the broader cost of going to school. which we now are very dramatic. finally and a proposal of risk sharing bush would depend on data to better understand will talk more about it. eliminating the record is important. we shouldn't undermine protections we have. gainful employment, the 9010 will are important protections that we can see are already starting to work. we need something that will also apply to our schools. ..

be taking out. what kind of information do they need. what aren't they currently getting by all the different private and you know, federal vehicles, the rating of colleges and getting student information on that? >> it needs to be very practical. it needs to be very real. not to come out swinging with senator, the senator's comments but i think that a student regardless of where they live should have the means to not only believe but act on that college is affordable and unfortunately too many students and the term we like to use is post-traditional students are

still left navigating a catalog or materials from an institution where loans and grants and scholarships and, so i think that the kind of information that needs to be available universally is something that is very plain-spoken about the difference between a loan and grant aids -- really is quite different. i've been doing this long enough that i do remember when we used to talk about financial aid and it was aid. and, for the population that they focus on, latinos are not alone in this. over the course of years we've been setting it, sometimes looks like with good reason. when you graduate with college with that kind of loan debt, life is very challenging. we're now talking about it universally. i think at the very least the information that the federal government and any large entity provides, needs to look at what does this mean when the student gouts, and one of the --

graduates. one of the practical ways i was recruiter at ut-austin for graduate education i used to look at the entry salary of an assistant professor. because i was looking at doctoral education. i used to say, okay what is the potential, first year salary as an assistant professor. that's the most that your loan debt should be when you graduate. because if it is anything greater than that you're talking about buying a car having a mortgage, having a family and all of those things become difficult. i'm not clairvoyant but 20 years later, as a country that is what we're talking about. >> yeah. that is an interesting that is an interesting point. one of the things that i found very interesting about senator alexander's remarks he is very passionate about the idea that college is actually affordable and we're sort of misleading students on that but on the other hand i think that the burden of student debt is very real. this is question for the whole panel but do you think that, i do you think college is

affordable? do you think student debt is a bigger problem than debt or are we blowing this out of proportion? cheryl, you're nodding a lot. >> i do think college is very affordable. i think it is very affordable. i think community colleges in particular are extremely affordable. that is where i got my start. i actually graduated from one of the community colleges which i'm now, am responsible for. however, i think any investment in time and money students should know what their roi will be, their return on that investment. so i have a degree from a community college but i have two advanced degrees from two very expensive, where the tuition was very expensive but, i do believe that my roi obviously paid off. so i think transparency and keeping education affordable but also having transparency so

students can understand exactly the investment that they're making. is that will that degree or that redential from that institution actually pay off for me? >> are you able to figure that out with the information that is currently available to you or do we need something like a student unit record system where the federal government is tracking students? >> i think that will help however i don't let city college, my institution off the hook because that doesn't exist. i did in 18 months, i have a team of researchers who do nothing but study data. there is enough data in the world. the problem is it is so spread out and so confusing for students to put it all together. so institutions have to take the responsibility to put that information together, show exactly, if you go to city college's website you can see the seven industries that will dominate our region over the next decade. the credentials that's needed, the places that are hiring, your starting salaries and how our

classes and credentials align with that and we've created structure by structure pathways to make that easy. so they need to understand what their opportunities are and have institutions like ours to act on them so they can understand where they should make that investment. and how that investment will pay off. >> yeah. this gets back to the a big picture question we were touching on back in the green room earlier. the higher education is a very important piece of legislation but so much can be done at the local level, the state level particularly the state level to make sure college is serving the population we're concerned about well. do you have a thought? >> i just want to add, you know, this isn't an academic debate. just go bach to the american people go talk to students, go talk to borrowers. a recent "gallup poll" says the cost of college was the number one worry for parents. obviously college is not affordable. you can look at the ways which

debt has spiraled. there is a reason why nearly 15% of graduates are defaulting on their student loans because they're not able to come out with a degree that can, you know, help them succeed. >> i argue that is two-sided issue. college is expensive and also folks going to college are less well off than they were a generation or so ago. >> should take responsibility. i think data will be helpful in that. when we look at the ways states consistently cut funding. since the recession, 47 of 50 states still not returned to their prerecession levels. basically states are effectively privatizing our system of higher education. and i think this idea of a federal state partnership could do a lot to help incentivize states to continue to make invest. >> we need to go to questions but i think that state funding has been sort of the elephant in the room. anybody else want to comment on that or the way the federal government -- >> also the secretary that we really do need to get the states

back to the table to support higher education and an incentive program we propose ad matching incentive program to help address that because states do need help. i mean states are not just being mean in saying we don't want to help in higher education and support our citizens. they really do need help. i think the feds do need to help us out there. quickly on the student lo repayment issues and what not i also about the rules we have to make sure everything is included. for example, we don't know about private loans that students take. we don't have access to that information and knowledge. >> we meaning college itself. >> universities. they can take out a private loan a family can. we don't have that information in our databases. we don't know if they have done that that happens quite a bit at four-year level. i do think we need to take into account all the rules. keeping in touch with students

when they sign up for their loans. we don't have any way to kind of hold this student, you know, they may or may not give us the forwarding address. we're chasing them around and they're, our cohort default rates are going up. we're not able to inform them because when students get into a challenges often the best thing the only thing they know how to do is just walk away. so they respond with their feet. and when we think about putting these kind of guidelines in place we need to look at it from everybody's perspective, including the institutions perspective as well. >> yeah. did you want to add something. >> i think the question is college affordable for you. i think we're having this conversation, who is making that determination. >> right. >> i think that the students are the one who is ultimately their families are the ones who will make the decision if it is affordable for them and in this conversation about both the federal role but also the societal influences i definitely

think as we are moving towards a more vocational way of framing the impact of higher education the business sector has to weigh in because they're the beneficiaries of the success of cheryl's work and others who are doing that and i think that as that begins to become operational, not just aspirational, but really the paradigm we use i do think that the business sector has to take up its leadership role. they have investment. because they are not only, you know accepting of the graduates, their prospects their work is determined by the quality of our graduates. so far in the business sector has really been critical and investing in isolated institutions which is a good thing but in terms of a leadership role, that's where i think that right now in this congress, in this hea we need to all in higher education be talking about the business roles

involvement in terms of investors. >> right right. well if i may, if we can just go toe questions i think there are some folks lining up. if anyone has a question they would like to ask and like to get to the microphone. if not we can keep talking about this pretty much all day. andrew, what were you going to say? >> just a couple things on the ffordability question. we focused on price and tuition prices as the key definition of affordability. what matters whether the thing you're paying for actually pays off, right? your tuition could be zero but the credential you're studying for is not worth anything then you have lost the opportunity cost enrolling in college. so i think this emphasis on price, emphasis on freeh new emphasis on freeh in my opinion is mistake. we need to be looking at value. this is partly a data question but also partly just changing people's mind sets. there is this odd conversation we're having, right talking about how great higher ed is for the economy, right?

more people should go, more people should go but at the same time we're talking about how bad student debt is for the economy. the two seem very much intentioned for me. the fact we have a lot more student debt means a lot more people have gone to college, right? the notion that is somehow bad for the economy strikes me as being intentioned. >> i don't think it is the notion there is more student debt so there is more people that is going to college. i agree that's true. but i think what you said was, is what i try to emphasize. if more people go to college and the credentials are relevant, we have more employers at the table we can guarranty them some sort of success for investment i'm not so sure the student debt is going up. i have question more people going to college and graduating with credentials not relevant. meaning are they finding jobs?

are they transferring to four year institutions where they're continuing on to that advanced degree that they need? how well is that college paying off for them? that is my big concern. that is what i push at city colleges and that is what i think we should be holding institutions accountable to. how well, what is the roi. how do you quantify that? how do you guarranty that for a student. so you know, i get a little concerned that we have a lot more people going to college but the projections of the skills gap is continuing to widen. that concerns me. >> that is because people aren't studying, you know the things that would close the skills gap. >> they can't study what we don't offer. >> right. >> is it being offered and being offered in a way that is structured enough so they can go on and get that education and still struggle family, work, life, everything else? the structure of your institution matters as well.

all that matters. >> yeah. yeah. that is about perennial tension that was touched on in the earlier panel making sure there is access to college. making sure colleges are serving students well. that shows up when we're talking about performance-based funding at the state level because basically if you were saying to colleges you reed to need x graduation rate, colleges say we will be more selective in our admission to meet that. is that tension? do you see that as a big concern? do you think there are any ways that federal dollars can be used as a lever to make sure access it maintained as we go forward and states go forward thinking more about accountability? >> i think pell has to stay in play to continue to make sure that is still there. it is an important tool. i would love to see year-round pell come back because that was so important. we only had one year with that. we saw a great return from that

one year. so that would be wonderful if we could get that wraparound pell back for students. so i think, other than that, i think a lot of the responsibility to release that part of the tension really lies with the institutions as cheryl is intimating. i think the federal government could help us be consistent with pell. stay wit. don't be afraid to raise it and make it available year-round. >> it is certainly intentioned and you think part of the issue here is that we've provided a lot of college access in name only for a lot of people. we provided access to a few credits and some debt and inability to pay it back. we need to ask serious questions whether that is what we meant by access when we first passed the higher ed act. you know, we spent a couple of years now bemoaning the fact for-profit colleges for instance enrolling people unlikely to be successful right? so that to me strikes me as a

problem across the board right? if we're knowingly leading people to go into debt unlikely to be successful, that's a problem. if the system is hurting non-trivial proportion of people we should rethink the way we do it. >> we have a question from the audience, i'm sorry i didn't see you standing here. >> thank you all for being here. my question, i thought it was interesting earlier how they mentioned that lyndon b. johnson signed the higher education on the desk he worked at to help put himself through school. since then we know student debt and tuition costs rising relative to inflation. college is more expensive to students. my question, luck cully -- luckily i go to private university that organization that sponsors it so i have been able to put myself through college. are the days of working to put ourselves through college days over or is that part of the future? there is implicit assumption that loans are necessary.

>> i do think it is funny sometimes a disconnect even with some elected officials who still believe you can work a summer that will pay for your college tuition. i don't think that the days of working while you're in college are over. we have a work study program. we proposed expanding it. dramatically and improving how it is targeted so it is targeting the right students and the right institutions. we have supported expands sort of career pathways to connect students between colleges, and education afterwards. i think work plays a huge role. that is one of the things that will help you you know, have a successful career after you leave. but i just think that the way that the costs are going, it is increasingly becoming unrealistic to think you could pay for it over the summer like maybe my dad did.

>> i think some people say we have an opposite problem where increasing number of students are only attending part time because they have to work in order to pay for that. >> that would be my population. i think days of working and going to school are very much here but i don't think many of my students are working to pay for school. they're working to feed their families and many of them because of that have to go to school part time which takes them way too long to complete a two-year degree. so that's another reason why we've taken a very structured approach at city colleges with our structured pathways, whole program enrollment and predictive scheduling. so that now students can actually know exactly what time they're going their classes are picked for them, and they can work know and go to school but i think, you touched on a very important point is providing

financial aid year-round along with making a fafsa more simpler will help pay for some of this but also i think there is a lot more skin in the game institution cost have. i'm always putting accountability on our institution to help students. so, you know we've paid for free summer classes if students enroll at 15 credit hours pause that helps them get to a two-year degree quicker. we pay for dual credit dual enrollment. we have overthousand students dog that right now. -- 3,000 students. we are one of the states offering two free years starting in june. programs like that to me pay for themselves. and i think there is just more skin we could have in the game as institutions. i think students are working. i just don't think they can afford to work and take their check and feed their family and pay for college. >> the majority of students in

america work while going to school. that's a fact. so to ask the question is it possible, students are doing it every day. what you're talking about the tension, the tension i find in so many of these discussions we're talking about that as if it is the anomaly. that is what's happening. the question, when any leadership moment, whether it be hea or state or foundations is, how are we going to recognize that reality? i'm not the data person on this panel but i know that part of this data and how we respond to that opportunity, what which do say to the students responding to higher education and now we're enabling that. that is the opportunity in discussion like this and discussions we have before us. in that respect i find students are navigating very in a very entrepreneurial way. often times we talk about them not doing it right. if i have a bone to pick with the obama administration is this discussion about undermatching. i think that, yes it is very

important that students go to the best institution they can be admitted to but honestly students are pursuing higher education in every way that is presented to them. >> yeah. >> just, quickly the root of your question are loans now necessary, right? just an assumption. i think that is a really good question. i think part of what we've limited ourselves thinking about how would we get to a place where loans are no longer necessary, right? there are lots of different ways to think about bringing cost of college down and they're not just sort of declaring it free and moving on. there is, what we would ideally have is the system where colleges compete with one another on what really matters which is value of credentials they're producing. you have places inexpensive where you could work your way through, that deliver huge return. those would be popular for that reason right? wouldn't be a place of last resort like they too often are

now. >> i think we're operating on deficit model when we think about this experience called, college or universities. and think we've got to take all of these issues and thoughts, trying to figure out what is going to be the model of prosperity. how do we take all the shortcomings. how do we take all the attributes. how do we bring innovation to the table so we can begin to say to americans who want to go to college that it is possible and here are the ways that it can happen to you. i really think we've got to stop thinking, i'm saying this from a public institution point of view where we've been cut, cut cut which why it made it difficult for us to keep our tuitions at a level that your dad paid, for example. so i think we still got to work our ways through that and figure out and bring our foundations to the table our business leaders like everyone said. we've got to bring in all the

assets in and right rules and policies that begin to help us think about the prosperity. this country needs people to get a college education. we have to figure out how do we help them move to that model and understand it is possible and it is doable. >> we're running out of time but i wanted to ask one last question. to sort of get to the root what america is all about. we hear a lot about so-called non-traditional students, post-traditional students, this idea a more diverse student body are heading to college than ever before. i wonder particularly the folks who work at colleges or work closely with students today what are some of the things about the students that are going to college now and struggles they face people in washington just don't get? i think the conversation here often operate on level of assumption what college should be which is based off and on four years at prestige just

school and then you but that is not reality. >> they think its the being able to participate in the collegiate experience and it is not. you have transportation. tough purchase books and supplies that support that experience depending on what the profession requires. whether you have to be out in the field for internships or externships. tough have a way to get there. and to get back. you do have to be able to in many cases support your families. so it is not this narrow focus that it is just the cost of tuition and everything is all set. it is a myth. so students know that. that is what they run into. we also have to understand when students say they don't have $200 and that is the one thing that is keeping them out, it is really real to them. if you don't have that $200, you're not going.

so i think trying to understand realities that students are certainly facing this whole idea of going to college is hard work. it's a job. it is not just something you go in and we pour information into your head and you get it out. it is not brain surgery. when we think bin know visions we need to make sure we're designing experiences that lead students along a clear pathway. i'm really happy to see colleges and universities and coming out and laying clear pathways to the degree. that will make a huge difference whether you're an adult lerner or whether you're a 17 or 18-year-old. knowing where you're going, how to get there how long it will take you and what it will cost. >> cost questions. anything else. >> i would totally agree with the point it is hard for

policymakers to understand the range of economic challenges facing students in part because they don't understand the how diverse the student body population is. we did research on number of young parents. 25% of students are actually parents. so thinking about things like child care become as huge concern. >> right. >> we have a proposal to expand child care in schools which could really alleviate some of the challenges. finally students are going to college for complicated reasons. partially to get a job and get ahead. also to become more knowledgeable and become a responsible citizen. so i think how we sort of balance those two concerns i think something students will focus on a lot as we think broadly about higher education. >> great. thank you so much. i think we're out of time. we went a little bit over but that was because we had such a great panel and you know a lot of folks and not a lot of time to talk about everything we want

to talk about. thanks for coming. [applause] >> thank you so much to sophie and our panelists. thank you to the bill and melinda gates foundation and lumina foundation and to all of it. we'll send a survey the next couple days and we would love your feedback as we continuously like to improve "national journal" events. thanks so much. have a great rest of your day. >> today the foreign policy program at brookings will host the chief of staff to the united nations secretary-general for a

discussion on how that organization is adapting to new gilo political transnational and substate challenges. see it live at 1:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. -- c-span3. c-span's road to the white house coverage continues today when former florida governor jeb bush formerly enters the 2016 presidential race with an event in prime my. that's live at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. and tuesday businessman, donald trump, will announce his decision whether to run for president. you can see that live at 11:00 a.m. on c-span3. tonight on "the communicators," research founder austin meyer nutrition founder, daniel satloff, and democratic representative from georgia, hank johnson talk about technology issues and patent legislation before congress. >> 97% of the people sued by

patent patrols have to settle because they don't have the $3 million to defend themselves. 97% settle. they pay an average of $300,000 to the patent troll that is suing them. now, when they pay the $300,000 settlement they're locked up under a nda, a non-disclosure agreement which is a contract that says they're never allowed to tell anybody what happened to them. so far this new congress seems very excited to have a legislation on the topic and we're going to teach as many congressman as possible to discuss issues and see what is the best way to help those entrepreneurs defend their products, but more importantly be able to run their businesses. any of these demand letters currently exist would put a company like ours -- [inaudible] >> we are concerned with currently, has to do with closing the courthouse door to those who create and making it more difficult for them to

actually use the courts to enforce their property rights. that is the big divide. that's something, that is a hurdle we will have to overcome. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern, on "the communicators," on c-span2. >> massachusetts senator elizabeth warren was a keynote speaker this spring at commencement ceremony of graduates of berkshire community college in massachusetts. she talked about her efforts to graduate from college and her work establishing the consume irfinancial protection bureau. the commencement was held attaining gel wood music center in lennox, massachusetts. senator warren spoke for about 15 minutes. . .

>> this is a great honor to join you at tanglewood. i am deeply grateful to stand on the stage and share this very special day with you. you know, as i stand here, i can just hear the echoes of the boston symphony orchestra playing some of the world's greatest music. i can hear james taylor singing about friendship and love and berkshires. i can see the future too. in a few weeks, lady gaga will walk across this stage -- [laughter] just like i did. [laughter] okay. she will use more explosives, and she will have a cooler outfit than i do -- [laughter] but you know what i mean. today we celebrate the 55th

commencement of the commonwealth's oldest, first community college. [applause] this is it. [applause] it's where it started. so we start with the word of the day, congratulations. and i want to offer my congratulations not just to this graduating class but also to your parents and to your kids, to your families and your friends, to your teachers and your advisers and for so many of you, to your employers and your coworkers. because i know as well as you do you don't get through college all by yourself. making it to this stage requires the support and the understanding and the encouragement of people who love you, people who care about you and people who really want to see you succeed. so today we applaud your success and the success of everyone who

helped get you here. [applause] that's what we do. now, i know that this moment is a time for celebration, a time to taste the success but i want to talk about what you had to master to get here. and, no, i am not talking about mastering elementary statistics. although 77.42% of you did that. [laughter] i'm not talking about overcoming the long, long, long trek from campus to the fitness center. [laughter] i'm not even talking about surviving the roughest winter on record. nope, i am talking about mastering the hard art of making something happen. i'm talking about learning to fight for what you believe in. sometimes it means fighting for

yourself, and sometimes it means fighting for something bigger than yourself. either way figuring out what you want is the first step, and fighting to make it happen is the necessary second step. now, president lincoln said determine the thing that and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. and today we celebrate a graduating class full of people who determined that something and shall be done, your graduation. even some tough challenges. i have no doubt that along the way there were plenty of people who told you what you couldn't do plenty of people who said how hard this part would be or how that part would stop you dead in your tracks; money child care, work, plenty of other things to do besides homework, plenty of reasons not

to enroll again next semester: but you hung in there, and you made this day happen. [applause] one more time. [applause] one more time. you did it. so today you're going to walk across the stage, we're going to celebrate reaching your goal. but i hope you'll celebrate even more the hard work, the determination, the grit that got you here, because those are the ingredients that you'll need to reach the next goal and the one after that and the one after that. now, graduation speakers are supposed to inspire but i know my limits. i can't play music like the bso, i can't sing like james taylor i cannot put on a fashion display like lady gaga. but i can set a goal and make it happen. just like you did. so i'm here to urge you to use

the same skills and determination that got you to this day to help you get to a lot more days that are as meaningful. you know, i i once had a day like this, graduation. for me it was a celebration of fighting for what i believed in. the president partly talked about this. i'd grown up in a family that had a lot of ups and downs money wise, and college wasn't in the cards for me. nobody in my family had made it through college. but i wanted to be a teacher and i believed that i would be a good teacher and i thought that was a goal worth fighting for. the path was tough. i borrowed money i married young, i dropped out of school. i went back, and finally i got lucky. i got really lucky. we moved to a place that was about 30 miles away from a commuter college where the tuition was $50 a semester.

i grabbed that chance, and i held on for dear life. and i pieced together enough classes including correspondence courses, and i graduated. and best of all, i got that job teaching special needs kids in public school. i loved that job. i think i was good at it. but i had a baby on the way, and back then there were rules about pregnant teachers. so i had to give it up. but i'd won a big battle. i'd graduated from college i'd gotten a job as a teacher and that made me bolder. and each time i fought for something i believed in and won i believed i could do it again. the challenges got bigger, the results got better, the twists and turns in my life became more and more unexpected. so i just want to fast forward to a fight from a few years ago. by the time of this fight, i was

a professor -- yep, just like your teachers -- and for about 20 years i'd been doing research on what was happening to america's working families. year after year i saw people getting slammed cheated on credit cards fooled on mortgages, tricked on payday loans, and it got worse and worse. i watched as big banks raked in billions of dollars by trapping people in debt, and i watched as millions of families lost their homes, lost their paychecks, lost their hope. what really burned me deep was that there was plenty of law to stop those banks but the government agencies that were supposed to enforce those laws couldn't be bothered. i wanted to change that. and that's when i had an idea. what if we built a new agency? what if we gathered up all those laws about mortgages and consumer loans and gave them to one agency, and we gave that

agency the tools to enforce the laws, a sort of financial cop on the beat for american families? and then we held that agency accountable. a tough cop that was willing to take on wall street and big banks. what would happen then? so i talked to everybody i could about this idea. i went down to washington, i talked to folks in congress, i talked to policy gurus think tanks, newspaper people, anybody i could. and pretty much all of them told me two things. the first one was that's a good idea. that is actually an idea that could make a difference. and the second thing they told me was don't do it. now think about that. they gave me a thousand reasons not to do it. but the reasons all boiled down to one very painful point; you can't win. don't do it because you can't

win. don't even try because you can't win. you will never get this consumer agency passed into law. they pointed out that the biggest banks in the country would hate this idea and they would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to stop is it. to stop it. and they said to me, you're just a teacher. you've got nothing. you have got no money no organization, no political juice. it won't happen, so don't even try. now, i heard this, but there was something deep inside me that just refused to believe them. they said don't try, and what i heard was try harder. and that's what i did. i jumped in, and i fought for that little agency because i truly believed it could make a difference. the way i figured it, you don't win anything that you don't fight for. so i was ready to fight as hard as i could.

the fight was just about what you would expect only worse. the banks hated the idea of a new consumer agency, duh. these guys had built whole business models around cheating people. and they spent millions and millions of dollars to make sure that there was no cop on the beat to stop them. they hired an army of lobbyists and i say that, no joke. as the battle heated up when i went down to washington to fight for this little consumer agency those lobbyists thundered through the halls of congress in herds. people like me were pushed against the walls like we were invisible. the biggest most powerful lobbyists in washington, they thought they could eat us for lunch. and sometimes when i was pushed up against those walls i thought they might just do it. but i didn't back down and neither did anyone else.

we kept looking for ways to make it happen; writing papers, talking with people, organizing group cans. this was david taking on goliath. and you know what eventually happened? we won. we actually won. [applause] i still half can't believe it when i say that little consumer agency, the consumer financial protection bureau, is now the law of the united states. that's pretty damn good. [applause] now, before you go home and you say to yourself when you -- this is all over, you say, yikes i just clapped for the creation of a government agency. [laughter] i must be turning into a total nerd. let me just remind you about this little agency. it has been up and running for just about four years now, and it has already forced the biggest financial institutions

in this country to return more than $5 billion directly to to people they cheated. now, that's government working for us. [cheers and applause] that's how it works. so look i get it. i know that building an agency to keep people from getting cheated on credit cards and mortgages may not be on your bucket list. it sure wasn't on mine, at least it wasn't on my bucket list until it was on my bucket list. and that's really the point. i believe in the good that this little agency could do, and so i fought for it even when people told me i couldn't win. the truth i learned along the way was pretty basic; you can't win what you don't fight for. so i say to each of you, you want to change something? nobody's going to give it to you. you've got to fight for it. i wanted to be here today not

just to be on the same stage where the boston symphony orchestra, james taylor and lady gaga do their stuff i wanted to be here because i believe in what you can do. i believe in what you can do if you fight for what you believe in. no matter the odds or who you're up against. if you fight amazing things can happen amazing things will happen. after all we're here to celebrate your amazing graduation and to think of many more amazing things to come. so thank you all and keep fighting. [applause] thank you. thank you. [applause] thank you. [applause]

