welcome to the iowa state fair, the des moines register political soapbox. we are moving towards the mid point of nine candidates today. just a few tiny ground rules and must to be heard this speech before. let's be iowa nice. don't yell at the candidates or heckle. if you have signs, keep them down so everybody can hear. when you leave please take your trash with you. ado, we haveer ohio congressman tim ryan. [applause] rep. ryan: thank you so much. thank you. how are you doing? riff about whole health food and i don't know if this is the place to give that speech. it's a pleasure to speed date here with you today. really appreciate it. if you want a second date, go to timryanforamerica.com.

i'm here with my wife and five-year-old son, brady. give them a welcome. wave everybody. all right. he is like when every going to the bumper cars? i told him about the deep-fried oreos. he's ready to go. i really appreciate the opportunity to have 15 or 20 minutes to speak with you about how i feel this country needs to be. the direction i think we need to go. i believe we need to move from a conversation about reforming our systems that are all broken in the united states to transforming them into new systems. i think we have to move from the conversation about left or right. we have to have a conversation in the united states about new and better. the whole conversation -- i

don't know how it goes with you. where are you at? left, center, center-left, right? where are you on the political spectrum? the the entire world, economy, education, research, throughare has blown the traditional left-right divide, and i believe the next democratic nominee has got to be somebody who talks about new and better. you look at the broken economic system we have where 75% of the american people are still living paycheck-to-paycheck. we have huge concentrations of wealth. we have the bottom 60% that is not seen a raise since 1980. when the cost of every thing else has gone up. you look at the health care system, it's broken. we spent 2.5 times on health care as every other industrialized country and get

the worst results. you look at the environment and 220,000 that we kill metric tons of fish at the mouth of the gulf of mexico every single year in the united states, plus the climate issues, plus the algae blooms in the great lakes, algae blooms in lake okeechobee in florida, and lakes all over. our water quality is down. we have lead pipes that are poisoning our kids. we have an agriculture system that's a monopoly. and clearly is destroying our soil and our environment. you look at the criminal justice racist att is broken, its core, and it needs reform. immigration system, broken, clearly. user forms -- clearly needs reforms. employees getted busted but the employer gets off scott free.

i want to have a conversation with you that will be slightly longer than the conversation i was able to have with you during the debates. [laughter] rep. ryan: talk about speed dating. what is your health care policy? 15 seconds. i want to have a more in-depth conversation with you. i am releasing proposals and sharing ideas. i want to talk about my proposal around the economy. i believe we need to have an industrial policy in the united states of america where our government, our research and our private sector all push in the same direction. like germany does, like china does. one of the first positions i'm going to create is a chief manufacturing officer that will report directly to me. we will put together strategies on how to dominate industries. let me give you a few examples.

the electric vehicle industry, somewhere in the world we are going to make 10 million electric vehicles in the next 10 years. i want half of those built by american workers in the united states of america. [applause] rep. ryan: my chief manufacturing officer will sit down with the department of energy, the department of transportation, venture capital, private sector, investors, we will sit down with maybe the big three, maybe merging art of makers -- automakers and sit down and figure out how to be dominate the electric vehicle market. how do we make 5 million vehicles? how do we drive that investment into the communities like the ones i represent in ohio? old steel, pulled auto, old coal, coal textile. rural areas they used to have a manufacturing base to fund local schools. how do we drive this industry that is growing into these

communities of color? for example, the ones that have been left behind. we will start building things in the united states again. i can promise you that. [applause] rep. ryan: right now who dominates that industry? china does. they dominate 50% to 60% of the electric vehicle market. we will do the same thing with solar and wind turbines and all the component parts. we will do the same thing around 5g. we will do the same thing around artificial intelligence. we will do the same thing around additive manufacturing and 3d printing. these industries are growing at 25% or 30% a year. we need a strategy in united states on how we will dominate these industries. it needs to come from the president of the united states. i'm telling you we will get this done. we are going to build things again in the united states. [applause] rep. ryan: climate change is obviously a huge issue.

