>> they want to have those groups in charge of public order in their community. so it is troubling that we don't seem more support for the police and courts, and it is perturbing because as the national academy of sciences quite correctly says, we have seen amazing gains in the quality of policing services of america, effectiveness in fighting crime, professionalism and other ways. so let's look at refocusing on the issues of right now. and i certainly don't mean this to be a criticism because i think actually a refocus would be going back to what i understand to be some of the core ideas that are in the original theory. in particular, if the police are

going to gain support from the public by addressing public needs, we have to recognize that, perhaps, the public concern, the needs are different now than they were in earlier eras were there was of focus on fear of crime. in fact, it's a good time to reconsider the public relationship to the police because crime is low, as we are all in acknowledging. and fear is not driving the public reactions to the police, to a community the way that it is later. whelp, what are the community's concerns? here again we have a number of studies that have been done over the last 15 or 20 years that are very complex set in finding a common set of concerns for both white and minority community residents to my concerns that are reflected in general surveys of the community and also in interviews with people who have dealt with the police were gone to court.

actually, it was interesting. with the attorney general, the bigger attorney general, holder, said that to the department of justice has just put a lot of resources behind procedural justice initiatives. that is actually based upon research on what people look for when they deal with the police. they look for fair treatment, something that we call procedural justice. the most important issue to people was weather and not they feel that they had received for treatment when they deal with a police officer or a judge, evaluate police forces or courts, ask if they generally provide people with fair treatment. fair treatment means that people did decisions made fairly, that they are listened to. before decisions are made they have a voice, that they can see that the authorities are neutral, that they are following principles of law, being consistent but they feel that there status in the community is

respected, are accorded the respect that they deserve and they deal with the police, not treated in a biased way, not insulted, not -- their recognized that people are entitled to bring their concerns, to have issues that they can address, legal authorities. and they trust that the motives of the police are sincere, benevolent, and caring for, that they're trying to do what is right for all the people in the community, trying to take people's concerns seriously. elements of feelings. again, i would say the main point is at this time in history this is what dominates the public reactions to the police and the courts. so we know, we have a sense for whether this is the public might want and what it might find to be lacking internal policing. when we put it that way, we can see why the public might be

having trouble with current policing efforts. because the police are not focusing on those public concerns. they are not addressing those issues. they are continuing to focus on crime reduction and in particular violent crime reduction as the primary issue that drives the way they're interacting with the public. this has been associated with policies like zero tolerance, stop, question, and frisk, and it is not being responsive to what the public is really concerned about, which is why we are seeing these manifestations of public discontent. what is the effect, for example, on young man of being stopped by the police on the streets? we have research on that in new york city. the police are viewed as less legitimate. crime goes up because legitimacy is an important factor in criminal behavior. willingness to cooperate with the police goes down so that the

way in which people are experiencing dealing with the police is actually having the effect of increasing tendencies and behavior. and in particular there are constant complaints about harassment and intimidation. during these stops factors that are really separate from other these kinds of activities have some reasonable crime reduction contents or effectiveness. my point to you would be that really this is not broken windows. in fact, what we really should be looking for is a return to the ideas trying to build the trust and respect of the community through policing activities and focusing on what it is the public says they want as a way to do that. i just will conclude by saying that, i think, jimmy, one of the parts about the broken windows

modeled that is really central to its original presentation about how it has gotten lost over the years is the connection to the community. the original discussion, the point or that people were leaving communities because of fear of crime. and if the police could create a reassuring presence in those communities they could support social and economic development. since that time we have recognized even more the centrality of economic and social development, the community well-being, and we now have a lot of research that suggests that the police are really important in motivating the creation of social capitol, economic activity, political activity, but the point is that it is a reassuring presence of the police that promotes those activities, the belief on the part of the public that the

police are trustworthy, that there are a legitimate force in the community. and those kinds of feelings are needed even more now than ever to try to build economic and social maturity in communities. so i will just finish by saying, i think it is a great moment to think about going back to the original ideas. we have a low crime rate. the police can focus on being and not a menacing presence but a reassuring presence and on the task of building economic and social well-being because, as the police themselves they're all the time, you cannot arrest your way out of crime. you need to promote the conditions that eliminate the need for crime. thank you. [applause] >> if anyone has any doubts, you have to take a look at what times were looked like in 1993 and take a look at what it looks

like now in new york city. the try and buy a townhouse in harlem right now. you can't do that on a prosecutor salary. i just want to know that when you talk about crime reduction, as the prosecutors. >> you're absolutely right. >> next we have achieved by tracy. we heard about some of the academic theories and how the studies of these two gentlemen have been put into place. now we have regimen who has actually had to work with these theories and put them into place in two major cities in our country, new york city and chicago. this is chief bob tracy. >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> thanks. it is great to see you again. we have not seen each other for about eight years now. i am a big fan of george and tom

we put some of these into practice in chicago and new york city. as the district attorney said, he saw my biography, went to the private sector for some additional money, but having five children right now at ages seven and 16, so they are still young. i was drew out to the private sector to love my wife stay home with the children when assumption of the camelot. superintendent mccarthy when he was appointed, head of the chicago police department gave me a call and said, would you come to chicago? i look to my wife. she said, know what you're calling his. we will make it work. so the house in new york, bought a house in chicago. my wife says to my don't care where your next move is, we are staying in chicago. you can commute back and forth. so i have to do the best that i can in the position i am. our children are growing france.

so i am fully vested. it is in my best interest to continue. but i am just going to go back to my years in nypd. i was very fortunate. i was a police officer in the 1980's. a young sergeant in the late 80's into the 90's. the subways and the crime and the fare evasion, two different police departments, the transit police department and the new york city police department. we started to see great things happen with chief william bratton who took over the transit police at the time. what happened, in the subways in dramatic decrease in crime by applying these measures of going after the little things which was very evasion. most of these individuals were off-duty correction or they were actually someone is committing crime. and that crime, they were the gatekeepers in the subway.

that helped reduce crime to where it yesterday. chief jackson will probably get into that later, but it is a dramatic change in addressing the smaller things to take care of the bigger things. and at the same time i was mostly in those violent crime units going after mostly the violent crimes among the heavy hitters and the people that were wanted mostly for murders and shootings throughout most of my career in new york city, but my time and fugitives, when bill bratton came along as we were addressing the quality of life crimes these people were getting what was called see summonses. notices of violations to appear in court. at the time might units were going after the robbers, burglars, and murderers. they had set to mow were going to start going after the people that do not answer summonses.

we started looking at them, and most of them, back to what you were saying, most of these people, yes, they were doing low-level crimes or quality of life crimes but they had extended records of violence. at the same time we address that . affecting the quality of life and getting the bang for the bachmann. putting them back into the system or possibly. so that was a big change. i had thought of the same time, what is this going to do? we after the bad guys. it really change the way that we started thinking in the police department in seeing crime go down. so i am a big subscriber to it. and have seen the results, and i was fortunate enough to be in the police department in years. i have watched the city for 22 wonder murders come down to almost 400.

>> i don't like to talk about that number. believe me. we hear it all the time. so that it -- that is where it has come from. i used to see -- and that one time the chief was a commander is in the 23%, had worked in the 34 precinct which was in washington heights. when i was a sergeant was there for seven years. within that three marius' we allow hundred and 20 murders. i went to community meetings. the focus in the community was not what we were doing about the violence or the quality of life. that really resonated with me. almost 45 years ago. so i'm going to fast forward on the unique position. i got the joe lifetime to follow a gentleman i believe in, gary mccarthy and come to another big police departments. and an opportunity to try some

of the theories of the gentlemen that are appear. and we introduced one thing that we had to do, we looked at the chicago police department. it was not set up to support and deliver the services that we wanted to reduce crime and to address the quality of life and gain the trust of the community. so we had to do when we first came to chicago, we put in place the business management principles. it is management tool is huge, and it is not just about metrics of outputs. we want to look at it about outcomes. and these outcomes is whereat as far as what we're doing right down to the quality of life in conjunction with reducing crime. we were up against some challenges. the chicago police department, when you walk to the door, over

politicize and over specialized. so over politicization. the cook county state's attorney's office, probably back me up with the politics and the can down. what mayor ron emanuel did was give superintendent mccarthy the support and the cover to run the police department without politicians and floods of food the next leaders going to be. so we had to do is find the right leaders, built the bench, and promote the right people. not to say some of these people that were put in by the council members' choices, i think, set them of because they were not ready for the positions that they had. flan of the organization. because of politics as the superintendent went on to say, the organization in charge of the chicago police department. so there were things. we streamlined it, funded, eliminated three ranks because

we wanted the message to get from superintendent and the chiefs right down to the troops on the ground. too many layers in place and they were all political positions. and also if we combined units and put them in the right place to break down the silos and the police department. overspecialization. the chicago police department, the idea of reducing crime, they did a very good job of it prior to our administration coming in. but they have city-wide units. and these city-wide units moved all over the city, did not know the community and were flown in any time there was any type of violence. so they stay for three weeks to occupy the area, as the community off, and that left. who is left to deal with this? the people who are in those districts in needed the support to begin with. we disbanded the specialized units and put them back into their districts, precincts, new

york district scum put them back into the districts. because the system, one of the things, i think everybody knows, finally enacted in telesis to cementum of rapid deployment that is synchronized to focus tactics and strategies and aggressive follow-up assessment. if we're going to hold our commander accountable for the crime that is happening in their districts, driving down the accountability, and they don't have the resources to deal with in the ground level and have to wait to get specialized units, how can we hold them accountable and how they get in touch with the community? we bring most of the people back in, and then the argument was, you put them in districts. these officers, you know, you're not going to have the officers going out to rescue bad guys. if you put them in districts is it going to change that type of officer? is going to do the same thing in the same area. and that brings us back to

geographic integrity. you have to have the same officer in the same area working all the time. if you have different people working in a district called the officers that are not staying on their beat him howdy know the community, rowdier know who the good kids and the bad kids are? the biggest complaint, they are just driving by the bad guys. you are driving by the gang bangers and not during anything about it. if you don't know your community you're not the same person in there all the time and you're not going to know. jimmy jones, johnny smith. you don't know the kids coming from practice as opposed to the kids that are out there gangbang in trying to sell drugs. the gangbangers even dress nasser because they have the economics to mine eyes closed. you have to get the same officers and the same be every day. but we also do is when it comes to some of our specialized

units, narcotics, we want to make sure they are in the same areas. they want to a buyer. we want to make sure they stay in the area, work the same area and then we take the strike dealers off the street. we take the drug dealers off the street, one of our strategies is now planned police officers in that area, build organizations, hold an area, let them have some confidence that we will be there for them and at the same time once we can start slowly pulling out when the next person comes by to buy drugs is meant by a cop and not a drug dealer. block by block by block and then end use of city services, clean up, cut the trees, clean up the vacant lots. we take things, people have experiences because of the foreclosures and forfeitures of

housing, they are becoming prime nests. we are ensuring that when we take them down we get the trust of the community and do what we say we're going to do. we hold that ground and make short periods of that is a different way of doing strategy with narcotics unit. a return to community policing. we discussed it. make sure that we have the people there. how we do this, at the same time when we make sure the officers are in the district and have more resources, the proactive. we also probably have more calls for service than any other big police department in the nation. the superintendent made a policy decision to take 20 percent of those out of a cue to allow more officers to handle the jobs that we need to and handle the conditions. we went on a public campaign to

let them know what we are doing. my dog is lost. we have alternative services for that and have moved a lot of those jobs over and educating the community. you just don't pull the plug because that could work against you. at the same time we want to make sure that officers have the time to deal with the conditions that the community needed to be addressed. >> also, we also do a lot of things that the other police departments to. we have hot spot policing, but we also have on people policing. we took a look at the social network analysis. we were able to work with the illinois institute of technology and identified the players that are out there through their associates, some of the worst or most violent people in the community.

the people that associated with them through arrest records sometimes are not the most violent people but are most prone to be a victim. so we actually go back into the community, address them, bring them, following david kennedy's model of violence reduction strategy, cease-fire we bring our gang members and. the thing we have our weather had as leverage. what we do with these individuals is we don't -- excuse me. we don't threaten them. it is not tough love, not scared straight. we tell them exactly what we're going to do.

the influences in your community. because of that we're asking you to go back and put the guns down and stop the violence. the cook county state attorney's office, the u.s. attorney, fbi, dea, atf. if we speak to them as a police department and tell them, if you do not heed our warnings within the city of chicago there are 59 million gain speed out of that the 650 factions, 100,000 gang members. so we can get to the mall. if you want to stick your hand up and we give you one cannot we will pick you. all of our federal and state resources to try to eliminate your game and will do whatever's possible. we let them know that. we speak to them about social service, take away the excuse. if you don't have your ged or you needed job we have people from not for profits who will put you at the top of the list.

high-school diploma. takes away that excuse. the third part, doing, we are in a moral voice of the community. that person is someone who has lost a son or daughter to violence or someone that has rehabilitated themselves, paralyzed or come out of jail and speak to them and really connect to that. we are starting to get a really good groundswell of these gang members signing up for social services as we continue to do this and find a reduction will we find in the areas that we're doing, crime has gone down in those areas for a short time. it is about to come back out. we are never going to get away from our deployment strategies, but these are things that are helping us connect with the community. we are actually out there to try

to help them. from this, this thing called notifications, this is where we pick gang members out, people of influence and go to their houses and speak to the family and with them. and some models, the mother, whoever is there, some of them don't even know how influential they are. we speak with them. we have probably done about 140 customer notifications, had -- no one has been arrested for violent crime in the last six months, we did have two people that have been shot and killed. we know that we have the right people. because of this program they're staying away from the violence. to did not. what was done with the custom modifications on top of it, we don't wait any more. if there is some kind of conflict going on in the

community we go right to the people using to degrees of association. and we go to their houses and me with these gang members immediately and tell them to put down the gun, stop the violence. cook county state's attorney's office helps to my gives them the warning. we're not here to arrest you. one naphtha last things that we looked at or one of the things that we are going to look at, at implementing things slowly. a big organizational change. twenty-first look. 500 people and put them on the street. inside administrative jobs.

we'll have the duplication of efforts. this is huge. tom and tracy came in and helped us with the chicago police department. one of the few departments and the largest police departments that has training. we've trained almost 12,500 police officers. there will be a part two. we feel strongly if this is making a difference. and i don't think it is so much the older police officers. they have an understanding of what works and what does not. this gets to our younger officers. show them the importance that it is not some much what you're doing or how you're doing it. in return that is going to give us better cooperation and better partnership which will help us have less lawsuits, held cooperation, more witnesses, and our clearance rates right now have skyrocketed since we have been there.

and i really believe it is a combination of everything we're doing. procedural justice is a big part of understanding the officers. right now we're coming to see how we're doing and training the trainers. when it comes -- >> one minute. just the last thing, quality of life enforcement. one of the things that we have in chicago is a civil court summonses that address public urination, gambling, public drinking of alcohol in the streets and low levels of marijuana. with that 70 percent of these summonses went unanswered. how do you address the community concerns and keep police officers on the street when they know they give out a summons that a guy could take control

over is back. we are able to lobby the city council with the city ordinance to make it as some of the bull fence if they do not appear. so they help correct behavior. and we addressed some of the bad guys being off to the crux. panera out there drinking, gambling, that is a recipe for disaster. we have seen a lot of gun violence. >> once this event in its entirety. we leave it now has this and has returned to session live on c-span2. mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the sphror tennessee. mr. alexander: on behalf of the distinguished senator from the distinguished senator from >> mr. president, on behalf of the listing was senator from, illinois and mnar. durbin enzi,r from north dakota, senator heitkamp, be permitted to engage in a colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you,

mr. president. mr. president, the colloquy is for the purpose of marking an important day in this body, the united states senate, because it was on this day one year ago that the senate overwhelmingly passed the marketplace fairness act. we did this by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. 69 senators, including about half of our republican caucus, 21 republicans, supported an 11-page bill, a rarity in this body, that is about just two words, and the words are "states' rights." the marketplace fairness act, simply described, gives states the right to decide for themselves whether to collect or not collect state sales taxes that are already owed. this the ability to collect

taxes that are already owed would give states the option to reduce existing taxes or to avoid a new tax or to pay for services without raising taxes. the marketplace fairness act closes a tax loophole that prefers some businesses over other businesses and some taxpayers over other taxpayers. out-of-state businesses are being subsidized because they don't have to collect sales taxes, taxes that are owed, and local businesses do. as a result, some taxpayers are being subsidized because some pay sales taxes and others do not, even though they may owe the taxes. that is not right, and it's not fair. and this legislation which passed the ar senate one year ao gives states the option of diedingdied-- the application o-

the option of trying to change that u one option is to collect state sales taxes from everyone who owes the tax, not just from some of the people. we have an honor roll of conservatives, mr. president, who do not think states ought to have to play mother-may-i with the federal government on this question. for example, the chairman of the american conservative union, art laffer, president reagan's favorite economist, chart krauthammer, governor mike pinske, governor chris christie, governor jeb bush, former governor mitch daniels and the late-william f. buckley, not to mention governor bill haslem of the state of tennessee -- giving state legislatures the power -- or, i would say recognizing the power of state legislatures to make these decisions for themselves is consistent with

the tenth amendment and our constitutional framework. in our state of tennessee, the marketplace fairness act is anssurance policy against a -- an insurance policy against a state income tax. we don't have a state income tax, and we don't want a state income tax. now, mr. president, the house of representatives has not yet acted on this bill. the bill that was passed a year ago today by the united states senate with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. we are hopeful the house soon will either enact our bill, which we've sent to them, or send us their version of the bill so we can confer and send a result to the president of the united states. state and local governments have been waiting on congress to solve this problem for more than 20 years, since 1992, when the supreme court said that congress has the ultimate power to resolve the issue -- to resolve the issue. now is the time to act on this legislation. we're ready to work with the

thous enact that legislation -- with the house to enact that legislation this year. in conclusion, let me just read the comments of al cardin, former chairman of the florida republican party. this is what mr. cardness said about the marketplace fairness afnlgt "when it comes to state sales taxes, it is time to address the area where federally mandated prejudice is most egregious. the policy toward internet sales,ed decades' old inequity between online and in-person sales is outdated and unfair." he is chairman of the american conservative union in support of the marketplace fairness act. i'm pleased that of the four senators who will be on the floor during this colloquy, two already are here. i see the senator from south dakota and i see the senator from wyoming. if it's all right with the senator from wyoming, i'll defer to the senator from north

dakota. and while she may be a little modest about this -- i hope she's not -- she actually started it all. she has a better view of the marketplace fairness act than just about anyone because of her service in the state government of north dakota, and her ability to explain in plain, simple language why the fair and the right thing to do is to recognize the right of states to make these decisions for themselves, her ability to do that has been a crucial part of our debate. it is one reason we had such overwhelming, bipartisan support in the united states senate. ms. heitcamp: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. ms. heitcamp: thank you. first off, i want to say what an honor it's been for me to participate in any amount of leadership on this issue on the floor of the senate with such incredible leaders as senator alexander and senator enzi and senator durbin, who have long recognized the injustice that is

being done to mai main street businesses, the pro bs that we have in terms of states' rights making sure that we maintain a system that recognizes the value of states' rights, the value of a state prerogative to make their own taxing decision without interference from the federal government. as senator alexander has explained, when i first came to this body, senator durbin had suggested to his staff that they try and find out where i would be on this issue because my predecessor, senator dorgan, had been very active with this coalition of leaders on addressing this problem, and his staff suggested that he might want to read the caption on the quill case since there was a name "heidi heitkamp" this that caption. the relate city that back in the late-1980's, beginning 1980's --

1990's, we saw this phenomenon of increased catalog sales. and i don't mean sears bus more and more boutique kinds of catalogs, more and more competition coming from catalogs, and more and more main street businesses coming to me as the tax commissioner saying, how is this fair? how is this fair that i started my little business, whether it was a wallpaper business or whether it was a fabric business, whatever it was, people come to my store and look at my sample books that i actually have to pay for. they come to my store and test out of quality of the fabric, tea takthey take a lot number ay leave and they order it on the catalog. you know, that was a pretty horrible thing to happen to main street business back in the late-1980's. now can you imagine walking into a main street birks not only giving the advice of the sales folks there, not only listening

to how the product operates and what the warranties were and all that training that these main street businesses have given their employees, but then to have a snapshot taken of a bar code only to have it ordered on the internet right there in the store. how discouraging -- how discouraging to main street businesses. how unfair to main street businesses. when they're asked to support their communities, when they're asked to put the ad in the school newspaper, the little high school newspaper, or contribute to a football billboard or contribute to the local fire department so that they could provide fire service. when you think of all the things that main street businesses do, they're not just involved in retail, they're involved in communities. yet those main street businesses are asking for not an unfair advantage; they're asking for fairness. they're asking for equity.

they're asking that when sales tax rates have gone up 8%, 9% because the base dwindles, so you have to raise the rate in order to collect the same kind of money, and they are being basically taxed out of the marketplace through this unfair advantage that remote sellers have against them by not having the obligation to collect a tax that honestly is already owed. i want to reiterate a couple points that senator alexander was making because i think it is so important because one of the arguments you hear consistently about marketplace fairness is that it is a federal imposition of a tax. nothing could be further from the truth. this is a tax that's already owed. this is a tax that is owed to the states. it is owed by the people who make these purchases, a sales and use tax. and we are doing nothing more than telling every state, if you want to pursue main street

fairness, you have a path forward. if a state didn't want to tax remote sellers, didn't want to put a collection responsibility on remote sellers, there is nothing in this bill that requires that they do that. this is a states' rights bill, but it also is a fairness to main street business bill. it is a bill that would make sure that the promise of an equitable tax system in this country was fulfilled. the promise that if you played by the rules, do everything the way you should as a business, that no one is going to get an advantage over you, and we're going to level the playing field. there is no level playing field when somebody has a 10 -- a 10% advantage over you simply because you actually invested in the community, put up bricks and mortar, trained a sales force, but yet you're going to be the disadvantaged one.

you know, when we started this a year ago, we had -- we were joined by all manner of retailers. but i'll never forget the story of the young woman, had a dream, loves animals, loves pets. had trained heard self in pet nutrition, had opened a pet nutrition store in missouri, and she had -- or it might have been kansas oar missouri, because it was the kansas city eamplet and i-- it was the kansas city eamplet and in her community, when you combined the state and loafl tanches the tax rate was 9%. people would come to her store and explain the ailment or condition of their pets and her very excellent sales staff would say, we think ought to buy this product. this is best for your cat or dog. she knew when they walked out, they simply ordered it on the internet because she couldn't give them a 10% discount. that's what happened in her business. and when we asked her -- because we said, okay, you have a small internet business.

you know, we have $1 million that you would have to collect, too. you know what she said? "i would be so happy to collect a sales tax if i had a million dollars in internet seas. that would mean i was wing." you tbhi this and you think about the number of moms and pops. just a couple of myth-breaking things that this is going to affect really small business. this is not going to have any effect at all on any business if you pass the bill we passed that has gross sales below $1 million. so we've got a threshold. the other thing is you're going to be subjected to millions of audits and millions of tax rates. the streamlined process has proven over and over again that this is not higher math. we can get this done. and if you indulge me, i want to tell a story about when we did the original quill case. it got a lot of national attention, a lot of discussion about this. i had a reporter from the "omaha

world herald" call. he said he had just called a major retailer to order some new shoes -- or new shirts. and that retailer that he was talking to had been very active in opposing the quill case and very active in opposing what we were trying to do. and when he ordered his shirts -- an and one of the arguments s we couldn't know the tax rate in that jurisdiction. he ordered a size and the person on the other end of the phone said, you know, maybe you want to check because last time you ordered it was size 15. and this reporter said to me, if they can know my shirt size, they probably could figure out the tax rate of the jurisdiction that i live in. you think about it, and it's only gotten easier. and one of our major retailers, who is having adamant -- is addnant this would be the most -- adamant that this would be

the most horrible, onerous think, offers a package for $15 if anyone wants to collect the tax. another myth i want to break is if i want to sell my old used lawn mower on internet, i would be subjected to sales tavment -- tax. and i think it's only natural that this body doesn't have a lot of experience in sales taxation. it's not what you do. it's what state and local governments do. it's people who have -- what people who have my job do, my former job. but there is such a thing as casual jobs. if you're not in a business of being a retailer in every state, you have no collection responsibility. so it's only retailers, only people who are in the business of retailing and only people who have retail sales over a million dollars that would have any effect. and we have streamlined the process. we have made this possible. and it is a small thing to ask for us to take an action in this

body and in the house of representatives to tell main street businesses that they still matter in the marketplace and that we're going will listen to them and we're going to do everything to get them fairness and justice in our tax system. so, again, i want to congratulate the excellent leadership that has come before me on this floor on this issue and i want to pledge once again to do everything that we can to get this marketplace fairness done in this congress so that our main street businesses don't have to wait a day longer for tax justice in this country. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i want to thank the senator from north dakota for her eloquent statement and for her leadership and i'm delighted that she's gone from being a caption on a lawsuit to a united states senator who can help us pass this bill. in just a moment, i'm going to yield the leadership of this colloquy to the assistant democratic leader but i want to

say a word about the next senator speaking and about senator durbin as well. senator mike enzi is the real pioneer on the marketplace fairness act. he knows what he's talking about. he's a shoe store owner from wyoming. he knows what it's like for someone to come in and try on a pair of shoes and then go order it on -- on the internet and disadvantage a small-town owner of a shoe store as compared with an out-of-state -- an out-of-state business. he has diligently and systematically led this fight for the whole time and it was due to that diligence that the senate had this overwhelming bipartisan achievement one year ago today. and i thank him for his leadership. and now what i would like to do is recognize the assistant democratic leader. the truth of the matter is, the way the senate works, we would never have been able to -- to pass the senate with this bill

in such fine fashion if it hadn't been for the leadership of the assistant democratic leader, senator durbin of illinois. and i thank him very much for his leadership, congratulate him for it, and i'm glad to turn the leadership of the colloquy over to him. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president, i want to thank senator alexander for the leadership that he's done on this bill. you know, we had a much more extensive bill designed and i -- i worked on it for all of the years that he mentioned, which is all of the years that i've been here, which is 17 years, and we made some progress every single time that it came up. but there were misconceptions with it. and senator alexander suggested the solution that is the true solution for this bill. he changed it to a very brief states' rights bill. not a federal bill.

this didn't -- hasn't got any requirements for any state, but it has an ability for states to make up their own mind. so i rise today with my colleagues from illinois, tennessee and north dakota to recognize the anniversary of this significant event, because one year ago today, with a show of strong bipartisan support, the senate took an important step forward to level the playing field for all retailers that collect sales taxes. but it's not really about the retailers. it's about the people that work in those stores. we're talking about middle america here. they can't afford to have the employees unless they make the sales. and if they'd make the -- if they'd just do the sales pitch and then it's ordered on-line, there has been no revenue that the employee brought in. and if you have awhile that you don't get any revenue, you don't need the employee. so if we want to have jobs in

our towns, this is what this bill's about. it's about the people that are your neighbors that work in the stores and the people that have the stores that participate in all of the community events. as the senator from north dakota said. she's probably the only one that's worked on this bill longer than i have because she was involved in it in state government when she was in north dakota. and i appreciate her expertise on it. without some of the explanation she was able to give on the history of this bill, we wouldn't have been able to get it done. and, of course, senator durbin and i have been speaking to groups for it seems like years now, trying to explain how this bill works, taking into consideration any concerns that they had and trying to overcome those concerns. i couldn't get how many hundred meetings there have been -- hundreds of meetings there have been over trying to get this bill and to get right and to get it fair and to get it so that

the states still have the revenue that they need to operate without imposing perhaps a personal income tax or in the case of virginia, i think they're not going to raise the gas tax if this bill passes. so this is a -- this is a states' rights bill. it takes money to the states. and it's money that is really owed right now. i didn't a little checking. wyoming passed their sales tax law in 1934 and it's been virtually unchanged since that time. there is a provision in that 1934 act that there is a form that if you buy something from out of state and you didn't pay sales tax on it, you're supposed to fill out this form before the end of the month and send the sales tax and the form to the state government to pay. now, one of the surprises was, i found out that there's about a million and a half dollars a year collected in wyoming that way, people obeying the law.

but that's pretty tough to keep track of and especially if you don't make out-of-state purchases every day. so the state, of course, imposed on local retailers the requirement that they collect the sales tax for you. then you don't have to fill out that form. you don't have to send it in before the end of the month, and maybe every month because you make purchases on a regular basis. so they made it a lot easier by making the retailers collect the money. unfortunately, they weren't able to make all of the retailers collect the money because they -- because of a court case, they aren't able to do it out of state. and that's very important because that's a huge loss of revenue. i think wyoming actually loses about $23 million a year because of purchases over the internet where no sales tax is paid. on may 6, 2013, the chamber passed the marketplace fairness act and we passed it with 69

votes. some of the votes that we had were as high as 76 votes. that's very significant around here. 69 is an incredible number for the senate to produce on any bill, and it came from a majority of both sides of the aisle, which is important. i want to remind my colleagues that this bill is about fairne fairness, it's about leveling the playing field between brit-and-mortar and on-line companies, and it's about collecting that tax as i mentioned is already due. it is not about raising taxes. it isn't about taxing the internet. and it isn't about taxing internet access. i think we're all opposed to that. but we are in favor of the states, if they wish to, be able to collect the taxes that they've imposed on the people that live in their state. so it's a states' rights bill. now, in a nutshell, the marketplace fairness act is a straightforward, 11-page bill that brings clarity to a vexing area of sales tax collecting

inequity. on-line sales often go without collection of the sales tax from the point of purchase, while the main street stores and the other brick-and-mortar stores in town typically face established collection procedures. no choice, regular reports. wyoming shouldn't subsidize on-line retailers that operate and sell to people in our state. neither should illinois or north dakota or tennessee or any other state that has sales tax laws. but right now on-line retailers can offer lower prices than the local businesses that hire the local people, that pay the property taxes, that participate in the community events. the most important thing being those local jobs. simply because they do not have to charge the same sales tax out of state that all our local merchants do. and sales taxes are important. they pay for the roads we drive on. they pay for schools that our kids go to. and in wyoming, with the particularly small towns, they

rely on it for the fire protection and the police protection. when people ask me about this sales tax bill, i said, what town are you from? and if they tell me it's a small town, i said, check with your fire department and see if without sales tax they'd be able to function. and when the people understand that that's part of their fire protection and part of their law enforcement protection, they're much more interested and understand why this sales tax needs to be collected. i don't want to see a situation where other taxes will have to be raised to cover basic local services because the on-line retailers are not collecting the sales tax that's owed on their products. and i remember going into a camera store -- i tried to get into some stores on the weekend to find out what kind of decisions they're having to ma make, particularly decisions that deal with the federal government. and i was in a camera store and the fellow was explaining that he had just lost a sale. the sales tax rate in that town was 6% and a man came in to buy

a camera. and the camera was $2,000. but the -- the owner of the store, the only employee in the store, took the time to help him with all of the different gadgets, how to operate it, showed him what he needed, how to do it and then he took a picture of the bar code and ordered it on-line because he saved $120. well, technically he still owed the $120 to his state, whether he filled out one of those forms and got it in by the end of the month, i doubt it. but that's the law. if the state meets simplification requirements that are outlined in the bill, it may choose to require collection of sales taxes that are already due at the point of purchase, including sales conducted through e-commerce. congress is not forcing the states to do anything because the congress should not have a

role in telling the state how to manage its finances. this bill specifically says that it's up to the states to enforce the law and it's 100% optional. if the states do act and are collecting taxes that are -- the actions that are already due by the consumers. i've been working on this sales tax fairness or marketplace fairness or any of the number of names that we've had on it through the years as we gained more and more support, as people came to understand more and more what was involved, i've been working on it since 1997. because as a former small business owner, it's important to ensure parity for all retailers. by modernizing rules for sales tax collection in a way that respects technology advances and the existing practices of large and small and more traditional businesses. and this bill accomplishes that. it uniquely balances the interests of all business and respects the existing laws and rights of states. the senator from north dakota, senator heitkamp, mentioned that there is a million-dollar

exclusion. this is to help out small businesses, new start-up businesses. if you have a start-up business or a small business, until you have sold a million dollars on-line or through a catalog in a given year, you don't have to comply with this. but once you hit that million-dollar mark, you can consider yourself quite a success. and we know that that's a very small percentage of the nation. but an important part of the total sales of the nation. mr. president, i think that's why one year ago, 68 of our senators joined me in supporting that marketplace fairness act. this evening, my lead cosponsors and i are again taking a stand in favor of good public policy for our nation's retailers while highlighting the need to fix some long-standing sales tax system complexities. by balancing this collection inequity, the marketplace fairness would help states ensure the viability of the sales tax as a major revenue source for state budgets.

we found in wyoming that it often constitutes 40% of a municipality's revenue. it also would close opportunities that encourage tax avoidance. beyond the walls of congress, the marketplace fairness act has received broad support. trade associations, governors, mayors, legislators, numerous businesses have expressed support for the legislation. but there is work still to be done. our colleagues in the house need to pass the marketplace fairness act. i know some members of the other chamber are working on this issue. a companion to marketplace fairness has been introduced. a hearing's been held and new members are engaged in the issue. i appreciate those efforts and hope our colleagues in the house will pick up the baton and complete the effort to guarantee sales tax fairness. this is the year to finish the work. our states and businesses and employees in those businesses cannot wait longer.

enacting the marketplace fairness act is the right thing to do. and in conclusion, i want to thank everyone associated with this bill for their hard work and efforts in getting us to this point. our countless supporters across the country, the 68 senators who joined me to vote for the bill a year ago, the 29 cosponsors of the bill for their support, and especially my colleagues who joined me tonight for their unwavering support of this bill. i can't thank senator alexander and senator heitkamp and senator durbin enough for their efforts, but i'm going to yield the floor and turn it over to senator durbin who has been a real champion and one of the best explainers of the parts of this bill that i have ever run into. and i really appreciate his efforts and his help on it. we wouldn't be this far were it not for that. thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want thank my colleague from wyoming. the most frequently asked question no matter where i

appear in illinois or fundraising, why can't you folks get along in washington? what's it like to be in a place where everybody is at one another's throats and you can't accomplish anything? why can't you do things on a bipartisan basis? what is it like today and how do you compare it to what it was a few years ago? and i say to them, you know, there are times when we do come together and do something important. this is one of those times. the marketplace fairness act. it was a year ago. senator enzi led the fight on this. i don't know exactly when he started it, but i was happy to join in in his effort when senator byron dorgan retired. i called mike, said i'd like to step in and help you with this bill and he said let's do it, we brought in lamar alexander who made some invaluable contributions to it and then along comes heidi heitkamp, the new senator from north dakota. was she ever ready for this fight.

former sales tax commissioner in that state and a former attorney general. she knew this issue inside and powvment she has been a terrific ally. so there are the four of us. what an odd grouping. two republicans, two democrats from literally all over the united states and we worked together and a year ago today we passed this basic bill, marketplace fairness bill. and the reason for passing it was just look at the name of it, fairness. i think about two people when i think about this bill. one of them is the mayor of normal, illinois. his 2345eu78 is chris -- name is chris koos. a friend of mine and a terrific mayor. he runs a shop where he sells running shoes and bicycles. and a lot -- lots of running equipment and stuff. i visited his shop, great little shop and he's a terrific businessperson and he told me the story i've heard over and over again about people coming in, picking out the bicycle, picking out the shoes, that's just perfect, let me try them

on, let me ride this and then say i'll get back to you and never sees them again. they turn around and buy the product on the internet. so chris is running a showroom. as much as a business. there's no fairness there. and when those sales are made on the internet instead of chris koos' shop there's no revenue coming back to the city of normal, illinois or mclean county. that's chris' story but it's a story of thousands, maybe millions of businesses across america who are losing out now to internet competition that is not collecting the sales tax that's supposed to be paid. then i met another man and i won't disclose the name of his company, but he's a major retailer in the united states. he came to visit me in my office in february or march, and he said i want to tell you in this last christmas season, which is the biggest time of the year for my big box business, we had a downturn of 8% in sales. based on our projections we

thought for sure we would have more sales, we had a downturn of 8%, he said i lost them to the internet and senator, i can't stay in business this way, i can't run a showroom for people who want to sell things on the internet. what we're talking about here is the basic collection of sales tax for purchases on the internet. in my state and virtually all the states with a sales tax there is a legal obligation to pay it. y swri realize that until a few years ago. a bookkeeper was doing my family tax return for my wife and myself and she called and said senator, do you want to pay the taxes you owe on internet purchases? i said yes, i want to pay the taxes i owe. she said how much did you buy on the internet? i said i'll have to try to put it together. called her back, give her the number, and on your state income taxes return we'll declare you're going to pay x dollars for you owe, illinois sales tax for purchases you made on the internet. i said is that what i'm supposed to do?

yes, we did it. we've done it every year since. turns out only 5% of illinois taxpayers fill in that line on the state income tax return. i'm guessing more than 5% of the taxpayers make internet purchases. but folks don't know their obligation, toe they don't follow through on their obligation and the losers are, of course, our states and local units of government. this bill says if illinois, if indiana, if wyoming wishes on a voluntary basis, they may use this bill to start collecting sales tax when it comes to internet sales into their state. it's voluntary. the states have to decide to do it. it's not a new tax. this has been said over and over, it's the existing sales tax wherever it may be in your state, county or city. existing sales tax. and the bill provides if you are an internet seller and have less than a million dollars worth of sales in a given year whether it's grandma donnelly's apple sauce or whatever it happens to

be, you're not covered by this. but if you have more than a million dollars, yes, have you to collect the sales tax. how do you collect it? first the states have to provide you with the software so that your business doesn't run into the expense of how to collect it. you say that's an elaborate undertaking. you can buy the basic software to identify the sales tax based on the consumer's address for about $15 for the basic package or maybe a couple hundred dollars at the most. but in this situation, the states are going to help the internet retailers in developing the sawchtware so that when someone -- sawchtware -- software when someone, whoever is selling to me on the internet will forward that sales tax to the illinois department of revenue, end of story. just that simple. what it does, of course,, level the playing field for bricks and mortar businesses, provide a new source of revenue that should be collected and is owed legally in these states to

the local units of government. we passed this with enormous support from the retail community and it's not surprising and it just wasn't the shop owners, it's people who understand the importance of this. this has been said over and over again, these bricks and mortar shops around america do so much more than just sell a product. they are citizens of the community, corporate business citizens in the community. they partnership. when the local high school is having their graduation program and they want somebody to help sponsor it, they'll go down to the local sporting goods story for a helping hand on the program. and that happens over and over again whether it's pop warner, they're in there helping in the communities. isn't it important and fair that they be treated fairly here? 69 members of the senate thought so. democrats and republicans voted for it. senator enzi and i and senator alexander, senator heitkamp. we had 29 cosponsors of this bill. who sat down and said let's pass

it. we passed it, we sent it to the house of representatives, and nothing has happened. nothing. there have been some statements made over there and i hope that those statements lead to action. but it's time for them to pick up this bill and this responsibility. if they've got a better approach, let's see it. let's work on it. leapts do it on a bipartisan basis. let's come up with an approach that works. i cannot tell you, mr. president, how many different businesses have come through my door from series roebuck down to basic -- sears roebuck down to basic mom and pop businesses, and will said what are we going to do about the the house of representatives? i we've waited a year, i don't want to wait longer. in an election year it will be almost impossible to do it. i hope we can get this done. it's going to mean that local businesses that are important and the backbone of our community will have the resources they need because the sales will take place that otherwise aren't taking place

today and local units of government will receive the proceeds from the sales tax that's collected. one of the major marketplace retailers on the internet is amazon. amazon may be the biggest, i think. they support this bill. and if you ask them why, they say we don't want to fight this battle in 50 states and all the different cities and counties as to how much sales tax. let's make it uniform across the country and that's what this bill does. so amazon supports this. they're prepared to collect that sales tax and remit it to the states. they don't believe it's an onerous burden they're going to face. i hope others will join. i'm not going to take much longer, i think we've covered the subject well and i thank senator enzi from wyoming as well as senator heitkamp from north dakota and senator alexander from tennessee for kicking this up. i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record -- add to the record after my statement this article by donnie etherley.

he is the president of distributors in tennessee, a member of the small business advisory board and wrote an article on may 6, time to level the playing field for main street businesses. it's a good one. he says in the simplest terms what he as a businessman sees this issue to mean. let's do it together. we did it in the senate on a bipartisan basis with a big vote, some 69 votes. we can do it in the house of representatives. let's get something done this year that's going to help businesses across america be profitable and hire more people, put more folks to work across the united states. mr. president, i ask consent this article be added in the record after my written statement. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: at this point i yield the floor to my friend from wyoming. mr. enzi: i just want to thank the senator from illinois for his excellent explanation. i've been joining him and watching him do that for several years. it would be nice to get this funished -- finished up.

there are a few things we may not have mentioned that are sometimes raised when people ask me about marketplace fairness. one of them is from small towns. they say we have to go on the internet because there isn't enough selection in our town. and we can get things that we can't get in town. and some of the things we can get at a lower price by going out of town. i always ask them when they're figuring that lower price if they're figuring it out sales tax or with sales tax because it's not truly a lower price if what you're doing is just cheating your local merchant out of the right to collect the sales tax, which he doesn't get paid for anyway, and submitting it when the out-of-state retailer doesn't have to do that. and the revenue that the companies that are voluntarily collecting it now -- and there are a number of them that recognize that it's difficult for everybody to keep track of their purchases so they -- they

voluntarily collect it. a question that i've had is does that money that they voluntarily collect get back to the states? yes, it absolutely does and it will work that way under the bill as well. it isn't pallone you're sending to wherever you ordered it from, they're sending it back to the states and that's where these programs that senator illinois mentioned do. they keep practice of what state all the purchases were from and here's how difficult that is. when you call in your order or you do it on line, at some point you have to put in an address with a zip code. and that zip code is all that the program needs in order to be able to assess your tax. that's how those programs are designed. so if you have to give an address, have you to give a zip code. if you give a zip code, they already know what the taxes is going to be. there is no difficulty for any size retailer to figure out the taxes they're supposed to be doing.

another argument i hear is that the online place provides free shipping. i want you to know your local retailer provides free shipping and immediate pickup. somebody had to pay the shipping on it and got to the store and you can pick it up instantly, you don't have to pay a special rate to get it overnight. you can get it right then. and one of the things that's really discouraging as a retailer, if you waited on somebody and they got the bar code and they ordered it on line and it came in and it wasn't exactly what they wanted and they come to you and say think this is the brand you're selling, won't you take it back? let's see, they didn't make anything on it, used a bunch of time and now they want you to put it in their inventory. that's really discouraging. so think about those local -- local clerks, they're your friends and neighbors that are being hired locally that really depend on a job. and if everything gets ordered on line, they won't have a job. your friends will have to move

and you won't have as much selection as you have right now in your local store. so, again, i want to thank all those who voted for it, all those who have worked on it and all no are considering voting for it the next time. i know we've picked up some momentum sints we did it last time. there are people who have heard from their communities now and say i didn't vote right last time but i'll get it right next time and i'm looking forward the no that and for the house to finish it up and send it -- send it to the president. thanks again, senator durbin, for your tremendous effort. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: constitution i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of h.r. 4192 received from the house sand at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 4192, an act to amend the act entitled an act to regulate the height of buildings in the district of columbia and

so forth. the presiding the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of senate resolution 438, submitted earlier today by senators landrieu and alexander. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 438, congratulating the students, parents, teachers, and administrators of charter schools across the united states and so forth. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. durbin: i further ask the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of senate resolution 439 which was submitted earlier today u. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 439, supporting the goals and

ideals of national safe digging month. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on wednesday, may 7, 2014. following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for that use later in the day, following any leader remarks, the senate resume the motion to proceed to senate 2262, the energy savings and industrial competitiveness act postcloture and that the time during the adjournment count postcloture. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: 309 hours of postcloture debate on the motion to proceed to senate 2226 would expire at 5:45 p.m. tomorrow. senators will be notified when the next vote is scheduled. if there is to further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order.

the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

>> for the actual unemployment level, for what was lost to individuals throughout and relative to the bailout and the subsidies as well. dodd-frank came along and did nothing remotely. dissecting speculation from the positives and the traditional banking activities. >> a look at the relationship

between 1600 pennsylvania avenue and wall street at 10 east are in and sunday night at 9:00 p.m. on "after words." an online camargo club selection our book club selection joined other readers in discussing your favorite books. >> coming up next, this event is just under 45 minutes. >> good morning, everyone. it is great to be here. thank you guys for being here. enqueue, tank you, michael, thank you for having me here. and so i will try to talk

significantly about asia. it should say asia pacific and certainly with sam and myself and all of the components, we always talk about the asia pacific region. we cover from hollywood to hollywood and from penguins to polar bears because we have both regions from the indian to pakistan the pakistan border. the other thing i would like to thank is after march was over, i openly admit that there are pictures and i've tried to burn them bring them all and i haven't been successful as of yet. and i did not do well in this topic, i will do a couple of

things, but i would like to first expose your questions. and i truly believe the amount of time i have spent has been a greater portion of my career. that this really is the country and the united states. secretary clinton said it was even used in the late '90s in a pbs special. but it really is part of the united states. and i think everyone pretty much knows the importance of the united states and i don't think it can be overstated. it is everything that is incorporated as part of that. and this is precisely part of the economies that are addressing this in the asia pacific region. japan, india, and russia as well. that alone speaks to the volumes

of importance. also the amount of commerce that goes through and the challenges that we face there. and i try to cover all of those things in the way that this makes sense with folks and i will try to make this work. and so as i said, i will try to do this as we began. >> i fly airplanes for a living. and i can't work a quicker. [laughter] smacked and we will try to start and work our way down. how am i doing so far? we are working to the south and

west. it is a challenge for us in the asia pacific to have a conversation about a week and a half ago. but what russia is doing is some of the things that we have seen an increase in that. it isn't depicted with the long-range aviation to picture this in her substance of things. the number of long-range patrols i have gone around the japanese islands as well as korea has increased and there has been a lot more on the way of ship activity as well. it's a combination of things to demonstrate the capabilities. together the intel in cases like

this, with the japanese and the republic of korea. significant increase in the asia pacific, and we relate a lot of that's what is going on in the ukraine. and this includes a nuclear test in this includes the missile program and a continental ballistic missile that is trying to be developed. and they have missile launches and space launches in the execution of this entire family within our government. august i will tell you that we have all of these components. and it appears to be getting worse to us and as we work down

there a couple of things that have happened in the east china sea, one is that it's declared by china and there's a challenge with that for three main reasons for the united states and it just is something that is developed and that is the first thing. second thing is the rule to operate does not follow international law. and there are rules that are not consistent with international norms. finally as part of their declaration of that, there was an undefined threat. you follow our rules committee do what we tell you to do and we have the right to use special defensive measures. nobody has defined that.

and we imagine that they are thinking about it maybe in the future at some point. but again we have been very open with us, talking about how that is not a good idea. and there is the republic of korea, japan, all this stuff. and it is a disputed territory between china and the republic of korea and there are a number

of territorial disputes and we will see if we can read about all of those challenges with respect to the disputed territory and how it is being solved. and to any of these need to be solved in a peaceful manner with a peaceful resolution. insert a behavior is not an acceptable way to solve those and we continually reiterate that. again, you can go through all of that is due to various as we walked down there. and we have the high and

fisheries again outside what is an accepted normal rule of law and international practice. the other challenges that we face include privacy and we have a fairly successful to date support out of singapore. we have cut down on attacks within us as well. and this includes the progress as a stable nation and the political turmoil that exist with the potential for the prime minister being removed based on what the constitutional court says. and as i mentioned earlier the

distance in the terms we like to use with every landmass in the planet and still have room left over for the north american continent and north african continent. 70% of the landmass in the world with just about 60% of the world's worlds population which is a challenge in and of itself or it on top of that you have the ring of fire. and they are having the ability to respond. ..

>> is going to be along briefing i have no idea how to make it go to the next flight. okay. the next slide is one that has several engagements that we are participating in any goes to the point of. last year instead of this year in fiscal year 14 about 400 different engagements in the asia-pacific region and everything we're doing there. the other thing, if you draw a

line from alaska down to anderson over to hawaii back up the alaska the strategic triangle, basically is u.s. soil the projects into the pacific that allows us to do power projection engagement and everything we need to do as we project out into the pacific region. we also have permanent bases in japan and korea and engaged throughout the rest of asia and are moving more and more to the south and southwest as we engage more and more. you have heard some of the things that happened recently. we are doing of force posture initiative engaging with australia. we also signed the enhanced defense cooperation agreement with the philippines, have a presence in singapore, a continuous in days and with thailand, and we are continuing to do that. they're not building any more bases in the pacific.

we won't build any more bases in the pacific, but we will have a rotational presence. back in the late great days of the cold war we had a program called kutcher -- checkered flag . we will rotate every 18 months to two years. try to do that and becoming successful at doing that in the asia-pacific. every 18 months to two years we intend have every unit rotate to summer in the pacific. obviously this is just an example. a high and exercises. trilateral exercises with the japanese. we also humanitarian assistance and disaster response. the filipinos will participate in that. new zealand will participate. we are continuing as we move. the multi service exercise that the united states conducts in

thailand with many nations. the impact is about to happen out in hawaii. twenty-six nations will participate, to include the people's republic of china. july of this year, and then with indonesia. we continue to move out. right now today we have done about 185 for this year, fiscal year and have about 200 left. next slide. so, the slide, well done. you might get promoted now. you're doing it. thanks. i won't spend a lot of time on this, but this is what we call that three by five strategy. to the far right of that slide, the objective that our national command authorities give us all what admiral likelier expects me to do, contingency op, free

access to international and varmints both air and maritime, stability, prosperity and security in the region. called upon to defend the united states interests and allies. we use those pipelines of operation as the pacific. under a joint component commander which means that everything that lies within the pacific theater is under this. i also of the role of the air defense commander. an air defense commander which is one of the biggest challenges you might imagine. so those of five lines going across the, the five things that i have to be able to do everyday . the security corporation is just what you would expect,

engagement. building partnerships, building relationships, all those things you do to maintain access, maintain good relations and maintain -- maintain ability to enter robert reintegrated air and missile defense, but commander -- and now will tell you, the largest missile arsenals in the world, russia, china, north korea in that order, and most of them are appointed at either us or our friends and allies. our ability to defend against a potential nuclear attack is one that is usually a challenge, and you can see that when you look at what andrea does even today with respect to their growing missile arsenal. power projection is exactly that, our ability. intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, provide mobility

and if called upon to put power projection into the theater. the other challenge, think about the just about every day, for the last decade and a half the united states has not worried about command-and-control. if you look at what we have done in afghanistan everything more than 80 feet we have loaned. unfortunately that's not the case. we will be contested in a variety of ways. we will be contested by the assets that existed a number of satellites is paltry compared to anywhere else in the world. on top of that cyber attacks denies communications. how do you do flexible command and control? go from centralized command to distributive control?

and then how do you then do decentralized execution to meet the commanders intend and stay inside your potential adversarial. and finally, the pacific theater, i will tell you, the greatest asset that the nation as. walkout to the flatlands. everything i can do to make sure they're taking care of. the final line of operation and we have. on the left-hand side is the way that we go about doing that. the heart of the letter of security corporation got engaged . training exercises, subject matter expert exchange. sequestration, increasing combat capability is hard. how'd you do that?

every single dollar you spend the have to make sure it's a dollar that will give you the most capability because you may not have another. today i believe that we have more missions than we have money, manpower, or time and it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. our ability to focus our efforts in that the most of everything we're doing with our air men and money in that time that we invest has got to be to give us the greatest ability. finally the war fighter integration for the air force, how we integrate those three across all of them. it is across the joint force how would you integrated air and missile defense, take the advantage of the platforms like submarines and combine them with high-visibility platforms and get the most that we possibly can and the integration. the ph right now, the f35 as well as they have announced that

they will buy 58f35 is. the japanese will buy them. how you integrate and then bring the lowest capability partners? next slide. so i no -- we will get to questions here shortly. i know lots of people travel photos, is on everybody's greatest time. you probably don't want to do this, but i will go through a couple. i think it is indicative of the engagements we're doing in the asia-pacific. this is general welch and myself visiting china. the first chief of staff visit china for 15 years. that is the chief sitting in that jade ten. it was a great engagement. it was a lightning. it was constructive. it was and lightning.

i have been in china in 2009 and had not been back since. i was dazzled by the change. it was amazing. if there is any doubt in anybody's mind, there shouldn't be. definitely is and it was obvious and the way they conducted themselves. we get to see a lot of the military operation there was also a level of confidence. i think probably an extremely high level of confidence. the prc, military, civilian. central military commission, one of the former chief of the air force, general shoe. it was of very substantial visit. i think at the end of the day we'll walk away saying that the military forces that china and the united states have have the i opportunity to operate significantly more in close proximity in the future which will grow over time.

the a virginity from the speculation is great, and our ability to deal with those, we must and can do a better job of managing that friction because of potential for something bad to happen. and we don't want something like another p3 island incident. so it was a great visit. we got to visit many places. we spent a lot of time with the military. again, it was obvious there were doing extremely well. next slide. obviously australia is a close partner. we talk side by side. we still are today. it is an amazing relationship. again, if you look at the end dropper ability and what they are procuring, just been named an amine. extended for year, chief of the air force. that's of great news.

a great relationship. the symposium we went to, it was fantastic. many nations were represented. all of our allies. many of our friends and partners throughout the region. was incredibly valuable. the picture on the right hand corner is a neat story. a set of twins from a guy, an australian pilot the flew with the 98 squadron killed in a very dangerous flight. the rest of the flight, silver stars. he did not. his family kept a petition for that. i was able to award the silver start is two daughters. a pretty neat story. the relationship is growing stronger all the time. >> next slide.

vietnam, went to hanoi, danang, and then sign-on / touchy man city. they used both names interchangeably. it was a great visit. the chief of staff, very open and welcoming. the entire country was. they were noticeably appreciative of our efforts to engage with them. there are legal ramifications, things we can do with the vietnamese. it was incredibly productive. were looking in a couple. in looking at the potential. the pacific. we've done them in vietnam in

2009, ten, 12, and 13. we take doctors, dentists, veterinarians, engineering capabilities in go to a place that needs some help. we go and do huge medical engagements, engineering engagements. we bring in the host nation military and government officials to increase their visibility. it's very valuable. thailand, obviously a treaty ally. an exercise with singapore, the united states, and thailand. it's been going on since 1994 backslide. and finally, this is the pacific air chief symposium. fourteen pacific air chiefs.

we travelled throughout the united states. the most of it. incredibly valuable. again, 14 air achieves. the picture in the upper right hand corner, the u.s.s. arizona. in the lower left. tremendous engagement, a tremendous opportunity to spend time. and i think at the end of this when i would tell everyone, kind of the thesis of the basis for this is as we face problems and see it sequestration has been -- in fact, our relationship with their friends and partners and allies have gotten closer. a greater understanding of everyone's challenges and issues and becomes more and more interoperable. next slide.

so the takeaways i will leave you with, no afford to answer your questions, though rebalance in the pacific, it's alive and well. i know people talk about it. it happened. it is, i think, the amount of engagement we are doing has gone up drastically. it is the effort, the emphasis, it is certainly an active rebalance. we were slow down by sequestration. in 13 we had to cancel some exercises. we had to cancel an exercise and which the red flag analysis, it was a devastating blow to my will tell you. we regret, but we have made it up there. and will participate.

and so we will continue. think we managed it as best we could. we were able to go back to kind of the following data scenario and the full engagement set up. we had to shrink a little bit just because of the reduction and budget. overall has gone well. relationships, and we talked to the security corporation. it's all of that, subject matter expert exchange to exercises on the grand scale to a smaller exercises. so with that backsliding think that's it. i appreciate your attention. i told david before this that i hope that i finish speaking before you quit finished listening. i know that workout for you. i look forward to answering your questions. thank you very much. [applause] >> so while they are moving the podium back if you have written

questions, raise jakarta. as in his day finished it will pick up your questions and get them up to us. with that, will turn it over. >> thank you. thank you all for your patience. we will be posting generals lines on the website. that was of very robust and busy robust and busy and concise agenda for engagement. it prompted me to ask, first, if i could, a broad question about the culture of the air force and the philosophy of the air force. historically in my view they sometimes send mixed signals. have this. there was the idea of deep sites. so at times historical it seems like the air force says put a

little more distance. what you're describing is quite different. wonder if he could put it in historical context the way you see the air force overall. >> yes, i would be more than happy to. a kind of go to my history. and it's kind of what i mentioned with the checkered flag mentality. there's some of this in here. the late great days of the cold war. you know, we have rotated continuously. it was called checkered flag, figure out where your forward operating location was and what would happen and how we would respond to that. and the pilot was a key component to that obviously. were taking that same kind of model. it's more about engagement, more of security and stability, more about forward presence and ghost of an actual presence. so no more places -- i mean, no

more bases, but more places. our ability to go operate out of -- pick a couple of places in the philippines, point your clark, our ability to go up rick , it's that rotational presents. and i think you will see when of the drawdown in europe is as small as it can possibly go. i don't think you can get any smaller. there will be a forward presence for a long time. the main bases that we're operating in a today. and endo asia-pacific, it's the same thing. our presence will maintain the newest technologies they have. those bases will stay in the robust state that they are at now. it's my belief that there will. and then certainly we will continue that rotation.

we will do the same thing in the future. you will see the exhibition area air force is one that we, you know, post 1991 and the workings it continuously. certainly a viable in the asia-pacific. part of that is the distance alone. they do they travel in days, but we travel in hours. >> let me try to put a little fuel on that. the western pacific naval symposium with his colleagues

reached what could be as significant agreement on how to handle unintended, and expected incidence at sea. announced it does not cover. still, that was pretty impressive outcome for the western naval symposium. for the pacific air chiefs, what kind of confidence-building measures could you for see coming out of these kinds of discussions, particularly as you noted in the east tennessee were talking seconds, not days or hours. >> there are couple things. i think part of it is -- and this is part of the reason we are in china. there was a constructive visit it in many ways a think they're very open to some of these discussions. when you look at what happens and whether it's not from the

russians or scrambled in response by the prc, you know, there are cases where we have many airplanes. there was a point last year out of the korean peninsula where we had air force from north. , south korea, japan, and the united states all in close proximity. unfortunately the other people in new everybody -- knew everybody was was us. part of that was information sharing. trying to work on that to increase that information sharing so we have a comment picture. and then engagement, and probability, the potential for hot lines its notification for something out of the ordinary or exercises that will happen. of those are things we're working on to increase the

understanding. there is i potential -- a high potential. >> you pose the question, how do we integrate, particularly high and partners like japan and australia. these are more expensive, the maintenance is more complicated and expensive. interoperable the and linkage is more important. so you pose the question and i want to throw it back you about how do we come out to you for see integrating these different alliances and partnerships recognizing their political sensibility. but the capabilities of becoming network or should be network. >> i think one thing we're working hard on is going from bilateral to multilateral. that is part of it. you know, we have the red flags. past year we had a very successful red flags where we

had the republic of korea and japan to play fighters for an exercise for the first time in their history. hugely successful. as a matter of fact we and all three command-and-control platforms upper indian which is unheard of for presenting. so very successful in that respect. i think the equipment in carper ability is one that in some cases is a challenge. or getting better at that. some of the most recent announcements, that makes it easier. i think the symposiums, we get a lot of understanding and also some of the information passing in the exercises. it's great to talk about it. but then to go out and do it. we do that with japan and australia. we do it with the republic of

korea in the korean peninsula. we have had some integrated air and missile defense exercise with the japanese where we look to that in probability and information sharing. so it's a continuous process. it never finishes. you have to keyboarding on a. you can never say we are interoperable. that doesn't exist. you always have to work at it and continue. some of the things we're done with respect to engagement, exercises, war games, we are getting better and better. >> if i can engage in a brief moment of self advertising we have a project your, the regional programs looking at with john hammond called federated defense. even the budget is in crawling with countries like japan relaxing there out of date export control rules, countries like australia interested in doing more. you have an opportunity there to give more deterrents for your

money. the intro probability, combined capability is deterrence. and if you could expand beyond that, at the end drop ability. to we have some questions ready? >> the questions have been pouring in. including those from viewers on the web. i am going to merge of you together. the first actually there are a whole series of questions about china. your comments about how rapidly they have moved forward and now we engage with them. the question tends to fall, are they really and expansionists power or are they sticking as a regional, guard your flank sort of thing? what to you look for in terms of signals to maximum we have to prepare. what to you look for in terms of signals? will will be your response to the creation of the south china sea?

does not the whole point of the question but is really the broader what do you look for from expansionist tendencies verses -- >> well, i think they're are couple of things i would talk about. first of all, if you look at the declaration of the east china sea, you look at the development of their aircraft carrier, you look at their mission action, some of the exercises they have done that have gone significantly further out to what they call the second island chain. the first island chain obviously been a closer and one. they have continued to expand their ability to operate farther and farther away. we see that all the time. the same thing in the south china sea with their ability to operate farther and farther south. think the territorial disputes in the way they're being handled is one that we have concern over. i think the ability to solve

that in a useful manner within the international norm is one that we clearly think about. we have not really seen -- and i am not a lawyer, so i won't make any comments, but the legal basis, not sure that a lot of people understand where the legal basis is if it exists there. with respect to that there is -- china is continuing to move to be able to solve those disputed islands. so that part of it is concerning with respect to what they're doing. on the same hand their engagement is they are participating this year. they did -- they just had the western naval symposium. they just -- so they are engaged. ..