>> coming up live today on our companion network, c-span3, a look at how the u.n. is adapting to new global challenges with the chief of staff to the secretary-general. the discussion hosted by the foreign policy program at the brookings institution in washington, we'll take you will there live at 1:30 eastern time. and on capitol hill, the house meets at 2:00 eastern working on changings to the federal health care law. also classified funding for u.s. intelligence agencies and potentially a resolution calling on the president to withdraw u.s. troops from iraq. members may also hold another vote on trade adjustment assistance by tomorrow. the senate also gavels in at 2:00 eastern they'll begin with general speeches and at about 3:00 eastern resume debate on defense programs. and jeb bush officially enters the presidential race this afternoon. the 62-year-old former florida governor kicks off his campaign with a speech and a rally near his home in south florida at miami-dade university.

he'll become the 11th candidate seeking the republican nomination. you can watch his remarks this afternoon at 3:00 eastern live on c-span3. >> hillary clinton launched her campaign in new york on saturday. she talked about republican opposition to democratic policies. here's some of what she had to say on the issues. >> now there may be some new voices in the presidential republican choir -- [laughter] but they're all singing the same old song. [cheers and applause] a song called "yesterday." [laughter] [cheers and applause] you know the one all our troubles look as though they're here to stay --

[laughter] and we need a place to hide away. [laughter] they believe in yesterday, and you're lucky i didn't try singing that too i'll tell you. [laughter] [cheers and applause] these republicans trip over themselves promising lower taxes for the wealthy and fewer rules for the biggest corporations without regard for how that will make income inequality even worse. we've heard this tune before and we know how it turns out. as many of these candidates -- ask many of these candidates about climate change, one of the defining threats of our time -- [cheers and applause] and they'll say i'm not a scientist. [laughter] well then why don't they start listening to those who are? [cheers and applause]

they pledge to wipe out tough rules on wall street rather than rein in the banks that are still too risky courting future failures, in a case that can only be considered mass amnesia. [laughter] they want to take away health insurance for more than 16 million americans without any credible alternative they shame and blame women rather than respect our right to make our own -- [cheers and applause] >> you can watch the entire campaign event at c-span's video library, c-span.org. today the former senator and secretary of state is in new hampshire. her campaign tweeting: full house here at the granite ymca

for today's event with hillary clinton. >> donald trump is expected to announce his decision on whether or not he'll run for president tomorrow. we'll have live coverage at 11 a.m. eastern time on our companion network, c-span3. wisconsin governor scott walker and ohio governor john kasich also among those still deciding whether or not to join the race. that could end up just shy of 20 candidates. >> tonight on "the communicators," austin meyer nutritionix founder daniel zadoff and democratic congressman hank johnson talk about patent legislation before congress. >> 97% of the people that are sued by patent trolls have to settle because they don't have the $3 million to defend themselves. 97% of them settle, they pay an average of $300,000 to the patent troll that's suing them.

now, when they paid the $300,000 settlement, they're locked up under an nda a nondisclosure agreement, which is a contract that says they're never allowed to tell anybody what happened to them. >> so far this new congress seems very excited to have legislation on the topic and we're going to speak to as many congressmen as possible to discuss the issues and see what is the best way to help those entrepreneurs defend their products, but more importantly be able to run their businesses where any of these demand letters that currently exist would put a company like ours under -- >> patent reform that we are concerned with currently has to do with closing the courthouse door to those who create making it more difficult for them to actually use the courts to enforce their property rights. so that's the big divide, that's the hurdle that we will have to

overcome. >> tonight at eight eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> new hampshire senator kelly ayotte delivered the commencement address to the graduating class at penn state law school this year. she graduated from penn in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in political science, and she later earned a law degree from villanova and went on to become a prosecutor for the new hampshire justice department and eventually the state's first female attorney general. her speech was just under 20 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. well, first of all, i want to thank dean houk for that very kind introduction, and i'm horned to be here with president -- honored to be here with president barron, members of the university administration, members of the board of trustees, faculty parents, family, friends but most of all i'm honored to be

here with the class of 2015. congratulations on what you have accomplished today. [applause] i have to say it is wonderful to be back here on campus at penn state, and with what you have accomplished in receiving your law degree today, you can look back on the years of hard work in law school and take great pride with what you have achieved. and you can look ahead with confidence in knowing that you have received an excellent education at the dickenson school of law here at penn state. and that this education will allow you to reach your full potential and to make a difference. i have to say i regret that there was no law school here when i went to penn state as an undergrad, and so i am so glad

to see all of you here and graduating from this great institution today. on this campus as an undergrad, i had the opportunity to have my first experience with a try at leadership as a student leader. and it was here not only that i gained a phenomenal education but it was also here that i had the opportunity to appreciate the reward of what it means to work with other people to get things done, to try to solve problems for the greater good. and i have to say, i have to mention i did have a lot of fun here too because who doesn't like penn state football? as a nittany lion, one of the things i can assure you as you go forward to all of you today is that not only have you received a law degree that's going to prepare you for success in the future, but with this graduation you are joining one

of the greatest alumni communities in the world. because everywhere you go you will find penn staters you will find a network of people who share your common experience and who want to mentor you that want to help you. and so really take advantage of that alumni network as you are charting your path in the career, because i can tell you we have a very active alumni group in the state of new hampshire, and there is not a place you will go in this country where you won't find a fellow penn stater and around the world. we're very glad to have so many international students. it seems like yesterday i was sitting where you were, and i remember feeling full of lots of optimism, fear and also in debt, i have to say which i'm sure many of you are. many of you may know what your next step is, some of you are

going to go off and clerk for a judge, or you're joining a law firm working in a company or perhaps becoming a government lawyer. and you may think you have the plan chartered already for your career, but i can assure you there's one thing about your career path as you go forward right now, there are going to be many twists and turns along the way. and rather than thinking of those bends in life as a detour which sometimes they may feel that way look at them as opportunities. opportunities to find a career that you love in the law. after i graduated from law school, i have to tell you the thought of becoming a murder prosecutor or attorney general or, for that matter, a united states senator, that was not on my radar screen. that was not what i thought my

plan would be in life. when i went back to new hampshire after graduating from law school my plan was to go work for a private firm because i had obey some student loans -- i had to pay some student loans off and make money and really just be in the private practice of law. which can be very rewarding. that's what i did. but my life changed because you'll find that with your law degree, there are many opportunities to use your degree can in many different ways. so one day the firm that i was working at in new hampshire there was a partner who came to me, and he asked me to cover for him at an arraignment in federal court in a criminal case. and so, of course, you know, the partner comes to you you're eager to prove yourself. i said, yes, i'll do it. what i didn't know at the time is that he was sending me up to a very significant criminal

