economy, this nation must have the best-educated workforce in the world. [cheers and applause] it is totally insane and unfair and counter-productive to the future of this country when we have hundreds of thousands of bright, young people who have done well in high school who want to go to college but can't get a higher education for one reason, their families lack the income. god only knows how many scientists and engineers and doctors and teachers we are not developing because of that. [cheers] so secretary clinton and i came up with a pretty simple proposal, and it says that we are going to make public colleges and universities

tuition-free for every family under $125,000. [cheers and applause] now, that is, in fact, a pretty revolutionary idea and i'll tell you why. number 1: obviously, it is going to make life easier for people who are in college or will soon be in college, but it does something else even more profound. i grew up in a family where my dad dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and my mother never went to college and there are millions of families like that in this country where kids grow up not knowing anybody who ever went to college who believe that there is no way in the world, because they're poor working class, they're ever going to make it to college. when the word goes out that if those children do their schoolwork seriously and pay attention, regardless of their

income, yes, they are going to be able to go to college. that's revolutionary. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: how many people here tonight are dealing with student debt, raise your hands. well, welcome to the club. you are part of many, many millions of americans who leave school and got to figure out how they are going to pay $30,000, $50,000, $100,000 in debt. i talked to a young woman in iowa. she went to dental school. we desperately need dentists. we have a crisis on affordable dental care and she graduated dental school $400,000 in debt. now, that's insane. it is insane and unfair to ask people who did the right thing, they went out and got the

education they were supposed to, and then they're saddled with student debt sometimes for decades. secretary clinton and i think that situation has got to change. [cheers] sen. sanders: now, right now, my guess is that here in raleigh, you can go out and buy a new car and pay an interest on that loan for that car of 1%, 2%, am i right? you can refinance your home at 3% or 4%. then why in god's name are millions of people paying 6%, 8% and 10% interest rates on their student debt? [cheers] sen. sanders: so what we believe is that if you have student debt, you should be able to refinance that debt at the lowest interest rates you can find.

[cheers and applause] sen. sanders: now, there are many, many differences between secretary clinton and mr. trump, but there is one that is very, very profound. are you ready for a very radical thought right now? i don't want anyone to faint and i think we have some paramedics here, but i do want to make this announcement. are you ready for it? >> yeah! sen. sanders: madam secretary, correct me if i'm wrong here. secretary clinton believes in science. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: now, i know, i know i put her in a difficult position.

in 2016, to believe in science, a little bit dangerous, but what the heck. now, i'm a member of the u.s. senate committee on the environment and i have talked to scientists. i have talked to scientists all over this country and all over the world and let me be very clear. the debate is over. climate change is real. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: climate change is caused by human activity and climate change is already today causing devastating problems in this country and around the world. secretary clinton has some very specific ideas about how we transform our energy system, how we invest in energy efficiency, and sustainable energy and that

is exactly what we have to do. [cheering] sen. sanders: now, donald trump has a different idea. after years and years of studying the issue from a scientific perspective -- i'm joking, i'm joking. he has concluded that climate change is a hoax emanating from china. now, why he chose china and not mexico or some muslim country, i don't know, but that's the way it is. now, we can laugh at this. but in truth, this is not a funny issue. i've got seven grandchildren. secretary clinton has grandchildren. our job as custodians of this

planet is to make sure that we leave our kids and grandchildren a planet that is healthy and habitable. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and that means that we have to have the guts to take on the fossil-fuel industry and tell them their short-term profits are not more important than the future of our planet. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: secretary clinton understands that we have a broken criminal justice system that needs major reform. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: it is not acceptable to her, to

me, and to, i suspect anyone here that we as a nation have more people in jail than any other country on earth. and secretary clinton understands, as i think most of us do, that it makes a heck of a lot more sense to invest in jobs and education for our young people rather than jails and incarceration. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and secretary clinton also understands that with 11 million people in this country who are undocumented today, vast majority working hard to take care of their families, we need comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: let me conclude by

saying this, all of you know that our country from its earliest days have struggled with issues of racism and sexism and discrimination. and we should be very proud that we have come a long, long way in overcoming a lot of those issues. if we were here, i tell you, 15 years ago and somebody said, you know, i think we're going to have an african-american as president in the year 2008, very few people would have believed that. if somebody here said 10 years ago that gay marriage would be legal in 50 states in 2015 -- [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: -- and let us not forget that as i stand next to our next president -- [cheers] sen. sanders: -- 100 years ago

-- not a long time from an historical perspective, women were not running for president, they didn't have the right to vote. they couldn't get an education. couldn't get the jobs they wanted. we have come a long way. i disagree with donald trump on virtually all of his policy positions, but what upsets me the most -- what upsets me, it's beyond disagreement, is we have struggled for so many years to overcome discrimination, and he is running his campaign, the cornerstone of which is bigotry. now, as americans, we can disagree on many issues, but we have come too far, too many people have gone to jail, and too many have died in the struggle for equal rights.

