that, i turn it now to the Ranking Member of the Budget Committee, chris van hollen. I also want to thank our chairman and vice chairman. It was a terrific gathering. I think we all leave here with a big boost to go into the next round. Thank you, madam leader, and the whole team. On monday, we will be hearing from the president in the form of his submission of the budget which will build on his state of the Union Address and quickly be in discussion on the budget because both the house and the senate under the rules of a come up with the budget by april 15. Those budgets at their root are really a discussion of and a debate about the values and priorities we have in the country. Where should we be investing, how do we move forward, how do we raise revenue how do we do all of that in a way that grows the economy as fast as possible, but also in a way that provides for greater shared prosperity because one of the things we have seen is as the job markets have picked up, as more and more people of gone back to work, we still have a real challenge with stagnant wages, especially for folks in the middle class and those working their way into the middle class. We will be focused like a laser beam on those issues. The president s budget makes investments that are absolutely essential to help power our economy in education in Scientific Research and innovation in infrastructure. Also provides help to working families and middle income families to help make ends meet. Things like his child and dependent care tax credit. We want to make sure both the investments we make as well as the tax policy we build are designed again to rapidly grow our economy in a way that everybody can benefit. What we do know is that past our republican colleagues will put forward a budget that takes his in the opposite takes us in the opposite direction. They will focus on trickledown economics, cutting tax rates for folks of the very top and thinking somehow that will help everybody else when history has told us that does not work. Then they will be dramatically cutting investments in our kids education and Scientific Research that helps power our economy and infrastructure. We welcome this today. We think this is the question the country should be focused on. If you listen to a lot of republicans, they agree with us rhetorically on what the challenges right . You hear Mitch Mcconnell and Speaker Boehner talking for the first time about the middle class and wages stagnation. We think we have a plan and the president has a plan to do that. We think the republicans plan takes the country in the wrong direction. Donna edwards who has been somebody i should say when it comes to things like that shout independent tax credit has been championing this for a very long time. Donna . Thank you, veryy very much, chris. A fabulous conference about growing and building the momentum of the middle class. Im here to talk about a piece of Unfinished Business. A looming deadline on february 27 for 280,000 employees of the department of Homeland Security and the security of the United States and our domestic security the expiration of the funding for the department of Homeland Security. Like chris van hollen, i represent a Congressional District that is in the metropolitan washington region whwreere our Law Enforcement agencies cooperate and share cooperation for our domestic security and our Homeland Security. They are depending on the Homeland Department of Homeland Security. At the response of daily threats to our homeland, republicans have decided they want to have a food fight with the president because he took executive action on immigration when they failed to act on immigration. Right now, they want to hold hostage the funding for the department of Homeland Security and it is unacceptable. The Unfinished Business from last year, the unfinished venice of this Congress Business of this congress, the first order of business before we can even get to these priorities is the fun of the department of Homeland Security. I think the American People should know that it is at the feet of the Republican Party that our domestic security is in jeopardy. For all of those employees who on february 27 they will be sent to employees without a paycheck because the republican failure to act. As we go back to february 17 looms and it is the responsibility of huhs republicans to get their act together and fund the department of Homeland Security. With that i would would like to turn this over to our leader who has taken charge and will lead the middle class momentum, nancy pelosi. Thank you, my colleagues. I want to join in commending the distinguished chair of the caucus and the vice chair for a great, great meeting. It is frought with me a few day days of conversation is just the tip of the iceberg of the work that has gone into it and what has gone into it has produced unity, camaraderie, enthusiasm but more importantly then that, momentum. Momentum for the middle class. The middle class. The true job creator and that is our message to the American People. The squeeze on the middle class is a squeeze on our economy. All of the Economic Indicators and which show that our economy is growing prospects are good,ion september one. The stagnation of wages forour working family s. We will not have the recovery that we need and our focus has been on the middle class, the backbone of our democracy but also the job creators. As we gather here in philadelphia where are many of our sacred founding documents were written they talked about life liberty and pursuit of high pressurepiness. That was amazing that in that time they said life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In affordable kay act Affordable Care act we have given the ability for a healthier life because they were not job locked and could make their own decisions freely. But the forecast is also that life liberty and pursuit of happiness must be reflected in the values of our country in a budget and i was very proud of the interaction this is only the beginning on the budget led by congressman van hollen and Ranking Member van hollen to be continued. This is just where we go from here continued discussion on the budget which will show the differentiation between the values this we think everyone shares in our country and the ill misdieded misguided proprosals the republicans have. Ranking member van hollen will be having those meetings with members about how we build consensus around our budget and support of the principles on the president s budget. Mr. Cliburn is heading up the outreach and Engagement Task force to give people a reason to register and vote in the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights act. Congressman edwards will be ticking the lead on tick the lead on our Campaign Reform trying to reduce the role of money in politics to in crows increase the level of hope and par tisdale picks of many more people, all part of of that empowerment and we are proud of the role that chairman, i still call him chairman, steve israel is heading our policy and Communication Group so that when we build the con is consensus within the Party Everyone is again in harmony, in unity, in force on it. Of course, our chairman will be writing a political course and we are very proud of the reaction the caucus has given to him. For us it was a very successful weekend. Almost a weekend. A few days. We were so honored by the president s speech and the Vice President as well. Building on the momentum of the state of the Union Address reiterating returning to some of those principles and values and specific recommendations Building Momentum for the middle class. Thank you. A couple of questions. Madam leader, a few questions. First one on behalf of my testimonied vtvcolleague is. Your reaction to mitt romney. Who else you got on the list . Any reaction to mitt romney not running . Let me say this. We have members waiting on the bus. Im all packed so i can stay a little later than the others. Lets stay with our cause. I will come back. Imhe happy to come back to that. Lets give them the chance. My question would be for you. I understand last night the president talked about to the was met with skepticism from the caucus. Could you deliver the votes on that if need be . I dont know, i think people are as i have said over and over lets try to find a path to yes. I dont know if that is possible. It depends on what is in the trade in t. P. P. Tell us what that is. I have seen people are open to listening because we are a party of friday and we trade and we understand the global economy. I said a couple of days ago we will make a judgment about what is in there has to when what impact it has on the wages of americas working families. If i may ask one hometown question. Local media and local political leaderships assessed we trying to get the 16 convention here. Back to that in a moment. Thank you, maam. Do you think that is why the mayor was here the whole time . Laugh. Yes he was. Maybe he just was attracted to our issues. He was very good. You mentioned congressman cliburn leading up the effort on Voter Engagement. How much have you talked about the Voter Engagement issue and the Voting Rights issue . We talked great deal about it. I asked her we opened on wednesday evening, the whole evening was about that. And we showed some clips from that earlier era, not just to focus on the movement, but to give our