it could be true. it is wrong. >> could you provide us some evidence -- >> i am not going there. it is false. >> could you tell us the thinking and deciding to go to the alfalfa club dinner on saturday night? >> the president has attended this particular dinner before. a certainly a tradition here in our great nation's capital for a sitting president to attend these functions on occasions. they would all wish it were annual. it has not been this case. he enjoyed himself. he hopes his speech entertained. i certainly thought it was funny. >> did not get to see all of this speech. >> i believe the outcome of club has a long tradition?

we were pushing the envelope in terms of its traditions and our release of excerpts. carol, you are quiet over there. >> are you guys monitoring -- or is google -- >> it is google + -- we're not taking any questions. would it that we could. >> the president said anything about [unintelligible] does he believe in this town of sergeant that these are good things for the country? >> the president believes that the primary process is the way that we in this country choose our nominees. he participated in a long process for years ago. he looks forward to the time

when there is a nominee from the other party and for that debate to be joined. the process has a long tradition behind it. >> there was a report a week ago that the labor department and other agencies had already given their thumbs up to an executive order that would expand the existing executive order barring discrimination in federal contracting based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and that the issue is at the white house for review. can you confirm that report and know if and when the white house is going to approve that order? >> i cannot confirm that. i will take the question and look into it. thanks very much. >> primary voters go to the

polls in florida tomorrow. next, newt gingrich campaigns in tampa. later, from the hispanic leadership conference, a discussion on election issues. tomorrow, florida republican political strategist on her opinion of who expects to win. then with reid wilson. he will look ahead to primaries in february and march. and then stewart powell on the future of nasa funding. "washington journal" live tuesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span.

republican presidential candidate newt gingrich continue campaign in florida ahead the former house speaker held a rally at tampa international airport. he was speaking at the rally, michael reagan and herman cain. >> what a day. discreet to be here. i used to raise funds -- face boats in tampa. great relationship with people in florida. it is great to be here today representing newt and being here to be by his side as he tries to win this all-important primary tomorrow. he had a great week last week in south carolina. tomorrow, let's make a greater

day in the state of florida. people ask me, why are you endorsing newt? i have known him for a long period of time in my life. i kind of am taken aback by what some people state about him, that he was not there. and i think, people are saying he was not there or not there. -- were not there. and the fact that i was during the 1980's, newt was there at the beginning of all this with the reagan revolution. 1990's, newt gingrich give the republican party the largest majority ever and gave us the congress of the united states, the first time we had had it in over 40 years. balance the budget four times, reformed welfare. he did this as speaker of the house, and back than ever but it was saying what a great guy.

what a difference to a few years make. at the same time, when that was all done and he left congress, what did he do? he went around this country, raised more money for the republican party than anybody, went out and helped elect republicans to state, local, and national office from that. on. he has done more for this party than anybody in the race running today for the president. it was not a hard choice for me to say who would i support, because i also remembered the years when my father was running, and weast to run the reagan conservatives against the rockefeller republican side of the party, and that is the same race we are in today. we have the rockefeller wing of the republican party and we have a reagan conservative wing of the republican party, and guess who is part of the reagan conservative wing -- the man who voted for ronald reagan.

he voted for conservatives back in the 1990's, and helped republicans go to office and in fact stay in office. my father back in 1976 just to tell you how important i think this election is, 1976 when my father lost the nomination of this party to a rockefeller republican, my father was asked to come down to the state and say a few words to the nation and the people there assembled, and he looked out at the crowd in front of him and the people of around the country who were watching on television, and he told a daunting task that he was asked to do. my father was asked to write a letter to be put into a time capsule that would be opened on the 300th anniversary of the united states of america. he said, what a daunting task, to be asked to write a letter to a people who would know

everything about us, but we knew nothing about that. what do i write about? do i write about nuclear proliferation? he set to write about freedom? freedom is so important. he said, but if we do not make the right decision today, the people that live on on the 300th anniversary may very well not have the freedom to open up the time capsule to read the letter that in fact he has put into it. that is how important this election is because are we not losing our freedoms one by one, each and every day? it is not the government that is encroaching on our lives more and more every day? do you worry about your freedoms being taken away? get those a chance to freedoms back. you have a chance to give ronald reagan and this country what he always wanted, what you want -- freedom. it is not just given to us.

it is not passed down. it is something you have to fight for each and every day, and we have to fight for these freedoms. there is a lot of people who have come to events like this and go home and they put in their diary, i went to this event, herman cain was there, newt gingrich was there, and you go home and forget about it. guess what -- if you can think of the liberals -- think of them as termites -- eating away at the foundations of your home each and every day, that is what they do. we cannot afford to let them keep doing that. we cannot just go home and forget about it and pick up the torch three days from now. we have to be involved each and every day if we are on to stop all that. my challenge to you is this -- what i want you to do, if you esque, writeeagan

a letter, make your time capsule, and right into that capsule what you're doing today, tomorrow, and the next day and the next day, to ensure your grandchildren, your great- grandchildren, who live on the 300th anniversary of this nation our and joined the same freedoms that you have today, and challenge them to write a letter to their children in the future to make sure that we have those freedoms. do that, fight for it. i know there is a lot of people looking for ronald reagan. you got to know we would all love to have my father back. let me tell you something -- if you wake up in the morning, if you wake up in the morning and you yearn to be free and if you wake up in the morning and you see that shining city on the hill and you want that shining city on that bill back where it

belongs and you want america to once again be the proudest nation in the world and people look up to us, and guess what -- you found ronald reagan. he lives in each and every one of you. go out and fight for it and vote for new to gingrich tomorrow. -- for newt gingrich tomorrow. i'm not the last speaker. i'm just the warm-up act for friend of mine, and -- you got to fight for the food. i will take that. [unintelligible] thank you. there's another man here who is a great human being, a good friend of mine, a good friend of yours also. i spent a lot of time with him and his staff over the last year or so, and i want to bring him out, and he is my friend. he is the the id to this, but he

will -- he is going to be out here in a minute, herman cain. thank you all very much. tomorrow is an important day. fight for your freedoms. >> i get to come back up here. let me tell you a story. for those of you who did not know, i was chairman of the republican party for about four years, and we used to have a thing called customer dinner series, at three and a half years ago i put an announcement out and said i was gonna have a gentleman come to speak at the summer dinner series, and people were like, who is that? don't know him. i had to start sending around his speech at the southern republican leadership

conference, and all of a sudden people were like, oh, we like this guy, this guy is great. i have a great privilege today, someone who has stood for conservatism, someone who has stood for the grass roots, someone who has stood for we the people, ladies and gentlemen, someone that stood saturday night with newt gingrich, my good friend herman cain. >> get afternoon. [unintelligible] my kind of crowd. if i did not know better, one could get the impression that

you all like me. [laughter] even better, i like newt gingrich for president of the united states. [unintelligible] you are not my enemy. let me give my speech, ok? i have had some fun in the last few days ever since i endorsed newt gingrich last saturday night. and the fun has been the kind of questions that i get from some folks in the media. for example, why didn't you

endorse speaker gingrich earlier? answer -- i did not want to. another question -- were there any promises made by speaker gingrich in order for him to get your endorsement? i said this may surprise you. i did not ask for anything, he did not offer anything, my only expectation is to be able to help him win the nomination and the white house. that is all. it is difficult for some people comprehend that not everybody has a political objective or political motive when they want to do something to help save this country. that is my passion.

then when i get questions, how would you summarize why you decided? first of all, it was a process, and i was on a tv showed this morning and they could not comprehend what i meant by a process. i said it had nine steps. i had to complete all nine of them before i made my decision. then i published my weekly commentary that you can find at cainconnections.com, and in my weekly commentary, it was entitled "nine reasons why i endorsed newt gingrich." i am only going to share three of them with you.

number one, he is the only candidate that talks about and supports the idea of throwing out the tax code in order to get jobs going in this country. throw it out. and, no, he did not promise it would be 9-9-9. he did ask me if i would code- share his economic growth and jobs advisory council -- co- chair his economic card and jobs and fire is 30 counts of. he is the only one talking about throwing out the tax code. the other candidates want to tinker around the edges. rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic will not get this economy going. throw out the tax code and put

in a bold solution. that is the number one reason. and, yes, speaker gingrich and i have had several conversations leading up to that decision. my second reason, many of the solutions you have heard me talk about speaker gingrich also supports -- energy independence, using all our natural resources right here -- [applause] rebuilding our military and stop cutting our military. are on the same page. and then a third major consideration -- i looked at all the candidates, who would be the

superior communicator to draw the distinction between the failed presidency of barack obama and the message that we would be taking fourth, and that is we want power out of washington, d.c., and back to the people, and he is a superior communicator. one of the other i'm using questions i got today -- have done it seven interviews already today, flew down here for this, and one of the other things, questions i often get, you know newt is behind in the polls in florida. he is in trouble. does that concern you? my response was, he was behind

in south carolina. how is that working out for you? there are a lot of undecided voters right here in florida, just like there are a lot of undecided voters in south carolina, just like there are a lot of undecided voters across the country, and over the next several months you and i will help those voters decide on newt gingrich. and so i must leave you with a challenge, because we can win this. we can win this nomination with everybody -- crank it up a notch -- but when we get into the general election we got to crank it up another notch, and i want you to remember to do three

things -- all the way through -- number one, stay informed. all the buffaloed negativity and all of the bad information out there. stay informed. as you know and i know, stupid people are ruining america. and we got to stop that. number 2, stay involved. the fact you are here today, that is part of your involvement. the work you have agreed to do, because you may not realize the power you have as an individual with your friends and family. if you know the facts, if you understand the differences, and i just 83 of the differences that i have used to try to communicate with voters, and that relates to he wants to throw out the tax code. he is the only one who has been

specific about that. he is a superior communicator, and he believes in energy independence, so you have to stay involved, and you have a lot power and influence the you may not know about. and the third thing. stay inspired. we got to believe we can do this. the liberals, the administration, president obama, they want you to believe that the game is over, game is just starting. it is not over. stay inspired. stay inspired. one of the things that inspires me, to still be out here trumpeting the conservative values and trumpeting solutions is because it is not about us. it is about the grand kids. it is not about us.

it is about the grand kids. the founding fathers got it right. with the declaration of independence and constitution -- we have got to beat the defending fathers and mothers. he must defend those ideals. got it right -- they got it right. my first grandchild was born in 1999. that is 1-9-9-9. she really was born in 1999. mygenerate -- on january 1,

fourth grandchild was born. it is not about us. i am happy at this point to introduce to you the person that i believe it cannot only win the nomination, but who also has shown his fearless leadership qualities in order to not only thethis nomination for republican party, but i firmly believe that he is the leader for our time. ladies and gentlemen, speaker newt gingrich. ♪

>> well, listen, i have to

confess as a former teacher that talking with part of the class behind me makes me wonder about what exactly they are going to be doing. we're thrilled to be here. i want to introduce to our younger daughter -- where is jackie? she is helping us. she did a great job representing us, and she is the mother of my two major debate coaches. with a three-yilled to be fair. tomorrow is a really big day. the polls are all over the place. we just got word of a brand-new poll that came out and our goal that said we are now tied 35%- 35%.

[cheers] the reporters had this horse race mentality. they want to get down to process questions and say, what are you going to do next? when callista and i first announced, were explained by the establishment that we were dead. we came back and by december we were running a totally positive campaign with no money. we were 12 points ahead nationally. romney and decided the only way to stop the was a $3.5 million negative campaign in iowa. we came back from that and beat him in south carolina and decisively. "the new york times" reported the sunday morning after we won south carolina the rummaging got together and said we either destroy gingrich or we cannot

win. they have spent $17.5 million on falsehoods. when i say falsehoods, i eat mean that both the wall street journal and the national review have said that what romney as said about me is false. you just saw one of our dear friends who was your campaigning because he understands what romney said about reagan and he was false. in fact i always thought it was ironic, here is a guy who in the 1980 cost was an independent. in 1992 voted in the democratic primary and gave money to three democratic candidates, and he is questioning my credentials? i challenge you out out of touch mitt romney is capable of being, and that is why i was glad michael reagan is flying around. you just saw one of the great grassroots list candidates in the country support me in herman

cain. i am trying to be inclusive about folks who have great talent. i have asked governor richard perry if he would share a project to take the 10th amendment, developed the strongest possible republican platform plank for the summer, and the developing a model bill that would put in the contract this fall to try to pass it early next year to take power out of washington and bring it back home to the people. similarly, having worked with herman as early as the fight -care," knowingy his background who ran a company, not just an investor, but a guy who actually ran the company and made it work, i've asked herman to chair a project on jobs, growth, and economic

tax reform, which he has agreed to do to develop any set of ideas to have a better future. i will tell you up front, he will walk in the room, and everyone of you knows what plan he will put on the table. [laughter] make him happy, what is the name of the plan? >> 9-9-9! >> you just made herman's entire day. this is the most important election of my lifetime. reelecting barack obama will be a disaster first order and will permanently weaken this country, and therefore we have to defeat him,. . who can best to defeat him? >> newt! >> you're getting the idea. that was pretty good. [laughter]

renominated in a moderat we nominated -- we nominated a moderate in 1996 and we lost. mitt romney is more moderate than any of those candidates. we had articles in "the wall street journal" and at an article by the former lieutenant governor of new york, here is exactly how similar romneycare and obamacare are. i am a reagan conservative. obama is a saul alinsky radical. that is enough distance that we can have a really good debate. [applause] let me talk about current things to give you a sense of how different we will be. callista and i were at mass last night, and i believe in every catholic church and the country, they are meeting a letter about the obama administration's attack on christianity, and they are using strong language,

because this is a fundamental assault on the right of freedom of religion. [applause] our declaration of independence says we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. no politician, no judge, and a bureaucrat can come between -- no bureaucrat can come between you and god. if you help me win the nomination and then win the election, on the very first day i'm inaugurated, i will sign an executive order repealing every obama attack on religion across the government, period. [applause]

let me also say that there is a fundamental difference between my position and governor romney's. governor romney impose on the catholic hospitals of massachusetts opposition against their conscience. -- a position against their conscience. governor romney cut off kosher meals for senior citizens on medicaid, saying that you cannot follow your religious prescription. i think we need to have a government that respects our religions. i'm tired of being lectured about respecting every other religion. i would like them to respect our religion.

[applause] let me share more with you about the opening day. we will really change things. this is a major difference between me and romney. this is a brand new article that came out of your last night, with george soros, the left wing billionaire, talking to europeans -- this is on tape, i am not making this up. soros says to europeans that there is really no difference between romney and obama. i am comfortable with either one. with gingrich, that would be real change. [applause] george soros is right, i am real change, and that is why the establishment in both parties is terrified, because we will change things. [applause] that's very good.

