society. i think it's very dangerous or our children and for our culture. >> point well made. spit well, you didn't expect her that today. neither did they. >> very strongly point very well made. let's talk about the economy at it. i think this is an issue that all americans, this is not an expanded issue but i think all americans care about the jobs in this country and care about the continued well being of our economy. ..

i want all hispanic businesses to move to ohio, okay? and the reason is, in our state state -- [inaudible] >> now we have multiple -- we are really headed into -- anyway, we have no income tax on virtually all small businesses in our state. here is what the problem is. if you don't have economic growth, then it stunts your ability to reach out to people who do live in the shadows to do creative things. it is just a fact. if mom and dad are in a financial bind, the kids don't do as well. if mom and dad do well the kids do better. the same with a country. what do we need to do? first of all we have a nightmare of regulations.

you know what we need is peoples court where people are normal folks that can go to say why is government so dumb? why are you hindering my ability to create jobs? we put all the rules on banks. what we're doing is making big banks bigger and killing community and mid-sized banks. if you're hispanic trying to get a loan, you think you're going to get one -- where do you think it is easier to get from? citi group or the local banker than knows you. these rules and regulations are choking us in so many ways. these rules get promulgated by agencies and departments. it is like a blizzard of stuff that trips us up. number two, you got to have a tax code that does encourage more economic growth, particularly at the corporate side so these businesses will be able to bring the money back from europe.

they can invest in plant and equipment so workers with higher productivity and higher wages. when we get to the individual tags code we like to make the rose down to make it simpler. we're working on things we'll be talking about soon. in addition to that, we need to get on a road to a balanced budget. when we balance the budget and cut the capital gains tax, had a family tax credit on the deal which i was the architect, the economy was going gangbusters. in ohio, now that we have simplified rules, balanced the budget, cut taxes, workforce training, guess what's happened? we're up 347,000 private sector jobs. ohio is reborn. so we have to get back to the basics and it is not that difficult. we'll have to deal with entitlements, deal with balanced budget, rebuild defense and at the same time reform the

pentagon, tax reform, change the regulatory environment. all these things can happen with solid plan, i tell you what, you got about 120 days. i think individual tax reform will be extremely difficult but i think corporate tax reform can happen. this has to happen. you can't delay, walking around looking at pictures in the white house. i wonder how our plans are coming you have to go in there knowing what you're going to do, because this town will fight you every single inch of the way, javier. they are for themselves. they are self-protecting. if you don't go in there with purpose, intensity, a team, you will get eight more years what we got, four more years what we got now. that doesn't help us. give people hope and work and jobs all the things we need. >> i have to say in transparency and fairness we work with all of the large banks and small ones. >> okay, javier, good

advertisement. i know you still need their money. it would be better if we didn't stock exchange gel the little banks. we don't want to strangle them. big banks have their place. it is community banks. delaware county bank, they look at you, javier, i have known you a long time. do we give you the loan. we know you. we know kind person you are. we know you. isn't that how t box? trying to run education out of washington as a local school board. you can't get into a building there to talk about education. there you can go to the school board meeting. the more local it is, more customized it is, better we all are. that is why i'm republican by the way. i'm for bottom up, not top down. >> okay. jpmorgan chase. they do amazing job. >> i'm not against big banks. >> do amazing job. >> you defended big banks.

>> let's move on to the wage gap. throughout our country, women's wages continue to stubbornly lag behind mens. i think as we stand, women today earn about 70 cents on the dollar when compared to men exact same work, generally speaking. hispanic women, 60 cents on the dollar. according to the american association of university women and the census bureau, median earnings for men in ohio were 47,000, $47,300. compared to women's median earnings of $36,500. doing generally better than the rest of the country. women it in ohio, getting paid 25%, less than men doing same job. first as a father how would you explain that to your daughters? and second, as the president, what would you do to address

this disparity? >> well, look, whatever we see it we try to do what we can, to, because a lot is based on experience, a lot of different factors go into it. we don't want a woman paid less than a man for the same job. and how would i explain that to my daughters? i would say you know, we got to work on this girls. because, look, i've got two daughters who will be out there in the work place, right, the workforce. i want them to be treated, have same opportunity as a man. i'm glad we're doing according to that study. according to that one. who knows. there are 50 studies but we want to make sure in the places in the workforce, people are treated, not discriminated against. in a position to do better. in terms of the wage gap, some people think we can fix

inequality by taking from top person and giving it to somebody else. i don't think that works. my father i asked, what do you think about the rich? johnny, we don't want to hate the rich. we want to be the rich. it is all tied up in skills. do you get a good education or do you not have the skills to be able to compete. i have to suggest all of us here, that i don't think our k through 12 system is working as well as it should be. in my state now, we now have passed a law that says if a school is failing three years in a row, that we can have a board that can pick a ceo, that still keep in place teacher salaries and their benefits but everything else can be changed. we started that in cleveland. now, javier, if we have, the city of youngstown, 1% of graduates are college ready. what kind of money do you think

they will make? >> yeah. >> we with avenge against after to -- avengance, have to ache your schools are really performing. in massachusetts where they enacted high standards, took a lot of grief, those schools are performing far better than most of the other schools in country. we can't want to live in lake wobegon, kids are great because they have a in school, and 40% of the kids are taking remedial courses. get the skills. if you have skills you can't be kept back. if you're i.t. expert, no one cares who you are. they just want your talents and they will pay for it. so it's a big education issue and lifelong education, lifelong training. you can't just sit there and think the world is standing still. workforce programs should be shifted to the states, not run out of washington.

>> john kasich didn't say women are less skilled than men. >> no, i did not say that. are you kidding me. >> because you have to go -- >> look, my chief of staff is, first time that a governor brought a woman in to be the new chief of staff. she is now running my campaign. the lady i mentioned earlier running mental health and drug addiction, she is doing fantastic job, head of welfare reform. i believe that having women in the room, having a beg voice makes you better. and if you have an exclusion of them, you're not as effective. >> i agree. >> i'm saying for all people, all people, skills matter. >> gotcha. let's talk about trade a bit. a big issue the usatc has worked on late, the trade, specifically the trans-pacific partnership, tpp. considering 98% of the u.s. businesses that do export are

actually small businesses, which have accounted for nearly 2/3 of new jobs in recent decades, we think access to more markets abroad is good thing for entrepreneurs we represent. my question to you, with ohio being a state that some would say has been hurt, from poor trade deals in the past, i would like to hear your thoughts on tpp, along with the possibility of future trade deals under president kasich. >> i think that trade is really important for two or three different reasons. one you talk about how it's helped small businesses. secondly, there is a national security element to it also. i mean i like the idea of having deeper economic relations, thus ties to countries in the pacific, how do i say it, strengthen our relations

vis-a-vis china. i think it is really important. here is where i think trade is problem. i think trade is a problem where people cheat and we look the other way. or we file our complaints and they go, we're going to study it bin, which means that a couple of years later they finally make a decision. if you're right, that's great you about the people who were affected are out of work. we need an expedited process to blow the whistle and stop, for example, the act of countries to dump their products in our country or to steal our intellectual property. part of the reason i think we don't act aggressively might be for geopolitical considerations. but, look, if you're a steelworker in lorraine, ohio, or something, you're not caring that much about geopolitical considerations. your gilo political considerations are the mouths that you have to feed at home. >> yeah. >> while i think the trade is

good, we got to have a way to blow the whistle when we're getting ripped off and think for a while, america is a little bit arrogant. we can take it. i don't think we should take it and i think we have to be careful in the negotiations. i don't know what the thing will look like. i would favor it on the headline. the senate will look at it. they should but i'm going to work like the dickens to make sure that we have an expedited process that can respond to countries when they are ripping us off. >> fair enough. national security. as president you would be the nation's commander-in-chief and and as a global power the u.s. is constantly facing threats both here and abroad. we're currently seeing a syrian regime aided by russian forces supposedly. a refugee crisis nations

throughout the world are trying to grapple with, and continued spread of isis throughout the middle east. to name a few things off the top of our heads -- you were going to ask me another question? >> ukraine. you left them out. throw them in there. >> my question is, in your view what are the biggest national security threats our nation faces today, and how would you prioritize the national resources to combat them as a president? >> well, first of all you can chew gum and walk at same time when you are america. our problem is the voids we created around the world, inability to kind of assert ourselves. i think the president's spokesman probably said it best in defining their strategy, which is, javier, you lead from behind. now you never led from behind, nor have i. when you lead from behind it just doesn't work. so, i don't know where you want to start. syria? i proposed that we create no-fly zones and sanctuaries for people to be able to be safe.

somebody violates the no-fly zone, they're going to face the convinces of -- consequences of violating the no-fly zone. we have to have a coalition in the middle east to destroy ices is as soon as possible and come home. nation build something not something i'm keen on. iran deal, i think should never have been, negotiations should have never been conducted until the minimum iran would have recognized israel's right to exist. what i side, some candidates say i would rip it up. rip it up 18 months before you're elected and then what do you do? my feeling it is better to work with your partners to show any violations that occur so that if we slap sanctions back on, which can be effective, that is what brought iran to the table to begin with, need to be applied. if we know they're developing a nuclear weapon, we don't want

them to have a nuclear weapon. there is appropriate action you can take if you know where it is and you have the capability to deal with it. by the way i served on armed services committee for 18 years, with finest defense minds,less aspen, sam nunn, barry goldwater, john tower, i lived with those people a lot of years from the standpoint of working through things. israel, the prime minister wants to come here. i will have a cup of coffee with him day or night. ukraine, give them defensive weapons they need. how could americans look other way when ukrainians are under this kind of pressure? i don't understand it. putin is bully. do you know how you deal with a bully? did you ever have a bully, javier? did you run away? no. you popped them one. the fact putin is a bully and he will push them as far as we can until he says enough.

prepositions equipment. making it clear an attack on the baltics, is an attack on us. south china say, we should send a carrier through there. the problem the chinese think they own the south china sea and they do not. this is about america asserting itself through the world. i think if we do it as a group, a coalition, then we don't have to be policemen of the world. we should intervene directly when our direct national interests are at risk but there is a possibility of us being able to help people who our goals and visions and we can help them. we have to rebuild the military. i saw they have to withdraw the carrier from the med. there is real problem because we don't have one to put on station. we'll have to rebuild the military. the problem there, the pentagon is become almost bureaucratic with almost nine hundred thousand people involved in this bureaucracy there, we start throwing good money after bad. it has to be reformed the same time we're rebuilding military.

why did i want to run for this job? these are very tricky things. the president of the united states has to look over at the pentagon. get it right. the president of the united states can't have a secretary of defense saying go for procurement reform, trim down bureaucracy. fix the thing. by the way, you're on your own. it takes presidential leadership to get this done. we'll have to spend a fortune rebuilding military. javier, we don't want to spend a fortune on things we don't need or have red tape or lack of common sense being the order of the day. you can't go over there to pound people because they will not move. you can't go over there and suck up. there will be no change. like porridge, it has to be made at the right temperature. the president must stay engaged. >> in short, lead from the front? >> what you have a clear vision and a notion our allies matter. when they shot and murdered all those people at charlie, over there in paris, they had a big

million people mourning, we didn't send anybody. i don't even understand that. how do you just ignore that? our relations have deteriorated. our friend don't know they can trust us, and our enemies are emboldened. is that a reason to panic? no. we're america. we don't panic. we have to get about it. >> get it together. well, you remind me of an old adage in terms of leading from the front that my grandfather used to use. he used to say that unless you're the lead dog, the view never changes. >> that's right. >> strike me as a lead dog. any final thoughts? >> this was unbelievable. this was great. i hope they enjoyed it. it was exhaustive and a lot of issues. [applause] they enjoyed it so. it was great. and, let's do it again. >> all right. ladies and gentlemen, governor john kasich. thank you, my friend. appreciate it.

>> thank you. [applause] [inaudible] >> what are we doing, chris? >> we're taking a couple questions. >> governor a question from lori, down in the corner from associated press. >> lori, how are you? >> i'm well, thank you. thank you for coming today. i wanted to ask you about guns. we quoted you yesterday from your speech in richmond, referring yourself as troublemaker. here is your chance on this issue. republican presidential candidates are mostly calling for more attention to mental health issues. with regard to gun violence, we have not heard any specifics. i'm wondering what is your

specific plan? or do you believe that government has no real in preventing down or cutting down on gun violence. thank you. >> i was talking about the issue of mental illness regarding guns for months. this is not something i just discovered today. if you read "the new york times" today, the story about this young man and terrible problems the mother was having, we have to think about a way -- i think it was question asked a the last debate, we have to think about, that is, when somebody clearly is unstable, how are you able to be in a position where they can not get a gun? nobody that i know would want them to have access to it. but, i don't think that gun control would solve this problem. here is what i think part of the problem is. the deeper issue. the deeper issue is alienation.

the deeper issue is loneliness. the deeper issue is no attention to an individual who is really struggling. i was in iowa at this place called the house of hope the other day and it's a non-denominational, no government money, house for women who are really, they're on the edge of a breakdown. so i said, why is this house here? you know what they told me? families are not connected. we don't know who our neighbors are. this lady was actually waging a lonely battle by herself. so we can talk about the guns. but there is a much deeper issue. which is, who are these people? why are they so alienated? why are they so alone? when we begin to deal with that, i think then we begin to get at the root of the problem.

so, you know the idea if we start taking, you will not take everybody's guns away. it is not practical. if you did, people who want to commit violence are still going to do it. so, i think we need to look deeper. you know, they're all talking about mental illness. i'm open to anything on mental illness. there is supposed to be a way which you should have automatic access to a gun dealer to understand somebody has a issue with mental illness, we should do that. if it is not strong enough, we should do it. should not be a loophole on that. the bigger issue is something we all have to think about. what is your responsibility? what is society's responsibility to end this drift into, into isolation. >> follow-up though. >> sure. >> does government have a real preventing gun violence if what would that be? >> part of the reason i expanded medicaid, so people can get

help. so mentally ill can get help at community level. i think it is very, very important for all of us to think about the things we can do to try to attach ourselves more to building the community from the bottom up. and, but there is another element of this. maybe, and i want to tell you, when i talk about secularism, see, i think that to some degree, not completely, because you can be a humanist and want to change the world, god bless you, but when we don't understand that we have a responsibility to our neighbor, you know, it all breaks down. so, we try to run programs in ohio on mentoring in the schools, on fighting drug addiction. i expanded medicaid so we can have, get mental health treatment at the community level. we expanded number of beds that are available for people in a crisis situation, specifically out of the problem in virginia,

where cray deed was stabbed by his son. do you remember that? things we can do to have the database very effective. we need to recognize a deep every issue here. it takes a lot more complicated and comprehensive answer than just a simple law. >> ladies and gentlemen, i have got to get the governor rolling. i apologize. >> was there somebody? >> [inaudible] also on guns, do you think more lives would be saved if there were more peopled armed at colleges and in schools as some others have suggested, armed guards, armed students, armed teachers? >> you need to harden the schools. we're trying to do that in ohio. even in ohio, absolutely school districts submitted safety plans, security plans that are inadequate. so what i think people need to understand is, it can happen

anywhere. i talked to principal of my daughter's school about the nature how they hardened the school. everybody can do it in their own way and whatever they feel most comfortable with. you can't sit there and hope or assume it will never come in your neighborhood. thank you all. [applause] >> volkswagen executive michael horn will face questions on capitol hill about the carmaker's emissions procedures. volkswagen is accused rigging engine software in some of its vehicles to allow them to pass stringent emissions test the we'll have live coverage from a house energy and commerce subcommittee hearing 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. later on the day a hearing about planned parenthood. a former planned parenthood employee will testify. that is live from the house judiciary committee, 2:00 p.m.

eastern, also on c-span3. next baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings-blake, talks about relationships with law enforcement officials in her city following the death of freddie gray who died last spring in their custody. the first-term mayor spoke at the national press club. >> welcome to the national press club. my name is john hughes. i'm an editor for bloomberg first word. that is bloomberg's breaking news desk here in washington and i am the president of the national press club. our speaker today is baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings-blake. as the president of the u.s. conference of mayors she will discuss that group's agenda for the 2016 presidential candidates. but first, i want to introduce our distinguished head table. this includes club members as well as guests of the speaker. from the audience's right, jared

rizzi, white house correspondent for siriusxm. wesley lowry, national reporter, for "the washington post.." erica sutherland, assistant professor at the school of communications at howard university. jp grant, president of grant capital management. skipping over our next guest for just a moment, kevin johnson, mayor of sacramento, and former member of nba's phoenix suns. donna lazier, breaking news he had for "usa today." past president of the national press club and she is the vice-chair of the club's speaker committee. skipping over our speaker for a moment, jonathan salant, washington correspondent for nj advanced media, "the star-ledger." he is a former

national press club president. he is a member of the national press club speaker's committee, who organized today's event. thank you, jonathan. caliopi i pimas, chief of staff for mayor of baltimore. bruce johnson, anchor reporter at wusa-tv. chris chambers, professor of media studies at georgetown university. john doman. reporter at wfew-fm. coach of the national press club softball team. [applause] i also want to welcome our c-span and our public radio audiences. you can follow the action on twitter, use the hashtag npc live. that is npc live. 35 years ago today a telephone

call was made from yankton, south dakota, to the national press club and history was made. in a small room upstairs here at the club, c-span created the first regularly scheduled national tv call-in show, a tradition that continues today, with the "washington journal" program. the press club today is placing a permanent recognition of that call, that historic call, on the wall outside of that small room upstairs where the call was made. so future generations will always know that part of history at the national press club. the man who took that phone call that day? well, he is brian lamb, the founder of c-span. brian is a broadcast legend. he is a journalist.

he's past recipient of our highest honor, the fourth estate award. and he is a personal hero of mine, and i know some others here. at the national press club we simply love brian lamb. brian, could you stand and be recognized. [applause] our speaker, we are also honored to have here today, mayor stephanie rawlings blake, was thrust into the news this year in a way she wished would have never happened. in april an unarmed black man, freddie gray, died in police custody. this set off a series of urban disturbances in baltimore. at least 34 people were arrested, six police officers

were injured and maryland governor larry hogan called out the national guard. the small business administration estimated that about 285 businesses were damaged at a cost of $9 million. mayor rawlings-blake was forced to cope not only with the riots and their aftermath, but the underlying problems that led to the disruption. elected at age 25 to the baltimore city council, she was the youngest person ever to assend to that position. she later was council president, before being sworn in as baltimore's 49th mayor in 2010. she announced in september that she will not run for re-election. she said, quote, it was a very difficult decision, but i knew i needed to spend time focused on the city's future, not my own.

mayor rawlings-blake is here today in her other capacity, as president of the u.s. conference of mayors. she will talk about the mayors urban agenda, the issues they want the 2016 presidential candidates to discuss. let's give a warm national press club welcome to mayor, stephanie rawlings-blake. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. >> good afternoon. >> thank you very much for the very kind introduction. and, while you have given, i think a very thorough and thoughtful introduction of the head cable i think, un-- head table, i think would like you to know about kj, not just a former basketball player but former president of the u.s. conference of mayors. i'm very grateful their here.

[applause] i appreciated his leadership for many reasons, not the least of which, now i can be mayor srb, since he was mayor kj. if i say it enough times it will stick like kj stick. or learn how to dung, one of those things. so i want to thank the national press club for giving me the opportunity to join you today to talk about a few things. both my role as mayor of the city of baltimore as well as my role of as president of u.s. conference of mayors. i will do my best to cover both of those areas as well as give us some time for questions at the end. and depending on what i see coming in as questions that will be determining how long i go. so, as i was listening to my introduction, it reminded me

that so much of the country's current view of baltimore have been shaped by a few things. we know that we had the challenge of being shaped by the excellent writing and acting in the hbo series, "the wire." but we've also been shaped by the two weeks in april following the death of freddie gray and subsequent demonstrations and unrest. and the tragic death of freddie grey, you know -- do we have a phone that is on? you know, is the the challenges of that tragedy are complex. we know it is a tragedy, the loss of any life anywhere to violence on the streets is distressing.

it is distressing for baltimore on every level. it was distressing for police officers, for citizens, for business owners. it is traumatic for those that depend on image of our city. baltimore is more than what was shown on the endless loops on our national media. truth be told, while in my introduction it was suggested that i was forced to confront these issues, that emerged subsequent to freddie gray's death, none of those issues new to me, nor was my work on issues. i've been working on the issue of police community relations since i've been mayor and well before. as a city council person, all of those years ago, i introduced legislation to address the issue of racial profiling in baltimore city. and when i became mayor the issue of police community

relations, police brutality i knew was front and center as part of the work that i had to do as mayor of the city of baltimore. i was very, very pleased, in 2011, to reduce the homicides to the lowest number they had been in generations, more than 40 years. however that same year, when i was traveling from community association to community association to talk about the progress that we've made, getting under 200, when i was growing up was, would have been to talk about it would have been laughable, the thought that baltimore could get under 200 homicides. so when we achieved that goal i was very, very proud. but when i talked to residents during that time, what i learned through those conversations was, as pleased as people were about the progress with homicides, they were equally frustrated with the treatment they were receiving by the police. by activity they were seeing from the police. when i became mayor, i

dismantled unit that was responsible for much of the abuse and mistreatment of baltimore city residents. i helped public safety forums across the city, throughout my time as mayor, particularly around in the summer of 2014, to hear from residents about these issues as we worked to reform the police department. that is why i launched the body camera task force because i knew that it was important to fight for more accountability. more accountability on the ground as well as more accountability in the policies surrounding the police department. that is why i went to annapolis to fight for changes in state law on law enforcement officers bill of rights. it was a lonely fight in january as i tried to convince legislators that we were living in a powder keg. that we had to deal with the issue many people in our community felt there was an uneven playing field. that police officers in our city, in our state were held to a different standard after they had been found guilty of a crime and that we had to start the

process of reforming our police department across the board. i'm very encouraged now that after freddie guy's death, many have come to realize wisdom of that argument. they're will be to a part of that solution. i think about what would have happened, if that fight, if those reforms could have started in january, when during the session i was fighting for these reforms. i knew that the reforms needed to happen. like i said, within the department and within the way that we connected with communities. and that is why i invited the department of justice cops program into baltimore for collaborative review. i heard very loud and clear from communities they wanted to be viewed as partners not perpetrators. i knew we needed help to get there. i asked for the department of justice cop's office come in to help us evaluate our community

policing efforts. to help us guide, create a pathway forward to stronger relationship. yes, we were seeing progress in reducing crime but we had a long way to go when it comes to bettering the relationship between the community and the police. so despite progress that we made, it was clear that the community was still on edge with respect to police relations. in retrospect, what happened around the tragic death of freddie gray serves as reminder to cities across the country about what can happen in their cities. when i have spoken to mayors across the country, virtually all of them have a sobering sense what happened in baltimore could have happened in their city as well. the unrest in baltimore served as a reminder of so many things. it was clear to us as well as we believe we prepared for those things, that the, the unrest and our response was a stark

reminder that, baltimore was not as prepared as we should have have been, certainly could have been for those, for the unrest, and we're making significant improves -- improvements when it comes to training and equipment. i don't think anyone would have expected the unrest to unfold in the way that it did. what it did give us an opportunity to strengthen our response, to strengthen our training and to be better prepared and i'm pleased to say that i have seen a lot of improvement in the way that we've handled the potential unrest that has happened since. and i haven't waited for the after-action reports. while i'm grateful for those, the work, the independent evaluations of the incident, i haven't waited for those reports to be finished before making changes. we're making changes as soon as we saw those problems come up.

we made sure that, i made sure that the police department was led by someone that eliminated distractions from crime fighting. police commissioner prepared for could be six challenging and separate criminal trials coming forward. we're working with department of justice an pattern and practices investigation. i think i'm only mayor in the country that actually asked the attorney general to come in to do a patterns and practice investigation, which will likely result in broader reform. we improved communications, training and equipment already. so the unrest in baltimore creates, that created in baltimore and points to deeper underlying issues. issues of lack of jobs. challenges with housing.

education, and disparities in opportunity. the crime surge in baltimore, cities aour country right now this spring and summer illustrates that as well. if we're to succeed preventing future unrest we must attack these underlying issues. none of this was created overnight and it will not be solved overnight. whether it is relationship between the community and police, whether it is abandoned housing. when you have years of neglect. when you have years of abandonment, we know that the fix will take years as well. to make progress, we need all of the support of our partners to participate in, not-for-profit partners, private sector, state and federal governments. the obama administration has really stepped up for baltimore and i know that it wants to step up for other cities as well. this speaks to what all of us at the u.s. conference of mayors

are hoping we will see from the 2016 presidential campaign. a sub assistant tiff -- substantive conversation among our candidates and speaks to real solutions. this past week more than two dozen mayors of cities big and small gathered in baltimore to discuss our priorities as well as our strategies moving forward to insure that those who wish to lead our federal government fully understand that cities are the engines of our national economy and are at the center of every major issue that we currently face in public life. we know that there are so many great economic and cultural things happening in our cities, of all sizes, all over our country. we know that the strength of our cities and their metro areas helped to bring the national economy book from the recession. we also know that if he we are going to continue to grow, to be more successful as a country,

cities have to be at the center of the solution. we know that there are far too many people who have been left out of the great, of the recovery since the great recession. they lack opportunity. far too many americans in cities large and small continue to fear for their safety. they feel disconnected from the broader community. this is something i'm especially aware of in baltimore. it is something that affects and concerns mayors, all of the mayors that convened last weekend. as we confront challenges like these, our partnership with the federal government is threatened by the dysfunction in washington that no serious candidate for president or congress can or should allow to continue. gridlock strangles washington. and the consequences of that gridlock, they're passed on to cities. that is passed on to mayors. that gridlock is strangling the

future of our country. major campaigns like this come along once every four years and mayors are uniquely positioned to influence the national dialogue and as mayors we have a very large bully pulpit. we can get our message out to great portions of constituencies throughout the country. we know that people are frustrated thus far that this campaign has not been wholly focused on issues that matter most to working families and people who live in our cities, where the majority of people in this country live. we have to have a campaign that is focused on substance and things that can move our cities and our country forward. so we came together this past weekend to define our priorities which will be carried forward to the candidates over the next 13 months. we will publish these priorities in the document, compact for america. 2016 call to action.

while the exact wording of the document is being finalized based on intense conversation, that is code for, what is that code for? intense conversation? i won't say argument. intense or robust conversations that we had this past weekend. but we are reaching consensus on many of the critical areas we want to see a part of the national campaign, a part of the national conversation. investing in our infrastructure. our roads, our bridges, our rail. investing in our water and sewer systems. focusing on educating and training a 21st century competitive workforce. strengthening the federal and local partnership on homeland security. and public safety and reforming our broken immigration system. we're growing to focus on expanding clean energy use to grow our economy. to protect our climate and our environment. we're going to focus on investing in community

development and affordable housing, encouraging pathways for access to entrepreneurship, technology and innovation in our cities. improving access to health care. particularly mental health care. redirecting tax policy to promote investment in cities, advancing middle class growth and reducing income inequality. increasing economic strength metro economies through the promotion of trade and export and the attraction of international tourism. i realize these are broad ideas. but, underneath each one of these ideas lie the future of our country. and as we work through the final wording on all of these issues, i know that there won't be total consensus. while we have a great track record of working across the aisle in the u.s. conference of mayors, even all of the democrats don't agree on everything and republicans don't agree on everything.

we know there won't be total consensus, but what you will see is mayors speaking in a unified voice about what's important to our country. i know that we can find democratic mayors who are willing to take these issues to the democratic candidates for president and that republican mayors will be willing to address these issues with the republican condition dates. and, there will be issues that we'll work on together, regardless of who gets elected as president or whatever the makeup of the next congress will be. there is one thing we have a track record of, that's working together. we are bipartisan group of mayors, who know how to put ideology aside, to focus on things that matter most to american families. because our jobs demand results. we can't have ideological conversations about how we're going to fix potholes or collect

trash. people just want it done. they don't want to know how we feel about it. mayors have to get things done. we believe washington could learn something from us. and as we define our federal priorities we also know that mayors have never been the type to wait for others to help. mayors around the country have created and implemented best practices on each of these issues that we're putting forth in our compact. we're not asking any of the candidates to do anything that we're not willing to do ourselves. we must continue to share innovations with each other and our broader communities. so we maximize our impact, with or without federal support. and i want to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to join all of you today. i want to thank all of my baltimore, my baltimore contingency. i was, we wanted to make sure i had a nice friendly audience down here in d.c. so i'm very

pleased to have so many friends from baltimore who traveled with me. i look forward answering what i've already seen will be thoughtful and interesting questions. whether they're about baltimore, u.s. conference of mayors or even my role as secretary of the dnc, i look forward to hearing your questions. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you so much, mayor. as you suggest, many great questions have come in. this questioner asks in era when congressional republicans won't even fund crumbling roads in their hometowns, how do you expect any support for an urban read democratic agenda? >> i think it is a mistake to read urban and democratic as

synonymous. we have many mayors across this country, republican mayors, that are fighting for same infrastructure dollars. republican roads are crumbling just like democratic roads. we need a solution. i think when, again, this is why the election is so important. when we let the debate be around what somebody's face looks like or, you know, whether somebody has low energy, whatever, i don't want to use a bad word, that kind of stuff, it misses the mark because we have families that are hurting. and, when you talk about wanting to push our economy forward, and create jobs, when you're fixing a bridge in baltimore, you can't export those jobs to china. that is work that happens in baltimore. when you're fixing roads, when you're fixing rails in philadelphia, that work has to stay there.

so we need our, the republican congress to understand that they're not being patriotic when they're holding up these projects from moving forward. when they refuse to fund infrastructure investment, they're refusing to support america and the people that they pledged to serve. >> you mentioned a hope for a substantive debate on poverty and crime issues from the 2016 presidential campaign. what have you heard so far that heartens you, what have you heard thus far that disappointed you most? >> i will take off my non-partisan conference of mayors hat and put on my very partisan the secretary of the dnc hat. one thing about debates that i have seen from the democratic candidates or the conversations it has been about real things that matter to families. whether it is the fight to improve, increase minimum wage.

or whether it is the, our efforts to make sure that more americans have access to quality health care. these are the things that matter to people at home. these are the things that connect. these are the things that will hopefully re-engage a population that i think is getting, growing in their frustration around what they're seeing at the national level when it comes to politics. i am, i would be very, very embarrassed, if someone who had no concept of our country and what we stand for and politics, had only one opportunity to get a sense of what we stand for when it comes to campaigning. and that was the republican debates on tv. if that was someone's only, that they only had that experience to judge our country, i would be embarrassed.

i think we're better than that. and we should hold all of our national leaders to be better than that there are too many things that are important to families that aren't getting addressed and, you know, we're having personality conflicts at a time where our country can afford to have that the least. >> this questioner notes that mayors often focus on local solutions to big problems but what issues require national solutions? can gun control and police reform be responsibly conducted in a national patchwork? >> so that, just in the question, when you talk about gun control and patchwork approach. the question answered itself. you can't have a patchwork approach to gun control. right now, not too far from here, mayor from across the country are meeting with the department department of justice. police chiefs are meeting to talk about surge in violence

we've seen across the country this summer. mayors are speaking with one voice about what's needed. that is better support from our federal, our criminal justice partners. we need to do whatever we can to get guns out of the hands of people who have no respect for their lives or the lives of other members of the community. we need to do more strengthen the laws and enforcement when it comes to people, suffering from mental illness having access to guns. those are conversations we're having. in our cities, we, people are dying every single day while the nra and congress has debates, people are dying. and we know that we can't wait on the lobbyists to miss a meeting or to not make a phone call. we have to get stuff done. we're looking for the department

of justice and our federal law enforcement partners to step up and to fill that gap until we can get common sense gun reform in our country. >> what can mayors do to combat the rising homicide rate happening in some cities across the country, and including baltimore and here in washington, d.c. as well? what can be done to stem it? >> so, in baltimore we've, we had a very, very rough july. august was better than july. september was better than august but we still, we're still suffering from very high rates of violent crime. one of the things we've seen working why i keep talking about partnership with federal law enforcement is, our work embedding federal agents in the police department, increasing the partnership between the u.s.

attorney's office, our states attorney's office as well as baltimore city police department. we're talking right now, the conversation is happening, about what happens when atf agents are embedded in crime labs and have the ability to give almost in real time data around guns that are used on the streets. this used to take upwards of six months to get the information back. if you're a mayor, that is useless. you might as well never tell me where the gun is coming from if you will tell me six months from now. anything we can do to strengthen the communication, better share data and information, it will help us to be more nimble and to be more responsive to crime and i think, that partnership has been responsible for the, the improvements that we've seen over the summer. but there is still a long way to go. >> what are the one or go things you would put at the top of the

list in terms of what other mayors in the nation should learn from your experience following freddie gray's death? in other words, what are the one or two things you would cite to them as things to do, to prepare, to be ready? >> to prepare to be ready? i would say that what mayors are learning, not just what happened in baltimore, but unrest, riots in places, protests and riots of today are substantially different than what happened in the '60s. and, in those ways that they're different, we need to prepare differently. and you know, i've been pl3ased we've had the, the lessons learned helped prepare not just baltimore's police department but police departments throughout the country, that understand that the tactics are different, and you know, that the strategies for how we deal

with them are different. so, our after action work i think will be helpful as we move forward, as i mentioned with the six trials of officers that are coming up but also they're helpful in other cities. mayors across the country have watched work that i have done pushing for reform in the police department. mayors across the country have watched me fight for a level playing field, a more level playing field, holding officers that are, have been accused of found guilty of wrongdoing accountable. they have watched the work that we've done trying to repair the breach between the community and the police. . .

it can be a healthy marriage or a bad marriage that we are in this together. there is no way the community can do it alone and no way the police can do it alone. it's up to us to decide if we are going to have a healthy relationship where we are going to allow in on healthy

relationship. i know plenty of people that haven't spoken in 20. it can happen and it happens day after day of not attending to the relationship. so when i have public safety forums it is me working to attend to that relationship. you don't ask the doctor, you ask the patient. we have to stay in communication. sometimes it's stuff you want to hear and sometimes it's not. we cannot think that the relationship is going to get better on its own. the police make the decision to be in this relationship. they get it. they've done it before and they

encourage over these next 13 or 14 months of the term that we are going to get some significant progress. >> the department announced they will keep more statistics on those killed by police. how important is transparency regarding the killings to developing positive relationships that you're talking about >> is about police interaction which is why i've been working hard to implement a police body worn camera program that works and something that the community can have faith in. i want us to attend to those issues for someone that is called because of domestic violence issues do you turn the camera off, do you not turn the

camera off. those type of issues we have to grapple with in order to get it right how do we maintain about the film of the video and who has access to it in all those things and the day-to-day interaction which i think will be helpful. in part to be attributed that to crime. why hasn't more been done to address poverty in baltimore and what can be done at the city level?

spinnaker the problem that exists in baltimore in the cities around the country. it's not even just america promised that a global problem. i don't know of a city that false issue of poverty. raise your hand if you know the city that fixed this problem. it is an intractable problem if you are looking if a cure. is success. in the excellence in education we provide excellence in education we are creating pathways out of poverty. my dad grew up in the projects and he made it very clear to us growing up that education was

the key out of poverty and he wanted us to understand it would be the key to whatever we wanted to do in life. we have access to a whole lot. if they make encyclopedias we would have spent them but it wasn't going to help our education. you know, there was no designer jeans unless our grandparents got ten issues they wanted to focus on our education. the same black-and-white tv. the resources were going to making sure that their children were educated. so education is the key focus on creating jobs. that's why it frustrates me when we have made the infrastructure

investment a partisan issue. those are jobs that can bring people out of poverty today if the resources were put there. so i think that the work to eradicate poverty is ongoing work that will continue to the end of our time. there is a way to continue to make progress and i'm pleased to say there are many that are doing a lot of good work making progress on this very challenging issue. is it perfect? no. but we have those included in the work in baltimore are fighting with progress every day >> mentioned in the introduction you said you're not running for reelection and you've got more than a fourth year in office. how has your announcement

affected your ability to work in the city hasn't helped or hindered but other times as john boehner is showing he seems to feel a little free to. how is the announcement affecting your work going forward i'm very focused at the work on hand fighting for progress every day. while he made it clear i'm not seeking reelection i also made it clear that doesn't mean that we are on vacation. there is a lot of work that needs to be done in the uk and go down the history of people that have been where i am and see that they are great examples of leaders running up to the end of the term.

i think for me i have the benefit of every single thing i do not be being viewed through the lens of campaigning or politics. and i have the freedom of being able to be more intentional when i think about things of things as well that stand in the way of progress. i'm determined that there is more than a year i have left on my term will be made every single day pushing for progress for baltimore families and i have no doubt we are going to continue to make progress. should there be more sanctioned debates why or why not? >> it's interesting for me when things get traction.

the debates are not -- i won't weigh in on that except to say we have the same number of debates this time as last time. we had a contested democratic primary so then that leads me to question and there wasn't an issue the last time the number of debates would seem to be fully satisfactory. is it that we have some candidates they have a lot of resources that are highly ranked in the polls in the controversy. debbie wasserman schultz is working with the leadership of

the dnc to look at that issue and i'm sure that if there is a consensus that we need more i'm sure that will happen. i still have this question of why when you have the contested primary why the number that we have is seen as insufficient. >> can you tell us who you are supporting or if you have to wait until there is a nominee how does that work? >> the offices have this neutrality provision we can't participate in the presidential primary so i get to ignore that question. [laughter] there's a question at the intersection of presidential politics in local issues. are you concerned any of the candidates may try to limit or eliminate the municipal bond tax

exemption with which case are you making to the candidates or to congress to preserve the exception? >> that's one of the things when i talk about infrastructure investment i try not to get upset about it because it frustrates me. that issue frustrates me as well. i don't know who is telling anybody that we should be balancing the budget on the backs of american cities who is telling anybody that it makes sense to restrict the capacity of cities to make significant investments it just doesn't make sense we have a group that have taken on this campaign, and we will continue to be aggressive and make sure the bonds are protected. >> this is a little early i acknowledge that the questioner says what is your biggest regret

as mayor and what would you say is your biggest accomplishment? >> biggest regret i always feel like there's going to be opportunity to have a bigger regret. i will say one of the things i felt the most proud about is the work that we've done when it comes to school construction and fighting for more than a billion dollars to come to baltimore. they have the oldest school facilities in the state and when i toured the school it was embarrassing to see some of the classrooms with the ceiling tiles coming down and the windows were fogged. you know the kids are cold when they should be hot and hot finish of the old.

you can't drink from the water fountain. i would always joke the boys bathrooms you wouldn't even send your mother-in-law. it was deplorable when we were able to bring that level of investment i don't love another city in the country that has that level of investment going in the improvements building new schools. when the governor signed a piece of legislation, there was a sense of calm that i wasn't expecting and it came from the fact i knew that it was god's will that i die that day that i was a part of something that would transform my city in positive ways for generations to come. so it is the biggest

accomplishment i'm grateful to be the mayor at a time we could do something like that but i know that far after i'm gone we still have changed the trajectory of baltimore's future >> this is a question along the same lines how do you see your self being involved publicly after you are done being the mayor of baltimore what do you see yourself getting involved in? >> i guess i should be thinking about that more because i get that question every single day but i have so much that we are doing in the city and i'm sitting here listening to my team from housing. we are rocking when it comes to the illumination. this is an issue many cities don't even attempt because the problem of the vacant housing has piled up for so long many

have given up because the challenge is so big and the local foundation took the flight elimination plan begins to value which is having the five-year anniversary next month you are welcome to come november 18 and 19th for a summit. when they looked at it, they said it's the most comprehensive plan the city has ever seen in more than 40 years. that's big stuff. and to be able to continue that work every single day, to transform neighborhoods -- i noticed this since the death of freddie gray and the nation's eyes have been fixed on baltimore into some of the neighborhoods and the challenges to hear from people. it's so much abandoned property and neglect. and it didn't get that way

overnight. the frustrations we have seen because we have been living with this for decades the difference is now there is hope that something better is coming because we have had flight elimination plans that didn't give hope that there was a change coming but we have seen efforts transform and when you can do that, when you can look in the face of someone who has -- is looking at green space instead of trees coming up through the vacant property and to see the fact that it's like they say we know that you see us and better is possible and better is coming. that's the kind of stuff that is going to be focused on and i'm glad i got a nod from the housing team i'm going to focus on this because it is important

work to bring hope to the communities and we do that when we focus on making sure the government does what it's supposed to do for those that we serve. >> this questioner says someone argued without the protest experience in places like ferguson and baltimore, none of these issues that you mentioned would be even on the table for discussion. how would you suggest that citizens would feel their interests are ignored if their concerns on the national agenda? >> that might be true at a national level but those issues, the issues of police brutality, they were not new to me. we have been able to drive down the number of excessive force complaints. we have been able to drive down to complaints and lawsuits that have been brought against the city because we have been

focused on improving the culture and confronting so while i think the nation has been turned to baltimore in the wake of the freddie gray, the death of freddie gray, this is something that isn't new to me. people are acting brand-new about it and some people feel that they are jumping on the bandwagon now. like i said when i was in an apple is fighting for the reforms of the law enforcement officer bill of rights i think it's great now that they want to have committee hearings and task force. it would have been lovely if they had done that in january when we could have been shown that the public that we were willing to confront the police lobbying and fight for progress

and reform to hold officers accountable. so, nationally i think that in many places these areas there is freddie gray or eric garner or michael brown, they are creating opportunities for dialogue nationally that might not have had those conversations. the charges on the freddie gray case out as the government works to gain the rink and cooperation of the rank and file. >> the rank and file into the police union are two different entities and we have officers

that proudly served the people in baltimore. the vast majority of the officers that we have served the residents with distinction and respect that they took in the uniform that they where. the challenge i have with police unions is that they are unwilling to evolve. when i was in an apple is fighting for the law-enforcement bill of rights i remember having conversations with the union and i said listen we might not get this passed this year. it might not be next year but it's coming. if you can't see it, you are blind. it's unrelenting and it will hold officers more accountable

for the wrongdoing and i remember this conversation like it was yesterday i said that you are uniquely positioned. you can be the first in the nation to be a part of crafting what that looks like but you can do the same thing that you all have done for decades in the past which is to just say no, to block any type of progress and see where that gets you and i will say that i think the action of the police union and many across the country has made them devalue the power of that union. i don't know based on the rhetoric they've been spewing and baltimore who would want the endorsement and they did that to

themselves in the way that they've chosen to deal with the charges and the police and the efforts to reform all of those things. it didn't have to be that way. they had a partner that was willing to work with them to address these issues. i was very open to try to find solutions but you can't just go back to those kind of knee-jerk behaviors and think that it's going to work in 2015. >> we are almost out of time but before i ask the final question i have some housekeeping. the national press club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. we fight for a free press worldwide. to learn more about the club, go to the website at press.org and to donate to the nonprofit journalism institute visit

press.org/institute. this friday october 9, the gop presidential candidate and surgeon doctor ben carson will address the national press club luncheon and thursday october 15 at the annual fourth estate awards gala the national press club will honor the moderator and managing editor of washington week and between her and managing editor of the pbs news hour. friday october 23, oscar-winning director and actor, kevin costner will be here to discuss his new book. i'd now like to present our guest with guests with the traditional national press club mug. [applause] the last few questions we have

in the time remaining, can the ravens won the-3 turn it around? i am a huge ravens fan, so much so that i've realized i blocked one of the losses out and i have had arguments with people. it's not one in three commits one into. no. i have repressed the whole game because i cannot allow myself to think that we have started the season one in three. we have to turn it around. there is no other option. i cannot envision a world where the ravens don't think the postseason. so, we have to turn it around. >> we have someone at the head table that is quite interested in books. interviews from authors, frequently in fact.

question what is your favorite book clacks >> i don't have a favorite movie or book that but i will say that i have a favorite author james baldwin and i remember and i go back to the books often just because of the way that he wrote it spoke to me and i can remember when he came to baltimore to speak to students at the local college i squeezed my way and just for the opportunity to hear him speak and it was one of the things i hope i will never forget in my life. he had a sensitivity into the way with language that was unparalleled.

one i keep on my office and i think that it is by change or die and what it takes to change an organization. how about a round of applause for the speaker? .-full-stop. i would like to thank the national press club staff and the journalism institute and

broadcast center for organizing today's event. if you would like a copy of today's program or to learn more about the club, visit press.org. thank you. we are adjourned. an audible conversations [inaudible conversations]

that comcast studio store in chicago's kerber the shoppers that visited us learned about c-span's online interactive resources for following campaign 202015. if you would like to track the bus you can follow it on twitter and integrate them using

@cspanbus. apply it to the senate where lawmakers will be working on 2016 funding for energy and water programs. we will take a procedural vote of 12:45 eastern and of course the big news in congress is in the house today are holding the elections for the speaker of the house to replace the outgoing john boehner when he steps down at the end of the month. you can watch throughout the day on the companion network. now life to the u.s. senate on c-span2. senate will come to order. the chaplain today, opening prayer will be offered by reverend dr. charles r. smith, pastor of madison baptist church in madison, georgia.

the guest chaplain. let us pray. gracious god, the one who created us in your image and the one who values every person as uniquely as our finger prints we invoke your guidance with the realization that we are nothing without you. guide those in this chamber to recognize that honorable governance seeks the best for all; that today's actions bear tomorrow's fruit; that integrity should be championed over winning. offer them wisdom to weigh their decisions not propagating partisan policy but based on fair legislation for everyone. grant them fortitude to

exemplify selfless service, even to those individuals on the other side of the aisle, recognizing that what they do has a ripple effect, much like tossing a pebble into a pond. we thank you that you cherish every person as an individual and that you hear our prayer. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, i want to take a minute to acknowledge the presence of our chaplain today charles smith and his lovely wife jennifer and family members who traveled from georgia to be here today as he serves as our chaplain for today. charles has his doctrine of ministry from the southern baptist theological seminary. his wife is an ordained minister. meghan his niece serves us in the republican cloakroom and does so with joy to all of us. we want to welcome charles smith, his family and thank him for his witness and ministry today and thank you for his niece meghan who does such a great job for us. and i yield back. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: ask most americans to name two of the most basic duties of a senator, and you're likely to hear some combination of the following: number one, protect the country. that means working with us to

pass the national defense authorization act. number two, fund the government. that means working with us to pass the 12 appropriations bill that fund it. but some of our democratic colleagues don't seem all that interested in these things. it's not just that their words tell us the story. their actions do as well. the democratic leader has used the phrase -- quote -- "waste of time" to refer to the bill that protects our country. passing that bill usually inspires bipartisan cooperation, but this year it required overcoming senseless resistance from the other side before we finally witnessed that cooperation yesterday with the bill's passage. democratic senators have used phrases like -- quote -- "kind of a waste of time" and -- quote -- "a huge waste of time" to refer to the bills that fund our

government. passing these bills used to be routine, and the new majority has worked hard to ensure that it does again. after six years of inaction. that's why we passed a budget. that's why we passed 12 appropriations bills through committee in a bipartisan way. but now democrats have decided as part of some arbitrary political strategy to indiscriminately filibuster every last funding bill. democrats may no longer be interested in passing these bipartisan bills, but it doesn't mean they aren't interested in taking credit for the same legislation they're now blocking. take the bill that funds veterans. democrats voted with us to support it in committee. then they issued press releases bragging about its contents, and then they filibustered it. take the bill that funds defense. democrats voted with us to

support it in committee. then they issued press releases bragging about its contents. then they filibustered it. repeatedly. now today we'll consider the bill that funds america's energy security and its water infrastructure. democrats voted with us to support this bill in committee too. in fact, over 70% of the democrats in committee supported the bill that's before us today. democrats issued press releases with nice things to say about the bill's contents. one lauded the bill for funding important energy efficiency advances in our military and for low-income families. another reminded us that the bill provides -- quote -- "robust funding" for vital programs that deserve to be funded. today we'll see if democrats are seriously prepared to filibuster this bill as well. this bill would strengthen our national security. the bill would enhance our energy security.

the bill would root out waste with smart, targeted reductions so we can put that money to better use funding more important infrastructure projects, more innovative energy research and more critical safety improvements for our dams and waterways. this bill is also critically important to our home states. kentuckians would benefit from initiatives to protect the ohio river shoreline, from cleanup work in paducah and from production of the homestead lock and dam and other vital inland waterway projects. mr. president, this is a good bill that deserves our support on the merits. it is good for our constituents, good for our country. that should be reason enough to support this funding bill. i would also remind my democratic colleagues that 70% -- 70% -- of the democrats in committee did support the

bill before us today. so, mr. president, let me finally announce the schedule for today. at 12:45 there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the energy and water appropriations bill. that will be the last roll call vote of the week. the presiding officer: the assistant democratic leader. mr. durbin: mr. president, for the record, the democratic leader, senator reid, is attending a funeral this morning and i'm standing in in his stead. first to address the comments from the majority leader, senator mcconnell. i have to disagree with his opening that democrats are not interested in funding the government. the democrats are not interested in funding the department of defense. i may remind my friend from kentucky, the senator who is the republican leader, it was the

republican side that initiated the government shutdown two years ago. 16 days the government was shut down in a vein attempt to protest the affordable care act. and now that threat is before us again. it's unfortunate that we are facing this, but i don't believe it is fair to blame our side of the aisle for delay. you see, mr. president, as early as june we started saying we're facing an october 1 deadline. we need to have a budget compromise, a budget negotiation. why? because there's a fundamental disagreement about funding our government in this fiscal year that began october 1. the republicans have argued to use wartime funds, $38 billion worth, to supplement the department of defense. the leaders at the department of defense say this is a, the wrong approach. they cannot build a strong national defense with an injection of wartime funds which may or may not exist at the end

of the process, may or may not exist next year. and i might add coincidentally that the republicans failed -- failed to put additional funds in for non-defense spending. some of it's related to national security, the department of homeland security, the federal bureau of investigation, so many agencies that keep us safe here in the united states. and the failure of the republicans to provide funds for critical agencies that provide health and education services, that's the reason why we've reached an impasse in the budget negotiation. that's why three months ago we on the democratic side said to the republicans you're in charge. you're in the majority. but if we're going to have a process that ultimately succeeds, you need to engage in a bipartisan basis this negotiation. they refused. they refused and they came up with a short-term spending bill. we call it continuing resolution, or c.r., that takes us to the first or second week

