Transcripts For CSPAN Campaign 2020 Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Speaks At Jaffrey NH House Party 20240713

Any code in high school in the house . All right. I first met Tulsi Gabbard a year ago this week when she spoke in exeter. After meeting and hearing her speak i knew she was my candidate. A breath of fresh air. First female combat veteran to run for president , been in congress seven years, incredible Foreign Policy experience. All the things we are missing in a commander in chief. I got involved to put together some events. Started posting about her event. Our good friend amanda, give her a round of applause. [applause] who is this Tulsi Gabbard . I said, we are putting together an event with her. Why dont you come out and meet her . So she did. I would say at that point amanda, you were feeling the loja. The aloha. Been helping ever since and been great and it we have been looking to put together house parties and we had Tulsi Gabbard at my Birthday Party. I said how would you feel about her coming to your house to meet everybody and a real intimate, great thing about New Hampshire, this is a serious thing we take very seriously and it is important because so goes New Hampshire and the rest of the nation. We have an incredible duty and job. Im honored you are here tonight. Without further ado, introduce my friend, next president of the United States, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. [applause] rep. Gabbard thank you. Aloha. Great to see you. We spent the day walking around. Small businesses around town, peterborough and just another day in the snow for all of you. For us from hawaii it is a little different. We were here. We were here for that. We are loving and appreciating all of our time here in New Hampshire, seeing old friends, making new friends. Getting the chance to introduce myself to all of you and to listen to your concerns and answer your questions. I am having a hard time seeing if the sound is coming from the tv is this a real fire . What is going on . Is this warm or not . Next level technology. You are fine. You are fine. Now i know. Thank you. So i kind of want to start with the biggest area of frustration that i hear from voters everywhere we go, regardless of political party, it is something i have felt myself for years. That is the reality that even as our founders envisioned for us a nation led by leaders who are committed to serving the people of this country, envisioning a government that is for the people, we dont have such a government today. Nor have we for quite some time. We have a government that is for the very few some the rich and powerful. Those who can afford to prosper in this page to play culture in washington pay to play culture in washington. The detriment of we the people. We see the consequence of this in many aspects of our everyday lives. You think how is it we have this conversation with a number of Small Business owners, how is it that amazon and netflix get away with paying zero taxes as Small Business owners here and across the country literally struggle to keep the lights on and doors open as they pay their fair share in taxes and provide health care and do their best to pay a living wage . This disparity, unfairness in our policies and our government, it has to change. This is what i look forward to doing as your president , to lead with this culture of service, putting service above self. Placing the wellbeing above all else. Leading a government that is of, by and for the people. Recognizing that we all must stand together as americans, getting back to the roots and the foundation of who we are as a country. As we face these very divided times, we see hyper partisanship and washington gridlock standing in the way of doing the peoples work, this is how we get beyond that. This is how we build those bridges, going back to our constitution and bill of rights, looking at that vision our future our founders laid out, the freedoms and liberties enshrined and recognize as we have different ideas on how to solve problems, how to tackle the great challenges, it is not only ok, it is good. We should have those discussions and this dialogue. Even passionate debate around the issues we care most about. We get to a better place together. We are able to say i think you have got a good idea. I have got something to add to it. We disagree on this but lets start working together on this other issue. This is what needs to happen across our country. This is the desperately needed in washington. This is something i have been doing in a practical way since i got elected in 2012. I knew that when i got elected i was going into a hyper partisan environment. That knowledge was only reaffirmed when i went to washington. Freshman democrat in a republican majority. And i was told by professionals, political pundits that i should not expect to pass any legislation, dont try to introduce an amendment. Republicans will not let it come to a vote. The best thing you can do i was told was to maximize my time in congress by giving speeches on the floor. Using the platform i would have as a member of congress to raise these issues. I care about the issues might my constituents care about. That didnt select a good deal. That is not why iran. I ran for congress. I started to think about how do we in a practical way start to build these bridges . Everyone says we got to come together but what does it look like . I started with something i felt was the most universal language that would resonate with any other member of Congress Regarding is a party or where they come from. That language is food. Agreed . We speak this language. Absolutely. And drink. Rep. Gabbard i started with food. Maybe the drinks will follow. My mother next is incredible academia not coffee. I asked her. I called her up and said if she would make 434 boxes of the coffee for every single one of my soon to be new friends and colleagues. She said yes. I think it is a great idea. I asked for one more favor. If she would make another 435 figure boxes for the staff. That was her response. Good idea. She said i got to figure this out. No problem. I am in. She started two pots, chopping the mac nuts, my dad was the selfappointed quality officer. He took a slice from every one that she poured. I was in d. C. And i started handwriting personal notes and introduced myself. Saying something about me and learning more about them. Finding everyone to say i look forward to serving with you. What was incredible was how quickly as we started to deliver these gifts of aloha, we started to get a response. Seeing republicans who i would not have had a chance to interact with making that long walk across the floor from republican side to democratic side just saying thank you, appreciating that small gesture, sharing that i ate all of the , i need more to go home with my family this weekend. And saying, tell me what your constituents in hawaii are concerned about. What are the issues you are coming here wanting to work on . I am the chair of this committee or this is something i have been working on. Lets find a way to Work Together. It blew me away that this small, simple gesture of reaching out with respect to every Single Member of congress, no matter their party, their positions on different issues, race, ethnicity, background, all of these things, set all of it aside, reaching out with respect, saying lets serve together. This is what builds a strong background of relationships that have withstood the test of time and the political storms that brew in washington, that have withstood disagreements on issues we really care about because there are relationships built on respect around the Common Mission we have. Service to the American People. I have been able to be effective as a member of congress in a republican majority, passing the first bill i introduced as a member of congress in my first year in office, passing what some may have seen as controversial pieces of legislation, amendments to big bills which would normally have never seen the light of day, getting them into those bills because of relationships. I got my phone call returned. As i was talking to people, about why i cared about this issue and i was asking for their vote, they could trust what i was telling them was true and i would not screw them over. Maybe we agreed sometimes and disagreed other times but it is this relationship that if we look at our everyday lives, family members and coworkers, friends and neighbors, we can look to examples of how we have these given takes with people who we live around us in our lives. This is what we need in the leaders in our country. To reflect the spirit of service that we see in our service men and women. Where we have people who come from every background under the sun in this country, stand together, train together and deploy wearing the same uniform and flag. Understanding regardless of our differences, we stand united, unbreakable, indivisible. Because of that mission of service. We put country, service to country above all else. This is something i appreciated and very deep and personal way throughout my nearly 17 years of service in the Army National guard. Something people can talk about that might sound nice which is actually real. In the most difficult of conditions. This is the kind of leadership i will bring as your president where we together can once again make it so our white house is a beacon of light, of respect, integrity, opportunity, equality, justice. We look back to these things that are guaranteed in the constitution. This is what our presidency must represent, the white house and our government. We, the people are the only ones who can make this happen. The first three words in the constitution are so powerful because it reminds us, we the people, the power in our hands we exercise our right to vote, and it reminds the leaders of this country who they work for. We can never forget that. There is serious and systemic change we need to make in this country. We have many problems and challenges we face. We have many problems and challenges we faced before donald trump got elected as president. We have got through member and recognize that if we are serious about solving these problems, as president , there are many different issues that i look forward to working sidebyside with you, the American People, with leaders in congress to tackle. I will crack down on big pharma, those who have been perpetuating and proliferating their drugs on our streets, creating this epidemic that is ruining so many peoples lives. Big pharma and big insurance, who extort the sick during their most urgent time of need. To both up there time of need to bulk up their money, and work to bring about real reforms, making sure every american has access to Quality Health care regardless of where you work or live or how much or little you have in your pocket. In the most wealthy and strongest nation in the world, this is something we must accomplish together. I look forward to tackling Climate Change. The environmental threats we face in this country and around the world are threats that dont just affect democrats or republicans or people of one group or another. We have too many people in this country who dont have clean water to drink. They cant trust their not being poisoned. Clean air, making sure preserving these beautiful places we get to call home not just for us but generations to come. Too often Climate Change has become polarizing one really if you take the words away and focus on the impacts and the effects and say these issues are something that are central to all of our lives, lets Work Together to make sure we can protect our planet. So we have a planet to live on for a long time to come. These are the changes we can bring about when we get past the polarization and divisiveness and focus on what is real and what is important to every single one of us as people. I look forward to bringing about real criminal justice reform. At this point in time, it may be different from 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. We have got the opportunity because we have the left and right coming together and saying we need this reform. We passed the First Step Act which brought about important reforms to prison systems. Lets take those next steps to bring about sentencing reform, to end the failed war on drugs and the marijuana prohibition and the money bail system. Look at the real reforms we need to make so those who need help, who are dealing with addiction are able to get that help and treatment and are not turned into criminals. Those who should go through the criminal justice system, serve their time and come out rehabilitated, not someone who wins up cycling through the broken system. Winds up cycling through the broken system. Immigration reform, investing in infrastructure, investing in teachers for providing quality education to our kids, dealing with the student debt crisis and getting to the root cause of the problem. We can talk about canceling debt, but what happens for the next generation . We dont deal why the cost is skyrocketing and how it is student debt is the single type of debt that is disqualified if you file for bankruptcy, and we have a system where the Banking Industry is profiting off of increasing Interest Rates on student debt . How do we say education is a priority, when we are saying we will make money off of you for trying to get an education and coming into an economy where you can hardly find a job that will pay a leading a living wage . We go through these different issues. We can see how at the heart of them once again is about the greed and corruption and pay to play culture in washington where we the people are dealing with the challenges and negative consequences as a result. There is an issue that is central to our ability to address all of them, National Security and the cost of war. We talk about the cost of war. It is something that has a very real and personal deep meaning and effect on our veterans, those of us who have served. Those of us who have deployed overseas and had to recognize that those who be served with that day were gone the next. Saluting their empty booths and rifle and empty helmet, knowing that behind every one of our brothers and sisters killed in combat or loved ones at home, moms and dads, husbands and wives, children, brothers and sisters who never got to give their loved one a final hug goodbye. There is a high human cost of war we saw almost every day during my first appointment in iraq where i served in the medical unit. It is immeasurable. There is a measurable cost every single one of us pays, we look at what we as a country have gone through since 2001. The attacks on 9 11, we have spent over 6 trillion fighting wars to topple dictators in other countries, regime change which has undermined our National Security in countries like iraq, libya and syria, strengthening terrorist groups like isis and al qaeda, leading to more suffering and destruction and death to the people of these countries. In afghanistan we are spending, we are spending 4 billion every single month and it has been almost 20 years since our first troops deployed there to go after al qaeda. Al qaeda is stronger in the world today than they were on 9 11. We have got to look at why that is. 4 billion is a hard number to wrap your head around. I saw a number thats a trumps proposal to cut funding for food stamps would save 5 billion over five years. That is five weeks of what wethe pay to continue our policy in afghanistan, our troop deployments. Think about how many families will be impacted by those cuts. Five weeks of what we pay to continue this policy in afghanistan. So there are very real consequences when we talk about the cost of war, and we talk about the needs of people here at home whether they be in , health care or the protection of our environment or investment in infrastructure, taking sure making sure that we have clean water and safe roads to drive on. These things cost money. So long as we continue this failed Foreign Policy, we will sidebyside, we can bring about ,his positive, systemic change where our government will truly be a government of, by and for the people. And you have my personal commitment that every single day waking up, it will be in the interests of the American People, and how i can be of service will be at the forefront of everything the thing i do. Thank you very much for being here today. Lets open it up. [applause] as we get started with questions it happens we have some of my mothers macadamia nut coffee here. [laughter] we both pass it around. These are aptly wrapped in gold. You will see why once you taste one. Amanda will pass them out, then we can get started with our q a. What is your name . Eddie. Im from massachusetts. Republican but been a supporter of yours for a while. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Going back to the last three president s, george bush talked about a lot of the same things you are talking about, not wanting to be in rwanda, not being a policeman of the world. Barack obama talked about the same thing. Trump talked about the same thing, ran on ending regime change wars. Rep. Gabbard it is a big reason why a lot of people who disagree with trump in a lot of other race supported him. That is why i voted for him. Rep. Gabbard yeah. Why do you think they were not able to implement those things they run on, and how will you be able to do it . Rep. Gabbard pointing to two important things that set me apart from the three of them, and maybe even other president s who have come in with the best of intentions to make these kinds of changes and have not been able to carry out those changes. It is a very personal experience that i have of serving as a soldier myself for 17 years, of deploying twice to the middle east, where the cost of war is not something i just read about or heard about. This is something that has and is continuing to take a toll on my family, my brothers and sisters. We lost two soldiers who were pilots in afghanistan. One was from my district of hawaii and the other from texas. It broke my heart when i called the wife of this young pilot in his early 20s. They had not even been married a year. And it brings home even as the headlines move on to other things, the men and women and families and loved ones who are continuing to pay the price for our countrys longstanding Foreign Policy which has crossed both republican and democrat administrations. Bringing that personal experience combined with the seven Years Experience in congress of not only serving on these committees but exercising oversight over leaders in the department of state and department of defense, meeting with World Leaders, questioning our chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, of having a deep understanding about these issues, the challenges we face, the reality of the obstacles placed before us by the militaryindustrial complex and how too often, our leaders and a instead of exercising leadership as we should as a United States of america, and up bowing to the interests of countries like saudi arabia or turkey, or others who really are not our allies. When you look at what they are doing, their directives are actually counter to our National Security objectives. In both of these cases, you have countries who have in and are both directly and indirectly supporting terrorist groups like al qaeda and isis. Yet our leaders turn a blind eye. Why . If we have leaders who are truly acting for the best interests of our country, the wellbeing of the people, act like it and have the backbone and courage to stand up and make the right decisions for our country. This is what i guarantee you i will do, bringing the experience i have. My name is denise. Im not very good at asking questions. I am still waiting or havent made a decision as far as who i am voting for. Rep. Gabbard im glad you are here. I am finding the best person who can beat trump. We need to get him out of office. [indiscernible] [laughter] what do you have when you become on the ballot, what are you going to do to beat him through the election . Rep. Gabbard really important. Right . I mean, this is what it is all about. That is what i am looking for. Rep. Gabbard absolutely. Look, i think it all comes down to understanding how it is that trump won last time, how people understanding why some people decided to vote for trump and ,ade it possible for him to win and about providing the kind of leadership that can bring our country together and bring a coalition that, yes, will enable me to beat trump, but, most importantly, will enable us to begin to do the work of the people the day after im sworn into office. We cant separate the two. This is why throughout my campaign all across the country small towns, big cities, on the north, all the different parts of the country, we are building this coalition republicans,coming independents and libertarians, together we dont agree on every issue in the book, we have different ideas how to solve these problems, but we recognize how important it is that we stand united, motivated by love for our country and future to Work Together for that feature. There are issues like Foreign Policy that i have found to be a unifying factor across party lines. Putting the wellbeing of the country ahead of partisan politics. Issues like civil liberties, ending the war on drugs, criminal justice reform. A lot of these issues bring us together. I think what sets me apart from a lot of the other candidates who are running for president is matt, this isnt something that i am just talking about, something i will start doing once i win the democratic nomination. This is something we are already doing, and it is happening withse i treat everybody respect in the same way i will as president. I see not just the people of my party or the people i agree with and everybody else is deplorable or this or that, i see fellow americans i treat with respect , and recognize that a house divided cant stand, but we are one nation, under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all, and we come must come together as we do the hard work of striving towards about more perfect union. This is real. Its not just empty words and rhetoric. I love our country, and i care very much about where we are going. This is how with this unifying coalition, that we beat donald trump in 2020 and then we get to work. Thank you. [applause] i am an independent. The great thing about New Hampshire is i can vote in the democratic primary. Out of all of the candidates running, i feel like you have the most integrity because you have called people out on bad behavior on the democratic side. Im also a retired correction officer. I just wanted to tell you that everything you said about Prison Reform was spot on. I witnessed it through my 20 year career. Rep. Gabbard thank you for your service. Thank you. I didnt have a question. I just wanted to tell you that. [applause] rep. Gabbard integrity matters. Integrity matters. You know, i think its fair to say we are all frustrated by politicians who say one thing and then do another, who will call people out in the other party but not in their own party when they are doing the same thing. I think that really i is really what leadership is all about, is speaking the truth and calling it straight so we can fix these problems rather than in our own family or in someone elses. And when i talk about putting people ahead of partisan politics or ahead of profits, this is what im talking about, and it is about walking the talk every single day no matter where we are or what we are doing. ,roviding you with that record so you know that what were talking about here is not just empty rhetoric, that i will continue to provide that leadership if i have the privilege of serving as your president. Thank you. Lifelong conservative, still am. Typically vote republican, but i really like your message, and a lot of the things you stand for, i dont think there is anyone in the democratic space who can know,e with you for, you integrity and being real, it seems like. I have voted democrat in the past and will again if i like the candidate. I would vote for you i think. [laughter] so i dont want to ask an explosive question. What i mean is sincerely, it is about the Second Amendment. I am a supporter. Second amendment. And, the Mass Shootings are horrific, right . If i could do anything to stop them, i would. I just dont believe another piece of legislation will change it. Im curious to know, how do you really feel about it . Do you think another piece of legislation can stop that . And if not, whats the answer . Rep. Gabbard great question and a great framing of this question that has become one of the hottest, most divisive issues in has stood inthat the way of legislation being passed. Like you, as i talk about the constitution, there is no exception for the Second Amendment. I support upholding our Second Amendment rights. And i think we need to look at how we can prevent those few who seek to do harm to others from being able to use guns in the process. So, yes, i do believe there are some sensible pieces of legislation that will help us make progress towards that end. Some of the bills we passed through congress that, for example, would close the trust and loophole that allowed dylan roof to get his hands on the gun that he used to shoot up the church. There are others that have broad support across a majority of americans. But i agree with you that those pieces of legislation alone are not going to stop every single mass shooting in a school or a church or a supermarket. Unfortunately. There is no easy answer. Llere is no magic bi that will fully accomplish that. I think there are much complicated and deeperseated issues in our country that we all have to come together and confront, to figure out, how can we stop this trend from continuing to move in the wrong direction, where more and more parents have no peace of mind that when they drop their kid that may not, but be the last time they see their child. Or that we are at risk when going to church on sunday, or going to was worship in our temple. We see too often the tragic shootings occurring in the headlines. We also cannot forget that there are families losing children and loved ones every day on the streets of some of our countrys cities. We look at some of the Gang Violence and other things that are taking innocent lives. There are very real issues that we have to confront acrosstheboard, and it must be that comprehensive look in how we can best do that. I think those who are trying to do harm to others will find a way to do it. So, whether we are looking at Mental Health resources, addiction, lets actually look at bigotry, hatred, racism, lets look at these things that are driving those who are seeking to do violence, and see how we can come together as a country to prevent more of these tragedies from occurring. Thank you. Yes. What could you do as president to turn off the faucet of plastic pollution . The poison that is encasing our planet . Rep. Gabbard yeah. This is a major challenge. Are some local governments that are already taking action to do so. Really, what we require is action by congress to pass legislation that would look at how singleuse plastics and others are creating a lot of pollution in our country across the board. Whether we are talking about landfills, we are talking about plastic islands that are floating around in our oceans and having such a negative effect on marine life and the reefs and every thing else. Something that hits close to home for us in hawaii. Now, actually, a vote took place where our city council in honolulu, covers about one million people, they just passed ban singleuseld plastics there. Can the president do anything about that . Rep. Gabbard no. This is where we have separation of powers. I respect very much the authorities that the executive ranch has, and congress has. As much as i would love to be able to sign a piece of paper and say it is done, but is not how our process works. It is going to require a lot of work, a lot of grassroots organizing. And a whole lot of information and awareness to be a vote to try to bring about the to be able to try to bring the change we are seeing and were already seeing taking place in other countries. On the point about executive authority, it is an important one. Some of the other candidates talking about dans if congress doesnt act in the first 100 days, i am just going to do it no matter how passionate we feel about these the founders of this country set up a government with checks and balances to make sure that no single individual in our country would have unlimited powers to abuse. And i think its important that we respect that, and unfortunately, we have seen over a very long time, congress has ceded a lot of authority to the executive branch, including in the area of declaration of war. We can complain a lot about what is going on, but the reality is congress has not actually taken a vote to declare war since world war ii. So we can just point to abuse of executive authority when its the other guy or gals party in charge, weve got to be respectful in upholding the constitution of acrosstheboard. Thank you. Yes. You and i have something in common. We have issues with google. [laughter] i am deeply concerned about how Large Tech Companies , including google are able to circumvent the first amendment. The way they are able to censor search results, the way they are able to swallow peoples popularity on Youtube Channels or whatever, twitter can be platform people for having the wrong opinion on anything, what can the president do about Something Like that or what can we do as citizens to fight that, besides just search for a better social platform . Rep. Gabbard which is hard, right . Because there arent any viable alternatives where you can engage with people other than the big ones. Instagram, facebook, twitter, youtube and google. This is a really big problem, that i share your concern about. As we look at these big tech monopolies, we have got to update our antitrust laws so they actually apply to these monopolies so that we dont have such a huge amount of power centrally, kind of in the grips of just a couple of people. And yes, i have been personally seeing and experiencing the impact of that happening. How many of you know what happened during our first debate . Ok. [laughter] so you know why we are suing google. Since then, we have seen similar problems with youtube, how our content that we are putting out trending, trending, all of a , sudden completely disappears. There are a lot of different examples that ive heard from other people whove gone through similar situations, content that squashed further down the list. You have people who have seen their accounts completely canceled, even though there has been no apparent violation of the terms of use and agreement. And the other issue of our private information and how its profits, oror their who it is being shared with. When we talk about civil liberties, privacy and consumer protection, i think we need to update our antitrust laws to break up the big tech monopolies and figure out what kind of appropriate oversight should exist, legislatively, that protects our freedom of speech and makes sure these platforms really are fair and not ticking in choosing whose first respected,ights are and whose are not. Thank you. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Good luck with that lawsuit. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Yes, sir . My name is wayne. I really applaud your trying to bring the different parts of the country together. Againstegan my activism the regime change war in iraq, i became known as a person who trauma in wartime, knowing that many times he would lead to the ptsd that i had seen from the vietnam days. I would like to offer you this romper sticker that bumper ode across the r country with, that talks about the cost of war. But here is what i want to say. It is my concern that our solution to Global Warming is going to be nuclear winter. And i must say, your first comment in the first debate about that were just so refreshing to see someone actually say that stuff out of the stage stuff out on stage. How can we spread the word of aloha, first of all, to president macron, who said we should think about our hostilities against russia, and what would you do to find common cause with that leader, as opposed to what were seeing today . Rep. Gabbard thank you. And thank you for this. See,is, if you cant support means when they return, help them heal, posttraumatic real. Syndrome is thank you for your activism and bringing a voice to this, because every year on veterans day we hear a lot of things, gratitude, flowery speeches. But the reality is that too many of my brothers and sisters in uniform who survived combat are losing the fight here at home and taking their own lives. So many not getting the kind of help and support that they need, the care that they need, and as you can imagine, this is something that hits close to home for me. Now and as president , i take very seriously the warrior ethos and that promise we make that we leave no one behind, and it will take care of every single one of our veterans. You raise a really important issue about this new cold war we are in, the Nuclear Arms Race that is escalating, and what the impact of that is, as it brings pushes us closer to the brink of nuclear catastrophe, that would mean the end of our planet. That is the reality. Problem,ts a major but you are not hearing every single leader in washington talking about this. Nobody else is talking about it. S areuclear strategist sounding the alarm bells, saying weve got to reverse this dangerous trajectory that we are on. What i would do immediately, it was in my first week in office as president is to call for a summit between the United States, russia and china to deescalate these tensions. Left try to work out the issues we have with thi these countries, but also look at and recognize, theres a lot of issues that are of common interest and concern, like Climate Change, like counterterrorism. I think there is a number of issues that we can look at that are of shared interest and shared concern, so it starts with noting those bridges and finding common cause with other countries who recognize the same. Its not that hard to wrap your head around the reality that if we continue down the path we are on, nobody wins. Nobody wins. It requires courage and leadership, especially in this new mccarthy era, where if you just talk about building bridges and finding common ground, then you are labeled as a russian asked it, or this or that. [laughter] again, if you want a president just running for president to be popular and liked, and worried what names they are called, that that is not leadership at all. Its about exercising the kind of leadership we need in this country, for our future, and the kind of leadership that can bring other countries together so that we can work towards that singlewhere not a american, not a Single Person in the world needs to live in fear of a nuclear attack. Thank you. Thank you, very much. A reasonably big arsenal of nuclear weapons, and very modern. He says, i want a seat at the table. Rep. Gabbard i have not seen his comments on that. He said it would be good for europe to join the usa in talks with the russians, and see if we can take away these tensions. The russian people are nice people, it is the government that is the problem. Rep. Gabbard i agree. Natoe comments about [indiscernible] sir. Gabbard yes, i wanted to say, ive become disillusioned with our governments structure, and how we have all these millionaires and billionaires that get into power and it seems like they just are beholden to special interests and nobody really cares about most of the people in this country, which is a terrible feeling. I feel like that. I just, i know a lot about you, i know a lot about your background, and i just want to thank you for trying. Making an attempt. It takes courage, it takes bravery, and i hope you can do it. Rep. Gabbard we, we can do it. [applause] how do we get that influence of money, when you have tom steyer, all these guys jumping in now, not even campaigning, just paying for ads. It doesnt seem right, doesnt seem genuine. How do we change . How do we get the money and the military, the establishment stuff, how do we change this . Rep. Gabbard this is a critical question. Id say, the first thing is through your votes. You can choose what you value, what kind of leadership you value, and that your vote will not be bought, first of all. Second of all, bringing about the kind of change. This issue crosses party lines. People are sick and tired of really being left behind, and seeing this corruption reaching its tentacles in almost every single part of our government. I think number one, members of Congress Need to stop taking pac money, whether this is a standard that we as voters say if you want my vote, you will no longer take pac money, or legislation that accomplishes the same, that would be a gamechanger in washington. Number two, we passed legislation that bans members of congress and senior staffers in our government from becoming lobbyists, ever. If you choose a path of public service, as do our teachers, our firefighters, Law Enforcement officers, our military and others, you are not doing it because you want to make 5 million. You wont. You do it because you are passionate about service. The same should apply to those in congress and government. If you are choosing to serve, then serve. You dont go and serve for a few years, and then get a milliondollar payout from the industry you are supposed to be regulating after the fact. So closing this revolving door in our government is essential, and it is across every single industry. Yes, congress, the department of defense, the department of energy, the s. E. C. , those regulating wall street, fcc regulating the communications industry, fda, in all these examples you can see how people from multinational corporations, the most rich and powerful, are circulating in and out of positions of service, where they are supposed to be advocating for protecting us as a consumer. They get richer and richer, and they do all those favors for friends in the industry as they pass rules and regulations that help them and hurt us. These are some of the first things we need to do to try to root out corruption that exists within our system. Im working on a pretty comprehensive bill in congress to begin that process. And once again, the most powerful thing we can do is to make sure our voices are heard through our votes and hold leaders accountable, not let them off the hook. Good luck. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Yes . [laughter] you will be our last. I know you have issues that are important to you. You know the work i do. So, i have a twopart question. If you get in, what you will do when you get in, and now, im really concerned with this election cycle we are in, what has happened with the cost of housing, apartments. What is happening to people on Social Security. The average check is 17,529 a year. The lower middle class are getting slammed. It is getting more and more. We cannot wait until a year from now to be working on these issues. Rep. Gabbard thank you. This is such an important issue, affecting an entire generation of people, and the problem is only getting worse and worse. I talked about this a few times before. So yes, now in congress and as president , we have to continue to work on strengthening Social Security, making sure that our Social Security fund is no longer raided as a slush fund and used to pay for other things, and the funding is there not only for current and existing Social Security beneficiaries, but for us, at a certain time in our lives, we need to know it will be there for us. Also for those living with disabilities, who are dependent on Social Security just to be able to live and survive. So, strengthening Social Security, expanding those benefits is essential. The second thing, recognizing whats making it so hard for those living on limited incomes to make ends meet. You mentioned it, its the growing lack of truly Affordable Housing in this country, pushing a lot of people to either be homeless or to have multiple generations of People Living in one house, because you cant afford a place to live. And the rising cost of health care. You have to choose, am i going to buy the medicine i need and skip dinner a few nights a week, or what . What kinds of decisions are you forced to have to make . These are not the kinds of decisions that we the American People should be having to deal with. Those who work hard all your lives should have the peace of mind and security to live a comfortable life in your own retirement. Look. Theres a lot i could say on each and every one of these, on Affordable Housing. We have to bring together the private sector and government to be able to make sure we have zoning laws happening at the local level of government, setting aside property and land specifically for Affordable Housing, specifically for senior housing, and builders and build those partnerships with developers to build more units. Because the shortage of actually affordable units is something that is not only affecting big cities, its affecting my home state of hawaii, its affecting rural communities. Ive had tons of conversations with people in rural New Hampshire, small towns, seniors are wondering, where are we going to live . Theres buildings popping up here and there, but they are too expensive for those living on a limited, set income to even think about getting access to. Going back to health care. This is why i believe its so important we actually guarantee quality, Affordable Health care for every single american. If you are a senior on medicare, not having to worry about approaching the doughnut hole, or how to pay for longterm care, or other things we dont have currently existing within our medicare system. We can do these things. They are not impossible. We look at so many other developed countries who have far betterquality, universal health care systems. But who spend less as a country for that Quality Health care, they have Better Outcomes than us even though we spend exponentially more money. So these are all areas where we need to continue to tackle now. You are right, we cannot afford to say this is something that will happen later. Its something i will continue to make a priority for me. What will you do now in d. C. . Rep. Gabbard there is legislation we are working on, in every single one of these areas, to do just that. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. [applause] one more thing. If youre interested in hosting an event like this or an event coming up, please let one of us know. We will be here until february 11. We have a fighter right here, guys. Thank you so much. Later we are heading over to jaffrey, we will be hanging out. Rep. Gabbard ill mention, you want to say a few words . Go ahead. So, we want to do as much as josh of as much of this as possible, get in your homes, meet as many people as possible, with our friends and family throughout New Hampshire, and we want to know anyone who wants to join us with that, people who want to get involved, say how i can help, small and large. We are not saying you have to give hours. People in the movement who have been talking to friends consistently for months, people who jumped into say, how can i use all of my free time . People like amanda saying, how can i open my home up . We have these cards, so that you can sign up for us. It says tulsi, you can count on me. If we can grab your information so we can contact you, on the back we have a couple options. Two days,o friends in if they talk to two friends, in a few days we will have talked to the entire state of New Hampshire. We will work with you and find out how we can get to your town. They are there are a couple options. Maybe we havent thought of a way to reach and your community, so let us know. We will pass these out. They are over here on the table. David has these and we have pens. Drop them off, either at the table or right up front. Thank you. Thank you guys. [applause] i talked with an artist in peterborough, who had never heard of you. I think what you just said about getting the name recognition out. The emphasis he said was on joe biden, Bernie Sanders, elizabeth warren, and everybody else is pretty much being kind of pushed to the sidelines. So breaking through that barrier. Rep. Gabbard and this is how we do it. Our campaign is a peoplepowered campaign. We take no pac or lobbyist contributions and we are fueled by incredible volunteers like the many we have here tonight, including our friend eric. Its amazing, to see how the more we reach out, the more people we meet and get message get our message out, the more our support and Campaign Continues to grow, so i just want to personally ask each of you to consider helping in any way that you can, and to join us, working together so that we can make this happen and have a great win on february 11. Thank you. [applause] rep. Gabbard im going to stick around for a few minutes, if you want to come say hi, take a picture or whatever, feel free. Ok. Ok. My name is duncan. Pleasure to meet you. Thanks for being here. My brother and his family [indiscernible] a few years ago, my mother asked me [indiscernible] we need to be an allstar team. It signifies [indiscernible] make it for everyone. Like tonight [indiscernible] giving a copy to everyone. [indiscernible] like the nba, nhl, everyone gets together, an allstar team. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thanks for being here. Nice to meet you. Up do youack have any interest in this . Rep. Gabbard [indiscernible] youre supposed to say, i have no interest in these. I have no interest in these dalmatian puppies. [laughter] i want to talk about the national debt. It is 23 trillion. Our grandkids may never see a nation thats unlike venezuela so can you address that . Rep. Gabbard yes. I saw you on rogan, it was awesome. I saw the rochester film. That was really good. You had some rogan fan boys show up. My question is, how do we alter the website . Rep. Gabbard were working on it. Getting a lot of feedback. The gun control section is not reflecting what you are saying. When you say to someone else he 2020, im catching hell for it. They go on there and think, shes another beto orourke. You are blowing smoke in my direction. More [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard yeah. Were working on it. Linda and i were looking at rogan, and ife on you can [indiscernible] [laughter] rep. Gabbard there was only one in there. Come on. Thank you. It is great to see you. Thanks for being here. We are neighbors now. Rep. Gabbard we are. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Appreciate it. [indiscernible] thank you very much. Where do i sign up [indiscernible] i am from pennsylvania. Appreciate it. Keep up the good work. Rep. Gabbard absolutely. I got an email [indiscernible] i would be more than happy to [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard we have efforts in every single state, Gathering Signatures to get on the ballot in every state. So i want to make sure you get your name, and we will follow up with you on that. Whats your name . Jim. Rep. Gabbard i will followup. I will followup myself. I appreciate your help. Keep up the good work. Rep. Gabbard thank you very much. Thank you, jim. [indiscernible] thanks a lot. Rep. Gabbard really appreciate it. Have a safe drive home. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard ok, good. Ok, good. I was hoping you were not driving back to pennsylvania tonight. [laughter] thank you, jim. Im a huge fan of yours. I watched you on joe rogan. We really need you, and ill work as hard as i can. The podcast, they talked about you, i watched every single episode. If theres anything i can do, get in touch. Rep. Gabbard perfect. I really appreciate it. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard tell me your name . Eric. Rep. Gabbard thank you, eric. [indiscernible] thank you. Thank you. Rep. Gabbard thank you, eric. Thank you so much. So glad you came. Rep. Gabbard thank you. [indiscernible] converted a republican. Rep. Gabbard i really appreciate it. Everybody that i talked to [indiscernible] i was going to vote for a democrat, she would be the only one. Im working on it. Thank you very much. Rep. Gabbard how are you doing . [indiscernible] this is my wife. Rep. Gabbard how are you . Nice to see you. Nice to meet you. [indiscernible] you just wanted to thank [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you both so much. [indiscernible] the good and the bad [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard awesome. Thank you very much. Rep. Gabbard thank you both. Drive safely. Thank you. Thanks for coming to our hometown. Rep. Gabbard i love it. I wanted to thank you for having such integrity. [indiscernible] i get frustrated, but you are different. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. I wish you the best. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Thanks so much. Have a good night. Rep. Gabbard be safe out there. Are you going to [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard we are going to go. How are you . You inspired me, i am a volunteer for you, and i got my sister to donate to the campaign. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. And thank her for me. I will. I have a question. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard where do you live you can where do you live . Seven miles from here. I work in [indiscernible] and they have horrible roads there. [indiscernible] i have a gift for you. Rep. Gabbard thank you. I love it. [indiscernible] he is on the couch. Rep. Gabbard i will have to say hi before you go. Much. You very youre very welcome. Rep. Gabbard thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it. I love you back. You definitely have my vote. Rep. Gabbard thanks. Every one counts. Thank you, guys. How are you . Didnt catch your name. Scott. Rep. Gabbard thanks for being here. My pleasure. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. Absolutely. Thank you, scott. Your support, were powerful when we stand up. We are. [indiscernible] you have the track record [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. Spread the word. Thank you, scott. Really appreciate it. How are you . Nice to meet you. Thanks for coming tonight. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. How are you . Good, thanks. Eric. Rep. Gabbard thank you for being here. Where is home for you . I am actually canadian. Rep. Gabbard are you here for the holidays . [indiscernible] on the way back home, [indiscernible] a fan of yours. Good luck. Rep. Gabbard i sense a Little French accent there. I am from [indiscernible] nice to meet you. Take care. Have a safe drive home. Thank you. How are you . I think you are our best opportunity to [indiscernible] this is from my sister, so i appreciate it and thank you for everything you do. Rep. Gabbard thank you for your service. Thank you for continuing to [indiscernible] thank you. What is your name . Thank you, sean. Thank you. Thank you very much. [indiscernible] if we can move a little bit, the light is over there. 1, 2, 3. Rep. Gabbard thank you very much, sean. Hi. Great to meet you. Thank you for being here. Rep. Gabbard thank you. What is your name . [indiscernible] thanks so much for bringing important issues to the forefront. People are really talking about the most important issue [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard i agree. [indiscernible] the war on drugs and the [indiscernible] thank you for what you are doing. I appreciated. Rep. Gabbard thank you, devon. Nice to meet you. Have a good night. Thanks for your support. I am here with my son. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard wow. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard did you like it . Good, right . Great. [indiscernible] looking from the other side of the ocean, the system is broken i think. [indiscernible] not working anymore. Dont you think that maybe you should go to a different system, system wherearty not everything is being eradicated and [indiscernible] there is a new dynamic. What do you think about that . Rep. Gabbard i think that we have to deal with the immediate challenges that we have of how powerful the two parties have become and look at our own Campaign Finance laws, they have encouraged more power to be centralized at the top. That fans the flames of hyper partisanship. Maybe in the past, there has been room for other parties but unfortunately that has fallen to the wayside because of a system that has encouraged all the power to be held in the hands of a few people who can leverage that power. People want to vote their conscience and they are put in a position where they are bullied by those in power. That case, there is never a party that has won more than make aey always have to coalition. They sit around the table before they have the coalition, sit around the table and see where they can negotiate diplomacy with each other. Before they start for years in government, you already know what is coming. That is [indiscernible] more transparency. [indiscernible] ok. Gabbard that is thank you for your service. Thank you. I am glad you both came tonight. Do you live. The do you live here . Really . [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard im glad you could come tonight. Thank you very much. I hope you become president. Rep. Gabbard we are working on that. Thank you very much. Have a good night. How are you . Good, how are you . Rep. Gabbard im very good. Nice to meet you. What is rep. Gabbard what is your name . You are fantastic. I watched your interview with joe rogan and it was awesome. Have you ever considered debating Bernie Sanders one on one . On the rogan experience . He has been on there, as well. Rep. Gabbard bernie has been on there, andrew has been on there. I think if we have more opportunities like that, open forum, or long forum, open kind of conversations, i think voters would do better idea of ande we agree and disagree the differences between us as candidates. I have been saying this for a while. Whether it is on the joe rogan show or the league of women voters or whatever it is, it would provide a Better Service thans in the current the current system. For sure. I would love to see that. Can we take a picture . Rep. Gabbard absolutely. Thank you. Thanks. Rep. Gabbard really appreciate it. How are you . Nice to see you. This is my wife gail. Rep. Gabbard thank you for coming tonight. Nice to meet you. Thank you very much. Rep. Gabbard thank you for your support. Thank you for [indiscernible] i would like to thank you for your vocal support of julian assange. It is important to have a free press. A free press does not mean you are hounded to death literally. I want to thank you with what you continue to do. Thank you for accepting my questions. I wish you the best. Rep. Gabbard thank you. I would like to get a picture. Rep. Gabbard absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Rep. Gabbard thank you. I love your interview just recently. About being a strong warrior. And resilience. I forgot the name of the audio but it was really powerful, talking about your spiritual grounding. Heard therd you podcast. It was excellent. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Peace, my antiwar, my bringing people together is a spiritual journey. That is how i view it for me. So thank you. Rep. Gabbard thank you very much. Hi, how are you . Thank you so much. [indiscernible] disconnectd cant one from the other. They are all connected. Thank you. You are the best. She is checking to see. I think you have to go to the flash. That is really washed out. I think you have to go to the flash. Maybe move it up one . Rep. Gabbard maybe aj can take it. [laughter] i will probably shut my eyes. Rep. Gabbard there you go. Thank you for everything. Thank you so much for being here. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard and also in congress. They are not building the coalitions necessary to fix these things. Think there is too much of [indiscernible] with a plan to go on and fix things, rectify it [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. Thank you very much. Hoping [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard we havent experienced [indiscernible] thank you. I am wearing the proper attire. Rep. Gabbard you are staying warm, dressing in layers. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard how long is your drive home . It was 45 minutes. But [indiscernible] a little longer. I think we are staying overnight here. We will be neighbors. Rep. Gabbard i know. You. To see thank you for everything. [indiscernible] studio that could host it. Ask some people. Rep. Gabbard have a safe drive. Thank you. You killed. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. How are you . How are you . Rep. Gabbard i am good. Thank you for coming. I already thanked her earlier. [indiscernible] you had some really good points. You gabbard i appreciate keeping an open mind. I gave him an end reduction on the car over here. I went through the whole biography. Rep. Gabbard being out here, being able to do this [indiscernible] house party by houseparty. [indiscernible] always thought america of being a melting pot and we are not doing this. What are we doing for immigrants in the my father was an immigrant. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard the foundation is there. Exactly. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard we are the hope. We just got to get it done. Thank you. So nice to meet you. You have a real supporter here. Madam president. We will get there. Have a safe drive home tonight. Thank you. Rep. Gabbard thank you. How long have you been there . 16 years. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] 1, 2, 3. Thank you so much. [indiscernible] so much input. [indiscernible] good for you. So anyhow this is my sister. [indiscernible] i want to make sure [indiscernible] what do you mean, watch the [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard what do i do . Where do i watch . A local newspaper here, so we got everybody . Of clay ok. Today there was a shooting in pensacola at the naval base. It came out it was a Saudi National. He was in Pilot Training there. President trump announced he spoke with the king of saudi arabia of how [indiscernible] what is your reaction to the shooting [indiscernible] leader of saudi arabia . Rep. Gabbard i need to get more details and information. Obviously it is deeply disturbing that a Saudi National who is here for training in our base has attacked and taken the lives of fellow americans. That is something that is absolutely unacceptable. It is something i did to get more information about to determine, what course of action we can take for accountability and for justice for those who were killed in this attack. [indiscernible] im curious, a lot has been talked about the World Leaders laughing at president donald trump. I wonder what your thoughts are on that and how you as president would repair the relationship. Rep. Gabbard building relationships, rebuilding relationships with leaders in central to mys is Foreign Policy of actually focusing on cooperation rather than conflict. I think what we have seen for so long is a policy from this administration that is focused more on conflict and a zerosum , for the United States to win, other people must lose. That is really not the case. We have so many areas of common interests between Different Countries in the world. I look forward to being able to repair these relationships so we can provide the kind of positive leadership in the world that we must. I have a question we are asking of all of the candidates. Where do you stand on the issue of decriminalizing sex work . Rep. Gabbard i support decriminalizing sex work. People are in control of their own bodies and can choose to use them how they wish. This is something i have been publicly outspoken on, many months ago. I think this is an issue that more people should be aware of. You support a free a full decriminalization model, not the Quality Model where workers are not prosecuted . Rep. Gabbard full decriminalization. Thank you. Rep. Gabbard thank you. Thank you, cspan. [laughter] rep. Gabbard where our amanda and bob . We have to get a picture. It is good to see you again. We will get out of the way. Rep. Gabbard the most famous Birthday Party ever. Thank you. 1, 2, 3. Got it. And one more over here. And got it. Thank you so much. Rep. Gabbard thank you. An incredible turnout. Even though we had snow we roads. Snowy roads. Rep. Gabbard i was very impressed. You have a beautiful home. One more poll. Rep. Gabbard then the next and then the next. Keep it going. Rep. Gabbard regardless, we will be here. [indiscernible] rep. Gabbard thank you. It is so good to see you. [indiscernible] had a white suit on. And then it kind of went [indiscernible] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] tuesday, House Democrats are holding a morning News Conference to discuss the next phase of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Then, the house meets at 10 00 a. M. Eastern for general speeches followed by legislative business at noon. Members are working on a bill that would establish new programs to mitigate the impact of Climate Change on u. S. Coastal areas. On cspan2 at 8 35 a. M. Eastern, several lawmakers are speaking at a womens leadership summit posted by politico. The that is followed by the senate returning at 10 00 a. M. To consider judicial nominations for the ninth Circuit Court of appeals. In the evening, President Trump holds a Campaign Rally in hershey, pennsylvania. On cspan three, at 10 00 a. M. Eastern the House Oversight committee holds a hearing to consider possible changes to paid family and medical leave under current federal law. Then later in the day, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee looks at u. S. Quality it policy in iraq with the Deputy Assistant secretary for near eastern affairs. The Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a 400 34 page report and found the russia probe was justified and not biased against President Trump. The fbi mishandled part of its applications to monitor a campaign aide. The chairman of the judiciary committee, lindsey graham, reacts to these findings. He is followed by Senate Minority leader charles schumer. Sen. Graham thank you all for coming. Number one, i would like to thank mr. Horowitz and his team at the Inspector Generals office