such time as i might consume then. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: i can't emphasize the importance of the legislation before us, the stop the student loan interest rate hike act of 2012, which the majority leader just spoke about. on july 1, unless congress intervenes, the interest rate on federal student loan debt is set to double from 3.4% to 6 30eu%. -- to 6.%. more than million students including than estimated 255,000 students enrolled at iowa colleges and universities would be required to pay an average $1,000 more per year of school. the bill before us is straightforward, it is fully paid for, it chemica keeps the t rate at 3.4% and the cost is offset by closing a tax loophole that benefits certain

high-income professional service providers. i'd like to thank senator reid for his leadership in advancing this critical legislation. i also thank president obama for miking this legislation -- ma for making this legislation an urgent priority and for visiting collegvisitingcampuses across t. in today's global knowledge-based economy, an education beyond high school is a necessity. a worker with a bachelor's degree makes 85% on average than a high school graduate. almost two-thirds of the job vacancies between now and 2018 will require some postsecondary education and more than half of those will require at least a bachelor's degree. you can see by this chart, right now, as i said, 63% of the jobs will require at least some

college education. either college and associate's degree or a bachelor's degree or more. that's just by 2018. and the demand is going to grow even beyond that. these statistics convey a very clear message: higher education is the key to not only entry into the middle class but a middle-class life. another message is equally clear, and that is america's economic competitiveness and growth depend on a highly educated and highly skilled workforce. that's why the ever-growing mountain of student loan debt is a major concern for me as the chair of the "help" committee and also a major concern for families all across america who are struggling to get by. it's a shocking fact that total student loan debt now has surpassed total credit card debt for the first time ever. $867 billion right now in

student loans. auto loans, $734 billion. credit cards, $704 billion. so for the first time ever, student loan debt -- they now owe more on that than they do on their car loans or on their credit cards. again, i want to bring this more closer to my own hoavment it --n home. iowa borrowers have anag anage f ever $30,000 of college debt which is the third highest in the nation. over the past three years, president obama and congress have taken robust steps to improve college affordability and help our students succeed. from the recovery act and its unprecedenced support for our education systems to the student loan reforms that enable us to help more students through larger pell grants, and most

recently efforts to make it easier for students to row pay their loans. this all happened in just the last few years. we have made major strides towards the president's goal. i hope it would be our shared goal of reclaiming america's standing by 2020 a as the county with the high et proportion of college graduates. needless to say, it will be much harder to reach this goal if congress allows interest rates to double on july 1. as i said, more than 7.4 million american students would be required to pay an average of $1,000 over the lifetime of the loan for each year they borrowed. so again, if you look at this, this chart again shows what's happened. if the interest rate is paid at 3.4%, we're looking about $883 in interest over the life of the average loan. you double that interest, it goes to $1,876.

that's 6.8%. so the average savings to the average student would be almost $1,000 a year. i might just add that the 255,404 borrowers in iowa will save an estimated $254 million with this bill in front of us. with today's tough economy and given the very high unemployment rate among americans, it's unacceptable to ask middle-class families to shoulder sharply higher student loan interest payments. we must not allow this to happen. if you look closer at the characteristics of students who will be impacted by this interest rate hike, you see that it really, really affects middle-class families and vulnerable students from disadvantaged background at the very time when they're under enormous financial strain. if you look at who gets the

subsidized loans from this chart, you can see that by family income, dependent students, their family income is less than $60,000 a year. less than $60,000. if you look at the independent student loan borrowers, their income is less than $50,000 a year. 89% of them is less than $50,000. and those dependent student loan borrowers from families, 60% are from families that have less than $60,000. i might also add that seven out of ten of those independent students here, seven out of ten reported under $30,000 a year in income. under $30,000 a year in income. so allowing the interest rate to double would also disproportionately affect minority students, minority students who account for 40% of these borrowers.

40% of these borrowers are minority students. this bill, again, would prevent, would prevent the interest rate from doubling on july 1 for those borrowers. so with the bill before us, we're considering a pragmatic and fiscally responsible solution to this problem that will keep interest rates low for more than 7.4 million students. the bill is fully paid for, and we offset the cost by raising revenues in a way that will provide a solution to a long-standing problem in the tax code that has been subject to widespread abuse. let me just define how this measure is paid for. for many years we have seen avoidance of properly owed social security and medicare taxes by some subchapter "s" stockholders who declared a portion of their income is effectively profit and, therefore, not subject to social

security or medicare taxes. this is not supposed to be a choice that is made at the whim of the taxpayer. it should be based on objective facts. the offset in this legislation does just that. it creates a bright-line test for a small share of subchapter "s" shareholders, basically those engaged in professions such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, consultants and lobbyists whose financial gains -- the financial gains they have come from the work that they do. it's narrowly tailored to cover only those subchapter "s" organizations in which there are three or fewer stockholders and only for those earning $250,000 on joint filings. with this bright-line test, the medicare and social security trust fund will receive the funds that are properly owed to

them which they're not receiving today because they're counted not as an income but as profits. now my friends on the other side of the aisle have proposed a different offset to pay for keeping the interest rate at 3.4%. the bill that passed the house of representatives and the legislation proposed by senator alexander of tennessee would offset the cost of this bill by eliminating the prevention and public health fund, which was created by the patient protection and affordable care act. in short, rather than put an end to an abuse of the tax code, my friends on the other side of the aisle are proposing that we eliminate the sole dedicated source of federal funding for investments, critical investments, in preventing disease, keeping women and

children and elderly families healthy. they want to eliminate the prevention and public health fund. mr. president, many of my republican colleagues have acknowledged the critical importance of investing in prevention and wellness, which makes the use of this offset -- that is eliminating it -- all the more troubling. preventing disease, expanding access to screenings, encouraging people to stop using tobacco, these used to be bipartisan goals strongly supported by a vast majority of republicans and democrats alike. so in the affordable care act, we created the prevention fund with the expressed goal of ramping up our investments in these prevention and wellness initiatives, again, with

republican support. quotes from two republican leaders: senator kyl on 7/12/2010, in the midst of the debate on the affordable care act said -- quote -- "one of the things we did in the health care legislation was to provide a lot of different incentives for preventive care for screening to try to help people avoid illnesses on the theory that it would be a lot cheaper if we didn't do a lot of treatment that was unnecessary." i couldn't agree more. the republican leader, senator mcconnell, said the same year, 2010: "congress should be able to work together on our practical ideas that the american people support, such as encouraging wellness and prevention programs that have proved to be effective in cutting costs and improving care." that was just two years ago. well, yeah, less than two years

ago. but now -- but now republicans are making outrageous partisan attacks on the prevention fund. i find this deeply disturbing and disappointing. it's not hard to imagine the message gurus, those that hone messages, telling republicans, here's all you got to do. just smear the prevention fund by calling it a slush fund. how many times have i heard that? the prevention fund is a slush fund. i've heard it in committee. i've heard it on the floor. i've seen it in print. republicans calling the prevention fund a slush fund. well, this is shameful. that term, slush fund, is a malicious untruth. nothing could be further from the truth. the truth is that the prevention fund has been a giant step forward for public health in our

nation. typically prevention and public health initiatives are an afterthought. this means important community-based interventions often go unsupported. the prevention fund is making it possible for us to make national investments and evidence-based programs that promote physical activity, improve nutrition, reduce tobacco use. well, these are the investments that we make. this prevention fund which the republicans want to eliminate, invest $226 million to reduce chronic diseases including diabetes and heart disease. that minimizes the $440 billion a year in health care costs from heart disease alone. it invests $93 million for antitobacco education and support campaigns. to minimize the fact that over

six million kids will die from smoking if the current rates persist. it investments $190 million for childhood immunization programs. again, to minimize the $3 billion a year in unnecessary health care costs right now. i might just add, mr. president, the lead editorial in today's "new york times" said no longer just adult onset. that's the head of it. "a type 2 diabetes in children is yet another reason to fight childhood obesity." i won't read it all but i think there's a few pertinent paragraphs here in the "times" editorial today. it starts off by saying "a study of diabetes in overweight and obese youngsters bears an ominous warning about future health care trends in this country. it found that type 2 diabetes, a

