>> for 22 years i have served with you. first, and his team as a delicate. then as attorney general, and now as governor. while this public chapter of my life draws to a close, i've realized i'm not the only one saying farewell. tonight. so tonight i want to say on behalf of a grateful commonwealth, that we all salute the great service of our lieutenant governor bill bolling, was redefined his office as a jobs creator, a policy leader, and a cabinet member, and presided over the senate with grace. thank you, bill, for over two decades of outstanding service. [cheers and applause]

>> will probably be fishing on monday. i also want to recognize the great service of attorney general ken cuccinelli and thinking for solid legal advice, strong conservative leadership and his care for the disenfranchised. i also want to welcome the 16 of union members who were sworn in earlier today. and i want to implore you, never forget the thrill of what you've experienced today. because it will make you a better legislature. and i also want to say welcome back, we love you.

[applause] >> governor mills godwin rightly said there is no higher honor than being the governor of virginia. serving with you the last four years has been the greatest for special opportunity of my nearly 60 years of life. and so tonight i offer my profound thanks to the people of virginia for their confidence when they elected me to this office four years ago. and average middle-class kid from fairfax county getting up again to sit in the same seat of patrick henry and thomas

jefferson. the american dream is still alive. i tried my very best come up with spectacular teamwork, with you, to serve you well. i think we've achieved many good things together for the 8 million people of the commonwealth. where some have hoped for conflict, instead we worked together to forge consensus. where some i do prefer to sound bites to solutions, we more frequently chose results over rhetoric. i'm a conservative like many of you. i strongly believe these are the principles that are right for america. some of you are moderates. some of your progresses, and i know you believe just as deeply in your ideas as idea. but i think what's important is that before we ascribe to any philosophical allegiance, there is one identity that comes first and that matters most. and that is that we are all virginians.

[applause] we were sent here, to mr. jefferson's capital, to be servant leaders of the people. to use of the unique god given talents that each of us has to expand opportunity of the american dream for our citizens, because they're all created in the image and likeness of god and, therefore, all deserve access to equal opportunity and to pursue success in this life. so with that in mind i believe the measure of our success is really fairly simple. did we help create jobs and opportunity, and make virginia a better place to live, to work, to worship, and to raise a family? did we support that single mother in roanoke who is trying to raise her little two girls while she's working two jobs?

did we make dreams more attainable for that small businessman in woodbridge focus on helping its customers and growing his business? did we lift up that man who made a mistake in danville who served his time and i want to restart his life? looking back i can say without hesitation, that together we have. i would say the credit belongs to the you hundred and 40 leaders here in this body to her remarkable world-class cabinet, and to the input of the great citizens of virginia these last four years. because in this capitol we have debated passionately, and generally civilly. we've worked together and we've shared the credit. because that's the virginia way. that's what we have adhered to. and i think that our democracy in virginia is stronger and better because of it. in the waning hours of the

administration, many want to talk about legacies. so i may disappoint you tonight but i would rather focus on our joint achievements. because i think what we've been able to do is what the boy scouts told us do. i only made to second class but i still remember this. and that is, to leave the campground are little better than you found it. the gains we made to patients and it took leadership. and it took the medal to demand change when the status quo would not deliver excellence in state government. i think leadership is how, when we finally address virginia's needs for new transportation infrastructure after 27 years, the speaker of the house, my dear friend bill howell, put his own name on the bill. i figured carrying a bill every three years wouldn't kill him last night --

[laughter] and it turned out to be true. when the bill came to the floor, stood up to get a final speech in favor of its passage, remember that? so he got his training, and promptly retired. [laughter] [applause] >> leadership is about how when we took office in january 2010 with unemployment at 744% we live out a comprehensive set of proposals to get virginians back to work. it was senator chuck colgan, and then delegate lacey putney who came to me and said, governor, we will carry those bills along with you. leadership was about how when we passed the opportunity

educational institution bill after passionate debate and said we will not tolerate a single failing school, in virginia, it was delicate howell who stood on the floor and capture the moment when he said, the next great civil rights battle is in educational opportunity, and today i challenge the leaders across the commonwealth to join me in this fight. and you are right. time and again, we've rejected the twin ideological poles and navigated towards common ground that make the nation's best state even better. so looking at the last four years, i think something very important, if not remarkable, has happen. and that is virginia's state government has worked, and worked well. [applause]

>> when i campaigned for this office i got our message down to about three worked on a bumper sticker. bobs for jobs. what can i say, my mom and dad gave me a great name for politics. it wasn't just a slogan. it was why i ran. it is what i wanted to do with your help. that's where a chief priority has been pretty simple. that is to put in place policies that are necessary to help our great virginia free enterprise system create good jobs and opportunities for our people, and then basically get out of the way. so while there is so much that government should not do, there are those very limited but important areas where government must act to help individuals prosper and help the free market to grow. the wisdom of our founders and the lessons of history to find the correct rules.

inefficient government has an obligation to ensure that our businesses and our families have a modern transportation infrastructure that is necessary to get goods to market, armageddon work, and everyone to the soccer game on time. a responsive government provides our young people greater access and affordability out our top flight colleges and universities so they can receive the skills necessary to land the in demand jobs of the 21st century. a responsible government keeps its communities and citizens safe and secure. the wise and frugal government envisioned by the second governor, mr. jefferson, manages and funds its core functions well, then leaves the rest to individuals, to the family, to the faith-based and benevolent institutions, and to the private sector. so it's a balance and i think by most empirical measures, we struck the right balance these last four years in virginia.

since we took office in january 2010, the unemployment rate has fallen from 7.4% to 5.4%. we now have the third lowest unemployment rate east of the mississippi, and the lowest unemployment rate in the southeast. now for those of you keeping score, like i do, with our neighbors, that's a full point lower than maryland, and two points lower than the tar heel state. we are doing pretty well here in virginia. [applause] over 177,000 net new jobs have been added, more than 160,000 in the private sector. you provided nearly $120 million in new economic development tools, the largest not ever given to a governor, and i thank you for the.

the result has been 76,000 jobs and $13.6 billion in capital investment just from the projects announced over the last four years that were either assisted by the state or receiving state incentives. one of those projects was bassett furniture, a self-described 100-year-old virginia start-up, and an integral part of the economy of southern virginia. last month we were able to used some of those resources in the governors opportunity fund about the company expand its manufacturing plant in henry county and add 25 jobs and spend $1.5 million in capital investment. they invested in virginia, and we invested in them. it's a good partnership. with us tonight in the gallery is vice president eddie white. i want to say, 80, thanks for believing in henry county, and thanks for believing in virginia. please be recognized. [applause]

basset would say they are in the right state to do business. and just recently forbes got it right again, moving virginia back to number one as the most business from the state in all of america. [cheers and applause] >> i want to thank lieutenant governor bell boeing, secretary jim cheng, secretary jim duffy, secretary talking more and many of you who have been of economic development trips. who have helped make this happen. much of our recent growth has come from making agriculture and forestry virginia's largest industry a key component of our business development and economic development strategy.

because with our top quality local products and our expanding world-class support, we are successfully selling virginia to the world. in the past few years i've completed nine international trade missions, and we've opened agriculture trade offices in india, china, great britain, russia, mexico, costa rica. last year agricultural and forest products -- forest products exports reached out album a to $.6 billion from virginia but there's a lot more to be done. in beijing right now they're drinking virginia wine. and moscow they are eating virginia beach. and in tokyo they're talking about virginia soybeans, i know. [applause] and all that means more jobs back here in virginia. while virginia's economy has grown, we've worked hard and kept the size and scope of

government properly inject. you remember, we came into office with a record budget shortfall totaling $6 billion. and now we leave office having posted four straight budget surpluses totaling a virginia record of $2 billion. [applause] >> and i think the finance and appropriations committee members because we budgeted wisely and held the line on growth in general fund spending. in the nine years from fiscal year 2072 what will be the projection for 2016 and injured his budget, general fund spending will grow by an average of only 1.2% per year. that's far less than great of growth in population and inflation. we've reduced the number of

non-higher education state employees by approximately 2000, and it took tough leadership to get that done. we've eliminated or consolidated 36 boards and commissions and nine state agencies. so you're virginia government is not efficient and lean and doing more with less. thank you for helping make that happen. applaus[applause] >> we've also dramatically increase our financial reserves by growing the rainy day fund from just $295,000,000.4 years ago and now just over $1 billion by the end of fiscal year 2016, and that's the fourth largest balance in history. thank you, secretary brown, for your good penmanship. the budget i introduced uses debt conservatively, to stay within our capacity limits, while targeting important safety, environmental, and maintenance needs. it eliminates the accelerated

sales tax gimmick for now over 99% of businesses. it beats up a depleted literary fund to be able to build more schools, at least the largest unappropriated balance since 1991 when the rainy day fund begin just in case you of sustaining ideas on your own that you would like to put in place. happy new year. i think we've been good stewards of the taxpayers dollars and we spent wisely on government core functions. nowhere has that been more evident in our commitment to core services than the work we did last session to pass virginia's first sustainable transportation funding plan since 1986, the year delegate joseph yost was born. [laughter] [applause] he still has some tread on them

over there it looks like. in an uncommon demonstration of election-year bipartisan cooperation, something unfortunately we see very -- fairly rarely of the federal level, we did in virginia. the transportation bill passed with a vote of 44 republicans and 43 democrats. virginia families and businesses finally got infrastructure funding that should sustain us for generations. the forward pass that bill we audited ddo t. and located every single efficiency and every available dollar. we use that capacity jumpstart 900 projects for short-term fix. we stand to lead the nation in that category. but we knew it wasn't enough. the simple fact was this. the gas taxes only raising 46% of what it had in 1986, but the cost of asphalt was up over 350%. we had a math problem. traffic in northern virginia become the worst in the country.

hampton roads 20th, richmond 60. virginians were wasting gas complete the work, eating a lot of puddles. it now thanks to the work that you did last session, our transportation system will receive over $6 billion in new funding over the next six years alone, with an estimated in the economic impact of $9.5 billion the creation of 13,000 new jobs. already we've seen what the funding means for our people. this test you advertise a virginia record $2.5 billion in road construction projects. we finally have the resources to begin widening 64 from newport news to richmond. we have reached a crucial milestone with the long-awaited plans to modernize i 66 in northern virginia. construction on the critical eye 95 express lanes from the mixing bowl to the speaker's district will be completed in early 2015. we have begun the second phase

of route 460 construction in buchanan county, and will start the new route 460 from hampton roads to petersburg soon. phase ii of rail to dulles, the silver line, is now funded and will provide needed congestion relief for northern virginia. amtrak service has returned to roanoke for the first time in 34 years, and will soon -- excuse me, return to norfolk for the first time in 35 years and will soon return to roanoke for the first time in 34 years. but all this is because you weren't across regional and partisan divides that were long deemed unbridgeable, and provide a modern, safe and well funded transportation system for our people. so i want to thank speaker, delegates jones, abandoned, senator howell, watkins, wagner and many others for your leadership to be able to get that done. i want to thank all of you who voted for that bill, and the

rest of you can still go back home and take credit for all the process -- all the projects that were built. now, it took bold actions to get transportation done but it took a lot of bold action the last few years with a lot of leadership to make significant reforms in our public education system. i stood member dad saying, to get a good job, you need a good education. so we are now helping more people gain access to that could education. because the principle is this, that every child, regardless of social status, race, creed or zip code, deserves access to world-class education with a great teacher in a great school because they will produce a great citizen. we increased the percentage of education dollars going into the classroom, where kids actually learn, from 61% to 64%. we've given parents now an

honest view of the performance of their child's school with a transparent a-f school grading system. we rewarded dedicated teachers with their first pay-raise in five years and established an innovative performance pay system. we ended irresponsible social promotion of third-graders who aren't reading at grade level, and invested significant new resources in remedial reading programs. we effectively eliminated teacher tenure, raised the standards for degree completion, author's teach for america, implemented tuition scholarship tax credits, reduce bureaucratic red tape and local unfunded mandates. we expanded charter and virtual schools, created a teachers cabinet, nearly tripled the number of stem academies from eight to 22. after this year's budget if you prove my recommendations, we will have funded the standards

of only now with over $500 billion of new money for k-12 this year. but more importantly and all that here are the results. graduation rates in virginia are up 8% since 2008. the dropout rate is down 6% since 2012, and the reading scores for our fourth graders are 10% higher than the national average. that's progress. thank you. [applause] and we've taken a tough love, zero-tolerance approach to chronically underperforming schools, by treating the opportunity educational institution, allowing the state the authority to turn around and manage failing schools. delegate howell was right. this is the civil rights issue of our time. in the 8th most prosperous state in the nation, how can we

tolerate a single child going to a failing school in virginia? if i leave office testing as i leave office, i implore you, let only i demonstrate that it will help those nonperforming schools in petersburg and norfolk and alexandria and other places that might come online. knowing that some children are not getting the same education as other kids just one school district away it's just not right. so the time for excuses is over but it's now time excellence for all our students. [applause] but when young kids graduate from a high school, they must be either korea ready or college-bound. because if they're not, you failed, i failed, and they

failed. because in a globally competitive economy that we live, employers demand more people that are well-educated and well trained for diverse a very specialized missions. working together, we've made virginia's colleges and universities much more affordable and accessible these past few years. with budget recommendations i've made this session we will agree invested nearly $609 in new funding in our colleges over just five years. this budget also provides the highest tag grant awards in history of our state at $3300 per student annually. the past two years have also produced the lowest average annual tuition increases in well over a decade, but our students are still graduating with far too much debt. the top jobs higher education act of 2011 created the

blueprint for the future and put us on track toward an additional 100,000 new degrees over the next 15 years, with a focus on the stem disciplines. already, because of your work, 14,000 new slots have been added for virginia kids. we've also required our universities to be much more accountable in their spending by reallocating resources to the top priorities. my budget also contains a new funding formula that rewards performance in education and compliance with our legislative goals. i ask you to please an active and make it work. every new acceptance letter that hits a mailbox in virginia beach, tazewell, or arlington is a testament to the progress we've made and a passport to the american dream for that student. i'm very grateful to secretary fornash, secretary siddiqi, secretary dyke, senator norment, and delegates cox and dance for leading the way.

on this very important reform. i learned as a young virginia beach prosecutor, public safety is the foremost duty of government, because it secures our inalienable rights. our crime rates continue to decrease in the commonwealth, in virginia now has the nation's for the lowest violent crime rate and the eighth lowest property crime rate. that's progress. this is a testament i think to the years of tough sentencing and no parole laws that we work together to put in place. the major reforms you passed at my request significantly toughen laws and the sentences for prosecuting gang members, child sex predators, and repeat drug dealers. however, justice is not fully served if we are only tough on the front end, but give no help to those who paid their debt to society and want to become law-abiding citizens.

because you see, 95% of the people in our prisons are going to get out. we want them to be good citizens, not to reoffend and go back to prison. and, therefore, the smart approach is to combine tough sentences with targeted assistance to help those virginians successfully reenter society. that's why we have demanded over these years significant improvement in virginia's prison reentry system. and its work. the success of these efforts shows that virginia now has the second lowest recidivism rate in all of america. [applause] but i would say to that statistics don't tell the full story. people do. tonight, we're joined in the gallery by tamio holmes. tamio spent part of his teenage years on the street, dealing

drugs but it was a road that led him to prison twice. but it was in prison that he found a way to get out of that sad cycle. .. [applause]

because i hope you agree that in america, we believe deeply in the principle of second chances and redemption. so i was pleased to join many of you this summer on churchhill to sign executive order for automatic restoration of civil rights for non-violent offenders. a sacred right to vote and other civil rights are ones that our men and women in uniform have died to secure. and so far ad our administration restored rights to013 people during the last four years. [applause]

while that's double the amount of a previous administration i don't think that civil rights restoration should be subject to the arbitrary judgment of an individual governor. i think it should be a permanent part of our law. so therefore in the -- [applause] therefore in the coming years, i'm going to ask you again to take an important step for justice and pass a constitutional amendment to permit the automatic restoration of civil rights here in the commonwealth. [applause] while we talk about voting i want to ask you to not forget that men and women in uniform today from virginia are still defending that right to vote in foreign places.

this summer in a most special privilege for me of being governor i was able to travel abroad and meet with brave virginia warriors at walter reed and ramstein, germany, hospitals, in the sands of kuwait, and at the bases in kabul and kandahar. we have one of the top national guard units in all of america commanded by general long. and -- [applause] as we sit here comfortably and gather in safety for this speech the soldiers of the 1710 transportation company from emporia, virginia, who i got to meet with while deployed in afghanistan are still there. tonight, we're joined by tabitha rodes, the wife of commander

rodney rhodes, and sara talbert, the wife of master sergeant albert talbert on his third deployment in afghanistan. tabitha, sara, the people of virginia thank you for your sacrifice. we commend the leadership of your husbands and all who serve them, serve with them and we pray for your safe return next month. let us recognize you. [applause] i want to thank all of you for the work that you've done to

make virginia the most veteran-friendly state in america. we've expanded the wall of honor at the virginia war memorial. thank you, delegate owe ban nan. we -- o'bannon. we provided for in-state tuition. thank you, delegate cox. we create ad world class job placement program for our veterans. we have shown our love and appreciation for those brave few that protect our way of life. i'm also pleased to report to you that our progress extends for the protection of virginia's natural beauty. over the last four years we have conserved 232,000 acres of open space. beginnians are enjoying cleaner air and water also. virginians. america possesses few treasures like the chesapeake bay. few treasures must exercise its stupid wardship over that

resource. we put 460 milliondollars collectively into water quality efforts, including the 221 million you approved in the bond package just last year. we also invested $5 million in oyster restoration. last year's oyster harvest was the largest since 1987. and we -- [applause] and we also have the largest blue crab population since 1993. so please keep up this progress because they taste great. and as they say, save the crabs, then eat them. now i also want to thank our great state employees tonight because they are the lynchpin of virginia's success. as you know there is over 100,000 men and women that work every day tirelessly for the good of cause from chincoteague to the cumberland gap to serve

others. we try to reward that service together. we provided the first pay raise for state workers in six years and two 3% performance bonuses at christmas in 2010 and 2012, with a third in my proposed budget for christmas of 2014 that i ask you to approve. we helped secure the retirement for state employees by making the largest deposit into your pension system in the history of virginia, 2.2 billion back in 2012. we also fixed the untenable cash position of vrs with major reforms to reduce future unfunded liabilities in vrs by $9 billion over 25 years and i have included $315 million in the budget to fully fund the payback of previous deferrals and implement the graduated rate of 7% rate of return. on a personal note i want to thank first sergeant mark wiley

and great members of the state police executive protection unit. you serve around the clock, travel constantly. for the last month 1/2 you've been guarding two governors and you do it all with professionalism and character. you have become part of my family for these years. and we're going to miss you very much. thank you for your service. [applause] we've also worked harder to try to improve customer service throughout government operations

but especially with dr. hazel's leadership in health care. we're launching the commonwealth coordinated care initiative to better facilitate care for those dual eligibles, that is those eligible for both medicaid and medicare. we saved taxpayers an immense amount of money by expanding managed care for medicaid statewide. our medicaid reforms implemented in the last couple of years with dr. hazel and cindy jones are already saving hundreds of millions of dollars annually. but we've also made the largest investments ever in virginia's civil of intellectual and developmental services, stemming from last year's settlement with the department of justice. as a result of that settlement, virginia will provide 750 new medicaid waiver slots and expand community-based services for individuals with id or dd issues. in addition to providing transition funding for the

closure of the state's training centers. in this biannual budget i'm also recommending to you an additional $38 million for critical mental health services like crisis prevention and intervention, community-based mental health programs, and bed space capacity. working with governor-elect mcauliffe we also put in place an executive order to study in detail our mental health system and make more recommendations to you soon. mental health challenges affect so many virginia families. we all perhaps have a story to tell. i believe we have to do all we can to provide immediate help to those in need and comfort to those who hurt. we've also helped to bring a lot of joy into the lives of many people this past year with one of the most heart-warming and successful government programs

that i have ever witnessed. the virginia adopts campaign led by secretaries kelly, hazel and soon to be secretary holton, had the goal of matching a thousand foster care children with permanent loving homes just within the last year. i'm delighted to announce tonight that we are joined by the 1,000th adoptive family. the blanchards have been foster care parents to over 20 children and now, they are welcoming michael to the family permanently. michael, i know and i heard that you're thinking about a professional basketball career but i think you ought to try your hand at politics because they could really use you down here. thank you blanchard family, for making virginia a more loving place to call home. [applause]

[applause] ladies and gentlemen, you can see adoption is working. it is creating families. it's saving taxpayer dollars. so that's why in the budget i recommended $10.3 million to expand foster care and adoption support to age 21, and i hope you will approve that change. we supported families in many other important ways these last four years. i'm so pleased to announce to you tonight that both the teen

pregnancy and abortion rates have declineed significantly in virginia over the last four years. [applause] the as you know virginia has the highest concentration of geeks, i mean technology workers in all of the country. we continue to grow the silicon dominion with targeted legislation like capital-gains tax exemptions for technology businesses angel tax credit and successful tax credit to attract data centers all over the state. we also dramatically reformed and improved the virginia information technology agency, vita, expanded modeling and simulation opportunities and launched mach 37, the nation's first cybersecurity accelerator. looking forward there are many

important structural reforms in state government that i think you need to consider addressing. which i would have done myself if you had passed the two-term governor bill a few years ago. i think we need to reform the tax code for the modern virginia economy. we need to reexamine the state and municipal authority and service level responsibility. we need a fight for a balanced federal budget and the restoration of federalism here in america. [applause] thank you, congressman grift and and -- griffith and hurt for taking notes back there on that. and one day you need to end the outdated and nonsensical state bourbon and vodka monopoly.

now, i'd say, that if you work real hard you can knock all of that out just in this session alone. we've made, we have made a lot of progress but not everything has proceeded exactly as i had hoped. because you have elected me as governor but i'm not perfect. i have always worked tirelessly to do my very best for the people of virginia. i set exceptionally high standards for myself. but as a flawed human being i sometimes have fallen short of my own expectations. while choices i have made have been legal, and several reviews showed no person or company

received any special benefits during our administration, i understand that there's been adverse public impression of some of the decisions and choices that i have made. and i prayed fervently over the last month that the collective good that we have done would not be obscured by this ordeal. so tonight i say to all of you, and to all virginians, that i am deeply sorry for the problems and the pain that i have caused for you during this past year. because the last four years have been very good in making this a true commonwealth of opportunity for all of our people. unemployment's down two full points and 177,000 net new jobs have been created. tuition increases are down and

we're on our way now to 100,000 more slots for virginia kids. a transformative transportation infrastructure bill has passed. major innovative reforms of our public education system are enacted. record budget surpluses are the norm. a healthier chesapeake bay. a much stronger tension system and don't forget we opened 19 rest stops and upped the speed limit to 70 miles an hour. [applause] so you can leave richmond faster and safer. but in the years ahead when i think back over the special four years together it probably won't be the top line bullet points of these successes that come first

to mind. rather i'll remember that we tried to follow the words of jesus in the gospels, when he said, to love your neighbor as yourself and take care of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the prisoners, the little children, the mentally ill. i'll remember the eight universities playing in the governor's holiday hoops classic and raising nearly half a million pounds of food for the food banks and virginia business that is participated in the governor's food bowl and raised another 1.1 million-pound. i will remember the deep emotion this past summer of walking the richmond slave trail and seeing the echos of the horrors at lump kin's jail. i ask you this session to approve that $11 million i put in the budget for the establishment after long overdue

national slavery and heritage site here in richmond. i remember the vision of bob sled working for free and pam kestner who created our first statewide housing plan and found new resources for the effort that led to a 16% reduction in homelessness in virginia last year. and i will definitely remember visiting and embracing so many of the brave people in glade spring and pulaski county after the devastating tornadoes that struck in 2011. perhaps more so the incredible outpouring of love and support and generosity from beginnians who just a month donate ad million dollars to the newly-created disaster relief fund. in short, i'm going to remember the caring, generous, and good-hearted people of virginia because we do live in a most generous nation on earth, the united states of america. we live here in the place where

america was born and now you have the opportunity to play a pivotal role in where america goes from here. and as you do, i want you to remember the image of george washington on his knees at valley forge in that miserable winter of 1777 to 1778 and remember that america began on her knees. i want you to remember the words of his first inaugural address. words that he expected to ring through the ages i believe where he said the propitious smiles of heaven can not be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself ordained. so tonight i ask you to breathe those words and those images deep in your hard. i ask you to embrace and work with this new administration.

work where you can with governor-elect mcauliffe, lieutenant governor-elect ralph northam and attorney general mark herring, to continue to make virginia a great commonwealth of opportunity for all of our people. i want to thank you for your incredibly warm friendship, your strong partnership, your can-do results oriented leadership, and now as i step aside from the very pinnacle of my life in public service i want to thank god once again for making me a virginian. and so may god in his mercy and his wisdom continue to bless you and all the great people of the commonwealth of virginia. thank you very much. [applause]

[applause] >> governor mcdonnell's successor, democrat terry mcauliffe will be sworn into office as governor of virginia at statehouse in richmond tomorrow at 12:05 eastern. c-span will have live coverage. want, one of governor mcdonnell's colleagues, new jersey's chris christie held a news conference yesterday to apologize for hi way lane closures on the george washington bridge in fort lee, new jersey, apparently ordered by some of his aides. he announce ad firing of a deputy chief of staff and his campaign director for their roles in the matter.

we'll show you governor christie's nearly two hour news conference sunday morning at 10:35 eastern on c-span. here is a short portion of the governor's statement yesterday. >> good morning. i come out to this office where i have been many times before and i come out here today to apologize to the people of new jersey. i apologize to the people of fort lee and i apologize to the members of the state legislature. i am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. there is no doubt in my mind that the conduct that they exhibited is completely unacceptable and showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government and for the people that we're trusted to

serve. two pieces to what i want to talk about today. the first is, i believe that all of the people who were affected by this conduct deserve this apology and that's why i'm giving it to them. i also need to apologize to them for my failure as the governor of this state to understand the true nature of this problem sooner than i did. but i believe i have an understanding now of the true nature of the problem and i have taken the following action as a result. this morning i have terminated the employment of bridget kelly, effective immediately. i terminated her employment because she lied to me.

>> a portion of governor chris christie's news conference yesterday in trenton, new jersey. the entire event is about two hours long. it will be aired sunday at 10:35 a.m. eastern on c-span. u.s. employers add ad scant 74,000 jobs in december of, the fewest in three years according to the associated press. the labor department says the unemployment rate fell from 7% in november to 6.7%, the lowest level since october of 2008 but the drop occurred partly because more americans stopped looking for jobs. here are comments from the joint economic committee looking into the december jobs report. house speaker john boehner released a statement on the jobs numbers which said in part, today's disappointing news report shows again that the president's policies are failing too many americans, many of whom simply stopped looking for work. part of senator harry ride's statement include today's report

why republicans must support with democrats immediately inningsextend unemployment insurance for 1.4 million americans whose benefits were cut off in december. and again, comments from members of the joint economic committee looking into the december jobs report. >> thank you, commissioner. as you know the unemployment rate fell pretty dramatically. do you see this, would you describe it as an encouraging sign of a sustainable recovery? >> this is one, this is one month's number. of course you don't want to get caught up on one particular number but most of the change in the unemployment rate, about 2/3 of probably was due to falling labor force participation which is -- >> people simply giving up on the market, the workforce? >> well the interesting thing is

that, when we looked at flows it looked like most of the flows into nonparticipation were from employment, rather than from unemployment. but, generally speaking it's, it's not as robust a sign as if the fall in unemployment had come from creation of a lot of jobs. >> do you think this is, that drop and reasons for it, is that a troubling indicator, a concerning indicator? >> well, i guess it depend on the question you're asking me. it is certainly not sign of strength. >> disappointing to all of us to see the deterioration, deterioration of the security inside of iraq. you know, i spent a lot of my life over there. from 2006 into end of 2006, to december of 2010 i was there as we continued to reduce the level

of violence in the sectarian violence that was going on. i believe we left it in a place where it was capable to move forward. we have now seen it because of several political issues, internal to iraq, that security situation is now devolved into something that is, in my mind concerning. but this is not just about iraq. in my mind it is something that we have to be cognizant of as we look across the middle east. what's going on in syria, what's going on in lebanon, what's going unside of iraq and it's this sectarian potential building of sectarian conflict between sunni and shia and the exploitation of that by non-state actors such as al qaeda and other organizations who will try to take advantage this. >> this weekend on c-span, army chief of staff, general ray odierno look as the security situation in the middle east and the future of the u.s. army, saturday morning at 10:00 eastern. live saturday on c-span 2, political strategist mary

matalin and james carville on their love and war relationship at 11 on booktv. on c-span3, american history tv, prohibition and the rise of the gangster, sunday morning right past 10 eastern. >> nancy reagan was the first sitting first lady to address the united nations and the first to address the nation in a joint appearance with the president. >> so to my young friend out there, life can be great but not when you can't see it. so open your eyes to life, to see it in the vivid colors that god gave us as a precious gift to his children, to enjoy life to the fullest and to make it count. say yes to your life and when it cops to drugs and alcohol, just say no. >> first lady nancy reagan as our original series, first ladies influence and image, returns, monday nightlife at 9:00 eastern on c-span and

c-span3 and c-span radio and c-span.org. up next, amtrak president and ceo joseph boardman will deliver remarks at the national press club here in washington. he is expected to discuss passenger rail issues and transportation funding along with current and future amtrak operations. . .

