20160311_GOP_miami.tsv

1	TAPPER	Live from the Bank United Center on the campus of the University of Miami, this is the CNN Republican Presidential debate.	0
2	TAPPER	For our viewers in the United States and around the world, welcome to Miami Florida, I'm Jake Tapper.	0
3	TAPPER	In just five days voters will go to the polls here in this state as well as in Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.	0
4	TAPPER	The race for the Republican nomination for president could change dramatically.	0
5	TAPPER	Florida and Ohio each have a large number of delegates at stake and they award all of them to the candidate who wins.	0
6	TAPPER	They're a winner-take-all state.	0
7	TAPPER	So that's the first time that will happen in this primary season and this is the last debate before that critical round of voting.	0
8	TAPPER	We hope tonight the candidates will give the voters specifics on their visions for America.	0
9	TAPPER	So now let's welcome the candidates.	0
10	TAPPER	Ohio Governor John Kasich.	0
11	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
12	TAPPER	Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.	0
13	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
14	TAPPER	Real estate developer and businessman Donald Trump.	0
15	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
16	TAPPER	Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.	0
17	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
18	TAPPER	Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican candidates for president of the United States.	0
19	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
20	TAPPER	Before we begin this evening, we want to remember former first lady Nancy Reagan, who passed away this week.	0
21	TAPPER	Her funeral will be held tomorrow and we would like to take a moment of silence to remember Nancy Reagan.	0
22	SYSTEM	[ moment of silence ]	0
23	TAPPER	Now, please rise for our national anthem performed by the Frost Singers from the University of Miami.	0
24	SYSTEM	[ the national anthem is performed ]	0
25	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
26	TAPPER	Thanks to the Frost Singers from the University of Miami.	0
27	TAPPER	Candidates, you can now take your positions behind the podiums while I briefly explain the rules.	0
28	TAPPER	As moderator, I will attempt to guide the discussion, asking questions and followups.	0
29	TAPPER	Joining me in the questioning this evening will be Washington Times reporter Stephen Dinan, CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, and Salem Radio's Hugh Hewitt.	0
30	TAPPER	Candidates, you have one minute and 15 seconds to answer each question, and 45 seconds to respond to followups or for rebuttals if your name is invoked.	0
31	TAPPER	That's longer than you've had in previous debates.	0
32	TAPPER	Timing lights will be visible.	0
33	TAPPER	Those lights will warn you when time is up.	0
34	TAPPER	And as you requested, a bell will also sound, like this.	0
35	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
36	TAPPER	We know that each of you wants to debate these important issues, but please wait until you are called upon and please do not talk over one another.	0
37	TAPPER	These are the rules to which all of you agreed.	0
38	TAPPER	Our goal this evening is a serious debate on the issues.	0
39	TAPPER	It's time now for opening statements.	0
40	TAPPER	You'll each have 30 seconds.	0
41	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, we will start with you.	0
42	KASICH	Well, thank you.	0
43	KASICH	You know, I look in the faces of people all across this country, and I know they want to be hopeful.	0
44	KASICH	And many are hopeful.	0
45	KASICH	Look, I can take conservative policies to the White House, to Washington, to restore the strength of our economy.	0
46	KASICH	But I also want to transfer power, money and influence to where you live, because I believe the strength in this country rests in the neighborhoods, the families, the communities and our states.	0
47	KASICH	And I believe it's a new partnership — a partnership that can allow us to restore the spirit of America and strengthen America for the best century we've ever had.	0
48	KASICH	Thank you.	0
49	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
50	TAPPER	Senator Rubio?	0
51	RUBIO	Every election is important.	0
52	RUBIO	I believe this is the most important election in a generation.	0
53	RUBIO	Because what's at stake in this election is not simply what party is going to be in charge or which candidate wins.	0
54	RUBIO	What's at stake is our identity as a nation and as a people.	0
55	RUBIO	For over two centuries, America has been an exceptional nation.	0
56	RUBIO	And now the time has come for this generation to do what it must do to keep it that way.	0
57	RUBIO	If we make the right choice in this election, our children are going to be the freest and most prosperous Americans that have ever lived.	0
58	RUBIO	And the 21st century is going to be a new American century.	0
59	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
60	TAPPER	Senator Cruz?	0
61	CRUZ	Fifty-nine years ago, Florida welcomed my father to America as he stepped off the ferry boat from Cuba onto Key West.	0
62	CRUZ	He was 18.	0
63	CRUZ	He was filled with hopes and dreams, and yet he was in the freest land on the face of the earth.	0
64	CRUZ	This election, this debate is not about insults.	0
65	CRUZ	It's not about attacks.	0
66	CRUZ	It's not about any of the individuals on this stage.	0
67	CRUZ	This election is about you and your children.	0
68	CRUZ	It's about the freedom America has always had and making sure that that freedom is there for the next generation, that we stop Washington from standing in the way of the hard-working taxpayers of America.	0
69	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
70	TAPPER	Mr. Trump?	0
71	TRUMP	One of the biggest political events anywhere in the world is happening right now with the Republican Party.	0
72	TRUMP	Millions and millions of people are going out to the polls and they're voting.	0
73	TRUMP	They're voting out of enthusiasm.	0
74	TRUMP	They're voting out of love.	0
75	TRUMP	Some of these people, frankly, have never voted before — 50 years old, 60 years old, 70 years old — never voted before.	0
76	TRUMP	We're taking people from the Democrat Party.	0
77	TRUMP	We're taking people as independents, and they're all coming out and the whole world is talking about it.	0
78	TRUMP	It's very exciting.	0
79	TRUMP	I think, frankly, the Republican establishment, or whatever you want to call it, should embrace what's happening.	0
80	TRUMP	We're having millions of extra people join.	0
81	TRUMP	We are going to beat the Democrats.	0
82	TRUMP	We are going to beat Hillary or whoever it may be.	0
83	TRUMP	And we're going to beat them soundly.	0
84	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
85	TAPPER	Thank you.	0
86	TAPPER	Thank you.	0
87	TAPPER	Let's begin with jobs and the economy, which Republican voters say is the most important issue to them in this election.	0
88	TAPPER	There have been some real differences expressed in — on this stage on whether trade deals have been good for the American workers.	0
89	TAPPER	One of Mr. Trump's, the front runner's, signature issues is ending what he calls "disastrous trade deals" in order to bring jobs back to America.	0
90	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, I'd like to start with you.	0
91	TAPPER	You've been a strong advocate for these trade deals over the years.	0
92	TAPPER	Critics say these deals are great for corporate America's bottom line, but have cost the U.S. at least 1 million jobs.	0
93	TAPPER	How do you respond to the criticism that you've been catering to board rooms at the expense of the American middle class?	0
94	KASICH	Well, Jake, I grew up in a blue collar family.	0
95	KASICH	And the simple fact of the matter is that of course we're sensitive about trade.	0
96	KASICH	One out of five Americans works in a job connected to trade; 38 million Americans are connected to it.	0
97	KASICH	But my position has always been we want to have free trade, but fair trade.	0
98	KASICH	And I've been arguing all along that it is absolutely critical that when other countries break those agreements, we don't turn the process over to some international bureaucrat who comes back a couple years later and says, "Oh, America was right," and people are out of work.	0
99	KASICH	The fact of the matter is we have to have an expedited process.	0
100	KASICH	When people cheat, when countries cheat and they take advantage of us, we need to blow the whistle.	0
101	KASICH	And as president of the United States, I absolutely will blow the whistle and begin to stand up for the American worker.	0
102	KASICH	But we don't want to lock the doors and pull down the blinds and leave the world.	0
103	KASICH	Because frankly, if we do that, prices will go up.	0
104	KASICH	People will buy less.	0
105	KASICH	Other people will be out of work.	0
106	KASICH	And we don't want to see that happen.	0
107	KASICH	Trade, though, has to be balanced and we have to make sure that when we see a violation, like some country dumping their products into this country, believe me as president, I will stand up and I will shut down those imports because they're a violation of the agreement we have and the American worker expects us to stand up.	0
108	KASICH	And Jake, my family worked in the steel industry, not with a white collar.	0
109	KASICH	I understand their plight.	0
110	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
111	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, your critics say your campaign platform is inconsistent with how you run your businesses, noting that you've brought in foreign workers instead of hiring Americans, and your companies manufacture clothing in China and Mexico.	0
112	TAPPER	Why should voters trust that you will run the country differently from how you run your businesses?	0
113	TRUMP	Because nobody knows the system better than me.	0
114	TRUMP	I know the H1B.	0
115	TRUMP	I know the H2B.	0
116	TRUMP	Nobody knows it better than me.	0
117	TRUMP	I'm a businessman.	0
118	TRUMP	These are laws.	0
119	TRUMP	These are regulations.	0
120	TRUMP	These are rules.	0
121	TRUMP	We're allowed to do it.	0
122	TRUMP	And frankly, because of the devaluations that other countries — the monetary devaluations that other countries are constantly doing and brilliantly doing against us, it's very, very hard for our companies in this country, in our country, to compete.	0
123	TRUMP	So I will take advantage of it; they're the laws.	0
124	TRUMP	But I'm the one that knows how to change it.	0
125	TRUMP	Nobody else on this dais knows how to change it like I do, believe me.	0
126	TAPPER	Senator Rubio, last October, you said that you're, quote, "generally very much in favor of free trade."	0
127	TAPPER	More recently, you backed a away from your support of some trade deals.	0
128	TAPPER	If elected, will you support free trade deals even if it means the inevitable loss of U.S. jobs?	0
129	RUBIO	No, I support free trade deals that are good for America.	0
130	RUBIO	We're 5 percent of the world's population.	0
131	RUBIO	If all we do is sell things to each other, we can only sell to 5 percent of the people on earth.	0
132	RUBIO	We have to have access to the hundreds of millions of people in the world today who can afford to buy things.	0
133	RUBIO	The problem is we're a low-tariff country.	0
134	RUBIO	To import something into the United States is not very expensive, but many of these countries we can't export to because their tariffs are too high.	0
135	RUBIO	And so I am in favor of deals that allow us to bring down those tariffs so that America can sell things to all these people around the world.	0
136	RUBIO	There are good trade deals and there are bad ones.	0
137	RUBIO	So for example, here in Florida, we have benefited from the free trade deal with Colombia.	0
138	RUBIO	It's allowed flower exporters to come into the United States but it's created jobs for hundreds of people who are now delivering those flowers and working in that industry.	0
139	RUBIO	We have a surplus with Colombia.	0
140	RUBIO	On the other hand, you've seen trade deals like in Mexico that have been less than promising in some aspects, better in others.	0
141	RUBIO	Bottom line is I believe that America, if given access to foreign markets, our workers are the most productive in the world, our people are the most innovative on this planet.	0
142	RUBIO	If it is a free and fair trade deal, we can compete against anyone in the world, and we need to in the 21st century.	0
143	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
144	TAPPER	Senator Cruz, you were a supporter of the Pacific trade deal, but after taking some heat from conservatives, you changed your position.	0
145	TAPPER	Why should these voters who don't like these trade deals trust that you will fight for them all the time and not just in election years?	0
146	CRUZ	Actually that's incorrect.	0
147	CRUZ	There are two different agreements.	0
148	CRUZ	There's TPA and TPP.	0
149	CRUZ	I opposed TPP and have always opposed TPP, which is what you asked about.	1
150	CRUZ	And when it comes to trade, look, free trade, when we open up foreign markets, helps Americans.	0
151	CRUZ	But we're getting killed in international trade right now.	0
152	CRUZ	And we're getting killed because we have an administration that's doesn't look out for American workers and jobs are going overseas.	0
153	CRUZ	We're driving jobs overseas.	0
154	CRUZ	And the people who are losing out are in manufacturing jobs, or the steel industry or the auto industry.	0
155	CRUZ	But I'll tell you who else is going to be losing out, which is the service industry.	0
156	CRUZ	This Obama administration is negotiating the Trade in Services Agreement which is another treaty to allow services to come in and take jobs from Americans as well.	0
157	CRUZ	And you've got to understand.	0
158	CRUZ	Trade and immigration are interwoven, and they are hurting the working men and women of this country.	0
159	CRUZ	So the question is, what's the solution?	0
160	CRUZ	It's easy to talk about the problems.	0
161	CRUZ	But do you have a solution to fix it?	0
162	CRUZ	And I think the solution is several things.	0
163	CRUZ	Number one, we need to negotiate trade deals protecting American workers first, not the corporate board room.	0
164	CRUZ	Number two, we need to lift the regulations on American businesses here so we see jobs coming back.	0
165	CRUZ	And number three, we need a tax plan like the tax plan I've introduced that will not tax exports and that will tax imports, and that will bring millions of high-paying jobs back to America.	0
166	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
167	TAPPER	Let's talk more about how American jobs are impacted by foreign workers.	0
168	TAPPER	Let's go to Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times.	0
169	TAPPER	Stephen.	0
170	DINAN	Senator Rubio in late 2014, Disney laid off 250 tech workers in Orlando, replacing many of them with foreign workers.	0
171	DINAN	Some of the Americans even had to train their own replacements.	0
172	DINAN	You support increasing the H-1B visa program that made it possible to bring in these foreign workers.	0
173	DINAN	Doesn't this program take jobs away from Americans?	0
174	RUBIO	If it's being abused the way Disney did.	0
175	RUBIO	Understand that program, it is illegal now under that program to use it to replace American workers.	0
176	RUBIO	Under that program, you have to prove not only that you're not replacing Americans, but that you've tried to hire Americans.	0
177	RUBIO	And if a company is caught abusing that process, they should never be allowed to use it again.	0
178	RUBIO	The second problem with the current structure of the program that people perhaps don't understand is a lot of these companies are not directly hiring employees from abroad.	0
179	RUBIO	They are hiring a consulting company like Tata, for example, out of India.	0
180	RUBIO	That company then hoards up all of these visas.	0
181	RUBIO	They hire workers.	0
182	RUBIO	You hire — Disney or some other company hires this company.	0
183	RUBIO	What they're basically doing is they are insourcing and outsourcing.	0
184	RUBIO	They are bringing in workers from abroad that are not direct employees of a Disney or someone else, they're employees of this consulting business.	0
185	RUBIO	And what I argue is that no consulting business such as that should be allowed to hoard up all of these visas, that the visas should only be available for companies to use to directly hire workers and that we should be stricter in how he enforce it.	0
186	RUBIO	It is illegal now, it is a violation of the law now to use that program to replace Americans.	0
187	RUBIO	And if a company is caught doing that, whether it be Disney or anyone else, they should be barred from using the program in the future.	0
188	DINAN	Senator Rubio, real quick follow-up on this.	0
189	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
190	DINAN	You've — in the — in the context of illegal immigration, you've called for basically putting off any legalization process until we get the border secured.	0
191	RUBIO	Correct.	0
192	DINAN	Why not call for a pause on H1Bs until those abuses you've talked about are solved.	0
193	RUBIO	Well first, I think — well, I'd be open to it if it takes a pause.	0
194	RUBIO	But I don't think it takes a pause to enforce the law.	0
195	RUBIO	What they are doing is they are in fact using that program to replace an American.	0
196	RUBIO	If there's an American working at Disney and they bring someone from another country using H1B to replace their direct job, that's in violation of the law.	0
197	RUBIO	And what I'm explaining to you is, what they are doing now is they are not — what they are doing is they are eliminating the job.	0
198	RUBIO	They are outsourcing the entire tech division to a consulting company.	0
199	RUBIO	They are making the argument that we didn't replace you.	0
200	RUBIO	We just replaced the whole unit by hiring a company to do it instead.	0
201	RUBIO	And that company that they're hiring is bringing their workers from abroad.	0
202	RUBIO	It's a loophole they've figured out that we need to close so they can no longer continue to do it that way.	0
203	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
204	DINAN	Governor Kasich, I want to come to you next.	0
205	DINAN	Mr. Trump says that legal immigration is producing quote, "lower wages and higher unemployment for U.S. workers".	0
206	DINAN	He's calling for a pause on green cards issued to foreign workers.	0
