no where near chicago and san antonio and miami with the american south significantly becoming a part of immigrant america in a way that is out during the huge immigrant slaves of the ellis island generation from 1870 to 1920. but that stunning number for the 2010 census over 50 million didn't arrive in isolation, and let's remember not all americans thought it was such a great news either.

in the salmon months we learned that latino families lost a larger percentage of their accumulated family wealth than any other americans. all that struggle, all that savings, scrounging at a down payment and squeezing into overpriced housing for hundreds of thousands of families it's all down the drain, he raced from of the brightest. a big part of that loss has been in home-equity with houses dropping in value, plunging mortgages under water leading to breathtaking foreclosure rates. now that home-equity can't be leveraged. the health to the firm college can't be used as collateral to finance a business start up or an expansion of an existing small business. except as a given intergenerational transfer of wealth, i think most of your in

this room don't expect to inherit much from your parents, right? other americans go through life assuming this was going to happen for them. but the destruction of the housing crisis for latino families didn't stop there and doesn't stop there. our workers were heavily exposed to the construction employment when times were good so were paychecks as latino workers became a common feature on residential and commercial structures sites nationwide our unemployment shot up haulier and faster than the country as a whole, and now stands several percentage points ahead. projections for the leader of the decades of this century show our kids pouring into public schools, our young people representing a larger and larger share of the overall work force, and in their productive and hiring middle years paying the bills and the municipalities where they live, financing the

pensions and social security checks of tens of millions of white retirees. we have come to a place economically and demographically where our country is depending on hispanic americans for the security of their own future. you can truly say today that it will be even more true in 2013 and beyond if we are not doing well, america isn't doing well. [applause] and yet it's an open question whether those exciting optimistic 5-year-olds entering kindergarten in washington and manhattan in california one of the foreclosure the centers of the country, and north carolina and my immediate florida whether those 5-year-olds will get the kind of education that will bring in economic success and

security that will allow them to do better than their own hard-working parents that will allow them to break out of the cycle low-wage employment and meager assets that has become the reality for so many today. what does america have to do? what do we have to do to get past the decade of the loss and family setbacks, to get past the decade of the skyrocketing cost and higher education even as family finances are stretched to the breaking point to stop being the most under insured and uninsured of all working americans and what do our fellow americans know? do they even care that our economic future is their economic future? now to the rest of our distinguished panel. the 15th u.s. secretary of housing and urban development has devoted his entire career to

ensure safe, decent and affordable housing. before coming he served as housing commissioner for the city of new york. during the time he understood the rapid demographic changes that were occurring in different areas of the city and work hard in the neighbors like the south bronx to ensure programs and policies were responsive to the changes. in the obama administration his work to stabilize the housing market and keep responsible families in their homes as he solidified the financial position of the federal housing and fenestration. he also launched a choice neighborhood initiatives to help stabilize the community and neighborhoods around them. his agency's sustainable communities partner should is challenging communities and regions to develop comprehensive housing strategies and housing and transportation plans that will create jobs and help make american business more competitive globally. please welcome the hud secretary, the honorable sean

donovan. [applause] >> our next panelist was named one of the top 25 women in business builders in the country by fast company magazine. in 1996 she founded the pinnacle, and information technology services provider to the fortune 500. under her leadership the country has become the fifth fastest growing firm and a 20 billion-dollar industry and now has revenues of $200 million, the 3,000 consultants across the united states and canada. she currently serves on the board of several large corporations and is the chairman of the u.s. hispanic chamber of commerce. please welcome nina. he's the president and the owner of the diversity consulting firm

and he's also the board chairman of the society for human resource management shrm devoted to inclusive people strategies with nearly 260,000 members around the world. before starting his own firm he was the vice president of leadership development and diversity and was responsible for the nationally recognized diversity strategy for more than 90 daily newspapers including usa today and 20 television stations. he served with some of the largest and best progressive corporations in the federal agencies including time, nbc, the the part of justice if the the problem of transportation and he's a founding member of the national hispanic corporate counsel. please welcome the president of the telegram and chairman of shrm. [applause] >> a two-time finalist for the

pulitzer prize for his coverage of presidential campaigns he currently serves as the national journal group's editorial director. he also writes a weekly column and contributes pieces for both the national journal and the atlantic magazine. his book, the second civil war, how extreme partisanship has paralyzed washington and polarized america was published in 2007. he is also served as the national affairs columnist for "the los angeles times" and is a political analyst for the 2012 election for both abc and cnn that's how much in demand he is, the competitors both hire him, please welcome ron. [applause] before we begin let me mention one member of the caucus, one long term member of the caucus and as we say in spanish from the bronx representative jose.

[applause] >> i think we would have one of the more distressing panels of the entire annual meeting if we dwell at length on this that's coming out of hispanic households across the country but i can't sugarcoat the situation. it's frightening, it's distressing and the losses mean hardship and setbacks for millions of people. you and i were talking about this before. help me set table here. what are we looking at both in terms of growth numbers, where the growth is and the state of play for the latino families in the country. >> i think the reason for

optimism is a very challenging environment as a society we have no choice but to do better than we have been doing and moving minority kids into the middle class. you know, we thought about access to economic opportunities as being primarily an issue of fairness over the last seven or is your evidence that it isn't primarily the economic competitiveness to the country itself. we face some serious we are living through what my bill friend buckles the generational gap. 40% of americans under 18 are now non-white. and yet, 80% of the seniors are still white. there is a big political gap between what i would call the brown and the gray. there's a growing minority population believes in the public investment to move its kids into the middle class and the aging baby boom a predominantly white population

is growing more resistant to the government activism in their voting their political behavior but ultimately, this often the case in american life i think we are more interdependent than we realize because this minority generation is the work force that is going to have to pay the tax to fund social security and medicare all the projections are seeing is not a share of absolute numbers on the decline the next couple decades and that is what is on the kind of calling the best educated to present it around the world we really have no choice but to educate the growing minority population. however one final statistic to kind of underscore this the best projections are given the dominance of the minority population particularly hispanics by 2011 will be the to

the point where the majority of newborn's first time would be non-white in the u.s.. unless we do a better job of educating this emerging generation of the absolute level of the society overall will begin declining by the end of this decade which a think is a kind of frightening prospect in the global economy based on information. often it is the case the more interdependent than we had knowledge and maybe even more interdependent than we realize because unless we can move more of these kids to the middle class there will be enormous fiscal funding social security and medicare competing. >> let's just say you are in that business of getting people into the work force and sort of maximizing their potential. given those statistics about education is discussing human resource professionals enough to

work with in the case of wanting to promote them but not having to stop there on high school and college graduates. >> i think ron is absolutely right we have to keep in mind that the latest shows about 3 million jobs available in the workplace. h.r. professionals in these organizations and the problem of trying those jobs is that we don't have the people with special skills and education. the data shows often the unemployment rate will go from nine plight 1% to about 8%. 2 million jobs out there and we can't have a skilled and educated individual that is a big problem. they said the focus now needs to be on the grade school kids.

i think that is absolutely critical because we have to focus on trying to reduce the dropout rate of our kids in schools, number two, provide more educational of attendees for kids to go to college because if you don't do that you continue to have kids coming out of school dropping out sitting at their low-wage jobs. it is a vicious cycle and we need to focus on keeping our kids at school and the education of hispanic kids around the country so they can't compete for those jobs. right now -- today we turn that around if we have that kind of skilled work force, individual work force we can turn those around and change. they are not really ready for those jobs and that is why we

have such large unemployment rate. >> i was in high school a really, really long time ago. [laughter] when i was in high school and a member of my new york city public school there wasn't one of us in the world who didn't know that we had to go to a high school, finish and then go to college to do better than our parents did, and not one of our parents didn't know that. it's not a lack of knowing. it's at this point a lack of the spending on the kids it took about entering kindergarten all around the country and 16 years later walking across the stage while their name is being said out loud and someone is sending them a diploma, a for your diploma. and why is it not happening? >> that's the critical issue we have to make that figure out a way to get kids in school, focus

on them staying in school, looking for opportunities for the scholarships to be able to give the opportunity to go to college and finish college and that to me is the critical issue that we face in the hispanic community we have to have more focus on that. it's difficult because it is just to help the household working in this popular jobs just to maintain the household so it is a vicious cycle we need to constantly focus on to break that cycle we have within the communities around the country. when the demographers in the u.s. census bureau counted the education they use the term "some college." and they don't mean it like an explanation, they mean you have only got some and not enough, and tragically there are millions of our kids who have

some college and no degree, and even worse, they borrow money to get those credits and not finish a credentials so they pay the debt and get none of the acceleration at the degree. it's a disaster. it's a disaster. >> i don't know that i have all the answers, but i was one of those students not long ago when i was in college to make the decision due wide dropout and join my work force, five kids and my family, one parent, otherwise stay in school and so why have the first hand information on the feeling that and the overwhelming responsibility one feels to their family. but i think that what we can do to help these kids at least in my mind is information and inspiration. you have to give them the information. they have to understand the importance of education in the country. you have to continue to create

that information over and over again. it agreed school and every level. and others is quite frankly information. one of the things we strive to do is take entrepreneurship and have the entrepreneurs serve as role models, talk to kids around the country, the programs and services so people can see someone that looks like you, sounds like you, you know, you tend to say to yourself i can do that and then you have inspiration and hope that there's nothing for you can't do. >> congressman, i'm sorry i cut you off. i'm going to get to you. [laughter] >> education is a piece of the puzzle and i want to come back and talk about housing and the congressman talked about the peace study of the devastating numbers in terms of the household wealth we have to talk

about the incredible role they play in providing the example of what organizations should be doing and i want to thank the congressmen for his leadership. we have to create role models. this week honoring held hilda solis and ken salazar with this conference, to phenomenal role models. you also have a fellows program. we have three fellows right now that are building the skills and public service because of the work they are doing. so i think first of all we have to recognize that they have been a leader in this area. but, to go beyond that, to the broad level, the president's speech last week, he recognizes first we have to stop the bleeding in so many of our schools around the country. the american job act funds to hundred 80,000 tuitions. we can't educate our kids if we are losing teachers in the hundreds of thousands like we've been doing over the last year.

