>> gent nice the gentleman from kentucky. >> i appreciate what the gentleman from jill is asking. i had a high school reunion with friends. a friend of mine is an physician. he was telling me about the shortage of drugs. it wasn't the expensive stuff. he couldn't do the service. there are price control but not ability to move the price for some reason. to investigate then you would say it is going to be shortage in quality. it's two things you mentioned shortage of the ability and quality and seems there's not a price signal that gentleman from illinois allow other people to enter. we're not talking about hundreds of dollars or thousand of dollars. we're talking about cents and dollars. and people are getting over that. in the --

you moment noted the requirement they november the fda in advance help the situation they are able to take from steps. while fda is planning to establish a new information system to track data there are significant concerns specifically conducting routine analysis of existing data drug shortage in the data base to respond practically. can you elaborate on it? >> yes. we had concerns about we call internal control. they ensure the accurate sei in data base. and extend to which they are doing broader able cease to look at things like the ongoing shortages as opposed to use it as a tool it help them track the status of an individual shortage. what we're not seeing is the kinds of larger able cease looking at trends and as time goes on. they have more fully developed data. we believe it is important to engage. they agreed with us it is

something they plan to start doing now they have a little bit more data for a little longer period of time. that is something they can do. we talk about your earlier point the economic that is part what we're trying to continue to look at. there have been issues raised to us but no agreement on whether or not there's any one source of what holding down the prices. .. ..

i don't know if i came in speak if it is consistent i can give details on what actions they take. >> i yield back. >> i now recognize the gentleman from virginia. >> i appreciate that. think. . . be here today. i employed the rebus to know the drug shortages of sterile ejecta wills our leave the health care providers feeling dependent on the compound to drugs that led to the phone

goldman died this outbreak in 2012 that killed 64 americans including two in my area. because they were difficult to obtain illegal manufacturers that called themselves compound in pharmacies enter the market to fill the be but thankfully conagra's put fta on notice to deal with the drug shortage quite congress did with large-scale, got bigger and illegal manufacturing. fda officials have signaled they can better predict quality issues that the factory facilities. can you comment on these improvements? >> mostly to say the importance to get that right. with what those metrics are a and then having a discussion how those would be used is very important so

with our efforts to speak with manufacturing experts of what a plant uses to follow their own quality and how a purchaser could recuse with that information. >> i appreciate that. one of my concerns was with that meningitis outbreak of lawyers were not using all the powers available to oversee and while we don't want to much oversight for those to do the right things , i am hopeful they are more aggressive if it is out of line 31 to a good supply and also a safe supply. are lawyers being a little more aggressive post the problem? >> absolutely we need to do whatever we can do to ensure a safe supply.

>> gao recommended improves its database for a more predictive analysis. how did the agency respond and how far off are they putting into practice? >> they agree and they are doing it immediately. >> the gao says it lacks the procedures and policies related to british renewed use of the drug shortage database. what does this have of the agency to prevent or mitigate shortages? >> they do need these kinds of standard procedures in place to insure the accuracy and the understanding of how data should be entered a and to analyze. the also agreed they would move forward with those tax. >> do think that could play a teacher with drug shortages? >> they need to have good

information because they need to look at this more broadly, with an class's and time to measure whether or not they put the right steps in place to have the impact to improve the situation rather than treating each individual situations that have to uniquely be solved through mecca yield back. >> the gentlelady from north carolina. >> thank you. thank you to the panel. this is a very specific situation then i hear from all the hospitals in particular the 870 bad health care system with multiple facilities around rob the north carolina. they basically do with the three primary vendors in all

three have experienced quality issues as well as holiday production shutdowns the contribute to the shortage is spent an additional $80,000 in january to stock up of the drug in anticipation. i appreciate the efforts of the fda to address the shortage but they only address the symptoms. i am also concerned about medicare reimbursement especially the explosion of the discounts reducing margins for generic manufacturers pushing them to stop producing low-cost generic injectable spa just like those community cancer clinics and it appears the manufacturers simply don't have the margins to invest in the manufacturing plants which is why we see many quality problems. but how are we addressing these issues right now?

i want to focus my question on the fda work to make sure everyone works together to find a solution. dr. throckmorton, there remains virtually no transparency in the process for the drugs to make it onto the shortage list ultimately get off. how does the agency decide it is no longer in shortages and is there a consistent and standardized formula forum a shortage list? >> the short answer is yes we do have a consistent process to decide when the drugs come on and when the shortage is no longer existing and they can come off. our focus is to determine whether or not patients in the u.s. can get the treatments they need. not product by product shortage, there may be a

shortage were one manufacturer may no longer be manufacturing but maybe for other kinds that are available. from our perspective because the other products will bring about. to talk with those other review factures we can assess using prescription and other data we can determine whether those other review factures can fill in for that many facture who made a decision to not be a fracture or needed to stop to improve a product line. that is slightly different than the kinds of data university of utah accounts the data that is referred to. we look at the totality and the availability of a gifted if there be not in individual product. our numbers are slightly different that university of utah house.

hours reflect the availability before the product but we have a process in place to determine and then to work with manufacturers and can meet demand to come off the shortage list. >> very specifically dr. throckmorton the fda inspection of api candy a barrier how has the agency tried to improve the record of this issue to ensure that the anda can market the drug and address the shortage? >> the first part is the expedited reduced the fda

can do but there is a second longer term with the generic drug user free act provides additional opportunities did resources to balance the playing field so we can devote their resources to the generics market which 85 percent of the drug market is you generics. and how to make certain with the compliance history in the review that they need is the important admission. >> my time is expired. >> that concludes the questions we have additional ones we will send in writing if you will respond promptly remind members they have 10 business days to submit for

the record and members should submit by close of business tuesday, a february 25. thank you very much. the testimony we look forward to continue to work with you. without objection we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

>> here they are closing in on me and i still think when i went through a survival school they taught us that

the people who capture you are the least trained to capture pow and maintained so your best time to escapes is right then. i thought these were rookies so i pulled out my, that master pace -- masterpiece a said get away. get back then i put a tracer right over their head a and they did not flinch they just raised their rifles like this in one region to his pocket to pull out all whittle comic book that they would carry in their pockets that had drawings on one side and phonetics of the of their and showed them to captured american pilots in he said he ends up. here the. here i am facing nine long

guns staring at me i've figure that is the best advice you get that day. [laughter] >> we do expect to have a

series of votes later this morning so we want to make sure we have ample time to hear the testimony from our panel of witnesses. i am very pleased the chairman has been able to put together this joint hearing with the senate small business committee and we have just been joined of the chairman of that committee who is chairman for a few more hours before she changes committees in senator cantwell becomes the chairman of the small business and are cheaper viewership committee. i've also very pleased to welcome my colleague from south carolina who has been a terrific member of the senate special committee on aging. thank you for being here with us today.

been that senator nelson will be joining us shortly. with the land of opportunity owes much to the hard work energy and optimism to take the risk to start up businesses of their own. through their success they helped to create a better life for themselves and to create jobs for others. the role played by american small business to create jobs to opportunity is well known but the role played by america's seniors may come in between the ages of 55 in 64 will do business odors even at the height of the

dot com boom. by those over age 50 and under 25. most seniors don't want to spend retirement on leisure and many simply need to earn extra money to help make ends meet. seniors often haven't vintages that make them excellent to watch prisoners such as life experience in real world education and the networks to maintain throughout their careers. looking at my home state of made to illustrate. bruce spread -- spent his career in the catalog business been advertising richer for the of bank. as a hobby he also created

high quality custom-made knives after he retired with the help of score a terrific program run by the sba that taps into the skills of retired business odors he could turn his hobby into a full-time job now sells his knives to customers around the world. david thomas spent 28 years and international paper when he retired him and three colleagues started a small consulting firm to help other large producers get their businesses off the ground. he said the great thing about writing your own business and retirement you can work as mature as little as you want and still make a difference in the world propelled by a choice it is

now a pro bono. and when he was 64 years old he picked -- she picked yourself back up by starting her own public-relations business using an earlier in the career now she works out of her own home on her own schedule marketing for copied do is the world's largest weekly restaurant publication of. to become less successful block larger print your spottily through their hard work but the assistance of experts that score with programs run through the sba i was telling the representatives today being a united states senator my favorite job was when i was

sick administrator of the sba and did -- in due reid went on dash new england so i am particularly pleased they are represented here today. i am absolutely delighted to see elizabeth at the witness table knowledgeable a and tireless advocate for senior on to print your shepard id hails from the great state of maine state you for calling this important hearing i appreciate the chairman's staff island for a to hearing from our witnesses on how sba and other programs can be better tailored to help seniors

start up businesses to create good jobs for themselves and others. thank you, mr. chairman civic you may be surprised that senator collins did i run this committee together. madam chairman congratulations on being madam chairman of the energy committee. >> as the ranking member said for the next few hours i still maintain a my gavel to get through this hearing and later this afternoon i will take the gavel of energy. that is how important this was to me and our team. thank you for being willing to join us in this effort. it is such a promising subject to be explored a and supportive. i love the term encore want

to print your with older people in citizens entrepreneur weiser, the colbert in their older years to fake in a dream and build great businesses. our country with our structure here in washington and local communities really be to recognize this welfare and treasurer to best help them. i will submit to my statement to the record i want to underscore what senator collins said. the foundation and that is a reliable source of could information about entrepreneurship not partisan says 2006 through

2010 and 26% of entrepreneur activity in this economy which is the backbone was reduced from ages 28 at age 34. that was expected to almost 40 percent were produced by people 55 through 64. this difference is expected to widen as more americans age a and we have to be better positioned here in washington in the state capitals to be good partners with these entrepreneur. louisiana has led her to 60,000 residents over the age of 55 ready to go. the sba just the sheer logic a strategic partnership with aarp to provide counseling a

and training to entrepreneur who would want to start a business by 2013 the collaboration had met and exceeded the goals to reach 120,000 seniors and this is just the beginning. through the court partnerships with saboorian to their here represented a series of other partnerships with the private sector this is so promising to not only provide an opportunity for seniors but to create a golf for themselves, their families, communities, the united states. i have to conduct another hearing i will submit the rest of my statement for the record but it is a privilege to work with you on this we have introduced a bill to

empower the encore entrepreneurs fact perhaps the testaverde can enhance our efforts with that piece of legislation and we can enjoy together with a republican colleagues to do something for bird in the near future. >> i will submit for the record a statement. first we will hear from ms. montgomery who serves as the associate administrator of the office of entrepreneurs development in the sba isn't from mr. yancey ceo of score. then the co miami senior living solutions.

aid we are in a delighted to hear from the co-founder of the senior entrepreneurship aide works accompanied by dr. o'neill the director of the national academy of beijing. -- a.g. in society. we will start with ms. mcgarry your written testaverde is uncertain as part of the record if you will share with us for five minutes we will go down the of wind and open for questions. >> chairman nelson ranking member and senator scott thank you for the opportunity to testify on the sba work to serve the encore entrepreneurs new and aspiring small-business owners of the age of 50 we commend you for highlighting this important topic and grateful for your ongoing leadership and support we

know the facts small businesses employ half of the work force to create two out of three net private sector jobs. what people don't realize is americans between the ages of 55 and 64 comprise the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the country. according to the kauffman foundation encore entrepreneurs start at a higher rate to it in the other age group. more over 7.for a billion -- 7.4 billion a self-employed. one out of four americans between 44 and 70 are interested to start a business or nonprofit. we're committed to ensure that encore entrepreneurs has the tools they need to turn great ideas into successful companies.

through our 68 district offices which include 11,000 score mentors, 900 small business development centers in were the 100 women business centers we counsel and a trade more than 1 billion current and aspiring entrepreneurs in italy. -- generally argue initiative enables us to more effectively target our services to encore entrepreneurs in 2012 as strategic alliance was formed to provide encore entrepreneurs with the two will send information they be to launch new companies the objective was threefold to increase our reach to the growing segment of prospective entrepreneurs. second to connect individuals with the programs in resource partners and certain present

entrepreneurship as the next up for americans that allows them to translate their ideas and professional experience into a successful business ventures. between april 2012 and may 2013 we had hauled hundreds of workshops to and mentoring sessions from writing a business plan, a franchise opportunities, accessing new markets, addressing the technology needs of encore entrepreneurs. also offering of resources such as what deniers -- webinars if david individual was ready. to connect more encore entrepreneurs with mentors sba and aarp establish the first national encore entrepreneurs mentor month. struck the month our

partners teamed up with state aarp offices to host more than 100 events around the country. included speed mentoring to allow mentors to share information with five minute sessions and lunches for entrepreneurs to learn best practices from established orders. as a result a a r.p. engaged almost 120,000 individuals. due to the initiatives and ongoing popularity we have seen a rise of the number of older americans taking advantage of the sba programs. reno these aspiring business owners are poised to join the ranks of other encore entrepreneurs folks like one of a beverage for 21 year career in banking in her husband's experiences in

construction and to launch a business in reno nevada. securing government contracts calling the company revenue 3 million up that $15 billion per year. together with resource partners wheel afford to continue this important segment of this population in helping more encore entrepreneurs grow and prosper. think you again for the opportunity to testify and happy to answer any questions you may have. >> mr. yancey. >> thank you. chairman nelson, senator collins, senator scott, dave is mr. yancey nine this kilo score thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony with the challenges of senior entrepreneurship and scores

experience to serve this segment of the population probably to think senator lee untrue to sponsor in introduce said bill 2008 score for small business act of 2014 to strengthen the resources by approving the program the additional funds provided by the bill will allow us to continue to improve the services by volunteers do deficiency a you don't reach a and the underserved communities to include encore entrepreneurs or resource partner to celebrate our 50th year aaron today score has over 320 chapters more than in volunteers and also seniors. they get back to their

communities to have significant economic impact in fiscal year 2013 they assisting clients 38,600 new businesses were started 67,000 new jobs growing revenues 40,000 enterprises gore is one of the most efficient and effective job creation in june's personally in the sba arsenal of resources. study sponsored by nightlife in many areas the results are consistent with the liberation we gather from. 25 million americans are interested to start a business venture in the next 10 years. slightly less than half interested to social to benefit the community in addition to making a living. these aspiring entrepreneurs

have a significant network to bring to the table an average of 31 years of work experience. many have managed experiencing and most of perry realistic expectations for their own small business experience. this is consistent for what we gathered. fiscal year 201330 percent of our clients were between the ages of 44 and 55. an additional 31% or 55 randall burt. of these roughly 29 percent were considering starting a business, 30 percent were in the process, 29 percent excuse me 33 percent were already in business. that is a lot of numbers but our senior clients often have the tools needed to start but may not have the ability to apply the resources in a small

business setting in do not have complex capital requirements in most don't aspire to a business size that require it ye shall venture or private equity financing. many plan to sell fund with personal savings with only a small amount of outside capital less than 50,000 committee have vendor relationships and other personal relationships to aid in the startup and management process. while a senior entrepreneurs we have decades of experience often it is not a direct translation into the role the small business. score mentoring, coaching and assistance provided support to use appropriate their existing knowledge to resources. also helps to focus on tasks temporary use in the tools to be a successful small business owner. we appreciate the support of

the two committees here today of the issues around senior entrepreneurship in score. we believe encore entrepreneurs will continue to be an important segment in the small business marketplace. these individuals have significant knowledge and experience and resources to use with their own business initiatives. the benefit from education and mentoring to start and run a small business. score clients over 55 make up the largest client demographic. you recognize what an important contributor they are to the economy if you will help us to continue to meet the growing need. i'll be pleased to answer any questions to provide documentation. think you for the opportunity to testify. >> i am so happy to be here.

into the members of this committee i am delighted to share my thoughts on what it takes to be a late in life entrepreneurs there are currently 9 million this is the only statistic i will give. there are 9 million coming over the next decade i and the odor of senior living solutions for the first time to abide assisted living solutions to public housing in miami 1996. in fact, he may not remember revisited 1988 in reverse so happy to see you there. we have worked with public and private entities in 23 states. later we will open the first

public assisted living facility right here in washington d.c.. our projects with medicated in medicare spending generating thousands of jobs and helping the profit margin. for the past two years we have partnered with low income tax credits for affordable housing and investors to grow our bottle that has required a major of undertaking on our part. in 1995 i created senior giving solutions as a for-profit going to grow the firm we had to be propelled by profits under the secretary of beijing i developed a very good understanding of aging

issues with a good network is the facility to be able to bring funding to miami. i have lived long enough to learn from failure and how to deal with downturns in the inevitable ups and downs that entrepreneurs go through. changing the way we care for the of low income seniors is not a new idea but nobody had come up with a good model. looking a real business at age 50 was changing life circumstances as a career change. empty nest. end of the marriage. loss of a job. i reached with an urgency to leave a vacancy to make monday, said to live those

years. we have a desire to impact the world. for a long time i dreamed of creating something lasting that would prevent a -- to help other generations what kept me up that night was the fact i did not have health insurance. when i term ended i came to miami with an idea and a few thousand dollars per guy wanted to convert public housing into assisted living away to the director he gave me the award winning project helen sawyer and then i went to the state legislature and got 1.2 million dollars. you very good at raising money for other people but not myself unfortunaunfortuna tely.

[laughter] i believe you're there senator nilsson at that time [laughter] restarted helen sawyer with a promise it would be self-sufficient by the end of the year it generated one million dollars of profit at the end of the year. receiving the first pension back in 2006 in ben 2010 not only gave recognition to what i did also provided a lot of people who have helped us with developing with the budget how to raise money either in or is about to electronic records, of blocking, a facebook than ever wanted. however i am almost catching

up with my kids. my fellow interpreters but i want to recognize score and sba and have contributed a lot of knowledge in the money to my initiative. but also the fellow entrepreneurs don't have or not as lucky as i have been if they do the capital and connections and somebody to open doors for them. discrimination is real it is a major factor. america is a young country but we have no models to encompass all people. think of the innovators someone young to develop an idea in the crotch or a dormitory. that is the exception the real interpreters --

entrepreneurs today. bobby need help. it is very difficult to bring in new ideas to the government they the people like us who are committed with the public interest in mind i and disciplined and very disruptive. [laughter] those are the qualities that have gotten be here today. i thank you very much. >> senator nelson is an honor. i understand what you read about technology. [laughter] i am a senior entrepreneurs and grateful to be here today to explore it the opportunity we all have as a country and that the shin to open a and expand the untapped resource to create

their own self-reliance as small as their communities a and also to acknowledge my colleagues i am extraordinarily impassioned on this subject in dr. o'neil has the data to back up my passions thank you for being here to do that. i have just returned from the state of florida were relaunch a brilliant new program to extraordinarily receptive audience. i am especially delighted senator collins is here because i started my first enterprise as a senior entrepreneurs and the state of maine and i don't know any state as early on to support entreprenuerial activity and was will come to a senior as missile starting a program for seniors to connect them to

technology. that program grew from 12 seniors in portland within five years at 20,000 across the country and supported, i did not start with buckets of money. what we tried to do is help them to understand how they tapped into resources that exist whether education or community centers where enciphers had the idea what connectivity would be i went to people who worked with seed years and asked. we will put up a poster agent say it is free. and literally said to computers have a you

flummoxed does the world wide web did you visions of spiders? [laughter] they came on a saturday morning and as they learned and as the program built redeveloped alliance with microsoft that gave a huge grant for seniors erin technology that they continue to deliver but then we partnered with national institutes of health putting all health care information of wind and they said the greatest concern is seniors cannot access because they do not know how to use the technology. so we created a program that trains seniors how to use a technology and how to evaluate the information

they find online. and i am a senior but there are incredible seniors out there with the untapped resources like joe in north carolina his concern was to help all black rural farmers leading arms because they cannot continue to live on the farms of the first created a farmers' market to sell produce then realized they had all this produce lefty is a bioengineered so he turned that excess produce to turn into biofuel.

then why can't we have people create products for this? now they are creating from the seed then needed to start their small businesses to maintain the form -- a farm so now they create forms for the biofuel converter. it is a skewed to business -- a huge business also called the greening of black america is an extraordinary program. you have heard statistics but yes seniors are creating businesses and wattles in entrepreneurs this trumping aging. i will not go into the many stories that we have 34 million self identified

seniors who want to start businesses in does not touch the millions who are intimidated by the of word entrepreneurs to do not conceive of themselves that way. so my aid program has the only curriculum for those self identified seniors it is free specifically designed for the senior deeds. i am the fellow in massachusetts talking with the director and i said what about the millions who are intimidated by the word entrepreneurs? we must find a way to tap into their spirit and created a program that is a combination of entrepreneurs education and action but catalog through improper and

worked extraordinarily well because the two keywords are yes a and it is positive development you working in community with other seniors who are thinking of seeking entrepreneurship helps them leverage the resources they have in terms of working together to come up with an idea that is so powerful as opposed to most programs are either/or. but the improvisation is extraordinarily effective tool. we officially launched the studio with 40 people in florida over the weekend. we hope to cap at 30 but the demand is extraordinary. relaunched in florida.

just from the pilot program we have had invitations from 12 countries from austria, india, to create this program as well as 40 cities in the united states so we literally have the tiger by the tail end to your point about the numbers of seniors to start businesses people want to explore starting a business of their own. how do id code that history? that is another thing that we do. one of the exercises is decade by decade however old they are pre-ask them to please identify an accomplishment they are proud of that they achieved each decade.

the try to get them to understand they have been thinking that all their lives whether raising children in office, internal or external and full involvement came up with a story, imi overtime? [laughter] >> called those spots. >> sorry. >> i suddenly realized i was in the negative. >> i will insert senator landrieu statement also from aarp that is supportive of the hearing and i will defer my questions. senator collins? >> i know that senator scott has to leave and i wondered if i could allow him? >> did you very much.

as i listen to you i was thrilled. it is a great panel i will walk away with some boldness words. my question has to do with being a small business owner myself understanding of the pain and agony in trepidation, the experience some have had in their lifetime that allows for us to render a statement why so many more actually succeed at a level that is significantly higher than the young folks getting involved. baby to learn from you. there is access to capital is were i want to focus my one question before i have to beef. -- i had to leave. i had a difficult time finding access but i

realized the red tape the tax code do not lend themselves to succeeding. i pledge like to hear comments to your thoughts on approving the tax code if we have any so you can reinvest your own bloody as opposed to looking for ways to find capital that depends to a venture-capital it is a high price. do you have thoughts on ways to ask us to contemplate the discussion on tax reform to benefit seniors? or the red tape you have to go through from local to state or federal level that combination i imagine could be a struggle that times. >> i used to have black hair

when i started. [laughter] >> i had the afro. >> we have to build facilities. the main problem is irs has the capital. the three agencies that i work with hunt has the capital also operating subsidies and hhs has the medicaid waivers they don't talk to each other they worked in silence there is no national capital program in the united states. each agency has their own little program with just an example that you could help us solve common of wind you work with tax credits they

have regulations that actually work against getting a license facility. the tax credit does and there is a multitude of regulations that each has the interferes with each other you cannot force services with somebody saying it them assisted facility but the other says it you don't we take a license a way. that is the conflict that occurs all the time because there is no coordination at the federal level with different funding services. >> interagency cooperation is vital. without one-stop concept cover of would you like to add? >> i uninterested with an employee benefits.

there is a 6 percent chance to be reemployed. . . the government can modulate this program and say all right really give you the money but we won't give me the money to set up the home and dream up an idea. we are giving you money so you can get training so that you can

understand if you can do this and then start the business. that's just one. the interdependent -- interdepartmental work but there are small initiatives. helping seniors entrepreneurs is not going to take millions of dollars. >> we are unfortunately pulling on my coattail because we are out of time. perhaps we can bring the committee back together to talk about microlending because there may be a component than camby salter microloans. thank you very much. >> senator collins. >> thank you mr. chairman and ironically i am going to start off just where my colleague senator scott left off. it seems to me that it may well be harder for seniors to get the financing that they need and i see a lot of nodding of heads on

the panel. even though it may be a small amount, and an idea of allowing long-term unemployed to use their unemployment benefits as a startup loan for a well-defined business plan to start a small business but i want to go across the panel and talk about the financing issue because it can see where some lenders would be reluctant to invest in a seniors new business not knowing who would take it over, whether or not they are going to run out of time or energy or decide that they want more leisure time, perhaps because of stereotypes because of not knowing that they

are more likely to succeed than a business operated by a far younger citizen. so let's talk about first of all is it harder for seniors to get financing and second, what can we do about that? oftentimes it's a very little amount of money that is necessary but it may be hard for a senior to take it out of savings that are there for retirement purposes. do we have microloan programs that are targeted at seniors the way we do for veterans for example or other groups and i will start with ms. montgomery. let's just go down the panel. >> thank you for that question ranking member collins. at the sba we understand the small business owners or entrepreneurs have the challenge

with accessing capital which is why are we are committed to opening up doors to access additional capital for them to start their businesses. the sba has a number of loan products designed to encourage lenders to provide access to funds to underrepresented and underserved communities such as our encore entrepreneurs and loan products that started a lower a marked we have a small loan and vantage point and manned additionally our microloan programs that are used by nondepository lenders such as community development financial institutions and those loans can go as low as about $500 up to about 200 or $350,000. what we do through our research partners at the sba is to help

individuals in our encore entrepreneurs identify and know where those resources exist. a lot of times people don't know about microlending programs and cdfi's so our volunteers at the small business development centers in whitman's business centers have relationships with these institutions and can guide our entrepreneurs down the right path to accessing that capital. >> mr. yancey. >> thank you for the question senator collins and thank you for referencing the knife maker in maine one of our terrific clients. you know bruce started his business with a small amount of capital. it was not tank funded. what we know about our clients scores less than 10% of our clients actually get an financing for their business. as a banker by training although it's been many years ago we did not lend into the start

environment for reasons that made sense. it was too risky. of those encore on printers -- entrepreneurs are self funded through savings, not through retirement. we don't believe it's the right thing to do to reach into for a one case and their vehicles that will allow you to do that but as it defines senior now i am not going reach into that and i think that's the right prudent thing to do and we wouldn't encourage others. i think microloan opportunities for the seniors make a great deal of sense. i think express opportunities for some of the loans that the sba has offered in the past and still offers like express there is value in something along those lines. i personally like the idea of speaking with someone who is a little more mature who has baby

grey or no hair that has that experience and understands the importance and has either made payroll or had balance sheet responsibilities or in some way has been gainfully employed over time that knows how to operate in a business environment. those are the types of risks that i think all thinkers including myself would look for at the time. i think that there are things that you can do. i think there are things that would be valuable and i think above all it's critical that we continue to promote the importance of senior entrepreneurship in the value it can bring to the communities into our economy economy. >> thank you. i'm of -- i know my time has expired so i will get the responses from the other three on the next round. thank you. ms. bretos. i tried to do that as well as the chairman and i don't think i succeeded. >> thank you and i just want to say from the outset that my

experience with the sba and score in particular has been wonderful. they really are committed to helping small businesses. i like the idea very much of microlending. i just went through two and a half years of trying to get a loan from celtic bank in miami and it was a disaster. i don't know whether it was backed by the sba. i assume so but i basically had to give my house as collateral in order to get $100,000 in loans so there are major problems. i think of somebody with a 232 mortgage guarantee loan we could do something and our problem is the revenue. we don't have sufficient revenue to back a loan and then they have to take your house instead. that is a problem. >> thank you.

>> microloans are hugely effective in this arena because in order to mitigate seniors financial risk we encourage them to start small so we have been specifically working with global programs such as axion. there is an axion usa and cuba is a microloan program and we also encourage people and its government could open the access to information about programs like kickstarter.com ,-com,-com ma if we could make them more inclusive for the seniors because there is a lot aimed at young people or women entrepreneurs. there is no language really that includes seniors and our greatest example is an 88-year-old grandmother who started a company called happy canes and she started it with a 3000-dollar fund from kickstarter. this is also a beautiful example of the intergenerational aspects

her grandson saw that she had decorated her own cane and he said can you make more of those? she said well yes i have lots of time. so he said how about selling them? she said i have to get all the supplies so he launched this kickstarter campaign and within something like three days she had over $3000 for this business which she markets on etsy. so you have all kinds of interrelated ways in which to take a small business finance by a microloan forward through social media arcades and on line businesses. it's a fabulous opportunity for seniors and also seniors with disabilities. we must not rule them out. a huge percentage of them are self-employed or have very small businesses. >> thank you. dr. o'neill. >> thank you chairman collins and senator nelson for this

opportunity to join this really passionate panel who i must -- why must they have great data to back up. it's true that older adults who don't sell fund or bootstrap their startups which is really the majority otherwise say the key barrier is access to start up capital. and it's a kind of a paradox because for banks seniors are really their key clients. seniors have the majority of assets in banks but banks don't completely understand the needs of this population. one of the things elizabeth and i have done is bring together cross sector groups are really better understand the whole phenomenon of senior entrepreneurship and i think going forward the microloans and crowdfunding and other technologies like that need to be made accessible for older adults. the great thing about her loans in my institutions as they often are able to provide it vice as

well as loans. that has been a key thing. we have seen in other countries like the u.k. they have actually had microloans organizations who specifically target the long-term unemployed. the long-term unemployed really have especially when they are older have a disproportionate chance of staying unemployed for a very long time. this is a segment that really deserves our focus and policy attention. >> thank you and thank you mr. chairman. >> senator casey. >> mr. chairman thank you very much for calling this hearing and ranking member collins as well. it's a very interesting topic and it's one that i think there's a lot of review and scrutiny by members of the united states senate and i would include the house and that as well. it's particularly interesting because i look at as they liked it when i represent pennsylvania, we have about 2 million seniors in our state and when i consider what they have done in their lives up to

that point in time it's really extraordinary. when you think about -- i am at the end of the younger end of the baby boom generation. when i consider the generation just before the baby boom folks who might in their 80s now or close to that, they have lived through not just a remarkablremarkabl e time period but they have contributed so substantially to what we take for granted today. in a sense we take for granted we have a middle class. they have dealt it. especially after world war ii. if you consider the contribution they made to several wars in defending the country and reserving freedom and all of that. we sometimes take that for granted today and then just the ability they demonstrated to adapt to change. a lot of what i hear from our

witnesses today and constituents back home is when they reach a certain point in their lives if they have been entrepreneurs or during work for a two goodies with an entrepreneurial spirit that undergirds it they run up against as you have outlined here today a couple of asic challenges. one of them is just the challenge that comes with financial insecurity. there is never been a time in her history when there have been more reasons to feel that insecurity, the volatility of the economy has never been more apparent than in the last couple of years, certainly in the last decade. i think one of the reason for the sense of insecurity frankly as washington. they don't see washington working together on a regular basis. they are a little better lately

with a two-year budget in one year appropriations so that provides some lesson but let's face it there is a lot of insecurity when people don't see this place working. they scratch their head and say what does it mean for my bottom-line? so there have been plenty of reasons to be worried in addition to this speed up technological change. i guess i see this issue of the security, the financial security issue as well as the basic dignity issue. our self-worth is tied up in what we do and how we do it and this idea that if you have spent most of your life union entrepreneur and creating jobs and creating wealth and being successful that the idea when you hit a certain age you have to shut the engine off doesn't make a lot of sense so for all those reasons and more it's very

important. i will leave time for questions. i think i will do what senator collins did. i will start with you and just go from my right to left. around here if you make 10 recommendations you probably won't get to 10 in terms of the enactment of new legislation or pushing the administration to do something or insisting that an agency do something. i will limit everyone to one but if there was one thing starting with you doctor you would hope that the house and the senate would do in the next year to foster better policy or to bring about a better, more opportunities i should say for encore entrepreneurial opportunities what would you recommend if you had to boil it down to one, either legislation

or policy? >> thank you and since we say encore entrepreneur specifically i will take that specifically in that sense. we really are talking about the people who go into self-employment after 50. this is important to note, there are a third of people who are self-employed after 50 came in after 50 so the others, the other two-thirds are people who have been self-employed throughout their career. they are very different and they need our help because they are the ones that are just a portion of all he likely to be unemployed or have been pushed into entrepreneurship or self-employment than the groups before it. i come back to the idea of the unemployment and if it's because i think that is shown in other places to have made a big difference in getting that group back into the labor force back into creating tax revenues back into contributions for social

security and medicare and altogether the most important thing is when people are self-employed we have seen that they work much longer and they retire much later than wage and salaried individuals. this is another very good thing and we encourage longer work which helps our fiscal outlook tremendously. >> thank you. >> i know i'm going to test the forbearance of the chairman. [laughter] >> my number one priority would be to change government's attitude toward towards seniors. we need in this country as is happening across the globe to think of seniors as assets and not liabilities. there is always talk about seniors. don't worry, we are not taking this away and we are not diminishing this entitlement or graham and it's always a net negative rate i think we have to

turn that into a positive and i think as i was quoted in "the new york times" over the weekend we have to start thinking of this knotting gloom and doom terms as the oncoming silver tsunami. we have to think of seniors as assets and not liabilities. they are silver lining in this country. what they can contribute. they are not a silver tsunami, they are silver lining and believe me they will be yielding holden dividends. >> thank you. ms. bretos. >> i would say that most of my colleagues what they have drop bombs with his access in government especially for the purpose that you mentioned. most of our work requires changing policy not necessarily through the extension which i know is very difficult. i was a lobbyist once so i

understand the process. there is something called the office of social innovation and civic participation that has been in effect for four or five years. they do not have a phone. they don't answer e-mails. i have been trying to talk to them for the past four years. something like that that could be said that would connect us with the federal government, federal agency. i don't have a problem with senator nelson and never have. every time i want to come and see him he makes time for me but it's difficult to access government. somebody that would coordinate the efforts of all entrepreneurs >> if i want an appointment with senator nelson i should call you. [laughter]

mr. yancey. >> as you would anticipate we would hope we would have continued access to quality training mentoring and support for the senior entrepreneurs who have many great qualities great knowledge and need a bit of assistance in applying that in the small business environment. to continue that support and to continue to have that access your spa score small business development centers and other programs i think are important to the success. >> senator casey i would echo mr. yancey and to say continue the support of the small business administration so we continue to do this work. as i stated in my testimony we have always been serving. our research has been serving this population and is allowed allowed -- and allowing us your support

would be beneficial. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> ms. bretos what was that government office he said did not answer the phone? >> that's the beauty, nobody knows about it. it's called the office and it's the mandate. it was created under that mandate to identify human and financial capital to bring about community solutions. is the office of, it's not associated with the white house. the office of social innovation and civic participation. the director is a mr. greenblatt and he is incommunicado. >> we will see if you will answer my call. >> i'm sure he will. >> thank you. >> tell me, since you started a business although you had had

quite a bit of experience in business before your senior years, what do you wish you would have known before taking on the task of organizing that business? >> i think of it had known i wouldn't have done it. [laughter] so it was better that i didn't. i think for me, i was very naïve and had illusions. i think for me to understand that it was not going to be easy, that there were going to be a lot of people who would think that i am a goner, that it don't have a plan on who is going to take over, the lack of capital. there are a lot of ups and downs. what was good for me is that i

learned to sail very often. i failed at almost everything i had done in my life and if i had learned before he started this how to fail that would have been a big accent for me but i would do it again. >> you obviously did it successfully because you have this miami senior living solutions. >> that is about it. and also it has brought me here in front of you which has been a success. >> dr. o'neill, interestingly we have a new health care law. a senior, a citizen all their life work for a company. they retire.

maybe their company doesn't provide for health insurance. maybe it does. but if they suddenly find themselves just before that period of medicare at age 65 and thus the fact that health insurance is available now through the health insurance exchanges help at all and making the decision in that seniors mind to start up a new business? >> yeah this is a very good question and we actually have quite a bit of research around this question. what you are really referring to is a phenomenon that sometimes is described as job block and i call it job anchor for your health insurance is tied to your workplace. you may or may not want to leave

work to pursue an entrepreneurial path because as we have heard there are lots of risks in entrepreneurship and to add on top of that the risk of not being covered if a health condition arises is going to be a big one. we also know in many of us have cited the statistics from the kauffman foundation that it's in that 55 to 60 or year age group where we have a high entrepreneurial already so this is a group that is probably very likely, more likely to have a pre-existing condition, let's be clear about that. so studies have looked at surveys of what stops people from pursuing entrepreneurial paths and many people often cite the lack of options to get health care. we have seen a natural experiments where some in health

care have ruled out outside of the workplace that the rate of entrepreneurship has gone up in a recent survey by the brookings institution thinks the aca may unleash over 1 million more self-employed people into the market. putting that aside we have studies that looked at the difference in the probability of going to entrepreneurship at age 65 versus 64. it's a simple switch to medicare and it's about or 10% higher. in all including a meta-study and 20 studies by economists and labor policy people it seems to indicate that this should have some sort of it oozed. i can't comment on the overall net effects of the aca but it is very important component that could be very substantial. >> who's who study with that but said a million new jobs would be created? >> that's the brookings

institution which we can make available to you. the other studies of the 64/65 transition is not surprising the cost and study. it seems they really are the source of interesting as a foundation that's it towards entrepreneurship in america. they have a lot of interesting work that we can all learn from. speaker2: what degree does the aca, giving certain tax credits for businesses, 25 employees and under play into this? >> i think on that question i will turn to some of my panel. >> that is more of a tax question. that would apply to any age. tell us some more dr. o'neill about the

benefits, the economic benefits of senior entrepreneurs. >> well it really seems that there are several economic and social benefits. individuals staying in the workforce longer which as i mentioned earlier this is a well-established fact that the self-employed retire later. they indicate they are going to retire later and they do retire later and that of course is a tremendous benefit to society. if people do work longer and they are doing things they enjoy we benefit from the tax revenue and we benefit from the continued contributions to our social programs and on top of that we do have concerns that we will have some shortages in some areas so it's a good thing that people continue to work. it also allows these individuals to increase their standard of living in retirement and particularly for people who were unemployeunemployed for long periods getting

back into the workforce has obvious benefits. we also know that more than half of small business owners in the united states are age 50 and over and it has been said before on this panel that small business is a net producer of jobs and the economy so the extent that we are supporting this has major effects in terms of business creation and job creation and the spillover effects of that. >> if i could with your permission, at least one major piece is that the older you get the more involved again in social issues so it think entrepreneurs like myself are definitely concerned with solving social problems like homelessness, like children so that i am

sure has a spillover effect. somebody solving social problems after all. >> in a river and we started with over 60% and now it's closer to 70% of the entrepreneurs with whom are starting green businesses so that is going to have a huge environmental impact. >> anyone on the panel comment. there's a common perception more seniors working is going to take away youth employment but the study show it's exactly the opposite. it creates more youth jobs. comment on that. >> that is absolutely true. in fact one of the individuals in your state of florida was a senior who started a company and the company grew so much faster than he anticipatanticipat ed that he had to hire his children to help scale that organization so that works both ways. the seniors and intergenerational business startups but

also the seniors who create jobs are creating jobs for young people. cost 30 knows no age boundary and it's true so the jobs they create and it -- everybody benefits from that. the study by aeo documented that if just one in three small businesses hire just one additional employee the unemployment rate in the united states would be zero. >> i just wanted to talk about in my particular case we create an average of 50 new jobs with benefits, usually young mothers with little children. so we have created in the past 17 years over 7000 new jobs with them if it's throughout the 23 states that we are working in. when higher old people too of course.

[laughter] >> i think we all recognize the contributions that small business makes to employment so it stands to reason as more senior entrepreneurs start more opportunities for employment for younger people and others. many of these being entry-level positions with training will become available so i think the more we can encourage this fantastic phenomenon the better we are going to be as a country and as a community. >> again i support what ken says. small business ownership and small business in general have a great impact on our economy. engaging entrepreneurs so they have the opportunity to create new jobs will benefit not only additional older individuals but as well younger people who are able to seek employment with those opportunities. >> senator collins any

final comments? >> thank you mr. chairman. i just want to thank our panel today. i think this has been a fascinating hearing that is really going to help increase public awareness of the critical and growing role that senior entrepreneurs and oncor entrepreneurs are playing in our economy. i loved ms. isele's characterization of the changing demographics as a silver lining rather than a silver tsunami. that is a wonderful line and i hope you don't mind if i start using it but it was really interesting. i must say prior to the chairman suggesting that we do this hearing i have no idea that more older people were starting businesses than the very younger parts

of our population. this has been an eye-opener for me as well. thank you mr. chairman. >> senator collins i am frequently reminded and perchance you are as well in art capacities of the senior senators of our respective states that upon introduction people get tongue-tied and instead of saying the senior senator from florida they introduce me as the senior citizen of florida. >> that's so true. it happens to me as well. >> well this has been a tremendous hearing. we want to thank you and the meeting is adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

cotton avenue serves as a metaphor for making history. when macon was first laid out in 1823 they laid it out in nice square blocks with alternating large wide boulevards, whiter than l'enfant's washington

d.c. boulevards. savannah has its squares and macon has its linear parks. anyway as they were laying it out a farmer with a load of cotton on his bike and headed towards the river to market it downstream and roadway through the stakes that the engineers had laid out. the engineers simply wove the angled road into the layout of macon georgia. to homeland security officials join the delaware secretary for environment and energy to discuss the need for states to have plans to deal with extreme weather events. this testimony came before the senate homeland security and

governmental affairs committee wednesday. it's an hour and 45 minutes. >> welcome one and all. it's great to see her witnesses and it's great to be here with senator johnson and i will call this hearing to order. i appreciate the effort of all of you to get here today. i'm glad we are having the hearing today and tomorrow because of we were having it tomorrow we may not be having a hearing. today's hearing as you know is focused on the cost of not being prepared for extreme weather events and explain the ways that our federal government can increase efficiency in our communities and save money in the long-haul. we have deficits coming down. they are still too much but down from $1.4 trillion from four years ago and this year they are

expected to be down only $550 billion. that's still too much we have to look at every nook and cranny to see how we can save money and that is the focus of today's hearing. i will try to take five minutes for my opening statement and yield to senator johnson. i'm delighted that he is here and we will recognize their first panel of witnesses. each pin witness will have five minutes and following statements we will have a question-and-answer period three the second panel of witnesses will come and we look forward to hearing from you as well. unfortunately extreme weather appears to need the new norm and things like superstorm sandy which came to our shores in the mid-atlantic a year or so ago. dangerous tornadoes historic droughts. it may well be just the tip of the iceberg of what is to come.

even today the east coast is preparing for yet another stoves stoves -- no storm while the west coast is experiencing extreme drought. a friend of mine who is from australia tells me that they had the hottest weather in their history so go figure. it's a crazy world we live in right now. for years i've had in working with a number of colleagues to address the root causes and the facts of what i believe is one of the biggest challenges of our generation that is climate change. research says extreme weather events have increased in intensity. let me make a point and underline this affected. today's hearing is not intended to hash out -- instead it's about trying to find the common ground and as our panel debates i believe it's like going --

her witnesses will give a clear message be intensity of those extreme weather events are costing our country a boatload of money. it is measured in economic and financial cost as well. for example the damage from a storm on many of our minds superstorm sandy which impacted my own state was estimated to have cost our economy $75 billion, $75 billion in financial damages. that is just one storm. we are also hearing reports about the devastating impacts of severe drought. not only are wildfires growing but we are now seeing severe fires in winter and spring well beyond the traditional wildfire seasons of summer and early fall these fires are enormously

expensive to fight and recover from an pose serious threats to lives and property damaging homes and businesses alike. according to a 2013 report by insurance company anita greg nearly 40 wildfires in the united states cost the economy over $40 billion. these economic damages can deliver devastating blow to states as well as our own federal government. fema the federal emergency management agency is obligated over $80 billion in federal assistance for disasters declared in fiscal years 2004 through 20,011. the cost of the federal government is not just limited to disaster relief. as an insurer of our party and crops the government faces additional fiscal exposure. for example since the creation of the national flood insurance program in 1968 through 2013 in fema's debt to that program that totaled approximately

$24 billion. even before superstorm sandy the total payments through the national flood insurance program are almost $18 billion. the cost of these weather events keep going up at a time when we are trying to bring our government spending down. that is one of the reasons why for the first time the government accountability office last year was to climate change is one of the biggest fiscal risks facing our country in this high-risk report. just to remind us all every two years gao gives us the high-risk list and senator johnson is set up before we have to figure out new ways or old ways to save money and get that results. in response to this historic announcement the house oversight and government reform committee chairman darrell issa stated the comptroller general has made it very clear that we have not prepared properly that the

federal government has a financial risk that we have not mitigated. i think it's a wake-up call to us all. i couldn't agree more. today's report is a call to action for congress and administration warning us that our country must start thinking now about how to better prepare and adapt to new climate reality. today our witness from gao will detail the financial risk to our communities are taxpayers and hopefully offer commonsense solutions for my colleagues and i can work to see implemented. fortunately this a administration along with the number of state and local governments are starting to focus their efforts on preparing for the very real threats posed by extreme weather events and climate change. last fall president obama issued an executive order on climate preparedness that incentivizes investments in roads and buildings that may be more expensive but can hold up to more intense storms. i commend the president's approach and believe it's timely

as building efforts continue from superstorm sandy and other natural disasters great i look horrid to hearing more about the president's efforts in states like delaware and a bunch of other states to do a better job of protecting our communities and taxpayer dollars for these challenges. as we continue to debate how to reduce her death as they leave we can't afford to ignore the impact these events are having on federals ending with prudent targeted investments can go a long way in saving lives and taxpayer dollars. i believe this is a perfect example of that very wise -- i used to hear from my grandmother all the time an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. thanks again to her witnesses for being here and with that i will turn it over not to our ranking member senator mccain that ranking member acting ranking member senator johnson from wisconsin for any thoughts. >> thank you mr. chairman and the mind --

i'm mindful that i'm sitting in this chair is because dr. coburn is not here. i want to thank her witnesses and looking forward to the testimony. when it comes to this issue the questions i will be looking to have answered his first and foremost since i have been here looking at this issue we are really declaring federal disaster declarations much more frequently now. is that because we really have a higher instance of the types of disasters that require that or are we just too quick to declare those disasters? i am afraid that if we have an over reliance on the federal government help is that restraining the mitigation and a new word i hear resilience in terms of how we prepare. are we being penny-wise and pound-foolish by not spending the money upfront to mitigate

and again again isn't over reliance on federal help in these disasters hit everyone expects the government to commit them pay for things as opposed to action mitigating these risks ahead of time. from my standpoint coming from the private sector i understand it private insurance market really provides strong discipline in terms of mitigating risk whether it's risk in a plant. insurers come in and say if you put in sprinkler heads 6 feet apart her sis 24 feet apart you will mitigate that risk and you will be all to too lower your insurance price. that private insurance market set your is good to those -- and those are the questions i'm asking in terms of how can we utilize the federal government in the most efficient way because like you said mr. chairman we don't have the money to do all these things.

again the eye look forward to the testimony. >> a little state with a big population, a couple of great senators. would you like to say a word? >> small population in the state with a big punch but at home in alaska we did have green grass of things are definitely changing. mr. chairman i would like to read a statement for the record and if that's okay and i apologize i won't be all to stay but i want to make sure -- this is an very important issue special when you talk about extreme weather events. mr. chairman i want to thank you and i appreciate you holding this hearing to examine what i can consider the true cost of not being prepared for weather. as i drove in today i drove across salt because they are waiting for snow to fall to melt

in alaska that would be unheard of but that is the way it works. i am sure we will have power outages and many other things. we understand extreme conditions fairbanks would get to below zero many times and in some cases that would be extreme in the lower 48 but not alaska. alaska is on the frontlines in terms of changing climate the effects of extreme weather challenges facing our communities including rapidly eroding shorelines thawing permafrost -- permafrost and the impact of our economy on many levels. this puts -- the army corps of engineers and the gao have both reports identifying alaska villages imminently threatened by erosion. many of these villages have experienced incredible extreme weather. 30 plus villages at risk of

literally falling into the ocean or disappearing totally. flooding wiped out a village in alaska called kalina. what is amazing is we read a lot of issues, we had a whole village wiped out by flooding and no place to evacuate in the closest place was 207 miles away it all had to beat them by air to move these people out quickly and now they are trying to rebuild it in a short time. winter has vetted and it's also very difficult. people talk about climate change. they want to debate the science but i'm telling you climate change is current. my state is the example of what the impacts are and it is extreme and we are seeing impacts economic way and from all levels. our state has the longest coastline in the united states. it has incredible beauty and has enormous vulnerabilities.

alaska's unique position as an arctic state resents a variety of advantages to leverage the challenges to overcome this extreme issue. i have to tell you all alaska is clearly on the frontline in dealing with the issue of climate change. we have our own task force set up and we have been active in it. we have focused on what we can do to mitigate the issues and these extreme changes in weather patterns that are impacting us on a day-to-day basis in alaska. let me say as the president's climate action plan moves forward and the preparedness begins with preparedness mitigation is the right decision. we always spend time after-the-fact picking up the pieces and the costs are huge. we had a hearing in alaska with fema and the court talking about what we can do before the

situations occur when we know they are going to happen. we have 30 some villages on the whole list. we can do something now or we can wait until something bad happens and call fema and fema will be writing the checks. that's the worst approach in the sense of dealing with this issue. we can do this in a much better way. i know mr. chairman you invited individual mike williams senior who is an iditarod -- but also an incredible leader who is going to be on the panel today but he could not attend and if i could just as the committee to insert his comments and his testimony into the record. let me just add and say mr. chairman as the chair the subcommittee on emergency management that deals with disaster relief and emergency preparedness first responders mitigation on this committee we have had several hearings on these issues and i have sat here with insurance folks that talk

about how they are adjusting their risk analysis and making sure they are now seeing more severe weather patterns. they weren't here to debate the science but they were here for the debate that risk is changing. they arc more combative and much more severe so the risk analysis goes into play and therefore rates go up. i know this is an owner of commercial property. my rates have not been flat over the last 10 years but there is a risk that everyone is paying today for the lack of action with regards to mitigating the situation. i want to say to the chairman thank you for holding this hearing. it's a hard issue to grapple with because there are political views on climate change but that is not the issue. the issue is it's happening. we can argue over it all we want but in my state we see it every single day. we have disaster after disaster.

we have huge costs associated with it and even though we are far away 5000 miles away small villages literally there buildings and houses are falling into the ocean. this is not a hypothetical situation or theory. it's real so i appreciate the work you are doing here and i hope the committee continues to talk about it. i know and i agree that we can't bear all the costs. that is just a reality but how we manage it from our building codes all the way up to what we do on the federal level is critical to understand how we are going to manage this so we don't have the huge costs by the private sector individuals or the government. thank you very much. >> i'm glad you could join us and thank you so much for your comments. when senator begich was speaking i was reminded of all people senator mike enzi from my wyoming it is my colleagues know

i oftentimes cite him. he has an 80/20 rule in getting things done. the 80/20 rule is basically the we bring out 80% of the stuff in congress and we will focus on the 80% that we agree on and set aside the other 20% for another day and to help charted path for not just congress but for a country. one of the people who are not here yet and will be here later is the senator from arkansas mark pryor. they have a saying in arkansas whenever you see a friend and mark pryor has said this to me a million times, hey man and your name is heyman. i was hoping mark would get here so we could introduce you. we are happy to see you assistant secretary for policy.

mr. heyman is responsible for strengthening homeland security with departmentwide policies planning programming and strategies. caitlin durkovich as assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the department of homeland security and efforts to strengthen the public-private partnerships and coordinate partnerships to protect the critical infrastructure assess and mitigate risk tilled resilience and strength and incident response and recovery. it's nice to see you again. welcome. last but not least mark gaffigan the managing director for government accountability office natural resources and environment of team responsible for gao's assessment of federal efforts to manager nations land and want her resources protect the environment ensure food he manage agriculture agricultural programs ensure a reliable environmental policy to meter nations science --

nuclear security and cleanup. that is a lot to do for one person. we have about five minutes to read the opening statements. if you go over that we will have to rein you in. your statement will be included in the record and with that i will recognize mr. heyman also known as hey man. >> thank you. a quick aside senator pryor has said that to me for now over 30 years as i served as his vice president when he was a student government leader in my high school. his political career has skyrocketed because of my service to him. [laughter] thank you chairman carper. >> this just keeps getting better. >> thank you chairman carper in senator johnson and establish members of the committee. my best wishes to senator coburn and his family. it's my pleasure to be here this

morning to discuss the impact of extreme weather and what the department of homeland security is doing to improve the preparedness and resilience of our communities and nation. this represents one of the most significant areas where we can all at the i think investment today will help us save billions in the future. over the past decade an unprecedented number of weather-related disasters hurricanes flood strout's wildfires crop freezes in winter storms have hit the united states leaving devastated communities and billions of dollars of damage in their wake. in 20 we experienced 14 natural catastrophes exceeding a olein dollars each. we had a record 98 presidentially declared disasters. in 2012 efface hurricane sandy the largest atlantic hurricane on record in the second costliest to the nation damaging and destroying more than 300,000 homes in new york 72,000 new jersey and costing billions in

damage. according to the world's largest risk to ensure weather-related weather-related -- weather-related catastrophes have hit north america much harder than the rest of the world. total economic losses the united states totaled approximately $1.15 trillion over the last 30 years. without a concerted effort national resilience effort the trend is like you to continue. .. federal local tribal territorial and private sector partners so that we can ensure swift and effective recovery. offer the past several years we have made a significant shift in our thinking and in our practice of preparing for mitigating against and responding to disasters. and i can summarize that in one word. resilience. resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions,

stand and respond to and rapidly recover from disruptions. in may of 2009 president obama took a significant step towards fasscilitating and institutionalizing national resilience when he merged the homeland security council and national security council into a single structure. and created a resilience directorate with the national security council. this directorate managing resilience policy and operates alongside the counterterrorism director. this action established resilience as a homeland security pillar and priority, which was called out for the first time in the president's national security strategy. dhs affirmed this prioritization in his qhsr, quadrennial homeland security view in 2010, promoting insurance of resilience to disasters as one of the department's core missions, and responsibilities. but the question is, how do you create and foster resilience. establishing the concept of resilience is an essential first