now a democratic nominee, tim ryan, will go to places in iowa, and wisconsin and michigan and ohio and pennsylvania and mississippi and south carolina and these all textile communities and say you know how we reverse climate change? you get a really good paying job 30,000 -- $30, 40 dollars, $50 an our building electric vehicles. did you bring in the entire country and around an agenda that both reverses climate change and lifts up the middle class. that is how we move forward with the climate agenda. we start building our way to a renewable economy. i want to talk about health care. i'm for a public auction -- option. we bring medicare down to 50. we will cover 60 million people in the u.s., and kaiser permanente says those 60 million people who were 50 to 64 will

see a 40% reduction in their health care costs. 40%. i know it may not be a revolution, but i think that's a pretty significant step in the right direction. i would also allow small businesses to be able to buy into the medicare program. these small businesses are getting killed with health care costs. they should be able to get into that program and have some stability so they can reinvest back into wages and health care and capital investments for their small business. we should have anybody who wants to buy in be able to buy into the program if they can't afford good quality health insurance. i don't believe we should go about the business of taking people's private health insurance away. i think that is a dangerous proposal for us to have. here is the difference. 75% of our health care costs in united states come from chronic diseases that are largely preventable. the next transformation of the health care system has got to be

about how do we build the system that reverses chronic diseases that are costing us $3.5 trillion a year. think about that. 3.5 trillion dollars a year of our health care costs direct and indirect come from chronic diseases that are preventable. type 2 diabetes. half the adult population has either diabetes or prediabetes. a diabetic costs about $14,000 a year. with interventions like food as medicine and other support we are literally reversing type 2 diabetes across the board in the united states. why wouldn't we want our health care system to have a strategy where we have doctors benefit and had patients give rebates and refunds for getting and staying healthy? where you get paid for getting and staying healthy, and bring that cost down.

we have trillion dollar a year deficits coming. and $1llion debt, trillion a year annual deficit as far as the eye can see. when you look at your health care expenditures, and three quarters or $3.5 trillion, that's where the money is, let's go after that. microform will have a huge public health initiative where we drive those costs down so we have money to invest in college and k-12 and all the rest. we can take care of people who can't reverse the chronic diseases they may have. that is a transformational health care system. that is the one i will push. i released an education proposal the other day. we have got to transform our education system k-12. the conversation has got the shift from how do we get test scores up, to how do we take care of our kids? how do we take care of our kids?

my proposal, one takes care of the teachers. we help them with tax credits and loan forgiveness and all the rest, which is a complete suck up to my wife who is a first-grade schoolteacher. i am not stupid. i go all around the country. my wife says, how did it go? i was talking about you today, baby. my proposal is to put a mental health counselor in every single school in the united states that needs one. i want a trauma-informed curriculum for every school. i want them to have social and emotional learning. we have so many kids that come to our schools that are traumatized. we have learned more about the brain in the last 20 years than we have in the previous 200. i want this initiative to help this kid -- these kids get their brains out a fight or flight mode so they can access the

prefrontal cortex in the front of their head, their executive functions where they're working memory is, the decision-making. it is up here. when the brain is in fight or flight you literally cannot access your working memory. no wonder you can't learn. let's build an education system that gets these kids out of trauma and gets them into a healthy environment so they can begin to learn again. what you have seen with robust social and emotional learning programs is an 11 percentile point increase in test scores. closes the achievement gap. 10% increase in good behavior, 10% decrease in antisocial behavior. 20% swing in the mood of schools. this is not left or right. this is supported by both the brookings institution, left-leaning think tank, and american enterprise institute, right-leaning think tank. we can move forward with this agenda. manufacturing.

let's move forward with manufacturing. supported by 80% of the american people. get out of this left or right polarization. let's move forward. america, new and better. i want to lead this charge around these issues. i want to have a conversation around agriculture. i want to transform the agricultural system. you know better than anybody in the united states, and we know in ohio, what is happening to rural america. losing hospitals, losing manufacturing, the downtowns have fallen apart. i have an agenda where we reinvest in small and midsized towns, renovate the theater, killed the riverwalk, build that bike -- build riverwalk, build the bike trail. i have done this in small little towns. you need that community and get affordable housing down there in the downtowns. i want us to move from this