[applause] peace fought to extend pell grants to make sure we can have pell grants for devin and debt forgiven if you serve as a teacher for civil if you go back into serving our kids in schools and the early years are an absolutely critical to the race to the top and so many other areas have been critical from the president's perspective but we also have to connect people to jobs. right now in the hispanic community there is almost 20 per cent youth unemployment rate. completely unacceptable so what we have to do with to build the community colleges and now 5 billion-dollar investments into the community colleges that would be absolutely critical but we have to do a better job of job training and of connecting those community colleges and

other training opportunities berkeley to jobs take the millions of hispanics are the country part of the unemployed, more than six months. we have to extend unemployment insurance? absolutely. it is a critical part of the american jobs act but we also have to turn that program, unemployment insurance program into a training program for the long-term unemployment this would go to businesses that hire the long-term unemployed and we would give added incentives to find those folks, connect them to the training and to the jobs they need in the longer-term. first and foremost and i know we have the support of all of the congressman here we have to pass the american stock act to get americans back to work. >> let's talk about housing. [applause] i believe your last for predecessors because i interviewed them probably going back much further as a central

goal of their agency and winter of the country encouraging black and brown buyers and sometimes in the matured, oversold, high-volume markets. we were as a country encouraging people to do whatever it took to save down, lowdown, the time of cheap money, squeezed through the front doors of that house and now has become a stone around their families nec if they'd been able to hold on to it at all. can we dig out of the city time frame that means something to families? >> it's a critical question. the statistical latinos have the largest drop than any group in the country, two-thirds on the day that the president was brought into office in the prior four years. and so this is absolutely

essential. and i think just to go to where you started i don't think the lesson that we should learn from what we have seen is that latinos shouldn't aspire for home ownership and at the federal level we shouldn't be working to provide them access to the homeownership we need to have a sustainable, or should we are we to focus on getting the folks into home ownership and not whether it was something that would lack the right price for the right product and i am proud that fha which is a part of hud two-thirds of latinos that bought homes used the fha loan and the lack of access in the broad mortgage market in the role and we recognize two-thirds of the growth of this country is going to come from latinos going forward, two-thirds. if they can't access homeownership they are not going to be able to build wealth in

the way that we traditionally have in this country. so what is we cannot pull up behind that once we have been in this crisis but we also have to help communities and families that have been hurt. we have made progress there but not enough progress. there are about 5 million that have had their mortgages modified. a large share of them latino because the crisis so concentrated in the community but we also have to do more. that's why the president as part of the american job back as $15 billion building on the efforts in the neighborhood stabilization for those of you who don't know we save about $7 million into the neighborhoods with particularly hard hit by the forclosures. it creates about 100,000 jobs because we put construction workers back to work buying these homes, rebuilding them, and of a critical part of that is that it helps to stabilize the home value in the communities and reduce vacancies and it's been highly targeted to the hispanic neighborhoods.

if you just look at the congressional hispanic neighborhood caucuses it's been about 12% of all the investments. when those districts are present just four or 5% of the overall population. so another $15 billion invested in the neighborhood stabilization act for what we call the project rebuild would be enormously important first continuing to stabilize values and increasing values in those neighborhoods for the homeowners that have been hurt and rebuilding wealth while we are doing that. second of all it would create the local jobs in the communities as we know renovating homes aren't international companies coming from overseas. they are local small businesses many of them owned by hispanic leaders in their community and we need to make sure those jobs are available locally. almost 3 million hispanics or construction are of the country and have been hardest hit in the industry, harder than anybody else and we need to put them back to work. >> congressman, the bankers have

been reluctant to admit that some of the $240,000 houses they sold were actually worth $140,000. and there's a disconnect in that a valuation that all the programs in the world have not been able to massage. they are because they carry those houses on the books they are not willing to say well, yeah it is 140,000 a warehouse but because they won't, the family also can't change how they are paying for that so they either lose it or someone had but it isn't worth to of 40 grant any more but so how that lack of give has been devastating to families. how do you work around that? it is the essence of the problem and that is until somehow when you reduce the principal amount you're not going to have that kind of relief and i sure

there's been a discussion about it but it's never going to get done and maybe it's renditions and what we did in the 40's and that is basically create a corporation, reduce the principles and that corporation 1959 and you actually had 85% of all mortgages performed and paid out. that's the kind of rendition i think it is going to take. the secretary i think that is an impossibility given the political climate, and he's probably right. but i don't see that the lender, the holder of the paper is willing to do something like that. my own opinion is that that would be the thing to do is to negotiate on that principle. the support, does it serve anybody's interest? if i am your next-door neighbor the last thing i want to see is that house for closure because it reduces my value.

i don't have it understanding to the degree that the secretary has on that. i think it is going to have to be something that you have to be looking at the principle. and so until we figure that out i don't know where it is all going to go. not only on the sound by just saying that's the reality of a transaction and you have something that is way overvalued and you can't afford the payment based on that overvaluation. >> if i could just -- i think the congressman is absolutely right. we've made progress on making the loans available for the families. the foreclosures are down about 40% from where they were a year rego. we have reached in a total with all the programs about 5 million, more than twice as mollyann hills actually lost their homes to foreclosure. but what remains for the single largest problem is this overhang of debt and those who are under water are particularly concentrated in california, arizona, nevada, in the states

that have been the traditional home of latino families and so we have to go farther. we came very close in the early days of the of ministration to getting a bankruptcy reform bill that would force the lenders. the single biggest opportunity that we have now is all of the losses and efforts brought against banks are now our biggest tool to force them to start to reduce the balances. that's why we are working closely with all of the state attorneys general and we will get significant principal reduction out of that because i do think unfortunately given the divide we have in congress as hard as charlie fight and others that are here it's going to be difficult to get movement in congress and we have to find other ways to do this and that's what we are doing. nina? >> , leadership -- hispanico medish as 39% versus the national average of almost 70 to

reassess what we have to look at. the homeownership fell 39% nationally verge of a 73 of the 13.4 million hispanic households , this is the problem, only 13% mix several hundred thousand dollars a year. households, think about that. 57% make less than $50,000 a year. that's 25,000 per mom and dad. the statistics are daunting. if you are at 50 to 100 the new or the mere 29% so it is the chicken and the egg you can afford it, education, and so it is a downward spiral. home ownership in the entrepreneur community is important because oftentimes entrepreneurs have equity in their homes and this is why the community is important particularly for home ownership.

this is when the entrepreneurship becomes an option. in the past five years, during the recession the hispanic businesses have grown over 114%. the 2007 study showed command of the number today is 3.1 million on the hispanic businesses but according to the study in 2012, that will be 4.1 million hispanic businesses. and so the hispanic businesses are starting incredibly faster than any of our minority groups and the entrepreneurs and hispanics have not figured out the entrepreneurship is a viable option for their family and creating wealth in their community. and this is why it plays an important and pivotal role in our society of educating the entrepreneur is particularly at a young age if they can and by the we come out of the seven or tennis been a good businesses haven't to be a latina. any latinas in the house? [applause] >> it's worth noting that the tea party, which is the

primarily white older political phenomenon, and a powerful force represents the country, the minority of the country girl immediately out of the reaction, the immediate spark was one of the efforts on releasing people who were kind of over their head on the debt so there's that but actually, i should another exit along with social security and medicare where we are more interdependent than we realize because we get all of these aging a predominantly white baby boomers looking to get out of their homes as the households that are emerging in the home buying years are an increasing minority. when the number of whites in their childbearing years decline in the last decade in that 10% now increasing about 20% from the minorities like the compound interest it feeds on itself and

really come again, it's the same kind of thing. if you don't bring more of those kids in the middle class to finish high school much less college and we briefly mention the responsibility of the colleges and community colleges to particularly if we do have the situation where the end of the worst of the debt in the debris. unless we move more of those cases in the middle class not only will we have trouble funding the social security and medicare but who is going to buy these houses that this kind of aging predominantly white population is going to be looking to get out of. so i think when you look at this from every angle as is often the case we are more dependent than we acknowledge and there is a need for the investment will help those kids move in the middle class settled their education is that where the politics are now but ultimately i think it does become more inescapable. so how to create policy that isn't based at its core on the

idea that i'm asking you for this, that i need a favor, that you are giving me something, but instead create policy that takes that formation that has at its core the mutual self-interest. it's not because you are doing something nice for me and i have my hand out. it's because you need me and we need each other for this economy to work. the basic law of the housing physics that the seller needs a buyer. >> let me give you another on that. if you live next door to somebody's house that is foreclosed on, you need every single mortgage payment on in your house would go down in value about $10,000 on average that day. you talk about interrelated, everybody's home value, everybody is wealth, latino wealth in this country, folks who have been able to keep their

jobs and able to pay are intimately connected to those who are being foreclosed on. this is why an investment like the president talked about last week is so critically important, and so doing the project rebuild is absolutely critical. one of the myths that has come out of this crisis is the below and modern families can be successful homeowners. in new york city in many of the latino neighborhoods we create 17,000 units of a letter should you know how many forclosures there were? five by the time i left. why? because we educated families to be prepared for home ownership and yet here we have this tea party in the house budget passed last week or introduced last week cut 100% of the funding for the counselors, 100%. eliminating the housing counseling. that's counseling we do with so

many of the latino organizations that helped to create the right platform to the future of like reading the home ownership. it is so short-sighted we have to wake up and see that as ron said we are interdependent. >> you are saying how do we do that that it's just as a handout. since when is a public education a handout? it has always been a part of the government's all-purpose and the goal to educate the skilled work force. since when is making access to capital to purchase a home or start a business a handout? so that is the way that it needs to be presented and the way that i look at it is a government and private sector partnership. the partnership part is that we assist as government policy makers and providing the the private sector with a consumer base. when you have that going into the private sector and the government, i can assure you we will have legislation that

accommodates the goal. >> what's to some questions from the floor. i know you are very excited because of the very upbeat and a -- [laughter] >> where are the microphones? there we go through it anybody have a question? hopefully a little more upbeat is the role that hispanics can play in the global economy, and particularly hispanics and the language that is so necessary in the multiple languages that need to be spoken. of what is being done in your knowledge to to get into of the bilingual child who is hispanic and in the public education

system -- >> those that don't know charlie erickson, the member of the national association of hispanic journalists and a great gift to the community. spinnaker great question, charlie. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> it's good to see you by the way. that's a great question. unfortunate i think is that is not a fallujah skill in this country yet. the skill of the bilingual education is very valuable in this country. there is fear in some countries there is fear associated with treating a bilingual society that had optus the language. that is an unfortunate thing but

around the world that's value. again, without being pessimistic, i see it as a challenge in the education system and the public school system especially. it's getting better in some regions around the country and some colleges promoted but i think it is still a big problem and you are absolutely right for us in a global economy understanding the value of the individual who is bilingual and understands it to be more effective in the organizations worldwide. i don't see that happening yet but we are getting their slowly. >> if i could jump in here. one of the things i think is an enormous opportunities around trade. he has the gall to double exports and we are actively ahead of the bowl on that. last month it was the largest export month in the history of the united states and the

growing exports and a number of areas that are surprising are the agricultural exports are now at the highest level that they have ever been. to me this is one area we could take advantage of the bilingual education, the advantage of the natural advantage latinos have in this country. obviously mexico is already a trading partner there are lots of opportunities in central and south american and european countries, spain and others. so that opportunity is one that we ought to focus on and take advantage of going forward. >> secretary, you've been kind with your time and i know that you are running on a tight schedule. i've been instructed that i may dismiss you. [applause] >> thank you. yes?