207	DINAN	Wouldn't that help workers in the U.S.?	0
208	KASICH	Well look, I believe in immigration, but it has to be controlled.	0
209	KASICH	The simple fact of the matter is I wouldn't be standing here.	0
210	KASICH	I'd be maybe running for president of Croatia if we didn't have immigration.	0
211	KASICH	Immigration is something that brings youth and vibrance and energy to our country.	0
212	KASICH	But we clearly have to control our borders.	0
213	KASICH	We can't have people just walking in.	0
214	KASICH	Look, we lock our doors at night in our homes.	0
215	KASICH	The country has to be able to lock its doors as well.	0
216	KASICH	So, we — I have a comprehensive plan to deal with this problem of immigration.	0
217	KASICH	I would say we have to absolutely finish the wall and guard the border.	0
218	KASICH	And if anybody were to come in after that, they are going to have to go back.	0
219	KASICH	No excuses because we can't continue this problem.	0
220	KASICH	I think we ought to have a guest worker program, where people come in, work and go home.	0
221	KASICH	And I think at the same time, for the 11 and a half million who are here, then in my view if they have not committed a crime since they've been here, they get a path to legalization.	0
222	KASICH	Not to citizenship.	0
223	KASICH	I believe that program can pass the Congress in the first 100 days.	0
224	KASICH	But let's not lose sight of the fact that the whole key to the future of America is strong economic growth with common sense regulation, lower taxes and a balanced budget.	0
225	KASICH	We can have a rising tide that lifts all the workers in America, all the people who are citizens of America, if we'll just follow the formula that works, that I used in Washington.	0
226	KASICH	And guess what, I've used it in Ohio to grow over 400 private sector jobs since I've been governor	0
227	DINAN	Mr. Trump, I do want to come to you.	0
228	DINAN	Will you also in your answer, address how long you think that pause would be and what that pause would look like.	0
229	TRUMP	I will.	0
230	TRUMP	First of all, I think and I know the H1B very well.	0
231	TRUMP	And it's something that I frankly use and I shouldn't be allowed to use it.	0
232	TRUMP	We shouldn't have it.	0
233	TRUMP	Very, very bad for workers.	0
234	TRUMP	And second of all, I think it's very important to say, well, I'm a businessman and I have to do what I have to do.	0
235	TRUMP	When it's sitting there waiting for you, but it's very bad.	0
236	TRUMP	It's very bad for business in terms of — and it's very bad for our workers and it's unfair for our workers.	0
237	TRUMP	And we should end it.	0
238	TRUMP	Very importantly, the Disney workers endorsed me, as you probably read.	0
239	TRUMP	And I got a full endorsement because they are the ones that said, and they had a news conference, and they said, he's the only one that's going to be able to fix it.	0
240	TRUMP	Because it is a mess.	0
241	TRUMP	I think for a period of a year to two years we have to look back and we have to see, just to answer the second part of your question, where we are, where we stand, what's going on.	0
242	TRUMP	We have to sort of take a strong, good, hard look and come up with plans that work.	0
243	TRUMP	And we're rushing into things, and we're just — we're leading with the chin.	0
244	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
245	TRUMP	We're leading with people that don't know what they are doing in terms of our leadership.	0
246	TRUMP	I'd say a minimum of one year, maybe two years.	0
247	DINAN	Senator Cruz, I want to bring you in very quickly on this.	0
248	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
249	DINAN	The United States averages about a million new permanent legal immigrants a year and hundreds of thousands more guest workers.	0
250	DINAN	What should the right level be?	0
251	CRUZ	Well, we need to redefine our legal immigration system so that it meets the needs of the American economy.	0
252	CRUZ	Right now, we're bringing in far too many low skilled workers.	0
253	CRUZ	What that is doing is driving down the wages of hard-working Americans.	0
254	CRUZ	Our system isn't working.	0
255	CRUZ	And then on top of that, we've got a system that's allowing in millions of people to be here illegally.	0
256	CRUZ	And the answer to that, I've laid out a very, very detailed immigration plan on my website.	0
257	CRUZ	We're going to build a wall, triple the border patrol.	0
258	CRUZ	We're going to end sanctuary cities.	0
259	CRUZ	And let me tell you how we're going to do that.	0
260	CRUZ	We're going to cut off federal taxpayer funds to any city that defies federal immigration laws.	0
261	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
262	CRUZ	We're going to end welfare benefits for anyone who is here illegally.	0
263	CRUZ	And the thing to understand, Stephen, we can solve these problems.	0
264	CRUZ	It's not that we don't know how to do it.	0
265	CRUZ	It's that we're lacking the political will.	0
266	CRUZ	Neither of the parties in Washington wants to do this.	0
267	CRUZ	The Democrats support illegal immigration because they view those illegal immigrants as potential voters and far too many of the Republicans are doing the bidding of Wall Street and the special interest and they view it as cheap labor.	0
268	CRUZ	We need instead leadership that works for the working men and women of this country.	0
269	CRUZ	We need an immigration system that takes care of the jobs of the working men and women of this country.	0
270	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
271	TAPPER	Senator Rubio, did you want to weigh in?	0
272	RUBIO	Well, I would add when you talk about the millions of green cards that are coming in, those aren't actually workers at all.	0
273	RUBIO	They are just coming in primarily based on family connection.	0
274	RUBIO	And ;let me tell you, when my parents came in 1956, I acknowledge that my parents came to the U.S. on a family-based system.	0
275	RUBIO	The problem is nothing looks like it did 60 years ago.	0
276	RUBIO	The 21st Century economy simply is not creating enough jobs for people that don't have skills.	0
277	RUBIO	When my parents came, they had a very limited education.	0
278	RUBIO	My father stopped going to school when he was 9 years old because his mother died and he had to work.	0
279	RUBIO	And he would work the next 70 years of his life and never go back to school.	0
280	RUBIO	And I'm grateful every day that America welcomed them.	0
281	RUBIO	But today in the 21st Century, 60 years later, finding jobs when you don't have skills is very difficult.	0
282	RUBIO	We need to move to a merit- based system of immigration, not just on H-1B, particularly on green cards.	0
283	RUBIO	The primary criteria for bringing someone from abroad in the 21st Century should be, what skills do you have?	0
284	RUBIO	What business are you going to open?	0
285	RUBIO	What investment are you going to make?	0
286	RUBIO	What job are you going to be able to do when you arrive in the United States?	0
287	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
288	TAPPER	Education obviously plays a large role when it comes to jobs and the economy.	0
289	TAPPER	The United States has long been falling behind others in the industrialized world.	0
290	TAPPER	American students currently rank 27th out of 34 countries in math and 17th in reading.	0
291	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, you've called the education standards known as Common Core a disaster.	0
292	TAPPER	What are your specific objections to Common Core?	0
293	TRUMP	Education through Washington, D.C.	0
294	TRUMP	I don't want that.	0
295	TRUMP	I want local education.	0
296	TRUMP	I want the parents, and I want all of the teachers, and I want everybody to get together around a school and to make education great.	0
297	TRUMP	And it was very interesting, I was with Dr. Ben Carson today, who is endorsing me, by the way, tomorrow morning, and he is...	0
298	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
299	TRUMP	We were talking.	0
300	TRUMP	We spoke for over an hour on education.	0
301	TRUMP	And he has such a great handle on it.	0
302	TRUMP	He wants competitive schools.	0
303	TRUMP	He wants a lot of different things that are terrific, including charter schools, by the way, that the unions are fighting like crazy.	0
304	TRUMP	But charter schools work and they work very well.	0
305	TRUMP	So there are a lot of things.	0
306	TRUMP	But I'm going to have Ben very involved with education, something that's an expertise of his.	0
307	TAPPER	OK.	0
308	TAPPER	But just to clarify, the Common Core standards were developed by the states, states and localities voluntarily adopt them, and they come up with their own curricula to meet those standards.	0
309	TAPPER	So when you say "education by Washington, D.C.," what do you mean?	0
310	TRUMP	You're right, Jake.	0
311	TRUMP	But it has been taken over by the federal government.	0
312	TRUMP	It was originally supposed to be that way.	0
313	TRUMP	And certainly sounds better that way.	0
314	TRUMP	But it has all been taken over now by the bureaucrats in Washington, and they are not interested in what's happening in Miami or in Florida, in many cases.	0
315	TRUMP	Now in some cases they would be.	0
316	TRUMP	But in many cases they are more interested in their paycheck and the big bureaucracy than they are taking care of the children.	1
317	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
318	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, you have called opposition to Common Core hysteria.	0
319	TAPPER	What is your response to grassroots conservatives who do not agree with you?	0
320	KASICH	Well, look, all I'm in favor of in Ohio is high standards.	0
321	KASICH	First of all, let me tell you, I would take 125 federal education programs, put them in four buckets, and send them back to the states.	0
322	KASICH	OK, I've been working on this for many, many years.	0
323	KASICH	Secondly, Jake, in our state, the state school board sets the standards.	0
324	KASICH	And we want high standards because we have not always had high standards, unfortunately.	0
325	KASICH	They set the standards and the local school boards develop the curriculum.	0
326	KASICH	Not only did we have that in the law, we reasserted it in the law.	0
327	KASICH	And we also want parental advisers in the local school district so that, in fact, you know, frankly, education has to be run at the school board level with a little guidance from the state.	0
328	KASICH	Now on top of that, you want to talk about the 21st Century and what we need to do with our kids?	0
329	KASICH	We need to start connecting them to the real world.	0
330	KASICH	We need to be training them for the jobs of the 21st Century, not the jobs of 20 years ago.	0
331	KASICH	We need vocational education starting in the seventh grade where kids can get that kind of education that can take them to college, but all the way through their K through 12 they ought to be connected with real-world jobs.	0
332	KASICH	Frankly, what ought to happen is we ought to get them to pursue their God-given talents and connect them with the things that give them passion.	0
333	KASICH	And that's exactly what we're doing in Ohio, combined with mentoring programs to talk to kids about what their future can be.	0
334	KASICH	So let me be clear, local control, obviously, high state standards.	0
335	KASICH	That's what it is in the state of Ohio.	0
336	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
337	TAPPER	So, Senator Cruz, let me bring you in.	0
338	TAPPER	You object to Common Core.	0
339	TAPPER	Governor Kasich says it's local school boards developing local curriculum to meet higher standards.	0
340	TAPPER	What's wrong with that?	0
341	CRUZ	Common Core is a disaster.	0
342	CRUZ	And if I am elected president, in the first days as president, I will direct the Department of Education that Common Core ends that day.	0
343	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
344	CRUZ	Now, let me tell you why you can do that, because it's easy to talk about the problem, but you have to understand the solutions.	0
345	CRUZ	The Obama administration has abused executive power in forcing common core on the states.	0
346	CRUZ	It has used race-to-the-top funds to effectively blackmail and force the states to adopt common core.	0
347	CRUZ	Now, the one silver lining of Obama abusing executive power is that everything done with executive power can be undone with executive power, and I intend to do that.	0
348	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
349	CRUZ	Beyond that, though, Jake, I intend to work to abolish the federal Department of Education and send education back to the states and back to the local governments.	0
350	CRUZ	And let me say finally, the most important reform we can do in education after getting the federal government out of it, is expand school choice; expand charter schools and home schools and private schools and vouchers, and scholarships.	0
351	CRUZ	And give every child — African American, Hispanic — every child in need an opportunity to access to a quality education.	0
352	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
353	TAPPER	Let's move on to another topic of particular interest here in Florida.	0
354	TAPPER	Florida has the highest percentage of seniors in the country.	0
355	TAPPER	There are 3.1 million senior citizens here who receive Social Security benefits, and they're very interested in hearing what you candidates intend to do to keep Social Security going for future generations.	0
356	TAPPER	Let me turn now to my colleague Dana Bash.	0
357	BASH	Senator Rubio, you argue Americans your age must have an honest conversation about making Social Security sustainable.	0
358	BASH	For people under 55, you want to raise the retirement age and also reduce benefits for wealthier Americans.	0
359	BASH	So, what should the new retirement age be?	0
360	BASH	And how much will those benefits be cut?	0
361	RUBIO	Well, first of all, let me say that you're right, there are about 3 million seniors in Florida with Social Security and Medicare.	0
362	RUBIO	One of them is my mother, who happens to be here today.	0
363	RUBIO	I'm against any changes to Social Security that are bad for my mother.	0
364	RUBIO	And we don't have to make any changes for them.	0
365	RUBIO	But anyone who tells you that Social Security can stay the way it is is lying.	0
366	RUBIO	Any politician that goes around saying, "We don't have to anything; all we have to do is raise a few taxes or just leave it the way it is," they're not being honest with you.	0
367	RUBIO	Social Security will go bankrupt and it will bankrupt the country with it.	0
368	RUBIO	So what it will require is people younger, like myself, people that are 30 years away from retirement, to accept that our Social Security is going to work differently than it did for my parents.	0
369	RUBIO	For example, instead of retiring at 67 the way I'm supposed to retire, I'd have to retire at 68.	0
370	RUBIO	If I were still in the Senate, I'd be one of the youngest people there.	0
371	SYSTEM	[ laughter ]	0
372	RUBIO	If I've made a lot of money, my Social Security benefit will not grow as fast as someone who made less money.	0
373	RUBIO	And by the way, Medicare could very well become the option of using my Medicare benefit to buy a private plan that I like better.	0
374	RUBIO	Medicare Advantage does that now.	0
375	RUBIO	These are not unreasonable changes to ask of someone like myself who is 25 or 30 years away from retirement, in exchange for leaving the program undisturbed for the people that are on it now or about to retire, and ensuring that we do not bankrupt our country and that this program still exists when my children retire, when my grandchildren retire, when I retire.	0
376	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
377	BASH	Senator, the question was specific though.	0
378	BASH	You made your plan very clear about generally what you want to do, but how high would the retirement age go and how much would you cut those benefits?	0
379	RUBIO	Well, I'm sorry I didn't answer that part.	0
380	RUBIO	So the thing is that my — my generation, someone my age would retire at 68.	0
381	RUBIO	We would continue to allow it to increase the retirement age for future generations until it hit 70.	0
382	RUBIO	And so my children would retire at 70.	0
383	RUBIO	I would retire at 68.	0
384	RUBIO	It would be a graduating scale over a period of time.	0
385	RUBIO	But again I'm talking about people like myself and Ted who are 45 years old.	0
386	RUBIO	We're years away from retirement.	0
387	RUBIO	For people that are on it now, we don't have to change it at all.	0
388	RUBIO	If we don't do anything, we will have a debt crisis.	0
389	RUBIO	It's not a question of if.	0
390	RUBIO	It is a question of when.	0
391	RUBIO	In less than five years, only 17 percent of our budget will remain discretionary; 83 percent of the federal budget in less than five years will all be spent on Medicare, Medicaid, the interest on the debt.	0
392	RUBIO	That's — all of it will be eaten up by that.	0
393	RUBIO	That's a debt crisis.	0
394	RUBIO	And it will be debilitating to our economy and our children deserve better than to inherit a debt crisis.	0
395	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
396	BASH	Mr. Trump, you don't want to raise the retirement age, and you also don't want to cut benefits even for wealthier Americans.	0
397	BASH	But according to the Social Security Administration, unless adjustments are made, Social Security is projected to run out of money within 20 years.	0
398	BASH	So specifically, what would you do to stop that from happening?	0
399	TRUMP	Well, first of all, I want you to understand that the Democrats, and I've watched them very intensely, even though it's a very, very boring thing to watch, that the Democrats are doing nothing with Social Security.	0
400	TRUMP	They're leaving it the way it is.	0
401	TRUMP	In fact, they want to increase it.	0
402	TRUMP	They want to actually give more.	0
403	TRUMP	And that's what we're up against.	0
404	TRUMP	And whether we like it or not, that is what we're up against.	0
405	TRUMP	I will do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is; to make this country rich again; to bring back our jobs; to get rid of deficits; to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse, which is rampant in this country, rampant, totally rampant.	0
406	TRUMP	And it's my absolute intention to leave Social Security the way it is.	0
407	TRUMP	Not increase the age and to leave it as is.	0