monopolistic, industrial agriculture system that we have today. i want us to slowly move to sustainable and regenerative agriculture here in the united states of america. [applause] the only farmers in america today really making money are the ones who were doing regenerative agriculture. this is when you do no till farming. you do cover crops. you dramatically reduce your input of pesticides and fertilizers. the soil begins to hold -- become more porous. matter,y 1% of organic you increase -- matter you increase the soil, the acre of land can hold 27,000 more gallons of water. we have destroyed the soil in the united states of america. when the rains come they take the fertilizer into the rivers and they go down the river to the mouth of the mississippi and

killed 220,000 metric tons of fish every year. we get algae blooms. the farmers are not making any money. it has been five years. i want the democratic party to be able to go into rural america and say we have an agenda to move to regenerative agriculture so you can start making money again. i will tell the farmers and united states you will make a hell of a lot more money off of a president ryan you ever made under president trump. [applause] rep. ryan: we are going to have an active world program. i know -- world program. the democrats did not do well in rural iowa in the last gubernatorial race. we did not do well in rural america. we have to show up, tell people we have an agenda for them in rural america. go to the small and midsize towns.

they matter. that's america. they call us flyover states, right? we are not flyover states. we are american states. we went investment and strategies and not a bunch of platitudes. i want the government to be on our side again. this is the big deal i want to stress with all of you. i'm 46 years old. we have three kids. and five. my entire adult life we have been having culture wars. it was jack kennedy and then martin luther king and then bobby and then vietnam. it has taken off since then. now it has gotten so bad where we literally have the president of the united states saying send them back. right?

america, love it or leave it. that was the same signs that were up during the vietnam war. you may not know who i am. i'm tim ryan. i'm from northeast ohio. i'm an old football player, an old quarterback. real old. see me walk in the morning. shoulder, knee, back. it's a bad site. my wife watches me walk to go get coffee and she said, did anybody block for you as a quarterback? i play offense. i want the democratic party to play offense with new ideas, and stop sitting back and letting us be defined by the right-wing echo chambers. i want us to define the future of this country. i want to do it with these new ideas. i want to do it with these new ideas because when i talk about social and emotional learning, about regenerative agriculture, when i talk about reforming our

economy around new ways of not everybody knows what i'm talking about. they pause. and they listen. i tell them i don't want this left-right divide. i am fed up to hear. i don't want anymore culture wars. i'm worried about school shootings. i'm worried this has gotten so bad that our kids in public schools are afraid to go to school in the next week or two. that is unacceptable. to me that should be unacceptable to every goodhearted american. that means we have got to get these weapons of war off the streets of the united states of america. we have got to have a background check. we have got to have an immigration system in united --tes that where we can both common sense. you have border security or conference of immigration reform. wait a minute. no i don't.

i am for border security. i want to know who's coming into the country. i want to know, and i want us to stop them if they're trying to. descendent of immigrants. this has been the secret sauce in the united states for a long time. we want comprehensive immigration reform in the united states. bring people out of the shadows here in this country. build our economy. i would just say this. i meant fighting mood. i am irish. you know the old irish saying, don't you? is this a private fighter can anybody get into it? [laughter] rep. ryan: i'm ready to fight. i have a transformational agenda. it is not going to be easy for us. i'm not saying i have a magic wand. there is no superstar, no savior. it is you and it's me.

it is your family and it's my family. let's not reform these broken systems. systems.nsform these i will leave you with this that bobby kennedy used to say at the end of his brief campaign. you ease.promise i do not promise you comfort. but i will, see -- but i will ,romise you weariness, hardship and i will promise you sacrifice. i will promise you weariness, hardship, sacrifice. with these i will promise you victory. thank you so much. god bless you, iowa. [applause] [crowd talking]

>> go get some sunscreen and some water and come back at 12:45 for the next candidate. [crowd talking]

>> thank you. appreciate it so much. >> [indiscernible] rep. ryan: yeah, exactly. hi. i am all sweaty. how are you doing? >> can i take a picture with you. -- with you? and i can get in there too. all right. thank you. rep. ryan: good-looking people right there. >> thank you. rep. ryan: hello, everybody. just for the record i asked for

miller lite after my speech in the kidney water. we are all in the same page. >> harry? -- how are you? would you take executive action? rep. ryan: i would certainly sit down with our attorneys and figure out as far as i can possibly go with executive action. andoal is to be the nominee to be able to go into the states to win the senate back and hopefully really begin two organized and pushes the agenda. what i heard in dayton was that a lot of republicans now are very concerned about what's happening in the streets of the united states. they are interested in helping try to push their elected officials to do something. we have to continue to build the grassroots but i will go as far as i can. >> what you call out trump for not identifying domestic terrorists? rep. ryan: i already have. >> --