i would like to welcome the speaker today, those of you and the audience. we of the guests of the speaker as well as working generals. and if you hear applause in the audience i would note that members of the general public are also attending, so it's not necessarily a journalistic activity. [laughter] i would also like to welcome the c-span and public radio audience is. you can follow the action on twitter using #npclunch. we will have a question and answer session and answer any questions time permits. now it's time to introduce the guest and i would ask you to stand briefly as your name is announced. from your right, president and ceo of the national association of railroad passengers. [applause] chad, editor of rail business. [applause]

larry willis, secretary-treasurer of the transportation department afl-cio. [applause] william cassidy, editor of the journal of commerce. [applause] bob, president and ceo of the association of america and rail lines. [applause] allyson fitzgerald, a reporter at public integrity and chairwoman of the committee at the press club. [applause] skipping over the speaker for just a moment, matt, president for the advocate of growth and member of the committee that organized today's launch. thank you, matt. [applause] jim wang xin of new jersey transit. [applause] herb jackson for the bergon

record. [applause] michael yesses, aol chief. [applause] and christopher chambers, professor of media studies at georgetown university. [applause] >> our guest today is not shy about criticizing the hand that feeds him. [laughter] the point that we are eating our assets alive. joseph boardman has been president and chief executive officer of amtrak since 2008. last year the board said they were so happy with his work that it was extending the contract by another two years. during his tenure the writers should has risen to a record 31.2 million in the 2012 fiscal year. he told congress last year that in a flight of, amtrak for 88% of its operating costs and

gained passengers along all of the routes even on long-distance trains that traditionally have battered the company's bottom line and that the administration tried to cut. a 2013 brookings institution report said the amtrak riders increased 55% since 1997, more than double the growth realized by the domestic aviation sector. nowhere is that more clear than on the busy northeast corridor which has market share from the airline shuttles. but, all isn't rosy with those passengers. on a good day they may complain about spotty wi-fi and on bad days such as earlier this week, they may be stranded for hours when equipment fails in the winter weather. prior to his appointment as the head of amtrak, mr. joseph boardman was the administrator of the federal railroad administration, the agency that regulates safety for amtrak and all other railroads operating in the u.s.. before, mr. boardman served as commissioner of the new york

state department of transportation that began in 1997, where he was the organizations longest serving commissioner. he served in the u.s. air force and vietnam, beginning in 1968. after returning stateside he enrolled cornell university where he aren't perfect degree that you expect for someone who was found to be one of the transportation leaders in the agricultural economics. [laughter] mr. boardman is a vocal advocate of positive trade controls and technology that's been in the news lately for the potential to prevent train crashes. he said congress, the federal railroad administration and the great and rail industry must double commitment providing funding and implementing ptc as soon as possible. he's also a proponent of transportation infrastructure saying that besides funding the real infrastructure, the federal government must increase the capitol investment for the new air-traffic control system,

rebuilding bridges and highways and improving and expanding waterways and many other types of critical infrastructure such as electric water and sewage systems and communications systems. talk about the theme today in a speech titled bringing transportation funding into the 21st century. please, join me now and getting a warmer national press club welcome to the amtrak president and ceo, joseph boardman. [applause] >> thank you, angela. i'm really pleased to be here today with all my friends as i look across the audience. i'd like to make sure i introduce one other person who's the person that replaced me as the administrator for the federal railroad administration. thanks for being here today. [applause] so, angela started the first part of the speech telling a

little bit about at 79 joined the air force and celebrated my birthday, 18-years-old, by having a drink. then later when i turned 21, i was able to vote. [laughter] that's all reversed today, isn't it? so today what i really want to talk about is three weeks ago i became 65-years-old, and i told jim, one of my good friends here, jim wang -- weinstein the ayman old man and he said 65 is not old. i'm 67, and i'm not old. [laughter] but that is reversing as well in this nation, and there are other things that need to start -- we need to start thinking about. in the most recent discussions that we had about the future of the surface transportation and america, its focus on what is

called the highway trust fund and its authorization for reauthorization. i think that's probably unfortunate, because it's dead. it's financially unreliable. but perhaps more importantly i believe it is built on an outmoded visiones mobility in the united states. we need to be thinking about how to replace it with a surface transportation program for the 21st century. to do this we need to start off by asking ourselves what the purpose of the program should be, what we wish to accomplish with it and how to structure the program partnerships to produce a coherent integrated transportation policy. i say we need to start here, because when i look at today's disjointed collection of the federal transportation programs, i cannot find rational answers to these questions, and as they really say, if you don't know where you are going, good luck

getting their. tom howard tells me that all the time. laughter can of -- [laughter] it is clear to me that people no longer know what they are buying when they are asked to support federal transportation investments. and frankly, that continues to be justified. what is it that we are out to do? maintain the network? and prove it? expand it? i will tell you what i think we should do with over federal transportation program and a little bit about how amtrak could fit into it. to start, we have to finally replace this notion of the highway program with a notion of the surface transportation program. it is not easy. we started 20 years ago with the ice tea program where we started talking about intermodal transportation. and as angeles said, it was my

response devotee in new york. well, when you are in the rural parts of new york even though you want residencies' to answer the phone dot, you get highway department when you call, because they think about it as a highway department, not as a dot , not for what we need to do. we need a mode neutral program that provides investments and projects that deliver real results rather than projects that simply invest in the basis, on the basis of a historical perspective. we need a balanced program that can provide investment on any of our surface modes: highway, transit or rail, freight or passenger. and what on shackle our transportation planners, system users and other decision makers from simply chasing mode restricted dollars, and instead ask them to produce results that matter to the nation.

and what are those results? inouye focus on truly national priorities that must be the guiding principle of the federal surface transportation program. the overarching objective of our transportation policy and infrastructure investment must be a our economic future, because we are competing in a new global marketplace. to build a program around this goal and others for the of the federal attention, we need to change the date. as leaders, and we are, we must pay our debt to the future and focus the industry on supporting , no, not supporting that promoting economic growth. we must keep the great country moving forward. i've been president of amtrak since november of 2008, just over five years ago. and i was young 5910.

[laughter] at that time, the company with the support of the federal and state -- since that time, the company with support of our federal and state partners, the women and the men that worked for amtrak, have achieved some impressive accomplishments. despite the recession and the slow growth of recovery from it. we reached the ridership records and carry three times as many passengers in new york and washington as all of the airlines put together. one is the last time you heard somebody say they just flew in on the shuttle? amtrak revenues are up 21%. and angela we are now covering 89% of our operating costs from them on federal revenue instead of the 88%. it's been a great time to be at amtrak. i am happy that our growth industries continue to rise. but the fact of the matter is we are constantly being asked by everyone, of rural communities and the nation's biggest city to

deliver more and better service. state and local leaders see the passenger rail as a economic fallout and and are finding ways to invest in the local train stations. many towns without the inner city rail service are seeking to become amtrak-served communities air service is gone, bus service is gone. communities are starving for the tangible transportation improvement that can meaningfully impact their lives. and in many key respects, transportation has gotten worse for many americans and more expensive, and they want to see that tied and see if it will turn. this isn't an amtrak problem, it's a national problem. and it's symptomatic of the declining emphasis we are putting on national connectivity in recent decades. we've become myopic, not

understanding the need for the united vision for the united states. you see, many of the same challenges in the airline business, the domestic capacities have fallen to about 20% since 2005, and about half the airline flights of less than 5,000 miles discontinued since 2005. and it's getting smaller and mid-sized communities hard and making it difficult for them to grow. or even to do business outside of the town limits. under these circumstances, you might think that strengthening of the connectivity between the communities and our economic centers would be a national priority. but if you thought that, he would be wrong. it's not. we are not really making the investments we need for growth and improvement. we are just barely keeping the existing system growing. amtrak, like everybody else in the transportation business is trying to keep pace, but it's a

challenge. we have to make do, cramming more into the existing infrastructure and squeezing out more of the old hard run equipment. they are almost 4 million miles. the new trains came and new motor trains cannot come fast enough. and missing the real growth opportunities is what happens when that occurs. this year, congress and the administration will take up the reauthorization of the federal funding of the surface transportation. i've got a somewhat unique perspective on that issue because i have seen the surface transportation from almost every side. i think the only thing that mabey angelo left out is i actually drove amtrak bus and i have a pilot's license. [laughter] but i did begin my career and managing the transportation in small cities and upstate new york in my own company and

managed the rural communities throughout the state of new york. and as the state of new york commission of transportation, i was responsible for all of the facets of transportation at the third largest state in the country. when i was a kid it used to be the youngest population of the state but that's changed as well. my biggest responsibility was building and maintaining highways. as the federal railroad administrator i was responsible for the safety of the system for the federal policy and for overseeing federal funding to amtrak made and as president of amtrak, i've spent the last five years figuring out what capital investment amtrak needed to make to operate safely, to maintain the east corridor in the trains and stations and to meet the growing national demand for the service without knowing how much money i would have the next year in the current year to meet all of those needs.

these experiences have given me some perspective on the challenges of transportation policy i have seen what i think needs to be done. the highway trust fund was established in 1956 to pay for what was then our country's greatest single greatest transportation goal, the construction of 47,000-mile interstate highway system. it was a real vision. it was authorized in 1944. but the real genesis of the system may be the trip delayed eisenhower made across the united states in 1919 was an army convoy at an average speed up 5 miles an hour. the good road movement that followed that in the 20s and 30's and greatly improved, but in most places they followed the trails that were made a century before. the interstate system, however,

buy contrast was a new kind of road built and financed on the truly national scale. to take advantage of the mobility, trucks and cars were able to provide after six decades of development and to promote a new kind of commerce in the unprecedented scale. the federal appropriations and gas tax have pulled in incremental tax revenue through the highway trust fund to the multi decade program. today the highway trust fund is dead. what we think of is a single mode purpose built trust fund hasn't existed for many years to get a construction of the interstate highway system was substantially completed in 1992 and we have since expanded the funding eligibility. today the highway trust fund pays for the maintenance of to under 20,000 miles less than a quarter of which are part of the

47,000-mile interstate highway system. local transit was made eligible for funding in 1992, but in a logically, the public transportation is still not eligible. it's no wonder where the highway trust fund. since 2008 congress has spent more on the highway trust fund in general revenues than amtrak for the whole of its 42 years of existence. without intervention, the collected deficits continue to grow for the highway trust fund. the recent cbo study concluded the shortfall the fund from 7 billion in 2015. that is next year, to 126,000,002,023 just eight years from now. the current authorization for the programs known as mac 21 expires this year to create a

new framework for the federal transportation investment we need to think about because there are major issues pending. the shortfall numbers, 126 billion, but 2023 don't even include a lot of things america needs. for example, the recent proposal by the foundation to create and interstate 2.0, the system that will address ingestion and infrastructure issues on the existing system would cost nearly a trillion dollars and they think that needs to happen in the next two decades. if we treat the issue as what do we do within the existing structure, will wall lose. nothing worthwhile will change. the question that we as americans must answer, how do we

redefine the approach to federal transportation investment to ensure its focus on a truly national needs how we capture the national vision and purpose of the interstate era. furst fretted about the notion of the highway trust fund. the america of the future will not prosper on the backs of the best highways, airports or railroads in and of themselves. the world's leading economy today requires a transportation system. so transportation trust fund that strengthens the whole network and recognizes and supports role that they play in supporting commerce and connectivity. second come in the context of limited revenue, the trust fund must be focused on making

investments to the truly national in scope and responsibility and generate policy of comes that the nation needs. it may be that certain things which are being funded today should not or cannot be funded in the future by the federal government if they lack a specific national purpose. that's not to say they are not worthwhile. it is not enough to ask anymore ourselves whether certain investments are worth making. that is the easy way out. the right question, the tough question is what investment, investments is the federal government responsible for? moreover, what investments is the federal government uniquely suited to provide? in my view, the fundamental purpose of the federal transportation investment is to connect this nation together and

provide for interstate commerce. that was the vision of the founding fathers in the constitution. it was the vision behind the highway trust fund. it is a vision that we have lost today. only the federal government can address the need for the connectivity. only the federal government has the responsibility for providing a national perspective. these solutions should rise or fall on their merits with every program, every investment we must ask and answer how to provide the national connectivity. we shouldn't be afraid of the notion of subsidy. anyone who knows anything about transportation knows subsidy is ubiquitous and it's a part of the business because the public

at large derives benefits from a strong transportation network and frankly it is how the national highway system was sold in 1992 to 1995. it's small and is necessary to deliver a broad long-term public value and the need to reauthorize the surface transportation programs and amtrak has expired last year provides an opportunity for us to ask what role do we want the federal government to play in funding the transportation infrastructure investment we achieve the outcomes that we needed to meet the challenges in the 21st century economy if national of come sar our goal, i believe that investment in amtrak have a home and are redefined, well targeted. but that is up to the policymakers to decide.

this isn't about what is best for amtrak. some may think redefining the approach to the investment may produce winners and losers. but that's the wrong way to think about it. the right way to think about transportation is as a tool for producing national outcomes. we make some important choices. choices that go deeper than continuing to do something because it is the way that we have always done it. like all of you, i have a lot of concerns about the course that we are on. i have seen how the government's ability to meet targeted and effective investments is declined and their confidence in government has declined right along with that. customers, constituents, citizens, taxpayers want us to deliver good, relevant information solutions. we are a mixed group, but we

cannot be a mixed up group and we have a challenge to meet. one that we cannot afford to dodge or neglect. we have to improve the reality rather than try to explain the reality. this is not a problem, however, if we are working together to solve it. together we must devise a forerunner or the right debate can be formed. it won't be easy but if we strike in good faith, we can find a way through to a solution that will give america what it needs and help us restore the trust that must return from the appropriate level of the investment in the nation's infrastructure needs. we who have spent a lifetime in this business so this a bit

better and a stronger system to the generation behind us. leota debt forward. i believe we can do it and we must. thank you. [applause] the transportation secretary earlier this week called for raising the gas tax by 10 cents a gallon as well as indexing to inflation. of course that is in the message he was delivering a year ago when he was still the transportation secretary. but within that context in that part of the conversation this week, what do you think needs to be done in terms of the highway trust fund? does it need to be larger whacks >> i knew that that question would come.

what i thought about it, and i think that where we are today, and one of the things i talked about in my speech is that the foundation thought this ought to be done with automatic tolling for those that have even looked at it, but that is not the right question here and i try to put that in a speech. the real question is what are our priority is going to be? callow are we going to decide what to do for the future? the highway trust fund shouldn't be read trusted. it should have a surface transportation trust fund and talk about us being a global competitor for the future. we hear a lot -- i will start answering in a minute -- we hear a lot of criticism about not having high-speed rail or not having this or not having that in the nation, but we don't do anything about it. except talk about it. we need to improve our reality here.

we need to find a solution to the global competitiveness for the transportation. >> is increasing the revenue a part of the decision? >> is what? >> increasing the revenue for a gas tax or some other solution. >> interestingly i think that is already happening, because the states are meeting to make changes and they are already out there. they are borrowing and finding solutions to the problem because the leadership is not coming from the federal government. and if the federal government understood that its responsibility was to connect this nation together first and foremost, the connectivity of the nation is what drove the interstate highway system. the connectivity of the small towns and big towns is absolutely critical in this nation. >> so the states are raising those taxes and doing public-private partnerships. should the federal government be following the lead on these

things? >> the federal government did do that. they required amtrak to go out and tell the states that they had to have a greater role in how they would finance, and that's okay. and there's been some suggestions that you could do that on a national basis on the intercity passenger rail. but that isn't okay because that is a federal responsibility. that is something that we have in the united states for. >> how would you handicap the prospect of the surface transportation bill, highway bill this year as well as the chances for the amtrak reauthorization? do you see those as linked or can they move independently to get your? >> obviously i see them as linked because that's what i want to see. as a surface transportation program. i think that, you know, it took a long time to even get to 21. it wasn't just a quick analysis and was only two years.

but, you know, for amtrak, two years would be a major improvement. if you don't know if you're going to have next year but don't you know what your krin to have next year, you don't know what you're going to have this year it's hard to do a multifaceted nature program, which is what is needed. we have a cash and now on the northeast corridor and the find the work that needs to be done. we can't build a tunnel in three months, you can't rebuild a bridge. you can't redo the things we are asked to do with a commitment level but we are receiving. so i think you need to bring it all together, and you need to have this mode neutral solution. and we will frank well in that area. highways are important. aviation is important. our electrical grid is important. our water is important. of those things that we as a nation need to get done, we need

to get it done. [applause] >> why shouldn't they compete for funding? the railroad ceo calling for more money for the planes and highways also. why do that? >> because we become stronger in the globe if we work together and balance our transportation system so that it does bring us better economic development and connect our people. >> you noted that amtrak has increased its covering operating costs to 89% from 88%. do you see that rising high. if so, can it go to 100? >> it depends on who writes the next speech, not kidding i do see it increasing. but at the same time, what we are going to see relatively soon

is making the investments in new equipment is going to begin to cost us more money which means some of the more revenue that we have today will be used to pay off the debt and not be used to get back to the federal government. >> is there a goal of getting to 100%? >> is there a goal to get to 100% for the whole highway aviation were just amtrak? are we singling out again? i think that we are and can be profitable operating where we have enough ridership and where we can price our product. if we can preserve a product today -- and i know that because chris told me that, and we have to have a way to deal with students that have a deal for the students, and my discussion with him i began to explain that we are falling capacity. and so, the mega buses of the world and the systems that

provide those services to the students is an important part of the balance here. i was in that business and they are subsidized even if they do not get a government check. every time they use the interstate highway system and use what is out there already for the police come and i got the best chief and deputy right here in the room. the communities pay for those. we pay for those costs as a railroad. >> given the current strain in the fiscal environment in washington, what ideas do you propose to reduce the operating costs and the questionnaire asks to what extent would you welcome competitive contracting as a way to accomplish that? >> welcome and yesterday i understand we have a new contractor up in boston. there was a -- a decision to move to a new commuter of real operator. one had removed from that was amtrak a few years ago. we see that there is a competitive environment out

there in the business and we have stepped back substantially from that from where it makes sense from amtrak to operate where it owns the railroad, for example in maryland and in connecticut service that we've provided and there are a few other places. we cannot operate as cheaply as a company coming in like a french company that came in here because they set up a small company or the liability is in the same and the cost isn't exactly the same. so, and those scenarios where it makes sense, they are going to compete with us. and in other areas, you are not going to have that competition because of the huge investment that it's going to take and the liability that's out there that we have to cover. >> speaking of the strained fiscal climate in washington,

deutsch the appropriations run out in six days -- the picture that happens with amtrak if that happens, and one step beyond that what happens if there is another extended a government shut down. >> we lost when there was a government shutdown, so we don't want that to happen, because we do provide quite a bit of ridership. i don't think that's going to happen. i think that is a part of the malaise at the federal level at the lack of the commitment to what we need to get done for our country. i wasn't kidding when i said that i think we owe more debt forward than we really owe back in this nation because we have benefited greatly, those of us that are in this age category on the investments that have been made in this country. when i lived in washington, d.c. in 1966 and 1957, there was only part of the way that i could get home in new york on the highway. i had to get off the highway and

go through the cities. and now that doesn't really happen anywhere in this nation. the investments were made. we are gaining and have gained from those investments what we need for the future is not to worry about those things so much because what they really need to worry about is where are their kids and grandkids going to be if we do not make investments for the future that will allow them to be a part of this global economy. we will be the of short people. >> this questioner says innovators like to you on the former national press club have proposed new means of transportation. are you working with him or other visionaries? >> i would like to get the existing trains so they don't break down. we have a higher level of reliability so the job that we really do well it's done even

better. it's important to have these ideas. i understand that and i'm not being critical of them. but there is a huge cost and huge change in culture that would occur. we don't have the culture today to deliver even a single surface transportation program that we can then have decisions made on the mode neutral basis. >> speaking of replacements, what is the tunnel under the hudson river that could take the traffic off of the george washington bridge, and maybe want to tunnel to new jersey. [laughter] >> i promised that my friend that wouldn't come up. but the prognosis is that it has got to be done. if nothing else except the fact when you have water in the two tunnels that we have, you can't

run trains and you can't run people and we need greater redundancies' and if we are going to remain in the financial capital of the world and new york city we have to start being more serious about doing that, building those tunnels and the gateway program making sure there is space that keeps coming from the railroad in to new york there is no question today that we have to make these investments, we've got to find solutions. part of the solution is the federal government. part. >> governor christie is talking about the transportation is now a good time to get him on board for the project? >> pass. [applause]

passengers this week in the northeast were either stuck on transfer hours or from taking trips because the trains were cancelled. problems in the overhead. can you talk about what was different this time, cold what happens in january and what does that tell about our infrastructure needs? >> i think it wasn't just the northeast, so everybody understands. we have a huge number of problems in the midwest. we had one of our trains run into a 20-foot snowdrift and got stuck. the train got stuck in another snowdrift earlier than that and we depended upon our very good partners to the railroads to help us out and they did help us out. they moved us substantially. and we received tons of compliments about the conductor's, and i will mention her name and i know that she

will be red faced the conductor absolutely was an outstanding person to deliver for the customers. the interesting thing is a started getting questions about this train stuck for 21 hours. you get people telling you how well you are handling these problems, the people that are actually there. but the way that it is reported, it sounds like we are having other major problems. we have women and men of this company that delivers every single day. and while they are not perfect, they are the ones responsible for the success that we have really had come and it is the whether that happens in the past couple of weeks. we have a lot of them that are. in terms of the problem on the northeast corridor, they're has been a growing what we would call a and the engineers would

call highway incidents or recounts happening more and more every year. most of the problem of south of new york. it's relatively new build on the 90's and its constant tension instead of the way that it used to be tightened on the south end the was built back in the 30's. it is getting too old. and so we are having more and more breakdowns. there needs to be a breakdown in that entire system. >> do you have a price tag for that? [laughter] >> yes. >> what is it? rather than try to give it to you i would provide that i don't have all the numbers in the back of my head but it's not cheap. >> airlines have a legal obligation to accommodate the

displaced passengers on the flight is canceled due to their equipment problems. amtrak should there be a passenger for those like that? >> we do try to take care of the customers when something like that happens, so we do have a system in place that does that. i think what they were asking is whether there should be a mandate or not. some would think so in others might not. one of the things we did do is try to get people as early in notice as we could. even then, sometimes the trains are on the tracks for a couple of days before we know that the storm is going to be that bad. once you start a train out in illinois it left the west coast a couple of days ago and there wasn't this kind of a problem really expected at that point. it's a little different than the flight that hops over from a

couple of hours and then it is for handling train traffic. with legroom for checking the luggage and could go on and on. the airlines have multiple servers class's and a lot of premium for the top glasses with amtrak trains being more crowded and sold out. if it's something it is considering for the revenue. again, and some of my discussions in the meeting before i come in here, we really talked about there was a desire and a lot of people for us to reduce rather than where they are increased. looking at them management level just like the airlines to every day we are looking for the

opportunity to increase their revenues and that's why you see an increase of 21% or part of the reason you see that increase in the revenue because we are managing the revenues very differently today than we have ever managed them in the past. we are looking at those other opportunities as well. they are coming on board in the next year or so, so we get the request for handling different objects and there is a bill in congress for us to be handling at this time so there are some opportunities coming forward for the future. we are looking at what the elasticity ratios might be that we could increase their revenues to the customers and seeing what they would be interested in paying so yes those are the kind of things the we would be looking at. >> a couple questions about amtrak customer service. what steps are you planning to

address amtrak on consistent levels of service characterizing it as sometimes wonderful and sometimes bureaucratic. every that has that problem to some extent, and that is not an excuse. we are doing something about that. we are looking at how do we provide the training, how do we provide incentives for our employees, but what you really want in any kind of a service business is you want to those that gained from the service itself and not from -- they are someone that really wants to provide service to begin with, so we are trying to figure out how to select the right people and hire the right people up front to make sure that we are providing a service. the other thing we found is that amtrak brings a larger issue and that is i was thinking as you

were saying that you were the president of the national press club. that's happened with 42 years i know the second longest serving amtrak president had little over five years being the longest one. so you think about the average change that is occurring in the flavor of the month and so one of the issues that we had to look at when i first got there is how do i really get folks understanding that we want a safe real road that we want and that we really want a better line and so there's all sorts of things that have to change. some of them are the trusts that you need with women and men that you worked with and that you want them to be happy about.

how do you give good customer service if you are not getting good employer relations if you are not delivering to your folks. of the things and the values that are out there that are necessary. we need to establish those values and to find the things that we knew were important, including forgiveness. in putting understanding somebody might need that forgiveness to move on to the next level and that has helped us. you're still working on matt. >> what about food, a questioner that calls him or herself a foodie and a passenger says the food is subpar at best. how tough is it to serve a decent sandwich that doesn't look like it was prepared for days before being served and

what our plans to improve the food quality? >> i sort of like amtrak food. [laughter] it takes a long time on the amtrak to go from new york to washington and that's why travel generally is from washington to new york and new york to albany. i can drive over to rome because there isn't enough service. i usually eat on the train. i eat hamburgers and i like hot dogs. i like amtrak food. it's generally good appearing at some of this, it sounds to me like that is what he might be talking about, i'm okay with that going, myself, but we do have people that are focused on

trying to improve food, and we would like to make sure that that happens. this question are calls them wonderful but says they must be costly in a high-cost operation where the competitors don't have them. how long can they be justified at amtrak? >> i will tell you, down here in washington they get their workout. they finally learned not everybody that is coming in the front door once to come to amtrak. some of them want to go to the buses and that wasn't a part of the deal. so, we have a lot of people that absolutely need help with the amount of baggage and what they want to do to get on the train. we see it as an important part of customer service on the train >> we have questions on long-distance service. let's make sure that we get in one of those. can you comment on the significance of those in the context of what you talked about

today with what legislation you hope to see. >> we serve over 500 stations in the united states. over 300 of the stations have no other service than amtrak. buses are gonna come aviation has had to cut back, and we are the public transportation in those communities. if you are somebody that is my age and his grandchildren, and you're grandchildren are older than me and even older than weinstein, and those grandchildren are on one coast or the other, you can probably get somebody to drive 100 miles or 200 miles to an amtrak station and almost, except for the two routes it ought to be seven days a week that they are three days a week, except for the two routes, that train is

either going west or north or south or east everyday, and you can depend on it. it might be a little late, but you can depend on that. it depends on if they get on time or not. but you can depend on it. but you can't depend on that neighbor to drive you 800 miles to the coast where you're grandchildren are. the post office used to have come and in fact if you look at the top of the old post office next to the union station, one of the things it says is connector of scattered families because this country was growing and used the post office to connect with their letters. we do that today. we connect scattered families

across the nation. we are a major part in bringing the connectivity to the united states. coast to coast, border to over border into canada to deliver what this nation needs and has forgotten about. those people that don't have the services in this nation. >> speaking of those railroads, how would you characterize the relationship with the railroads today, especially on the positive train control implementation? >> i think amtrak's relationship with the freight railroads is absolutely excellent. we had a very good partners with the railroads. they have a lot of pressures, because they have had to downsize to make themselves more competitive. media little further than they knew that they needed to or found that the needed to. and so, they are having to pick up some services now, especially

in some of the new traffic that they have. we have good relationships with our freight railroads. we don't want to pay them as much as they want to increase ha the number of routes that we want to provide, but that is a part of the bargaining that it's really about. but when we are in trouble, they are there for us. we found that and sandy and in the latest storm when it was cold. we don't agree with them on everything, but what else is new? we have good relationships with the railroads. >> what about high-speed? you elude to it before that people want it, but nobody wants to pay for it. what do you see or do you see that teacher for the high-speed rail in the u.s.? >> we were talking about that a little earlier. high speed rail it depends on how you define it.

we are already in terms of the international association of railroads. the largest majority of the operation along the northeast corridor is at 125 miles an hour or up to 150. we see improvement where we will reduce the amount of time it takes to get from washington to new york and new york to boston and it's about time and the reliability people can depend on in the railroad. they want enough time and they want it to run all the time. we also believe we can build a railroad that is to hundred 20 miles per hour and that if we get it built it will pay a substantial amount of money to ask for the business to invest in more for the future so we see it as positive.

but again there are no high-speed railroads. none that have been built that's being written by the federal government as a country that wants to build its. if you use, going to use this for just a minute, and japan can overcome the prime minister, to come up to the united states and talk here in the united states, they were willing to write a big part of the check to go from here to washington to baltimore. i read a recent article where it says it takes an hour on the existing train to go from washington to baltimore. and i looked on the schedule and i said i didn't think that it would take that long. that is 21 minutes on the schedule. so, i felt it had to be broke, whoever wrote that article. so, the problem here is that you cannot build it 37 miles and

then expect the investment to be made for the future. you are not going to get this multi-year effort to occur for high-speed rail unless you start thinking about a surface transportation program for the future that delivers that kind of multi-year contract authority. contract authority is critically important for transportation mode and let me tell you what that is if you don't know what that is. it's a highway trust fund. that is what gave the states the ability to do the multifaceted project. in new york once we knew that we have an environmental program or project that had the environmental process done, we knew we were going to build it because we knew where the money was going to come from. no such thing exists for rail

it. as a matter of fact to look at high speed rail for the northeast corridor we needed to do an environmental study which is what fra is doing right now is looking at that for the future. so if you have some money for the future, you may actually be able to build it. >> we are unfortunately almost out of time. i have a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. first i would like to remind you about upcoming speakers. january 15th we have the managing director of the imf and january 22nd, murray smith, the head of the nfl players association. second, i would like to present mr. boardman with the traditional national press club coffee mug. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. [applause] >> one last question.

many folks consider amtrak riders need to be one of the best media accounts. how does it get started, and how do you think it is benefiting your passengers? >> i love it like she was my daughter. julia, stand up. [applause] thank you. [laughter] thank you mr. boardman for coming and to each of you in the audience. i would also like to think the national press club staff including the journalism institute for helping organize today's event. finally here is a reminder. you can find more information about the national press club on the web site, www.press.org and transcript and video information of today's program. thank you. we are adjourned. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] earlier today the house passed a bill requiring the health and human service department to notify people when their personal information is stolen from health care exchanges. democrats say there has been no security breaches and the obama administration issued a statement saying the bill would cause unrealistic costly paperwork requirements that do not improve the safety or security of personally identifiable information on the health insurance exchanges. the senate is not expected to consider the bill. we will have live coverage ..