case. it was one where it involved a bank robbery in new hampshire where, unfortunately two guards were murdered. and it involved charges against five defendants that were charged with committing bank robberies up and down the east coast of the united states. and this was a case where i walked into federal court, and i have to say i had never done an arraignment, i had only been a lawyer for a few years, and i felt way over my head, and i was surrounded with many other experienced lawyers. even my client had more experience in the courtroom than i did. [laughter] in fact, i have to tell you the first time i went down to meet my client -- because he was charged with a very serious matter -- i went down to the cell block and i met this very tough looking individual, and here i am a young woman in this

case, and he looked at me, i looked at him, he had a look of terror on his face, this tough guy, and the only thing i could think to tell him is, don't worry, i'm not your only lawyer. [laughter] so at that first hearing i spent most of the day at that arraignment just looking at the other experienced lawyers in the world thinking, am i standing in the right place? am i supposed to be here? and as many of you who may have looked at and studied the criminal law the arraignment is you really just appear in court. you really don't have to do that much at that point other than, obviously, enter a plea for your client. but then the real beginning of the proceedings happens after that. so on my way back to the office that night i'm thinking about this case, and i'm thinking, wow, this is a big case. and and i'm obviously a new lawyer. but the more i thought about it, i thought this is an exciting

opportunity to do something i didn't think i would ever do. so i went back to the partner who had sent me to this case and i said, you know, i want an opportunity to work on this case with you. obviously, he was much more experienced and the appropriate lawyer to be handling the case but he gave me the opportunity to work on this case with him. and as a result, my first jury trial i spent three months in federal court. i learned about dna evidence, had the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses, and most of all i i found a different path in my career. i realized that i wanted to be in the courtroom. i realized that i wanted to serve the public because it looked very exciting, first of all, to be part of an important case on either side and to know that it made a difference to the people of our state. so i applied for a job as a prosecutor at the attorney general's office, and i wasn't hired on the first try.

but i kept at it, and they finally hired me. and, in fact i took a pay cut to take that first job at the attorney general's office. but it was worth it because after that i spent years prosecuting cases, and within a decade at the attorney general's office, i became the first woman to serve as attorney general in our state. and what i took from that experience is that don't be afraid to to take on cases or a new job or a new issue that really stretches your boundaries and really pushes you, and it looks difficult, and it looks like it may be over your head. there are people that will help you. but it will push you on to the next level and allow you to really push yourself to show what you're capable of. the other thing that i took from that whole experience is that sometimes what looks like a

detour in your career is actually something that is going to bring you to your true calling. and something that you have a passion for. i think that passion is the secret ingredient that drives hard work and excellence. for me, my passion is to serve the public, to be in the arena of public policy, to have the opportunity to solve problems for our country, to be in a position where i can make a difference. and i wish for each of you that you use your law degree and the degree that you are getting today to find your passion, that you find that career path which allows you to use your law degree to its fullest so that you can excel in whatever you do and that you can make a difference. it's a privileging to serve the country -- a privilege to serve the country in the united states senate and to serve the people of new hampshire. in fact i wake up every day

with a sense of purpose. we have many problems that need to be solved in washington, i think we can all agree with that. but i want you to know as much as i love what i'm doing as a united states senator i have not lost my love for the law. keep that love you have for the law and why you are getting this degree today. in fact, my job as a u.s. senator has made me appreciate the law even more. and what it has made me appreciate is the importance of the rule of law to our democracy. i serve on the armed services committee, as the dean mentioned, and as a result of that, i have had the opportunity to travel to different countries around the world. countries in the middle east countries in eastern europe, countries in asia and other areas around the world. and what i have noticed in traveling to other countries that are embroiled in conflict

in countries where sometimes women are treated as second-class citizens or where people are being persecuted because of their faith, in the countries where we see these challenges and we see these problems, one of the things that is often ab sent -- and i would say it's the most glaring thing that becomes absent -- is the rule of law. in some countries people are fighting to the death because there is no second place. in the united states, because we are a nation of laws, you can lose an election and keep your life. in the united states, you can lose an election or you can disagree with our leaders or our government, and you won't lose your business, you won't lose your family and you won't lose your freedom. what you see in areas where you have conflict or you have people who are dying and fighting over

trying to take control over government or to fight for their freedom, you see that when people don't believe that they will find justice in a system of the rule of law, they will try to obtain their own justice and it won't be an objective justice, it will be one that is based on people's sub subjectivity. think about places like syria. when you dare disagree with the leader, you're met with violence. this is something that we, i think, take for granted too much here in this country. think about our own elections. the case of bush v. gore, the most powerful office in the world, the president of the united states was decided by a 5-4 supreme court decision with less than 1,000 votes in the state of florida would decide the outcome of who would serve as the president of the united states. yet once the supreme court decided the outcome it ended

with the peaceful transfer of power, and we accepted it. how many people live in conflict or tyranny around the world that wouldn't want to live in a system like that? yet as important as the rule of law is, we have to make sure and we have to beware that if we don't nurture our legal system or if we overly politicize it, we will erode it, and by eroding it we will erode our democracy. today as you graduate and you receive this degree and you receive your law degree from this great law school, you become a guardian for the rule of law. and by doing so, you are a guardian for our international students you're a guardian for your countries.

for all of us, we are a guardian for our democracy in the united states of america. regardless of the role that you choose in the law, every lawyer has the ability to speak truth to power. that means standing up for what you believe is right no matter how difficult it is. you have the ability to do so and the talent to do so with your law degree. that means standing up for the weak or disaffected or those who do not have a voice. to understand that we when we defend the most unpopular among us, you do a great service to our justice system. it means telling clients not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. that's what a good lawyer does. i will tell you it means admitting what you don't know because often there is so much we don't know, and we need to

know if we're going to do a good job in our legal profession. and finally it always means applying the golden rule. and i believe the golden rule is the most important rule as you go off into the legal profession. and that is to treat adversaries and posing counsel -- opposing counsel like you would want to be treated. in the law more than any other profession, what goes around comes around. and you will be surprised as you go forward in your career how many lawyers that you've had on the other side of a case that will refer you your next case. why? because they saw how you treated them with respect and they saw how good a lawyer that you really are. when you receive your law license, don't underestimate the awesome opportunity that you have been given to the affect people's lives for the better or

for the worse and the responsibility which comes with that opportunity. with the degree that you receive today, you have the opportunity to make our country and to our international students to make the countries from which you come here from stronger more just and more compassionate. don't squander that opportunity. embrace it. remember a good lawyer is a godsend to a free and democratic society, and you have the tools you need today to be that godsend for our country. we are all so proud of you and that you have chosen this noble profession. i just want to say congratulations, and i'll see you all in court. [laughter] [applause]

>> and on capitol hill, the u.s. house meets at 2:00 eastern today, working this week on medicare and changes to the federal health care law. also classified funding for u.s. intelligence agencies and potentially a resolution calling on the president to withdraw u.s. troops from iraq. members may also hold another vote on trade adjustment assistance by tomorrow. the senate also gaveling in at 2:00 eastern. they'll begin with general speeches, and at about 3:00, resume debate on defense programs. and on presidential campaign trail, jeb bush's campaign has unveiled its new logo with the candidate's first name only and an exclamation point, a branding decision that leaves out the bush name. the former florida governor will officially enter the presidential race this afternoon. he'll be kicking off his campaign with a speech and a rally near his home in south florida at miami-dade university. he'll become the 11th candidate seeking the republican nomination. you can watch his remarks live

this afternoon 3:00 eastern time live on c-span3. and donald trump expected to announce his decision on whether he's running for president tomorrow. live coverage 11 eastern time on our companion network c-span3. wisconsin governor scott walker and ohio governor john kasich are also among those still deciding whether or not to join the race that could end up just shy of 20 candidates. >> this summer booktv will cover book festivals from around the country and top nonfiction authors and books. this weekend watch for the annual roosevelt reading festival from the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library. in the middle of july we're live at the harlem book fair, the nation's flagship african-american literary event is with author interviews and panel discussions. and at the beginning of september, we're live from the national book festival celebrating its 15th year. and that's a few of the events this summer on c-span2's

booktv. >> admiral michelle howard delivered this year's commencement address to rensselaer polytechnic institute in new york encouraging graduates. admiral howard currently serves as vice chief of naval operates. she's the first woman to have been promoted to rank of four-star admiral in the u.s. navy. she spoke for about 20 minutes. >> president jackson deans faculty, students, first of all, thank you for this wonderful privilege that you've given me, this honorary degree. now, i will tell you my fellow honorees are somber and keen men of intellect and achievements, so they would not be ones to let you know this is actually pretty cool. [laughter] it feels a lot like a superman

cape -- [laughter] and i just want to know, does it stop bullets? [laughter] i could use that in my job. [laughter] but, president jackson fellow honorees students and especially, the class of 2015 it's a sincere honor to the join you on this extraordinary occasion. today marks a triumphant milestone in your lives, symbolically crossing the stage you will also cross over into the next phase of your lives. with each step back the your seats, you -- back to your seats, you will pound into your souls the sweet feeling of accomplishment. years from now you will recall the challenges of that last calculus class the anxiety of preparing for your last test, the excitement of your last big

red freakout night and the last witnessing of the shirley ann jackson weather machine. [laughter] [applause] as a naval officer, i thought it appropriate that i start this speech and share with you a sea story. in my service the sea story is an important exchange of information and wisdom. it's told amongst fellow sailors and shipmates, definitely generally in a small place with a beverage of choice and generally reaches great proproportions of -- proportions of mythology over the lifetime of an individual is. this sea story is true. because it is not mine. this sea story was given to me

by captain fred collins -- winifred collins, the woman who a leadership award was named after, and i met her when i was a young lieutenant commander and that began a relationship of mentor to protege. she was an iconic leader for my navy, and she had many firsts of her own. she was born in 1911 and came into the navy in world war ii. with the start of the war our nation needed the strength and talent of everyone, and the navy started the program women accepted for emergency voluntary service, and then-lieutenant quick was one of the first women to join. she had a degree in this business and was one of the first women to take courses at harvard. as the war moved out, women took on greater and greater roles. they went from administrators to

intelligence specialists to parachute riggers to gunnery instructors. however, for my navy women were not allowed to serve overseas. until towards the end of the war in 1944 when we decided that hawaii was once again safe enough, it was a base of planning operations, and we would send waevs to help continue to fight the war. lieutenant winifred quick was selected with two of her friends, winifred love and louise wylde, to go and set the stage bring in over 5,000 waevs to support the war effort. she was pretty excited. then she told me this remarkable thing happened, and i was astounded at the story because i'm from colorado and nothing like this has ever happened to me. a denver millionaire offered the use of his oahu mansion to lieutenant quick and her friends on liberty while they were stationed in the island.

a beautiful house on the beach with a large living room and oh, by the way he left it staffed all the time so the stewards would be there to support them. they went to hawaii they started to work, and that first weekend they eagerly went to this mansion. they put on their bathing suits were getting ready to head to the beach. lieutenant winifred quick is standing in the living room out, looking out this great expansion of glass and sees a man walking down the beach. she's not sure, but as he comes closer she starts the think, my goodness is that admiral bull halsey? now, admiral halsey was one of our iconic warriors in the pacific theater a man who had persistence and tenacity and great courage. but also deeply feared by the japanese, deeply feared by his sailors as well.

[laughter] as he's coming down the beach lieutenant quick really starts to believe it's him, and then to her astonishment, this man comes up to the house, he knocks on the door. he comes in, and she introduces herself. i'm winifred quick how may i help you? and he says, i've walked this beach many times i've seen this house, it's never been occupied. i've always been curious, i wanted to see the inside. i know this is intrusive but would you let me see this beautiful home? the steward comes in, she offers him a drink and she says yes of course. and then her friends show up, winifred love and louise wylde. all of a sudden, the man gets a panicked look on his face and runs out door. the three lieutenants are concerned, they don't know what they've done. they're still not sure it's halsey, but they just went ahead and decided to enjoy themselves and hit the beach. [laughter] monday morning lieutenant winifred quick is at her desk and the phone rings.

it's a two-star admiral the chief of staff to admiral halsey, and he says, lieutenant were you at a beach house this weekend? she says yes. and he said, did admiral halsey show up? she goes, i believe so. and he said you didn't introduce yourself. and she said he did not introduce himself. [laughter] the chief of staff continues. lieutenant admiral halsey walks that beach every weekend to think. he's always admired that house and when he saw it was open, he decided to see if he could see it. and when he came in, he saw what he saw and when he got back to the wreck area, he demanded his staff right away, he was pretty panicked. he goes, gentlemen gentlemen there's this house on the beach there's three lovely women in this house and their names are quick, wylde, love. [laughter] i believe they are spies.

[laughter] they are sent here by the jalapeno is news to put on their -- the japanese to put on their swim suits and seduce our secrets out of us. [laughter] i want to know who they are, and i want a report on my desk tomorrow. his staff gets to work and they come in to work monday morning. admiral, admiral there's good news. there are only naval officers at that house. and admiral halsey said, i didn't see any naval officers. so his staff spelled it out for him. admiral, women naval officers. [laughter] and halsey goes, dear god, not even the japanese did this to me. [laughter] women naval officers. throughout her time -- and she served another 20 years -- captain collins rose to the highest rank she could achieve. captain.

and the head of all of the women in the navy. she could never have been an admiral because by law when she served, no woman could be an admiral or a general. and by law, only won woman could be a captain at a time in my united states navy. that law changed in 1967, long after she retired. but what she taught me with her stories was that as you go on this journey, you have to keep your sense of humor. but more importantly, you have to keep your sense of self. and that brings me to you. in preparation for this special day, i asked one of my trusted lieutenants to visit rpi and to get a sense of school's culture. he came back telling me about some wonderful thai he had at thunder mountain curry --

[laughter] some curious thing about hearing of your own grand marshal week, he said i should bring my own jar with a lid. i do not know what that is about. [laughter] and he left me with this quote from one of you. a lot of people stereotype the university as strictly an engineering school, one student said. but it's so much more than that. the stereotype, your stereotype all of you will walk out of here with a bachelor of science or architect degree. the much more of rpi is that there are over 200 student clubs from a cappella singing groups to an organization that prepares for the impending zombie apocalypse. [laughter] clearly, you have foresight. [laughter] but as a graduate of a technical

school myself, regardless of stereotypes, i am here to tell you to remember your roots. you are an engineering school. your newspaper is the polytechnic, your mascot is the engineer and over a hundred years ago palmer c. rickets in his history of rpi referred to the university as the first school of science and civil engineering which has a continuous existence to be established in any english-speaking country. so if after surviving intro to engineering design and iea you have not come to grips with who you are and where you're from, let me tell ya, you are engineers. and as your commencement speaker, i'm required to give you counsel that will provide you the foundation of success for the rest of your lives. but now since i'm not limited i

offer you one thought: embrace your inner engineer. embrace your inner engineer. without rpi graduates the country -- no, the world -- would be a different place. your academic ancestors invented the ferris wheel built penn station and explored outer space. without rpi engineers the world would not only be a lot less user-friendly, it would be a lot less fun. embrace your inner engineer. it's time to stand up and admit it. you love the logic of spock. you spend countless hours playing super smash brothers -- [laughter] and you laugh at big bang theory. [laughter] embrace your inner engineer. you love research, the coolness of algorithms, the smells from chemistry labs and most likely

you took apart some family prized possession when you were young to see how it worked. [laughter] a few decades later all of who you are and what you have been taught culminates in this moment. aty proposal that that affirms your academic prowess and represents your bright future, proud family and friends who are thrilled that you have a job and for you biology majors, the ability to create the zombie antidote when the apocalypse happens. [laughter] embrace your inner engineer. whether or not you work as an engineer remember this from your time at rpi: embracing your inner engineer means that you will always learn you will never lose the love of discovery, and you will always be ready to roll up your sleeves for hard work.

embracing your inner engineer means you face failure with courage, for failing only means you've eliminated a path of pursuit allowing you to try out another hypothesis. embracing your inner engineer means you prize teamwork. you understand the value of different perspectives in generating ideas. you love competing with the best because it makes you better. and whether you realize it today or whether you realize it later the past four years alongside your fellow rpi engineers and with this faculty has made you better. when you embrace your inner engineer you realize that rpi gave you structure discipline and focus. give back to your communities a modernization, transformation and innovation.

what broad reaches of the universe or human expanding are yet to be explored, what great building or bridges are yet to be built? take what you have learned here at rpi the knowledge the methods, the relationships and apply it to our world's most vexing problems. embrace your inner engineer to find what makes you feel alive and makes you wake up happy every day. use this passion and turn it into goodness for all of human kind. we need rpi graduates for our most challenging problems. wherever you go, there will be others who have embraced their inner engineer. connect with your fellow professionals because their backgrounds and experiences will amplify all of your successes. class of 2015 remember who you are and where you have come from, and as you walk from your chairs to destinies that await

you, you can proudly say you are a rensselaer polytechnic institute engineer and embrace every aspect of what that means. and as you walk this either on your -- earth on your journey and you come across another engineer, give thanks. because you not only have found a kindred spirit, you've got a surefire partner for the zombie apocalypse. [laughter] and when that moments comes -- that moment comes and that panic citizen asks is there an engineer in the house -- [laughter] rise up and say i am an rpi engineer. [applause] rpi class of 2015, congratulations, fair winds and following seas.

[applause] >> presidential candidates are spread across the u.s. today keeping followers updated through tweets. hardship who began her campaign this weekend is spending the day in this new hampshire. here's a picture of her reading a book to children in rochester. republican senator rand paul in south carolina, he tweeted: it's a beautiful day to be in south carolina. and former new york governor george pataki is at the republican women's lilac luncheon. he says it's great to be back in new hampshire. jeb bush formally enters the presidential race this afternoon. the 62-year-old former florida governor begins with a speech and rally near his south florida home at miami-dade university. bush is one of 11 major republicans in the hunt for that nomination, and you can watch this afternoon's event in just

about an hour, at 3 eastern live on c-span3. donald trump announces his decision tomorrow on whether to run for president in 016. 2016. we'll have live coverage at 11 eastern on c-span3. and wisconsin governor scott walker and ohio governor john kasich are among those still deciding on whether they'll join the republican field. the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. senators today will begin with general speeches, then about 3:00 eastern they resume debate on defense department programs and policy for the next budget year. this is the same bill they were working on all of last week. they'll set it aside briefly about 5:30 eastern, for a vote on executive nominations. two positions up for consideration, u.s. executive director of the international bank for reconstruction and development, and director of the office of foreign missions. now live to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2.

the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. holy one, teach us to do your will. help us to see life's troubles from a spiritual perspective as we continue to place our trust in you.