new scourge among young people, progresses faster and is harder to treat in youngsters than in adults. the toll on their health as they grow older could be devastating. this new study was published in the "new england journal of medicine." some experts suggest -- reading further -- that young patients with diabetes need to be treated more aggressively. but the long-term goal should be the prevention of obesity and diabetes. congressional republicans -- "the editorial goes on -- "are bent on dismantling health care reforms that could greatly assist in curbing the obesity epidemic. the republican-dominated house last month narrowly passed a bill that would eliminate a prevention in public health fund established under the reform law, in part, to pay for

lowering the interest rate on subsidized student loans for this year. the fund is already providing grants to state and local governments to help pay for programs to fight obesity and prevent chronic diseases, including diabetes in the community, the workplace and among minority groups that have high rates of obesity and diabetes. killing off this program -- the editorial goes on -- would be hugely costly to americans' health and future health care costs. there is no explanation of this move except for the usual anti-health care reform demagoguery." mr. president, i ask consent this editorial appear in its fullness at this point in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: well, mr. president, i know if i can make it any more clearer than the "new york times" editorial

but i want to mention several representative investments that are happening, again, right now. i mentioned those right here. the $226 million on diabetes and heart disease, $93 million for anti-tobacco education, $190 million for childhood immunization programs. i might just go back to that first one, the heart disease, because heart disease disproportionately affects women. most people don't know that. i think most people would say the number-one cause of death in women today might be breast cancer. not so. the number-one cause of death for women in this country is heart disease. some 42 million women are currently living with some form of heart disease in america. and the world health organization estimates that a staggering 80% of heart disease, diabetes and stroke could be

prevented just from changes in smoking, nutrition and physical activity alone. 80%. that's what this prevention fund is doing right now. and moreover, this investment by the prevention fund isn't only saving lives, it's saving money. right now, as i said, heart disease costs our nation about $440 billion a year. we can reduce those costs. we can reduce those costs. i might mention also smoking. cigarette smoking also kills an estimated 173,000 women every year. the current smoking rates persist, more than six million kids will die from smoking. now the new national anti-tobacco ad campaign is called -- quote -- "tips from a former smoker" is being supported by this prevention fund. i think many of us probably have seen these ads.

they're extremely powerful and effective ads, and they're going to save lives. in fact, this ad campaign is expected to inspire half a million quit attempts and help at least 50,000 americans quit smoking forever. i might just add that within two days -- within two days of these ads first appearing, the number of phone calls to smoking quit lines tripled. tripled from people who wanted help in quitting smoking. i mentioned the immunization programs for kids. these investments from the prevention fund aren't just at the national level. th*erls in our communities -- they are also in our communities. this fund is helping states, cities and towns to implement programs that meet their particular local needs. for example, in illinois, the state has made improvements to its sidewalks and its marked crossings to increase levels of

student physical activity. because of these improvements, the number of students who are walking to school has doubled, doubled. that's a good thing. so not only is this good for their health, it's expected to save the school system about $67,000 yearly on bus costs. in mobile, alabama, mobile county officials enacted a comprehensive smoke-free policy, expected to protect 13,000 residents and visitors from being exposed to secondhand smoke. this is mobile, alabama. so all across america, the prevention fund is investing in proven locally developed programs, locally developed programs that promote health and wellness. these evidence-based programs not only improve health but as i said will help us save money and health care costs. according to a new study by the

the -- by the centers for disease control and prevention, programs like the national diabetes prevention program could prevent or delay nearly 885,000 cases of type two diabetes, saving our health system about $5.7 billion over the next 25 years. the national diabetes prevention program is a public-private partnership of health organizations working together to prevent the type two diabetes that the "new york times" editorial was just talking about. and given that in 2007, diabetes alone accounted for about $116 billion, $116 billion in direct medical costs, it's critical that we continue these investments. now, again, here is how this investment is being returned. you might say the return on investment for public health spending. for every dollar spent on

childhood immunizations, we save 16.50. proven. for chronic disease prevention, for every dollar we save $5.60. for workplace wellness programs, $3.27. if you want to look at it in terms of dollars and juju in terms of saving lives, we're saving money also. mr. president, the prevention fund's investment in cancer prevention also provide an opportunity to save lives and money. in 2007, the direct and indirect costs of cancer which accounts for nearly one out of every four deaths in the united states totaled about $123 billion. earlier this year, researchers found nearly half of u.s. cancer deaths could be prevented, again, through the kinds of programs the prevention fund is funding today.

preventable u.s. cancer deaths about 50%. preventable diseases from heart disease, diabetes and stroke about 80%. this is what the prevention fund is going after. for the life of me, i have never understood those who want to get rid of the prevention fund and yet are willing to pump untold billions, trillions of dollars into patching, fixing, mending, surgery health care costs down the line. perhaps my friends on the other side of the aisle have never learned that old axiom of ben franklin's about an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. here about an ounce of prevention is worth about ten pounds of pure or more. well, the list goes on. recently, the trust for america's health released a study showing that a 5% reduction in the obesity rate could yield more than $600 billion in savings on health care costs over a 20-year

period of time. 5% reduction. studies such as this one confirm what common sense tells us, that prevention is the best medicine for our bodies and for our budgets. that's why nearly 800 organizations have spoken out against these misguided efforts to slash or eliminate the prevention fund. mr. president, these organizations like the young invincibles, the u.s. student association, the american diabetes association, the campaign for tobacco-free kids have all said no, don't, don't cut, don't eliminate the prevention fund. despite misguided efforts to cut or eliminate the prevention public health fund, most americans understand what's at stake. prior to the prevention fund, for every dollar spent on health

care, 75 cents went to treating people with chronic illnesses and only about four cents went to prevention. 75 cents taking care of people later on with chronic diseases that are preventable, only four cents out of every dollar went to prevention. this underinvestment has had devastating consequences. nearly half of american adults have at least one chronic condition. yes, you heard me right. nearly half of american adults have at least one chronic condition, and two-thirds of the increase in health care spending between 1987 and 2000 was due to the increased prevalence of chronic diseases. so if two-thirds of your budget, of the increase in spending is on chronic diseases and yet we can reduce those chronic

diseases through prevention, you would think that you would want to increase that four cents a little bit on the dollar that we're spending right now. this prevention fund gives us an unprecedented opportunity to bend the cost curve. how many times have i heard about benning the cost curve -- bending the cost curve in medicine? the best way to do it is to prevent chronic diseases. the transformation of america into a true wellness society, a society that focuses on preventing disease, saving lives and money is the most cost-effective way to proceed. so as we can see, the slander of the prevention fund as a so-called slush fund is a shameful mischaracterization. this fund is saving lives and saving money. eliminating this fund as proposed by my friend from tennessee would be bad public

policy, a serious case of misplaced priorities. the very idea that republicans would slash prevention in public health so that a small group of high income taxpayers can continue to abuse the tax code i find simply unacceptable. now, before i close my remarks, i'd like to address an egregious mischaracterization that i have heard from the other side of the aisle. some republicans claim that democrats in our historic reform of the student loan program took money that had been going to students and used it to pay for the health care bill. i've heard that a lot of times. well, again, that's simply not so. the reforms passed by democrats in congress, i might add over vehement republican opposition, did not take a single dime from

students. instead, the bill eliminated wasteful taxpayer-funded subsidies to banks by converting all new federal student loans to more stable, reliable, cost-efficient direct loan programs. redirected that money to students, to deficit reduction and some important health reforms. the money didn't come from students. the money came from the subsidization that we have been giving to banks. specifically, thanks to the huge savings generated by eliminating wasteful subsidies to banks, what were we able to do with that? we provided increases with the maximum pell grant award to keep up with inflation. we provided funding for minority-serving colleges and universities. we made a major investment in community colleges, creating a community college and career training grant program. we were able to make loan repayment more manageable by

capping a new borrowers loan payment at 10% of -- new borrower's loan payment at 10% of their income. and forgiving any remaining debt after 20 years of payment. that was all done by stopping this wasteful subsidies to banks and putting it into the direct loan program. and again, we provided more than $10 billion in deficit reduction. now, at the same time, we were able to expand the community health center program to ensure access to life-saving medications and to expand vital consumer protections to millions of americans with private health insurance. protections that we put in like banning lifetime limits, requiring dependent coverage, prohibiting cancellation of coverage due to an illness. in other words, thanks to the education reform bill, students benefited, the middle class benefited, taxpayers benefited

and health care consumers benefited. had my friends on the republican side had their way and had those reforms been defeated, only the banks would have benefited. now, indeed, kind of detect a pattern here. when we democrats were fighting to end this subsidy to banks so that we could dramatically increase college grants and loans from middle class and disadvantaged students, my friends on the other side of the aisle stood at the banks and did everything they could to kill the reforms. likewise today, democrats are fighting to prevent a 100% student loan rate hike. we want to fully pay for it by correcting a provision in the tax code that allows a small, a small group of wealthy americans to avoid paying some social security and medicare taxes. republicans are going to the mat to prevent those wealthy taxpayers from having to pay

their fair share. instead, how do they want to pay for keeping the interest rate down? by gutting the prevention fund, killing it, eliminating it, the very fund that's investing in initiatives to fight cancer and heart disease and to protect the health of our children, our women and our elderly. well, what they are proposing is bad public policies, bad priorities. we need to be putting the middle class first. we need to be putting students struggling to pay for college first. we need to be putting public health and prevention first, put all of those out there. to make these things possible, we should ask this small group of wealthy americans to put their country first and stop abusing this provision, this loophole in the tax code. so i urge my colleagues to support the stop the student loan interest rate hike act and to support the offset currently

in the bill. five years ago, the original law that reduced the student loan interest rate to 3.4% passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed by a republican president. i hope that we can find common ground to pass this new legislation with that same kind of broad and bipartisan support. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, i am glad i had an opportunity to hear the distinguished senator from iowa who is my friend, the chairman of the health, education and labor committee. i -- i want to address the same subject he did, but i want to hasten to summarize at the beginning to say we agree -- by we, i mean governor romney, the likely republican nominee for president, president obama, house republicans, i, others, agree that for the next year, we

should keep the interest rate on 40% of the student loans at 3.4% for new loans. we agree on that. there is not a difference of opinion on that. what's different, what's different is how we pay for it and what -- and what the distinguished senator from iowa has done is actually outlined very well the difference of opinion here. what we're saying, what the republicans are saying is that in order to pay that $6 billion it costs taxpayers to keep that 3.4% rate the same for the next year, we want to give to students, we want to give them back their own money, the money that the democrats are overcharging them on their student loans. now, the senator from iowa went through a very careful explanation on that which was largely correct. he pointed out that at the time that the majority decided it would put the secretary -- make the secretary of education the nation's leading banker, put him in charge of administering

what's becoming to be nearly a trillion dollars worth of student loans every year, in other words, take it away from banks and make the government the banker, that there was about $61 billion in -- quote -- savings. that's from the congressional budget office. the argument of our friends on the other side was those were unnecessary subsidies to banks. well, let's say, mr. president, for the moment, for the sake of argument that they're correct about that. that $61 billion is money that students were paying in interest on their student loans. so wouldn't the logical thing to do be to let the students keep the money? i mean, if you really cared about college tuition going up, student loans rising, wouldn't the thing to do be to say we have done a big favor to you students, the government has been overcharging you on your

student loans, all 15 million, 16 million, 17 million of you who have student loans, so instead of the rate of 6.8%, which it is for most students, we're going to lower that rate to 5.3%. that's not my number. that's the number the congressional budget office said that we could take that $61 billion that our friends on the other side said the government's overcharging students, and we could reduce the average loan of about $25,000 to a 5.33% rate instead of 6.8% and that would save the average student on the average loan about $2,200 over ten years but no, they didn't do that. they spent it on more government, $10 billion to reduce the debt and $8.3 billion to pay for the health care bill. what we're saying is in order to freeze this rate at 3.4%, let's give to students the money that

they were paying instead of paying for the health care bill, let's reduce the student rates with that. that's the difference of opinion here. of course our friends on the other side have have better way in their opinion. not only do they want students to continue to pay for other government programs and some money for the health care bill, they'd like to raise money in the middle of the longest recession we've had since the great depression on job creators. but let's -- let me go back to the beginning point here. we're talking about something that was reflected very well in "the new york times" yesterday, i notice the senator from iowa talked about "the new york times." here's the national section yesterday. talking about what's going on in california. angry about tuition increases, and cuts in courses and enrollment, a dozen students at california state university have taken their protests beyond marchs, they've declared a hunger strike. the fasting protest was the

latest display of anger at the 23 california state university campuses. the system has lost roughly $970 million in state financial since 2008. mr. president, the university of california is probably the best public university in the world, it's lost nearly a billion dollars in state funding since 2008. and the students are fasting. they're upset about the tuition increases. why are the tuition increases coming? well, the administrators say if we lose a billion dollars from the state for our state universities, the money has to come somewhere, to pay for complents complens in our universities so we increase tuition. that story has been going on all over the country. why is that happening? i mean the president has put this issue on the table. i think we need to discuss it. why are they fasting in california? protesting tuition increases. why in tennessee last year did state funding for the university of tennessee and community colleges in tennessee tech go

down 16%? mr. president, the main reason is the federal government's health care policies, its medicaid mandates on states that are soaking up dollars, state dollars on medicaid that would otherwise go to pay for public universities. president obama did not start this policy. it's been going on for 30 years, but he's making it much worse. with his health care law that was passed and when it takes effect next year, the kaiser family foundation says that states which already are spending one out of four of their state tax revenues on medicaid will see a 29% increase in the cost of medicaid funding and what will that do, mr. president? what that will do is force california and tennessee and connecticut and iowa to look in their state budgets, to take

the money that most likely would have gone for the colleges and community colleges and public universities, and instead spend it on medicaid. those federal medicaid mandates are soaking up money that would otherwise go to public colleges and universities and as a result of that the universities are raising tuition, as a result of that loans are up, students are fasting, and the president's on the campaign trail promising to fix it. let's talk about his fix. first, it is the political season, and so students as well as senators and all of us need to listen very carefully when someone begins to stir the crowd about a popular issue and surely being able to pay for college is a popular issue. we hope that all american students who want to go to a higher education will be able to go, will be able to afford to go. and our federal government goes to great efforts to make that

possible. half of the students who go to colleges and universities in america, and there are 6,000 of them of one kind or another, have a federal grant or loan to help pay for college. we have more than $100 billion in new loans going out this year. that's from the american taxpayer. that's from people who are out there working and paying taxes, the -- the u.s.w. -- u.a.w. moab, the teach perks they're paying $100 billion to students this year. the amount of money for pell grants this year is $41 billion more in grants. at the university of tennessee in knoxville, a fine campus where the tuition is about $7,200 a year, which is still a good bargain, by say at a great university, almost all the students show up with a $4,000 state scholarship called the hope scholarship, but for the quarter of those students who are low-income, they have pell grants that carry them above the amount of tuition the.

so state and local governments have made a great effort to try to make it easier for our young people and older people to continue education and we want to continue to do that. there's a bipartisan effort on that. now, the specific issue at flayplay here, the one we're likely to vote on tomorrow, has to do with one type of those student loans. and let's -- let's try to put that into perspective. if either version, the democrats have a version and republicans have a version, i'm offering a version which would pay for it by giving back the students the money that the government's overcharging them. the democrats have one that would raise taxes on people who create jobs, but whichever one were to pass, if one were, here's what it would do. it would save students on new loans about $7 a month on interest payments over the next ten years. that an add up. $80 a year or $800 in ten years.

$7 a month in interest payments on the average loan, and that's for 40% of the loans. and that's for new loans. so if you've got a student loan and it's a 3.4%, that's not going to change. 40% of people do have student loans today at about 3.4%, everybody else is at 6.8% which is a good deal lower than you could get a private loan, one where you go into a bank and say i'd like to borrow sown some money, maybe you can he you can get it but they'll charge you more because be you might not be able to pay it back as well as somebody else. we've agreed on in, at least on the policy. the president has agreed on it, governor romney has dpread on it. for thers in year like to keep the 40% loans at the 3.4% late and later in the year or earlier

next year when we look at our budget, the size of the debt, which is of great concern to all of us on both sides of the aisle, we'll see what we can afford to do. that's the first question. but i'm glad the president has been going to college campuses. i'm glad he's raised the issue of student loans and college tuition. because as a former governor of tennessee who cares deeply about education, as someone who was also united states education secretary about 20 years ago, i've been trying for 20 or 25 years to get washington to pay attention to the idea that it is ruining our public colleges and universities with these medicaid mandates that soak up the dollars that ought to go for public colleges and universities. three-quarters of our students go to public universities, like the university of tennessee or iowa state or california or the communities colleges which are really our secret weapon. and even with the rising

tuition, those costs are -- are at least reasonable now. tuition at community college in tennessee is about $3,000. nationally, the average tuition to four-year public universities is about $8,200. it's not easy to find the money for that. but -- but it's still within range. but what has happened in the last 25 years? i can tell you what's happened in my state. i visited with the retiring president of tennessee tech university, a fine engineering school. he said two things. one is over the last three years state funding for his university and for most in tennessee has gone down by 30%. now, that's not a 30% reduction in the rate of growth. that's a flat-out cut. a flat-out cut. and why has that been happening? our governor, the current one, and four former one, a democrat, both have said what i know and every governor knows, when you make up your state budget, and you get down toward

tend of it you make a choice between medicaid and higher education and because medicaid is run from washington with specific mandates, the states end up being having a strangle hold on them. in effect if they participate in the program to be forced to make decisions about jibilityd and -- eligibility and how much they spend and there goes the money. and there it doesn't go to the public colleges and universities, and less money, higher tuition, higher loans. now, the fasting students in california, if i walked up to them today and said i bet you didn't go noe that president obama's health care policies are the reason you're hung write -- hungry today, they wouldn't believe that. but the fact of the matter is not just the president's spoms but the policies over the last number of years have gradually soaked up money that wildcard ma the university of california a great university and left it no resource but -- recourse but to come more efficient which it

should and raise tuition which it is doing. let me give you an example of how much difference this makes. in the early 1980's, i was a young governor and making these budgets up and by say, well, about this much mows ghost to k-12 education and the courts are running the prison so i'll have to put that in and the gas tax goes to the highways and toward tend of the budget you make this choice between medicaid, the federal program that states pay about 30%, 37% of, something like that, and i was trying to restrict funding for medicaid and increase funding for -- for education. i could see where we were headed over the next several years. i went to see president reagan. i saw him in toafl office. -- the oval office. i said let me propose a grand swap. what do you mean a dwrand swap? we'll swap you -- we'll take

all of k-12 education, we in the states, you take all of medicaid. he thought and said that sounds sowndz like a pretty good idea. my preeng reasoning was -- my reasoning was instead of medicaid having two masters, one in washington and all the governors, if it had one, it would be managed better. if washington ran it, washington would have to pay for it all, it would make sure it could fund it. and i thought then and i think today almost all the comont for kindergarten through the 12th grade belongs closest to the child as possible, first the family, then the classroom, then the state and i believe that while there's been some important advocacy in washington over the last 30 years that if we'd made that grand swap, the medicaid program would be run better today and our public schools would be better today. we could argue about that but thing one thing we couldn't argue about is the difference in money. if we made the swap, the states would have come ahead by about

$4 billion. in other words, the federal government would have taken over medicaid, the states would have taken over k-12, given back to the federal government the federal aid to education and the federal government would not spend its medicaid money. $4 billion was the difference in 1981 or 1982. what would the difference be today if we made such a grand swap? $92 billion, mr. president. $92 billion of extra money the states would have if today the federal government took over all of medicaid and the states took over all of the responsibility in funding for k-12. that would mean in state like california where the students are fasting, california probably would have $12 billion or $13 billion more and do you think much of that would go to the university of california to continue its excellence? you can be sure it would. would much go to tennessee tech and the university of tennessee and the community college? you can absolutely sure it would. what has happened over the years is these well-intentioned

federal health care medicaid mandates have put the strangle hold on governors which is why i said when we were debating the hack health care law i thought any senator who voted for it awrt to be sentenced to serve as governor for eight years and try to implement it. i mentioned in tennessee last year that state funding for higher education went down 15%. well, guess what -- state funding for medicaid went up 16%. so there's a direct relationship. medicaid up, state funding for public universities down, tuition and loans go up and that's the real problem we have today. so i'm glad the president has put this issue on the table. i'm glad he's talking about it. and i hope governor romney talks about it. and i hope what they agree to do is either to repeal the health care law or to repeal the medicaid mandates and give states more flexibility. you can't pass a law in

washington, as we did three or four years ago with the stimulus act, and say we're going to give you more medicaid money but, mr. governor and ms. legislator, you can't reduce state funding on medicaid. lieutenant governor ravage of new york, a democrat, wrote an excellent article in the "wall street journal" at the time and said, if you tell new york that at a time when we're reducing revenues, and you say you've got to keep spending on medicaid, we have to cut something else, the state university of new york gets cut. so new york cuts the state university of new york, tuitions go up, loans go up, students are protesting. and it's not just the student protests i worry about. we're at a time in our history when we're in serious competition around the world in a brainpower competition. we have a lot of chinese scholars going from american university home again to their universities. we did, in a bipartisan way, the

senator from iowa was a part of it and i was, we passed something called the america competes act a few years ago and we authorized it so we could properly fund our science and -- and our innovation. government-sponsored research has been an important part of our job growth over the last 30 or 40 years. and where is that done? it's done at our national laboratories or at our great research universities. at least half of our great research universities are public universities. they're like the university of california, the university of michigan, the university of tennessee, university of connecticut. and if we cut, cut, cut, cut that government-sponsored research and the quality of those universities, our job growth won't be nearly as good in future. here's another example of how much that has changed over the years. 30 years ago in tennessee, the state paid 70% of the costs of of -- of a student to attend a

state university and the student paid 30%. and we had an implicit agreement between the government and the student and we said, if we increase your tuition, we'll increase by the same percent the state contribution. so we kept it at about 70% and 30% and it made it possible for a lot of students to go to college. what is it today? it's 30% and 70%. it's upside-down. 30% of the support for public colleges and universities comes from the state government and 70% comes from the students. and why is that? the fact is, mr. president, the main reason is federal hg -- federal health care mandates that put an unrealistic amount of money on top of states and it's about to get worse. i mentioned earlier the kaiser family foundation says -- estimates that next year states that are already spending $1 out of every $4 for medicaid will see a 29% increase in medicaid

funding. this fast will have to go on a lot longer in california if that's going to happen. you can't cut a billion dollars out of the university of california every three years and have it remain the best public university in the world. it's just not going to happen. and you can't raise tuition 6% or 8% every year and make college available to -- to the large number of students that we would like to go. so i am glad that the president and our friends on the other side in this political year have -- have raised the issue of rising tuition and student loans we agree on the little issue before us. we'd both like to take that 3.4% interest rate, extend it for a year. that costs $6 billion. that affects new loans. it affects only 40% of the students but we agree on that. the president does, governor romney does. that's not an issue. the issue is, do we raise money

on job producers or do we give back students some of the money we're continuing to overcharge them to student loans? that's the issue. but the larger question and one which i hope that we all address this year in our debates and that the president and governor romney address in their debates is what about the future of our public colleges and universities, where three out of four american college students go? how are we going to maintain their quality and maintain the opportunity for access to them if we continue to impose on states medicaid mandates that soak up the money that ought to be going for excellence in higher education and the greatest amount of opportunity for students by keeping tuition rates low? that's the real issue. and while president obama is not responsible for what went on before he became president, he has made that condition much

worse. and if he's going to bring this up on the campaign trail, i hope he tells the rest of the story, which is that he himself and his health care and medicaid mandate policies are a principal part of the reason and i would say the main cause going back over the years to the reasons why california students are fasting, tennessee students are looking forward to an 8% increase in tuition, and all across the country college presidents know very well that the reason there have been such reductions is because of federal medicaid mandates. i hope, mr. president, we have an opportunity not only tomorrow to vote on the democratic proposal to keep -- to keep student loan rates at 3.4% but also on the republican interest rate reduction amendment that i have proposed, which would keep the rates at 3.4% but pay for it by stopping the overcharging of students to help pay for the health care law. health care law.

>> inside you'll find each member of the house and senate including contact information, district maps and committee assignments with more of a cabinet members, supreme court justices and the nation's governors. you can pick up a copy for $12.95 plus shipping and handling. order online at c-span.org/shop. >> in a few moments the atlantic council's annual awards dinner from last night. one of the arteries was england's prince harry. he was cited for his work with wounded veterans. ég

>> this week, live from london, the ceremony and pageantry of the state opening of parliament. until recently parliaments official opening was usually held towards the end of the year. with changes to their election rules it's now been moved to the spring. wednesday queen elizabeth will formally outlined the government's priorities for thes upcoming year. live coverage starts at 5:30 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> the atlantic council held its annual awards dinner last night honoring england's prince harry

and united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon. the event was in seed by joe scarborough and mika brzezinski. this is a little more than two hours. >> ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the atlantic council, its chairman, senator chuck hagel and president and ceo fred kemp, good evening, and welcome to the atlantic council's 2012 annual awards dinner. >> this is our fourth time as in seas of this event, and we keep coming back because we so deeply believe in the organization and its mission. and also because we love fred. >> and, of course, you. you are so lovable right now. so lovable and so respectful. >> maybe we should have a prayer. >> can we pray? let us pray. that doesn't work year. unit, that nation of course of the atlantic council is to

constantly renewed and refreshed the atlantic community. [inaudible conversations] >> the mission of the atlantic council is to constantly renewed and refreshed the atlanta committee. it's partnerships around the world. and to take on a host of global challenges. and we have so many of them. iranian nukes, afghanistan, the

eurozone crisis, and containment -- >> of our secret service, for example,. [laughter] that's why we are fortunate that the atlantic council has never been stronger and his half-century history and its nine programs and centers have never been more relevant. this event marks the culmination of the council's 50th anniversary which began last year at this time when our vice president joe biden, good harkin, and admiral jim. >> and yet tonight it's more about the next 50 years and the last half century. our awardees this evening demonstrate the global reach of this council, and they are carefully chosen to represent excellence in service in the field, plus they have a deep track record of commitment to the trans-atlantic community and, of course, to the world. >> tonight we will honor united

nations secretary-general ban ki-moon with the distinguished international leadership award. prince henry of wales will be honored with a distinguished humanitarian leadership award as well. [applause] >> the men and women of the u.s. armed forces will also be honored for distinguished military leadership. [applause] >> and anne-sophie mutter for distinguished artist leadership. [applause] spent and our awardees are honored by a similarly high level and global audience. we have nearly 800 guests from over 62 countries, including a former president of poland and the former prime ministers of pakistan and spain, 47

ambassadors to the united states, 22 chief executives of global companies in countless member of the u.s.-european and other governments. welcome to you on. >> and also your mom and dad. >> and my parents are here. where are they? please point to my parents. [applause] >> they are out there somewhere. it's now my great pleasure to introduce our distinguished dinner co-chairs who are with us tonight, and we ask that you hold your applause to the in. co-chairs, please stand so we can recognize your an amazing contribution to the atlantic council. >> robert abernathy. victor l. l. q. thomas colligan. thomas enders. c. boyden gray. frank hahn. h. johnson. george london.

alexander murch of. i've met oren. stephen a. schwartzman. alan spence. rob spier, and michael s. walsh. [applause] >> now to begin this evening, our old friend, not old but a good friend -- >> he is old, too. >> he's not that old. atlantic council chairman, senator chuck hagel. is one of the men who constantly reminds us what's best about washington. [applause] >> from serving his country in vietnam to the united states

senate, he also serves as co-chairman of the president intelligence advisory board, as co-chair of the present, china 100,000 strong initiative and member of the secretary of defense's policy board. >> ladies and gentlemen, our friend and great leader, senator chuck hagel. [applause] >> mika, thank you. i'm grateful. this is old chuck. i'm here on behalf of the board of directors of the atlantic council, so thank you, to acknowledge what each of you continue to do with the atlantic council. you make a better world for all of us.

that is the essence of why we recognize those tonight that joe and mika have already acknowledged. because they represent what is best in mankind, and they represent contributions to mankind that are made in different ways. ..

>> and his marvelous staff and all who work so hard on behalf of this institution and what it stands for, what it believes in and how it effects our world. to each of you, thank you. [applause] last comment -- [applause] not unlike anyone or any other institution in the world, we are all playing for the future. that means our young people. that means helping shape and frame their future, their understanding and helping them anchor that through the transatlantic alliance is part of that. but that importance of the transatlantic alliance at this time in the world is not at the exclusion, cannot be at the exclusion of our other partners

all over the world. the transatlantic alliance is special be, it has a special role to play, but that, too, is in partnership with other nations and other peoples. ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the evening. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> so i'm that my republican brother ian is here somewhere off this way, and my parents are in the middle at one of the central tables? mom and dad, can you stand up? [laughter] [applause] yes, there they are. mom looks beautiful and dad was on the show this morning, and he was extremely well behaved. >> he was well behaved. that's not always the case. of course, the first time

dr. brzezinski came on our show, i decided to debate him in middle east politics, and his response after a very well-thought-out, well-articulated argument was: you know, your stunningly superficial. [laughter] >> i warned you not to have him on. >> and i didn't listen. >> having said that, that was affection. >> no doubt. so, ladies and gentlemen, now it's our pleasure to introduce to you the president and the ceo of the atlantic council. in the past five years, he's presided over a period of enormous growth and accomplishment. from a successful career at "the wall street journal" where he was a prize-winning correspondent be, columnist and editor and now to where he's the author of four books. in fact, mika predicted last year that fred's book was going to be a bestseller immediately,

and as usual, mika was right. >> as usual, i was 100% correct. so, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming atlantic council president, ceo and national best-selling author, fred kempe. [applause] >> thanks, mika and joe, the check's in the mail. this is the fourth year joe and mika have done this, and it's because, it's because you in the audience demand it. in fact, let me read an e-mail i received from one atlantic council international advisory board member when i announced that this year, perhaps, they would not be emcees. quote: dear fred, could you,

please, cede all of your time to mika this year; don't worry about joe, unquote. signed, dr. brzezinski. [laughter] seriously, tv doesn't offer a lot of bipartisan, smart, must-watch programs of your sort, mika and joe. you really are doing us a service, and it's a great match for the bipartisan, compelling work we try to do in the national, transatlantic and global interests. we have a great lineup for you this evening and truly global. so what do you get when you take a british royal soldier and philanthropist, a dutch business visionary, a german violin virtuoso and be a south korean global leader? you get the atlantic council's 2012 awards dinner. we're also here this evening to recognize the 1.5 million active men and women of the u.s. armed

forces for their sacrifices, dedication and service. [applause] we have about four dozen enlisted men and women joining us this evening. sitting amongst the others we have the coast guard's -- and if you hold your applause, but i would like them to stand -- the coast forward's 2010 enlisted person of the year for the national capital region petty officer dean johnston. the wing force's wing airman of the year, stacy settles. the marine corps' 2011 joint staff noncommissioned officer of the year, sergeant jessica devilla. all six members of the ceremonial guard drill team and five members of the army's third infantry regiment based at arlington cemetery, and the

senior military fellows of the atlantic council, all enlisted men and women who are in the audience. please, rise now and be recognized. [applause] i thank senator hagel for saluting our brilliant, dedicated atlantic council program directors and staff, senior fellows and interns for remarkable year's performance, but i would ask them all to, please, stand. because you're the ones who do the work, you're the best team in washington at what you do. thank you so much for your work. [applause]

last year, and this is just a year's time, the council launched the center for the middle east which already has a leading voice on the historic upheaval sweeping the middle east and north africa. surely one of the greatest strategic challenges facing the transatlantic community today, and i do want to salute the founder who's in our audience tonight. [applause] please stand, thank you. last december the council honored our international advisory board chairman, general brent scowcroft, at a dinner to raise support for the council's new center on international security. it's a significant enlargement in size and ambition of our existing international security

program. our campaign is still underway, and we're more than halfway to our 25 million goal. we'll officially launch the center this autumn. i would like to ask the following to stand as i name them, scowcroft designated chair general jim jones and his vice chairs ellen paucher and george lawn. you should be standing because these people are here to take your checks. [applause] in less than two weeks' time, the the council's young atlantis' will announce the launch of an emerging leadership network housed within the new scowcroft center. that's one thing brent's known for, mentoring the next generation. this is all part of the council's goal of building

networks in the next generation from around the world to insure the nature of the transatlantic alliance and its global friends. and, prince harry, you have inspired us by your prince william and harry foundation, and we will also expand our work on veteran affairs as well because that is a national security issue. finally n your gift bag you'll find one of the council's flagship reports just released, "the task ahead," which features memos from some of the most illustrious names in foreign policy, many here tonight. hats off to bruce mosler and harlan allman, senior adviser. this is just a taste of the extraordinary accomplishments over the last year, and none of it would be possible without your support and the involvement of our board members, international advisory members and individual members. thank you very much.

[applause] >> let's turn, now, to the 2012 leadership awards. the first presentation this evening is for distinguished artistic leadership, and to introduce the 2012 awar dee, we'd like to invite to the stage a man who has dedicated his life to artistic leadership and vision. during a career that spans six decades, sir andre previn has achieved a reputation as one of the most versatile musicians in the world. mr. pren has received many awards and honors for his lifetime of outstanding musical accomplishments as a conductor, composer and pianist. >> he's the winner of four academy awards for his film work

and ten grammy awards for his recordings, including a grammy lifetime achievement award from the recording academy. sir andre's been honored with both the austrian and german cross of merit and the glenn gould prize. he's the recipient of the lifetime achievement award from the kennedy center, but also from the london symphony orchestra. he's enriched the lives of thousands of listeners and fellow be musicians, including the recipient of this year's distinguished artistic leadership award. >> also he was formerly married to our honoree and is here with us tonight which gives hope, apparently, to the rest of us. ladies and gentlemen, sir andre previn. [applause]

>> it's nice for me to be here in order to say a few words about your around -- artistic honoree because, in the first place, i'm wildly prejudiced, and that should be as it is. and, also, i'm not alone in that. i think most musicians are wildly prejudiced in their favor because there's nobody like her. absolutely nobody. she's one of the great, great musicians of our time, and, you know, it's one of the favorite pastimes of musicians to play the game amongst themselves about who's the best we yangist, who's the best soprano, who's the best cellist. and there's always a pretty bitter argument about that. but it doesn't work with violinists because you would have to change the question. you'd have to say who's the best violinist after --

[inaudible] [laughter] she is better than a virtuoso, she's a real musician. and she has done so much for music, for young people, for contemporary composers, for all kinds of people. and i know that in the book, in the program book there are some, oh, very famous stories about her, how she went to play for herbert when she was, i think, 16 or something. and how he adored it and gave her a debut with the berlin philharmonic. but, also, what you didn't know and which i didn't know until about a month ago is she played me a recording of a violin solo of the famous virtuoso killer piece which really is one of the most famous and daunting pieces that exists for the solo violin.

and when i questioned her about who was this, she not only admitted that it was she, but that she had made it when she was 9 years old. and the noise you hear are parents throwing themselves down the -- [laughter] but she really is, she's quite extraordinary. she has enormous curiosity about music. she felt that she didn't know enough ant chamber music -- about chamber music a few years ago and went straight into it hook, line and sinker and is now one of the busiest chamber music players in the world. and she has played chamber music with almost all the people who further it and who love it. also she's curious about all kinds of music. i remember very well that there is a book of bach of 360-odd

corrals. they're all -- chor reals. they're all very short, and he wrote when he was an organist in german church every sunday. and they are of an irresistible beauty. and we used to get up on a sunday and sight read them a few at a time on violin and then piano, and it made us all feel better for the be whole day. it was like, it was like a cold shower of genius. it was wonderful. now, as far as repertory is concerned, i mean, she has played and recorded all of bach, all of mozart, all of beethoven and a great deal of other things, but what's even more important is that she's done wonders for contemporary music. and she has, she has a

foundation for young people, and she furthers their career by getting them great teachers, by getting them good instruments and be also by seeing to it that current, contemporary composers compose for them. and she has made it her life's calling to have people such as wolfgang riem and on a lesser level me, and we all write for her and for her students. for her disciples really. and it's a marvelous thing to see in every major city in the world now these young people who all come under the egress of anne-sophie mutter and who wouldn't be there if it weren't for her.

now, oh, yeah, this is something that worried me a little bit -- [laughter] because her ambition and her will are so amazing that she, when she started to record the mozart concertos, she decided she would also conduct them. well, that was a blow to me. [laughter] but it's true, and i told her that with her ambition, another couple of years and she'd make records of the monarch symphonies which are really daunting. but if she wanted to, i bet she could. anyway, she is unique, there's nobody like her. she is a complete musician, and we are all very lucky that she's around playing for us. so here's your, here's your honorary -- [laughter] artist to have year, anne-sophie

mutter. [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, my dear

andre, thank you very much for your way too kind words. what would be more wonderful for a musician than being a muse for one of the greatest composers of our time, certainly my favorite composer? i am honored and delighted and be thrilled to be here tonight and to accept this tremendous award. when i came to the united states of america in 1980 and did my debut here in washington, i wouldn't have dreamt of ever being part of such an illustrious group of recipients from the past and the present. but washington has also played another important role in my life, apart from presenting me with this most memorable evening. it is the place where i met my

long-term collaborator some 23 years ago, and i'm very happy and grateful that he's here tonight joining me on stage, and i don't want to spoil the evening any longer with a prolonged speech of mine, and i will just pass on with the words of a great german author, hoffman: music takes on where words are at the end, so let's just move on to summertime, and i wish you all a wonderful evening. [applause] ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [applause] [applause] ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ [applause]

>> fantastic, thank you. [applause] >> okay. do you think he's here in. >> who, ian? >> ian? is ian here? ian brzezinski? can anyone point out my republican brother? >> that could not have been easy, ian. [laughter] >> where is he? all right. okay. to introduce the distinguished business leadership award and the 2012 awardee, we'd like to invite a young man to the stage whose accomplishments are wide ranging and undeniably impressive. in his capacity as usaid administrator as well as in previous prominent positions, dr. rajiv shah has championed results-driven approaches to international aid and agriculture policy. as usaid administrator, doctor shah spearheaded international relief efforts to earthquake

victims in haiti and flood victims in if pakistan. he's worked closely with dr. jill biden to bring assistance to the millions of people affected by famine in the horn of africa. >> at the department of agriculture, he led the usda's participation, the obama administration's global hunger and food security initiative. and while at the bill and melinda gates' foundation, dr. shah developed a number of programs and partnerships that address the real issues involving food and hunger. >> we're all excited to see what the future holds for this brilliant young man. ladies and gentlemen, rajiv shah. [applause] >> thank you and good evening. a special thank you to mika and joe and thank you, senator hagel, for hosting i this evening. -- hosting us this

evening. it is an honor to be with such an incredibly distinguished audience, an audience of leaders who have imagined different possibilities for our world in so many different fields, and in particular, in different ways to make our country safe and secure. it is this that setting that it's my distinct honor to introduce a friend of mine, paul polman. it's unfortunate that just this evening more than 900 million people around our planet will go to bed hungry. and it's unfortunate that more than 500 million of them are young children, and many of them because of their chronic hunger will not have the strength to fight the next illness and will succumb when they should persevere. many will not have the strength for their brains to fully develop so they can learn, grow and contribute to making their world more productive and economically rewarding for their communities. and it's in that world where

we're able to honor tonight a business leader, paul polman, who runs a massive consumer goods company, unilever, and has had a very impressive background at nestle and other firms. and he brings an absolute and unique commitment to ensuring that business leaders around our world commit themselves to literally ending hunger, ending preventable child death and making sure that the reach of modern capitalism touches even those families that sometimes are forgotten. and it's with his prospectus that corporate ceos and entities have both the responsibility and a tremendous business opportunity in addressing the needs of very poor and often unstable environments, that he has created a thurm of efforts that are literally -- a number of efforts that are literally

changing the way companies large and be small see their role in addressing these global challenges. he's brought together other ceos of similarly-large firms to say enough is enough, and we have to work together to prevent the next famine in the horn of africa because that famine is both a deep moral blight on our conscience and also a very serious security threat to all of us. he's brought together companies with more than $3 trillion in revenue, trillion with a t, even a big number in this town. [laughter] so that they could, actually, think about how they can improve the products they offer and be how they could partner with the united nations and so many other agencies around the world to reach those children who otherwise simply don't get enough calories and certainly don't get enough quality calories to learn, grow and thrive. and be with this new effort called new visions for agriculture, he's helped to make sure that these companies work

together with local leaders and local businesses and local governments to make sure that we generate the kind of hard-nosed corporate results that we all value. as a result, he's launching a public/private partnership in tanzania that could triple cultural output, generate together with other efforts more than half a million jobs and lift two million people out of poverty. paul's worked aggressively with the world food program, the front-line partner against hunger and famine, to launch an effort called together for child vitality that has already helped to feed 80,000 children and encourage them to come to school because they get food in school throughout kenya, indonesia and colombia. the list goes on and be on; deforestation, school nutrition, improved food products for

families and efforts to literally transform the final frontier in food and agriculture, sub-saharan africa. there was a time a few decades ago when we celebrated the insights of a young scientist named dr. norman borlaug who had invented new wheat seed varieties, and in doing so, coupled that invention with his absolute persistence to end hunger. and we awarded him the nobel peace prize for that effort. tonight's award is not the nobel peace prize, but in many ways paul polman reminds me of what i've learned when i had the chance to meet dr. borlaug, someone who has tremendous vision and intellect, someone who is respected for his leadership in a hard-nosed, results-oriented, corporate environment and someone who miraculously gets up every day, commits his personal time and energy and somehow manages to bring 20, 30, 40 other ceos

along with him every time he launches a new effort to make the world a better lace and to imagine -- a better place and to imagine an environment where those kids don't go to bed hungry every night. and for that, i am deeply honored to be able to introduce my friend, paul polman, and to present him with the atlantic council's distinguished business leadership award. thank you, paul. [applause] ♪ ♪ [applause]

♪ ♪ >> thanks, raj, i think that's more than, certainly, i deserve. but one of the things that is very clear is that raj's leadership of usaid and, obviously, a deeper sense of purpose, focus and energy that he brings to a number of these global challenges is, obviously, admirable and, more importantly, to the benefit of us all. i think no one better to explain that than raj himself. i saw some of the energy and determination when i had the privilege to work with him at

the latest world economic forum which i co-chaired, and we worked on the vision for agriculture as a partnership to, indeed, promote what we call the southern growth corridor in tanzania. it's, obviously, an immense honor for me to accept this award in name for our company, for unilever, obviously, and do this at a time that a you celebrate the 50 years of transatlantic relations and to foster peace and understanding across the world. in fact, i myself am probably in some ways a child of the atlantic council. i was born at about the same time that, in the netherlands, actually, that the council started. i grew up in europe, actually studied in the united states and actually had the privilege to lead a wonderful company that touches about two billion lives a day, where seven out of ten households actually use our products around the globe. these formative years in the u.s., it taught me a few things. it taught me the value of hard

work, how you appreciate the enterprise itself, the importance of strength through diversity as well as the agility and the continuous learning, and the list goes on. it also taught me that seeking to take a leading role in this volatile economic environment is never going to be easy. i know i speak for many others here in the audience when i say that this privilege of the leadership roles also comes some of the sacrifice that we need to make that comes with that. i'm very privileged to have my wife, kim, here, and be i'm delighted that she's actually with me, but i'm also sorry to say that most of the time the only chance we have to speak with even other is on the plane when we go somewhere. so i want to thank her for everything, and i couldn't do that without her. and i also want to especially welcome my mother-in-law who is here and be lorraine percy, the widow of the late senator percy. [applause]

but i think you agree with me that the personal sacrifice we make as leaders in business is nothing compared to the price willingly paid, actually, by those who risk their lives in the cause of peace and stability. so i feel especially humbled tonight to be receiving this award on an even when you actually recognize the men and women of the armed forces. i'm accepting this award at a critical time for business. capitalism, as we know it, is being questioned at a time, actually, when trust in corporations and government is at a low. yet the need for responsible business has probably never been greater. the world faces many challenges that ruz eloquently summarized, food security, poverty reduction, yes, climate change and social and economic development for all. the scarcity of food, water and energy alone represents what many experts are calling a

perfect storm. and another two billion people will be entering this world in the coming 30 years, and these challenges will only multiply. it is clear that we do have to act before it is too late, and yet we face a dilemma. in fact, forgive me as a business person, i put it in terms of supply and demand. in fact, the demand for change from citizens is growing. in fact, they're screaming out for it. and social media is increasingly giving them a voice, actually, in these demands. and at the same time, the ability of governments and others to supply, to supply the changes that are needed is increasingly limited. now, i believe that business has an opportunity and a responsibility to step up and give the lead. i always like to quote victor frankel who said in his book "man's search for meaning," that when they built the schawt of a

liberty on the east coast of the united states, they forgot to build the statue of responsibility on the west coast. [laughter] and i think that is true for all of us. we have a historic opportunity to strengthn't the confidence -- strengthen the confidence of the citizens and that mistrust towards business, to show that capitalism isn't dead and that it is just in need of a fresh expression. at unilever we've tried to give a lead in this respect. we've put sustainable and equitable growth at the heart of our business, in fact, that is our business model, and we've set our ambitions high. we want to double the size of our business, but at the same time half our environmental foot print, a total decoupling. we want, in effect, to decouple this growth from the negative impacts on this environment. no company our size, our complexity has set such audacious goals, yet this new model of sustainable and equitable long-term growth is absolutely needed and we call it

the unilever sustainable living plan. we have 60 targets covering the entire value chain and that will reduce, hopefully, the impact that we have and at the same time improve the lives of millions, millions of people around the world especially the many that go to bed hungry in russia or the many people that are what we call small hold farmers and many more. we want to save lives. it simply cannot be right that even in today's world millions of children die every year of preventable diseases like diarrhea when the answer just lies in simple hand washing. it simply cannot be right that one child dies still every six seconds in this world, and it simply cannot be right that a billion people go to bed hungry every night. therefore, i'm very pleased that the secretary general is here as well and would certainly call for enforcing his initiatives of every woman, every child or energy for all and scaling up nutrition. some of these things are absolutely needed.

our sustainable living plan is a ten-year plan, but one year we're already starting to see real progress, not least because others are also rallying to the cause. we simply cannot do it alone. we've always said power comes from collective action. so when, for example, the world's major retailers and food manufacturers under the global consumer goods forum commit to help put an end to deforestation, we actually began to move the needle. i know there's a growing appetite for the agenda here as well. we need to bring the u.s., obviously, in the foreground on this leadership. the ingenuity and can the innovations for which you are known for are needed more than ever. and particularly, we hope that the u.s. government can set the right tone and ambitions for the upcoming rio plus 20 conference, and we also need the europeans to join the u.s. because together you comprise the largest markets in the world for a long time to come, and you can set the example once more of what sustainable development is and to step up the leadership,

the leadership that we need to work in partnership with business be, multilateral institutions and civil societies to solve some of these biggest challenges. the secretary general, mr. ban ki-moon, and raj shah understand this very well, and i know they're doing everything they can to break down these institutional barriers we have and get closer cooperation amongst the many stakeholders, particularly in one of the biggest challenges that we have, which is food be security. it certainly is a privilege to lead the private sector group on thesish issues ahead of the upcoming g20. if we're serious about lifting people out of poverty, stilllating economic development and insuring we can feed the world, and if we're serious about the stabilizing effects that come from food shortages, then we simply have to act now. on food security and other pressing global issues, business simply has to take the lead.

but it requires a new way of thinking, it requires a new business model. and we used to talk about business getting a license to operate. i don't think any longer. today the challenge for business is to earn a permission to lead. the world needs it, the consumers demand it. we cannot leave these challenges to governments alone. business simply has to step up, and time is running out. as one of the greatest countries here on earth that you are, most influential as well, one of your founding fathers -- benjamin franklin -- once famously observed that you may delay, but time not, and lost time is never found again. at unilever we're trying to earn a permission to lead. it is a journey in which the 170,000 men and women who work for our wonderful institution are committed. on their behalf and mine, i certainly thank you for acknowledging that this evening and for giving this

presentation. i'm deeply honored and, certainly, thank you for your time. [applause] >> all right, and now we turn to the distinguished humanitarian award which is very exciting because, actually, did you know, mika, this is the first time that prince harry has been in washington, d.c.? >> that's correct. i think that's news making. >> that is news making. >> i think we need someone really big -- >> who could it be? who could it be? >> someone, i don't know, like a true american hero. >> a true american hero like general colin powell. now, of course, recalling here the breadth of general powell's career could take up a great part of this evening, so i'll simply say he's a soldier and he's a strategist, as a diplomat and a statesman and as a siic leader -- civic leader and a

role model he has, by the range of his achievements and by the dedication of his service, provided an inspiration around the world, and he is a man -- and i'm editorializing here -- that my republican party could sure use instructing it on foreign policy decisions. [laughter] [applause] >> maybe just a little. you might be right about that. the atlantic council 2005 recipient of the international distinguished leadership award, former secretary of state, chairman of the joint chiefs, honorary director of the atlantic council and one of the most celebrated men in this country and around the world -- >> ladies and gentlemen, please, give a warm atlantic council greeting to general colin powell. [applause]

>> thank you very much, joe and mika, for your kind introduction. it's a great pleasure to be back at the atlantic council, and especially on this occasion when the atlantic council has the privilege of presenting its distinguished humanitarian leadership award to his royal highness, prince henry of wales, although all of you know him better as prince harry. and i prefer to know him even better as captain harry wales. [laughter] don't you forget it, captain. [applause] apart from recognizing his contributions to humanitarian projects, i would remiss if i didn't note that his presence has altered the normal demographic makeup of of our audience. [laughter] we have a record number of young, single women attending this year. [laughter] prince harry, have you saw them

outside? i also have to say that the average age for an atlantic council dinner -- [laughter] has dropped 25 years as a result of your presence. [laughter] and for that, we really, really thank you. [applause] prince harry is a young man who has grown up not just with good looks and also royal privileges, it would have been easy for him to choose a life of ease and leisure. instead, he chose a more difficult path, and by so doing, he has become an example to millions of others. the it is a path that fully embraced the noblest traditions of service to his country and to his fellow might human beings. on the one hand, prince harry has bravely followed the tradition of generations of british royals before him by serving his country in the

military. he has been an army officer in the british army since 2006 and deployed with the household cavalry regiment battle group to helmand province in 2008. during his time there, he served on the front lines directing british and american aircraft onto enemy targets. he has shown that he knows what it means to lead by example even when it means possibly paying the ultimate price. almost three years ago, he applied for pilot training with the army air corps. his aptitude and skills were ideally suited to this role, and he earned a place in the apache attack helicopter course as a result of that. the end of this training, his training this year, he was awarded the prize for best co-pilot gunner, one of two awards that mark the best students in the course. and he is now serving as an apache pilot with three regiment

air corps. on the other hand, prince harry has wholeheartedly continued the royal tradition of advocating on behalf of society's less fortunate members. clearly, the loving effort princess diana made the teach her -- to teach her sons the importance of serving others has touched the heart and souls of her two sons and continues her legacy. harry and his brother, prince william, have always focused on veterans' welfare as one of the principle causes of their charitable lives. in launch of help for heroes in 2007, both princes played a leading role using their positions to put the spotlight on this extraordinary charity the. since the creation of the foundation of prince william and prince harry in 2009, both princes have moved to make their own mark the in the world of

philanthropy. they have acted together, undertaking numerous engagements and developing many different initiatives to help veterans. for someone so young, prince harry's charitable ambitions are notable, and the impact of his work is already very, very significant. through his efforts he restores hope and confidence to those who have been wounded in the service of their country. the most prominent example of this is the participation, his participation in the walking with the wounded program which helps wounded troops demonstrate their courage as they return to civilian life. prince harry has shown a remarkable way of leading by example and demonstrating the importance of using one's talents and position to benefit one's fellow man. the atlantic council recognizes the tremendous commitment prince harry brings to his humanitarian endeavors and honors him for the

significant impact of his charitable work on behalf of soldiers and their families. in presenting him with the 2012 distinguished humanitarian leadership award, we know he will continue to be an inspiring example to young people around the world on the importance of service to others. ladies and gentlemen, i am honored to present to you the recipient to have 2012 -- of the 2012 distinguished humanitarian leadership award, his royal highness, prince harry. [applause]

ms. . ♪ ♪ >> this isn't daunting at all. [laughter] general powell, thank you very much for your incredibly kind words. for a captain in the british army to be introduced by such a world-renowned soldier and statesman is truly humbling and a little terrifying. [laughter] so it is with great humility that i accept this award. generally, i obviously don't feel that i've done nearly enough to deserve it, but i'm immensely grateful to senator chuck hagel, the president, fred

kempe, and the board of the atlantic council for according me this great honor. if i may, i would like to accept the award on behalf of my brother, william, our foundation, all those on sides of the atlantic who work so tirelessly to support our wounded veterans, but particularly for the guys because this is their award. it would be wrong of me to speak for these heroes, but not presumptuous of me to pay tribute to them. so many of our servicemen and women have made the ultimate sacrifice, so many lives have been lost and so many changed forever by the wounds that they have suffered. they have paid the terrible price and keep us safe and free. the very least we owe them is to make sure that they and their brave families have everything they need through the darkest days and, in time, regain the hope and confidence the flourish again.

for these selfless people, it is after the guns have fallen silent, the battle quietened that the real fight begins, a fight that may last for the rest of their lives. we'll all continue to support our armed forces in the defense of freedom at home and abroad, but sooner or later the coverage of them in the media will diminish or cease as coalition forces withdraw from afghanistan. they will no longer be at the forefront of our minds. but the injuries left from a .762 bullet, an ied, watching a fellow comrade injured or killed, these are experiences that remain with you for life both physically and mentally. we must be there for our servicemen and women and their families, standing shoulder to shoulder with them always. british and american forces train together, they fight together and, tragically, some are wounded and some die

together. it makes perfect sense to me, therefore, that we should wherever possible and appropriate work together by pooling our expertise and experience to heal and support the wounded veterans of both our nations. truly, brothers and sisters in arms. it was a privilege for me to fight alongside members of the united states armed forces. their professionalism and dedication to the values that we share and hold dear are inspirational. i would personally like to congratulate marine sergeant major brian baa tagly ya -- i hope i said that right -- who is to receive an award recognizing the united states armed forces peerless contribution to the defense of freedom. using our fortunate position, william and i have sought to raise awareness of the challenges confronting our wounded. to help mobilize support and resources for them. we have tried to do what we can

to insure that servicemen and women and their families leave the military with purpose, with hope and with confidence. whether in their working environments or in the wider community, these fine people -- examples to us all -- have an invaluable contribution to make. last year i've struggled to keep up with four british soldiers who i joined for part of their expedition to walk to the north pole. each of these men had recently been gravely wounded on the battlefields of afghanistan. theirs was the fastest team to reach the pole that season. and at this very moment, another team of our wounded are returning from mount everest. sadly, i have to be the first to say that i understand they've been frustrated from reaching the summit by the unusually warm weather which brings particularly dangerous conditions. however, the mere fact that these guys are up on that

fearsome peak, i find totally amazing. ladies and gentlemen, these people, ours and yours, are extraordinary. that is why i feel so humble in accepting this wonderful honor from you tonight. i congratulate wholeheartedly my fellow award winners, but most of all, i salute our wounded veterans. thank you very much. [applause] >> thanks so much to prince harry for being here tonight, but more importantly, for his service and most importantly tonight, for bringing attention to the men and women who serve in this country and all across the world for our freedoms. especially those that come home

injured. now, if you will, please, enjoy your dinner. [inaudible conversations] >> i can imagine no man more appropriate to present the next award than the most senior enlisted individual of the atlantic council, sergeant chuck hagel. joe and mika already listed senator hagel's many credentials from his two terms in the senate to his georgetown distinguish canned professorship. let me introduce you to another chuck hagel. this is the one who served in the ninth infantry division with his brother tom in 1968 during the vietnam war. these two enlisted soldiers were literally brothers in arms serving side by side.