>> good morning. i'm the ceo of the society for engineers. for us, education is the key. when you look at the country we graduate 70,000 engineers and china has 500,000, india, 200,000. when you talk about corporations going overseas looking for talent not here i think that's phenomenal. i think we need to do something to encourage corporations to find organizations like the one i represent and many in this room because education is the key. the other part of it, and as i sit here and what of our community was devastated by the housing crisis. one of the big issues i also see and we have 218 chapters, 200 latinos throughout the united states, i venture to ask how many of those really have a financial literacy as critical in their ability to read so it's about educating and giving the corporations to really see that

they need to invest in this country but it's also about educating the community about financial literacy, investing more and investing in education, and i would like to see what all of you have to say with regard to the policy we can begin to create to really encourage corporations to see that those aretas are critical for the success of the community because we are the future. we look at the demographics as the young kids in school today it is latino. we are not educating them we are going to lose the market we are doing it already losing it to other countries that are bringing the challenge here. thank you. >> i really wonder. some of the central questions whether we are going to conclude for the next 20 years or so but it's too hard and too difficult for us to raise the kids we have into college and become that

skilled work force but obviously we need or we are going to try to cover the top percentage from around the world changing the policies that are going to bring them to locate factories. the daunting statistic, the demography and the educational trends are such that i think the plausible projections came for the american society why it would begin declining by the end of the decade which is an incredible prospect of the time so much more economic growth is based on the information economy and that has not been true since the 1890's to 1900 or we of the influx in the melting pot so it is a kind of basic question are we going to try to uplift what we have or are we going to find it easier to bring in the skills we need from around the world and go to those still? there's a question and right now i don't know i think i would

lean slightly toward not making the effort because the political polarization that we are in look at what happened in the state of texas where this year the majority of the k-12 1% of a 70 present over all and get a state legislature and the governor chose to cut education to not raise taxes a nickel on anybody so you kind of look at that polarization, 90% of their votes are white for the governor and you get them and they choose to go the other >> real quick because of ron mentioned the texas experience which i don't wish on anyone. [laughter] but it is interesting because during that debate the business community was silent and they didn't come on board until the end when it was way too late. we now have more kids in public

school than we have ever had. we are not financing the increasing numbers over the next two years. we're spending almost $600 less per student now than we have and we have these challenges. the answer i think to your question the direction has to come from the private sector. where are the businessmen and women of america going to invest? as far as the skills that are going to be required to have to hire as a result of their investment. this corporate america as a private sector even have a sense of direction of where the future lies for america? i think that is a serious question. have you heard anyone tell us this is the road now? these are the relevant jobs in the global economy? i haven't heard anything. and then we start in the schools. they have to be engaged at the school boards. the have to be given direction. the of to say we are going to open the boundary or we are

going to open the business and this is the product and service and this is what we need in the way of the job description. that is not going on. even the even on education where you start the conversation on education, my frustration is that we don't even take into account the diversity of the student population that the public schools have today. we go to school many years ago and we didn't even have to ramp because we didn't have kids in wheelchairs. did we have kids with dyslexia and autistic? sure. it's not that no one cares but it's natural selection and there were jobs for them built that was the difference. but i think the new capacity is to give direction to the government, to the educators and how we put into motion given the challenges of the modern class

for all this bad news, for all this news there are still countervailing bits of data that give you hope just a couple of weeks ago the pew center said that driven by the surge of 24% of the hispanic enrollment, the number 18 to 24-year-olds attending college in the united states at an all-time high of 12.2 million in october, 2010 hispanic young adult enrollment in higher education grew by 349,000 in one year. the fact the kids know they need the education but it's also undramatic of the way just the sheer size of the population is going to drive the whole country's performance when it comes very quickly. >> there's talk about a lot of them today and to have fun with

the question asked earlier about the importance of the bilingual we could rattle off the statistics all day. the statistics that i find get attention hispanics and non-hispanics is very complicity at that is if you are not related to a hispanic today, you soon will be. [laughter] and if you don't believe me you can ask. [laughter] >> good morning. a teacher from california to really appreciate the discussion on education, but we believe there's a disenfranchisement of free public education that is a tactic that our kids will be the victims of. one of these tactics includes race to the top, punitive, whatever you have, there are kids that lose. what are the feelings of the panel in regards to fully funding all mandates.

>> the spokesman for the administration i don't think anybody can look at the trajectory of the public spending in education the last 40 years and say the system does not need and demand significant reform. whether or not, you know, whether you believe the investment decision or not, and i think in many ways you argue that it's not, there is no question that the case retail system can do a much better job than it's done and in many places it is seen as a job program for adults rather than in education for kids and we don't really touch on your point from a moment ago that the post secondary education system needs to face more pressure i think to improve the outcomes they are producing particularly for the students that kind of nightmare scenario that we talked about. the people who scrimp and save and their parents worked to get them in college and the end up being unable to complete for a

variety of reasons and have more debt and no degree. i think you can argue that we under invest in education but i think that even in that perspective i think everybody has to be relevant in demanding that the entire system produce more results for the dollars it gets whether it is the current level or the higher level in the future. >> a quick final comment. >> i want to address the question. i think it was how to get the corporate community involved and, you know, one of the things -- one of my favorite words is this word accountability. i think one of the best measures of accountability by seen as senator bob menendez in this corporate 500 asking for accountability on a variety of areas as it pertains to hispanics, not only hispanics high gear in their inner rank but who they are doing business

with, who sits on the board, filling hispanics as an area of procurement and representational board and representation of the work force and so i think that if we fight -- the corporate communities respond when you hold them accountable and so i think we can do a better job or continue to do a good job like them like senator bob menendez. but as i close, the word accountability is twofold. it goes both ways. us hispanics, we cannot be a self-fulfilling prophecy. you cannot be hispanic for a living. we have to hold our side accountable to be the best we can be and not be measured by the color of our skin. that is all it's on so i asked we told ourselves accountable to be a part of the solution. 50 per cent of leadership is just showing up. it's really why i'm here today. i want to leave you with that

thought of accountability on both sides and thank you all for being here because it speaks to your passion on the growth of the community. [applause] >> thank you. hello? thankthank you. [inaudible] [laughter] i want to compliment the people who ask the questions because i think they were very timely and important. i served on the education committee, and i think that race to the top and all of the new programs that have been introduced by secretary of education arne duncan at the request of the president obama is thinking out of the box. i studied education for nearly 40 years. i serve on the education committee now for 15 years and the chairman of a subcommittee. i've been to china three times and each of the five years every five years i've gone i've asked

the question of the ministers of education and the professor and the students what is the secret to your success of 97% of the kindergartners a graduating from high school? in india, china, finland 97% graduate compared to our miserable graduation rate. the answer is very simple they said. this is the formula early reading plus writing equals success in school. by the time the children are 3-years-old, they can read. if you say they can't, you are wrong. they can. by the time they are 4-years-old, they are on i computer to write what they've read and that is why they can proceed and a graduate from high school and go on to college degree was in to these statistics. in a china 80% of the high

school graduates go to college. in south korea, 90% go to college. why? because they can read and write. so the question about literacy, education and literacy is part of that. they say 20% of their disposable income. here in the banking committee five years ago in 2007 just before the recession, our average american had a - 2% savings compared to them at 2%. it's part of the banking reform bill of christoff -- chris dodd and barney frank. it has protection and says there shall be in office for financial literacy education.

the majority right now are blocking it and of blocking it. folks, there are solutions by the new administration thinking out of the box. but if we had the last years before wasn't worth a darn because we've gone down and down and down in graduating minorities. last call i want to say this. the reason you gave the statistics that we have made this great increase in the students going to community colleges and universities is because obama allowed us to make the biggest investment ever in the history of the united states bigger and better than the g.i. bill of 1945. it has to $.5 billion from the minority serving institutions including a three big ones, hsa

and asian american colleges. is spread out over ten years. that means they can get an extra $100 million a year on top of what we now half which is $170 million to regroup what he does and what team has to go to college and be added to that the pell grant under my leadership we got up from 3,400 to $5,500 making the last part is that you can make a direct federal government at 5% and the bad times and you can borrow that money at 3.4%. so now combine a pell grant, a student college loan you could go to college and that is what is happening right now that they are going to college because it

is more affordable and accessible than we have ever had in our lives the hispanics and asians and we put together 77 groups to make sure this happened and the bill was signed into law a year ago or a year and a half ago and that's making a big difference. thank you. [applause] >> for all of you that want to ask a question and are wondering i want to ask a question, why is he wraping up now? can we put that screamed that i see op? i have a screen that says please wrap up. [laughter] why can't turn them around to cheer you but you have to believe me. so approach the person you'd like to ask a question after the panel. thank you for having me. good to see you all. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] ..

>> good afternoon to all of you and all of you understand we have some microphones that are available so that in the future if y'all would like to chime in and kind of enjoy and be a part of this conversation you are certainly willing to do so but we are going to talk first and foremost about the state of immigration reform or the lack of it. senator, you have been instrumental. you have presented a new bill, once again tackling the issue first of order security and safety and then the reality of what to do about the millions of people who don't have documents many of whom are united states citizens.

i don't hear much buzz about that legislation, and we can imagine why but why do you tell us how it is going? >> well, josé first of all let me say i appreciate this panel and this is the closest i'm going to get with sitting with louise gutierrez. >> by the way he does have a tremendous -- [laughter] >> you are killing my time. [laughter] but it is stroup. look, i think that for us to be able to move forward on a comprehensive reform that i have offered in the senate and louise has been to navigate in the house, we need to change the public debate. we need to get colleagues and i'm not eating partisan here. this is simply part of the reality, we need to get colleagues of the republican party to join us in this effort. i noted with great interest, i rarely see a republican debate on television but i went home to see the republican debate last

weekend i saw your intervention and in that intervention you asked a very legitimate question. you said let's presumed the border is now secure however you define that. having defined the border is now secure what do we deal with 11 million individuals who are undocumented and the answer in each and every one of those candidates was to revert back to we have to secure the border and we won't talk about that until we do. well, we cannot achieve comprehensive reform particularly in the senate where we need 60 votes unless we can get colleagues on the other side of the aisle to be engaged, which is why in my comprehensive immigration reform legislation, which takes care of the border and does does it in a way that many of my republican colleagues offer as well as includes the d.r.e.a.m. act, as well as deals with the you know, suppression of the large number of undocumented immigrants whose labor is used in an unscrupulous fashion and therefore the wages

of all others in our society. but also creates a pathway to earn legalization which is different than amnesty. and the seeming to get something for nothing. if you get something -- you are forgiven. so, we have responded to and included many of our republican colleagues ideas as a way to say join us in this effort because we will not achieve it. so, how do we get to where we need to be? when we as a community are willing to put the capital down with all of those who seek elective office whether the president of the united states, whether it you united states senator, senator, whether it be in member of the house of representatives and says, this is our number one issue by which we will judge whether or not to pass the vote or you you will see the dynamics of this opportunity to make what i think is a civil rights issue of our time a reality. >> the quick answer is there a

chance or opportunity going forward with a bill like yours to get any traction? >> you know, if we can change the dynamics in which people understand, you know when agricultural growers in this country see their crops rot in the field they understand that there has to be a pathway. when educators say to us you need to pass the d.r.e.a.m. act, there will be a pathway. when in fact hotels can no longer service there guests, there will be a pathway. when in fact, poultry plants across the country close there will be a pathway. when there is no one to take care of an infirm loved one by the steady hand in warm heart of an immigrant, there will be a pathway and that is what is going to change the dynamics. >> congressman gutierrez you crisscross this country probably leave more than anyone i know meeting precisely with that community that the senator talks about and that community is involved from top to bottom of

our society economically and socially. what is happening? why can't there be that traction that will the senator says needs to happen? >> well, first of all, i want to say that there has been victories and there have been trials and we are succeeding, and i think that we should put hours struggles within the context of the recent victory. we had a president of the united states there recently was speaking at a national congress la raza who said during his speech there are simply those who wish me to bypass congress when it comes to immigration and many in the audience clapped saying yes, i've pass congress. congress is not a friendly place. congress is a place for the d.r.e.a.m. act was passed where 55 senators voted for cloture yet it never got the bill to the president's desk. congress is a place where there are many people that our

enemies, really of any progress when it comes to immigration. and people in the audience, he says but i can't bypass congress and the audience says he is you can. do you want to know something? they were right, he could and he did and i want to thank the president of the united states and i want to thank all of those that work at the white house for issuing new guidance when it comes to deportation. 1 million people have been deported from the united states during the last 30 or so on months. now it is clear that if you came here as a youngster to the united states the discretion is in order of the day is you do not get deported from the united states. that means that 1 million young immigrants in this country get to live and survive for another day and that is a victory that they are not being deported and as a matter fact there are cancellations of deportation. [applause] that if you are a servicemember of the united states armed

