become pathetic by staying too long beyond that i said yes. i am a great friend. very intelligent. in the 1st place, and extraordinary force. in a pill presidential race that would allow people to criticize her for her motives. right now they have to argue her on the merits of the legislation. i don't want in a position where they can denigrate. secondly it has been documented and that 2008 campaign hillary clinton on domestic issues when we had this weakening of the reform bill should put out a statement saying we can't allow any weakening. we have to defend it.

people said, want to see this. does anybody think that what happened in the republican nomination process in 2012 was helpful? why do we want to replicate that? at a financial disadvantage. some of the richest people in the money to that in the world split their money. this is an advanced community. some people did not go far enough. the president criticize them all their money they get to the republicans. we have to save our money. marriage the context is not a good idea. i think we should unite behind her. [applause]

>> well, thank you very much a testament to your own career. >> this perception was a problem. the candidacy. the fact that he had zero negative effect. ready for the couple. sending out. >> thank you [applause] >> you were watching booktv in prime time. a reminder every week in booktv features 48 hours of

nonfiction books beginning at 8 a.m. eastern on saturday. we invite you to find and like like is online at facebook.com/booktv. >> coming up live on c-span2 a look at the experiences of undocumented students as they navigate current immigration laws. we will be life form the center of american progress at 9:30 a.m. eastern. at 12:30 p.m. the council on foreign relations considered potential strategies to use against isis. panelists will conduct a simulation of a high level government meeting as they discuss options. that's also here on c-span2. >> this weekend the c-span cities tour has partnered with cox communications going with cox communications tournament history and literary life of tulsa, oklahoma. >> he was very much more than that. he was born in 1912 and so we

are very proud to have his work back in oklahoma where we think it belongs. he was an advocate for people who were disenfranchised, for the people who are migrant workers from oklahoma, kansas and texas during the dust bowl era. who found themselves in california literally starving. and he saw this vast difference between those who were the haves and the have-nots and became their spokesman through his music. >> he recorded a very few songs of his own. we have a listening station that features 46 of his songs in his own voice. that's what makes the recording he did make so significant in so important to us. ♪ this land is your land this land is my land ♪ ♪ from california to the new york islands -- >> watch all of our events saturday at noon eastern on

c-span2's booktv at the afternoon at 2:00 on c-span3. >> next a group of millennials discussing their generation. the panel includes the daughter of former president george w. bush who founded a global health startup, the founder of a startup new site for youth and the national director of the nation's largest student policy organization. hosted by the new america foundation it is one hour and 10 minutes. >> to entergy to our panel as i will be on the other farsightedness sara valenzuela director of external relations for the public advocate's office for the city of new york. next to her is barbara bush, cofounder and ceo of global health corps and is a member of the leadership counts at the franklin project at the aspen institute to next is jake horowitz, cofounder and editor-in-chief of mic.

and next to jake is joelle gamble, national director of the roosevelt institute campus network who most recently i should note just won the macarthur award for creative and effective institution for a big round of applause -- [applause] >> thanks again everyone for coming out and the going to just or right over to jake. >> thank you so much and thank you for everybody was coming out. i am going to be following along on twitter. i will try to get to them in a q&a section. hopefully this turns out to be a cool moderator. i'm going to produce as much as possible in the discussion and not make it to stiff. but i think first off a question i would ask all of you is really, really important. everybody in the audience also should we be using the m word tonight are not? two people use the word

millennial on this panel? >> i think it's a useful term to look at a generation in the context it is involved in. i also think it's effective for thought the discussion to talk about the generation after millennials. so the folks are not transit but just not going to college they will be a different generation and as i was more progressive and in some ways more conservative. it's important to talk about millennials in that age group but also the folks coming up after. >> do you guys use of? >> i don't use it that much. i think maybe we should do a little more in government but i tend to think people use millennials in a derogatory term sometimes because day, and maybe we need to describe what millennials is. it is the 18-34 age group. we should empower the group that came before us. i think we also need to talk

about it in the context of who came before us because they are the leaders we need to be learned from but also those we need to reach back and pull us forward. >> i would just say because i were pregnant with people that are millennials, i often get asked in beatings like you're a millennial tell us what you think. you will describe every millennial think. there's millions of millennials and we all might have certain things that are similar but we are all, i gets bigger every millennial. >> at mic the actual don't use the term because we find it is used to stereotype the generation more than it's worth of anybody our age even needs. i had to ask. spent are we allowed to use it? [laughter] >> we will use it. the best way to start is sort of set up a problem which i think is sort of on the one into the generation that is incredibly diverse, most educated in u.s.

history, very politically active very informed, came out for president obama in record numbers to and on the other hand, you have the generation that has been described to me as one of the most stereotyped. if you look in the media it's everything, i'm sure we could all talk -- tossed out of term but it's everything from lazy to narcissistic -- to any of you have a favorite term it like? there's a real server fundamental misunderstanding i think as to this generation is particularly in the political circles and in media. so i guess i wanted to start by really asking each of you why you think the generation islamists understood and how you and your work have approach that problem. maybe sara, if you want to start. >> so i think you already touched on it. we are one of the most diverse

generation in the united states and because of that we don't all fall under one or two umbrellas. when you look at the generations before us they all had certain things going on india's weather was a depression, a major war or a major artistic influence that was kind of really grasping most of the generation. with us we are a generation that is so many things coming at us. have technology running through our generation and separating us from the generation before us and now the generation coming after us like i have no idea what my niece is talking about half the time. i think like we're such a diverse group that it's hard to box us all into one group. i think that's where in terms of civic engagement and the terms of government people are banging their heads against the wall on how to reach us because there's no one set way to do it. because we are that the first grew. look at the people up here, look at the people in this room. there's no way all of us relate

to one particular thing. >> and how have you approached the misunderstanding or is there a misunderstood? >> i would agree. there is a misunderstanding of our generation and i think it's because as we are starting to come into power influence business and government and policy, we are being disrupted. we are looking at new ways to do things and we are not necessary trusting or in favor of establishment or institutions. a recent poll shows our generation trust political and religious institutions far less than the generations before us. i think i can be disconcerting. that means fast to change to the status quo to engage young people. think about this past election a lot of folks talking about how millennials did not turn out to vote but in reality we turnout at the same level as we did in 2010. the problem was people did not to reach us. they were using old campaign tactics to try to reach a new generation. i don't check my mailbox for

vote by mail ballot. i don't do that but if you do contact me via text message maybe i will actually see. that's the way that we can be engaging millennials in a different way that is just not happening as much as it should be. >> barber, are all your friends taking selfies all the? >> i still have a blackberry which i don't know if i should admit that the good is it i can't take a selfie because it doesn't have a camera. [laughter] i echo what both just sent. anything also there's a lot of advantages to the fact that we've grown up more globally connected than any other generation. that we do have a voice whether we use it well or not is different but i think it's something that has been confusing to older people is now with twitter, with different platforms were your voice can actually be contribute to dialogue, it's a different story. i think those are both huge

assets to one minus have a lot of value right now. >> totally. i guess i would be curious to hear from all of you and i could share my experience at mic and for the people the younger people, older people, what is the secret sauce, if you could say? everybody wants to reach the demo. sounds like everyone misunderstands the demo. how do you reach millennials and how have you done in your own work? >> i don't think i know the secret sauce but if i did i would totally sell because i would make a lot of money. one thing that's important to think about when engaging our generation is vertical forms, top down forms of engagement are not going to rest and the way they may have for other generations. we are a generation that sits more horizontally, community oriented. we have more access to different type of people. more interconnected even globally. this idea just top down let me die what to do when you do it doesn't quite work.

i think that means a lot for institutions especially for governments. millennials believe in the effectiveness or the potential for effective government that is just not happening right now. the question is how do you bring in more participation, how do you create a more participatory environment for people to engage in government? that will allow us to buy him. >> your organization is doing it everyday. college students all across the country. how have you managed to break through just some sort of a daily basis the? >> speaking to the top down idea the beauty of the network is what everybody ideas of our membership. we have chapters all across the country in 38 states and those folks are working on ideas and their own communities, coming up with solution, doing research and going and taking into stakeholders. one of our students is looking at new york city parking policy,

how that can be reformed reform to bring in revenue to the local committees. he's coming up with his own ideas and we're supporting you. i think that's the kind of horizontal kind of engagement i'm talking about. not as telling you what your agenda should be but you being able to build it yourself. >> i think i would just piggyback on the. if you look at the elections we've seen over the past even since 2008, democrats lost an insane amount this past year. some of us in this room more dead, some celebrated it perhaps. if you look at it i think in our generation we are going to necessarily relate to a dinner as much as we're going to relate to issues they're running on. i think that speaks to where more horizontally based to the women in this audience, we are caring whether a candidate runs on health care for women, what they think if you think that the right to tell me what i should do with my body or not. for people who are from

immigrant families whether or not that politician believes that immigration reform is a priority. those are the things that our generation cares just that and i think that's how a lease for me we are learning to engage people right? for instance, an example from our office, we are working on -- he could do a campus legislative assault, campus sexual assault bill go into city council and pass it but instead to more bringing her bill before two and students and letting them rip it apart and rewrite it. ..

and so what they're excited about is figuring out okay, this system is broken, how am i going to fix it? i'm an architect, what will i do with my engineering design background to think of a new solution for this. we accept 2% of the people at that apply to our program because they're desperate to get their foot in the door figuring out how they can make a better world, or they can be part of a solution. >> i think for us, it has been about authenticity of a voice. young people make up our staff and a voice with sensibility that resonates with a way we look at the world which can be a little hard for people to understand. they say why do young people need a media company? we look at the world very

differently than our parents on many different issues. we have really perspectives. for us, it is really engaging young people on issues that matter not sort of talking down to our generation and not treating us in stereotypes but really focusing what are those issues. so as editor-in-chief i ask everybody one question, which you know, drives whether something is a mic story or not is this something you would share with your friends over dinner, which is a very different audience than sitting with your parents over dinner or somebody else. anyway, so i think you know, one interesting thing that wanted to sort of touch on there has been a few examples now of big moments where we have seen millennial mobilization. more recently, the ferguson black lives matter protest. you've seen young people all over the country out on the streets. occupy wall street, the same

thing although it petered out. my question for people here is, you know are these movements difficult to sustain? you know in the case of occupy we didn't see a long, sustained long out movement for young people. i think time will sort of tell what happens with the ferguson movement but you know how do you enpage this generation to stay motivated on an issue over time? and do we have a shorter attention span, i know that is a stereotype but does that make it more challenging. >> you have to define what a movement means. we can say occupy wall street the groups are no longer camping out, right? we don't see signs as much anymore. we may see some in protests whether it was on the eric garner stuff there was a lot of occupy the court system signs. i think the movement still continues. it is not just about the people, it is about the conversation. occupy wall street may not have

bodies on the ground camping out drumming protesting, but they were a catalyst for a discussion that continued all the way up into the supreme court. people are still talking about the things that the occupy movement brought up. whether it means the affordability of college right? the 1%. there are things still having. i actually think the movement is still continuing. maybe it is just different. that is what is different about our generation. we're still the civil rights movement unfortunately still has to happen in our day and age. i'm sure during lbj and martin luther king, jr.'s time they would have never wanted us to continue to fight that but that movement is still going. we see it today through the eric garner stuff. >> i want to ask both of you i get asked by friends overall the time, living in arab countries they can't understand after the arab spring why young people don't stand up more and don't protest and aren't out in the

streets. if the situation is really that bad why don't we speak up. is there something to this point that, young people just engage differently when they want to make their voices heard not maybe in the '60s sensibilities what it meant to be an activist? >> i want to say yes and no if that is a fair answer to make. i think there are still a lot of folks engaging in direct action. you see them in ferguson and staten island, right? you see them use direct action tactics. our ability to amplify beyond ability they would normally affect especially using social media and other forms of technology. we see emergence of black twitter. all those became news stories of organizations that wouldn't pick them up before. the ability to amplify things from the ground level is different because we have technology that facilitates that. that says something for how

establishment institutions think about how to engage with the generation. we still haven't figured out how young people and communities that we built online and in person are actually going to be able to marry with institutions like government, like large corporations, things of that nature. that is still something we have to sort out. >> yeah, i think it is kind of a combo of both. to your point, yes there is protesting. that can be part of a movement. there is sort of phases to it. i think the aids movement in the '80s in the united states where a lot of gay men in new york and san francisco were protesting. they realized they didn't know policy they were mainly the kind of big leaders in the space were lawyers, we're working in real estate. they learned everything about policy and then went to the nih. they were able to speak to what they were dealing with. that looks very different than standing in the street. but it is equally if not more

so important but changes policy to affect thousands or millions of more people's lives. i think we need to remember that it is both. there is one more of a stark image you can remember in your mind. there is one going hine closed doors that we need to be a part of. it is kind of all our responsibility how that can happen also. >> i want to ask specifically because i know it is something important to all of you about national service. i think another way of asking the question is, president obama in 2008, i think we remember his victory speech where he came out and said, this is a great victory, this is about you and not about me. for this to be a real victory everybody needs to do service in their communities. i wonder whether you think whether or not that is happening? are young people as motivated and engaged? we saw a huge amount of enthusiasm in the beginning of the obama presidency. lots of friends of mind who had never heard of community

service, what that was, all of sudden were doing community service and americorps and teach for america and things. i was reading a store very recently enrollment numbers going down over last two years. i wonder, you know, what you would all say about that? is national service again you know a way of asking very hard to sustain for this generation? is it still happening? why don't we start with somebody else? barbara. >> maybe it is because of what i work on every day but i you know, i see hundreds of people joining global health corps every year. they're starting under average age of 26. 40% are quitting their jobs to work on issues they worry about. 40% are masters degrees. they're trying to figure out how they fit into building a healthier world. we as i mentioned before, we accept 2% of the people that apply. we're five years old.

we're basically a startup. the fact that people are coming to an organization doesn't have a big name, trying to figure out how to work on these issues says a lot to me. on the article i read last week also, i don't know that it is sort of defeat for them. if you asked them five years ago, where do you think your application numbers will be, they wouldn't have even dreamed where they were going to be last year or the year before and so their numbers rose enormously after 2008 and that was huge. i don't think they have dropped pre-sort of 2008 numbers right now. so i think it can be perceived in different ways and i mean i meet people every single day are basically begging us, how can i figure out how to work on health issues? i'm not a doctor, i'm not a nurse but how do i get my foot in the door? to me that means people want to serve and service may look different. it may not look like working in government. it may look like working on real

challenging issues. >> would you agree? >> i would agree service does take place in a lot of different ways. for us, 80% of the folks in our network go to work in public service whether government or non-profit sector. we're looking at a lot of young people really dedicated to that. we're now 10 years old. we were founded on idea of besides putting boots on the ground or giving money to campaigns and young people have policies. we have folks in state government running for office, working in the white house. i think there is, this generation has an imperative to serve. >> i want to ask just before getting too specifically, we had a writer on mlk day of this year who talked about, as he called it the santa clausification of the mlk day. as 9/11 and mlk have become sort of big national days of service

as he put it, it obscures a little bit of the day was to begin with. i'm not sure that i agree with that or not. i want to throw that out as an idea. i would be interested in how you react to something like that. these big national days of service are they the right way to think about national service for this generation specifically or maybe not? >> well i i would address actually teach for america. >> sure. >> because i am actually a teach for america alum. that was a way for me to get in national service. i was an alum in 2005 and it was an incredible way to just jump in. after two years i went to the hill for five years because i really truly believed that legislation is the way i could affect students in the classroom and i think programs like what joelle and barbara are doing really encourage people to leave their jobs. with our new generation to look at things such as startups as a way of being a part of, you

know a social movement and having national service. because there are plenty of startups from our generation that are really helping people. for instance in some in the audience shout it out because i do not remember off the top of my head there's an app for women when they have been sexually assaulted on the street? holla back app. that is, i mean, that is an incredible app. it is allowing governments throughout the nation to be able to look at that data say this is a real problem. that conversation has been spurred, right? i think looking at it a little differently what national service actually is has also changed in our generation. as for santa clausing politics i'm of the opinion if you can get more people out on a day to go into the community to have that one experience where they have that spark to go to barbara and say, i want to do this more, i don't see that as, you know, a bad thing.

so, i it is hard for me to say for us to push it on a national front, as a day where everyone needs to come out is bad. i don't. >> okay. so i'm a believer of more questions from the audience and not less. maybe i will do one or two more and then open it up. i want to ask one question political participation. you mentioned this earlier but i think, another issue for this generation is sort of barriers to entry for running for office or participating in elected political life. and, you know, from my experience this generation looks at elected political life a lot differently than others. running for office or working on the hill may or may not actually be the best way to participate in, in service. as we've been discussing. so i guess, i would be interested to hear what you have to say, joelle. what are the biggest barriers for young people participating in politics?

why are young people not doing it more? >> to be frank the people in the political office today often times, i mean, we look at the news if we do look at the news. we see all of this infighting, all the bickering of things that don't seem to matter. but big issues are affecting us. young people getting jobs. doing something about climate change right? manx sure everyone health care for you will. those are issues young people rin vested in. yet we don't see that happening in cop guess right? we hear about corporate interests. revolving door happening between big financial firms and u.s. government. we think why would i want to be that person? but that doesn't mean i don't think young people believe in the potential for government. so the campus network ran a project called where we surveyed thousands of people across the country about what their views were about government and what they could be. if you ask people the question

what could government be, you get a very different answer than what government is. we think government can provide for the common good. it can be well-managed serve as a force of innovation and scaling innovation. no one can scale innovation like government can right? i think what matters we invest in organizations. we invest in local and state governments places where we can gain access. where we can provide opportunities for participation at wider scale. i think, that ground can lead to a wide scale change in government. >> dream jobs startups, politics, one or the other? >> i think probably more times than most -- run for office. i don't know. my inkling is that's a no. but you know, i think dream job is literally continuing to do what i'm doing. that is pushing, my job and my

office is sometimes on a very small level being a public relations to the community. you know, and i think whatever do when i grow up, is going to, is going to have to be something that is connected to service because it is important for us to reconnect. but i do want to like touch actually on how we can be more politically active and want to be in office. that if more of us start voting. first of all i don't understand why election day isn't a national holiday. if we want to talk about santa clausing things, give people the opportunity to not have an excuse to vote. that have national holidays. i think that's a huge, huge thing that would actually change a lot of what is going on in congress because when we vote, we're influencing who steps through that door on capitol hill. unfortunately like joelle said, maybe a lot of us didn't drop off between 2010 and 2014 but there are still not enough of us. if you look at who actually

voted in the mayoral campaign for new york city pretty low percent. it was less than 10% of people voted in the primary. so less than 10% of new york city chose who our mayor was going to be so. i think if we start voting more and start seeing people that we, that reflect who we are electorate, an electorate driven congress i think we'll see changes. we'll be more inspired to be in office. i will have won't have an easier answer when someone comes to me and tells me to run. >> barbara. >> dream jobs first? >> you can give us that. >> i dream of startups but five-year-old organizations. i, i have no interest in running for office. i love policy and i don't love politics. and i think that's okay. and i love working with people every day that are trying to figure out how they can learn

skills on the ground right now so they're very informed and working on policies and positions of great influence. >> okay. i promise this will be my last one and it will take maybe two minutes. i want to do a few quick hits. give one tweet or one-word answer to these, okay? the first thing, what would you say to the one thing that people over 50 don't understand about young people? [laughter]. you can start. >> i guess i would say interconnectivity. >> what do you mean by that? >> you said one word, so i was like interconnectivity. so i think, you know, the way that we're connected whether via our device, always on our phones. you know like barbara mentioned, globally even is something that i think maybe someone over 50 might not quite understand. some people do.

my mom's on facebook and twitter. she does her thing. but, i think people assume that you know, the way that we're interconnected means that we're self-absorbed. because we're constantly sharing, because we're constantly putting things on twitter and instagram that is a sign we're not paying attention. it can be indicative potential for connectivity that we have and how the connectivity can be used for broader scale change. when it comes to things like civic technology where folks are taking advantage of that connectivity actually, build stronger communities allow for sharing of resources, there is a lot of potential there. so i would say, interconnectivity for that reason. >> let me do a different one. change it up. what what should our leaders know about young people in one tweet or less? >> sara. >> what should our leaders know? >> yeah. >> that we're watching you. that we're watching you and

we'll tell everyone what you did. yes, everyone has their phones. it's true. i think that if leaders understood how many of us have seen, we have a couple of politicians in new york who have done this, done something really dumb on twitter or facebook or done something very dumb that blasts through the news, we're watching you. we have this tool. i am more than my phone. this is not a distraction this is a tool, i will tell the world, let them know what yru're doing. >> okay, barbara. your opinion of left shark at the super bowl? >> amazing inspirational. [laughter]. let me ask a real question. what do i want to ask you? i guess what is the one issue that you think will be most important for young people in

2016? >> my goodness, so many. well i think that gets back to the millennial. okay, this is not one-word answer. but i mean i think we all have issues important to us and important to our communities and important to where we live. not saying there is one issue that is important because they're so every issue is connected. and figuring out how to have a bigger lens, thinking about solving each issue. my last thing to copy your yes to her is i never -- question to her i never understand why older people are -- i never understand millenials. you can ask people what they're interested in. you can ask them how they want to communicate and partner with you. instead of categorizing this one group as an elusive group we all have the power to make relationships with people. >> i will close by doing a quick survey of the audience. so on the question of what issue most young people are interested in in 2016, mic all the time

surveys our readers and we recently did a survey and i just want to get a quick show of hands or somebody can shout it out, what do people think the most important foreign policy issue for 18 to 35-year-olds, by 44% margin? yeses? no? not left shark. yeah. >> foreign policy issue, global warming? >> ding, ding, ding. you got it. totally. you're a reporter i think, right? [laughter] >> [inaudible] >> yeah, so we polled our audience climate change was the most important issue for people on for return policy. on national issues what do people think? >> immigration. >> immigration.

jobs, marriage equality economy. related to the economy actually income inequality and disparity. did you say that? we should have a prize. yeah income inequality was the most important national issue. i don't know whether those will be the most important issues for 2016. i thought it was interesting. let's open it up for questions. want to remind everybody, if you're going to ask a question use the microphone. this will be on c-span. i know there are a lot of millenials watching c-span. [laughing] you will be on c-span. if people want to tweet i will have my phone also. >> i heard jon stewart will be on c-span now. >> raise your hand. then i think we have a mic coming around. >> can you hear me? >> yes. >> i'm a researcher and what the models i'm always asked about you mentioned religious institutions government, health care brands. everybody talks about

engagement. next question they ask me what about loyalty, if i get somebody engaged with the candidate can i make them a lifelong x-party person or x-brand person or religious institution. is that a millennium model or broken older model -- one person? >> i can just take that just because i think about this a lot but i think it is absolutely true, once you become locked in and are a loyal brand person, you're locked in for good. there are plenty of examples of brands that have done this pretty well with demographic. whether it is whole foods or others i think that's actually why you've seen many, many more brands coming out on twitter during big events like the super bowl or other big events, actually like making their social issues, you know, policies on social issues known. you've seen many, many more

brands taking a stand on gay rights and climate change. people recognize that you know, for millenials, once you buy into the ethos of a brand you're sort of locked in for good you're eating for whole foods because even though it is really expensive you as much agree with the philosophy as much as you do with the product. i think for politicians the same things can be said, i think authenticity is really, really important. best example of somebody who uses facebook and twitter well is cory booker i think. there are a few others. cory booker is actually tweeting every day. there is only one person who has access to his twitter account other than him. he is on twitter responding to people. it may be about serious things and everyday life things. sort of realness and humanness is actually really, really important. and regardless where he stands on policy actually made many people of our generation excited about him as a candidate,

watching his rise through government, more closely than others. but, you guys can weigh in. >> i think that's right. i think you can definitely lock people in but at the same time something about our generation and tool through social media if you do mess up and you lie to us much like people are dropping american apparel or urban outfitters over things, they had brand loyalty but once something came out about them being antigay or you know, having a sex wall abuse problem sexual abuse problem or immediately their loyalty dropped. that is with generation of voters so. >> so i'm a gen-x professor teaching millenials. so i'm trying to figure it all out. to pick up on last point teach about history of the baby boom

generation and economy and rising middle class and growth of opportunities is really shaping that generation from having thought about civil rights to having thought about politics. so you have a generation or millenials have a generation with inequality as survey pointed out, heart of a movement from one class to another, with jobs that are less stable, or more fleeting fewer unions, how does all that, in your various opinions shape the outlook and politics and culture of the millennial generation? >> anybody want to touch on that? >> in 140 characterrers? >> i will just keep my comments brief on this. this is deeply skeptical generation. we feel like we've been lied to one too many times by politicians, by corporations, by media. we're actually very optimistic.

which is very interesting. if you ask the parents will world be better for our kids than us, no way we screwed it up. if you ask young people the same question, they say yes. we're the maker entrepreneurial generation. you spoke to that earlier. i started a startup media company but there are some examples of young people who, you know, look, economy is bad, what does that phrase, make lemonade out of lemons, they are going out every day starting companies trying to make the best of it. so i think the, that's a very unique thing for this generation, that there is this sort of optimism that we'll actually make the world a better place and we'll change the world for the better. that is how we dealt with a lot of problems you mentioned. i would be interested to hear what you think? >> my experience very much echoes yours. we started global health corps in 2009. it was very unsure job market to say the least. the benefit of that a lot of

people reconsidered what their careers could look like, and thought about okay, if i'm watching things fall apart, if you think about how you felt in 2008 it felt like things were falling apart. thinking okay, what do i want my future to look like? i think i should think about what is the world i want to see. what do i care about in order to do my part to change this? i think that had a huge impact on our generation. we started at the same time as y'all did around then. there is obviously a huge sort of burgeoning startup space. there are tons of social enterprises focused on problem solving and are startups. there is creativity that has come out of having an unsure job market. >> i think there is also something to the fact that, you know we grew up during a really really serious economic crisis. long-standing foreign wars. partnership bickering partisan bickering, all over the 24 hour

news cycle et cetera et cetera. that coupled with our optimism, actually, you know, makes our generation desire to see ourselves reflected in a lot more spaces especially since we're so diverse. to sara's point when companies mess up, not respecting american indian populations or the lgbt communities, something that we would stand for right? we want to see ourselves reflected and reflected reflected in leadership positions. during our coming of age leadership has failed especially in establishment institution. >> our generation, things our grandparents, great grandparents, parents have we still have civil rights struggles. we have women getting 77 cents to every dollar men are getting. we haven't reached all the equality that our great grandparents were fighting for. as latino we're now emerging

population in the u.s. and we're still treated as second class citizens often times. i think you may be teaching about a different generation but i think it leads to us. i think we're more introspective sometimes generation. we're more comfortable talking about how we feel bush shoes. so i think what you do this is it helping us not to repeat history to repeat the struggle. probably unfortunately will be a struggle for the next one. we do want a legacy that may be brighter and more optimistic but i mean we're still fighting the same fights that our previous generations did so. >> i want somebody to prove the stereotype is right that millenials are on twitter all day and tweet me. i haven't gotten one yet. i can take snaps also or go on yick yak. i have that on my phone too. in the back, maybe? >> hi, there.

just following up on a comment jake made about some of the companies taking on causes as a way to brand themselves whole foods and global warming. two examples i thought of, goldman sachs came out for gay marriage in 2012 or '13. that is great but they're not great on financial reform. american apparel came out on immigration reform but not workers rights, work place safety sexual harrassment things like that. should millenials embrace corporations taking on causes or like a carbon credit where they buy a certain cars and pollute in another cause? >> who wants to take on the corporations? great question, by the way. >> it's tough. i'm like, still reeling from that joke but it's tough because, you know, the idea of like cfr is important.

i think that is like a baseline, frankly in my opinion. you should not should be a standard that companies are good on social issues. i think that, you know, your example about american apparel right? that to me, a lot of folks that i, you know hang out with that is like baseline for us. i think what matters is, where folks stand like you said on policy issues. and i think there is an opportunity, i think we see a lot of like social media campaigns with a lot of young people starting non-profits. a lot of young people, roosevelt, getting involved with the policy process to elucidate some of those nuances that are not often seen. a press release thing we support immigration reform will only go so far a lot of people are looking into what american apparel is doing on workers rights. there is opportunity for the baseline to change is kind of where i'm at? >> i would just sort of echo that. i think there is authenticity to

it that can't be overlooked. these things are not token sort of things to throw around where you support gay rights on twitter, all of sudden you're a great company. if there is things young people know people talk about point to which still haven't changed. that being said, i think the super bowl was an amazing, amazing moment this year i think. you know, whereas in previous years, we have identity section at mic focused on feminism, lgbt rights race, intersection alty of social justice issues. every year the super bowl has all kinds of ads sexist advertisements, the way brands take advantage of sexualized women. we didn't see this at all. not in the same way you saw in years past. >> i saw a different super bowl? >> really? >> yeah. >> our coverage was mostly

positive look, there is always degrees of it. mostly positive relative to years past. and, i think that is by and large a good thing. there is always more to be done. so on specific advertisements there may have been, sort of, wanting more from a company but i think just buy and -- by and large it's a good thing. the grammys is another good example there is a lot to poke at for the grammys the fact that black lives matter was mentioned. the president came on national tv and talked about domestic violence. that social justice issues were actually a big part of the grammies in a way we haven't seen. again, that didn't change the fact that chris brown was in the audience but but it, it is sort of moved miles and balance from where we were at if that makes sense. >> thing that came to my mind that said that was the nfl, right? the nfl has had this ongoing

stance where they don't really comment on what their players are doing. this year we saw them pushed against a rock and hard place. and, while good dell, and his his company has lot of movement to make, i think the conversation started and they are putting money into anti-domestic violence campaign. do i think the nfl is the absolute soapbox to go to talk about domestic violence? no, there are major problems still, but whether from contracts to how players are treated for taking paternity leave or anything else. i'm happy there are companies making a stance. and our generation, other generations aren't as shallow as companies as they think we are. i think because we have that tool, official media, when american apparel has, they had migrant workers in their

campaigns, right? they made them look like they just love, you know all immigrant workers. they weren't even paying half the people that were in the ads, that came out really quickly right? i don't know i applaud companies that get the that they need to put their money behind issues that matter to our generation, because i think that is a stepping stone to actually becoming better companies. >> i think you were next. >> i'm bill, i'm a journalist and author. i want to say and i came here today in part, i spent a little time today thinking about kayla mueller. i found her really generationally impressive. i think she is a real tribute to the best you guys have to offer. that being said, i do find a lot of the insularity the generational insularity millenials, kind of annoying. i, you know, sometimes you are reinventing the wheel. let me ask you this, we're

involved in a pretty steep crisis of legitimacy on the part of our leadership moral, political, social. how are you going to avoid those issues? just give you an example. if you had to do a word cloud what was on the panel you would have lgbt rights, twitter would be big economic disparity income inequality less big. and you know it is like how are you guys, we have got some trendlines going that are not good. part of that is our dysfunctional leadership elite. what are you guys going to do that's different? >> well you know, it is a question how will we solve income inequality or do it differently? >> if you had to define -- personally i think income inequality and class -- lack of upward mobility will kill this country. we're not going to become a social democracy like europe.

we're going to have to figure this out. so if you do premise that is the challenge, what do you see your generation doing that other generations, xers, baby boomers whatever are not? >> yeah, so i don't know if that is the number one core challenge that you know, everybody in this demographic is working to solve. i think as we, sort of highlighted, everybody has different challenges they think about and you know, i have friends last two months who have been out in the streets in new york for black lives matter protest. that will be their issue. i will say a few things. one, you know, i think, sort of online activism get as really, really bad rap particularly for older people. it is or the of, what term -- just a very lazy type of activism. i actually don't think that is

true. i think that is overblown. there are plenty of examples now where change.org petitions have resulted in major changes by corporations reversing policies, which are actually amazing amazing moments that have shown this generation is not unengaged and does activism very, very differently but is still doing activism. so i think that is one thing. i think secondly just to the point earlier on our panel about the biggest barrier in politics, i mean money in politics issue is just insane. and, for me, the biggest barrier for more of young people our age entering politics the amount of money you need to raise in order to run. it is very difficult for somebody under 35 to do it. that is sort of the truth of the matter. which i think resulted in other forms of activism and sort of working to change the system. so, you know i think there is a lot of great work being done by

everybody on this panel and, and otherwise and not sure how we will solve all the world's problems but i know that it will look a lot differently sort of working with on the system. there are people who do that and that is a good thing. but it is going to look a lot more diverse than it does in the typical political organizing sense. >> on the beat of things that are going to be different or could be different i think we talk a lot about online engagement. we talked about social media. what is yet to be seen and will be seen how online translates into off-line community building for us, right? the ability of folks in localities to being connected and also rooted in a place. at for us, roosevelt institute campus network we're looking how universities relate to local economic development under banner of income inequality. there are folks working in d.c. and new york and california and

humboldt county, eureka, california, almost know where all connected via online platforms because they have ability to connect people. but they're still working on the ground in physical communities face-to-face. so i think that is something could be very different of confluence of both online and off-line activity. >> i think we're trying to reinvent the wheel but we definitely have to go from having a carriage to prius right? we are no longer using same tools to reach people. but i will things things like black lives matter, that hashtag has to do with more than police brutality. the fact that black lives matter in terms of income inequality. access to affordable housing. in terms of access to high every education. and i think that those issues, while maybe they aren't coming out within how we're speaking on social media level bit, underlying all of that movement are the issues that you brought up, that are important. income inequality is a huge problem in this country.

i don't think anyone in this room would argue with that. but the way that this generation is choosing you know, move behind it is in a different you know in a different vehicle than perhaps generations before us. >> i think yeah maybe in the front. >> yeah. [inaudible] >> sorry. >> unfortunately the -- [inaudible] i'm intrigued that facts you gave around the millenials core issues and policy, global warming, climate change, nationally around income inequality. if these are the issues given the demographically the millenials will be dominant generation outstripping baby boomers by i think next 10 years, what are the panel's views on the political landscape, future political

landscape of the u.s., impact on policy particularly related to those two issues? >> somebody want to take this? >> i think money and politics really shaped my view of the political landscape. i think confluence and emergence of super pacs. the high barrier candidates have to pass in terms of fund-raising dramatically affects who is running for political process. we'll see same folks time after time if the same folks are a part of an existing top-down hierarchy. i think that money in politics issue is critical to solving and equallying the playing field for future political landscape. that is something i care deeply about, and people in our generation are not excited about political candidates. oh, these are the people i've been seeing like i was in high school. where are the new people? if we get to root of money in politics issue we see a landscape i think our generation will be happier with. >> to really the work that they're doing at roosevelt

network, is seeding the field. we can't expect to see very different people in positions of influence if we're not insuring that there are other folks being sort of rising up to where they have the where they have equally as powerful networks and understanding of policy and advocacy change. that is something doing for young people every single day by huge numbers. that is really encouraging thinking about in 10 years how many people have been seeded through their work and other people to work we will see in 10 years in positions of greater influence. >> yeah. i would just add you know, there is a huge movement right now for people who want to elect elizabeth warren. and, you know that is not me as a liberal in new york talking. there is a lot of people out there who have bought into her sort of indictment of our political system so much so that hillary clinton, for people on the, for progressives is actually not as interesting of a

candidate as elizabeth warren. her rise to fame over the last very short period i think reflects, she talks about income inequality every day. and, you know, young people are buying it. they're listening. so i think that is been interesting. i think the other piece of it, climate change, i don't think we've cracked yet as a country certainly as you know amongst political leaders. it is not something sort of top of mind talked about day in, day out, i think it should be, we haven't seen mass mobilization yet, i think that will change and the change on lgbt rights. income inequality, politicians are talking about it and gaining big traction. i think what you will see is more people like that. it doesn't have to be somebody on the left. there is plenty of people who are libertarians, and on the right who talk about that, that issue also will gain more traction. >> i think that campaign finance reform is a huge issue.

joelle brought it up. talking about this generation, what we can do. maybe we'll not be able to elect, you know, run for office with a lot of money but we can change how those running for office run. so one huge thing i'm from texas originally, that really like hits home is, gerrymandering and redistricting reform. in the fact that people can redistrict their areas so that they continue to win and remain in office. so you know as a millennial, as any generation, quite frankly we should be hitting hard on these politicians find redistricting reform isn't important. i think it is insanely important. i think campaign finance reform is important. that is the way we get people in office and higher voter turnout right? stop people from creating voter i.d. laws that keep people from going to the polls. maybe we can't raise as much money as everyone else, we sure

as hell, i'm sorry can i say hell? sure as heck raise cain on issues that will affect who is in office. i definitely think those are three issues we need to push harder. put major pressure on people regardless how much money they have. >> i would say. as we mention at top the generation that is most diverse. to both of these questions this is survey of mic readers that, generation as a whole. these are two important issues. there are lots of other ones that really really matter. people, you know, our age are voting based on a series of things. there is millenials on the coast and millenials in the middle of the country. i don't pretend to know all issues that young people will vote on. should we move maybe over here? yep. >> thanks so much for being on the panel. second of all i thought it was

time for some female voices. third, i wanted to transcend the united states. so given these issues given how interconnected we are given energy and discontent we're having among young people around the world, whether turkey or mexico or india how do we harness that energy to create, whether it is alliances or shared understanding for some of these issues that matter for the entire world? or given, that all of us will be leaders at some point and would be better to have more countries as our friends, than our enemies? how do we harness that energy right now? >> i can speak to that based on our work. so we work in six countries. the u.s. is one of them. then three in east africa and two in southern africa. fellows are from around the world. our fellows are from 22 countries right now. i'm talking more about american ones because of the audience but we received more application

this is year from uganda than anywhere else. why it is interesting 60% of the people living in uganda are 35 and under. and unemployment rate, within that group of people is 60%. and so, it is a very large population of the country that is doesn't have a job market and our, so we worked a lot with our fellows there doing the same thing as our other fellows. they're working every single day solving health issues. we worked a lot with them because more of a society of elders marshaling the public framework to figure out how they can use their voice to affect change and do it in a positive way. their president is, i want to say 85 years old. he has been, well past, he doesn't get elected anymore. and so, they feel a huge, all of our fellows feel a huge disconnection between themselves and issues people in power care about. and yet there haven't been, they haven't had a lot of opportunity

to explore how to use their voice and explore advocacy. where i see huge potential impact we have 90 current fellows in uganda. they're connected to 450 other global health corps fellows. they're building advocacy campaigns where they have a lot of voices behind them. there is safety having a lot of voices together. so that's one thing that's cool. in addition our world is so global that, we could look up and see what is going on in uganda right now on the internet if we wanted to. it is much easier to understand issues in other parts of the world. for us we're really excited, one of our people training at beginning of the year with all of our fellows before they start their year, we do it in new haven at yale, two years ago one of our fellows who is nigerian and stood up, it will be so convenient when i'm the minister of health in nigeria and minister of health in uganda and they are running gates

foundation and we know each other and we have shared interest in health equity. it was a cute moment. she is getting her phd in harvard paid for by ministry of health in nigeria with stipulation she returns to nigeria and joins them. i think there is a huge luxury to all of us being connected. that being said i think there is a difference between using your voice and using it responsibly and knowing how to speak to power. and then figuring out everything you have to do in order if you're in that position what skills do you need to be effective rather than just speaking. >> i just have to do a time check. tyler, how are we doing? >> one or two more. >> one or two more. you've been waiting. >> thank you. i actually represent a previous millennium but i do have a daughter that is a millennial. and i very much appreciate your involvement in the global scene.

but i do feel also that the united states is responsible for maybe over 20% of gdp in the world and that i feel that it's very important that we use the infrastructure that we have to the ability that we can possibly use it. and, the question my daughter had is, what should we be doing about student debt and cost of higher education in this country? it looks as though it is very prohibitive for many people. >> anyone want to take on student debt? >> i think there is legislation in congress, also if you look at things happening on a state level, como has been trying to make actually college more affordable. the president just announced community colleges were going to be free? there is, some big things. i think your daughter has a point. for me, i can't even i think joelle and i were talking about this the other day. we can't fathom how our parents

put us through college. the fact there are people walk around every day having to put themselves through college and work and this is hurdle that disproportionately affects low income minority groups the most. i think it is raising our voices about that legislation and holding people like the president to his promise. you know. >> we work on college campuses. so i care a lot about access to higher education. i think something that was interesting, one of our students at san bernardino valley college, which is a community college out in california, we're on four year and community college campuses, very articulately said, part of how we'll be able to solve the higher education crisis is by involving more young people at the table. so two students in d.c. from our organization went to a department of education meeting. i think that is part of the first step. because a lot of times we're analyzing things, looking at reports, people in d.c. are reading those things, having

panels, et cetera, et cetera. what really matters if you have the people who are working two jobs and trying to go to community college or even non-traditional students with families trying to put themselves through college in order to chase this idea of opportunity that we have in this country, those are types of people we need involved in the policy process if we're going to make policies actually good for a large portion of the population. >> we have time for one more. yeah, in the back. >> mike, columbia journalism school. i wonder what the panel thinks of a notion, that is socially liberal, fiscally conservative kind of candidate might be able to mobilize young voters? >> i think socially liberal fiscally conservative, i think that is very, very possible. i think you know people often ask me, as editor of mic are you guys biased? what i like to say we're biased

towards young people, which what i mean by that there are certain issues like social issues which are sort of nonstarters for this generation. lgbt rights as we've been hearing, feminism, race. these are issues that, if you asked people in our generation, everybody universally agrees. there are others that are really really hot debates. fiscal policy as you mentioned is one ever them. foreign policy is another. what will be interesting to see in this election i don't know who the candidate will be. what is interesting to see next sort of election cycles, if you ask most young people, are you liberal, are you conservative. they say we're neither. we're independent. which means there is a real opportunity for somebody to sort of carve out that niche. frankly a real opportunity for the gop as a party to appeal to this demo if they strike the right balance if that makes sense. i think one interesting person to watch will be rand paul

particularly in 2016. you know, it's clear on certain issues there are things that young people will really agree with, on others maybe not so much, and how people weigh those different factors will be something interesting to watch i think. >> make them speak about it during the debates but i think, one thing about just your question i think the term socially liberal fiscal conservative is insanely loaded because i think when we look at candidates like hillary clinton versus warren people want to label hillary clinton as fiscally conservative, you know i don't really think that's fair. i don't necessarily think that elizabeth warren is liberally you know, on that point. i have a problem with labeling people as that. but when you look at it, from a bigger term, look at bigger nation in order to win people

in the midwest and everything else it has to be relatable to things that matter to them right? so things like student debt are going to matter. things like jobs stability. so i think that candidate is what we make them talk about during, during the campaign that actually matters that we'll maybe show them as this middle, centrist everybody loves me candidate. we have to admit when people run for office, everyone tends to be cater to whatever questions are being asked of them. whoever is paying attention. and that is why, i want us to be paying attention more because we're going to be able to ask the questions to put them on the spot to answer them. >> okay. there are snacks in the back. people should hang around for a little bit. i want to just, everybody in the audience join me in thanking all three of our great panelists. [applause] i certainly learned a lot from

all three of you. and yes for this to stop by to say hello. thank you. >> thank you. okay, that was fun. thank you. so much. you're the professor. >> that was a good question. it really was. >> i enjoyed the talk. i know a little bit about mic but -- >> where do you go? >> princeton. >> with tax deadline day just over two weeks away, we'll bring you comments from irs commissioner john koskinen at the national press club. . .

[applause] >> thanks for coming out. really appreciate it. you're fully mobile. >> yes. no crutches, no nothing. >> madam secretary, one of the biggest hopes for president obama's second term is a big accomplishment on climate. it's potentially one of the history book items for him. what's your biggest, most on the mustic hope for what'll happen -- optimistic hope for what'll happen in the next year and a half?

>> we're going to deliver on his climate action plan. my hope and full expectation is that he has outlined an ambitious but compelling argument on why we need to take action now. his leadership has been amazing. i have a clear path forward and we're going to move ahead to develop those plans and those rules that are going to underpin his success in really taking some strong action and generating international action as well. >> now, you have one of the real hot seats in the administration, the clean power plan. tell us about the people who love it and the people who hate it. >> well, i think the people who -- i think most people recognize, clearly the majority of people in the u.s. recognize we have to take action on climate, and they're looking for u.s. leadership on this. including the business community. and so i think we know we all have to move towards a low carbon future, so the challenge i think we have is to make sure we do it in a reasonable and effective way and that we get the ball rolling. and i think most people

recognize that we should do it. there are always going to be folks arguing about whether we should do it or how we design it but, frankly, i'm hearing a lot more about how than whether we should do it. >> you look at some of the encounters you've had on the road, this can get personal. what do you do to try to turn down the heat, if you will, on this issue? >> i've been in government for 35 years so if i haven't figured out how to separate business from personal, then i probably wouldn't have made it to where i am. there's no question that i believe we have like the president has indicated a moral responsibility to act on this. but i also know that i have, you know, i have to follow the laws that i have and i have to apply the data as i see it and use science as my guide, and i'm going to keep my head down and treat this as it should be, which is as a normal business rule that epa does under the clean air act. and we can i think, i feel very comfortable that i'll have to

defend it, and i will be able to, and i'll defend it under the law, under the science and we'll have a great opportunity to really deliver on the president's legacy here. >> why is there so much passion behind this? why is in this such a hot issue? >> well, i hate to tell you but it's not as hot outside of washington, d.c. as it is in washington d.c. so i think we've got to look at what the issues are that people care about across the united states because that's -- >> well, you can go to west virginia or kentucky it's pretty hot. >> it can be hot, but there's also folks in kentucky that are working really hard with us at figuring out what kind of action we need to take. so i think it's, there is a lot more surety now among the general public and there's a lot more concern that we are already seeing the impacts associated with climate, and i don't think that any of the individuals that we're working with want to see those impacts get larger because we've failed to take, to address these issues in a way that not only is going

to be, you know ambitious, but it really has to turn this challenge into an opportunity. and one of the reasons why i think there's great hope that this momentum will continue beyond this administration is because the technologies of the future are now the technologies that people are investing in today. and i've been around long enough to know that when you bring up a problem with no solution, people don't like the problem to be articulated and defined. but we have solutions now that will help us bring -- grow the economy and bring jobs, and, in fact, that's what's happening today. i have every confidence that that a momentum will continue, because it's going to be part of the economic fabric that's going to keep us competitive. >> but these the technologies of the future, what is the most cutting edge? >> i don't know ifst the most cutting -- if it's the most cutting edge because that impliesst not quite around yet but solar has done amazing. there's nobody i think, that anticipated that it would make the kind of progress that it has made. you know, under this

administration we're seeing basically solar move tenfold and we're seeing wind move threefold. and i think what we're seeing in solar now is there's more job growth in the solar industry than in any other sector of the u.s. economy. it's remarkable. and i think there are other cutting edge examples of new technologies that are going to be budding. i think the challenge, mike, though is to recognize that we're moving away from incremental to wanting to send a long-term market signal that that is where investment should go. i think we're seeing the investment in the power sector move towards renewables towards a lot of efficiency programs, but we have to keep that momentum and send a longer-term signal which is what the president's intent is and what epa will deliver in our clean power plan. >> this is a question from my politico colleague erica martinson. leader mcconnell's budget

amendment last week does the epa have the legal authority? >> we actually don't have the legal authority under this section of the act to withhold highway funds so he's getting confused between a state implementation plan and this section of clean air act which the clean power plant is operating under which is a state implementation plan that is,s that is very different and does not hold those same consequences. this is a standard compliance system where we set the standards, the states implement and then the sources are responsible to achieve the emission reduction targets that are in here. >> and what is your plan b if your plans are held up by the appeals court? >> at this point many time or after we finalize it? >> well, start with this point in time. >> well, there's a couple of things going on -- well many many things going on. but there are some legal challenges now which we feel are, you know, not particularly

of significance because we haven't finalized the rule. but when we finalize it, we expect it will be legally challenged, and it could likely go to the supreme court. that's a why we're going to make sure we do it the way we're supposed to do and follow the law and see what the data says and do it the way that it will be as legal -- it will be legally solid, and we're looking forward to that. and i don't think there will be opportunities for folks to have a significant challenge because we've been doing the clean air act a really long time. we've been having some pretty good success, and the supreme court's addressed the issue of carbon pollution three times already. so we want to make sure we get a fourth win under our belt. >> clean water regs any easier? >> no. no frankly. [laughter] well, you know, they're both challenging. in a very different way. i think the challenge with the carbon pollution rules is that

it's become a political controversy within washington d.c. which sometimes stops us short of really getting at the substantive issues. so we're having to deal with those issues but, frankly, on the clean water rule it's just the fact that water is very personal. water is important to every community. that's why we're doing it, so that we can make sure we're protecting drinking water supplies that folks rely on and resources that we all rely on. but we have to do it in a way where we have strong consultation with the states and recognize that there will be folks out of the gate that will be very concerned about whether any change is made and some don't even want the clarity that we're looking for. but the general public do, the people i work for do, and i think we're going to deliver rule in a really solid way that takes cognizance of the concerns that have been raised and makes the changes that we need. both of them are challenging but we can do both, and we will. >> and going back to your time

in massachusetts, you know what it's like to be in the courts but sometimes you must feel like you're the solicitor general. [laughter] >> no that's -- he has his problems, i have mine. [laughter] >> but what's it like to have a constant litigation be, like, a huge part of your job? >> well it's challenging when you go to remortgage your house, i know that for sure. [laughter] >> because your name's -- >> i'm like, wow they think i'm a serial is something or other -- [laughter] i mean it's just, epa's under scrutiny no matter what we do. if we put a science assessment out, it has to be topnotch. it has to be peer- reviewed, in fact, triple peer-reviewed. and we do the job we need to do. it keeps you on your toes. it's allowed us to become more cutting edge i think, about the work that we do and helped us advance the science in many ways. but e -- but it just means we have to be prepared for the inevitable lawsuits.

we get better with time. >> in two minutes i'm going to bring in my colleague, erica martin soften but fist -- martinson, but the epa was accused of significant distorsions and omissions in reaching recent conclusions that low oil produces mean construction of the pipeline would lead to increased oil sands production. a striking charge. what's your response? >> i have great respect for the ambassador but he should just relook at the comment letter that we put in, you know? as much as he may have thought it was a conclusion, it was simply the normal way in which epa comments, which is to take a look at the analysis that underpin the supplemental final eis and to make sure that people are looking at the changes in oil priceses and what that means and to make the simple factual observation that the extraction of tar sands is more intensive from an emission standpoint than others, than other fuels. and people just have to look at it. but we didn't conclude anything

because we're not the concluder. we're the commenter. >> would the keystone pipeline be a disaster for the climate? >> no, i don't think that any one issue is a disaster for the climate. nor do i think there's any one solution to the climate change challenge that we have. everything has to be looked at, i think, in a way that continues to advance our enters in moving towards -- our enters in moving towards an economy including opportunities we can take and seize to make sure we're working in a direct that makes us more competitive. >> we thank all of you who are sticking with us in live stream land. in the meantime my colleague, erica martinson, has a question for the administrator. >> with hi administrator. the epa's rules are a pretty huge part of what the u.s. is going to u.n. climate negotiations with. mike touched on this before, but i'd like to circle back on whether or not you guys are talking about what to do if the

appeals court holds up your power plant rule before you issue a final rule, you know? is there some other thing that you can take to paris? >> i -- we certainly don't expect that to happen, erica so i don't need a plan b be i'm solid in my plan a. and i think we know how to do regulation under the clean air act. we've been doing it for 40-plus years. i know what's happened in the 1990 amendments i know what we're supposed to do, is we're going to deliver on that. the good news is that everything that the president is looking at in terms of a u.s. commitment, he has the authority to do. and, in fact, epa has the obligation to do this as the supreme court has told us. and so we just need to make sure that we're following the law and we should be all set. and we know that already there's a change in the international discussion. and we can take advantage of that. and people know that domestically we're moving forward. they know that we have done a

great joint agreement with china. and if the two biggest polluters and the two biggest greenhouse gas polluters can get together and the two biggest economies, then we're going to be okay moving into paris, and we should have some momentum behind our backs. >> well, speaking of the rules, secretary foxx mentioned that you guys maybe sent over to omb the heavy duty truck rule. >> yes. >> can you tell us a little bit about what to expect there? >> yeah. well, first of all we've already done one heavy duty rule, and that got us, i think the ball rolling. i think buckexpect -- you can expect to see this rule the same as we did on light duty vehicles looking to send a market signal for the kind of innovation and progression in technology that we're looking for. i think most of us think that light duty vehicles are the big ticket item, but if you look now, heavy duty vehicles are huge emitters of greenhouse gases. and providing efficiency in the heavy duty vehicle sector will not only drive significant reductions butst also going to

be tremendous -- but it's also going to be tremendous for commercial benefits because it will lower the cost of consumer goods that are all transported new trucks. i can't give you any of the details, as you know, but i'm looking forward to this being -- having an exwe expedite -- expedited review because we've worked really strongly with the industry in all aspects. the only thing last thing i would mention is we did pretty good in the light duty vehicles so far. people might have seen that the second year into the light duty vehicle requirements that we have that extend out to 2025 we're ahead of the curve. companies are doing better than we anticipated even though they thought it was a really aggressive target. so if we can have the same kind of collaboration and the same kind of pay off for consumers and the same kind of success working with the industry we'll do great. >> what's something that i, mike allen, resident of arlington virginia, can do to reduce my carbon footprint?

>> you can buy one of the 30-mile-per-gallon vehicles that are on the road that have tripled since we started taking these rule makings. we have three times as many on the road today. so, i mean, you can -- >> but what's one? >> oh lord. we have ford focus is one -- well i shouldn't say it's one of my favorites. it's one. it's one. [laughter] whoa. that was almost a big mistake. good thing i avow ared -- avoided that. [laughter] there's a whole lot of them and a whole lot of new ones which is really very exciting. the interesting thing is you can also buy your suv because the suvs are actually the fastest in terms of reducing their emissions. they are the fastest in terms of getting better mile per gallon of any models. so it's pretty neat. the way we designed it was you can look at my vehicle, you can have the kind of performance you want, and you can continue to drive the fleet average down.

so i'm pretty excited about that because people worry about whether we're buying suvs again. they're all getting much more efficient than they used to be. you can take a look at energy efficiency opportunities. you know, one of the things we're looking at in our clean power rule is to basically explain to the utilities and to states that there's a wade variety of -- wide variety of opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions other than utilities themselves. they are actually game changers and savers, yours does -- >> what's an example of something i could do to be more energy efficient? >> well, i'll give you a quick example. a lot of the states are supporting by providing rebates when you buy energy efficient appliances. those can be specifically designed as usually targeted at what has that energy star label, you know? that little blue energy star label? if you buy one of those, you're saving money over a very short period of time you begin to save every year, and you can get a repate in many states. --

rebate in many states. in some there are opportunities for rebates or tax incentives for renewables which is also a significant opportunity moving forward. >> what's something you've changed or giving up in your life to conserve energy? >> you know, i can't say that i've given up anything. i think part of the key to conservation is not putting your sweater on, it's actually figuring out how i you can reduce your energy costs in other ways than being chilly you know? we have gone way beyond that. so i haven't had to sacrifice. i've got leds everywhere because they're better. you know i was just talking to secretary may bit from the navy the other day, and he was explaining to me how much money the navy spends -- sorry, saves by going to led lights on their carriers. because when you want to change a lightbulb on a carrier it ain't an ease i city thing. and he explains how they last years inthe stead of three

months, how much it saves. i've taken advantage of a lot. >> have you heard of crete? >> no. >> okay. >> you can tell me later. >> okay. [laughter] they're available at home depot. [laughter] a couple questions that you may have heard us ask secretary foxx that i'm going to the ask you. you're a young person coming to washington from boston. what's your advice to succeed? >> make sure that you work really hard that you understand that the pace is very fast. you have an ability to make decisions to extent that you can, and you take a little risk in terms of always wanting to get the next job to be one that you're not exactly sure you can manage well, but it will expand your horizons. >> as you come up in state and now federal government, what's the mistake that you see people making? >> oh, that's a really good

question. i think one of the things that i like to focus is on is i like getting things done, getting things over the finish line. >> i can tell. >> can i think people underestimate at every level of government the higher you get, the more it's difficult, the more the bureaucracy can begin to talk over and get in the way of the intent that you're looking for, and you need to have, you need to be dogged as much as possible so you don't let those bureaucratic hurdles get in the way of real progress, nor let perfection get in the way of real progress. >> not everybody gets as me mails as my colleague daniel lippman here in the front row, but everyone here in this room gets too many e-mails. what do you do to manage the incoming? >> well, one of the good things is to shift your position, pause then your e-mail -- because then your e-mail gets changed. [laughter] but unfortunately, i still track my old e-mail as well. i mean, you have to have a team

of people working on it with you. but i do the best i can to limit my response to e-mails to the ones where i really need to get fully briefed on, and i make sure that my team works. i mean, part of the challenge of management is to not interp screen in everything -- intervene in everything going on in the agency and be very focused, and i am a focused person. so when i see something that comes in on e-mail that is not one of my high priorities, i give it to one of my staff and i trust them to do it. i'll track it but i'm not doing my other folks' jobs, or i'm letting them do theirs. i actually mike, i have a great team. my management team is fabulous. my career staff knows exactly what they're doing. it doesn't mean that we don't have challenges like everybody else, but i couldn't be more proud of the people that work for that agency. and i don't feel like i need to micromanage anybody. >> you recently got back from the vatican.

what role does faith play in your work? >> i actually -- i think it's a big deal. me personally my faith gets translated in a couple of ways. one is i actually love people. which is why, you know i try to recognize that i'm not taking it personally, but i'm allowing another person to have a different opinion, and i'm respecting that. how they deliver it sometimes is a little difficult -- [laughter] but it, but it helps me to realize that everybody has a right to think differently. because i think that's a what faith brings to you, is i'm not criticizing anybody else but i'm having my own beliefs. and i think we all have our own id owe sin cra says. and i think this terms of my work my substantive work and my choice of working for the environment, you know, i think it was of my understanding that the natural resources are a gift that are given to us, and they need to be protected. and i always come from the human

standpoint. so i love natural resources in terms of their beauty and the variety of species but i recognize that that's actually how we live. that's part of our health. and if we don't protect it, we are damaging, you know our ability to continue as a species and to live healthy. and so i think my faith is a big part in just what i do for a living, and i think the president's done a wonderful job at articulating the challenge of climate change in a moral context. in a way that will engage the faith community. and that's why i went to the vatican, was to, was to to make sure that the vatican knew that the united states of america was taking action that our president had made this a moral commitment and that we wanted to work with them to make sure this was a message of urgency but also one of tremendous hope. >> what was the coolest thing you saw, coolest moment at the vatican? >> oh, i had so many.

i actually was privileged to go into what they call the room of tears which is where cardinal who is chosen to be pope goes from the sistine chapel to have a quiet moment before they actually -- it's not an oath of office, whatever they -- [laughter] take pledge. [laughter] that's awful, isn't it? i should have listened a little bit more carefully rather than looking around the awe, i guess. it was just amazing to be there. all of the vestments that are worn by popes are all kept there, and you can see the kneeler where pope says prayers beforehand. it was, it was a very humbling moment and one that made me realize just how long a journey the catholic church has gone through. and just how amazing and frightening it must be to take that challenge on. so it was just, it was very cool.

>> at the other end of the spectrum of your life experiences, you've been on "the daily show." >> i have been. that was really scary too. [laughter] >> what was that like? >> um, it was really fun. it actually turned out to be really fun. i was told not to be funny. which, for me, sort of feels like it cuts my right arm off because in any serious situation, i like, fun gnu things come into -- funny things come into my head and i try very hard at hearings not to let hem come out my mouth. [laughter] but other times i enjoy it. it turned out to be a fun opportunity. he's very funny and he's easy -- it's hard not to engage with him this a humorous way. >> just to explain, because people may be puzzled, they really do give you that advice, and the idea is to let the host be funny. >> exactly. they said if you're naturally funny, it's okay. and i think i'm pretty funny. >> are you go to dunkin doughnuts, but you don't eat

doughnuts. >> that's the truth. >> tell us your routine. >> i love dunkin doughnuts you probably know i'm from massachusetts, that's the headquarters. so i'm pretty on accessed with it. but they should get away from those styrofoam cups and i'll keep annoying them about that. [laughter] i've never been -- when i was a little kid, my mother was a waitress, and when i was about 13, she worked in a doughnut shop in town. and one of the gifts that keep on giving was she was training me about how to work, and she'd get me up at, like, 3:30 in the morning, me and my sister and we'd go in and go into the back room preparing all the food for the coffee shop and one of the lovely things was making the doughnuts. it's not a pretty picture to make doughnuts. and it sort of made me realize that they can be wonderful, but somebody else should eat them rather than me. they just were not -- they kind of turned me off. >> so what do you get there? >> what do i get at dunkin?

coffee. coffee and, there's some coffee that i buy there. [laughter] >> we're about to get the hook here, but i can't let go without reminding you of the red fox san's motto, there's -- red sox fan's motto, there's always last year. [laughter] what's your idea as we head towards opening day in. >> we were last to first, now we're going to have to do it again, and i think we can. i won't make any speck predictions, because -- specific predictions, because i'm still reeling from my march madness choices. not very good. >> who -- do you have anybody left in your final four? >> no. [laughter] which is probably, makes it worse than not very good. >> something you probably share with people in this room. what is president obama like when you're just around a table? >> oh, he's incredibly engaging. he's funny, and he's more wonky than i ever thought he would be. he sort of understands the

substance of things going around which makes it challenging, because i much prefer bosses who don't. [laughter] no i'm just kidding. but he's very personal. and he's really great to talk to. >> what have you learned from him about life, leadership or management? >> well, i think, you know, i think washington is the most challenging place for me in my career to not take things personally. because for my entire career i've managed to keep my home life very separate from my work life even in massachusetts i don't think my husband knew anything that i was doing other than making money and going to work and not making enough money and being at work too long. but, but people now everybody knows it. and it makes it more challenging for me to separate. but he manages to do it. he manages to keep a smile on his face, and he manages to keep focused on progress moving forward. not whether he won or lost the

last time, but on what he has left to do and he reminds us constantly that this is the fourth quarter and there's lots of stuff we've got to get done. >> and when you head home to boston you take southwest? >> i do. it's cheaper. >> and you fly from bwi. >> i do, it's cheaper. [laughter] there's a theme here, folks. >> and as we say good-bye your guilty pleasure is -- [inaudible] >> yeah. >> what were you going to say? i should have let you answer. >> that was an open-ended question. i wasn't answering it. [laughter] i love cooking shows. i do not know why, frankly. some of them -- >> do you cook? >> i like to cook. >> okay. so which cooking show do you like? >> barefoot contessa. she just -- how easy is that? i love someone who says that. you don't watch it, do you? [laughter] it's straightforward, i can make her recipes at home, and they actually come out well. julia child, i could never do that. but i loved her daily.

>> and what else have you learned from cooking shows about life? >> that's a really good question. preparation. save steps. one thing i learned that i didn't know before was you should get all the stuff out before you need to use it, and then it saves time, and if you follow a recipe it actually comes out good. and over time you can figure out how to wig it. wig it. >> i'd like to thank all of you who joined us in live stream land, the colleagues after bank of america for making these conversations possible my politico colleagues who worked so hard on this event, thank administrator mccarthy for a fantastic conversation. >> thank you, mike. [applause] it was fun. [inaudible conversations]

>> coming up at 12:30 p.m. eastern, the council on foreign relations considers potential strategies to use against isis. panelists will conduct a simulation of a high-level government meeting as they discuss options. that's live here on c-span2. >> and we take you live now to the suspect for more than progress in washington -- the center for american progress in washington, d.c. for a discussion about undocumented students and immigration policy taking a look at the new report on the experiences of undocumented students in higher education. the report from the institute of immigration at ucla. felicia escobar will be giving the opening remarks as soon as the room fills up here and you're watching live coverage right here on c-span2.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> hello. welcome to the center for american progress. at this time can you silence all your cell phones? after the panel concludes, we will have a brief q&a. please make sure to state your name and affiliation and keep your questions brief. thank you. >> and starting shortly we just heard, here at the center for american progress a discussion

about undocumented students and immigration policy and a new report that was put out by ucla a on the experiences of undocumented students in higher ed. later today on c-span2 12:30 eastern time, we're going to be joining the council on foreign relations for a discussion about combating isis. and then at 1:00 eastern on our companion network c-span, we'll be hearing again from the irs commissioner, john koskinen about the irs' current operations and its future. and then also on c-span 3:30 today, deputy secretary of state anthony blinken we'll bring you that live and a conversation about current priorities and future prospects for u.s. engagement in central asia. again here at the center for american progress beginning shortly, a discussion about undocumented students and immigration policy in the u.s.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> and we're live this morning, centered for american progress here in washington d.c., talking about undocumented students and immigration policy.

we'll be hearing from felicia escobar, special assistant to the president for immigration policy. she'll be giving the opening remarks. you're watching live coverage hoar on c-span2. just want to let you know later tonight, 8 p.m. eastern on our companion network c-span, you can watch the chicago mayoral candidates' forum between rahm emanuel facing his challenger, jesus chewy garcia. a live forum hosted by wttw-tv in chicago, and in february's election neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote for a secure victory. mayor emanuel received 45% of the vote mr. garcia 34% so they'll be holding a forum today ahead of their elections. again, the chicago mayoral candidates' forum tonight at 8 p.m. eastern over on c-span.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> okay.

hello, everyone. i'll let the panelists take their seats, and we can get started in about three seconds. okay. well, thank you and good morning, everyone, on the lovely and bright, sunny morning. i know everybody's glad that winter's over: like to welcome you to the center for american progress. i'm the senior policy analyst for the youth engagement arm of center for american progress, and thank you so much for coming to talk about this important event. i have the really great pleasure of introducing today ms. felicia escobar, special assistant to the president for immigration policy. in her role, felicia develops the president's strategy for bidding a 21st century immigration system coordinating efforts across the executive branch and work toward passage of reform legislation. felicia previously worked

with -- [inaudible] legislative team working to develop a legislative agenda on a host of issues p including labor, civil rights and immigration which is especially important given today is cesar chavez day. felicia advised him during the reform debates of 2006 and 2007 in which senator salazar was a key member of the bipartisan group pressing for reform. and just as i was also in high school at the time ask remember doing the marches all across the country when that was happening so it's a distinct honor to have her here for this. prior to this felicia was the associate direct r director of the senate democratic steering outreach committee helping to cultivate relationships between democratic leader tom daschle and key stakeholder groups. felicia started her career as a state policy analyst working for the national council of la raza where she represented affiliates in the texas state legislature. testifying before legislative committees to advocate for

education, immigrant access to been fits and hate crimes legislation. felicia is a native of san antonio, texas and she received a masters in public policy from the harvard kennedy school of government and her jd from ucla school of law. join me in welcoming felicia escobar. [applause] >> thank you so much. it is great to see you all indoors. it's finally wonderful and sunny today for the first time in a while in d.c., so appreciate you all being here. i think it's -- i'm excited to hear about the conversation. i was just talking to marcelo about some of the research they've been doing at ucla. i see other people here, roberto, who's done some research on dhaka students, their -- daca students their outcomes barriers for those who haven't accessed the daca program to come forward so i know you all will have a really wonderful discussion. i'm here to talk about what the

administration is up to and, you know hopefully we can all work together to continue to help individuals get that access to temporary relief and work authorization. so for those of you who don't know what daca is, it's the deferred action for childhood arrivals process program. it was implemented in -- it was announced in june of 2012 and then implemented in august of 2012. we had 60 days to work with dhs to get the program up online so that young people who know this country, know this is their only could country, grew up pledging allegiance to our flag want to contribute to our country, could come out of the shadows and get access to temporary status call deferred action and also be able to apply for work authorization. so since the program was launched in august of 2012, several hundred thousand -- about 650000, actually -- individuals have come forward

and received daca. when we were doing the research on whether to do the program how to do the program its impact, we assumed about a million people might be qualified for the program. and we also understood that there would be people that would probably age into the program over time if it existed for several years, as it seems that it will. and so the fact that we've been able to actually bring 650,000 folks out of the shadows out of that one million to us is a success. obviously, the bigger, the bigger challenge is tackling immigration reform, and we all want to get to passage of comprehensive, meaningful immigration reform that would affect the 11 million, but also folks waiting in green card backlogs, people who want to come here as students or entrepreneurs, employers who are doing right by system and are getting undercut by unscrupulous employers, that is the main and the big goal that we all continue to strive for. in the meantime, there are things we can do and so daca is

an example of something we are doing as an administration to try to make sense of the system. we are operating in the confines of a brocken law, so you have to -- broken p law, so you have to find ways to make the law work for our country, work for our economy immigrants, refugees and others. so daca was an attempt to do that. since then, as you all know, we have had an unsuccessful, unfortunately unsuccessful effort to pass legislation in the congress. we did get a piece of legislation that was, you know not perfect but pretty darn good out of the senate in june of 2013 and weren't able to get something passed out of the house to form a bill that could get to the president's desk. so as a result of this the president last summer in about june had a conversation with speaker boehner about his interest in really seeing legislation get done. we were only a i few months left -- only a few months left

into the last congress and we felt that our window was going to slip if they didn't act last year. the speaker was having his own challenges as speakers often do i'm sure and was not able to move legislation forward. so the president decided that he could really wait no longer for legislation to happen in the house and wanted us to look at the current law and see what else we could do to make the system work better. so there are a number of things that we have done. we've done some work around making our enforcement priorities smarter and more effective so that they're going after the serious criminals national security threats recent border crossers and there's ongoing work in that space. we also have done a lot to -- something that wasn't really highlighted as much but is starting to get highlighted more as things get rolled out -- we announced a punch of changes we were going to make to the legal immigration system. things like changing regulations

to allow s.t.e.m. student who graduate who were foreign born to stay in our country and continue to contribute while getting their education. there's been some changes related to people who are waiting, h-1b workers who are waiting in the backlogs the green k5rd backlogs -- green card backlogs, to the allow their spouses to work in our country so we don't lose their talent, and they don't leave the country and can actually help improve the economy by allowing their spouses who are often very skilled as well to work and to get work authorization. of course, the big thing that got the headline and continues to get the headline is our expansion of the daca program and the creation of the deferred action for parents of u.s. citizens and lawful permanent residents program. the daca program. so those two the changes that we made to daca to expand that program and the creation of the daca program would have impacted -- will impact about four million people. so as you all know, we are

currently in litigation working towards getting to a place where we can actually implement these two reforms. we were about to implement them in february of this year and we -- a texas district court judge has stopped us from doing that by issuing a preliminary injunction. so we feel very confident ability our ability to implement -- about our ability to implement the program and to continue to expand the daca program. we wouldn't have pursued them if we didn't. and it was actually a very healthy debate within the administration dhs, doj and others around the table about whether we could create a dapa program and whether we could expand the daca program. so before we made that decision, we felt very confident in our legal footing and in our ability to -- and our authority -- to do that. despite that, we're dealing with the challenges in the courts, and we'll continue to

aggressively pursue our remedies. but really in the meantime since we can't implement those programs, it is really important to focus on all the other things that were announced and the successes of the daca program. you know, really it's amazing to me i meet people every day or every week, the president has met many people who have benefited from daca. he's received letters from parents, from kids who have as a result of daca been able to really pursue their dreams, but also contribute to our country. so we hear about people who are you know, now at mass general becoming mds people who were working in the service sector which is an honorable profession, right? if that's what you, be that's what you pursue. but if you have the skills to do more and contribute more, we want you to do that. so we have people who are now helping create i.t. structures things i don't really understand in terms of the technical and i.t. world engineers

attorneys, other health professionals. and so that's really something that we continue just to to celebrate at the white house. because it gives us inspiration to continue the work that we're doing to pursue the larger reforms legislatively, but also our administrative reforms that are temporarily spotted -- stopped at this point. i'm excited to hear about the wonderful research folks have been doing. it helps us build the case for our continued action in the daca expansion and dapa space because we know the individual, one-on-one stories but you do need the research to help back up some of the claims and some of those anecdotes that you hear. so i look forward to hearing about that. and just one other thing we are thinking a lot about is the renewal process. everyone got daca, we want them to keep it as long as they're qualified. i know one big worry i had as we were rolling out the new programs was that people would forget about the fact that they actually have to renew their

status. the daca status is a two-year status, it's temporary status, but we did last year roll out the process for how you can renew your status. it's -- we've tried to keep it streamlined so that people who have already proved educational requirements don't have to resubmit documents and things like that. and as of this -- as of now about 150 200,000 individuals have submitted and received renewal. that's a good number of the folks that their numbers were coming up. one challenge we have is that it's a rolling bay -- basis right? it's not the kind of thing where everyone had to reply by x state so everyone's status will be up on y date. everyone chose to receive daca at different times, so it's important as we do our work talking about the successes that we also remind people that in order to continue in those successes and to reach even further, that individuals do renew their status.

i often say that, you know everyone is a little bit, can be a little bit tardy young people in particular with meeting deadlines, and the professors in the room probably know that better than i do. so it's important that we all remind people that they need to apply at least 120 days before their status runs out, but at -- but really on the 150-day mark is when you can start applying, and folks should really be striving to apply at that point. but anyway so thank you very much for hosting this event and for continuing the discussion about our successes with daca and happy to answer a couple questions or, if not, i can turn it back over to the man who's going to start the panel. [inaudible conversations] if i answered all the questions that's fine. yes. >> naomi verdugo with army. has the texas injunction

impacted the ability ore new or the length that they can renew for? >> uh-huh. so the injunction has not stopped the 2012 program at all. people can still come forward if they haven't applied before, and people can still renew their status. the one piece of this that did get impacted by the injunction is we actually were -- we announced in november that we were going to give people three-year status versus two-year status. that right now is -- we have reverted back to the initial, the original two-year status. so people do have to renew every couple years. well great. well, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy the wonderful the wonderful panel. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much felicia. right now i think we would like to turn it over to the

co-investigative -- principal investigators for the reports you all pretty much have in your hands. when this report came out, it was in the shadows of the ivory tower, it sort of highlighted a lot of the issues we've been talking about and hearing stories about for many, many years, and so i'm really excited for them to go over some of the principal points of the report. so i'd like to invite the co-director of the institute for immigration globalization and education at the university of california at los angeles as well as dr. marcelo -- [inaudible] who is also a co-principal investigator of the report where they're going to go over the report for us for a couple of minutes so we can all sort of see the issues that we're dealing with right now. >> thank you so much. thank you.

thank you c.a.p., for organizing this event. three features at the heart of the current u.s. immigration are in some ways quite unique. first, we have a large, the largest number of immigrants in the world, the second largest country of immigration today is the russian federation, and we have e three times more -- and we have three times more immigrants. the second fundamental feature is today's immigrants are the most diverse in the history of our country. if you take our two largest cities, if you take new york and

los angeles children from approximately 185 plus different countries and territories who got up this morning got onto bikes, got into subways got into cars, to buses to go to school. that simply has never happened before in the history of the world. our cities now contain entire range of the human, of the human condition. in los angeles we have something that, again, has never happened before in human history. we have roughly a dozen plus nations that now have los angeles as their second largest city. thomas jefferson once said we all have two cities. he was right. the world has two cities today, their own and l.a., los angeles and new york.

arkansas mean ya cambodia -- armenia, cambodia, el salvador combat mall la mexico -- guatemala, mexico. these are countries that now have their second largest population in los angeles. another fundamental feature is the tolerant that we've -- tolerance that we've developed over the last two generations for a very very large number of unauthorized immigrants in our country. we're less than 5% of the world's population, today we probably have about a quarter of all the unauthorized in the world. of course, the current pause in the comprehensive immigration reform seems to be set on a kind of intermin bl mode.

and and as we continue to deal with what flush shah called a broken -- felicia called a broken system, immigration remains -- our concern or our attention to immigration remains episodic. now we pay attention, now we don't. and it's mostly crisis-driven. yet, of course, the story of the great mass wave of immigration of the last two generations is a story that has unfolded quietly and behind the scenes, the story of the unauthorized young emerging adults. and college is really fundamentally about the working the long-term workings of immigration mt. long, in the long run -- in the long run. over the last generation, we've

seen the children brought to our country grow and graduate from our schools at larger in larger numbers, and we have in this emerging and somewhat more recent phenomenon of large numbers of unauthorized in colleges. as our country continues its long pause on immigration young people are a big, bug part of the -- a big bug part of the college experience in our country today. we recently surveyed 909 undocumented undergraduates across 34 states that immigrated

to our country from 55 different countries, and they attended an array of two and four-year public and private colleges that range in selectivity. it's the large study of its kind focusing on the experiences of emerging adults in the college setting. the students are studying hard and working hard, and they long to belong. the majority of them, 68% are first generation to college. not unique to this population, but nevertheless a challenge to

them as they have limited guides to navigate in and through college. their major of choice by far were the s.t.e.m. fields science, technology engineering and mathematics, which accounts for 28.5% of the reported majors. and, clearly are relevant fields for the 21st century knowledge-intensive economy. they yet live in limbo. many feel invisible overwhelmed and psychosocially stressed. the data in the report paint a an alarming picture of what

undocumented college students are facing in our country today. there is a tremendous amount of juggling in the lives of these young folk. our data suggests that 61.3% of undocumented students are coming from families living on an annual household income of less than $30,000 a year. 72% of them were working while attending college taxing heavily their ability to succeed academically. ..