rep. ryan: i will continue to. >> [indiscernible] rep. ryan: we will bring in some of these regenerative agriculture farmers, like my buddy gabe in north dakota. there are others making money. they have seen regenerative farmers after one year start to make money. we have five or six years were farmers in places like iowa have not made any money. what i would pledge as we will help you with the conversion. you may have made some capital investments and other investments into the older industrial monopolies. we want to help you get out of there. my plan but put four or five teams in each state of four or five people that will help educate farmers on how to convert over to regenerative agriculture. i want to build out the extensions, the land grant .xtension programs

we will do that through the department of agriculture. i am super excited about it because it also sequesters carbon. it could be a big strategy for us to both in the manufacturing, i talked about and the renewables and the technology piece, but sequestering carbon will be a critical part of getting this done. >> breaking up agricultural monopolies? rep. ryan: yes. >> you talked about the risk of democrats going too far [indiscernible] senator harris, senator warren. is that a valid warning to democrats? rep. ryan: i can only speak on how i feel. i think that taking private insurance is a dangerous proposition, to go into unionized states in the industrial midwest, he states we have to win.

we should be the party of getting people health care and not taking it away. i do have some concerns with that. with the decriminalization of the border, i believe if you want to come into our house, you have to ring the doorbell. when you have conversations around free health care for undocumented workers, there are a lot of americans who are working their rear ends off to pay for health care for their families. it should be free from document workers -- i believe undocumented workers should have access to health care, but they have to pay for like everybody else. i think that's a reasonable position to have. the other position to be potentially a cost to us. >> [indiscernible] bulletsused hollowpoint because they cause maximum damage. where you stand on a band for hollowpoint bullets? rep. ryan: i am forward. the weapons of war.

i'm a house of representatives guy and have been for 17 years. i believe in the process. it is not working now but i believe in the process where we should sit down and have committee hearings. we should bring in experts. we should identify the weaponry and the bullets as we move forward to try to regulate this. we have to know what were talking about. but hollowpoint bullets, that's pretty straightforward. >> where do you stand on walmart to start selling guns -- stop selling guns? own were selling make your ar-15 kits. rep. ryan: i have not been to walmart to see their selection. if you can keep it to hunting rifles and those kind of things, i think that's appropriate. i think one of the great leaders in the last few years has been ick'seo of d sporting-goods who said we are not selling this anymore.

>> [indiscernible] do you think the party is in a different place now? rep. ryan: i think the country is in a different place right now. back in 1994, the only major organization, the only major 1994 was thein national rifle association. i just left the meeting of 300 people in iowa around mom submit action, gabby giffords group. you have sandy hook. you have a lot of groups that are counterbalanced to the nra. plus the accumulation of the concerns in dayton and el paso going all the way back to columbine for we have a generation who lived through this. i think public sentiment is also changing. first and foremost let's get this stuff passed in the senate. then we can talk about the next steps of getting these weapons

of war off the streets, which has about 60% support across the united states. >> [indiscernible] how do we get justice for his alleged victims? they will be no more prosecution, but what do we do about the victims? rep. ryan: we have to continue the process and the process will continue. if we have to do something in congress to bring that to light, we most certainly well and i would encourage our leadership to do that. i don't know how this guy was able to commit suicide. in of the biggest fugitives custody in a federal prison. no idea how this happened. easy way out as far as i'm concerned. president trump is talking a lot now [indiscernible] rep. ryan: what is the name of that book? amazon.com. i'm kidding.

where you stand on where the mental health component versus gun ban and things like that? rep. ryan: i think -- it's interesting. when you hear from the president, from mitch mcconnell, from people who don't want to do anything on gun reforms, they always differed to mental health. when four out of five these issues there are no metal health issues. 99% of people with mental illness are not violent. to push this off on that i think is a distraction. there is mental illness in other countries but they don't have mass shootings because they can't get their hands on these kind of powerful weapon. having said that, we have a mental health crisis in the country. i think there a big metal health counselor in every school. we need to make sure there are enough providers in rural communities and older industrial committees that lost a lot of providers. we have to make sure there is access and promote in the

schools trauma-informed care. a lot of this trauma can lead to depression and mental health issues. we are finding more evidence that diet can have an effect on depression and other issues. it's clearly an issue, but if the president was so concerned about mental health, he would not be trying to kick 22 million people offer health insurance that includes mental health coverage. it is the most disingenuous thing i think he has said. people are dying on the streets of dayton and el paso and his friend to push it off and say to mental health issue. at the same time he's kicking 22 million people after health insurance that includes mental health. that's as all you need to say. >> [indiscernible] what foods are you talking about? rep. ryan: the food is medicine is a new initiative happening in different areas across the country where you take type two diabetics and some studies have literally given them $2500 worth of healthy food.

fruit, vegetables, moving away from carbohydrates and sugar. reversed they have type 2 diabetes. gotten them off their meds. with other support as well. the food is medicine is a key component of it. i was in iowa a few weeks back. i met a woman. i'm telling her about it. she said i just got into a program. i was on my deathbed. she lost 89 pounds three using food as medicine. she got off 10 or 15 different prescription drugs she was on. she was down to one more. one more i got to get off of. she is now healthy and alive and vibrant and coming to political roundtables with guys like me. that is the future of medicine. sometimes we over complicate things. we think just technology. this could be really good for the farmers, right? you moved to regenerative

agriculture and produce more fresh, healthy food. get rid of food deserts. it becomes a whole new market for farmers. reducing your health care costs, boosting farmers, good for the environment. now you have a more energetic, productive worker in society. win-win-win. i don't want these old ideas. i don't want to just talk about single-payer or just the health insurance piece, which is important. i'm on the medicare for all bill, medicare to 50. this is where we have got to go. insurance is a small part of the broader conversation i think democrats should be leading. less -- because of environ so reasons? meat.yan: i eat you will fill me giving it a little bit and probably lots of it. i'm totally ok with eating meat. i believe meat should be

produced like it used to be produced. we have to get these cows out of these industrial processing plants. i don't think it's healthy for them. you look at the poultry and the meat, it has high levels of antibiotics, hormones. we can do better than that. part of the regenerative process to really make it work is to have the cattle out there walking, doing what they do, and helping build the soil out. that is all part of the process. i am all for eating meat but we have to move from the industrial meat to the more grass fed meats that don't have all the hormones and antibiotics. reform. rep. ryan: i love being here. we go from meat to gun reform. some of it is the

de-radicalization of french elements in the body politic. what would you do to andadicalize the far right groups we have seen popping up? rep. ryan: you prosecute people who commit the crime estimates to terrorism. that is a way to send a signal. you can't have the president of the united states provide political cover for these groups, which he has. are you calling the president of white supremacist? i say the white supremacist think he's white supremacist and a political candidate calling him a name does not necessarily go very far. if you want to find an answer, look at the groups that are white supremacist groups. they see him as a leader. david duke said this is the guy that will implement our agenda. that speaks volumes. for prosecuting the mystic terrorism and calling him out, it's another way to divide the country.

to me it's the best way to do it. use the bully pulpit. >> [indiscernible] i did not see that. par for the course. this is where big energy companies get what they want, right? they get the waivers and hurt the small midsize people. this is a government that is corrupt. whether it is the nra or the waivers granted for ethanol so the big oil can make more money, to me it is all the same thing. that is why i believe in publicly financing elections. we have to get the money out of politics. to have a government that functions on behalf of the american people, again, you would have more leverage. this is another example -- look at the nra. you just talked about the waivers. we saw the immigration issue in mississippi where nothing is going to happen to the business owner. in each instance it is like the

top dog gets everything they want and the people are not protected at all. yes, ma'am? >> [indiscernible] rep. ryan: you have to prosecute them. is the laws are on the books. incidents,of these only three have been prosecuted. we have the ability to do it, but the trump administration consistently look the other way. you will need a new president. yeah. but from the top down. would you win ohio, pennsylvania, michigan? rep. ryan: i think we put north carolina into play. i love i -- i would like to think we put iowa into play. potentially in the senate races i believe he can go down a beat

mitch mcconnell on the nominee -- if i am the nominee. i am in the service industry. i think we put kentucky into play. i think we would make a great run at lindsey graham and south carolina. a lot of those communities down there have some work. there is a lot of economic anxiety. we can make a good run at lindsey graham. i think we can win the senate back, but we need a nominee he was talking about doing better and not left or right. if we jump into the divide i think we can potentially win, but we can't transform the map. , if we go in better new economy, new ideas around new ideas around educating kids, new ideas around health care in rural america, we can pull together the old fdr coalition. i love the idea of us going into rural america, and i think we can transform the map. was critical of

the military exercises with america and south korea. what are the benefits of those exercises today? is that something you are willing to give up for peace with north korea? rep. ryan: i hate to jump in. i've been in congress for 17 years. i have been on either the armed services committee or defense appropriations committee. jump into ah to not donald trump tweet about a crazy idea he has. somehow acting like that is american policy and forward. i will just say that north korea is a threat. china is moving into the south china sea in a big way. we see the problems they're having in hong kong and taiwan and other areas. there was a lot of stuff going on. they are moving out and showing a lot of force. we have got to make sure we have some balance and friends in the

region. that includes military exercises. not just with south korea. also with india and other countries. we have got to be positioned. i don't like it anymore than anybody else but i don't want china having free reign of the world. china is in -- africa locking down material contracts for essential minerals that we need for our economy. and in technology and all the rest. china is on the move and they have a 100-your plan. my concern is that donald trump lives in a 24-hour news cycle. guess who wins that game. >> if you became president and the democrats of the majority of the house, who would you like to see become speaker? rep. ryan: that is out of my hands. a lot of good talent. i don't know if leader pelosi will still be around. there is a lot of really good

talent we have been able to put into leadership. we will have to wait and see. i have enough on my plate right now. cool. yes, honey? >> [indiscernible] great question. i release and education plan --an education plan a few weeks back. it puts $100 billion into infrastructure for the schools. school buildings, high-speed internet, making sure the buildings can be secure, air conditioning or heat depending on what the school needs. we are putting $100 billion into that so the building looks good. you have playgrounds and every thing else. we also have approaches where we want to make sure there is art and music and all of the extracurricular activities. we want to make sure you are learning social and emotional health, like how to handle conflict with your friends or

parents or brothers or sister if you have one. how to handle that in a mature way. not just teach academics but also teach the whole child. that is one of the things i want to do but i want to make sure there are afterschool programs and summer school programs so we can keep you busy with things you like. if there is something you like, some schools don't always offer things for kids. i want to make sure every school has the opportunity to give you something you are interested in. and help you along the way. i want to make sure you are eating good at school. we want to have school gardens so you are learning how to grow food yourself. tie that into the health curriculum you may have. dear learning about your body and health and also growing the food that can keep you healthy. i want a salad bar in every school. it does not mean you can't eat treats, just not as many. last one. >> what are you going to eat at the state fair?

rep. ryan: i am getting the deep-fried oreo cookie, which has 4.5 stars on yelp. [applause] >> [indiscernible] there are 200 food stands at the iowa state fair. 80 different types of food on a stick, including chocolate covered cheesecake. you heard from congressman tim ryan. he wants an oreo that is deep-fried, part of the tradition of the iowa state fair. one of the oldest and largest in the country. this year, 22 democratic candidates speaking. nine of them today. coming up in 45 and as we will hear from senator amy klobuchar of minnesota. this afternoon senator kiersten gillibrand and governor john hickenlooper. some notes on the candidates literally running into each other. the son of congressman tim ryan, nate hearst in des moines with tos tweet saying hi

congressman ryan's sun brady -- son brady. we will show this to you later on. a statement from the attorney general bill barr who says he is appalled at the death of jeffrey epstein, a story we have been following. he was found unresponsive this morning. he has been a pronounced dead. the attorney general calling into an investigation into what happened. your phone calls to congressman tim ryan coming up in about 2:15 eastern time. a live view of the des moines register -- the des moines area and the state fair. ben hickenlooper will joining us at 6:40 eastern on c-span radio and on c-span television. the day began with the governor of washington state jay inslee speaking at the soapbox area put together by the des moines register. center stage at the iowa state fair. the event runs about 20 minutes.