forces, that you get an order on the one hand to serve and to go to afghanistan and be on the frontlines, to be there for victories and on the other you get a note from the federal government that says you are being deported. they had to take into consideration you have american citizen children and they have to take into consideration your roots in the community. i'm going to tell you something, and for one as you know that has crossed this country from one state to the other, demanding that this administration take action, it will tell you i don't think we are going to have conference of immigration reform until after the next election then i still think it will take a couple of years but during the next three years there will literally because of this new action hundreds of thousands of immigrants in this country that will be able to stay here and that will be able to wait another day so that one day we can pass comprehensive immigration reform and i think that is an important -- that is an important victory for our

community. is there still more that needs to be done? absolutely there is more than needs to be done, but i think at the same time we need to look at our fight within the context of the victory that we do have. >> well let's talk to cecilia who also is a point person in the white house and really the person who has the communication through the hispanic community to the president. cecilia this was a very tough row to hoe on the issue of the president's decision to specifically say out of the 300,000 backlog cases of immigration, let's not focus primarily on those people who have not committed a crime in turn things around. that will take some time to actually take affect. what is the reality as the congressman said of taking into consideration november of next year but from here until then and then afterwards? the? >> first of all thank you for the important role that you play as an advocate for the

community. i'm proud to be here with the congressional a-team on the senate and house and the people who have been advocates and to help tell our story in this country house important this issue is. the announcement debt congressman gutierrez talked about was part of a progression of announcements and a work that has been going on for several years. we have 10 million or 11 million undocumented people in this country and it is underway clear to anyone paying attention we are not going to deport that entire population. it is not humanly possible and expensive and doesn't make sense. what dhs is doing is trying to have strategy around around the law enforcement work the law enforcement work it does so while its imports in law vigorously as the congressman points out it is also making sure teacher judgments about who is a priority workforce and who is in. if you are running the police department in any urban area in this country would expend more resources going after serious criminals than jaywalkers. dhs is doing the immigration of the same thing and there have been multiple moves across the

last couple of years of which august announce the most recent one to make sure that the guidance is very clear up and down the chain of command intel -- and all of that is abundantly within the administration's authority to do but we also understand that even as we use art ministry of authority to make the right enforcement judgment, it is not a permanent solution for anybody. doesn't solve our immigration problem. in order to do that we need the congress of the united states united states and we have the authors of key legislation here sitting at this table and acknowledge. we need bipartisan support to get this done. we went from having senator menendez 23 republican senators in 2006 vote for comprehensive immigration form and we are down to zero. we had many republican co-sponsors in the senate of the d.r.e.a.m. act. we had three votes in the senate last december and we are down to zero. this was the first time in a decade the d.r.e.a.m. act has no

republican co-sponsors so we have a lot of work to do to get back to a place where we can get across the finish line with legislation so we must keep our eye on that ball. it is true of immigration and true the jobs bill. if a logjam in congress need to break up with going to make progress but this is a priority for this president and an economic imperative. >> luis i would like to talk about your american dream. people know you as a superstar in the guide to fill stadiums and fills our house with happiness and music but to come from a country that has had a very tumultuous political reality and yet you have come here and made it. tell me what this issue of immigration means for the hispanic community that has its documents? >> first of all thank you very much. i am extremely happy to be here. my story is the story of a lot of immigrants that come to this

country without even knowing what it is that they are going to be able to do. but, 1978 i came in legally because of the war in my country. we were not able to get immigration papers because back in 78 and 79 they would not declare themselves communist so we were not able to get any kind of status in the united states. the d.r.e.a.m. act and the effort that all of you guys are trying to make happen for us hispanics and for the hispanics to come to this country are extremely important. i went 10 years being illegal in this country, surviving, trying to make it basically because one i got out of high school, i could not continue to college. i had no papers, no social security and my only dream was that i was in the united states and i was going to make it.

somehow. i didn't know how but i was going to make it somehow. and here we are 30 something years later and i'm sitting here and i cannot believe it but we need to be able to pass these laws. we need to be able to focus in on what is right and what is humanly right for a lot of the immigrants that come into this country. >> let's talk about that because they're oftentimes is and i think we hear it more every day, disconnection between the politics of the united states and the politicians. the people in mainstream america don't see a lot of direct correlation with what their policies are doing for them and yet this is the most incredible democracy in the world. let's talk about things like that. their staid efforts to do the d.r.e.a.m. act for example. there've been efforts throughout the different states yet they differ on the d.r.e.a.m. act nationally. what are some of the things you think should and could be happening statewide that could maybe help to plant the seeds

for people to be able to have this dialogue internationally? >> well again thank you. this is a very important topic and we see this issue and when i say the business community sees this issue as an iceberg. unfortunately the focus across the country is on the tip of the iceberg and that is the amnesty and what part of the illegal do you not understand? the dangerous part of the iceberg is below the surface where most people aren't paying attention and that is the demographic changes and shifts we are seeing in this country. you can name me any industry and i will show you where there is a shortage from health care to manufacturing to engineering to energy, to the restaurant food service industry. we are seeing massive shortages but state -- take health care for example. according to the american association of medical colleges the elderly population is expected to double by the year

2020. meanwhile one third of all the positions in the united states are going to be retiring because they are baby boomers. so the question comes in, it has already been said we need to reframe the debate and when you look at it from the demographic standpoint and the work or standpoint it becomes very crystal clear what needs to happen. we do need to refrain this debate and here's why. for some reason many people see immigration reform as a gift to the hispanic community. it is not. it is fundamental and basically vital to the future workforce in this country and when you have state i state that breaks down let's look and see what is already happening. they did it not just by state that they did it in riverside, new jersey and manassas virginia and hazleton, and arizona georgia and alabama. and so when you have these gifted people who are here, who we desperately need in our workforce, the answer becomes

crystal-clear. we need them in our workforce. we need them to be part of the future of this country. >> i gave each one a good opening statement, but no more. let's start talking. let's have a dialogue and let me just throw some things out there and i would love you know for you guys to respond to that. this country has a 9.1 unemployment and african-american unemployment rate is almost 17% and hispanics more 11%. it is much higher than that when you count people working part-time who used to work or simply stopped looking for a job. is this the time now critics would say to have a process by which 11 million people who are currently not in the system come out of the system when americans can't find a job? is the priority of immigration reform the correct one when the situation in the economy is so dreadful for people that do have their documents and were born here? >> is important to those people that we have an immigration

reform. absolutely, if you have 10 or 11 million people who are exploitable who it is more difficult to protect them under our labor laws, that is under according the u.s. reports. in the president talks about immigration reform being an economic imperative he is talking about making sure that all workers in the country have the same protections and the same level playing field and is talking about the industry, all across the country, all across the business that are who are clamoring for an immigration reform because they understand how important it is to their success. we hear it from the high-tech industry every day. we heard from agricultural sector every day. these folks want their workers to be here legally and we need a reform that make sure that all of the work in here legally and that is in the economic imperative. >> it is a almost as though they go to the gas station and they don't pay taxes. they go to the grocery store and

they don't pay taxes. their rent or even the homeownership, they don't pay property taxes. the fact is they pay billions and billions of dollars in taxes but cannot access any of the programs that those tax dollars are there to fund. if you look at our economy, just think for one moment of 12 million people all of a sudden getting real hope. i think i know what they are going to do because it is almost with no hope and with all the sentiments that exist and yet they are growing and thriving in terms of economic ingenuity. we see them in our community. they will buy more homes than they will buy more cars. >> but congressman that's if they get a job. 14 million people don't have a job. >> but that is my point. the united farm workers set up an employment agency out there in salina who said if you want to pick garlic there is a job there for you. no one showed up.

no one showed up. no one is going to show up for some of the fundamental jobs necessary in our economy. [applause] you and i see them. we sit down for dinner and we see that gorgeous -- and. [speaking in spanish] it is just fundamental. whether we are going in a hotel room or coming into the hall room, nobody cares. they just want a nice decent head. it is almost as in america we need to apply for those jobs. those are the jobs we are willing to do and i am ready to say here today that those are jobs that my children and my children's children hopefully have been educated -- but there has to be about him -- bottom rung and god loves them that they do that job. [applause]

>> but let me share two examples. you have major agricultural operations in california that have now moved to mexico to grow produce to sell in the united states and what is ironic as many of the people who oppose immigration reform support orders security. what i would like to see is to have someone explain to me how this goes in the national security interest in this country to grow the food outside of our borders? secondly, on that other and microsoft opened a software engineering plant in vancouver british columbia, canada. they created 1500 software engineer jobs. why? because the ones we have we can't import enough. here we find ourselves in a recession. we are sending low skilled jobs to mexico in and high skilled jobs to canada and this doesn't make sense during this time for this country or is to outsource low skilled and high skilled jobs outside of the united states. [applause] >> i think the cases been pretty well made that the economy

should not be an impediment to reform. it should be a catalyst for reform. if you look at the center for american progress they will tell you that gdp growth would rise by $1.5 trillion over the next decade if we had an immigration reform. even in this difficult economy, economy you refer to so many people who are unemployed, they they are our whole sectors of our economy which are critical, that cannot find an american worker who was willing to do that work. and that work is not only critical for the services they produce but they actually give the underpinnings are the higher paying jobs so that taking care of the hotel room leaves the hotel manager, leaves the con sierra, leaves the restaurant chef and all of those higher paying jobs the ability to attract people to go there so that you know, in the seafood industry, those who are working the ships and the work of -- the

list goes on and on. talk to farmers in this country. new jersey, people don't think of it as the garden state. that is not only our name, we have significant farming interest. i talk to new jersey farmers who tell me senator you have got to get the emma gration rob him resolve because we are being paid decent money and we can't get people to pull crops from the field. there are whole sectors of our economy even with his difficulty of finding employment in which you can find people willing to do the jobs in those jobs are the higher paying jobs. finally if you do not want to depress the wages of all workers in the united states, then you don't want an underclass that can be exploited and therefore depressed wages. you want to have those people out of the darkness into the light fully engaged paying their taxes and for those that are not maybe don't have the fictitious social security card or the taxpayer i.d. card would fully engaged in economy though they will contribute and where you will not see the depression of wages for all other sect errs.

that is all reasons why the economy is not an obstacle to reform but should be a catalyst for reform. >> every domestic rarity of this administration is banal about putting the economy back on solid footing. we are trying to build up robust economy of the future. you can do that on top of a broken immigration system. it really is essential to our economic future. >> we are going to understand even with a robust deportation that has occurred during the last dirty month there is still 11 million undocumented workers. they are going to be here tomorrow. >> they are more undocumented people in the united states that live and are citizens of hungary so that gives you an idea of. >> if it is not today when will it be? today you may bring in the next senator, the next doctor, the next engineer, the next jose enriquez. today's the future. [speaking in spanish]

today we are all here because of these laws for the whole community. >> let me ask you a question that i probably shouldn't but i will anyway. explained to me as a journalist wide during the first two years of the obama administration when senator you were in the majority when congressman you were in the majority and you were in the white house. why didn't we get anything specifically brought to specifically a all all of these different organizations? [applause] and, and why wasn't -- and never two why didn't we hear that president who by the way who speech today i thought separate from opinions, was a very well presented speech. why didn't we hear the president say pass this bill 70000 times our immigration and the first two years? >> i was with the president in multiple meetings with the congressional hispanic caucus and the republicans in the

senate with a bipartisan group from both bodies. i've heard him say it many times in front of the members of congress we can make a difference here. every immigration reform since 1954 which is as far back as i've looked has had bipartisan co-sponsors. we have never had 100% of the democratic caucus but 90 and 95% including the d.r.e.a.m. act in the house and in the senate in december. at the end of the day, and i heard the president say, the entire assembled republican senate caucus, i need you to come even halfway. i need you to come some of the way. i don't need all of you, need a handful. the ones who have been there before and was voted before i know you are for this. you need to be for it now. and we don't have the support we need and we need to get a. >> two things i heard the audience applause, but there is a reality. the reality is that when barack obama took office in january of

2009 this country was on the verge of a new depression, not a great recession, a new depression and no one fully understood the nature of it. if you look at that hbo movie too big to fail it is very clear that this nation was on the verge of a new depression. and so, focus number one was the economy. how do we get this economy working for all americans? how do we stop going into a depression and then secondly how do we in that process also try to ensure that every american has health care? at the same time, sicilia points out a very good point that as we are trying to meet those challenges in the united states senate even with the majority, you need 60 votes, because what we grow up learning about 50% plus one of a group makes a majority. in the senate that is not quite the case because one senate, and i won't name them but you have several who would clearly be

very opposed to immigration reform. when i first entered the senate you heard some of my colleagues say those people. we can't have anymore of those people so i went to the floor and they said are you referring to me? because i think i am part of those people. but one senator willing to filibuster then creates a hurdle in which not 51 votes out of 100 but 60 of 100 have to be achieved and whether we like that are or not that is the reality we have. when we lost, the bottom line is we don't have 60 votes, and we only temporarily, in a very short period of time and matter of months have 60 votes and we were in the midst of dealing with the economic reforms and then we lost senator kennedy and we lost that seat as well. i think the bottom line in the senate unless we get 60 votes and unless we could have had 60 votes then you can't pass anything so a combination of the challenges this president met and you know i have been with

luis pressuring the president as i would pressure any president on immigration reform and sicilia can tell you both in public and in private, and the bottom line is that but i have to recognize that he had a nation that was on the verge of delving into a depression and that would not have served anyone well. >> i agree with bob that -- that we did pass an energy bill. we did pass a health care bill without republicans. i think it does a disservice to our community and to what has been established as a civil rights issue of our community immigration reform and to say that must be bipartisan, we have not said on any other issue needs to buy a bipartisan. as a matter fact when all hope was lost for reforming our health care system when there were no republicans, when there

was no public support virtually, no public support of little or no's public support generally, that president of the united states said -- and i think what we are looking for isn't so much that it didn't get done. we would have liked to have gotten it done. i think a lot of the reason people clapped is that we didn't see the champion that we sent to the white house to be a champion for our community. [applause] and i say that because look, 2 million more latinos voted in 2008 than 2004. we carried nevada. we carried new mexico. we carried florida. we carry colorado so we carry the white house. nearly 70% of latinos voted and one of the rentable issues that generated enthusiasm for that presidency was a hope that one

day the least among us, the immigrant, the one that is always being abused, that we would have a champion that would lift him so he could live as all of us live in this audience together in america. but i want to say this. look, that is where we are at that i have to tell you something. i am going to work very hard to get this president reelected president of the united states united states of america. [applause] now because we have to put things in context because i watched you at the debate and you watch the debate, you know that we have no friends in that debate to bring this about so i'm going to work because part of it is challenging friends. it is difficult. we wake up in the morning. you don't wake up in the morning to challenge your friends. you wake up in the morning to love and that is the best part of human nature so it is difficult but i want to come here and challenge the friends

and do you know something? [speaking in spanish] i want to be appreciative of that also. [applause] speeding i think that i want to give you a chance to respond to that he does i want to hear your thoughts. >> thank you and senator and congressman especially, these are conversations we have in the family and they are incredibly important. we'll understand how vital this issue is in the community and how vital it is to the country. i can't tell you the number of times i've sat in meetings on a variety of issues including jobs and the economy and including energy on a lot of things where people say a few which is speak about it more, bring the country with us because the man gave a really good speech. he is a forceful leader.

at the same time as he likes to say and he said it in the community before he was elected president, he wasn't making. doesn't have the capacity by himself to fulfill this promise. he is serious about this commitment that in order to get their take all of us to get there and it will take some support on the other side of the al. >> can i throw this out to everybody? the national discourse is right now among many apathy. that is the wordy word you hear over and over again in the word i hear that republican debate. howdy change the discussion if what you are saying is look it would be good for the economy? it is a way of recognizing that there are, there is a huge country inside the country where the people essentially are invisible. what steps or could america take to change that dialogue and make the discourse more about human beings and their reality esa v. this country?

van amnesty or open borders, all these words that are so tainted with other thoughts when you use them? >> i want to challenge her your premise. i don't think it should the about -- i think it should be about consequences of our failures to act and let me give you a couple of examples. 80% of the 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the united states have agencies they have trouble suing. the fbi and fda have lowered their drugs can't -- standard and drug standard. we now have shortages in virtually every major metropolitan city in the state of texas and now they have cannibalized each other so when people -- the senator talks about when they're not people to take the props and serve your meal for the day, what i would like to point out to people is when they are someone who has been in a gang that is now working in your local police department or when 40% of the assembly line aerospace industry

workers are eligible for retirement next year, because we are in several ports and we have an aging air force, and at the same time 51 according to the gao, this is my number but to do 1% in the united states of customs border for tour of our eligible for retirement next year so the next time someone says we need more boots on the ground ask and where those boots could plan to come from because for every person they hired they lose one to retirement. >> luis, just a thought, people listen to all kinds of different people. members of congress, bankers but they look up to musicians and people who come into their homes. how do you deal with this issue in your state? >> well, basically when you come into this country and you are an illegal immigrant, you live day by day.

you try to make it day by day but what i try to do throughout my career is to be a -- that it is possible and this is a country where you can make your dreams come true basically. even in the midst of not knowing what is going to happen tomorrow, even in the midst of your parents being deported. not knowing if you are going to get legal status and how are you going to go about that? but i think that today just by listening to you i want to believe that this is more possible than ever. 1978 was a different story. thanks to ronald reagan, i am here and many of us are here. [applause] and that is the honest truth. i would love for that to continue. this is a country where

everybody would definitely come in and give their best to try to make the best of what they have. >> cecilia, how do you handle the fact that a lot of people think they're a ton of people here illegally and order is anything but safe. i've been to the border in arizona and talk to the ranchers there and they say don't i have the right to not have people coming through my property, hundreds of them may be being led by a guy with an ak-47 do that, and mexico may have chopped off somebody's head? the peyote czar related to this narcoterrorism we are seeing inside of mexico so the people on the border have one side of the coin and they say why don't we close the border to -- every country has a right to have their border clothes. they are doing it in europe and yet we can't get past that and you and i talked about it. i'm not trying to promote it at 11:25 on sunday's.

>> and it is a great show. >> this is the only panel that hasn't been on. you were on yesterday by the way, thank you. from ground zero. if you got a chance to see the senator it was poetic yesterday. but back to the question, seems there are two different sides that are alma's two different countries on immigration and you know one side says listen, the ranchers, they have the right to say i don't want hundreds of people brought in guided by guys who chop heads off and you have people in arizona doing the jobs that no one else wants to do in 118 degrees. >> there is a way in which -- i've been doing this for 25 years and there is the way in which the debate, i'll hear nothing here. we get in a factory zone when immigration comes up. the fact of the matter is when you talk about amnesty, people use that word all the time. dare somebody calling it amnesty. no one has proposed anything but

we have to deal with that contention all the time. >> amnesty is giving someone something. >> nobody is approach that. pivoted the metrics, we are trying to this debate aced on something empirical. there are many -- more resources on the border than ever in our history. crimes and border community of the 10 communities in the country with the lowest crime, for them are on the u.s. mexican border. there was a fascinating conversation happening between congressman vance and basel and specials in the state who are raising the flag, we have to control crime in el paso. congressman reyes is says what he talking about? if you look at the metrics, you will see we are doing a better job on the border than ever in our history and for those who say we have to take care of the border before i'm willing to have a conversation about immigration reform a response is great let's get started because

we are doing our job at the border. let's reform the laws so we have a rational system. we don't need people to engage in this debate out of the goodness of their hearts although it would be great to have their hearts in it. do it for you and do it for our economy. do it for the sake of the country. this is what we need to get on solid economic footing in this country. [applause] >> i go back to the original reframing of the debate. when we talk about people as as been mentioned it is easy to get emotional but if you set all the emotion aside in a look at the staff and the figures and the data and the metrics let's talk about that. the fbi says in el paso the second state in the city and the united states. recently about a month ago, "usa today" came up out with a large front page headline story about border violence, and according

to the fbi data you are far more likely to be the victim of crime 50 miles inland from the border then you are in the border. in texas we have a slightly different situation because we have the river that separates us from mexico. >> it is tough to put a wall up there there is and it's? >> the government has done it already. throughout el paso and parts of the rio grande valley in the mcallen area, they put a fence up two miles inland which creates a no-man's land rico we have a bird sanctuary there that will no longer send -- school will no longer send children to. it is hard for combines or cattle to water to the rio grande so we have logistical problems. and that is why we have to look at it from a fad. when the fence was built we tried saying have you consider the consequences and the unintended consequences and it is we are going to build this and wait every single environmental or legal or whatever ramification exists.

it was full steam ahead and they built the thing. now we have spent billions of dollars on that order fence and illegal entry into the united states are higher now than they were before the fence was built. >> i agree with it hasn't changed the debate and all the economic issues, national security and our friends on the other side talk about security. i cannot secure america if i don't know who was here to pursue the american dream and you can't do that unless there are millions of people registering and a criminal background check. security is there. economics for all the different iterations of it have been discussed but i had to be honest with you. i hope luis would agree with me on this, next year there is a national conversation called an election. and elections have consequences. elections have consequences in life.

i can tell you that, and so unless there is 218 votes in the house of representatives to pass something and unless there are 60 votes in the united states senate on the controversial issue to pass something we can aspire all we want but we will not achieve those votes. so, if this is a civil rights issue of our time, which i believe it is, then each and every latino in the country should be asking anyone from the candidates for president on either side of the aisle to the candidates for the united states senate on either side of the aisle to the candidates for the house of representatives on the either side of the eye of aisle the questions you asked all of the presidential candidates. it is a legitimate question. the question is very simple, what is your stand in your position on dealing after we secure the border with all of

the 11 million people who are undocumented in this country? if you put any candidate to that test and you say your vote will determine how you vote, then let me tell you something, we are going to change the dynamics in addition to the language and what not. i do not believe our community is there yet. i believe our community when they talk to candidates, they don't press them as they should and if they did and made it very clear, let me tell you any presidential candidate who wants to win the next election is going to come to the latino community and this country. in state after state the electoral votes necessary to win the president of the united states particularly in swing states are overwhelmingly with the latino population and in other states that are more marginal for u.s. senate and for the determining of the balance of the house of representatives it is going to be critical. so if we as a community believe

this and really believe that it is the civil rights issue of our time, we need to do what others in the nations history did in order to ensure success and triumph and that is putting everyone to the test is your number one priority. >> i think that is going to be a very important thing and i know bob and i have worked very very hard to make sure that we can speak because we challenge our own president. we have challenged our own party. we have challenged her own leadership. we have challenged them. there's this huge silence on the other side of anybody challenging the republican party within the republican party so i am very clear about the consequences and where i'm going to be in the next election because having challenge my party i have heard a deafening silence from the other side. as a matter of fact when you asked michelle buck when, you

said what about immigration? she said well, you know they have to learn anguish like they did in the 50s. they have to take -- they have to know about the constitution like they did in the 50s. they have to have a job like they did in the 50s and then i said as she ever been to a citizenship event? where everybody has to pass the citizenship? what they do as they say in the 50s, you are still in the 50s and we need to bring you into the modern times. [applause] so i listened to that debate and i said to myself, at the same time, no, just understand what our role and responsibility is an before this runs out i want to say something that i think is very critical about where we are going. if our community is going to come out to vote, then there has to be leaders with credibility with that community that can engage them and ask them to engage or they will stay home.

