expenditures the state hasn't done. first of all as governor i will cut all the services that really don't have a purpose, doesn't eat a constitution value. then we start going through in doing audits. we know everyplace needs to be audited. what you do an audit you can find it where the money is. the sad thing is your talk about where the money comes from, -- in my done? okay. >> were going to give anybody else a chance someone or bite at the apple and start again with representative armstrong. >> i mean, the answer to this question is we have to be how to get -- a lot of this is good. we've had 120,000 people come into the state the last ten years. we that growth, , communities tt were shrinking and dying in western north dakota that growing and those are going up and all those different things. you have real opportunities for

things that never existed when we are first year. when i graduated from high school nobody state. there were no opportunities in western north dakota. those things are great but not great for the senior citizen who also interest selling their home and they are saying valuation. the army ways in which we can address this issue but it can't just be what we do in the past which is why downs, by downs, bytedance without significant reform. there's real opportunities. legacy fund is going with the interest can do this. we've got utilize that and give direct relief to with the people are asking for the most and that is in the property tax from. >> senator piepkorn. >> this basically wants to tax transfer. the money has to come from somewhere. it is our obligation as a state, what is or will it boiled down to? taking care of roads in providing public education. this lets a lot of the big businesses out-of-state

corporations off the hook, railroads. a lot of that central assessed property including railroads in transmission lines and some pipeline property. that makes up not all of the property tax but a big chunk of it. the couple plans that are being talked about. there are probably a total of 40 property tax relief plans, property tax restructuring plans that people are having written by legislative council. a couple that an interested in is boosting the least and pray relief, boosting the hundred dollars residential property tax credit to $1000 per primary residence and making it permanent. another is, this is pretty drastic, and radical. we take heavy-duty featuring and a lot of talking and negotiating but having the state ante up the third of the cost of education that we're not paying for right now. the state pays for two-thirds of the cost of educating a student

k-12 student, i have we take a look at start a conversation with paying for it all, reducing the pressure on school districts. school districts the largest cause, the greatest cost raising the property tax. if the state could find it that would reduce the pressure on schools to keep putting out these bond issues that often don't pass. >> michael coachman, you have about a minute. >> as i was saying no one wants to let the people have their homes. do you got people who are locked in income come have to make a choice of making a monthly payment, medicine or food. we as individuals are supposed to be the owner of a property and wants people don't own property. that is the key to freedom. as far as the funding, like i said, we have this. we have things that we could cut. well we heard back in october we

get billions and billions of dollars. at how is it helping the individual? as far as meeting, come up with the cost, here at the turn of the century we couldn't even fly, but now we can go almost mach five. we have technologies that a computer, we could put in our pocket, we can't come up with a plan to fix the budget here in north dakota? really? you guys said years, years to try to fix the budget and fix property tax. ask me as governor i will eliminate it and i will do some cutting, and we will make the government downsize and we will get the funding. >> our next topic has to do with the ethics commission. north dakota's ethics commission is looking at changes onto an

ethics complaint should be filed. do you believe are ethics rules should be changed to make things more transparent? senator piepkorn. >> thank you, dave. this ethics commission was established because of a bill sponsored by fargo democrat senator tim mather and. it is in existence. it's very, very slow in getting formed up and form of these things that you're talking about, guidelines, duties, responsibilities membership, types of complaints come how they're handled. i will say that the legislature initially really dragged its feet. just because something is resent the legislature still can either help move it along or can drag its feet and just try to np. in this case impede the implementation of an ethics commission. if you see some of things happening you probably

understand why there's a resistance to having an ethics commission at all. we've got a good leader of the ethics commission, so who's in charge of it. i think she will be effective in form and get up and establishing the guidelines and getting the processes in place. we are still our feet along those lines but it needs to be there. the people want it. i think we will get there. >> michael coachman. >> it's a waste as far as happy ethics committee is moving for a simple reason. everybody is protecting everybody. they are not enforcing what is already being done. there's been unethical events within, as far as i know, i've been there and north dakota, but they get pushed aside or because cronyism. until you start in making everybody accountable, it's just

a band-aid on an artery. you can't do nothing until we make a change in government where people are not afraid to stand up and say hey look, this is wrong. because most of the power really belongs to the people. they're the ones who say look, this person is doing wrong. you need to do something about it. but no one really wants to take care of the real problem. it's just a nice way of saying we'll take care of it, you just go back to sleep. >> representative armstrong, although that further, the north dakota monitor data storage you are familiar with on your oil and gas assets. in terms of ethics d believe you can adequately regulate the industry and avoid conflict of interest? >> it's been a secret i've been in the oil and gas entry since i started in this crazy run in 2012. the single most important thing that is probably happened, or

consequential generational change in north dakota has been a bunch of companies figure out how to crack the boston and the three forks. it's providing generational wealth and opportunity not just for this generation of the next generation in north dakotans to come. having some he knows that industry knows what it takes to do that is a benefit not a detriment. at the same time one of the things that frustrates me is to demonize the industry. we don't see a transit of banker can't vote on banking regulation or farmer can't vote in any form in regulation or businessman, teco to build a private equity i can't vote in any of those things. we have a specific opportunity to address it and recuse yourself. at the same time if you have asset and southwest north dakota and a vote on the oil industry in northwest north dakota that is that the direct conflict. you have to talk to people come to see people you're talking to come make sure you disclose those things and to your other overly question with regards to the ethics committee there are thousand of the ways to be more

transparent and we should do that. you should have to do an open records request to get things. it's the 21st century. a lot of the stuff to be put online. one of the things that frustrated me as you don't get the whole quote is i spent 80-90 hours a year doing my financial disclosure can hire a campaign lawyer and accountant full time. it's it's a great process if you have the resources and have the office staff to do that. we don't have with north dakota legislature. they are volunteers of sb way in which you can a more transparency, more disclosure but you're not causing a volunteer legislation serves every two years for 81 days to have to fork over ten -12 five grant to file an ethics disclosure. we need more transparency, , moe really available but we should recognize that the greatest form of representative government i think in the country because everybody gets to go and do a day job other than the 81 days in which they serve in the state senate or the status. >> thank for your answers on that.

[inaudible] >> no. we have to move on. we got a lot of topics i want to get to. our next topic is the believe the state should have a voucher program for school choice? i'm going to start with michael coachman. >> i'm going to have to come i know what you're saying but i'm going to address this issue what he just said. in 2017 he passed sb 2134 talking about giving mineral rights back to the individuals here in north dakota. when he talked to the legislators and said hey look, this is going to be beneficial to previous owners, some things he failed to mention. one, that the state owned that and that when it went back to was no previous owners. and two, he did not disclose that he had oil wells in that land. correct me if i'm wrong, did you

not? >> yeah, you're wrong. >> okay. well, i got maps and documentation. >> i had zero mineral acres of her health in suspense by the state of north dakota. he's talk about the lakebed minerals bill. probably as long as i serve the politics i will not be more proud of the piece of legislation i passed because the state of north dakota redistricted the lake and sent letters to north dakota farmers and ranchers who had been scratched a living out of that dirt for generations. they said hey you don't own your minerals anymore. we do. when those people came cand base of what her options? nothing. we century literature we took it. i worked very closely with the attorney general, the governor at the time. we didn't get the process we wanted so we introduce the bill. the state took those minerals from north dakota farmers and ratchet we gave them back. i was really proud of that. >> not sure because there is none. anything after three years that the state owns there is no previous owner. >> may have been buying and selling leases on minerals for generations. there are no owners on that land. we got documentation.

[inaudible] >> no, it's a reason come for some reasons to about ethical. but it is going to not be ethical with this, he's that going to be as governor. that's key. that's key. people need honest people in government. >> you need to let melt away in if you want. >> i think people understand now kelly's position in oil, his company, is how the company owns over 300 wells. he has significant income from that. i just get my sources on the news that we trust. at any rate, talk about recusing yourself. there are only three members on industrial commission. a lot of conversations that take place it's the governor, , the agriculture commission and the attorney general. they've all been republicans for the past several years, 30 years.

not quite 30 years but close if you add it all up. a lot of conversations take place are not recorded in the minutes. for example, should have recuse myself? those conversations don't have to be recorded in the minutes. what several issues to come up in the industrial commission regarding oil regulation and gas regulation and energy questions. and if kelly is going to be recusing himself from every issue that comes up, that deals with those, that leaves two members on the commission. they pretty much march in lockstep anyway. having a democratic nonpartisan leak government will add transparency to the conversations that are going on within daschle commission and provide balance when it comes to voting on these issues as well. >> i'd like to get back to vouchers is willing to talk about it and we will start with mr. coachman. >> yes, i believe doctors are good. i believe parents should have the opportunity to send a child

to whatever program they want, either public school, private school, homeschool. yes. the power needs to be in the parents and and but i would take a lot of that power away from the voice from the parents. i think this would be a good thing. >> senator ernst extra i believe in more parental involvement. i believe vouchers are not necessarily the right approach. you can see this and other states by the way. before vouchers passed in arizona tuition and private schools raised. the key is taking sure i have two kids in public school, two kids have gone to two different public school system over the last five years. we nationalize education arguments far too often. i want to localized in. i read at the education my kids get in public schools are responsible school choice abide it allows for the money to follow the paris is really good approach to do things. i don't think it has to be either/or. we can find our public school system, have the best public

school system in the country and still allow for significant more parental autonomy in school choice. >> senator piepkorn. >> i'll tell you, dave, if we passed a property tax we will a hard time funding anybody's education. in the meantime the school choice, it's real. it's a lovely term that sounds fantastic, and what it's hiding, we have a tough enough time now paying for our public education. we are. it are states responsibility i like to see the state of our financial commitment to public education, and taking money away right now from public education for vouchers, any money you take and send in that direction is going to be less money for the public education we have now, are. our teachers are fantastic at the straps. they're buying things out of their own pocket to provide for the classrooms right now. it's always been possible for the private schools to get

children, students into their schools have either wanted for athletics or who needed, according to the parents, this particular environment. another thing is most of the private schools do not are not required to offer the same services to students perhaps with disabilities. we cannot start chipping away at the funding for public education in favor of private education. it's simple as that. i couldn't explain my stance any clearer than that. >> kennett had a follow-up on the. >> was all give you one minister against the constitution, north dakota constitution says an article eight of education the legislative assembly shall provide a uniform system of free public school throughout the state beginning with primary and extend it for through all gp to and including higher education, except the legislative assembly may authorize tuition fees and

service charge to assist in the finance of public schools of higher education. you are arguing about something the state constitution is already stating that they are supposed to fund 100%. thank you. >> i happen to agree with that. i believe in my statement. >> were not doing it. that's what property tax has nothing to do with them funding this. >> okay. i need to get kelly armstrong in to hear his response. >> the more autonomy you can give parents and the more you can do these things, i think the better off you are. i do want to say and a mean this sincerely come in and a program that involves school choice, the money has to follow the kid, and the porous catholic kid in that community needs have the opportunity to does education. i don't think any school choice program that is long to subsidize tuition for existing stewards is right approach. the other edge is i wholly reject the argument it's either/or. i don't think it is. like i said you can't as the

more autonomy and the more choice you're giving parents involved in their kids education, the better our education all the way round is going to be. >> thirty seconds. >> i i know mr. armstrong chose his running mate, lieutenant governor because she voted for private vouchers for schools in the last legislative session. she also voted to end the north dakota benefits for teachers. one of the great attractants to teachers, to the profession here in north dakota, a good retirement system which is now taken away from guaranteed to go ahead and do with what you want, put in the stock market and see what happens. i think people would benefit from doing that. >> our next topic then is childcare. we hear a lot from parent who can't file a confined childcare. many of the centers are full and if waiting list. should the state be doing more to support childcare? senator ernst on. >> yes, i was just -- i to the

childcare facility in leeds. i've seen what watford seediest and for all those things. they started a program and is funny for childcare. found out last night the turner at a background check and five days. have been a hindrance for significant period of time. when you're offering $18-$20 an hour for a job and takes six weeks to get a background check, i can guarantee you and every other community in the state in every community in the state there are the same types of jobs that exist. you can't build your way out of it. we built on five childcare centers all across the state but if you don't have the people to work and incentives to do that. one thing i learned last night i did know because i've been in d.c. for the last six years is there a grant programs of knowledge of the things we place it on the childcare facility. the people are trying to run these childcare facility on a time to write a grant come from listings that. the idea was there in place then the last legislative session. we have to streamline it, make it easier. we have to incentivize it and we

got incentivized businesses and communities to do that. i don't think we should put the blame on the person who's probably trying to hire three extra spots running around credit take care of toddlers entering such a noble job. it's your workforce issue. it security growth issue. it's a very issue. anybody knows a first-time mom probably the scariest time of the life is a first data traffic it off at daycare and want to come back and pick them up but it's a huge impact issue that affects all other aspects of early committee and economy in north dakota. and if we have to do a better job. >> senator piepkorn. >> a lot of the childcare strain and financial responsibility and the woes the mike mueller .co fall on single parents who are really in a bind -- to parent house looking off into the joking. the state should do several things. this all leads back to work for. >> a lot of things were taught of the to workforce.

and what it paid off? made workers. it comes up all the time. how about the state wraps up its support for the daycare providers themselves and perhaps to the parents as well to help them pay for the daycare. how about incentivizing businesses? large businesses like starting in the capitol building itself to the daycare in that building. doesn't that sound good? how about at schools for teachers so they can have their children in the daycare right there at school? let's talk about some of those things. childcare workers are horrendously underpaid. let's step up and help them because it relates to the workforce which means job. >> we need the workers to grow our economy. we are concerned about that. just a couple of things for us to start and talk of certain michael coachman. >> i'm going to be different and say no. the only reason i'm saying no is you don't want the state involved in everything. this this is a local thing. this is where people can come

together and watch their own, help people, others come help with their kids. with businesses that's a private entity. they should work out some type of childcare program, not the state. it's not our responsibility as a state to interject our thoughts and our laws or guides into every aspect of life. we are taken with a stream of the people. that's what capitalism is, to work on different ideals to make a profit. we can come together as individuals and communities and work on different types of things. as far as childcare. it has to be left to the lower level. the state does not need to get involved. again we've got millions of dollars going to teaching kids how to ride a bike. but you going to say need to spend more money into that. but again it goes like to the property tax. we don't have money for property tax. we have to stop the spending. we have to let people, if it

dies on its feet let it die. that's what -- what you're doing, say discount we should almost like a socialist country or a a communist country to te care of everyone. no. it's a free enterprise. let people work it out. we are smart enough to work out whatever issue we have within ourselves. >> okay. next topic. a question that comes from our cosponsor an erp north dakota. with the rising cost of vital prescription drugs that many north dakotans rely on what steps to plan his government to take to ensure older people and the families of affordable access to the sites it sustaining drugs? senator piepkorn. >> there are a lot of issues about this particular bigger issue of the cost of medication for seniors and everybody else. recently the federal government has put caps on the ten popular drugs, some of them are diabetic in some weight loss. one that unfamiliar with his a

blood thinner that for surely due to the medical modern medicine i don't have to take those anymore. i'm appreciative of that. so capping the prices of these drugs, and there are several states that also involved in the own separate programs involving capping the amount of people, the amount of money people can spin on drugs. $2000 is a popular a popular figure in her own legislature just this last session i believe it was gretchen, sponsored the bill the cap the price of insulin. i forget the exact amount that people are paying, but, for example, i go to white insulin? i do know that much about it. because it's been around for years and it's not that expensive to produce and air charging, making a lot of money at it, , which unfortunately kes people away from the drug who

need to use pick the accounting their resources in half. there's a lot the state can do. pharmacy benefit managers have a lot to do with the price of prescription drugs, too. let's take a look at them and press we can rein nso. >> michael coachman. >> as you know in europe and the only mention to produce certain meds it's really cheap. but we're making up the difference. we need to be transparent as far as what is the cost to make that medicine, and as a state you need to stop gouging. that's what it is. its price gouging. we need to step in and say look, you cannot beat up in this 200, 300, 400%. you want to work here, we need to work on on a deal on how o lower the prices. we need somebody to step in. right now, again, the choice of meds, so i stay my house or eat? we need to step in and say look, you need to change or method,

your methodology of what you're charging the people here in the state. as governor i will step in and fight for you. >> representative armstrong. >> the overall healthcare part of the portfolio is remember significant portion is federal. i watched it happen play out over the last six years in dealing with those issues and the cost of healthcare in general is continuing to rise. there are different grade we shouldn't do this. we are a committee of small business and then have private insurance and then go for medicare, medicaid, list of issues. so start you want to look at what the ship this when that happens and make sure you're not pricing people out of that and work about if you can forget creative ways to forceful insurance plans come to different things where you can have a larger risk pool and deal with a lot of those issues as they to talk with your representative senator cramer, senator hoeven do with those issues. medicare part b is a huge problem. there's a fight on the coast about waste, fraud, and abuse. it doesn't occur here but without the program work whenever a huge, huge problem in

north dakota so make sure we stay on the present on that ended with that. at the state level we've got to continue to work with weather at stanford, blue cross, whether it's his broken programse know why the rates are going and a lot of that is that a policy of working careful in making sure we can do everything we can't at the state level which can be a lot, a lot of times the stock could be as much as we would love it to be to offset that federal regular regime. >> let's move on to the recently by a north dakota judge the threat north dakota's abortion ban. many doctors say a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant at six weeks, for example. i know you vomit all sure different views on this and voters want to hear them. so tell me your reactions to the ruling in with this controversial issue goes now from you within the state. michael coachman first. >> i'll tell you right now my feeling is life does begin at the moment of conception, okay? that is what life is right there. i know my opponents will say,

just case of rape or incest, it's okay. no. i do not. we were in grand forks a couple weeks ago for the right to life and our guest speaker was a person who was come his mom was raped in a mental institution and he was a very well gifted speaker. what people don't realize is you could call the health, women's healthcare. it's murder. because if you look at somebody who kills a woman who is pregnant either even if she's a couple weeks or a few much of what is that person charged with? double homicide. double homicide. because it's on life. life begins there at the moment of conception. me, i'm going to support. i know what the judge said banco do everything i can to protect life, not just on that end but on the other end, the elderly. i will do to protect everything because the most precious resource we have as a state is

not oil, it's not ag. it's people. i don't want to protect that precious resource. >> kelly armstrong. >> i appeared in front of the judge. i've known all of those different issues. i think he got a really wrong. i don't think that's the last sane. i think the north dakota supreme court will have an opportunity to weigh in. i was chair of the senate judiciary when a lot of these bills came through and i supported them then through committee and on the floor, past them. hopefully we get it right. i do think there are places in which we have to make sure we create situations where like exception works in an emergency room and not just in hearing room. there are real answer to that, but i've been proud of my pro-life record to the entirety of my legislative career i'm going to continue to stand with the north dakota law as it is. if we're to clean it up, tighten it up with smart people that can do that but i'm hopeful the law will withstand, will be overturned at the supreme court.

>> senator cochran. >> junior with the smartest thing to do would be watertight but abortion and a woman's right to choose which is going to do? is to stay out of it. you're in the senate. i'm in the senate. mr. coachman has his ideas. we're going to sit in the legislature, talk to scientists and experts and legal experts and say at six weeks until it's viable, but it's not viable, the baby is a viable out of the womb until 24 we shouldn't be involved any of that talk. if you think it's murder, mr. coachman, then it's, but that woman and family members, spouse, weber mip, partner, let him deal with their maker then. if that's what it is. we are all born sinners, and there are, you know, there is are all equal or they are not. i understand the significance of

murder. i don't describe that. however, let that person deal with their maker is what i feel about it and not let me be the judge. i do want to be in there talking with that doctor and that woman when you talking about the various things come just unimaginable things that could be going on. i'm not pro-abortion. i don't know anybody who is pro-abortion out promoting it. hey, come on in, let's do this, get pregnant and then get an abortion. i don't know people like that. we all cherish life. representative armstrong loves using the term overreach, federal overreach when it comes to energy and attention. how about this for overreach when a government gets into the healthcare decision the women have an extremely difficult time making difficult conversations? >> thank you for your answers on that. a topic i want to get to is next. do you believe more of the legacy fund should be vested in north dakota projects?

if it is can you keep it as a state funding source to be used when our oil and gas production tricep? representative armstrong. >> yeah, i think so. i think the key to the legacy fund is making sure investing in something that is not competing with existing north dakota business. i like the idea of keeping as much of the principal and are willing to get back to replace a finite resource whenever it's done. i think if you don't show citizens of the state that is working for them, then there's going to be real issues and real things going forward. the first way to get his transparency and make sure you understand and could understand what those monies are being disclose and where this monies are being spent. you have to be careful if you do that. one, you better have worthy projects. you can't overheat the economy. if you invest the billions on a legacy fund money into infrastructure in a community is going to be expensive to do your driveway. my wife is from oslo, norway, and at the world's largest sovereign wealth fund and they

are very, very very y transparent. england website in a single day and see exactly where their investments are which is something north dakota should actually strive for. they are also very, very careful about artificially overheating their own economy with government infusion of dollars. that doesn't mean you can't do like large-scale water projects, fiber as a start on this connectivity, things that every single north dakota benefit from. be transparent, make sure people know where it's been spent and invested, and picture north dakotan are proud of how that is happening. that's a recipe for short-term success and long-term success. >> senator piepkorn. >> repeat the question for me please. >> do you believe more of the legacy fund should invest in north dakota project? >> again, who's going to decide? this is why we do need transparency. what we don't need is people with special access to

government, whether it be bending the ear of the governor, whether it be bending the ear of officials at the bank of north dakota. right now start discussions on changing the way our money is managed and how it is invested and will be extensive conversations about that and people know more about it as they continue. what we don't want is people coming in and looking for a quick buck. wherever there is money available to invest in the project, there are people swarming around kind of on the outskirts often, looking for a way that they can get their hands on it and without really doing anything, without the coalition anything. so oversight. we have to trust our government leaders and officials when it comes to making some of the spending decisions. but again we go back to transparency, how the decisions are being made and, well, whether or not it competes with fargo businesses, north dakota

businesses. that's another question. what we certainly can grow. there are going to be opportunities in north dakota we haven't even realize yet. i was just up in grand forks at the national security corridor where they're going to be launching satellites, building satellites and launching satellites from the grand forks air force base. that's new in north dakota. something there are things we haven't even imagined yet that i believe we will be able to invest here in north dakota. >> michael coachman, quite. >> i might beg to the difference as far as the oil reserve drying up. i do believe it is replaceable. but his foreign as invest into north dakota we need to invest more into small towns. we need to bring life to the small towns of 50, 75, 100 because right now they're being forced out again because of property tax or one means or another.

we need to bring these towns into life, bring them up to the modern times so we can start bringing structures, companies into our state to make the small towns viable. we just got to just do more as far as investing in our state as a government, but it's like maybe like a one-time good deal. and then take on. >> are right. i'd like to ask each of you how you're going to vote on measure number five, the legalization of recreational marijuana. why or why not? we will start with senator piepkorn. >> well, i'm conflicted on this but it did not sign the petition to get on the ballot. i will be voting no. i'm kind of thrown in with the highway patrol on this, one of the branches of law enforcement that i respect most. is it tough maybe pulling over

somebody with a headlight out and their smoking a joint and they spend present time? well then, let's take a look at the penalties for possession and using, and differentiate that from selling, from dealing and and differentiate that from selling, from dealing and transporting large quantities. we can't penalize the occasional recreational user and make them criminals like that, but as governor, the legislature can do amazing things to impede the implementation of an initiated measure. that's another something on the ballot but if it passed by the people i would simply go ahead and endorse it and say let's go forward and implement it in the most effective and safe way.

>> aarmstrong: it is up to the people. that is up to the people and what they want to do. if the people say yes we want i will support it. if they say no, there is. but it is up to the people on that. >> aarmstrong: i have flip-flopped in my own mind, i want to give a lot of credit to people who brought the measure forward. this is significantly better written than the sum of the previous measures if we were but the medical marijuana one, dick realized the purchase, just forgot to decriminalize the sale. it gives local municipality significant in more autonomy. spent 10 years as a couple defense attorney, watched these things. i give a lot of credit to the legislature mostly after i left about taking a more responsible approach, you don't go to prison for smoking a joint in north dakota anymore. they have become allies a lot of these things and so i think the measure is written in a

great way but i spent the last 6 years spending half my time in dc where it's omnipresent. walk outside and smell it everywhere. it is in front of 7-11s all over the place and i have a 6-year-old and a 14-year-old so i'm going to vote no. >> we have time for one more question. i need to limit the answers to one minute because we are running out of time. this has to do with senior housing. are the things the state could or should do to help keep people in their homes longer before having to be going to a nursing home or facility like that? coachman:repeat the question. >> housing for seniors, can the state do something to keep seniors in their home as much as possible before they have to go to an institution? coachman:get rid of property tax. that is what they are doing, raising it where they have to

move them to assisted health. let them stay in their house. they were there for generations, let them stay in their own house, end property tax, let them stay in their house. >> aarmstrong: to deliver long-term care, it is significantly cheaper for the patient, cheaper for the taxpayer, cheaper for the community the longer people can stay in their home. if you have to do some modifications for wheelchair access, you run a staggering deal, one of the things about property taxes that is significant is the homestead tax credit for 65 and older, the conversation is different in a community with access to care versus farther from care. we had a lot of conversations with the people who work at aarp and things we can do to make a lot of those things. >> moderator: merrill piepkorn >> piepkorn: we could include

freezing or laminating property tax for seniors at a certain age. maybe having certain residence requirement. this is where we sit down and talk. we are all headed in the same direction. let's get the involved parties and move in that direction. how about incentivizing developers and the construction industry in big major plants like the soybean crushing facilities for example. no sales tax on some of the equipment, let's try that for developers and builders of small homes and also in-home care is extremely important. let's pay in-home care people. quite a sacrifice family members are making. that would reduce the strain on seniors and senior living facilities that are lacking. >> we preached our time for closing comments and statements. merrill piepkorn goes first.