408	TRUMP	You have 22 years, you have a long time to go.	0
409	TRUMP	It's not long in terms of what we're talking about, but it's still a long time to go, and I want to leave Social Security as is, I want to make our country rich again so we can afford it.	0
410	TRUMP	I want to bring back our jobs, I want to do things that will make us, that will bring back GDP...	0
411	TRUMP	I mean, as an example, GDP was zero essentially for the last two quarters.	0
412	TRUMP	If that ever happened in China.	0
413	TRUMP	you would have had a depression like nobody's ever seen before.	0
414	TRUMP	They go down to 7 percent, 8 percent, and it's a — it's a national tragedy.	0
415	TRUMP	We're at zero, we're not doing anything.	0
416	TRUMP	We've lost our jobs.	0
417	TRUMP	We've lost everything.	0
418	TRUMP	We're losing everything.	0
419	TRUMP	Our jobs are gone, our businesses are being taken out of the country.	0
420	TRUMP	I want to make America great again and I want to leave Social Security as is.	0
421	TRUMP	We're going to get rid of waste, fraud, abuse and bring back business.	0
422	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
423	BASH	Senator Rubio, I know you want to get in.	0
424	BASH	Hang on one second, I just want to follow up with Mr. Trump.	0
425	BASH	You're talking about waste, fraud and abuse, but an independent bipartisan organization, the Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget, says improper payments like you're talking about, that would only save about $3 billion, but it would take $150 billion to make Social Security solvent.	0
426	BASH	So how would you find that other $147 million?	0
427	TRUMP	Because they don't cover most of the subjects.	0
428	TRUMP	We're the policemen of the world.	0
429	TRUMP	We take care of the entire world.	0
430	TRUMP	We're going to have a stronger military, much stronger.	0
431	TRUMP	Our military is depleted.	0
432	TRUMP	But we take care of Germany, we take care of Saudi Arabia, we take care of Japan, we take care of South Korea.	0
433	TRUMP	We take — every time this maniac from North Korea does anything, we immediately send our ships.	0
434	TRUMP	We get virtually nothing.	0
435	TRUMP	We have 28,000 soldiers on the line, on the border between North and South Korea.	0
436	TRUMP	We have so many places.	0
437	TRUMP	Saudi Arabia was making a billion dollars a day, and we were getting virtually nothing to protect them.	0
438	TRUMP	We are going to be in a different world.	0
439	TRUMP	We're going to negotiate real deals now, and we're going to bring the wealth back to our country.	0
440	TRUMP	We owe $19 trillion.	0
441	TRUMP	We're going to bring wealth back to our country.	0
442	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
443	BASH	Senator Rubio, will that be enough to save Social Security?	0
444	RUBIO	No.	0
445	RUBIO	And I — and I think you've outlined why.	0
446	RUBIO	The numbers don't add up.	0
447	RUBIO	You know, when I ran for the Senate in 2010, I came out and said we're going to have to make changes to Social Security, and everyone said that's the end of your campaign.	0
448	RUBIO	In Florida, you can't talk about that, but people know that it's the truth here in Florida.	0
449	RUBIO	Fraud is not enough.	0
450	RUBIO	Certainly, let's wipe out the fraud, but as you said, it won't add up.	0
451	RUBIO	You already gave those numbers.	0
452	RUBIO	The second point is on foreign aid.	0
453	RUBIO	I hear that all the time as well.	0
454	RUBIO	I'm against any sort of wasting of money on foreign aid, but it's less than 1 percent of our federal budget.	0
455	RUBIO	The numbers don't add up.	0
456	RUBIO	The bottom line is we can't just continue to tip-toe around this and throw out things like I'm going to get at fraud and abuse.	0
457	RUBIO	Let's get rid of fraud, let's get rid of abuse, let's be more careful about how we spend foreign aid.	0
458	RUBIO	But you still have hundreds of billions of dollars of deficit that you're going to have to make up.	0
459	RUBIO	And here's the thing.	0
460	RUBIO	If we do not do it, we will have a debt crisis.	0
461	RUBIO	Not to mention a crisis in Social Security and Medicare.	0
462	RUBIO	Both parties have taken far too long to deal with it.	0
463	RUBIO	It is one of the major issues confronting America.	0
464	RUBIO	It's barely been asked in any of these debates.	0
465	RUBIO	And we'd better deal with or we're going to have to explain to our children why they inherited this disaster.	0
466	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
467	BASH	Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio says your numbers don't add up.	0
468	BASH	What's your response?	0
469	BASH	Senator Rubio says that your numbers don't add up.	0
470	BASH	What's your response, Mr. Trump?	0
471	TRUMP	Well, I don't know if he's saying that.	0
472	TRUMP	Look, I'm just saying very simply we have a country that I've never seen anything like it.	0
473	TRUMP	I've been going over budgets and looking at budgets.	0
474	TRUMP	We don't bid things out.	0
475	TRUMP	We don't bid out, as an example, the drug industry, pharmaceutical industry.	0
476	TRUMP	They don't go out to bid.	0
477	TRUMP	They just pay almost as if you walk into a drug store.	0
478	TRUMP	That's what they're paying.	0
479	TRUMP	And the reason is they have a fantastic lobby.	0
480	TRUMP	They take care of all of the senators, the Congressmen.	0
481	TRUMP	They have great power and they don't bid out.	0
482	TRUMP	The military is never properly bid.	0
483	TRUMP	When we go out to military bids, it's not properly bid.	0
484	TRUMP	And the people that really sell us the product are oftentimes the product we don't want, only because that particular company has political juice, OK?	0
485	TRUMP	I'm self-funding my campaign.	0
486	TRUMP	Nobody is going to be taking care of me.	0
487	TRUMP	I don't want anybody's money.	0
488	TRUMP	I will tell you something.	0
489	TRUMP	We're going to go out to bid in virtually every different facet of our government.	0
490	TRUMP	We're going to save a fortune.	0
491	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
492	BASH	Thank you, Mr. Trump.	0
493	BASH	Senator Cruz, you advocate allowing younger workers to put some of their Social Security taxes into personal accounts.	0
494	BASH	What do you say to critics who say that market volatility means that this is a disastrous proposal?	0
495	CRUZ	Well, number one, we need to see responsibility.	0
496	CRUZ	Social Security right now is careening towards insolvency, and it's irresponsible.	0
497	CRUZ	And any politician that doesn't step forward and address it is not being a real leader.	0
498	CRUZ	We need to see political courage to take this on and save and strengthen Social Security.	0
499	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
500	CRUZ	And as president, what I will do for seniors, for anyone at or near retirement, there will be no changes whatsoever.	0
501	CRUZ	Every benefit will be protected to the letter.	0
502	CRUZ	But for younger workers, we need to change the rate of growth of benefits so it matches inflation instead of exceeding inflation.	0
503	CRUZ	And as you noted Dinan, we need to have for younger workers, that a portion of your tax payments are in personal accounts, like the 401(k), that you own, that you control, that you can pass on to your kids and grandkids.	0
504	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
505	CRUZ	And one of the things that is critically important.	0
506	CRUZ	Listen, we've got lots of challenges in the world.	0
507	CRUZ	But the answer can't just be wave a magic wand and say problem go away.	0
508	CRUZ	You have to understand the problems.	0
509	CRUZ	You have to have real solutions.	0
510	CRUZ	It's like government spending.	0
511	CRUZ	It is very easy.	0
512	CRUZ	Hillary Clinton says she'll cut waste, fraud and abuse.	0
513	CRUZ	If only we had smarter people in Washington, that would fix the problem.	0
514	CRUZ	You know what?	0
515	CRUZ	That is the statement of a liberal who doesn't understand government is the problem.	0
516	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
517	CRUZ	Here's my philosophy.	0
518	CRUZ	The less government, the more freedom.	0
519	CRUZ	The fewer bureaucrats, the more prosperity.	0
520	CRUZ	And there are bureaucrats in...	0
521	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
522	CRUZ	...Washington right now who are killing jobs and I'll tell you, I know who they are.	0
523	CRUZ	I will find them and I will fire them.	0
524	BASH	Did you justice just compare Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton on this issue?	0
525	CRUZ	I will let Donald speak for himself.	0
526	CRUZ	But I will say, there's a reason, in my campaign I've laid out a very, very specific spend and cut plan, $500 billion.	0
527	CRUZ	I've specified five major agencies that I would eliminate, 25 programs.	0
528	CRUZ	And Dana, you know why political candidates don't do that?	0
529	CRUZ	Because when you do that, the lobbyists attack you.	0
530	CRUZ	When you specify the programs you would eliminate, then you get attacked.	0
531	CRUZ	Let's talk for example back in Iowa the first primary.	0
532	CRUZ	When I went to Iowa and campaigned against ethanol mandates, everyone said that was political suicide.	0
533	CRUZ	You can't take on ethanol in Iowa.	0
534	CRUZ	And my opponents on this stage not only didn't do the same.	0
535	CRUZ	They attacked me and even promised to expand corporate welfare.	0
536	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
537	CRUZ	If we're going to stop bankrupting our kids and grandkids, you've got to be willing to take on the lobbyists, which means not just some fanciful waste, fraud and abuse, but specifying these are the programs I'll eliminate so that we can take care of the hard working taxpayer.	0
538	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
539	BASH	Thank you Senator Cruz.	0
540	BASH	Mr. Trump, would you like to respond?	0
541	TRUMP	Yes.	0
542	TRUMP	If you look back to Iowa, Ted did change his view and his stance on ethanol quite a bit.	0
543	TRUMP	He did and — at the end.	0
544	TRUMP	Not full on, but he did change his view in the hopes of maybe doing well.	0
545	TRUMP	And you know, I think everybody knows that.	0
546	TRUMP	It was a front page story all over the place, and he did make a change.	0
547	BASH	Senator Cruz?	0
548	CRUZ	Listen, if you are fed up with Washington, the question you ought to be asking is who is willing to take on Washington?	0
549	CRUZ	It's easy to have language, I'm fed up with the corruption in Washington.	0
550	CRUZ	But if you have a candidate who has been funding liberal Democrats and funding the Washington establishment, it's very hard to imagine how suddenly this candidate is going to take on Washington.	0
551	CRUZ	When I stood up and led the fight against Obamacare, Washington was furious and attacked me, but I did it because I was honoring my commitment to the hard-working men and women of this country who are losing their jobs because of Obamacare.	0
552	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
553	CRUZ	When I led the fight against amnesty, it's because I was standing with the people...	0
554	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
555	CRUZ	...against Washington.	0
556	CRUZ	And if you want to tell people you're going to stand against Washington, the question we should ask is, when have you ever stood up to the lobbyists in Washington?	0
557	BASH	OK. Mr. Trump, I'll let you respond because he mentioned you but then I'm going to move to Governor Kasich.	0
558	BASH	Go ahead.	0
559	TRUMP	Well, that's fine.	0
560	TRUMP	First of all, Ted was in favor of amnesty.	0
561	TRUMP	So there's no question about that.	0
562	TRUMP	And Sheriff Joe Arpaio recently endorsed me and there's nobody tougher on the borders than Sheriff Joe.	0
563	TRUMP	And Jeff Sessions, one of the most respected Senator in Washington, an incredible man, also endorsed me.	0
564	TRUMP	And there's nobody that knows more about the borders than Senator Jeff Sessions.	0
565	TRUMP	I would say this.	0
566	TRUMP	We're all in this together.	0
567	TRUMP	We're going to come up with solutions.	0
568	TRUMP	We're going to find the answers to things.	0
569	TRUMP	And so far I cannot believe how civil it's been up here.	0
570	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
571	BASH	Governor Kasich, let's get back to Social Security.	0
572	BASH	You told a voter in New Hampshire to quote, "Get over cuts to Social Security benefits" because you have a reform plan and that is just the reality you say that is out there.	0
573	BASH	Why is cutting Social Security payments the solution?	0
574	KASICH	Well, first of all, we hear about taking on Washington.	0
575	KASICH	I took on Washington and I won.	0
576	KASICH	I actually got the budget balanced when I was a member of the Congress, the chairman of the budget committee.	0
577	KASICH	We paid down a half a trillion dollars of the national debt.	0
578	KASICH	We also balanced the budget four years in a row.	0
579	KASICH	And we were just growing jobs like crazy and the wage issue was not even an issue then.	0
580	KASICH	I also had a plan in 1999 to save Social Security and take the $5 trillion projected surplus and not only have Social Security for our young people, but also to give them private accounts.	0
581	KASICH	Now there are more 18-year-olds who believe they have a better chance of seeing a UFO than a Social Security check and we have a lot of seniors who are very nervous.	0
582	KASICH	I have a plan to fix it that doesn't even require raising the retirement age.	0
583	KASICH	If you've had wealth throughout your lifetime, when the time comes to be on Social Security, you'll still get it.	0
584	KASICH	It will just simply be less.	0
585	KASICH	And for those people who depend on that Social Security, they'll get their full benefit.	0
586	KASICH	That's the way it will work.	0
587	KASICH	And we don't have to monkey around with the retirement age.	0
588	KASICH	And how do I know that?	0
589	KASICH	I've done all this before.	0
590	KASICH	This is not a theory.	0
591	KASICH	Do you have to take on entitlement programs to balance a budget?	0
592	KASICH	Yes.	0
593	KASICH	It doesn't mean you have to cut them.	0
594	KASICH	It means you need to innovate them, the way we do things in the 21st Century.	0
595	KASICH	So not only did we have a balanced budget in Washington, but when I went to Ohio, we were $8 billion in the hole and now we're $2 billion in the black.	0
596	KASICH	Our credit is strong.	0
597	KASICH	We're up 400,000 jobs.	0
598	KASICH	And I want to go back with the same formula to beat the Washington insiders again.	0
599	KASICH	And I will get it done, and this country will be much stronger economically as a result.	0
600	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
601	TAPPER	Thank you, Governor.	0
602	TAPPER	Let's take a broader look at the Republican Party now.	0
603	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, one of the concerns your opponents have expressed throughout the course of this campaign is the notion that in their estimation you hold views that are at direct odds with Republican Party tradition.	0
604	TAPPER	How are you looking to fundamentally change the Republican Party as its potential leader?	0
605	TAPPER	What should the Republican Party stand for in 2016?	0
606	TRUMP	Well, first of all, I don't really think that.	0
607	TRUMP	I think that I hold views that are very similar to many of the people.	0
608	TRUMP	We are more inclusive.	0
609	TRUMP	And if you look at the polls and if you look at the millions of people that have been pouring into the polls, it's, again, the biggest story.	0
610	TRUMP	You look at all of these people that are coming in, something is happening.	0
611	TRUMP	I am different in one primary respect, and that's trade.	0
612	TRUMP	I feel that we have had horrible negotiators, horrible trade deals.	0
613	TRUMP	The jobs in this country are disappearing, and especially the good jobs.	0
614	TRUMP	You look at the recent jobs reports, which are really done so that presidents and politicians look good, because all of these people looking for jobs, when they give up, they go home, they give up, and they are considered statistically employed.	0
615	TRUMP	So that's that.	0
616	TRUMP	But I will say, trade deals are absolutely killing our country.	0
617	TRUMP	The devaluations of their currencies by China and Japan and many, many other countries, and we don't do it because we don't play the game.	0
618	TRUMP	and the only way we're going to be able to do it is we're going to have to do taxes unless they behave.	0
619	TRUMP	If you don't tax certain products coming into this country from certain countries that are taking advantage of the United States and laughing at our stupidity, we're going to continue to lose businesses and we're going to continue to lose jobs.	0
620	TRUMP	And if you look at the average worker over the last 12 years, their salary and their pay have gone down, not up.	0
621	TRUMP	It has gone down.	0
622	TRUMP	And I think that's why there has been such an outpouring of love to what I'm saying.	0
623	TAPPER	Thank you, Mr. Trump.	0
624	TAPPER	Senator Cruz...	0
625	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
626	TAPPER	...Donald Trump has so far won 35 percent of the vote.	0
627	TAPPER	Those people are signing up to his vision of the Republican Party.	0
628	TAPPER	What do you think is wrong with that vision?	0
629	CRUZ	Well, Donald is right, for example, he was just talking about international trade.	0
630	CRUZ	He's right about the problems.	0
631	CRUZ	But his solutions don't work.	0
632	CRUZ	So, for example, his solution on international trade, he proposed earlier a 45 percent tariff on foreign goods.	0
633	CRUZ	Now he backed away from that immediately and he may come back with a different number tonight.	0
634	CRUZ	I don't know where he'll be tonight.	0
635	CRUZ	But I'll tell you what happens.	0
636	CRUZ	You know, we've seen prior presidential candidates who proposed massive tariffs, you know, Smoot- Hawley led to the Great Depression.	0
637	CRUZ	And the effect of a 45 percent tariff would be when you go to the store, when you go to Walmart, when you are shopping for your kids, the prices you pay go up 45 percent.	0
638	CRUZ	But not only that, when you put those in place, because a tariff is a tax on you, the American people, but the response of that is that the countries we trade with put in their own tariffs.	0
639	CRUZ	A much better solution that works is the tax plan I've laid out which would enable our exports to be tax-free, would tax our imports, would not raise prices for Americans, and would not result in reciprocal tariffs.	0