we are not going back to a bigoted society. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and furthermore, what we understand -- you know, my dad came from poland, and if we went around this room, you'll find people from 100 more countries all over the world. what we understand is our strength, our uniqueness is our diversity. we should be proud of it. [cheers] sen. sanders: we should be proud of it and we are not going to allow trump or anyone else to divide us up. we've got a lot of work to do as americans. in the next five days, we've got

to do everything that we can to elect secretary clinton and on the day after the election, we're going to go back to work to make this country what we know it can become. thank you all. [cheers and applause] sen. sanders: and now, it is my very great honor and privilege to introduce you to the next president of the united states, hillary clinton. [cheers and applause] [chanting "hillary"]

mrs. clinton: thank you. wow. thank you all. i've got to say, -- thank you. thank you. i've got to say, after hearing from these two extraordinary men, i feel all fired up and ready to go for the next five days. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: it is so great to

be back here with all of you and there are a few people in the audience that i just want to acknowledge because i'm delighted they're there. u.s. congressman david price, i saw right there. thank you, david. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: state senator dan blue, jr., i know, right there. thank you, dan. [cheers] mrs. clinton: and i'm not sure she's still here, but deborah ross, who i hope is your next senator. there she is! [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: because everything pharrell and bernie just said is not only about the presidential election and what's at stake, it is about who's going to represent you as your governor, as your senator, as members of congress and the legislature, and you have some excellent candidates, and we are so hopeful that you will vote

for them and vote for what they represent. i really want to thank my friend, bernie sanders, for everything that he has done. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: i got to serve with bernie. we were colleagues in the senate. i saw first hand his commitment to the people of vermont and to the values that have guided his life and when we faced each other in the primary, here's what i was so proud about. we ran a campaign on the issues that matter to the american people. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: and i think because of that campaign, we were able to raise a lot of the issues that you heard bernie talking about to the level that they are part of this presidential campaign and they will be part of our agenda

after january 20th, bernie. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: and i'm going to say, too, this election has been a lot more fun now that we're on the same side. and i want to thank bernie for everything he's done. he's criss-crossing our country, energizing people, getting folks off the sidelines and engaged in politics, and there's no question that his efforts are paying off and what he said at the beginning of his remarks is absolutely true. my name may be on the ballot, but it is not about me. it's not about my opponent. it's not about bernie. it's not about david or deborah. it is about you and your lives and what we're going to do together. now, bernie and i have already worked -- we've worked on the plan that he told you about to

make college tuition-free for the middle class, for working families, for poor kids, and debt-free for everyone. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: because as bernie said earlier this year, when people who care about progressive causes stand together, we win. and then we can get to work on making those causes into realities for the lives of our people. so i am proud to be here with you and i am so excited about the election, about everything that we're going to do together, and i'm especially pleased to have pharrell here. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: now, every time i see him, which is not often enough, we always

have a good conversation like we did before this event. he always gets you to think. not only is he a world-class talent, but he is a passionate advocate for issues that are too often overlooked and ignored. he wants to -- and i'm going to do everything i can help him -- to deliver giving kids who are at risk access to educational and arts programs that they deserve to have just as much as any other child. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: so tell me this, tell me this, north carolina, tell me, north carolina, are you really, really, really happy that we're here tonight? [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: well, we sure are.

there is nowhere we would rather be. let me ask you this. how many of you have already voted? [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: well i hope you are going to bring more people to vote as well, right? are you ready to volunteer? we can all use you in these last few days. are you ready to elect roy cooper? [applause] mrs. clinton: well, i'm glad to hear that because it's time you had a governor who puts families first, not radical ideology. and i love to see our educators stand up and applaud. because you need a governor who actually cares about the

education of the children of north carolina. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: are you ready to elect deborah ross to the united states senate? [applause] mrs. clinton: i will tell you, deborah and her race are the talk of everywhere. people know she will be an independent voice for north carolina families. that she will represent you with integrity and excellence, and unlike her opponent, she has never been afraid to stand up to donald trump. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: are you ready now to choose our next president and commander in chief? [cheers and applause] i am excited.

did any of you see the debate? [cheers and applause] there are several notable aspects of those debates. [laughter] mrs. clinton: one is the very fact that i stood on the stage for 4.5 hours with my opponent, proving once and for all i have the stamina to be president and commander in chief. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: but you know, he also kept saying, like oh, well you know, what have you done for the last 30 years? and you know, occasionally i would interject and say what i had done. and today, in greenville, we had a perfect comparison. i started my career fighting for children and families with the children's defense fund when i got out of law school in the

1970's. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: i went to south carolina to gather evidence to stop the government in south carolina from putting young men, teenagers in jails with adults. i went to alabama under cover to gather information about segregated academies to deprive them of tax-exempt status, which they did not deserve. i went door to door in new bedford, massachusetts, gathering information to make the case that every child in america, including children with disabilities, should have the right to a public school education. [cheers and applause] mrs. clinton: and as we heard this morning from just a wonderful, distinguished older woman by the

name of may wiggins who came all the way down to tell her story -- she was a nurse in new york city back in the 1970's, excited about being a young nurse, getting her career off to a start. she was looking for a place to live, and she had a budget, like everybody does. she found what she thought would be a perfect place. it was in her budget, it was close to work. she went to apply for an apartment. it was a brand new building. it wasn't even totally finished yet. she went into the little office and asked for an application and they said, oh, well, we don't have any apartments. she said, but i saw the advertisement. well, we have no apartments left. well, she thought that was pretty peculiar and so she decided to do a little investigation and she found out that all of her african-american friends who had gone to that apartment run by