>> you are right. >> here is what i think is important. look, i saw a tv anchors say we have to wait for congress to act and then i watched you. i listen to -- i listened to people from the media and people from -- [speaking in spanish] and then i listened to them and i heard politicians who said oh, there is nothing we can do. and then i heard the eloquent and you miss it. she doesn't because she is in the room. the eloquence, right? and the firmness with which bob menendez argues on the issue of the undocumented and those rooms and i heard his voice. [applause] and so, look, part of what we have to understand is this is a civil rights issue and there

needs to be some separation. we have to challenge our party and we have to challenge every structure because civil rights is more important in a political party in clinical parties are not going to give weight to civil rights and less challenged by people. when i look at it i say to myself, i say to myself wow, i want to be unreliable. [speaking in spanish] reliable, right? of your reliable you get the best. you are reliable and you get to give the keynote speech. your reliable and you get to get on air force one. you are reliable and -- [speaking in spanish] i don't want that kind of reliability. d. in and what we need? we need leaders that are reliable to the -- [applause] >> who are those people? >> but i want to say that they are sitting here at this table and you said it. [speaking in spanish]

to help the 10 million they can become american citizens become american citizens. they are out there waiting for you. 500,000 latinos turn 18 every year and they are all american citizens. 500,000. are you engaging them in making sure they are graduating from high school and registering to vote and committed to this movement? lastly, look, even the premise of immigration reform and the d.r.e.a.m. act, the d.r.e.a.m. act is immigration reform. and if you allow it they will separate us and they will say, your children, okay, but for their parents, nothing. that is something that is unacceptable and comprehensive immigration reform. something we should never allow to happen. >> congressman there are steps and there are phases. you can't ask for immigration reform if you don't. >> we have taken those steps and we will take those steps when

they are available to us but we should always understand that -- i introduce the comprehensive immigration bill with senator kennedy. was the first bipartisan bicameral bill. congressman flake and then congress mccain. [speaking in spanish] that is the reality but what i'm trying to say is the d.r.e.a.m. act was an integral part, an integral part and an integral part of comprehensive immigration reform so i hope that as we move forward we don't allow people to divide our community. i'm excited and i am happy and i will tell you cecilia, when i saw the administration was changing its view of how they were going to deal with young people and i know you say it is not the d.r.e.a.m. act for eligible kids i get that part that i've read they are not going to be departed i am thankful to this president. >> we have to wrap it up soon,

but i am curious who is unreliable? [laughter] >> not you. >> me? i am not reliable? >> you are very unreliable. [laughter] >> this gentleman is unreliable? he is unreliable. [applause] [laughter] i have not seen that limousine ride you are talking about. >> me either. i'm waiting for my staff. >> luis is right about one thing and all of us for example -- you are right about a lot, wait a minute. my last point -- [speaking in spanish] [laughter] luis is right about this last point and i just want to refocus because you responded yes that we should take steps and yes of course but here's the deal. the same power structures are

very happy to divide us. they are very happy to take children under the d.r.e.a.m. act and say yes to them a note to everybody else. they are very happy to say possibly with ag workers yesterday at workers but no to everybody else including d.r.e.a.m. act kids. they are very happy to say let's get the high-tech visas change but forget about everything else. that is dangerous. that is dangerous because we will never ever -- we keep talking about comprehensive, we can't give comprehensive of all of the elements crumble off so the challenge here is you have to take opportunities when they come legitimately to give people relief, but by the same token if you want to collect millions -- leave millions behind, millions behind that have ourselves be divided. there's a reason that the statement -- and in this question of immigration it is critical.

>> so, luis, in the administration we only love people who are reliable but i have to say, that guy worked for was a community organizer and that is how he started his career. he understands as well as anybody in his room how important is to keep everybody's feet to the fire. we don't mind to keeping our feet to the fire. that is your job and he you should do that. that is absolutely important to the process but all the things that matter on immigration, on jobs, when you hear the president say over and over again, people who elect their elected officials to come to this town and move things forward and make things change, this is one of those issues in jobs is another one of those issues and he is fighting every day to make sure we can get the ball across the field. >> i would say cecilia to be fair i have had more off the record conversations with the president then i think i have had with any other leader and he does hear from people like me what the community is saying and thinking and he hears it not

only from people like me but also the congressman at everyday people. i think it is important to say there've been a lot of people that he has had which really does break mold of how other presidents have -- i'm just saying what the reality is. of a number of times i've been able to tell him things to his face that i don't think i mean it is tough to tell him things that i hear on the streets because people are frustrated. now, there is one issue i want to talk to you about because there are, it seems to me, and both sides of the equation there are all these other intricacies like work or mets, bringing people in. the unions are going to be upset. some union will be upset if we bring in people and give them worked permits to come in and the other side is well we can't even talk about them up ration reform and less the border is 100% closed and cecilia you and i talked about this, you and the

white house behind closed doors asking republican specifically what do you want to make it a closed border and they give you a list in the list changes after that. on both sides it seems unless you are unreliable, the reliable side of both sides really doesn't have interest in seeing real immigration reform for their own particular small minded mosquito reasons. >> well, look, we are going to win this fight but he makes clear to everyone that there are consequences and i just want to reiterate, i know and i can speak for myself and i can speak for members of the hispanic congressional caucus and i am honored to be able to say that i have been in in the room with senator -- so i have seen his work. he is alone in the senate. at i have at least 20 people that are with me and it is a lot easier.

being the sole person, right? it is a lot easier. but what i want to say is look, i think it is important and the hope no one gets -- i am simply trying to explain the situation. i came to the congress of the united states in the first thing i did was put in the legislation to freeze everyone's salary. >> that is pretty unreliable. >> that is pretty and reliable. i think to the extent our community understands that this is with all due respect to the business community this is a civil rights issue because people will come out to vote and elect legislators on every level. so that is what -- it is a defining moment. ask yourself, what did you do? how much did you do and what important priority did you give this issue in your life as it is a civil rights issue. i just want to say love, we have a great group of people working

in washington and i have to tell you i enjoyed being on the program. you really bring out a lot of the issues that are important to our community and i enjoy working with everyone here on this panel to make sure we get comprehensive immigration but i want to ask bob. bob says the director and that is in the election. there is one next november. which is going to be the best instrument and the best vehicle to getting the dreamers their papers? how do you get them that green card and network permits so that they are here legitimately and only in the united states of america and how do we get all of the other millions of people integrated fully into the fabric of our society? i think you know this is the best example and i told them as soon as i catch you on my ipac, i pay for it. i have been listening to his music.

and tell i read his biography but i love your music and i've heard you and i know there is a social message in a music and in your song and i wanted to thank you. >> we have to wrap this up and i will let the last two gentlemen speak or go. >> again just to the notion that we have to have border security first in order to have immigration reform i'm going to challenge that as well and the reason is if you have faith pipe that burst in your kitchen what we are doing in the countries sending in more people with -- the way you fix it is you fix the broken pipe in you fix the broke and piped by having immigration reform because you can hire as many border patrols and build as many fences as senses as you want to build but it doesn't stop the need for people to come here because we need them to run our economy so we can either pass immigration reform and get the workers that we need, or we can follow the way of russia. russia's population decreases by

700,000 people every year so what they have done is they have adopted a new federal holiday, national day of row creation where everyone. >> i have never heard that. >> that is their patriotic duty but when you look, and let's look at. >> luis just signed a 15 city tour of pressure. [laughter] be sorry, guys. >> i don't know where to go after that. >> babies are going to be made. that is the name of the tour. [laughter] >> but, let's look at mexico. in 1960 the mexican fertility rate was. >> we are talking more fertility now? they are telling me to wrap up.

[laughter] >> you want to stay out out of that. >> the average adult female and mexico in 1960 was having seven children and today it is two so the irony is the fence we are building to keep people out, those people are going to stop coming in because of all the changes in mexico. >> i got you but there is still the issue that people don't want people transiting through their property. luis -- i have to wrap it up so i would like to ask you some final thoughts. i appreciate all of you. i think that basically we need to give the dreamers the tools to be able to make their dream come true. that is basically all i can say and add to this whole conversation. for me it was really hard and as it is today for a lot of hispanics become to the border trying to make a better life for

themselves. just give them the tools, and they think we are a great example of how incredibly full of talent and faith -- [speaking in spanish] this country is basically immigrants. we can't forget that. today i believe we are not a minority. we are more than 5 million. [speaking in spanish] >> i just want to say and this is something that in the midst of our daily lives sometimes we lose track of the importance of people. if and when, not if, when it is just a question of time. when we get to comprehensive immigration reform, a person whose name will go down in history as having made it

possible in this country is a person who has used enormous personal, political capital at all costs to drive this issue in a way that i have not seen someone in the congress drive it in a long time and i just want everybody to know that. [applause] >> i would like to thank you. for me it on the program you were the first guest and the first guest i ever had cecilia and every time the community is asked to speak she has come to speak even in difficult moments. taking very difficult questions and the same with both of you. thank you all for sharing this dialogue with all of us and thank you all of you for having us in and we hope you enjoyed it and you feel incentivize to continue on some issues that really need dealing with from a

united front. we need your support and we thank you. ..

and other congressional leaders. [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ladies and gentlemen, good evening. members of the united states,

chris are gathered on the steps of the capitol to market the tenth and it didn't kill observance of the events of september 11, 2001 and. at this time the marine band will leave as a national anthem and i would invite all to join in singing. ♪ oh say can you see ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hail the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ the ramparts we watched for so

gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ and the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ and the home of the brave ♪ [applause] >> let us pray. god of heaven and earth we give you thanks for giving us another

day. today we remember a day begun in terror and violence and ended in her roebuck effort and courage. we mourn those whose lives were snatched by them and wished to comfort those left behind who strive to cope with their loss. it may you, god, give them peace and healing. we thank you again for the almost universal international response to a great american tragedy which all the world recognized as theirs as well. all of your children of good will could see the horror of actions by men who would presume to act in your name causing so much death and destruction. they your spirit of peace and justice continue to fill the hearts of people of all faiths,

races and nations. helpless recognize your creative love in the lives of all who share this beautiful plan that. the present with us this day of and will be gathered again on the capitol steps. less than men and women who serve the great nation in the senate and house of representatives, united then and united today in our short citizenship the system given a great responsibility by their fellow americans. made their show of unity honor a hopeful future of concerted effort to do with his best for the united states. and maybe confident in the knowledge all americans stand behind them in their effort to forge legislation that will reflect the greatness of the

nation in building a vibrant economy to a safe and secure future. it may all that is done this day and in the many to come before your honor and glory. amen. >> over and over again we say that when we visit the memory of september 11th we are treading on the ground as we know ten years ago we witnessed a world that was changing before our very honest. scenes of a horrific attack on the nation and fellow americans. as we watched images of destruction in new york, pennsylvania and at the pentagon we were witness to courage, to bravery, heroism and patriotism

of those who ran to the rescue of those in danger who search for survivors who risk their lives to save others. long after his the buildings fell, in the weeks following many of us decided the site and we her silence as the workers sifted through rubble with a great strength and dignity and silence. sacred ground indeed. every day is a day that we are indebted to our first responders but every day since to our servicemen and their families to all to keep us safe. earlier this year many in congress were people who throughout the country had the privilege of since ditching the

flying to grew over growth tero. stevan ended with portions of their flags but i mention it now because those fragments of piecing the slide to get there are included threads from the flag that covered president lincoln's body after his assassination. a connection across generations from one terrible -- generation to another. portions of flags from every state united by those blue threads from lincoln's flag. when i saw those i fought off what president clinton said in one of his speeches in the silent artillery of time. i hope that the silent artillery of time does something to lessen the pain of those who lost their loved ones.

