that means choosing where you live, picking whatever job you want, and living the way you want, spending your money, however you want it, that truly means -- that truly is what it means to be american. >> voices on the road on c-span. c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television company. and today we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. next on c-span 2, hear iranian president rouhani speak in tehran on the 40th anniversary of the iranian revolution. he talks about iran's military

and missile program and the economic sanctions imposed by the united states. this 45 minute program courtesy of press tv, iran's 24 hour english language news channel. >> translator: in the name of god, the all merciful, the all compassionate, salutations to the prophet of islam, prophet muhammad, blessings of god upon the household.

salutations to -- [inaudible]. i thank god almighty for guiding the iranian nation and assisting the iranian nation in order to overcome dictatorship and dependencies, and this nation managed to create the islamic republic establishment in this country. this year's 22 -- [inaudible] --

have their own features and characteristics. on the one hand, it coincides with the 40th victory anniversary of the islamic revolution in iran and also the great nation of the iran today has entered the 41st year of the victory of the islamic revolution. in the meantime, and on the other hand, this year's victory anniversary also coincides with the anniversary --

[inaudible] -- and due to her teachings and precepts, the iranian nation managed to resist the superpowers and attain victory. meanwhile, this year we are holding the 22nd of -- celebrations at a time when we are -- when we face conspiracies by the criminal u.s. and the zionist regime and the reactionary regimes in the region and they have imposed sanctions upon us, putting pressure on our nation.

therefore, today people turnout across the country is indicative of the fact that the one-year schemes of the enemy has been foiled. such a massive turnout by the people indicates that the enemy will never be able to attain its ominous goals. so we are going to continue treading this path that we chose 40 years ago. at the beginning i wish to elaborate on a few points, while

addressing the iranian nation. firstly, the islamic revolution seeks to protect islamic iran, and that's been the aim of the revolution. people know very well that 205 years ago parts of northern area of the country at the time the treacherous kings, these parts were separated from the country at that time and 191 years ago another part of the northern -- our northern territory were separated from the land.

172 years ago a major part of iran's northwest was separated from iran. 163 years ago an important part of the country's east was separated. and 138 years ago, a part of the country's northeast was separated from the land. and 100 years ago, major parts of the country south was separated, and that area constitutes several countries in the southern part of the persian gulf and even 47 years ago, i mean, seven years prior to the triumph of the islamic

revolution at the time of the treacherous regime, an important part of country's south was separated that was considered as the -- geographically considering it was considered the 14th province of iran. so it was separated from iran by the regime. you see that hearing the several decades at the time, two thirds of iran was separated from the country, so this means that the past regimes, in addition to

affecting the people's culture, welfare, religion, there have been traitors concerning people's culture, religion and welfare, and at the same time, there were traitors considering the country's territorial integrity. many people can remember that 100 years ago, and if they have studied history, they can remember that at the time of world war i, we can remember how iran's northwest and south were occupied by three powers, and 77 years ago, at the time of world war ii, despite iran's impartiality, the country was divided into north and south, and the forces -- the allied forces dominated the country.

-- to leave the country and accepted all the conditions set by the allied forces, provided that his son would be appointed as iran's shah. so this has been a clear act of treason by the kings and those who were in power. that was an act of treason towards the iranian nation, but 37 years ago, at this time when the global powers instigated saddam and provided him with weaponry and reactionary regimes of the region provided him with

money and also with forces, provided by other countries, they instigated him to attack iran, and they had promised him that he'll be able to topple the government of iran within a week, and after three days -- after seven days he would be conducting an interview in tehran. the great nation of iran and its courageous sons from the force, the army, they resisted, and they resisted for eight years, and they attained -- the iranian nation managed to attain major victory that's been registered in history, and they crushed a

siege. they liberated. the people managed to liberate major regions in the west and other operations such as other operations, they managed to crush the enemy, and they told the whole world that today -- that today it's not the monarchy call leded iran. -- called iran. today it is the islamic iran and iranians based on their religious and national obligations, they will resist in the face of the whole world, and

