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 contin