members, a lot of whom have read about or heard about the movement as a lot of people called it. We did two clips. One from a speech that Martin Luther king jr. Did in 1966. Less than a year after the voting acts right was signed into law. And another one from a speech he gave in 1967, not coincidentally both those speeches were in south carolina. To allow our members to see, ha in spite of when you hear from the other side, Martin Luther king jr. Had a big focus on the battle box and legislation. It wasnt just about a dream unfulfilled but he spoke about how that dream should be fulfilled and so we are focusing a lot of potential on this. And to build this middleclass economy that is so critical to the future growth and development of this great country, we need to get more people engaged and were going to work very hard to do that. [inaudible] yes, we did. We have a full task force. The task force has met already and well meet at least twice this coming week to really get the ball moving. And they all have great ideas on how we can get this done. Any questions . I want to ask you about how this was run. At times for the reporter it seems like its been a police state. At the caucus direction the staff has been heavy handed following reporters to the bathroom at times. We have been escorted everywhere we have gone. The republicans dont operate like this. It is not like this when we follow you around the capitol. Why all the heavy handedness. Is it really necessary . Were not aware that they were following we had to have the security in the hotel that we were in because it was expected by Capital Police that we would be secure. This hotel where the press was located, we did not have those kinds of requirements. You want to give me some names of staff im willing to take them. Because they may be ready to work for the Capital Police. They were operating at the direction of the caucus they said and the Capital Police said the same thing. Its unlike any of the others operate get names because that wasnt at the direction of the caucus. They followed me into the bathroom too. [laughter] let me say this because something came to my attention this morning. As many of you know, i come from a less than democratic background. I define middleclass aspirationally. I believe even i finished college and my wife, together we both made around 7,000 a year but i thought i was the middle class. So im very, very concerned about the wait staff. A few of them came to me about some of this. And i said to them, look, you get the president of the United States and the Vice President of the United States. You all read the headlines and you all know exactly what kind of challenges the security of the first family is having. So we are not going to be able because they wanted to come into the breakfast until people are vetted by social cut security numbers and that sort of thick we told them this is no the what we would like but this is what is. Ing to be required. A lot of this has been going around and they understood. I think we have a responsibility to maintain the security that the secret service were demanding. One last question. Chairman lujan what have you told your colleagues about the 2016 cycle . How are you preparing . Whip hoyer suggested with the 16 districts various machinations might be in play or might be competitive . Do you adhere to that strategy . What is the message you are going to your colleagues . Look, i think we were all clear. Maybe even mr. Hoyers quote was taken out of context. Theres excitement within our colleagues and you heard it yesterday. To feel that energy and to be able to talk my colleagues over the hours that follow the presentation into last night into today this morning taps on the back saying were with you. Were going do whatever we need to do. Theres excitement. And theres member engagement. You seen members that something happened in the past and theyre all in. Weve turned the page. We dont like being in the minority. And the path that we laid out is pretty simple. Its majority math. We know that republicans are overextended. You look at the maps where the president won with strong numbers. They will be defending 20 plus seats. We are going ford and they are having a messaging nightmare. Look at governor romney, one of the questions that comes in is asking about president romneys row action to him . I think republicans are happier that he is not running than anyone else in the country as we talk about where our priorities have to be with the middle also. Middle class. Week one, week two, week three week four. Week four brought us, its not the end of the world to be able to put the Homeland Security department and the nations security and the economic strength that comes with our ports, that comes with that. Whats going to come in week five . Lets look at that together. Look, were strong. Were coming out of this with a unified message. That means being able to put a roof over your head. That means being able to have bread and milk, and eggs maybe put a little money in the bank. Make sure your kids can go to make sure your kids can go to college and look after them. Thats what were talking about. And where i come from those are the people creating jobs putting people to work. Thats where we are all committed. Every one of our members if you go talk to them and i challenge you to, we are all about strengthening working families middleclass across america. When i get a chance to talk about it, lets go because sleeves are going to be rolled up. Were going to see excitement from all of our colleagues. Im more energized now than i was coming into this retreat. Mr. Crowley would like to answer your question about the convention. I want to thank id like to thank the mayor for the welcome that hes given to us to this incredibly important city to the United States. We really have had an incredibly warm welcome. And madam leader, i look forward to welcoming the entire delegation to the 2016 convention. And then congresswoman beatty who was on the trip from columbus would have something to say. We were home runed by the presence of the mayor. Always an intellectual resource to us in terms of policy and organizing. I dont know if you saw his speech the other day he talked about infrastructure and thanked us for what we did in the early time in the aura but the fact is he came to washington and advocated for that in a very, very positive way and got results from it. So i mean what a wonderful city for many purposes and this convention i mean, this meeting certainly went off very well. So thats good. Yeah, well, you know, i dont know the d. N. C. Made the decision. The most appropriate city wins. [laughter] he probably concluded the prospect of success was not there despite the thought that he was going to win on election night. Theyre a lovely family. Hes a wonderful american. Hes been a governor. He served our country in many ways. I dont want to make a joke about his candidacy. But i dont i dont think that i said that he was the preferred candidate. That tells you how much strength i think he would have in the general election. I just want to go back to one point. You mentioned about the Voting Rights and the civil rights and that aspect of this meeting. I just want to say that i did the close as we presented mr. Van hollen as we discuss Budget Priorities an how we arrived at them. But i started my remarks quoting dr. King saying that he wanted his children to be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. That sentence by dr. King, he taught us so much but to listen that to judge, judge, use the word judge, by the content of their character and how do we as a country address the content of the character of our children when we have their parents not milwaukeeingnotmaking enough money to put food on the table and have to have two jobs. So they dont have any time to mentor them . If they get sick they dont have one paid sick leave to care for their children, that housing is a situation that really causes some psychological problems for children when it is in doubt or not adequate. The opportunity gap that we have in our country in order to address it, we have to address the education gap and what is happening, and 40 million children are going to be on the side of the Digital Divide if we do not have the right Budget Priorities to address education and the right policies in the budget that address enabling families to have the time to mentor their children, to nurture their children. It is the character, the content of the character of a nation what is the content of the character of a nation that does this does not nurture the enc. J. The nurturing of its children in its policies . And i think again that dr. Kings words while we think of them weve heard them so many times but taken one at a time, judge and we will be judged by the decisions we make to meet the needs of our children, all of americas children who are the heirs to americas future. So it was very much a part of our values that we discussed and our plan for how we go forward. Thank you all for participating and see you next time. Byebye. [captioning performed by the National Captioning Institute which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] \[unintelligible [unintelligible conversation] the inference o to be drawn to a respect and have on two other occasions message to be drawn is that there is a question about the the judgment of our country to help me mix paving a mix a judgment about whatever agreement there is. If that was inappropriate it did not follow tampa bay i think it is subjected to normal protocol the invitation would not have been extended a. And b, whenever you think of any of it, apart from all of the rest, the two weeks before the election in israel just is not appropriate. You will say and that is another point, i think that establishment of the state of israel is one of the greatest political accomplishments of the 20th century. We love israel and is in our National Security interests to be together but even if israel never existed the United States of america has part of our Foreign Policy a pillar of our National Security [inaudible]. Iran cant have that weapon. It is dangerous to the region and dangerous to the globe and we will start an arms race that will be endless. Nobody has to instruct us as to the seriousness of this issue and certainly again with all respect in the world to the Prime Minister and all of the [inaudible] for the state of israel i dont even know he that everyone in israel is supportive of the invitation. Would you be willing to do something other than speak to the joint session . I think of that the opportunities are great and i see him on tv every sunday morning. I think that he is a respected figure whose opinions are valued and he has establishd that relationship with the American People and again this less to close to the election i dont think it is is appropriate. Thank you all. Thank you. Any change of plans . No. Thank you. Now we talk with a capitol Hill Reporter about the week ahead for congress. And for a look at president obamas Budget Proposal for next year and the week ahead, were joined by christina marcos. Christina the proposal for next year arrived on capitol hill on monday. The headline on the hill obamas budget 74 billion above caps. What are the details that stood out for you with this budget and whats been the reaction from lawmakers so far . The reaction of president obamas budget that he wants to repeal the sequester is a series of spending cuts that law makers approved in 2011. But with the economy showing signs of improving in recent months as well as threats from the Islamic State president obama making the case that this is a good time to increase spending after three years of budget of deficit dropping. However republicans dont think this is a good time to raise spending habits especially for domestic spending because they dont think the economy is quite there yet. Lets move on to the repeal of the Affordable Care act that we might see and you actually had a tweet. You write, Obamacare Repeal bill on house floor next week will include instructions for committees to include Health Care Reform alternative. How is the different and how many have there been so far . This will be the fourth stand alone full scale Obamacare Repeal since 2011 and almost the 60th under law the past four years. But whats different this time around state that includes instructions for a committee for the alternative health care law. While youre seeing republicans very united on repealing the law they havent come up with an alternative. If committees are able to come up with an alternative this would be a major step in the party in the lat five years since they railed against the law being enacted. And the House Majority leader Kevin Mccarthy outlined what we might see in february. Two things were missing. One the abortion bill and now Border Security which kind of got sidelined because of some bad weather and a short workweek. Whats in this bill and why skip these two items . Those two were among the bills that were pulled this month from two different parts of the Republican Party. The abortion bill that would have banned abortions after 20week of pregnancy was yanked from the floor because of opposition from republican women. Around centrists that would only give exceptions to rapes if they were reported reported to police. The Justice Department estimates that nearly 70 of rapes goes unreported the members were concerned that it would impose too harsh of a requirement on rape victims. And with the border bill it was in part because of the truncated workweek due to the snowstorm on monday last week but also tank the due to opposition and skepticism that it would be a route for them to still pass the department of Homeland Security spending bill without a challenging executive action on immigration. And whats the time line for that department of Homeland Security bill . And also the 529, what are lawmakers planning on doing with the College Savings account . Well, funding if for the Homeland Security runs out on february 27. And they have only a few weeks to deal with that deadline. As for the 529 plan that was originally a part of president obamas budget but after democrats lobbied the president not to include it in his budget, the white house announced that they would not be part of the budget. So the house is going to respond and hit president obama on this point by voting on a bill sponsored by congresswoman jenkins of kansas. That would prevent anything on these 529 plans to save for college. Were expecting to see activities shin on the Homeland Security bill that passed in the house and the provisions for block the executive action on immigration. What do the parties have in mind for this Senate Action . Well, democrats have announced that theyre going to unite opposition against this bill because it includes language that defunds president obamas executive action to delay deportations for illegal immigrants. And since this procedural vote is going to need 60 votes in in order to advance and republicans only have 54 see the receipts in the senate they will fall short of the necessary hurdlele to move forward with the bill. Republican vs. Been making the point that democrats could at least vote to debate the bill and offer appendments as senator major leader mcconnell offered a litany of amendments them on the keystone bill throughout january. But democrats are saying they dont want to waste their time with this bill that isnt going anywhere for them. Christina marcos, she writes for the hill newspaper and you can also follow her on twitter. Her handle is cimarcos and read her reporting at thehill. Com. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the National Captioning Institute which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] next, Governor Scott walker and the situation on yemen and its impact on middle east nations. After that, David Cameron marking the 50th anniversary of the death of winston churchill. On this next washington journal, Kenneth Vogel looks at Campaign Spending Strategy First the 2016 election including 1 billion that will be spent by the koch brothers. Then wall street journal on industry, government and reactional use of drones and concerns about criminals and terrorists getting access. And c. E. O. Of Community Services association of america, he talks about efforts to regulate payday loans. And we will take your calls join the conversation at facebook and twitter. Washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Here are some of our featured programs. On cspan choose book tv saturday night at 10 00 on after words, White House Correspondent for american urban radio april ryan on her more than 25 years in journalism and her coverage of three president ial administrations. And sunday at noon our conversation with walter isaacson. And on American History tv on cspan 3 saturday at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the civil war. Boston College History professor Heather Cox Richardson on how the cowboy became symbolic on the newly unified america. And sunday evening on american artifacts well turn the house that was the Head Quarters of American Red Cross and learn about the life of its founder clara barton. Call us, email us at cspan. Org. Or send us a tweet at cspan comments. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook. Follow us on twitter. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] now wisconsin governor and potential 2016 candidate Governor Scott walker. He has formed oh, american revive value to raise money for a possible 2016 run bid. His remashes at the American Action forum are 45 minutes. Welcome, everyone. Im president of the American Action forum. And im delighted that everyone is here for the very first of the series. The American Action forum we turned five in january. It seemed appropriate to recognize his contributions in a lasting way and so weve named this lecture series after fred our founding chairman of the board. It will convene roughly every two months and is dedicated to the investigation into effective Public Policy and in that way shares the spirit of the American Action forum which is dedicated to notions that ideas are important, that the facts on the ground are important but unless those turn into action effective Public Policy its not enough. Were pleased today to open the lecture series and have present the man for whom it was named, were delighted to have fred here. Im going to start about 30 minutes on explaining what the American Action forum is. Its my pleasure to introduce scott. Before i do that i would like to compliment doug. Just a word on the on them. I founded this with the idea that we needed to bring together the policy ideas from the right to the moderate and is compelling to the American People. I must say, doug, its far exceeded any expectations i had. Its been a phenomenal success thanks to you and thanks to your team. As i like to say you fought which above your weight and had a powerful unflew powerful invitation powerful influence i think on policy formation in this country. Now im not going to talk too much about scott walkers accomplishments as governor or his biographical background because you all have that in your handouts or have it in your knowledge. Let me just tell you why i think scott walker is a terrific leader and why im so pleased to have him here to open this series of talks today. About six years ago, i was at a forum and scott walker was a countingcounting executive. I think it was in sun valley. And he was there as a competitor for the nomination for governor of wisconsin. He was county executive of milwaukee county. I asked to get some information about scott walker and somebody gave me some background on him and i learned that as county executive he had been elected twice. Or three times . Twice . One special, two regulars, yes. In milwaukee county. Now milwaukee county, being the county executive of milwaukee is a big deal. Its a big county, the city and the whole environs of it. Hed cut taxes, hed improved education. He was elected by a 20point margin in a very, very blue county. And then we looked at the results from the 2008 election. Barack obama won that election. Scott walker won his election by 20 points. I thought this guy must have had some kind of magic. I really hope he gets the nomination and goes to the new stage. If he does itle be a whole different ballgame if he troy tries to could this to this in the whole state. Not only did he get elected, but he did exactly what he said he would do. Now, look, im a businessman. I admire people who are looking you in the eye and say this is what im going do and then they go out and do it to the letter. And they have the ability not only to talk about it but to get it done and to execute on that. He paid a big price on that. He had to run again in 2012. Where he won again. So i guess what impressed me most about this governor is he says what hes going to do. Follows through and gets it done. He has the courage to withstand the pressures that come against him, and as a westpointer and former green beret, i want to use this analogy, i want somebody as my leader in my Political Office as someone that i want in a fox hole in a firefight. I cant think of anybody id rather be in that foxhole with in a firefight or in distress than Governor Scott walker. Scott. Well, thanks, fred and thank you. That is a high compliment coming from somebody from westpoint with your military experience and leadership experience in some ways. Weve been friends for some time. I think i mentioned 10, 12, and 14. I appreciate assistance. Not only for me, Susanna Martinez john kasich and leaders at the state level how many of these leaders wouldnt be in their place myself included without your leadership and we appreciate that. And doug, thank you. Not only your leadership here but in the past when i was involved and still am now involved with the National Governors association. You appear with us and share information with us. We appreciate your leadership here as well. Appreciate the opportunity to share in this in this first of the series of which im sure there will be many other great speakers to come. Today is kind of interesting. I came in late last night. And ive got to tell you, i love before i left particularly at night because now the announcement has been coming from the north and the reagan, its beautiful at night seeing the National Cathedral and coming along the potomac and seeing the Kennedy Center and seeing that, looking down the mall and seeing the lincoln and the washington and the Jefferson Memorial that theres Something Wonderful about coming in to our Nations Capital. Over the years ive never lost that looking at the great monuments and thinking about the great leaders. But ive got to tell you as much as i love coming here i love coming home even more. Not just because i love wisconsin but because in many ways i think with the respect that many of the people here are trying to change that that for a lot of folks here in our Nations Capital in washington it is kind of a a dump. I like to call it 68 square miles surrounded by reality. And in many ways theres a big difference between washington and the rest of the country. And so today part of what i want to talk about that is that contrast not just between wisconsin and washington but the rest of america. What ive seen here in the last few years under this administration its a top down government knows best. Its a tired policy that will not work in the future. What i see in the states and from the people outside of washington is theyre ready for something new, something fresh Something Dynamic that instead of the top down government knows best we he want something that is built up from big bold ideas not only from states but prosecutorial discretion communities across the country. Of its what we talked about our american revival. Our next step in making the case that we to transform america need to really transform power power from our Nations Capital here in washington. Back in states and the cities of this country where the people, where the hard working people of this country can actually hold their government accountable at the state and local level much more so than the can in washington. I think people want it a more efficient, a more Accountable Government and they will get that from the states and ultimately to the people. And so in wisconsin were a great example. We took on the big special interests. You think about it, four years ago about this point, you saw many of the leaders of the aflcio, the n. E. A. Came to our state to try to intimidate us to do what they wanted wanted to have done here in washington not what the people in wisconsin have elected us to do and we won. Part of the reason why we were the upset was the number one target in america in terms of the reelect from many of the same organizations was because they were upset because we took the government away from the special interest here in washington and elsewhere around the country and we put that power firmly in the hands of the Hardworking Taxpayers. And i believe even in wisconsin who hasnt gone republican in more than 30 years since 1984 thats a state that we won not once, not twice but three times in the last four years. In a state where we face tremendous challenges an money run against us but face some of those same challenges this last fall in the reelection for governor and we were able to win not only on elections but on policy. I assume were going to take some questions as part of doug and fred joining me here on the panel. Well talk in greater detail about some of these, but weve seen tremendous turnaround when it comes to the economy, our financial situation, in terms of the stability and health care and other areas as well. But i want to tell you two quick stories about two areas that i think reflect the difference between washington and not only wisconsin but the states. One involved a young woman named megan. Now megan more than four years ago actually at the beginning of 2010, so about five years ago now, Megan Sampson was a brandnew teacher in the Public School system. In milwaukee. She was one of those Great Teachers that we would want in any School District across the country certainly in our state but she was in milwaukee like my urban School Systems across america. Has been continuously challenged. So megan found out early on in 2010 that she was named the outstanding teacher of the year in the state of wisconsin for english teachers. So she was one of those top teachers. Really distinguished daughter out there. She found out about that, not long after that she found out that shed been laid off. Shes been laid off. This is because under my predecessor even with democrats in charge of wisconsin, theyve cut money on schools but they got no tools to react to that. What do they do in milwaukee like many other School Districts across the state arguably around the country when they were faced with touch economic choices how did they do that . Theyed a muensterredthey administered them under the old Union Contract that said the last hired is the first out. And so Megan Sampson the outstanding teacher of the year for the state of wisconsin was one of the first to be laid off because she was one of the last to be hired in that School District. Our reforms that came about that got the nations attention of the protest that came because of that early stages. Our reform changed that broken system. Today its not just about balancing budget, it empowers schools to hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance and put the brightest and best in their classrooms and have an impact on that. Weve seen great success. For the last four years graduations rates have been up the people we elect at the local level are now the people in charge. To me thats a prime example of where you take the power away from the Big Government special interest in this case those driven be many here in washington and you put it in the hand of the Hardworking Taxpayers and the people they elect at the local level. You can actually hold them accountable to be more efficient and responsive to the needs and expectations of the hard working taxpayer. The other story is about a woman named elizabeth. About this time about three or four years ago, we were looking at making a change in wisconsin. Most across the country, even today do not require recipients for things like food stamps to be signed up for employability. I decided looking at this and talking with poem across the state we wanted to make that a priority. We believed there were Jobs Available and even more over the last few years and if we were going to provide assistance, particularly to adults without children even though we will help you when times are tough our expectation is this safety net that you bounce out of, not a hammock that you stay in. We proposed requirements that we now enacted on that would require food stamp recipients in our state, particularly for adults without children to be enrolled in part of the employability training. We started with a pilot and expanded across the rest of the state. But early on when i wanted to make this proposal as you might imagine i gave an address in front of the join session of the legislature. You asked people to sit up in the balcony and introducing people to the ideas that you have. I heard from the folks that work in health and Human Services of the state about this woman elizabeth. Elizabeth to her credit before requirement for public assistance, elizabeth on her own had been in tough times. She knew she didnt want to be that way forever. So she voluntarily participated in one of our employability programs early on before we made it a requirement. And her story is such a great story because she not only completed that, she did so well that they plugged her in to the local Technical College where she got trained as a certified nursing assistant. I thought in my address to talk about this and other policy initiatives i thought who better than to put elizabeth up right down from where my wife sat and introduce her as a part of my speech but i couldnt do it. I couldnt do it. Elizabeth was working that day as a certified nursing i siftant and she liked her job so much she was going back to school as a registered nurse. We look at reforms like those that we propose and say people like the governor are trying to make it harder to get government assistance. No, im not. Im trying to make it easier to get a job and elizabeths story is one we are trying to empower to. We need to empower state and low cal powers to put Innovative Solutions that help people meet their potential. Growing up as a kid, i grew up in a small town where my dad was a pastor and my mom woked part time as a secretary and helped raise my brother and i. I learned early the value of hard work. I was a dishwasher at the country side restaurant, i worked flipping hamburgers in high school to save for college. I learned the value of hard work. One of the things that is missing today is not like what i experienced is that early on in my life we realize that you if you work hard and play by the rules in america that the opportunity should be open to all of us but the outcome should still be up to each of us individually. There are some who believe those rules dont apply anymore. That just having hard work and determination arent enough because the odds are stacked against them. Much of that is because things that we see driven here in washington, the powers here in washington have taken away from some of those incentives and wed be better suited if we put that power and that structure in many cases transfer the power back to the states and back to local governments where the people in those communities, the people in those states can ultimately hold their government accountable. There are plenty of other examples and again in discussions we can talk about that in greater detail. But im reminded by one of my favorite sayings from president reagan. There are many great statements that are often quoted but one of mine is that one of president reagans initial inaugural address he said that we should all remember that the federal government did not create the is states, the states created the federal government. Now more than ever that is important. I look and many ways i think the president we currently have in the white house almost has a completely opposite view. When i heard the state of the Union Address, he sounded like a president who wanted to grow the economy in washington. The rest of us wasnt want to grow the economy in cities and towns throughout the nation. Think of the disconnect. Of six of the 10 richest counties in america according to Median Income are right here in the washington, d. C. Market. Six of the top 10. To me that suggests theres a disconnect between those who want to grow government in washington and those who want to grow in cities and towns and villages all across the great country. Thats where our american revival talked about transferring the power out from washington out to the states ought out to the individuals where they can hold their government accountable in a way that i think sets the standard for the future. I will end with the last summary and then i think we will move the podium and bring some chairs up. Years ago i had a chance in september 2011 not long before i was first in office and some the big changes that we proposed an made in wisconsin. I had a chance to go to a conference in philadelphia. That might not sound like a big deal. But to me it was because as a kid you loved history. I loved reading about our founders. I will a little geeky. I almost thought of the founders like superheros, bugger than life. I loved reading about them. The first time i came to the Nations Capital was because the americanamerican legion had a program called boys state. The only thing i have in common with bill clinton. He with went in 1963, i went in 1965. You can see a little bit of those differences are there. That was a huge difference that was a huge impact but i never made it to philadelphia in the fall of 2011 i was going to participate with other governors the a conference and because i loved history and still do today so much i got up early and went over with the park rangers to see the liberty bell and to go into Independence Hall. Mind you for someone who thought of the founders of the country as bigger than lie going to Independence Hall is like going totaling ofgoing to the league of nations. Its like super heroes. This is where they were at. I got up early in the morning. Went into Independence Hall. Looked around in awe. And in a room not much bigger than the one were in now. Looked at the chairs, desk, and the room and it dawned on me these were ordinary people ordinary people who did something quite extraordinary. They didnt just risk their political careers. They didnt just risk their business ventures. These were ordinary people who risked their lives for the freedoms we hold dear today. Moments like that really put in place for me why americas so exceptional. Why this is arguably the greatest country in the history of the world. It is because of people like those who sat in that room. Ordinary people who did those extraordinary things and realized that in moments of crisis crisis in our nations history not just then but throughout time up until now what has made this country so exceptional has been in those times where economic orifice cal or military or spiritual what has made America Great there have been men and women of courage who are willing to stand up and think more about the future of their children and their grandchildren than they thought of their own political futures. To me this is one of those times where we can stand up and say the way to move to this country is not to go back in time. Those were pretty good ideas back then. I think theyre planned for a road map Going Forward than if we go back to those founding principles that say the power is best vested not in the federal government but in the states and more uponly in the hands of the people that is a road map for us Going Forward whether it is on healthcare or education or transportation or some area, the best way we mob move this cupry is by transferring tampa bay country is by transferring pouty fresh washington out to the hard working people of this country. With that, i think we will move forward and mix adjustments and take make adjustments and take some questions. Thank you. [applause] now a coin toss who gets the first question. You are smarter than me so you ask the first question. Already i want to pick up on what you said about economic success. When you were elected governor wisconsin was ranked as the 41st best state to do business in. Its now 17. How . Well, a combination of things. I think theres really two categories in government being that the state, local and federal but most decisions are in the state and local level but a couple of things. Two parallel silos. One of the guest things the government can do it get out of the way. We lowered property taxes. My budget comes out neck week and they will be even lower than when you started. Those things have an impact. Putting money back in the hands of the people as consumers and Small Businesses as employ ares by also reining in spending. We reigned in on out of control lawsuits but in many areas its about getting government out of the way stopping the barriers, make making it easier for folks to start from the ground up to do it quickly and effectively. The other thing is theres an appropriate role for to become a better partner. We have done more to work with career and technical education. Im really good at reigning and spending i spent more in our Technical Colleges and some of our apprenticeship and colleges because i heard from colleges and manufacturing and i. T. There was a tremendous need not just to fill spots that were open but if we could show that we could fill spots consistently they would actually add more work. Weve seen great progress and im glad to say just this past week unemployment numbers one down last week. We look back five years ago and the Unemployment Rate was 9. 2 . The other interesting thing is you know the federal government updates from the previous month. In november, we had 18,000 private sector jobs created. The best month we had in the private sector in 25 years and the best yearoveryear numbers we had through november of 2013 to november of 2014 suns the 2014 since the late 1990s. And it is working. Theres more to be done. And if the government would free up even more sources. I think we could really build off of that. Basically a lot of those jobs you took from my home state of illinois. Southeastern wisconsin Kenosha County halfway between chicago and milwaukee has had about i believe in the lat cup of years there was a story in one of our business jumps ha showed in a 2. 5 year period almost 4,000 new jobs. Many were organic but many were coming north. Bruce rauner will put a little stop to that because im hoping that he will to a good job as the governor of illinois. Clearly one of the areas where you could see the push of businesses not just because of the tax and Business Climate but just because of stability. Already you took a hybrid approach to obama care in your state and could you explain why you did this and how it is working . Yeah, this is a good example of my overall government if you give people power at the state and local level, we have democracy i think that people thought for many years throughout our history and were showing it more in our state level now. I didnt accept the false choices that washington chooses to give you either not taking the expansion of medicaid which we dont or putting your tax buzzes at risk. My predecessor expanded the eligibility for medicaid, healthcare for those in need to twice the rate of possiblerty. Said medicaid isnt just for people in poverty but people at twice the level of poverty in the state, particularly those adults without children. And then as unfortunately is often done with policies like this he didnt put enough money into it. So there was a waiting list literally for People Living in poverty who were on a waiting list to get assistance and access to this. Because of the Supreme Court the other part i like but the part of the ruling on the Affordable Care act the state can control their destinies when it comes to medicaid. We were actually in a great position because what it allowed us to do is to say we restored medicaid to what it was intended to be, that is providing access for People Living in poverty and for all those living above that we transition into the marketplace. That means theres no waiting list in our state. And the Kaiser Family foundation, which doesnt have an angle said we did not take the Medicaid Expansion that has no insurance gaps so we tried to find common sense conservative reforms that could work. And thats a good example. Put more power in the state and more states would be able to do that. How is it negotiating that with c. M. S. As a republican governor . You are one of the few who actually did go in and offer an alternative. Im not a lawyer and all due respect to the lawyers in the room, i dont typically kay kaw for lawyers much typically care for lawyers much. Told them that we could do it. What they were trying to do is try to force the states to do that. Just on principle, i asked fellow governors this, why is putting more people on medicaid a good thing . I want to help legislative people out of that. Not because we want to push them out into the streets but because we want to empower people to control her own lives and decemberdestinies and this empowered us to do this. But in the case of the federal government h. H. S. When we first announced this i think within minutes if i remember right literally came out and said you cant do this. I think it was a story in a publication on the hill and we pushed back and had our attorneys point out that yes, we could do that. And one 15 minutes to a half hour they changed the story because they realized legally we could. It wasnt because of a whole lot of assistance to provide flexibility. Back to something you mention which is the importance of education and training initiatives in wisconsin and the food stamps to educational training work place training. Where else would you like to do wed like to go the whole spectrum. We would like to go for trainability. You dont want to penalize those without kids. The other thing i just introduced in my budget next tuesday is adding to that not just for food stamps where meet federal approval and long what we can do is the drug testing. To me as i traveled my state and i hear increasingly when i tell the story around the country, i hear employers Small Business owner who is say we have jobs. My state alone yesterday they were more than 70,000 jobs on our voluntary website that were open on in the state of wisconsin. Its great if you put money in the Technical Colleges. We need two things. We need people who know how to work. And im not talk about a skilled trade im talking about people who know how to show up every day for work five days a week. As a kid i worked in the country side restaurant flipping burgers in the town. Many of us learn that way. Unfortunately not everybody has those basic employability skills. But the other part is in transportation. Employers will say give me somebody who can get up to work, pass a drug test. We want those reforms. This is a classic example where the federal government h. S. S. Tend to push back on the states and say you cant do that. We need to open that up for innovation across measure. America. My partner here doug and the parties in a different kind of area, you command the National Guard. You have the same security concerns and same fears im sure in your state and off as all of us do. I wonder if you might want to comment on how you do you feel about the threat posed by isis and other enemies abroad and how that impacts your state and what any thoughts you have on i . Thats a great question. The interesting thing you have as a governor not only do i and other governors as commanders in chief of our National Guard at the state level which is a distinct honor and privilege but the head of the National Guard is actually my chief Homeland Security officer. In a fairly frequent basis give me an other governors things to do on a frequent basis, Security Threats assessments. We go to get classified information about threats not only in our state but typically with our region across the country. Without violating the terms of those specifically, i have to tell you for my children and others like them i see in an ongoing basis legitimate concerns about the National Security state by state and its one of the reasons why i said repeatedly one of the most important things we need out o our leaders is leadership. A Firm Leadership that shows our allies were willing to stand with them and shows our adversaries that we take their threats seriously. Its not a matter of if, its not another attempted threat its a matter of when. I want to make sure we take that threat to them and not wait for us. If i was in that position to the demand that i do everything in my power to make sure families in this country going to sleep safe at night knowing that theyre safe at night. Thats a question of priority. You balance the budget. Came in, deposited twice into your Rainyday Fund for wisconsin. Where do you see your budget . And where do you see the misplacement . Routinely in government here theres this false choice between either you have to raise taxes or you to dramatically cut service. Youre talking about being a businessman. Young or ole, businessman, businesswoman, where in business can you find someone successful that says times are tough, im either going to double the price or im going to cut the quality in half . Nobody does that, right . In the world outside of government nobody does that. They figure out a way to balance cost and quality so they find a way to be more efficient to deliver a high quality product at a reasonable cost out there. Yet in government that is the false choice we are given. We said we will not take that false choice. We enacted big reforms and peeled back collective bargaining and empowered not only the State Government but all of the local governments. I knew if we were freed of the Big Government Union Contracts not only get more in pension and healthcare contributions, do things like bid out the health insurance, which School Districts did. Stop overtime abuse. Empower innovation at the local level. We took a 3. 6 billion budget deficit and turned it into a surplus and balanced the budget each of the years i have been in office, and we will do it again this time around and the budget tuesday will finish off what balanced budget that is financially sound as well. And along the way our Rainy Day Fund is 165 times bigger than when we took office. The pension and retirement system the only one fully funded in the country, and we made the tough decisions and our state is that much better off because of it. In washington, a matter of setting priorities. Part is for me whether it is the local government, fire and police or here in the federal government has got to be protection. Safety and security of the american citizens and of those freedom loving people around the world who love the values. You can be responsible in doing that and make responsible reasonable expectations of how to streamline the way that we provide that security through the department of defense and other mechanisms out of this. That has to be at the top of the list. And that for a good part goes back to the theme of what i mentioned. To me to tackle the challenges, take money otherwise spent here or dictated here and send it back to the states and local governments where it is much more accountable to the regular taxpayer. Give examples. Medicaid is an issue we talked about many times before. Paul ryan talked about it in block grants. Give it back to the states. What we do in wisconsin is different than new york or california or texas or even illinois. Why not empower innovators at the local and state level to do the things that are in the best interests of their taxpayers and in the best interests of the people they are there to serve instead of the one size fits all mentality. We have something you talked about for years, we are talking about maintenance of effort. Why is it that a state or local leader cant make an innovation without federal regulation kicking in that says you cant do that unless you kick certain people off of your program. We were lucky because of the Supreme Court. I said i would rather keep the money at the state and local money. Transportation, instead of sending a dollar washington where they skim off costs and send it back to me, why not keep it local. Say when it comes to education instead of sending that money here, why not keep that dollar back in the local community so that the local school board can put that money in the classroom. So many examples out there that would help us not only balance the budget in the end, it would avoid the false choice of between balancing the budget and giving up services. Do it more effectively and more efficiently and ultimately in a way that is more accountable at the local and state level. How much time do we have left . I have two questions and i want to make sure i get to one. You get a minute each. We have about two minutes left. Here is my question really kind of off the policy area but i think it is important to me and i think it might be important to others. Four years ago you have two boys in Public High School in milwaukee. Yes. You live in a house in milwaukee. Danette is living in that house, and in the State Capitol where you are you were being invaded by the colleagues of the teachers and others who are responsible for your kids in school and thousands of others and it was on the national news. And six weeks before that you were a county executive and nobody in the country knew anything about you. All of a sudden there it is. You are in there in your office and people are coming in in droves and protests. Your kids are in Public School. How did you cope with that . How was that . How did you maintain your resolve . Family and faith played a big part in it. My faith had a big impact in terms of feeling called to run for governor and for the right reasons. You mentioned my boys, part of the reason why we got in the race early on, knowing it would be difficult, never dreaming it would be that difficult after the election, but just knowing the election itself would be difficult is because we were worried back then. We had a 3. 6 billion budget deficit, record job loss, double digit tax increases. We could see our state was headed in the wrong direction. We were worried that our sons were going to grow up in a state that wasnt as great as the one we grew up in. This is why we got in the race. As a family we thought about it and prayed about it. Our faith and family and our circle of friends helped keep us focused, and in the height of this when we had the Death Threats not just against me but the threats against my family, when we had the protests not just at the capitol or the governors residence but our home outside of milwaukee, our family home, we were able to sustain that because we knew we were doing the right thing. I kept saying over and over again we need to think more about the next generation than we do about the next election. Because of that, we not only won that battle, i think arguably the people of my state, a blue state, purple at best, ultimately saw not once but twice in times of crisis what people want more than anything is leadership. We followed through on the leadership but it wasnt easy, and it is part of the reason why we have been able to take on additional reforms because we have been tested and we are able to handle them. You get the final question. No, it is your turn. All yours. We covered almost everything except energy. And we have got some wonderful, wonderful environmental pluses in the state. Beautiful lakes in madison and the forests you have and the great lakes. And yet you have policies coming out of washington that might be productive use of energy and resources. Just interested to hear your thoughts on the environment and energy and how you are handling some of these things coming out of washington . Both on energy and resource interesting, we have, as you alluded to, the only state in the union surrounded by two great lakes and the greatest river in the country. Filled with 15,000 inland lakes. 5,000 more than minnesota, by the way, and all of ours have fish in them. A great place to be in and tremendous Natural Resources from one end of the state to other. Demographically and geographically very much a microcosm of america and we found a way to be environmentally and economically sustainable. I often said the best way to be green is to make green or save green. If i can help find a way for people and employers to make money or to save money while being environmentally sound, that is the best way to be green is make sustainable, economically and environmentally. Wisconsin has been a leader in many ways in that regard, but we are also very much challenged. Challenged by what is being proposed here in washington just like many other states across the country, particularly in the industrial midwest because of the ideas and rules proposed out of the federal government stand to see massive job loss and significant rate increases for our hard working people. And so, this is one where one of my problems with this administration, amongst others is they seem to think it is an either or proposition. Either be environmentally sound or economically sound. I think it is one of those false choices. You can do both. That means having an all of the above energy policy. It means embracing the resources we have not only here in america, but here in north america. Our allies are ready and willing, whether with the keystone or looking with industrial stand like in our state and the wide open shale deposits we have. I think it is also a National Security issue when you look at prominence of people like putin in russia and others out there, part of his strength in the world is because of his resource asset and what he is doing with that. If we were more aggressive in providing our own means and finding ways to export to other places around the world, we would diminish the impact of other parts that are a direct Security Threat to our nation and our interests. I think we need to say we want all of the above both for a stronger economy as well as for a strong sense of safety. I want to take this opportunity to thank fred for his leadership at the American Action forum, and i hope you will join me in thanking the governor for an outstanding kickoff to the lecture series named after fred. Thanks. Next a discussion about the situation in yemen and its impact on other nations. After that David Cameron and the establish parliament marking the 50g9 anniversary of the death of winston churchill. Then Disaster Recovery programs. This weekend on newsmakers Bernie Sanders Ranking Member of the Budget Committee talks about the Budget Proposal due to be released monday. Fast track trade authority, the Keystone Pipeline and president ial politics. Newsmakers sunday at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. This sunday neuroscientists on the recent discoverries about the teenage brain. They dont have their frontal lobes to reason the cons consequences of actions are not clear to them because their frontal lobes are not readily accessible. The connections cant be made as quickly for split second decision making. And a lot of hormones are changing in the bodies of young men and women and the brain hasnt seen these yet in life until teenage years. So the brain is trying to learn how to respond to new hormones rolling around and locking on to reseptember or thes. So they are trial and error. I think this contributes to this very roller coaster kind of experience that we watch as parents. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan q and a. Now a discussion on the political situation in yemen and the broader imp cages for the middle east. From the Wilson Center washington, this is about an hour. Good afternoon, and welcome to the Wilson Center. Im jane harman, the president and ceo. I visited yemen a few years back and met with leaders of opposition parties. Certainly many of us have wanted yemen to turn out right. Today we will see what people a lot more informed than i think about all this. I want to express my specific gratitude that Mohammed Albasha is here with us today to represent his country and his embassy. Thank you very much for coming. And recognize many wilson cabinet and Council Supporters in the audience. You remember our embassy in yemen has closed, so i hope it will open again soon in a region increasingly compromised by terror. Yemens partnership has been vital to combating terrorist extremists. We hosted the president here in 2012 when the outlook was so much brighter. The u. S. Yemeni relationship was strong. Sectarian conflict has done serious harm, and it is fair to worry now that civil war could make yemen the gulfs own syria. Of great concern is that irans leaders suggest they intend to wield the houthis against hezbollah. That is a more complicated story. I was talking to robert and he will tell you it is a more complicated story. It is essential that yemen does not become a casualty of conflict. The idea between shiites and sunnis is exactly the narrative that isis uses to recuit. It may be more complicated and may be a way forward that will surprise and suppress us. Without a solution for strife and insecurity, extremists could hatch in yemen the dangerous collaborations they started designing in syria. Imagine if they were able to connect with foreign fighters Holding Clean western passports. That is very interesting. A call to the mosque. An inclusive political solution is vital. That is what we have sought for years. We have seen in syria that terrorist groups thrive in a vacuum. Security depends on respect for all communities. This is a first and foremost a yemeni crisis. The west does not have all the answers, certainly not. Or even a counter narrative that is adequate to persuade some kid in the boonies of yemen to not strap on a suicide vest. Too many yemenis have never had contact with the u. S. , except via drone. Without dictating solutions, the u. S. Should provide the support yemenis need for the solution they choose themselves. That is how to win the argument and peace. We are thrilled with the panel we have assembled to frame the challenge. I would like to introduce our moderator, robert worth, who will introduce the other panelists. Robert is a Public Policy scholar with the centers middle east program. He has also worked as Beirut Bureau chief for the New York Times, and contributing writer for the New York Times magazine. You probably saw him on the page last week, with his article about yemeni dangers to the u. S. He will guide us through a thoughtful conversation on the region today. Before turning this over to robert, i want to recognize the fearless leader of our middle east program in the center seat here, and i want to thank halla for bringing us scholars and programs over so many years that have educated so many of us. So please welcome robert worth. Thank you, jane. For people that have been writing and thinking about this for years, it is a strange thing to be at a panel in d. C. About it. I remember in 2007 or 2008 a trial of a Yemeni Journalist who was on trial for having supported the houthis. Back then they were a strange very opaque rebel group in the northwestern corner of yemen and even talking about them got you in trouble. Now they essentially run the country. The past few months, we have seen a lot about them in the news. They have been gaining strength for years. In september the houthis overran the capital, commanding important government sites and forcing rivals to flee, including ali musen who was for years and years a rival to the president and a key military leader who had been an important part of the war. The intermittent war against the houthis that lasted from 2004 until 2010. Then in the fall, we saw more violence with al qaeda in yemen. Terrible bombings in the south and in the capital. There as an attack on a Police Academy that killed 38 people. In january, the attack on Charlie Hebdo in paris and alqaeda into yemen or alqaeda into the arabian peninsula, as they call themselves, claimed credit for it. At least one of those brothers is trained in yemen. Just last week we had clashes outside the president s residence in sanaa and houthis pressing for more concessions and then he stepped down, possibly calling their bluff. Yemen is rudderless and all kinds of questions arise that i hope we can address today. I will mention a few that interest me. What exactly is the iranian role . What should the United States do, and what can it do . The Diplomatic Options are limited. Do the houthis hope to control the entire nation . What is the houthi political and agenda . Some of the spokesmen call them liberals and revolutionaries in the 2011 sense, but the core of leadership is said to be much, much more conservative. How serious now is the threat of southern secession, and what would it mean given the fragmented state of the south . I mention that because can the houthis manage the southern issue at all. I want to introduce the panelists. We have peter salisbury, who is a journalist based in yemen for reuters, al jazeera, and Foreign Policy. He has done a lot on the finances of yemen and the houthis and the iranian role. Charles schmitts. An affiliated scholar at middle east institute worked on yemen for many years. And Muhammad Al Basha from the Yemeni Embassy here in washington, d. C. Who has a lifetime of experience to draw on. We will start with peter. First of all, thank you very much for having me here this afternoon. Most people who watch yemen will tell you that it is a very complex country. It is very complicated. What i will try to do in the next 10 minutes is make it a little bit more complicated if that is okay. I will talk about how we have gone over the the past year into the National Dialogue conference, which coincided with the anniversary of the first year of interNational Dialogue how do we move from this euphoric moment a year ago to the point where we have no president , no Prime Minister, no government, and no real understanding of who holds power in yemen . It has a lot to do with two separate, yet intertwined issues. Coalition building and of negotiation in yemen. When we look at yemen, we tend to see it as a lawless state. We saw actors who are incapable of acting outside of some selfinterest. While that is broadly correct, there are rules within yemen. There are rules of procedure. Rules of operation. And what these have to do with our building enough power for me, my group and people around me with other people who i may no be ideologically aligned with but where we have common goals or we have common foes. What we have seen in the coming months is the coalition of different forces with different aims. People from the northwest of yemen. People who have always held the balance of power in the yemeni state. Those are the houthis, who we have heard a great deal but know very little. Then we have the former president and the hardcore in the g. P. C. , the general peoples congress. His party which has been the traditional ruling party in yemen, and then tribal groups and smaller armed groups in yemen who for a long time have lived in tribal areas controlled by people loosely affiliated to a coalition of forces or conservative tribal islamists. We talk about too often as islamic. It is more complex than that. For those of you who know yemen, we are talking about the First Armored division. He was seen as someone connected to the muslim brotherhood. He came out in support of the revolution, as did the main Sunni Islamist political party. As did the tribal confederation, a confederation of tribes led or were until recently at the very least and who have been seen as being converts to sunniism although that again is a vast oversimplification. And in the tribal areas, a lot of people for a very long time were very unhappy with the way that they were treated by the tribal and the islamist leadership in the area. People have resented for a very long time the treatment of various different groups by a powerful military general and people who have seen isla as a force not for good but for bad in the country. The three different groups where you have people who are just pissed off. People who are opposed to isla for historical reason so the houthis have reengineered the narrative the last three years. Once upon a time, they talked about how the southern regime try to oppress and crushed them. Emergence of a new narrative. It is quite telling of this coalition, they Start Talking about how a coalition of conservative forces, the islamist tribes were really the guys who led the fight against them between 2004 and 2010. There is some truth to that, but not the entire story. Saleh has been angry for the last three or four years about the fact that he was thrown out of power by people who had been part of his regime for a number of years and this same conservative block. What we have seen is the two groups come together first and foremost to get rid of these and secondly to try and alter the outcomes of the national
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