the west and the east provided iraq with the most modern aircraft and they provided them with the most modern helicopters and artillery systems, but eventually all of their mercenaries suffered a defeat and there were courageous competence returned to their homes from the battlefronts. today the whole world should know that the islamic republic of iran's power is much greater compared to the days of the postwar. and today our armed forces are

capable in providing manufacturing, ammunitions, and if at the time of the previous regime, only 5% of munitions were manufactured inside the country, and today 85% of military equipment and ammunitions and the country's needs are being manufactured by -- or manufactured domestically and in order to manufacture different antiarmour missiles and different types of land to sea and sea to sea missiles. different types of air to air missiles. and also different types of land to land missiles. in order to manufacture these

missiles, we have not asked the permission of anybody, and we will not ask for anyone's permission, so we will continue increasing our military power, and i'm clearly telling the iranian nation today that iran's military might in the past 40 years and particularly in the past five years has been quite astonishing for the whole world, and that includes our defense, military industries, our missiles, our fighter jets, our helicopters and also our submarines, destroyers, our personnel carriers, our rifles, and whatever needed by our armed forces. and also regardless of

ammunitions, i can refer to the bravery and courage of our armed forces, their prudence, in the past 40 years, particularly in the past five years, the whole world has witnessed that when we decided to help the iraqi people, when we decided to help the people of syria, when we decided to help the people of lebanon, and to help the people of palestine and yemen, the whole world witnessed that speaking of iran support and the power of regional nations, actually, the world powers have

to admit to their 20 years of defeat in the region, and they have no option but to gradually leave this region so the regional nations would be able to continue their path with freedom. the first achievement of the islamic revolution has been territorial integrity protection of our homeland, iran, and not any of this land has been given to the enemies and we have protected our territorial integrity. the second part of the revolution that we're proud of is the changing of establishment in the country. that means in the past there

was -- it was based on one's ethnicity and tribe so that he would be able to become a king, and in this way his son would become a king again. so this is not democratic. this is not rational. and so the achievement of the islamic republic was to place the establishment of legitimacy upon islam and having republic nature, so today all the officials of the islamic republic, including the leader of the islamic revolution and the president and the mp, the members of the assembly of

experts and the members of councils, they are all chosen through people's votes and through the ballot boxes. in fact, they shouldered the responsibility through this way. we should all be cautious if we have managed to be victorious in the past 40 years, that's due to the republic system and islam. to be islamic and have a republic system, that's protected us. people's faith, people's trust, people's dedication and self-sacrifice, these have been major achievements of the revolution and our years of the sacred defense. the power that we have and the

enemy does not have is faith in god to rely upon god and we know that even if we become victorious, even if we are killed in the battlefront, we are still victorious. this is our belief, and such a bleach has protected -- and such a belief has protected during the years of war. and today you see millions of people go on pilgrimage to the holy shrine and millions of people go barefoot to pay a pilgrimage to the holy shrine. and also the month of ramadan and all the occasions that are

religious every year people have a more massive participation, a more glorious participation on such occasions. so in fact we have -- we were out there promoting virtues and we have been after promoting moralities and ethical values. this is the spirituality that forms the basis of our revolution and our might and power. in the absence of faith, in the absence of the islamic nature, if it wasn't an islamic revolution, if it was a national revolution, in such a case, the revolution could not resist the conspiracies, so it's the islamic nature that has managed

to protect us in the face of dangers and threats, and in the meantime, we have the ballot boxes. what has actual ly contributed o our people's motivation despite the pressures and has motivated the people to continue to go after their ideals. the turnout at the ballot boxes and they make a selection. and these ballot boxes guarantee this establishment, in case of demanding any change, that should be done at the ballot boxes, and through the ballot

boxes, you will be able to reflect your views, and you declare your approach in the course of election campaigns, and you choose your representatives at the assembly of experts and the parliament, and you choose the president and so on. so we should be aware of this, that holding elections and ballot boxes is one of the major blessings of the islamic republic of iran. in the absence of the ballot boxes and in the absence of the long cues at the ballot boxes, the enemy could hatch various plots against us. today there is a real democracy if our society. -- in our society. there is a real popular rule. there are free factions, and

this is not -- this is not a regime to tell that there should be only one faction, and if you are not a member of that faction, you should get a passport and leave the country. the journals, magazines, the dailies, the press are free in this country, and all the officials including the supervisory officials, the executive officials, they should have patience in dealing with the elections, as we increase our patience, we'll be able to open the way for the presence of all political factions and orientations, and this will further consolidate our establishment in the recent election law, law of elections that's been presented to the islamic consultant, somebody by the government, these points have been taken into consideration. hopefully with the approval of this law, at the islamic

consulted assembly, we'll be able to witness further participation by the people. the third achievement of this revolution has been this nation's progress, and the blossoming of deferent economic and culture -- the blossoming of different economic and culture promoting social welfare. in the early days of the revolution, the population of the country, 36 million, and today the population has reached 82 million people. this means that there has been 2.28 fold increase in the population of the country. so a little bit more than 2 1/2 fold increase. so in such a case, they should

be more productive. -- in such a case, there should be more productivity. if you look at the statistics, you see that these figures are much higher. prior to the revolution, despite too many ups and downs and despite the presence of american specialists and regretfully israeli experts were present here for agricultural activities, and in the last year of the regime, all the agricultural products reached 26 million tons and today that

figure has reached 122 million tons. this means that more than five-fold -- there has been more than five-fold increase with respect to our agricultural products, and in order -- the people should know that there's been an accelerating trend in country's progress. so in the past five years, our agricultural products has exceeded the previous regime. so there has been -- in the past five years, there's been 25 million tons of increase in the amount of agricultural products or our farmers and our engineers and those active in the

agriculture sector have made a major breakthrough of our wheat, the yield of wheat was 4 million tons. and today that figure has reached more than -- has reached close to 14 million tons. so there has been more than threefold increase in the products related to wheat, bread and bread and -- speaking of our agriculture -- agricultural exports compared to the previous regime, there's been 20 fold increase, and before -- prior to the revolution, it was --

[inaudible] -- million dollars and today that figure has reached 5.7 billion dollars. so today we have more than 5 billion dollars of agriculture exports. at the time of the previous regime it was less than 300 million dollars. therefore, we have chosen the right path. now, speaking of the modern irrigation systems in the previous regime, it was 38,000 and today it is 2.5 million that are covered by modern irrigation system. so there's been almost six fold increase. so if you look at these agricultural figures, you will realize that in the past 40

years, our nation has made major progress. today in the industrial sector, if you compare it to the past -- to 40 years ago, all our industrial enterprises -- the number of industrial enterprises 5,000. our steel products in the past was less than 400,000 tons. and today that figure has reached more than 20 million tons. so these figures are not even comparable with ten years ago. this means -- and this indicates that our nation is treading the path of construction and

progress. i wish to draw your attention to this figure at the time of the shah's regime. the people could use 110 million tons of natural gas and today it has reached 1,000 million tons. this means that our labors and engineers are making great -- are making great efforts in the oil and gas sector, and our reserves today is 160 billion barrels, so it's a twofold increase. this means that that's due to explorations done by our engineers and no american or

british experts in the country. we have mapg managed -- we have managed to become self-sufficient and we are running the country ourselves f. you consider the population, the whole world would be astonished -- the population covered by gas prior to the revolution was 51,000 house holds, and today it's approximately close to 22 million households that are using natural gas today. so today we have 52 pet ro chemical complex this years. in the previous region, the products was 1.2 million tons. and today the figure has reached

30.7 million tons. we are witnessing the country's progress in different fields. that includes, water, electricity, road construction, railway system and ports. there is no sufficient time now. you can ask relevant authorities and officials. i learned these figures from them. we had 19 national dams at the time of the previous regime. today we have 172 dams. this indicates that there has been a major increase in the number of dams in this country. there were 7,000 megawatts of electricity and today's 80,000 megawatts of electricity that's been generated. we stood in the 38th place in the world at the time of the previous regime that spoke of

the gateways of civilization. today we're standing in 14th place and we're standing in 1st place at the regional level. this indicates -- indicates the breakthroughs we have experienced and also speaking of our port capacities, it was 19 million tons in the past. today it's 234 million tons. this is indicative of our progress, and this is indicative -- and today we can transfer 25 million passengers via the railway system. the point i wish to emphasize is that -- is that regarding three issues. the enemies will have no doubt regarding progress, regarding science, regarding health and regarding social welfare and

social justice. undoubtedly regarding these three subjects, today we have a very high status. the illiteracy rate and also our number of students prior to the revolution, after the revolution, today we have 14 1/2 million students and more than 4 million academic students, university students. there was only 175,000 students at the time of the previous regime and today it exceeds the figure of 4 million. we have made considerable progress in the field of science. and today we have skilled educators individuals in the country. this is admitted by the whole world that we have made major breakthroughs.

secondly regarding health and treatment, medical care, there were 14,700 physicians operating in this country at the time of the previous regime. there were 6,000 physicians. today we have 140,000 physicians in the country and we have physicians in different parts of the country and specialist physicians and 18,000 health centers have been set up in the rural areas, and all world countries admit to our progress in the field of health and medical care. in the past 40 years, there's been ten years increasing life expectancy in rural countries,

but in iran there's been 20 years increase in the rate of life expectancy. this indicates for the development of the country, more than what the whole world can perceive and consider. and the other point is helping the oppressed and helping the underprivileged and promoting social welfare and social justice. all people are covered by medical insurance, and in the past few years, 10 million people have been covered by medical insurance, and all the underprivileged are covered by the welfare organization and the relief committee. their pensions have increased by four fold, and we have managed to promote social welfare. let me draw your attention to

these figures. there was 35 fold difference and today there is 15 fold difference between the rich people and the underprivileged today. so we should take more steps in line with this. in this establishment and revolution, we have become self-sufficient in wheat production, and this year is the fourth year that we have become self-sufficient with regard to wheat production. in the field of gasoline and petro, we became self-sufficient and we are self-sufficient for production of petro, gasoline and natural gas. so 95% of our needed medicines

and drugs are produced domestically. also we have made progress in the field, nanotechnologies, stem cell, modern technologies. we stand in the 11th, 14th and 7th places and we are a country that has -- we have a very good status of progress in modern technologies and also we have carried out many strategic measures in the past 40 years, and in recent years, it has been

indicated that we have managed to emerge victorious in different arenas. iran is the only country that has exited from chapter 7 of the u.n., without bowing to the enemies, and this is the power of our diplomacy, and we are the only country whose nuclear rise has been recognized at the u.n. we have taken measures, steps forward in the field of environment, and in the absence -- [inaudible] --

catastrophe, there were 14 million people who had become homeless, agriculture and industries would have been disrupted if there was no -- if we didn't have the measure -- project. this is a major strategic project that hopefully will be implemented till the end of this administration. iran's role in the region is more influential compared to the past. and it's unprecedented in the course of history. iran is the only country that can help the nations of the region. if they want security, i mean, without iran, no plan or project can be implemented in this region. the global arrogance, the american, zionists must know

that victory belongs to our nation. regarding the rights of women, the youth, the minorities, the sunnis and different ethnic groups, we'll continue to protect their rights. and one of our mottos has been the right of citizenship, and today 1,825 sunnis hold different positions including governor, deputy governor general, and district governor and members of councils and so on, and we have two sunni ambassadors today. this is indicative of our growing unity and solidarity.

and islam and the revolution has granted high status to women, and today women are present in different positions, in managerial positions. we will continue transparency in order to combat corruption. we support the underprivileged. we will continue supporting them. we'll continue constructive interaction with the world. and we'll promote iran's status. we will improve the business environment. we will privatize state enterprises, and the people will soon receive services from electronic government, the water and environment crises will be controlled and financial institutions including the

banking system will be adjusted as we did concerning the unauthorized credit institutions we have managed to close their doors and they were eliminated. the last one i wish to mention that today we are facing an economic and psychological operation, warfare. we are facing brutal enemies, and they are behaving with the people with brutality. we should resolve these problems together. every time we became victorious, that was due to the government and the people supporting their

leader. and if we manage to eliminate assassination and terror and if we manage to eliminate the riots, that's been due to the people's support and supporting the imam, and regarding sanctions through steadfastness, through cooperation, and collaboration, we'll manage victorious in the face of the u.s., we will not -- we will not allow the u.s. to become victorious. the u.s. announced last year that i will crush iran and this year in mid spring made the same announcement, and in midsummer made a similar announcement, and in november made a similar announcement, and in the time of christmas, made a similar

announcement, and the americans have promised to have all the corrupt u.s. statesmen to be in tehran, they have failed. they will fail in the future. that's been due to the people's faith in god, their faith in their prophet, and their faith in their leader. they are united. they will support the leadership. and we will undoubtedly manage victorious in the face of this issue, and people have certain problems in their daily lives, but we will overcome these difficulties, and -- and the situation in this region is much better than what the americans

thought. and our status will be further promoted. we will overcome the difficulties. and my last word of this gathering is that our ideal today is the ideal we pursued 40 years ago. we replace dictatorship with freedom. we replace colonialism with national sovereignty. we replace corruption with virtues. and we replace discrimination with justice. we replace tendencies to the east or the west with iranian and islamic identities. and we replace extravagance with

moderation. today we are pursuing the very same ideals, and we will undoubtedly emerge victorious. i thank the great nation of iran for their presence and participation in the rally today despite the rainy weather and snowy weather. and this indicates of the allegiance with their leadership. >> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning, virginia republican congressman will join us to talk about the

tentative border security deal reached by congressional negotiators that would avert a government shutdown. and new jersey democratic congressman, a former obama state department official, talks about his role on the house foreign affairs committee and oversight of the trump administration's foreign policy agenda. and then los angeles times immigration reporter molly o'toole will be on to talk about the debate in congress over the border wall funding and the issue of detention beds for detained immigrants. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning. join the discussion. there are nearly 100 new members of the house of representatives this year, ohio, west virginia, maryland, mississippi and washington are five of the states that added one new member. representative anthony gonzales was a football star at ohio state before the indianapolis colts drafted him in 2007.

after injuries cut short his professional football career, representative gonzalez earned his mba at stanford business school. he's the first latino elected to ohio's congressional delegation. representative carol miller served over a decade in the statehouse before voters in west virginia's third district elected her to congress. politics runs in her family. she's the daughter of former congressman samuel devine whose seat would later be filled by future ohio governor and 2016 presidential candidate john kasich. congressman michael guest was a local prosecutor in mississippi for nearly 25 years. the last decade as district attorney before his election to the house. he is also a sunday schoolteacher at his local baptist church. representative david trone and his brother opened a small liquor store in delaware in the early 90s. the company eventually moved its headquarters to maryland and has expanded to become the largest

independent fine wine retailer in the country. washington's 8th district elected representative, pediatrician and only female doctor in congress. new congress, new leaders, watch it all on c-span. >> the c-span bus recently travelled to louisiana asking folks what does it mean to be american. >> to be an american means that you are a part of the community, that innately able to overcome any obstacles and diverse in many ways, includes everyone. that's a community as a whole, as a country. >> to be an american, it's a mindset that you can do anything you put your mind to, no matter what background you come from, no matter where you are from, if you come here, you can do anything. you can do it. you will achieve everything. that's what it's like to be an american. >> to me being american means that you love this country. i mean truly love this country. in its brokenness, just like the

people, we're all broken. the country can be broken. sometimes maybe it will become brok broken. maybe it was broken but to love it all the same. i also think that being american means you stand for the constitution, the bill of rights and you wish to uphold those. if you don't know them, if you don't uphold them or you think that we don't need them, those are the formations of course -- formations of our country, that's what we're built upon. i would say you would be un-american to not be devoted to those. >> i think that to be american means that we get to stand up and express ourselves, that we have the right to express our voice, our actions, and to quote a 1914 poem by emma wheeler wilcox, to sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men. >> what i think what it means to be an american is having the right to choose your own future, whether that means choosing where you live, picking whatever job you want, and just living

the way you want to, spend your money however you want it. that's truly what it means to be american, having the right to choose your own destiny basically. >> voices from the road on c-span. :: >> today the senate voted to advance the nomination of william barr to be the next attorney general. the final senate confirmation vote expected this week. here is some of the senate debate on this nomination begin with democrat mark warner and republican john cornyn. this is just under one hour. >> i rise today to oppose the nomination of william barr to be