are active and the pursuing your american dream. .. >> because our voices make a diffe. i like to think mine has. pursue your dream and don't ever think that one person is not important. stay united, continue to stand up for what you believe.

god bless you, god bless measuring and god bless our men and women who -- god bless america and god bless our men and women who serve in the armed forces of the united states of america! [cheers and applause] i will leave you with my personal motto: freedom and liberty, use them or lose them! [cheers and applause] god bless you! ♪ ♪ >> please welcome jeffrey lord. ♪ ♪ >> thank you very much. thank you for having me and most importantly, thank you for all that you do.

you know, the obama administration has made a point of calling its critics, among other things, extortionists and terrorists, so you couldn't be a newser group of extortionists -- nicer group of extortionists and terrorists, and i'm happy to be here. i call you the heirs of ronald reagan. [applause] the tea party has been very clear right from your spontaneous beginning. you were deeply concerned about the fiscally irresponsible actions of the federal government, the misguided stimulus spending, the bailout, the takeovers of private industry. your goals were equally as clear as they were reagan-esque; improve america through a renewed support for fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free market economic policies. and for believing in liberty and fiscal sanity, you were demonized right from the very beginning.

it was astonishing if unsurprising to watch the torrent of abuse directed at the tea party. i can tell you this kind of abuse was directed at ronald reagan for believing exactly the same kinds of things. he was called evil by house speaker to kneel, a president who was -- o'neill, a president who was cold and mean and cruel, and yes, but of course, ronald reagan was inevitably called a racist. this is, in fact, what the american left does particularly when they are losing the argument. the tea party is racist? really? really? perhaps it's time to point out that this charge of racism from the left comes from members of a political party that has proudly stood for -- i want to be specific here -- sex platforms that support -- six platformed that supported slavery, they opposed the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the constitution

that suckfully wipe out -- successfully wiped out slavery, they supported segregation actively or by science in 20 platforms, they opposed anti-lynching laws, and liberals didn't just support the ku klux klan, they were the ku klux klan, regularly electing klan members to the nation's governorships when not putting a klan member on, yes, the supreme court of the united states. these are people with a long and wretched political history of depending on any and every scheme imaginable then and now that judges their fellow americans by skin color. and they have the nerve to call the tea party racist? it is more than pastime to call them out finish -- past time to call them out and tell the party -- [applause]

and tell the party of slavery, segregation, lynching, the ku klux klan, racial quotas to quit judging their fellow americans by skin color and get back to the business of getting this country on thed road to -- on the road to fiscal health and economic growth. [applause] you have also received considerable criticism from establishment republicans. they, too, once scorned ronald reagan. no one, by the way, knows this better than our friend mark levin. i can't say enough about mark's ability to bring the constitution and the founding principles of this nation back once again front and center. he is a national treasure, and we owe him a considerable debt of gratitude. [applause]

mark and ronald reagan's to biographer, craig shirley, certainly remember -- as i do -- that in march of 1980 as governor reagan was on his way to winning the republican nomination for president, former president gerald ford went to "the new york times" to save governor reagan -- to say of governor reagan the kinds of things that are said of tea party today. ronald reagan, said president ford, was too extreme. he was a sure loser. because a -- and i'm quoting here -- a very conservative republican can't win a national election, unquote. as you may recall, president ford had lost to jimmy carter four years earlier. ronald reagan not only beat jimmy carter in a 44-state landslide eight years later, four years later he won 49 states. that was george bush -- no, sorry. [laughter] which, lastly, brings me to president reagan and his great

friend, margaret thatcher. there is a reason ronald reagan won two landslides and margaret thatcher was the longest serving british prime minister of the 20th century, winning three elections in a row. both believed with the tea party in drawing a line in the sand that clearly separates right from left. that is not only the key to victory, they were right about in the establishment -- and the establishment was wrong. president reagan referred to establishment republicans of the type the tea party does battle with every day as fraternal order republicans. mrs. thatcher summoned a term from the british school system and called her establishment conservatives the whacks. both believed that the politics of what ronald reagan called the fraternal order and mrs. thatcher deemed as consensus politics were road maps to defeat. in fact, one suspects if there had been a tea party in britain,

mrs. thatcher would have been its leader. said she, scornfully of the con census politics she believed had brought repeated defeats to the conservative party many -- in great britain and i'm quoting here: the old it'sment prophets didn't go out onto the highway saying, brothers, i want consensus. they said this is my faith, this is my vision, this is what i passionately believe. go out. preach it, practice it, fights rt it, and the day will be ours. so as you go about your tea party challenges this year to the republican establishment, the fraternal order republicans whether here on capitol hill or across the land, i would urge you to take the understanding of ronald reagan that there was a time for choosing and take to heart the words of of margaret that much or, if i may americanize them. go out into the highways and byways of america and make it plain as ronald reagan did, tell

the american people this is my faith, this is my vision, this is what the tea party passionately believes. go out, practice it, preach it, fight for it, and the day will be yours. thank you very much. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome new york times best-selling author and host of the mark levin show, mark levin! ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] >> come on! [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much.

what's all this for? [laughter] happy anniversary. it's an honor to be with you. you're an inspiration to me and millions of others. the fact is, today we live under a lawless president, a feckless congress and an all-powerful supreme court. the federal leviathan consumes nearly 25% of the entire economy and gobbles up whole industries. we are $17.3 trillion in fiscal operating debt. we owe over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. there's not enough money on the planet earth to pay that back. and the overall debt when it's all combined grows by $5-$7

trillion a year. and this president proclaims the era of austerity is over. [laughter] the federal government's now the nation's largest creditor, debtor, lend or, employer, consumer, contractor, grantor, property owner, tenant, insurer, health care provider and pension guarantor. so much for limited government. [laughter] it unleashes thousands of regulations and rules every single year over the course of a decade it fills nearly one million -- [applause] >> good morning and welcome to playbook breakfast. thank you for bearing with us as we rescheduled the time and place because of the ice. i think my politico colleagues, dan's colleagues at the white house for making this new date available and for you all for coming. want to thank c-span for carrying us live this morning,

welcome to our c-span viewers, welcome to our live streaming viewers. we'll love to take your questions as we go. tweet us at hashtag playbook breakfastment i've got the twitter machine up hoar, and i take your -- up here, and i will take your questions. like to thank bank of america for their continued partnership. looking forward to talking about the issues that matter most as this year goes along, so thank you to bank of america for that. we're honored this morning to have dan pfeiffer, an assistant to the president, the president's senior adviser for strategy and communications. dan has been with the president from day one. actually, day negative one. dan pfeiffer joined the obama campaign the day before the president announced his exploratory committee. it was back on martin luther king day 2007. he's been with him every single day in the white house. before that he worked for vice president gore be, he was on the hill with senator tim johnson

and senator evan bayh and as most of of you know, pfeiffer is a wilmington guy and a georgetown guy. so thank you for being with us, and, dan pfeiffer, welcome. [applause] good morning. thanks for coming. dan, thank you for coming. we always start with the news. the president, this morning the president issued an executive order and message to the president which provided a framework for you to issue some sanctions, visa travels in regard to ukraine. tell us what the president did and why it matters. >> well, i think it's part of our efforts to deal with the situation in the you -yard line -- ukraine. there's two sections. one will set up a potential framework, and the state department also issuing some visa bans for individuals who have been involved in the situation in ukraine. that is part of our ongoing effort including engaging with our allies. secretary kerry is in europe

right now working on to deal with the russian intervention in ukraine and insure we deal with the crisis at hand. >> is there a sense that the crisis is deescalating? >> i don't think we know that yet. of we're monitoring it very closely, we're continuing to put pressure on the russians in every way we possibly can, and what's most important is we're supporting the ukrainian people and government. we're working to do that getting some loan guarantees of sanction to the ukrainian -- of assistance to the you ukrainian government, coordinating the europeans and g7 to also support them. today's executive order is one part of that. >> dan, at end of last week, the president made a very unusual visit to the white house briefing room at the end of the day responding to facts coming in on the ground. how did you make that call, and how did you know what was happening on the ground? >> well, in a couple ways. first, as we get information it's always very important, i

think, for the people to hear from the president in times of tumult and crisis, and here we have a situation where you have russia heading in with moving troops into crimea, the american people had been following the situation pretty closely over several weeks as we were dealing with the political tumult and the changing government, and so we thought it was important for the president to get out there as soon as we had good information. we get information through a lot of ways, we've a lot of sources, but also in this day and age with twitter and social media, you start to see pictures of troops in front of of bases or many front of airports that will give us a lead to follow up on to try and nail down. >> so in the white house, twitter's now part of your information flow. >> absolutely. we've seen for years now. we certainly saw it -- particularly this is not true in this situation, but in more closed societies like in iran during some of the political uprising, early in the presidency you learn a lot what

was happening. we found out a lot of what was happening in the arab spring by folks on ground doing individual reporting in social media or skype. it gives you a sense of what's happening. >> now, dan on -- >> and i would say that's one data point in a long list of things we look at as we analyze the situation, but it was not available just a few years ago. >> dan, on saturday the president had a remarkable call with president putin. you announced the fact it was 90 minutes. [laughter] take away, say, half for interpretation, say they have 45 minutes of content, that is a long call for two guys who don't have a lot to say to each other right now. >> actually, that is in the array, as you think of all the calls, 90 minutes isn't a particularly long time but something that was worth note anything the readout. president obama and president putin have had a lot of opportunities to talk over the

last several years, and they're often long and vigorous. and i think that's how i would tribe one. >> and -- describe this one. >> and what's the president like behind the scenes when a crisis is unfolding? what's his mo? >> his mo is to make sure we are responding rapidly -- >> no, i mean, what's he like? does he tear his hair? >> when he is -- he never tears his hair, and he never sweats. [laughter] >> how about you? >> a little bit of both. i think what he often tries to do is take a step back. so make sure we're responding as rapidly as we can but also take a step back and let's make sure what we're doing is not just tactically smart, but strategically smart. what is the long-term american interest, what is our end goal. not how do they deal with the exact sort of press crisis, what is the press demanding, what are our political opponents demanding, it's how do we --

it's what is our end goal. and he is willing to, and this is one of reasons why i tear my hair out sometimes, is willing to take some heat in the short term for a better long-term goal. we saw in the in libyan when we, you know, we had a lot of critics that we weren't moving fast enough, weren't doing the right thing, and over the course of time the strategy worked. >> when he's hashing out something like this, am i going to go on

. >> you've got to be ready at all times. >> has he ever caught you mentally napping? >> absolutely. you know, it's been more than five years now. it's been known to happen. you've got to recover quick. >> all right. now, you're @pfeiffer44 on twitter, what tweet has gotten the most engagement? >> well, this is by more circumstance than being clever, but the night bin laden was,

bin laden was killed i was the one who happened to be first out to tweet the president was going to address the nation. >> what do you mean you happened to be the first? [laughter] >> well, i was faster than jay carney. >> the press secretary. >> yeah. and, you know, if you think back to that moment, someone tweets out the president's going to address the nation, no one knows what that's about. speculation both good and bad about what could happen, so that got a lot of attention. that was by far, by biggest follower growth was in that a night. >> now, people expect the government twitter feed to be kind of dry. you throw elbows on your twitter feed. we have a wall street from the other day, you say gop criticism jumped the shark today when they started saying benghazi is one of reasons for what's happening in crimea. >> i did. [laughter] i think twitter is a very, it's

a necessary element to any communication strategy in politics these days. it is where the debate is really shaped. i mean, it's really where the elite political debate. we saw this morning the first debate of 2012. there is no question in my mind that the twurt reaction to president's performance greatly whats orer baited the coverage and the be reaction to it. so you have to be in there mixing it up. and, you know, every day republican congressmen, senators, staffers are out there trying to characterize the president's motives, his policies, and you've got to be in there pushing back. >> some of your campaign colleagues said instead of batching the de-- watching the debate, they watched twitter. talk to us about how you keep up with and shape what people are saying out there. >> well, the night of -- i was in the chicago headquarters of that debate sort of with the folks doing rapid response, and so we had two screens.

we had the tv, and you had the twitter feed. and you -- some folks are just watching the tv. be you're watching the tv, you were thinking this is not great, but it's not disastrous. if you're watching the twitter feed, you're seeing andrew sullivan and others threaten to commit ritual suicide over the president's performance, and it's starting the spiral, and you know -- and then you know, you know, how tough the folks in the spin room or were going to have it that night. >> and how will twitter, how will the effect of twitter in 2014 be when you were elected in 2012? >> i think it'll just be the growth in people is exponential. i think 2012 for the most part twitter was a more elite conversation. it is how, you know, it's how reporters are viewing events, it's how political people are shaping that, how most

politically involved folks are looking at it. i think by 2014 will be more like facebook than it was in 2012, more people who are getting their information from it, so it'll have more effect on the populace at large. >> and last question on this, as a result of that, how is what you're doing with twitter as an institution changing? >> well, i think we're looking at different ways of doing it every day. i think the big thing in the last year or so is it's less about the 140 characters than whether what you're doing with graphics and images. and, you know, some of the most retweeted hinges we have -- things we have are our charts and graphs that explain president's policies. so we're always thinking about how do you, you know, how we're going to -- what is the, as we're rolling out any policy, what is the graphic representation of this that is shower bl on twitter and facebook? >> as if there wasn't enough happening in the world, this was your budget week. joshua green calls the budget obama's $3.9 trillion campaign

ad. true? [laughter] >> in. i think -- no. i think, i think there's a little bit of a short-term long-term about how budgets are, the way folks have covered this. you know, traditionally are the president's -- particularly in time of divided government. it serves two purposes. one is it's a very specific line item model for the committees who are going to fund the government. now, that has not been as relevant in previous years because congress has not been able to pass the appropriations bills, they have just been doing continuing resolutions. this year we'll have a budget bill because of the agreement. it also lays out a broader vision for how the president's long-term vision is, how should we be dealing with our deficits. last year we embedded in our budget the last offer the president had made to speaker boehner this the fiscal negotiations 201 as an attempt to try to jump-start additional

negotiations and get rid of the she sequester and try to revolve this issue we'd been dealing with, sort of dancing around for a long time but not being able to close with the republicans. we put forward some potential compromises on entitlement reform, a very specific thing being what they call chain cpi, recalculating -- >> wait, you pulled back from that. >> yes. let me explain why. in all negotiations with speaker boehner the one thing he said any deal had to have was chain cpi. so it was a show of good faith, we put it in the budget hoping they would come forward and saying, well, here are some tax loopholes we'd close, raise revenue through taxes. through many celebrated dinners and meetings and coffees with the president, republicans never offered a single tax loophole or a single dollar this revenue, so our view was we'll go pack to the way we traditionally did the budget. if they want to come back and do that, it'll be there, but we returned to a normal order of

budgeting. >> with yesterday you were on air force one, you traveled with the president to connecticut. he was talking about the budget. his new focus on income inequality, do you see that helping or hurting red and purple state senates who are up -- senators who are up in '14? >> i think the way the president looks at it is there is a, the challenge for the american economy and for middle class folks and folks who want to get in the middle class is shrinking opportunity, shrinking mobility. one of the causes of that is the growing, is growing income inequality. there are also some larger factors like globalization, changes in technology that allow, you know, factories and producers to be more efficient and need less labor. so he laid out in the state of the union what he called an opportunity agenta, to restore opportunity and deal with rising income unequality. what the president laid out in the state of the union and also in a speech he gave at the dnc

on friday which a lot of people didn't see because it happened right after the situation this ukraine escalated, but we laid out what i believe is a model that democrats in red states, blue states and purple statements all can run on. there's tremendous unanimity around the economic agenda in the democratic party. the good news is, that is where the public's focus is. >> there's been a clear shift in your rhetoric from income inequality to growth and opportunity. how did that come about? >> i think income inequality is a very real problem, it is a tremendous challenge to address. it is just one piece of, a very important piece, but one piece of overall, of an overall economic plan, so we want the make sure we are talking about how we're dealing with income inequality, economic mobility, economic growth with, creating jobs. so it's --

[audio difficulty] >> i think that one of the great -- [audio difficulty] >> you have to look at the research and data -- [inaudible] [audio difficulty] more or less likely to vote for somebody who supported the minimum wage. 50% more likely -- go and the it's a powerful issue among republicans. >> it is. and incompetents. so let's -- independents. let's compare aca and minimum wage. 34% more likely to support someone who supported aca. so it's a 16-point gap. among independents it's 50-35, 15-point gap. and so there's tremendous power in this issue, and that's because the american people view as a values issue which is if

you work full time in this country, you should not live this poverty. and republicans have no good argument against it. they say, well, you know, speaker boehner in response to our event yesterday said there is proof that the minimum wage kills jobs. >> well, the converse of that argument is if that is your belief, what should the minimum wage be? is the current rate be? should it be less? if we had a lower minimum wage, would that create more jobs? there's a values issue here, and the american people have pretty good consensus around it with tremendous intensity, republicans are on the wrong side of it. >> dan pfeiffer, one of your legacies will be that you coined pen and -- [laughter] how did that phrase come about, your way of refer oring to the president's, the new kind of bully pulpit exive action -- executive action? >> as we were thinking about 2014 and -- the year, not the election, you have to say that sometimes in this town --

>> oh, come on. >> as in my own life. but is that, you know, it is, you know, we live in a divided government, you know? even in the greatest, in the time of of greatest comity on capitol hill, it is not realistic to expect a republican congress to pass large parts of a democratic president's agenda. so the question is how are we going to restore opportunity, how are we going to invest, how are are are we going to move the ball forward on the president's agenda? it is going to be through, primarily through the use of executive power with some real potential exceptions on immigration, some other issues we're pushing in congress. there are two ways. there's the pen which is executive orders, regulations, recent example is this minimum wage executive order which means that if you want to get a federal contract starting next year, you're going to have to pay your workers $10.10. but there's a whole other element which is the idea this

convening authority that the president through the power of the oval office, through the power of his popularity, his resonance on social media can draw attention to and mobilize people to do it. ..

we are urging states and cities to use local reference and legislative measures to do it. we were with several governors who all enforced a $10.10 minimum wage. were called on companies to do it. i think most famously the gap announced they would will raise wages to $10 an hour. when we arrived in boston yesterday for a fundraiser after the reference, you open up "the boston globe," a full-page ad from a guy who owns car dealerships in the massachusetts

area. it says i did it. he declares he is going to raise wages to $10.10 for his employees. we're trying to build momentum and that's through the bully pulpit and it will make a real difference. the end of the year we want to pass and push hard to do that. our goal is, how many people's wages can be raised? >> but how did you coin [audio difficulty] >> this was a process of trial and error to try to figure out, is part of an effort is stop everyone in once and having convening authority. much simpler and understood to understand. >> you have involved in pushing the department, pushing the domestic policy council, different parts of the government to come up with stuff that the president can do on his own that it's hard because the

good stuff you did with your previous bush, we can't wait. >> well, i think that we have tried to inject, president has sort of ordered us to inject new creativity and thinking into use of executive authority. we have done a lot to executive authority. most nobody i think the action for the population, the dream students, and stuff on student loans and clean energy and stuff in the past. this year now basically said we've got three years left, this'll be the greatest opportunity we have. we would have or have a greater opportunity to do more good for people here. let's inject new creativity into this, new thinking, new energy. let's go outside the building and talk to people. >> did you specifically tell you think bigger? >> he said think bigger and think harder.

and so i think that's several ways, we have some new folks in your into the white house like a john podesta who have a real expertise and experts in these matters. he's been very helpful. we have some new cabinet members this time in the term. we are going outside the building and talking to academics, business folks, policy books, alumni from our initiation and others, republicans and democrats to get good ideas. we're going back to the agencies and departments and saying what is it you look at and decided not to do? let's give it another look. there may be a good reason we didn't do it. it maybe it' it's something we wanted to we held off on because there's some potential legislative path we were trying to preserve. >> so there's an ongoing governmentwide effort to find more things the president can do under executive action, you personally are pushing on? >> we are pushing very hard to look for things because the president wants to be out every day that we're not moving the

ball forward, today is they will not get back. >> the president in his second term has been taking more risk. we see one example with the first lady. let's move. the first term is more encouragement. this year we are seeing a little bit of a fist regulation on food. will we see the president be tougher in the second term? will he have the freedom to take more risks? >> i think, i would say as i think back to the first term it was not a risk-free endeavor. taking the steps to save the auto industry when every poll including the ones in michigan said that was a terrible idea and greater risk. so i think that was not, we were not cautious in the first term. there's certainly a freedom in your thinking in the second term because fewer political pressures and we'll take advantage of that to do more of

them. >> will we see a little more of a community organizer influence in the second term? >> i'm not entirely sure what that means. i think the phone effort he referred to are something that grows from the presidents experience but it's -- community organizer has a belief that change happens from the bottom, not the top down. and so i think we will always try to build on it. >> as long as i've known you going back to when you until you've been fascinated by how you spread, how people get their impressions, and this has changed dramatically since the time he had been in the white house. lookahead, think about what your successor is going to face. how do you imagine the media and the press and climate in five years of? >> i have great sympathy for whoever has my job in five years, because the speed at which things are happening is

moving exponentially every year. the changing technology in 2008, the obama campaign, we broke all kinds of barriers with the smartest internet campaign ever. we're pushing the envelope and the obama campaign spent -- said one tweet in 2008. by 2012, twitter is driving the debate, a huge piece of the strategy. we spent -- campaign spent time everything but how you use twitter in the campaign. there will be some things in 2015 we don't know what is yet but i promise you it will make, it will be faster and with greater potential benefit but also greater risk. and it will probably be great for campaigns and make governing harder. >> dan, why would it make governing harder? >> i think because governing takes time. you have to make decisions.

you have to make decisions that have good substance outcomes that are thought through, and the sickly the entire -- what used to take a week or two weeks in terms of the press cycle, people -- let's take ukraine as an example. 10 years ago, maybe five years ago something happened in ukraine, president of that, as one does it happen, then everyone is altogether on it and we are united and then we set the strategy plays itself out and maybe people start having critic and then there's a moment where the press turns on you. now that all happens, like the president spoke at 4:00 at the tnc giving a speech at five and all that happened by the time he got off the stage at the tnc. it lends itself -- it makes it harder to be deliberative and strategic in an environment

where you are -- if you use a sports metaphor, used to be you would read the story about the baseball game that night or the next day. now the political equivalent the we are not just writing the story about it every penny. we are writing every pitch. everything has to be, there's like an element comment either hyperbole or apocalyptic description of it in every moment. like this is the greatest foreign policy crisis the president has ever had. >> but wait. that's true spend it maybe, it may not be. we don't know this point. "huffington post," there is a long line of them in som and sof them were very greatness and some of them went away pretty quickly. >> every speech -- >> yes.

>> how do you guard against the haste? >> the event we have, the president is very delivered person. so -- >> to see slow you down? >> easels all of us don't, myself included. before we act, before we go out and do something, and this is more, he will take a step back, he's always urging us to play the long game, to think through how this is going to affect our ultimate goal. so that slows us down to the other thing is experience, is the long, the longer he is here, the longer we been in the white house, you have a great ability to separate the signal from the noise. what is a real political problem, real legislative problem and what's just a fleeting thing in a moment. i was thinking about this when

secretary gates book came out, and there was, while the book was i think very generous to cope wit with the present enemys there were some excerpts blown up to be this big thing. took it very in stride. i'm confident that for years prior, let people myself included will be running around like chickens or heads, trying to figure out how we would respond to this, biggest thing ever. turns out, like three days later the press is on other things. your press fires now burning hotter and faster than it did before, but a few days later you were onto something else. >> in secretary gates book he quoted the president as saying for those of you who writing your memoirs, dan, you've been involved in your fridge roles in the white house in cooperative with, participating in, rejecting book ideas, how do you feel about books? what do you will get from

participating in an? how do you feel about the factor colleagues have written memoirs? does that impact you at all? >> i don't think you can let it in an -- to think that the first is how does it feel to have sort of your day-to-day work life written about in books? basically almost everyday we've been covered in some book, now in this, you know, everyone, it's not just the books. political desert, the times, everybody writes a tic tac of every event. this woodward style writing. what was up when thinking in the room, what with a feeling? it's all very dramatic. that is a very surreal experience because you go back, you go back in like a glance to these books region. i try not to read most of them but a lot of them are exited in the papers and such, you don't you remember the day. tremendously dramatic pivot point, historical and else's and

just like a normal day. so i always say to reporters are covering or writing about books, it's like imagine if someone went into your workplace and wrote about every day you had, like if there's a reporter embedded in politico or elsewhere speed that would be great stuff. [laughter] >> very surreal. it's all interesting and important because its government and the white house that also could be born on a daily basis. when you're writing books, you know, a lot of the stuff, some of it is inaccurate, a lot of it is acted. it feels like me when i read it later more dramatic than it really was. >> i think in terms of colleagues writing memoirs, you can't see it one way -- i'm never going to say in thing of consequence because because someone is taking notes. i trust j. but someone is going to write about it.

a year from now, 10 years from now, but if you worry about that then you basically sitting office all day long. >> to a lot of people take notes? >> some do. i don't know if anyone has taken it for the express purpose of a book. i suspect a lot of some of my colleagues will write a book. i think in the long run that's a good thing. when i was reading robert caro's book last year, is -- >> which one? >> the most recent one on lbj. the guy is like, that is an amazingly detailed portrait of the presidency. and the books that some of my colleagues will write will help inform that about president obama 40 years from now, a good historical benefit. >> is a taking notes in meetings, is it frowned on or is a part of the job of? >> part of the job. i would say as far as i know, everyone has taken it for the

purpose of referring to notes later to do their job in this current day. >> will you write a book? >> i've thought about that. i don't know. i don't know that it would, i don't know who would want to read a book but i think it would be an interesting thing to do. and having been here for everyday of it, you know, it would be, i've seen, i have some perspective that only a small handful of people have because there's only a few select group of the overly stubborn and tired who have done the whole thing without a break. so it's interesting. i think that a book about, there's historical benefit for here's one person's view about this decision was made and that decision was made and that's interesting. there was some perspective on not just about this president but what it's like to govern in this day and age.

>> january 20, 2017, what's the likelihood you were in the white house? >> i don't think it's high. but i think about -- it's close to impossible i think. but i don't know. there is, the day we leave any of these jobs in the white house are frankly up on capital or anywhere else is the day it's no longer a thrill. the you can't find one reason to be thrilled during the day, when you work in the white house, then it's probably time to do. people leave for a good reasons. i don't know when that will happen. there are times i thought it was close to happening, but this year has been the most exciting year that i've worked in the white house today. i think there's a new energy. the president is focused. we have a map and a plate of how we would use the next three years to advance our agenda and i think that is very energizing.

>> that's a remarkable statement because it's not apparent on the outside. what is the trigger for the internal excitement? >> i think it is, a little bit did you feel the ticking clock, which is what, three years ago seemed like a century ago. it doesn't feel like this is going to end tomorrow, but, you know, you've got, the president says the all the time to you will never have a great opportunity to do more good for people than you have right now. how can we maximize it? how can we do real things? this is the greatest job i'll ever have, and so that's exciting. and i think that people feel that. like 2013 is viewed as, you know, by a lot of folks as a terrible, tough year for the president. it was an annoying year and a lot of years, a lot of stuff

happened that was distracting and challenging and there is, we made some mistakes around -- healthcare.gov most notably that we regret but we made progress. when you think back like we took all of that and we are still moving forward and we are doing real things. >> i know you don't expect this to happen and you don't dwell on it, but if you have a republican senate in january 2015 which would be a totally republican capital, what will be your strategy agenda for dealing with that? >> i'm not planning on it. we are not preparing for. i'm very confident the democrats will retain the senate. i think as you and i've been having this conversation at this point in 2012, this point in 2010, the expectation would be for the balkans to take the senate. i think that will happen again and that's where all of our energy and focus is. >> let's talk about what it would mean.

it would be the dose, investigations, what else is? >> i think it would mean a loss for an agenda to the american people care about and support. it is most notably, the arena of judicial executive nominations, the republican senate i imagine would do, would block almost everything but the fact that this president got in the last year for nominees, the second most, will have the real consequence for an agenda in a jurisprudence the president cares about. that would not happen with the republican senate. the ability to pass a budget deal that sent everything ago but would relieve some of the sequestered, that would have happened if the republicans took charge of the senate. the republicans, with a republican house we've had 50 repeal vote on health care last year. republicans said, i promise you,

we spent all of its times to create jobs, growing the economy, trying to repeal the affordable care act. they would fail but they would try -- is a wasted opportunity. >> june 2017, you turn down that big job at the nba. you our the washington bureau chief of "the new york times." how to change the structure of the presidency is covered? >> well, i think this is a fascinating question. because i think that, that both the way in which the widest those things and the way the white house press corps covers the white house are both probably flatly outdated in that meeting. things are moving too fast and they -- i think fairmount about jay's briefing, france's which i think it's critically important that there's a place during the day at some point in time on camera where the white house is forced to answer questions from the press but i think that's important.

doesn't make since it happens at one in the afternoon and at a time when people, the midmorning of the late morning at the point? probably not. but that's kind of -- we wanted to what the press wants. a couple things i would suggest i think may make more sense in the course of time. it would be more, potentially fewer folks who are sort of general reporters covering the widest, more subject matter experts will cover a beat. the white house becomes a part of that beach. so instead of the fact we are getting on aca or immigration comments to the fact that just the white house report is forced to write a health care story, the economy story, but you folks were experts in that you're covered in the white house. because i think the way people consume information right now they want more expertise. they don't need as much to know

just what happened that day. it's more in depth. i think it would be good for everyone for the white house to more policy, great for the public. i think the other thing that you would want to do is you want to hire some very, very spartak the logical people to figure out how you can take the content you get from reporting and transfer it into a more mobile friendly format, a more visual format. so i think that's graphics and charts and videos would be a big piece covering the white house in 2017. and i think, you know, last but not least would be you would want to dedicate people who cover the white house full-time or close to full-time to do long form journalism. so you have some who bravely write about the force, not just the trees. >> how can you imagine modernizing that?

what now takes a form of 1:00-ish on camera, people in the seats, jay behind a podium, what can you imagine more modern? >> i don't have the answer to that. i thought about that a lot. during the transition thinking of how we would do differently. i do not a good answer to that. is it a shorter briefing in the morning? is it something later in the day, sort of wrap things up? is there a way in which a form in which people could get answers to questions sort of intermittent during the day? is there a way in which you can get the public more involved? you know, how do you reach beyond -- the white house press core is a very important role, and they should be the center of this in all scenarios, but how do you have a situation where some of the folks out in the

country, either public or reporters who aren't in washington or in a briefing, despite that in a way? >> how does it is opinion journalism. >> can you imagine expanding with those in the next three years or do you think you're stuck with what you've got? >> i think that would be hard to do. i think that it would really, there's something that only a new president can do. >> why, from your point of view, is archaic or maybe outmoded? >> i think, i mean, it is, you know, for the folks who work at a press office o or on the front line deal or on the frontline did a with reporters, they have talked to reporters who were in the briefing 10 times by the time they get to ask jf question. so it becomes a little more -- vijay a question. they've already tweeted about it, already blogged in so that's a chance on camera where jay has to stand up there and answer, be held accountable our message on

camera but i think that's important but it's not as important -- that's your one shot to get it into. that's all that matters. but they -- you're going to do one broadcast at 6:30 p.m. >> very rapid run as we say goodbye. what's a book you've read recently recommend to people who work for and with your? >> eyed over the course of the holidays i read two books for the express purpose of think about the job and i read peter baker's book on the bush administration and i reread john harris' book on bill clinton, the survivor. whether it was useful to me and that was for all the apocalyptic descriptions of our 2013, life is just really hard in the white house and that i look at that and i said you know what? our 2013 seemed a lot better than almost every of the bush administration and the clinton

administration. so it gives you some perspective -- [laughter] >> in september you had a heart scare. unitedhealthcare. you are hospitalized twice. what's changed as a result of the? >> that give me real perspective. >> tell us what happened. >> ironically enough i was at a dinner with reporters having -- during the syria, coverage of syria. a very vigorous debate. where i intentionally had what was -- layman's terms, and many stroke right sentence of a mini stroke which sort of lost the link in half, the right side of my body. scary at the time, went to the hospital, got very, very good health coverage through very good health care.

spiffed george washington? they give you good care? >> i know. and what was, i was are fortunate their ear the mistake i made was i went to work the next day and i was back in the hospital. but i think it has given me a lot of perspective on sort of how fragile all of this is, and the need for care. and i have been taking some steps in to make sure it doesn't happen again. >> what are those steps the? >> you know, better sort of worklife management. in hindsight, it does not make sense to leave the hospital and then go to work six hours later. like again is probably, dennis would've done just as well without me there, and so you sort make decisions and realize it will all be fine if you're

not there that day. >> what is something that even you gave up for land or that you should? >> -- for land. i can think of a thousand things i should. i think that what i probably should do, give up, is, would be watching sportscenter in my office in the morning instead of morning shows. >> that's healthy. >> it is a challenge. >> give is something you should actually give out. >> probably -- >> or what is something you should change the? >> in general? i think it's going to what we talked about, which is what's happening, sort of better worklife balance. to have some, you know, it's important to remember in the white house which someone once said to me, it's a marathon, not a sprint. so think about it that way.

>> an ultimate question. we know the president reads david brooks. we know the president reads the new times editors but we know he reads "the new yorker." with something the president reads, you know he reads, you're confident that once is out there is on his ipad? >> good question. he reads, yeah, like a sick and he reads a lot of magazines. this probably will not be surprising, espn, "sports illustrated." what is surprising, would not be any specific publication, but he finds things on the internet digging pretty deep that are interesting articles that someone has written complex subject matter experts, like, you know, he mentioned a very fascinating piece about -- i don't government where it was but it wasn't in any of the ones you mentioned, about,

disappearing bees and there are fewer bees. this has to do with climate change but very interested in that. and brings that stuff up. and there is, he reads a lot more fiction, a lot of books, short stories, a lot of stuff that will be in "the new yorker" or some other magazine. but he is a man, for people who think -- is obama a single handedly trying to keep it up. >> last question for you. we have a lot of young people in this audience and watch a live e stream and watch this on c-span, what's your advice to young person working in the administration, working on the hill about how to succeed in washington, they want to be you? >> i would say two things. one, i would recommend people go work on campaigns. and i think that is the ultimate meritocracy in politics. it doesn't matter how old you are, where you went to school, where you came from, if you ask what you get a chance to do things.

that would be step one. step two is never the work for a person you think will win. go work for the person you want to win. because that would be what works best. i've worked on a couple campaigns that felt like crusades and causes, and there's no better feeling than that. the ones where you feel like to work recovery, not so good. >> can't let you go by financial you think your final four will be? >> i usually screw my bracket up by picking georgetown to go farther than they do which is not that far. this year that probably not be a problem for me. so i would get, my pick at this exact moment would be florida, arizona, louisville and my sleeper would be virginia. >> and your final to? >> florida and arizona with florida as the national champion. >> and visual bracket more accurate or less accurate than the president?

>> in recent years my brackets have been much less accurate because in 2009, when georgetown lost in the first round to ohio, the president picked georgetown -- beat duke by 20 points. even picked georgetown to go far. george town destroyed his bracket in a always takes them to lose in the first round, and so he's been doing much better than i have. >> we have playwright, so i have to ask will harvard go to march madness the? >> i suspect they will and i think they will win in the first round again. >> so they will win in the first? >> yes. >> and then -- >> i think it will go home at that point. >> want to thank those of you who are watching c-span, c-span, thank you for caring this faceting conversation but i want to thank dan, the amazing events team at politico, thank make of america for making these conversations possible and thank all of you for coming out. dan, thank you for a great

conversation. >> yeah, thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> and as your damn hyper touch on this point, the ap confirms in a story also the obama it was dishing -- dan pfeiffer up against pro-russian a proposed new ukraine government and click away from financial sings as wes begins pushing moscow for refusing to withdraw its troops from ukraine's crimea region. also a portion of the statement issued by the white house says today that the president has signed an executive order that authorized sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for to these undermine democratic processes or institutions in ukraine threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty or territorial integrity of ukraine

contributing to the missile provision of state assets of ukraine or reporting to assert governmental authority over any part of ukraine without authorization from ukraine government in kiev. we will continue to watch this story and bring you updates as they become available. >> when the u.s. senate reconvenes at 9:30 a.m. eastern, the opening prayer will be delivered by the dalai lama. live coverage of the senate issue on c-span2. >> now a briefing on the president's proposed budget for health care. health and human service secretaries, kathleen sebelius and others briefed reporters on tuesday. we were showed as much of this as we can do to our live of the senate at 9:30 eastern. >> good afternoon, everybody.

thank you for joining us here today, and i'm delighted to be joined by our talented and dedicated senior health leadership here at the department of health and human services. you will have an opportunity to talk to them in just a minute but i want to start by just thanking them for the incredible work they do each and every day. now, together we represent tens of thousands of hard-working men and women who are committed to expanding opportunity for millions of americans. as the president has said, if you work hard and take responsibility, you ought to have the opportunity to build a better life for yourself and for your family. this department's mission is critically important to making that idea a reality for folks in every part of our country. the budget we are announcing today is fiscally responsible. on the mandatory side we will contribute a net $359 billion

toward deficit reduction over the next decade. by incentivizing high quality and efficient care, and by continuing to reduce health care costs growth, this budget also strengthens two very important programs, medicare and medicaid, with $450 million in net savings over the next decade. and extends the solvency of hospital insurance trust fund i five years. it will reduce the average annual growth in medicare over the next decade from 6.3% to 5.3%. what's more, by expanding competitive bidding for durable medical equipment, it also produces additional savings for medicare and its beneficiaries alike. now, want to call your attention to a few of the specific investments this budget makes an opportunity, economic growth, and security.

the budget invested to empower americans to live healthier lives and to obtain financial security for their families through the affordable care act. our budget provides resources to continue to support these efforts, including the operations of the marketplace, to help individuals enrolled in the best health insurance coverage options available for themselves and their families. the overall investment of $1.8 billion in the marketplace will allow millions of americans to finally achieve a secure to of health insurance for themselves and their families. something that many have waited years to i can come in, their entire lives. the investment this budget makes an america's committee health centers alone will make a formal health care available to a total of 31 million patients, at 9500 existing sites, and 150 new center sites. for fiscal year 2015, this

investment is $4.6 billion. to further expand opportunity, the budget invests in job creation in a health care workforce initiative. with 14 points $62 billion in mandatory funds over the next 10 years, we'll be able to, among other things, expand the national health service corps to the least 18,000 providers. we will also be able to support 13,000 medical students in three-year residencies, and to extend the medicaid primary care increase through calendar year 2015. the budget makes some critically important investments in our children's health, well being, and development. request $6.1 billion both mandatory and discretionary funds for the child care and development fund, including $200 million which will be dedicated to improving the

quality of that care. the presidency total childcare request enables 1.4 million children to receive assistance. that's 74,000 more children and could be served without additional funding. the budget also addresses the overprescription of psychotropic medications in the foster care population, by funding a joint five year acf a cms demonstration at the state level. in doing so, it allows us to remove what is often a roadblock to opportunity and educational attainment for more than 400,000 vulnerable american children. in addition, there's a $5 million investment in a new initiative that will assist youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they transition from supportive childhood environments into adulthood. this budget makes a number of

credible important investments in behavioral health and substance abuse treatment and prevention. for example, it invest to increase the number of license the april health professionals. professionals and mental health and addiction specialists. and expansion of the national health service corps, we continue to invest in the behavioral health workforce through the president's now is the time and initiative. these investments helped to train approximately 5000 additional mental health professionals and increase the field strength of the national health service corps. in addition, the budget invested $26 million towards the cdc and the samsung work to prevent the prescription drug misuse, abuse and overdoses. the budget invests protect safety and security of patients and taxpayers alike. it includes $59 to expand

prevention efforts in primary care practices, nursing homes and other health care settings. and puts $25 million into elder justice initiatives which are designed to reduce the negative effects of abuse, neglect, exploitation that far too many of our seniors suffer. it invest $428 million in hcfa sea and the medicaid integrity program. both of which are proven to deliver results in fighting fraud. every dollar we invest in hcfac returns $8.10 in the money we recover. we have now announced recovering a record-breaking $4.3 billion. the budget also does some critical important things in the area of biodefense. it invest in funding that will support the development and procurement of medical countermeasures, and as a result, we will be able to

strengthen the neighbors -- the nation's preparedness across a variety of threats. specifically it invest an additional $250 million to support the department of biodefense countermeasures through barda, project bioshield, and pandemic influenza preparedness. it also invests $45 million in cdc's global health security activities, along with $30 million to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant pathogens. we're also investing to protect the safety of our food supplies and our pharmaceutical products. this budget increases our investment in fda food safety by $263 million. and it invest 25 million to expand oversight of pharmacy compounding so we can combat and prevent crises like the fungal meningitis outbreak that occurred in 2012.

now, before we open for questions and answers, i also want to call your attention to a few of the additional hhs related investments that president obama is proposing as part of his governmentwide opportunity, growth, and security initiative, which would be fully paid for by closing various tax loopholes. the presidents initiative calls for greater investment to support early learning opportunities from birth through age three. it proposes increasing our total investment in early head start childcare partnerships by $800 million. that would bring our total investment up to $1.5 billion more importantly, provide more than 100,000 children with access to high quality early education. the opportunity growth and security initiative also proposes an additional $970 million in funding for the

national institutes of health. this investment would support research, discovery and innovation. it would empower scientists and researchers to advance their work towards finding new cures, treatments, vaccines, technologies and other breakthroughs. as another part of the opportunity, growth, and security initiative, the president is requesting $50 million to support the advanced developers of a universal flu vaccine that would be effective against varying strains of flu, including those with pandemic potential. last but not least, the president proposes to invest $200 million in projects on the indian health services construction list. this not only makes a difference in the health and well being of first americans, it will support construction jobs that benefit our overall it economy.

overall, as you can see, taken together, this budget and the opportunity, growth, and security initiative investment at hhs would make important strides in opportunity, economic and security for all americans. i would be pleased to answer a few questions that you may have. [inaudible] neither secretary, could you talk a little bit about the implementation of the affordable care act? are you going to have enough money from user fees and other sources to cover the full cost of this coming year? or we have to seek more money from congress or reprogram existing funds here at a just? could you please give us that overview? >> i think, ricardo, if congress funds the president's budget, which is written to the targets agreed upon by senator murray

and representative ryan, this would fully fund the ongoing implementation of the affordable care act. so we start with that proposal and hope that they indeed will find it. and a lot of the $1.8 billion that we have suggested is the appropriate target for implementation, is covered by user fees. that 1.2 of the $1.8 billion our projected user fee, income for 2015. if congress fails to pass a budget, fails to implant the president's budget, then we will look at varying other sources of funding for the full dental mentation. but we intend to go forward. but as i say, use of these are a significant feature in the budget request.

>> sue darcey, the gray sheet. what percentage of the center budget is user fees this year and is that an increase from last year? >> i'm going to call on walter from fda. >> we have about $61 million over budget -- two lines, that's 61 million small portion of that about 25 million, 20 segment represents devices. [inaudible] >> the lion's share of the funding for that is user fees. we can give you additional information later. i just don't have a ton of detail for you but i know greater comes from user fees spend as long as you are here -- >> excuse me. thank you to you have a chance to talk to the operating divisions in greater detail. i'm going to take a couple of questions and then turned over to them. are there anymore questions for me? yes, sir. >> joly whitacre.

i'd like to ask -- joly whitacre. eliminate duplication or apparent duplication of programs within your various hhs agencies. i'm thinking specifically of an aggressive on-call program that's running in cdc's which seems to me to duplicate efforts that should be being done by sampson or nih are some of the other agencies but i wonder if you could address that our comment at any rate? >> again, i would be happy, dr. freedman is your as well as spam, to talk about the specifics. i can tell you not only at budget time but basically each and every day we look for duplication of effort, ways to streamline efficiencies, ways to lower administrative costs and push more of our resources toward programs that i to benefit the people we serve. our discretionary budget

proposal for 2015 is actually over a billion dollars lower than the discretionary budget for 2014. so again, we were targeting a number that assumed a reduction and redundancies are sorted one of the areas that we look. since cdc doesn't really run a lot of dreck programs, they do more surveillance and stance actually pushes money in block grants, largely to states and localities, it's hard to imagine that those funding streams even if they deal with alcohol, the both of you with alcohol are duplicative, but again i will let the agency directors specifically respond to that. i'm going to turn over the podium now to ellen murray, the assistant secretary for finance is here at hhs, who does a spectacular job and knows this budget inside out. >> thank you, secretary. are there any other questions?

pretty easy. >> just a follow-up, on the tax credits and cost-sharing subsidies. to the costs of those appear in the hhs a budget or o on the in and of the department's budget? >> they would in the department of treasury. >> and to do you know that number speak with i don't offhand. we can get that to you but it would be other budget documents. >> okay, thank you. >> but i have mr. harris up here again? i'm tucker is it a dr. harrison? >> no. regular guy spent i can't help but as because you were on the hill the other day. is there a certain amount of money that fda sets aside for computer surveillance of its potentially whistleblowing employees of? >> to be honest with you i think we take over the curren years ae of inappropriate manner so we can have a proper rollout of the

program itself. we don't receive additional dollars for the. we think we are currently the right not resources to roll our program -- program out as is. that was looking at a set of processes to protect whistleblowers and using the resources we currently have to properly put them out across fda to make sure we're doing the right thing. thing. >> said to have a set money figure for that like a million dollars, a couple million? >> i don't have those details here today. i can tell you we are now reproducing resources in the most appropriate manner to protect those folks. >> immolate with cg but am wondering if you can do a little bit more about the attempts to prevent medicare fraud and particularly making tighter restrictions to make sure people get medicare are legal residents spent i will turn over to marilyn tavenner, if i could. >> i assume you're talking about some of the articles this

morning around the cmd role. back in the '90s, i think was in 1996, there were provisions in place for medicare a and b. to make sure that individuals who were receiving medicare benefits were citizens or residents. what this rule does is it extends that program which is in cooperation with ffa to the cmd platform. it is actually less work that was started about a year ago and follow-up to an oig report. so we are now extending it across all the medicare progra programs. >> as reported in this is part of the budget for this is not a legislative proposal in our fiscal year '15 budget, a rule to clarify existing law. any other questions? >> i have to wait for these people to tell me.

>> georgina from cq roll call. i wanted to talk about the application of fisma and the user fees that are included in this proposal? how is fisma going to be implemented? congress doesn't seem to have had much of an appetite. >> well, i'm going to turn this over to walter, but we requested additional 25 million in budget authority for food said activity and also user fees where proposed for the years passed and we hope to work with congress to get those enacted but walter, you want to add anything? >> of the 263, 239 will go towards fisma. about 24 million will go to our be a life. were taken is this approach to measure the fisma program is rolled up. you asked me if that is enough. no, we think there's more that the come down the line but for now we think this is enough to have us start the program, roll it out. we are looking for two

additional conversations in the future to make sure we can properly support the program. >> hi. i'm jennifer from "the wall street journal" but i was wondering if someone t could go into more detail on the $1.8 billion for the marketplace. i've seen that technology but it doesn't include grants to states. could you provide -- >> it would include all the hhs, cms costs for administration of the federally facilitated marketplaces, not only i.t. but also assistance, call centers, outreach, premium plan support. it would be offset by an estimated $1.2 billion in user fees in fiscal '15. marilyn, to want to add to that? >> i had a question for francis collins.

the money issue, what is a? is a more or isn't less than last year of? >> so, there is in the budget and increase for what's called the acceleration network which has now been boosted up to 30 million in this budget. this is a part of an cat allows us to tackle some of the most challenging and vexing problems in terms of obstacles in the drug development pathway. our advisory board which is constituted by remarkable group of academics from small business and from big pharma have already generated a substantial list that would will exceed the dollars that are proposed here. so we have a lot of exciting ideas about how to use that money. this is an opportunity in a very bold, innovative proactive way to try to tackle some of those obstacles that still make it far too slow and t too failure prone to develop drugs and devices,

despite the remarkable advances in basic science. so we are pleased and excited to have that additional boost. >> any other questions? spent yes. i had a question for dr. collins. i was wondering about what was touted in the president's request as a sort of dark or light initiative. is this an increase to the high risk high reward, or is this a new program? is that entirely out of this opportunity growth and sustainability initiative or will it come out of other nih budget? >> let me explain. this is out of the budget which is within the ryan-murray envelope, $30 million to utilize within our common fund to tackle projects which would be particularly appropriate for the darpa model where you have a project manager who identifies a bold, innovative strategy to tackle a really important problem. and then has the freedom to go

out and recruit those who might contribute to it. small companies, individual academics. put this together into a team but not sort of taking the maybe sometimes year or two that it might, to go through the usual grant solicitation and award and not always getting exactly the team he hoped for. so this puts the project manager in a much stronger position to scope this whole enterprise. and for darpa that's been pretty successful model with things like gps and internet and a few other things that turned out pretty well. we are very pleased to be able to have the authority in the $39 to tackle projects of that sort. one that we're thinking about which has just begun to emerge as a really exciting scientific opportunity is the notion that one might be able to design technologies that could both record and send signals to the peripheral nervous system that would allow you to modulate the immune system, the body's blood

pressure to deal with pain issues. there is a real exciting opportunity here. this is somewhat different than the brain initiative which is focused on the central nervous system. this so-called electrosurgical's initiative aims to look at the peripheral nervous system and figure out ways that we might be able to modulate that. it's a great opportunity bring together people who know something about physiology, about engineering, about neuroscience. imagine, for instance, if you are able to actually record and stimulate the carotid body which -- >> we are going to leave this briefing at this point to go live to the u.s. senate. a quick reminder with president obama's budget and related briefings and hearings available for you to check out anytime online at c-span.org. the senate about the government to begin that day. three executive nominations on the agenda with a vote expected later this morning. this afternoon lawmakers will consider military sexual assault bills.

votes are expected this afternoon. and now to the senate floor and today's opening prayer given by the dalai lama, live on c-span2.

the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the opening prayer will be offered by his holiness, the dalai lama.

his holiness, the dalai lama: firstly, as usual, i am buddhist monk, so pray to buddha and all other gods.

[speaking in foreign tongue] the first sentence i'll read. now my broken english. the pronunciation may not be correct, at least not american pronunciation. with our thoughts, we make our world. our mind is central and precedes our deeds. speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you like a shadow that never leaves.

the second sentence: [speaking in foreign tongue] may there be joy in the world with harvest and spiritual rest. may every good fortune come to be and may all our wishes be fulfilled. [speaking in foreign tongue] this is my favorite prayer. daily i pray this. that gives me inner strength. so i am asking to serve humanity. as long as space remains and as

long as beings remain, until then may i, too, remain and help dispel the misery of the world. thank you. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. mr. reid: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: it's my pleasure to welcome to the united states senate his holiness, the 14th

dalai lama. i know i speak for the entire senate family when i express our gratitude for the prayer to open the senate and his words of encouragement and his blessing. his holiness, the dalai lama, is well-known throughout the world as a spiritual leader of the tibetian people and for spreading the gospel of peace and compassion and love of our fellow human beings. but it is a tradition when the united states senate welcomes a guest chaplain to say a few words about the honored guest. my friendship with his holiness has roots from a good man from california by the name of richard blum who has done more to, in my opinion, help the tibetan people and his holiness than anyone else. his holiness often says that he's only a simple monk, born to

a farming family in northeastern tibet. but to millions of people in tibet and across the globe he is much more. he is a source of hope and inspiration in a world that can sometimes seem very dark. and i he was only two years old when he was recognized as reincarnation of the 13th dalai lama. four years later when he was just a little boy he gone his montana n.a.s. stick education and studied logic, art, tibetan culture, among many other things. at age 23 he passed his awards with honors. and was awarded a ph.d. in buddhist philosophy. he has been traveling the world raising awareness about the concerns of 6 million fellow tibetance, as he would say "making new friends around the world."

in tibetan buddhist philosophy, the dalai lama -- all of them -- are enlightened beings who have proposed -- postponed their own nirvana or liberation from the cycle of reincarnation in order to serve humanity. this particular enlightened human being has chosen to spread a message of peace. he motivates countless people around the world people of every faith practice compassion toward one another. his holiness urges us all to be kind. and these are his words, "being kind whenever possible." and he says it is ole always possible. the dalai lama's teachings contain lessons for people around the world and certainly within this chamber. he also advises us, "the best way to resolve any problem in the human world is for all sides to sit down and talk."

pretty simple but very true. it's advice that those off us fortunate enough to serve our country and constituents in the senate should take heart and follow. the presence of his holiness in this chamber today inspires me, as i hope it does all of us, to renew our commitment to speak and act with pure mind to help dispel the misery of the world. mr. president, i now move to proceed to calendar number 309. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 1086, a bill to reauthorize and improve the child care development block grant act. mr. reid: the senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:30 with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority the final half. following that morning business, the senate will proceed to executive session. at 11:20, there will be up to three roll call votes on executive nominations.

following that, there will be two hours of debate on the military sexual assault bills. bat 2:00 p.m. there will be a series of roll call votes in relation to the military sexual assaults. we also expect to consider additional executive nominations which may require votes later today. mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask consent to be able to continue as in morning business for about three minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i feel honored to be a member of the united states senate and be president pro tempore, but i can't think of any greater honor than this morning when i was able to introduce to the senate an old and dear friend, his holiness, the dalai lama. marcel and i have been friends of his holiness for decades, and we count that as a great treasure, just as i saw senator feinstein earlier on the floor,

another longtime friend with his husband of his holiness. mr. president, i have watched him for so many years, his representation of the tibetan people. es a joined on the floor by another buddhist, senator hirono of hawaii, and the gracious comments of senator reid reflect how people feel about him. i think of how the faith of his people are moved and i've told his holiness this story. when i walked through the streets of lasa, tibet, years ago, a man holding a small child saw me, pointed to my camera and held up a picture of his holiness. he was risking being imprisoned for having that, but he insisted

i take this picture. i did. i've given that photograph to his holiness, and i've told him the story that when we asked the man, why did he risk prison to show the picture of his holiness? he said, because people have to know. the world has to know the great faith of the tibetan people. and their longing for the autonomy they deserve to practice their faith. fortunately, they have, as a symbol of that faith, the dalai lama, a nobel peace prize recipient, a man who touches everybody's conscience. he touches this catholic every time i see him. it goes beyond whatever faith you are. he is a gift to the world, and i am so honored to have been able to introduce him here today. mr. president, i yield the floor

and suggest -- mr. reid: no, mr. president, hold that. mr. leahy: mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: with his holiness in the chamber, there are a number of senators who would like to say hello to him, so based on that i ask that the senate go into a quorum call until we -- we'll recess subject to the call of the chair. i ask consent to do that. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will recess subject to

wheat for the senate to resume session we will take you to earlier today to a -- earlier this week a budget briefing with the defense department. >> good afternoon, everybody, thank you for coming. in a moment you will hear from three senior leaders who spent a great deal of time and effort

preparing fiscal year 2015 budget and the 2014 quadrennial defense review. undersecretary of defense and comptroller bob hale who you know very well want to remind you at the end of this, mr. hale would like a couple minutes with you after the briefing is over. the deputy undersecretary of defense, christine willmouth and director of structure resources and assessment lieutenant general mark ramsey. following their briefings leaders from the army, navy, air force and missile defense agency will provide further information on their respective elements of the larger budget. >> we will be this briefing and go back live to the senate floor for today's session. up to ten minutes each. with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the first half. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent following action on

s. 1917 the senate proceed to executive session to consider the nominations numbered 504, 513, 640 and 547, that the senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations listed and there be two minutes of debate prior to each vote equally divided in the usual form and the votes be ten minutes in length and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table without intervening action or debate, that the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to talk about two very important issues for the country, and particularly for the people -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. vitter: excuse me, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to end the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. i now rise to talk about two really important issues for the country and for louisiana. flood insurance, fixing the national flood insurance program, getting it right. and the good news is i think we're well on a path to doing that effectively. and veterans medical clinics, including several clinics, two

of which are in louisiana that have been held up for completely bureaucratic reasons, aren't moving forward as they need to to serve the veterans in lafayette, in lake charles in louisiana and in about 25 other locations around the country. first of all, flood insurance. mr. president, just a couple of days ago the house passed by a huge margin, over 300 votes, a strong bill to permanently fix the national flood insurance program, those aspects of the so-called biggert-waters act passed over a year ago that are unworkable, that are clearly creating real problems on the ground. this is great news, mr. president, because unless we fix those very real problems, we would have major problems on our hands in the national flood insurance program not just in louisiana, not just in florida,

not just in the super storm sandy area, but in every state in the country. every state. it's not a question of if these issues are coming to your state. it's just a question of when and exactly to what extent. now over a year ago we passed the biggert-waters act, and that is an important reauthorization of the national flood insurance program. and it also included reforms, and many of those reforms needed to happen to stabilize the financing of the program. what no one understood adequately then, however, is that those well-intended reforms in practice, in implementation by fema would lead to unsustainable, completely unaffordable rate increases in a significant number of cases. that only began to be understood in the months after the bill was

passed as fema started to implement it and as fema came to homeowners, came to state authorities, came to members of congress and began to lay out some of the rates that we would see in certain areas. mr. president, i'm not talking about modest rate increases. we need many modest rate increases to stabilize the financing of the program. i'm talking about completely unaffordable rate increases in some cases. flood insurance rates going from $300 a year to $11,000 a year or $19,000 a year or $26,000 a year. on a modest middle-class home, on a middle-class family that followed the rules every step of the way. we can't allow that to stand. first of all, it's fundamentally unfair. as i said, these middle-class

families followed the rules every step of the way, built to the right elevation when they built their homes. never let their premiums lapse. never let their insurance lapse. and in that context, for them to be hit with truly unaffordable rate increases, increases that could literally cause them to have to walk away from their home in some significant number of cases, not be able to afford to stay there, that's just plain wrong. secondly, mr. president, it's completely counter productive because one of the ways we stabilize the national flood insurance program fiscally is to grow the program, to have more folks paying premiums, to have more folks covered. not fewer. and so, this aspect of biggert-waters which would lead to truly unaffordable rate

increases in a significant number of cases is unworkable from the very vantage point of the goal of biggert-waters to stabilize the system. so we can't let that stand for that reason either. the good news is because of those very real problems, both the senate and now the house have come together in a major bipartisan way to fix the issue. the senate acted about a month ago passing meaningful legislation. i was an original coauthor. i was a strong supporter. as i said a few minutes ago, the house acted two nights ago, mardi gras night in louisiana terms, to take strong action to fix this program. now the house bill is stronger and more significant in several respects. mostly because the reforms in the house bill are permanent. it's not a time-out as the

senate bill was. it is a permanent fix that creates a much higher degree of certainty and permanence immediately. also the house bill is fully paid for with a modest premium increase on everybody's premiums. very, very modest, completely affordable to make sure that all of these changes are paid for. because of these aspects of the house bill, because of the permanent nature of the fix, the fact that we create certainty and predictability immediately moving forward for homeowners and for real estate markets, i think it's actually the preferable approach. and so i would urge all of us in the senate to take that bill up at the soonest possible moment. and specifically, i would urge the distinguished majority leader to put that on the floor, to create time on the floor that

we can deal with the house bill absolutely as soon as possible. i know there will be some attempt to obtain unanimous consent to pass the house bill immediately. of course i will consent. i'm all for that. but realistically, i don't think that's going to happen on the senate floor. the senate bill had some objectors. the senate bill had some opponents. and so does the house bill. so realistically i would urge the majority leader to create the time on the senate floor to take this up and move through the process absolutely as quickly and as expeditiously as possible. that's the way it's actually going to work, and that's the way it's actually going to happen. and i hope we can do that as early as next week. i would strongly, strongly support our taking this up on the senate floor as early as next week. mr. president, the second

napolitano and louisiana issue -- the second national and louisiana issue i want to discuss has to do with veterans and veterans health care which we've been talking about on the senate floor for some time now. specifically, the need to move forward with 27 fully approved, fully authorized v.a. community-based clinics that have been stalled because of bureaucratic problems. now these -- again, these clinics are around the country. two are in louisiana, one in lafayette, one in lake charles. these clinics have been approved by the v.a., have been in their plan for some time. they are fully authorized. we thought they were fully paid for until, first, the v.a. made some bureaucratic mistakes to delay the lake charles and lafayette clinics in particular, and then out of the blue the c.b.o. changed wait they score

all of these clinics and all of these issues and created another bureaucratic hurdle. mr. president, again the good news is we came together in a bipartisan way and have a solution to those purely bureaucratic hurdles so that all of these clinics can move forward expeditiously. the house specifically passed a bill that would do that, that would take care of these bureaucratic hurdles. they passed it on the consent calendar by a whopping bipartisan margin. and so i come to the floor, mr. president, urging all of us to do the same. specifically, i have an amendment to the bill that also makes it even more fiscally sustainable by having a pay-for for any conceivable cost to this bill, and that is what my amendment would do. now, this