>> piepkorn: i stand with taxpayers and reducing property tax or at least holding the line on property tax, not illuminating the property tax. i stand with our seniors for the reasons i just mentioned, prescription drugs, capping the price, keep it within reach of seniors and provide more affordable housing. i stand with our farmers and ranchers and look for more opportunity, the corporate people are moving in for some of the opportunities. i'm concerned about small farmers and ranchers. how can we help them? i stand with women and the right to make their own decisions regarding healthcare and i'm not afraid to use the term abortion. let's stay out of it and women, you make those decisions which i stand with small businesses, let's help recruit workers to keep the economy growing in north dakota. a lot of things we talked about

today relate to that. >> moderator: michael coachman. coachman:i will support the people, the most vital resource of this state. with that the constitution pays out everything. i will be a governor that will follow the constitution. i will follow legislator. if you are not following the constitution i'm not signing off. for instance article iii, the people reserve the power by initiative, not the senators, not legislators. right now measure one, measure to, measure 3, i want the power to the people. i can tell you right now, i'm not under duress and i'm not compromised.

>> aarmstrong: everyone who runs in this position has a unique time in history, a bunch of people risk their capital, risk a lot of things. we've created an opportunity in north dakota, first governor candidate of my logged time who doesn't have to run on jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs jobs. we have to run on workforce and housing at all those things and because good policy and good things promoted by those people in the legislature and people who took the risk to figure out how to grow crops in eastern north dakota, develop oil, gas, coal in western north dakota. we have an opportunity now to grow the state in the 20 first century and we are in a huge advantage compared to other places all across the state so it's my privilege to run for governor and a lot of fun to tackle these challenges and move forward and figure out how we do make sure every kid who graduates as the opportunity to build a life, build a family

and build a career. >> i would like to thank our candidates for a spirited debate. kelly armstrong, democrat estate senator merrill piepkorn and michael coachman and for your participation in this debate. election day is november 5th, early voting is underway already. thank you for watnorth dakota coverage of election >> later today incumbent ight. senator kevin kramer fac off nst his democratic challenger katrina christianson race for north dakota's senate seat. watch the debate live at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c2. c-span now, free mobile video apps or online, c-span.org. c-span is your unfiltered view of government funded by these television companies and more including charter communications. >> charter is proud to be

recognized as one of the best internet providers and we are just getting started building one hundred thousand miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. >> charter communications supports c-span as a public service with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. pennsylvania senator bob casey is running for a fourth term. he met his republican challenger, davi mccormick, in a debate that focusedn the us economy, abortion, and immigration. mister,? mr. ? senator casey of beinin lockstep with the biden/harri administered in. standard casey suggested his rival had ties to cha and russia in his work as ceo with a hedge fund. from philadelphia, the debate is an hour. >> welcome to the pennsylvania senate debate 2024, your voice, your vote.

tonight's debate is brought to you by abc in partnership with univision 65. candidates in alphabetical order, democrat bob casey and republican dave mccormick. our moderators for this evening, univision anchor yearly or garcia, and 6 abc anchors sherry williams and matt o'donnell. >> moderator: welcome to this debate between the democratic and republican candidates for a pennsylvania's u.s. senate seat. incumbent senator bob casey is seeking his fourth term being challenged by combat veteran and former ceo dave mccormick. >> pennsylvania is one of 34 senate seats that will be decided in this november's election. this race is one of a handful in the country which could

determine the balance of power in the chamber. over the next hour the candidates will be answering questions posed by myself, matt, and our co-moderator, ilia garcia from univision 65. >> under the debate rules each candidate will get a question and one minute to answer followed by a round of rebuttals by a prior draw the first question will go to senator casey. let us begin with the economy. senator casey. you claim corporations caused inflation by engaging in shrink play but prices are high everywhere, when you buy gas or go to put in a bid for a townhouse, when you go to buy bananas. how likely is it companies across a variety of industries all conspired to make things more expensive for everyone? what other factors may have been involved in causing inflation? >> casey: i want to thank you for hosting this debate. across the country especially in the last several years,

prices have been up. the cost of food, the cost of household items have skyrocketed. you have corporations and the two your period from the middle of 2,020 to the middle of 2022 corporate profits going up 75%, five times the rate of inflation. corporations are engaged in price gouging, taking advantage of the pandemic and the inflationary pressures, we should point it out like i have, issue reports, we should pass price gouging legislation told him but is accountable and thoroughly we should rollback corporate tax breaks they caught couple years ago. the difference in this race is i want to go after price gouging. my opponent won't do it. he doesn't think we should do anything to pray about price gouging. he excuses big corporations ripping off families. we should hold accountable. >> moderator: david mccormick, staying on the economy, do you believe excessive federal

spending under the botnet ministration is the main driver of inflation, the trump administration set a record for the largest budget deficit in american history at $3.132 trillion. how much responsibility does donald trump have when it comes to these higher prices? >> mccormick: thank you for moderating the debate tonight. this is a clear and stark choice. senator casey, president biden said $5 trillion of new spending would not drive inflation. larry summers who served as treasury secretary said spend $5 trillion which is what they spent of new money will drive up prices, that plus a war on fossil fuels has driven up fuel prices, grosses are up 22% carbon 22%, electricity 35%, fuel 50% under the biden/harris/casey plan. i'm not saying there are not

companies that could potentially be price gouging. the problem is this is caused by bad policy. senator casey has been 99% vote for these excessive spending policies and one thing we learned in the army day one is you have to take respond to billy for your actions which is not taking response ability for his actions, these votes were going to drive this inflation problem. it's killing working families and we need to change. >> moderator: what about other causes? >> casey: no question when you have the skyrocketing prices, corporate profits up 75% there are a number of causes but the federal reserve told us in that time period from the middle of 20 to the middle of 2022 corporate profits caused 40 one% of all the inflation in america. i think we should do something about that. hold them accountable. we should have families provide a middle class tax cut, not a tax cut for big corporations and billionaires and should help families with a child tax credit to offset the cost

families incur. >> moderator: there's a lot of lag time when it comes to the economy, the culpability of the trump admin a straight and the huge budget deficits. 20 one the difference is they think the government is better spending your money than you are. tax cuts give middle-class families, family $50,000 $2500 in tax break so what senator casey wants to do when he says get rid of the trump tax cuts, he wants to raise taxes and he is supporting the salt tax which which gives tax breaks to rich people in california and rich people in new york so that's the kind of policy there advocating which will take our country over the cliff. it already is, we are in dire -- >> the difference between us in this race is he wants to double down on the huge corporate tax rate from 2017, he wants to give billionaires, people making hundreds of millions in

the big corporations another big tax cut. that tax cut for the most powerful companies in the world is going to add up to more than $4 trillion. it will explode the debt. it makes no sense to do that. >> $5 trillion of new spending under biden/harris/casey, $2 trillion more of new spending under kamala harris, under her new proposal. they want to have venezuela like price controls, this legislation saying the government should decide, this is socialism, this is been tried in america, in venezuela, in around the world, socialist price controls don't work, they will destroy our economy. they don't understand the economy. >> moderator: to the next topic on the usual reproductive rights. we begin with mister mccormick, you called the overturning of roe versus wade a huge victory for the protection of life. you've also stated that decisions on abortion should be left to the states allowing each to set its own laws.

a woman is a woman no matter where she lives so what is your reasoning for supporting a system where woman's access to abortion is dependent on her state of residence? >> a very polarizing issue. i'm a father of six daughters and i believe it is so polarizing that shorts shouldn't decide, people should decide and there is very different views across the state so it is a states rights issue. pennsylvania has a lock honorable begins and democrats alike of supported, signed into law by senator casey's father governor casey. i also support the three exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother and i would not support any nationalized legislation or any national ban. senator casey is extreme us on this, his voted for legislation that allows abortion up to the end of the third trimester and federal funding for it. i think the people should decide this. it's a tough issue, we should talk about other aspect of

reproductive rights. i think the government should get very involved in helping families have children with fertility treatment and ivf. i've taken leadership on that. as a ceo i gave every employee ibf treatment. the company reimbursed them one hundred%. i think the government should give a $15,000 tax credit, we need to talk about reproductive rights and i think the people respectfully need to decide. >> moderator: a woman in ohio, is she any different from a woman in pennsylvania, leaving it to the states? >> when you say states, you mean people. people get to decide. people get to elected officials that represent their views so you can't have it both ways, you can't say we want to have a be a states rights and then when estate does something you don't like it's not your personal beliefs, i think the people should decide and that is what happened in pennsylvania. pennsylvania has a lot of people believe in and support and i support that as well. >> moderator: senator casey,

you described yourself as a pro-life democrat for many years, but more recently you've taken a stronger stance in favor abortion rights particularly after the dobbs decision. can you ask plaintiff voters what prompted the shift in your stance? >> and supreme court overturned a 49 year right in the dobbs case. when they overturned that right overturning roe versus wade, we have a clear choice, whether you are a citizen or a member of the center or legislator of any kind, do you want those rights restored or not? ban abortion or not ban abortion. that was the choice before the country and i voted at that moment to restore those rights of the women's health protection act. when that decision was handed down by the supreme court mr. mccormick said that decision made him, quote, very very

happy. his views and his position is in furtherance of what he said. he does not support restoring row, he doesn't support the vehicle to do that which is the women's health protection act and it's a big difference in this race. the other thing i would also add is he doesn't support the ivf bill before the senate or the bill to make sure we have the opportunity to have birth control as a right. >> will hear a lot of career politician talk tonight, this is the perfect example. there is no senator in the senate who has flip-flopped more on this issue than senator casey. senator casey previously as a senator said he wanted to overturn roe versus wade, senator casey said there should be only one exception, life over the mother, senator casey was one of the most pro-life senators in the senate and he has moved his position. when someone flip-flops on this position they held so strongly than in don't hold it now.

there is no one who has less credit ability on this issue than senator casey and he is going where the wind goes. he's been week on this and so many issues where his party has shifted to the left, he has shifted with the manual here that is a theme tonight. newseum but you like a rebuttal? >> casey: most markets believe their daughters shouldn't have fewer rights than their mothers or their grandmothers. we are point now where the country's going to make a choice in terms of this senate race, control of the senate and that will largely determine whether or not those rights are restored or not. i have voted twice to restore those rights. my opponent won't support that. >> moderator: we have to turn to the issue of immigration. for you, senator casey. senator casey, the last conference of immigration reform was enacted almost four decades ago. as a journalist in a hispanic

community, i hear the community frustrations regarding immigration reform. some feel that the issue is just a political football that's on the given attention during election time to court the latino vote. what actions or legislative measures would you make to ensure congress gets closer to passing immigration reform bill? >> first thing we should do and i hope we can do it before a new congress but i don't think it will happen, probably a new congress and new presidents. first thing we should do is pass the bipartisan border security billets before the senate right now. i think it is possible that in a new year, new congress we can get republicans to work with us on this because most of them already agreed to support it. i've already voted for that bill twice. the reason i say that is border security as quickly important, number one. we have to secure our border, that means hiring more border patrol, investing a lot more in technology that will stop

fentanyl at the border and giving the president new authority to shut down the border and reduce the number of people coming across the border, fixing our asylum system. if we do that will help us secure the border and also give credit ability back to get to other reformers. my opponent opposes that bill for only one reason. the leader of his party told him he couldn't support it for political reasons, hit stand up, show some guts, opposed the leader of his party and support this bill. >> moderator: mr. mccormick, we are seeing an alarming rise, with donald trump demonizing migrants, immigration policy proposals in congress. political leaders worry about increasingly inflammatory and racist rhetoric about immigrants. fueling a surge in the are any record-breaking number of hate crimes against latinos. if you were elected, what would

you do specifically to protect immigrant families? >> i'm married to an immigrant. i'm very pro-illegal immigrant. we are a country of immigrants and also a country of laws. under biden harris, and casey, this is another career politician epiphany from punxsutawney bob who comes up 6 months before every election. under three years of the biden/harris administration there was nothing done on the border. it was a disaster. 10 million illegal immigrants, people on a terrorist watch list, the fentanyl crisis has grown. the sheriff is a good friend of mine who lost a son to the wide open borders that resulted under the weakness and failure of casey, biden, and harris and this fentanyl crisis is going crazy. senator casey did a commercial where he was standing in front of the wall, the wall that he derided and said we didn't need a wall when trump came into office. that's a career politician in

action. we need to go after the cartels, treat them as the terrorist threat they are and embrace the fact that we are a country of immigrants. we can't tolerate hate but we also can't tolerate a wide open border that is damaging the security of america. >> moderator: you would like a rebuttal. >> mccormick: you didn't hear any response to the language, worst thing we can do is have politician spend time demonizing immigrants. the beginning of solving this problem is passing the bipartisan bill. the big difference in this race is not just that i voted twice for this bill and he is opposed to it and the reason he's opposed is because the leader of his party but also the candidate in this race when he was a hedge fund ceo who invested millions of dollars in the largest producer of fentanyl in china.

>> we have a wide open border that lays at their feet, the border bill that was proposed was an amnesty bill. it wasn't a border bill, it didn't truly secure the border. he voted against the border wall, he voted for sanctuary cities. they are trying to change the conversation because they have failed to secure the border. in terms of hate crimes, if the senators so worried about spewing of hatred he shouldn't on endorse some early who is not anti-immigrant, anti-semitism. bob casey is standing there saying he is a moral voice. this is an amoral voice, this is guy who hasn't had the courage to stand up against his own party and in about anti-semite. >> casey: back to your question was what we do we do about border security and immigration more broadly. the bill that i voted for twice now, bipartisan bill, strongest toughest border bill in 25 years is endorsed by the border patrol union which just endorsed donald trump recently, so they are not a democratic

organization. they support the bill, he doesn't. >> if you look at the border bill which i have done, i made up my own mind unlike senator casey has a 99% vote, it is the most liberal border bill in the world of any industrialized country. it would allow up to 5000 applications per day, millions of people coming into the economy, completely subverting what you intended by asylum. i made my own decision. >> i like to talk about bipartisanship and civility, you seek to become a member of the 2025 freshman class in washington. to many voters the new rational members seem more interested in gaining this social media followers and more cable tv appearances and less interested in passing bills and speaking to colleagues on the other side. how is a new senator might you be different? >> is the america i know. as a platoon leader in the 82nd division, i had a young man

from her all about alabama, and africa american man, platoon sergeant from port arrigo who was 35 and seemed ancient at the time. i never remember talking about religion or politics or party. we were just americans in the search of protecting one another and protecting our great country. that's my spirit. i am a problem solver. i want to solve problems which i'm a conservative, if you go to my website, more than it either candidate in the country, you will see what i am for, what i believe in but as our ceo and has a leader, as a leader, you've got to find ways to compromise to get things done. i'm someone who will get things done. senator casey in 18 years in the senate, 30 is an elected office does not have a record he can run on which is why he' s devoted himself to attacking me. if you want to talk about civility we've got to get through this election, getting new senator in pennsylvania who can work across the aisle and get things done. senator casey has not proven himself to be such a senator.

>> moderator: americans say they are fed up with the incivility, lack of bipartisanship in washington. what have you done to take the temperature down and work with republicans? >> casey: you have to work on bipartisan way and that is what i have done. in the period of the last congress, 20 one, 22, i wrote and passed more bills than anyone in the senate. part of that work stretches not just through this recent time period but going back further. women on college campuses are safer today from sexual assault because of my bill that i passed. children with a disability whose families are permitted to save for that disability in a tax advantage way like you save for college because of my legislation because of my work we invested in infrastructure like we've never done before. rural areas of pennsylvania,

small rural counties, republican counties like fulton county and bedford county among the most republican counties in the state have investment in their schools, 17 or 18 million in those two counties, investment in high-speed internet so kids can learn more and learn more. >> moderator: a chance at rebuttal. >> mccormick: senator casey with rick santorum said anytime you have politicians that vote 90% of the time the same way you need to get rid of one. he was speaking of senator santorum and george bush. he votes 96 of the time with biden/harris. he is not an independent voice with all his talk about moral courage and being independent he has voted in lockstep with his liberal party to defund the police, to not secure the border, to support biological men competing in women's sports, this is guy who has gone off track with the values of pennsylvania, these are not pennsylvania values are policies and have heard our commonwealth.

>> the bill was bipartisan, he wants to repeal it. when i was the deciding vote to make sure we had a cap on insulin and a cap on seniors drug costs the going into effect in january, 829,000 pennsylvanians will benefit from that. he wants to repeal that bill. was more bipartisan? if he is going to talk about his record versus my record, his record as a hedge fund ceo investing in china and our adversaries, that is record. minus bipartisan work in the senate. >> moderator: let's say both of you where the senators of pennsylvania which how would you work with each other? >> mccormick: we would have to find common ground. i don't see much right now. bob casey went to the senate in washington, washington changed bob casey. is completely out of step with the values and views of pennsylvanians.

he voted for series of things that made our economy much worse. i think he needs to be replaced and that's why i am running because i think career politicians like bob casey -- >> there's 20 of things we could work together on. it to start with things that are bipartisan right now. the bipartisan border deal supported by the border patrol union. i don't know why he wouldn't support that, doesn't make sense. when he knows we could advance based on the expertise of the border patrol but when i was doing the bipartisan work in pennsylvania he was investing in our adversaries, china -- >> to the rising tensions in the middle east. senator casey, we start with you. the middle east is on edge for a potential escalation in the region with israel promising a retaliatory attack on iran and iran warning the us it too will retaliate. researchers at harvard estimate that the us has provided nearly

$18 billion to israel since the festival attack october 7, 2023. how do you believe the us can continue to support israel's right to self-defense while also addressing the humanitarian needs of the palestinian civilians and other civilians as the conflict spreads? >> we have to start with october 7th when a terrorist organization, hamas, invaded israel, murdered 1200 innocent israelis, and in addition to murdering all those israelis, raped women and took hostages. if that threat to the people of israel has to be defeated. it has been badly undermined so far but it is still a threat. hezbollah is a threat to israel. the iranian regime is a threat to israel. the houthis, so many extra miss organizations in that region. we have to continue to support israel's efforts not just to defend itself but to take the fight to those terrorists that are threatening them every

single day and i will continue to support israel as i always have but a big difference in this race is while i was doing that, supporting his real all these years my opponent was running a hedge fund in canada, the largest hedge fund in the world. i mention the investment in china and russia. he also invested in a chinese arms manufacturer with ties to iran and those weapons they produced made their way to hamas. that's disqualifying. >> a portion of this question addressing the humanitarian needs of the palestinian civilians and the other civilians, 20 seconds on the follow-up. >> you are right. i should have added that. we have to continue to support robust support for food for people in gaza, medicine and medical supplies. our government has done that, the israelis have done it, we've got to do more. so do the israelis and so do countries in the region. i want to have the arab countries stand up and help the people of gaza instead of just pointing a finger at the united states and israel. >> moderator: mister mccormick,

you said the us needs to show strength and provide israel with what it needs to finish the job. president biden has warned israel not to strike iran's oilfield as it could lead to further unrest. do you believe israel needs to show restraint in its retaliation iran and how do you address the tens of thousands of civilians also caught in the middle of this? >> mccormick: senator casey has lied about this record. i want to say i won't take any preaching as a guy who went to west point, went to ranger school, went to the 80 second airborne division, went into iraq in the first wave when it looked like there would be tens of thousands of casualties, i won't take any preaching from a guy who spent 30 years in public office and hasn't got much done. i'm not going to take any preaching from you, bob casey, and that. lies that are unworthy of you and your family and your service.

what is happening in the middle east comes from weakness, we are tested by adversaries around the world, president biden should support israel completely. israel is in the fight for its life being attacked by hamas and iran. the original sin is the iran deal where senator casey was the deciding vote in 2015, gave them $100 billion which they have used to underwrite terrorist proxies. that the root cause of this problem and that needs to be addressed. we need to strangle iran and its ability to support these terrorists. >> moderator: the question, if you could, in regards to israel showing restraint, should it show restraint in its response to iran especially in light of the thousands of civilians caught in this? >> mccormick: israel and his opposition, america shouldn't preach to israel. i went to israel with my wife after october 7th. we saw the idf, the care they

are taking to reduce civilian casualties. if you want to blame anybody blame hamas that is hiding in hospitals, blame hezbollah that located its missiles around civilian populations where people are killed. it's not two sides to the story, there's one side of the story, there is pure evil that needs to be eradicated and it is threatening his relapse very existence. we need to fight anti-semitism at home. senator casey has been a weak voice on this. this is a true front battle and we need strengthens more clarity. >> moderator: your rebuttal. >> casey: i agree this should be his relapse determination about its own security interests and what israel has to do to defend itself from terrorism. mister mccormick said i was preaching, he was preaching at me. he mentioned his service. it is commendable service to the people of our country but this isn't a race about his service or what we are doing at that age in our life, it's about my work in the united states senate and his work as a hedge fund ceo and he doesn't

like that i talk about his record as a hedge fund ceo. when i talk about dollars going from a chinese weapons manufacturer through the irradiance into hamas, that's part of his record. i'm not preaching, i'm staying a factor. >> mccormick: i ran a great investment firm it had exposure to china. the investments were approved by the us government. the richness of a career politician, bob casey as the treasurer of pennsylvania approved using bridgewater, the firm i worked with before i ever got there. all the investments that were happening were happening under bob casey's treasure. bob casey has invested $31 trillion in china mobile which had close ties, he takes lobbying money from firms that are selling drones into the chinese military pla, this is not a guy who has much could ability on china. >> moderator: your asking a 20-the second rebuttal.

>> casey: he said all the decisions he has response >> caller: which what he doesn't want to take a spot >> caller: are the decisions he made as a ceo to invest in china in the rise of china after we knew china was causing a lot of job loss in the united states. he invested in vladimir putin just before he invaded ukraine. finally if he's going to talk about anti-semitism i have a bill in the senate to combat anti-semitism. he shouldn't laugh about that. number 2, he is the one who invested not hedge fund money but his own personal money, millions of his own personal money in a website that platforms hate, holocaust denial and anti-semitism. >> is anti-semitism bill, he and chuck schumer don't have the courage to bring it to the floor for a vote because they

don't want to alienate those who are anti-semitic. and about anti-semite, the statement wasn't a good statement, he actually stands by his endorsement. this is the world we are in where you say one thing is a career politician and your actions are another. that's why we need to get rid of him. >> do i get 20-seconds? we have to plow through. we have more topics. this is election integrity and misinformation. pennsylvania has the third most people arrested for the january 6th insurrection. many of them remain convinced the 2020 election was stolen even though the whole host of judges a public and say it was not. if you could what would you tell those pennsylvanians who remain jailed for january 6th charges? >> i said that i thought president biden won the 2020

election and hundreds of thousands of people were peaceful protesters on january 6th but those who conducted violence in our capital should be held accountable to the rules of justice just like those people destroying storefronts and public property and violence on the streets of minneapolis. the judicial system should allow that. we have a real problem in our country in that senator casey and the democrats in general don't support the most basic fundamental thing which is voter id. that something i would fight for. we need to have voter id to get on an airplane, id to cash a check. senator casey thinks you don't -- elections have high integrity. >> let me direct that question to you senator casey, mr. mccormick's position, the incidents of illegal voting is

very small and elections, plenty of voters remain concerned about election integrity, given we have id requirements to drive a car, purchase alcohol, fly in an airplane why shouldn't people be expected to prove who they are when they vote? >> nothing wrong with that, a lot of issues are determined state-by-state and that's what the general assembly in pennsylvania will debate but what he left out of his answer are some of the people he hired. he has hired for collectors in this campaign, he hired for collectors to run a pack and he's been running around with insurrectionist's. he doesn't condemn those who brought about that awful awful insult to the constitution and our country on january 6th because he doesn't want to take them on and offend them. we have to make sure that never happens again. one of the ways we can do that is don't spread lies and conspiracies about the election. tell the truth about what happened, tell the truth and

don't intimidate county election workers which for the first time in american history, those who give their lives to count votes and do it with integrity have been death threats and under constant threat because of the conspiracy theories that he won't condemn. >> would you like to respond to that? >> don't know what he's talking about but my views on this have been clear from 2020 on. i've been a strong voice on all these issues but i'm glad he raised the question of lying because today was a great day in the sense the washington post wrote an article about an ad senator casey has run the saying that i said i wanted to reduce social security and medicare benefits which was 100% fabrication as said by the washington post. bob casey and his own words looked at the camera and says a complete and utter lie. if you want to talk honesty and truthfulness in politics you got a lot of work to do. >> back to the topic i'm sure you would like to respond to.

>> mccormick: the campaign we are in today started with this candidate starting the race lying to the people of pennsylvania about where he lives. how do you lie about where you live when you are running for an office where you seek to represent the people of our state, he said he was living in pennsylvania, the associated press rolled about it, and he said he was a farmer and he grew up on a farm and then started lying about other things but if this is about who is telling a lie about where you live. >> duty on our country is what i learned at west point and how i conducted my life. senator casey's lies are abundantly clear and fact checked by put effect on the washington post and

post-gazette. he is running the dirtiest most inaccurate campaign in modern history in pennsylvania because he doesn't have a track record to run on. >> we will go back to social security and medicare trying to deny he was part of an administration that tried to foist upon the country private accounts, investing precious social security resources in the stock market and having big wall street firms manage that money and make a lot of money off of it. privatization, he was work. >> moderator: border security, let's get a direct question. you are on record supporting the bipartisan border security bill which called for more hiring of border patrol agents. empowering administrations to close the border.

like drug trafficking including the fenton line a record number of migrants seeking asylum. what has taken democrats so long to prioritize this issue? >> we come voting on legislation to direct more dollars to detection of fentanyl years ago and go to 25 times including twice reporting for the bill this year. the bill that i support is supported by border patrol union and allow us to hire thousands more border patrol. it would change asylum rules making that bar for seeking asylum a lot higher, a lot fewer people across the border and that's why republicans and democrats on its way to passage until the leader of the republican party said don't pass it because it will help the other side politically and mr. mccormick fell right in line with her that like a lapdog lapping the shoes of the republican nominee.

we should pass that bill because it will restore confidence in the american people that we can detect fentanyl at the border mostly coming in through vehicles crossing the border and it would help us with more border patrol and a tougher approach to the border. >> moderator: senate republicans backed out of the bipartisan border security bill earlier this year. with republicans often emphasizing the need for a stronger response at the border how do you explain to voters the resistance to advancing legislation that addresses the very issue. >> mccormick: there was good legislation that would have strengthened the border twice in the last couple years. i talked to border patrol, and when you get there you see it stops under biden/harris/casey, people walking across in the middle of the night.

military age men from syria and five chinese nationals. this is a national security crisis of epic proportions, 200 people on the terrorist watch list. we saw a recently with a memo leaked from ice, the 25,000 convicted murderers and convicted rapists were knowingly allowed in the country. this isn't speculation, this is an official document from the department of homeland security, that happened under his watch. the bill they proposed it didn't address that. it would have sanctioned 2 million illegal immigrants coming into the country for asylum and we've got a major problem. we need to go after these cartels, treat them as a terrorist threat they are, use our military selectively. senator casey has been working on it for years. how effective is the work? we've got a crisis destroying our country. >> moderator: i will allow senator casey to go first. >> casey: the original part of your question is when these changes went into effect by the administration. they should have done this a long time ago, no question

about that but my point on this, we are seeing the results when the administration acted with the limited authority they have, reducing border crossings by 50%, way down. that's proof positive, a testament to why this bill is so important. the authority in this bill is authority that donald trump asked for and you did not get. up 40 president biden asked for and did not get. we should give the president for authority to shut down the border when crossings get too high, to change the asylum rules, more money for more investment, screening those vehicles coming across packed with fentanyl and make sure we support the border patrol union that is asking for these resources. he won't support the bill. >> mccormick: we had a secure border under donald trump, president biden headed in his power. it is interesting senator casey talking about how i support donald trump, senator casey is 99% vote with his best friend

joe biden which is what they call each other so they had the power from day one to secure the border. it was secure under donald trump. if they had taken the actions now they should have taken and it is a national crisis undermining our economic well-being, security, communities with fentanyl, this was a liberal economic agenda that is destroying our country. >> moderator: you have 20 seconds. >> casey: when i was voting on investments on the border and strategies that we know work, this guy was running the largest hedge fund in the world, he increased investments in china by one hundred 8,000% after everyone knew in the world the china was cheating, china was manipulating currency, china was undermining american workers, he did that, he invested millions of dollars in chinese fentanyl company. >> mccormick: one hundred 16,000 people died last year from fentanyl on your watch. that's two vietnams, 8 years of

war in vietnam 58,000, the failure and weakness, the fact that you and biden and harris aren't standing up and taking accountability is a true disgrace and the fact that you are finally taking action doesn't make the failure of action in the past any more palatable. >> moderator: we wove onto the next topic. we turn to the topic of puerto rico and i will ask the same question to each of you starting with mister mccormick. the third largest puerto rican population outside the island, residents of puerto rico have been official us citizens for over a century. like every other working american they pay taxes but don't have votes in congress or the right to vote for president. they hold a nonbinding status referendum for statehood, one of the options they will vote on. do you believe the island should decide its future and would you vote to admit puerto rico is the 50 first state

should its people vote in favor of the union? >> i would not in vote in favor of it being the 50 first state. of senator casey is reelected and kamala harris wins the presidency and they eliminate the filibuster which is what senator casey says he wants to do, there will be two places the get statehood, puerto rico as well as washington dc. you will have additional members of justice is brought on the supreme court, you will have a new green deal beyond anything that was ever imagined. this is tied to the filibuster in the filibuster in my opinion is something meant as a check and balance whatever party is in power. senator casey wants to a laminate that and it will change the balance of power forever if the democrats win the presidency and the majority in the senate and that would be absolutely inconsistent with america's best interests regardless what parties in the majority. >> casey: if the people of puerto rico make that determination we should be open

to admitting them. my opponent wanted to talk about the 60 vote rule, the filibuster rule in the senate, let's talk about that. that's the reason that rule existing requiring 60 votes for substantive matters is the reason we haven't passed a background check bill for commonsense gun measures, to reduce the likelihood of gun violence, the number one killer of children and teenagers. we are the only country in the world that has this problem. it is a uniquely american problem. if we change that rule, it's a rule in the senate, not in statute, not a law, not in the constitution, we could pass a background check. if we change that will be could pass the women's health protection act which would restore the protections of roe versus wade. if we change that rule we capasso voting rights legislation that has broad support across the country. we could do so much to move the country forward but he wants to hide behind that rule to block

progress on substantive matters. >> mccormick: we see what happens under a senate majority and biden and harrison the white house. we know kamala harris is far more left and radicals and even joe biden, we know senator casey is a sure vote, 99% vote with biden and harris. i believe the filibuster is a way to check the majority on either side going to extremes. that's what the senate was designed for and if senator casey wants to think the problem is a filibuster, there's lots of senators getting this done. >> mccormick: a lot of progress is blocked because that rule has been a weapon to prevent progress, and% of the american people want us to pass a background check bill.

everyone wants to pass it. the gun lobby has a stranglehold on a lot of members of congress, he won't support those common sense measures and pass with 50 one votes. he won't stand up to the gun lobby. >> moderator: next topic climate change and the environment. senator casey, several studies by physicians by yale university at the university of pittsburgh found people living near fracking sites have higher incidences of conditions ranging from nosebleeds all the way to cancer. how is your position supporting natural gas extraction impact of those who believe the industry is putting their lives at risk? >> casey: when you consider what the state resources are the advantages we have in pennsylvania that is the reason i support and all of the above energy strategy that includes natural gas extraction. here is the difference between

my position on allowing gas extraction, other options like nuclear or renewable sources of energy, clean energy, we use call in some parts of the state for the energy base, the difference between my position and some other people's position is i support tough regulation. that's done mostly at the state level, depending on who is the governor and i think governor schapiro will do that oversight to make sure we can extract natural gas in compliance with state's constitutional obligation to ensure clean air and clean water. that is the difference. my opponent has talked about energy but while he was a hedge fund ceo running the biggest hedge fund in the world he was investing in chinese -- >> the latest warning that the earth's climate is not well, storms that made landfall last month did more damage to remote

mountainous communities in north carolina. the people in fort washington, montgomery county around here are still recovering from hurricane ida which may then follow louisiana in 2,020 one. to those local people who are still cleaning up from a storm that happened three years ago what should they know about your views on climate change? >> mccormick: many biden harris casey policies, the energy policy is the worst because we restricted our natural gas ability to export, drill, pipelines for natural gas with epa mandates, huge subsidies to china, lithium batteries and solar panels, we depressed our natural gas in pennsylvania when it is the key to economic growth, the key to national security and the key to climate change. that natural gas exported around the world is how we will reduce global climate change not by the paris accord which puts constraints on us but not india and china, replacing coal-fired plants, that is why e-mail in the united states are down by 15% over the last we 10

years. we are making huge progress on this and that is what we need to do, export our natural gas develop our natural gas which i'm for all of the above, i am for nuclear but not huge subsidies for solar and wind and electric vehicles that are driving up our dependence on china and driving up the cost of energy for every day working families. >> casey: what he's making reference to is legislation that allows us through tax credits to invest in a clean energy economy. that's creating lots of jobs, thousands of jobs already in pennsylvania. many more jobs in red states and blue states, by the way. a whole new part of our economy opening up, huge private sector investment because of those tax credits. he doesn't support that. i do. here's the difference. while i was working on that legislation, he was running that hedge fund. managing money for saudi oil companies.

>> mccormick: he is antibusiness, anti-success. to caseylies.com to see the truth, what they did is more than tax credits but huge subsidies to electric vehicles, had epa mandates which are hurting manufacturing jobs, not helping. the jobs that are created are not offsetting and hurting working families. everybody got a 20% tax increase is called inflation, reaching into your back pocket and stealing your money and that hurts working families the most. >> moderator: our time is winding down for the next question. we will only have a one minute response from each of you with no rebuttal. speak to the voters on this question. we talked to this topic of public safety and guns in this country. mr. mccormick, we are the only nation where firearms outnumber people, suicides make up the majority of gun deaths, gun

homicides are down across the us significantly and here in philadelphia compared to a year ago. mass shootings happen daily across the country and many pennsylvanians say they don't feel safe at the bus stop, at the grocery store, the synagogues, they are masked or at school. a survey found 59% of pennsylvanians agree there need to be more restrictions on gun access. do you agree with the majority of pennsylvanians that researchers are needed and what will you do to address this concern off the commonwealth? >> mccormick: philadelphia is down a bit this year, had four straight years of murders or more. gun violence is for the most part perpetrated by those holding illegal guns. the inventory of illegal guns, if you stop all new gun sale tomorrow it wouldn't have much effect on violent crime or murders that happen as a result of that. ..esult of that. we certainly need to do a lot more so the things -- the intersection of guns and mental health. we need to have appropriate risk protections where people with

mental health don't have access to guns. we need to make sure we do that with due process. we need to make sure we have security in our we need to make sure we have security and our schools, and her synagogues. unfortunately requires we do that. i amt in favor of the policy president trump put in place of eliminating bump stocks but the problem you're trying to solve is not going to be solved by restricting legal gun ownership. >> lastly, this should, rifles like ak-47 and ar-15 were made legal for purchase across this country. as a type from federal action? >> semi automatic rifles, i'm in favor of those not being restricted. the same rules we have now. you use for sporting, used used for protection. the second amendment is a real amendment and its the second amendment is real amendment and a real right of the constitution gives gun owners and we need to protect it. >> senator casey, you change your position from being pro-gun to wanting restrictions on gun

sales and increase regulations after the deadly shootings at sandy hook. 12 years later schools still are grappling with this issue. three weeks ago the school district in delaware county approved a weapon detection system at its middle schools. what have you done since sandy hook to impact real change on this issue? one minute. >> there is no question about it that we can take action with regard to commonsense gun measures. as i said earlier the gun lobby has a stronghold on one party. that met, and it has met for more than a decade that we can pass a background check bill. we can pass a bill on these military style assault weapons. these commonsense measures will have no impact on second amendment rights, no impact on law-abiding gun owners who need a gun for self protection or what i got too hot. so we can do both. that old false choice of protecting people are having commonsense gun measures doesn't idle think holds much water.

but the problem in this race is unwilling to do that and i'm supported and voted for the bipartisan gun legislation which has brought downn gun deaths ad has helped. my opponent will not supported because the gun lobby won't let him and he doesn't have the political courage to stand up to the gun lobby to support those commonsense measure. >> thank you, senator. i believe you addressed the assault weapons in your answer. >> closing statements. 90 seconds we start start with senator casey. >> thank you for this opportunity. i want to thank the people of pennsylvania for this opportunity to talk abouto this race. and every day i've been a united states senator capito map of the people of our state fighting for working families, fighting for her children everyday, fighting for seniors help for people with disabilities, for our veterans, trying to work every day to advance their needs and their interest. i've also passed legislation to help families save for a disability just like youis say r college. a young child cane. be the subjt

and the beneficiary of a savings account. i have also passed legislation to make sure women on college campuses are better protected from sexual assault. that's happening all across the country. they have better protections today because of my legislation. i voted for the infrastructure law that invested in every single one of our 67 counties. i've invested in legislation to bring high-speed internet to rural areas, small towns and big cities in suburban communities. i will continue to do that. my opponent while i was working on all that was running the largest hedge fund in the world, a hedge fund that invested in china, chinese oil companies, chinese fentanyl companies that produced produce 90% of the fentanyl in china, invested in an arms manufacturer with ties to iran and the weapons from that manufacture made their way toe hamas. he has been a candidate who started this race lying about where he lives. you have the choice to make in

this race, between whether you vote for senator who will support to write, restore those rights or senator who will not. >> mr. mccormick. >> when i went to west point ath the age of 17 i took an oath of duty,, honor, country. america was recovering from a decade of decline. we had skyrocketing inflation, are adverse thought we will week and then we saw leadership and ronald reagan turned it around and he got our country back on track. i was proud tory serve him as as commander-in-chief. i retired as a captain after combat to an erect. i have never stop serving my country. i'm a seventh generation pennsylvania born and bred, a businessman, a political outsider.. that could not be more different than senator casey was born with the political spoon in his mouth turkeyey does not know how to create jobs. he doesn't under stand the devastating affect the prices on family. hehe is a status quo candidate. he is a weak thirty-year incumbent. bob casey dench in washington. washington changed by casey.

he is her amnesty, open borders and sinker cities. he voted for every spending bill that created this enormous uptick in inflation. he wants to raise taxes on pennsylvanians and lower taxes for rich people in california and new york. he has supported males could beat it in women's sports. face it,' bob, you're. bob casey has been given the opportunity and he assailed us. we need leadership that's going to shake things up, support and fight for commonsense policies come reduce inflation come secure border, keep america safe. we need leadership that is going to change thep direction of he, and get back on track. honored to be a tonight and i humbly ask for your vote. >> thank you, mr. mccormick and senator casey. this brings us to the end of our debate. we thank you and the candidates of course for joining us for taking part in this, and good luck to both of you. and thank you to our viewers are watching tonight. we put up on the screen a qr code which will take you to the

6abc elections page. there you'll find two nights debate later this evening for your viewing on all of the 2024 races. we hope tonight has been helpful and that has also been formative as you decide which candidate to cast your ballot for in november. >> thank you for watching. >> have a good night. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> with one of the tightest races for control of congress in modern political history, stay had with c-span's comprehensive coverage of key state debates. this fall c-span brings you access to the nation's top

house, senate and governor debates from across the country. the bait from races shaping your states future and the balance of power in washington. follow our campaign 2024 coverage from local to national debates anytime online at c-span.org/campaign and be sure to watch tuesday november 5 or live real-time election night results. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics, powered by cable. >> attention middle and high school students across america. it's time to make your voice heard. cspan's studentcam document a contest 2025 is here. this is your chance to create a documentary that can inspire change, raise awareness and make an impact. your documentary should enter this year's question, your message to the president, what issue is most important to you or your community. whether you're passionate about politics, the environment or

community stories. studentcam is your platform to share your message with the world with $100,000 in prizes including a grand prize of $5000. this is your opportunity not only to make an impact but also be rewde for your creativity and hard work. into you submissions today we're scan the code or visit studentcam.org for all the details on how to enter. the deadline is january 20, 2025. >> georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger sat down with the "washington post" to talk about his states 202014 election rules. misinformation and early voting. this is 25 minutes. >> hello. welcome to the "washington post live." my name is amy gardner. i cover voting for the national desk at the "washington post." today we're joined by georgia secretary brad raffensperger. secretary of state excuse me,

mr. secretary, welcome. thank you for joining us and let's get started. >> good morning. >> i want to start up but talk about the incredible importance of georgia in a presidential election. four years ago the election in georgia was decided by number of votes that you and i will not soon forget i suspect, 11,779 votes. in other words, in the state of 8.28 registered voters that carry 16 electoral votes, just a few thousand could decide the outcome. i wonder if you talk about what you are most focus on heading into this year's election, pleasese. >> good morning, amy. i've been focused on this and today one, is a short any photos concern and rebuild trust where we felt they needed to be rebuilt. number one no matter how you vote in georgia we now a photo id for all forms of voting. if you vote absentee, photo id. in person ehrlich and also obviously on election day. i think that shows up at the

shores of voter trust in process. we've done things to get results reported quickly solve the early absentee the been accepted, all the early voting has to be reported no reason 8 p.m. on election night get we think that's important. we think that helps build trust. we'll be starting early voting tomorrow. devastating our counties and several others, all 159 counties are starting early voting tomorrow. >> as you said early voting start tomorrow across the state of georgia, what can voters expect and what would you like them to know about the start of early voting on october 16th? >> well, by in large all are in great shape but if you're living for in one of the counties that were hit, we will have to move precincts and probably election day. we have been working very closely with governor kemp and his team at fema. since this, the day after the

hurricane hit, making sure that we have power, internet. you can go to my voter page and that'll tell you where to vote on election day. we want voters to be aware of that. >> and what kind of turnout are you expecting, early voting, mail balloting, what you're expecting and how well the counties are prepared for that? >> we don't like making predictions but from what we've seen so far, last week we had 250,000 people that had absentee ballot as the united states postal service did post up game and ballots have been requested and accented, they went out to voters last week. 250,000, we may have another 50, so 300,000. i would say 5 million voters,

that's 6%. so that's really about what we are going to see for absentee voting, i believe, probably 60% will be voting early and the balance of the other 30%, maybe 35% vote on election day. >> and is that number 6%, certainly lower than 2020 during the pandemic, of course, is that higher than pre-pandemic absentee voting levels in georgia. >> it's about the same. 5, 6 in 2022, 5% back in 2018, 2016 and prior years. so looks like georgia have gone back to preferred way of voting which is actually 17 days of early voting that we have. >> let's talk a little bit about the state election board. of course, you are sort of the top election official in the state of georgia and give a lot of guidance to the counties that are actually running the elections on the ground in the state. as you know the state election board has been passing new rules

in recent weeks including one requiring hand count of the number of ballots in the days and immediately after the election. what do you think the impact of the rules are and what ask your view of the purpose of those rules? >> first of all, about the hand counting is before the judge and he'll hear that later this week. that will be decided and pushback from both sides of the aisle and -- they are also concerned about management. first of all, the chain of custody concerns, have the people breaking all the boxes and starting count to ballots, who is touching, there's supposed to be a chain of custody. we have that in place. also hand count for larger

precincts. it's going to take a lot more time. everything that we have been fighting for the voter quicker responses, quicker results, that's why we are going to post all the early votes by 8:00 p.m. well, this drags on for the final 30% to 1, 2, 3, 4:00 o'clock in the morning. really that just becomes breeding ground for conspiracy theories and we don't support but the judge will make that determination and we will find out and follow the law. >> do you think that the state election overstepped its authority with these rules? >> i've been pretty clear that they exceed state law, so is general counsel. they have it. >> got it, thank you. i heard a story last week about how republican members of congress in pennsylvania to force state officials to segregate oversees and military ballots which they say are not sufficiently secure, the process is too porous they say and in

pennsylvania they don't require the same identification requirements required of in-person of early voting and domestic mail balloting. do you have thoughts about the impact of that suit and of the rhetoric questioning the security of military and oversees ballots and have you heard about that issue in your state? >> well, what i will say i support military and support their commitment to -- if that's what happens during military conflict. we want to make sure we get overseas ballots out to them and we've done that, no matter how you vote, using driver's license number or some form of photo id based process so we can tie that back to the voters and give voters -- look at how we do it. look at some other states,

minnesota, nebraska and texas are using photo id. i think that sures up voters' trust and confidence. >> of course, you were a party to the famous phone call januarh president trump asked you to find 11,779 votes when it looked like he had lost the race in your state to joe biden and, in fact, the race had been certified at that point. i wonder if you can talk about how you're combating misinformation and as you put it a minute ago conspiracy theories and how much harder is it, is it harder because some of those theories are coming from the top of the presidential ticket, for instance, trump's running mate j.d. vance has refused to say given multiple opportunities by the press that trump lost the 2025 election, i wonder if you can talk about to combat that kind of misinformation coming from the top of the ticket? >> well, we want voters to have

high trust, high confidence, so if you look at everything that we've done since 2020 and even going back to 2019 when i took office we have verifiable paper ballot but this year what we are going to do is first time in america ever, we are going to be able to audit every single race that's been cast, so we have the ballot images after 5 million ballots are cast, we will have the images and be able to run those through a scanner with a tech company and not just the president, county surveyor and county librarian and compare to what you've got with the machine totals. that's one way that we are going to retally that and give you 100% risk limit to help you encourage and dump trust with voters. we think that's really important. i think photo id for all forms of voting. so everything we've done is make sure that we can proof the accuracy and then have

suspenders no matter what people say, we are going to stay we've already checked that. we have list and recognize that for several reasons, one we are also part, part of a 25-state, multistate organization. our office will exchange our voter list with 25 voter states, it's a confidential secure way of doing that to make sure that we don't have two people on different voter list. now with our department of driver's services all -- all, you know, 49 other states plus the district of colombia, all of them will get their driver's license. you say move from georgia to whatever state that is in, massachusetts or could be washington state, we find out about that and we can reach out to the voter to make them off the list because they driver's license in other state because they've moved there. death records monthly and then we also have bilaterals with four states that pulled out of the multistate organization. so everything we've done to have

clean and accurate voter list because people always said there's dead people voting, no, there aren't. first secretary of state over 20 months ago to do and ad it of the voting roster to make sure only american citizens are on the voter list and because we do a robust citizenship verification, we came back and we found 1600 people who attempted to register but never got on the voter list because our system was secure, our system checked that and couldn't prove citizenship. so we feel like we have a lot of things in place, so people can say things but at the end of the day, the winner will be the winner and the other person will be the person that comes up short and we are trying to gentle as we share that because we understand how polarized is on both sides of the aisle. >> notstanding the steps that your happens has been taking, that has not stopped groups and individuals from filing lawsuits claiming that the voter rules in georgia and elsewhere, of

course, are still bloated or, you know, still do include people who are not eligible to vote or noncitizen or moved away. what are you doing specifically if anything to -- to sort of counter message, when you talk to individuals who disagree with you, do you feel like you've made progress with them? do you give them the same explanation that you gave our viewers and is it effective and can you talk expansively what your office has in place in terms of a messaging counterpoint or rapid response operation to deal with the misinformation that is so prevalent out there right now? >> well, we do the best we can with our press releases but we understand on a good day we may have 50,000 twitter followers and others have millions upon millions, probably outside organization that is can weigh in there and really try to correct all of that disinformation and, you know, be very -- you know, out there in

social media to get that out there immediately. but our job is to do our job and our job is respond to people. we get sued and beat them in court because at the end of the day, you have to have the numbers, we have the numbers and we have the facts on our side have you come out and attempt today refute his statements in particular and what impact do you think his misinformation has had on voters in georgia specifically? >> well, i think that when people have any questions, particularly someone with his really number of twitter

followers, his influence, he can call me whatever he wants. in fact, he can get my personal cell phone number, you can give it to him and i won't put it out here today because i can only handle so many calls today. this will be safe, secure and we will get those results posted quickly and, you know, i think we have high marks from the heritage foundation and also the bipartisan policy center. top of the list of those organizations. we have that. you have to understand in georgia we have secure, accurate elections. at the end of the day i would like to talk to influential people, give them the facts, they want to come to our office, i'm more than happy to sit down with them. that's really important. past sb202, some of the major corporations, you know, located here in georgia would have called us before they started saying we think that stacey abrams is right about this

because she was wrong about everything she said about sb202. voter id has been used in minnesota for over ten years. now we are using photo id for absentee voting. so it's a mid western thing but makes sense, you're taking away just -- we have been sued by both political parties republicans and democrats. as an engineer i'm looking at a fact-base system and we have been working hard every day because i know that every vote matters because every voter matters. i want them to know that their vote counts. >> do you expect donald trump to contest the result in georgia if he loses to kamala harris, vice president harris and are you prepared for and can you tell us a little bit about how you're prepared for it if so, please? >> well, obviously this is not our first rodeo. stacey abrams lost by 55,000

votes in 2018. i get signed into office and we have about 10 or so lawsuits from that, pushed back with the facts. in 2020 we got it from my side and we pushed back with the facts. and so if people have questions at the end of the day we will be able to respond with fact-base but also we are going to have all 5 million paper ballots and we are going to be able to scan those and human readable text. we can do that by hand or we can do that with, you know, tech companies that we partnered with and be able to do that scan. you can check it and look at it and the paper ballot that we have, has security fibers and state seal on it so you know it's official ballot paper. it's not something that you got from a local office supply store. and so all those things that we've done are to build trust for voters. >> i'm looking at a story this week with my colleague tyler pager who covers the white house and the harris campaign about

how the harris campaign is prepared to -- to protect the vote against efforts to undermine popular result. they say they have a robust election protection as most campaigns do but they are also telling us that they are not worried, they talk, everyone is sort of on message talking about how the 2020 election was the most secure election in u.s. history and that they have no reason to believe that 2024 will be any different and i wonder if you can reflect on whether you agree with that outlook and, you know, if you're prepared in different ways to -- to combat sort of emergency scenarios in your state if -- if there are --

if there is a large scale objection to the result. >> we are going to be prepared. obviously 2020 in the middle of a pandemic, it came off as it relates to election management, it came off well. people made short lines on election day in 2020. we have been working on that again. we will keep the lines short. less than one hour. the voter will have a good experience but we understand at the end of the day when the results get put up on the floor and look at the total, half of the people dancing in the street, half are going to be very disappointed. we want voters to have confidence in that and that's why we have all of the things that we put in place and make we check citizenship, clean voter list, we make sure that you have photo id for all forms of voting, keep lines shorter, everything we've done is to -- at the end of the day political parties could have observers

there. they can watch the process and they can actually understand what they are watching. we think that's really important. so we will be ready and we welcome, you know, that scrutiny. we tend to have a very open and transparent process because at the end of the day, i work for the voters. i want every voter to know that their vote was counted, counted accurately and hear what the results are. >> i want to try one more time, do you think that the harris campaign is being too lazy about the possibility for disruptions? >> well, i believe in the very best of my fellow georgians and i know at the end of the day they will accept the results, you know, out of our state and cause disruptions. we have seen it before and we will be prepared. but when we meet them in court, we win because we deal with the facts. i know that for half of the people it's going to be very disappointing and i understand that.

we don't know which way the election will go but our job every day is to make sure that we have fair, honest and accurate elections and that's what we have been working on inspied of a pandemic, we are going to be ready tomorrow. we have a great team in the state election's office, we also have great county election directors too. >> one of the moments four years ago that was -- that was troublesome i suppose is a good word for it was the meeting december 20, excuse me, decemben the electors who had been picked by the trump campaign met in the georgia state capital in atlanta despite that biden had been certified winner and biden electors shared by stacey abrams were meeting to cast electoral votes for joe biden. are there specific preparations underway for the meeting of the electors this year at the georgia state capital, are you worried about security or

alternate electors as they were known in 2020 and are you doing anything specificically about the meeting to have electoral college this year? >> no, that's not really in our lane. our lane is to report the results and point to certify it. we will recount any of those races within half percent. they'll be up to 3 counts on those ballots, everyone will know who won those races based on those results. what they do with the electors, i think, they probably realized that wasn't a good strategy but, you know, that's a different, you know, part to have process. my process to certify it and send it over to the governor's office and review it and he will be in that position, certify the results and that's when they'll

have the election of the electors here for georgia. >> as you know, hundreds of election administrators around the country have retired or quit since 2020 in part because of the absolute spike in threats and harassment that they've endured since donald trump began contesting the 2020 result. i wonder if you can talk a little bit about whether your counties in georgia have -- have been able to recruit sufficient numbers of poll workers to staff their polling locations and make sure the election is running smoothly and also what are you doing to protect their safety and security during election hours both early and on election day and what are you telling them in order to encourage them to feel safe in that environment? >> well, as it relates to manpower, by in charge we are in good shape. we have a few election directors. we work really strong on

training. our only concern is we have county election director where they are running a smaller county, 10,000 people and now in the county of a hundred thousand, it's just more complex, we work with those folks but we have worked hard, getting their counties ready, poll worker wise, we have been in good shape, hurricane helene did damage some of the poll worker homes and so the counties are making sure that they can have enough poll workers there. at the end to have day be in good shape on election day coming up in november. >> are you -- sorry. are you -- are you -- will there be law enforcement at polling locations, that's always viewed as double-edge sword because the balance of security and voter intimidation, is that an issue in georgia? >> regional table tops with law enforcement, so we've called in the county sheriff's department, local police departments, you

know, if they are more of urban-city type location and we've also brought in dhs, tbi, fbi and other organizations and role-playing, game playing, scenario strategies but also the poll workers, the poll managers all will have a tool, see something, say something, we will get notified and have panic button and if the situation looks like it's getting out of control, dangerous. by in large, many precincts will have a sheriffs vehicle posted out there, just sitting up there and they just sit there all day to let everyone know that law enforcement is here and just come in and join the process, vote for the person of your voice and, you know, smile and ready for the results to be posted on election night. >> okay, we have time for one more question and i'm going to

ask you to be as brief as you can although it's a big question. you are a life-long republican, self-described proud conservative. i believe you said publicly that you voted for donald trump in 2016 and 2020, i wonder the state of your party and if you want to tell us who you're voting for it and whether you're voting, i'd be happy to hear it? >> i think that the republican party at the end of the day will have long-term benefit from really leaning into integrity, character, just being a good honest, descent human being and really leading into being a public servant, elected public servant, we need people to do their job. build trust where it needs to be rebuilt and increase security where it needs to be increased and i will continue to do that. i think at the end of the day, that's what voters are looking for. honest person working hard for

them. >> thank you so much secretary, always a pleasure to chat with you, unfortunately we are out of unfortunately we're out f of ti. thank you forre joining us. we will have to leave it there. thanks to all of you for watching. if you're interested in watching more of these important conversations please sign up for "washington post" subscription, get a free trial by visiting washingtonpost.com/live. i'm amy gardner. thanks again for joining us. >> that they are c-span a look at the result of a recent survey examining priorities for americans in both the 202014 election and beyond including opinions on immigration, the economy, foreign policy and use democracy. msnbc host joy-ann reid and columnist amy stoddard are among the participants. watch that live at 10 a.m. eastern. at the same time on c-span2 army

secretary christine warmest and other military leaders talk about civilian workforce innovation at an event hosted by the association of theted in tvening our campaign 2024 coveraludes a debate between incumbent republica senator kevin cramer and his christianson and raise for north dakota u.s.e seat. that's live at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2, also at c-span now free mobile video app and online at c-span.org. >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 455 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have in your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policy is debated and decide all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span 45 years and counting

powered by cable. >> now officials from the treasury department, usaid and the millennium challenge corporation talk about the relation between climate change policies and infrastructure resilience. from the center for strategic and international studies this is about 90 minutes. >> [inaudible conversations] >> many guest joining us online,

no small friends unseen the audience thank you, good morning. or good afternoon depending on your time zone. thank you all forpe joining us either in person or virtually to discuss the importance of applying systems approach to planning. for use government climate resilient infrastructure investment around the world. i'm noam unger and on the director of the new csis sustainable development the resilience and initiative. the initiative is focused on applying lenses of economic security, risk management and investment to issues of climate change adaptation and resilience across the global south. vulnerable communities and countries around the world are already grappling with the effects of climate change including extreme weather and associated shocks and stresses. this is true across the planet and in her own backyard, and our thoughts go to everyone in florida continue with hurricane milton, and others still grieving and recovering in response to hurricane helene.

as adaptation efforts will continue to rise in priority, making their way toward center stage in climate change discussion, a new resilience oriented economy is emerging with the development of new investment asset classes, innovative approaches to insurance, and technology enabled climate information system. these are a few examples. through the snow present csis aims tone better inform future approaches and pressing political dialogue at the heart of theth united states decision-making on global engagement. i would like to say a few words about today's agenda. the event would be comprised of several parts. first you havel from treasure x of secretary alexia latortue and will hold a panel discussion on stage that i will introduce an moderate. following that discussion and the q&a with all of you, there will be a short networking reception outside this room and it will come all of are here in person to attend. so let's begin with the first

part. as assistant assistana latortue fleet of trade and development issues for the treasury department. her wealth of experience includes serving as deputy ceo at the millennium challenge corporation, as a managing director of the european bank for reconstruction and development come as a financial inclusion leader of the world bank and his treasuries principal deputy assistant secretary for international development policy. which is where i first had the opportunity to work closely with her etiquette ago when she let the u.s. governments a efforts n the action agenda on financing forr development. we are excited to welcome her back to csis to discussed the importance and relevance of climate resilient infrastructure in international development. so now please join me in welcoming assistant secretary latortue to the stage. [applause]

>> as i spent much of last night trying to reach my godmother who lives in tampa, florida, i was reminded once again we live in a different world. and so we must, we must do things differently. good morning. and my thanks to you and to csis new sustainable development and resilience initiative for creating this space that brings us together to talk about a vital issue. hurricanes milton and helene are a vivid and painful reminder of the importance of resilient infrastructure writer in the united states. -- right here. these hurricanes force us to confront the extreme weather they can bring. increasing frequency and severity of climate-related events and the terrible cost, human, material, and financial, when we are caught unprepared.

i mourn the heads of lives lost in the aftermath of helene and hope for a swift recovery of those committees affected. tragedies like these make clear what is at stake when we cannot or will not or simply do not prioritize resilience and adaptation. the importance of infrastructure is misunderstood so i will notab labor the point other than to stress that infrastructure is the lifeblood of an economy, enabling increases in productivity and the movement of goods and people. it is also the lifeblood of communities enabling people to access basic services like water and router from mongolia soon, scoping and health services. it is an evergreen priority for countries around the world including right here inri the united states. indeed we've seen historic investments in infrastructure right here. and in emerging and developing countries that face a double whammy of an existing low stock of existing infrastructure assets coupled with many cases

of growing populations come infrastructure is vital to building and more prosperous, equal, and i would dare say peaceful future. and as i said the world is changing as we don't need any old infrastructure. we need infrastructure that is climate resilient, that is more than a collection of various assets they wrote here, a port there, a damp there. we need well integrated, resilient climate was a infrastructure systems at scale. now i'm really proud of the biden-harris administration commitment to and approached yo boosting infrastructure development in emerging markets and in developing countries. at the g7 leaders summit in 2022 president biden alongside his g7 counterparts established the partnership for global infrastructure investment, or pgi. the goal of pgi is to mobilize $600 billion by 2027th to deliver quality sustainable infrastructure.

the united states share is $200 billion and we've already facilitated $60 billion in public and private capital towards that pledge. but more than the numbers what is special about pgi is it was established in recognition that how we develop infrastructure matters. pgi is designed to offer low and middle income countriesmi a comprehensive green system, transparent, values driven financing option for infrastructure development. in this effort agencies across the usg including mcc, usaid, my department treasure, work with like-minded partners across government, the private sector and multilateral development banks in a way i hope i think is well aligned with the five of us support where launching her today, resilience at scale, systems approach to climate resilience infrastructure planning. subsistence level thinking has

been central to how pgi plans, finances and p delivers infrastructure and associated development co-benefits. weef prioritize a corridor approach and noticed out that more intimate, identify and support overlapping and synergistic projects in strategic and geographically linked areas. we also embed in our thinking that infrastructure has purpose to improve health, to promote gender equality, to invest dual connectivity. let me explain the corridor approach as an example. but for hurricane milton, president biden would be making the stork trip to and call in a few days. he would've visited the corridor, a pgi priority. pgied is making core investments along the corridor that include rail and road infrastructure between the mining operations of the democratic republic of congo and simply import infrastructure in angola.

alongside these transport corridors pgi is also investing in grain storage and processing hubs recognizing the importance of boosting agricultural productivity along the corridor, critical mineraly refineries. it's not just enough to extract the minerals. clean energy transmission andrg distribution projects. it's an opportunity to access for injured for industry but also small businesses and households. and fiber connectivity in the communities around the railroad and ports to name just a few examples. we have understood we need to plan individual infrastructure assets in the context of a larger system, not only because it strengthens the economic case for those investment but also because it enables the delivery of broad and deep development co-benefits for the governments, businesses, households and communities that host the infrastructure. this systems company approached infrastructure development allows for cost-effective

deployment of public and concessional resources, encourages private sector registration and enable broad development impact. this systems approach requires thinking about risks, including climate risks, across the whole system as well. now, we were collectively making good progress on building resilience off individual asset, said building to earthquakes, and feeling pretty good about it. but that simply is not enough. as the resilience at scale report highlights so well, failure to have resilientil systems can be disastrous. and i quote from the report. the failure of one infrastructure component can trigger simultaneous failures or cascading collapse with profound impact on communities and ecosystems, end of quote. the good news is that the upside

of the resilient systems approach is great. reliability of infrastructure services improves. economic losses are reduced and cost effectiveness increases. multiple assets can be protected at once, and progress on broader development goals can be supported. so what does it take to work differently, or as the report challenges, to work more smartly? first, all actors must embrace this new way of working with urgency. this means all actors recognizing the importance of understanding, calculating, integrating, and planning for climate form of the lease and risks. all actors must embrace a systems approach which by definition means working much more collaboratively. each after it is each actor needs to think beyond the what asset their financing or the one asset they are prioritizing, and yes planning. we need much more investment,

thorough and smart infrastructure planning. this is not just about financing. it's about the mindset, about incentives, technical assistance, it's about know-how. and on financing we need much more financing for adaptation. ultimately, this requires countries taking control and ownership of their national infrastructure planning so that their work with development partners, with the private sector. they're getting investments to help build and strengthen climate resilient infrastructure systems that online with their own priorities. the president's emergency plan for adaptation and resilience is a whole of government effort that fully embraces a holistic way of working. let me add content and with a bit about treasury and what we're trying to do. let me start with financing. to meet the energy infrastructure requirements of emerging markets alone in a way that aligns with the goals of the paris agreement will require that these markets secure annual

investments of $1.6 trillion into energy transition infrastructure and technologies by the early 2030s. we know we can't achieve this with public money alone and that's why secretary janet yellen has with focus on private capitalization suzy top priority. using scarce public dollars effectively requires partnership across governments, default finance institutions and the private sector. the renewed focus on country platforms at the g20 and countries themselves could be quite helpful in this regard. partnerships across sectors require increased discipline around risk identification and sharing to determine models that work at scale.. working hand-in-hand with the private sector has made clear how central strong financial risk management is, including addressing risks like climate hazards to our ability to unlock

private capital markets towards emerging market infrastructure projects. and given the huge investment, infrastructure investment financing gap, we need every public and private dollar to withstand climate impacts. countries can barely afford to build infrastructure, and they certainly cannot afford to rebuild and rebuild infrastructure. let me double click on the role of the mpps, , and port provided both infrastructure finance and climate finance. the oecd found in 2023 the climate finance commitments to low and middle income countries reached a record highco of about $75 billion up from $60 billion in 2022. and about 30% of that goes to adaptation. let me end withh a point i often start with, and it's not about

finance. development ande. private finane can only be effective resources for climate resilient infrastructure system in the presence of strong enabling environments. as the resilience of skill scale report notes, beyond financial challenges that are real critical institutional, policy, technical requirements to achieving systems level consideration and planning for infrastructure resilience. we must also prioritize this work. in conclusion, i strongly believe that the u.s. government toolkit will help countries build infrastructure systems at scale is robust and is the first, and it's most effective when all parts of the toolkit work effectively together. the bilateral agencies gathered here today, usaid, ncc, others

not on the panel, working in concert with the considerable investment and steak of the united states has in the multilateral development banks and also multilateral climate funds. at its core the report that i hope you all will read leaves us with a simple message. work smarter. and we couldn't have a better panel to help us understand how to take this very simple message into a very complex world. thank you very much. [applause] >> so much, alexi. the charge to work smart and thank you for raising issues of thele complexity of finance, the challenges of enabling environment and the challenges of heightened level and necessity for collaboration. i would now like to welcome our

painless onstage, please bear with us. we are just going to have to move some things around on stage, and please come up and we will begin. thanks. >> all right, thank you. for this part of the discussion we are joined by four key leaders and each brings their own unique perspective to the topic. gillian caldwell is the u.s. agency for international development chief climate officer and deputy assistant administrator for the bureau for resilience environment and food security. within her while she oversees

the agencies climate and environmental work. jonathan record serves as deputy vice president of the infrastructure environment and private sector division within the millennium challenge corporation department of operations. as deputy vice presidentnt he oversees the climate and blended finance work in addition to several technical practice units, energy, water and sanitation, transportation and vertical structures, and its investment and and environmental and social performance. all key to the issues of climate resilient infrastructure. enkhgerel enkhtuvshin is the chief executive officer of the millennium challenge corporation mcculley leading a 46 $1 1 million-dollar project aimed to address residential and commercial water supply shortages through the construction of new well fields, a large-scale wastewater recycling infrastructure and policy and capacity building measures. welcome. adriana navarro-sertich is part of leadership at the emotive

international and global structural engineering and disaster risk reduction firm. signed onn to prepare the preset emergency plan for, called action for the private sector in 2023. her role she directs climate change adaptation planning and design strategies throughout africa, asia, latin america and the grieving. welcome to you all. jillian, want to begin with you. use the id president emergency plan for adaptation and our agency has been helping to lead about the thinking across the h government about climate resilient infrastructure and systemic approaches including this new report that alexia just mentioned as well. please start off by telling us more about that. >> just first a little more on prepare because i think this report is really a natural evolution from what prepare stands for. prepare is president biden's emergency plan for adaptation and resilience and was launched

at cop26 in glasgow, and it's really a of government response to the climate set recognize affectation and resilience require a really comprehensive approach. we have been very focused on advancing climate related warning systems, the kind of information that people in the south of this country benefited from in the lead up to these recent hurricanes. mainstreaming adaptation and resilience as the consideration across shapingco all policy and budget design within governments worldwide and, of course, g catalyzing more fineness given the gaps that alexia spoke to. so, so proud to have you on stage and marsh & mclennan in the audience and others responding to this prepared call for action which has leverage $3 billion in commitments from over 39 39 countries around the world.

so from this kind of thinking come from this kind of interagency coordination i'm really proud that usaid andnd mc worked with partners of the u.s. army corps of engineers and the international development corporation to shape this new which i think alexia did such a fantastic job of describing. we have to get beyond the sum of our parts and think really collectively about what it means to design resilient infrastructure. for example, you could build a bridge which is designed to withstand flooding but if you haven't considered the underlying floodplain managemen management, the water of a whh the bridge is going to pass, no amount of infrastructure is going to resolve that problem. i remember sitting there with the presidenti of pakistan and his cabinet and former special envoy terry and they said the flooding in that country was biblical infl proportion.

one-third of the country under water. and what was left standing where use the id architected schools as emergency shelters points of contact for people in the context of that tremendous disaster. as you look at the video streaming in from the hurricanes on her own shores, you can see that a a well-built building surrounded by roads that are completely impassable does us no good because you can't get to the people inside the building who lack food and water. i think thinking come principally about these issues is encoded form, thinking that just about the concrete but the green infrastructure, how we ensure nature-based solution are really doing the job to protect our environment and i will state board of this after my colleagues, the policy environment that surrounds those investments which can really catalyze further investments and make for better and more

thoughtful infrastructure, or leave all the opportunity unintended. >> thankty you. jonathan, let me bring in to fill in the picture on your work on this. >> thank you. let me just say thank you, thank you to noam thank you to see a space for hosting big thank you to julian and usaid, a tremendous partner for the last i will say several years of this effort as you look back and also want to acknowledge our colleagues from noaa, the finest cooperation, u.s. army corps of engineers were not on the stage with us today but i've joined us in his commitment to climate recite infrastructure systems. in terms of maybe some background on the prepared infrastructure working group, mcc has had the pleasure to cochair the working group alongside usaid, this work was established under the prepared an issue that has been highlighted today. .. three years of sitting down

hashing out how one can build on each of the agency's efforts to better respond to climate impacts and u.s. investments are more resilient and provides critical services to communities and achieve a higher rate of economic return. it's probably worth underscoring how this >> this group really wanted to come out with something actionable and concrete, which is not what one often things about with a working group. nevertheless, we've arrived there and the working group has come out with key recommendations and how we can address a critical gap in terms of how critical infrastructure investments have been made and the need to shift away from the asset-based approach to think about the system and they contribute the system as a whole holds together so if you've got a school or a waste water treatment plant that they're still viable if other parts of that network failed due to climate change. so, over the last several

years, mss and usaid have led this interagency process, pulling together u.s. government actors and others to develop a proposition and best practice guide for climate resiliency scale. research, significant interviews with global experts, thought leaders, we pulled everybody together in d.c. for an in depth workshop to dig into the details, say how can we do this, address this, work together to move the needle on this critical issue. in many respects the events here today and the report which you can access via the qr code on your seats, that's live. it's come out as a culmination of the work group's work and bottom line, its articulated approach, road map, made the case of taking a systems level approach to infrastructure resilience, results in greater resilience, but ultimately lower costs. so, i won't dwell on those, i think we've heard a lot about that already.

it's very critical, but i will say that m.c.c. is very pleased to stand alongside the others that made a commitment to looking at climate resilient infrastructure in our program. again, a shot out to usaid, noee and taking a step back, what does it mean for m.c.c. you know, for those that know m.c.c. i think it's fair to say we have a fairly unique model, we have large scale grants and underscore grants for low and low middle min come countries to tarring the economic growth and fight poverty. our grants are on the order of $350 million, sometimes more than 500, $600 plus million dollars going into a single country and infrastructure investment is a big part of that. the point was made earlier, reliable infrastructure is critical for economic growth. since maa's establishment in

2004, we have an invested more than 16 million dollars in several low, middle income countries ranging from energy, agriculture, water, transport, schools, health centers. you know, i think also, as most people in this room would already know, the need for global infrastructure is huge. financing gap expected to grow by 15 trillion dollars by 2040 and some estimates are greater. at the same time, climate change is threatening all of that infrastructure. it's threatening communities in countries, rising sea levels, more severe storms, more floods, shifting patterns of drought. we're seeing it here in the u.s., but in the countries that m.c.c. works, they're less able to afford the measures and steps that need to be taken to deal with that. so i think i'll just end here with couple of examples about what this looks like at m.c.c.'s portfolio and really do want to underscore the point that our partner countries are

really on the front lines. our experience is showing us already that taking this approach to infrastructure, resilience, is critical and our countries also see this. so you'll hear soon from the ceo the leader of our mongolia contract that the approach for the investment package there was fundamental to being able to ensure that water is provided, safe and reliable drinking water is provided to the people of the capital city. in addition, our 649 million dollar contact in indonesia provides an excellent example how we're trying to take the systems approach head on in our newer programs. the indonesia compact includes 300 million dollar projects, that they need to plan and invest in the resilient infrastructure systems and this focuses on five provincial

governments in plans for transport and logistics, infrastructure, helping those develop road maps and infrastructure based on the climate resilience and bringing funds to the table to actually develop those projects that are put forward by the indonesian government and do what we can to bring our-- leverage our grant dollars and bring in private sector financing. lastly, a quick note on our mozambique, in the transport sector. m.c.c. and the government of mozambique recognized early on in our partnership, the increased frequency and intensity of storms and the risk that climate change really poses to that country, particularly in the province where the program focuses. in fact, just last year, cyclone freddy set the longest lasting in the year. not just once, but twice. so zam beak --

mozambique, we looked at resilience as a whole, climate resilience as a whole and maintenance, and $200 million to replace an existing bridge over the river which is, if you go out on bridge right now, you can see if a storm comes in it's at risk of failure, water is almost overtopping it. without the bridge, traffic has to divert two days through malawi. and making sure that transport link is maintained. and i know that's a lot. i can turn it over and hear from the rest of the panel. >> thank you, john. it's sort of great to sort of begin to contextualize and see what this could look like. we have a wonderful opportunity to do just that. we're happy to have you here in washington. could you tell us about the work of mongolia and lead to

water stresses and connects to the systems approach. >> thank you. according to research institutes, mongolia is one of the 50 most water stressed countries in the world and climate change is a major contributing factor to this because, excuse me, mongolia is also one of the countries most affected by climate change. for instance, the average temperature in mongolia, two to three degrees celsius over the last years one of the highest in the world and 70% of the land. and this drives internal migration to rural areas and 1 over half resides in the single city, our capital. in addition, it's also home to two-thirds of all the activities in the country and accounts for 65% of our total gdp so i think that all of this

highlights the importance of critical infrastructure such as power and water supply in improving water in the face of climate change. no surprise in 2016, a joint u.s.-mongolia study identified possible water shortage one of the constraints to economic growth. it was further found studies from 2020, also faced imminent water supply shortage. the mongolia water complex is unique in what it works to preemptively look at the water supply by about 80%. so we are to implementation of three investment activities closely interrelated. so under the first activity we are constructing new ground water routes that will unleash

new ground water and in mongolia, purification plants to pursue purify the water from these fields. and 65 million cubic feet of water per year. so around this time next year, when the well fields come online, additional water over the current supply. i also want to highlight here that these new well fields are constructed under a heavily industrialized area. and heavily industrialized area for decades, treated waste water has been dumped into the river. with these activities they're eliminating these, with proper utelization under the abundant resource to create value and quality of life. so, in addition to the 55 million cubic meters of water,

another 22, 23 million is used for power generation of the water which some of you might know at the coolest capital in the world. our second activity, is aimed to reduce, decrease the fresh water demand in power generation by using the waste water. the waste water plant, the first of its kind in mongolia will treat the affluent and replace 18 million out of 22 million cubic meters of fresh water, with waste water and save about 37 billion bottles versus fresh water each year. so, with the aactivities, they

will be in the form of waste water and for the first time in our history to cautiously and deliberately implement water supply and demand management. now, the activity under the complex, sustainability as they call it, it's the final piece of the puzzle that ties these together. it strengthens capacity of human resources of water utilities to properly operate and maintain these. and second, it introduces a sound and self-sustaining financial frame work for cost recovery. and third, it's undertaken the policy and actions to increase-- to improve water in mongolia for years to come and also to enable the government to continue on its commitment even

beyond the complex lifetime. all in all, i think the mongolia water complex is a true life example of the holistic approach. >> thank you, it does paint the specific picture of how it comes together using, you know, waste water instead of potable water, you know, for the power needs in the coldest capital in the world and really reversing what you had seen as the trends, with regard to water shortages for this work. thank you for sharing that example. >> adriana, you work for a private sector company. how does the private sector link up to the approach described by gillian, by john. by taking the systems approach that we're all seeking? >> thank you. first of all, it's a pleasure

to be here on this distinguished panel and thank you to csis for hosting this and we hope we'll have a better chance to dive into. let me take a quick step back to get a bit more context in terms of the work we do before diving into the big question. for me, global engineering firm with a humanitarian focus. we worked quite a bit under the disaster management response. we tackle everything from the disaster management response cycle. so from assessment to relief to row construction, to preparedness and that allows us to break the mooumtainer assistance side as well as the long-term development side. from a professional stance to be a part of a company that can have these conversations. we have about 75 years of experience, 20-plus offices around the globe and we both have a multidisciplinary team

housing, urban planning, to community engagement, to policy and planning as well. so, back to infrastructure and, let's say more of-- i think we can't talk about just infrastructure resilience, let's say, in the system-based resilience, but talk about infrastructure for resilience. ultimately, we're about saving lives and building long-term sustainability and involves a holistic approach. echo three main points that will reiterate for the panelists. we'd like to call or we'd like to say that we focus on what we call a 3m framework approach to infrastructure resilience and infrastructure-based approach. this means the first is really looking at multiple dynamics, and as mentioned, as well as right there, it's a dependency

on different dynamics here and we need to understand those, right? from growth to energy networks, to public spaces, to connectivity. we need to understand how these multiple dynamics come together and what their relationships, what their dependencies are, as well as lack of dependency. and i'll piggy back on it, and the success of it's physical infrastructure being roads and drainage depends on the natural system. can we protect the wetlands and the water filtration that happens. if we solely focus on one, it building barriers that might feel and solve one solution, but brings about a diversity or network of services, and we have ultimately have to think of this together. if we don't think of local governance, informal settlements might be left out of some of the solution and they will we'll start exacerbating some of the social

and economics that we're seeing in places. so, this idea of engaging in more of a multiple-- understanding the multiple dynamics is the first m. the second resilience especially linked to climate change. from the infrastructure, to the neighborhood, to the larger kind of city and regional approach. so, again, we might be looking at a house specifically and we're looking at potentially raising that house and that won't affect us, we're looking at gardens and how we can interact with bioflow, differing corridors and spaces that allow that water filtration to happen and at a city scale look at restoring some of the wetlands and looking at this much more as an overall network in system, as well as at a regional scale supporting a more-- the overall eco system. so we have to look at the multiple scales as we approach

the systems and infrastructure planning. and the third is, really multi-hazard, and you touched on this. and it's absolutely essential for us not to simply focus on one, it's compounding hazards and we have to look at them together to understand it's not just about the resilience, for example, which used to be our bread and butter and through the last 15 years have evolved tremendously to know that there's flood, there's the drought, you know, there's erosion, with climate change and it's becoming more and more relevant and of course, alarming, as well. so we have to start tackling this altogether. so the first are the three m's in terms of overall-- in terms of system resilience and the second is really, you know, how do we then equip our team and what are some of the resources then to be able to provide an action around this? and this, i will just stress that we really made a

tremendous effort to create multidisciplinary teams that can work in interdisciplinary fashion and this means a challenge internally to get beyond the siloed approach sometimes and look into more disciplinary and have the discussions and back to work together. i'm a clear example of that. i'm an architect and planner by trade and we work with architects with the importance of nature-based solutions and biology for the different knowledge and perspective to integrate it together and have a much more holistic approach and the third point that i want to stress overall is that we need local action, and i'm so excited to be sitting next to my colleagues here, but we do need ultimately, a local action, promote local leadership, and you know, at

miyamoto, we started in haiti after the earthquake, office is still running and still moving forward. when we don't have necessarily an office, the importance of partnering with local partners, of course, that bring that knowledge, that understand the nuances and understand the local governance and can obviously support in a much more grounded perspective around what resilience can mean in that specific context, and that also means, you know, enhancing the channels for knowledge exchange and really seeking to create-- it's not just around the building, but have a basic and solid understanding around resilience where we can all be aligned and especially with a system-based approach to be able to tackle the challenges that we face. >> thank you. i'm just reminded that it's so wonderful to have the different perspectives on this central issue. i want to bring back to you, so, having deliberated on the systems approach with experts

inside and outside of the u.s. government and having developed this resilience at scale report, that really, sort of articulate a lot of the different considerations that we're hearing articulated here and more, in terms of the actions that donors countries and stake holders can take. what needs to happen next? what will usaid and other agencies now do to fulfill their commitments to this approach that's been articulated? >> well, i think it really underscores the need for a lot more planning and coordination upfront first and foremost, which, you know, may not always be popular, right, in the context of the need to move fast with the demands being on the ground, and being what they are. but sometimes i think you have to move more slowly to move more quickly. you take, for example, the philippines. we talk about interagency coordination and we talk about

intra corporate coordination, and there were 30 different federal agencies thinking through various equities when it comes to water management. that represents the kind of holistic thinking you want, but it could, of course, be a recipe for disaster without some appropriate coordination, so one of the things that usaid did is aggregate the thinking and synthesize the work and the mandates moving forward. so, i think that's critically necessary. i think really making sure that you're doing the comprehensive vulnerability and risk assessments and climate risk analysis upfront that goes beyond the individuals that have infrastructured your developing, and it's already been emphasized to think about the surrounding eco system both in terms of the built infrastructure and the natural environment. going back to planning,

thinking about ensuring you're engaging the stake holders, your partners, civil society, local communities, the government, making sure all of those conversations are had because everybody has a piece of the puzzle and you need a unified and comprehensive way forward. i think, also, and this is what makes catalyzing a private sector investment so challenging where infrastructure is concerned, quite frankly, you need to think about the life cycle costs of the investment, right? people tend to think in terms of the upfront cost, rather than thinking about how those extra efforts you make to address the climate and risk vulnerability are going to extend the life of that infrastructure by decades, ultimately saving you money, helping you increase on the possibility that you're going to yield returns. i think, also, when it comes to the private sector, so much of the call to action and work on

climate more broadly, setting the stage for the private sector investment. what can we do, can conceptional finance be offered and bring the kind of risk insurance we need to the table? are there guarantees available? and you don't want to displace private capital where it's moving already, to renewable energy, but, where infrastructure is concerned, we just have an enormous gap and we need to bring the private sector more fully into the terrain. so, those are the things i would mention and just one more point on policy, you know, coming in as donor governments with projects valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. i think taking the opportunity to sync with the government about the investments and so necessary. we do need that. in the cases where the state

and national governments have the capacity to leafy appropriate taxes, understanding there may be limitations to budget for these infrastructural co-investments that are so necessary to think about green roofs and storm water management and the other terrain, it helps an environment conclusive more to what we need. >> thank you, for that sort of expands on the point making earlier at her remarks, enabling environment. i think that's a good point. jonathan, i want to turn to you from your perspective, how do you expect this more systemic approach that, you know, your agent is embracing. how is that going to shape the efforts going forward? you talked about, you brought in the examples of indonesia and mozambique. how will it impact at the earlier stage of their development right now?

>> yeah, that's a key question. and i would say, you know, i give some good examples and i cited what we've been doing leaning forward, but i think it's fair to say we're still working on it and it's a work in progress. as i kind of reflect on the broader question of now what? what does it mean for m.c.c.? i'd highlight three core areas and actually each of them touch on fundamental things that m.c.c. does in all of its work and the first i would say, you know, when we start out our engagement with a country, we do a series of in depth analysis and i mentioned earlier the constraints. we do an in depth economics what are the obstacles, what are the constraints and opportunities? increasingly we started doing assessments of natural capital and what is the holistic picture and how do we target

our investments? we've been weaving climate into that into our analysis and constraint, but what i think is different now, as we look forward, is really this systems blend. we really have been more asset focused and i said good examples where we haven't, but i think that's to be fair more of the exception more where we're going now than where we've been. as we look to that path going forward, i think we're going to see us being more deliberate in master planning and master planning in a way that gets at the system and again, not bringing in the climate resilience and, you know, part of that, also, is also recognizing that the countries where we work often don't have master plans. they're limited. they're dated and most don't take climate into account. as we go through that process, i think we may well see some differences in what our programs look like. maybe not fundamental, but maybe there's a different piece

of the infrastructure system that's urgent or need addressing than others. the second piece i want to hit on, it's been touched on, the policy institutional reforms. this has been sell central to all of m.c.c.'s work. we look at policy and regulatory reforms are critical for success of our interventions and our programs and we build that into our package of investments. as we look forward, you know, bringing in this climate, the systems resilience lens, i think we're going to want to be more deliberate bringing back into conversations about policy and institutional reforms. bringing that in to equip the countries to do that kind of planning, to do that kind of master planning on their own and give them the tools to prioritize and develop climate

systems. the third i'll mention is coming back to weighing the costs and developments and here, too, this is the central piece to everything that m.c.c. does. do an in depth cost-benefit analysis and say in this sector, where do we get the most out of our limited grant dollars, what are the binding restraints and how do we achieve a solid rate of return for economic investments. i think it's fair we're looking at infrastructure systems as part of their exercise, but not necessarily the climate resilience component of it. as we do the cost benefits, there are different costs to bring into that calculus, but also different benefits. what are the benefits of having the infrastructure system or getting back to what they were touching on the life cycle costs and put additional funding in upfront and have a much greater impact in the longer terms. and then the last piece, not to

mention, this last segment is key and this is a big push for m.c.c. as well and we have grant money that many others do know the and we really, really push and we work hard to leverage that and catalog private sector investment. here, too, we are pushing that more in the climate space and as we bring private investment and infrastructure doing it in a way that reinforces this, i think it's really important and will shape what our programs look like moving forward. >> thank you. and on that third point, in terms of the cost benefit analysis, i imagine it complicates, further complex phis the cost benefit analysis when you start to take into account forecasting data as opposed to just historical data to think about some of the benefits or costs. and there was an example. you talked about it in terms of the forecasting of water shortages and in the case in mongolia. so, that would then factor into your sort of cost calculus, i

would imagine. the question for you, looking back on the arc of planning and design for mongolia's water compacts, are there elements that might have benefitted even more from a fuller, more systemic approach? and also, how do you build on what you're already carrying out to connect your work to other parts of the infrastructure network that exists in the capital or across the country? >> to be honest, i don't really see significant that we're lacking in terms of planning and designing the complex. i do believe, however, that self-components that they're implementing under that, such as the policy and regulatory actions, capacity building, especially in terms of ensuring investments and assets that they're building. which i think, honestly, otherwise might have been challenging for the government

to prioritize and achieve themselves. for instance, at the end of the contract the government is already looking ahead and is working to update the existing regulatory framework that we have to introduce new dimensions of waste water, recycled waste water use. again, this is the first time that this practice is being introduced in mongolia. >> they are aiming to expand the recycled water use beyond water and teaching it, and others when you factor in construction materials, irrigation et cetera. along this line they're planning to introduce some financial incentives to further encourage water reuse, instead of using fresh water for industrial purposes, which, i think, is extremely important in increasing water resilience again in the face of climate

change. and also, another example is that, you know, the government is planning to field the outcome to address certain challenges that they're facing, such as air pollution, which, here in winter is ranked the worst in the world and traffic and so on. so what the municipal and government is planning, to create the satellite centralized area they're working on feasibility study and detailed studies to provide these areas with water. so. i think these are two about concrete examples of what the government is doing to expand, to work and even beyond the complex. >> yeah, absolutely. adriana, in what way might this more systemic approach on the part of the u.s. government agencies, right, and other donors and stake holders have as the impact on what miyamoto

is trying to do even through the commitment through the call to action under prepare? >> yeah, with prepare let me tell you a little about what we're doing, so, again, take a step back and then jump to how a more system-based approach can help propagate this. and again, applauding the leadership and the prepare call for action, and really being a catalyst for us, right, and catalyzing and enabling the private sector to be more engaged bringing it together. one of the key pillars is the effective knowledge generation and addressing critical knowledge gaps and ultimately that's what we're doing, we're bringing in our technical expertise to try and fill in what we see as some of the gaps and potentially create some of the knowledge. and our focus has been on climate resilient housing in

particular, where we've noticed there's a lot of guidelines and quite a bit of work focusing on infrastructure itself, on services, but not necessarily through that focus on housing. so, even for government, even multilaterals to have a very easy and i don't necessarily want to call it guide, but a very easy reference tool to understand what some of the solutions can be that can be adapted at a household level and relevant at different contexts and look at multiple hazards and we're ultimately looking at climate resilient housing and communities, and we have launched an open source challenge to crowd source, basically, to consolidate different case studies around the globe from different organizations and form an informal coalition around us where we can showcase sop of the solutions on housing, and climate resilience and community resilience overall. that's it repository pretty

soon and allows us to come together for the organizations to create more knowledge exchange. again, back to having more of a system-based approach, how does that help us move forward. it helps us by creating the coalition, by allowing that these discussions to be had with different organizations and as well as creating more awareness and relevance for different stake holders. much of the challenge is the operational stance, in the projects that we address is creating that awareness to the different stake holders and sometimes, you know, the local municipalities in order to emphasize or understand more and obviously having the backing and call to action, to allow us to move forward in a much more efficient manner, being able to back up a lot of what we're saying and again, being able to partner with

other organizations. >> and well, i have probably like 10 more questions that i'd like to ask you, but i'll pick one and invite the audience for the panel of experts. >> it's a question for all of you, from different perspectives. why is it important for american people and businesses and the economy that the u.s. government is actively trying to shape and per more systemic approaches, the planning and design around the world in developing countries? how might you answer that, for example, if a member of congress walked in here and asked you that question. what's the answer to that from your own vantage point? anybody want to jump in? otherwise i'm going to go right down the line. who has a thought? >> i'll kick us off. obviously in the world we're facing today with the kind of

conflict, the intransigent, really, horrible conflict we're seeing in places like the middle east, in ukraine, just really reinforced the importance of allyship and strong relationship on the ground and the u.s. government is striving to be a partner of choice when it comes to these countries, low and middle income countries usaid works in and that m.c.c. works in to provide the kind of intellectual partnership, the ending, and the long-term thinking that we need to assure the stability and growth of these economies. we're also doing work that really sets the stage for u.s. private sector growth and development. for example, when it comes to supporting countries that transition to renewable energy,

one of our sort of signature interventions is shaping free, fair and transparent auctions for energy that u.s. energy developers can bid on to ensure these governments are getting a fair and predictable price over time to build out the renewable energy infrastructure and u.s. businesses are able to compete fairly in the context of those. that's one of many examples where u.s. businesses, u.s. employees and u.s. economy benefits from the kinds of partnerships we're talking about. >> thanks, and maybe to compliment what gillian noted. we live in an interdependent world. not everybody realizes, but we say an experience clearly during the covid pandemic when

the supply chains break down. food production, manufacturing, transport, shipping of goods and when infrastructure breaks down in one part world. it has a knock on, prices go up, availability goes down. so there really is a value in the u.s. investing in the kind of things we're talking about today in terms of resilient infrastructure. when the system goes down, people receive no access to basic services, activation and power systems. and perhaps, sometimes considered an abstract link, but i think one that can get real really fast. >> and interdependence goes both ways, goes in all directions, rit. i was redding yesterday last week's storm and this week's storm hitting the u.s., affected 85% of the domestic supply of iv fluids. you know, that just by chance of where these industries and

factories sit in the u.s. and we're having to look externally at potential sources to, you know, help people dealing with illness and situations. >> i think also, the u.s. is one of the leading sources of humanitarian aid and as we see more and more extreme weather events as the kind we're seeing growing in frequency and intensity, the price tag for that kind of aid continues to go up and marsh mcclennen, who another partner in the care call to action investment, for every $1 insure-- for every $1 you invest in that preparedness and resilience, you save 13. six in the damage and cleanup and further seven in the knock on economic benefits. he so it's also just being smarter how you invest precious public dollars. >> and do you have a --. >> i think by answer to this

question would probably be -- you know, have a saying that a gift is a true gift, and parties are happy. i think you know, systemic approach toward aid achieves exactly that. basically, u.s. taxpayers funds are spent on meaningful projects that truly make a difference in the country and people of that country. at the same time it's, you know-- these infrastructure projects, investments are able to extend challenges, increasingly more challenges presented by climate change and also at the same time they achieve foreign policy objectives or priorities that both countries serve so i think it's a win-win. >> anything to add? >> sure, i'll put in my private sector hat and say that, obviously, it sports businesses and local businesses and to be

able to export our services, but also, allows and fosters this exchange that we can have, right, around technologies, around technical capacities, and economics, so, yeah, win-win. >> and let me now turn to somebody who come around with a mic and please raise your hand to indicate that you have a question. we've got one in back there and we'll group them. we'll take that one and also take this gentleman on the other side of the room. it's always good to get exercises and you're running the mic around the room. and please, introduce yourself. >> hi, good morning, and thank you to the panelists, just one quick question that i have, i'm curious to learn how your organizations are thinking about innovation and technologies and kind of what is that role in the place for investment in r & d when it comes to climate and resilient infrastructure. >> thank you for that question. >> this gentleman on this side

of the room, had a question, and we'll take those two together. >> hi. >> hello, brian, from the global research program. >> and i want today target back to one of the first metaphors that is used this is a base approach, that would be corridor analogy that was brought up by alexa. when you walk in, there's something of building up the system based approach and what is it? and hearing it being at the forefront and would like to hear from your organizations. love the discussion so far. >> thank you, two topics, innovation and technology and equity and justice. i'm going to open it up. we don't have to go in any particular order. if anyone has thoughts on any of those questions, jump in. all of you with both of those

factors. >> i'm happy to start. >> please, john. >> maybe just a couple of thoughts and appreciate the question on innovation and technology. you know, this is something that we're all too increasingly thinking a lot about at m.c.c. and how can we obviously do a better job of really, you know, bringing that into our programs. how do you bring in that expertise in the private sector, we often talk about the source of money. it's not just money, but it's expertise and certainly when we talk about technology. we've got a growing push on digital and on, you know, digital technologies, but across the board whether we're looking at agriculture and the advanced irrigation technologies and looking at the power sector and technologies for managing and, you know, and sharing the power. you know, we're trying to be deliberate in terms of how we build that into our programs and provide opportunities, often through blended finance

tools like matching grants or, you know, ways to kind of bring the private sector into a market they might not otherwise go into or build it into the design of our programs. we have also been working closely with the small business administration trying to develop a mechanism with them to tap into the various technologies that are actually started and incubated by the u.s. government in some very, you know, cutting edge ways and try to formally bring those into our programs as well. i'll be honest, it's not always an easy thing to do, given the process, given our models, given our five-year timeline, but something that's definitely top of mind. >> let me just speak to equity because i have-- i mean, that's touch a core value for usaid and it's essential to our climate strategy, it's one of the core underlying principles, concretely speaking, what does that mean? it means that we have committed to investing in indigenous people in local communities and especially when you think about

the climate crisis, it's so fundamental to recognize that indigenous communities steward a majority of the carbon critical landscape in the world and study after study demonstrates, they do so better than others, even in the context of protected area management. so, these are communities that are not just too often neglected or overridden in the context of development projects, but, in many cases actively persecuted and many indigenous leaders are fascinated for their efforts to protect their lands and way of life. women used in other disadvantaged groups, completely fundamental. if you want to be smart and strategic and sustainable in your development solutions you must ensure that women and youth are at the table in terms of shaping those designs. that's with an ensures the

stick-to-it-iveness, the longevity of those investments and all of that is usaid under a broader banner of localization, had a commitment to quadruple our investments in locally-based organizations and to ensure that at least half of our investments by 2025 are real architected and shaped and led by those local organizations. it's not a secret that an organization like usaid and many of the big bilateral donor agencies, the investments tend to go to larger, multinational organizations. and that makes sense because of course, we're that i go about stewarding vast sums of money. there are expensive reporting requirements. project design refire departments. at the same time what can we do to assure while the responsibility to steward those resources carefully, because

smart, strategic, sustainable development requires the inclusion of local partners in architecting and advancing the solutions. >> can i just briefly, i would be remiss if i didn't put in a plug for m.c.c.'s recently released gender and social inclusion policy. i talk about things that are fundamental to m.c.c. and when we look at equity, when we look at social inclusion, this is something that we've hit on since the beginning and continue to try to grow, build and deepen. you know, it's critical to make sure that when we're investing in the types of programs that we're investing in in infrastructure, at the end of the day, the infrastructure is about people and we're talking about ensuring that women benefit the youth, disadvantaged groups, that's a lens that we approach everything with and is really central to what we do. i just want to underscore that. >> a couple of points, the first on r and d and kind of technologies of course, where like any organization, very interested in making our work more efficient and facilitating

the service that is we're trying to provide. we are, for example, partnering with other organizations such as the other scenarios and use a lot of the imagery that we can produce to allows us when the building collapses it's very difficult, sometimes to get in or have one of the engineers to enter it because it's life threatening at that point. so we use these kind of lifetime imagery to get a better sense of what movements are happening. is a structure safe to go into or not. so, that's one, really partnering with other organizations that already have a much more vast technology this we could do in house and we could leverage each other. and the other one, of course, is trying to, especially when we're looking at multiple dynamics and scales, looking at technology to help us quantify a lot of what we're doing, in terms of the benefits and the entire organization. so, being able to layer these

different layers of information around, you know, if we're trying to prioritize where in the city, right, we have to put more emphasis, let's put in that population density. and put in the different hazard maps and eco systems and open spaces to, you know, where is the critical infrastructure. where are these kind of service deserts and let's have all of these together with different ways and using technology allows us to quantify that clearly where we can start seeing the prioritization of different areas and allowing us to prioritize action. so, yes, very interested and activity seeking different partnerships and technology that can make work more efficient. in terms of equity and visit and it's a great question. ultimately a lot of the work that we do is in informal settlements and there are more vulnerable communities and both with climate change as well as other disasters and i think one of the things that we try to strive on. the work that we do is on the

co-creation front. in part it allows us to bring the different voices that need to be there around, you know, so we can have the use and have more accessibility and inclues incluesivety. these are areas where the government isn't necessarily present and won't be able to maintain the infrastructure services that can be provided and that there's a very fun process in being able to ke create with the community in order to empower the community and create either the local strategies or enhance local government evaluation that exist, so that maintenance and originals can happen in the long run. and ultimately what we don't want to happen, come in, support intervention and then this collapses because it's not appropriated, it's not necessarily being able to be maintained or the community doesn't see the relevance. so, i think, yes, that's important being able to have the discussions and opening,

let's say the platform to be able to co-create when possible. >> new for that question and both of those questions because i think on either one you could have a whole session to dig into them. when i think about the question on r and d, for example, i think about different types much research and development of construction materials, given new and increased challenges and stresses on infrastructure, but i also think about sort of earth observing, remote sensing data and the ability of ai to enhance the analysis of data to provide better climate information services that local businesses around the world really need, that farmers really need to be more resilient. so there's a lot that's happening in this space. let' turn to one last question and then we'll wrap up in the group. i saw this hand go up first. very anxiously over here, so we'll take you and i apologize to the others. this will be the last question, but we'll have a reception afterwards and you'll have time to chat more about this for those in the room. please remember to introduce

yourselves. >> hi, thank you so much for the panelists for a really insightful discussion. my name is rachel law. i am an incoming, i guess, as a fellow at usaid and bureau for environment and through security. my question is, is that a lot of these larger infrastructure projects can be quite contentious implementing, especially nationally and global, and communities who have been continuously hurt by the exacerbation of climate impacts. so my question is, what kind of social engineering, but work is being done to kind of support the very civil engineering or design work, working between the social support for these kind of projects and that needs to come from local communities and the engineering design work

that's being done. >> thank you for the question and welcome to your first day of your fellowship the usaid. everyone should go work for usaid. i say as a former two-time usaid employee. so, this is a great question for us to sort of wrap into maybe some final comments as well as we go across our panel. i think i'll add to it just that we've talked about this system more holistic approach just requires a whole level change in terms of collaboration, which to your point can sometimes slow things down, but also make things better over the long-term. i think the question also connects to that in terms of focusing on the social support needed to assure the sustainability and success of climate resilient infrastructure and investment. so, you know, how do we get there? do we have the tools that we need? do we need to invest in differently to do what our

questioner is asking better? let me just go down the line. >> i think we've touched on the need for that consultation and co-creation from the very beginning so that your investments are really meeting the needs of communities. you know, going back to the bridge i started with and the flood plain surrounding it. is there a bicycle lane that's necessary to reduce vehicular traffic and emissions? what about roadside stands for shop keepers who are actually trying to, you know, sell their goods along the road? how are we going to address air pollution and the sustainability of that infrastructure? for the people in the flood plains, how are we going to think about their continued access to the biodiversity they depend on to survive, as well as their ability to farm ap

and fish in the area. looking at the assets, the natural and physical assets as a system that is complete interrelated and that connects to people and nature and that needs to be informed by people in their perspectives, as well as nature and its needs and possibilities. >> i think that speaks to the interdisciplinary apreach brought in as well which gets to the social side of these sort of hard infrastructure projects. john. >> a few thoughts and where to go from here and how to make this work and maybe first, just to touch directly at the question and, you know, i feel like i've said a number of times, something that's fundamental to m.c.c., but one piece i haven't touched on yet that's fundamental to m.c.c. is what we call country ownership and that is something that is central in everything in we do. we do it in partnership with our partner countries. that starts at the very

beginning, we talk about what are the sector and what are the needs, highly engaged at all levels of national government and even down to communities what an investment actually is. so our programs are owned by, are developed by and with our country partners and in fact, they're the ones that implement them and do them. so, i think that that helps ensure that the stuff that we support is owned, supported at that lower level. coming back to your bigger question, i mean, we've touched on coordination. you know, i think you'll even see in the commitments that we've made about sharing information and new data and tools. i think that's all relevant here, and you know, i spoke a lot about the working group and the government coordination, but it's got to be broader than that. it's bringing in the private sector, it's bringing in other actors, and ngo's, there's a lot of information out there. the insurance industry is on the front lines of climate

change, you know, they've got the map and the statistics. we're working with noaa in our partnership with some of the best climate data. developing that data and sharing the data, i think we're looking at new tools and approaches. and i looked at some the i think so things that m.c.c. is grappling with and learning from others and maybe a final point and touched on this, but financing. i think, you know, it's very clear, we've tried to make the case that, you know, an investment upfront and resilient infrastructure pays longer in terms of life cycle costs and in terms of paying for damage, but generally speaking it costs more on the front end and how do you mobilize those funds. i think it's a combination of private sector and government donors, et cetera. >> i just want to echo jonathan's statement here in terms of country ownership and enrollment by the country, throughout all stages.

started from development where we decide, you know, what to invest, which projects to implement. you know, at all stages and at all levels by the government and not only at the government, the private sector. the experts, practitioners, academics all alike. these kinds of extensive die logs go a long way to ensure that the country actually owns the projects and stays accountable and responsible through implementation, so, i think it goes a long way. and, you know, about coordination and collaboration, i couldn't agree more. i think, you know, most of the countries, if not all, that partner with donors are developing countries. they, you know, and it's common for these countries to lack expertise, resources to systematically design and plan for these complex projects, to effectively execute them and assure their long-term sustainability in the long run. ... sustainability. i think these are the types of

collaborations and coordinations between stakeholders although they may have different agendas or priorities, but they will coordinate effectively toward the same goal and it can make a mile of difference. >> i will just compliment by >> i will compliment by saying there are variants pretty much on the approached infrastructure and i think it's not necessary but reinventing the wheel. a lot of the multilateral have wonderful resources. where we see the challenge is from that discourse and the conceptualization to the actual implementation on the ground. many times this also happens because of an existing funding issue where funding and still come very much in silos. also inal terms of the

implementation will receive a silo approach are different type of institutional framework, that doesn't necessarily allow this interdisciplinary whatsit approach for the coordination. one of the emphasis we need to place from a policy perspective and also how to exchange perspective you how to start bridging some of these gaps. one of the point i wanted to make on r&d, new technologies come is a backward going back to understanding and leveraging and supporting much more on the vernacular side. saying this bamboo construction, technologies that got ignored because modernity was concrete, when the going back to that. we are understanding they provide tremendous support we need to leverage and again it goes back to also enhancing some of the social justice and equity and community. i wanted to stress that.

i will finalize by saying they need is so great.vi financing is a critical c component of it but this is a compounding challenge. it's not just a crisis chose, it's a human ten crisis. globally speaking. what we see is this does demand a new approach to how we are developing infrastructure, how we are thinking about infrastructure, but also on the private sector side we need more purpose driven let's say private sector engagement. so it's not just on the financing but really leveraging about what you can do and how we can work together on this. >> well, thank you. this has been a tremendous discussion, and it is built upon tremendous work including the report by various agencies of the u.s. government led by mcc and usaid. i wantt to thank our expert panelists. i want to thank alexia from treasury. i want to maketo sure i also thk

madeleine mclean from my team who is here in the room, and csis comforting and audio and visual support teams for pulling this together. i also want to thankr some colleagues from the u.s. government side as well. this event would not happen without tremendous cooperation especially from amy from usaid, and mcc. [applause] >> thank you so much. thanks for youryo continued leadership on this set of issues and on climate resilient infrastructure issues. we hope to have many of you join as here again two weeks from today at csis. we are going to host senior climate advisor to president biden john podesta along with the brazilian secretary and a fellow by the of other global leaders on the margins of the bank imf meetings and in a run to cop 29 any upcoming g20 meeting in brazil.

i want to close this out and buy all of you who are here in the room, i want to close at our live stream and invite all of you who are here in a room to join us for reception just outside this room. but i also want to make sure to invite alexia and others from the u.s. government, amy and hope and lindsay doyle, meredith, codirectors of preparer. there are a whole host of leaders across the u.s. government on the president's emergency plan for adaptation and receives, and i would like to welcome all of you up on stage for a group photo and weta will join everybody for the reception. thank you. [applause] >> you can finish watching this online at our website c-span.org we will leave it and take you live now to the annual meeting of the association of the united

states army in washington, d.c. army secretary christine wormuth and others will be speaking about something workforce innovation. live coverage here on c-span2. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm a proud army civilian. i've been serving as an army something because i truly believe there are multiple avenues of life where you can

find yourself in the life of service. i am a way you can be all you can be. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> what a great start. being all you can be. the department of army civilians and you just a short video a department of army civilians doing their missions in the field, and it's an exciting career as you all know and i'm very excited to be her at ts morning. i am bill moore, i chair the ausa civilian advisory committee and on behalf of general brown and of the council of trustees i just wanted to welcome everyone to the 2024 ausa civilian showcase. to start out this morning

there's this thing called the best places to work in federal government. the army has struggled odyssey over the years in trying to be a great place to work especially for army civilians. it's been a bit challenging. we are very difficult missions. we have must do jobs that have to be done every single day, and often not enough resources to get it done pixel very stressful work and we just got this great cohort of civilians of major critical aspect of the army's active component. and they are doing great things every day. what's really awesome though but now in 2023 the army did very well and being the best places to work. i think this is a -- to the leadership of the army starting with christine wormuth, and thank you for all that you do and all that you have done. [applause] leaders do three things. they get missions done.

they prepare their organization for the future and probably most important they take care of their people and that's what the army has been doing here and is reflected in how the army scored this coming year. we're going to start by bringing some folks up and let, letting secretary wormuth reward them and recognize them for being in the top five best places to work in federal government. so first of all, ma'am, if you could step up. thank you. and secretary wormuth, in case you didn't know, she started her career as a presidential management intern and spent over six years as a dod government civilian. so she has been for all of us have been. and thank you, ma'am, what a great career you have had. [applause]

>> i want to start with our number five best places to work is the army acquisition support center. with us to represent and accept that award for civil lieutenant general rob collins working in the pentagon. colonel barry williams, the deputy director is going to accept come he is deputy director of the army acquisition center, and if you all would join us on stage, thank you. and if we could get -- great. big round of applause. [applause] congratulations to army support center. our number four best places to work with her that she was actually the department of the army headquarters. and if we could get doctor agnes schaefer up to represent. we did want the secretary to give the award to her so.

but doctor shaver is a system secretary of the army for manpower and reserve affairs and we will do more from her later today. but headquarters p.a. number four best places to work in the army. [applause] thanks to all the headquarters to the leaders and staff in giving that. thank you, doctor schaeffer. our number three best places to work is the army test and evaluation command and it took steps is general patrick, commanding general of the tech and his command sergeant major bradford smith. thank you for coming. [applause] and congratulations to the entire workforce.

our number two best places to work army command is u.s. army north, they've been kind of busy the past two weeks and i'm glad we've been able to get some represented here today accepting on behalf of major general scott sherman the commanding general as mr. elliott rogers deputy chief of staff and the deputy commanding general brigadier general wilkins. thank thank you, thank you e entire u.s. army north workforce. [applause] >> and a special thank you to the team that's helping out with a hurricane relief. thank you. and finally our number one top commensal best places to work is the u.s. army space and missile defense command. you to accept that banner is lieutenant general john kane, commanding general of u.s. army

space and missile defense command. [applause] awesome. how about a great apply for all of the efforts to improve the army, and thank you, ma'am, for coming. [applause] and really a big army congratulations to everyone, and seeing the progress of where we've got over the past few years in improving the workplace and making it better. it's a lot of talent of their and this helps us retain talent at our organization, so thank you for that. and with that i would like to bring up general ganey.

if you don't mind. i mean number one you know comes with some responsibility and we're all anxious to hear what are you doing? what is your secret sauce for being number one? >> well, surprise. well, i tell you it's an honor for me to accept the best workplace on behalf of of the great that only civilian, soldier, noncommissioned officers and offers and the greats of things within space and missile defense command what a phenomenal organization. now, i've been in command about ten months so i would be remiss if i did not highlight the leadership that really helped embed the culture within the command, , and that's retired lieutenant general and the work that he did prior to me getting there. i really appreciate what he did

in that area. so when asked, talk to the workforce when asked hey, what makes the best place to work for you. the common feedback i get from our soldiers and civilians, is it's like a family. the command is like a family. what makes it like a family? couple of things we do in space and missile defense command. and all the commands are doing a lot of great things and what's worked for this command is the command has operationalized the feedback in several different ways. i will start with the feedback we get there we take all of the areas that want to improve on in areas we want to sustain, and we actually break it down and team breaks it down into focus groups and get feedback from individuals within the command

in what would you like to see within the command to make the command better. and then it's incumbent upon the leadership of an down to implement those initiatives. that happens year-round and then integrating that with our feedback portal, we have a portal within the command it's an open discussion portal where anybody at any time can highlight what you want the command to be better and what inside the command can be better. that feedback and all the way up to me and across leadership and there's constant dialogue within that portal as you can imagine and there's a lot of great discussion in the workforce has really gravitated to that to the point where it's not so much complaints. it's hard we make the organization and facilities around the organization better? and again it's incumbent on the leadership to take that feedback at actually do something with it. that's what's working for space

and missile defense command and again it's an honor to view to accept this on behalf of all the great soldiers noncommissioned officers officers and civilians of this great command, so thank you. [applause] >> thank you, general gainey. i did want to give you a small token of our, of ausas appreciation for all that you are doing. >> appreciate. >> take care. >> thank you. [applause] >> i can't i would like to welcome everyone to busy years civilian showcase. we've got a pretty good lineup of speakers and a little bit different twist on the things. we're going to ask you some questions so we'll see how that plays out. but in any event, what i want to start out with as a keynote speaker, and if we could get dr.

schaefer, agnes shaver who is the army's assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs. she is responsible for all things manpower personal and the reserve affairs for the department of the army and its principal adviser to the secretary for policy and performance oversight of human resources, training, readiness, mobilization, military health affairs and i'm feeling the stress here, dr. schaefer, force structure, manpower medio, equal opportunity, equal employment opportunity, marketing, and other people matters. so she's had an exciting career serving in various positions within the deputy secretary defense under secretary of defense for personnel readiness and spent a great portion of time in rand corporation helping federal government i'm sure fix things as, depend on rand to do.

it's my privilege to welcome dr. schaefer. thank you. [applause] >> well, thank you, mr. moore, for the introduction and good morning, everyone. i'm really was excited to be here at the ausa civilian showcase for the second year in a row. first, , i would like to thank secretary wormuth, i know she's not here anymore, but of what to thank her for taking the time to be with us today to formally recognize the army as one of the federal governments top ten places to work. secretary wormuth leadership is been the cornerstone to the army's success over the past

four years and this achievement would not of been without her leadership, strategic vision and her commitment to an exemplary workplace. we are so proud to have our leaders from the army's top-five best places to work command here to receive recognition. general, ms. miller, ms. freeze come from the corps of engineers to army futures command come to army matériel command, to bring decades of expertise to the fight. i know speak for everyone when i say we're so excited to hear your collective thoughts on innovation in the army and how to keep it alive for years to come and the panel to follow. and, of course, thank you, general gainey for sharing smdc success and volleyball lessons learned after leading the army best places to work place the last two years. since my confirmation almost two

years ago my i already has been the modernization of our army personnel policies, processes and system in order to enable are forced to defend our great nation. our greatest assets rest not in a weapons system but in our people. and the unique background and experiences they bring to the fight every day. that includes our army civilians across the enterprise who play a critical role in the continuous transformation of our total army. as has been discussed throughout this year's conference, in stride transmission is necessary, given the and president threat environment we currently face. it is the most varied, uncertain threat in fiber icing in my almost 30 year career in national security. as our army civilians play a pivotal role in that transformation and

modernization. our more than 260,000 army civilians make up an integral part of our force providing expertise, stability and continuity that contributes to the world fighting effort at home and around the world. dash of war fighting -- what the theme of this conference is innovation and transformation, when i spoke at last years civilian showcase, innovation and transformation were already at the top of our mind. we were ahead of the curve. we spent our time together sharing best practices and lessons learned across commands and we rainstorm that was introduced army civilian service as a viable career path and competitive labor market and to gen zers. who most often are not even aware that you can be an army civilian. one year later efforts have yielded deeper awareness and greater exposure of the

opportunities the army has to offer for civilians. the strides with meet with army civilian court over the last few years have been exceptional and i'm thrilled to highlight a few of those efforts here today. one of those efforts is the tension we've given our civilian recruitment efforts in the last calendar year. it is not all been about military recruiting. last year we talked about my concerns about the low level of awareness of army civilian jobs and imagine when preparing to propose to develop first ever army civilian marketing app. this plant is coming to fruition. fruition. the army marketing plan entitled find your next level was a dash or -- army senior leaders highlight the diverse opportunities you can access as an army civilian. the marketing ads have reached nearly 26 million households nationally since their release in may, which is absolutely

remarkable. we also have dedicated army civilian swags for the first time. in addition we have carried out to max army career fairs, two total army career fairs over the last year. one in dallas, texas, and one in houston, texas. for the first time ever these career fairs have representatives from the total force in a single event including the actors, army national guard, army reserve and various commands looking to broaden the applicant pools for civilian positions. these career fair highlighted extensive range of career options available across the total army and a particular raised awareness of civilian opportunities. i know many of you in this room attended those career fairs and spoke to many applicants for many hours. thank you for sharing your army story with those applicants.

but our efforts have not ended with raising awareness of the more than 500 civilian jobs in the army. we must also modernize our arcane, slow your aquatic hiring processes, some of which are not even owned by the army. there is no question there putting the army at a disadvantage with private sector practices. with the support of army senior leaders we're friendly out a major transformation of the civilian hiring process to streamlined it and speedaish up to become more competitive with the private sector. that includes working with osd and opm. we've got to fix usa jobs. [applause] but we have not just an focus on recruiting in the hiring process. we've also been focused on civilian, management on

retention. this includes several initiatives to make the army more competitive in the labor market such as developing more flexible career paths and offering opportunities to upscale and re-skill. things that are expected in today's civilian labor market. we are working with stakeholders across the army selling enterprise identify what those flexible career paths might look like and what other levers we can employ to modernize our retention incentive to include nonmonetary incentives such as worklife balance support and work environment enhancements. it also includes modernizing our systems and equipment. we cannot attract and retain tech, or foster innovation with antiquated systems and equipment. we need to find a way to restore the governments reputation for being a place to conduct cutting-edge innovation with state of the art equipment.

the execution of our mission to support our war fighters depends on it. don't get me wrong, we must be clear eyed that some aspects of this type of multifaceted enterprise transformation will take time, attention, and resources. but we should not allow those long poles in the tent to hold up near and midterm initiatives. while the challenges i just outlined keep me up at night, the innovation that is taking place across our command and even in the pentagon demonstrates that modernization of our civilian personnel policies, policies and systems is possible. given the stakes, that modernization is necessary and it is a responsibility of all of us to foster that innovation and mpower it in our little corner of the army. so today i i jump each and evy one of you here to innovate and

modernize areas where you can, when you can. if you face challenges or impediments, raises them up to change including my team. we will add them to our long list of barriers that were trying to remove. i also challenge you to spread the word about what it is like to be an army civilian. be proactive about sharing our mission. as part of the army family, hilger elevator pitch about what being part of that workforce means to you. encourage your circles to come to our events, reach out and find folks who are passionate about the call to service. and if someone come at some of you need help, with some great material to take back to your communities, including the army civilian talent development guide, and the employee engagement guide for army leaders. both resources can be found on

your cable and offer a snapshot in how we develop our civilian talent as well as how our force will stay the force as a top ten place to work for years to come. army civilians are the connective tissue of our force, performing critical duties that make the army who we are. we can't achieve or grow our mission without them. their abundant history of selfless service to the army and the american people spans more than two and half centuries and as an army selling myself i am full of hope for the next two and a half centuries to come. i am also incredibly grateful for every day that i i get tol you all my teammates and colleagues. thank you again for attending our civilian showcase today. i look forward to our conversations and the rest of the programs. go army, and be all that you can be.

[applause] >> if i could just a quick thank you on behalf of ausa. okay. all right. thanks to you, dr. schaefer, for this great words of wisdom. i mean, we really had a lot of momentum and this forum is one of the few places where we can get together and share ideas to advance our organizations and make our places that we work the best places we can make them. wanted to just real quickly recognize, we do have the deputy undersecretary on here, thank you, sir, for attending. and -- [applause] he's got a tough job and he worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make things better, especially trying to manage the senior executives of which we got a few in the room. thank you, sir, for your

selfless service to our nation. before i invite are painless, we're about to transition to the panelist side of this, i went to get some feedback from you all. last year you all suggested we do this, so we listened. you heard from dr. schaefer injured from general gainey about how everyone has a part in keeping our army of the best place to work. if i could paraphrase president john f. kennedy and say this, ask not what your army can do for you but what you can do for your army. and with that, we're going to pass out some three x five cards and i will read some answers and they can be anonymous or if you'd like credit, please write to need at and your organization and i will give you credit when we write, when we say the answers. i'll get as many but here's the question. what action will you take to get the army in the top best places to work next year, over the next year? so when you may, would think about that and we would love to

some feedback from you, , and il get to that later in the session today. just one action. no action is too small, and we will collect those. all right, let's transition to our panel. we are very fortunate today to have senior leaders from three of our army commands. these discussions they are going to focus on innovation and change, and keeping the army at best place, one of the best places to work. you know we are good but we need to get better. it's an infinite game in trying to make workforce better. we plan to dive into their insights, expenses and perspectives on how they are leading their organizations. following our discussion we will ask not only will i read some of the answers to the question i just gave you, but i will ask a few more questions and hopefully we can have a little bit of dialogue there. so without further ado let's get

into the panel discussion. our panelists today, first of all we have a new member, major general kim collington, deputy chief of engineers and the deputy commanding general of the u.s. army corps of engineers. in any event, general graham got called away to the white house i think this morning and she gallantly stepped in, thank you, ma'am, for being here today. second, when ms. christina freese who by the way actually also sits on my ausa civilian advisory committee, and thank you for that. she is the deputy chief of staff g1 of the u.s. army matériel command where many of our department of army civilians work across various subordinate organizations of anc. and finally we have ms. hong miller who is chief human capital officer, army futures command, , always does things a little bit differently but she

is the chief capital officer of army futures command. anyway, you fight you extend a warm welcome to our panelists. [applause] we are going to do two rounds of questions. first of all i'm going to ask one question that all three of the panelist will answer and then i will have some more directed questions for each of the panelist in the second rent. so let's get started. round one the question is what recent innovations for creative strategies have you implemented that sparked excitement and impacted your commands overall commitment to the mission? with that, general. >> thank you. to get started for civil thank you, good morning, thanks align me to join this prestigious panel. it's really important. the corps of engineers 40,000 talented civilians are key

enablers of our team. and so overseeing and $95 million program, project either underway or in planning we really rely on our talent to get the job done. but every day we are competing with private contracting engineering and construction firms as discussed recruit the best talented workforce. in most cases our employees are very well could earn higher wages on these private companies. however, we offer something more to thinks, both a purpose and people. unlike the army we offer an opportunity to make a difference to contribute to something bigger and to work alongside the best in the business. so for building our nation's infrastructure projects like dams, bridges, hospitals for veterans, schools, facilities for our war fighters and fans

can support our partners and allies overseas with infrastructure and water resources solution to preventing floods to responding to disasters, just like tragic collapse of the francis scott key bridge, the raging wildfires in maui, and today we have nearly 300 people out there supporting hurricanes helene and milton response. our mission is to deliver imaging solutions for nations toughest challenges. and our human capital professionals are absolutely closer linked with every single one of those mission minds. so our overall create a strategy, to get to your question, is proactive talent sourcing, and it's a big part of how we continue to meet all of those mission requirements. so i'm going to break it down into three bullets, three innovative approaches that fall under that proactive talent sourcing strategy. and they want to start with calling out a shout out to the

person that is really at the forefront of helping us not only develop a that strategy but implement it, which is our director of human resources. she's right out of there. [applause] susan, absolute rock star. she is passionate about people and she is passionate about collaborating, and she is passionate about making sure that we get the best talent on our team to deliver those missions. so thank you for that, and thank you karen. so the three approaches i want to highlight we are applying in the corps of engineers, one, and did our director of human resources creation something we call the talent acquisition center of expertise. these are our recruiters that execute enterprise level events like was mentioned earlier by dr. schaefer, the total army recruiting events and career fairs.

we also employ our center of expertise professionals, our recruiters at special stem recruiting events like society for women ages or the black engineer of the year conference. these enable us to reach the first pools of candidates and onboard that talent quickly. our center of expertise came also helps with all aspects of talent management for our leaders. not just for these career fairs but with staffing questions,, implementing training solutions, recruitment strategies, developing those things that those regional commands can intimate. it also reduces our dependency on charlie and makes sure that our leaders and managers are engaged in the talent management process. the second innovation is something we call the talent acquisition recruiting platform, something we have created under karen's leadership but it's a platform which enables candidates to submit their resume into a database that allows us to quickly call those

resumes for considering and for hiring managers to be able to consider them for selection. it allows us to fill vacancies faster and get the r talent at the right place at the right time. actually tried it myself, and it was very easy to so i encourage anyone that has a person out there that's looking for a position to just go to usa army career and there's an opportunity to submit your resume cmo sigar i tried usa.gov as well and that's a complicated. right now we have a repository of over 15,000 current resumes are in the system and that are available. this couple was something we're doing that we call people analytics, allows us to really take all that data, take our vacancies and really match up as i said people with the right, the right people with the right job and the right skills to execute the missions.

the third and final innovation we've been applying is really leveraging direct hiring authorities. in 24 this past year we leverage direct hiring authority 4500 times to bring people on board. we increased our streak seven dash of 70%. 40,000 40,000 strong as hie been and despite the extremely competitive labor market i know all of us are aware of, allows us to reduce our hiring time from 80 days to roughly 30 days. and i know kerry has challenged us all and challenge the army with a goal of having right now we have 94% of our positions that qualify for direct time in the three years. we want to go for 100% 1001 direct hiring authority versus eight different direct hiring authorities and apple about to get there faster and to really streamline bringing that talent onboard quickly because that's really the key.

in the competitive market really, how it goes fast if you don't act quickly you will miss that opportunity. one last thing yet. i had a conversation with one of our new employees recently, and we were able to bring her on board in roughly 30, 35 days. we hired her. she submit it for the job in june. we brought on board in july. now in october she still getting called back for other organizations that are just getting around to calling her now. she's already been working for us since july. case in point, a key to success and with many more like that. so thank you very much. >> thank you, john culliton. a special thank you to the attacking that is working on hurricane relief. that is just terrible what's going on and you all are doing great things for those folks so thank you for that. >> thank you. the privilege. >> yes, , ma'am. >> with that, mysteries, same question what recent innovation or greater strategies have you limited in anc that sparked excitement and affected your commands overall commitment. >> was great, thank you. good morning, everyone.

army matériel command as mr. moore alluded to is one of the largest specifically civilian organizations in the army. we have over 95,000 civilians in anc, and a servant all 50 states and 150 countries. we have 11 career fields and no less than 375 occupational series that make up the amc enterprise. so if you of the initiatives that we're working on that it made a big difference, i'll start with our pilot where we have authorities that match for direct hire authority. we use that. but when we use the job cisa elevated in december of 23 and working a five page resume pilot. what that means is when applicants go in to apply for agency jobs it tells them at the beginning of the job announcement that your resume should be limited to five pages.

it if it exceeds that only the first five pages of the resume will be reviewed. this is really a best practice. no industry resumes are dramatically shorter than government resumes. what this does is it empowers us to see with the specials that are putting the referral list together we can get the candidate list were quickly to get as the referral list and that also enables our selection fails to be able to do the work more quickly. so since the time we started this we've already seen a reduction of two weeks in the processing time. it's made a big difference for us. not only has a short nor hiring time and we will take every day we can get, we've been able to do 5% more jobs in the same amount of time pics of being able to do more faster is

definitely on the right track. so on the material command is hopeful that this pilot will demonstrate improvement that can be leveraged across the entire army in the near future. another thing we've incorporated into our human capital planning is a tool for global labor market supply demand and cost data analysis. we're using this tool to help us target our recruiting in geographical areas by being able to better understand what is the marquis look like was how many candidates fit the skills were looking for exist in that area? what is the difficulty of recruiting those candidates? what are other organizations paying them, to help us understand what competitive wages would be. so this is something new where we have started. we believe it's going to pay big dividends for us in our recruitment going forward. we've also just started to

develop an exit and stay servant and organic industry. the federal wage system, the wage growth workforce makes up a lot of the organic international base. with 23 sites around the u.s. having the ability to get their input about what keeps them in service and why they are leaving is something we're focused deliberately on, and we believe it will go a long way in our retention efforts to make sure we keep the right people. the organic and national base as part of the army's overall modernization strategy the organic and daschle base is also being modernize to be ready for that signature modernization equipment as he comes in to be repaired, as a repair parts became to be worked on. if the people are not also holding the right skills to be able to operate in that future environment, the army won't be successful. so we are endeavoring in the

acquisition, the development,, the employee and the retention of all of those employees in the next three to five years to make sure we anticipate the new skills they will need and to rescale and retrain that workforce to be ready to do that. so we're really excited about that. i think probably all of us will speak to the underpinning and the significance of data analytics and predictive analytics in helping us to do our workforce development, our succession plan and our recruiting. using visualizations and dashboards has been a tremendous help across her amc enterprise for leaders, supervisors and that even our employees to be able to see where we are as an organization, what we need to focus on and how to better get there. thank you. >> all right. thank you, ms. freese. ms. miller, what recent innovations or greater strategies have you committed in

future. >> was there, bill. good morning to everyone. i am proud to be a today. this is a proud day for the army, and it's an honor and a privilege to serve the army as the department of army civilian. at futures command asce exist to transform the army to drive future readiness. so when we talk about our most valuable assets, that's people. they are our strengths and are asymmetric advantage. and so recently one of the things that we have limited earlier this year, we had the chance to implement a new personnel system with the science and technology we envision laboratory modernization demo. that's a mouthful. so let's call it as trl. it's a system that provides us the flexibilities that we need

to be able to manage a highly stamp work for. >> with 65% of our workforce that are in s.t.e.m. fields. we need the flexibility to be able to go out and acquire that talent, be able to compete for this highly sought after talent come develop the talent, pay that talent and retain the talent. and so what we have embedded in this authority give us broad scope direct hire authority. we've all talked about direct hire authority. we talk about the issues with jobs. direct hire authority helps us get out of usa jobs in many ways. we want to make sure we optimizing the direct hire authority and truly doing conducting strategic recruiting will beget the panel what we need instead just posting and praying. this authority also allows us

creative ways to incentivize, protect prospective hires for instance, we now have the authority to give time off for new hires. when you think about new civilians come into the workforce, they're coming in with zero leave on the books. when you are zero zero to , four hours of annual leave pay paid back, four hours of sick time. takes want to build that up over able to track new talent by saying hey, if you come in you can have some time off on the books if you need it, and so that's a really meaningful aspect of this that we have. so when we talk about what makes afc a great place to work, it's really our flexibility and our

propensity towards innovation, and also our support to quality of life. we have flexible work. 85% of idiocy civilians telework and we also had some that are remote workers. it has to be focused on the mission needs that we actually are able to make flexibility work. we have good internal progression. so in the last three years, , 6% of our vacancies were filled with candidates from within afc, and 94% of promotions were integral to afc. but we really did make a concerted effort to look out for people and career progression. we have varied locations. afc has opportunities across 73 locations around the world. so almost anywhere you want to be we probably have an opportunity for you at afc. and then because of the

flexibilities we have, , we were able to reward contributions, in addition to the pay-for-performance system that we just put in place, we have a robust employee recognition program that recognizes and rewards inventions and significant contributions are made by members of our workforce. we are dedicated to talent management, and we are very deliberate and strategic about how we approach that. so since my arrival at afc we've had a campaign where we really want to involve to being strong at how we manage our talent. and so we have put into place of afc human capital operating plan that actually gives us aspirational but attainable and measurable objectives and goals for how we're going to manage our workforce. we have a talent management

board that is focused on developing and preparing our workforce so that we have this strong bench of talent that's ready to step up to the plate whenever those he opportunities present themselves. then where leveraging opportunities to launch new development of programs -- we are leveraging -- earlier i was listening and talking about thinking how we build that next generation of executives and at afc we are already moving out with building what recalling afc nextgen executive program, and this will be a 12 month internal development program that's going to provide experiential opportunity to employees. our recognition programs for a typical end of the quarter and the performance awards that we

can to get. we have what we call the distinguished members of workforce award where we are recognizing excellence across our workforce. we also have the newly established chra award that recognizes spouses of them for making differences in the community. and then we recognize innovation across the army to the major general harold green award for innovation. and so lots of reasons that afc is the best place to work. i want to -- let me just take a drink here for a minute because i have one other -- thing i want to point out. earlier we saw a tech called out as one of the top five places to work. and a tech is one of our supporting commands. we work very, very closely with.

they are tied into afc. i want to highlight the fact that they also are leveraging flexible personal systems. they are part of the acquisition demonstration personal system that provides some fight hiring, flexible compensation to broad banding and authorities that reward employee contributions to they have commander driven emphasis on training and they're also using data to optimize real-time leadership decisions on how they manage their workforce. and so i think there's a lot of promise in the flexible personnel systems that we have available, and where we have to manage lots of stem talent, we truly do need to leverage those flexibilities. >> great, thank you, ms. miller. this actually concludes round one. and i just want to highlight that we are i thought if you

common threads there. first of all, leveraging to extend the policies and law allow direct hire authority. i can't say enough how much it helps me and someone prior jobs. that's something we all probably need to understand and really continue to work toward making dha even easier to use and all those different authorities and getting the job series of mind and acceptable. it's a challenge work as is. the second i heard was that challenges of working with usa jobs, and i mean that's in my humble opinion kind of the elephant in the room when you're trying to recruit in a timely way. i've lost count of the talent i lost because i couldn't get the job offer over the finish line, knowing they were the right person for the right job and just couldn't get it there. some other organization got them. as general colloton mentioned,

your one employee still getting phone calls three months later. that's unbelievable. as in recognizing performance and how you retain talent. that's the third thread i i hd from you all. so thank you for that. moving on to route you. can have a few more focus question to get i will start with you, general colloton. from our command and mission perspective, how are army civilians in the corps of engineers engaged in contributing in keeping the army a great place to work? >> thanks for that question. a couple of things. answer just like all of these organizations and all your organizations we not only want to attract talent, we want to retain the talent that we work so hard to get on the team. and to do that we have identified the areas where we got to be better at, and that's onboarding, , off boarding, and everything in between. and so employees can start at the very beginning of their

career at the g7 and if opportunity to progress throughout the careers and get promotions along the way and stay with us for 40 years. we also recognize that the workforce today is looking for flexibility, , as he may not wat to retire from one organization and they may be better if they go back and forth of the industry and come back to the federal government with new skills, knowledge, abilities and innovations. and so we welcome that and we're trying to embrace that in different ways. so one of the ways or strategies we are focusing on to retain, and we done a little bit of it here today, is really recognize what we offer. so operationalizing is one of our consistent strategies that we've been working on for the last number of years. this year in 2024 we had 18,000 responses. we were the second-highest in the army for overall responses but we recognize just getting a lot of responses doesn't mean

anything. we have to do something with it and operationalize that. that was alluded to in a lot of the discussions and speakers that came up earlier. we have 44 districts, nine divisions, and multiple labs and centers. at all of those have developed implementation and action plans and they are a crucial component of us really retaining talent. as talked about, that keeps down our turnover rates. allows members to be involved in implementing solutions in making improvements at the workplace. it has allowed us to enable implement and more flexible workplace policies, developing more development, or increasing more developmental detail opportunities for individuals, really creating more opportunities or mentor mentee matches and really opportunity

to listen to what our workforce is saying. and just like today that we did earlier, we don't just encourage participation but we celebrate it and we continue to celebrated annually, recognizing the commands and the members in those commands for what they're doing to operationalize the federal employee survey. the second family highlight is really how to refocus on taking our talent to the next level, which is training. so the men and women of the u.s. army corps of engineers serve our nation well as i alluded to in my previous bullets but we owe them the best training, the best education, and the best technology so that they can stand up and deliver on their full potential. we want them to be all they can be. and so we are committed to giving them the tools they need to succeed and be better every day. and one thing that we have infused energy and is something we call the learning center. also falls in our director of human resources. it's located in huntsville at

redstone arsenal. and this learning center has roughly 500 classes that they maintain and review regularly for the curriculum components to training individual engineers, groups and teams on special contracting practices, specific disciplines, our villages collaboration and teambuilding and leading teams. so they do that physically in huntsville. they can also export that virtually for training opportunities. they also are willing to travel to locations in order to minimize on travel resource dollars. subdual export a class to a wife or to europe to get out a number of our employees in those other locations. they also have tailored bite sized training sessions that are like those youtube videos use online to learn how to do maybe somewhat complicated things in two to five minutes. i went on, there's a couple on

how to read a pedometer, how to do a testing of your fire extinguishers. .. >> what are the sells as we bring if on new people that are new -- that our new employees need to be able to advance from new employees and apprentices to journey ifmen to more experienced team members. and what we've looked at, our chief of engineers has asked us to look at is what is the health of our delivery teams. these teams are delivering mega multimillion dollar construction projects as we onboard many new people. they don't all have the skill sets, we need to assess what they have and try to get them the training they need at the

right time. the army and the department of defense expect nation needs to be us to be all that we can be. thanks for that question. >> thank you. that was awesome. ms. reese? if your turn. [laughter] your question. so as you mentioned earlier, the amc is transforming the organic industrial base to strategically support future army readiness. what new understood thes is this creating for army -- opportunities is this creating for army civilians, and how will it benefit the army going forward? >> thank you for that the question. you know, i think many of us when we think about a civilian employee, we generally think first about our gs schedule employees. so the majority of the organic industrial base, or the oi, b, is under the federal wage system. so we've given specific emphasis and focus on how are we going to develop them in the next 3-5

years. we have developed inside if our civilian implement ifation plan an organic industrial base, human capital modernization implementation plan. and so it is going to focus on the gaps that are in the skills that our to work force has today and those that are needed in only a few years. and we are looking for the opportunities to use training, create training to be able to get them ready for. that's one of the new initiatives that we started just a year ago is a pilot for talent management and career mapping. some of you that are in the contracting career field and maybe in some is other organizations are exploring career pathway tools for your organizationses. i am hopeful that the army will make an enterprise decision on that in the near future, but what we're doing so the develop leaders and supervisors which

includes our gs work force as well as our gs occupational series line in the lo gist ins arena if been logistics arena. unlike ms. miller, i need a drink of water. stand by. [laughter] thank you. so our wage grade employees are the industrial arts whethers the welders, painters, machinists, a lot of electronics. and so they have special skills that they're going to need. so we are focusing on allowing them to voluntarily go into this talent management tool, identify what they think their career pathway would look like and also explore adjacent career pathways. they can see the training and skills that they already have, the training that would be required for them to advance or to move into another career area. they are so excited about this because it's the first time that they have felt that the army has

cared about a them as part of the civilian work force. so we have a huge amount of momentum, and we're continuing to the expand that as we go into fy-25, and we will roll out all of the occupational series that we develop in specific sites to be able to use as cross our sites all across the u.s. another thing that we are doing is a targeted marketing campaign plan for the oib. honorable schafer talked about the civilian marketing campaign overall, which is great. we are focuses on those industrial art as so that we can target a few things. the advertisements, they can see themselves doing those skills and those advertisements. it's going to the help us as we move forward. we teamed with deputy assistant secretary of defense for product if support, their office for recruitment cdo that is underway. we are working closely with the

logistics functional community as well. also building partnerships with industry, academia, government across the spectrum, federal, local, state governments is going to be the part of our way ahead. if having additional partnerships whether it is for apprentice programs, internships and creating more deliberate pipelines into the work force is also an important part of what we're doing. as we're developing the training and education for the work force, we're not going to the administer traditional training, and it's not -- we don't have the privilege of it taking five years for us to fully develop the skills of the work force. we have to do it at a much more rapid pace if to be ready in time for the army's transmore mission and modernization. so we are working through electronic critical path lists, making sure that we have technical skills, training labs, being able to create modern

training that is microcredentialing, can be administered in small time periods using virtual representations of the equipment and the assets that the artisans are using or will be working on and making sure that we are concern have those adaptable to realtime day data so that we can much more rapidly simulate and to what we need to do to help them be ready. it's a huge part of our insurance policy, and it underpins what we do with our equipment and our army especially in times of crisis or or surge. and to so that's some of the things that we are focusing on. >> great. thank you, ms. reese. and last but not least, our final question of round two, mss focused op on future army readiness as an integrated team really thinking about innovation. and in the context of keeping

the army a best place to work, where to do we need army surveillance to contribute fresh thinking to keep the army at the forefront of innovation? if. >> so the afc team works with army teammates to drive continuous transformation across the army. and and in doing that, the essential functions that we perform, the first is defining the future operational environment, or the f.o.e., and that's basically identifying those factors that set the condition for the future battlefield. second, essential function is research. we have folks driving concepts, experimentation, building requirements and also inte grate all those functions. and so when it comes to to army innovation, our army civilians need to be wherever there is

work that's focused on improving innovating the future fight. for instance, and i didn't mention this earlier, afc, we're a population of service and civilian members of our work force just under 18,000. 91% are civilians. and so we have civilians that are supporting all of those functions that i mentioned. we have civilians that are working in scientific laboratories and engineering centers. they're conducting research and development of new capabilities. we have civilians working in concept development where they're formulating, experimenting and developing requirements for future war-fighting concepts. we've got civilians working across cross-functional teams where they're working across r&d and acquisition lines to be able

to coordinate delivery of new capability requirements. and then also a within atech, we have civilians who play a key role testing and evaluating new lead develop capabilities. so the bottom line answer to that question, bill, is civilians need to be the anywhere there's work that's happening when out comes to army innovation e and transformation. i think i want to the highlight, again, the fact that atech has so many civilians working in that s.t.e.m. area, and and they achieved that top five status. i think that speaks to the fact that their civilians see themselves as part of the army mission, and there is a sense of satisfaction with where they sit in the workplace and what their work environment looks like. and so with the broader part of

afc, we're a young command. we're just six years old. we just celebrated our sixth birthday, and we just recent lyrics as i mentioned, implemented this more flexible personnel system. we're expecting that we're going to achieve that level of status as an employer as well. >> great. okay, thank you. and just to hit on a few key points, you talked about onboarding and how important that is in bringing someone in a way that makes them feel they're part of a team. i used to say never underestimate the power of the culture, because culture will trump many things. i'll just leave it at that. and helping them understand the culture and fit within it and maybe even evolve it over time is really important. and the impact of the wage grade work force. and as a former functional chief of a career field, the logistics

career fields, i always felt we didn't pay enough attention to the wage grade work force. and they have really very disciplined credentials that that we need,ed and we should aspire to give them. another great aspect. and then, of course, innovation. ms. miller, with -- it's that the s.t.e.m. work force that really wants to bork on the latest and greatest often. and you got to keep them excited about what they're doing. and so that's great. i mean, these three panelists, when you think about it, so we had over 263,000 army civilians and not to do math in public which is always a dangerous thing, so i kid it anyway, well over saw 150,000 civilians work in the organizations these three leaders represent. so, wow, that's most of the army's civilians are in your three organizations. so with that, let's give our

panelists a round of applause. [applause] and i'm going to go grab the gifts for y'all. ah. if -- thank you, leah. careful. these are some big steps up here. we were a little worried about them. but on behalf of ausa, thank you so much for taking the time to share these incredible insights. christine -- >> thank you. >> thank you. with all of us, and hopefully or, there are some pearls that people can pick up on and exercise in their organizations. so thank you all and please be careful getting off the stage. [applause] all right. we are well on our way. and we've got some great answers here, i think. i hope. we will see. hang on for one second.

okay. if you remember the question i asked you all a little while ago, what action will you take to keep the army in the top, as one of the top best places to work in the federal government. and let's see or what kind of answers we got here. all right. this was anonymous one, but continue to ensure that all members of the department of the army work force are valued and included. foster an environment of learning and development. and i think we heard some of that. you know, once you get through the challenges of recruiting great talent, you've got to figure out how to retain it. and helping them develop themselves over time, it's

funny, just a short story with the secretary. she was, mentioned to me when she was a department of defense civilian that when she worked in the pentagon, it launched her career. and that's exactly what happened to me as a gs-13. i had hit a ceiling, and i couldn't get past it. one of my mentors said you need to get out of your job and get into the pentagon and start learning about the bigger part of the army. and she said that's exactly what happened to her. she changed jobs, and it was -- and developed herself as a better leader. and and it's just something to think about. mobility is a off, tough issue the deal with, but you've got to think through it accepting on what your career goals are as you try to figure out how to develop yourself and getting help from great mentors as we all have had. another, another answer, the army civilian corps will continue to advance many in

technological innovations on to be ready to to support our soldiers. i mean, we are here to help our army get better, and so it's all about mission that we work on. let's see, my team will work to crab rate and develop innovation across both civilian and military members of all come popes of the army. that was an concern components of the army. that was anonymous one. reaching out to local high schools, jrotc and tell the civilian story. showcase how the army is a great employer with lots of benefits. i meet a lot of people that reach out to those that may not have the stuff it takes to

become a member of the military, may have exactly what we need on the department of the army civilian side and have the passion that we desire for our department of civilian -- department of army civilian. challenge teammates and coworkers to the not just vent and campaign, but to look at how they can influence change at their levels. super important point. we all have to do that. but then think it through so, you know, what steps are we going to take at our level to make things better. all right. last one here, remind myself that what i to do every day is important to help our army in war and in peace. and that that is great. you know, the great book, start with why, and reminding yourself why you're doing what you're doing is super important and helping your employees, the people that work for if you or

with you or that you work for. reminding them sometimes what they need to be doing, i mean, what they -- why we are doing what we're doing is just super critical. so with that, there were some terrific answers, many more here too and sorry i can't get to those, but i want to try to keep us on time. but thank you all for the inputs. they were excellent. and give yourselves a round of applause if for that. [applause] so i think we've got just a few minutes, and what i'd like to do now is just ask a question, and if anyone has an answer, we've got mics out there, at least i hope so. it's hard to see from up here. if but hopefully, you know, i would encourage you to have the courage to stand up and engage on some of these questions. i've just got a couple and it'd be great just to kind of wrap in this up. we've had a great, great

civilian showcase so far. first question here, how can we scene our connection to the mission and identify innovations or changes to ensure our army remains one of the top ten best places to work? anybody have any thoughts on that? if hopefully we're not hitting you too cold on this one. i thought we heard some great ideas from ms. miller especially on the innovation side. we had a speech at the session this morning where we had the civilian senior executives all gathered. we brought in professor mark mcnealy from the university of north carolina. he talked about how to continue artificial intelligence into your daily missions and organizations. and another way, you know, his

here sis really was -- his three sit really was that -- thesis was that a.i.'s going to change significantly over time. some jobs are going to go away, some other jobs are going to be created. and most importantly, those who are going to be successful employees are going to be the ones that understand how to leverage a.i. and their future. you going to start out way ahead of your peers if you do that. so that's another way that looking at the tool, the suite of tools you have available to do your job day in and day out. anybody else have a perspective? >> yeah, hello. gosh. [laughter] yeah, i think for this one i'd say to have the confidence to know that no matter where you are in the organization, you know, at a lower level, medium, senior, you can have an idea that can transform your organization. and i think it's important to

just have that confidence, you know, and especially at those lore levels. you know, the end user, you have the greatest proximity at issues often time. and ety it's having the confidence to speak up if you have a good idea to exhibiter forward. because i think you'll find that the rest of your organization wants to move forward and innovate. thank you. >> that's a great point p. and, you know, it's amazing how impactful you can be in a meeting whatever and someone comes up with an idea that others will rye to shoot to down. sometimes the reaction will be they'll never come up with another idea because they just feel like they were embarrassed about it. and, you know, you've really got to give all ideas in this current day and age considerable thought. and treat everyone with dignity and respect as welllook at all

levels. i found as the ceo of the defense commentary agency, i got more ideas working for people working in the stores than i ever got out of the people working in the headquarters. people in the stores, for our mission, that was the tactical edge for our baa battlefield where we delivered the missions to military families. those people knew what needed to be done to make it better. and so it helped me tremendously to hear that inventory specialist or that checkout clerk tell me why they couldn't make people happy on, you know, or whatever as they a did their missions or what was going well on the positive side. and extremely helpful to me in trying the change things strategically and trying the continue best practices from certain places and apply them across an entire enterprise. so listening at all levels is super important. yes. >> hi. i'm karen payne.

one of the things, you know, first of all, the connections to mission is so important. and i find that people come to the army and especially with me because of the mission. and so at every point in their career we need the really talk about the mission. you know, when you look at whether new grads or journeymen level or senior staff coming in, it really makes sure at every point they realize what they have to do with the mission. for h.r. folks, i always tell my h.r. people that, you know, when we respond to emergencies like north carolina or the bridge, it's because of us, because of h.r. because we brought those people in, we train them, and we are a part of that mission. they understand that, what is mission is and how they affect the mission. i think when you talk about innovation, and i kid, you know, was sitting in a meeting earlier this morning about a.i., you know, i have had a couple trainings in a.i., one at

harvard and one at vanderbilt. and what got me the most was that -- especially when my initial training, well, maybe we need an a.i. expert that commands and they can be the guru of it. of course, you do need that. but the response from somebody that was very a.i. oriented, he said, no, everybody person that has the respondent for their command needs to be a.i. knowledgeable because you need to know the good, the bad and the ugly of it. i'm taking that into h. h.r., how can we expand the role in h.r. using a.i., whether recruitment or retaping, being more efficient. t not to replace, maybe it will some places, someday, but it's to to enhance hasn't and more specifically for use case in our mission. i think those are ways. the other is just making sure that training and development is always on the foresight. when i talked about folks about

recruiting and they say, hey, what do we have a position, i said, what is -- how are you going to retain that employeesome before you actually recruit, how are you going to retain whoever you get in that position? you always a need to be innovative in that. and with training and development, sometimes that's the first to go if you have a budget crunch. i say let it be the last thing that goes because we have to continue training and developing our staff to make sure we're, you know, for the mission for today but also for tomorrow. >> great thoughts, cairn. -- karen. i think we have time for one more. karen payne, by the way, is actually another member of the ausa civilian ambassador committee so thank you, karen, for your contributions there. hey, bill. >> hey. can i jump it? so pat -- [inaudible] army research lab. i think, you know, when you get sustained connection to the mission, i think we've got a lot

of great hinges that a we're doing in terms of our outreach, our army educational outreach program, our funding efforts in the universities and academics as well. you know, so i think when you get that same connection, we have to start making sure we're hooking for people who aren't only good, but also have a propensity to serve. and, you know, we can do that, i think, by taking an all of army approach but then connecting those programs where we're actually funding efforts and we're engaging with people early even down k-112. but telling that whole army story is part of that. nobody should come out who has participant of their education funded by the army and not know that it's funded by the army, also that there's a bigger mission. i think as we look at our initiatives and recruiting investments, stuff like that, making sure we're taking a whole of army approach both military and civilian -- >> right. >> -- as well. so i think there's some

opportunities that we can piece together from a bigger perspective. >> absolutely agree, absolutely agree. well, we are quickly running out of time. i did want to ask -- i do use the volunteers on this a usa advisory committee, if you sit on the committee, would you please stand just so we can recognize you? i mow we got karen here and christina. i thought we had a few ores concern others. thank you. thank you all. thank you all. [applause] and we've got a retired mentor of mine, don tyson, who actually is an adviser from a usa that helps us out on that. hopefully, don's out there somewhere. but one thing we'd like to do before we close, and that is to recite the civilian creed. just a little story about it. it was at this forum back in i think it was 2018 annual meeting

where some folks said, hey, was it time to ab take a look at the civilian creed and modernize it, for lack of a better term. and the secretary grabbed a small group of us and put us in a room and had us take a hard look at it. frankly, we thought it looked pretty good. in the end after a serious effort, we added a single word to the civilian creed, and that was published, signed by the secretary and published in 2019. and the word we added was leadership. so you'll see it in there. but it used to be all about stability and continuity, but it's really about a leadership, expertise and continuity is what zelle. januaries kind of bring to the army. and so we should be proud of what we're doing. and with that, i'd like to bring up the new director of the civilian career, civilian career management if activity, ike

scytheler. thank you for doing this. he's brand new in the job so, ike, even though you're kind of a little bit offed school in the career management business, thank you for coming up. and he's going to lead us in reciting the current civilian creed. ike? [applause] >> thank you very much. i really appreciate this opportunity. and if i could ask you all to please stand. join me, it should be the on the screens, i believe it is. if not, there's also a little card on the table that you can take home9 with the creed. pleads recite after me -- i am an army civilian, a member of the army team. i am dedicated to the army, soldiers and civilians. i will always support the mission. i will provide to leadership,

stability, continuity during war and peace. i sport and defend concern support and defend the constitution of the united states and cr it an honor to serve our mission and our army. i will live the army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. i am an army civilian. thank you very much. [applause] >> all right. if -- thank you, ike. here we go. quick gift for you. thank you. well, that wraps up today's civilian showcase. thank you all for attending and seeing this through. ike, thank you for doing that. if you know, an interesting point, i found many military that can't know we take the same oath, essentially, as any army officer, and that's an important fact, that we are in it for a lot more than the money9 and the

typical job. so thank you all for being here today and have a great a a usa week. [applause] >> later today, incumbent senator kevin cramer faces off against his democratic challenger in the race for north da senate seat. watch live at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2, c-span now, our free mobile video app, o online at c-span.org. ♪ >> friday night watch c-span's to 2024 campaign trail, a weekly discussion on how the presidential, senate and house

campaign -- for the past week. two reporters join each week to talk about the events driving each week's political news and the take a look at the week ahead. watch c-span's 0224 campaign trail friday night at 7 ian on c-span,s online at c-span.org or download as a podcast on c-span now, our free mobile app. or wherever you get your podcasts. c-span, your unfacility ored view of politics. ♪ >> at the 2024 campaign cons, american history -- continues, american history presents historic presidential elections. learn about the pivotal issues of eras, uncover what made these elections historic and ebbs employer their -- explore their lasting impact. >> and for those millions of americans who are still denied equality of rights and opportunity, i say there shall

be the greatest progress in human rights since the days of lincoln a hundred years ago. >> we stand today on the edge of a new frontier, a frontier of the 91960s, the frontier of unknown understoods and perils, the frontier of unfilled hope and unfilled strength. >> in a close and controversial election, democratic senator john kennedy defeated incumbent presidential vice president richard nixon. watch historical presidential elecons saturday at 7 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span2. >> joining us now from philadelphia the discuss latino voters and campaign 2024 is rafael -- and he is the executive director of -- usa action pac. rafael, welcome to the program. >> guest: good morning. pleasure to be with you today

to. >> host: why don't we start by reminding d our audience about your organization and tell us how you're funded. >> guest: yes. good morning, everyone. it's the alliance super pac formerly named national down council of la raza, and the mission so to elect candidates who are aligned with championing latino issue policy priorities to open up opportunities for the latino community andun all americans. >> host: and the action pac hass end coursed vice president kamala harris for -- endorsed vice president kamala harris for president. why? >> guest: well, we female she's the clear choice as it relates to the presidential options that we have this cycle to not only continue the progress of the biden administration as it relates tore the latino communiy specifically, but to expand if opportunities, economic and social understoods for the latino community. across a variety s of issues, latinos are telling us through

our polls, we encourage people to look up the issues latinos care about over the last few months, and it's clear they're very concerned about economic issues and a host of other social issues, and cam a la harris' policy priorities and track record clearly make her the obvious choice for the latino community to be president of the united states. >> host: in "the new york times" this morning, there was a section that's headlined la' know voters feel let down by government, nevadaa democrats te version of support from group over concerns about housing prices and the economy. what is your message to the latino voters and on why they should vote for vice president kamala harris? >> so obviously the two things. latinos have a right tohe want o know more in terms of economic opportunities. the rising costs and inflation in the past few years has been

