not stop at the media from character cheering trump. we would be pushing very hard to open up those markets and stand up for the american farmer and see that we recaptured those of foreign markets. i think we can do that. >> to come in and tell our farmers not to grow soybeans. that's the kind of farm policy you would get. no agency had particular on trade. 's with the recent release

with some 2500 daily briefs. historians discuss the changes that they have made to the daily brief. >> created by america's cable television companies. the atlanta mayor talked about it. he is right by the former atlanta mayor. he has the foundation that promotes education and human rights internationally.

welcome back. i am the deputy for consumer policy. it is a pleasure to introduce. to be moderated by our boss. and a board member. we are also also joined by the mayor.

as well as the prior members for the capabilities. so please join me in welcoming the dems to the stage. [applause]. i want to take it. the real personal question is the interaction between regular people's let me start with you can. let me ask you to talk about the role of financial services.

we want to say thank you. and as we have learned about this. it was needed to address of the people in that time. and a way to actually realize some kind of economic prosperity. and especially minority banks. it's with the macroeconomic change that has occurred for the broader part of our population. that was vivid in my opinion. and the treasury department response providing capital.

because of blanks --dash make they are left with the charter. so in my perspective having spent more than 20 years mda i liken them to the navy seal. dad was a navy guy so i am partial to them. they are the specialized forces that need to be dispatched in order to actually deal with the disparity that we discussed between mainstream america and the minority population. so they have served a roll of providing safekeeping of resources and we get the joy

of financing dreams. to create job creation. all the way through the end where there are partners. >> that as a mayor. ..

we have a number of lessons to make sure people have an opportunity to be part of the economic mainstream and we have the ability to quickly have what we see programs or initiatives in other cities, other states that are relevant for our cities. for example, we are partners with operation hope, within the police department to center police officers to the financial buttressing initiatives because a number of members of our police department were experiencing economic stress. now they're going to be

partnering and going through a program that's going to make them more financially resilient and it will also make them better because of the stress that comes from financial mismanagement and you have two dozen police officers that are policing your city. to the extent we can improve their lives, make them more financially sound is solomon and they're probably going to be a better off assuming they are out there on the street as they try to make sure the city remains affordable, which also creates stress, intention and leverage programs featured on the front page of "the new york times" on september 12 as 1 of the most transformational projects in america and the world. $480 million there has flemish $3.2 billion in private capital.

the part of the 40,000 baht line, more than 5600 of them will be affordable and that's going to be of course financed in partnership with many of our local banks. and so, what we're working really hard on in the city of atlanta is to make sure we don't lose the equity argument and that you work with banks as we recover from the great recession. we have created an official visit chief equity officer. he needs someone in the room now who's arguing for the person that many of us who are very goodhearted don't stop to think about. so when i'm expanding november, the busiest expansion of $2.6 billion expansion, because

we had a chief equity officer to challenge us, 94% of people in atlanta will be touched by the upcoming referendum on infrastructure. if we have someone at dictating for people who traditionally don't have an advocate in the room even when their goodhearted come that there needs to be somebody in the room the size of finance and what about those folks over there. finally, i would just say it's very important that we understand that there's a different level of experience with the financial institution and really enjoy the process of educating folks who may not be as comfortable with investments.

that is why i was so thrilled about the treasury department leadership in my ira, which is a program that ended at a very simple method for anybody has the opportunity to start an ira that's affordable. when we lost that initiative and secretary lou came to atlanta, i was thrilled to know because it is another matter that americans use to create a more equitable city, which is going to be the big debate in america over the next 10 years. the people are moving from the suburbs into cities at a level that is unprecedented certainly in the last 40 years and we are going to have to have a big national conversation about how to pull that off in terms of

making sure the folks already in the city stay in the city and both of the people who have decided to make a city home. i think atlantic can be a national model because an inclusion in equity is a part of our dna primarily because of leaders like dr. martin luther king and andrew young and other civic and business leaders. so i think it is so straight game -- >> so i think it is so striking that in prosperity and financial inclusion we've talked about comfort and stress. i want to turn to you to talk about the two sides of the coin. i think it is so notable how many of our financial decisions are driven by stress and how much we see when we talk to low

income americans across the country that their decision not to use the banking product is striven in large part by lack of comfort. so john, you spent an enormous amount of time thinking about how financial stress operates in communities and individuals in finding ways to build bridges between that place of financial stress and financial discomfort with the formal economic system and build a bridge into banks, credit unions, talk about the levels of stress and comfort and how they operate and what we can do to bring more people in. >> i will. first and foremost, i must say that for the record, treasury is amazing. you don't often hear that.

i hugged she appeared in the hug secretary lew. but let me just say that we are sitting in a moment in history right now. but history when you're sitting in it is another day. dr. king went to the grocery store. he went to his kids baseball games. in less than all matching and fancy speeches. but in hindsight we look back at that and go, thanks for putting your foot in the cap, thanks for putting your shoulder against the wheel. when you left ambassador you left ambassador young carney said your last name sounds familiar. because your grandfather stood next to dr. king marching in the southern town spirit no wonder he's a public servant.

the mayor has a history of public service, goes deep in his families owns. and i guess you have a history of public service goes deep in your bones. secretary lou is the most progressive secretary of the treasury, putting the lock male on the back of a 5-dollar bill, a black woman on the front of a $20 bill good read made for the treasury annex building and that was just extraordinary that he did that and forever more, that will be our history. you stop and think of me got to say thank you to people for doing the right thing because they didn't have to do it. can we just say thank you. [applause]

richard cordray, you're all heroes and the risk of the policy office. we have one of the most progressive mayors i think in the country, most effective mayors in the country. this is all the same conversation, goes back to your point of the civil rights movement was not about a black man sitting next to a black man at a lunch counter. this is not about financial literacy per se. this is about respect and dignity. we just happen to live in an economic age. while all of our politics are the same, but folks have pneumonia because 250 years of slavery, 100 years of jim crow, it is not unfair to suggest african-americans might be clinically undiagnosed depressed. if that's the case and that

self-esteem is critical to success, then without self-esteem you don't have hope and without hope you don't see opportunity. the fact that you are poor and have had to do with money. you've got to reach these people because these people are brilliant. but they don't know they're brilliant. to quote andrew young, to live in a system of free enterprise must be the definition of slavery. so we've got some work to do and that work is not just left brained analytical work and that is why i commend you for this foreign exasperation to work that reintroduces people back to their human potential because it becomes economic energy. there's steve jobs invited city.

we just have to find them. and that's not going to happen without an economic banking system that could meet them halfway. when i discovered history, thank you jimmy roberts for putting me in the right direction that has changed. all of my work and all of nature names clicked and i finally figured out that poverty amongst people of all races made sense. whether you're economically depressed right now and there's more poor white by the way we're black and brown urban, you're feeling the same stress. what we think is races not.

underneath classes poverty. if everyone was doing well economically, we wouldn't have these problems in the united states. everybody would get along just fine. the so-called problems are green. it's economic. encoding and resetting the economy of the economy of the small-town safety years ago, real small towns, we let them drift and now they are upset. they're the reason to be upset. black and brown people have the same issues. but the mayor has done is take the emotion out of it. i'm going to actually solve the emotional issue. but have to take the emotion out of the issue to solve it. this is an emotional issue. an issue dignity, fairplay. but if you can emotional, i

guarantee you will lose. you can't react. you've got to respond. the mayor who i am sure wants to curse every other day because somebody is saying it is smooth and balanced and reasonable and mrs. to everybody like dr. king did. the president does the same thing. they are able to find this common ground despite the eighth largest economy in the country the city of atlanta. the number one place for black businesses still right. we have problems and challenges, yes. but we are not avoiding them. not sweeping them under the carpet. we are addressing them. i think that we've gotten to respond i'm not react to the inequality come in to the unfairness, to the imbalance in

the woods got to do something about that that addresses the emotion, that addresses the equality, because people legitimate place to stand. what i've done is take done is taken every side of the issue is that these communities, whether white, rural or credit score neighborhood. every place where we have problems and nothing is going to change your life more than your credit score 120 points. i just figured out of any race. we get the credit score up and finish what lincoln did. i guess will come back to this later. they're sort of alluded to it. takes the inequality and takes the emotional sense of unfairness, turns it on its side and makes it something that you

can build your self-esteem and wellness because when your credit score goes to, your self-esteem is going to come a sense of well-being, choices, and now you don't want to be a renter. you want to be a homeowner. now you're going to create a job. we start getting the memo and that is what happened. we didn't get the memo on money and free enterprise. we just didn't get the memo and when you give a whole generation -- 100 million people in memo, economic gdp goes right through the roof. so in a strange way, the pain in the sacrifice and the injustice, the storm that gives the

opportunity. >> you refer a lot to the power of symbol, to understand the economic mechanism and connect them to symbols that allow people to connect them to a system of finance and opportunity. and your business, when you were giving out mortgage loans for financing small businesses and now today when you are at dean as an investor and minority institutions, how do you connect those individual stories to the powerful symbol of a bank whose ceo is an african-american woman with a goal that the column that fits on the bank building that tells people about their community.

how do you connect the route economics of a job, small business, how it is going to make money at the symbol on the story goes that a person's own empowerment or the role that an institution that minority owned banks place in the community. >> well, we are able when i became the ceo of mechanics and farmers and turned 100 years old, we have customers that had been in place for generations and that is just not mechanics and farmers. many of our banks have been around for decades, so the work is not new. george mitchell is in the audience. he is third-generation ceo. so when you are able to show people, showed that men and women whose lives have been able to train foreign. there's nothing more powerful. often times when they go to out

of process, i say we can look at these numbers, but they don't really tell the story. the faces of the young savings, students, kids who have gone into the bank and you see them smiling and now when they are sleeping, their understanding compound interest. they are making money while they're asleep. you are both just share the stories of bad and allow them to become excited about money and transforming their lives as they grow out. many of our customers have been with us a long time. that's where where the fun is so powerful and so exciting for a bank. >> county across that story? if you talk to operation hope they want an operation and they come and sit with of your bankers and turns out maybe the business plan doesn't make sense

yet, doesn't pencil out that he might say along officer. have you help them make that transition from a person who has an idea and a dream idea and a dream to a person who's actually ready to start a business. what is the role of the banker and how does that process work? >> i'm so glad you asked that when i said navy seal, i really believe we do this specialize, customized work every day. it is actually sitting around with the individual and once they develop their plan, rolling up your sleeve, and being able to take the time to sit with bad, work through cash flow projections, help them secure an account by providing them with resources, referring them to score.

pulling together the things that are practical to allow the agency. and again, why are banks are so important is because we are entrepreneurial and off. we know what it like to actually grow our businesses. so we have a unique understanding of that individual sitting across from us. there is a role in the country for all institutions and sciences. but ours is very specialized and very unique and very necessary. when you are very large, scale is critical. the routine is how you can make money and effort to banks a long time. so it is sitting down with the individual and green willing to stay at night. many of our customers come in. we have been balance their check books, how to write their first checks. we do whatever is necessary to help them become engaged and

involved in successful in the financial banking system. >> one of the things that is interesting to us across the country and especially when we talk about financial empowerment is the role of partnership especially between cities and financial institutions. both an individualized and by general. how do you think about managing and developing your set of partnerships, whether it's in direct service with financial institutions and what is the kind of power you been able to drive in that relationship. >> i think the world has great banks. i can't even remember where i was finding, that just the other day, the 625th anniversary in

atlanta with bill rogers and centuries. when i was growing up it used to be mergers. the bottom line is the city of atlanta is unique because it has great banking institutions. we have now part of bank of america and really because of the mistake the georgia legislature made, the city of charlotte got in the banking industry would end up being fine anyway. but our legislature didn't change the laws fast enough when charlotte was changing there is to be marbury and friendly. that said, and it ran i had a

group of atlanta progress which are the 25 largest ceos that i meet with on a quarterly basis, which includes our leading banks. so it helps us create the direction of the city and also allows you to make a request and have a terrific relationship. increasingly, businesses understand that with health and prosperity comes a social demand. it doesn't have to be hostile or overly aggressive, but you do have to ask because leaders of banking institutions are frequently preoccupied with running their business. what i have found is i have initiative in atlanta where we pay for the college tuition of kids they graduate from high school. so i've got to raise a pretty significant amount of money to

do that. it's not a very comfortable: i pick up the phone to call the people. so the bottom line is i think great cities have great inking relationships. you need to keep the lines of communication so pin and you do need to make a demand around equity. i find that as long as you relationship, you don't ever really know when you're going to need to have a mutually beneficial relationship. you have to get the weeds out and that is how i look at our relationship in the city of atlanta and why we built an economy and a town that now has a gdp in excess of 305 billion the atlanta metro and their gdp is larger than 30 states.

so if you love for the city of atlanta, from the time the ambassador was mayor, it's definitely one of the most significant economic stories from the life of america and i think it really does follow a friedman bank model that actually got done and it would have been without the political relationship and the business relationships working hand-in-hand and it would've been impossible without strong banking systems. finally, i want to say this. if the leaders major american cities need to be far more conscious of our role of making sure that america has greater achieving people and that is something more and more sophisticated are thinking about. if you believe in america's unique role in the world, you

need to have cities that are well-run and rolling. and so, in order to meet all of these obligations, gdp is around 21, 22, 23% give or take. the question is how fast the population is going to maintain that and to the extent that we need our obligations around the world, it's going to be because we have help the cities. 75% of our matcher of 75% of our gdp growth. i i think all of it is increasingly going to fall on their cities. if we don't continue to focus on this equity issue like a laser, we'll continue to see incidents like we are watching right now in charlotte. and that they tell you, when we have these moments of controversy, you had better be in a city that can calmly explained what you did on

housing and transportation and the police cars population, what you did on officer involved shooting, what he did on a number of incidents to police sources had with officers. one of the best course i heard recently talking to a banker of pete rose. i actually talked to secretary lu about it. would it help to get to 3.5, four. he told me, he said the possibility to talk about gdp growth in the different between 2%, 3%. people frequently say it's just one point and he put his hand on my shoulder. he says that to 50%. [laughter] this is good stuff.

and it really does make 2% to 4%. it's 100% growth of america's gdp. that was as well put aside heard by a need to do a good job in the city of atlanta. the mayor to focus why you're not doing people a favor to get these issues of equity riot. and so as a result, last year the city of atlanta at 2.2 billion in new construction permit and the activity in the history of the city of atlanta. including the previous gold standard. >> i think the concept of how

many different touch points, you went through a number of ways as a mayor do need to be representing to your citizen that you thought ahead. and an individual's personal life, you can think about how many different touch points there are with the the financial system. john, i know in your work, operation hope, you're constantly thinking about those touch point to entrepreneurship concepts to walk into a bank branch and even if the bank is not ready to serve or to give alone and be able to refer to a hope inside. how do you think about constructing an ecosystem where there are not positive touch points that if someone tried to construct their financial lives, they have positives outcomes.

we know that it's not that there's just one moment if i learned about compound interest in the fifth grade, after that i'm fine. that's not how anybody likes works. constant exposure, constant guiding people back into the right place. how do you think about constructing these touch points in making sure they are all pushing individuals in a positive direction and giving them positive feedback so they can transform their lives. >> i think that if you want to put a kid asleep, give them a financial literacy course. i'm going to remember that for my 2-year-old. if you have a traditional left brained analytical, you know, 401(k) program, it will put a kid to sleep.

you know, it would put anyone to sleep. it's really not even a more complex than that. i think it gave every kid a job out of high school, but dropped for a good go away. the job we've been thinking in some ways some of the stuff and people who meanwhile say they are not successful. you are not speaking too bad in a way and a language in which they can actually hear you. harvard where he taught me something before you get into this work of mind, talk about, list without being defensive and always be an adversary with dignity because if you don't don't make you miserable. when we do at the issue, north carolina, whatever, the minute you start getting the blame,

you're done. but you've got to respond. he responds by reacting to the knockout. it means you've got to think about these things and then you kind of put passion into jamaica relatable. it takes 20 years of change. and the last 20 years we have made dom. with dynamic smart again. the way we've done that in our model is to invent education aspiration opportunities into something that is viewed as really out of touch bush is the banking system. the banking system has become a moral column. banking has become once again a moral calling. because you cannot have gdp without an ethical banking system. now connect to the net to where we are today to me is hope

inside. so because banks traditionally discriminated years ago, the fcc is in the room and the ceo of suntrust this year and i know this ceo is watching. they won't say this, but i must by law statute and for good reason, they almost have to say no to somebody they think is a night person. if you get a credit score with 500 or 550, undertaker application they know they can't approve you that they can't tell you. so they go with the entire process and then they give you a no. now the person is upset. i knew this is a waste of my time. what we've done enough this and when you think about on the

right. you're going to suntrust and for example you see operation on the. except an application. it's not going to get it decline. $140,000 mortgage was a number and the example appeared she gets declined. she comes to us. we do it if they can do which is tell washington's declined, but the report with her permission. that must be an error. you actually do have a right. if you dispute that and the credit bureaus, three of them can confirm within 30 days, the body must remove it. nobody knows that. we do at the baker can do. we dispute it with them. she comes back in 35 days. her self-esteem is up.

i got 40-point great hair. so now you go. what else can we do? that was the charge -- that was my phone bill is a thousand dollars. that was 10 years ago. the sbc communications and tax mail brought by at&t. it's a $1000 face value. we call it what you want for the debt? we want $100. okay, how about $200. now, we asked for $100. the client sitting right here is with me. okay forgive and $200? sure. why would you give were asking for. if i give $200 at launch or direct phone number, e-mail address and i want you to write

a letter saying that this is clear and satisfied and when they showed this report in two months ago so often does, you've got to let me call you back in you're going to remove it again. he says steele. we got an 80% discount. he got a 200% profit investment. everybody wins. remove the credit score 80 points in three months. the confidence of belief in herself the banking system. she disapproved to become a homeowner and tennessee. a stakeholder. and she feels better about our children? i think so. if she has my dignity? i think so. we're going to do that and scale.

i think 1000 locations is enough to create a starbucks experience for most communities. we are going to be in the financial inclusion. that was funny. you guys are too serious. wherever you are, and atlanta in my home city i want us to become the best in the country. wherever you are, this guy cop the largest asian bank in the country. we want to go where people are struggling with financial stress by getting the bank out of the business which creates gdp, small-business owners and all the lights go on and basically within driving distance of every working-class family and make it common sense. a concierge for your life because right now i don't need a private bank.

we are fine. we do it ourselves. i do everything. the private banker today is a single mother with two kids and a job. somebody who's working for us for the middle class. they made a private banker because they don't under this system. the husband and wife are arguing, which gave the kid is now dealing with that stress and that permeates every part of our life. so i really think this is a tipping point and a rippling point that the consumer protection which cordray is doing so well where they can take them and turn them into gdp. we're going to america all over again. >> john, you talked about people

and best in another people. talk to me about your current project we are really trying to turn equity investment into the kinds of empowerment charters talking about. >> one of the international bankers association was he did was conduct a survey of armand yours. will it bad the greatest challenges and what are the greatest need for minority institutions and they can be strengthened as mentioned. a number and got the focus of my current process is to do all that we can to provide resources to strengthen so it can continue to do the work and continue to partner by operation hope that

has been mentioned. in my case. so that is really what we're focused on because we now if we are able to string and from the bottom and straight in america and must all of us up, we can do a better job as a country. there is a study in 24 teen and it clearly showed that impact insignificant social role that mbi provides in the country in terms of financing and providing home mortgages in terms of locating their branches and i love my minority. so we know that if we are able to string and can provide the sector with the resources it needs for technology to be able to engage and a powerful way with the lendale is, to be able to strengthen and broaden its

product offerings, that is so much easier if we talk about all the benefits that the entire country will ask. by all of us becoming more prosperous. >> mayor reid, how do you think about this concept of investment? do you think about the budget atlanta has been the priority you have, how do you strategize on the investments in your people and where you are really putting the mass of your efforts? >> which try to perform along the lines of excellence. i mean, what we are doing right now is trying to make sure that we have the strength to execute while knowing that the city is one of the biggest force multipliers for the economy. so what you want in a city is a

fair referee and someone that runs a city so that a city says it should do well. so it's a really exciting time where you have about 9000 employees, 8000 employees on any given day. what you are having a solid the amazing employees have done the good and noble work of public servants for years, but you have a new generation of individuals who are interested in publix or this and who may have had a wonderful private sector career, but because they actually wanted to spend time in public service doing transformational work, folks like you are actually joining government. and so what i'm trying to do is really not that so that there is not a clash and culture that is causing the city to perform at a

higher rate because more people are moving into cities that are more informed and demanding. so how do you pull that off without making sure that the people who were there in public empire column on don't get thrown out by the consultant culture that says you have 400 people cutting the grass. you can cut the grass with 150 people. well, those 250 people put kids through college and abandoned the city 20 years and helped elect mayors. this is not easy. and so, at the same time, the city at that level and how to raise property taxes. in seven years as mayor have it raised water rates. that matters because in the city of atlanta rates for the second,

third highest in your house and the water bill used to be 10, 20, $30 an hour. running the government world has to do all these things that create a more robust economy and help your life. we are in the city of atlanta net 32,034,000 jobs. now when you hear job announcements create 850 employees. ge digital comes in at 250. kaiser permanente coming in at 500. whirlpool coming in at 1200. in the heart of the city tracking for folks like you like never before. how do i make sure that doesn't push somebody's memo. that's the job of being a mayor

today. finally, i would say this. we really have to be more diligent about focusing on transition economics. so this guy to focus on making sure that we have the ability to train people for multiple jobs in the life of the city because now atlanta is going to have five, six, seven jobs. what i'm going to do is remove the fear from that so that you are excited about multiple job changes as opposed to fear about multiple job changes. so that is what i think the job of mayor is so terrific because on any given day, you're sitting in an office working on six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 1112 just like this. >> would make key up john.

getting a glass of water at a fire hydrant. i do wonders in. with the mayor said i want to walk away. excuse there for the next round of questions. he mentioned basically -- i want to give a speech. in europe, the poor people are in the suburbs. in inner-city and the u.k. -- [inaudible] only in america because people feel uncomfortable about being around certain people today leave real estate to go two hours away from the center of the city to live. that is all changed.

my prediction. within 10 years time, and you heard it here. within 10 years time, america's inner cities will all be what you might call reclaimed because people are tired of driving two hours to get home, citing traffic. they are tired of it. they are finally realizing upper new york. we did at the back community. upper manhattan, lower manhattan from essential part, parliament. that is all changing. you can give away a tear down in harlem 15 years ago. a million plus per brownstone. so if you're going to be in the inner-city by that shaq, that is

your trust fund. whether you stay there or whether you sell it for profit, it's coming back. don't get mad. live well by the shaq, but a home depot with your boys. come back, we have it, rent it. >> the message i had is so funny that going viral, every time we have i just hope people don't move. if somebody comes knocking on your door, at least get a tough negotiating fan. and of all the messages they've been giving out, don't move. i hear from business people, saying we just did an

announcement or they are putting up 400 million in taxpayer money. god loves them. we are now coming in with $350 million development with five of the most challenged neighborhoods in the city of it may not. pittsburgh, summerhill, georgia state university right in the banal of those young people are looking in their college campus. simple messages were. every time we have one of his representatives, unless somebody comes up to your house for $10,000. it's amazing as they move throughout the city and i had a grandmother in the public just come up and say thank you. she called the lawyer in the family because of what i said. she had a nephew or someone in her family. someone came to knocked on her

door and because she heard me say if somebody knocks on your door, don't move because i just put a $1.5 billion football stadium two blocks from your house. and so, some of these simple things. >> let's say this. don't think this is race, folks. when matches have been, don't say that's racism. that's economics. that's capitalism. that's not black. that's no way. that's green. go get your piece of the type you'd stop getting angry and get even. >> that's for the entire family. i want to thank you all so much. i want to thank everyone for being here. we've got one more speaker before we close. thank you so much.

[inaudible conversations] >> so you heard it. don't move. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> is a real pleasure and honor to introduce ambassador andrew young. many of you know this already, but it is such a distinguished career. it is worth calling out all the many things ambassador young has done. he's dedicated his life to serving communities around the world. as pastor, congressman, united states ambassador to united nations and that's another mayor that cannot come in the 55th mayor of atlanta. the executive director of the southern christian leadership conference, he was instrumental in the civil rights movement, and putting the passage of the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965. his lifetime, lifetime of service at all levels of government has earned him a list of truly astonishing

recognitions. he served for presidents jimmy carter and bill clinton on a wide range of critical issues from international peacebuilding a national security to civil rights and community development. ambassador young's inspired work has earned him the highest civilian recognitions and honors in two countries. france's legion of honor in the united states presidential medal of freedom. he continues his work today as chairman of the andrew young foundation and a support member of the king center for non-violence social change and the united nations foundation. we are humbled to have you here today with us, ambassador young, honoring friedmans bank in continuing the advancement of access and opportunity for families and communities across the country specifically families and communities of color.

please join me in welcoming ambassador young. [applause] >> thank you very much. i'm really very proud of all i've seen and heard. i don't do realize that we've might just be waiting out the agenda for the next decade. that is what i want to try to do. i want to try to remind us that what the friedmans bank was all about was the friendship between frederick douglass and abraham lincoln. for them, the war was all about slavery. we need to remember that slavery was valued at $1 billion that

the time of the civil war. the next greatest asset of this nation with the railroads which were evaluated at two-point x billion dollars. so if you forget about race, if you forget about slavery and that is hard to do, though by john -- but the panel has done, they have talked about the same thing that they are talking about on television. but nobody mentioned race. they've been talking about it in quantitative economic terms. what i thank john for doing this quantitative poverty. martin luther king started out to redeem the soul of america from the triple evils of race, war and poverty.

i think we did a great job with race and i think with jimmy carter that was four years for nobody got killed and nobody in america killed anybody. if you want to read a new book about that, we jimmy carter in africa. race and the cold war. it was an accidental. he knew what he intended to do and what he was trying to do. he strained to make the world make sense without war. that is a direct descendent of martin luther king. he received the honorary degree in 1976. i don't think without that he would have been the president. and he got up and he said i intend to be the first man to be president, but i assure you it won't be the last. that one had a network of the historically black colleges all across the country and is africa

policy because he's the only one who would pay one man, one vote. one person, one vote. the thing we didn't do and when martin tried to do it, he got shot. that was poverty. race, war and poverty. the untouched thing that we have done, tried to do all the way back since the civil war was to deal with poverty. the failure of the friedmans bank probably was more damaging to the slavery population than would have been 10 more years of slavery. ..

and so when we think about it, not about race, but economical economically, we can deal with less emotion. and i think that's what brings us back, the freedman's bank concept, reminds us of the economics that were intended by frederick douglass and abraham lincoln. that might have succeeded if you

not been killed. now, forgive me but i believe we can of got that message in atlanta, and it wasn't just like folk that got it. hartsfield kind of, i don't know where he got it from but he built, bought an old horse barn to make it airport for $90,000. he got a cropduster airline from louisiana to agree to move there. for a dollar figure for 50 years. anti-put up red lights on peachtree and they vote him out of office. a cropduster airline was delta. and mr. woodruff at coca-cola and mayor hartsfield realized,

let's face it, there are not enough progressive white people in this town to move it forward as fast as we need to go. and so they went to atlanta university, and they met dr. mays and then it w.e.b. dubois who is still hanging around their, and frederick clemens and vivian henderson was an economist. they put together a coalition of some of the most effective and efficient and aggressive businesses because coca-cola's success was that they decided they were going to be able to serve every troop anywhere in the world coca-cola, i mean,

that was patriotic but it was a damn good business decision. so coca-cola as a worldwide company, and mayor hartsfield, teaming up with atlanta university and the brainpower that was there, and all of these guys were probably the first black ph.d's from anywhere. and yet they were ph.d's of a benjamin mays, benjamin mays was a sharecropper. and benjamin mays picked cotton until he was 14. and he didn't get the university of chicago until later. but he always sent martin. he said martin luther king. he sent maynard jackson to work in the fields in the summertime, picking tobacco under a shade tree, three feet tall in 90-degree heat.

because he understood that if you were going to leave working people, you have to understand work. so you probably one of the most exceptional groups of people, black or white, coming together, dealing with the problems that we got nothing here. we got no water, no leaks. atlantic at nothing but stone mountain. what are we going to do to become a major city? the airport became the key. it's now, thanks to kasim and maynard jackson and others, kasim just signed $6.5 billion deal with delta for the g. concourse. we had 101 million people come through there this year, but now that they've got these three big

story planes, we've got to build a new concourse. a-b-c-d dfg, and a seventh runway. and that had cost the city manager i can get the name, i've been trying to find a because i don't know how it happened. a young fella by the name of bill hayden. at the time he was the first boston and it was maynard jackson's friend. and all i know is that they did something that enabled maynard to go to wall street and signed his name and come back with $540 million to start the airport. when i got to be mayor, they told me you need to go to wall street. i said what for? you've got to build a third

runway. and 50 concourse. well, the experts said we don't need that. that's what my vision of an international concourse was. so they paid somebody to tell us we could not afford it and did not need it. but i can go to wall street and sign my name, and they came back with $300 million. and ideal -- i still don't understand why. that's why i've been trying to get in touch with bill hayden. [laughter] what the hell did you do to facilitate approximately $25 billion of access to capital to the city of atlanta that is not cost the taxpayer 1 cent? and whatever he did, i don't know why st. louis didn't do it. i don't know why boston didn't do it. i don't know why. they been struggling with laguardia since, 1957 when i

worked there. and still is bad. i'm saying that something happened in atlanta very special about this, and i think it has to do with public-private partnerships. that involve the community, business and government. usually it's a business and the newspapers, and government comes in afterwards. because everything i try to do as a mayor, city council voted it down. and helicopter business community, citizens and the newspapers behind. now, i'm saying that that has worked for us. is the atlanta was less than 1 billion people when i became mayor in 1982.

my wife was saying that she passed -- where they keep the site of the population. now it's 6.9 milligan. during that same time, st. louis has gone down, detroit has gone down. no city going like that. and it's growing because we figured out how to make capitalism work, and to the free enterprise and fair enterprise. and that was before us. i had to give mayor hartsfield and mayor ivan allen credit for bringing the community together and taking a poverty program money and organizing poor people block by block. because we couldn't have gotten the mass? >> caller: referendum through without that. i mean, the head of the woodrow

foundation which is the big money man in atlanta, they give a full way that's an custom coca-cola money. but they had martin luther king, sr. and calvin craig of the ku klux klan and run know it all on the executive committee organizing blacks and whites block by block. as a result of that the next jewish mayor was confronted by poor people saying, 1 cent sales tax is unfair to the poor. and so he agreed to lower the bus fare from 55 cents to 15 cents or 10 years, just to be fair for poor people. mayor, a ceo who happened to be a lebanese bartender said wait a

minute, these white folks are just going to build, they want to build the mass transit system to get into the airport and they will never go east, west once they get the north-south line. so we decided to build the east-west line first. but with all of that negotiation, all of that compromise, with all that racing together an organization, we still just one by 400 votes. but that was the key to it. i was in congress at that time, and so in the 75 mass transit act, i was being passed. i got a call during the session while the bill was on the floor. and a young architect said can you slip in one line and image into that? i said, it's too late now, really. he said, would you try? i said what do you want to say?

that this authorizes communities to create public-private development authorities within a half-mile radius of each mass transit station. well, they could think about the congress when i was there was a was a good old boy system, and it just happened that the good old boy who was putting that bill through was from louisiana and he knew i was from louisiana, and we used to meet and tell jokes together in the back, something, wherever they sell hot dogs back behind the congress. but we didn't agree on anything, but we were friends. so when they had a vote i said, excuse me, mr. chairman your do you think you can still get this in the duplex he said let me see.

one line, okay, go ahead. when the session opened he said, have an imminent here that says so-and-so, all in favor? bang, amendment approved. that commitment that gave us the right to organize, to create a public-private development corporation was what allowed us to get the art station and the ibm building in the woodruff arts center all around the 14th street stop. it allowed us to build underground atlanta around the downtown stop. we had the real problem where in the square, there was a little town of about 40 people called johnson down, and nothing that was worth more than $20,000. we couldn't give them any more than $20,000 by law, but because it was a public-private development corporation, we were able to say to them, look,

you're going to build a 30 story building here. why don't you give them an extra $100 onto their access to value and pay them for the air rights? so they get paid for the air rights. instead of $10,000 or $20,000, they got $110,000. wikipedia that? because this public-private partnership gave us the capacity to give them a 4.5% interest rate when interest rates were running nine and 10%. that was something andy jackson put together that i never understood what i used the hell out of it. [laughter] the next thing was that we got ready to build that airport, rebuild the mass transit system, it was, like folk got 20%, but maynard said wait a minute,

we've got 20% of the hardest work with the lowest profit margin. we are not going to build an airport in less we get 25% of each and every contract. this has got to be fair across the board. well, they fussed and huffed and puffed about it and never really understood it, but we got the airport built still on time and within budget. it opened on the first of december, and i took, in 1981, and i became mayor in 1982. of january. because all that had been done, it just seemed to me it was working so well, let's use it up to 35%. and when people begin to see how the airport was growing, how much of this was contributing to the growth, they thought i was

crazy when they said, why do you want to be mayor? i said i don't. it's a dirty, low down, rotten job. people will blame you for everything, but this lady came into the meeting and she showed a gain in my face and she said look here, boy, when you came here doing nothing. and we've been made to the congressman and ambassador, sent you all over the world, and that we need you as mayor, you ain't got time for us? i said but, but, i have three children in college and martin luther king didn't this the $6000 a year, and i don't know, not a mayors seller is just a $50,000 to you. i can't afford to be mayor. she said, that sounds like big money to me. [laughter] and you don't believe in the lord? and she slammed the door and said we wasted our time on you. it all worked out.

we became an international city. they would not let us build that international terminal. they hired somebody to do a study, but i didn't wait for the study because i don't know about studies. and so we went to germany and we got loose on the -- we heard air japan was looking for entry into the u.s. and holland. we just put the word out. look, if you want to be a part of the economy of the 21st century, you've got to be in the u.s. marketplace. and the best place to access to the u.s. market is atlanta, georgia, because we can teach you to 80% of u.s. market within two hours. and most other places we can get you back the same day. and we went around telling people that, and before the

people finished the feasibility study, we have signed up for airlines. and i'm saying that, and none of this has cost us anything yet. we have figured out the formula from the freedman's bank. we've made it work for rich and poor, black and white, and it has become the center of the global economy. we now have i think at least 2200 german companies in atlanta now. we move poor people out of the center of town because, for the olympics. and i was always kind of guilty about that until last week. because where we move them was

clayton county, and if you look at the newspapers, last week clayton county was the fastest-growing county in the united states of america. all those poor people we moved of their didn't bring money. but they got the energy. they got the vitality. they got the will. it just so happened that porsche cayman with all the money. so we got a porsche headquarters right there in clayton county, that provides jobs. now, why isn't this happening everywhere in america? i grew up in new orleans. it's not happening in new orleans. john and i went to see president bush at the time of katrina, and i remember growing up on those riverbanks and i remember that ccc camps. i was born in 1932 with roosevelt, so when i was four and five years old i was playing

on the riverbanks with the ccc camps. it just, ma they have not been anything with that river since about 1940. and it was designed to run in the infrastructure was 50 years, and it's been 80 years. and i go up and down that river, and all those cities are dying. and it's flooding in iowa right now. the flood last year cost $60 billion. and i said, well, why didn't you get something to do with it? i mean, to change it. the senators up their, in fact the senators all along the river are trying to balance the budget.

and they want to cut back on government spending, until after the floods. it was $17 billion in, 20 build in louisiana, 60 billion in iowa. why the hell don't we fix it first? now, i'm wondering, and this is where i have been worrying. if we could do a little one seconds -- sentence amendment and open it up to money, capital to come in, private investors from all over the world, why can't we create a one, instead of half a mile radius, one mile on each side of the mississippi river, and people have the capacity, if they so choose, to create a public-private development authority and design the future of the river.

now, the mississippi river covers, cuts, directly touches 31 states. all of the cities along the river are suffering. now, that's an agenda. i've talked to a friend of mine, and interestingly enough, the way i found all this out was i remembered stuff and had a bunch of high school kids in my office as volunteers in the foundation. i said look, see what you can find on the mississippi river development. is there a mississippi river development of? no. but there is tva. they start bring me stuff from the internet, say that i didn't know how to find. but what i put, what the hell has been going on? why can't we -- another thing we found out, there is more money loose.

when i became mayor there was more money in petrodollars doing nothing, and we had a big dent in the treasury. not as big when carter, when carter left the national debt was about $60 trillion. it's way beyond that, but we were able to get that, those petrodollars to come in from holland, from germany, from canada, from japan. and $70 billion worth of petrodollars came into atlanta in the eight years i was there, and it's still coming. i mean, this is not government money that kasim is using. this is somehow private money. now, if what they say about tax havens is this, that there's

more money in tax havens, i don't think of them as tax havens the i just say that's scary money. it's not americans as much as chinese, as indian, the panama papers revealed all of the money that the iraqi and pakistani generals stole from us in the war, and that was a pain them off, and that was supposed to push a surplus of extra money, scared money i call it, up to 72 trillion. now, i'm sure the safest place in the world to keep your money is in middle america. from minnesota to mississippi, one mile on each side. i think, john, you find a way to

create a, i'm talking to you, john, john rogers. [laughter] ariel capital. you just announced that you have, you are creating a trillion dollar develop and fund for the mississippi valley, and every city along the way will be able to apply for it. i mean, look, george soros lost 20% last month sitting in england. let it sit here. he wouldn't have lost any money. they don't know what they're going to do with it in animal over the french hide their money or, you know, i mean, i mean, i've been working on this a while, but answers to the problems of the world go back to the principles of the freedman's bank. and that's why i see this as the

launch of a new america and -- new american integrated attempt to involve all of our cities, all of our rural areas, all of our universities in mastering the complexities of the global economy. now, when you add to that the fact that there will be 4.5 billion people in africa, africa will catch up with china and india. india will pass the china. because china is going to have some problems. they have 104 different nationalities, cultural nationalities that were not a part of the mandarin communist economy. so they will be struggling a while, but india is going to do better. there will be 1 billion nigerians, and we don't have any access to the markets in africa.

since ron brown and i left, everybody seems to be scared of africa. and we need to take that on now, because we've got a 25 year head start, but if we come in there with ideas, with money, with talented people and create relationships, i think we will see the dreams of the freedman's bank fulfilled in our time. and i am one that believes that coincidence is god's way of remaining anonymous. when i look at this young man and remember marching with his grandfather, you know, and then secretary lew, i quoted the bible, i mean, i said something from the bible and he knew it. i said, something is happening here. and john and, i mean, all of the

people up here are people who are capable of shaping the world if they just got over the business that you don't wait for the congress to decide. you do it. it's easier to start it out and have them tag along. because you don't need their money. and when you start, i'm sure that the senator out there in iowa, it's raining now. i feel like noah telling you to korea, ge get ready, the flood s your, and you've got the money, he got the technology and you've got the brain power. thanks, and god bless you. [applause]

>> so just a final thank you to austin, luisa, melissa for organizing and to all of you for joining us in this conversation. we hope it's not the last, so thank you again and enjoy your day. thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> the senate is about to come in, debate and voted to override the president's veto of a bill allowing families of 9/11 victims to sue countries that support terrorism including

saudi arabia and the u.s. courts. if the house goes along it would be the first time a veto by president obama has been overturned. also they will debate on government funding and on this friday. to send it to live on c-span2. -- the senate live on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray.

eternal master, strengthen us so that we will live blameless lives, doing what is right and speaking the truth with sincere hearts. forgive us when we listen to the cynical angels of our carnal nature, and renew in us a spirit of faith and optimism. empower our senators to be true to their duties, making the commitment to labor with integrity. lord, instruct them with your wisdom,

protect them with your might, and guide them with your love. chase away thoughts that bring discouragement and fear as we remember that nothing is impossible for you. we pray in your mighty name. amen. the president pro tempore: pleae join me in reciting the pledge f allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: we were saddened to learn last night that shimon peres, the ninth

president of israel, has passed away at the age of 93. he leaves behind a remarkable legacy of service on behalf of the people of israel and a lengthy resume to match. the nobel peace prize, the presidential medal of freedom, the congressional gold medal, peres earned them all. in fact, i was honored to be a part of the ceremony to award him that gold medal just a few short years ago. his political career is one that spans seven decades and encompasses just about every high office imaginable. president, prime minister, peacemaker, and rye veered states -- revered statesman. one of the last connections to the founding of the modern state of israel. this is how the world will remember shimon peres. but above all we'll remember him as the embodiment of a nation

that the united states is privileged to call an ally and dear friend. our thoughts are with his family, with our friends, the people of israel, and the many, many others around the globe who have mourned his passing today. now, mr. president, on the business before the senate today, last week the president vetoed the justice against sponsors of terrorism act. at noon today, the senate will vote on whether to override his veto of that legislation. and after this vote, members should be prepared for votes on the continuing resolution. our colleagues in the house made good progress last night on a way forward to help the people of flint in the water resources development act, or wrda, which, as we said, is the proper vehicle. the senate already voted overwhelmingly 95-3 to pass assistance for flint families as part of our wrda bill. and both chairman inhofe and i have pledged to continue to

pursue resources for flint once wrda goes to conference. as a result, we're hopeful that we will soon reach an agreement with our democratic colleagues to move forward on the clean c.r.-zika package today. it includes important resources to support our veterans, to combat the zika virus and heroin and prescription opioid crisis, and to serve as a significant down payment for flood relief. it also funds all current government operations through december 9 at last year's enacted levels. let's keep working together to pass it. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: on a codel that i led, we were going to stop in israel. and i told all the senators who were with me that i wanted to take time while we were there to

meet my favorite statesman that i'd ever met, and that's shimon peres. as my friend, the republican leader, outlined, he has a distinctive resume. and i will always remember eric cantor, the republican leader in the house at the time. i called him and i said, shimon peres is going to be 90 years old and it would be wonderful if we could get that gold medal done by the time -- during that he's 90. and eric delivered. it wasn't easy, but he delivered, and i always, always will remember that. it meant a great deal to this man who had received so many different awards, but to get the highest distinction that we as members of congress could give

someone is something he deserved. as i've indicated, the most inspirational public servant i've ever encountered. when we met him in israel, he didn't let me down and was stunningly visionary, like i'd always known him to be. what i've said is not hyperbole is any way. i repeat, he was the most vision neared and inspirational leader i've -- the most visionary and inspirational leader i've ever known. let me repeat some of the stuff my friend, the republican leader, just outlined. prime minister of israel twice, acting prime minister twice, president of israel, minister of defense twice, minister of finance, minister of transportation, and eight other cabinet posts. a pretty good record. he was a brilliant man who spoke six languages, authored 11

books. he was the definition of a statesman. he was a guiding light for peace, always for peace. he midisrael and the world -- he made israel and the world a better place. above all, mr. president, we should all learn something from this good man. here's what he said -- and this is how he lived his life -- and i quote -- "optimists and pessimists die the same way. they just live differently. i prefer to live as an opt mist." close quote. that really says it all. he learned his entire life as an optimist. the challenges he and his family faced because of the holocaust led to his work for a lasting peace and to secure israel. he never wavered from his hope for the world. he had some political battles. the leaders of israel -- all had been in the military fighting. he never served in the military.

but his abilities were so pronounced that he was able to succeed, as i've outlined in his resume here. the last time i talked to him, i called him and i said, one of my prize staff members, jessica louis, is coming to israel with her dad, and her father has never been to israel. i've told them how i feel about you. is there any way you could meet them? and he met them. of course he did. he spent time with them. that's who he was, a person who i so admired and had time for jessica and her dad. i join the people of the world

in wanting the passing of this good, kind, inspirational man. i send my deepest condolences to his family and the people of israel. i'm so happy that the delegation of people that come to his funeral will be led by the president of the united states, barack obama. i will miss shimon peres. the world will forever miss this good person. mr. president, i'm happy to see the progress that's been made in the house of representatives with respect to flint, michigan. this is a step in the right direction. toward advancing funding for the people of flint in a lame-duck. but i do have some concern. the statement of my republican colleague, the leader of the senate, just said that he and senator inhofe would work toward

funding. mr. president, this should be pretty easy. why can't they just say they'll do it? this is not deficit spending. this is -- this is money that the people of michigan have allowed -- stabenow and peters -- to give up. it's michigan money that's going to be used in a different way. the money is already there. we overwhelmingly supported that. so, as i've said before, we'll continue to exercise caution moving forward, but i'm glad to see progress has been made. mr. president, if it were up to me, i believe these three nationally dlird -- declared emergencies: louisiana, $2.8 billion. it was devastating what happened to baton rouge and other parts of louisiana. rain storms, even the coast of louisiana had never seen before, never seen before.

thousands of structures damaged, hundreds and hundreds of them destroyed. i think they're entitled to work on fixin fixing all that. we should do as we do with emergencies. the presiding officer is from texas. and we have stepped forward every time there is an emergency in texas and taken care of it, whether it was an explosion that blew up a facility there, whether it was the floods, whether -- the many problems that texas had over the last decade, we've taken care of those. -- as we should. i think west virginia, which has a emergency declaration of $310 million, that should be taken care of. a much smaller one but a very important one to the people of maryland, small in proportion to the two that i just mentioned. that's nationally declared. we should take care of that. so i would hope that we would

not continue to mourn the fact that these emergencies occur, these national disasters occur. we've got to take care of them. and i hope week do that. it would be the right thing -- and i hope we can do that. it would be the right thing to do. i hope that we can get the c.r. done expeditiously. mr. president, i would ask that you announce the business of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 5325, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 516, h.r. 5325, a an act making appropriations for the legislative branch and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, the chamber is vacant, so i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: