unidimensional when it is used alone. it addresses the biological meditations of the disease but the disease is multifaceted and all of those areas must be addressed for recovery. >> if anyone wants to add to the. also visit for the record. a lot of us understand this but aside from the chronic health impacts of addiction and death from overdose what other public health or social impacts are associated? ..

a number of other issues that are related to the community's overall health and the ability for the community to be resilient around this kind of disease is important to take into consideration. in part, there is a, i think a general lack of understanding around drug abuse in particular. i think one of the things that was asked earlier was related to, what would you do to address the community awareness? part of that is helping people to understand the scientific basis of this disease. it is indeed a chronic disease and we need to begin to treat it in that manner and approach it from a scientific perspective. there are still number of people unfortunately believe people ought to just quit that, ought to stop this and they don't recognize the fact this is a

disease that needs to be treated. we also have to make sure people have access to treatment which in our state as well as others -- >> over my time. i appreciate that. i'm over my time. chairman wants to move on. i appreciate your answer. i yield back. >> i recognize the ranking member of the committee, mr. pallone, for five minutes for questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my question for dr. waller, as you mentioned there are three fda medications approved for opioid dependence. i'm interested in hearing more about methadone. could you briefly describe how methadone is used to treat individuals with opiate dependence, and are there special requirements to treat individuals methadone in the substance abuse context? >> yes. methadone is a full medication which resembles medications like

oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine in that way. for people traditionally with heroin condition and we have great data that utilizing this medication in a fully inclusive social environment, not just medication itself but specifically adding all the bio cycle social aspect that significantly increases decraving for a drug. by doing that, allows them to continue to show up to have very high retention and treatment rate. so about 75% of patients will be retained in treatment with methadone compared to the 65% for new on set with direction own it is lower than that. trexone. that number has not been fully vetted -- >> i guess what i'm trying to find out is why buprferonine should not be regulated by

methadone? >> the basics regulations around methadone are significant. for primary care physician to on board the regulations would be minimum $150,000 immediately with the paperwork, accreditation through the joint commission. the ad creditcation through carf. at that point you have to actually, there are specific issues almost all states you have to par with community mental health, which requires request for proposals, which require as hearing. almost completely negates the capability for the a primary doctor to deliver this medication at. >> you i think you were getting at it but i still don't understand, what are the medical reasons to justify methadone comes with different requirements than the other two drugs? >> one, those are historic. that is how it was started. it has been very regulated and since utilized in this manner since the '60s. it has higher potential for abuse and higher overdose risk.

all are much lower than it and use lightsed in otp. >> one of the bills we're discussing today, hr 2872, proposing brings regulations that prescribe buprofine more in line with regulations of methadone. how will that propose al affect access to it and ability to treat special populations like pregnant women? >> it would completely negate to see my patients and i would have 200 people without treatment immediately in my clinic. look at from national perspective, we would shut down any extension or expansion of the pathway given amount of money to get into the pathway and amount of regulations surrounding it. it would not just be me, this is pretty well-underred into it would be catastrophic and more

at that time rate would skyrocket. >> it would have profound ability to regulate the current opioid crisis in your opinion. >> yes. >> number of barriers accessing medication assisted treatment or mat. one major barrier to access mat cultural stigma surrounding use of these medications. all there are strong evidence using mats, many people feel using mats is replacing one addiction to another? can you comment this perception. are people on mats replacing one opioid addiction to another? >> the short answer is no. specifically looking what we're trying to do, the part of the brain injured is the area that release as specific chemical called dopamine. these regulations reregulate that to add psychotherapies to stablize that for long term. some people used this for

extended periods and opioids injure that part of the brain permanently. they may require stabilization of those chemicals for very long time, sometimes a lifetime. we don't keep all of our patients in my kleinic on this we're able to wane a good number of them. it takes time and data is clear, minimum 18 monthstwo years before brain continues to heal in that setting. thanks a lot, thanks, mr. chairman. >> chair thanks the gentleman. recognizes the gentleman from indiana. >> appreciate all witnesses being here. this is big problem we all want to solve. i was practicing cardio thoracic vascular surgeon prior to coming to congress. we talk about treatment. we have to address this on the front end with training of physicians beginning in medical school and residency. tell you amount of training i

had even as surgeon, specifically on pain management and use of narcotics to manage pain was really minimal, other than essentially on-the-job training during residency. i think we need to address that. moving forward. i had a nice conversation with dr. michael botticelli, the director of office the drug policy president obama will discuss this specific subject in west virginia tomorrow. i look forward to his comments and what they're planning to to help all of us address the situation. i also want to comment on what mr. sarbanes said about naloxone. i think it is important, especially first-responders and law enforcement and family members of people who have issues as well as maybe the people themselves have access with the appropriate training. i've used naloxone many times

primarily in intensive care units when we felt patients were over narcotizeed. we need to make sure people have training. i agree with what mr. sarbanes said. this goes across age groups. in 2013 most commonly prescribed drug in medicare part-d was generic version of vicodin. not antibiotic but narcotic. with that said, we, i really appreciate all of your comment today. i agree with team doctor, dr. anderson. we need to address that situation going forward. dr. sledge, can you explain your experience treating this problem with the available current medications that are out there other than, i mean you obviously use other methods other than medical treatment, medication

treatment but, your experience at cumberland also using those options also? >> sure. and, i appreciate the question. we -- >> your microphone please. touch the button on your microphone. okay. >> during the assessment process we offer patients come in very clear with a course of treatment that we would recommend at the time of the assessment. there are myriad of reeverying in the national area if they choose to utilize a different approach. we bupa morphine to detox to get the patient opioid free. this is difficult time to achieve in outpatient setting with a residential setting with sufficient period of time of abstinence we use pure opioid antagonist or blocker if you will,nal direction sown, in

release last 30 days in conjunction with their biocycles. >> i'm interested in your comments about 2872 since i'm one of the ones we're working on it. we expand access to treatment for patients and we have as to ses we're going through we continually need to work on. one thing i do maybely slightly disagree on we should consider history and we should consider money as part of a reason why to do or not to do things as relates to drug treatment. i understand the practical aspects of that. so, i mean what might you suggest? what would your suggestions being to expand access to outpatient treatment for these problems. because clearly as you know, what we have now, we have methadone and naloxone and, i keep confusing the two. you know what i'm talking about.

>> yes. what, i mean we're trying to expand access, if you don't think we should make sure that everyone is able to offer all options for treatment medically, what should we do? >> i think i may have misspokes. i think all three should be available for sure. i use all three. >> yes. >> on regular basis. i have patients on long-actingnal -- naltrexone. for my population, toward end of treatment stablize them on other medication and let psychosocial aspects start to work. the biggest thing we have to do with those of us with access and knowledge and training and bored certification much like your training you wouldn't want to general surgeon doing cardio thoracic surgery. we want to stablize complex patients. helping them to maintain them

over period of time, in that fashion. bolstering capability of people who are board-certified and trained focused on this illness to deliver medications to all people is of utmost importance. >> i yield back. >> thank you. chair recognizes the gentlelady, miss brooks for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding hearing. thank all the witnesses. i would specifically like to thank dr. halverson being here. welcome to washington. honor to have you before the panel and always nice to have fellow hoosier in the nation's capitol. your experience, state health director, cdc, fairbanks school of public health, we're very fortunate to have you in indiana. i want to thank you because dr. halverson convenient ad roundtable at iupy with pharmacists, members of hhs, va. we discussed challenges indiana

was facing then, as unfortunately one of the states leading country in prescription opioid and heroin drug abuse. we had quite a discussion that day. we had also someone from the med school who attended. we appreciated his participation. but one thing that ondcp, they released a report in 2011 that cited their intent to encourage and medical and health proal schools such as fairbanks continue expanding education programs for subscribers. more instruction measuring pain and subscribing to treat it. that was four years ago. i think we're still really struggling in the country with getting our medical schools and our continuing medical education programs embracing this concept. and could you please discuss not only your efforts but i would be curious from the panel, what are we doing wrong? why can we knot get our med schools and our continuing

medical education and other health educators to focus on the prescribing practices? dr. halverson, would you please start. this is not a new issue. ondcp said it in 2011. what challenges, obstacles, what do we need to do to get your prescribers on board with this? >> thank you, representative brooks. we appreciate your interest specifically in this matter. i would also say that the need is clear. it is my understanding, as we look at, we're constantly looking at curriculum and this is an important issue. i've had conversations with our medical school dean about this issue but i also know that there are a whole lot of other issues that are also in competition for that time but i also don't think there's any question about the importance of this education.

certainly as we look in indiana around issues of continuing education and the need to inform all of the prescribers around this issue, continuing education is not in dispute. i think really it has been implementation, particularly as it relates to reimbursement and just the logistics around getting it in place but, i don't think there is any disagreement around the importance of the education. >> well i've been involved in higher education before coming to congress and i understand the curriculum committees, there's a lot of discussion and a lot of work that goes into providing curriculum, however, when our med schools are saying they get three to five hours possibly in med school on pain, it is just simply not enough. at this point to come up with one set curriculum i think is a problem.

let's do more. and so what more, and i'm curious, do we need to be requiring it, does it need to be mandatory? should there be certain hours that all prescribers are required to take a year? i'm a lawyer. we have continuing legal education credits that we're required to have every year. there are some requirements -- what are the other panelists think? this is very troublesome for me, not just physicians, nurses, dentists, others who are prescribers. what should we be doing? any ideas? what can we do to fix this problem because we've been talking about it far too long and our educators haven't resolved the issue? >> we'll leave remaining moments of this hearing to go now live to the annual women's leadership forum issues conference hosted by democratic women es alliance here in washington. among speakers today, hillary

clinton, former maryland governor martin o'malley, senator bernie sanders, former governor lincoln chafee and president obama. >> looking out into the audience i see new faces and familiar friends. in front of this special audience i want to take a moment to acknowledge we are holding this conference during breast cancer awareness month, particularly as new guidelines for mammography coverage are once again causing confusion for women all across america. there are three different prominent groups saying that 50, 45, and 40 are the recommended ages to begin receiving mammograms. i urge bipartisan colleagues to call for a timeout to unite as community and find scientific and policy consensus to go forward together. but i can't say it loudly or clearly enough, women in america must be their own breast health advocates, first and foremost. keep their awareness continually

on rise and ask questions and seek information from their doctors. it's essential. wednesday when vice president biden made his announcement that he would not be a candidate for president, he movingly talked about his desire to engage in the fight to cure cancer. i know that for millions of canner survivors like me around the nation those rings rang so meaningfully. all of us know matter what he does after this chapter of his exemplary career in public service we can expect great things from him. join me for honoring the service of our president of the united states, joe biden. [cheers and applause] this is an especially exciting year for this conference as all of our democratic candidates for president will be addressing us to share their thoughts and visions on moving our country forward. we've also lined up incredible women, including democratic

house leader nancy pelosi and former ohio state senator nina turner. i know we're looking forward to a special address from our president, president barack obama. [applause] since this founding in 1993 by the beloved carol penske and cynthia friedman -- [applause] and of course then first lady hillary clinton, and second lady tipper gore, wlf worked to eliminate gender disparity in politics. we recruited and engaged women to get involved in the political process, raising millions of dollars each cycle and recruiting women to run for or work in public office. and we've developed a network of democratic women who are leaders in their community at the grassroots level. so many of you in this room given your time, your money, your expertise and advocacy to help advance candidate, our initiatives and our values.

i am thankful to each of you. so thank you so much for your long-standing commitment pause that is how our party has been able to help america move forward together. now when looking at this powerful network we see a diverse party that inspires and uplifts women across america. but some, apparently see us differently. look at this national political party run which bill and see an estrogen cabal. [laughing] now i'm not saying that just to be funny. that is actually true. someone took to fox news airwaves other day said dnc was run by a estrogen cabal. i love it. [applause] so let's acknowledge some of the fine pairs of ovaries, well, present company accepted. i mean, women, who make up the

leadership of this venerable organization, we know how to get things done. [applause] that's why, that's why women lead this organization because the democratic party recognized that. if we would be forever if i named all of them even though they're all so amazing but i want to name a few. of course our wonderful, fabulous ceo, amy dacey. [applause] the women's forum leadership director claire who deserves a nice round of applause for she has done to make conference a success. our remarkable staff to julie green in the secretary's office and to lindsey reynolds, hard-working ceo to leadership in my office by my chief of staff casey pew and director casey holton. we have smart, dynamic women

taking our party to the next level. quite frankly we have pretty fantastic men working at at ddnc and let's hear a round of applause for the men. [applause] now for the record i will take this supposed estrogen cabal any day of of the week compared to e gop congressional candidates and leadership who i will collectively refer to as team testosterone. now wait, wait, you say, debbie, how can you call them team testosterone when carly fiorina is running for president? news flash. having the same parts doesn't give you credit, if you are wrong on every important issue. [applause] when you opposed paid leave requirements for women and their families, when you lie about women's health organizations in public to name a few, you're no better than any of the other

republican candidates or politicians who continue to attack women's right in america. i had to get that out of the way. [laughing] let's get on with our business of the day. for those of you who weren't able to join us yesterday the democratic women's alliance put on a fantastic all-day training session to continue our effort -- yes, give them a round of applause. all of our trainers were so fantastic. but that effort was to recruit and train women at all levels of democratic activism from voting to volunteering, fund-raising and staffing maybe one day running for office themselves. i know i attended some of those trainings as a young college student and young woman when i was first beginning my career, and those activities and events eventually helped give me confidence to decide to run for office when i was 25 years old and eventually win. and that session specifically focused on fund-raising, messaging and civic engagement training and participants had an opportunity to hear from and engage with some of brightest stars in our party.

in two short years the dwa really owned the important work of mobilizing, engaging an training democratic women leaders. i want to once again thank dwa director lylely mohib for her incredible work. [applause] of course what we achieved at dwa would not be possible without effort of women's leadership forum to continue to bolster democratic women leaders and issues. we should be brought of our collective efforts these past few decades. we must be clear about work at hand, next 12 months, make no mistake will put our democratic nominee in the white house as the 45th president of the united states of america. [applause] my friends, women voters make up more than half of the electorate, with more and more women serving as primary breadwinner in household or being single parents or holding stressful or multiple jobs, many issues in the public discourse today are women's issues and

family issues. equal pay in the work place. increase in minimum wage. access to affordable, quality child care and health care. a solid education. and paid family leave. those are real issues that mean something to american families. this is about affording every single person's dignity. now, on paid family leave let me say something to this group. as paul ryan exact concessions tries to cobble together enough of his conference to become next speaker of house of representatives he was very clear about his concerns about his family time, particularly because of his young children. now isn't great that paul ryan can have that conversation in public and not be criticized for daring to ask for more time with his family. i wonder if his name was paula ryan would have been so easy for him to speak out? congressman ryan, you deserve quality time with your family.

i especially know how precious that is. but every mother and father in america deserves that time too! [applause] every family. and we democrats will be loud and clear and calling on you to make paid family leave a priority at at the outset of yor speakership. we'll hold your feet and every republican to the fire. make no mistake, you don't have to be brain surgeon, or even a political scientist for that matter to know which party is talking about advancing this and other important issues. and which party is talking about rolling back progress and taking us back to the failed policies of the past. democrats of course are the party of inclusion. and empowerment and opportunity for all and our candidates walk the walk on number of issues important to women and families. for example, bernie sanders has made passage of paycheck fairness act a pillar of his

campaign. martin o'malley has been a strong advocate for making paid leave available to all moms and dads. hillary clinton is fighting hard to protect women's comprehensive health care. an lincoln chafee has highlighted importance of early childhood education and environmental integrity have all significant ims families. republican presidential candidates want to bring back tired old, trish kel down economic policies that benefit well-connected at expense of women and families. just look at their rhetoric and actions on equal pay for example. jeb bush doesn't think more laws are necessary to insure equal pay. didn't even know what the paycheck fairness act was when he was asked about it. chris christie vetoed equal pay legislation, calling it senseless, bureaucracy. vetoed it. marco rubio said paycheck fairness act was about scoring political points, wasting time, and was a show vote.

and of course rand paul compared the paycheck fairness act to the soviet politburo. that is just one issue. ted cruz was all about shutting government down over planned parenthood funding. he would of course know how to do this since he was architect of 2013 shutdown that cost our economy $24 billion and put thousands of families immediate economic security at risk. marco rubio indicated would ban all abortions even in the case of rape and incest. jeb bush also boasted about his record of defunding women's health care in florida. front runners donald trump and ben carson, don't get me started. [laughter]. i mean what are they even talking about anyway? [laughter]. let me know if you figure it out. trump with his outright misogyny and ben carson's offensive comments that sought to shame and blame women on issues like abortion and violence, and for jeb bush, and john kasich, their comments about women include

frat parties and references to hot women. this can not make this stuff up. the bottom line is that we can't let republicans get away with their distortions and warped vision of women's rights in america in 21st century. i know if this crowd has anything to do with it, we won't! [applause] now, they also won't get away with it in part because our candidates are he eclipsing them in style, substance and policy prescriptions to move america forward. our democratic candidates delivered incredibly strong performance last week in astounding 15.8 million viewers tuned in to see it. we learned our candidates earned support of more than one million donors across the country in record time. we're simply outpacing the republican field. our candidates have strong visions for moving america forward and we saw that at last week's debate and you saw reaction. substantive, serious, classy. like going from kindergarten to

graduate school. that is how our debate was compared to the small tent, big circus debates we've seen from the republican candidates. they are so set in their ways that the only thing we've heard from their two debates is they want to drag america back to the policies that contributed to great recession. that's the contrast. you know what is at stake. you remember what it was like when we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. when foreclosure signs adorned streets throughout every state. when the middle class was brought to its knees. but we fought back, didn't we? under barack obama's leadership and democrats in congress's leadership. [applause] our country is stronger than that we fought our way back thanks to democratic leadership now delivered 67 straight months of private sector job growth. [applause] yes. more than 13 million new jobs. millions of americans now have health insurance who didn't have it before.

and opportunities are being expanded to more and more families across america. that is what our candidates are going to build on. that is what we want the american people to see as this campaign continues. wlf of course is a premier platform which to do that. i join you in your excitement to hear from all four of our incredible candidates in just a moment. no doubt about how important it is we focus on the next 12 months but make no mistake, there are elections in many states in just 12 days. including right across the river in virginia and throughout the south. there are also important local elections in many of your home states. so i hope all of you over the next 12 days will commit to knock on some doors, raise some money, point people to the early polling locations, make sure we get people out to vote over this next week, and we can make sure that candidates all across america will be building momentum until we elect a democrat as 45th president of the united states. [applause]

because when democratic women vote, democrats win! now, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for your ongoing support with the women's leadership forum of the democratic national committee. we have our work cut out for us, don't we? it won't be easy but nothing worth fighting have easy. i will like to fight side by side with you throughout this next year on to into the future when we make sure a democrat is elected, sent to the white house as 45th president of the united states of america and democrats are elected all across the country. thank you very much. enjoy the forum today. [applause] ♪

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, governor lincoln chafee. [applause]

♪ >> good morning. good morning. morning democrats. good morning. >> good morning. >> what a pleasure to join so many of my fellow democrats and candidates who come here later and we're all dedicated, everyone in this room, obviously to keeping the presidency and winning back the house and senate. [applause] and we all know republican agenda sets back women's rights, and i pledge all my energy towards a big 2016 victory for democrats across the country. [applause] and we do have a winning message, of building a strong middle class, investing in education and infrastructure, extending health coverage to more and more americans.

granting a path to citizenship to those who lived in the shadows for too long. accepting the science of climate change, and having the leadership to cut back on fossil fuel consumption with sound policy. we defend our civil liberties and women's reproductive freedoms. we respect the rights of our lgbt friends, understand that "black lives matter". [applause] , and that we do need to do more for native americans. [applause] and most of all, you can be sure that democrats will make good appointments to the supreme court. [applause] something this country needs and deserves. now as you may know i've been campaigning on a platform of prosperity through peace but after much thought i have decided to end my campaign for the president today.

thank you. but i would like to take this opportunity one last time to advocate for a chance be given to peace. since today is all about women's leadership, it reminds me of one of my favorite greek plays. a comedy from 400 bc. by aritstophenes in a play, a group of women fed up with warmongering of their husband agreed to, how do i say this appropriately, hold their favors until peace returns. and it worked! they ended the pelopensian wars. anyway. let's talk about the present. studies show women tend to lead differently than men. women are more likely to be collaborative and team oriented. it is undeniable the benefits women provide to the pursuit of

peace. when i was a senator, a general from the pentagon testified before the foreign relations committee on global military powers. and i asked him, who was second to the united states in military might? and he thought for a bit, and then he said, probably the u.k. now, yes that was a few years ago but the point remains true. no real rival to the united states exists when it comes to total weaponry. now we make virginia class submarines in rhode island. i've been on a overnight patrol. what a phenomenal piece of technology and craftsmanship. a machine bristling with the most advanced power imaginable. submarines are just one instrument in our staggeringly efficient arsenal of war. and yet, we are sinking ever deeper and deeper into an endless morass in the middle east and north africa. people keep dying and peace seems further and further away.

it is evidence that all this military power isn't working for us right now. [applause] let me share a story from today manage, vietnam. danan, that city has so many memories from my generation. this summer former vietcong and ex-american gis, laughing, eating, drinking and celebrating the 4th of july together. [applause] and the article quoted pete peterson, a former air force pilot who spent six 1/2 years in a hanoi prison camp after he was shot down. later he served as ambassador to vietnam in the 1990s. he said now vietnam and united states have so much in common. after all the horror of that war, why did we do it, he was asked? and he said, i have thought

about this for a long time. i'm convinced that the war could have been averted had we made the effort to understand the politics of the place. had we made the effort to understand the politics of the place. ladies and gentlemen, from what i've heard, none of the republicans running for president want to understand anything about the middle east and north africa. instead they prefer more bellicose, more sabre-rattling and more blind macho posturing. [applause] and when i hear all this tough talk, i have deja vu about the evil vietcong. we should be different. democrats should insist on learning from the lessons of vietnam. it all could have been averted. now i'm not saying that all countries are right in any particular thing they do. we must hold them accountable but we can't do that if we don't

hold ourselves accountable and change our entire paradigm. the united states is so strong militarily, economically, culturally, that we must take chances for peace. if we have courage, if we take risks, we can have prosperity through peace. not just in the united states, but all over the world. do we want to be remembered as a bomber of weddings and hospitals? or do we want to be remembered as peacemakers, pioneers of a more harmonious world? if american war veterans and vietcong fighters can laugh together on 4th of july, then i know so too can iranians and israelis, shias and sunnis, turks and kurds. now a wise man, president eisenhower counseled us only alert and knowledgeable sit currency could -- citizenry

could insure proper meshing of both security and liberty. up to you women, citizens, humans, to demand from your leaders, end to endless wars and beginning of a new era for the united states and humanity. thank you, go democrats in 2016!. [cheers and applause] thank you, democrats. thank you women. [applause] >> i know that was, that was a special and important message for all of us to hear and i'd like every here to join me thanking lincoln chafee for his remarkable public service.

[applause] as i was standing backstage thinking about what words come to mind when i think about lincoln chafee, class act was the first one that jumped to my mind. [applause] i want to just briefly share with you, in a trip down memory lane, what it was like when i heard that lincoln chafee decided to become a democrat. let's remember that that was a big deal. because, when he joined our party, he made it clear that his former party had left him. and that they had gotten too extreme for him to be comfortable remaining as a republican. lincoln chafee has been a public servant of conscience. he has stood strong and used his voice and made sure that the people of his state, the great state of rhode island when he was governor, had a governor who knew it was important to invest

in education, to stand up and make sure that people who had no voice had his and to make sure that he sounded a clarion call for peace, as he did here with us this morning. i thank lincoln chafee for his service, for his commitment to electing a democrat to the white house in 2016 and we look forward to seeing him campaign with us all along the, all across the country during the 2016 campaign for president. thank you so much, and thank you to lincoln chafee. [applause] ♪

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage state senator nina turner. [applause]

♪ >> good morning. good morning, ladies. now, i just want to have a keeping it real moment, is that all right with you? [applause] the struggle is real and i want to keep it real, is that all right with you? i'm going to forego all my written remarks. [laughter]. that might be a little dangerous. and just speak from the heart. it is such a pleasure to be back here with you. i was here in 2013. i want to thank congresswoman debbie wasserman-schultz for her leadership. [applause] now, ladies, the struggle is real. and to turn this thing around it is going to take women to make a difference. if i could take you back down memory lane in this country's history just for a moment. when the found is of this

country there was not a whole lot of diversity around the table. there was no ethnic diversity. this was no gender diversity. there was no class diversity. but as a nation, despite all of our flaws, the one thing that we could say about this great nation of ours is that we have been a nation of progress. but unfortunately we got some folks, who are stuck on stupid and dazzled by dumb. [applause] who want to take us back! and ladies, we refuse to go back because it is too important to the culture and the nature of this country to make sure we do the gag gone thing. what does that thing? it means, women we have to unite, based on what we have in common and push this country to its greatest greatness.

now, we don't need titles to do that. so sisters can not say titles are good but purpose is better. titles are good but purpose is better. titles are good but purpose is better. [applause] if you don't believe me, see i'm a "mother jones" kind of girl. and "mother jones" once said she would pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living. we like to fight hell for the living all day long! [applause] and we need folks who are committed to doing that so, ladies, i say that, because mothher jones didn't have fancy title. she stood up for coal miners in 1800's. she stood up for babies so they would have child-labor laws to protect our babies. i think about women like fannie lou haymer, a sharecropper from mississippi. she didn't have a title but

important for her to symbolically show by sweat and that african-americans had a right to register and folks to control their own destiny. titles are good. titles are good. [applause] but purpose is better. and i can not tell you, ladies, not just about our rye productive health. it doesn't get anymore personal than being able to control your own body. we don't need legislative daddies and executive daddies to tell us what to do with all of this. we don't need it. [applause] but i tell you this. lady, in the great state of ohio, i got so fed up about men, because i obviously i wasn't elected to make sure that everybody would have access to a high quality education, i wasn't elected to make sure that workers would have -- just as i'm tired of -- [inaudible]. working class folks deserve good

and great. that is what we should be talking about as a democrat. this ain't about -- [applause] and ladies this is about time we get the whole damn dollar. say whole damn dollar. [cheering] i introduced legislation to deal with erectile dysfunction. can i get -- [cheering] i was over it, sisters. i was over it. i was over it. i put ovaries to the wall. i was over it. [laughing] all i'm saying, sisters, we have to find creative ways to move and push this nation because only future is at stake. that's all. only your future and future of our children, that's all. when we live in the nation where now we got to fight for voting rights again, only future is at

stake. that's all. [applause] when women got to to have access to high quality health care, that's all. that's all. [applause] when we have to deal with whether or not elect, can you just imagine this? if they take back the white house, if they continue to have control of the senate and house, what kind of state this nation would be in? sisters, it is up to each and everyone of us to use what we have to make a difference in this world, and you don't need a fancy title to do that. titles are good but purpose is better. [applause] always. sisters, we can do this thing. now, if i was at a sunday morning, sisters, i got we got some ministers in the room. if i was at a sunday morning women's day, i would say the following, if god made anything,

just any little thing, better than a woman, he must have kept it to himself. can i get amen? can i get an amen? [applause] can i get an amen? i talking this morning because folks will give you facts and figures. i come this morning to lift you. to tell you this world will not be right unless you are fulfilling your purpose. and we have plenty of poor mothers who did not have fancy titles but they did the dag gone thing. we have to got to do the dag gone thing on behalf of this nation. sisters we can't jump over 2015 to get to 2016. every single election year is important. every single one from the school board member to the president of the united states of america! it takes team work to make the

team and we are the team, mamas. [applause] so in closing, now when you were preaching as politician you get -- [laughter] no, titles are good but purpose is better. you know, i do this, being oldest of seven children and having my mother die at age of 42 years old. and for some of the young women in here, that might be old but that is awfully young to die. my mother died with her dreams deferred. but i had a conversation with the creator of universe, lord, if you mercy on my soul i will become a cycle breaker. sisters not only did she die at the age of 42 years old, she died on the system. she didn't have a life insurance policy and she had no money in the bank. but she loved her children. so when we have have a elected officials who don't understand they need to care about the least of these, it is personal for me.

because as somebody written me off, i wouldn't have a fancy title, and in front of my name and fancy initials behind my name. we are a country that lifts people, no matter where they are. democrats, that is what we do! that is what we do. [applause] you think titles are good but purpose is better. so, sisters, if your hair is on fire, you ought to act like your hair is on fire. and democratic women, we got to have a righteous indignation what is right and what is wrong. there is no halfway way to be for working-class people to live a good and great life. there is no halfway way for way for women to control their own bodies there. is no middle of the way way that the women need to make the whole damn dollar. there is no halfway way, to believe one women, one vote, one

woman, one man, one would the, the way this country ought to be. that everybody, and ladidy, and everybody as my grandmother should have a way to live a good life. so women, i want to send you out of here motivated but i want to send you out of here on a mission, to do whatever it is that you can put your hands to, to make a difference in this world, in this year, next year, every single year beyond. so three things i want you to remember, if you have not remembered anything else. if you don't remember anything else i have to say here today. fierce women shake the world. we got to get our shake on. [applause] so number one, most importantly, i believe that the creator of great universe has given us two hands, one to reach forward and one to reach back lifting as we climb. we are our sisters and our brothers keepers.

number two, and most importantly, we can't ask other folks to do more for us than we are willing to do for ourselves. brother frederick douglass put it this way. you might not get everything that you work for but you will work for everything that you get. [applause] sisters, we know all about that. but lastly, in the words of the my grandmother, who was born in 1913, to a country that did not recognize her gifts and her talent because of her gender and because of her skin had been kissed by the sun. >> all right. >> my grandmother could not read or write, but sisters, she could count her money. and she kept her money in the southern ladies bank and trust. [laughter] [applause] when i asked my grandmother, what does it take to be

successful in this thing called life, she said, my dear granddaughter all you need are the three bones, wishbone, the jawbone and the backbone. she said the wishbone will keep you hoping an praying because hope, hope, hope, hope, hope, is the motivator but the dream is the driver, the reason why we do what we do each and every day as we because we hope and believe that tomorrow will be better than today. there are people counting on us to make sure tomorrow is better than today. she said the jawbone will give you courage to speak truth to power, on the words of dant health, the hottest places of hell are reserved for those in times of great moral crisis choose neutrality. sisters, and brothers, we can not be neutral. [cheers and applause] we can not be neutral. if your hair is on fire. we ought to act like our hair is

on fire. but my grandmother said all the hoping, wishing, talking, praying in the world, all that stuff is really, really good but it means nothing unless you have the supercalifragilisticexpialidocio us. and that is the backbone. because the backbone will keep us standing through all of our trials and tribulations and we will go through some stuff in this life, sisters, and brothers, but you can not have a testimony without a test. we are being tested enough, whether we're brave enough, women enough, human enough, compassionate enough, to stand up and do the dag gone thing on behalf of ourselves and generations that are unborn. sisters, titles are good, but purpose is better. god bless you. god bless you. [cheers and applause]

the purpose is better. titles are good, but purpose is better. titles are good, but purpose is better. ! [cheers and applause] ♪ [inaudible conversations].

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome senator bernie sanders. [applause] . . >> but for what you're doing to expand and improve our

democracy. one of the reasons, and let me be very blunt about this, one of the reasons that i'm running for president of the united states is that i worry very much that both economically and politically our country is sliding into oligarchy. [applause] i know this is not an issue, but you're going -- that you're going to see discussed much on tv, but it is the reality of what's happening in america. we are the wealthiest country in the history of the world, but as we speak here and meet here this morning, millions and millions of families are struggling to feed their kids. we have the highest rate, shamefully, of poverty of any major country on earth, and 40%

of african-american kids are living in poverty. all at the same time as 58% of all new income is going to the top 1%, and the top one-tenth of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. and as a nation, we are going to have to ask ourselves whether it is morally acceptable, whether it is economically sustainable that so few have so much while so many have so little. in my view, that has got to change, and we need an economy that works for working families. [cheers and applause] but it is not just economics, it

is politics. as a result of the disastrous citizens united supreme court decision, millionaires and billionaires are pouring unlimited sums of money into the political process through superpacs and independent expenditures. in the last election last november, 63% of the american people didn't vote, 80% of young people didn't vote, and in today millionaires and billionaires are buying the election. is that what democracy in this country is supposed to be about? i think not! [applause] now, the truth is as all of you know republicans win when voter turnout is low, when millions of

people turn their backs on the political process. when they look to washington and they say i'm working longer hours for lower wages, what are you doing for me, when they say i don't have any health insurance, what are you doing for me, when they say i can't afford to send my little baby into decent quality childcare, what are you doing for me? be can't afford to send my older kids to college, what are you doing for me? and when people give up on the political process and don't vote in large numbers, when republican governors suppress the vote, when the koch brother ands other billionaires try to -- and other billionaires try to buy elections, republicans win and we lose. so what do we do? what we do is make it clear that in this country we need a

political revolution. [cheers and applause] that establishment politics, the same old same old ain't gonna do it, that establishment economics is not going to do it. you want to win an election? i'll tell you how you win an election from the white house on down, you rally millions of working class people who have given up on the political process. [applause] you rally young people who have given up on the political process. you bring people together who are prepared to say loudly and clearly enough is enough, our government bel@>m to all of us not just a handful of billionaires.

and we do not -- ifç we do noto that and if thisç is a same old same old type of electioni] andf billions of working people and young people do not participate, republicansw3 will win, and we will lose. so let me tell you i am extremely gratified in myñr campaign so far that we have rallied hundreds of thousandst(f people to come out to our meetings and ourq events,ñr thae have 750,000 individuals who have made campaignçó contributions. notç million dollar contributis to superpacs, but $30 apiece. [cheers andç applause] more individual contributions than any campaign at this point in a campaign in american history. [applause]

we win when people come together, when we reject the division of men versus women, of straight versus gay, of black versus white, of people born in this country as opposed to people born in another country. that is what they want to do. [applause] and we win elections when we stand together and we say, you know what? in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are going to start paying their fair share of taxes -- [applause] we win elections when we say to the working people in this country we know you can't make it on $8 or $9 an hour, and that

is why we're going to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. [cheers and applause] and that is why we're going to win the election when we say to women there is no rational economic reason that women make 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. we're going to have pay equity. [applause] we win an election in which we say to working families, yes, when you go to work, you are going to have quality childcare and pre-k for your little ones. [applause] we win this election when we say to the unemployed, we're going to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of decent paying jobs. [applause] we're going to win this election when we say to young people and

all people that we wonder what world the republicans are living in when they deny science and refuse to go forward in helping us combat climate change. [applause] we win this election when we make it clear that women have fought too long and too hard to lose control over their own bodies. [cheers and applause] we win this election when we stand up boldly and say, no, you're not going to cut or defund planned parenthood, you're going to put more money into planned parenthood -- [cheers and applause] so sisters and brothers, we are

at an historical moment in american history. the crises that we face today in many ways are worse than at any time since the great depression of the 1930s. and in my view, what this election is about is not just electing a president. far, far more significantly it is about transforming the united states of america. [applause] it is about understanding that there is something very, very wrong where the united states of america is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. how does that happen?

[applause] the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid sick time or paid vacation time. how does that happen? the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to every man, woman and child as a right! [applause] so what this campaign is truly about is to bringing people together by the tens of millions. and that's to tough. that is tough stuff to do. but if we do that, we're not just going to win this election, we are going to win it by a landslide. because what happens is how many people in your communities believe, as the republicans do, that we should cut social

security, cut medicare, cut medicaid, cut federal aid to education and then give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top two-tenths of 1%? nobody believes that. but republicans can win elections because so many people have given up on the political process. and what this campaign is about is revitalizing american democracy by bringing people together to stand up and fight for the promise of what this great country can be. [applause] we can be a nation in which the middle class grows, not shrinks. we can be a nation in which we

do not have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more economic and wealth disparity. we can do that. but in order to do that, we're going to have to do something that is pretty hard, pretty, pretty, pretty hard. [laughter] to quote larry david. [laughter] [applause] and this is what we have to do. in the last many decades, as everybody in this room knows because you have been part of the process, we have made significant progress in becoming a less discriminatory society, and we should be proud of that. we should be proud that in 2008 the american people decided to vote for a candidate based on his program and his ideas and

his character, not the color of his skin. [cheers and applause] we should be proud that all over this country as a result of your efforts and those that came before you women have made extraordinary progress in breaking down discriminatory barriers. and by the way, we are not going back. we are going to go forward. [applause] and if we were here ten years ago and somebody jumped up and said, you know, i think that gay marriage will be made legal in every state in this country, somebody else would have asked them what they were smoking. [laughter] which raises another issue. [laughter] but we have. but we have made progress. we've made progress in women's rights, in gay rights, in civil

rights. we still have a long way to go in all of those areas, but we should be proud of what we have accomplished. but here is where we have not made progress. we have not made progress in the economic struggle. we have lost ground. today men and women in many cases are working longer hours for lower wages. that's a fact. and almost all of the new wealth and income is going to the people on top. so the essential question in terms of the economic struggle is are we prepared to organize and to take on the billionaire class which today has so much economic and political power in that is the question. and if we are not successful in doing that, my prediction to you is that the rich will continue

to get richer while most everybody else gets poorer. my prediction to you is that the republicans who do not believe citizens united went far enough, want to get rid of all campaign finance regulations, will simply be able -- through the koch brothers and others -- to give checks of hundreds of millions of dollars to the candidates of their choice. in other words, having candidates become employees of their corporate interests. that's the future if we do not educate and if we do not organize. but i have confidence that we can do both. i have confidence that if we come forward with a progressive, strong agenda that is prepared to stand up to corporate america, is prepared to stand up to the koch brothers and the

billionaire class, that is prepared to outline an agenda which will improve the lives of tens of millions of our people, we cannot only win the white house, regain the senate and the house, gain governors' chairs all over america, not only can we do that, but much more importantly we can transform this country and make it the country we all know that it can become. thank you all very much. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ [inaudible conversations]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome house democratic leader nancy pelosi. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> it is a morning, a day of great pride as we take pride in all of you gathered here in our great -- and our great chairwoman, debbie wasserman schultz.

debbie, thank you for your wonderful, wonderful leadership. we're all proud of you. lee daugherty, executive director of the convention which is going to nominate the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] and i'll tell you, ohio state senator tina you are ther, doesn't -- turner, doesn't she turn it on for all of us? she's so great. >> [inaudible] >> i said tina. [laughter] that's how she makes us feel. i know nina full well, in fact, my daughter christine sings her praises practically every day. thank you, nina. and to the women's leadership founder, cynthia, thank you for your great leadership. [applause] here we are, today you're hearing from our fabulous presidential candidates. we just heard the energy and enthusiasm of bernie sanders, we'll see the confidence and voice of the future of martin

o'malley, of how wonderful that lincoln chafee has said he is stepping aside to fight, though, to join the democrats to elect a democratic president of the united states. [applause] that was lovely of him. and, of course, we're very proud of hillary clinton. wasn't she wonderful yesterday? [cheers and applause] more on that in a moment. today we come together in celebration of the outstanding leadership of women in our country. again, we take pride in the power of women in our economy, our society and in our democracy. we reflect on the extraordinary progress women have driven across america and throughout our history. and as women leaders in our party, our communities and our country, we come here to rededicate ourselves to the work that remains. guess what? today -- well, i'll get to that. we are heirs to the strength of

suffragettes and today we must draw inspiration from their leadership and accept the challenge of their example. this is the day marked by history 100 years ago today 30,000 women poured into the streets of new york city marching down fifth avenue to demand the right to vote as americans. [applause] imagine their courage. [applause] imagine their courage. that was the strength of their dedication and the seriousness of their commitment to change. that's the dedication and seriousness it took to win. just imagine what they could have done with the technology of communication and mobilization we have today. we don't have to imagine it, we just have to do it ourselves. as we look to our past -- [applause] and the present, we see that nothing is more essential to our

future, nothing is more wholesome to the politics and government of our nation than the increased participation and leadership of women. that's an applause line. [laughter] [applause] one of the most valuable resources in our whole country is the outstanding democratic women in the house and in the senate, in the congress of the united states. [applause] and i want to brag about them. of course, they've always been leaders in issues that relate to women and children and families, and their leadership goes well beyond that now. on issue after issue, fight after fight, it is the democratic women of congress or who are leading the way ever, ever, even right now as we speak over in the capitol. ranking member maxine waters of the financial services committee leading the fight to reauthorize the ex-im bank and to preserve

dodd-frank reforms for consumer protection. [applause] congresswoman eleanor holmes norton at the forefront, one of the principals in discussion on the transportation bill and the investment negotiations that are going there. anita lowy on appropriations -- nita lowey joining with barbara mikulski, woman leader of the appropriations committee in the senate. [applause] two women driving our fight to invest in america and keep america open, keeping government open. our ranking members on rules, louise slaughter, nydia velazquez on small business, linda sanchez, carolyn maloney, all of these ranking members will be chairwomen when we take back house in 2016. [applause] and i want to salute the excellent, powerful, successful women on armed services,

homeland security and the intelligence committees. so the role of women in leadership in our congress is all-encompassing whether it's defense of our country, the strength of our economy, the protection of our people in our communities, on every issue women are leading the way. the women of the house democratic caucus are standing with president obama and vice president biden championing justice and opportunity for hard working american families each and every day. and before i go on about the women, i want to talk about joe biden for a moment. aren't we proud of the statement that he made? [applause] we owe a great deal to joe biden. he was the champion, the chair of the judiciary committee, when we passed the violence against women act over 20 years ago. [applause] and he was there to have it reauthorized just last year. he has been there for us over and over again, and i join debbie in commending him for calling out fight against

cancer. a moonshot to find a cure for cancer, channeling his concern for his own family, his personal grief, his political know how, his governmental record to focus on the problem, cancer, that has hit every family in america. it's hard to imagine if a family that has not been affected. thank you, joe biden, for your great leadership. you are a warrior for the middle class. [applause] right now we have -- and when i came to congress, there were 23 members of congress, 12 democrats, 11 republicans out of 435. imagine. today we have more than multiplied by five, house democrats stand at 65 women, the most women in a caucus in the history of our republic, but we want more. but we want more. [applause] and we need you to help us to get more. it's women on the ballot and women at the polls who will lead us to victory, and we are so

proud that the democratic congressional campaign committee has women running in more than half of our targeted races. and i thank kelly ward, our magnificent executive director. [applause] she is just fabulous, so respected, so talented, so politically astute. i don't know if you're hearing from her, but you will be hearing from her. she's just great under the leadership of -- [inaudible] lujan, if i may be allowed a moment of politics. [laughter] but they are our priorities, to be electing many more women to congress. we need your help to do so. we know, this is an absolute fact -- i tell you this as a fact, this is not opinion -- we know that if we reduce the role of money and increase the level of civility in our elections, we will elect more women, more young people, more minorities, more lgbt people than ever before. [applause] and all of america will be a victor in that success. because we know that when women

succeed, america succeeds. [applause] okay. when women succeed, america -- okay, you've got to do better than that. when women succeed, america -- >> all right. now you're coming along. that's not just a slogan. it, too, is a statement of absolute fact. and that's the title of democratic women's economic agenda for women and working families. and not just the women, our entire caucus. our agenda, inspired by our godmother, the great rosa delawyer owe of connecticut, she's absolutely fantastic -- [applause] strengthened by the chair of the women's caucus, our women league cochairs lois frankel and debbie dingell, a proud member of the dnc, this agenda stands on pillars of fair pay. raise the minimum wage, guarantee women the respect of equal pay for equal work. this is -- we'll make our

economy grow. paid sick leave. isn't it exciting that our new speaker wants to spend time with his family? we want everybody in america to be able to have that same opportunity if someone in the family is sick. [applause] affordable, quality childcare, the linchpin of a working parent's success in the workplace. this is not just for women, this is for families, this is for men as well. and retirement security, insuring women can trust in a secure and comfortable retirement, a particular tribute to the vision of doris matsui and jan schakowsky, cochairs of our task force not that they're seniors, but they're cochairs of the task force. as you will see as we have the battle of the budge, so many of the issue that relate to seniors are at risk. but so many of the issues that pertain to women are out there if the american people weigh in.

president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with it you can accomplish everything, without it nothing. well, the public sentiment is there for equal pay for equal work, for raising minimum wage to $15 an hour, for paid sick leave, for quality, affordable childcare, for honoring our seniors. it's out there for comprehensive immigration reform. it's out there for sensible gun background checks to make america safer. [applause] in order to make all of these things happen though, we must unleash the power of women; women at the polls, women on the ballot, women in every walk of life whether it's the security of our country, the strength of our economy, the quality of our education system, the safety of our families, every issue you can name. yet again and genre palins have shown -- again and again republicans have shown their uncomfortable obsession with attacking women's health care even at the expense of everything else in our country.

last month 151 house republicans voted to shut down government rather than allow women to access affordable family planning and life-saving preventive health care. two-thirds of the republicans said shut down the government, mr. speaker. and if you don't, give up your gavel. this is all about lack of respect that they have for women to make their own decisions. and aren't we proud of cecile richards and how she handled all of that? [applause] they'll keep at it as they will today with one of their bills on the floor where they don't want to fund planned parenthood, and we'll keep at it. and we'll keep at it. republicans are holding america hostage to a calendar of chaos. democrats offer a path to progress from keeping government open to protecting the full faith and credit of the united states of america to having a

robust transportation bill to protecting our 9/11 workers with care and compensation. the list goes on and on of so many things that are overdue. and then in the next week our path to progress must overcome their calendar of chaos. and as i say, women are in the lead. and instead of doing these things that we need to do that i just enumerated some of, republicans are wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars on a select committee they admit is nothing more than a brazen political effort to smear secretary clinton. [applause] how proud, to use that word again, we are of our democratic members on the committee, ranking member elijiah cummings -- [applause] of maryland. adam smith of washington state, adam schiff of california, linda sanchez of california, tammy duckworth of illinois. [applause] now, i don't know if you watched

much of it or saw any of it in the news, but our democratic members were absolutely superb, and i'm very, very proud of them. [applause] but how about hillary clinton? was she not magnificent? [cheers and applause] asny sanders said -- bernie sanders is said and as we all know, enough is enough. i know the women of the wlf are ready to demand accountability for republicans' toxic priorities. and let me just say what i think the main in just a moment, main contrast between the democrats and republicans that will hit home for america's working families. if you believe, as the republicans do, that trickle down economics is the way to create jobs in our country, triggings down -- trickles down, if it creates jobs, that would be good, if it doesn't, so be

it. that's the free market. that's their attitude. and if you believe that, then the money that it costs the taxpayers to give the tax breaks to the wealthiest people in america will not allow for the investment in education, in infrastructure, in research and development, all the things we need to strengthen the middle class and make sure everyone participates in the prosperity of our nation. instead of trickle down economics, we're talking about middle class economics, recognizing that the middle class is the driving force in our economy, that consumer confidence of the middle class in a consumer economy is what with turn our economy fully around. and that middle class the backbone of our country and that that stagnation of wages in the middle class has slipped behind. we want to lift many more people into the middle class. and president obama and vice president biden have done an excellent job.

just to review for a moment, when the president took office standing on the steps of the capitol nearly seven years ago, the deficit was $1.4 trillion, it's under $500 billion now. [applause] we want it to go lower, but it is 70% less than what the republicans left him. unemployment was over 10%, it's now flirting with 5%. [applause] under his leadership and many of the initiatives that the house and senate democrats put into the recovery package, etc., the stock market was between 6 and 7,000. it's now over 17,000. 10,000 points. who says the economy isn't better under democrats? 70 months, straight months of private sector job creation,

some of it to the ingenuity of the private sector, god bless them, a lot of it tied to initiatives in our recovery package. and, certainly, related to the rebound of the insurance industry. i mean, excuse me, the auto industry. not the insurance industry. [laughter] so we had -- here's what we have. we had a situation when the auto industry was on its heels, and with our policies and the president's leadership, it is now, the auto industry is now thriving and contributing to that private sector job creation. the list goes on and on. and, might i say very proudly, 17 million more americans have access to quality, affordable health care. [applause] where being a woman is no longer a pre-existing medical condition. [applause] but again, this is all great. all the indicators are wonderful except be the wage -- except the wage indicator, and that is what the debate has to be in our cup.

the republicans have stood in the way of any of the additional measures the president wanted to take. their obstruction, their dysfunction has sood in the way -- has stood in the way of additional job growth and paycheck growth. and so it is absolutely essential that in this debate in this election we, the public understands what is at stake and what it means to them, what it means to them and to their families. we have to reclaim our politics for those who would drown our election in the really suffocate the airways with their dark special interests, unidentified special interest money. we will lead, and we will act, we will overturn citizens united. we must elect a democratic president to do that. [applause] we will get engaged, activate and empower women across the nation. and as my daughter christine

always reminds me, we will not agonize, we are organize. and our presidential candidates speaking before you today, we see wisdom, judgment and vision on full display. we know our nominee for president will draw a stark contrast with the strength of our values and the destructiveness of republican special interest priorities. we may well be electing the first woman president of the united states. [applause] we know we will be electing a democratic president of the united states. [applause] and we know that a democratic president will need a strong congress to succeed. not the republican congress of dysfunction and obstructionism and extremism. we will work hard, and we will win, and we will win big across the board in 2006. we're already seeing the list, beginning of a wave.

so the fresh inspiration, the women leaders you have here today, the inspiration and strength of our candidates for president across the board, our women candidates who run, i'm so proud to be the leader of the house democratic caucus which is a majority of women, minorities and lgbt members in our caucus. [applause] so drawing courage, drawing from the courageous women who went before us across the history of our country and across all of our country, we must bring the message to your states, to your districts, to your communities. when women vote, women succeed. and when women succeed -- now you got it. thank you, women's leadership forum, for your work on behalf of all americans. [applause] are you ready to get out there and walk streets, ring doorbells? [cheers and applause] are you ready to, for a great

democratic victory? [cheers and applause] i thought you were. thank you all very much. have a good meeting. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome governor martin o'malley. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very, very much. hey, thank you very, very much. let's give it up for my heroine, nancy pelosi. [applause] my goodness, it is wonderful to be with all of you today. i haven't been in the company of so many strong women since my daughters moved out of the house. [laughter] it's great to be with all of you. and thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share a couple thoughts with you this morning. everybody wide awake?

yes? >> yeah! >> i want to thank our chair, debbie wasserman-schultz, for her leadership and also for allowing me to be here today. i want to thank all of you, especially those of you that flew in from the west coast for being up so early today. [applause] you west coast folks are very hearty when it comes to the transcontinental flight, something that i'm still trying to learn. let's begin. my name is martin o'malley, and i am very, very lucky to have been, to have spent my entire life surrounded by strong women. my mother, barbara o'malley, has been u.s. senator barbara mikulski's receptionist and gatekeeper for more than 30 years. how about that? [applause] wakes up every day and goes to work at the ginger age of 87. she keeps that senate office open, keeps it in line, and that

is no surprise to me, because she kept six of us in line. [laughter] she and my dad were part of that great generation, so-called greatest generation by tom brokaw but not themselves. my dad flew 33 missions over japan in a b-24 liberator, went to college only because of the g.i. bill. but my mom, or for her part, at the age of 17 in fort wayne, indiana -- [cheers and applause] in fort wayne, indiana, she and her mom double teamed my grandfather, and my mom at the age of 17 got a pilot's license and flew in the civil air patrol as an aviator. [applause] strong woman. and she raised all six of us, my two older sisters and my three little brothers and myself to believe that every generation of americans has not only a sacred

responsibility to accomplish great things, but also has an incredible opportunity because of this country of ours, this country which if we make stronger, we'll give back more to our children and to our grandchildren. and those are the lessons that my wife katie and i have done our very best to pass on to our kids. we are so proud of my -- of our daughters, kara and grace o'malley, and what they're doing already for our country and that better future that we seek. my daughter tara works at the u.n. foundation, and my daughter grace is a first grade teacher at walter p. carter elementary school in the heart of baltimore city. [applause] true story, when her dad announced for president about a hundred days ago, a lot of her colleagues were there, and she returned to her class eager to

learn kids in baltimore, and a little girl tugged her by the sleeve. she said, ms. o'malley, not so sure about this idea of your father running for president. [laughter] because, quite frankly, i kind of like barack obama. [laughter] well, a lot of us like barack obama, right? [cheers and applause] and for good reason. when our country was on the brink of being plunged into a second great depression, we elected a new leader not to make the popular decisions, but to make the right decisions, and now as a nation 67 months of positive job growth, america is moving in a better direction thanks to president obama. [applause] but the hard truth of our times is this: we elected a president, not a magician. and 30 years of bad economic

choices have left us with this hard truth we must address, and it is that 70% of us today are earning the same or less than we did 12 years ago. which means we still have work to do. one of the most important things i learned about the american dream i learned at the age of 17 or 18. i spent a lot of time working in restaurants. many of them were irish bars, quite honestly. [laughter] i should put working in quotes, because i was the guy in the band. [laughter] but i remember watching from stage all evening this gentleman, new american immigrant, his name was miguel, a man without him i wondered how that place could even function. he was the first one there opening the doors, he was humping up kegs from downstairs, pushing through crowds of people busing tables when he needed to bus tables, and at the end of the night in a quiet moment in

one of the most important lessons i've ever learned about the truth of the american dream we share, i asked him this question. i said, mr. miguel, how is it that you work so hard? and instead of telling me how, he told me why in three very powerful words. he said, "for my daughter." you see, you and i are part of a living, self-creating mystery called the united states of america. but the promise that's at the heart of that mystery is not some vague idea, some amorphous abstraction way out there someplace. far from it. it is the very real and concrete promise among us and between us that wherever you start in our country, you start where you start whatever your parents' zip code through your own hard work,

through your own love of family, through your own talent and imagination. you should be able to get ahead. now, call that an economy that works for all of us. call it the, call it the american dream. it is the actions that put into practice in every generation that included more of our people more fully in the economic, social and political life of our country. it is those actions that earned us the brand that no other nation on the planet has of being the land of opportunity. we educate our children at higher and better levels, we make strides to make equal justice under the law a reality, to insure that men and women in our country not only have equal opportunity, but get paid equally for doing equal work. [applause] so let me share some thoughts with you. i am running for president of the united states for one reason and one reason only, and that is

to rebuild the truth of that american dream that we share, and that is why in an o'malley administration closing the pay, the gender pay gap would be one of the most important goals of our federal government to restore the truth of that dream. [applause] a few weeks in iowa, a few weeks ago in iowa i laid out 15 strategic goals for rebuilding that dream. many of them have to do with getting wages to go up again rather than down. in order to determine the difference between a dream and a goal, it's a deadline. so all of these are tied by deadlines. to get there, we need clear, measurable road maps of action, and the first step must be taking pay discrimination head on. because today in america women can be paid less than men with absolutely no real penalty that any employer might face. so we must hold employers who discriminate accountable, prevent retaliation against

women who speak up and empower women to find out whether or not they are, in fact, being paid just as much as a man doing the same job next to them at work. [applause] that is why i've called for making payday that publicly available by sex, race, ethnicity. another issue, curbing pay discrimination alone is not enough. part of the reason why women are paid less than men for doing the same work is that many are forced to leave the work force in order to raise families, and they're penalized for doing so. get this, only 12% of american workers have access to paid leave. 40% can lose their jobs for taking even unpaid leave to care for a newborn child. what's more, childcare costs more today in america than public university tuition in a

majority of states. think about that one. putting quality care out of reach for many families and forcing some parents who'd like to work to actually have to stay home. if women decided to have families, they shouldn't have to choose between a career and taking care of their children. [applause] all parents, both men and women, gay or straight, should be able to take at least 12 weeks of leave with pay in order to care for newborn children or loved ones. [applause] keep scrolling. and no family, especially low or middle income parents, should have to pay more than 10% of their income on safe, affordable child care in any given year. these are the choices that actually include more people in our economy. but perhaps more pressing than either of these challenges is what we're witnessing from the

pose item of -- podia of the republican presidential candidates and what we're witnessing in this republican congress. what am i talking about? i'm talking about the way that they are kicking around women's health care and planned parenthood like it's some political football. and it has to stop. [applause] it is the all-out, ideological, fundamentalist, right-wing assault on women's health. and in statehouse after statehouse, republican idealogues are defunding planned parenthood which provides vital, life-saving health services to millions of women at all income levels every year. now every single republican candidate for president has embraced these backward, misguided and dangerous policies. think about it. if they had their way, millions of women every year who rely on planned parenthood for cancer screenings, prenatal care and contraception would be in the

dark. we cannot take our country backward and deny women basic health care services. we must stand firm in our commitment to protecting and expanding women's health care options for all. [applause] keep scrolling up. i have been proud to have been in this fight trout my years -- throughout my years of public service as governor. and prior to that as mayor. in fact, i'm the only candidate in our party with 15 years of executive experience. but as governor, i signed into law the family planning works act giving 35,000 low income women access to contraception and cancer screenings. [applause] i expanded family planning clinics into more comprehensive health centers, and i expedited medicaid eligibility for prenatal services. and because of these efforts,

because of these actions we cut maryland's infant mortality rate by 18% and drilled it down to one of the lowest levels. [applause] as president, i would stand up to the republicans who are restricting women's health, holding states accountable and providing funding so all women have access to essential reproductive health care including contraception. and i would also sport universal access to -- support universal access to comprehensive prenatal care, adopting it as a quality measure for health systems and for states. [applause] because it's about time that every woman in our nation enjoys the right to live a healthy, productive life, free from the backward thinking of some of the idealogues who have currently taken over the republican party. i am proud to have had a record of protecting women's health care. i'm also proud to run on a

record of 15 years of executive experience. action, not words. and get this, sometimes the trickle down, the high druids of trickle down economics are surprised to find that when you actually do the right thing, when you do the just thing, when you treat people with dignity and equal rights under the law, that's also good for our economy. that's what we did in maryland. we didn't just talk about creating economic opportunity for women. when i was governor, we actually put together proven solutions. because two-thirds of minimum wage workers today are women, we raised our state's minimum wage and passed the nation's first living wage. [applause] because the early childhood years are so critical for student success and such a tough balancing act for working families, we took steps to increase quality pre-k education. we put into place and passed our

own lily ledbetter act to help women protect themselves from, - from pay krill nation, and we set and met and succeeded one of the most ambitious goals in the country for women and minority-owned business procurement, and we exceeded it in a recession. and get this, as a result of all of those choices, we made maryland -- according to the center for american progress -- the best tate in the nation, the best state in the nation for women's economic opportunity and security. [applause] and today our state also has not only the highest concentration of women-owned businesses of any state in the nation, but we also have the lowest gender pay gap in the country. these things actually work. [applause] the good news about the future

we face as a people is this, look, we don't have to put on our false selfs, we don't have to turn around and invent some new formula, lt as americans, we must acknowledge that powerful american truth that our economy is not money. it is people. it is all of our people. [applause] and, therefore, just as our parents and grand parents did, we must always raise minimum wage to keep it above the poverty line and raise it to $15 an hour however we can wherever we can. [applause] and we should make it easier and not harder for men and women to join labor unions and bargain for collective and better pay! [cheers and applause] and unlike those in the other party who want to privatize or

cut social security, i say that we should expand social security and pay for it by scrapping the cap of up to 265,000. [applause] we also need to change some of the formulas in social security so that we do not penalize women who take -- come out of the work force in order to take care of parents or kids. and the other things we have to do as a nation is this, look, in every generation we found a way to face the great challenges and make them our opportunities. what am i talking about? i'm talking about climate change, the greatest business opportunity to come to the united states of america in a hundred years. and i am the first or and let us hope not the last to put forward a plan to move us to a 100% clean electric grid by 2050 and create five million jobs along the way. [applause] and if we want to get wages

going up in the right direction, yes, we must restore wage and labor policies back to the center of our economic equation. and one of those important policies is this: you want to get wages to go up rather than down or flatlining? then let's get 11 million of our neighbors out of the off-the-books shadow economy and into the full light of an american, open economy by passing comprehensive immigration reform! [cheers and applause] our race, the democratic party's race for president, has just begun. thereç are about a hundred days to go until the voters first have an opportunity to have their opinions made in the iowa caucuses. and i am excited about this contest, i'm excited about the future. i am in this to win this, and i could not be more honored than to be having this sort of conversation on our stage,

because you saw the debate the other night. and you heard a very different debate than what the other people have, didn't you? [laughter] there was no bashing of immigrants -- [applause] there was no bashing of immigrants, you didn't hear us say denigrating things about women. no, far from it. look, i know sometimes it's easy to become discouraged about our national politics, but i ask you to do as i do. speak to young americans under 30, because you will rarely find among them young people that deny that climate change is real or want to deny rights to gay couples or their children or bash immigrants. that tells me we are moving to a much more connected and generous and giving place. our opportunity in this election is to advance its arrival by another ten years, and there are a lot of people who tell me, boy, you've got a tough fight. this is an uphill fight. well, you know what? there's a lot of people who would look you in the eyes and

tell you that your fight to give your sons and daughters a better future with more opportunity rather than less is a tough fight. well, you know what? i kind of like tough fights. i've always been drawn to tough fights. perhaps it's the toughness of the fight that tells us the way the hidden god has of telling us that we're actually fighting for something worth saving. our children's future is worth saving, our country is worth saving, the american dream is worth saving, and our planet is worth saving. we are all in this together. we need each other, and we must help each other if we are going to succeed. i need your help, and i thank you so much for allowing me to be with you today. thank you very, very much. [cheers and applause] ..