of december. beyond that, there's no certainty about what's going to happen. the senator from kentucky talks about the appropriation process, where so many senators voted for a bill and nowp -- now are against it. i've been on appropriations committees in the house and senate for a long time. at least in the senate we have an upside down approach where you vote on the overall bill first, then vote on amendments. in each of the cases, the senator from kentucky refers to, many of us may have voted for the overall bill hoping that amendments would solve the budget problems i've described. when those amendments failed to solve those budget problems, we said this ultimate bill is not going to work, and we know it. that's the reality of the process in the appropriations committee. so in june, we invited the republicans to me want with the president and democratic leaders to work out a budget compromise. there's an indication that some conversation is underway. but not enough. why have we reached this

impasse? frankly, it's because the republican leadership, certainly in the house, is in disarray. today there's going to be an election in the house of representatives for a new speaker. a group of conservative, ultraconservative republican house members who were successful in ousting john boehner from the speakership, and now they're going to try to replace him but with conditions. one of those conditions is -- they printed it in the paper this morning -- that the new house speaker has to pledge to the freedom caucus, the tea party republicans, has to pledge to them that he will never, never agree to any compromise that is bipartisan bill coming out of the senate. now, how's that for a standard when you're trying to govern in this country, when you have a president of one party and the congress in control of the other party. the freedom caucus said don't l negotiate, don't compromise. that is a recipe for a shutdown,

a sequestration and a continuing resolution. and let me tell you what it does. if we get into a continuing resolution for next year, this year we're in i should say, it's going to mean dramatic cuts in many agencies. yesterday the national institutes of health were called by senator blunt, who chairs the appropriations committee for that agency, we sat before dr. collins and his leading researchers for the united states of america, and we asked them what happens if our budget process breaks down, if we go into sequestration, which is an across-the-board cut, or we go into a continuing resolution, which is the continuation of this year's budget, what happens at the premier medical research facility in the world,s the national institutes of health? dr. collins told us in very honest and somber tones, it would mean that we would suspend research in areas like precision medicine, destined to, i think, save lives across the world. we would suspend research, brain research in areas like the

alzheimer's disease. once every 67 seconds in america -- once every 67 seconds an american is diagnosed with alzheimer's. last year we spent $226 billion as a federal government in medicare and medicaid on alzheimer's. we estimate about the same number, over $200 billion, was spent by families trying to care for those afflicted by dementia and alzheimer's. and there's a suggestion now that because our failure on budget negotiations will lead to the suspension of research, there's a suggestion that we will destroy any hope of finding a cure for this dreaded disease and scores of other diseases. that's how serious this conversation is. it's unfortunate it's reached this point. mr. president, i'd like to continue my statement but i ask for a separate part of the

record of what i'm about to say be entered. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, when i was young and going to grade school, we feared the bomb. we were in a cold war. we were given duck and cover drills to get under our desk just in case there might be a nuclear attack on the united states of america. that is imprinted in my mind to this day, the fear which we had about this threat to our safety. i'd like to read to you the commentary that is making the rounds with wide circulation by a mother who talks about a similar concern for her children. she writes two weeks ago, my second and fourth grade daughters came home from school and told me they had had a code red drill in case someone tries to kill us. we had to all hide in the bathroom together and be really quiet. it was really scary, but the teacher said if there was a real

man with a gun trying to find us, she would cover us up and protect us from him. her little boy started crying. she said i need to be brave. this mother goes on to write, my 3-year-old nephew had the same drill at his preschool in virginia. 3-year-old american babies and teachers hiding in bathrooms, holding hands, preparing for death. we are saying to teachers arm yourself and fight men with assault weapons because we're too cowardly to fight the gun lobby. we are saying to a terrified generation of american children we will not do what it takes to protect you. we will not even try. so just be very quiet, hide and wait. hold your breath. mr. president, in the year 2013, the number of american police officers shot dead in the line of duty was 27. 27 in 2013.

in 2013, the number of preschoolers -- that is, children under the age of 4, who were shot dead, 82. 27 american police officers, 82 children under the age of 4 shot dead. we need to do better as a nation. when i heard on the news this last saturday that the monstrous tragedy in oregon was the 45th, 45th school shooting this year in america, it broke my heart, and more, it angered me. in just a short while, a few minutes, members of the senate democratic caucus will come together outside of this building to talk about the need for america to take action to deal with gun violence. there are so many aspects of it. i'm honored to represent the city of chicago, but i will tell you, having met with the mayor

rahm emmanuel yesterday, we've seen a 20% increase in gun violence and deaths this year. milwaukee, a 100% increase over last year. and scores of other cities, the same phenomenon. the city of chicago and many others are being flooded with guns. when i met with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms in chicago on monday, i asked them where are all these guns coming from, and they told me they had analyzed the crime guns seized in the most violent areas of chicago, and they found that 40% of those guns came from gun shows in lake county, indiana, just across the border from chicago. 40% of the guns. and we also know that we have a phenomenon where girlfriends and friends and family will go buy guns because the criminal, the felon who wants to use those

guns to terrorize and rob and kill couldn't pass the test for purchasing the federal gun. it's known as a straw purchase. the girlfriend buys the gun, hands it over to the boyfriend who goes out and kills somebody. well, there are things we can do to change this. we need to close the gun show loophole. it makes no sense that we don't even check the backgrounds of people who fill their trunks of their cars with firearms and ammunition at these gun shows, and yet when it comes to the federal license dealers, there has to be a background check. this gap in coverage accounts for 40% of the crime guns in the most dangerous neighborhoods in chicago. so the gun show loophole needs to be closed. and we also need to make it clear, if you're going to make a straw purchase of a gun and do so for the purpose of giving it to someone who's going to use it in the commission of a crime, you'll pay a heavy price for that, too. mr. president, i grew up in a

family with a lot of members of my family owning firearms in down state illinois. it was common for families to go hunting, go out for target practice, and there was a gun cabinet in most homes. when a little boy, sometimes a young girl, reached a certain age, they were taken out and a rite of passage to go hunting for the first time. it is part of the culture where i grew up, and it's an acceptable part of the culture. when those guns are used responsibly and safely. i don't know a member of my family who would object to the following statement. no one who is a convicted felon or mentally unstable should be allowed to buy a gun in the united states. i don't know of a member of my family who would object to the notion that if you're going to buy a gun so someone you know can use it to commit a crime or kill someone, you're going to be punished. those are the two things that we should start with when it comes

to reducing gun violence. those two provisions are not going to hurt any legitimate, responsible, legal gun owner, but they are going to keep guns out of the hands of those who would misuse it. we have to restore some sense of order in this country, and we have to realize that when we've reached the point that 3 and 4-year-olds are being killed in larger numbers each year by guns than even those brave men and women who serve in our police departments, when it's reached that point, clearly congress has to act, and for congress to act, we need to hear from the american people. if they share these feelings, if they share the feeling that we need to move forward as a nation to stop this senseless tragedy, they have to speak up. i hope after we gather today on the floor, members of the senate come together and talk about this issue, that across america people will join us in this

effort. mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. durbin: i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:45 a.m., with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. durbin: mr. president, i ask consent that during this period that any time in quorum call be evenly divided between both sides before the vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call: