>> it's great to do this with wonderful friends in iowa today. >> if you were told us one year ago that we would come and third here in iowa we would have given anything for that. >> it's good to be back in iowa. >> we don't know much about the iowa caucus. >> is this an average caucus? >> that's hard to say. this is the third one i've been to and they are all different. >> it is good to be back in iowa. >> thank you iowa for the great sendoff you are giving us. >> i want to thank the people of iowa. >> i want to thank all the people of iowa made. >> iowa is the first. >> if i lose iowa i will never speak to people again. ♪

defense secretary ash carter unveiled a series of proposals for the military that would increase parental leave, childcare and health care coverage. secretary carter told a pentagon news conference that he will double the length of fully paid maternity leave for female servicemembers and work with congress to boost time off for maternity leave and adoptions but you can see all of this press conference at c-span.org. here is part of it. >> the first initiative i will outline today provides a more competitive standard for maternity and paternity across our joint force. today i am setting 12 weeks of fully paid maternity leave as the standard across the joint force doubling the benefit from six weeks when i entered office.

this put put dod in the top tier of institutions nationwide and will have significant influence on decision-making for military family members. certainly offering a more generous standard for maternity leave is imperative for tracking and retaining talent. we see the same phenomenon year after year women leave the military at the highest ranks. additionally medical data indicates offering 12 weeks of maternity leave is imperative to military mothers themselves. they show the medical data shows spending more time with advanced and recovering from their pregnancies as a medical matter very valuable stem -- valuable to mothers facilitating bonding and more. private sector date also strongly suggests that direct benefit on retention and employees who have access to and

make use of her until leave perform better when they return to work. they stay with their organizations longer and are able to make greater contributions. i reviewed studies, surveys and inputs from across the service and evidence and perspectives are all parties concerned with this issue in particular the views of our joint chiefs of staff. i've taken time to consider the diverse views and different data points on this important subject. i concluded that 12 weeks of maternity leave across all -- establishes the right balance between offering a highly competitive leave policy while also maintaining the readiness of our total force. and i don't take likely that 12 weeks of maternity leave representative downshift from the navy last summer. but i believe we will be at the forefront in terms of competition especially as part

of the comprehensive basket of family benefits we are providing across the joint force. and i should just note for navy mothers that are currently pregnant we will ensure that they can take those 18 weeks of leave. we also realize that they're raising a family or caring for an infant this is not just a mother's responsibility. which is why this year we will seek authority to increase paid paternity leave for new fathers from 10 to 14 days which they can use in addition to annual leave. for those who want to become dads or are about to i want them to know this leap is available to them and i want them to make full use of it. the second and next, to build the force of the future improvements to quality of life for military families must extend beyond the first critical months of parenthood. with investments where may with investments ware in childcare we

will provide the men and women of our military greater flexibility to meet the demands of "modern family" life. many within our force are to benefit from some of the highest quality childcare available. d.o.t. subsidizes the cost of childcare childcare to ensure its affordable across the force no matter what your rank. it's one of the many areas where the military already stands apart. but today nearly half of all military families have to rely on additional childcare provider to meet their needs in part because the hours we provide don't match their demanding schedule. in some respects our childcare options today reflect the needs of the different era of a time when for vast majority of military families only one parent worked outside the home. that is a problem we need to address and as we looked at this issue over the past nine months

we saw a link between dissatisfaction with childcare and difficulties with retention. whether for single parents or families where both parents work outside the home or for every mother father and her military childcare hour should be as responsive as possible toward demands. based on feedback from surveys and pilot programs and in the interest of responding to the typical work hours at our installations to increased childcare access to 14 hours a day across the force. by providing or choose what childcare they can rely on from before readily two after tacitly provide one more reason for them to stay on board. we showed them it's important to family and serving her country are by no means incompatible goals. third, we can also make relatively inexpensive

improvements so that her work places are more accommodating to women when they returned from maternity leave with a focus on making it easier for them to continue if they choose. to make the transition in maternity leave and return to work for mothers smoother and to comply with standards applying to ever run station outside the military i am requiring a mothers room be made available at every facility with more than 50 women which means the establishment of some 3600 rooms across the country. this is an issue by the way that my friend sheryl sandberg first -- and i'm pleased to see we will make sure we provide better options and choices for mothers across the force. fourth, we can also be more creative about making reasonable accommodations for members of our force who face difficult family geographic situations

while at the same time here as elsewhere preserving our forces effectiveness. data and surveys show that allowing family members to trade the ability to remain a station of choice in exchange for additional active-duty service obligations as one approach that could increase retention while preserving readiness. only in extreme circumstances are such arrangements currently made. for a family who has a son or daughter who seeks treatment in a particular hospital or who suffers from a particular disability be -- specialized high-quality care can make a world of difference. the families want to remain in one place longer to allow a son or daughter to finish high school in one place. or perhaps to be close to grandparents or their families. these are all important.

when the needs of the force permit a servicemember to stay at their current location we will empower commanders to make reasonable accommodations in exchange for additional service obligation. finally as a profession of arms we ask our men and women to make them comparable sacrifices. we ask them potentially to place themselves at risk of sacrificing their ability to have children when they return home. it's clear that the benefits we offer our troops can better account for this. we can help our men and women preserve their ability to start a family even if they suffer certain combat injuries. that is why we will cover the cost of freezing or eggs through pilot pro-cram for active-duty servicemembers the benefit that will help provide men or women especially those deployed in combat with greater peace of mind.

this investment will provide greater flexibility for troops to want to start a family but find it difficult because where they find themselves in their careers. particularly for women who are midgrade officers and enlisted personnel this benefit will demonstrate that we understand the demands upon them and want to help them balance commitments to force and commitments to family. we want to retain them in our military. we are also committed to continuing to look at how we can provide advanced reproductive technologies like idf to a wider population. today we provide reduce cost treatment has six locations across the country and will study how to broaden this coverage in the future. by providing this additional peace of mind for our young servicemembers believe provider force greater confidence about their future while providing one more tool to make the military a more family-friendly employer

and employee that honors the desire for men and women to commit themselves completely to their careers were to serve courageously in combat while preserving their ability to have children in the future. tonight we have main engine starts four, three, two, one and liftoff. liftoff of the 25th day shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower.

>> today is a day of mourning. nancy and i are -- the tragedy of the shuttle challenge. we share this pain with her country. this is truly a national loss.

>> in order to find adjusting about the theater is you look at records of what the presidents have watched over the years and their taser are basically eclectic and they reflect the tastes of presence and they reflect the times in which they lived. one movie, there is one movie that really resonated with more persons than any other and guess what that one movie might be? ..

[inaudible] [inaudible] >> good afternoon. let me start by saying, after last night been in talking to people after the town hall

meeting i just want to emphasize how resilient the people of flint are. they are proud, they love their community and their families. they just need our help. we all know that this was, literally a man-made crisis. it is as much as a catastrophe as any other kind of crisis, and very personal when in fact you are trying to get drinking water or cook, or bathed bathe in the water looks like that. the problem is, and many places it still looks like that. it has been months and months. yesterday, folks could not shower, last night some of said you cannot shower and bottled water, and that is true. you cannot create a healthy environment for your children to bathe. people in flint need the dignity and respect