the trade-off, the zero-sum dynamic looking at this very moment, you make a conversation about each of these areas what we are dealing with in this transition that we know we have critical abilities in their from the national security and for every specter we feel we are vulnerable in particular, it creates a sense of security. ...

that it creates anxiety and nervousness in other parts of the world. so where we are today in terms of resilience and diversification in supply chains is not one want to be. we are today in terms of the clean transition in terms of future pro-climate economy and world is not where we know we need to be. the question is how you get from here to there. we will say this is respect to supply chain. making changes now over the period of this transition is going to help to manage inflationary risks. so in each particular moment you might say this means that this could might cost more today. but if you look at it from a more holistic medium-term perspective, right?

supply chain diversity and supply chain resilience is actually a management tool for inflation. for as long as they're concentrated pockets for production and supply. this is internationally but also the logic behind taking on, players in our economy. for as long as you have that kind of dominance you're going to have in the hands of certain players the ability to distort the market and to take advantage of that dominance by jacking up prices. whether it's shrink collation or agreed or international context economic coercion. it's really, you think about the trade-off as between today and tomorrow it's not zero-sum at all. in fact, these changes are ones

that we need to be able to manage not being faced with the same risks over and over and over again. >> so let's open it up. yes. right here. >> thank you very much for that, ambassador. >> identifiers up. >> sorry. allie. sleights of interest because -- opposite number in uk who's the trade secretary of state. i want to ask you a question about allies i guess you call traditional allies with similar to both the con ed's with uk come here for those further afield. what is the role with respect u.s. trade policy to this countries for those entities? there's been a lot of privatization about the region for various regions understandable but look at an agreement like pieces which ambassador froman was to go shooting i remember there's a big focus on that being kind of

that agreement is going to bring together a critical mass to influence way which trade policy and to some extent state regulations are set. we moved on from that. and when we see the role in trade policy with those kind of l.a.? >> the question is the role for partners, and i would say those partners, there still are partners and still encode important. when you talk about some evolution in our approach, just want to be clear. the evolution and our approach is about what should be in those things come in those agreements, what should be in the exercises and the cooperation of undertake with our partner. this is not a walk in with the most partners at all. in fact, you will see how much time i spend in brussels come how much time i spent in asia and in the pacific over the course of the last three years and you will see the prioritization of our like-minded partners are conditional partners if you will is the very much there. in fact, i think was in 2021 the first year at the g7 g7 trade

track was introduced and its continued every year because without it be an important platform for those allies in particular and being able to have an honest conversations around how are you going to adapt the way that we work through the challenges that we are facing? i was saying in this context one of the topics that comes up in the g7, in the g20 i want to emphasize in the g7 especially because g7 is a small group of allies and partners. it is a very well-to-do group of economies and countries that even in the g7 you see a large part of the conversation that is also reflected in g20 and apec and the wto, one around the question of how we engage with how we partner with more successfully other partners that are in the developing world. the less advanced economies and how we can advance more

successful templates for trade and economic partnerships. and i think that that also is really important part of what we're trying to accomplish including through reform at the wto, which is what is a 2024 modern trade and globalization vision that breaks is even further out of past patterns and postcolonial patterns. >> jennifer hillman, way back there in the back, senior fellow at the council. >> thank you very much. georgetown law school and the council of foreign relations. thank you very much, ambassador tai. wanted to turn to the political context of trade policy. i am thinking about a study that just came out by m.i.t. economist david alter who was the author the phrase famous china shocked paper about the

damage china's imports did to the u.s. economy. and their recent study finds four thinks. one is a trump tariffs and 332 did not do any good for the u.s. economy in the heartland. secondly, did not bring back any jobs in the protected sector. thirdly, that the retaliation tariffs from china actually did cause a significant negative harm, especially on the farmers. and fourthly, and this is what i am really wanting you to comment on, that what the tariffs to do is increase medical support for trump and for the republican party. now, the biden administration has kept all those tariffs in place and so i'm just wondering kind of way that leaves room for any maneuvering engines of the political context in which we find ourselves with respect to trade policy generally, or the tariffs specific. >> great.

jennifer, i'm not surprised that you asked this question about surprise of the questions and maybe even that study is focus on the tariffs. something i want to be really open about. i think reducing trade policy and u.s. trade policy down to a conversation about tariffs is really unfair, and a think ultimately not conducive to a really robust appreciation for what trade policy is. in many ways it's a red herring, and you're right i think there's something political about it but i don't think it's at is r, r versus the politics. i think it's a political rehearing that is continually fostered by kind of the traditional trade approach versus nd to evolve into a new trade -- new trade approach. let me say more about that. what is really important to appreciate about tariffs is that

they are a tool. they are a tool that can be used in constructive ways. they are a to a lease for us in trade remedies. i know this is very much your background, dumping countervailing safeguards. they are a playing field leveling tool, , a tool for limiting unfair trade. actually, like the way the europeans described these types of tools dumping counter filter they call them trade defense instruments. in within the rule of the wto what is blessed by wto our trade remedies and trade defense and the use of tariffs to counterbalance unfair trade like dumping an illegal subsidizatio subsidization. but it also want to reflect is that trade policy and economic policy isn't just tariffs. and this is something want to distinct on behalf of the biden administration because we are

focused on reinvigorating the american middle class and the american economy, ensuring that there is more opportunity in our economy, that we can address an increasing sense of economic insecurity that americans, especially younger americans, have been feeling over the past ten, 20 years. right? and that what we have done is to deploy a set of tools. you're right that we have kept a lot of the tariffs because we see strategic value in those tariffs in this exercise the building of the middle class and reinvigorating american manufacturing and the american economy. but we haven't stopped there, right? trade and tariffs are not the only tools you'll need to accomplish those goals. i like to highlight one of the pillars of the bible economic approach which is the investment. starting with infrastructure, going to science inflation reduction act and the clean

technology investments and incentives that president biden has effectuated against many peoples expectations and just the past three years. and so from our perspective it is, if the economy doesn't as it operates make a distinction between all these different disciplines and titles that we've created and the way we approach it, then i'll approach need to break down the silos and they need to take the tariffs as a tool, the investments as another tool to help reinforce, policies that support and empower our workers and to encourage our partners to be supporting and accounting their workers. and then also promoting economic vitality opportunities for reinforcement of our competition law. that when taken together we can

see we are trying to accomplish. and when taken together i would welcome anyone to do a study and look at all of these working in concert and how did make changes to use economy. i think at this point president biden has created close to 1 million new manufacturing jobs. you have to be looking at all these policy vectors as combined by picking and choosing them i think really does trade policy as part of the economic policy family and significant injustice. >> let's go to a comment or question from a a virtual audience. >> we'll take an excavation. >> i, ambassador. i am with georgetown law. standard question. i was also formerly the lead international tax official treasury and first couple years of this administration. i thought you made insightful points about how data has value

and there are companies that are harvesting the state and we need to figure out how we going to regulate data accumulation as a result. but that same language exactly which is often used by some of our trading partners as a justification for tax-based rules that are limited in application to a very small companies, companies that -- [inaudible] that approach ends up defining a small group of companies that are exclusively or almost exclusively -- i wonder which would say about that? do we continue to have nondiscrimination concern? could you say more about how you think the data value conversation should move forward multilaterally bringing together the trade stuff and tax of? >> sure. nice to hear your voice, and i loved that you identified yourself as a tax made because some of these issues were trade and tax come to correct pushback when you say why did you make more progress to make my life a little easier?

[laughing] i do feel that way but also like you very much so i'm sort of just kidding. [laughing] so yes, nondiscrimination is one of the pillars on which are multilateral trading system is based. so that is something we're always going to be looking at. the other piece of the puzzle though is when you look at, and so were talking of data and technology. when you look at the big tech players they are almost all our copies, right? and i think that there is an important space we need to leave for other countries and other partners to be regulating legitimately in the public interest and not to be protecting their own market. when looking at the biggest countries in the world that happened to be american companies. side note, a question that i've

been asking i think my tax colleagues are important to answering this question, what is an american company? if you talk about being headquartered here in the u.s., are that all headquartered here if were tied by the companies that i think we're talking about? because from a tax perspective and again i'm not a tax person, i just work in your tax people of my life and a been told that trade is less important than tax, but it's still a thing. how many of our big tech companies are actually for tax purposes headquartered in other places and acts of paying taxes that are as opposed to paying taxes here? if that's that the addition of an american company, i don't have to ask you and others how many of these american companies are actually really american companies and how to set informed the discoloration conversation? but i do you really want to enforce is that we are looking at this issue of data and value.

we have so many unanswered questions, and i'm going, this is a bit aside from the question you ask but i think a bit of a segue here. i'm often asked if what we did in terms of withdrawing attributions and as of the space to come back to the wto with updated u.s. positions in the wto conversation is somehow some kind of a surrender to other approaches to the digital economy, in particular a surrender to the chinese approach to digital regulation control. this gives me an opportunity to say this, just of everything that we know with respect to data flows and china, that prc's approach is one that is really informed by control especially by the government. and possession. so that what we see in terms of

how the worldwide digital economy works, we know that the prc is going to be looking for lot of room to restrict data flows to have the government tell companies where data can flow, where it can reside, that it must be localized within their border. and what we know is data flows into china, it doesn't flow back out and that all that data eventually will either be in the possession of or be accessible to the state. we know that we would look at that model it really does reflect our value. that is not what we want. i think we have actually a lot of consistency with many of our trading partners, that's not the system that we want. on the flipside, we take a look at ourselves and where we are right now, what i would observe is we have a system that is very

little regulation. in fact, i've been told by my friends on the hill whichever part of his political spectrum they might sit on, that an american has no privacy rights to their data here in the united states, and that just doesn't feel right and that something they are trying to do something about. but that in our system the data that is created by all of us is captured and accessed by not the state a small set of extremely powerful, extremely rich companies. and if that suggest me that we are on the other side of the spectrum were a lot of our closest partners are looking at us and, in fact, even our own policy makers are looking at where we are and say that isn't the right balance either, that what we need to do is figure out from a tax perspective but also more broadly from a regulatory

perspective what is the place? where is the united states? what is our approach? that's not to say trade doesn't have a place in this conversation but what i would suggest is that if we only eating trade and trade negotiations, that is very much a tail wagging the dog, that that much, much bigger issues for our policy decision-making and debate to resolve and address first, and it's not all about the trade rules but i thank you for your indulgence. >> we all look for to congress legislating anything. [laughing] including privacy. so hopefully they will get their act together. why don't we go here to the center. >> thank you so much, ambassador type. i know that trade goes far byun

terrace, ottawa to return to tariff once again because one of the of the human our proposals in the context of our electoral campaign but not even juicier, globally, that would be that trade defense for trade remedies by kind of a blanket unilateral increase of tariffs and just given everything that you and ambassador froman were talk about, global trading system et cetera, what do you see as being when the feel so attracted politically, , but when inflationary backbenchers of consumers but under services sector, on our manufacturing and, frankly, just the retaliation risk as far as what have countries would do to use exports. how do you think this threat here and about trading pat be addressed? thank you. >> so i think you described it as an elephant in the room but i think that's actually a person you're talking about, right? i guess what i would say is

this. everybody just take a breath. when tariffs come up, i don't know, just really channel you are trade nerd self and recognize that tariffs are a tool, that they can be, they can be emotional and they can be hyper dramatic and greasing them used in that way in the past. whether is coming from us or from others in our national debate, take the time, interrogate, interrogate what is being proposed and ask what, what would this action be done for? what is the objective? it's a little bit like the flipside of trade liberalization for trade liberalization sake. let's ask what larger purposes liberalization might serve and how we can use liberalization as a tool to accomplish these goals. for me it's at this point

everything we've seen in the world economy it in that conversation how this trade liberalization and other tools may be harnessed to promote sustainability, and more inclusive economic outcomes. on the tariffs inside a cell is take the same approach, which is to say tariffs should be applied just for tariffs sake but as the secondary question, which is what is a goal you're trying to accomplish with those tariffs, and whether or not you can articulate a coherent, a strategic approach. i think from my perspective get colleges ring it back to the way that we have approached the issue of tariffs and trade policy has been to contextualize it around the overall goal of building out the middle class, reinvigorated america's economy and how they can work with our

partners on a constructive vision for how we do all of this together. >> my prerogative, chat at the peers as it has looked at her tariffs on chinese and if i didn't into strategic and on nonstrategic. so errors would want to be sure and create manufacturing, other areas that there's no great strategic value. what is answered your own question? what is our strategic justification for keeping tariffs on nonstrategic sector? >> i believe chat has asked the state department. so we should ask him whether he still stands by where he drew the line to run strategic and nonstrategic. because i think in concept, yes, there are things that are more strategic him things and it would feel like are less strategic when a strategic but i think that it's actually a really, really important question and it is a hard one. what a strategic and what isn't. we clearly did not think that

cervical mass, surgical medical grade gloves and ventilators without strategic. and so we let that go wherever it was going to go. and in the early days of the pandemic, boy, did that hurt us a lot. so one of the stores a came out of the pandemic was all of our textile manufacturers were told your interest at the strategic. they've been told a long time and yet we know that it is important. it politically important and ustr has for very long time had a textile office and negotiator. it was that textile industry, what we still have that was able to repurpose their capability and to step up and actually start producing some of these things that we really deficient entering the pandemic and to save us. i think that is overly powerful

question that you've asked around where you draw the line from strategic and nonstrategic. it's that necessary obvious you think the second question is who's responsible is it to draw those lines? i think that is actually an important part of what we need to do as a government is to figure out how we approach that. >> last question here. >> kimberly reed, past chairman of the expert import bank in the tree. today is an important day, i would join usually at the white house to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the export-import bank. you serve as an ex officio member of the bank. when i left in 2021 we worked hard to reopen the agency, essentially had been shut for four years because of congress and torn it can was my confirmation year we reopen it. when i left in 2021 we have 40 thing to dingdong in her book. when hundred $35 billion lending. that's financing to the foreign

barstow the world by american. right now i'm not privy to into information but it looks like we're still about 40 billion. so we have the ability to keep lending a lot more to help the world and exim is falling behind other countries like france, like china, germany, et cetera. what else should we be doing to really say to the world by us? >> well, i think this reinforces the overall goal that we have in terms of reinvigorating the american manufacturing economy. one additional item is its 95 -- 95% of consumers live outside our borders and we want to so them what is recognizing we actually, the world's biggest importer but second of all there's a limit to what you can sell abroad. what's limiting that is how much we make at home, right? so i think i'm very pleased to

have a robust and functioning ask him sibling in the family -- exim -- administration agencies. another member of the team, the economic team and the international economic team to be working with. and i think that as we adapt our approach to new reality to looking at sustainability, both for the plant and for people, resilience of supply chains and where things are produced, the diversification there, that exim is an incredibly important partner of ours. i couldn't be more pleased to be on an ex officio member of the exim board and can navigate all of these decisions and all these opportunities with an agency like exim. >> let me formally recognized first ambassador carla hill who is here who also to ustr looked up to as a great role model. also she's on the board of

directors on the council on foreign relations, so she is one of my minibuses. [laughing] great to have her here. please join in thanking ambassador tai. [applause] >> former house clerk cheryl hnson to retire the less you willecve the u.s. capitol the stork society award. e will be joined by former house speaker nan posi and kevin mccarthy. you can watch liv coverage of the starting at 4:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span2 also online at c-span.org and honor at c-span now. >> a healthy democracy doesn't just look like this. it looks like this, where americans can see democracy at work, where citizens are truly informed, , a republic thrives.

did informed straight from the source on c-span. unfiltered, unbiased, word r word. from the nation's capital to wherever you are. because the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. >> pennsylvania governor josh shapiro gave his annual budget address before a joint session of the general assembly in harrisburg picky outline his main policy initiatives which include education funding, affordable housing, reducing gun violence and efforts to raise the minimum wage. the governors speech is about 90 minutes. [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] >> thank you very much. lieutenant governor davis, madam speaker mcclinton, madam president pro tem ward. leader pittman, leader costa, leader bradford, leader cutler. thank you for convening this special session and giving me the honor of addressing you today. while i'm grateful to see the house and the senate gathered here together, i'm also mindful that one of our colleagues is not able to be with us. representative joe kerwin from

upper paxton township is currently 7,000 miles away, on deployment with the pennsylvania national guard. to representative kerwin and every member of the pennsylvania national guard at home and abroad, thank you for your service to our commonwealth and to our country. you are the very best of us. [applause] we're joined by the love of my life, my best friend since the 9th grade, my wife and our first lady, lori shapiro. [applause]

they are standing for you. [applause] ice what you all to know she's going to kill me for that. i'm privileged to work alongside my incredible senior staff and cabinet, led by my chief of staff dana fritz, who collectively represent one of the most impressive groups of public servants ever assembled in pennsylvania. and finally, i want to recognize the hardworking folks from dgs and cms who made this address possible. you see, today, we gather for an historic address. in the 118 years since president theodore roosevelt stood right there and dedicated this grand capitol, the pennsylvania general assembly has never held a joint session in this rotunda, and the governor has never

delivered a budget address here, until today. i want to thank madam speaker mcclinton for deciding to convene this session here and inviting me to deliver these remarks. like many of you i've walked through this building many times over the past two decades. when i'm under this dome i tried to slow down and look up. it feels like each time something new catches my attention. you know, if you look up now, you can see the blue words circling the walls. those words are a quote from our founder, william penn, written before he ever set foot in what would be pennsylvania. at a time when he was in prison for his religious beliefs, penn wrote of his dream of a place where people of all religions, all backgrounds could live together in peace, there may be room there for such a holy experiment, he said, speaking of north america.

for the nations want a precedent and my god will make it the seed of the nation. that an example may be set up to the nations. that we may do the thing that is truly wise and just. above those words, there is a mural painted by philadelphia native, edwin austin abbey. abbey's mural, the spirit of religious liberty, shows penn's ships leaving england, in search of freedom and a new home. penn had a vision of a place that would be an example to the nations, a place of tolerance, peace, and prosperity. where leaders would make wise and just decisions in service to all people. penn's vision was of a commonwealth that would welcome people of all backgrounds. a commonwealth where everyone would have the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed. a commonwealth where the

government is responsive to the needs of the people and works together to get stuff done. i'm mindful that we're all part of that lineage. a long tradition that stretches back nearly 343 years, to previous governors and leaders of this commonwealth and general assembly who have all worked together to make progress and build a more just, inclusive society. a century after that mural was painted, penn's promise still rings true in these hallways, and it's on us to carry it forward. my own faith teaches me that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it. that means each of us has a responsibility to get off the sidelines, get in the game, and do our part. and that, doing our part, is what i want to talk to you about today. although this is a unique

setting for a budget address, it's not the only thing unique about the group assembled here today. you see, pennsylvania is the only state in the nation with a divided legislature. in these hyperpolarized times, we are the only state where one chamber is controlled by democrats and the other is controlled by republicans. that means nothing gets done unless it has support from members of both parties. we need to compromise and give a little to get anything done. so while we've had some challenging moments, i think we've all learned from them, myself included. we've learned how to work together to get stuff done and deliver the kind of commonsense solutions i talked about last year. just look at all we've been able to do together. because we worked together, children are now learning on full bellies, there are more cops on the beat, and we trained an additional 6,000 apprentices last year. [applause]

because we worked together, poultry farmers were able to get back on their feet, and businesses are now looking to pennsylvania as a place of great opportunity. because we worked together, we cut costs for seniors and working families and put more money back in their pockets at a time when they're worried about high prices. here in pennsylvania, we get stuff done. together. and when we do accomplish something here in harrisburg, when we move the ball down the field, it's important to celebrate that and focus on the progress we're making, not on the fact that we didn't get 100 percent of what we asked for. so let's build on that progress. one year after taking office, i can report that the commonwealth of pennsylvania is on strong financial footing. thanks to sound fiscal management in our first year, all three major credit rating agencies improved our outlook or

gave us an upgrade. and as a result of that good stewardship and those ratings improvements, taxpayers are saving nearly $100 million that otherwise would have gone to big banks and investment firms as a result of higher interest rates. those savings are on top of the nearly 14 billion dollar surplus available to us at the end of this fiscal year. last year, we cut taxes. this budget continues that, it does not call for a tax increase. but now is the time to invest some of that $14 billion surplus squirreled away here in harrisburg. hear me on this. it is not a badge of honor, nor is it something to be politically proud of for some lawmakers out there to say, i took more money from the good people of pennsylvania than i needed and then bragged about how i just kept it in some bank account here in the capitol.

[applause] it's true. it's true. of course we need to prepare for an emergency and a rainy day, and this budget does that. in fact, even the ratings agencies have said that there's too much money sitting in surpluses around the country instead of being driven out into our communities. i don't want to take any more from the people of pennsylvania than we need to. instead, i want to invest in them. i want to help our commonwealth overcome the challenges we face. we need to build a more competitive pennsylvania that starts in our classrooms, runs through our union halls and our small businesses, through our farmlands and our high rises, our college campuses, and leads to a life of opportunity and a retirement with dignity. we need to keep people safe, make sure they have access to the medical treatments and care they need, and build communities where they see a future of

opportunity. so with a competitive spirit, a fervent belief in our fellow pennsylvanians, and excitement about our future, i present to you my budget. let's start with our kids, because real opportunity begins in our classrooms. this body has already shown a commitment to investing in our students, our teachers, and our future. last year, we made the largest single-year increase in basic education funding in pennsylvania history, but we didn't stop there. together, we delivered universal free breakfast for 1.7 million students so our kids can start the day with a full belly, ready to learn. [applause] we delivered $100 million to put more mental health resources in our schools so our kids can get the help that they need. we delivered $175 million for

repairs in school buildings so we can replace lead pipes, remove dangerous asbestos, and fund, to triggers to make sure classrooms are air-conditioned in august and heated in january. and we've begun to address the teacher shortage by making sure those who are just getting started in the profession get paid for their hard work. all of those investments were new last year all because we worked together. that was an excellent first step. but we all know, and the court has ruled, that we need a constitutional, comprehensive solution to guarantee every student the thorough and efficient education they are entitled to under article iii section 14 of our state constitution. [applause] so let's build on the work we've

already done together. the same court that held our system of funding unconstitutional directed us to get around the table and come up with a better system. it should be noted that everyone here, legislators from both parties in both chambers, accepted the remedy the court put forth by virtue of your decision not to appeal that ruling. with that decision, republican leaders agreed to come to the table and fix the way we fund education. and so, we began that work together. the basic education funding commission heard from folks across the commonwealth and traveled to communities big and small, rural, urban, and suburban alike. members of the general assembly and their staff, alongside members of my administration, worked hard over the past year, meeting with advocates, parents, teachers, and administrators to prepare their report. last month, they delivered that report and outlined a path forward to deliver a comprehensive solution on k-12 education in pennsylvania. and now, following the general

contours of that report, my budget invests $1.1 billion in new funding this year for our schools. [applause] that's right. and it makes sure no school gets less than they did last year as we drive these dollars out in a more equitable manner. nearly $900 million of that will be sent to support our school children under a new adequacy formula so we can ensure every school has the appropriate level of resources they need to serve their students. on top of that, my budget increases special education funding by another $50 million, because we all recognize that

some students need more resources and more support. and it invests another $30 million in pre-k programs to help recruit and retain the teachers who get our kids off to a great start. while we make these new investments, my budget also builds on the progress we made last year by addressing some of the big challenges in our schools. we're continuing to fund universal free breakfast during the school year, but we're also making sure no kid goes hungry during the summer by funding the summer food service program. that's something we should be proud of. [applause] we should. think about it. think about this. and at a time when some governors are eschewing federal funding that would ensure kids are well-fed over the summer, we've already shown that we, pennsylvania democrats and republicans alike, care about our kids and that we will come together to feed them. this budget also includes more for student mental health.

our students are calling out for help and support, and we need to be there for them. and it builds on the down payment we made last year to fund school repairs. consider this, the scranton school district alone has identified more than $300 million in necessary repairs, everything from installing a new fire sprinkler to removing lead paint. the sto-rox school district in mckees rocks has at least $14 million worth of work that's needed. all three of their school buildings need urgent roof repairs to prevent leaks when it rains. and the panther valley school district in schuylkill and carbon counties told the basic education funding commission that kindergarteners are forced to learn in rooms without air conditioning because they can't afford the upgrades. look, i could go on and on. you get my point. we need to invest lot more to help these districts maintain safe and healthy learning environment for students. so my budget builds on the progress we've made, setting aside $1.5 billion, including

300 million this year alone, to make our schools healthy and safe. [applause] this is impacting students and parents in districts all across pennsylvania. and it's impacted one of your colleagues too. a couple months ago, i had a meeting with representative fiedler in my office. i was a little surprised when she showed up with her two kids, who were in tow that day because their school was closed after asbestos was detected. i was happy to see representative fiedler's kids and i'm sure they enjoyed their time in the capitol. but there are a lot of other families out there who would have had to miss part of a paycheck, miss a day's work, because we didn't do our part to make our schools safer. and while we repair those broken pipes in our schools, we also need to repair the pipeline of

professionals who go into teaching. because right now, pde reports there are about 5,500 teacher vacancies across pennsylvania. and that's in large part because fewer people are choosing to become teachers. ten years ago, pennsylvania certified nearly 20,000 new teachers every year. last year, we certified only 5,000 because so few people applied. we've taken some steps as a commonwealth to improve this. we sped up the time it takes to get a new teacher their certification, from over 12 weeks to just under three. we're giving stipends to student teachers for the first time [applause] but here's the thing. rebuilding that pipeline takes time, and we need to do more. that's why my budget proposes additional investments in student teachers and talent recruitment so we can expose more young people to the joys of teaching and nurturing our kids.

two months ago in hershey, i presented the teacher of the year award to ms. ashlie crosson from mifflin county. it was awesome to see so many teachers together in one room. they talked to me about how rewarding their profession is, but also that they need more help and support. that's why we're putting more mental health resources in our schools and we're working to help our kids improve their reading ability and stem skills. i also heard from those teachers about how they're confronting the misinformation kids are finding online and bringing into the classroom. we need to address that. i'm especially mindful of this during black history month. dr. martin luther king, jr. wrote, education must train one for quick, resolute, and effective thinking. to think incisively and to think for one's self is very difficult. we are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda, king wrote.

look, our children are being fed half-truths, prejudices, and propaganda nearly every day on their phones and social media. we give them devices with access to the entire world at a young age, but never teach them how to use them. lori and i see this as parents. i don't care whether our kids take a position on the left or on the right, but i do care that they're able to discern fact from fiction. [applause] that's why i've directed the department of education to develop a toolkit for teachers and parents on digital literacy and critical thinking. this is important, and it follows on the good work you did

last year when you passed and i signed into law a bill that requires schools to teach financial literacy. [applause] we need to ensure our young people are prepared for the world that they are living in. we also need to update antiquated state laws that cost our school districts too much money. let me give you an example. when the charter school law was first adopted in 1997, the idea of going to a cyber school was new and relatively few parents sent their kids there. but today, nearly 60,000 pennsylvania students go to cyber charters. however, we've never gone back and reevaluated how we fund these schools. cyber charters get the same amount per student as brick-and-mortar schools do. and it varies district by district. in practice, that means one district might pay $7,000 to a

cyber charter while another has to pay $10,000 to the exact same school. and while cyber charters certainly need adequate funding to operate, logic would dictate that two students going to the same school, getting the same education, would pay the same rate. logic would also dictate that they need less than a brick-and-mortar charter school simply because they don't have the same physical infrastructure. [applause] i know there's bipartisan consensus that these antiquated laws need to be updated. so let's come up with a uniform rate that actually reflects what it costs to send a kid to a cyber charter school. let's say we set a rate of $8,000 per student, the amount set by a bill that passed the house last year in a bipartisan manner.

if we do that, we will level the playing field, and as a result, we'll be able to return $262 million back to our public schools. [applause] it gets better. if you combine those savings with the new money i'm proposing for our 500 school districts, that would mean nearly $2 billion more for our public schools next year. [cheers and applause] that's right. this is ambitious. none of this is easy and all of it will require us to work together. to stay at the table. to keep having the important

conversations. and look, one of those conversations will need to be about scholarships that let poor families in struggling school districts put their kids in the best position for them to succeed, whether that's paying for extra tutoring, books and computers, or yes, going to another school. the senate passed a proposal last year that included important elements of that, and it's something i support and consider to be unfinished business. i'm grateful house democratic leadership has committed to examine and seriously consider this proposal to address the needs of our most at-risk learners. so we've left room for the house and senate to find common ground on this. let's not shy away from the many difficult conversations around education. let's stay at it. our challenges around education aren't going to be solved in one

budget cycle, but we can make real progress toward a lasting, equitable solution. we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do right by our kids. let's seize this moment. [applause] if we do this right, we will not only set our young people up for individual success, but we will lift up our entire commonwealth in the process. and once those kids graduate from high school, we need to make sure they have the freedom to chart their own course and determine for themselves their next steps in life. i'm sick and tired of hearing someone say to a high school student, well, college just might not be right for you. maybe you should think about becoming a welder. hear me on this. that elitist attitude is wrong, and it hurts our commonwealth. [applause] if you're in the 10th or 11th

grade and you're excited about being a welder or a plumber, we should celebrate that. and we should treat that career path with the same level of respect as someone who chooses to go to college. [applause] we've shown that kind of respect in my administration. on my first day as governor, i signed an executive order announcing that 92% of commonwealth jobs do not require a college degree. and as a result, one year later, nearly 60% of the commonwealth's new hires don't have a college degree, but do have the necessary skills to help our fellow pennsylvanians. together, we've made record investments in vo-tech, apprenticeship programs, and on the job training. last year, i signed an executive order creating a first-in-the-nation initiative to train as many as 10,000 new workers here in pennsylvania over the next 5 years. so when the pittsburgh water &

sewer authority needs to replace lead service lines in a neighborhood like esplen where i visited last summer. we'll fund their new workers, workers who hopefully went through our school districts, went into an apprenticeship program and fell in love with the trades, and can go out and use their skills to deliver clean drinking water to our homes. i'm coming back to you today and including these investments in my budget once again because what we did last year is working. since then, my administration has registered 33 new apprenticeship programs and enrolled nearly 6,000 new apprentices statewide. we should be proud of that. [applause] thanks to our collective work, more pennsylvanians are training to become steelworkers in york county and machinists in elk county. we're training more apprentices in dairy herd management, water system operations, and cybersecurity.

we're giving pennsylvanians the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed. so let's keep at it. that's one of the reasons why i want to create a new career connect program to connect employers with talented young people and create thousands of internships over the next 10 years. because let's remember: there are many paths to success after high school. some of our young people will go into the military. some will go straight into the workforce. some will enter a union apprenticeship program. and some will go to college. we need to respect all paths to opportunity equally, and we need to invest in them. [applause] so let's now talk how we're going to help those who choose the path to college. in my budget address last year, i proclaimed our higher ed system broken and called for a new blueprint. you may recall, that was one of the moments when both sides stood up and applauded, because we all recognized the need for

us to come together and do something. let's be honest, what we're doing now isn't working. after 30 years of disinvestment, too many of our colleges and universities are running on empty and not enough students have affordable pathways through college and into good jobs. think about this. pennsylvania now ranks 49th for state investment in higher education, and 48th in higher education affordability. and by the way, dan, you want to be one and that 50 on that chart. -- gang. over the past decade, enrollment in our state system of higher education has dropped 30 percent and enrollment in our community colleges has dropped 37 percent. the faculty, staff, and administrators at these schools are working really hard, but they've been dealt a lousy hand. because of the legislature's disinvestment, colleges are being forced to duplicate degree programs, drive up costs, and actually reduce access. and so, for the better part of

the last decade, the conversations around higher ed in this building have been about subtraction. subtracting resources. subtracting services. subtracting access. pennsylvanians deserve better. we need to play a game of addition, not subtraction, and focus on building a world-class system of higher education. one that keeps our young people in the commonwealth, helps our students gain the skills they need, and provides businesses with the workforce they require to grow and be successful. a system focused on competitiveness, grounded in access and affordability. last year, i promised you i would come back with a plan. after a year of gathering feedback from higher education leaders across the commonwealth, i'm proud to present to you my blueprint for higher education. a blueprint that has earned the

support of higher ed leaders from every sector, from our community colleges and passhe schools to our hbcus and state-related universities. this plan has earned the support of students, workers, ceos, county commissioners, and mayors, and a good number of the folks in this room. a bold, forward-looking vision that i believe we can make happen. together. let me walk you through my three-part plan. first, we will build a new system for higher education that unites our passhe schools and our 15 community colleges. this new system will preserve local leadership while ensuring we're all rowing in the same direction. together, our public colleges and universities will create pathways to affordable credentials and degrees while opening up the doors of opportunity and meeting the commonwealth's workforce needs. ..

we need to fix the way we fund state relief. the nation's oldest hbc you making university. for too long, let's be clear we have subjected them to political gain. what are they getting by investing in these institutions if they are a loved one will go there?

in the past, state lawyers had to get a two thirds vote. under my plan, it will be a simple majority in the dollar turn into a dollar .10 or dollar .20 if they need the metrics and us we pay for performance, we ensure it is supportable.

one of our schools and systems one of our independent colleges said their part of the plan, next her after the system is in place, i'll come back to you and investing to 79 million directly and offset costs for students. under the plan, new student or family making immediate income or below will pay more than $1000 for tuition and fees in our new system and students in every school will increase by $1000. you pass my plan and make the investments i layout in the budget, we will jump 49th in the nation to 22nd in five years. it is time. [cheering and applauding]

to plan to build his blueprint for higher education and leave a lasting legacy because if we can ensure pennsylvanians receive a great education pre-k through a partnership all the way up to college graduation, if we can give pennsylvania the freedom to chart their own course an opportunity to succeed, economic opportunity will follow. [cheering and applauding] is on top of that foundation that we will build an economy in economic development, innovation and job creation. i've made it clear, pennsylvania is open for business. we hit the ground running as a result of direct engagement, we've secured $1.2 billion in the private sector. a global semiconductor putting 300 million in building the

largest specialty cap facility in the world. investing $190 million to create the first manufacturing line by an pharmaceutical. and a leader to relocate from massachusetts and it gives me great pleasure. [applause] unemployment is down.

[cheering and applauding] i want us to be the best and this time grabs our attention and resources. we got a strategy to deploy different tools and link up each one of them but in order to execute this, we need to invest. consider this, over the last

five years, our neighbors in new york and new jersey committed resources to economic development. ohio, one of the half-million in pennsylvania if they invested seven times more than economic development. you know what? there investment is paying off i'm sick and tired of losing to ohio. [cheering and applauding] last year my administration invited a group of meetings across the country and we asked whether honesty. these are the people who helped relocate or expand. the highly skilled workforce in

the way we perform government to make a move more quickly. they like the fact in this population but they told us it's nearly impossible because we don't have sites ready to go. other states are ready and permits are doing hookups and finally catch up and start this work now because it takes years to get ready and that's why thanks to the investment you made last year, we launched a program and ask for applications and 10 million immigrants available to developers and companies could begin to prosper. we received over 100 applications totally to $35 million in development. the demand is there but this community is ready and other

states are already doing it. i'm proposing a major investment, half a billion dollars and when it works, will usually get from the companies that prove to pay back their bonds. there is power in these. last night they joined me to announce the redevelopment kensington to turn it into high tech manufacturing and create 300 new jobs and it's oftentimes overlooked. that will change the face of the community and the old fauci will embrace innovation and aircraft and batteries in support clean energy sector. you see in the budget a new innovation, one that helps

startups support dreams and gives resources they need to go after the next discovery right here in pennsylvania. these sites are key to building our communities and combating climate change. i know there bills to pass, one of the most important things we can do is invest in clean economy and economic development plan will do that and help businesses succeed here in pennsylvania and when the businesses open up, who want to make sure employees were main street has small businesses and housing to support in a proposed 25 million for makeshift, building off the keystone -- [cheering and applauding]

building off keystone communities program to support all businesses, down start and main street across pennsylvania. at the same time the lunch pennsylvania regional competitive challenge and incentivize regional planning so local communities can work together for resources available to them. with met with local elected leaders to support their vision keep them in both parties. as result strong communities we need to make sure folks can get around safely and affordably. we started decoupling police funding and infrastructure which put them both in a stronger financial footing. 125 million available for road repairs. leveraging funding to get even

more federal dollars and as a result preparing 7000 miles of road base, 600 more miles than your before. this year a budget linked 25 billion available to make sure roads are safe and well to maintain. things every single day. major employers trains and trolleys to get employees to and from offices and seniors depend on right services were 2.1 million a year and it provides freedom and opportunity. the organizers coming right here

in 2020 and public transit and that's what they deserve and what are received in the major investment in public transit and more than a decade. [cheering and applauding] [cheering and applauding] across pennsylvania receiving $1.5 billion it would mean $40 billion this year alone, in northampton and millions more for others across the state.

i know this is especially important in southeastern pennsylvania and my administration has been working for months to address their challenges. i insisted they address concerns about cleanliness and safety and i've asked local counties whose residents benefit from additional support. addressing cleanliness and safety and entertain a willingness to increase financial support. working to do all the plans especially on safety in partnership in philadelphia for administration. i am now prepared to increase investment by 161 million bringing the total state funding to $1 billion. [cheering and applauding]

this investment will trigger automatic 15% from local counties raising another 24 million this year end based on our discussions, if you adopt this, they will not cut service workdays cares and a half a concrete plan for cleaner and safer public transit system to create economic opportunity to tell the. [cheering and applauding] my administration is focused on creating economic opportunity in every community, all like of you may have noticed for the first time economic development

strategy is a focus on government purchases and understand successes dependent on group misuse permit and have spent time on valley farm generation family farm. i see the farm as part of our heritage, i see it as a group of our success going forward. pennsylvania is home 63000 forms from 600,000 pennsylvanians working under pressure 132 billion to our state economy so not only is it disrespectful to form from it does make sense in the same sentence to talk about brightside manufacturing should be talking about the destiny of our farms and farmers develop places emphasis on aging. i want to help farmers of great

equipment take advantage of technology to the innovation fund. there's real innovation happening all across especially on our farms. i met his beautiful family and he joins us today. place into electricity not just for their firm but the neighborhood hereby. cupping her environment and his business, because the ingenuity of pennsylvania farmers work. invested in that, we need to do more on our farms across pennsylvania. the budget also invest in animal health and disease prevention funding a new testing laboratory and western pennsylvania. we have an animal testing lab in

the eastern part but not the western part of the state. a big oversight and flex budget close that gap to prevent herds, cap phlox. [cheering and applauding] is a statewide that runs from sky scrapers to firms, roads and rails and gives everyone a shot economic opportunity the matter what you look like or where you come from talk to so many business owners leica. newark in black-owned businesses in our free access to capital and we need to make sure there is opportunity for all to participate in our economy and all to build generational wealth and that's why we devoted new funding to support disadvantaged businesses in our last budget.

the first time the commonwealth directly from state dollars to create an opportunity for folks to long should have. small diverse businesses how hard it is the context despite his work we are looking for. the largest purchaser of goods and services in pennsylvania is our commonwealth and i signed executive order to help small businesses and we are already making progress. contractors to pay within ten days. [cheering and applauding] we raised the revenue cap so businesses could qualify and reduce the business to work with the commonwealth by 33%.

i'm not just doing this because it's the right thing to do, and it is, or doing it because it's the smart thing to do. a better service for prices and the good people pennsylvania, i'm not looking to give a handout, i want to give a hand up and create opportunity in our economy shot. [cheering and applauding] and in order to create the opportunity, pennsylvanians need to learn a decent wage earned a disk decent wage. [applause] [applause] >> ,. [cheering and applauding] let's be real.

minimum wage, 7.25 an hour for 15 years. if you don't know what it means, asked the secretary. it's time we raise minimum wage to 15000. [cheering and applauding] we are falling behind. anticompetitive and hurting our workers and every single one of our neighboring states has raised minimum wage. thirty other states across the country we seen proof of the

many workers would rather drive into another state to work so they can earn a higher wage than take a job in pennsylvania. some workers in the hospitality go to work in new york and believe employees here struggling to find help. raising the minimum wage will make them more competitive and create economic opportunity. my house pass the bill raised $15 an hour and i am encouraged to see the comments of the leaders in the senate to show willingness to engage on this issue and finally get this done together. the only place falling behind.

50% of voters in ohio supporting this initiative to legalize recreational marijuana. ohio, new york, new jersey, delaware and maryland, practically all of our neighbors legalize marijuana and we are losing out on an industry that would bring in more than $250 million in annual revenue. this only fuels the black market and much needed resources. i ask you to come together send a bill that legalize marijuana. this should ensure the industry is regulated and act responsibly

and here in pennsylvania especially in communities is proportionally harmed by criminalization. that bill should contain a provision for those convicted for nonviolent possessions of marijuana rather records expunged. [cheering and applauding] while we take steps to be more competitive, who got to be mindful with got to cut costs for folks. i've heard first-hand pennsylvanians were struggling.

two giant steps/utica cost. we put money back in the pockets for working families expanding the child tax credit. [applause] this year 210,000 families will get hundreds more back to pay for child care. we delivered the largest tax cut for seniors in nearly two decades by spending the property tax. [cheering and applauding] lawmakers complained for a while but together we got done and now 175,000 more seniors qualify for relief and those among unequal

she rates nearly double. no seniors can be priced out in the future. pennsylvanians have to work to pay the bills. let's work together to cut costs. take care of them. 60% of all homes in pennsylvania were built before 1970 and 20 are in dire need of a lot of homeowners can't afford the cost. her furnace gave out at the age of 72. even her oven. imagine that was your mother or grandmother, alone turning the oven on tuesday warm, we can't

accept that but they came together and created a home repairs program. one of the first recipient receiving $10000 grant to replace the tubes drafting doors in her house. just reading all to the program it was so strong as a waitlist and most counties as of last month, they've allocated all funding and eight times more people on the waitlist. seventy-five applications. but support them by investing another 50 million in the homes repair program. [cheering and applauding] 's demand is high and it's more

affordable. one of the most effective tools we have in the trust fund. construction and rehabilitation and its more affordable homes to cut costs for pennsylvanians. lower cost for homeowners and renters.

so let's be there for them. my budget investment allows them to keep on working in our economy. at the same time investment lower the premiums for an additional 400,000 pennsylvanians because if we do nothing here these folks will be priced out folks were uninjured drive up the cost of healthcare for all of us and save us all 20 later all we can do nothing and subject ourselves to higher costs. this is common sense stuff they're getting screwed by the high cost drugs, they keep raising prices and we don't know why.

negotiating drug prices they don't have to report the information in the insurance department. these are ppm's and they have made record profits. time to perform the operation and we are doing our part should we need legislation. and we need to help pennsylvanians crushed by medical. 1 million in this issue impacts rural communities. counties at the highest share of medical debt or green, bradford, franklin and mccain. 20% of residents carrying

medical debt combined with higher prices are marked this as an anchor only families and communities back. your credit course offers and makes it harder to reach financial ability. hospitals debt collection agencies within investment of 4 million to wipe out medical debt from pennsylvanians and give them the chance they need to succeed financially. [cheering and applauding] the crisis and in the past 20 years, 33 rural hospitals reduce

services or close completely. i expect to come back to address this question because if we cut the cost of healthcare we need to make sure it's available and accessible for everyone. unfortunately that is not the case for everyone. imagine 1 million pennsylvanians in your 60 years old caring for your adult what does disability. parents and caregivers doing everything right. one of those parents and her son

joins us today. lancaster county and visited june so instead, a 60-year-old single mom has battled her own challenges and is forced to provide for herself. people can't access it because there aren't enough caregivers in the reason is because they

don't get paid enough. we are asking a professional to do this incredibly difficult labor-intensive work and their paycheck yields about $12 an hour. so these caregivers want to help people home and community

survivors so they can take competitive rates to attract to provide life-changing services. [applause] 's imagine this was your kid. imagine if this was your kid who couldn't find the services needed in panel the only reason why a caregiver isn't available is because they are not getting a different decent wage because they refuse to raise wages. so let's make this the year we get it done. let's do this work together. [cheering and applauding]

show that this budget is just a bunch of numbers. a statement of our values and principles from our government to follow pennsylvanians especially when it shows how we care. this budget investment intervention and childcare because our kids deserve the support they need to go and development. raising snap benefits for low-income families because everyone deserves a healthy meal on the table at dinner time. this budget addresses the challenges for so many girls who lack access for hygiene projects

the first lady is tied this year meeting with these young women sharing their stories. school days because they got there. that had to run home in the middle of the day because nothing was available to them at school. this budget makes it available at no cost at schools because they deserve the peace of mind and focus on learning. [cheering and applauding] this budget increases the. reporter: health care providers to provide high-quality in tools

and reproductive health care services because women and girls deserve to make their own choices. [cheering and applauding] we ought to double down on work for mortality especially among black voters. [cheering and applauding] this budget does that. the commitment i made in house costs and priority of our commonwealth second lady and a new mom, by the way.

[cheering and applauding] we're going to do this together. [cheering and applauding] this budget invest more in the hands of aaa to develop and deliver more service and caregivers are tools to support aging loved ones and for the first time ever establishes alzheimer's disease division to support families dealing with the terrible disease and all of these investors are being made as we get ready to implement the first ever master plan on aging because seniors deserve support so they can live out their years with dignity. [cheering and applauding] today nearly one in four pennsylvanians are seniors. now is the time to plan. a budget is a statement of values and as we think about

value let's remember what happens between your ears is just as important as what happens the rest of your body. meaningful work to investing $100 million, 20 doing more for mental health support in this budget matches by increasing support for county level motel services. the 988 crisis hotline and operation and supporting mental health crisis help. as we think about this, we need to think about those cloven abused, left unprotected by the mom. we need to do right, survivors of sexual abuse and give them a chance to confront their abusers through decades of injustice. [cheering and applauding]

come on, gang. you all have passed this before, you pass it and needs to be part of a political deal. [cheering and applauding] we should do it because it is right. [cheering and applauding] it is right every pennsylvanian we should be proud of words set in motion here, a place that is welcoming to all, a place where there are no second-class citizens. back in 1974 right here in harrisburg king along side my friend, marc siegel became the first governor in the nation to

lead the lgbtq community. one year later he became the first to ban discrimination against lgbtq state employees. we should be proud. we were leading the nation when it came to lgbtq rights and now we are falling behind. it's ridiculous. in pennsylvania two women can get married on a sunday fired from the job monday just because love. the senate should honor and past that bill and put it on my desk. [applause]

i got a lot of bipartisan crops for that. commonsense reforms that makes the system more fair and just for everyone. we began together last year and let's continue that. was elected governor, pennsylvania was one of only two states that didn't provide any state-funded. last year we came together and delivered an and a half billion but that is just a down payment

for services have seniors and families in pennsylvania were budget increase funding by 50%. we will have access to legal counsel. [cheering and applauding] in philadelphia has done exceptional work with the diversion program, nationally recognized during the pandemic. as we continue to make the legal

system more fair and just we have to think about the victims of crime. let me tell you about one of those victims. a wonderful ninth grade kid. in many of you have heard from her. we are honored. [cheering and applauding]

>> unacceptable levels and it's long past time to take action. thanks to his leadership, for the first time ever we are going to fund statewide office gun violence. [cheering and applauding] i'm proposing we invest $100 billion for all across pennsylvania and we will increase nonprofit security grants or places like most churches and synagogues.

give local law enforcement agencies and district attorney's office of resources to investigate and prosecute gun related crimes. read the opportunity to pass the first significant gun reform legislation in two decades. [cheering and applauding] loopholes on background checks allowed criminals together hands-on. just close the loopholes. [cheering and applauding] close the loophole. [applause]

you like to talk a big game about law & order so let's strengthen our law in pennsylvania and save lives. [cheering and applauding] the house failed to do that in a bipartisan manner in the senate should do the same. the community is crying out for us to act. law enforcement is on the side of the community, not action in this building. police officers do a dangerous job and dangerous conditions. we made a massive investment creating or state troopers which

they are already hiring. it's for the cadet class and now is the time to do it because it's a 258% increase the number of applicants taking a test. [cheering and applauding] i think we should be supporting those and we owe it to them to make sure we have the equipment and funding they need to do their jobs. equipment and technology, first responders, to. there equipment and training for dangerous wildfires and recruit and retain after the train

derailment a year ago this past saturday. we make sure railroads paid to replace the firefighting equipment contaminated as a result. this year my budget expands on the by doubling our investment in the great program. [applause] a few weeks ago they told me how they needed help. need a lot of help especially rebuilding in dealing with their colleagues mental health. we have to ensure first responders are well funded and well equipped and that's exactly what this budget will do. [applause] this year we have a real chance

to build a safer community. invest in our students in the budget focus on doing just that were each piece built on the other. no matter her zip code, she asked options for future, no matter what path she chooses. the apprenticeship program or college, college she can afford. good jobs in her community because we reinvested it as she grows up, she's gotta health care system not working against her but with her. she gets to age with dignity and where to live in commonwealth she is. i know the bold vision and some will be opposed. we can't afford that. i would argue we can't afford

not to invest right now. think about it. we got $14 billion service mark real challenges, education and our workforce to hold in the future if we don't take action right now. one in four pennsylvanians 50 and by 2030, one in three. we need to invest now not only so we can care so we can chat more and more prosperity. autocare what party you are in, it should be okay with an unconstitutional education for our kids. [cheering and applauding] 's no one here should be okay

with the status quo, 40 nights in innovation. we can't afford to live in neighboring states and economic development, wages for those who are most vulnerable in our systems and show them that we care. we need to get more stuff done together. that should be clear about is balanced and does not raise taxes, it cuts them. even if we fund every one of the initiatives i've talked about today and continued budgets, we would still have $11 billion surplus end of june, 2025.

so while i expect you will carefully analyze results, your analysis should not be used as an excuse for paralysis. it is time to solve the pressing problems to me at this moment possibly and with bipartisan confidence. let's take inspiration from this. i mentioned the murals earlier. as another north side of the country shows the roman thought working in order for our commonwealth. that will painted at the height of pennsylvanians industrial

wealth reminds us about history, commonwealth fueled the industrial revolution lifting people up out of poverty powering the middle class and creating the american labor movement. fascism threatened overseas, it was our common law home to the arsenal of democracy and the most powerful in the world. [applause] our kids read about these things in the history books they are depicted on these minerals but i don't want our children just inspired by our past, i want them to be hopeful for their future. [applause]

now let us get to work together. [cheering and applauding]

[cheering and applauding] this afternoon former healthworks retired last year s capital historical board joined by formerouse nancy pelosi and kevin. watch liveoverage for 15:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span2 online at c-span.org and rf, c-span no. >> since 1979 in partnership with the cable industry, c-span

has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings and committee meetings. c-span gives a front row seat about how issues are debated and decided with commentary, no interruption completely altered. she spent, the unfiltered view of government. >> a discussion on the economy, just joining w us and serves budget policy director, macroeconomic director, thank you so much. >> various positions you take a special looking at the economy at large you describe the current state of the economy? >> the labor market is quite strong 3 million jobs last year below 4% for about two years

which is pretty remarkable. le. we had two quarters of really solid growth come about 4%, pre-remarkable given how far along this business cycle has been. inflation has been a huge challenge as it has been for most countries over the last three years. over the last six or seven months, it come close to the fed target. financial markets are now anticipating when the fed will start moving to a less restrictive state between march and the summer. all in all, the economy has landed in a solid place given the challenges of the pain in the past three years. host: this is the headline from the new york times -- your take on what the economy looks like considering these numbers. guest: some of the recent headline numbers have been good and we should celebrate that. what are the underlying parts that made up those headlines? are they sustainable?

people are still concerned about the direction of the economy. if you look at the polls, people say the country is still on the wrong track. although year over year, headline inflation is coming down and cooling off and that's a good thing but unfortunately, real wages are not keeping up with the rising prices. since january of 2021, real wages are down about 4%. that's making the typical worker $2200 less well off than they were in 2021. we've seen lots of headline job growth but a lot of that is subsidized by taxpayers and about 20% of the job growth in 2023 was state and local government officials. a lot of that's been subsidized by the federal government through transfers to the state government. over the long run, that will not be sustainable. host: what numbers or metrics do you have to look for to cease attainability?

guest: we want to see real rates growth area the things you want to do is see people's take-home pay rise rice -- rise faster than prices over time. the way to do that is to get government out of the way for the most part, letting people innovate in the economy from the bottom up. host: what do you think about the question of some of those metrics? guest: the question has been a real challenge for everyday people and real wages fell in 2022. they been growing last year and wages are still growing around 4% while wages have come down switch much closer to 2019 numbers. people have poor sentiment of the economy over the last several years. it's a huge turnaround the last couple of months and one of the biggest increase in decades. employment is broad. i think it's hard to slice the employment numbers that make them look bad. the government share of

employment is actually less than 2019 and there's been a great upscaling in our workforce. there are fewer -- there is more people working in higher wage jobs and goods producing jobs and professional services, record numbers of job growth. record numbers of business starts in terms of innovation. the challenges have been global and they've been real but i think we're finally getting on the other site of them and hopefully everyday people can start to feel less stressed and more comfort from the economy. host: the biden administration is taking a credit for some of these turnarounds in the economy, particularly now that it's campaign season. how much credit should they take? guest: i think the american rescue when making sure we stabilize household balance sheets and we did not have huge layoffs are cast in problems put us on a path for solid growth. you compared to the u.k. and canada and australia, no one would rather have their economy than ours. inflation challenges have been global, not just in european countries.

by putting us on this stable path for you get through the reopening and the pandemic problems, we are on track to have one of the best growth records this year, you look at cbo projections for employment and its higher than it was pre-covid which is pretty wild to think about. by making some strong investments, by seeing true supply chains and other critical albums by doing strategic and smart uses of the strategic petroleum reserve help counter the global energy crisis. there is a lot to be proud of and combating inflation. host: same question. how much credit should the administration get for this? guest: i think the biden administration should take a lot of credit for high prices. we've seen the biden administration work with congress often on a bipartisan

basis to massively increase spending. if you look at the cbo projections were how much the federal government will spend in 2023 before biden came into office and you look at the actual 2023 results, we actually spent about $1 trillion more than what was projected before biden started on his policies. that was the fuel that was the inflationary fire the caused the rising prices that hurt families so much. we should be concerned about the workforce compared to pre-pandemic. we are missing about 2.6 million workers in the economy. prime age workers have rejoined the labor force for the most part and that's something that's good that we should celebrate. something that is concerning to me is that younger workers, people who should be starting of their careers, their employment population ratio is about 2.1%.

those are people at the beginning of their careers or not being attached to the labor force now and that will set them back the rest of their careers eventually. host: if you want to add your thoughts, republicans, (202) 748-8001, democrats (202) 748-8000 independents (202) 748-8002. you can text us at (202) 748-8003. prices that people look at when they go to the grocery store, these are viable things. what do you think about those assessments if you look at those things purely? guest: some of the biggest prices, health, energy, food has had a lot of turmoil the last few years. the market is had some problems in 2019 compounded going into the pandemic and compounded by huge shifts and people working from home. maybe you have a quarter of the people working from home and that wasn't there before so it

was a huge demand and structural shift on housing. the breadbasket of ukraine and what russia has produced, it set global prices into turmoil. those are starting to normalize. they are starting, the housing market has cooled off quite a bit since the fed raking -- the fed rate hiking camping started. food prices are now more in line with pre-pandemic growth rates. that involves a lot of policy and a lot of markets. it gives them a chance to innovate to come through this huge shock we went through. obviously, it's been a tough time for consumers in many ways but hopefully now that things have normalized a little bit more, there's a chance for us to get to more stable growth pattern. host: new numbers are coming out from the congressional budget office tomorrow. it's hard to say what they will say but what are you looking for in the release of these numbers as you look at the state of the economy? guest: you are right, the cbo's

coming out with the new baseline projection for the next 10 years tomorrow. the director previewed some of the numbers at a testimony last week before the house budget committee. one of the headlines that will be coming out about that is that the fiscal responsibility act help reduce the deficits relative to the previous baseline they came out with last summer. unfortunately, that's not going to totally tell the total picture. we are going to see potentially up to 300 billion dollars in higher deficits this year based on policies congress is considering right now that's not going to be incorporated into the cbo numbers coming out tomorrow. the johnson-schumer deal to increase spending above the fiscal responsibility levels that are signed into law, we've got the tax deal that just past the house recently and of

course, the 118 billion dollars supplemental appropriations bill under consideration in the senate. that could extrapolate that over 10 years and that could add between one and $1.5 trillion that will not be incorporated in the cbo numbers. we also think they will show that prices will be growing faster than the economy over 10 years and that's not sustainable over the long term so congress will have to deal with that particularly the drivers of the deficit and overspending. host: what do you think about those warning signs? guest: we see the 10 year down over the past year having recovered quite a bit. given the deficit situation, there are long-term and fiscal challenges. the amount of revenue the government collects is down compared to where it was in the 90's and down compared to the levels everyday people expect.

they need to fund social security and we need to look at revenue going forward over the next 10 or 20 years. these are things policymakers take seriously in the decade ahead. host: jerome powell commented on the deficit issues this past week. he talked about his concerns over those things so let me play you what he had to say. [video clip] >> how do you assess the national debt? >> we mostly try very hard not to comment on fiscal policy and instruct congress on how to do their job when actually they have oversight over others. >> is the national debt a danger to your economy? >> in the long run, the u.s. is on an unsustainable fiscal path. that just means the debt is growing faster than the economy. >> i have the since this worries you very much. >> over the long run, course it does. effectively, we are borrowing from future generations.

it's time for us to get back to putting the priority on fiscal sustainability and sooner is better than later. host: with the idea putting us back on track, what to think about those comments and the idea of tackling sustainability? guest: you want to think of 10-20 years with the actual level of revenue we raise in the amount of spending and they are in line with growth. this is not the problem, there are more structural and fundamental things given the level of taxation we will have in society and the level of taxation i think is too low relative to past generations and the commitments we made into low relative to everyday people expect. it's lower than pure country so if you look at it that way, that's what you want to think about over the next decade. it will not be about this or that budget deal. you must look at more fundamental levels. guest: i agree with chairman

powell. it's good to see him start talking about the need for fiscal responsibility. unfortunately in 2021, he also comments on fiscal policy with additional fiscal stimulus. that helped drive inflation. i think it's important that congress helps the federal reserve control inflation by not continuing to bed to the deficit. i think it's right what mike said that we do have to be thinking about the growth ascending and matching that with their local taxation over time. driving spending that grows faster than the economy over time, you will never be able to match that with revenue. the only way to get back to fiscal responsibility is to control the growth and make sure that it does not grow faster than the economy. host: tell us about your

organization. guest: we are a relatively new policy organization made up of former congressional and administration officials. we want to look at the big challenges that are going to be facing the country in the next 5-10 years, namely we know that the federal government is not on a fiscally sustainable track. we know people are facing challenges for innovation and how to deal with the evolving economy. we want to work with policymakers to come up with innovative solutions so we can have a more prosperous and better future for families. host: tell us about the roosevelt instrument -- roosevelt institute. guest: we define progressive policy to create a more democratic situation. host: zack and washington, d.c.,

democrats line, go ahead. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i'm pretty surprised about the pessimism about how our economy is doing and what it means two years running of unemployment less than 3% -- 4%, our economy is growing and we look at the stock market and it's been hitting record numbers. his pessimism i find interesting. i'd like to ask him how he feels about the trump administration, particularly about spending and in relation to inflation. what does he think about the cares act and how does he feel about the trump tax cut and trump promising to do more tax cuts if he's reelected and what is he think that will do to the economy? host: go ahead.

guest: i would say many of the headline numbers on the economy have been positive. i think that's good and we should celebrate that. i don't think the underlying details about the economy are as good as some of the headline numbers may suggest. we see strong demand in the economy for more workers. the bureau of labor to statistics says there is 9 million job openings in the country. that's more than there are people who are considered to be unemployed. fortunately, there are many people outside labor force that are choosing to not work or even look for work. that is not good for families. we want people to be in the workforce. they can have a more prosperous future for themselves and their families. the caller made a good point about overspending during lots of administrations. i think that us certainly contributing to the sustainability of our fiscal

future. continuing to spend faster than the economy grows is not sustainable. we will have a big inflection point in 2025 with major fiscal cliff coming. we have the tax cuts mostly expiring and phasing out and there will be a massive tax height -- hike against many american families. we will see the ending of the spending caps. we will see the end of statutory pay-as-you-go. congress is going to have to work together and they should take this opportunity to look at the tax code again and make it work better for the american people but also put

and an expert in border or immigration policy, but a lot of people seem very concerned that this bill would not actually address the problem as mentioned . it is tied to more deficit

spending. $118 million on top of all the spending currently in the budget not even considering how to prioritize the money that we are spending. that will be very concerning to me to continue to double down and spend like there's no tomorrow. >> this is illinois. one of the impact of higher interest rates on debt issues. >> that is really important point. net interest costs are one of the biggest categories of federal spending in the current budget. one of the fastest growing categories in the budget over the long term. that is potentially very, very concerning. we are just paying more for money that has already been spent. currently, the federal government is turning over debt that was issued at lower interest rates and now they are issuing it at higher interest rates. that will add more cost to the american taxpayers.

>> that is correct. rates are very high in a very restrictive rate to bring down economic activity. there is some debate about where it should level out. more generally just where the fence have the rights. if that has picked up a little bit, delay 20 tens, it will have real costs with the federal budget. >> let's go to john in pennsylvania. hello. >> thank you for taking my call. a lot of congressional hearings on immigration. nothing but outrage. three years of chaos we will spend over $100 billion which is going to be more with all the ensuing years. why don't you guys just follow the laws and do what we are supposed to do. the way you solve the problem spending more money. ridiculous. i live in a small community. we graduate about a thousand cow

-- a thousand kids a year. we cannot afford english as a second language. >> i think that it falls outside the purview of the conversation. go ahead. you are next. >> thank you for taking my call you know, 58, 56.

considering what my older siblings received versus what my parents received. i'm seeing the whole program. i think a lot of it is due to the fact that you have to make up for that interest somehow. and interest payment. you don't get any return on that the interest on the national debt. i would like to see more aid. i don't think people understand the impact 34 trillion national debt, what that means. a lot of people say we owe it to ourselves. it is a big deal. it is eroding surfaces. that is a point that i'm trying to make. >> thank you very much.

we talked about the impact on what he is saying to serve social security and medicare when it comes to matters of the economy. as a parallel. >> the long run, deficits continue at this rate and interest rates run high. they could build into the budget they are paid on separate attacks. revenues are not raised. there could be an issue relevant for broader government services. >> i think that it is exactly right. over the medium and long term, rising interest costs could crowd out other things in the budget. force lawmakers to prioritize paying our debt or paying for services that have been promised >> mr. president of the u.s. capital historical society. i would like everyone who was seated to please rise and remain

standing for the presentation of the colors in the pledge of allegiance. >> would you pray with me. holy and generous god in your infinite wisdom, you set before us men and women who are first among equals in their sincere and passionate commitment to you and to the freedoms that this nation holds dear. on this very special day we celebrate one such faithful servant cheryl johnson. under her composed and resolute leadership of the massive enterprise which is the office of the clerk of the house of representatives, we have all borne witness to the mercy and justice and compassion the honorable cheryl johnson has demonstrated and all kinds of political weather. here that our deepest gratitude for where johnson's ever ready and wise counsel which was marked not just by her intelligence and intellectual acuity, but by her unwavering

integrity. for her kindness and care which touched every member of her overworked and all too often underappreciated staff assuring them individually and corporately of their indispensable value. for her wisdom and her wit both of which has had a disarming way of drawing us all in. and then directing us towards choosing the better part. inspiring us to offer our best selves and our service to you and to this nation even as she has done. speaking that lord through our accolades and applause rewarding her for her professional expertise and moral example and make herd above it all your own well done for her good and faithful service. it is in the strength of your name we pray. amen.

i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

please be seated. thank you. would you now please welcome to the podium the honorable president and ceo of the united states capital historical society. [applause] thank you so much, sam. any of you who have done events like this know that there are enormous amounts of logistics that it takes to pull this together and sam has been bleeding that effort together with charisse clark and they have both done a masterful job

and for that we are grateful. thank you sam and charisse. [applause] my friends, this is a very special day. you know, i do not know of anybody else who could get a standing ovation from the entire congress. this congress. but cheryl johnson is that person. in 1789, a newly elected george washington stood in new york's federal hall for the first inaugural address. at the time, washington was already the great american hero. he led the nation to victory and its war for independence. he yielded his power to congress once independence was assured. but when that new form of government became necessary, his

presence alone gave credibility to the constitutional convention and when the framers built the presidency they assumed washington would have it. but on that spring day, as washington came to address a joint meeting of the congress, he explained that the sacred fire of liberty, the destiny of the four model of government wide not with him, but was interested to the hands of the american people. it is in our hands that we hold the democracy that is so precious. since the united states capital historical society gave our first freedom award on the bicentennial of washington laying the capital cornerstone, recipients have included lynn banwell miranda, a filmmaker

like ken burns, a historian like david mccullough, journalist like cokie roberts, even a television station like c-span and numerous members of congress but what do they all have in common? no matter the profession, their background or even their political ideology. each exhibited an extraordinary dedication to freedom, to democracy and representative government. a dedication washington believed every citizen is responsible for we are delighted to have several representatives of past honorees with us from the u.s. capitol police we have assistant chief leslie parsons from the metropolitan police department. congresswoman debbie dingell is here representing her husband who earned the award.

several board members from the association of the former members of congress including our own mutual board member iliana ross lee. but, tonight, this is the moment where we talk about cheryl. who has given us distinguished service in trying times. our democracy depends on public service. many of whom you did not know. there was a time where not everyone on television knew who cheryl johnson was. now that has changed. here she was. a public servant who quietly kept government functioning every day, every year, every month and our government requires officers like her to maintain order in times of disorder and to cross divides in

times of division. the impressive list of today's speakers gives you a sense of how widely beloved cheryl is here on capitol hill and those of you that have joined us, thank you for taking the time to do that. we are here in statuary hall at the invitation of speaker mike johnson and we appreciate his offer to hold this event here. he has tied up with a few things that he has going on. so, we take his blessing. in order to make this move along , i will introduce all of the speakers so you don't have to see me hopping up and down. they can just pass it from one to another. as we know with congress, you make the best laid plans of the order speakers and then people's lives change. we were originally going to start with cheryl's early life

with congressman troy carter who was a high school classmate. he has tied up in traffic on his way back to the white house so he will join us when he gets here. congressman carter came to congress when cedric richmond moved to the white house and he won that election. congressman carter has been a man that has been a series of first. first african-american elected to the house of representatives from louisiana. house of representatives from algiers. the same to elect in the new orleans city council and after a hiatus in public office, he went to the louisiana state senate. he has had a lot of legislative experience. he knows a lot about women. because his wife is a general. we also have with us, to former

speakers. both of whom have changed their plans and made themselves available. we are so grateful. kevin mccarthy served as a 5050 speaker of the united states house of representatives and he was a proud representative from california's 20th district. you know his bio is like this long. so i figured you all know something about him so i will just give you a few hot tips. when he was the ripe old age of 21, he started a business. kevin owes belly. he became passionate about small business, regulation and got himself involved because he was wanting to cut red tape for small businesses. he served in the california state assembly. he came to congress and served as the chief deputy whip.

the house majority whip and the majority leader. we already talked about you. we said good things. do not worry. see, everything works out. when speaker mccarthy retired from congress in december 2023, he did not stop his commitment to american democracy. he will still be involved witness the fact he is here today and thank you so much, mr. the speaker who first brought cheryl johnson to us, nancy pelosi, one of the most consequential figures of all time served as the 52nd speaker of the house making history as the first woman to serve as the speaker of the house and under her leadership, the house and acted the american recovery and reinvestment act. the affordable care act, just a

few highlights. confronted with the loss and the majority and minority leader pelosi invested in the next generation of leaders. we are grateful, speaker pelosi for you to be here and so, here is the plan, congressman carter, you should realize this. congressman carter will start because you have known cheryl the longest. as you finish, you will turn to speaker mccarthy who will then turn to speaker pelosi who will then turn it back to me. i will talk about our honoree, our award and all the speakers will come and join me in making

the presentation. congressman carter. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. welcome to this incredible opportunity to honor such an incredible leader. many of you do not know, or are not sure, i missed the introduction, but it may have come up that cheryl and i were up in a little place called algiers. speaker pelosi, you may remember when i was sworn into the congress. i think everyone.

i think god and i said to god be the glory from the cut off to the congress. and this incredible leader from the cut off to the congress. she has made us so proud. it is such an honor to be here to honor her. to be here for this momentous occasion. to celebrate the remarkable achievements of my dear friend cheryl johnson. the prestigious freedom award is a testament to cheryl's commitment to freedom and democracy. a distinguished career i would especially like to thank the united states capital historical society speaker nancy pelosi. speaker kevin mccarthy. and, most importantly, cheryl johnson for the honor of addressing and honoring you

today and giving me this opportunity to be here with you. i grew up in new orleans as i mentioned. to you we say new orleans because you may not understand. at home we say algiers. a very special place to all of us. a very small tightknit community with its challenges like many other communities. but a loving group of individuals most of which are related some way or another. either by blood or just because we been together so long we call each other because in now. that is how we do it. growing up in this community from my very roots and upbringing, cheryl exemplified the resilience, spirit and determination of our community. her integrity hard work and serving others got a path of greatness. it is clear that she has given so much because she has been blessed to have so much.

you may not look far to see the fruits of her labor, her beautiful family and her children in the great work that they are doing in this community because of the mantra of to whom much is given much is required. cheryl's career in public service spans decades. from early decades as director and counsel for the committee on house administration to chief education investigative counsel for the house committee education and workforce. cheryl's dedication to legislative oversight and policymaking has left a lasting mark on capitol hill. however, it is the historic role in the 36 clerk of the united states house of representatives truly distinguishing the legacy. presiding over the united states house of representatives.

during 118 congress united states congress and the face of the unprecedented challenge, challenges, cheryl's boys leadership and unwavering commitment took a hold of the democratic process serving as an inspiration to us all. cheryl's tenure as a clerk was marked by her professionalism, integrity and deep reverence she served and so loves. she oversaw pivotal moments from navigating the complexities of the legislative process to ensuring the power earning her the respect of the administration and of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle. something that is not easy to do

something that is becoming more difficult to do but she demonstrated her love her policy in this place. as all of our love for policy and this place should transcend politics. putting people over the communities have empowered countless to pursue the ability to fight for the difference. cheryl's impact extends to celebrate her remarkable achievement and rededicate ourselves. so the timeless principles of freedom, democracy and equality for all. the legacy served as a guiding light for future generations inspiring them to embrace the power public service and strive for a more just and equitable world. i would like to extend, i would like to express my deepest gratitude to cheryl for

exemplary leadership and unwavering commitment to the ideals that define us as a nation. congratulations, cheryl on this well deserved honor. [applause] it is often said in the black church, we believe in giving you your roses why you are living. where you can smell them, while you can feel them, while you know what you meant to us. we know that god eight nearly finished with you. thank you and god bless you. i would like to now bring to you someone that does not need an introduction. someone who has been a committed servant to our country, to our society and that his former speaker kevin mccarthy. [applause]

i know algiers has to be proud of you both. they both went to high school together so widely to cheryl and asked who was a better student. [laughter] it was not even close. i am here today to celebrate cheryl johnson. this is a woman i deeply appreciate and deeply respect as a colleague and as a christian. i know i am not alone. when i was elected speaker last year i'd like to think i got the loud applause. but the loudest applause was for cheryl in the job that she did. it was from every single member of both sides of the aisle. honestly, you deserved it. for 15 rounds last year cheryl held the gavel with steadiness,

fairness and nonpartisanship. for 15 rounds, america heard cheryl speak. and they like what they saw. for millions of americans, cheryl was a new phase. for those of us lucky to know her, cheryl was and is a trusted friend. this building knows who cheryl is. we know the quality of the work over the years. more importantly, we know her public spirited character. we have seen it in the moments big and small. cheryl came to that spirit not by chance, but by choice. for 20 years cheryl has served the people's house with devotion and dignity. she worked closely with members of congress with poise and passion. when she rose to the podium in 2023, she was prepared by a

lifetime of service. including four years as clerk. her actions personified the best of the people's house. during speaker's elections, members could not be sworn in. there were no rules in place but there was decorum. why? because the house had cheryl. there was no road map but there was order. because the house had cheryl. there was no ready-made strip but there was a steady leadership. why? because the house had cheryl. every member of the house praised her for how she stepped up to the plate. no matter the divisions, no matter the disagreements, cheryl estimated decorum, dignity and the honor of the house.

when it was all over cheryl deserved a long vacation. i knew the house still needed her which is why i asked her to stay on as clerk. fortunately, she agreed. serving through june 2023. that makes her the first clerk to serve under speakers from both parties. her commitment to the traditions of the people of the house is remarkable. many americans watched the speaker boat take place live. i hope that cheryl's sincerity and steady hand inspired people to have faith in this grand experiment of self-government. this was a historic performance by a public servant who understood that americans democracy is bigger than one person, one party or one chamber it is defined by the

constitution and the people that we are blessed to serve. and ultimately that is why cheryl is the perfect person to receive the freedom award. i know that cheryl does not like the spot light. but cheryl is now a household name and even an internet celebrity. she deserves to be. earning and deserving. but the one thing that i will tell you, having met out one night her son her favorite title is mother. and it is just the character of what she has. she thanked me for coming. i came from california. i will come to all 15 as she stood for me. it is my honor to introduce to

time speaker in the individual that nominated cheryl to be clerk. speaker nancy pelosi. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. as i look around this room it reminds me of the day that cheryl was sworn in. we had such a big party in the rayburn room that we had to keep having a party and shifts. such a cause for celebration. she became the clerk of the house. it is a very important position. i was very proud to name her to that position and swear her and. i want to take up where our president president campbell, president of the historical

society talking about our patriarch george washington. when you come from the military to the president of the united states i was reminded of a trip that i took to an apple is. in annapolis is where the president, general washington gave up his commission. i mention it because it's about freedom. people there where their hats while he spoke. and talked about freedom. talked about freedom. one freedom and now he would give up his commission.

when he gave up his commission, of course everybody was tear filled, they all applauded and took off their hats. they had their hats on to symbolize civilian superiority over the military of the speaker . they knew as soon as he was finished to take them off to applaud him. worriedly blessed and to take up where you brought forth madam president campbell. we did not communicate with each other about being in pink today. it just happens. so, in that spirit, we honor a very special person today. associate myself with the remarks of our distinguished speaker. we worked together at the stadium in las vegas. i assume we were rooting for the same team. [laughter] c. bipartisanship. [laughter]

i see clay is shaking his head and smiling being from missouri and all. [laughter] again, it was wonderful, i will call you by your distinguished name. i do want to acknowledge cheryl's husband clarence, son bradford, daughter-in-law jackie rodriguez. please stand up so we can applaud. [applause] thank you. thank you for sharing's cheryl with us. the u.s. capital historical society for your devotion to preserving and sharing the story of the first branch of

government. article one legislative branch. it is my privilege to join in congratulating cheryl on receiving this freedom award. acknowledging her family. it was in 2019 will we all came together in the rayburn room. that day was a homecoming to cheryl. it is really important to us to keep acknowledging it. it was an acknowledgment for her and it tells us the presentation she has for the service year. the committee on house and simple service in the committee on education and labor.

she quickly built a reputation as a leader respected by all. members and staff. many of whom she trained. democrats and republicans and one with deep reverence for the institution. during her years as health clerk , we think that that is historic in itself. earning praise from both sides of the offer her poise, judgment and management. that management is so important. this is a very big job. this is a very big leadership position. her diligent work managing responsibilities. even under many of the most trying an unprecedented of circumstances when the eyes of the world were on the congress. it is also, i remember when we

were trying to get her to come here. she had so many options. this was not somebody, she had so many options. one of the places that she took great pride and we respect enormously with the work that she did at the smithsonian institution. her great service to this treasure ensure that it would remain a source of creativity, innovation and research for generations to come. thank you, cheryl. i am thankful for her assistance and launching the african-american history and culture transforming the idea of a dream and to the mainstay on the national mall. thank you. we commend you for that. in this black history month. [applause] it was mentioned that i've been speaker once and then again the first time cheryl miller,

lorraine miller, is lorraine here? where? she has on pink. [laughter] she got the pink message as did some mother sitting there. serving as the first african-american clerk of the house. i was very proud to appoint. from texas. thank you for joining us. i know you will be participating in the presentation ceremony. she really broke new ground for us here. we are really proud of that we just pave the way. made it the most exciting thing to have cheryl in that role. again, cheryl johnson, again, and body's commitment to public service, public service dedicating her career to defending and strengthening our most important and cherished

institutions. whether we are talking about smithsonian institute or the congress of the united states. i think i was here for all of them. you heard what it was. the arts, the government service , many things. lin manuel moran.. it is about freedom of expression. putting yourself in someone else's position so that you can appreciate how they express themselves. it is about creativity. it is about creativity. when cheryl came she brought such dignity. such respect for everybody's position. different one from the next. all to be respected.

this is particularly appropriate for her today. thank you, cheryl, for your patriotism that is strengthened the congress and the country and congratulation on receiving this freedom award. and, now, it is my time to yield back to the distinguished ceo of the u.s. capital historic society madam president, welcome back and to, again, where did he go? where did sam go? sam, give us a wave. [applause] let us yield back to madam president. madam president campbell, thank you for bringing us together. thank you for affording us the privilege of honoring cheryl

johnson. [applause] .... .... when the first federal congress convened in 1789 the first order of business was the election of the speaker and then to elect a clerk. now if you start with a clerk and then you elect a speaker. the role of the speaker has

changed. the office has expanded, and now just to give you a little bit of highlight, the work of the house is responsible for preparing the goals of members, calling the members elect to order that the commitment -- commencement of each congress to call the roll, to manage the election of the speaker which can be more complicated than you thought. to preserve order and decorum and decide on all questions of order and cheryl johnson told us how to preserve order and a masterful way. the clerk is responsible for preparing the house and making sure it's receiving the messages from the senate and the president and supervising staff

or any member of congress who happens to die in office but only the clerk is in charge of that office. cheryl johnson the 36th person to serve as clerk the first warning by nancy pelosi and then nominated by speaker mccarthy, or a remarkable achievement to have two speakers from two different parties say this is the person to lead this body. we have so many members of congress who have joined us that it is dangerous to call out names, so i'm not going to do that because as soon as i do it i will fail. but how about all the members of congress stand and wave and if you were in the back bobby scott, come up, wave. thank you.

okay, now we get to do the fun part. i want lorraine miller to come here. [applause] lorraine miller is my boss. she is on the board of the capitol historical society led by don carlson in the front row. wave. and we have several other board members here. sean, thank you all very much for being here. [applause] ileana. the rain is on their board but she is uniquely positioned to help give this award because as speaker pelosi said she was the first african-american clerk and she knows what it was like for

sheryl to stand not just for 15 votes for speaker but to stand there on january 6 of 2021 when things appeared out of control. she kept the control and so to present the award it like both speakers to please come and join me. madam cheryl our honoree. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

come on, don't be shy. [applause] [applause] i present to you the 2023 award winner of the freedom award, the highest award for the capitol historical society the honorable subsixteen. [cheers and applause]

>> good afternoon. thank you all for coming up and supporting me this evening. i owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to speaker emeritus nancy pelosi for providing me the opportunity to serve as the 36th clerk of the u.s. house of representatives. and for interesting in me to advance such an enormous constitutional responsibility. thank you so much. [applause] and thank you speaker kevin mccarthy for recognizing my nonpartisan leadership and commitment to this institution and allowing me to continue my

service to the clerk's staff who are just coming up of a pandemic in to keep the continuity. i'm so appreciative of that. thank you. [applause] additionally i want to thank james campbell, the president of the u.s. capital historical society and all that the board members. thank you don, thank you for this wonderful honor. it means much to me. this honor is also special to me because of phillip reed. phillip reed was an african-american. he supervised the casting of the bronze statue of freedom. he was the only slave who worked

on the casting and as a slave, he was paid $1.25 a day. the other laborers were paid 1 dollar a day. however, he was only able to keep his sunday pay. monday through saturday's pay went to his master. phillip reed was freed in 1862 and it's not known whether he witnessed the last segment of the statue being placed atop the capitol in 1863. but i would like to thank that the 33 consecutive weeks that he

labored, that he had hoped that one day he would be free, and that america would live up to its ideals of equality and freedom for all. i will tell you all a story. my career as a congressional staffer he can in january 1989. a month later i was at the library of congress at a black history event and there was congresswoman mandy bonds. i introduce myself because she was the congresswoman representing new orleans, and we began the conversation. and someone photographed us speaking and made a gift of that

photograph to me. i have black hair than. and congresswoman boggs had her signature smile and that photograph still hangs on my parents wall, 35 years later. and as a young staffer, i never thought i would receive the same award she received in 2001. [applause] and i certainly thought, never thought i would have received the award to congressman john lewis received in 2014. this is such an honor to me.

and reflecting back on more than three decades of public service, i realized that i have been surrounded by unsung freedom fighters for decades. i think back at my time at the smithsonian and working at the african-american museum, working alongside historians and curators and designers who labored day after day after day to make certain that we had an african-american museum on the mall that would tell the people's journey and our nations history. i also think back about january

january 6, when brave clerks staff stopped to protect iconic artifacts that had been on the house floor for centuries, even as u.s. capital police were asking them to move as quickly as they could to save their lives. and presently, to i worked at the u.s. agency, the global media, and they worked with journalist who risked their lives and were routinely jailed for delivering america's stories of freedom and democracy. to countries around the world that a free press.

democracy is fragile but it's also stubbornly resilient, and each of us have a role to play. in insuring its longevity. this award will forever inspire me, and make me know that as long as i shall live, i am committed to freedom and democracy. thank you all very much. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> i forgot to recognize my

husband clarence who has been my rock. [applause] come on, come on up here. [applause] , on. let's get the whole family out. while we are gathering the family for the pictures i can talk to the pictures. all i am going to say is thank you for coming, thank you for supporting the united states capital historical society for over 60 years. we have been telling the stories of the capitol and the people who work in it. we have been providing civic education now in collaboration with the archives. thank you madam archivists are being here calling chauvin. we have a reception in the back so you have an opportunity to have a little bit of beverage. it is mardi gras day and since we have a louisiana person with

us we want to say that we thank you all for being here. please take a moment to remember that as sheryl talked about with democracy and how precious it is that we know that duty and democracy are closely intertwined and we are celebrated women who understand that and you here understand that as well. enjoy the festivities. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

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>> hello everybody. how many got more than three

hours of sleep? raisehr your hand. well thank you all who stayed up. all right, so, good morning everybody. and thank you for joining us after a long night. today after not just a long night and weekend. after months of work we can say it's been worth it. today we witnessed one of the most historic and consequential bills passed in the senate, it built that so greatly impacts not just their national security, not just the security of our allies but also the security of western democracy as we know it. tonight finally america let the wave for freedom and democracy and with this bill, the senate declares that american leadership will not waiver, falter or fail.

today the senate keeps its word ukrainians in need, desperate need of supplies and ammunition, the innocent palestinian civilianss who need and so much need relief, two israelis in need of support and two u.s. servicemembers on patrol in indo pacific, the red sea and around the world, today we send a clear bipartisan message to resolve to our allies and neighbors with a strong bipartisan vote in the senate that if speaker johnson brings this bill to the house floor it will pass with that same bipartisan support. the responsibility now falls on speaker johnson and house republicans to approve this bill swiftly. i call on speaker johnson to rise to the occasion, to do the

right thing, bring this bill to the floor. as i said, given the large, robust majority here in the senate it is clear that if that bill is about to -- brought to the floor our bill is brought to the floor or it will pass. if the hard right kills this bill, it would be an enormous gift of vladimir putin. it would be a betrayal of our partners and allies and an abandonment of our servicemembers. as i said, i believe that this bill is brought to the house floor it will pass with strong bipartisan support. there are large numbers of democrats and republicans in the house who know we had to stand responsibilities to aid ukraine. i think all of my colleagues in the senate who supported this bill. thank you to senators murray and

murphy, sinema and lankford, collins and leader mcconnell as well. and thank you to all the senators and staff who worked through thanksgiving, christmas, new year's and even the super bowl to get this done. finally. these past few months have been a great test of the u.s. senate to see if we could escape the flow of partisanship and summon the will to defend western democracy and their own country's values when it matters the most. today, the senate resounded past that and it makes me proud of the senate. the senate make sure that the united states is closer to meeting the monumental and consequential moment that we are in. and now it's up to the house to meet this moment, to do the right thing and save democracy as we know it.

questions? this subject first. ryan, go bills. >> go bills. >> you are wearing your ukrainian outfit. mine is on purpose as you can probably tell. >> speaker johnson has put out a statement that he has great skepticism with this package. will you speak with him directly and if you do talk with him directly what would your message be? >> my message, i would hope to speak with mr. johnson directly and this is a rare moment where he history is looking upon the united states and seeing if we will stand up for our values, stand up to pulleys d like putin and do the right thing. i will say to speaker johnson i am confident that there's a large majority in the house who will vote for this bill. i'm confident there are many republicans in his caucus. i know, i've spoken to a whole bunch of them who feel strongly we ought to pass this bill and i

will urge speaker johnson to step up to the moment and do the right thing. >> do you think it's time for the white house to negotiate with the two parties involved? >> i think the house should pass the senate's bill. it's been through lots off negotiations and we got a large robust vote, 22 republican votes in the senate. they should pass thisho bill. >> are you ruling out having any any -- adding security language in this bill as an amendment to the house or ruling out. >> the bottom line is this bill passed with a majority. with we cannot do there w for another three or four months in the quickest and best way to do it is to pass the senate's bill. we democrats were willing as you know to go many steps in the direction of a strong tough

border bill. democrats are willing to support a bill supported by "the wall street journal" editorial page.l democrats were willing to support a bill supported by the border patrol union which is very much a republican organization that was supported by the chamber of commerce. unfortunately too many republicans succumbed to beat administration's as donald trump. trump is set at one point, we have two duo border bill and who was the border was at that an emergency and then in his own words for political purposes said, let's delay this for a whole year because it might bring me help in my election. that's not going to wash with the american people. >> is -- and not maxie i speak where you wear it to hakeem jeffries mayay be as much as i spoke to leader pelosi and you know i have great faith in his ability to help engineer getting this bill done.

>> with the funding to through the end of the year, how long do youhe think you build a coalitin given it took several months to build? >> i think this though particular on the republican side in the senate, despitee the fact that they are you know putative presidential candidate argued so strongly against us, gives us more and it will be, if we have to pass future aid to ukraine it will be easier not harder. right now this is a robust package that lasted into the air of the year. i'm glad it was full andd robus. >> when you come back from recess there'll be a short. of time till we have government funding and. where doess that stand and what are your thoughts on that and would you like to see that rolled into any funding bill? firstur patty murray and susan

collins are working as a really good team together. there's broad support in the senate and i believe in the house where we worked with speaker johnson on the last bill to not shut down the government and to fund things. we have done our 302a's and 30 2b's and almost as we. >> and maybe not early this morning. last night, but as we speak in day-to-dayay talk they are workg on getting these bills done so i'm very optimistic that we can get them done byon march 1. as for t adding one thing or another will have two wait and see. the next step is for the house to pass a bill that the senate passed. [inaudible] >> look for how should pass our bill. it's been through the crucible of four months of negotiations and ups and downs. it passed the crucible on the o

republican side of almost the majority of republicans rejecting the results of their punitive presidential candidat. they ought to stick with this bill. one even knows how this loan program would work. as donald trump says something doesn't mean republican should march in lockstep to do s it. [inaudible] you deal with him a lot. what's your personal thought and what about your practical political concerns that he might not be able to get reelected? >> on the first one i talked to president biden regularly. sometimes several times in a week, usually several times in a week. his mental acuity is great, it's fine. it's as good ass it's been over the years that i've been speaking to him for 30 years as we worked on the grady bill and the assault weapons ban when i

was a young congressman, and he is fine. all this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity is gone is wrong. he's going to win the election because he is a great record, because more and more americans are seeing that record, because the economy is improving and because a large number of americans includingre republicas fear a donald trump presidency for the future of our democracy. last one. [inaudible] >> look donald trump asserts himself almost always for his own political purposes and it's no way to govern in the american people are getting wise to that. thank you everybody. thank you for staying here.

and for next year, go bills.

[applause]

>> good evening. it's wonderful to see everyone here. thank you for bracing what could be a snowstorm that would keep you trapped here for the next few days. for what i know will be an important discussion and i appreciate everyone's flexibility with the time so we can make sure our members of congress get back to washington in time for their votes tomorrow. i am relieved that you've been introduced because you are both princeton grads serving your fourth term of congress for the eighth district of your state and i was worried that i might mix up the states and i know that what put me in your books almost as much as if i'd your support team so i'm glad that he didn't do that. we are here to have a conversation tonight about the china challenge and america's future. this is a very important

conversation and i'm thrilled to be here with my friend and colleague and former director of development graham allison. it's a high-stakes conversation because as we all know gathered here that this is the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world. there may be disagreements about how to handle the relationship but at its core a think there's a general agreement that the objective is to ensure that a war between the united states and china is avoided. we are now almost into 80 years of a period with no great power conflict and the real challenge goes forward for the next decade or longer is how to preserve that piece. and so the special committee that these two congressmen have been working on and are in charge of has been cast with trying to come up with bipartisan policy initiatives to try to achieve that objective. i will give them the opportunity

to really flesh out the purpose of the commission for the committee in just a moment or two. i'd like to say graham and i have had the opportunities to spend part of the day with both of them and they are both distinguished in this space. chairman gallagher and the ranking committee member rajartg this with a kind of deliberations and thoughtfulness that you would really want your leaders to approach such a serious problem with. and they are doing it in a genuinely bipartisan manner which is something we all know is not as common as we would like it to be today. i really commend the approach that they have taken in the way they have generally work together despite having many differences, to try to address these really tough and challenging problems. what i thought i would do,

graham and i have agreed that we will kind of go back and forth and ask a few questions before opening it up to our audience or the like to start with german -- chairman gallagher tell our audience a little more actually both of you welcome to hear your thoughts a little bit more about the special committee and its objective and where you are on the timeline. >> thank you so much for having me and thank you be -- for being flexible with the timing. will have significant votes that are going to happen tomorrow impeachment part two. you may have heard a little bit about that last week. we have had a phenomenal day here in just a collection of experts that you have here in the ecosystem that's incredible and for someone who 10 years ago aspired to be an academic and was with allison's work in my literature review surrounded by people whose work i've long

admired so thank you for that. there's a statutory language that describes aware supposed to do. i'll tell you my interpretation of it. i have sort of operated under the non-permission rule over the last few years and the speaker of the house keeps changing so there's no one to really do oversight of me. we can have two core functions. one is in the communication function trying to explain to our colleagues in the american people why any of this matters because there's no cost free strategy that leads us to the terror war in the near term and winning the war. we'll have two convince the american people to do things that are hard and difficult and cost money unless you explain why you should be concerned about property theft or identifying xinjiang or develop the power of the taiwan strait is that constant communication of why this matters and it's a

core part of what we do and it's why we try to do a lot of creative things that a normal committee doesn't do like rally outside of the are going to iowa to look at homeland purchases and things like that but the second thing is to access the full vote of the speaker and the minority leader and act as their policy incubator and accelerator on china's matters. we are tasked with coming up with a set of policy recommendations that we have submitted to the committee for jurisdiction to have legislative jurisdiction and we fulfill that motion and put out three major reports by the end of last year and now we are focusing our efforts on turning those ideas into legislative reality and taking the 150 recommendations we have whittling them down to the 20 most essential and figuring out no kidding even in divided congress republicans and democrats these are the things we can get done.

i would add to raache's expertise has been phenomenal. and working on to these things now i chaired the land commission with andy king and that was just phenomenal and andy is a great american who became a great friend and have the opportunity to work with someone across the aisle so thank you for your expertise that work comes in is on the investigation. we have investigative oversight power in a bid where we can't pass a law we found our investigation which is uncomfortable for sometimes for people investigating can change behavior of wall street and other areas. those are the things we have done on the committee and it's been incredibly rewarding. >> would you like to add anything to that?

>> sure. i echo mics sentiment. it's bipartisan, man. it's all good, it's all good. the funniest meeting, one of the funniest meetings we have had is the first meeting where we met then speaker mccarthy's conference room in his conference room is ginormous like the size of this room. he sat at the end of the table and a number of the committee sat around the table and very interestingly to his left that hakeem jeffries. they made it a point to address us jointly as a committee and basically what speaker mccarthy said was look, this is so important i wanted hakeem to sit next to me and address you together and save we have got to get this right and we need to speak with one voice despite all the other divisions that exist in this congress.

then he said you know if you want to get this thing done this as a committee. if you want to do politics i've got other committees for that. so that really sunk in on day one. it set the tone and he selected people for the committee by the way, who i have the say are some of the real talents of congress very serious people who have intellectual curiosity and are willing to -- we aren't really even divided on partisan lines. sometimes we are divided based on people being you know more sensitive to the concerns of one part of the country or another. so that really makes for interesting discussions. i would just say that initial selection of the membership along with a mission statement of the committee really set the tone and under mics leadership in mine we have managed to implement something that i think

is perhaps a model for other committees as well. >> i'm going to turn to graham to ask a question. we all know graham has been a keen observer of china and its trajectory and i have no doubt he has tough questions. >> let me start with one from a conversation at lunch where experts from harvard and m.i.t. and others a very enlightening discussion one of the things i thought that was the most striking was that you raise some questions that you said you didn't know the answer to but you were very interested in trying to engage the academy and students and others to think of those questions. this is like manna from heaven for people at the university.

it would be interesting for the audience if you could think of two or three questions and if somebody wrote a good memo that could include a little bit longer paper, and a list of ones that i mentioned whichever you want. one is on deterrence and if the objective is to deter world war iii what are the instruments of american power that could be mobilized in that area and how we delineate a particular the economics which mike you mentioned. another question you raised that you said you are interested in trying to get people to offer some answers to, where's this going? what is the 20 or 30-year vision? i think he said containment, can stream it, whatever. what is the longer-run?

my goodness you are the select committee and you're supposed to know the answers to that of your questions which people in the university have been wrestling with, give us the questions then maybe we will stir ourselves and provide an answer. steak you mentioned it to and i hope we can now that we have filled the short-term demand of the committee use this next year is a committee work to look at the longer term congressman. this is why we are hearing from experts to figure out the longer term investments can make to put us in the better position to defend ourselves. it strikes me that we have consensus on the near-term goal and megan you mentioned which is deter the division of taiwan or something that would ignite a conflict. we could argue that the best way to do that in the subsidiary question about due economic instruments deterred or where they fit in the overall

deterrence paradigm? one thing we discovered when we did a variety of four games is even as we maintained ambiguity with respect to taiwan whether we would withdraw it might make sense to have clarity on the nature of our economic response. when we want to work out the economic and financial ladder prior to things going boom because we have the a wealth of conventional military outside and the economic and financial side. that's like 20 questions in there. on just a long-term goal that i hope we can examine in this work i don't think there's any consensus on that. there's some on the super hawkish side that would argue for regime change or would point to the inherent brittleness of our regime and one day it would implode of its own weight. do we have enough insight into the internal by nanette --

dynamics that if xi jinping were to leave tomorrow or the party were to collapse which is not going to, that would be less chaotic and better for world stability and do we want to containment paradigm. our mutual friend has talked talked about constrained when he testified before the committee or is there some that would suggest by re-engaging with the party we could eventually returned to her responsible stakeholder leadership? i don't know that's a lot of work that we had to continue to do and hopefully raja can answer that question i'll just put my name on it and take credit for it. >> by asking some critics of the u.s. approach say it's trying to weaken china and you are trying to destroy china. what would you say to that? are we trying to weaken china and is at the objective for some more more about changing behavior he described in recognizing as you said there has been a lot of debate about the long-term end state but what is the objective?

i haven't heard a single person talking about herding or harming china or doing anything that would stun their -- we can't get into the mind of xi jinping although xi jinping we believe based on his writings and speeches which we have become very familiar with is an ideologue. he's someone unlike anybody we have seen in the modern era and as you know his hero is mao tse-tung. he wants to be a mao. the question that i am constantly asking is will he change course? and what would it take to change his course? what are the combination of carrots and sticks that might alter the course of going to the economic aggression from technological aggression do

something different, going for military aggression to something different? and so i think conducting high-level diplomacy is essential. i think doing what we have talked about in corporate international defense authorization act which is policy to increase deterrence is essential. however we have the hedge our bets. what i mean by that is you know if someday, if someday there is a way that xi jinping decides he is going to move or aggressively than he is right now how will we handle that? and what would we do and how would we work with our allies and partners to deal with that? that's the big question. it's like over the best and prepare for the worst. >> and i had really quickly

rethink our strategy fundamentally is we are trying to defend the status quo from authoritarian aggression and we are trying to reduce or eliminate the worst in xinjiang. we are talking about some offensive strategy. i don't think i've heard too many things about a regime change. certainly in the territorial acquisition. we are trying to preserve the status quo in them my party we are having a debate about the nature for engagement and commitment. a lot of that is a legacy of the iraq war of nation-building and democratization as far as strategy. when it comes to taiwan there's something fundamentally different about helping an existing enforcing democracy with societies in the world defending itself from authoritarian aggression. i don't think that's fundamentally aggressive

strategy. even where i am promoting us pushing back in some area i view it as we are waking up and defending ourselves from the economic warfare or the ideological offenses they are launching under social media platforms which by the way aren't allowed inside of china. it's just waking up and defending ourselves and pushing back. i don't view it as something like you know we are trying to hurt china per se. i think the chinese people are often hurt by the regime and look the other way towards interactions. >> turning it back to graham it's not about weakening china about changing behavior. i presume you're making a distinction between changing behavior and changing xi jinping's worldviews but what about the balance of changing domestic behavior versus

international behavior? this is one of the things that emerge from the lessons from iraq and afghanistan and the challenge of making societies but you might say i've heard most of you talk about the uyghurs and the genocide happening against the uyghurs so we could share on that. >> thank you. it's a great point megan and with regard to the uyghurs just so everybody knows in this room what's going on there 23 million uyghurs and xinjiang province which is the northwest province of china. there's an act of genocide happening meaning they are trying to erase the identity of 23 million people. 70,000 women have been sterilized, forcibly sterilized, hundreds of thousands of children forcibly separated from their parents. in two to 3 million in concentration camps as we speak tonight. that is to me something that we cannot look away from and so

while generally i don't think we should be meddling were trying to reshape the internal affairs of different countries, i think in this instance when you have the genocide with regard to the weaker people were cultural genocide with tibetans or oppression of the hong kong people we have to speak up. our tool for that however is the weaker force labor prevention act with regards to trying to deal with the genocide in xinjiang. it's very, it's not very well enforced and that's the big problem. one of the things we found out in the course of their proceedings is something we have two say we are serious about dealing with this. otherwise with other domestic fares i don't think we have gotten into that. obviously we can talk about that further. certainly it's an issue that xi jinping is very concerned about especially economically.

maybe that's something we should be keeping in mind with regard to our own relationships and how we handle them right now. we are more concerned i think with regard to our relationship with the cbp and their treatment of our partners and allies in the region. >> thank you. there's so many questions here. we are slightly disagreeing here. nobody can read xi jinping's mind. it's something we know a lot about. it's not somebody from outer space. he knows a lot of people who a lot of americans know and if you asked him he says. exclusively listen to what he says is you have been. he wants to make china great

again. that was a statement he made before trump did. he has a strategy for doing that. they say we are going to be the most important trading partner and build a military that's able to fight and win from his point of view to defend our own position which includes taiwan is one of the provinces. i read what he says and it looks to me like that's what he's doing. he seems quite understandable and again i suspect it's harder to the right it harder to the left, i think if i were the chinese i would sign up for that.

two times as many people and they are hard-working and smart. they would had twice the gdp and if they had placed the gdp they'd have twice the intelligence operations in the technology and if they have that why would they be interested in having a navy as the arbiter in the south china sea and the east china sea? it looks to me like a pattern. as you know it's one i've seen forever. from our point of view we believe right believe very strongly the international order that the u.s. created after world war ii and his megan mentioned to start with has given seven or eight years without as a great war. it's absolutely fantastic for americans. but even more so for chinese. and for japanese and taiwanese and basically in order in which we have seen increases in

people's well-being. we are not about to walk away from that and in the pacific i would say it will be very difficult. i cannot imagine explaining to xi jinping where he should not aspire for china to be and i can imagine explaining to me as an american america being number one is not the best of the two options and i would say -- >> recognizing he says one thing at a peck and another to the party and so say another thing to the domestic audience. do you think it's too much of the stress to say what he and both putin and sit together and

it's a once in a generation opportunity to destroy the u.s.. do you think that's too much of a stretch? >> i think he wants to shift come he'd like to have an international order in which china is essential to that order as we would like to have an american-led order in which we are central to that. in that sense if i took to be the best world's china and xi watch our i get them back and forth interviews with him and xi jinping is serious with his colleagues about displacing the u.s. as the predominant power in asia and the foreseeable future. and he had a way of that he would look at you if you'd ask them a question kind of smile. of course, why not? how could they not aspire to that? >> and i had a colloquy?

s rely fascinating except that i think xi jinping cares about those things but the most important thing that he cares about a xi jinping. he needs to be atop the ccp and the ccp needs to be central, needs to be in charge of china. so if we talk about primacy of china and indo pacific region being one of those goals if it comes into direct conflict potentially play a xi jinping being the number one paramount leader i know which one will win out. we have to create the situation where the cost benefit for him as such that he recognizes he can't have both and he should probably opt for one. that would be the one that is the peace. >> 100%.

number one the communist party needs to be a vanguard leading the country and third how do i achieve that? or objective is to create a ability to achieve that is consistent with ours. >> i think everybody agrees even the people the regional vision is one in which they are the suns and everything orbits around them whereas we would like to see a situation which in jupiter is very big but not the center of gravity. i'm increasingly persuaded that that's not only the regional vision of the global vision where they want to displace us as the dominant superpower and therefore persuade them that those of us who want to defend the existing order and those in the ccp who want to disrupt if not to