but there will never diminish or less than the memory of those who gave their lives and come to the rescue. we honor them -- we should honor them every day. ten years ago we say thank god, god bless america. it's sherman this to mary for all of us, very poignant one. we know that god has truly blessed america with the service and leadership of our men in uniform and service wherever they serve, the first responders and people who keep us safe like us to continue with of the united states of america. >> like all of you i remember everything about that day. when the first plane hit, i assumed it was an accident.

when the second plane hit, i knew we were at war. elaina and i spent most of our day like everybody else, watching it all unfold on television, calling colleagues and friends hoping it wouldn't get worse. for many of us the nightmare began to dissipate a little bit here on the steps. when even the fiercest of the political ladder serious count themselves standing shoulder to shoulder singing when god bless america, and the terror of the morning began to yield to a spontaneous expression of unity and to the belief that if we would get through this as a nation. the reaction to the attack was uplifting in a way that we didn't expect. we all just came together, united by the sudden realization of what connect us.

first hour profound sadness for the victims and their loved ones. second, our shared values as americans. and third, our growing resolve to fight backend. it wasn't until later we learned the unity that we experienced didn't believe in the aftermath of the attacks, but it began in the midst of the attacks. inside the hijacked planes and the buildings themselves. we learned of the men and women who were just sitting at their desk doing the most ordinary things one moment in suddenly found themselves risking their lives to save people they had never even met. i was -- a soldier who hatched the plan in the skies over as pennsylvania to support their hijackers. not so much to save themselves but as to save the people on the ground that they knew the hijackers were really after.

we learned about people like the men in the north tower who lifted a stranger of a wheelchair and carried her 68 floors to safety. when it finally reached the bottom they placed her in an ambulance and walked away. of the firemen who raced towards a fallujah they were ordering others to run away from and so many others whose courage that morning has become as much a part of the nation's story as the battlefield heroics that we read about in school. ten years later in new york and in shanks fill and the pentagon, in the name of reason the person who was murdered that morning is now recorded only permanent monument. a sign to all the world that unlike the attackers we describe the value and dignity to every human life, and that's why ten years later would come together again not simply to honor america's resilience but to honor every single person we

lost that. so we honor them today, the heroes of 9/11, and we also honor the countless men and women who've given so much to protect others from a similar fate particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice inspired a generation of he rose to an extraordinary work and whose perseverance has made it possible to mark this anniversary for the very first time knowing the man behind 9/11 will ever plot again. i don't suppose there was a single person in the country that morning who thought we would be able to stand here today, ten years later and say there hadn't been a single major attack on the homeland since then. and we of the men and women of the u.s. armed forces together with scores of intelligence personnel to think for that. they've proven beyond a doubt that al qaeda was wrong about

the united states, and as long as we remain vigilant and hold fast to the policies that have guided their good work we will continue to prove it. some of us may have wandered on high 9/11 with america had in her to respond. but today there should be no question. we who fought back and showed the terrorists what america is all about. you can destroy or symbols but not our spirit and a decade after 9/11 im with the those who believe america is stronger today than it was then i'm. yes it's been a long and challenging decade indeed, but we've done more harm than endured we've shot ourselves and the world freedom is indeed the strongest force what on earth who.

it has been ten years. i was the first to get to that room. the senator of louisiana came and said turn on tv their something going on in new york. we thought how could in their plan run into that tower? we turned off the tv and senator daschle was directing the leadership team. a few minutes later probably about a quarter after nine of their about, someone came and took care of the room and he came back very quickly and said we have to leave and leave as quick as you can there's a plane headed for the capitol. well i can remember walking out of that room and looking out the window and seeing the smoke at that time dillinger out of the

pentagon. that d'huez eventful in many different ways. i was taken with senator lott, senator daschle and senator nichols to a location with the vice president cheney where we spent the day. we came back. we came back to the capitol. we were able to have our meeting in the capitol that might about a half hour later than it is today for one reason, courage of people on that flight that went down over pennsylvania. the plane was hit it here. we've learned since then the ringleader of that evil a friend had made the decision that there would be the capitol, not the white house, because it was a much easier target. that night we didn't know that when we met here, but we know it now. like every american, i will

never forgets that day in history of the nation paused to remember those who died in this coordinated attack on the american soil. we warned yesterday that thousands of innocent lives lost in new york and virginia and over pennsylvania. we honor the firefighters and rescue workers who rushed to the scene and entered the twin towers knowing the risk they took. and we gave thinks yesterday to the ticket americans to serve the armed forces and state department and intelligence community have given their lives to prevent a similar attack from happening again. today we also pay tribute to the spirit of unity and determination that carried us through the ten years since our world was turned upside down. here ten years ago we reaffirmed our own way that our commitment

was for freedom and democracy that makes america the greatest nation in the world and little did we know then, the effect that barbara mikulski suggesting to us members of congress here assembled that we should single god bless america. we did commit the sweetest song i ever heard. i will always remember that and will remember that today when we cheered this from our military band. i'm grateful for those people who did yesterday such a success and put in the process protect us from further harm. >> ten years on there's still sadness in the parting of those who we lost and may god give their families comfort and peace the 11th of september will always be a day of remembrance.

we also have this day, the 12th, that represents renewal. what better to stir our hearts today than the capitol which was likely saved by the brave patriots who on instinct gathered together to support the enemy. to those americans and to all of those heroes it was clear what needed to be done. no one had to tell them. the saved countless lives. the study of our country before he watching world. our war fighters took up the effort having felt who call her to serve on the timber 11th many carry the name names and pictures of people they never met or never will. no one asked them to do this

they saved lives every day. snowbird and compares to that worn by the families of fallen. yet when vigilance is needed most, it comes first from those who lost the most no one has asked why this of them, no one expects this of them. they are blessed to call these men and women fellow americans. capturing their meaning is much tougher. we turn to the wisdom of our forebears, the declaration of independence doesn't guarantee happiness. instead its pursuit is entrusted to our good sense and our god-given nature. this remains an awesome charge. but no -- but americans have met

no matter what the cost of their release the nation will stand as a beacon of life and liberty. so it is up to we who live on a particularly weak who serve to never forget, to never healed but to hold fast until we have preserved the blessings of freedom for those who come after us. if we are successful, no one will have to tell them what to do. they will know and the too will never forget. god bless america. before we hear the benediction, please join me in a moment of silence to honor the memory of september 11th, to those and

[moment of silence] porth if [moment of silence] >> let us pray. lord, god almighty, creator and sustainer of the universe, we pause to honor the memories of 9/11 and to acknowledge in everything you are working for the good of those who love you. today as we have remembered that tragic event, we pray for the families who lost loved ones,

for those who lost friends and colleagues and those who lost companies, jobs and resources. we pray also for those who have suffered and sacrificed in the war and conflict that followed 9/11. today we also think you for your head and grace that has protected and sustain us since that sad day. may hour gratitude for george sustaining a providence motivate us to strive for greater unity to be more aware of our mortality, and to work to leave this world better than we found

it. now, bless us and keep us. make your face to shine upon us and beat gracious on to us. lift the light of your continent a part of us and give us your peace. we pray in the name of him who has been our health in the ages past and our hope for years to come, amen. ♪ ♪ ♪ god bless america ♪ plan that i loved ♪ stand beside her and guide her ♪ through the night with a light from above ♪ ♪ from the mountains to the

prairies ♪ ♪ to the oceans white with foam ♪ god bless america, my home sweet home ♪ ♪ god bless america, my home sweet home ♪ [applause] thank you [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [indible conversations] we're joined congressional deficit reduction committee tomorrow

eight republican presidential candidates debated tonight here at the florida state fair grounds in tampa. in the debate so far the republican presidential campaign posted by cnn and the tea party express. we talk with a reporter after the debate about what is called the spin room where spokespeople from the campaigns go to give their take on what happened. joining by phone is the national politics reporter for politico who's covering the debate.

hello. what were some of the major issues talked about tonight? >> as you might expect, social security played a prominent role in the debate tonight. everyone expected a vigorous discussion about it and the differences and the positions between with. mitt romney and certainly we got that. both of those candidates have the first possible opportunity to go out each other in the form and try to write what sounds like harsh accusations on the views of social security. i think that you also saw michele bachmann way and that to a lesser personalized degree than the of their candidates so was one of the daschle security issues that took part and i think you saw some very interesting and heated confrontations between the congressman ron paul and rick santorum about that among the other ones would certainly the job creation that's always a big issue when it comes to the governors, the two front-runners mitt romney and rick perry and

again they talk about the job creation records. >> you mentioned a michele bachmann. the "boston globe" shows support tonight from the tea party crowd but that shows you have to be more aggressive, that it took 14 minutes. how did she do tonight? >> she was a little bit more forceful but you might think she would do well in front of the tea party or in a crowd but at the same time it's important to keep in mind many of those candidates are also put a dent the movement whether you're talking about governor perry or herman cain who's a big favor of the movement. so it really wasn't a softball for her. obviously it was going to be to win the crowd and i think she did with some of her answers but i don't think she hit the big footprint a lot of people were expecting from her because there was a great expectation today that she would need to do

something or get noticed in some way to break out of this - race about being between the two candidates and if that were the bar i don't think that she necessarily passed but she did have a presence the was beyond the ronald reagan library presidents >> on the members of the campaign's about what happened tonight can you tell one of the city's the democratic national committee is releasing tv ads in a rallying the support behind present obama. >> they continued on having a discussion or maybe describing it as an argument about each other's records when it comes to job creation and the distinctions they're making are distinctions mitt romney and rick perry made before which was in california mitt romney argued that yes, ♪ perry had a successful record on the job creation that the odds were stacked in his

favor that he didn't do anything. in many ways he ended up on third base so he hit a triple. that kind of argument has been his point being because law, the series of the pro industrial laws in texas and the economic climate and a republican legislature the odds were stacked in his advantage in that but in reality it is very little to create all those jobs have and so there was a point that mitt romney has made before and i think rick perry once again came back and mentioned the massachusetts ingalls ingalls and the record has been that, but governor mitt romney was not that successful in massachusetts. >> watching the spin room after the date what usually happens in the spin room and who will we hear from? if forehoof >> sometimes the candidates and sheila bair sometimes they don't certainly not the foreigners are the top tier candidates and what

happens is dozens of the staffers hyaline to this room where the meat of the media and the staffers and the old signs identifying who they are or write in deciding who the staffers are so the reporters can find these people and interview them about who they thought one. it's called the spin room because i think everybody in the media understands each staffer is really just telling an idealized version of what happened to try to solve them or spin them on a narrative that's favorable to their candidate. so what's happening right now is all of these dozens of staffers are trying to explain to the media with a thing happened in terms of the most favorable to their own candidate. >> charles is a politics reporter for politico. thank you. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations]

>> i think he made that point tonight but it doesn't make the best poker player. [inaudible] mitt romney went into a situation as you mentioned with an economy in recession and he had to turn the tournament and he did and it's not just of a commonwealth of massachusetts where he's changed but the same thing at the winter olympics and they had budget problems and they turn that around to stage the winter olympics or the olympics of any kind ever held on u.s. soil and as a businessman invested in the company's troubled he went in and turned those around those well so i think absolutely he demonstrated once again why he is the best candidate to lead during these changing times. >> some people already said that they supported him and the cnn

poll at much from people talking about him. >> mitt romney didn't pander to the crowd on his answers on the federal reserve, and on the ever questions he told it like it is. on social security i don't think people -- i think people were closer in the audience in the way to rick perry which is we ought to dismantle this program and give it -- we continue to believe that there'd be a mistake to somebody who believes that social security has been a failure to restore the principles and that we should strengthen and take the social security. >> democrats are worried that with mitt romney would be the

defender of social security. >> he should be known as the party that strengthen social security. this is a program that has pensions that are valuable and it's worth saving. what we shouldn't do is attack it's very formation to suggest the federal government shouldn't be in church and raise the possibility. what state would want to take over the unfunded obligations in the security program? we have to fix it and fix of the federal level. >> my name is eric and i'm a senior advisor to the romney campaign. >> took about mitt romney's investment, how many companies -- you think there's a conflict of interest in that however?

>> when he left from the winter olympics fees for all made by the trustee not by mitt romney. but part about what i will say this is another example of how the obama administration has a job creation and this country and discard invalid law. if there is a company that wants to locate the right to work the will to be allowed to do that. that is an unfair. we should be encouraging job growth in south carolina and >> all of his investments are managed by a trustee.

[inaudible] he has respect for and we are proud to have the endorsement and someone like mitt romney has to and he governs as a conservative just like in massachusetts he was an editor in the early part of this primary and we are thrilled to have him on board. >> what did you think of his issues on [inaudible] -- >> i think that abc news had the correct tonight when they said that rick perry came into the debate with the social security problem and left with a conservative problem and he had to defend himself not only on the hpv vaccine decision that he made but also the taxes that he increased, the spending and the debt that went up and his decision to provide the benefits so it's not like he has a home

crowd though. he didn't seem to. >> mitt romney has a lot of respect for the tea party movement piece republican. he's proud to be republican and he shares with the members the concern about the spending and taxation, but at heart he is a republican. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

can not only is this the right thing but he demonstrates and understands what it's going to take to put the country back on the right path towards creating jobs. >> he's been in a -- >> i get the best job in the world and louisianan running for the reelection and the reason is i think he would do a great job for the country. i endorsed him because i think but under this president our debt has gone to 14 trillion. under this all he is thus proposed to raise the taxes and sapporo or spend more money and put kids more into debt and they want to see a trillion kutz 5,000 for every american. 42 cents of every dollar of the the spend on washington in march has grown the government to almost 24% of gdp. rick perry understands that to grow the economy we are not current tax overspend, he's held the line of personal government in taxes and increased general spending and has implemented --

>> i have a great job in louisianan. the reason i'm endorsing rick i don't want a job for him but i want him to create millions of jobs in the country for my fellow americans i want to be the governor of louisiana to be the next president and obama to be a one-term president. rick perry has the conservative ideals and the executive track record and experience the mistake we have their we elected with president obama who didn't have executive experience and having a run before he became president of the united states they were on the job training. we need a president whose fervent. rick perry has a good track record in texas thrift bust few years created kilobit. why is it being governed? the second largest economy in the country he's shown that the conservative principles work. he will cut regulation and reform tort law and he will not raise taxes, he will cut spending and borrowing and cut

the debt and give a predicted regulatory environment so that the private sector can create jobs policy made the mistake of believing that government creates jobs when the government creates jobs it costs money and deprive sector creates jobs it gives them money. we don't need more government jobs we need more private sector, we don't need government spending. we need an end to all this. china over a trillion dollars of the debt by some estimates may be even more than that this is not a sustainable path for the country. the debt is exploded under this president on the fiscally conservative leader canada leases the right thing with a proven track record but he will do great job. >> and governor romney was trying to take care of seniors by raising questions. do you agree with that? >> i think that governor rick perry, let's not get ahead of ourselves, she deserves credit for being brave enough to open

the issue of and, from social security. he makes a very important point. he made it clear he wants to protect social security for seniors, but i want to make the point that it's currently not sustainable. for the first tannin since 1982, they did more than trust fund but somehow the trust fund will be brought. he's made the point he's made the important point we have to protect social security but the seniors are already in a and we need to take steps to preserve the social security, preserve social security for the younger workers and we are only -- i'm here to endorse governor rick perry, not criticize the others. i will say this. i don't want to get any republican in the same and mckinny, committed of political attacks we will see from the democratic party okay folks have a long line every time they pick

up rick perry will be there. we see the attacks but this is an intergenerational a talk on a class warfare. we see the same attacks over and over. i'm not here to criticize individual republican candidates, and here to endorse rick perry and support him to be the next president point think he deserves a lot of credit for pointing out the bold steps we have to take and take action today during the social security and we have to do that in the remote area >> the questions on h pc and the credit for each illegal immigrants. >> do think that he answered those questions well enough? >> the fact that he has taken a lot of attacks on a lot of the questions and that he is a front-runner to keep -- he was governor nearly 11 years and can handle himself. i'm not interested in who wins or loses. linen trusten is a perfect track record. i think he did great tonight and

showed up stronger than when he started the debate. it's important that he's got the biggest jokers, will by the way they have some great lines. i heard a great wine what's most important to me a dhaka rick perry's record is that he creates jobs. i cannot believe it is not going to be about the economy or creating jobs we are in the worst recession since the great depression. i don't think that they've said we are out of the recession that for so many millions of americans without jobs the reality is we are still in the recession until more people are working. >> the only person did not go over well with -- >> he has a great track record when it comes to things. the most important issue if you ask all across the country they will say the like this and this the worst nominee, the most candidate what happens to get america back on the truck.

rick perry his based on his understanding of the government doesn't create jobs, government has to create the private sector to create jobs and it's a serious challenge for the economy and the american dream is understanding is not more governor than the taxes. the president with the second stimulus bill shows that he doesn't like it but we're almost there. i think that he was very clear we need is secure border. at this point he didn't get a chance to respond to that. listen but he said. he talked about using more troops, more a real assets, franklin the thing he did is [inaudible] >> second i also support the additional measures that the governor perry was describing. look, i think that a lot of

beginners are trying to get attention on themselves and unlike the others out there she is actually lived the block and the of their potentials but in governor peery has actually governed to deal with the issues. >> you can ask general hans minn and his advisers to read the reality is we are talking governor perry and i think it's a -- >> [inaudible] >> i think governor perry should continue. she is authentic and we elected a president who's one of the best speakers we've seen in a political generation yet we continue to have one of the worst times we've had in a generation. we don't need to just elected

other group speaker, we need someone who can actually govern and lead on day one to read governor perry as proven by being the governor of the state of texas for nearly 11 years on the track record less policy on the taxes on cutting spending, on aggressive toward reform and cutting the regulations. he's proven he's got the devotee, the skills we need for him to lead on day one. i'm not looking for the most powerful speaker necessarily. i'm looking for the best and governor perry has the qualifications. i thought he did great tonight. i think that in the reality nobody wins or loses. the only people that when the debates of the tv stations. governor perry did a fine job tonight. he did a great job tonight. i think it's wonderful to have these debates. i think the voters have the chance to be tested. the reality is the republican party for a long time we were accused of being a party where we had been based on whose turn it was. i'm glad we are not doing that. i'm glad this is an open

election where there are a number of different candidates. >> [inaudible] do you think -- >> i want to help him get elected. >> [inaudible] >> no, i will not. [inaudible] >> call it what you want but the words important is you listen to the candidates and they want to sum up social security basically here is governor terry's decision. he clearly states anybody that's looked at the program the need is to be strengthened and improved for younger workers. >> do you agree with the -- >> i don't care what you call it. the word important is it is absolutely true if we don't do anything they will not continue to be sustainable for the young workers. it's more than it's taking in. this year if not last year and it's also clear the trust fund

won't be there by the time i retired. it needs to be fixed and they have different accent and the use of different kind of words. what's most important is the point he was making which is this, now is the time to make changes and he deserves credit. everybody involved says don't talk about it but the american people are looking for the leader that is honest enough to look at them and say what we have been doing it cannot continue. 14 trillion is not. barring it 42 cents on the dollar isn't the same. $45,000 for every american today. obama with petroleum, china is not. he was the first to raise the issue during this campaign and the others are now agreeing and he deserves credit for being so specific and being a person that is aggressive on saying we have to do something about this. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> what is your last fall about michele? >> she's very compassionate. she's been consistent and she is very compassionate when talking about overuse of executive power, the wavering around trying to call things forcing people to take injections of their kids. these in spite your hurry and i think you saw this tonight she shines a light on it and her record continues all the way to reduce too michele bachman all the way to the nine person race. achieving that performance today may have resurrected her campaign and given her the sense that she needs going forward? >> there's only been one poll

and we are not really worrying about it. tonight you saw the consistency and her message and the passion of with the country needs to turn around and 2012 is it for her. thank you. >> [inaudible conversations] >> um - about my position on that and i think that to the debate we had on the issue of guard vessel, the cervical cancer drug just points out what governor perry did is important for people to understand he will not back away from his position. he backed away from how he did it and he still believes the government should require people

come in all fields, 11-year-old girls to have a vaccine which says the government thinks you're going to have sexual intercourse and therefore we are going to vaccinate you against it that's the only reason you get this vaccine and for the government to say that sends a very bad signal to young women all across texas and for the governor of the state to continue to educate this is the proper approach shows that he is more like the barack obama and michelle obama being the nanny state and look, is there a health concern, sure, but trust the parents to make health care decisions about their children, not the federal government or the state government. >> it isn't designed to encourage sexual activity -- >> i know what you're going to

say -- [inaudible] >> it's simply to protect against cervical cancer. >> the government is saying you are going to get this vaccine unless your parents find out about it in time and object the government is taking the role of the parents and making of a presumption that at the age of 11 this is something that you will be engaged in without your parents' knowledge. if governor paray wanted to put forth a program which i sit in the last debate where he could make it available to talk about that's focused and fine. the government can say again, vaccines stop the spread in schools but they are not going to school to promote a specific girl's health agenda. because you happen to be going to school i don't think that is the role of the government.

he said he went about it the wrong way. he would have gone to the legislature's. and that's his problem. >> [inaudible] >> my understanding is that issue was solved. there is evidence to the contrary they should bring it forward. >> the american citizen in the constitution -- >> i don't think that is it. [inaudible conversations] >> i would say that we have to be vigilant in making sure that they want to segregate themselves from society with what s