[chanting "newt"] every once in awhile you see innovation and artistry. i don't know where you got this. >> i'm an angry voter! >> is this available online? did you do it on computer? put it online and let us know where people can get it. >> absolutely. >> make no mistake, obamacare is romneycare. this is pretty good, this is a real leadership. if you put this on line, i will sign this right now. [applause]

wait a second, i want all of you to listen to this. do not put this on ebay. >> no, it's mine! >> you should offer it online for like $1 a piece. >> have your campaign get in touch with me. >> this is another difference between romney and me -- i love people power, not money power. i think people power will win. [applause] we are going to run as a team this fall. i chaired the first capitol steps event for ronald reagan. 1994, we brought a team together, 350 candidates, signed the contract with america, largest one-party increase in american history, 9

million additional votes over 1990. we have to replace bill nelson with a conservative. [applause] if you help me, if we win and we carry the senate, i will ask the house and senate the weekend of january 3 to stay in office ride than to repeal obamacare. [applause] i will ask them to repeal the dodd-frank bill, which is killing small business. [applause]

i will ask them to repeal sarbanes-oxley. [applause] i never had a class that was quite this rowdy. here is the goal -- when i get sworn in, there are three bills that they can put down their bank, and on the first day, we will repeal obamacare, repeal dodd-frank, repeal sarbanes- oxley. that is just the opening. [applause] i already mentioned the war against religion.

the first executive order i will sign will abolish all the white house czars. [applause] we will also have an executive order instructing the state department to open the embassy in jerusalem. [applause] one of the topics and went to the very first day relates to one of the president's most destructive decisions. it's truly amazing that the president of the united states would be to the keystone pipeline. just to take care of his environmental extremist friends. it makes perfect sense for the

pipeline to come out of central canada, go straight down to houston,, and then you have 30- 50 years of processing the resources. the danger is that the canadians, out of frustration want to build a pipeline straight west across the rockies to vancouver, which would be more expensive. if they believe it is the only option, they will do it. i will sign an authorization ok'ing construction as of that day to go ahead and build it. [applause]

mukasey -- that canadians will know that night they did not have to build a pipeline across the rockies. the minute people realize obama is gone, that is how the size of the change will be and how rapid it will be. let me say one other thing. we have an absolute obligation to develop american energy so that we're not dependent on iraq, iran, saudi arabia, or any other foreign dictator. we need to develop enough error -- american energy so that no american president ever again bows to a saudi king. [applause] let me briefly describe one last thing which is the challenge of radical islam. i say this in this city. we need a much larger, much more comprehensive strategy.

we are up against opponents who are religiously motivated am prepared to kill themselves to kill us and are trying to impose their civilization on ours. let's start by willing to be honest about the threat. the obama administration refuses to talk honestly about the threat and has made it against the rules to talk honestly about the threat. we know there are people conspiring to kill us across the planet. we know what they have in common, and it is not that they belong in the rotary. in the obama administration, it's inappropriate to use the language.

second, i am opposed to the use of sharia of in any american party. [applause] i am comfortable with legal immigrants who want to become american. i am comfortable with every immigrant from every background, including as long. i have no confusion about our background, our laws, our civilization. if they wish to join us, that's fine. we will not accept sharia and its imposition of us. [applause] let me be clear. we really need your help. we need you on facebook.

we need you twittering, if that is what you do. we need you to e-mail and call people. many of you have been calling, and it has been helping. we need you occasionally talking face-to-face with people. at the grocery store, a drug store, when your family gathers, what ever. i believe that the conservative movement has come a long way. i believe that we have a clear understanding of what we stand for. we stand for the declaration of independence, the constitution, the federalist papers, american history, ltd. it constitutional government, the judges who obey the constitution and operate within the constitution. [applause] we stand bureaucrats to understand that there are public servants and we are

citizens. they are not public masters and we are not subjects. [applause] finally, we stand for elected officials who put america above everything else and will put america first in trying to solve our problems and are willing to work together to help american get ahead. with your help, we will win a great victory tomorrow. when we do, we will send a signal to george soros, goldman sachs, new york, and washington establishment. money power cannot buy people power. people power stands on conservatism and we're prepared to take back our country. thank you, good luck, and god bless. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

♪ >> nice to see you. thank you. >> god bless you. we voted along time ago, and you are in. thank you. fax thank you for saying that about near jerusalem.

thank you very much. >> the president of 2013, god bless you. >> can i get a picture with you? for my son in germany.

>> there is my camera right there. right here. take a picture. >> i want a picture with you. i am sorry.

thank you. my camera, su. -- too. thank you. >> thanks a lot.

>> thank you very much. iraq's can use still win? -- >> can you still win an? >> the conservative movement is not going to except goldman sachs. ♪

>> i like that. >> do it again. >> we need your help. >> thank you.

happy birthday. >> thanks for coming to idle wild. we enjoyed having you there. i don't you come back as president reagan -- i hope you come back as president. >> i love you. will you sign this? congratulations on your book. thank you.

the city's great to be with you. >> to more clearly define the definition of church and state. >> can i get a picture of you? i will put it on switcher. -- twitter. tracks i am praying for you. -- >> i am praying for you. >> i am a democrat. i am voting for you.

>> you are the comeback kid.

♪ >> thank you very much. thank you so much. both my grandfathers were in world war ii. both of my sons were in iraq and afghanistan. >> there you go.

>> you need to get alcohol -- a little bulldog. >> we are doing great. god has blessed us.

iraq's every day we are praying for you. -- >> every day we are praying for you. >> that is a perfect picture.

♪ >> my dad loves you. i am going to support you. thank you. >> we appreciate it. nice to see.

you sign my program. behind every strong man is a strong woman. i got you well-trained. >> thank you so much. good luck. >> we are behind you. i know you will be the next president in my heart. >> god give you strength, in jesus' name.

>> no chance you are leaving this race? >> none. >> god bless and protect you in jesus' name. by how are you doing? bikes will you sign and date it

please? -- >> will you sign and date it ?lease beaumon thank you.

>> can we get a picture? by what is your name? >> cheryl mcguire. >> smile. >> are you ready for your picture?

>> that was quite a crowd. iraq's we will hear from -- >> we will hear from presidential candidates mitt romney, who continued in the state of florida. these polls show the former massachusetts governor leading in florida. >> are you ready to have someone you believe in? are you ready to reduce taxes, reduce the debt, create jobs?

please say hello to my wife, mary. he is a man of great integrity. he is a man we can believe in. he is a man who is honest and trustworthy and someone we can be proud of. he has shown it in his personal life, his business life, and now

government. mitt romney is the man to turn this country around, and i am honored to stand with him as he becomes the next president of the united states. >> i had the most interesting experience. the sweetest lady walks over to me, and she says, i know you. you are one of mitt romney's sons. don't i have the prettiest young mom? mom, by my calculation, dad owes me 53 years' of allowances. another four years, and we are going to need more allowances. let me ask you, we have a choice. we heard one plan in the state

of the union, didn't we? did you like that plan? did you like the idea of more government, more taxes, or regulation, or bailouts, more debt on our kids and our grandkids and their kids? or do you think that we should get back to the principles of our founding fathers as found in our declaration of independence and in our constitution? do you believe we should take a course of lower taxes, less regulation, more personal responsibility? that calls for a leader, and we have got a leader, but don't take my word for it. ask my mom, a lady who has

always been proud of our country and who will make a great first lady of the united states. please give a great villages welcome to ann romney. >> thank you. when we drove up my grandson turned to me and he said -- >> [unintelligible] >> he saw this crowd and that was his impression. mitt and i have been married for a long time, 42 years. we have five sons. have the privilege of having my oldest and youngest son the right here. two grandchildren, parker and allie.

we're happy to have family with us tonight. family is important. when i was a young mom, mitt traveled a lot, and he would call home and hear an exasperated wife raising these boys that are not as well behaved as they are right now. he would say, hang in there, i will be home soon, and don't forget, your job is more important than my job. my job is temporary. your job brings forever happiness. it was wonderful to know that i have a husband where we were equal partners in building a family and building children and building legacy that would bring this joy, which is the grandchildren.

i will say something else i said for years ago at the end of the last campaign when we dropped out. i turned to mitt, i said one thing for certain, i am never doing this again. [laughter] here we are. he said, you say that after every pregnancy. [laughter] i have five sons, but it was a year ago that we were making the final decision whether we were going forward or not. we were discussing it as a family. i said, i do not know who the opponents are going to be. you cannot figure out even what the issues are going to be by the final analysis. i said, if by chance you can make it through the process and you can win the presidency, there's only one question i need you to answer me to make a decision for me. can you fix it? he said, yes. with that, i said, ok, let's go.

you know that the country is worth it. we love this country, and we are worried about the direction it is going. we see that great city on a hill, the light is dimming, and we need to fix it and turn that light back up and do the things we have to do to bring this country back. i know there is one person who can do that, and this one person can beat barack obama, and that is mitt. let's see if we can get him to come out here. ♪ >> how are you? wow, it is great to beat back at the villages. it is always a beautiful day in the villages.

thank you for welcoming me here. this is such an exciting time. the other night i saw the president speak from washington. he said a couple weeks ago he had been at disney world at the fantasy land. what we heard from washington was also in fantasy land. it was like "groundhog day" all over again. he says the same thing, but nothing ever changes. i listened to the president and recognized it is clear that he would like to make us more like europe, more like a european social welfare state, and europe is not working in europe. the last thing we need is to have america become like europe.

he wants to transform america. i do not want to transform america into something we will not recognize. i want to restore the principles that made us the way we are. i see this election as an historic election. we will decide if we will go off or if we're going to stay true to the declaration of independence. he will talk about trillion- dollar deficits, and those deficits have ended up to more than $15 trillion in debt. he has put in place as much debt by the end of his first term -- and his only term, by the way -- almost as much debt as all the prior presidents combined. if i am president, i will take a different path. i will say we should cut federal spending, cap federal spending, and make sure we finally balance the budget, and i will get the

job done. he would take us on a different course with regard to regulation and the ability of small business to thrive. he was the author of an effort to reduce federal regulation last summer. he said they would go across agencies and cut out unnecessary regulation. they cut out 0.1%. i can do a lot better than that. i will stop all the obama-era regulations. i will make sure any of those that killed jobs week eliminate and get america back to work again. the president has an interesting view on health care. government knows better than people what kind of health insurance they need. i will appear will "obama-care." a few here are on medicare. is that true?

i hope you tell your friends who always fear that republicans somehow might go after medicare. you can tell them we will never go after medicare or social security. also, there's only one president in history that has cut medicare $500 billion, and that is barack obama. he did it to pay for "obama- care." i will protect social security and make sure we keep those programs solvent for the next generations coming along. i will make sure we protect medicare and social security. there are other things about the path. his view about energy. he has stopped the development

of gas resources, the epa has held off on developing gas extractions. he has made it harder for coal. if i'm president, i will not stop our development of energy. i will open up the spigot, allowing drillers to get gas and oil, nuclear, and we will once and for all have an energy policy and become energy secure and ultimately energy independence. the president has an unusual view tonight. he believes other nations are getting stronger and he intends

to appease and accommodate some of the world's worst actors. remember in his debates three years ago he talked about in his first year he would meet with ahmadinejad and chavez. that did not work out so well. they did not want to meet with him. instead of trying to get friendly with enemies, we should be friendlier with our friends. my view is to make sure we stand by israel, stand by our allies in the world, and we do not in any way disrespect them. i will stand for israel and our friends. we will be stronger because america will stand for

something, including our values. what part of his view about our foreign policy relates to the military? the president announced a $500 billion military cost reduction program. it seems one place in the budget he is willing to cut, and let me give you a perspective on what is happening today. we have fewer ships in our navy that any time since 1917. we have an older and smaller air force fleet than any time since 1947 when the air force was created. you know how burned our soldiers have been with the number of rotations they have had going into afghanistan and iraq, and in a circumstance like that this president wants to reduce our commitment to defense. it is not because the world has become safer. look around the world, north korea is going through a change of leadership, which puts that in play, china is saying they should have control of the south china sea, we should get their permission to go there. almost half of the world's trade goes through the south china sea. we have a nation in pakistan

which is in the tumult. the arab world is going through a spring. this is not a time to cut back on our military. i would make sure we have 11 aircraft carrier task forces. i would make sure we upgrade our air force fleet. i would add 100,000 active-duty personnel to the military. i will make sure that as we save money by finding ways in the department of defense, we use it for weapons systems, soldiers, and veterans to make sure they get the care they deserve. this is a campaign about the soul of america. are we going to become something i do not think we recognize,

something that is more european, are we going to remain true to the principles of america? i love what the founders did. i love the vision of the founders of this country. when they wrote the declaration of independence, they said the creator had endowed us with our rights. not the state, not the king, the creator. among those rights were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we would be free in this country to pursue happiness as we choose.

we are the most prosperous on earth. the average american has an income of 50% more than europeans. this nation has principles but are entering. i love the vision of the founders. i want america to remain american society, an opportunity society where people come seeking their own dreams and wishes to pursue them. i do not want to turn this into an entitlement nation. let's keep america the land of opportunity and the home of the free. i love this country. when i was a boy, my mom and a dad put us in a car and took us to the national parks. they wanted to see the beauty of the land.

they saw the rivers and mountains and fell in love with the land. there is a song that captures that for me. oh beautiful, for spacious skies across the fruited plain. you know that song? oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪ amber waves of grain ♪ america, america earned, god shed his light on the ♪ ♪ from sea to shining sea

i love this country. i love its duty, but even more astounding is the heart and a passion of the american people. there is a spirit into this land which makes it a unique place. i think it was captured in those words of the declaration of independence. i love the people of america. i love the people who serve this country. there is another verse set says, oh beautiful, who for euros approved in liberating strive, who more than self their country loved. do we have any veterans or armed forces? please raise your hands. thank you. [applause] impressive.

one other verse. oh beautiful, a patriot and dream that season beyond their years. what the founders wrote, the rights they gave us, the vision they crafted for america was not a temporary but lasted until our time and perhaps well beyond. i want to restore america. i believe and america's greatness. i believe an american exceptional was some. i will do everything possible to restore those principles, to keep america a place where you can be sure your kids and grandparents will have a brighter future than in the past. i love this land for what is. i love this nation for what we have achieved, and i also love america for what we will do in the future. good thank you for all your work. i need your vote to tomorrow. thank you guys.

great to be with you. [applause] ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ >> we take you live on the campaign trail with the candidates. >> you are going to find more people who recognize the massive

opportunity for trade. if i am president i will begin an economic initiative of drawing latin-american businesses and american businesses closer together. this is a mass of opportunity that will help uplift both parts of the world. >> this is about building a new grand coalition of americans that come together because they want to create a country where we unleashed the spirit of the american people and rebuild the country we love. that is what 2012 is all about. vice good to see you, sir. how are you? >> you are very kind. >> tomorrow night, watching our coverage of florida's primary results with candidates'

speeches and your reactions by phone, facebook, and twitter. >> up next, a couple of discussions from the hispanic leadership conference. the first looks at the u.s. economy than a form on immigration policy. newt gingrich holds a campaign rally in florida. tomorrow, the director of national intelligence and the cia director david petraeus will be joined by other national security and law enforcement officials on capitol hill. they will testify about a potential threat to the u.s. opposed by terrorist groups. live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. also at 10:00 eastern, the head of the consumer protection bureau will take questions before the senate banking committee.

they will discuss -- he was given the appointment over senate objections. the hispanic leadership network held conferences last week with the 2012 elections as a backdrop. it included a discussion on the u.s. economy, job creation, and the hispanic community. >> in just a minute we will begin our first panel discussion, but before we do that, i want to encourage you to visit the hispanic leadership network facebook page, and before i do that, i want to ask paul below if you are in the audience. please come backstage. i apologize. if you have not done so already, please like our facebook page. take a moment to look through

our photos of last night, and go ahead and had yourself region -- and tag yourselves so your friends can see you and you really jealous. i am going to introduce our distinguished panel. these are tough economic times. among latinos the average is higher. the unemployment rate is over a 11%. for young hispanic adults, the situation is more precarious.

with a 31.3% unemployment rate, they are hurting more than any other group. the speeches individuals who know what it takes to have an environment conducive to job creation in america. please join me in welcoming our distinguished panel of experts. i am going to start with the illustrious -- if you guys can just stay right there. i am going to start with the illustrious mr. dominguez. he is a corporate director for manpower, and a former chair of the u.s. equal employment opportunity commission, the eeoc. public service include serving for president bush 41 and 43 at department of labor and e.e.o.c., respectively. welcome. [applause]

next, public of this is director of public policy for google -- pedro chavez is director of public policy for google. advocates for a range of public policy issues, including privacy, content regulation, and online free expression. it is great to have you here. i said it was a distinguished panel. it continues with the next lady i am presenting. the 24th u.s. secretary of labor. secretary to go -- chau is the first american woman of asian descent to be appointed to the president's cabinet. she and your secretary of labor since world war two. and as the first secretary of

labor in the 21st century, she focused on the competitiveness of america's work force by restructuring department of programs to empower workers, modernizing regulations to respond to the reality of our 21st century workplace. a round of applause for the honorable elaine chao. [applause] and you got flags, and everything. it is my privilege to introduce -- we used to sit on a board together, the congressional hispanic leadership institute in washington, while he was the designator of pr. it is great too, welcome him to my home town.

his job has been to revitalize puerto rico's economy. he has pushed for a series of major firms that support sustained economic growth on the island. welcome to miami. i should say he is also president of the council of state government, and chairman of the southern governors' association. very impressive. thank you for being here. in our panel discussions today, we will be moderated by our very own, the very great and wonderful human being, our very own dr. doug holtz-eakin. he has an outstanding record as a policy adviser and strategist. he is president of the action forum. he is former chief economist of

the president's council of economic advisers, and was the sixth director of the nonpartisan congressional budget office, which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the u.s. congress. we are incredibly lucky to have him, and to call him a friend. take it away. [applause] >> thank you very much for coming. thank you for the kids to be here today. thank you for the privilege of sitting with an illustrious panel. let me say two things. the first is, for me, this is the most fun i can ever have. i was raised in western pennsylvania and by scots irish parents, which means i am delaware. -- am dull. and i am a ph.d. economist, which means i am boring. this crowd is never dull and

boring. the hispanic leadership network is the most enjoyable project i have ever worked on. this conference, and the leadership, is a spectacular testament. i am delighted to be here. thank you. secondly, the second thing is the staff dragooned me last year into using twitter. i know you think that is hip and contemporary. it turns out i am not. the have also dragooned me into encouraging new-- encouraging you to tweet during the conference. when you do, please use the hash tag, which i call the pound sign, hlm12. if you want to be adventurous, you can tweet to me. pablo, you can take that up

later. last night, we heard about the importance of the rule of law. the rules of the panel, i will enforce. we will have a good conversation about the outlook for the u.s. economy, important driving sectors. let us go to the panel for opening thoughts on this topic. we will have a conversation for a few minutes. with 10 minutes left, we will open it up to questions from the audience. those that come in over twitter, we will take a couple of those as well. if you are watching remotely, please way in that way. without further ado, i am delighted to open with the governor. >> thank you. it is an honor to be here this morning. i want to thank the hispanic leadership network for inviting me, and allowing me to share with this excellent group. i was able to actually join, i believe, the first conference here in miami. i am glad i could make it again.

very briefly, i am convinced the knowledge-based economy is where we need to go. in order to do that, we need to accomplish a number of things. first, our educational system. we have to get our act together. as you know, four hispanics, location is key. back in pr, we are keen and making sure we emphasize science and math, and being able to utilize all tools that technology grants us this day. in our case, manufacturing is extremely important. but i understand this does not bleed from one section to another of the country. regardless, if we do not get our act together, if our situation continues the way it is today,

we will not be competitive. if our tax policy is not changed dramatically, we will not be competitive. to me, that is key in this discussion. because we can talk about what the industry of the future should look like. if we do not have the proper basis with which to launch the economy, we will not be able to compete. look at europe right now. i believe the fundamentals must be there, and they are not there right now. with that, i will stick to your rule. i am sure we will have a lively panel. >> thank you, the governor. >> i am just delighted to be here with the governor. and i think the world of what he is doing. how soon we forget there is some relevancy to looking at history. from 2001 to 2009, our country

experienced an unemployment rate on average 5.2%. it just saddens me so much that we are asked to get used to a new normal of unemployment, which is over 8%. when i was in office, the average unemployment rate for our country was 5.2%. at that time, we looked toward your with askance. -- toward europe with askance. because they have these really high unemployment rates of over 8%. well, we find ourselves in a similar situation. in august of this past year, 2011, there was no job creation in the economy. last month, it was reported even amidst all of the holiday season, retail trade was still weak.

200,000 jobs were created. that was cause for great celebration. while 200,000 new jobs created every month is nearly necessarily to keep pace with their population growth. we forget two-thirds of the net new jobs being created these days are greeted by small- business is. i think the hispanic american community, especially the young people, understands that. as was mentioned by our wonderful emcee, the current unemployment rate is 8.5%. among hispanic population, well over 11%. over 24% for young hispanic americans. if we took in people who wanted to work full time but cannot find jobs, the marginal an unemployment rate in our country is really 16%. i have a colleague who used to work with me at the department of labor and colorado conway.

he started a new group called generation opportunity. it is a new non-profit, non- partisan organization dedicated to educating, engaging, and mobilizing young americans between the ages of 18 and 29. they just did a survey of young hispanic americans. listen to what they say. young hispanic americans ages 18 to 29 years old want to see less government interference, lower taxes on business profits, reduce federal spending in general, specifically for for more cuts in federal spending over raising new taxes to get the economy back on track. because they know that we cannot tax our way to prosperity. i think we have a lot to learn from these hispanic young people. [applause] >> thank you. >> first of all, thank you for inviting me to join. i'm in the awkward position of having been left a little speechless by senator rubio's speech.

as a first-generation american, it was an amazing talk. it really struck a chord. i will move on, though. let me go over a little bit on the theme of opportunity and optimism that he was touching on. i work in the internet space and have done so for about 15 years. it remains one of the very bright spots in the economy. the secretary is correct about the numbers. this is an industry that is demonstrating a tremendous amount of course power could then be given a couple of examples. -- power. let me give you a couple of examples. over the last couple of years, we have started to see some data, in terms of economic

growth, the internet in the u.s. committed about 15% of gdp growth over the last five years. that is a significant price spot in the economy and something we firmly believe we should be building upon. just with a small picture from google, the chief economist running the numbers about our own companies' economic outlook. the numbers are available for the last year, we generated about $64 billion in economic activity in the u.s. that is money being generated for business partners. in florida alone, that number was about $3.6 billion. 130,000 partners here in this state. it is a tremendous success story. google is a small picture of a much bigger, much brighter picture that i think this industry is drawn.

a second quick point on job creation, again, the figures are very positive. about 3.1 million american jobs are based today on the advertising support of the internet but a small sliver of the broader picture. when you think about it, their jobs that did not exist 10 or 15 years ago. internet advertising. brand new. facebook has released numbers about the number of apps developed for its platform. 130,000 to 180,000 jobs depend on the facebook platform. that is fantastic news. those who down whether the internet has accretive impact on jobs or deleted in fact, a new study indicates for every job from the internet, 2.6 art critic -- for every job lost to the internet, 2.6 are created. bil'in on your point, governor, about information.

thank you. >> wonderful. >> thank you. i want to add my thanks to the hispanic leadership network. what an awesome event we're having. i felt privileged to be part of this panel of impressive leaders. and to be was a man like minded hispanics and fellow believers in what makes our country so great, which is freedom to rise and far as high as our talents and abilities allow. [applause] the world of work is changing. we are seeing all kinds of work force consolidation. we're seeing huge gaps between

supply and demand. i think hispanics have an important role to fill with respect to that we know approximately 15% of our u.s. population is made up of hispanics. this population is forecasted to grow as 7% over the next three years, compared to the national growth which is only going to be 2%. two% national, 7% hispanic. that means a lot of the growth will be fuelled by the hispanic population. we have to be prepared, ready to face the challenge. unfortunately, 38% of our hispanics have less than a high-school diploma compared to 10% of non-hispanics and whites. we have 19% of hispanics with college degrees compared to 39% of white, non-hispanics.

we know there is direct relationship between being prepared in the unemployment rate. secretary chao mention the high unemployment rate. hispanics without a high-school degree, let's say if the national unemployment rate is 8.5%, hispanics with less than a high-school degree have a 13% unemployment rate we have to address that. we have to fix that. we also know education leads to better pay and better jobs. a couple of statistics i am fortunate to serve on the board of manpower, a global corporation the places about 3.5 million workers annually all over the world. they have, i believe, 400,000 companies they work with. this is what they have to say. they have their fingers on the pulse of employment and sectors

that are important but in terms of industry trends, we see a growth in the health and education sectors. in the professional and business sectors. a downturn in manufacturing. we see stagnant growth and agriculture, utilities, and financial-services. according to manpower, the hardest jobs to fill, the number one hardest job to fill in the united states -- does anyone know what it is? field trades. we cannot get enough individuals in the field trades profession. this is unfortunate because skilled trades leads to business ownership. if you have an electrician and she cannot get enough workers, so she hires another electrician. then she has a van with a small business. small business is the engine that drives our economy. we have to make sure that we really change the mindset and the positive attitude about the value of skilled trades in our profession.

we need to get people redirected in those areas. we also have shortages and occupations like sales representatives, engineers, i t staff, accounting, teachers, a machine operators. where are hispanics concentrated? unfortunately, farming, construction, production, and services. professional occupations. we have some work to do. we have to make sure we redirect our hispanic talent in those areas where we have growth opportunities, that we tutor them, coach, and guide them so they can also enter the economic benefits that this wonderful nation provides. i look forward to interacting with you. thank you. [applause] >> one of the objectives is to

build further on these trends in manpower and industries. first, i think it is worth noting that we're in a situation where growth is abysmal in the u.s., and it is not an unprecedented even for country have dual problems of that growth and big debt. that is the u.s. problem. it has happened before. if we look at the lessons of history, the best solution to that problem is to keep taxes low and reform them. the pro-growth, cut spending in order to bring down the debt and deficit, and this constitutes a softball there's a person on this panel who has done that in puerto rico. if you expect a couple of minutes talking about that. [applause] >> what we have accomplished in puerto rico is doable on the national level. when i came into office three years ago, our budget deficit was the worst in the country. it was 44% of revenues.

it was so bad that i had to fly up to new york to meet with agencies but not everyone in america knows what they do after a downgrade. -- now everyone in america knows what they do after a downgrade. we should have been america's greece. when i was sworn in, we realized we did not have enough money to meet our first peril. we had to rush to get a loan from the legislature. my wife asked me if we could ask for a recount. [laughter] what did we do? we cut expenses. not washington talk, if you know, when you cut expenses in washington, it is you cut back the way everyone does at home or in your business. we cut expenses by 20%.

it was not easy. cutting expenses allowed us to cut taxes our interior revenue code is similar to the federal code in the territories. what we did was -- is very doable. my predecessors, not only had they spent too much, but they had raised rates. the corporate tax rate was 41%. today, it is 30%. in two years, it will be 25%. [applause] believe it or not, they created all the different tax brackets at the corporate level and we made it a much simpler and flatter system, lower rates. we streamlined the process, contrary to what is going on in washington nowadays.

we used to be forced to go to 20 different agencies to obtain permits for projects. nowadays, you just get online and give your permit. >> wow. [applause] >> it has not been easy. i will tell you a few numbers. some statistics will show you what can be done in just three years. our state budget deficit, which was 44% of revenues is now 6%. we work 51 of the 50 states and puerto rico in terms of our size of budget deficit, and today we're 15. we got our first reading increase in 27 years. [applause] -- we got our first reading increase in 27 years. home sales are up. i was reading the journal this morning.

for 2011, they are down nationally. wholesales are up by 35% for new homes in puerto rican for 2011, and you say, how could that happen? tax policy works. if you buy a home in puerto rico, first of all, you not pay any property taxes for five years. no transfer fee. on top of that, there'll be no federal gains tax is the day you sell your home or business. [applause] properties are selling for the first time in a long, long time. car sales are up. retail sales are up. for the first time in six years, we are creating jobs print net gain jobs. our employment has been coming down after a long time, which

it was unacceptably high. it is still high, but it has been high. we finally have the fundamentals to grow. we just got the numbers yesterday for our exports. it is the highest number in our history for 2011 as well. [applause] we are dependent 7% on foreign oil to produce our energy. -- 70% reliant on foreign oil. but we are on the right track read only wish washington would take a few chapters from our boat. >> the theme is, how can hispanics succeed christopher another is hispanic leadership. i cannot imagine a better condition. >> it takes courage.

i was not planning on running for reelection. i was planning on doing the right thing, which is not easy. >> well done. congratulations. >> one of the things that comes up all the time is, what can we do right now to improve the labour market performance, to improve the prospects for hispanic communities in particular? given your experience when you look at what is going on, what are the two or three things you would recommend? >> i think one of the biggest problems with our economy is lack of economic growth and job creation. you can basically tell people, yet to go and get a job and hear all the promising industries, but the problems we are not seeing job creation. the average unemployment rate, the average unemployment period now is over two and half years. 44% of our unemployed, the 14 million from an unemployed, have been unemployed for longer than what is traditionally defined as long-term unemployed.

do you know what washingtondo ys doing? they are redefining what it means to be long-term unemployed. [laughter] i think the governor has shown by practical example of what needs to be done. he knows it -- it is really very simple. you have to keep your taxes low, to rid of the excess, unnecessary regulations, and then make sure we're spending within our means. those are very tough issues. a tax increase is definitely not the right policy. our economy cannot take an increase in taxes. it will only hurt our economy. [applause] >> if we got that right, your opening remarks suggest with a mismatch between where people are right now and where the

growth is going to be. how do we bridge that divide? >> i think we need to redirect and make sure we provide a framing and the opportunity. we talked about small businesses. there's so much red tape to try to get access to capital. all of these things are huge business incentives. for the first time in history carnation, our credit rating has been dropped. employers? employers are saying, we're just waiting for different leadership before we start hiring again. so we're going to try to help them do that next election. [laughter] >> the governor mentioned this well, the governor says weary and a knowledge economy. the -- says we are in a knowledge economy. of the jobs, the 200,000 jobs being created, the majority of net new jobs are higher skilled jobs. 20 years ago, a custodian at

your school used to wear a heavy pelt and of something was wrong air-conditioning or the heating system, he would just -- i do not mean to insult them. he would take a tool and not something and it would be ok. nowadays, if you look at a custodian or with a call now stationary engineers, they do not have a built anymore. they have one little gadget, a computer. the air-conditioning of our facilities, the heating, it is all computerized. it speaks to what pablo was talking about, technology. skilled trade is an area where we need workers. you did have information technology knowledge. all of our systems are computer-controlled. you need to know how to use computers. i think one of the first things we need to do is let people know we're in a higher skilled

economy, in the old jobs of the past, even they're being moved in to hire skilled categories. we have to emphasize and persuade our young people to stay in school, get as much education and training as they can to position themselves to get these good paying future jobs, hopefully, that will develop sen. >> i just want to add, i think that is the key. when i look at the gap between the demands and the supply, the differences the technology that she is talking about. we do not have the -- the high unemployment rate we're dealing with, a high percentage are less than high school degree because they do not have the knowledge. we have to redirect our people, our nation's workers into those areas. >> you in many ways are the bright spot of the panel.

how do you think about the growth opportunities, what your products provide in the way of opportunities especially for hispanic communities and the skill sets? >> let me make one broader point and then respond more specifically to your question. all of the points that my fellow panelists are making are absolutely right on. if you look more broadly throughout the hemisphere, you realize the reduction of regulation, reduction of taxes and red tape and so forth, they are so important. when you look at economies like mexico, there is a lot of entrepreneurial spirit. the red tape and a lack of access to capital, the venture capital, is really holding down the economy. argentina is another critic sample of a lot of entrepreneurship, but no access to capital.

what we have here in this country is the foundational element, to your earlier point, we need to continue building upon. in terms of direct things we can do right now, encourage job creation and more entrepreneurs, two things to point out but one, a study came out about a year ago that indicates the job creation in the united states is not just small businesses, but job creation by new small business start-ups. the point about information technology and the internet, statistics show even a standard brick and mortar company, everyone who is using the internet is increasing the revenue 2x, employment 2x, so, again, i think everybody is

talking about the same thing. we need to encourage the entrepreneurs, encourage the use of technology. it would achieve tremendous results but >> in the spirit of using technology, i have been given technology. with a question from twitter the says, what ideas to the panelists have to increase public, private investment and labour training? >> could i answer that? we are incredibly compassionate nation. when we talked about the skills gap, there many attempts by the government and private sector to address increasing skills level of the workforce. the u.s. public taxpayers, you

are already finding a $7 billion -- in washington, it is not such a big number -- [laughter] $7 billion to $9 billion, and i could explain why, but it is not worth it, the government engages in job training. there are over 1300 what is called local one-stop centers dispersed throughout our communities to help people with employment, to get jobs, and to provide training, whatever. these are good people who man is -- man these one-stop career centers. there many in puerto rico. we must do more. we must meet -- but the trend in the government needs, relevant. the private sector does a lot of training already. the government does some. it is a good partnership. i would challenge the government run turning centers to provide more relevant

training and to listen to the job creators, the employers within the community as to what types of training programs are best for that community. it does not make sense for a training program for less a 1000 hairdressers for community that only needs 13. then they can get real jobs when they graduate from these programs. >> this comes up again and again. there was a panel of the large foreign based manufacturers, the mercedes benz, folks were going to invest in siemens. the biggest complaint about building a plant in the u.s. is we did not have the skilled

trade. how do we address that? >> i would say it starts k-12. that is a challenge i am facing now at the state level. if i may say so, we have too many lawyers. really. [applause] we a people trained in the wrong skills. we need more scientists. we need more technical people. we need more engineers. we have a lack of engineers, not just a puerto rico, but across america. that is what we need to do, but we must commence k-12. dot is what we're trying to right now. we call it schools for the 21st century. it involves the use of technology. it entices the students to stay in school.

and also to like math and science. >> i want to add, i think the public/private partnerships are key, contrary to what washington says, the private sector's are creating the jobs. the government does not create jobs. we need input from the private sector. secondly, there is a bias against skilled trade it is an honorable and important profession, so lot of times families will direct their children to college and in of dropping out because they really want to be a welder or electrician or carpenter. we have to encourage a positive attitude about individuals with honorable work. we have to promote that. >> i think we will open up questions to the audience. raise your hand and someone will bring you a microphone. please, identify yourself and ask your question in the form of a question.

>> get morning. manama's elizabeth. first of all, congratulations gov. fortuño. you are my hero. [applause] i am from the center of the island where you very well know we have a serious problem with unemployment, and our youth lived on the allen. -- island. we have a lot of land not being used. i'd like to see the land used with a partnership with florida that has citrus many times the citrus and florida it is completely lost. we can make a partnership to make sure that part of economic empowerment can be a sister/brother kind of marriage we can have. we have to have the line open

between -- and tampa. we would be bringing in thousands of new jobs. the economy in central florida would be in medicine. puerto rico would be incredible. will you help us to do that? >> i strongly believe in agro- business. we have seen a trend recently from the and regeneration getting into agro-business. and this makes a lot of sense. port facility and the southern part of puerto rico. it makes all the sense in the world that we should be fully connected with florida [applause] . >> question? a're going to give you microphone. thank you.

>> good morning. i want to address something that mr. mendes said. there is an attitude about skilled labor. you cannot claim a parent for one in their child to go to college, for aspiring for greater things. but there are plenty of kids that are not cut out for school, even at high school level. why not build up technical schools at that level so they can graduate from a trade school with a license so they can work in their area of interest right from the get go, instead of having high school dropouts then try to apply for jobs that may not be trained to do? but my real question was for mr. chavez. would you please address our government recent attempt to sensor the internet considering how important internet is in job creation? thank you >> certainly. i think that as a reference maybe to the stuck online piracy act. it is somewhat controversial. [laughter] look, i agree with all four of

the republican presidential candidates that that particular bill, though well intended, had elizabeth of an overreach. and the problem -- had a little bit of an overreach. and the problem is, the internet is american and some new ways. it was developed here. our businesses are the model for the world. the chinese, iranians, others look at what we're doing c and doing cues from us. the moment we start censoring the internet here, all those people will start doing it, even worse than they are doing it today. with the personal experience with china, i will say that is not the environment you want to operate in. it is not morally or ethically

correct. we agree piracy is a big problem, and we're very committed to finding the right solution. this particular bill was not the right way to go because of the censorship elements. >> i was going to go back to another point. were you going to wrap up? >> no, i was quite ask you to go back to another point. [laughter] >> this group is really non- partisan. talk about job creation, i think it was really disappointing to hear from the white house that the president had decided to veto the keystone pipeline issue. [applause] i used to work with labor organizations. major swap of the labor wanted that project because it would of created hundreds of thousands of jobs. not only jobs, but skilled trades jobs as well. it was disappointing to see how

politics can in and the president align himself -- we're all environmentalist. we all care about the environment. this is such a large project that could of been so much to promote our economy and jobs. it was very disappointing. >> we will take a question here and then wrapped up. >> thank you. as a canadian originally, i think canada is pretty disappointed the president vetoed that as well. this is a comet/question for governor fortuño. we're developing solar power projects on the island a puerto rico. i can tell you in my 2 plus years working on the island of new york administration, the island has done a 180 as far -- [applause] working on the island under your administration, the island has done a 180. when i first interactive with the puerto rican electric power

authority, they were frankly allergic paying more than a penny more. we're talking about hundreds of megawatts would be coming on line in solar and wind and waste energy, landfill gas. the legislation passed and approved had a huge impact on the mind set. i think -- it is heartening to see developers from not just other parts of the u.s., but other parts of the world, coming to the island. if only there were a microcosm of what would happen in the rest of the u.s. recede the opposite trend and there's outsourcing and elsewhere. i think if those trends continue, great for puerto rican and those places that get it, but sad for the rest of the country. >> thank you. when you live on an island, you cannot connect to the national grid. you must act. being 70% dependent on foreign oil makes no sense, period. looking at what is happening in the strait of hormuz, we are

crossing our fingers. in a fiscally responsible way we're looking to promote other sources of energy that will create actually the climate, a business climate in term mentioning. if i may, and other areas like toll roads, airports, schools, there is plenty of capital their that is waiting to be tapped. it makes no sense for us to try to build everything. for all of the infrastructure needed to run your state or city. i believe we have the most aggressive and public/private partnership in the country. we just closed the largest deal in six years in the country with the toll roads. it is a 40-year concession. in about two or three months, at the main airport, san with correctional facilities later

this year. that applies to the energy production. we're trying to do it in a fiscally responsible way, but in a way creating thousands of jobs. thank you. [applause] >> i have been negotiating with management and bought us some more time. first, and a rapid fire around, if you could do one thing in terms of federal policy to improve the outlook for jobs in hispanic communities, what would it be? >> i would lower taxes. [applause] >> reduce the excess of percolations. -- regulations. since this administration began, the level of what is called significant role makings have increased more than 40%.

that is not all rulemaking or regulation, just significant role makings over $100 billion and up critics shameless self- promotion. look at the regulation button. you'll see a catalog of the cost of regulations in recent history. it is staggering. >> for latinos and other americans, we think expanding trade and having a 20% trade agenda that includes free and open internet. it would be really, really great for the economy and for latinos and many others. >> i would encourage a balanced budget and try to reduce the deficit. i think that would give employers a sense of confidence and comfort that we just don't have. >> wonderful. we have time for more questions. right here.

>> i am from oregon. i came out here to help with this election. i have children with disabilities that are of puerto rican heritage. one of my biggest peeves is when i was in school, a disabilities as well. they were telling me i should do english only emerson. -- immersion. we spend billions of dollars and cultural education at the expense of cutting speech pathology and special ed out of the budget. with billions of dollars for the state of oregon good to special education, but none went to the kids. if we want a good work force, why would it be okay to fail my children that are legal citizens of this country at the expense of promoting culture for kids that are coming into the country illegally? therefore, leaving them behind in esl as well. there are some better sitting in the classroom that are getting no services at the

expense of others getting help and all subjects. wenchow that needs the dish to -- the one child that needs the additional help is not receiving it. as funding becomes an issue, i think of leaving a lot of our hispanic community behind whether they are illegal immigrants are that there are american citizens. i would like to see some of these issues being addressed. it is important to me. without the early help, i would not be here today. of a son that is the first latino american and hundreds of years and my family that is ever got a college degree. i am so proud of that. this is not just the first generation minority, and it had many years of failure in this country. my son is the fourth generation a failure in this country, a young person with the disabilities. if you're really advocates for the latino community, how are we going to help our latinos

when there's less funding than ever before in education that is going into other areas and not the kids in the schools? >> there is a genuine question of how we set priorities. we have an enormous deficit and debt, and we have needs. >> she brings a valid point. i will tell you how i am doing it. all governors are executives. they have to make choices. it is not always easy to make choices. in education, special education in puerto rico, we have failed for 30 years our children. under both parties, it was wish to litigate against the parents and the children and not grant what should have been done. our team decided to do otherwise. it is a choice. you cut elsewhere and devote

resources to this. at the same time we're cutting our budget by 20%, reducing our payroll, i have added about 1500 additional employees just in special education. there are strict always been following up what they are doing. we're adding resources for the first time in 20 years, sporting events are open to special education kids and so on and so forth. it is a matter of choice of where are your priorities. >> i want to emphasize something. cutting the budget by 20%. we're talking about over $700 billion a year. an enormous accomplishment. [applause] i think there's been a biased toward the front because i am blind by the light. let's go back there.

>> this should be our last question. >> my name is bob. my question is for secretary chao. my grandfather came to this country from spain, left the depression as 17 years old to look for new horizons in this country. he built the largest hispanic food company in this nation, and did it without one single entitlement or occupying wall street. [laughter] [applause] he built the business in 1936 in new york. my question is, and i'm concerned about the health of our nation and see ourselves going and a similar way to what is happening in europe. how we build jobs when we have a department of labor that works against businesses, makes it

more difficult for us to create jobs and to be successful in this country? what is your suggestion to our candidates on how to improve our system, how to make it better? >> you get all the easy ones. [laughter] >> i love your story because it is a quintessential american story. senator rubio talked about it, the governor talked about it, the panel has talked about this is the land of opportunity. somehow there are people who believe we cannot get a fair shake in life if we look different or come from a different background read there is nothing further from the truth. i have the story myself. i came as an 8-year-old immigrant. i did not speak english. i learned. i'm very concerned about what is happening not only in the labor department, but the administration. the labor department

represented 100% of the work force when we were in office. this seems to only represent 12%. only 7% of the workforce that is unionized in the private sector. the amount of regulation that is coming out of this administration not only in the labor department, is very anti- employer. they believe if you're making money, if you're an employer, you are up to no good. you have exploited their workers. you get up every morning and exploit workers. i think that is so wrong headed. i think we need to let people know about these actions. you have to go on the american action form. the regulations it ever since a workplace in america. big and small. when you go down the list, you'll be amazed at what regulations touch upon your

life. you'll find regulations in the energy department conflict with those from delivered apartment which conflicts with others. if you're a good, honest person tried to raise your family, take care of your children, you cannot meet all these regulations. many times, it is confusing and a conflict with one another. [applause] my last words, the have consequences. i want to point out my former colleagues in the front row, now vice chairman of citibank. [applause] >> with that, final comments from the panelists. >> i just want to echo what everyone has said. i think employers are on the silence just waiting to see what is going to happen. we need to help them and get

someone elected that will deal with the issues we have talked about. [applause] >> i work in an exceptional sector than has are really represents an exceptional country. we of such great opportunities to keep building on this, whether you work on the internet, technology or not, this is a wonderful, wonderful country to really build a future, build opportunities, and it is a great pleasure to be a part of this in delivering that message. thank you. [applause] >> i want to thank all of you for coming. this is an amazing event. i was so sad to have missed it last year. they spent a great deal of time planning for this to empower and let your voices soar during this particular time in our nation's history. you'll hear from wonderful

speakers. ed gillespie will talk about "know your power." there is power in this community, in this room. compliment you all. i say, let's do the right thing for our country. i compliment you all, and i say, let's do the right thing for our country. [applause] >> i want to thank the organizers of this again. thank you for showing up here and to the panelists. most of us are hispanics here. this is a great country. you can achieve whatever you want if you work hard. and what the government needs to do is get out of our way to allow us to enjoy freedoms. [applause] allow us to enjoy freedoms and actually the fruits of our labor. i only wish that we will get

back on track as a nation. i am convinced that we will. i want to thank you of again for allowing me to share with you this morning. thank you. >> please join me in thanking the panel. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> this discussion focuses on a u.s. immigration policy. we will hear from carlos. >> now, we're picking up the afternoon portion of our conference with a very important discussion on work force and immigrants, dispelling the myths. on the stage for public policy issues are debated, there is

perhaps no other topics that lends itself to more misinterpretation, that ends in polarization, the and immigration. welcome our panelists. we're going to start debunking the myths about immigrants and the work force. this is a very important panel, and i think it will be history in the making. alex is the dean of the college of law of florida international university. he has served as law clerk to justice samuel alito, jr. as the longest serving u.s. attorney in south florida and as a member of the national labor relations board, he has had the distinct honor of being the first hispanic to serve as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the u.s. department of justice under president george w. bush. thank you for being here. [applause]

next, carlos gutierrez. we're honored to have secretary gutierrez, our conference co- chair, along some governor jim bush -- jebb bush, with us today. he is currently vice chairman of institutional client group at citigroup. before his government service, he was working with tony the tiger as chairman and ceo of the kellogg company. thank you for being here. adam putnam leads a state agency with a mission to promote florida's agricultural sector, foster innovation in energy development, provide a safe and abundant food supply, managed forest resources, and safeguard consumers. previously, he served five terms in congress, representing florida's 12th district in the u.s. house of representatives.

thank you, commissioner putnam, for being here. [applause] last but not least, secretary spellings, margaret spelling's is with us. the eighth secretary of education. she is a strategic adviser to the u.s. chamber of commerce, where she is also president of the u.s. forum for policy innovation. as secretary of education, she has led the implementation of historic no child left behind. of course, our moderator in chief, the extraordinary doctor doug, who is back. the floor is all yours. enjoy the panel. [applause] >> welcome to the panel on immigration in the work force, dispelling the myths. i thought we would begin by letting the panelists open with a few introductory remarks on the topic they think is most pertinent. but to avoid boredom, not just going to go straight down. i am going to defer to local

politics and let the floridian opened with the remarks. mr. putnam. >> thank you. it is pleasure and honor to be here to talk about one of the most passionate issues. it has generated an awful lot of heat about a whole lot of light. hopefully in separating the myths from the reality, we can build the kind of consensus we need to have. there is always been a lot of talk about a tough immigration policy. what we need is a smart immigration policy. an immigration policy that makes sense in the 21st century. from agriculture's perspective, agriculture in florida is a $100 billion industry, the second biggest industry. even when times are good, when tourism and construction are down, it takes over as number one. because of the dysfunction in the broken approach in washington, individual states have attempted to move forward on that their round, which is an extraordinarily mistake -- it

is an extraordinary mistake. we need one smart national immigration policy, not 50 not so smart immigration policies. it is important the economy. it is board to our security. it is important global competitiveness. we want to continue to be that beacon that south florida has become. in florida, when they talk about going their own way with an immigration policy, it threatens our place in the world. that is not so the arizona has to worry about. they do not have a place in the world, do they? [laughter] florida has a sterling reputation. we are the financial center for latin america. we are a destination for international tourism, investment, travel, and international trade. that is what is at stake and why it is so important that we

have this single national smart policy that brings us into line and allows us to continue to recruit and attract the type of human talent that wants to build their dreams in united states. >> thank you. >> a couple of observations. first, i love this issue. like education, it is very emotional, and everybody has their own personal experience with this issue, like we do with our schools. i first got acquainted with the issue when i was a policy adviser at the white house and doug and i worked together. prior to 9/11, president bush was hard at work going through much more rational, market- based, sensible, comments of solution. what we know for sure is that our current system is a nightmare, a mess. bureaucratic, byzantine, does not make sense, arbitrary. a crazy quilt of policy-making. we went to work on that.

obviously, after 9/11, that was shelved. in the bush administration, we react the issue in january 2004 with a guest-worker program, and carlos led the major effort. the more you know about this issue, the more obvious these solutions are that come. that is why we had folks like senators kennedy, salazar, mccain, president bush, you know, a wide swath of folks that were working on this, seeing the way for this more sensible policy. i think the biggest myth in education is that tons and tons of illegals are in our schools that we are paying the bills for, and they're not able to succeed. so on and so forth. i will tell you that of the five plus million students in this country who have at least one parent who is illegal, 79% of those kids are born in the

united states. they are u.s. citizens like us and obviously have all the rights and responsibilities of u.s. citizenship. so i think, you know, our biggest problem, of course, in education is we are doing a woefully inadequate job of educating kids of all stripes, agreed, and colors in our schools, but these kids in our schools are largely u.s. citizens. the other thing i will say quickly is about a bilingual education and the so-called immersion. it is a quasi quilt of state policy that governs that. likewise, in-state higher education tuition. we will get that more. when i was secretary and i was working on this in the white house, there was one thing i really noticed. it did not occur to me until now. but all of us are from states that have a lot of experience with this. texas and florida. it is amazing to me how folks in other parts of the country

do not understand what immigration really does mean it to them. i used to say, you know, have you been anything today? had you stayed in a hotel? do you live in something that was built? and so on. this idea that it is just an isolated few states really is not the case but i am throw to be here. thank you for having me. >> we appreciate it. mr. gutierrez. >> thank you. i am going to talk a little bit about the impact on the economy. and at a time when we're talking about competitiveness and how do we get more competitive against the rest of the world and china is rising and what are we going to do, one of our biggest advantages lies in the demographics and immigration. every developed country in the world has a demographic problem. japan is a country that is getting old very quickly.

even china is going to good old before it gets rich. russia's population decline last year. it actually declined. and throughout europe -- italy, portugal, you name it, spain -- spain, i remember when they used to have 12 kids. today, the average family is not having enough to replace the people who are passing on. so this is a big problem for their economy. we grow our economy on the base of two things. productivity and the number of people in the work force. if you do not have enough people in the workforce, you have to do a really good job on productivity to grow gdp. the key thing is to have enough people in the work force that allows you to grow. we have the advantage that people want to come here, that we attract immigrants, that

immigrants have built this country. so if we get this right, if we get this immigration policy right -- by the way, i agree with adam putnam, this has to be a national immigration strategy that includes legal, illegal, what about the fact that we do not have enough nurses? the laws in agriculture are crazy. we're forcing people to reintroduce something illegal, to go out of business, or to send your farm to mexico. because that is what our law does to them. it impacts economics. it impacts job creation. immigrants come and they build businesses. as governor romney mentioned, more businesses and the average growth of small businesses in the country but you go to new york and watch the dominican republic community, and the number of businesses they have.

come to miami, and you will realize what hispanic americans have done for this country. so it is an economic imperative. if we get this right, forget china, forget india. we will have an advantage for a century. if we get it wrong, shame on us, because this could be our biggest competitive advantage for the next 100 years. >> thank you. [applause] >> you know, i would echo a lot of what people have already heard. this is a critical issue and an issue that, unfortunately, leadership currently is unwilling to tackle. it is a complex issue, and we need individuals that are willing to use political capital, as president bush was willing to do, to take this on and to find real solutions that address both the issue of illegal immigration and a

pathway to legal immigration. when we talk about immigration, it is very charged emotionally. and for me, it harkens back to president reagan. some of my earliest political memories are of president reagan. i was a little kid and what i remember about him is his positivism. he has this vision of our nation that that was a shining city upon a hill. later on, i went back and looked up what that meant. i found his farewell address, his final words to our nation from the oval office in january as he was about to leave his presidency. and i brought them with me, because i think it set a good tone for this issue. he said, and that is about all i have to say for tonight, except for one thing. the past few days i have been sitting in my window upstairs, and i thought about the shining

city upon the hill, the phrase comes from john winthrop, who wrote it to describe the america that he saw. but he was an early program, and early freedom men. he journeyed here in what today we call a little wooden boat. and like other programs, he was -- pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. well, the reality is, today we have people journeying here on a little wooden boats or rafts made of tires tied together, and they're coming here for the exact same reason. because they are looking for a home that will be free. that is an experience that so many of us who grew up here in miami have. that there is a second side that we have to take on when we talk about immigration, and that is what happens when that happens illegally. i was a federal prosecutor in miami for five years. i had some experiences that are horrific. i had the parents of an 8-year- old boys sitting in my office.

the boy had drowned coming from cuba. they were in my office thanking me because at least they were able to stay in this nation, and they wanted to come by to say thank you. because we were able to have a funeral mass for our son. we're not sure that the passage from cuba was worth his life. as a matter of fact, we are really confused right now, but at least we have freedom. i had a case where a woman was raped repeatedly on her way over from haiti, because the smugglers, the boats, the coyotes that brought her over abused her, and she allowed it. because for her, that was the price of passage to our nation. the cost of illegal immigration is not simply exclusion, but it

is said use of those individuals coming to our nation, seeing it as a beacon of freedom. we have to address illegal immigration and give everyone a path to get here legally and in a transparent and fair way. >> thank you very much. [applause] i want to remind those who are not in the hall that you can send in questions over twitter, #hln12. we look forward to that. we will get the audience opportunity for questions as well. i want to echo what secretary gutierrez said, which is if we get this right, we will have an economic advantage for the next century. for too long, immigration policy in the u.s. was viewed not as part of economic policy. it was a tool of family reunification, and every avenue for those seeking asylum and and

safety from persecution. but it is actually at the core of our successes and that the economy. it is one of the great costs of the fact that we have a broken immigration system, that we are not going to prosper to the extent that we could pick up the dream of prosperity in america has been at the root of all immigration, and it is one of the sad ironies that we're undercutting it with a broken immigration system. i want to talk to those on the panel about things that come up often and things that make it hard to get the job done. do we need a temporary worker program, for example? >> from agriculture's perspective, it is central to the temporary guest worker program. you know, we have an issue at both ends of the work force, because it is an economic issue. at the high end of the work force, we continue to be a magnet for people around the world, and they come here to go to our university system, and they get ph.d.'s and master's

and all kinds of skills sets. as soon as they get their diploma, we kicked them out of the country. that is dumb on one side of the workforce a question put on the other side, if we're going to be food secure, independent, and not reliant on other countries for our food, particularly for our produce, things that tend to be harvested by hand, then we need a method for harvesting that through a temporary guest worker program. if, in the absence of that, then you will see $100 billion industry in florida go away. and an even larger industry than that in california go away. and we will be dependent on other countries for that supply of food. so a temporary program is as essential, because that is still labor. contrary to the myth, at the peak of the economic boom, only

about 10% of by estimates, only 10% of those who were in the country illegally were in ag labor. it is to be focused on ag labor, but there are any number of other industries that we need to continue to refresh the work force in. maybe it is hospitality, hotels, restaurants, construction, and landscaping. maybe it is nursing, as the secretary mentioned. there are a number of gaps in our work force in america. those gaps existed when the and a plate -- when the unemployment rate was 4%. in those gaps exist when the unemployment rate was 10%. many have not tracked other trends. >> doug, the two blind and react with some of the education implications of this. there is a spectrum. we really all aim to want to work for a market-based approach that is rational and makes sense, based on the needs of the economy and the work force, whether it is nurses or engineers or folks in

agriculture. if we believe that we're in a global knowledge economy, which we do, then, obviously, education is the pathway to the that the very skilled work force. whether it is technically or academically skilled, that is how we are going to bridge this gap that is why 12 states, including texas, california, and new york, as you may have heard -- texas -- have systems that allow their immigrant populations to attend public higher education at in-the state tuition levels. four states have banned its out right. alabama, indiana, georgia, and colorado. and the rest have what i call kind of a don't ask, don't tell policy, which basically leaves it up to institutions to sort of ferret it out or not. one of the things i have learned from president bush is

to always keep your eye on the results. what do we want? we want a human economy. we want to prepare folks to do that work. we want systems the set that up. we're doing anything but that now. it makes all the sense in the world to me that we educate kids to high levels as quickly as possible and in places like texas and florida and others that have large immigrant populations, that you will be smart about how quickly and how effectively you educated those kids. >> you know, we talk about immigration as a whole, and we generalize. but where do you get the immigration from is a big question, and this be a a hispanic group will understand that another advantage that the u.s. has is a border with latin america.

and therefore, and veterans who -- immigrants who come to this country to work and to dream and to have a better life and to have the promise of a better future for their kids do not really come to threaten our way of life. you know, this thing about assimilation is crazy. or about coming no, hispanics not assimilating. it is just another one of these, you know, buzzwords. i wish all kids assimilated the same way as cuban-americans do, which is the assimilate, but they keep their language. frankly, we need more than one language in the sense of doing business with the rest of the world. >> that is right. >> thank you. [laughter] so i was surprised a little bit with the comment today of

speaker gingrich of one government language. what that means is that if you're doing the census, you cannot have a questionnaire in spanish. why not? come on, we are an international country. we do business around the world. the chinese pick up a u.s. planning, and they read it. we could pick up a chinese plant in and get busy. so we need more people, you know -- [laughter] [applause] one more thing -- the other thing is, in europe, they're having a hard time with immigration, hard time, because most of their innovation is coming from the middle east. and in some cases, not all cases, but in some cases, they have refused to assimilate. in many cases, they're not going to work, because the people who are going are not of working age.

older than working age. so they have the problem. japan has never had immigration. so where are they going to get it from? neither has in china. we have immigration from latin america. and last month's -- and latins fit in here as good or better than anyone else. language, faith, western values, family. i mean, it is what this country is. latins are what this country is. so that is another advantage. we have a border with latin america. i will tell you, given latin- american growth and given the population growth in mexico, there is going to come a time, maybe not in five years, but in 30 years, 40 years, where mexico will say, sorry, but we do not have any more people to send, because our population is not growing fast enough and we needed them to stay here.

so, again, it is just another reason for acting now, because the future is so clear. you do not have to be soothsayer to see it coming. >> we're going to open it up to questions from the audience. before we do, given that we have an enormous range of problems in our immigration system -- if you could do one thing, what is the one thing you would work on tomorrow to improve the look for u.s. immigration? >> the one thing that would do is try to foster a rational conversation about this issue, what it means to everyone, what it means to our economy and our country. >> that is what i am supposed to be doing. >> i know, well, that is. but i think it would be useful for the president of the united states -- god willing it will be ours, to have an education effort around this thing. because we're talking past each other. and we get down into defense and all this other stuff, and it is

this a red herring nonsense to honestly, in many, many cases. >> totally. and immigration has been a political football. and the democrats have used it very cleverly, you know. every time there is an election coming, harry reid introduces a bill which he knows will never pass. but when it does not pass, he blames it on the republicans. you know? and the hispanic community who were promised are just being used, and they understand it. they realize that they're being taken for a ride, because there were promised a lot. president has been in power for three years. first two years he had both houses, nothing happened. he could have made it happen. nothing happened. i am concerned about some of these approaches. speaker gingrich says, well, comprehensive does not work, so therefore, piecemeal. the problem with the political

football is precisely because we hand people piecemeal bills so the play with them. immigrants have this great excitement about something, and suddenly they realize nothing, not even the vote is in place. that is the trap of piecemeal. i happen to think governor romney, what he was talking about, you know, immigration -- the whole thing, the 4.5 million people waiting to get in. what is our national immigration strategy? what is our policy is part of our competitiveness approach? within that, we are eventually going to get it to, would you do it $12 million for defense, 3 million born here? that is part of the big strategy. the problem is we start there, and we start with the most difficult part. very often we start with the was difficult part because we're just playing with it,

using it for political tactics. that is what one of the many things is that bothers me. in the meantime, hispanics keep waiting for something. they keep the promise, but it is all about tactics. just keep your eye on the next time it comes up, and i am sure it will come up over the next 12 months. [applause] >> in east -- i think that is absolutely right. i would put a deadline on conference of the immigration solutions. i keep hearing, you know, bills introduced, and they go nowhere. as the secretary said, they're not meant to go anywhere. they are meant to wile up the emotions. but we need a solution. several individuals here on the panel were involved in finding a solution several years ago under president bush, and we need somebody who's gone to say, we have to enact coverage of

the immigration solutions. part of that means figuring out what we do with all the individuals that are already in our nation. we needed them here. they provide construction jobs. they provide agricultural jobs. we need to figure out a way to address that. we need to figure out a way to then have the pathway to out a y to have a pathway to further future legal immigration. and if we don't take it all at once, we will not solve it because you can solve part of it without solving the other parts. you can't address immigration without answering what you can do with individuals that are already in the united states. and so let's just get it done and get it done quickly. >> it requires leadership and courage, that begins at the top. we have not had that since president bush, somebody really willing to have a national

conversation about what it means for the future of our country. most members of congress understand it. they find reasons not to understand it, but intuitively, they get it. if they know it is broken and it only takes a passing glance at the patchwork of who is in, who is out, who is in the express lane into is not. and so what we need first is a natural leader that can facilitate that national conversation on the importance of this. if you work with dealing -- if you work on getting the legal path right and the visa program right and modernize the antiquated system, as messed up as it was to bring the chinese and, it really is that messed up. if you get that part right, this part takes care of itself.

it really begins to take care of itself as you fix the early pieces on security and the legal pieces. you are creating a natural magnet to get your staff or it ought to be. everyone that is interested in killing it in its infancy, start of the hardest piece. >> if you have a question, raise your hand. right here. >> my name is linda vasquez, you have talked about comprehensive immigration law. i presume you're talking about federal level enforcement or programs. what about the states? arizona has stepped up, south carolina is dealing with their

own laws. give the states have the right to control their own destiny with immigration? to preclude the federal government from either doing nothing at all for stepping in and doing too much? >> the georgia, alabama, arizona, the headline states that stepped up their with their own state approaches, thank goodness they did not do it because it would have been devastating to our reputation and our economy. under the constitution, there is a really narrow band with of options for states to deal with immigration. inherently, you're talking about international discussions and the flow across natural borders. out of frustration, that

congress isn't doing anything, they are only allowed to do some things, they are focusing on the enforcement peace and have had devastating consequences for their economy. in georgia has a labor report out, alabama has a labor report out of that will be very harmful to the economy because in swinging wildly out of frustration that washington hasn't done something, they passed bills that caused their businesses and their economies great harm. they have seen an evacuation of workers, they have experimented with every pilot project imaginable that has ever been floated for ways to replace the immigrant a bus. they tried all of these things and they lasted until lunchtime.

from florida's perspective, it has given us a a real-world real-time example of what happens when you get the state- based policies wrong. you do it at the national level and set of having 50 different rabbits running 50 different directions. >> a year ago, at the launch of the hln, we heard from lieutenant governor maldonado. he said latinos in california, a great percentage of latinos in

this country, how do not want amnesty. i think we have to listen to that. another thing that i don't think we do that well, latinos do not talk about border security. i am an american hispanic, i want a strong border. are we doing a good enough job with the community talking about immigration reform instead of listening to these politicians? >> i think you are absolutely right in you bring up a good point. i don't know what amnesty is because any time that someone has proposed a solution that doesn't sound like amnesty, it sounds like punishing, someone called a eighth amnesty. it has become the one word that

can kill an idea. it is very dangerous because it really confuses people, and people don't know how they should feel about a certain issue. at one point, they were calling the fence a wall. i asked groups in texas or california, how do you feel about the wall? how do you feel about border security? every country in the world has the right and the obligation to secure their border. not against immigrants, just secure your border. it is not a wall, it is not a wall that goes all the way across, it is a fence. does it make sense on a functional basis? probably a little bit.

the reality is that 40% of the illegals that come and come in in airports. the airplane goes right over the wall. i worry like you. terms like border security have to be understood. i leave in my heart that governor romney says it because he believes it, but some people say it is a way of saying border security. it is absolutely full of buzzwords and the people are tremendously confused. most people in this country are pro-immigration because most people in this country are immigrants.

i hope people are seeing what you are seeing. >> if i could add briefly, border security is not simply about immigration. it is about stopping threats coming into our nation. it is about stopping drugs or stopping other items that can threaten our nation whether it be biological or other items. border security has multiple purposes and i think it is dangerous to say it is only for stopping immigration. be totally to against the dream active but the more i thought about it and the more i got in of the dreamers, i started to change my mind. somebody explain talking about

these kids. they came here when they were minors. the longer we wait to approve some sort of solution for these kids that came here as minors, they are becoming adults. the truth is, some -- can somebody really explain? how can they understand why it is important for these people, because they came here as children. >> what do you think of the dream act, and if it needs to be changed, how? >> let me start on some of the fact. the dream act says that kids were brought here at a young age, to be determined what that

is, they are not u.s.-born, foreign-born. by an illegal apparent that had gone through their schooling here, and like you, i met some of the dreamers, valedictorians of their high school. without the route to either continue the post secondary education lawfully, at any price, it is in my view humane and smart. to make those kids say that you have no opportunity here in our military or higher education, you are out of luck. this act would aim to regular rise, legalize, whatever word you want to do, those individuals to go on a pathway to military service or post- secondary education.

this is not a huge number of individuals. i think it gets overstated. the vast majority of kids in our schools that are living as english speakers, we owe them an education. >> we have time for one more -- >> the point of the age structure of people as a little bit odd. that is why some people in congress, i think it was 30 or 35 that the questioner mentioned. it was used for political purposes and if you look through all the facts, some things are very difficult to accept. but if you didn't accept this, you were not accepting the tree back. it didn't matter this was the

craziest thing in the world. >> the dream act has been one of the most politically manipulated tool in this whole debate, and a very similar way on the left. you see this military service and be in the broader topic for immigration reform. >> vice chairman of the school board, we talked about a broken immigration system. it takes so long for them to do it, the importer region, there is customs, border patrol, the

department of state, maybe it was too much. do you think that is why it has taken so long to process illegals? >> i was the federal prosecutor you start figuring out which agency does this or that. and even on the inside, folks have trouble figuring out the system. it really speaks to a very broken system and it is time to change it. >> when we were looking at ag jobs, you had to go through a process where you get a permit, if it is this agency and that

agency, they can take 20 days, and so it took about four months at which time, the harvest would be rotten. by making laws that can't be implemented, you're forcing people to play -- break the law. >> on that note, our time has expired, i want you to join me in thanking the panel. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> presidential primary voters go to the polls tomorrow.

campaigns in tampa florida, and met ronnie holds a rally at a retirement community in central florida. officials on capitol hill testify about the potential threat against the u.s., proposed by terrorist groups. live coverage by 10:00 a.m. eastern. also at 10:00 eastern on c-span 3, the head of the financial projections bureau will be testifying before the senate banking committee over the objections of senate republicans. republican presidential candidate newt gingrich

continued campaigning in florida. the former house speaker held a campaign rally that had the international airport. speaking at the rally, michael reagan, and former gop presidential candidate herman cain. [applause] >> what a day. great to be here. i used to race boats in tampa. great relationship with people in florida. it is great to be here today representing newt and being here to be by his side as he tries to win this all-important primary tomorrow. he had a great week last week in south carolina. tomorrow, let's make a greater day in the state of florida. people ask me, why are you endorsing newt? i have known him for a long

period of time in my life. i kind of am taken aback by what some people state about him, that he was not there. and i think, people are saying he was not there were not there. and the fact that i was during the 1980's, newt was there at the beginning of all this with the reagan revolution. 1990's, newt gingrich give the republican party the largest majority ever and gave us the congress of the united states, the first time we had had it in over 40 years. balanced the budget four times, reformed welfare. he did this as speaker of the house, and back than ever but it was saying what a great guy. what a difference to a few years make. at the same time, when that was all done and he left congress,

what did he do? he went around this country, raised more money for the republican party than anybody, went out and helped elect republicans to state, local, and national office. he has done more for this party than anybody in the race running today for the president. it was not a hard choice for me to say who would i support, because i also remembered the years when my father was running, and it was the reagan conservatives against the rockefeller republican side of the party, and that is the same race we are in today. we have the rockefeller wing of the republican party and we have a reagan conservative wing of the republican party, and guess who is part of the reagan conservative wing -- the man who voted for ronald reagan. he voted for conservatives back in the 1990's, and helped republicans go to office and in fact stay in office.

my father back in 1976 just to tell you how important i think this election is, 1976 when my father lost the nomination of this party to a rockefeller republican, my father was asked to come down to the state and say a few words to the nation and the people there assembled, and he looked out at the crowd in front of him and the people of around the country who were watching on television, and he told a daunting task that he was asked to do. my father was asked to write a letter to be put into a time capsule that would be opened on the 300th anniversary of the united states of america. he said, "what a daunting task, to be asked to write a letter to a people who would know everything about us, but we knew nothing about them. what do i write about? do i write about nuclear

proliferation? do i write about freedom?" freedom is so important. he said, "but if we do not make the right decision today, the people that live on the 300th anniversary may very well not have the freedom to open up the time capsule to read the letter that in fact he has put into it." that is how important this election is because are we not losing our freedoms one by one, each and every day? it is not the government that is encroaching on our lives more and more every day? do you worry about your freedoms being taken away? you'd have a chance to get those freedoms back. you have a chance to give ronald reagan and this country what he always wanted, what you want -- freedom. it is not just given to us. it is not passed down. it is something you have to fight for each and every day,

and we have to fight for these freedoms. there is a lot of people who have come to events like this and go home and they put in their diary, i went to this event, herman cain was there, newt gingrich was there, and you go home and forget about it. guess what -- if you can think of the liberals -- think of them as termites -- eating away at the foundations of your home each and every day, that is what they do. we cannot afford to let them keep doing that. we cannot just go home and forget about it and pick up the torch three days from now. we have to be involved each and every day if we are on to stop all that. my challenge to you is this -- what i want you to do, if you want to be reaganesque, write a letter, make your time capsule,

and write into that capsule what you're doing today, tomorrow, and the next day and the next day, to ensure your grandchildren, your great- grandchildren, who live on the 300th anniversary of this nation our and joined the same freedoms that you have today, and challenge them to write a letter to their children in the future to make sure that we have those freedoms. do that, fight for it. i know there is a lot of people looking for ronald reagan. you got to know we would all love to have my father back. let me tell you something -- if you wake up in the morning, if you wake up in the morning and you yearn to be free and if you wake up in the morning and you see that shining city on the hill and you want that shining city on that bill back where it belongs and you want america to once again be the proudest nation in the world and people

look up to us, and guess what -- you found ronald reagan. he lives in each and every one of you. go out and fight for it and vote for newt gingrich tomorrow. i'm not the last speaker. i'm just the warm-up act for friend of mine, and -- you got to fight for the food. i will take that. [unintelligible] thank you. there's another man here who is a great human being, a good friend of mine, a good friend of yours also. i spent a lot of time with him and his staff over the last year or so, and i want to bring him out, and he is my friend. he is going to be out here in a minute, herman cain. thank you all very much. tomorrow is an important day.

fight for your freedoms. >> i get to come back up here. let me tell you a story. for those of you who did not know, i was chairman of the republican party for about four years, and we used to have a thing called summer dinner series, at three and a half years ago i put an announcement out and said i was going to have a gentleman come to speak at the summer dinner series, and people were like, who is that? don't know him. i had to start sending around his speech at the southern republican leadership conference, and all of a sudden people were like, oh, we like this guy, this guy is great. i have a great privilege today,

someone who has stood for conservatism, someone who has stood for the grassroots, someone who has stood for we the people, ladies and gentlemen, someone that stood saturday night with newt gingrich, my good friend herman cain. >> good afternoon. [unintelligible] my kind of crowd. if i did not know better, one could get the impression that you all like me. [laughter] even better, i like newt

gingrich for president of the united states. [unintelligible] you are not my enemy. let me give my speech, ok? i have had some fun in the last few days ever since i endorsed newt gingrich last saturday night. and the fun has been the kind of questions that i get from some folks in the media. for example, why didn't you endorse speaker gingrich earlier? answer -- i did not want to.

another question -- were there any promises made by speaker gingrich in order for him to get your endorsement? i said -- this may surprise you. i did not ask for anything, he did not offer anything, my only expectation is to be able to help him win the nomination and the white house. that is all. it is difficult for some people comprehend that not everybody has a political objective or political motive when they want to do something to help save this country. that is my passion.

then when i get questions, how would you summarize why you decided? first of all, it was a process, and i was on a tv showed this morning and they could not comprehend what i meant by a process. i said it had nine steps. i had to complete all nine of them before i made my decision. then i published my weekly commentary that you can find at cainconnections.com, and in my weekly commentary, it was entitled "nine reasons why i endorsed newt gingrich." i am only going to share three of them with you. number one, he is the only candidate that talks about and supports the idea of throwing

out the tax code in order to get jobs going in this country. throw it out. and, no, he did not promise it would be 9-9-9. he did ask me if i would co- chair his economic council. he is the only one talking about throwing out the tax code. the other candidates want to tinker around the edges. rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic will not get this economy going. throw out the tax code and put in a bold solution. that is the number one reason.

and, yes, speaker gingrich and i have had several conversations leading up to that decision. my second reason, many of the solutions you have heard me talk about speaker gingrich also supports -- energy independence, using all our natural resources right here -- [applause] rebuilding our military and stop cutting our military. we are on the same page. and then a third major consideration -- i looked at all the candidates, who would be the superior communicator to draw the distinction between the failed presidency of barack

obama and the message that we would be taking forth, and that is we want power out of washington, d.c., and back to the people, and he is a superior communicator. one of the other amusing questions i got today -- have done it seven interviews already today, flew down here for this, and one of the other things, questions i often get, you know newt is behind in the polls in florida. he is in trouble. does that concern you? my response was, he was behind in south carolina. how is that working out for you?

there are a lot of undecided voters right here in florida, just like there are a lot of undecided voters in south carolina, just like there are a lot of undecided voters across the country, and over the next several months you and i will help those voters decide on newt gingrich. and so i must leave you with a challenge, because we can win this. we can win this nomination with everybody -- crank it up a notch -- but when we get into the general election we got to crank it up another notch, and i want you to remember to do three things -- all the way through -- number one, stay informed. don't be buffaloed all the

negativity and all of the bad information out there. stay informed. as you know and i know, stupid people are ruining america. and we got to stop that. number two, stay involved. the fact you are here today, that is part of your involvement. the work you have agreed to do, because you may not realize the power you have as an individual with your friends and family. if you know the facts, if you understand the differences, and i just spoke about some of the differences that i have used to try to communicate with voters, and that relates he wants to throw out the tax code. he is the only one who has been specific about that. he is a superior communicator, and he believes in energy independence, so you have to stay involved, and you have a lot power and influence those

you may not know about. and the third thing -- stay inspired. we got to believe we can do this. the liberals, the administration, president obama, they want you to believe that the game is over. the game is just starting. it is not over. stay inspired. stay inspired. one of the things that inspires me, to still be out here trumpeting the conservative values and trumpeting solutions is because it is not about us. it is about the grandkids. it is not about us. it is about the grandkids. the founding fathers got it right, with the declaration of independence and constitution

-- we have got to be the defending fathers and mothers. he must defend those ideals. they got it right. my first grandchild was born in 1999. that is 1-9-9-9. she really was born in 1999. on generate -- on january 1, my fourth grandchild was born. it is not about us. i am happy at this point to introduce to you the person that i believe it cannot only

win the nomination, but who also has shown his fearless leadership qualities in order to not only win this nomination for the republican party, but i firmly believe that he is the leader for our time. ladies and gentlemen, speaker newt gingrich. ♪

>> well, listen, i have to confess as a former teacher that talking with part of the class behind me makes me wonder

about what exactly they are going to be doing. we're thrilled to be here. i want to introduce to our younger daughter -- where is jackie? she is helping us. she was on fox this morning, and she's doing a great job representing us, and she is the mother of my two major debate coaches. we are thrilled to be here. tomorrow is a really big day. the polls are all over the place. we just got word of a brand-new poll that came out and our poll said we are now tied 35%-35%. [cheers]

the reporters had this horserace mentality. they want to get down to process questions and say, what are you going to do next? when callista and i first announced, we were explained by the establishment that we were dead. we came back and by december we were running a totally positive campaign with no money. we were 12 points ahead nationally. romney and decided the only way to stop us was a $3.5 million negative campaign in iowa. we came back from that and beat him in south carolina decisively. "the new york times" reported the sunday morning after we won south carolina they got together and said we either destroy gingrich or we cannot win. they have spent $17.5 million on falsehoods. when i say falsehoods, i mean that both "the wall street

journal" and the "national review" have said that what romney as said about me is false. you just saw one of our dear friends who was here campaigning because he understands what romney said about reagan, and he was false. in fact i always thought it was ironic, here is a guy who in the 1980's was an independent. in 1992 he voted in the democratic primary for paul tsongas, one of the most liberal candidates, and gave money to three democratic candidates, and he is questioning my credentials? i challenge you to find out how of touch mitt romney is capable of being, and that is why i was glad michael reagan is flying around. you just saw one of the great grassroots candidates in the country support me in herman cain. i am trying to be inclusive

about folks who have great talent. i have asked governor rick perry if he would share a project to take the 10th amendment, develop the strongest possible republican platform plank for the summer, and then developing a model bill that would put in the contract this fall to try to pass it early next year to take power out of washington and bring it back home to the people. similarly, having worked with herman as early as the fight against "hillary-care," knowing his background, who ran a company and made it work. i have asked herman to help chair a council on jobs, economic growth, and tax reform, which he has agreed to do. as part of developing a new set

of ideas. i also know, he is going to walk in the room and you know what plan he is going to put on the table. why don't you make him happy. what is the name of the plan? you just made his entire day. about what is going on. this is the most important election, i think, in our lifetime. reelecting barack obama will be a disaster of the first order and permanently weaken this country. we have to defeat him. who could best defeat him? you're getting the idea, that is pretty good. when nominated a moderate in

1996 and he lost. we nominated a moderate in 2008, he lost. mitt romney is more liberal than either of those candidates. we had articles in the wall street journal and others, both saying here is exactly -- how do you debate when it is this close? i am a reagan conservative, obama is a radical. that is enough distance where we have a really good debate. let me give you a sense of how differently we are going to be. they are using very strong language, because this is a

fundamental assault on the right of freedom of religion. let me be clear. our declaration of independence says that we are in doubt by our creator with certain inalienable rights. no judge, no bureaucrat can come between you and god. i want to promise you, if you help me win the nomination can you help me when the election, on the very first day, i will sign an executive order repealing every obama attack on religion from the government,

period. let me also say that there's a fundamental difference between my position in the governor romney's. gov. rahm may cut off kosher deals for jewish senior citizens that are on medicaid to save $5 a day. he said, you can't follow your religious prescription. i think we need to have a government that respects our religions. i am tired of being lectured on respecting every other religion on the planet. i would like him to respect our religion. let me share more with you about the opening day. with your help, and we will really change things.

this is a major difference between me and romney. there is a brand-new article that came out last night with george soros, the left wing billionaire talking to europeans. i am not making this up. he says, there is really no difference between romney and obama. i am equally comfortable with either one. gingrich, that would be real change. [applause] let me tell you, george soros is right. i am real change. that is why the establishment in both parties is really terrified, because we will change things. [chanting]

every once in awhile, you see local innovation and artistry. this is pretty cool. this lady here, you did it? is this available online? why don't you put it online, and we will -- ok? make no mistake, obamacare is romneycare. this is good, this is real leadership. i bet you if you put this on line, i will sign it right now. [applause] ok. ok. now wait a second. i want all of you to listen to this. ebay.t put this on a

>> it's mine. it's mine. >> you should put it on line for a buck a piece and you will be shocked many people come on line to get that. have your campaign get in touch with tme. >> i love creativity. i love people power, not money power. i think people power will land. -- will win. let me show you what real change will be like. and we are going to run as a team this fall, i ran a team election in 1980, we brought together house and senate candidates, we won control of the senate by six states with a combined margin of 75,000 votes. in 1994, we brought a team

together to sign a contract with america, the largest one-party increase in american history. [inaudible] [applause] if you help me, if we win and carry the senate, we can [inaudible] i will ask teh house -- the house and senate to stay in office to repeal obamacare. [applause] [inaudible] i will ask to repeal the dodd-

franc bill. -- dodd-frank bill. will ask tehhem to repeal [inaudible] [chanting] i never had a class that was quite this rowdy. here's the goal. when i get sworn in on the 2 0th, there are three bills they can put right down there and on the very first day, repealed obamacare, repeal dodd-frank, repeal [inaudible] [applause] the second executive order, will thell abolish all of

white house czars. [chanting] we will also have an executive order instructing the state departmentwe will also have an executive order instructing the state in jerusalem. -- instructing the state department to open the embassy in jerusalem. [applause] one of the topics and went to the very first day relates to one of the president's most destructive decisions. it's truly amazing that the president of the united states would be to the keystone pipeline. just to take care of his environmental extremist friends. it makes perfect sense for the pipeline to come out of central canada, go straight down to

houston,, and then you have 30- 50 years of processing the resources. the danger is that the canadians, out of frustration want to build a pipeline straight west across the rockies to vancouver, which would be more expensive. if they believe it is the only option, they will do it. i will sign an authorization ok'ing construction as of that day to go ahead and build it. [applause] mukasey -- that canadians will know that night they did not have to build a pipeline across the rockies. the minute people realize obama is gone, that is how the size of the change will be and how

rapid it will be. let me say one other thing. we have an absolute obligation to develop american energy so that we're not dependent on iraq, iran, saudi arabia, or any other foreign dictator. we need to develop enough error -- american energy so that no american president ever again bows to a saudi king. [applause] let me briefly describe one last thing which is the challenge of radical islam. i say this in this city. we need a much larger, much more comprehensive strategy.

we are up against opponents who are religiously motivated am prepared to kill themselves to kill us and are trying to impose their civilization on ours. let's start by willing to be honest about the threat. the obama administration refuses to talk honestly about the threat and has made it against the rules to talk honestly about the threat. we know there are people conspiring to kill us across the planet. we know what they have in common, and it is not that they belong in the rotary. in the obama administration, it's inappropriate to use the language. second, i am opposed to the use of sharia of in any american party.

[applause] i am comfortable with legal immigrants who want to become american. i am comfortable with every immigrant from every background, including as long. i have no confusion about our background, our laws, our civilization. if they wish to join us, that's fine. we will not accept sharia and its imposition of us. [applause] let me be clear. we really need your help. we need you on facebook. we need you twittering, if that is what you do. we need you to e-mail and call people. many of you have been calling, and it has been helping.

we need you occasionally talking face-to-face with people. at the grocery store, a drug store, when your family gathers, what ever. i believe that the conservative movement has come a long way. i believe that we have a clear understanding of what we stand for. we stand for the declaration of independence, the constitution, the federalist papers, american history, ltd. it constitutional government, the judges who obey the constitution and operate within the constitution. [applause] we stand bureaucrats to understand that there are public servants and we are citizens. they are not public masters and we are not subjects. [applause]

finally, we stand for elected officials who put america above everything else and will put america first in trying to solve our problems and are willing to work together to help american get ahead. with your help, we will win a great victory tomorrow. when we do, we will send a signal to george soros, goldman sachs, new york, and washington establishment. money power cannot buy people power. people power stands on conservatism and we're prepared to take back our country. thank you, good luck, and god bless. [applause]

by how are you? >> i listened to it. congratulations. >> can i get a picture with you?

right here is my camera right here. right here. take a picture. >> i am sorry.

>> thank you. >> here we go. max thank you. -- >> thank you. >> very fantastic. thank you very much.

iraq and you still win? >> yes. it is 35-30. >> what happens after florida? arson and then minnesota and colorado. >> you are in it for the long run. -- what happens after florida? >> minnesota and in colorado. taiex you are in it for the long run. -- >> you are in it for the long run. >> ok.

the tracks i like that. -- >> i liked by a. -- i like that. cracks where are you from? >> actually, illinois. >> we need your help. taiex thanks for coming.

-- >> thanks for coming. good to see you. rights i got to have my picture with newt, if you don't mind. i think it took. thank you for coming. we enjoyed having you. thank you so much. i hope you come back as president. next i love you. will you sign this, and congratulations on your book. thank you. >> it is great to be with you.

>> separation of church and state. axe i do not think you need it. -- >> i do not think you need it. good >> can i get a picture? once we are praying for you. by i need you. >> i am a democrat. i am voting for you. iraq's you are the comeback kid. and >> i am more like a comeback grandfather.

the cracks i need your help in indiana. >> i hope to see you there.

♪ >> let me shake the hand of the next president reaga. iraq's thank you for mentioning centcom -- >> thank you for mentioning centcom. my husband works for centcom. >> thank you. >> both my grandfather's were in world war ii. both of my sons were in iraq and afghanistan. >> there you go. >> you need to get alcohol -- a little bulldog.

>> can you run soros out of the country? you are the man, newt. aware of how are you doing? >> we are doing great. god has blessed us. for you.

-- >> every day we are praying for you. >> that is a perfect picture. ♪

>> my dad loves you. i am going to support you. thank you. >> we appreciate it. nice to see. you sign my program. behind every strong man is a strong woman.

i got you well-trained. good luck. it lacks we are behind you. -->> we are behind you. i know you will be the next president in my heart. >> god give you strength, in jesus' name.

>> no chance you are leaving this race? >> none. >> god bless and protect you in jesus' name. by how are you doing? bikes will you sign and date it please? -- >> will you sign and date it please?

thank you. >> can we get a picture? by what is your name? >> cheryl mcguire. >> smile. >> are you ready for your >> then we will hear from mitt romney, who continued campaigning in florida. recent polls show the former massachusetts gov. meeting in florida. >> are you ready to have someone you can believe in beaumont -- you can believe in, to create an

opportunity for your children and grandchildren? we have the answer for you, and his name is mitt romney. i have the austin -- the awesome opportunity to travel with him. i am also travelling with my wife. there are a lot of reasons why we support him for president reagan and there are a few who stand out. -- we support him for president. there are a few who stand out. he is a man who is honest, trustworthy, and someone all of us can be proud of. he has shown it in his personal

life common his business life, and in government. mitt romney is the man who turned this country around, and i am honored to stand with him as he becomes the next president of the united states. it is my honor to introduce someone you all know, mr. gary lester experience. i was visiting with people, and the sweetest lady walked over to me and she says, i know you. you are one of mitt romney's sons. don't i have the prettiest young mom? mom, by my calculation, dad owes me 53 years' of allowances. another four years, and we are going to need more allowances.

let me ask you, we have a choice. we heard one plan in the state of the union, didn't we? did you like that plan? did you like the idea of more government, more taxes, or regulation, or bailouts, more debt on our kids and our grandkids and their kids? or do you think that we should get back to the principles of our founding fathers as found in our declaration of independence and in our constitution? do you believe we should take a course of lower taxes, less regulation, more personal responsibility? that calls for a leader, and we have got a leader, but don't take my word for it. ask my mom, a lady who has

always been proud of our country and who will make a great first lady of the united states. please give a great villages welcome to ann romney. >> thank you. when we drove up my grandson turned to me and he said -- >> [unintelligible] >> he saw this crowd and that was his impression. mitt and i have been married for a long time, 42 years. we have five sons. have the privilege of having my oldest and youngest son the right here.

two grandchildren, parker and allie. we're happy to have family with us tonight. family is important. when i was a young mom, mitt traveled a lot, and he would call home and hear an exasperated wife raising these boys that are not as well behaved as they are right now. he would say, hang in there, i will be home soon, and don't forget, your job is more important than my job. my job is temporary. your job brings forever happiness. it was wonderful to know that i have a husband where we were equal partners in building a family and building children and building legacy that would bring this joy, which is the grandchildren. i will say something else i said for years ago at the end of the

last campaign when we dropped out. i turned to mitt, i said one thing for certain, i am never doing this again. [laughter] here we are. he said, you say that after every pregnancy. [laughter] i have five sons, but it was a year ago that we were making the final decision whether we were going forward or not. we were discussing it as a family. i said, i do not know who the opponents are going to be. you cannot figure out even what the issues are going to be by the final analysis. i said, if by chance you can make it through the process and you can win the presidency, there's only one question i need you to answer me to make a decision for me. can you fix it? he said, yes.

with that, i said, ok, let's go. you know that the country is worth it. we love this country, and we are worried about the direction it is going. we see that great city on a hill, the light is dimming, and we need to fix it and turn that light back up and do the things we have to do to bring this country back. i know there is one person who can do that, and this one person can beat barack obama, and that is mitt. to's see if we can get him come out here. ♪ >> how are you? wow, it is great to beat back at the villages.

it is always a beautiful day in the villages. thank you for welcoming me here. this is such an exciting time. the other night i saw the president speak from washington. he said a couple weeks ago he had been at disney world at the fantasy land. what we heard from washington was also in fantasy land. it was like "groundhog day" all over again. he says the same thing, but nothing ever changes. i listened to the president and recognized it is clear that he would like to make us more like europe, more like a european social welfare state, and europe is not working in europe. the last thing we need is to have america become like europe.

he wants to transform america. i do not want to transform america into something we will not recognize. i want to restore the principles that made us the way we are. i see this election as an historic election. we will decide if we will go off or if we're going to stay true to the declaration of independence. he will talk about trillion- dollar deficits, and those deficits have ended up to more than $15 trillion in debt. he has put in place as much debt by the end of his first term -- and his only term, by the way -- almost as much debt as all the prior presidents combined. if i am president, i will take a different path. i will say we should cut federal spending, cap federal spending, and make sure we

finally balance the budget, and i will get the job done. he would take us on a different course with regard to regulation and the ability of small business to thrive. he was the author of an effort to reduce federal regulation last summer. he said they would go across agencies and cut out unnecessary regulation. they cut out 0.1%. i can do a lot better than that. i will stop all the obama-era regulations. i will make sure any of those that killed jobs week eliminate and get america back to work again. the president has an interesting view on health care. government knows better than people what kind of health insurance they need. i will appear will "obama-care." a few here are on medicare. is that true?

i hope you tell your friends who always fear that republicans somehow might go after medicare. you can tell them we will never go after medicare or social security. also, there's only one president in history that has cut medicare $500 billion, and that is barack obama. he did it to pay for "obama- care." i will protect social security and make sure we keep those programs solvent for the next generations coming along. i will make sure we protect medicare and social security. there are other things about the path.

his view about energy. he has stopped the development of gas resources, the epa has held off on developing gas extractions. he has made it harder for coal. if i'm president, i will not stop our development of energy. i will open up the spigot, allowing drillers to get gas and oil, nuclear, and we will once and for all have an energy policy and become energy secure and ultimately energy independence. the president has an unusual view tonight. he believes other nations are getting stronger and he intends

to appease and accommodate some of the world's worst actors. remember in his debates three years ago he talked about in his first year he would meet with ahmadinejad and chavez. that did not work out so well. they did not want to meet with him. instead of trying to get friendly with enemies, we should be friendlier with our friends. my view is to make sure we stand by israel, stand by our allies in the world, and we do not in any way disrespect them. i will stand for israel and our friends. we will be stronger because america will stand for something, including our values. what part of his view about our foreign policy relates to the military?

the president announced a $500 billion military cost reduction program. it seems one place in the budget he is willing to cut, and let me give you a perspective on what is happening today. we have fewer ships in our navy that any time since 1917. we have an older and smaller air force fleet than any time since 1947 when the air force was created. you know how burned our soldiers have been with the number of rotations they have had going into afghanistan and iraq, and in a circumstance like that this president wants to reduce our commitment to defense. it is not because the world has become safer. look around the world, north korea is going through a change of leadership, which puts that in play, china is saying they should have control of the south china sea, we should get their permission to go there.

almost half of the world's trade goes through the south china sea. we have a nation in pakistan which is in the tumult. the arab world is going through a spring. this is not a time to cut back on our military. i would make sure we have 11 aircraft carrier task forces. i would make sure we upgrade our air force fleet. i would add 100,000 active-duty personnel to the military. i will make sure that as we save money by finding ways in the department of defense, we use it for weapons systems, soldiers, and veterans to make sure they get the care they deserve. this is a campaign about the soul of america. are we going to become something i do not think we recognize, something that is more european, are we going to remain true to

the principles of america? i love what the founders did. i love the vision of the founders of this country. when they wrote the declaration of independence, they said the creator had endowed us with our rights. not the state, not the king, the creator. among those rights were life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. we would be free in this country to pursue happiness as we choose. denys the >> the government would not tell us what to do. people could pursue their dreams. they worked and sacrificed and had huge streams. that did not make us more.

they made us better off, so we are the most prosperous people on the earth. the average american has an income 50% higher than most europeans. i love the declaration of independence. i want america to remain an opportunistic society where people come here seeking their own dreams. i do not want to turn this into an entitlement nation.

let's keep america the land of free. i love this country. when i was a boy, my mom and a dad put us in a car and took us to the national parks. they wanted to see the beauty of the land. they saw the rivers and mountains and fell in love with the land. there is a song that captures that for me. oh beautiful, for spacious skies across the fruited plain. you know that song? ♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies ♪ amber waves of grain ♪ america, america earned, god shed his light on the ♪ ♪ from sea to shining sea i love this country. i love its duty, but even more astounding is the heart and a

passion of the american people. there is a spirit into this land which makes it a unique place. i think it was captured in those words of the declaration of independence. i love the people of america. i love the people who serve this country. there is another verse set says, oh beautiful, who for euros approved in liberating strive, who more than self their country loved. do we have any veterans or armed forces? please raise your hands. thank you. [applause]

impressive. one other verse. oh beautiful, a patriot and dream that season beyond their years. what the founders wrote, the rights they gave us, the vision they crafted for america was not a temporary but lasted until our time and perhaps well beyond. i want to restore america. i believe and america's greatness. i believe an american exceptional was some. i will do everything possible to restore those principles, to keep america a place where you can be sure your kids and grandparents will have a brighter future than in the past. i love this land for what is. i love this nation for what we have achieved, and i also love america for what we will do in the future. good thank you for all your work. i need your vote to tomorrow. thank you guys. great to be with you.

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we take you live on the campaign trail with the candidates. >> you are going to find more

people who recognize the massive opportunity for trade. if i am president i will begin an economic initiative of drawing latin-american businesses and american businesses closer together. this is a mass of opportunity that will help uplift both parts of the world. >> this is about building a new grand coalition of americans that come together because they want to create a country where we unleashed the spirit of the american people and rebuild the country we love. that is what 2012 is all about. vice good to see you, sir. how are you? >> you are very kind. >> tomorrow night, watching our coverage of florida's primary

results with candidates' speeches and your reactions by phone, facebook, and twitter. >> i want to welcome president>> up next, a couple of soccer should be in -- i want to welcome president stock as the lead. -- president hu saw crush billy -- saakashvilli.

one of the first things i did was express my appreciation of the institution building in georgia, the importance of realizing minorities are respected, the importance of a rule of law that is being observed. the kind of institution building that is going to make an enormous difference, so i want to express my appreciation for the work that is ahead and also anticipates paying free elections here, the formal transfer of power that i think will solidify many of the reforms but have already taken place.

we have discussed the relationship between our countries. part of is economic. the economicssed free market system. the united states needs to help in about. one of the important things we are doing, we have agreed to a high-level dialogue between our countries about how we continue to strengthen trade relations between our countries, including the possibility of a free trade agreement. there are going to be a lot of options to be explored. we think is a win-win as we continue to find opportunities

for businesses to invest in georgia, for us to be able to sell our goods and services and for georgia to be able to sell theirs as well. on defense and security, i expressed my gratitude for the extraordinary contribution that had been made by the georgian military in afghanistan. they have been one of the most dedicated contributors and have taken on some significant casualties as a consequence of those efforts. we have talked about how we will continue to strengthen our defense cooperation, and there are a wide range of areas on which we are working together, and i have assured the president

the united states will continue to support aspirations to ultimately become a member of nato. finally, i want to say to the president that we appreciate the model of democracy and transparency not just for their own country but for the region as of all, and we think a lot of countries will say to themselves if georgia can perform these transformations, we can as well. they have been a responsible player on the world scene, so under the president's leadership, i think they have made enormous strides, and we will continue to work to

strengthen what is already a strong bilateral relationship. >> i am incredibly honored, and i can tell you we are incredibly grateful for continued support and strong cooperation we have been getting from the united states of america at every level, and for the future of our region, about has been -- that has been decisive in all different directions. there has been an understanding at all levels. we are grateful for talking about georgia's self defense capabilities, because that is also important.

it is very important you mention the prospect of of free trade agreement because that is going to help my country with nation- building. the reform process is never over. these reforms would not have happened without strong commitment and support from your administration and the people on the ground. next year we have a parliamentary alexian's -- parliamentary elections, and as you mentioned, next year a new president will be affected, and that is important because it moves our democracy for word --

for word, and we will continue to cooperate, and nothing can take georgia away from this progress. nothing can bring us back, and obviously, from my point of view, i will be leaving this office very happy curio -- very happy. >> thank you very much. thank you. it is ok.

>> up next, a couple of panel discussions on the hispanic leadership network. the first looks of the u.s. economy and then a forum on immigration policy and later a conversation on the hispanic vote. tomorrow, florida republican political strategist sallie bradshaw on her state's primary and who she expects to win. and more about florida's primary. he will also look on to the primary and march. after that, the future of nasa funding and how policy issues are being discussed, as your e- mails, phone calls, and tweets.

the advocacy group held a conference with the 2012 elections us a backdrop. it included a discussion on the u.s. economy, job creation, and the hispanic community. >> in just a minute we will begin our first discussion, but before we do that, i want to encourage you to visit the hispanic leadership networks face both on stage, and before i do that, i want to ask, please come back, we need you.

if you have not done so, please go to our facebook page. your friends can be really jealous. i am going to introduce our distinguished panel. these are tough economic times. among latinos, the unemployment rate is over 11% higher than the national average. the unemployment rate in our community is over a 11% higher than the national average. that is unacceptable. for young hispanic adults, the situation is more precarious. they are hurting more than any

other group. this feature is individuals who know what it takes to have an environment conducive of creating jobs. i am going to start with the illustrious dominguez. he is a former chair of the u.s. equal employment opportunity commitment. her public service include serving under presidents bush and the department of labor respectively. welcome.

next, the director of public policy for an google stereo -- for google. he advocates on a range of issues, including policy, regulation, and online expression. it is great to have you here. i said it was a distinguished panel, and it continues with the next lady i am introducing. she is the first american woman of asian descent to be appointed to a president's cabinet in our nation's history. she is the longest tenure as secretary of labor since world war ii. she focused on improving the

competitiveness of america's work force byron restructuring programs to empower workers. ladies and settlement, a round of applause. [applause] [speaking spanish] [applause] it is my privilege to introduce somebody who used to sit on the board in washington and when he was the designated for puerto rico, and it is great to welcome him to my home town of.

his mission has been to revitalize are putting the government's fiscal house in order and pushing forward a series of major infrastructure projects the supports the same economic roles. welcome to miami. i should say he is also the current chairman of the governors' association. thank you for being here. our panel discussions will be moderated by a wonderful human being, doug egan. he has a distinguished new record. he currently serves as president of the american action forum. he is chief economist of the

council of economic incisors and was the sixth director of the congressional budget office, which provides budgetary and policy analysis to the u.s. congress. we are lucky to call him a friend. take it away. >> thank you very much for the chance to be here today and especially the privilege of sitting with such an illustrious panel. let me say two things. for me, this is just the most fun i can ever have. i was raised in western pennsylvania.

this conference is simply a spectacular testament, and i am delighted to be here. thank you. second things is the staff convince me to use twittered. i know you think i am contemporary, but it turns out i am not, and they have also gotten mean who encourage you to tweet, and when you do, please use the hash sign hm112, and you can tweet to me. you can take out up later. >> thought was very well done.

>> last night we heard about the importance of a rule of law. there is also the rule of panels. we were going to have a good discussion. and we will go through the panels for some opening thoughts. we will have a conversation, and then we are going to open it up to questions from bob audience, and we will take a couple of people from twitter as well. i am delighted to open with the governor. >> is an honored to be here. i want to thank the leadership network for allowing me to share with this excellent group. i was able to join the first conference, and i am glad i

could make it again. i am convinced nunchaku knowledge-based economy is the way we need to go. we have to get our act together. education is key. we need to make sure we can utilize tools the technology grants us. in our case, manufacturing is extremely important. regardless of the industry, if we do not get our act together, if our f