640	CRUZ	Fix the problem and that's what's missing from what Donald says.	0
641	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
642	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, we'll give you a chance to respond.	0
643	TRUMP	The 45 percent tax is a threat.	0
644	TRUMP	It was not a tax, it was a threat.	0
645	TRUMP	It will be a tax if they don't behave.	0
646	TRUMP	Take China as an example.	0
647	TRUMP	I have many friends, great manufacturers, they want to go into China.	0
648	TRUMP	They can't.	0
649	TRUMP	China won't let them.	0
650	TRUMP	We talk about free trade.	0
651	TRUMP	It's not tree free trade, it's stupid trade.	0
652	TRUMP	China dumps everything that they have over here.	0
653	TRUMP	No tax, no nothing, no problems, no curfews, no anything.	0
654	TRUMP	We can't get into China.	0
655	TRUMP	I have the best people, manufacturers, they can't get in.	0
656	TRUMP	When they get in, they have to pay a tremendous tax.	0
657	TRUMP	The 45 percent is a threat that if they don't behave, if they don't follow the rules and regulations so that we can have it equal on both sides, we will tax you.	0
658	TRUMP	It doesn't have to be 45, it could be less.	0
659	TRUMP	But it has to be something because our country and our trade and our deals and most importantly our jobs are going to hell.	0
660	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
661	TAPPER	Senator Cruz?	0
662	CRUZ	Jake, let me be clear what Donald just said.	0
663	CRUZ	He said that that 45 percent tax is a threat.	0
664	CRUZ	And mind you, you are paying the tax.	0
665	CRUZ	It's not China that pays the tax.	0
666	CRUZ	It's you, the working men and women.	0
667	CRUZ	So ask yourself at home: How is this helping you?	0
668	CRUZ	If your wages have been stagnant for 20 years; if you can't pay the bills, how does it help you to have a president come and say, "I'm going to jack — I'm going to put a 45 percent tax on diapers when you buy diapers, on automobiles when you buy automobiles, on clothing when you buy clothing."	0
669	CRUZ	That hurts you.	0
670	CRUZ	It's why we've got to get beyond rhetoric of China bad, and actually get to how do you solve the problem.	0
671	CRUZ	Because this solution would hurt jobs and hurt hard-working taxpayers in America.	0
672	TAPPER	OK.	0
673	TRUMP	Jake, I have to say — honestly, it's just the opposite.	0
674	TRUMP	What will happen if they don't behave, we will put on a tax of some amount, and it could be a large amount, and we will start building those factories and those plants.	0
675	TRUMP	Instead of in China, we'll build them here.	0
676	TRUMP	And people will buy products from here, rather than buying it through China where we're being ripped off.	0
677	TRUMP	And we have a $505 billion trade deficit right now.	0
678	TRUMP	So we'll build our factories here and we'll make our own products.	0
679	TRUMP	And that's the way it should be done.	0
680	TRUMP	And the way we've been doing it for the last long period of time is our country — our country is in serious, serious trouble.	0
681	TRUMP	It's a bubble and it's going to explode, believe me.	0
682	TAPPER	All right.	0
683	TAPPER	We're going to take a very quick break.	0
684	TAPPER	When we come back, we'll have much more of this Republican presidential debate from the University of Miami right after this.	0
685	TAPPER	Stay with us.	0
686	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
687	SYSTEM	[ commercial break ]	0
688	TAPPER	Welcome back to the CNN Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida.	0
689	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, let me start with you.	0
690	TAPPER	Last night, you told CNN quote, "Islam hates us?"	0
691	TAPPER	Did you mean all 1.6 billion Muslims.	0
692	TRUMP	I mean a lot of them.	0
693	TRUMP	I mean a lot of them.	0
694	DINAN	Do you want to clarify the comment at all?	0
695	TRUMP	Well, you know, I've been watching the debate today.	0
696	TRUMP	And they're talking about radical Islamic terrorism or radical Islam.	0
697	TRUMP	But I will tell you this.	0
698	TRUMP	There's something going on that maybe you don't know about, maybe a lot of other people don't know about, but there's tremendous hatred.	0
699	TRUMP	And I will stick with exactly what I said to Anderson Cooper.	0
700	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
701	DINAN	Senator Rubio, your supporter, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, said in response to Mr. Trump's comment last night, I'm sorry — Senator Jeff Flake, I apologize.	0
702	DINAN	Your supporter, Republican Senator Jeff Flake said in response to that comment, Republicans are better than this.	0
703	DINAN	Do you agree?	0
704	RUBIO	Well, let me say, I know that a lot of people find appeal in the things Donald says cause he says what people wish they could say.	0
705	RUBIO	The problem is, presidents can't just say anything they want.	0
706	RUBIO	It has consequences, here and around the world.	0
707	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
708	RUBIO	And so let me give you one.	0
709	RUBIO	Two days ago, I met this extraordinary couple who were on furlough because they are missionaries in Bangladesh.	0
710	RUBIO	It's a very tough place to be a missionary.	0
711	RUBIO	It's Muslim.	0
712	RUBIO	And their safety and security very much relies upon friendly Muslims that live along side them, that may not convert, but protect them and certainly look out for them.	0
713	RUBIO	And their mission field really are Muslims that are looking to convert to Christianity as well.	0
714	RUBIO	And they tell me that today they have a very hostile environment in which to operate in because the news is coming out that in America, leading political figures are saying that America doesn't like Muslims.	0
715	RUBIO	So this is a real impact.	0
716	RUBIO	There's no doubt that radical Islam is a danger in the world.	0
717	RUBIO	I can also tell you if you go to any national cemetery, especially Arlington, you're going to see crescent moons there.	0
718	RUBIO	If you go anywhere in the world you're going see American men and women serving us in uniform that are Muslims.	0
719	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
720	RUBIO	And they love America.	0
721	RUBIO	And as far as I know, no one on this stage has served in uniform in the United States military.	0
722	RUBIO	Anyone out there that has the uniform of the United States on and is willing to die for this country is someone that loves America.	0
723	RUBIO	No matter what their religious background may be.	0
724	DINAN	Mr. Trump?	0
725	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
726	TRUMP	Marco talks about consequences.	0
727	TRUMP	Well, we've had a lot of consequences, including airplanes flying into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and could have been the White House.	0
728	TRUMP	There have been a lot of problems.	0
729	TRUMP	Now you can say what you want, and you can be politically correct if you want.	0
730	TRUMP	I don't want to be so politically correct.	0
731	TRUMP	I like to solve problems.	0
732	TRUMP	We have a serious, serious problem of hate.	0
733	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
734	TRUMP	There is tremendous hate.	0
735	TRUMP	There is tremendous hate.	0
736	TRUMP	Where large portions of a group of people, Islam, large portions want to use very, very harsh means.	0
737	TRUMP	Let me go a step further.	0
738	TRUMP	Women are treated horribly.	0
739	TRUMP	You know that.	0
740	TRUMP	You do know that.	0
741	TRUMP	Women are treated horribly, and other things are happening that are very, very bad.	0
742	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
743	TRUMP	Now I will say this, there is tremendous hatred.	0
744	TRUMP	The question was asked, what do you think?	0
745	TRUMP	I said, there is hatred.	0
746	TRUMP	Now it would be very easy for me to say something differently.	0
747	TRUMP	And everybody would say, oh, isn't that wonderful.	0
748	DINAN	Mr. Trump, thank you.	0
749	TRUMP	We better solve the problem before it's too late.	0
750	DINAN	Senator Rubio?	0
751	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
752	RUBIO	Well, here we go.	0
753	RUBIO	See, I'm not interested in being politically correct.	0
754	RUBIO	I'm not interested in being politically correct.	0
755	RUBIO	I'm interested in being correct.	0
756	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
757	RUBIO	And in order to be correct on this issue, here's the bottom line.	0
758	RUBIO	We do work.	0
759	RUBIO	There is — Islam has a major problem on its hands.	0
760	RUBIO	It has a significant percentage of its adherents, particular in the Sunni faith but also in the Shia, who have been radicalized.	0
761	RUBIO	And are willing to fly planes into a building and kill innocent people.	0
762	RUBIO	There is no doubt about that.	0
763	RUBIO	It is also true if you look around the world at the challenges we face, we are going to have to work together with other — with Muslims, who do not — who are not radicals.	0
764	RUBIO	We're going to have to work with the Jordanian kingdom.	0
765	RUBIO	We're going to have to work with the Saudis.	0
766	RUBIO	We're going to have to work with the Gulf kingdoms.	0
767	RUBIO	We're going to have to work with the Egyptians to defeat, for example, ISIS.	0
768	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
769	RUBIO	It will take a Sunni Arab movement to defeat them.	0
770	RUBIO	And so I think you can be correct without meaning to be politically correct.	0
771	RUBIO	We are going to have to work with people of the Muslim faith even as Islam itself faces a serious crisis within it of radicalization.	0
772	TAPPER	Thank you, Senator.	0
773	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
774	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, do you think Islam hates us?	0
775	KASICH	No, I don't.	0
776	KASICH	I think there is a sect of, you know, this radical Islam that is really, really serious, and poses the greatest threat to us today.	0
777	KASICH	There isn't any question.	0
778	KASICH	And that's why the whole world has to work together to make sure that we don't have proliferation of these weapons of mass destruction.	0
779	KASICH	But look, I was there when, and saw it, when the Egyptian ambassador to the United States was in the Rose Garden bringing the Arab Muslim world to work with us to repel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.	0
780	KASICH	The fact is that if we're going to defeat ISIS, we're going to have to have these countries.	0
781	KASICH	And they are Egypt.	0
782	KASICH	And they are Saudi Arabia.	0
783	KASICH	And they are Jordan.	0
784	KASICH	And they are the Gulf states.	0
785	KASICH	And we're going to have in some way or another a rapprochement with Turkey.	0
786	KASICH	And I frankly think the Europeans went in the wrong direction when they rejected Turkey from joining in to the economic sphere of Europe.	0
787	KASICH	The simple fact of the matter is, a lot of these Muslim countries, they are just — they can't believe the stuff they see out of people who have distorted their faith.	0
788	KASICH	Look, the people who represent radical Islam, they want to destroy everything that we're about and other Muslims who don't share their view.	0
789	KASICH	But at the end of the day, we've got to bring the world together, the civilized world.	0
790	KASICH	And we all speak with one voice to make sure that people who sit on the fence understand what civilization is, and we represent it, and equality and hope for everybody.	0
791	TAPPER	Thank you, Governor Kasich.	0
792	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, I want to ask you about something else you've said during the course of this campaign.	0
793	TAPPER	You said that the U.S. has to, quote, "take out" the families of terrorists.	0
794	TAPPER	When it was pointed out that targeting civilians is against the Geneva Conventions, you said, quote, "So they can kill us, but we can't kill them?"	0
795	TAPPER	It is against federal, military and international law to target civilians.	0
796	TAPPER	So how will you order the military to target the families of suspected terrorists, while also abiding by the law?	0
797	TRUMP	Let me go back to the other just for a second.	0
798	TRUMP	In large mosques, all over the Middle East, you have people chanting "death to the USA."	0
799	TRUMP	Now, that does not sound like a friendly act to me.	0
800	TRUMP	As far as the families are concerned, and as far as the law is concerned, we have a law — this all started with your question on water boarding.	0
801	TRUMP	We have a law that doesn't allow right now water boarding.	0
802	TRUMP	They have no laws.	0
803	TRUMP	They have no rules.	0
804	TRUMP	They have no regulations.	0
805	TRUMP	They chop off heads.	0
806	TRUMP	They drown 40, 50, 60 people at a time in big steel cages, pull them up an hour later, everyone dead.	0
807	TRUMP	And we're working on a different set of parameters.	0
808	TRUMP	Now, we have to obey the laws.	0
809	TRUMP	Have to obey the laws.	0
810	TRUMP	But we have to expand those laws, because we have to be able to fight on at least somewhat of an equal footing or we will never ever knock out ISIS and all of the others that are so bad.	0
811	TRUMP	We better expand our laws or we're being a bunch of suckers, and they are laughing at us.	0
812	TRUMP	They are laughing at us, believe me.	0
813	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
814	TAPPER	Senator Rubio, would you as president pursue a policy of targeting the families of suspected terrorists?	0
815	RUBIO	No, of course not.	0
816	RUBIO	And we don't have to in order to defeat terrorists.	0
817	RUBIO	The way you defeat terrorists is pretty straightforward.	0
818	RUBIO	It's difficult to do, but it has to be done.	0
819	RUBIO	When I'm president of the United States, the best intelligence agencies in the world that right now have been hamstrung.	0
820	RUBIO	They're going to be expanded.	0
821	RUBIO	And the best intelligence agencies in the world are going to find terrorists.	0
822	RUBIO	And then the best military in the world, which needs to be rebuilt because — because Barack Obama is gutting our military.	0
823	RUBIO	He's going to leave us with the smallest Army since the end of World War II, and the smallest Navy in a century, and the smallest Air Force we've ever had.	0
824	RUBIO	We are going to rebuild that military and that military is going to find the terrorists and destroy them.	0
825	RUBIO	And if we capture any of these terrorists alive, they're not going to have the right to remain silent.	0
826	RUBIO	And they're not going to go to a courtroom in Manhattan.	0
827	RUBIO	They're going to go to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and we will find out everything they know and we'll do so legally.	0
828	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
829	TAPPER	Senator Cruz, you've talked about changing the rules of engagement in battle against ISIS.	0
830	TAPPER	Would that include targeting the families of suspected terrorists?	0
831	CRUZ	No, of course not.	0
832	CRUZ	We've never targeted innocent civilians and we're not going to start now.	0
833	CRUZ	But listen, Jake, I understand.	0
834	CRUZ	People are scared and for seven years, we've faced terrorist attacks and President Obama lectures Americans on Islamophobia.	0
835	CRUZ	That is maddening.	0
836	CRUZ	But the answer is not simply to yell, "China bad, Muslims bad."	0
837	CRUZ	You've got to understand the nature of the threats we're facing and how you deal with them.	0
838	CRUZ	And yes, it is true there are millions of radical Islamic terrorists who seek to kill us.	0
839	CRUZ	We need a president, commander in chief focused on fighting them.	0
840	CRUZ	And I'll tell you, frankly one concern I have with Donald is that although his language is quite incendiary, when you look at his substantive policies on Iran, he has said he would not rip up this Iranian nuclear deal.	0
841	CRUZ	I think that's a mistake.	0
842	CRUZ	The Ayatollah Khomeini wants nuclear weapons to murder us.	0
843	CRUZ	I'll give you another example, dealing with Islamic radical terrorism.	0
844	CRUZ	On Israel, Donald has said he wants to be neutral between Israel and the Palestinians.	1
845	CRUZ	As president, I will not be neutral.	0
846	CRUZ	And let me say this week, a Texan, Taylor Force.	0
847	CRUZ	He was an Eagle Scout, he was a West Point graduate, he was an Army veteran.	0
848	CRUZ	He was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist this week in Israel, and I don't think we need a commander in chief...	0
849	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
850	CRUZ	...who is neutral between the Palestinian terrorists and one of our strongest allies in the world, the nation of Israel.	0
851	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
852	HEWITT	Thank you Senator Cruz.	0
853	HEWITT	Mr. Trump.	0
854	HEWITT	we're going to come to you in a second, but wait.	0
855	HEWITT	I want to go to Hugh Hewitt, who has questions on this exact line of subject.	0
856	HEWITT	Mr. Trump, I want to follow-up on the quote that Senator Cruz used.	0
857	HEWITT	You said you would want to be, quote, "sort of a neutral guy".	0
858	HEWITT	He did mention Taylor Force.	0
859	HEWITT	He was a West Point graduate, he was a war hero.	0
860	HEWITT	He was a Vanderbilt graduate student.	0
861	HEWITT	He was killed in a Palestinian terror attack near Tel Aviv, many others were killed.	0
862	HEWITT	And the Israeli government says the Palestinian authority is inciting this.	0
863	HEWITT	Do you still want to stay neutral when the Palestinian authority is inciting these attacks.	0
864	TRUMP	First of all, there's nobody on this stage that's more pro Israel than I am.	0
865	TRUMP	OK.	0
866	TRUMP	There's nobody.	0
867	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
868	TRUMP	I am pro-Israel.	0
869	SYSTEM	[ booing ]	0
870	TRUMP	I was the grand marshall, not so long ago, of the Israeli Day Parade down 5th avenue.	0
871	TRUMP	I've made massive contributions to Israel.	0
872	TRUMP	I have a lot of — I have tremendous love for Israel.	0
873	TRUMP	I happen to have a son-in-law and a daughter that are Jewish, OK?	0
874	TRUMP	And two grandchildren that are Jewish.	0
875	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
876	TRUMP	But I will tell you, I think if we're going to ever negotiate a peace settlement, which every Israeli wants, and I've spoken to the toughest and the sharpest, they all want peace, I think it would be much more helpful is — I'm a negotiator.	0
877	TRUMP	If I go in, I'll say I'm pro-Israel and I've told that to everybody and anybody that would listen.	0
878	TRUMP	But I would like to at least have the other side think I'm somewhat neutral as to them, so that we can maybe get a deal done.	0
879	TRUMP	Maybe we can get a deal.	0
880	TRUMP	I think it's probably the toughest negotiation of all time.	0
881	TRUMP	But maybe we can get a deal done.	0
882	HEWITT	Senator Trump...	0
883	SYSTEM	[ crosstalk ]	0
884	TRUMP	And, by the way, just so you understand, as far as Iran, I would have never made that deal.	0
885	TRUMP	I think it's maybe the world deal I've ever seen.	0
886	TRUMP	I think it's the worst deal I've ever seen negotiated.	0
887	TRUMP	I will be so tough on them and ultimately that deal will be broken unless they behave better than they've ever behaved in their lives, which is probably unlikely.	0
888	TRUMP	That deal will be broken.	0
889	HEWITT	Thank you Mr. Trump.	0
890	HEWITT	Senator Cruz and Senator Rubio.	0
891	CRUZ	You know, we need a president who understands the national security interests of this country.	0
892	CRUZ	The reason we are friends and allies with Israel is they are a liberal Democratic country that share our values, they're our strongest ally in the region.	0
893	CRUZ	We get billions in intelligence resources, billions in military resources.	0
894	CRUZ	And the Palestinian Authority that Donald, along with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama say they want to treat neutrally, the same as Israel.	0
895	CRUZ	The Palestinian Authority is in a unity government with Hamas, a terrorist organization.	0
896	CRUZ	They pay the families of these terrorists who murder people.	0
897	CRUZ	And this is exactly the moral relativism Barack Obama has.	0
898	CRUZ	And the answer is not scream, all Muslims bad.	0
899	CRUZ	Let me give you an example of a Muslim for example, we ought to be standing with, President el-Sisi of Egypt, a president of a Muslim country who is targeting radical...	0
900	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
901	CRUZ	...Islamic terrorist.	0
902	HEWITT	Senator Rubio.	0
903	CRUZ	He's hunting them down and stomping them.	0
904	HEWITT	Thank you.	0
905	CRUZ	Our focus needs to be on keeping this country safe.	0
906	HEWITT	I want to go back to the Israeli government's assertion that the Palestinian Authority is inciting the convulsion of violence.	0
907	HEWITT	Do you agree.	0
908	RUBIO	Well, that's undeniable.	0
909	RUBIO	First of all, they've said, they've encouraged people to do so.	0
910	RUBIO	And you've seen the speeches of the Palestinian Authority president how glorious this is that they're doing these sorts of things.	0
911	RUBIO	But let me go back for a moment.	0
912	RUBIO	The policy Donald has outlined, I don't know if he realizes, is an anti-Israeli policy.	0
913	RUBIO	Maybe that's not your intent but here's why it is an anti-Israeli policy.	0
914	RUBIO	There is no peace deal possible with the Palestinians at this moment.	0
915	RUBIO	There just isn't.	0
916	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
917	RUBIO	Because there's no one to negotiate with.	0
918	RUBIO	The Palestinian Authority is not interested in a serious deal and they are now in union with Hamas, an organization whose specific purpose is the destruction of the Jewish state.	0
919	RUBIO	Every time that Israel has turned over territory of any kind, be is Gaza, or now in Judea and Sumaira, it is used as a launching pad to attack Israel.	0
920	RUBIO	And that's what will happen again.	0
921	RUBIO	These groups are not interested in a deal with Israel.	0
922	RUBIO	What they are interested in is ultimately removing the Jewish state and occupying its entire territory.	0
923	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
924	RUBIO	So maybe in 30 years the conditions will exist, but they do not exist now.	0
925	HEWITT	Mr. Trump, and then I'll come to you Senator Kasich.	0
926	RUBIO	And To have a president forcing the Israelis to the table is harmful to the Israeli and emboldens Israel's enemies.	0
927	HEWITT	Thank you senator.	0
928	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
929	HEWITT	Mr. Trump a response and then we'll go to Governor Kasich.	0
930	TRUMP	If I become president of the United States, one of the things that will be an absolute priority is number one, protection of Israel, but also seeing if a deal can be made, the toughest deal, the toughest negotiation there probably is of any kind no matter where you look, no matter how hard you look.	0
931	TRUMP	But I would like to give it a shot.	0
932	TRUMP	Very, very pro-Israel, nobody more pro-Israel.	0
933	TRUMP	But I would love to give it a shot.	0
934	TRUMP	And I have to tell you this, Hugh.	0
935	TRUMP	I have friend, Israelis, non-Israelis, people from New York City that happen to be Jewish and love Israel, and some are very tough people, every single one of them, they know it's tough, but every single one of them wants to see if we could ever have peace in Israel.	0
936	TRUMP	And some believe it's possible.	0
937	TRUMP	It may not be, in which case we'll find out.	0
938	TRUMP	But it would be a priority if I become president to see what I could do.	0
939	HEWITT	Governor Kasich, do you agree the Israeli government that the Palestinian Authority is inciting this violence?	0
940	KASICH	Well, there's no question.	0
941	KASICH	They were saying that the Israelis intended to go to the Dome of the Rock.	0
942	KASICH	And I mean, when you think about this, thank goodness we work with Israelis to give them the Iron Dome where they can protect themselves against all the missiles that were flying in.	0
943	KASICH	Could you imagine living in like Miami here and having people shooting missiles in?	0
944	KASICH	Secondly, there was just an article the other day, Hugh, that I know you're familiar with the Israelis are learning to train underground in combat because the Palestinians now, Hamas in particular, is digging these tunnels trying to get under Israel.	0
945	KASICH	They're coming at them from above, they're trying to come at them under the ground.	0
946	KASICH	And I just have to tell you this, I don't believe there is any long-term permanent peace solution.	0
947	KASICH	And I think pursuing that is the wrong thing to do.	0
948	KASICH	I believe that every day that we can stability in that region by supporting the Israelis and making sure they have the weapons and the security that they need with our 100 percent backing is the way to proceed in the Middle East in regard to Israel.	0
949	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
950	HEWITT	Thank you, Governor.	0
951	HEWITT	Senator Cruz, I want to stay in the region.	0
952	HEWITT	Just this week the head of U.S. Central Command, General General Lloyd Austin, essentially said it's going to take a lot more troops on the ground to fix — to end the ISIS threat in Syria and Iraq.	0
953	HEWITT	From the beginning of this campaign, you have said you will follow the judgment of military commanders in the Pentagon.	0
954	HEWITT	So here's the commander saying we need a lot more troops on the ground.	0
955	HEWITT	Will you follow that advice and inject Americans again into what is in essence is metastasizing Sunni-Shia civil war?	0
956	CRUZ	We need to do whatever is necessary to utterly defeat ISIS.	0
957	CRUZ	And that's needs to be driven not by politicians but by military expertise and judgment.	0
958	CRUZ	Right now we're not using a fraction of the tools that we have.	0
959	CRUZ	We're not using our overwhelming air power.	0
960	CRUZ	We're not arming the Kurds.	0
961	CRUZ	Those need to be the first steps.	0
962	CRUZ	And then we need to put whatever ground power is needed to carry it out.	0
963	CRUZ	But, you know, a question that actually Jake asked, and I'm glad to come back to it now, is rules of engagement.	0
964	CRUZ	We have right now our troops engaged in combat but President Obama has rules of engagement that are so strict that their arms are tied behind their back.	0
965	CRUZ	They're not able to fight.	0
966	CRUZ	They're not able to defend themselves.	0
967	CRUZ	They're not able to kill the enemy.	0
968	CRUZ	And I have got to tell you, Hugh, I think that is wrong.	0
969	CRUZ	It is immoral.	0
970	CRUZ	And I give my word to every soldier, sailor, and airman, and marine, and every wife and husband, every son and daughter, every mother and father, that will end in January 2017.	0
971	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
972	HEWITT	Governor Kasich, if it takes 20,000 or 30,000, if the Pentagon says that's what needs to be done, will you follow their advice?	0
973	KASICH	Hugh, I've said all along and laid out my foreign policy, I'm going to remind everybody that 55 percent of the foreign policy experts in this country said I was the best to be commander-in- chief.	0
974	KASICH	I spent 18 years on the Defense Committee, Armed Services, and then I was in the Pentagon with Donald Rumsfeld after 9/11, in and out for a couple of years.	0
975	KASICH	We absolutely have to win this with a coalition.	0
976	KASICH	Arabs have to be with us.	0
977	KASICH	The Europeans have to understand that this threat is closer to them than even is closer — is as close as it is to us.	0
978	KASICH	And in addition to that, you have to be in the air and you have to be on the ground.	0
979	KASICH	And you bring all the force you need.	0
980	KASICH	It has got to be "shock and awe" in the military-speak.	0
981	KASICH	Then once it gets done, and we will wipe them out, once it gets done, it settles down, we come home and let the regional powers redraw the map if that's what it takes.	0
982	HEWITT	Mr. Trump, more troops?	0
983	TRUMP	We really have no choice.	0
984	TRUMP	We have to knock out ISIS.	0
985	TRUMP	We have to knock the hell out of them.	0
986	TRUMP	We have to get rid of it.	0
987	TRUMP	And then come back and rebuild our country, which is falling apart.	0
988	TRUMP	We have no choice.	0
989	HEWITT	How many...	0
990	SYSTEM	[ crosstalk ]	0
991	TRUMP	I would listen to the generals, but I'm hearing numbers of 20,000 to 30,000.	0
992	TRUMP	We have to knock them out fast.	0
993	TRUMP	Look, we're not allowed to fight.	0
994	TRUMP	We can't fight.	0
995	TRUMP	We're not knocking out the oil because they don't want to create environmental pollution up in the air.	0
996	TRUMP	I mean, these are things that nobody even believes.	0
997	TRUMP	They think we're kidding.	0
998	TRUMP	They didn't want to knock out the oil because of what it's going to do to the carbon footprint.	0
999	TRUMP	We don't fight like we used to fight.	0
1000	TRUMP	We used to fight to win.	0
1001	TRUMP	Now we fight for no reason whatsoever.	0
1002	TRUMP	We don't even know what we're doing.	0
1003	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1004	TRUMP	So, the answer is we have to knock them out.	0
1005	TRUMP	We have to knock them out fast.	0
1006	TRUMP	And we have to get back home.	0
1007	TRUMP	And we have to rebuild our country which is falling apart.	0
1008	TAPPER	Thank you, Mr. Trump.	0
1009	TAPPER	Let's turn from current conflicts to those who have served in conflicts.	0
1010	TAPPER	Senator Rubio, according to a V.A.	0
1011	TAPPER	study, of the 22 veterans who commit suicide every day, 17 of them have no connection to the V.A.	0
1012	TAPPER	The V.A.	0
1013	TAPPER	believes that this lack of connection is one of the reasons for this tragically high suicide rate.	0
1014	TAPPER	What specifically would you do as president to make sure that veterans in crisis are able to get the help they need?	0
1015	RUBIO	Well, first let me say that one out of four calls to our office is about a veteran here in Florida that's struggling with the V.A.	0
1016	RUBIO	my brother is a veteran.	0
1017	RUBIO	He's struggling with the V.A.	0
1018	RUBIO	The other day, we heard this horrible story.	0
1019	RUBIO	It was a headline in USA Today, and it said, "Calls to the V.A.	0
1020	RUBIO	Suicide Hotline Went to Voicemail."	0
1021	RUBIO	Well, about a few days ago, we now found out that one of the gentlemen — one of the veterans who left a voicemail committed suicide.	0
1022	RUBIO	And they happened to call him back the day after he died.	0
1023	RUBIO	People need to be held accountable for this.	0
1024	RUBIO	One of the things I'm proudest of is that in my time in the U.S. Senate working with Jeff Miller here from Florida in a bipartisan way, and I'll give him credit — Bernie Sanders was a part of this — we passed a V.A.	0
1025	RUBIO	accountability bill.	0
1026	RUBIO	And what it did is it created now a law that gives the V.A.	0
1027	RUBIO	secretary, because of the law I passed, it gives the V.A.	0
1028	RUBIO	secretary the power to fire people that aren't doing a good job.	0
1029	RUBIO	Senior executives should be held accountable if the V.A.	0
1030	RUBIO	outreach isn't working.	0
1031	RUBIO	The problem is no one's being held accountable.	0
1032	RUBIO	Even after we passed that law, no one's been fired for no outreach.	0
1033	RUBIO	No one's been fired for calls going to the voicemail.	0
1034	RUBIO	No one's been disciplined.	0
1035	RUBIO	No one's been demoted.	0
1036	RUBIO	When I'm president of the United States, if you work at the V.A.	0
1037	RUBIO	and you are not doing a good job, you will be fired from your job at the V.A.	0
1038	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1039	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, the Veterans Affairs Department is one of the biggest line items in the domestic budget.	0
1040	TAPPER	As part of its attempt to cut costs, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives just voted to try to reduce spending in the post-9/11 GI Bill.	0
1041	TAPPER	Should veterans' benefits be part of attempts to reduce the deficit?	0
1042	KASICH	I don't — I haven't seen the provisions of that bill, Jake.	0
1043	KASICH	My initial instincts are no.	0
1044	KASICH	And let me just say about the V.A.	0
1045	KASICH	When a veteran comes home, they ought to have access to healthcare wherever they want to go at any time, number one.	0
1046	KASICH	Number two, the Veterans Administration needs to be restructured.	0
1047	KASICH	It needs to be downsized and spread out.	0
1048	KASICH	It needs to be so responsive to the needs of the veterans.	0
1049	KASICH	And secondly, the Pentagon needs to share the information of returning veterans with the veterans' service operations in the states and with the job people in the states so that when a veteran comes home, they can be linked with a job.	0
1050	KASICH	And when that happens, that means that every veteran will get work, because they're our golden employees.	0
1051	KASICH	No veteran ought to be without healthcare; no veteran ought to be homeless; and no veteran ought to be unemployed in the United States of America.	0
1052	TAPPER	Thank you, Governor Kasich.	0
1053	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1054	TAPPER	Let's turn to another issue of real importance here in Florida.	0
1055	TAPPER	Just over a week from now, President Obama will visit Cuba, the first time in 88 years that a sitting U.S. president will set foot in Cuba.	0
1056	TAPPER	Two of you on this stage have parents who were born in Cuba and moved to the United States.	0
1057	TAPPER	Let's go back to my colleague Dana Bash.	0
1058	BASH	Senator Rubio, Donald Trump agrees with President Obama in his decision to reengage diplomatically in Cuba.	0
1059	BASH	The majority of Americans seem to agree with that as well.	0
1060	BASH	So why are President Obama, Donald Trump and the majority of Americans wrong?	0
1061	RUBIO	Well, I would love the relationship between Cuba and the United States to change.	0
1062	RUBIO	But it will require Cuba to change, at least its government.	0
1063	RUBIO	Today, it has not.	0
1064	RUBIO	The fact of the matter is that after these changes were made — after these changes were made, there are now millions and hundreds of millions of dollars that will flow to the Castro regime.	0
1065	RUBIO	It will now allow them to become set permanent and in stone.	0
1066	RUBIO	They will now be able to carry out a transition where the military continues to run the country there.	0
1067	RUBIO	They'll put a puppet figure forward as their new president.	0
1068	RUBIO	And nothing will change for the Cuban people.	0
1069	RUBIO	There has not been a single democratic opening; not a single change on the island in human rights.	0
1070	RUBIO	In fact, things are worse than they were before this opening.	0
1071	RUBIO	The only thing that's changed as a result of this opening is that now the Cuban government has more sources of money from which to build out their repressive apparatus and maintain themselves there permanently.	0
1072	RUBIO	And we asked nothing in return.	0
1073	RUBIO	Compare that to the changes that were required in Burma.	0
1074	RUBIO	And by no means is Burma a perfect country.	0
1075	RUBIO	But at least when there was a democratic opening to Burma, they were required to make some democratic openings.	0
1076	RUBIO	When there was a diplomatic opening, it required democratic opening.	0
1077	RUBIO	And today, the former minority party is now the majority party in their legislative body.	0
1078	RUBIO	He asked nothing in return and we are getting nothing in return.	0
1079	RUBIO	And Cuba and its regime remains an anti-American communist dictatorship, helped North Korea evade U.N. sanctions.	0
1080	RUBIO	It's harboring fugitives of American justice, including people stealing our Medicare money and moving back to Cuba, all in exchange for nothing.	0
1081	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1082	BASH	Mr. Trump, you said the concept of opening Cuba is fine.	0
1083	BASH	You said the concept of opening Cuba is fine.	0
1084	BASH	Why do you agree with President Obama and disagree with what Senator Rubio just said?	0
1085	TRUMP	Well, I don't really agree with President Obama.	0
1086	TRUMP	I think I'm somewhere in the middle.	0
1087	TRUMP	What I want is I want a much better deal to be made because right now, Cuba is making — as usual with our country, we don't make good deal.	0
1088	TRUMP	We don't have our right people negotiating, we have people that don't have a clue.	0
1089	TRUMP	As an example, I heard recently where the threat was made that they want reparations for years of abuse by the United States, and nobody's talking about it and they'll end up signing a deal and then we'll get sued for $400 billion or $1 trillion.	0
1090	TRUMP	All that stuff has to be agreed to now.	0
1091	TRUMP	We don't want to get sued after the deal is made.	0
1092	TRUMP	So I don't agree with President Obama, I do agree something should be — should take place.	0
1093	TRUMP	After 50 years, it's enough time, folks.	0
1094	TRUMP	But we have to make a good deal and we have to get rid of all the litigation that's going to happen.	0
1095	TRUMP	This was just a little story but it was a big story to me because I said oh, here we go, we make a deal, then get sued for a tremendous amount of money for reparations.	0
1096	TRUMP	So I want to do something, but it's got to be done intelligently.	0
1097	TRUMP	We have to make good deal.	0
1098	BASH	Senator Rubio, I know you want to get in.	0
1099	BASH	But just to be clear, Mr. Trump, are you saying that if you were president, you would continue the diplomatic relations or would you reverse them?	0
1100	TRUMP	I would want to make a good deal, I would want to make a strong, solid, good deal because right now, everything is in Cuba's favor.	0
1101	TRUMP	Right now, everything, every single aspect of this deal is in Cuba's favor.	0
1102	TRUMP	It the same way as the Iran deal.	0
1103	TRUMP	We never walked — we never — all we do is keep giving.	0
1104	TRUMP	We give and give and give.	0
1105	BASH	But Mr. Trump, just to be clear, there is an embassy that you would have to decide whether it would be open or whether you would close it.	0
1106	BASH	Which would it be?	0
1107	BASH	In Havana.	0
1108	TRUMP	I would probably have the embassy closed until such time as a really good deal was made and struck by the United States.	0
1109	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1110	RUBIO	All right, first of all, the embassy is the former consulate.	0
1111	RUBIO	It's the same building.	0
1112	RUBIO	So it could just go back to being called a consulate.	0
1113	RUBIO	We don't have to close it that way.	0
1114	RUBIO	Second of all, I don't know where Cuba is going to use, but if they sue us in a court in Miami, they're going to lose.	0
1115	SYSTEM	[ laughter and applause ]	0
1116	RUBIO	Third, on the issue of a good deal, I know what the good deal.	0
1117	RUBIO	I'll tell you what the good deal now, it's already codified.	0
1118	RUBIO	Here's a good deal — Cuba has free elections, Cuba stops putting people in jail for speaking out, Cuba has freedom of the press, Cuba kicks out the Russians from Lourdes and kicks out the Chinese listening station in Berupal Cuba stops helping North Korea evade U.N. sanctions, Cuba takes all of those fugitives of America justice, including that cop killer from New Jersey, and send her back to the United States and to jail where she belongs.	0
1119	RUBIO	And you know what?	0
1120	RUBIO	Then we can have a relationship with Cuba.	0
1121	RUBIO	That's a good deal.	0
1122	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1123	BASH	Thank you, Senator Rubio.	0
1124	BASH	Senator Cruz, if you become president, would you reverse course and once again break diplomatic relations with Cuba?	0
1125	CRUZ	Yes, I would.	0
1126	CRUZ	And you know, I think this exchange actually highlights a real choice for Republican primary voters.	0
1127	CRUZ	When it comes to foreign policy, do you want to continue on the same basic trajectory as the last seven years of the Obama foreign policy?	0
1128	CRUZ	When it comes to these deals, Cuba and Iran, they were negotiated by Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.	0
1129	CRUZ	There's a real difference between us.	0
1130	CRUZ	Donald supported Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.	0
1131	CRUZ	And what he said right now is that he agrees in principle with what they're doing.	0
1132	CRUZ	The only thing he thinks is that they should negotiate a little bit better deals, they should be more effective.	0
1133	CRUZ	I have a fundamental disagreement and I think most Republicans and most Americans do, that we shouldn't be allowing billions of dollars to go to nations that hate us to go to Cuba, to go to Iran and to let them use those billions of dollars to try to murder us.	0
1134	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1135	BASH	Thank you Senator Cruz.	0
1136	BASH	Mr. Trump.	0
1137	TRUMP	Well, if Ted was listening, he would have heard me say something very similar.	0
1138	TRUMP	I said we would not do the deal unless it was going to be a very good deal for us.	0
1139	TRUMP	And I think I said it loud and I think I said it very clear.	0
1140	TRUMP	And I think after 50 years, and I have many friends, I own many properties in Miami, many, many, and I have many people that know and they feel exactly the way I do, make a deal, it would be great, but it's got to be a great deal for the United States, not a bad deal for the United States.	0
1141	TRUMP	As far as Iran is concerned, I would have never made that deal.	0
1142	TRUMP	That is one of the worst deals ever, ever made by this country.	0
1143	TRUMP	It is a disaster.	0
1144	TRUMP	So for Ted to say I agree with this deal, I mean, it's a staple in my speeches that that may he worst single deal I've ever seen negotiated.	0
1145	TRUMP	So don't try to put it on me like it's wonderful, like I love it.	0
1146	BASH	Senator Cruz, your response?	0
1147	CRUZ	Well, look.	0
1148	CRUZ	I'll point out first of all it is a matter of public record that Donald supported John Kerry in 2004 over George W. Bush, and he supported Hillary Clinton, gave her two checks in a presidential campaign in 2008.	0
1149	CRUZ	And indeed, once she was secretary of State, he described her as one of the greatest secretaries of State in industry.	0
1150	CRUZ	And, you know, the point on the Iran deal, his answer to everything is if only if someone smarter were in government, things would be better.	0
1151	CRUZ	No.	0
1152	CRUZ	We don't just need smarter people in government.	0
1153	CRUZ	We need leaders that are protecting American interests.	0
1154	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1155	CRUZ	And when it comes to Iran, Donald has said he would leave the agreement in place and try to renegotiate it, giving the Ayatollah Khomeini over $100 billion.	0
1156	CRUZ	That reflects you do not understand the radical Islam terrorist that is the Ayatollah that wants to murder us.	0
1157	CRUZ	We need a commander in chief that understands our enemies...	0
1158	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
1159	CRUZ	...understands and doesn't give them billions of dollars to threaten our safety and security.	0
1160	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1161	TRUMP	I was against the giving of the money at all cost.	0
1162	TRUMP	I said don't negotiate at all until you get the prisoners back.	0
1163	TRUMP	If the prisoners don't come back early — three years ago.	0
1164	TRUMP	One of the longest negotiations I've ever seen, by the way.	0
1165	TRUMP	If they don't come back early, I was saying don't negotiate.	0
1166	TRUMP	They come back early.	0
1167	TRUMP	What you do is you take it back and you say, either give us the prisoners or we double up the sanctions.	0
1168	TRUMP	What we should have done is doubled up the sanctions and made a much better deal.	0
1169	TRUMP	Cause that deal is a disaster.	0
1170	TRUMP	Ted, the money is largely gone because of incompetent and very, very poor negotiators.	0
1171	TRUMP	But that money, the $150 billion, is largely gone and already spent everywhere but the United States.	0
1172	BASH	Thank you Mr. Trump.	0
1173	BASH	Let's refocus this back on Cuba.	0
1174	BASH	Governor Kasich, a pair of entrepreneurs from Alabama and North Carolina have just received approval to build the first U.S. factory in Cuba, making tractor for small farms.	0
1175	BASH	This is a direct result of President Obama's policy in Cuba that we've been talking about.	0
1176	BASH	If you were elected would you encourage more U.S. companies to do business like that in Cuba?	0
1177	KASICH	No, I wouldn't.	0
1178	KASICH	Listen, I think the problem with the administration, if you talk to our friends around the world, they say what is America doing?	0
1179	KASICH	You know, you don't support us, we can't figure out where you are.	0
1180	KASICH	You won't arm the freedom fighters in Ukraine, we let the Russians trump up some excuse in the business of Russian-speaking people.	0
1181	KASICH	You had a red line in Syria.	0
1182	KASICH	You walked away from it.	0
1183	KASICH	You refused to fund the Syrian rebels, you undercut Egypt and we ended up with the Muslim brotherhood for awhile.	0
1184	KASICH	And then we turn our back on Netanyahu when he comes to Congress to talk about his concerns of the Iranian deal.	0
1185	KASICH	Look, I know in human nature sometimes there's a sense that you make better with your enemies than you do with your friends.	0
1186	KASICH	And you know what happens when you do that?	0
1187	KASICH	You make a terrible mistake.	0
1188	KASICH	You need to support your friends, you need to hold your enemies out here...	0
1189	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1190	KASICH	...and you need to negotiate tough deals.	0
1191	KASICH	The fact is, they need to understand who we are.	0
1192	KASICH	The Chinese understand.	0
1193	KASICH	They don't own the South China Sea.	0
1194	KASICH	They have to stop hacking everything we have in this country or we'll take out their systems.	0
1195	KASICH	We will arm the Ukrainians so they have lethal defensive aid.	0
1196	KASICH	We will destroy ISIS and Mr. Putin, you better understand, you're either with us or you're against us.	0
1197	KASICH	We're not rattling a sword.	0
1198	KASICH	You're not our enemy but we're not going to put up with this nonsense any longer.	0
1199	KASICH	And a strong America is what the entire world is begging for.	0
1200	KASICH	Where has America gone is what many of our allies say around the world.	0
1201	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
1202	KASICH	When I'm president, they're going to know exactly where we are because we're coming back.	0
1203	TAPPER	Thank you governor.	0
1204	TAPPER	Thank you governor.	0
1205	TAPPER	While we're discussing the issues of importance to Floridians, I reached out to the Republican mayor of Miami, Tomas Regalado, to find out what he wanted to hear from you this evening.	0
1206	TAPPER	Mayor Regalado told me, quote, "Climate change means rising ocean levels, which in south Florida means flooding downtown and in our neighborhoods.	0
1207	TAPPER	It's an every day reality in our city.	0
1208	TAPPER	Will you, as president acknowledge the reality of the scientific consensus about climate change and as president, will you pledge to do something about it?"	0
1209	TAPPER	Unquote.	0
1210	TAPPER	Senator Rubio, the Miami mayor has endorsed you.	0
1211	TAPPER	Will you honor his request for a pledge and acknowledge the reality of the scientific consensus of climate change and pledge to do something about it?	0
1212	RUBIO	Well, sure if the climate is changing and one of the reasons is because the climate has always been changing.	0
1213	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1214	RUBIO	There's never been a time when the climate has not changed.	0
1215	RUBIO	I think the fundamental question for a policy maker is, is the climate changing because of something we are doing and if so, is there a law you can pass to fix it?	0
1216	RUBIO	So on the issue of flooding in Miami, it's caused by two things.	0
1217	RUBIO	Number one, south Florida is largely built on land that was once a swamp.	0
1218	RUBIO	And number two, because if there is higher sea levels or whatever it may be happening, we do need to deal with that through mitigation.	0
1219	RUBIO	And I have long supported mitigation efforts.	0
1220	RUBIO	But as far as a law that we can pass in Washington to change the weather, there's no such thing.	0
1221	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1222	RUBIO	On the contrary, there is laws they want us to pass.	0
1223	RUBIO	There are laws they want to us pass that would be devastating for our economy or these programs like what the president has put in with the Clean Power Act or all these sorts of things that he's forcing down our throats on the war on coal.	0
1224	RUBIO	Let me tell you who is going to pay the price of that?	0
1225	RUBIO	Americans are going to pay the price of that.	0
1226	RUBIO	The cost of doing that is going to be rammed down the throats of the American consumer, the single parent, the working families who are going to see increases in the cost of living.	0
1227	RUBIO	The businesses who are going to leave America because it's more expensive to do business here than anywhere else.	0
1228	RUBIO	And you know what passing those laws would have — what impact it would have on the environment?	0
1229	RUBIO	Zero, because China is still going to be polluting and India is still going to be polluting at historic levels.	0
1230	RUBIO	So, I am in favor of a clean environment.	0
1231	RUBIO	My children live in South Florida.	0
1232	RUBIO	My family is being raised here.	0
1233	RUBIO	I want this to be a safe and clean place, but these laws some people are asking us to pass will do nothing for the environment and they will hurt and devastate our economy.	0
1234	TAPPER	So just to clarify, Senator Rubio, Mayor Regalado when he talks about the reality of the scientific consensus about climate change, the Republican mayor of Miami, he's saying the scientific consensus is that man does contribute to climate change.	0
1235	TAPPER	When you talk to him, because he is the mayor of Miami and he has endorsed you, do you tell him that he's wrong?	0
1236	RUBIO	I would say to him that there is no law that they want us to pass that would have any impact on that.	0
1237	RUBIO	If we pass — if you took the gift list of all of these groups that are asking us to pass these laws and did every single one of them, there would be no change in our environment.	0
1238	RUBIO	Sea level would still rise.	0
1239	RUBIO	All these other things that are happening would continue to go on for a lot of different reasons.	0
1240	RUBIO	One, because America is not a planet.	0
1241	RUBIO	It's a country.	0
1242	RUBIO	And number two, because these other countries like India and China are more than making up in carbon emissions for whatever we could possibly cut.	0
1243	RUBIO	Here's what he will immediately — and Mayor Regalado is a great mayor and a good friend — but here's what he's going to immediately going to start hearing from.	0
1244	RUBIO	He will immediately start hearing from families in South Florida who are barely making it by, and now their electric bill went up $20 or $30 a month because we just made it more expensive to generate power.	0
1245	RUBIO	That cost will be passed on to working families.	0
1246	RUBIO	I am not going to destroy the U.S. economy for a law that will do nothing for our environent.	0
1247	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1248	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, what would you say to the mayor of Miami?	0
1249	KASICH	Well, I — I do believe we contribute to climate change, but I don't think it has to be a, you know, either you're for some environmental stringent rules or, you know, you're not going to have any jobs.	0
1250	KASICH	The fact is, you can have both.	0
1251	KASICH	In our state, we've reduced emissions by 30 percent.	0
1252	KASICH	But let me tell you also what we're trying to do.	0
1253	KASICH	We want all the sources of energy.	0
1254	KASICH	We want to dig coal, but we want to clean it when we burn it.	0
1255	KASICH	We believe in natural gas.	0
1256	KASICH	We believe in nuclear power.	0
1257	KASICH	And you know what else I believe in?	0
1258	KASICH	I happen to believe in solar energy, wind energy, efficiency, renewables matter.	0
1259	KASICH	Now, it doesn't mean because you pursue a policy of being sensitive to the environment, because we don't know how much humans actually contribute.	0
1260	KASICH	But it is important we develop renewables.	0
1261	KASICH	Battery technology can unleash an entirely different world.	0
1262	KASICH	So the fact is that you can have a strong environmental policy at the same time that you have strong economic growth and they are not inconsistent with one another.	0
1263	TAPPER	Thank you, Governor.	0
1264	TAPPER	Senator Cruz, I want to talk a little bit right now about how you gentlemen see the world.	0
1265	TAPPER	Senator Cruz, Colin Powell this week said that the nasty tone of this presidential election is hurting the image of the U.S. abroad.	0
1266	TAPPER	He said, quote, "foreigners of the world looking at this are distressed."	0
1267	TAPPER	Does it matter to you what the rest of the world thinks of the United States?	0
1268	CRUZ	Of course it does.	0
1269	CRUZ	And we've seen for seven years a president that has made the presidency and has made, sadly, his administration a laughing stock in the world.	0
1270	CRUZ	This administration started with President Obama sending back the bust of Winston Churchill to the United Kingdom within the opening weeks.	0
1271	CRUZ	Then he proceeded to go on a worldwide apology tour apologizing for the United States of America.	0
1272	CRUZ	Our friends and allies quickly learned America could not be counted on.	0
1273	CRUZ	I'll tell you, when I travel abroad, when I meet with heads of states and defense ministers and foreign ministers, they say over and over again, "it is hard to be friends with America; we can't count on America; America doesn't stand with us."	0
1274	CRUZ	And that is a disgrace.	0
1275	CRUZ	But the good news is, Jake, we've seen this before.	0
1276	CRUZ	We have seen a weak Democratic president undermine the military, weaken our readiness, weaken our respect in the world with Jimmy Carter.	0
1277	CRUZ	And in January 1981, Ronald Reagan came into office and that can change overnight.	0
1278	CRUZ	It's worth remembering Iran released our hostages the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.	0
1279	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1280	CRUZ	And America needs a president who stands with our friends and allies, as I will do, and who stands up and demonstrates strengths to our enemies.	0
1281	CRUZ	That's why on day one, I will rip to shreds this catastrophic Iranian nuclear deal because the Ayatollah Khamenei must never be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.	0
1282	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1283	TAPPER	Thank you, Senator.	0
1284	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, some of your Republican critics have expressed concern about comments you have made praising authoritarian dictators.	0
1285	TAPPER	You have said positive things about Putin as a leader and about China's massacre of pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square, you've said: "When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it, then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength.	0
1286	TAPPER	That shows you the power of strength."	0
1287	TAPPER	How do you respond...	0
1288	TRUMP	That doesn't mean I was endorsing that.	0
1289	TRUMP	I was not endorsing it.	0
1290	TRUMP	I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength.	0
1291	TRUMP	And then they kept down the riot.	0
1292	TRUMP	It was a horrible thing.	0
1293	TRUMP	It doesn't mean at all I was endorsing it.	0
1294	TRUMP	As far as Putin is concerned, I think Putin has been a very strong leader for Russia.	0
1295	TRUMP	I think he has been a lot stronger than our leader, that I can tell you.	0
1296	TRUMP	I mean, for Russia, that doesn't mean I'm endorsing Putin.	0
1297	TAPPER	But the word strong obviously is a compliment...	0
1298	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1299	TAPPER	...and many people would look at what the Chinese leaders have done and what Putin is doing as atrocities.	0
1300	TRUMP	I used to think Merkel was a great leader until she did what she did to Germany.	0
1301	TRUMP	Germany is a disaster right now.	0
1302	TRUMP	So I used to think that.	0
1303	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1304	TRUMP	And strong doesn't mean good.	0
1305	TRUMP	Putin is a strong leader, absolutely.	0
1306	TRUMP	I could name many strong leaders.	0
1307	TRUMP	I could name very many very weak leaders.	0
1308	TRUMP	But he is a strong leader.	0
1309	TRUMP	Now I don't say that in a good way or a bad way.	0
1310	TRUMP	I say it as a fact.	0
1311	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, when you were a member of Congress, you were outspoken about the Tiananmen Square massacre.	0
1312	TAPPER	What do you think?	0
1313	KASICH	I think that the Chinese government butchered those kids.	0
1314	KASICH	And when that guy stood in front — that young man stood in front of that tank, we ought to build a statue of him over here when he faced down the Chinese government.	0
1315	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1316	KASICH	Now I will tell you, I don't believe that we need to make China an enemy.	0
1317	KASICH	They are a competitor.	0
1318	KASICH	But I want to go back to three things they should do.	0
1319	KASICH	We should have the heat on them to work in North Korea to get rid of that guy and the things that he's doing, number one.	0
1320	KASICH	Number two, they need to realize they don't own the South China Sea.	0
1321	KASICH	And I will compliment the administration for sending a carrier battle group into the South China Sea.	0
1322	KASICH	And thirdly, when it comes to the issue of cyber attacks, we're going to have to beef up the cyber command.	0
1323	KASICH	And they need to understand that if you attack us we will defend ourselves, everything, including our grid.	0
1324	KASICH	But if you do it, we have the capability to take out your systems.	0
1325	KASICH	The president has not given the cyber command that authority.	0
1326	KASICH	I will.	0
1327	KASICH	And when it comes to trade, I will tell you this, they can't manipulate their currency.	0
1328	KASICH	That will not be anything that I would allow them to get away with.	0
1329	KASICH	And if I saw them doing it, I would take immediate action and make sure that the American worker is protected.	0
1330	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1331	TAPPER	Thank you, Governor Kasich.	0
1332	TAPPER	We're going to take another quick break.	0
1333	TAPPER	When we come back, we'll have more of the Republican presidential debate from Miami, Florida, right after this.	0
1334	TAPPER	Stay with us.	0
1335	TAPPER	[	0
1336	TAPPER	commercial break ]	0
1337	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1338	TAPPER	Welcome back to the CNN Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida.	0
1339	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, I want to start with you in this block.	0
1340	TAPPER	Earlier today, a man was arrested and charged with assault after sucker- punching a protester in the face at your rally in Fayettville, North Carolina.	0
1341	TAPPER	This is hardly the first incident of violence breaking out at one of your rallies.	0
1342	TAPPER	Today, Hillary Clinton, your potential general election opponent, clearly indicated she sees this as an issue for the campaign.	0
1343	TAPPER	She said, quote, "this kind of behavior is repugnant.	0
1344	TAPPER	We set the tone for our campaigns, we should encourage respect, not violence."	0
1345	TAPPER	Do you believe that you've done anything to create a tone where this kind of violence would be encouraged?	0
1346	TRUMP	I hope not.	0
1347	TRUMP	I truly hope not.	0
1348	TRUMP	I will say this.	0
1349	TRUMP	We have 25, 30,000 people — you've seen it yourself.	0
1350	TRUMP	People come with tremendous passion and love for the country, and when they see protest — in some cases — you know, you're mentioning one case, which I haven't seen, I heard about it, which I don't like.	0
1351	TRUMP	But when they see what's going on in this country, they have anger that's unbelievable.	0
1352	TRUMP	They have anger.	0
1353	TRUMP	They love this country.	0
1354	TRUMP	They don't like seeing bad trade deals, they don't like seeing higher taxes, they don't like seeing a loss of their jobs where our jobs have just been devastated.	0
1355	TRUMP	And I know — I mean, I see it.	0
1356	TRUMP	There is some anger.	0
1357	TRUMP	There's also great love for the country.	0
1358	TRUMP	It's a beautiful thing in many respects.	0
1359	TRUMP	But I certainly do not condone that at all, Jake.	0
1360	TAPPER	Some of your critics point to quotes you've made at these debates — at these rallies including February 23rd, "I'd like to punch him in the face," referring to a protesters.	0
1361	TAPPER	February 27th, "in the good ol' days, they'd have ripped him out of that seat so fast."	0
1362	TAPPER	February 1st, "knock the crap out of him, would, you?	0
1363	TAPPER	Seriously, OK, just knock the hell.	0
1364	TAPPER	I promise you I will pay for the legal fees, I promise, I promise."	0
1365	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1366	TRUMP	We have some protesters who are bad dudes, they have done bad things.	0
1367	TRUMP	They are swinging, they are really dangerous and they get in there and they start hitting people.	0
1368	TRUMP	And we had a couple big, strong, powerful guys doing damage to people, not only the loudness, the loudness I don't mind.	0
1369	TRUMP	But doing serious damage.	0
1370	TRUMP	And if they've got to be taken out, to be honest, I mean, we have to run something.	0
1371	TRUMP	And it's not me.	0
1372	TRUMP	It's usually the municipal government, the police because I don't have guards all over these stadiums.	0
1373	TRUMP	I mean, we fill up stadiums.	0
1374	TRUMP	It's usually the police — and, by the way, speaking of the police, we should pay our respects to the police because they are taking tremendous abuse in this country and they do a phenomenal job.	0
1375	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1376	TRUMP	So we should pay — we should truly give our police.	0
1377	TRUMP	They're incredible people, we should give them a great deal more respect than they receive.	0
1378	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1379	TAPPER	Senator Cruz, are you concerned at all that these kind of scenes potentially hurt the Republican party for the general election?	0
1380	CRUZ	Listen, I think for every one of us, we need to show respect to the people.	0
1381	CRUZ	We need to remember who it is we're working for.	0
1382	CRUZ	You know, we've seen for seven years a president who believes he's above the law, who behaves like an emperor, who it is all about him and he forgot that he's working for the American people.	0
1383	CRUZ	And let me — let me ask, turn the camera our here.	0
1384	CRUZ	How many of y'all feel disrespected by Washington?	0
1385	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1386	CRUZ	Washington isn't listening to the people.	0
1387	CRUZ	And that's the frustration that is boiling over.	0
1388	CRUZ	And we need to nominate and elects a president who remembers, he works for the people.	0
1389	CRUZ	You know, at Donald's rallies recently, he's taken to asking people in the crowd to raise their hand and pledge their support to him.	0
1390	CRUZ	Now, I got to say to me, I think that's exactly backwards.	0
1391	CRUZ	This is a job interview.	0
1392	CRUZ	We are here pledging our support to you, not the other way around.	0
1393	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1394	CRUZ	And the only hand raising I'm interested in doing is on January 20, 2017 raising my hand with my left hand on the...	0
1395	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
1396	CRUZ	...bible and pledging to the American people to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of United States.	0
1397	TAPPER	Thank you senator.	0
1398	TAPPER	Mr. Trump, if you'd like to respond.	0
1399	TRUMP	It shows the total dishonesty of the press.	0
1400	TRUMP	We were having — on a few occasions, again massive crowds.	0
1401	TRUMP	And we're talking and I'm saying who is going to vote on Tuesday?	0
1402	TRUMP	Who is going to vote?	0
1403	TRUMP	The place goes crazy.	0
1404	TRUMP	Then I say, hey, do me a favor.	0
1405	TRUMP	Raise your right hand.	0
1406	TRUMP	Do you swear you're going to vote for Donald Trump?	0
1407	TRUMP	Everyone's laughing, we're all having a good time.	0
1408	TRUMP	That's why I have much bigger crowds than Ted, because we have a good time at mine.	0
1409	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1410	TRUMP	But we're all having a good time and the next day, on the Today Show and a couple of other place, not too many.	0
1411	TRUMP	Because when you look at it, everyone's smiling, laughing.	0
1412	TRUMP	Their arms are raised like this.	0
1413	TRUMP	They had pictures, still pictures of people and they tried to equate it to Nazi Germany.	0
1414	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
1415	TRUMP	It is a disgrace.	0
1416	TRUMP	It was a total disgrace.	0
1417	TRUMP	And I've had reporters, people that you know, come up to me and said that — what they did on the Today Show was a disgrace.	0
1418	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1419	TAPPER	Governor Kasich, do you worry about the scenes of violence at some of these rallies affecting the Republican party's chances in November?	0
1420	KASICH	Well, I worry about the violence at a rally period.	0
1421	KASICH	I mean, it's — you know, elections are important but the unity of this country really matters.	0
1422	KASICH	Jake, here's what I think is happening.	0
1423	KASICH	There are people out there who are worried about their jobs.	0
1424	KASICH	They're worried that somebody is going to come in and tell them they're out of work and they're 54 years old and they don't know where they're going to get another job, a man and a woman.	0
1425	KASICH	Maybe they're worried about a trade deal.	0
1426	KASICH	They're worried about the fact that their wages haven't gone up.	0
1427	KASICH	They're worried that their kids went to college and the promise was, you go to college, you get a job, things are going to be great.	0
1428	KASICH	They went to college, they rang up debt and they're still living in their parents' basement.	0
1429	KASICH	People are uptight.	0
1430	KASICH	Our seniors are worried they're going to lose their Social Security.	0
1431	KASICH	There's two ways to treat it.	0
1432	KASICH	You can either prey on that and be negative about it, or you tell people that these things can be fixed.	0
1433	KASICH	If we're Americans rather than Republicans and Democrats, we get together, we can solve all of these problems.	0
1434	KASICH	We can provide financial security, we can drive the wages up, we can get kids jobs with a more robust economy.	0
1435	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
1436	KASICH	And you know what?	0
1437	KASICH	They want to help solve these problems right where they live and I'll give them the power to do it.	0
1438	TAPPER	Thank you governor.	0
1439	TAPPER	Senator Rubio?	0
1440	TAPPER	I know you want to say something.	0
1441	RUBIO	I do.	0
1442	RUBIO	A couple of points.	0
1443	RUBIO	The first is, I'm concerned about violence in general in this society.	0
1444	RUBIO	And by the way, the first people that are facing that violence are our law enforcement officers.	0
1445	RUBIO	And they deserve our respect and they deserve our thanks for everything they do for us.	0
1446	RUBIO	On the issue of anger.	0
1447	RUBIO	Yes, people are angry.	0
1448	RUBIO	Of course they're angry.	0
1449	RUBIO	Every institution in America has been failing us for the better part of 20 years or 30 years.	0
1450	RUBIO	But leadership is not about using the anger, leadership is about using the anger to motivate us, not to define us.	0
1451	RUBIO	But to motivate us to take action.	0
1452	RUBIO	Being here in Miami is special.	0
1453	RUBIO	My grandfather lived with us most of his life while I was growing up.	0
1454	RUBIO	And he would sit on the porch of our home and tell me all kinds of stories and things I learned about history.	0
1455	RUBIO	My grandfather was born in 1899 before there were airplanes in the sky.	0
1456	RUBIO	One night in the summer of 1969, he watched a man set foot on the moon.	0
1457	SYSTEM	[ bell rings ]	0
1458	RUBIO	You know what he said when he saw that?	0
1459	RUBIO	He said Americans can do anything.	0
1460	RUBIO	Americans can do anything.	0
1461	RUBIO	There is no problem before us we cannot solve and we can solve it if we come together in a serious way, in this generation.	0
1462	TAPPER	Thank you senator.	0
1463	RUBIO	And embrace all of the principles that made us great.	0
1464	TAPPER	Thank you senator.	0
1465	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1466	TAPPER	The math suggests that it possible that not one of you will reach the magic number of 1,237 delegates before the Republican convention, which would mean a contested convention.	0
1467	TAPPER	Let's go back to Salem Radio's Hugh Hewitt.	0
1468	HEWITT	Thank you Jake.	0
1469	HEWITT	Governor Kasich, the math and the maps say that you can only become the nominee if in fact there is a contested convention.	0
1470	HEWITT	If we arrive on the shores of Lake Erie, Donald Trump has the most delegates.	0
1471	HEWITT	Why shouldn't the person with the most delegates, even if it's not a majority of delegates, be the nominee?	0
1472	KASICH	Well, first of all, let's not — you know, math doesn't tell the whole story in politics.	0
1473	KASICH	The great thing about politics, the reason why we watch it is because what's true today is not necessarily true tomorrow.	0
1474	KASICH	So let's not get ahead of ourselves.	0
1475	KASICH	Secondly, look, when you went to school up there in Salem, Ohio, OK.	0
1476	KASICH	If you got an 86, you got a B.	0
1477	KASICH	Because everybody else had an 84 didn't mean you got an A.	0
1478	KASICH	So you just have to win enough delegates to be the nominee.	0
1479	KASICH	And frankly, I don't know if we're going to get a convention like that.	0
1480	KASICH	But if we do, I was at one in 1976 as a wee lad and supported Ronald Reagan and actually worked directly with him.	0
1481	KASICH	He tried valiantly.	0
1482	KASICH	He lost.	0
1483	KASICH	Gerald Ford won.	0
1484	KASICH	The party was united.	0
1485	KASICH	Gerald Ford served the country great by pardoning Richard Nixon.	0
1486	KASICH	He lost the election probably because of that, but he put America first.	0
1487	KASICH	And we were healed as a party.	0
1488	KASICH	So, look, you have to earn the delegates in order to be picked.	0
1489	KASICH	But let's not get ahead of ourselves.	0
1490	KASICH	We don't know what's going to happen because we still have about half the delegates to be selected.	0
1491	KASICH	And that's what's going to be a very interesting thing to see how it all turns out as we move forward over the next couple of weeks.	0
1492	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1493	HEWITT	Thank you, Governor.	0
1494	HEWITT	Mr. Trump, if you arrive in Cleveland with a plurality and the most, but not a majority, is it legitimate for someone else to emerge from that convention the nominee?	0
1495	HEWITT	And if so, would you support that person?	0
1496	TRUMP	I think that what should happen, getting back maybe a little bit to your first question, I think that whoever — first of all, I think I'm going to have the delegates.	0
1497	TRUMP	OK?	0
1498	TRUMP	I think.	0
1499	TRUMP	Let's see what happens.	0
1500	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1501	TRUMP	But if somebody doesn't have the delegates, and I guess there's two of us up here that can and there are two of us that cannot at this moment.	0
1502	TRUMP	But if — no, that's just — by the way, that is not meant to be a criticism.	0
1503	TRUMP	That's just a mathematical fact.	0
1504	TRUMP	OK?	0
1505	TRUMP	If two of us get up there, I would say this, if — if Marco, if the governor, if Ted had more votes than me in the form of delegates, I think whoever gets to the top position as opposed to solving that artificial number that was by somebody, which is a very random number, I think that whoever gets the most delegates should win.	0
1506	TRUMP	That's what I think.	0
1507	HEWITT	Senator Cruz, if you — if you overtake Donald Trump at the convention, what will you do to take his very passionate supporters and keep them from bolting the convention and sabotaging the fall election?	0
1508	CRUZ	Well, look, there are some folks in Washington...	0
1509	TRUMP	Make me president.	0
1510	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1511	CRUZ	Donald, you are welcome to be president of the Smithsonian.	0
1512	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1513	CRUZ	You know, there are some in Washington who are having fevered dreams of a brokered convention.	0
1514	CRUZ	They are unhappy with how the people are voting and they want to parachute in their favored Washington candidate to be the nominee.	0
1515	CRUZ	I think that would be an absolute disaster and we need to respect the will of the voters.	0
1516	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1517	CRUZ	It's one of the reasons why in the course of this election — listen, everyone up here has worked very hard.	0
1518	CRUZ	But Donald is right, there are only two of us that have a path to winning the nomination, Donald and myself.	0
1519	CRUZ	At this point, I have roughly 360 delegates.	0
1520	CRUZ	He has about 100 more than I have.	0
1521	CRUZ	We have at this point beaten Donald in eight separate states all over the country geographically, from Maine to Alaska, from Kansas to Texas, all over this country we have beaten him.	0
