We are taking our viewers live to president jimmy carter at the atlanta, georgia Carter Center where he is expected to give an update on his cancer diagnosis. We appreciate your time and heres president carter. Carter the doctors and hundreds of the wishers here have called in sending letters or emails and i try to answer as i can. To outline what is happened so far with my medical condition. , what i plan to do in the future, i will answer questions from the media. May i went down to dionna guyana. I had a bad cold, came back here to emery. In the process, they did a complete physical examination. The mri showed there was a cancer or growth on my liver. Scan that lit up so they were pretty sure there was a cancer. The tumor was only two and a half cubic centimeters. Which was a 10th of my liver. They did a biopsy and found out it was cancer and melanoma. They had a suspicion then and now that the melanoma started somewhere else in my body and spread to the liver. Doctors told me that 98 of all melanoma is skin cancer and 2 is internal. That andme back after they did a biopsy and found after an mri. They found there were four spots of melanoma on my brain. They are small spots, two millimeters if you can envision what a millimeter is. And my first radiation treatment and my brain is this afternoon. I will have four treatments scheduled at three week intervals. Yesterdayn to that, they gave me a mask that would hold my head still while the radiation goes in. So i can be assessment ready for that assessment. And they will give me an iv of this is a medicine that they that enhancesma the activity of the antiimmune system. This medicine has been a few approved in the United States and has been tested in europe. Doctors will also continue to scan other parts of my body with see ifand touch scan to and where the melanoma originated. Ongoing for the next couple of months. There was a doctorate emery that did the surgery. Lawson is a specialist for melanoma and there is a specialist in radiation. They are working very closely with other Cancer Centers around this nation. Indiana, houston, texas, National Cancer and that it institute, and others. I have referred those offers of doctors to get their acquiescence of approval before treatment. Years, we have planned on reducing the work at the Carter Center but we have not done it yet. When i was 85, and when a time tothis is carry out our longdelayed plans so i will cut it dramatically on my obligations at the Carter Center. As you know, the Carter Center has a full Legal Partnership with emery with trustees approved by emery and vice versa. We have built up a substantial tied the to tie the Carter Center over. Is over 600 million and that an dominant and i will continue to sign letters requesting contributions and making calls to people. I will continue with the funding and the trustee meetings, i will attend those. I would also like to schedule the regular meetings with our fellows and directors as they give detailed reports on what we are doing with these programs and other health programs. I cannot really anticipate the feeling. I will have to differ to my doctors in charge of treatment. Thestand that they radiation treatment and also the injection will be every three weeks, four times and they are setting to look at what the results might of been. I will try to adhere to that schedule as much as possible. Has broughtenter this without any handicap, the activities we have been doing, march, decided last replacing the chairman of the board, the board of trustees made that decision march at the meeting in november. About what the Carter Center works on an budget matters. Of course, if he wants me to give advice i would be delighted to do it as i have done in the past. I was chairman for a while but i step down a number of years ago. Will try as best i can to continue my work as a professional at emery and to attend some of the meetings. I would say that the rest of my plans would be determined by my consultations with doctors on what i needed to do to get adequate treatment for the melanoma. It has existed in my liver, they think they got it all but in a shown up in four places in my brain and it is likely to show up other places in my body. Thats what i like to say but i will be glad to answer questions. Good morning, just want to get your initial reaction when you heard the cancer word and what doctors have said about your prognosis. You have been out drastic optimistic. It wasarter i felt that confined to my liver and the operation had completely removed afternoonn that same we had an mri of my head and neck and it showed up in my brain. I would say that night and the next day until i came back to emery, i thought i had a few weeks left. Surprisingly, i am at ease. I have had a wonderful life and thousands of friends. I have had an exciting and adventurous existence. I wasnt surprisingly at ease, much more so than my wife. I was a surprisingly at ease, more than my wife. Mr. President , you just said that you expect that there will be further cancers diagnosed. Wasnt it all difficult, given the fact that you also just said that maybe it was a matter of a few weeks . Was it difficult to decide to go ahead with this treatment . Does your faith play any role in the fact that you did that or did you consider at any time, not doing anything . Pres. Carter i never have doubted that i would carry out the rectum and recommendations of emory doctors. And treating, i am at ease with this. I am at ease with whatever comes. I am very grateful. That pleasantly surprised i didnt go into an attitude of despair or anger or anything like that. I was just completely at ease. I think that is a testament to my veracity i have been very grateful. Im looking forward to a new adventure. You have just said that you felt at ease. Can you tell us more about your discussions with your doctors and family, and how you came to decide that you did want treatment and one at to pursue anything your doctors recommend with the pres. Carter that was a difficult for me because i dont think ill ever found it difficult to commit to what my doctors recommended. I have decided that to begin with. I understand if you have any technical questions, i would be ready to answer. The three doctors that i worked with in close harmony with me, the surgeon that did the and then on my liver specialist on treatment of cancer. Also the specialist on melanoma it elf. They have been like a team working very closely with me. I have complete confidence in them and they have been gracious enough to reach out to others have volunteered to consult with them and i understand they have shared the mri with some others. They are consulting with the best cancer treaters in the world. Im very grateful that emery is in charge. First of all, i am so sorry and sad to hear this news. I just have a basic question. How are you feeling . Pres. Carter i feel good. I havent felt any weakness or debility. The pain has been very slight. Right after the operation on my liver, i have pain in my stomach. Operationery tiny with tiny incisions in my stomach. And my right shoulder, strange enough but my doctor said that was expected. Just resonating pain that goes from your liver and internal organs up to your right shoulder if you have liver problems and i think if you have a heart problem he goes your left shoulder. Medicineok the pain for a few hours and then i did not have to take it anymore. I had a slight reaction last night to the first treatment. I had a bit of pain in my shoulder and i went to bed around 6 00 and slept until 8 00 this morning. I think thats the best night sleep i had in many years. I feel at ease about it and i have been very lucky the doctors have been there to help with any aspects of pain. Wsbtv. Es from have the been any correspondence that are called or touched you . President bush called me, bush senior called me yesterday afternoon. I think i appreciated that very much. President obama called, the Vice President called, bill clinton called, Hillary Clinton called, secretary of state called, talk to me for a long time. I think that the Close Friends i have had around home that have done special things, bringing pies and stuff like that, i but myaybe feel good family. The other carters that live in georgia, they have been down to see us and they will be down for my wifes birthday celebration. I just have a multiple infusion of gratitude. Jonathan karl with abc news. You told habitat for humanity that you would still like to go forward with your trip to nepal in november. You still have to make that trip . Pres. Carter i would still hope to go. It would require an airplane right from kathmandu to the area south down toward the indian border. If i do that, i understand i would talk to the. Theres it might involve postponement of my last treatment so that is what i will have to consider. Up until this morning, i was completely committed to go to habitat. If i dont go, the rest of my family will probably go in my place. You have really redefined what it means to be a former president. Can you reflect on the work you have done since you left the white house and what you hope to still do . Pres. Carter the work of the Carter Center has been more personally gratifying to me because when youre president , you have a responsibility for 350 Million People and 3000 300,000 members of the armed forces. A number of good things for which im grateful, that was the high point of my life. Itically speaking, if i being the president has allowed me to have the influence and contact with people and knowledge that has been the foundation for the Carver Center. The Carver Center has a completely different approach. We deal with individual people. In the smallest and most obscure and suffering villages in the desert and the jungles of africa and we have had programs and 80 Different Countries for the most destitute people in the world. That has been far more gratifying, personally. We actually interact with families and people who are illnesses like elephantiasis. We figure out what the actual needs are and meet the needs. I think it has been one of the best things that ever happened to me. It has been personally more gratifying but the presidency was political. Groundwork for my work at the Carver Center. Do you feel like you have more work to do . Pres. Carter within the boundaries of my physical and mental capability, i will do it. Ill have to give the treatment regimen top priority. Hallie jackson, nbc news. With your Family History this disease, what message do you have two other Cancer Patients that are watching you go through this . Pres. Carter i read a lot about cancer with the death of my father and my only brother and both of my sisters. Family wastime, my the only one owner that had as many as four people that die the pink edit cancer. Died of pancreatic cancer. My brothers and sisters , and so,to die and hasic cancer is some genetic causes. But it is exacerbated by smoking cigarettes which ive never done. Melanoma is a completely different thing. It may be in the future that melanoma would show up on my pancreas but they have not found that to be true. Closely. Itoring the only place they of known about the cancer has been on my liver and my brain. That one of the greatest scientific developments in the last five years has been with two kinds of cancer, one is lung cancer and the other one is melanoma. Inthe treatment for melanoma addition to radiation or chemotherapy has been the giving of these medicines that exacerbate or enhance, i should say, enhance the function of selfregulating aspect. The autoimmune system. Autoimmune system will activate. The message to other patients is your message to hope or acceptance . Pres. Carter hope, yes, and except what comes. What comes. T becoming president of the United States of america and governor of georgia, working at the Carver Center, a big and growing family, thousands of friends,iving to be 91 years old everything has been a blessing for me. I am thankful and hopeful. With voice of america, i , you have taken a pragmatic approach to the treatment and news. What has been the most difficult part . Pres. Carter there is a difficult treatment aspect. Liver surgery was extensive. They took 1 10 of my liver. It healed up quickly and i had minimal pain. The first treatment i had yesterday will be followed this afternoon by radiation. That will be every three weeks. I have not had any unpleasantness yet very will be difficult to step away . Pres. Carter what i really wanted to go to, this wouldve been our 33rd year of going without fail. I was very hopeful about that. Theif it interrupt treatment regimen, and i think i need treatment. Kerryry grier, grief. Career, eventrious ispresident and husband, there anything you can share with us that you are most proud of and is there anything you might have done differently or thought you might not have done. Pres. Carter the best thing i ever did was marrying my wife. Thats the pinnacle. 69 years together. Thats the best thing that happened to me. Getting involved in politics, i was a state senator the governor than resident. Then president. We have a growing family, 22 grandchildren and great grandchildren. And 10d children greatgrandchildren. I would say the haven for our i plan ton in Teach Sunday School this sunday and for as long as i am physically mentally able. We have hundreds of visitors that, to see the curiosity of a politician teaching the bible. So i will continue that. Anything you wish, im sorry that you had not done or had been deadly . Pres. Carter i wish id sent more helicopters to get the hostages and i wouldve been reelected. [laughter] pres. Carter that may have interfered with the Carter Center. If i would choose between four more years for the Carter Center i would choose the Carter Center but it couldve been both. Wondered, you talked about your big family and with this diagnosis, have you encouraged them to see the doctor. Are you seeing that there is more interest in finding out whats going on . Pres. Carter i dont think theres any doubt that my descendents have some genetic challenge from the pancreatic cancer and my melanoma. For the doctors recommend blood cancer, things like that, as a precautionary member for other family members, i have not discussed that with them and i dont know the answer. I could get two or three more questions. With the atlanta journal, how did you break the news to your family . Pres. Carter i found out toward the end of may that i have a spot on my liver. That was a suspect. I think i put in my diary that i did not tell rosa until about the 15th of june. Out iwhen i found definitely had cancer, key members of our family came to the Carter Center and they gave them a briefing and gave out the chief executive officer briefing what the prospect were. Out a statement that says i knew about it. That i did have cancer and we found out it was to metastasized. Melanoma, it was didnt say it had spread to my brain, i just said other parts of my body. As quickly as i could, i told the public and my family the things about which i was absolutely certain. You, sanjay gupta with cnn. Pres. Carter i know. [laughter] questions, couple of about the medical aspects. You became ill in may. They had an mri that should deliver mass but it wasnt until two months later in my understanding from your comments you had the operation. Im wondering about that time. , was there a consideration not to do anything during that time. . Youre following the recommendations of your doctor, how would you rate the options . Pres. Carter the complete rundown on the options that were available. When they made a recommendation on the particular medical treatment, i took their advice. Ofknew, i would say, the end june, that i had to have an operation on my liver. I had extensive book to her andduled in 14 to 15 cities i wanted to do that and the doctors told me there was a slowgrowing cancer. We scheduled it when i got through with the book to her. Surgeon was, my scheduled for a vacation trip in spain. The culmination of all those things just caused me to wait until everything was ready. So i stayed very busy during that time. I didnt tell everybody much about it. Do you have another question . To talkway about the support and what that meant to you. I was born there, my wife was born there. I was three years older and still am. Change has always been a haven for us. I got out of the navy in 1953 and i came back to play in. I was there for about 17 years and my got through being governor i came back to flane s. We were always looking forward to getting back home where our land is a myth had the same farm since 1833. The newer farm we had in 1904. Were still growing cotton and corn. My roots are there in my closest friends are there. Been the focal point of our life. People that come there, 80,000, i think, they come to find out how this little tiny town, the future president could have come from. They learn about my schooling. So this place means a lot to me. I wonder if you have discussed with your family or closest circle, how do you see this organization, the Carter Center . Have you see the Carter Center in the future . Pres. Carter i think the Carter Centers future would be equal to what its been in the past. It has been expanding every year as far as the number of people we treat for our diseases and things of that kind. I understand in this coming year, we will treat 71 Million People honoon earth. For diseases so they wont have afflictions a have had throughout their lifetimes. Finished efforts to bring democracy and freedom the people, so we will still try to bring peace and concentrate on these and human rights and democracy and the alleviation of suffering. We have to decide and everyone of those neighbor areas while still expanding. Im completely confident that those plans can be realized without my everyday constant involvement in different projects. Thou still be coming to trustee meetings as long as im able. And carry out the programs. How do you receive messages from latin america where the Carter Center has participation . Pres. Carter in the last few days, from latin america, i will , soon ing next week dont know if its next week or next month, with a group from panama. They approved that program of but we maintain a wide range of programs in latin america, primary to do away with conflicts within the countries, their relationship with the news media and executive branch of government when they try to stamp out freedom of the press. And also peaceful relationships and we have an Ongoing Program in six countries of latin america that and just about honest to do away. We still have a small cluster of , 25,000 total population on the border between venezuela and brazil. So we are trying to work on that. Newsradio 106. 7 in atlanta. As jason is preparing to take over as chairman of the board of the Carter Center, you have very much been the face of peace negotiations since the time that you left office. He is continuing efforts in the health and humanitarian efforts of the Carter Center. Will he also be active and will you be advising him in future International Conflict that the Carter Center may be asked to become a negotiator of types with . Pres. Carter well the chairman of the board of trustees, about 23, they make the final decisions. Bank the ultimate choices of what we do and how much money we spend and how many people we send. The chairman of the board is deeply involved in making those decisions as presented to the board of trustees. That in the last few years, that the new chairman will use the best ability provide. They may not be as involved in as many there are peace negotiations as i have been but he will be going in for the election part of november. He will be going up to the Carter Center delegation to monitor that important election. Longtime journalist in atlanta, supporter of the atlanta business chronicle, you have had such a scope of work in your life. In the time that you have left, would give you the most satisfaction to see something happen to mark peace in the middle east or the eradication of polio. What are the things that give you the most that his faction when looking at the state of the world and how you have been working on efforts . Pres. Carter i would say peace for israel and its neighbors, that has been a top priority for my ful Foreign Policy project fr the last 30 years. Right now i think the prospects are more dismal than anytime or member in the last bit years 50 years. The government of israel has no desire for a two state solution which is the policy of all other nations in the world. The United States has no influence compared to past years. In israel or palestine. I feel very discouraged, that will be my number one Foreign Policy hope as far as the Carter Center is concerned. I would like to see nobody be eradicated i would like to see polio be eradicated before i die. I think right now we have 11 cases, we started out with 3. 6 million. I think we have two cases and south sudan and one case in ethiopia, one case in mali. In seven cases in chad. We know where all of them are, so obviously it is my priority. Good morning. Christopher king with cbs 46. How tough to do you expect this fight against cancer will be . Ill just be cooperative and patient within the bounds of my own judgment. I will do it the doctors recommend for me to extend my life as much as possible. I dont think theres much hardship on me. I trust him completely. To alleviate the aftereffects or side effect of a different treatment. ,here had a lot of treatments ongoing with different patients, thousands of them in the world. Troublingticipate any pain or suffering. Thank you all very much for coming. I appreciate it. I dont know if you want to add anything . Do you have any particular questions . Feel free to correct my mistakes. Ok, thank you all very much. [applause] former president jimmy carter discussing his recent cancer diagnosis and prognosis for recovery. The president saying the cancer was found as a tumor on his liver. It is also on his brain and he is set to undergo his first radiation treatment data today. Will reduce his work at the Carter Center, something he and his wife have been trying to do for years. The New York Times saying he is scheduled to Teach Sunday School this weekend in plains, georgia. We are inviting your comments on facebook and involving his announcement. One says glad he is alive, my heart goes out to him. Former first lady and the entire carter family. Get well and have a speedy recovery, the world needs you. From jane, she says i love president carter, a true humanitarian. Your remarks at facebook. Com. Also if you missed any of what president carter had to say, you will find his remarks in the cspan Video Library at cspan. Org and we will show you to again at 8 00 eastern today on cspan. To the white house coverage continues in 20 minutes and we will show you remarks from pennsylvania senator and two times that it does president ial candidate Rick Santorum. He has been invited to the National Press club and we will get you there live when it starts scheduled for 11 00 eastern on cspan. Tomorrow it is back to iowa to hear from texas republican senator ted cruz. He will appear at the Des Moines Register so rocks at the iowa state there. You can watch that at 11 00 a. M. Eastern tomorrow on cspan. , on the cspan networks, politics, books, and American History. On cspan saturday, but coverage of president ial candidates at the iowa state fair continues. Well hear from governors Chris Christie and bobby jindal at 1 00 p. M. Governory, wisconsin scott walker holds a townhall meeting. On cspan2, book tv is live at the inaugural mississippi books festival. Preaching coverage of former Governor Haley barbara. And the literary lives of harper leave and eudora welty. Critical thoughts on the obama administrations relationship with millenials, how American History did tv on cspan3. Columbia universitys andrew on the preservation of new yorks political and cultural landmarks and the history of the commission treated to protect them. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. , three films on the pilot district project, a program administered by the Johnson Administration to help improve relations between the police and the community in washington, d c after the 1958 with the king assassination and subsequent riots. Get a schedule at cspan. Org. Wrote to the white house coverage continues with a speech by former pennsylvania senator and republican residential candidate accent arm. It will be at the National Press club this morning and we will bring you that when it gets underway. On the way, remarks Texas Governor rick perry. He has been life at the iowa state fair with speeches from the 2016 residential candidates. Following his remarks we cut up with governor perry as we met and check cans with supporters. Perry the government has to agree with agriculture. I have a long and storied history. Harry of agriculture. The challenges we have or the restrictions, whether it international in our ability to sell products or whether its an attack from washington, d. C. Agencies, thee usda, epa, to name just a couple. Or the men and women allied industries have supplied them with the product they need. Thisfeel the brunt of washington knows best mentality. The onslaught that all too often cost us. People may not think about it directly but dodd frank, this regulation that was put in place to keep too big to fail from ever happening again, frankly it is just codified protecting these big banks. It has driven Small Community banks out of business in droves. Maybe since the Great Depression we have not seen the loss of Small Community banks. Community banks are, by and large, what drive the ability for Agricultural Producers and smalltown businesses that rely on that to receive their financial support. Thet of focus has to be on overregulation, the over taxation that comes out of washington. Orther they are a farmer some small mom and pop business somewhere, or for that matter, whether they are a big american company. We overtax and over regulate. Addressing those, i think you can actually do it in a relatively speedy way. We did it in the 12th largest economy in the world in the state of texas. We cut the tax burden with a regulatory climate. Carelowed for Health Opportunities and the access to health care to explode in the state of texas over the last decade. We can do this, it is a matter of having someone who has gotten the experience and it is one of the reasons i say it is a show me, dont tell me election. I have done it. I would like people to take a look at what we have done in the state of texas, whether it is selecting Supreme Court justices down to putting policies into place to help this country be more competitive tax wise. I have been a gauge than that for the last 14 years. Has a highntry incarceration rate. Would you make changes . Gov. Perry there is an example of that. You look back at the criminal Justice Reform we did in texas. I remind people this is a factual things that people can understand. It is the 12th largest economy in the world, the same sizes canada or australia. We had a huge prison population. Present build up in the early 90s. You saw a federal mandatory sentencing law. We are cramming a lot of young, nonviolent drugrelated offenses and the prisons. One come up it is costing a lot of money. It is destroying lives. Isnt to make excuses for the activities they were involved with. They broke the law and they need to pay a price. But is destroying their life by throwing them in prison for a really long. Period of time really the answer . I had a district judge from dallas, texas come to me in the early 2000s and ask me to think about it. He laid it out for me and it made sense that we are putting people in prison for long times costing a huge amount of time and there was an alternative in drug courts. We implemented those in 2007. A republican controlled house and senate at that point in time. This is not a partisan issue, this is a commonsense issue. An eight year. Time, we close down three prisons, saved 2 billion of taxpayer money. That is smart on crime but it is also allowing people a second chance. This country has always been about second chances. At a federal level i think you can do the same thing. States need to compete against each other. You are starting to see other states follow texaslead on criminal Justice Reform there is being smart on how you deal with regulations, taxes, criminal justice. It is what i think americans are looking for. Washington will not be the epicenter of that. We need to be a repository of best practices and talk to governors and legislators about how to put these practices and a place. Dissolve acteds to of the state and let the states compete, whether it is social issues or economic issues. I think america will be stronger and happier. Texas has ahat great state fair, youve spent time here several times. When you make of thee iowa state fair and was her favorite food . Gov. Perry i would have to go of the strata pork chop. Iowa beef producers the pork producers do a great job. Thats not to say that there arent lots of other good things a eat here, but just from healthy protein, iowa pork producers did a great job of laying out some good eats. Thank you. There was one heckler out ande, calling names referencing your political indictment. Gov. Perry i were that as a badge of honor against an outofcontrol District Attorney who was three times the legal limit driving, think god she didnt run into anybody and kill a texan. The idea that i am going to spend the state money on that individual, that she has control over, no way. If i had to do it again, i would. One charges been thrown out and i suspect the other one will be as well. This is an example of persecution by a democraticcontrolled county. A Legislature Took away all of that authority from them. Starr, the, ken former dean of the law school and out resident of Baylor University wrote in the last week saying what in the world are these charges still hanging around on governor perry for . Every person who has any modicum of understanding about the constitution and the laws, i vetoed legislation. Thats what governors do. We negotiate with legislators and when that process is over we make a decision on whether or not we are going to spend money or a program forward. I just want to reiterate. I wear this as a badge of honor. Standing up against an outofcontrol official that had oversight of state officials and texas that was absolutely abhorrent and her actions against Law Enforcement and i would not spend a dime of texas taxpayer money go to that agency. How do you stay in the race and be competitive when you dont have money . Gov. Perry we had the best week of fundraising last week since june. I think you are making too much of a do ado about the story. I will be in South Carolina at the end of the week and i will be back in iowa again so there are people who can keep a small footprint. I am one of them. You are not going anywhere . Gov. Perry oh im going to go a lot of places. Plan onvernor walkers repealing obamacare . Do you think this strategy makes sense . Gov. Perry i hadnt looked at it but again, youre going to hear a lot of people say what do i think. Repeal and replace obamacare, we have been saying that for a long time. I believe the states are where these decisions need to be made. Idea that washington can come up with a way to deliver health care that is effective and efficient for new york state versus new mexico or washington state. It is on its face not commonsense. Let the people in the country decide. In the state of texas, we dont andider it to be effective we dont judge success by how many people we forced to buy insurance. In a state of texas, more people have access to the best all of the health care. Thats why we passed the most reform in the nation. People in the state of texas agree with that. If you want to live in a place that has high taxes, regulation, and health care that seems a substantially restricted. Go live in that state. Thats the beauty of the 10th amendment. Anybody that would pick washington over the states, we will allow them to do that. Is your argument against you hear people responding gov. Perry the campaign is not about it is about ideas and solutions. That is the reason that we lay out all these. Here is what going to tell you, heres what i have done. Border patrol and control as a good example of that. Security at the border is a good example. We know how to secure the border. Some say just build a wall, that might be good political rhetoric but the focus on how you are going to secure the border. I think a better way is to put the personnel on the border in the right places in the right a border thatve has proper security and fencing in place. Most likely metropolitan areas and the most important aspect is the aviation aspect, they can fly from tijuana to el paso. 24 7 what the technology available, identifying activities that are illegal or suspicious. We know how to secure the border. If you secure the border, a lot of these other issues that people are talking about, side issues, we need to a dress this. Does go away. Of those go away. Id say theres a better way, the question you need to be how long will it take . What he going to do . Handful of questions that can come up, nobody has dealt with this more than i have. I have been governor for 14 years that have had a big border with mexico. We have been dealing with this in the mid to thousands. 2000s. I say let out and use common sense. About which one of these can happen quicker. Which is more effective. If you just build a wall and dont have the other aspects, all you have done is spend a lot of time and money. We have both if you want to think about it. When we talk about strategic fencing, and personnel, and aviation. That is a virtual wall. If that is what theyre talking about in a delay that out. Hope and change probably meant Something Different from you than it did for her. Building a wall means a lot of Different Things to a lot of different people. Lets be specific about how we are dealing with this. I didnt have the opportunity to be nonspecific. I had to be answered the challenges. Had to have answers for the masses coming in from louisiana and trina. Had to have answers in dealing with federal developments that failed to secure the border. That is why i ask people to take a look. Do what the person leading this country to have a record of dealing with real challenges, and how they are going to respond . 4g want somebody that talks do you want or somebody that talks about ideas . We are going to leave this event with governor rick perry, you can see the rest on cspan. Org. We are going to the National Press club for a speech on immigration policy from four pennsylvania senator and 2016 president ial candidate Rick Santorum. If she doesnt get you a card and time write it down on a piece of paper. You dont have to wait until its over to send them up. You can send it up during his speech and i will ask as many as time permits. We have a hard and at this program at the onehour mark. At exactly moon noon we will wrap up. We are supposed to start up in exactly one to two minutes. Hopefully the senator steps down from upstairs. Thank you very much. Good morning, my name is john hughes the president of the National Press club and an editor at bloomberg first word and that is Bloomberg News breaking news desk in washington. Our guest is former senator Rick Santorum, the republican president ial candidate who will discuss immigration. First, i want to do to introduce a couple of colleagues. To my right is the Washington Bureau chief for the buffalo news a former National PressClub President and he is the current chairman of the clubs speakers committee. To my left, the washington correspondent for nj advanced media, that serves nj. Com and the starledger and hes these bigger committees member Speaker Committee member who organized the event and a former National PressClub President. I want to welcome our cspan and public radio audiences and those of you in the room. You can follow the action on npclive. Our speaker today was the runnerup to mitt romney for the 2012 republican president ial nomination. Caucasus andwill several other states i will caucasus and the several other states. Senator santorum so far is lagging in the opinion polls, relegated to the happy hour or so called kids table debate on fox news earlier this month. He was not happy, saying the idea that a National Poll has a relationship to the viability of a candidate, asked Rudy Giuliani that, asked phil gramm that. He was asked during the debate, has your moment past . He said the message that worked for years ago will propel him again and pointed to his track record. That track record shows he was elected to the u. S. House twice from a democraticleaning district and 12 terms in the senate representing pennsylvania, which leans democratic in president ial years. In congress, he wrote the law outlawing the procedures some call partialbirth abortion and altered bills on sanctioning iran. He was a member of the House Republican gang of seven that exposed the house banking scandal. He became the senates third ranking republican and was a vocal opponent still is a vocal opponent of samesex marriage. Today, senator santorum is here to talk about immigration. This is has emerged as a major issue in the 2016 campaign, donald trump, the current front runner has called for deporting all 11 million unauthorized immigrants. Trump says he was to revoke the 14th amendment guarantee of citizenship for anyone born in the United States. The Washington Post says that immigration proposals that languished at the edge of republican politics now are in the partys mainstream thanks to trump. Senator santorum says his immigration proposal will take into account the millions of americans who cannot find jobs. He is here to tell us more. Please join me in giving a welcome to the National Press club senator Rick Santorum. [applause] mr. Santorum thank you jerry and jonathan, i appreciate this opportunity. I am as many of you know the son of an italian immigrant, my fathers journey to america rescued him from a childhood as a brown shirt and must mussolini core and from being a called in the warmer seen. War machine. It was not as easy as boarding a ship and coming to america. My time speaking grandfather came to america to flee the new fascist regime in 1923 in spite of the emergency quota act of 1921 that limited italian immigrants to a few thousand italians a year. It turns out that my grandfathers hometown in italy was part of austria before world war i and my grandfather was considered an austrian by the american government. He was able to come but not able to bring his italian children with him. In 1930 he became a citizen after working most of that time in the coal mines of southwestern pennsylvania. He was able to unite his family in america. When my father told me about his family story and journey to america, i asked him a natural question did you resent america from keeping you away from your father and leaving you in the fascist country for the first seven years of your life . He said no, america was worth the wait. He was right. America was worth the wait. We had been a country that puts the law above the people making and executing the laws. The greatest protection each of us has is that no one is above the law in america. That includes president s, justices, and yes, immigrants. The law that kept my father and grandfather apart was passed because our nation needed to balance labor markets and National Security interests and a number of other reasons that were prevalent in the day for limiting new immigrants. But the immigration act of 1921 and 1924 targeted italians and jews in part because of concerns of assimilation and in part because of rank prejudice. Oddly enough, the clause in place today were less significantly altered in 1990, a bill authored by ted kennedy, nothing like the laws of the 1920s which limited immigration not just in nationality, but in numbers to a mere 170,000 people per year for what turned out to be 40 years. The kennedy bill was designed to remove the need for ilLegal Immigration by increasing the immigrants to one million per year. It has not worked, thanks to the incentives by president and bills like the gang of eight immigration proposal, last you the number of Illegal Immigrants rose to 700,000, bringing the total number of both illegal and million,a record 42 comprising 13. 3 of the u. S. Population, the High Percentage in 105 years. Is this flood of immigrants in the National Interest . That question is the question we should be asking. It is a question we should be asking about all of our laws. Is the law in the National Interest . Immigration law should serve the interest of the American People. Since immigration involves labor markets, one key requirement of any plan is it improves opportunities for better jobs and better wages by stimulating growth. Lets look at the numbers. Without a doubt, immigration has cost of held down the labor, increasing profits for businesses. Has a caused growth that has led to higher wages, particularly for workers who these immigrants compete against for jobs. Real hourly wages have increased by about one dollar in the last 25 years in real terms. It has slightly declined during this administration. 22014 there were 5 in jobs recordedw for people 16 to 65. All of the new jobs went to immigrants in spite the fact that there were 17 million more nativeborn americans in the workforce. Democrats like Hillary Clinton say that they are for the American Worker yet demand amnesty and huge increases in the number of immigrants for one overriding reason votes. Which leads to political power. They have no interest in fixing our broken immigration system. The president had a filibuster majority inrproof his first two years and did not bother to introduce an immigration bill even though he had plenty of time to push obamacare. To the president and mrs. Clinton, immigration is about dividing america by injecting ethnic and racial politics into this debate. Not doing right by struggling workers. Immigration is another example of how mrs. Clinton has abandoned the millions of americans want the opportunity to work and to provide for themselves and their families by using divisive identity politics to gain more power. What i will be proposing today is in direct contrast to mrs. Clintons vision. My proposal says workers of all races, genders, ethnicities, that you are welcome to an america that will provide you an opportunity to rise if you work hard and obey the law. My proposal is based on hope and opportunity, not fear and bigotry. The establishment i might add, the big Business Community is not much better. They see immigrants, workers as a way of diluting the worker pool and lowering labor costs, to them workers are commodities and increasing labor supply means more bottom line profitability. Workers are not commodities, they are well people and real families who have Real Mortgages to pay and mouse to feed. Mouths to feed and they deserve leaders who put them first. That is why im here today. I am running for president not for power or profit, i am running to fight for the real people who have real families and who are struggling to make ends meet. , nearly past 20 years 35 million legal and Illegal Immigrants have come to our shores. The largest Mass Immigration america has seen in our history, surpassing the great wave at the turn of the 20 century. These immigrants are largely unskilled and low Skilled Labor and they are competing for the americanshat 74 of who do not have a College Degree are looking for. Because america because labor supply and demand you see that concept in action, corporate profits are up because labor costs are down and executives and shareholders are doing very well. But the American Worker has seen stagnant wages for over a decade. The American Worker is struggling and as a result the American Family is struggling. I know some of my party rolls eyes whenever i make this point, when i see them at fundraisers and party events. Contrary to what the leads along the coast the leads along the coast thing, the economy does not start on wall street and in on route 128, it starts with a family and includes streets and of acrossrives this country including main street. The American Family is the first economy just like business, each family needs revenues, pays expenses and at the end of the month the books must balance. As familis struggle we must make sure our policies do not throw up for the roadblocks and dead ends to their ability to succeed. We must rebuild the first economy and one step is to ensure we have a responsible immigration policy that puts the American Worker and American Families first. Wasntil a few days ago i the only candidate in this race who put forth a legal and ilLegal Immigration proposal that puts American Workers first. I wanted to use this opportunity to flesh out those proposals and cast a vision for stronger a stronger and healthier and more prosperous america. The plan will fix our broken immigration system and has served as a catalyst for economic stagnation and soaring Government Spending and lawlessness that threatens our National Security. I am not new to this debate, a decade ago i authored a Border Security legislation that stood in contrast to the legislation president bush and senator kennedy were advocating. Unlike some who were running who are running for president today, i was never a member of a senate gang, because i understood amnesty was not a i will miss this one up will perpetuate the problem. Amnesty will perpetuate the problem not solved the problem. Where there was a path to citizenship in the gang of eight bill or the right to a permanent work permit supported by ted cruz and others, in any event it is amnesty. The workers who serve as groundskeepers and waiters, bartenders and eight, they are hardworking americans who are hurt most by record levels of legal and ilLegal Immigration. They are the bluecollar americans who are in direct competition with cheap and sometimes illegal labor. Amnesty will make competition more fierce not less and encourage more ilLegal Immigration, not less. And further depressed wages. As important as the debate is over ilLegal Immigration we cannot speak about securing our borders and turn a blind eye to an entire system that hurts American Workers. Until this summer, the only candidate who had a message americann having workers first and commonsense limits on Legal Immigration was me. This summer i was joined by Governor Walker who was first to change his position with a few specifics calling for limiting Legal Immigration. Donald trump has joined a majority of americans at me with ideas had to put American Workers first, i welcome them both and encourage all candidates and all americans to listen to this vision of how we can make america stronger. Lets face it the problems with the Legal Immigration can mostly be solved immediately. It does involve changing does not require changing the law, it requires enforcing the current laws. The president has the authority and access to funds to secure our borders. Let me be clear, i will do what five president s have promised the American Public to do, i will secure the border with mexico. I will build hundreds of miles of new walls, you stateoftheart technology, deploy what manpower is necessary to secure the border with mrs. With mexico. I will dandy catch and release program of this administration and have personnel deployed to maximize apprehensions at the border. It is time to stop the bait and switch, the political discussions that happened during a campaign and then forget about the promises when you become president. I will not demand the governor of mexico build a wall, i want u. S. Workers to do that. I will make it clear to the Mexican Government that they must stop facilitating the lawlessness on the border and cooperate with our efforts. I will do all i can to change mexicos behavior for the benefit of both countries, but if they fail to cooperate, i am prepared to do several steps, beginning with authorizing the Border Crossing cards to be suspending until mexico cooperates. Of the over stage is one largest, if not the largest factor contributed contributing to overpopulation. Will do what i previous do what no previous demonstration has done, will enforce the law. Are andtrack who they whether they overstayed their visa. Anyone apprehended will be subject to fines and subsequently removed. I will end the practice of sanctuary cities by withholding federal funds from any city that refuses to cooperate with federal law. Law and endings the policy that results in 30,000 criminal Illegal Immigrants being released from prison last year. Because their native country will not accept them. I will exercise my authority already a law to deny visas to any foreign country that will not take responsibility for their citizens until they take their people back. The federal government has to end policy that have encouraged millions to break the law. In that regard, i will put an end to the president s unconstitutional executive amnesty which is largely responsible for this later border search latest border surge. I will require businesses to use everify and immediately encourage all businesses to use everify and hold them responsible if they do not play by the rules. We join every other developed country in the world and put in into the automatic citizenship for children born here to Illegal Immigrants. This enforcement of existing laws will dramatically reduce the number of you legal immigrants competing against legal workers in this country. Reducing the never Illegal Immigrants will not be sufficient to help struggling americans. I am proposing to change to the Legal Immigration system that will reduce the supply of lower skilled adults holding wages down in america. Like jeb bush, i am proposing illuminating the visa lottery and chain immigration, unlike jeb bush i will not increase other categories of immigration to levels beyond the current level. These changes will result in a 25 reduction in ilLegal Immigration, a start contrast to every republican president ial candidate except, until recently, donald trump. Some like ted cruz have proposed doubling the number of immigration and he is not alone in the republican field. I believe immigration can be a good thing, but there can be too much of a good thing. When our labor markets cannot manage the influx we are receiving, it is time to recalibrate. , thiss not antiimmigrant is proworker, especially for those who are most affected by the waves of new workers. And those folks are recent immigrants, minorities, and younger workers. Even skilled workers have been hurt by our current system. This year at disney laidoff americans and replace them with cheap foreign labor. In Southern California edison had the nerve to have its American Workers train the foreign replacements under the h1b program, disney and california edison Southern California edison used this program to replace existing American Workers, tech workers who were not supposed to be replaced by this program, but are. There are an oversupply of American Workers who can fill entrylevel tech jobs coming out of our schools, they should begin the opportunity to get to work in their chosen field and grow in experience and rise. I propose overhauling the hib visa program so the higher skilled workers who guesstimate economy and create more jobs will be eligible to come here. This is in stark contrast with other republicans, particularly ted cruz who seeks to increase hibs fivefold. The current program. There is a sector of our economy that needs workers that are not there is not a sufficient amount of americans to do the job, some 400 categories in the department of commerce of job classifications, of those 400 job investigations only a handful are there a majority of folks not born in america doing those jobs. I think you can safely say, as some like to say about a lot more jobs, these are jobs americans are not doing and will not do. But there are only a handful and not surprisingly they are all in agriculture. As a result, i will provide for an opportunity for illegal workers in these job investigations to stay here in america under a program that will allow their employer to pay a fee and so they can stay, even know they are illegal, under a guest temporary program. An annual fee and renewable as long as they want to stay in this country. As my father said, america is worth the wait, and it is worth doing it right. This means we need an immigration policy that rewards those who do it right. An immigration policy that fits our Economic Needs and an immigration policy that puts American Workers first. I was asked in the first president ial debate how i would explain the enforcement of our immigration laws to the child of any legal immigrant ilLegal Immigration. I said our compassion in government is founded on our laws because we treat everyone equally under the law. This must be true of our immigration laws. Having an immigration system that turns his back on american citizens and legal immigrants so more ilLegal Immigration can come when there are not enough good paying jobs means there is not compassionate. Compassionate is an immigration system that says we want you in america, but says we have an opportunity and a job here for you so you can rise and needs and everyone of you, both in this country and coming to this country can live the american dream, something all of us strive for. That will be my policy as president of the United States. They do, very much. Thank you, very much. You could stay right there at the podium and i will stand next to you. Questions how does your proposal for a border wall differ from donald trump . Mr. Santorum as i said, i am for americans building the wall, not mexico. I will not make mexico painfully well, i want them to cooperate in stopping the influx of immigrants and the instability of the border. Clear, immigration into america is big business for mexico, the estimate are 22 billion a year flows from people in this country into mexico. To provide a lot of economic support for people in that country. There is every indication that mexico is doing next to nothing, in fact, some argue they are working to facilitate people coming into this country and doing so even going doing so illegally. A wall is a part of a, other measures are a part of it. As long as they are not cooperating to secure the border it will make our job harder. That is why i suggested i would suspend the Border Crossing card as an initial step, i would like to do other things if we do not see any cooperation from the Mexican Government to make the border secure. Outside of your differences, what are your thoughts of trumps immigration plan and how you differ and the things you agree with that are part of it . Mr. Santorum there are differences, mostly because of the lack of specifics on the part of mr. Trump on some of his proposals on the legal side, for example, i have been clear about what i would do to change the immigration system and changing to programs that most people feel have not been beneficial to our country. The idea of chain immigration lottery program, there is widespread thought on republican sides that gives those programs are not good programs and are allowing people, particularly chain people ton, allowing come into this country by virtue of the fact that they have a relative in this country and we are allowing adults to come in who are parents or siblings of that person. The policy prior to that was that if you were an adult you had to earn citizenship on your your own merits, not because you had someone here who was related to you. That should be the case again going forward. I have no specifics. Ps talked about a return to historic levels but he has not talked about he will accomplish that. As far as on the illegal side, there are celebrities similarities between mr. What mr. Trump and i have put forward, i am glad to see that. Everything from the wall and. Isa overstays birthright citizenship, all these things are similar. How will you handle the millions of Illegal Immigrants already in the country . Mr. Santorum as i said, the enforcement of everify. If you stop immigration from the border, if you require people to adhere on overstays to leave. You contact them and move with the process of removal, you know they made a and promise when they came here that they believe at a certain time and we would go through the process of contacting them and moving forward with their removal. The same thing would happen with other people who are in this country. We would move forward with removals as we find people who in most cases we would find them through people who have broken the law and have been known to Law Enforcement and therefore communicate with our ice agents to begin the process of removal. It would be a rather easy systematic way of going through that process. Simply enforcing the law. This questioner notes youre a politician who has made family the centerpiece not only of your politics but your life. How would you handle children who are citizens by birthright, but whose parents are here illegally. Another question about birthright, i believe it was governor perry yesterday, i believe he said yesterday, that it could take a decade to change the 14th amendment, it is not practical and we should focus on the border and the wall. What is your response to birthright changes being practical . Mr. Santorum i give a lot of talks on immigration throughout the country and i would agree that the birthright issue is an issue. Issue that should be solved and we should have a determination as to what the 14th amendment actually says. Good legal arguments on both sides as to whether someone born here, you respective of circumstances of their parents should be considered a citizen of the country. I do not think from my perspective, looking at all i want to accomplish with immigration, that is not my highest priority, there are other things much more pressing. Another one i listed, i think i visited last, and all the things that encourages people to comment you legally, that is one illegally, that is one and we need to eliminate those incentives that encourage people to break the law and entered this country. There are many other things we need to do i head of that. Ahead of that here i agree with rick perry and that it is not our highest priority and would not be my highest priority. What i think the law should be, i want you to lay that out as a marker as to what the law should be in this country. Children born the andllegal immigrants, keeping Families Together, how would you handle that with the parents be deported and the children stay or would you get exception to keep the Families Together . Mr. Santorum i keep coming back to this premise what seems to be lost, the people who brought the children here did so breaking the law and with a full understanding that they very well may they had children here, they knew fully what they were doing. It is like someone who robs a bank because they want to feed their family, do i feel bad that they do not have enough money and they felt the need to rob a bank and provide for their family, of course i feel that, we all feel that, we hope people are not in that situation where they have to break the law so they can make a better life for their family. Change the fact that they broke the law and there are consequences to breaking the law, any more than you would say we can as a mothers and fathers to prison because it was separate them from their children. No moms and dads would be in jail if we used the same argument being made here that we cannot separate the children. We are not separating them arbitrarily, we are separating them because they did something and put themselves in a position to jeopardize that relationship with their children. That is not the responsibility of the government to say, we they madeistake, no, the mistake in doing what they did and put their children in that situation. They should have to deal with the consequences just like any other american who breaks the law and as a result gets separated from their children. Unfortunately, it happens every single day in america, it is tragic, i wish they were not separated. We are a nation of laws, and to turn this to suggest if you are for separating that this is different than any other type of situation where we have people separated from their families because of the illegal actions of the parents is inaccurate. If weonsistent separate people who break laws then we should be consistent with respect to Illegal Immigrants who have done the same. Donald trump takes credit for bringing immigration front and center, and you said in your remarks that you were ahead of the immigration issue, but either way it is seemingly be front and center issue in the republican president ial campaign. Is that a good thing, does it belong here or is a crowding out other issues that need to get focused on . Mr. Santorum i announced my campaign from a factory floor in western pennsylvania because i think the most important issue facing the economy and most americans is the opportunity to live the american dream. Particularly for the 74 of americans who do not have a College Degree, the millions of americans who have seen their wages flat line, see their losing ground with inflation. A lot of folks who do not feel america is working for them. When i announced for president , i listed things i thought could turn that around, one is to grow the economy and create jobs, particularly in manufacturing. That create good paying jobs and the ability for people to provide for themselves and their families. We are gone for 20 many people and manufacturing in 1980 down to 11 million and it is dropping like a rock because of the policies of this administration. My entireused campaign, what can we do to help those struggling the most in America Today . I talk about tax policy that will help, regulatory policy, trade policy, and i have to talk about labor markets. What is the state of labor markets today . The reality is we have a lot of American Workers who are not seeing their wages go up because of an increase in the supply of 35 Million People. Some people say it was a good thing and make that argument. Here is the point, this is a legitimate debate. You say was in a good thing or bad thing we are having a debate it is a legitimate debate. Many on the other side who have suggested anyone who wants to raise this issue, you raise it because your antispanning or antiimmigrant, i am the son of an immigrant. I want to make sure america strong for the immigrants who do have, that there are opportunities for people who want to rise and live that dream. That is the promise of that country and to suggest that reducing levels of immigration or enforcing the law with 10 Million People here illegally is somehow antiimmigrant suggest that the alternative is that we should allow everybody in and there should be no limits on immigration because unless you are for that, and you are antiimmigrant. Then you are antiimmigrant. There may be some out there who and anybody borders to come in at anytime, i do not see too many people in public life. If you are not for that, then you can call anybody who wants to have a discussion as to what the limits are antiimmigrant. That is inappropriate and appropriate Public Policy discussion that should be based on facts. Up until this point, i do not think it has been, it has been driven by an attempt by one party. I am hopeful that as more information comes out about the impact of immigration on the american workforce, the impact of ilLegal Immigration on our security and economy, we can start to have a rational discussion about what the policies of this country should be to help people who are looking for the american dream. Be on immigration, what are the reasons for the growing gap between the rich and poor and how would you address that . Mr. Santorum i mentioned how we have ait is Manufacturing Policy that makes us number one in manufacturing. That is the key economically for us to have a strong middle class. I wrote a book one year ago, im sure all of you read it, it is called bluecollar conservative, i lay out in great detail how we will accomplish that. I talk about manufacturing and cutting taxes and making us competitive, we have the highest corporate taxes in the world. I will propose an economic plan in the next in september which we have labeled the 2020 Perfect Vision for america, 20 tax, flat tax on Corporate Income and a 20 flat tax on individual income. It will be progrowth and allows for getting rid of the special interest provisions in the tax code. On the corporate side and individual side. It is a simple, strong, progrowth plan economy going, particular provisions that will provide extra incentives to manufacturing, including , aatriation of profits provision to lower the taxes on thatts made by companies are usbased but those profits were made overseas to bring those profits back to america and not get hit with a to a 40 tax. As i mentioned, we have trade programs that we need to make sure we enforce the trade laws and at the same time open up markets. I know some people have ofgested that my policy being against the trade promotion authority, which i was, means im not for future trade laws, i am, i voted for almost trade bill in the u. S. Senate and the house. I voted against nafta. I do support opening up opportunities, particularly in the pacific rim but we have to do so in a way we make sure we are not undermining American Workers at the same time. I said we have no faith that the president will do that, he has given me no indication he cares at all about American Workers with his policies in manufacturing and energy and other things that are lowering wages in America Today as we have seen, wages have declined. And they continue to decline under this president. Family, ihe american mentioned in my speech, i always mention in my speeches, because every book you read and sociology textbook, every study that has been done of america and the reason for the hollowing out of the middle of this country points to a culprit that is first and foremost among them. That is the breakdown of the Nuclear Family in america. From Robert Putnams recent study to the to charles book. s both of them and many others have suggested the reason we have trouble in our education notem and having trouble rising and getting good paying of increasedse incarceration rates, it is because of the breakdown of the Nuclear Family which continues to be a problem and i see nothing being done by either party to address it. In fact, no one talks about it. I find myself often times in these meetings that i refer to in Party Meetings as the only one mentioning the huge elephant in the room. Even in the Democratic Party is an elephant in the room. Those on the left who are now suggesting this is a problem we can no longer ignore, yet Neither Political Party wants to talk about it because it is politically incorrect. I think we have reached the point where Political Correctness has gotten us in a position we will not even fight for the lives of our children in the future, then we need to have politically incorrect people run for president and put the children on the front and center of the Public Policy debate and i am doing that. I mentioned in the introduction, that you are down in the polls and said what you say you think of polls. What is your own personal benchmark in your head that will tell you i will get out . Not finishing in the top three or four in iowa, if it is not the polls, what is the thing that would make you leave the race . Mr. Santorum sort of like the Supreme Court when it comes to pornography, you know it when you see it. I will certainly as four years ago, it was apparent to me when we got that it was the time to drop out. Some to just it was too late, others suggested it was too early. I am the goldilocks. Know if that eventuality ever comes, i do not anticipate dealing with that problem. Right now i feel very comfortable going out there and articulating a strong, positive vision for america. Having answers and unlike , and this is the case with integration, people say you will not get this done, i would make the argument that if you look at my track record on issues that no one thought could be passed, we have a good record of passing the. Welfare reform, no one thought we could get it passed and bill clinton vetoed it twice. We got a dozen democrats to join us in the senate and passed a welfare reform bill that ended a federal entitlement, something that was predicted could never happen in washington, d. C. Never be allowed unless you have a super majority of republicans you would never be able to get bit of a federal entitlement for the poor, and we did. I led that charge. I wrote the original bill in the house and managed the bill in the senate. If you look at reforming the Health Care System, we have a lot of folks trying to run around telling you how they will reform the Health Care System. Unfortunately, republicans are bereft of ideas, no ideas of how theove forward and improve private economy when it comes to and the power of patience when it comes to the Health Care System until Rick Santorum came along and introduced the concept of Health Savings account over 20 years ago and fought for them and pass them in spite of opposition by immigrants and by this president. Lot lity is we have a long track record, abortion bills, how many abortion bills passed the senate and house . I can think of three in the last and led and i authored the fight on all three and got democratic support for all three. Have a with you that we record of being a principled conservative and going out there and pushing the envelope on Public Policy to restore the opportunities i think america has for everybody and can have oureverybody by restoring conservative principles back here in washington, d. C. But nobody in this field has a record of doing that. You have a lot of people who will come out there in a very sharp elbows and tell you how everything is wrong and tell you why everything is broken. They have no record to show they have been able to do any of those things and make most of the record of the people who are running who are United States senators is abject failure. I would suggest that we need to look at folks who accomplish things before we decide whether they should be promoted or not. I think we have a good track record of accomplishment. You mentioned abortion the other day and the other day i believe you said not only should planned parenthood be defunded but prosecuted, in reference to the recent videos that have come out. You have concern that cutbacks to planned parenthood would affect the Birth Control part of its offerings and inadvertently lead to an increase in abortions . Mr. Santorum i do not think there are any numbers out there that suggest that access to contraception reduces the number of abortions, ready good studies pretty good and compelling studies that show there is no correlation and has not been for some time. Having said that, i am not concerned about the link between contraception and abortion. Contraception is part of a federal program and planned parenthood if they do not get these money there are lots of organizations that can feel the need that planned parenthood is providing to provide these types of services. I am not worried about the access to contraception that coming through other organizations other than planned parenthood and i am worried about an organization that was founded by a eugenicists whose purpose was to eliminate undesirable races and people. It is stunning to me, the eugenicists that has such a horrific record of mans someonety to man is that the current day politicians are happy to receive awards in her name. Including a black politician because she was a racist. She wanted to eliminate the black race. This is who planned parenthood is, this is what they had been about, started by eugenicists whose objective was to dehumanize certain individuals who they could be c removed from society. I wrote a book a few years ago, talking about the genocide that is going on. It was a short book, a simple answer, could have been answered into words, you lie. You live to the people and that is what this is about, a lie of what a child in the womb really is, just a blob of tissue, prehuman, not something we need to be concerned about. It is like, the argument from Margaret Sager about other at who wereisabled in her mindset human and we did not need to be concerned about. That is what planned parenthood is doing, treating these children in the womb as if they are not real human beings, except the problem with these videos is that they are harvesting human body parts. It is hard to make the argument these are not human beings when they are harvesting human organs, the most recent video may be the most abhorrent, the most a video with someone who described a procedure where the child was born alive, they made a point of showing the little boys heart beating so the baby survived an abortion and was still alive but it didnt deter her from taking out the little boys brain while it was alive. Of course, that does not glorify anybody who are supporters of planned parenthood, it does not bother people. Why, because this is the ugly business of what abortion is. Who are notildren wanted and are subhuman and we can treat them we can treat little children alive and remove their brains. And we can talk about it, isnt this cool . I can tap their chests and you can see their heart beating and it doesnt seem to affect the the leaders inf washington, d. C. That this is beyond the pale, that this does not speak well for who we are as a human race in america. But no, it does not seem to bother anybody because we have , thatded in dehumanizing is what this is all about. Yet, we are dehumanizing children who are being harvested for human body parts. Thatss i would say hopefully the people who are looking at these videos will come to agree that this organization that fosters this type of behavior should not not only not be receiving federal funds but the people doing this who are breaking the law, i was the author of the born alive protection act, which i wrote for this particular situation. And was passed with near unanimous support in the house and senate. It is said that if a child is born alive as a result of abortion you could not kill it, much less harvest is brain. While it is living. And planned parenthood, they are doing that. Prosecuted,be should not just be defunded, it should be prosecuted and this organization that creates an environment for these things to happen should be put out of business. Some paragonp as of virtue of the left. Senator, you have compared the Supreme CourtDecision Making gay marriage a constitutional right to the dred scott decision justifying slavery. What as president could you do to fight back against something that you oppose on moral grounds but that is now a constitutional right . Mr. Santorum i would say that i the recentpare decision of the court with greg scott, Justice Roberts compare the two, i was simply quoting Justice Roberts opinion where he compared them coming said the four dred scott is the same that for this decision and they had no constitutional basis for this decision. Ing read justin kennedys Justice Kennedys decision, it is not a legal work. Not a work of legal scholarship. It is simply a rambling of someone who wanted to get a decision and came up with all sorts of interesting ideas, not based on the constitution. The court is has the authority lets take the case of birthright citizenship. There is a legal dispute to what the language of the 14th amendment means. To me, it is something that people on both sides of this issue have ever legitimate arguments, i could not say that if someone said to me, the constitution does not permit birthrights, i cannot say for certain they are wrong and i do not think for certain they can say we are wrong. That is a situation where the court must of in. And has a role of stepping in. In making these decisions. What they do not have a right to do is to create new constitutional rights, that is not within their purview, there thatthing historically congress and the president have said that they give the court rob latitudes to do what i brought latitudes to do whatever they want when it comes to the constitution. When the court oversteps its bounds as it has in cases, then it is the responsibility of the president , the people, the that the courty has to be held accountable and the law has to be changed. That takes all of those things, it takes the president , the people, the congress. If there is not support to do that, the court wins. Even though they may have done something unconstitutional, the court wins. The other branches of government are incapable of successfully challenging it. Here is my point when it comes if there ise one branch of government that should have more leeway in changing the constitution i would make the acumen issue the president and congress. The reason is the president and the congress can be thrown out if the public finds they are their decisions to be objectionable. The problem with the courts we could be stuck with a court for 30 years and they are an insulated and isolated from the American Public and as a result their actions can be much more insidious than the actions of a president or congress. The president or congress how many they stand up to a court and says they are wrong, and pushes back, as i did in the case of the partial board abortion status where the court found a similar statute unconstitutional, i was undeterred and we passed an almost identical statute and send it back and past it and said we would enforce it, and the court act down back to down because they knew they were off base. That has to happen more when the court goes astray. Before i asked the last question, i have some housekeeping. The National Press clubs is the was leading professional organization for journalists, we fight for a free press worldwide. More information about the club. Org. Our website, press and we also have an institute, to learn more about and to donate go to press. Org institute. I would like to mike about upcoming programs coming september 2, nikki haley will address a luncheon on the new south. On september 5, the press club will hold its annual 5k to raise money for journalism scholarships, training, and press freedom. On september 14, nasa astronauts mark kelly and terry burton will discuss their work aboard the International Space station. I would like to present senator santorum with a traditional National Press club mug. That would be suitable on a shelf a couple blocks away at the white house. Wherever. Vania, it is very portable, could even go to iowa where you are headed next. Final question, you mentioned your family and how much you like to talk about your family, in fact you brought family with you. Mr. Santorum i would use my son and daughter, daniel, number three. Is al had is a junior junior at the Military College of South Carolina, the seminal, he is taken off a semester to work on the campaign, when he graduates he will be heading to the air force. My number for child my daughter maria is a senior in high school and looking to what great players she has in the future, a exciting year for all of us. You wrote a book about your youngest otter. Daughter. Our final question is how is bella doing . Mr. Santorum one of the great things i took from the last campaign, is the heart of the American People is beating strong and is wonderful and compassionate. I cannot tell you the number of people in all walks of life of all different perspectives who in the last campaign asked that very question and did so in a heartfelt way. That ass your faith divided as we seem to be, as rigorous as this town is, there are still some commonality that if we can use it as a touchstone that we might be able to Work Together in a more civil way and that is my intent. If you look at the history of me and the congress, that is what i could accomplish. My wife and i wrote a book earlier this year called bellas gifts, raising a little girl who had a shehance which he was born, had a 1 survival chance to reach one year. She is now seven, she just lost her two front teeth, so we know what we are getting her for christmas. We are excited that she is doing well, karen and i wrote this book to chronicle our journey. The booksay we split and have, she wrote 11 chapters, i wrote seven. It is a discussion about how difficult, challenging, stressful, raising a child,s particularly one who is Severe Health problems, and in bellas case you almost died twice. How it is a great challenge to the family, but an incredible blessing. Of the found in a world disabled, so many people who have come up to us and shared their stories with us. While it is a challenge, and i know in many cases in this world you see, for example, down syndrome children, reports are syndrome of down children are aborted. Children are aborted because people see disabilities as something not to be embraced or wanted. And society says it is too hard and this is just too difficult a task to manage. What we found is, yes, it is difficult. Yes, it is stressful. But it is a blessing that we think god for every single day. Thank you for asking about her. Thank you for your prayers. We will continue to shine bellas like a very brightly. Senator, thank you for coming. Mr. Santorum thank you. [applause] i would like to thank the National Press clubs staff for helping us organize todays event. And if you would like a copy of this program or to learn more about the club, go to that website press. Org. They give her much for coming today. Thank