Good morning. Thank you everyone for being here this morning. I'm really glad to be in our great state capital. You know, for the past several months as I faced this decision, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I achieved my American Dream, from working my way through college, and becoming an Army helicopter pilot, and Bryan and I getting married and using our VA loan guarantee to buy our first home in DeKalb, and now, as some of you may know, the great joy in my life that's my brand new baby daughter, Abigail, who lights up our lives every day.
When I came home to Hoffman Estates after having been injured in Iraq, my life had been forever changed. I didn't know what my life would be like after the injuries that I had suffered, but my community stood with me when I needed help the most. They adapted my home to make it wheelchair-accessible. Buddies from my unit, my neighbors, total strangers—all worked together to make sure that my house was ready for me when I came home.
And then later as the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, I was able to travel all over this great state to start new programs, improve care for our veterans, and promote tax credits for employers to take a chance and hire a veteran.
I want to make sure that Illinois remains a place where my neighbors have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream, just like I did.
I've only been in Washington a short time but I've been able to accomplish a lot. I found partners in both parties to work with and issues on which I've been able to make a difference. I passed several pieces of legislation to help veterans find jobs faster and to treat not just their physical wounds but the wounds that you can't see.
I'm running for the United States Senate to put Illinois' communities and families first, to try and make a real difference, and ensure a better future for our children. I believe that the Senate could use someone with my perspective and experience as we continue to build a more perfect union—a union that benefits all of her citizen.
I believe that together we can build an America that is strong from the ground up. It starts with expanding pre-K and making college more affordable. It involves the middle class and small businesses. They're the engines in our economy and I think we need tax cuts for them for a change. And we need to hold Washington accountable so that we make sure that we put Illinois' families and communities first.
The only reason that I made it home to Illinois after my injuries in Iraq was because of the heroism of my courageous buddies who risked their lives to save mine. I view my time now as a bonus time. It's allowed me to be fearless about speaking up and doing the right things.
I'm running for the United States Senate to use a second chance I've been given to make a better future for all of our children, and that's why I am standing here today.
I'd be happy to take your questions.
[listens to question from audience]
Well, let me tell you why I'm running for the United States Senate. I think that my experiences in this world, from the fact that I struggled with poverty when I was in high school. My dad lost his job in his fifties and we ended up on food stamps. The programs that were there to help me achieve my American Dream—affordable college education—yes, I had to work and then get some loans and then a lot of waitressing jobs, but Pell grants were there. All of those things where there so that I could become successful in life and I look at my little baby girl and I think, are we on track to make sure those opportunities available for her and her generation? And I think we can do better and that's why I'm running, is to make sure that we focus on Illinois' families, those working families that are struggling to get by and we focus on our small businesses that are the engine of our economy. Let's focus on them first. That's why I'm running.
[listens to question from audience]
Well, you know, I think that Senator Kirk, if you look at his votes on the Ryan budget, he has voted to defund Medicare as we know it and that guarantee. He continues to support tax cuts for large corporations at the expense of small businesses. And then he wants to, again, you know, provide tax cuts and credits for the wealthiest Americans at the expense of working families. I want to make sure we focus on pre-k education. We want to make sure that instead of shrinking Pell grant programs we expand Pell grant programs. And that those opportunities are there for entrepreneurs and the small businesses who are the ones who drive this economy, who hire my neighbors, who stay in Illinois—and that's where we should be focused.
[listens to question from audience]
I'm proud of my work here in the state of Illinois. When I was state director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, we started so many first-in-the nation programs and I stand proudly on that record. We started the first 24-hour hotline for veterans with mental health crises. We started the only program in the nation that gave tax credits to employers who hire veterans, understanding that employers take a risk when they do that. You know, and in Washington—I know I've only been there short time—but let me tell you. I stood up to my own party multiple times. I voted against the medical device tax for the Affordable Care Act. I also stood up when the President wanted to arm unknown Syrian rebels and say hey, I can't answer your questions as to who these rebels are, I can't vet them for you, but trust us, we're going to get the weapons to them. I stood up and I asked those tough questions, so I think if you look at my record you'll see that I have consistently been an independent voice and that I bring every unique perspective to the discussion. Thank you.
[listens to question from audience]
Well, let's look at the example of the recent budget that passed out of the House or look at the Ryan budget that Senator Kirk has voted for. It places a priority on tax cuts for large corporations but it funds some of that by taking cuts away from middle-income families by cutting programs for SNAP and other programs that help the most vulnerable. If you look at the recent budget that just passed the House, for example, it keeps sequestration in place and yet it throws an extra $90 billion into overseas funding for the Department of Defense. Which I support getting the Department of Defense the funds it needs, but let's not cut the social programs that really help working families across this great state. If we're gonna do this we need to do in a responsible way.
[listens to question from audience]
There are many places that you can cut if you take a look. Let me tell you about some of the things that I've done in Congress already. I passed legislation—bipartisan—I went to the chairman of the Armed Services Committee and I said, you know, one of the problems we have right now is there's a program where the Department of Defense had been buying spare parts for the Stryker military vehicle that it no longer uses. It uses it in some places, but the variants that are being used now are not the ones they were buying spare parts for. They never ended the spare parts program. There's $900 million in spare parts sitting in a warehouse in Georgia. We kept just sending the check out. So I went to the chairman of the committee—the Republican chairman who'd been there for decades and said, "This is wrong." And he said, "You're right. Let's figure out a way to do it." I said, "Well, let me propose not providing the DOD with any more money for the Stryker program they have remaining, till they come back to us and tell us how they're going to recover that billion dollars of taxpayer money." And you know what—they did. And let me tell you about something else that I've done. I've lead by example. I've lead by example. I returned during sequestration $10,000 of my own pay. I figured that if the people of Illinois had to suffer 8.3 percent in cuts to programs, like for education, then members of Congress should do…. I was the first member of Congress to do that. And then I returned a $100,000 of own office budget back to the taxpayers. It's about setting an example and it's about finding the money where you can. It's a billion dollars for the Stryker spare parts program. There are all sorts of different…. We have a contract in Afghanistan sole-sourced to a Swiss company to provide food that overcharged us by almost $700 million. We need to find the places where we can cut and then we need to go after those programs that gave tax loopholes to wealthiest families, that protect large businesses that send jobs overseas at the expense of the businesses that stay here in Illinois and work hard to employ people right here in Illinois.
[listens to question from audience]
You know, I expect that there will be a lot of outside money coming into this race. But I've seen that before and when I ran for Congress in 2012, the Koch brothers were in, and all these large business interests that want to safeguard those tax cuts for themselves at the expense of working families. They're going come into play. But let me tell you that what I learned in 2012 and the way that I'm going to conduct myself during this campaign, is I'm going to go out and talk to the people across this great state. That's why I'm here in Springfield today, launching my campaign, because it's about the people. And so what if the money comes in? The most important factor in all of this are the people of this great state, and I'm going to go out and talk to them personally.
[listens to question from audience]
You know, I've talked to them. I did let them know that I was thinking about running, and then I also let them know that I was declaring. That's the extent of my conversations with my colleagues. But I think one of the things that you need to know is that we, as Democrats, even if there's a primary, we'll be united in the fact that Senator Kirk has really been responsible when some of his actions in the Senate, whether it's those votes for tax cuts for the rich, for those companies that send jobs overseas or whether it's by signing on to that letter to the Iranian president undermining our own nation in international talks.
[listens to question from audience]
Well, I don't know who's running for president in 2016. If Hillary Clinton runs, she's from Illinois. She'd be welcome to come to Illinois to campaign, and she is a friend, but I'm going to hold her accountable. I actually sit on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Congress. I think that all of her official emails in the State Department should be released, not just to the members of the committee like myself, but to all of the American public. Transparency is the best policy. All of her official email should be released to the American people. They should be able to read them all. There's going to be some that are classified and those that are classified, then show those to a bipartisan group of members of Congress. We all have the clearance to look at them. But I've looked at this. I'm on the Oversight Committee, I'm on the Benghazi committee, I'm on Armed Services. I think transparency is better, and she needs to come before the Benghazi committee and testify as well.
[listens to question from audience]
Well, you know, Marker can defend corporations and people who avoid paying their fair share of taxes by using tax havens oversees all he wants, but let me tell you. I'm very passionate about this issue because these companies that are here in the United States—they use our public roads that you and I, as everyday taxpayers, pay for. They expect the fire department to show up and respond when there's a fire in their factories. They expect the police to be there to safeguard their property. And yet they use tax loopholes said to send money overseas. No. Let's invest in the companies that stay here for a change. I am very passionate about the issue. But you know, the companies that hide their money overseas cost us over $20 billion. Think of what Illinois could do with $20 billion to help working families across this great state. Marker can defend the practice of sending money overseas all he wants. I'm gonna focus on making sure we have things like pre-k education, that we have expanded Pell grants, that we provide tax cuts to those companies that invest in Illinois for a change.
[listens to question from audience]
I said companies that go abroad to do that—I feel very strongly that you have left your country behind when you do that, and your loyalty should be here. And pay your fair share. Because it's not fair to those working families that are working two jobs, sometimes three, trying to get by, trying to pay the mortgage, trying to make sure that they save some money for college for their kids. They're paying their fair of share taxes. They don't have the benefit of an overseas shell corporation to hide their wealth. Let's invest in them for a change. That's who I believe in and that's who I'm running in the Senate to serve.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you for being here.
[listens to question from audience]
This is the last question—okay.
In the time that I have served in the military and overseas, one of the things that I've seen is that when other nations view us, they don't see Republican-American, Democratic-American, Libertarian-American, Independent-American. They see America. And when our nation is engage in foreign policy and it's dealing with other nations, we as a nation should not undermine our own nation's efforts. You know, I didn't think that the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do, but I was proud to go when President Bush commanded as the commander in chief for me to go serve in Iraq. I went and I went proudly, and I'm proud of my service to this day. But I wasn't about to stand up and undermine my own president internationally, and that's what that Letter 47 has done. It has are undermined the best efforts of this great nation, and we as Americans need to stick together. We got some trying times right now. We have an economy that's just starting to grow, but we need to invest more in it. Our kids are falling behind kids around the world because they don't have the type of education programs that are there. College is getting more expensive. We need to be united. And to come together in a very partisan way sent a letter to a foreign nation that does not have America's best interests at its heart, that undermines our nation's unity. I think it's very irresponsible and it's certainly not befitting of a United States senator.
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