1522	CRUZ	And so for the people at home, if you're one of the 65, 70 percent of Republicans who recognizes that if we nominate Donald Trump, Hillary wins.	0
1523	CRUZ	That's why the media wants him to be the nominee so much.	0
1524	CRUZ	If you recognize that, then I want to invite you if you've supported other candidates, come and join us.	0
1525	CRUZ	We are seeing candidates coming together and uniting.	0
1526	CRUZ	It's why Carly Fiorina endorsed me yesterday.	0
1527	CRUZ	It's why Mike Lee endorsed me today.	0
1528	CRUZ	I ask everyone to come together.	0
1529	CRUZ	Let's stand together and let's beat Hillary Clinton in November.	0
1530	HEWITT	All right.	0
1531	HEWITT	Thank you, Senator.	0
1532	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1533	HEWITT	Mr. Trump, then to Senator Rubio.	0
1534	TRUMP	You know, I listen and I watch Ted on television and when he speaks, and he's always saying, "I'm the only one that beat Donald in six contests; and I beat him."	0
1535	TRUMP	But I beat him in 13 contests.	0
1536	TRUMP	He never mentions that.	0
1537	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1538	TRUMP	And let me just tell you another little fact, little minor fact.	0
1539	TRUMP	I have about a 1.6 million votes during this primary season, more votes than Ted.	0
1540	TRUMP	The other thing is, I beat Hillary, and I will give you the list, I beat Hillary in many of the polls that have been taken.	0
1541	TRUMP	And each week, I get better and better.	0
1542	TRUMP	And believe me, I haven't even started on her yet.	0
1543	HEWITT	Senator Rubio?	0
1544	RUBIO	Let me tell you what this election is about for me.	0
1545	RUBIO	And I get all the delegate math and all that debate.	0
1546	RUBIO	Let me tell you what's about for me.	0
1547	RUBIO	On Tuesday night, I didn't do as well, obviously, as I wanted to.	0
1548	RUBIO	And I was a little bit disappointed when I got home.	0
1549	RUBIO	And my wife told me a story that night, which is the reason why I can get up the next day and keep fighting.	0
1550	RUBIO	There's a gentleman here in South Florida who just got out of surgery.	0
1551	RUBIO	And his doctors told him he needs to be home resting.	0
1552	RUBIO	But every afternoon, he takes his little aluminum chair and he sits outside of an early polling center and holds a sign that says "Marco Rubio."	0
1553	RUBIO	Because for him, I symbolize all the sacrifices that his generation made so their children could have a better life than themselves	0
1554	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1555	RUBIO	That gentleman has not given up on me and I am not going to give up on him.	0
1556	RUBIO	I am going to work tirelessly every single day...	0
1557	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1558	RUBIO	...because this election is too important.	0
1559	RUBIO	What's at stake is the future of this country.	0
1560	RUBIO	And I believe — I believe that at the end of this process this nation will make the right choice because I've always believed that God has blessed America, that God's hand is upon this country and that its greatest days are yet to come.	0
1561	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1562	TAPPER	Thank you, Senator.	0
1563	TAPPER	Let's send it back to Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times.	0
1564	TAPPER	Stephen?	0
1565	DINAN	Mr. Trump, one of your biggest selling points is that you are largely self-funding your campaign, and you argue your opponents are controlled by their special interest donors.	0
1566	DINAN	Will you maintain your pledge not to take outside contributions throughout the general election?	0
1567	TRUMP	I have not made that decision yet.	0
1568	TRUMP	I will make a decision on that, but I have not made that decision.	0
1569	TRUMP	My decision was that I would go through the entire primary season and I have turned down probably $275 million worth.	0
1570	TRUMP	I have many, many friends that come up all day long, $5 million, $10 million, I'm turning down money.	0
1571	TRUMP	I feel sort of foolish to be honest with you.	0
1572	TRUMP	I don't know if I get any credit for it but I'm self-funding my campaign.	0
1573	TRUMP	And other than — and by the way, other than very small donations where people are sending in $200, $15, $20, and we have some of that, but it's not a large amount.	0
1574	TRUMP	No, I'm self-funding my campaign, and the reason is that I've been in this business a long time and I was on the other side — until eight months ago I was on the or side.	0
1575	TRUMP	I made massive contributions, large contributions to politicians, both Democrats and Republicans.	0
1576	TRUMP	I was liked by everybody, which is an important thing.	0
1577	TRUMP	I will say this — people control special interests, lobbyists, donors, they make large contributions to politicians and they have total control over those politicians.	0
1578	TRUMP	I don't want anybody to control me but the people right out there.	0
1579	TRUMP	And I'm going to do the right thing.	0
1580	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1581	DINAN	Senator Cruz, I want to come to you.	0
1582	DINAN	The vast majority of Republicans, and voters overall, agree with Mr. Trump that candidates are beholden to people and groups who donate to their campaigns.	0
1583	DINAN	Do you deny that those big donors do have influence?	0
1584	CRUZ	Well look, absolutely.	0
1585	CRUZ	And one of the things we're so frustrated about is the corruption, what I've called the Washington cartel.	0
1586	CRUZ	It's career politicians in both parties that get in bed with the lobbyists and special interests.	0
1587	CRUZ	And listen, Donald told you for 40 years he's been sitting at that table using his money to buy influence, supporting liberal Democrats like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, but also supporting the Republican establishment and funding their effort to crush the Tea Party.	0
1588	CRUZ	And now his argument is after four decades of being part of that influence buying, after Hillary Clinton spending decades being part of that influence selling, that suddenly he will change.	0
1589	CRUZ	But the interesting point is tonight he hasn't pointed to a single special interest he's willing to take on.	0
1590	CRUZ	He didn't take on Wall Street when he supported the TARP bailout in Wall Street.	0
1591	CRUZ	He won't take on ethanol.	0
1592	CRUZ	And my campaign, by contrast, was funded by 1.1 million contributions all over this country.	0
1593	DINAN	Thank you, Senator.	0
1594	DINAN	I want to go to Mr. Trump...	0
1595	CRUZ	$62 at tedcruz.org.	0
1596	DINAN	... for a response.	0
1597	DINAN	Thank you, Senator.	0
1598	CRUZ	That's who you've got to be accountable to, the people.	0
1599	TRUMP	Ted was given to PACs.	0
1600	TRUMP	I mean, PACs — you know, these super PACs are a disaster, by the way, folks.	0
1601	TRUMP	Very corrupt.	0
1602	TRUMP	It's going to lead to lots of disasters.	0
1603	TRUMP	But Ted has super PACs and you have to look at the people that are giving to those super PACs, number one.	0
1604	TRUMP	It's very important to do that.	0
1605	TRUMP	There is total control of the candidates, I know it better than anybody that probably ever lived.	0
1606	TRUMP	And I will tell you this, I know the system far better than anybody else and I know the system is broken.	0
1607	TRUMP	And I'm the one, because I know it so well because I was on both sides of it, I was on the other side all my life and I've always made large contributions.	0
1608	TRUMP	And frankly, I know the system better than anybody else and I'm the only one up here that's going to be able to fix that system because that system is wrong.	0
1609	DINAN	Thank you, Mr. Trump.	0
1610	DINAN	Senator Rubio, I want to come to you with a question.	0
1611	DINAN	At the last debate, you mocked Mr. Trump for being flexible.	0
1612	DINAN	With so much gridlock in Washington, how can you expect to lead the country and get things done if you aren't willing to show flexibility?	0
1613	RUBIO	Well, I think you can be flexible about ideas, you shouldn't be flexible about your principles.	0
1614	RUBIO	About when it comes to ideas and working with people, I have a record of having done that.	0
1615	RUBIO	Listen, on the issue of higher education, I'm the only one that continually talks about student loan debt because I owed over $100,000 of student loan debt.	0
1616	RUBIO	So I know this is a major issue.	0
1617	RUBIO	And all my ideas that deal with higher education are bipartisan.	0
1618	RUBIO	The VA Accountability Act that I passed I did it on a — on a bipartisan basis.	0
1619	RUBIO	The sanctions that I helped — that I imposed on Hezbollah I did it on a bipartisan basis.	0
1620	RUBIO	The Girls Count Act that deals with human trafficking, we did that on a bipartisan basis.	0
1621	RUBIO	But I also want to be frank.	0
1622	RUBIO	There are issues we're going to have to have an election over.	0
1623	RUBIO	When it comes to repealing and replaces Obamacare, that's not going to be bipartisan.	0
1624	RUBIO	When it comes to reducing the tax burdens on Americans, that's not going to be bipartisan.	0
1625	RUBIO	When it comes to shrinking the size of the federal bureaucracy,that's probably not going to be bipartisan.	0
1626	RUBIO	There are issues we can work together on and we should, but there are fundamental issues about the proper role of government.	0
1627	RUBIO	And on those issues, I will fight anyone who wants to expand government, raise taxes, or weaken our military.	0
1628	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1629	DINAN	All right.	0
1630	DINAN	Mr. Trump, I want to give you a chance to respond, but specifically you talked about flexibility and one of the examples you gave was the height of the border fence.	0
1631	DINAN	What are some of the other issues on which you're willing to show flexibility?	0
1632	TRUMP	It depends on what comes up.	0
1633	TRUMP	You never know.	0
1634	TRUMP	It depends on what comes up.	0
1635	TRUMP	Look, look, we had a great president, Ronald Reagan.	0
1636	TRUMP	We had Tip O'Neill, speaker.	0
1637	TRUMP	And what do we do, we take these two men that are very, very different men, they got along, they had relationships, and they got things, and very beautifully.	0
1638	TRUMP	Nobody is complaining about the deals that Ronald Reagan made.	0
1639	TRUMP	And he made it with Tip O'Neill.	0
1640	TRUMP	We need to have people get together and work good deals out, good deals out from our standpoint.	0
1641	TRUMP	And I'll tell you this, it can be done.	0
1642	TRUMP	We don't want to continue to watch people signing executive orders because that was not what the Constitution and the brilliant designers of this incredible document had in mind.	0
1643	TRUMP	We need people that can make deals and can work, because right now in Washington there's total, absolute gridlock.	0
1644	DINAN	Thank you.	0
1645	DINAN	I want to go to Governor Kasich on this issue of flexibility, sir.	0
1646	KASICH	Well, look, my record speaks for itself.	0
1647	KASICH	What I talk about tonight is not a theory.	0
1648	KASICH	These are things that I've done.	0
1649	KASICH	I was there when we reformed the Pentagon on a bipartisan basis to give control to the commanders in the field and force the services to work together.	0
1650	KASICH	I was the chief architect, along with Senator Domenici, of the last time we balanced the budget and the first time since we walked on the moon.	0
1651	KASICH	I was there when I worked on the welfare reform in Washington.	0
1652	KASICH	And we got it done and we eliminated the entitlement on welfare,	0
1653	KASICH	I then went to Ohio and took Ohio from a basket case, working in a bipartisan basis to reform many things, including the Cleveland public schools, working with a Democratic mayor.	0
1654	KASICH	My problem isn't that people don't know this.	0
1655	KASICH	They say, well, what does that mean?	0
1656	KASICH	Does that mean you're too easy?	0
1657	KASICH	Well, let me tell you, when we did the balanced budget, we cut the capital gains tax, we provided a family tax credit, we shrunk the government.	0
1658	KASICH	In my state, the state of Ohio, has the smallest government in the state of Ohio in 30 years.	0
1659	KASICH	Conservative principles will work.	0
1660	KASICH	But show respect to the other side.	0
1661	KASICH	One final thing, in regard to Social Security, we will not get that done alone.	0
1662	KASICH	We will have to have some responsible Democrats who will come in to fix the problem of Social Security.	0
1663	KASICH	I know how to do it because I've done it and I'll do it again.	0
1664	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1665	TAPPER	Thank you, Governor.	0
1666	TAPPER	We have time for one last break.	0
1667	TAPPER	We'll be right back after this.	0
1668	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1669	SYSTEM	[ commercial break ]	0
1670	TAPPER	And we're back with the Republican presidential debate, just five days before the next primary elections.	0
1671	TAPPER	It is time now for closing statements.	0
1672	TAPPER	Candidates, you will each have one minute.	0
1673	TAPPER	And we'll start with Governor Kasich.	0
1674	KASICH	Well, I'd like to say to all of you, the American people, I have run an unwavering, positive campaign for president of the United States.	0
1675	KASICH	I have tried to be positive in such a way as to show my record, my accomplishments, my vision.	0
1676	KASICH	And I wanted to raise the bar in presidential politics so our kids can take a look at the way you can run for president and you will someday maybe be president of the United States.	0
1677	KASICH	Sometimes being positive isn't all that interesting, but it's very interesting to my family, my children and so many supporters that I meet all across the country and I will continue to run a positive campaign.	0
1678	KASICH	I can fix the problems in Washington, I've done it before.	0
1679	KASICH	And, in fact, I want to turn power, money and influence back to you, the American people, so that you can be in the schools and on the streets fighting drugs and dealing with the issues of poverty.	0
1680	KASICH	We can do this together.	0
1681	KASICH	Allow me to take care of the federal issues when I send the power back and the money and the influence to you and you can strengthen our nation and our neighborhoods and our families.	0
1682	KASICH	That's where the spirit and strength of America is.	0
1683	KASICH	But ask the people — my friends in Illinois and of course, my beloved Buckeyes to consider me on Tuesday and, please, let me have your vote.	0
1684	KASICH	God bless.	0
1685	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1686	TAPPER	Senator Rubio.	0
1687	RUBIO	It's great to be here, back at home in Miami.	0
1688	RUBIO	It's hard to believe that just two decades ago, my father was just a bartender working in the city.	0
1689	RUBIO	And now his son stands on this stage, here, as a candidate for the highest office in the land.	0
1690	RUBIO	My parents never wanted me to go into politics or in particular or anything else.	0
1691	RUBIO	They just wanted me to have the opportunity to live out all the dreams they once had for themselves.	0
1692	RUBIO	And that was possible because America is a special country.	0
1693	RUBIO	But that was not an accident.	0
1694	RUBIO	America is great because each generation before us did what needed to be done.	0
1695	RUBIO	They solved their problems, they confronted their challenges.	0
1696	RUBIO	They embraced their opportunities.	0
1697	RUBIO	And for over two centuries, each generation has left the next better off.	0
1698	RUBIO	And now the moment has arrived for our generation to do our part.	0
1699	RUBIO	And I'm telling you tonight, if you vote for me, here in Florida and everywhere across this country on Tuesday, when I'm elected president, this generation will do it's part.	0
1700	RUBIO	We will do whatever it takes to ensure that our children inherit from us, what we inherited from our parents, the single greatest nation in the history of all of mankind.	0
1701	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1702	TAPPER	Senator Cruz.	0
1703	CRUZ	What an incredible nation we have, that the son of a bartender and the son of mailman and the son of a dishwasher and a successful businessman, can all stand on this stage, competing and asking for your support.	0
1704	CRUZ	In just a few months, one of us is going to stand on the debate stage with Hillary Clinton.	0
1705	CRUZ	And the choice we are making today is who will best defend our values?	0
1706	CRUZ	Who will best defend your values and fight for you?	0
1707	CRUZ	I have to tell you, I cannot wait to stand on that stage with Hillary Clinton and say, "Madam Secretary, you are asking for a third term of a failed administration.	0
1708	CRUZ	You are asking for millions more to remain in stagnant jobs; for millions more steelworkers to be out of work; for wages to remain low; for young people not to have a future."	0
1709	CRUZ	We can do better.	0
1710	CRUZ	We can instead repeal Obamacare, abolish the IRS, unleash millions of jobs, defend the Bill of Rights, defend the Second Amendment and religious liberty, stand with our cops and our firefighters and our soldiers, and we can keep America safe.	0
1711	CRUZ	That's the choice I will put to her this fall.	0
1712	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1713	TAPPER	Mr. Trump?	0
1714	TRUMP	Thank you very much.	0
1715	TRUMP	The Republican Party has a great chance to embrace millions of people that it's never known before.	0
1716	TRUMP	They're coming by the millions.	0
1717	TRUMP	We should seize that opportunity.	0
1718	TRUMP	These are great people.	0
1719	TRUMP	These are fantastic people.	0
1720	TRUMP	These are people that love our country.	0
1721	TRUMP	These are people that want to see America be great again.	0
1722	TRUMP	These are people that will win us the election and win it easily.	0
1723	TRUMP	These are people that once the election is won will be able to put Supreme Court justices up that will do a fabulous job.	0
1724	TRUMP	Because let me tell you, if we lose this election, you're going to have three, four or maybe even five justices and this country will never, ever recover.	0
1725	TRUMP	It will take centuries to recover.	0
1726	TRUMP	So I just say embrace these millions of people that now for the first time ever love the Republican Party.	0
1727	TRUMP	And unify.	0
1728	TRUMP	Be smart and unify.	0
1729	SYSTEM	[ applause ]	0
1730	TAPPER	And that concludes this 12th Republican presidential debate.	0
1731	TAPPER	We want to thank the candidates, the Republican National Committee, the University of Miami and, of course, each of you for watching.	0