the side of her. if we focus on high sustained economic growth and keeping our country safe, we will win. did we divide ourselves up, allow the narcissist to say i will take care of you. not interested in forging consensus, solving problems -- we will never win. hillary clinton will be elected and god for bid that from ever happening. i believe you are looking at the guy that can beat hillary clinton because i have a proven record. [applause] it is a record of applying conservative principles in a hopeful optimistic way with sheer dogged determination to implement them the right way, where everybody has a chance to win. it is not about those that have already made it. it is not whether you have an "r" or "d." that is my mission. i hope you will support my candidacy here in new hampshire. you all elect presidents. you have a responsibility being first in the nation. my belief is you take it seriously, but you want to make sure we have the right person to win the election in the general election, but also the right person who has the right stuff to be president. i ask for your support and i appreciate you coming out for this town hall meeting. thank you. [applause] yes, ma'am? you have a microphone coming your way. >> i was really impressed to hear about your proposal for a six-year ban on lobbying. some of the people who rake in the most from lobbying are retired congressional staffers and people who work at the pentagon, both military and civilian, so i would like to know if you would extend the six-year ban to those people also. mr. bush: that is a good question. i have a look at the impact of that. there should be total transparency. if you are meeting with a lobbyist, and you are a staffer on a committee of great importance or you are a big dog in the department of defense and you are being lobbied, there should be 24 hour notice. it should be put on the internet. there should be complete transparency. people can make up the mind whether it is appropriate or not. that is across the board -- a more transparent government is what we need. the president promised the most transparent government in american history and we have not gotten it. we have the exact opposite. the best way to deal with the transparency issue is to open it up. it could be that staffers -- that is a revolving door as well. it makes sense to look at it. the other thing we have to do as relates to the defense department is make sure there are more than three contractors. we have created such a confusing, convoluted system that you have the big defense contractors. the cost is higher. they are aggregated. all the other parts of the operation, they subcontract out. they use the influence to get these contracts. all sorts of legal costs are associated with it. the fighters do not get the equipment necessary at the speed they should. one of the other elements is to embrace reform so we have more contractors and it is based on merit rather than influence. yes, sir? >> afghanistan and iraq during your brother administration and people have come back with ptsd. i'm running for office -- state representative. mr. bush: how old are you? >> 18. mr. bush: go for it. [applause] >> i'm running on the promise to take care of our veterans. i'm wondering what you would do to take care of our veterans and fix the v.a.? mr. bush: first of all, that is fantastic. second of all, you have to work with the next president to give this is the federal government responsability. there is a veterans operation in every department. but to reform the v.a., you made a president committed to it. one, we need career souls servers reform -- civil service reform. it cannot be the economic entrance of the employees. it should be about the veterans. right now, it is about the economic interest. there was a hearing in congress and this guy had the gull to say i did not know you thought accountability related to firing. heck, i don't see it that way. there have been three people fired with the most egregious scandals that exist which is -- $140 million of bonuses for reducing rates without giving care to veterans. men and women died. veterans died. yet, there were bonuses given and only three people fired. we need civil service reform so there is reward for a job well done, but there should not be lifetime employment and government. -- in government. it should not be a career that gives you 40% benefits and wages more than the private sector. there should be 21st century implement practices. veterans should have more services. if a veteran wants to see a doctor that is their private doctor, they should have the right to do it far easier than today. >> we will have the entire town hall meeting with jeb bush airing tonight at 12:40 a.m. eastern on c-span. the congress is frustrated this entity is so insular and him accountable, you need a president that will accept responsibility. we had problems all the time. i would read the paper. or aer child has been hurt state worker did not identify abuse. was not how can i make -- figure out a way to make how do ine blames me? blame my predecessor. responsibility, that's my question to you? on day one we will begin the process to fix the v.a.. at the end of this, we will have a much better system that can cooperate. there should be no veteran that is homeless in this country area and the long-term disability issues that exist for veterans should be a long-term commit. the posttraumatic stress which is now a serious problem have been dealt with. it does not necessarily have to be all from the top down the v.a. is the responsibility of the president. this government let us down. >> had been a volunteer politically since truman. >> that's not possible. >> i live well. my husband and i retard to new hampshire in 1986. mr. bush: were your for truman or dewey? >> i want to tell you what a wonderful staff you have. this is the best that i have ever worked with. mr. bush: thank you. [applause] much do you get paid to say that? [laughter] yes? >> i have two questions. the first thing you have already talked about -- the balanced budget. i would like to know how long it would take to resolve the $18 trillion. do not answer yet.