disproportionately impacting latino families. one of the reasons we're so enthusiastic about a potential presidentth harris' term in offe is that her campaign is laser focused on highlighting and addressing the specific concerns not just to working families broadly, but especially latino communities.un when we poll latinos, we see it every day in las vegas, throughout arizona, latinos are telling understand one of the particular pain points is housing costs, especially those who are non-homeowners in our community. vice president harris' platform around building more housing and expanding -- can curbing costs and providing latinos more opportunities to purchase a home ising something that particularly resonates with the latino community, and it is the one of many examples where candidate harris is specifically addressing the top issues of concern to latino families in her campaign. >> and i wanted to show some polling that was done after of

the 2020 the election, from pew in 2020. president biden won the hispanic menen vote by 57% to 40. that's 7 points. but a -- 17 points. but a recent missouri times poll of hispanic voters' preferences in this year's election had vice president harris beating trump by only 3%, 48-45. why is vice president harris underperforming with this group? >> guest: well, there's many reasons, but one of of the principal -- a couple of the principal reasons i wanted to share with your viewers is, first, latino men particularly are feeling the economic pinch since covid. some have not recovered yet from the, from, with their economic prospects since covid and are feeling that anxiety, feeling the rising prices and are looking for answers. andso one of the things that is

incumbent on vice president harris in the coming weeks so to plaintiff and reach out directly the latino men to share her economic vision which is about expanding the economic tons for the latino work force, expanding, you know, building 3 million homes during her presidency which, you know, a high proportion of the work force that would buildic those homes in the constructionn and other industries would be latinos and particularly latino male workers. expanding opportunities for home ownership which is a pain point for latino men. there is a delta in support between latinos' current presidential preferences and the issues they care about because when you poll them on the flipside arnold these issues, they're very much in line with kamala harris' policy platform, particularly around economic issues.c we believe she can improve her standing with latino men with focused, robust outreach in the

coming days. >> host: we are talking with the executive director of unis do usa pac. if you have a question or comment for him, start calling in now. the lines if you are a republican, 20 2-748-80011. democrats, 8000 and end dependents, 748-8002. rafael, i wanted to ask you about some polling that your organization had recently done looking at the latino voter outreach. and it showed that an extremely, one extremely concerning aspect showed that 53% of latino voters polled in nevada said they still haven't been contacted by a campaign or political party. what is your advice to the

harris campaign in terms of improving its outreach to the latino voters? >> well, again, as we were discussing earlier in the conversation, it is the about direct voter contact, directly addressing voters regardless of their backgrounds in a very direct, respectful way, listening to voters or about their concerns and addressing their specific concerns in a culturally competent manner. we have consistently seen this over the years. that number, actually, has improved from other cycles where we had vast majorities of latino voters in any presidential cycle. so we would encourage vice president harris and other, senator rosen and other candidates that we've endorsed or that are simply looking to engage the latino community is direct, culturally-competent outreach not just in language, obviously, that's to part of it, reaching out to certain voters in spanish, but also engaging in their community. local messengers, local trusted

stakeholders whether from to our network of local latino leaders thatca people trust to the pass that message of what the platform that vice president harris has and a potential president harris has to expand opportunities for the latino community. and we believe that latino voters will respond positively if they're reached out to in an appropriate manner in the coming weeks. >> host: and we are going to bring our audience into the discussion but also wanted to note that we have a line set aside specifically for latino voters. that line is 20 the 2-748-8003. if you're a latino voter, go ahead and give user a call on tt line. we will hear first from rick in baldwin, missouri, on the line for republicans. good morning, rick. >> caller: good morning. thank you, sir, for taking this question here. first off, i want to understand what your position is on what the harris and biden administration if have done at

the border. what you said earlier was that the latino men feeling the economic pinch since covid. to attribute that economic pinch to a flood of people coming across the southern border which happened afterac covid. i think that's the real issue there. and, by the way, i also want to clarify some things. so i'd hike you the answer that. this border deal that you've talked about that's bipartisan that trump killed, he killed it because a bad deal is not worth doing it. noot deal is better than a bad deal. so let's go back to economic position being caused by the border surge, not from covid. thank you, sir. >> guest: thank you for your question. so on the economic issue, i would humbly suggest that the much bigger concern as it relates to the economic pinch that working people and the topic of this conversation latino menen are facing really relates to going back to the to

the trump administration. so we had, essentially, a pretty stable economy thanks to the eight a years of barack obama. a few years into his presidency, president trump at the time, expect if only significant piece of legislation he ever passed created --ig passed a tax law tt overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest americans and corporations. that that, that plus covid and plus other factors accentuated the situation that not only the united states, but the globe has gone through. and, in fact, the united states, relatively speaking, had it not -- didn't have inflation as a significantly as pretty much thett rest of the world to the credit of the biden administration. so that -- those steps, i would suggest, were much bigger factors than some of the economic pinch that latino men are facing. and while costs are an issue, employment is not. so latino men are working in

very high numbers, they're a big part of the labor force and, in fact, their wages are rising. they're still feeling some of that impact because of the inflation issue. so the economic story is, to say this isry about inflation is jut part of the puzzle. as it relates to your question, sir, around immigration, you know, president trump had four years to address having his own approach to our inflation system. hesy did not, as he said he wou, build a significant amount of border wall. he did not get mexico to pay for it. he did not have any sort of plan for a comprehensive approach to not only address border security, but to address the over 10 million long-term undocumented in this country that are part of our society, that live in mixed-status households that are contributing overwhelmingly to the positive necessary gain to our economy. so i believe it's the very rich of him to now after president biden and vice president harris worked with a very conservative senator lankford in the senate

to come up with a bipartisan, very right-leaning border bill which affects border security, border agents endorsed, to kill the bill and saying it's not tough enough. so the question on the table here isti who has, who is trying to address problems and solve problems, difficult problems, complicated problems without -- there's never a perfect solution, or who's someone who's just trying to play politics with an issue that does concern americans but is now taken into what we can tell is one of his very few campaign premises which is to demonize latino people. so it's -- i appreciate your question, and i would just ask you to consider who's really trying to address some of these issues that a we've been discussing today. >> host: let's hear from joe in kentucky on the republican line. good morning, e joe.

>> caller: hello? >> host: go ahead, joe, you're on. >> caller: yeah. i want, to know how open bordes affect the latinos, the blue collar workers, the minority workers. and when you open borders, you suppress the wages, you make more people compete for housing. you tell me how the open borders help the blue collar workers. >> guest: i appreciate your question. i think to say that we have or we've ever had in our recent history open borders is a misnomer. we don't have -- there is no mainstream either democratic or, franklying, latino advocacy stakeholders that believe in an open border situation. and if you poll latinos and you look at the not just vice presidentt harris' policy platforms, but congressional hispanic caucus, the latino

leadership community and our communities when you poll them, those who want a balanced a approach to the immigration system, we want a fair, orderly, efficient border policy and treat people humanely when they're recently arrive ared or long-term undocumented. those who have contributed for a significant amount of time. as it relates to what's occurred over the lastve few years, we hd a very serious crisis, and that was a humanitarian crisis. so while we all -- and now vice president harris is trying to address that and biden tried to address it by creating a very right-leaning border security bill which, again, president -- former president trump killed. and everyone is pretty, you know, in a very transparent way that's what took place. so i would suggest that the much bigger issue as it relates to some of the economic -- of latino men isno related to somef

the conversations we were having early around inflation and other factors and not necessarily immigrants who are not contributing to our economy and, inin fact, we did not have an on border. one of thehe things that's not been talked about is since over the last six months or so where the biden administration has focused on addressing this issue on the border, border crossings have gone significantly done. so this is a fluid situation that we need to be fair in how wewe monitor day-to-day on our southern border. >> host: rafael, i wanted to show you more recent pew polling done in january of this year looking at latino voters. the hispanic -- eligible hispanic voting population is projected to be 36 million latinos expected toake up about 15% of eligible voters, slightly more than half of latinos are eligible voters. what should viewers know about the political power of this

voting bloc and how they vote? >> guest: absolutely. latino voters are going to determine who's the next president, there's no question about it. if you look at states like arizona, nevada, we've got a critical mass of the electorate there. over 202% of most states. even in what we consider traditional overwhelmingly whit- [laughter] states like pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, we have -- and even in the sun belt, growing latino populations. my home state of pennsylvania, we expect the latino electorate to be at least 5% of the voter turnout. that will be well within the margin of victory for either candidate, so the latino vote certainly will have a great stay in who wins in north carolina, pennsylvania and others, other swing states around the country. andat the latino electorate is going to grow exponentially. the average american is about 40 years old. so we have a growing population and, in fact, 40% of the latinos

we estimate p that will vote in 2024 were not voters in 2016. we're not talking about a new robust community that's driving the economic and culturalling engine of our country and this new generation. and it's very important that both parties have an understanding of how to message this very fast growing and diverse electorate because you cannot win national election and many state and local elections anymore without engaging the latino community. >> host: we'll hear fromen mia, staten island, new york, on the line for latino voters. good morning, mia. >> caller: yes. good morning, thank you for taking my call. do want to share that many latinos that come to this country are fleeing fascism,

places that are taking away their freedom, and they come here. were -- [inaudible] trump which he's doingth the sae thing, trying to take away our freedoms. ea also -- [inaudible] at the border. challenging what kamala harris has to do. she's -- separating families which -- [audio difficulty] have not yet been united. so our latinos are very, very strong people, and we cherish that freedom. so i think -- [audio difficulty] to borrow maybe a little bit from jfk, we should can our latinos, you know, ask not just what the country country can do for you, but ask what are we going to do for our country because we all need to to stick together with kamala.

she is working for all of us. and i hope that they will -- [inaudible] free comes that we have concern free comes that we have -- [inaudible] push that a little more, but -- [inaudible] taking us back to the dark ages -- >> host: mia, you're breaking up, so we'll leave it there. but we'll get a response from rafael. >> guest: thank you for your question, your comment air that. a few things you hit on, one is there is a good discussion to analyze some of the dynamics between latinos and those who tend the vote conservatively, as you were saying, have a history of fleeing left-wing dictators in latin america, particularly cuban-americans and venezuelan-americans. eventh those those d hosch thouh those communities are quite as right wing, it is closer to the 50-50. but it is interesting how

particularly that level is concentrated on florida. from a macro perspective, you know, that dynamic really only impacts one state in a significant way in statewide elections. but to your bigger point about the a conversation around -- in some ways the wrong conversation we're having, particularly the asylum seekers that have been the focus of this conversation in american politics over the last few years, we're seeking asylum many for valid reasons, economic, even personal peril. there are women trying to escape domestic violencee and a lot of horrific circumstance9s. and i would suggest to people watching this that havepe a negative opinion about t the immigrants that have been more recently arrived from central and south america and all over the world, i would remind you, and many of you are christians and have that as part of your faith, that, you know, jesus was

an an asylum seeker whose mother's name was maria. i think we need to focus this election, really we focus on these conversations and what it says about our politics that one of the major candidates for president, literally one of his very few, if any, major a arguments for being president is that theen problem with our country are black and brown people that are here, more recently arrived. and so the question is, are we going to have a president that's working to solve problems and believe in the humanity of all of us, or are we going to have a president who's just going to -- as he's done in springfield and many other circumstances -- is going to create more problems and demonize people and put people whether they're haitian-migrants or legal residents or -- [inaudible] who are simply reporting crack accurate information about a our weather patterns are just going to create problems and be targets for his vitriol. i thinket the choice is clear.

>> host: rafael, on a related note, a text coming inm a viewer, melvin in illinois, asks latino seem to be swayed by the false equivalency of com american democratic socialism t the socialism that takes place how can the harris campaign help educate latinos to distinguish between the two? if. >> guest: well, i think it's a bigger issue in our society as it relates to our decentralized media system. so not just vice president harris, presidential candidate a harris, but all of us have a responsibility to combat the rampant misinformation we're a seeing in our politics that particularly targets spanish-speaking latinos and spanish-speaking voters through social media, through youtube, through text messaging. every latino that's watching this can relate to this story. many of us will get a text or a reachout by a spanish-speaking relative that is getting just

incredibly wild and inaccurate information in j their whatsapp chain or social media platforms about, you know, some crazy conspiracy theory against the democrat and, obviously, kamala harris is the target the of much of that vitriol. so her responsibility as the candidate is to reach la a tee knows where they are. she just did the univision town hall which was a great step. she needs to continue to do that in every way to reach out to different sectors of our community to share her policy platform with the community which, again, the issues are overwhelmingly supported by latino voters. but we have to have a larger conversation about how are we going to, without infringing on first amendment rights and how are we going to have a larger conversation about a our social media ecosystem and the tech ecosystem and the media ecosystem so that we can rid ourselves as much as possible of this rampant misinformation that's damaging our democracy.

>> host: let's hear from teresa in waco, texas, on the line for latino voters. good morning, teresa. >> caller: good morning. i come from a huge latino family here in texas, and even the -- >> you can finish watching this online at c-span.org. we'll leave it here and take you live now to the white house for today's press briefing. live coverage on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] >> -- hearing comments in the back. okay. so the biden-harris administration's response ask if recovery efforts continue to deliver for the people of north carolina, florida and all communities affected by hurricanes helene and millon. milton. federal assistance for communities affected by hurricanes helene and milton have surpassed $.8 -- 1.8 billion. over the weekend the president visited florida to personally survey the damage caused by

milltop, to to speak with families affected by the storm and meet with state and local officials to ensure they were getting the resources hay need. and this afternoon at a 4:15 p.m. eastern standard time pima administrator deanne criswell will hold her daily press briefing to 40 -- provide further details on our efforts to help communities respond, recover and rebuild in the wake of these disasters. as the president has said, or we are in this for the long haul, and we will be this is as long as it takes. that said, we need congress to do the its job. yesterday you heard from the president that the small business administration's disaster loan program, which is a critical lifeline to small businesses, homeowners, renters affected by disasters, has been exhausted. americans should continue to apply if for these loans, and sba will continue to process them and dispersion burst --

disburgs assistance as soon as congress provides the needed funding. tomorrow president biden will travel to berlin, germany, where he will meet with german leaders, chancellor schultz, underscoring the strong relationship that the unite shares with germany and the full range of global issues that we are tackling together. the president biden and chancellor schultz have built, it's been critical to helping us make progress on behalf of the american people and to making the world a safer place. we have worked together closely to strengthen our economies for if both you are people and provide critical support for ukraine as it continues to defend itself against russian aggression as germany has been the second largest provider of aid to ukraine of after the united states. chancellor schultz's bold decision the participate in the prisoner swap. this summer as you all know which he did -- he did at

president biden's request was vital to returning wrongfully-detained americans including evan gershkovich and paul wheel land andier -- paul whelan and germans to their families. and we need to continue working together. on that note, president biden will speak with president zelenskyy shortly, if not already, and will announce if a significant new is security assistance package for ukraine today as part of our ongoing effort to surge u.s. support to ukraine in its fight existence russian aggression. the two reeders concern leaders -- leaders also will cuts the ukraine defense contact group which will hold, concern which will be held next month to continue to get ukraine the support it needs to prevail in this conflict. we will have a readout of that call soon as we -- as well as more details on the military aid package.

some additional news, in the first week of december the president will travel to an goal la where he -- an goal la where he will celebrate the transformation of the u.s.-angola relationship, recognize an goal that's role as a strategic partner and regional leader and meet with president lorenzo about ways to increase our collaboration on security, health and economic partnerships. .. >> with that, off to you. >> the germany trip tomorrow, when will he be coming back and presenting the conversation with president zelensky, doesn't obviate the need for them to meet while he is in your?

>> they are not going to have an opportunity to meet while he is in europe and this is one of the reasons the president is calling him ahead of time. what i will say is we will have more detail on the trip in the next several hours and with it looks like what tomorrow will look like and the effects of the president engagement in germany. >> with concerns of the secret service being so stretched right now and there is security needs with the two assassination attempts, has the president considered maybe putting the strip off until after election day? or perhaps even diving back from the delaware travel? just to lighten the load on the secret service. >> what i will say, i'm not going to get into the specifics of the secret service and how it does its business in protecting obviously the principles here

that's not something for me to speak to from here. what i will say is the president believes, has filled for strongly about this trip, about one of our partners, allies that is been steadfast certainly a partnership as a relates to ukraine's defense. and the president really wanted to make sure to go to germany to thank chancellor scholz directly. and so that was one of the reasons to do that trip. i'm not going to get into specifics of it secret service and how they move forward and have a go about protecting the principles. that's a fun thing i would address. >> president biden yesterday spoke -- as president if she's elected. do you feel he has held her back. >> was no, not at all. look, the president has always been, i'm going to be, not going to speak to politics from your book but i can see more broadly

is that every president has the opportunity to cut the own path. the president has been clear about passing the torch and seeing vice president harris as a leader from day one, on day one. and he understands how this all works. he said the shelter as well. he was loyal to barack obama but he also got an opportunity to cut his own path as president. that's what he believes kamala is going to do and that's his words, right. so she's been loyal to him come something he shared and he understands that she will cut her own path. that's just the way it goes. that's the process we're seeing right now that we're living in that you all are covering every day since the president decided to step aside from this election and pass the torch to the vice president. that's what you're hearing from this president.

he's incredibly proud of it. he has supported from day one. he has said the best decision he made in 2020 was asking her to be his running mate. >> couple questions about this letter from the biden administration to the israeli government, suggesting u.s. aid to israel a bit risk that they don't change their posture on humanitarian aid into gaza. is there anything that we should note about the timing of this? >> so look i'm going to take a back -- a step back for second because i know my colleagues over at national city council spoke to this if that yesterday certainly over the past couple of days. the administration did something similar in april and that was received, the later we did back in april was received with the constructive response from the israelis. so this is very similar. what we have seen, the trigger, the reason why were we're s

is we've seen a decrease in aid in very critical aid into gaza. set up a letter from department of defense and state department that went to both secretaries counterparts here and so we're having those discussions. i would speak to them. i would speak to the dod and state department on their timing but it is connected to what we have seen which is a decrease of humanitarian aid in gaza and so we want to address that with israel. >> have you gotten any response from the israeli government to this letter or any sign they're taking seriously? >> i don't have anything out to preview or announce or layout for you at this time. what i can say is the last time we did this in april we did see a constructive response and so that's what we want to see this time around. >> is the administration willing to halt military aid to israel if you don't see a significant improvement in humanitarian aid flowing into gaza?

>> i'm not going to get into hypotheticals. we did a back in april, sent a letter, very similar, a lead from both state department and department of defense. we got a constructive response. that's what were hoping to see. we wanted to address this pic is is connected to decrease of humanitarian assistance, a that is very much needed in cows as you all know and so that's what, we have done this before. it's worked and so we are doing this again. so we want to see a constructive response. >> just one follow-up. -- make changes or deadline after the election. doesn't that take some of the bite out of the? >> i'm not going to get into a timeline from here. i'm not going to get into those types of specifics that i would very to the state department and department defense. what's important is, here, is to not forget we can does before april. we have seen a decrease of eight and we certainly want to make sure that is addressed, that is

why the letter went out. that's why we're having this conversation with the israelis. so i'm going to leave it there. >> yesterday former president trump seemed open to the possibility he has talked to vladimir putin since leaving office. what do you think of that? >> i'm not going to get into specifics about conversations with world leaders from here. i'm not going to get into those specifics of it at all. [inaudible] >> i think i've answered this question before. we don't have any, anything to confirm that that, that specific save it from a former president. i just don't have anything else to add. >> domestically president obama seem to indicate he was worried some voters might be trying to make excuse of not voting for a woman. i forgot myself. i understand -- [inaudible] have you seen moment orgy believe that this has been unique challenge for president

harris pinnacle as vice president? >> i mean look here's what i can say. both as president and as vice president very proud of what they've been able to deliver for the black community and many other communities, historic results. obviously there's always more work to be done and that's something we say whether it's about the economy, about healthcare, always more work to be done. but we are proud of what we've been able to see when we think about record wealth including record wealth employment, small businesses. we seem a boost in small business applications within the black community and just more broadly, not just black community. we understand there's more work to be done. we will continue to do that work and that's what i can speak to and that is something i know both this president and the vice president are very proud of dick. >> you think you have come over sexism as first female vice president? >> i'm not going to get into it from here. what i can say is that we are

all very proud of what the vice president has been able to accomplish with this president as a critical part of the past four years edgy don't have to, almost four years i should say, as vice president but look at her record as senator, as attorney general of california. i think it's been come she's had an impressive record, and she's done that with everything, all the headwinds the come at her, she's been able to get that done. >> you were talking about just go back to the germany trip, is there any update on the summit, is a postponed, counsel? >> i don't have it update on that. i'll be sure to check with the team but at one of anything today. >> is the president expected have been meeting with any other foreign leader? >> a big part of this meeting of the travel he's doing is going

to be around ukraine, the continuing support of ukraine, of ukrainians as a continue certainly to beat back russia's aggression and we've been very proud, the president has been very proud to do that and continue, obviously one of the reasons we're going as an agent with chancellor scholz as a partner in that. we will certainly have more to share but just a little bit more broadly i would state come i mention russia's war in ukraine managing the crisis in the middle east, maintaining stability in the indo-pacific region comes taking the transatlantic alliance, illustrating that the relationship is both dynamic and also in during, and so i think that's important to note. the president as i stated at the top he wanted to make this trip, a trip he wanted to do to thank the chancellor for his support and so that's what you were to see from the leaders and we will have more tissue. i will also state that at 4:00

national security council will have a press call so certainly you should join that. >> a follow-up on the president comments of the vice president last night. we were told in august the white house could have done more to promote the vice president. he said, quote we were all united behind the idea she should be successful. we should find the path to do. does the president agree? >> what i will say is anything the first part of your quote is something i know to be true, like the president has always wanted the vice president to be successful. and she has been successful. and he could not be more proud of her. what he laid out yesterday, i will say that with a political event that he spoken but i think lays out his thinking, how he sees the vice president. not just now but moving forward in what she's trying to publish at this moment.

and i think she has had a lot of successes to .2 over the last three and half years. i also stated a record as a senator, as attorney general, as district attorney in san francisco. she's had an impressive record. anything else beyond that i will leave it to the vice president and her team. >> back to ukraine. it's been more than a a month since the president told us there were discussions about allowing ukraine to fire long-range missile deeper into russian territory. easy heading into this conversation and on this trip to germany with a decision made on the? >> what i will say is look, the united states policy on that has not changed. it has not changed. but what's important is we are committed, , we continue to be committed to ukraine, to ukrainians having everything that it needs a special on the battleground and they're fighting against russia's aggression. that is our commitment.

i just made an announcement, right, moments ago about and assistance how much more were going to be providing as calm as a understand what's needed on the ground, on the battlefield. the president is probably talking to president zelensky right now. we're going to continue to show the support at a don't have anything to say our policy is not change the other. [inaudible] >> look, i'll say this. in may the president directed his team to ensure, right, that ukraine was able to use u.s. supplied weapons for cross-border strikes so ukraine can hit back against russia. russian forces. that are attacking them or preparing to attack them as part of the current russian offense. it's common sense, right,, since they should be able to hit back against what's hitting them and to die russian forces edited using -- to deny -- stage right across the border.

our policy with respect with respect to prohibiting the use of attack guns are long-range strikes inside of russia has not changed. that is not going to change. it is not changed. don't have anything else to preview but will continue to have conversations with ukrainians providing what they need on the battlefield. that is a commitment we want to be there for the crane is as they continue to beat back russian aggression. >> on funding it sounded last week when the president was talking about that he wanted congress to come back early to pass more funding for the small business administration but he didn't mention that in a statement last night. has he given up on speedy what he did mention in a statement last night is that speaker johnson has said and is committed and promised that he was going to fund, promisee is going to fund not just add but other disaster programs and so he said it will be replenished by congress.

that's the commitment he made. that's what we want to see, and we want also make sure people out there who need these particular resources they continue to apply for loans and sba will continue to process those applications. speaker johnson made a commitment and certainly we want to see that commitment followed through. >> back to the middle east. the u.s. specifically state department said yesterday the u.s. was opposed to the israeli bombing of beirut as it was being carried out in a moment. hours after that the work airstrikes on southern beirut. again, what gives you any confidence that i ministered netanyahu is listening to what washington is asking him to do? >> soma, you're right we've told israel directly we hold any israeli campaign certainly of near daily strikes intensify put area in beirut, you are correct that is something we've been very clear about. we also understand that what

they're conducting operations in their conducting to destroy hezbollah infrastructure is targeted. so we will continue to have his conversations with these israeli government and that is something we'll continue to do here and we've been really clear. it is critical, critical these operations be conducted in a way that does not threaten the lives of civilians. conversations will continue to have with the israeli government. u.s. keeps keepers and also members of the lebanese armed forces. we have been clear we're going to continue to have those diplomatic discussions. >> and the white house view how did yesterdays strikes, what category do they fall into? >> look, i'm not going to get into characterizing each of the strikes. not what i'm going to do from here. we've been clear what we want to see the we've been very clear about that from here. as you stated, from state department department of defense as well and will continue to

have these discussions. >> thanks so much. does the white house if any indication or explanation on why -- [inaudible] and is a light is concerned? >> say that last part -- [inaudible] >> i mean look, look, obviously we are always going to have concerns and we all watch and monitor closely. don't have anything specific to read out on the current situation there. we are going to always as i said monitor, watch closely, and certainly be in coordination with our south korean allies. and so look, , we're also goingo continue to urge north korea to reduce tensions and sees any actions that could increase the other risk of conflict and that

something -- >> a follow-up and one more. there are reports north korea is sending soldiers to fight with russia in ukraine some are suggesting that are around three, 7000 soldier already a few miles from the ukrainian border. does white house 70 response parkinson? >> we have always said we had been concerned when we've always asked about of the countries providing aid or assistance to russia. we've been very clear about that. this is why the president took it seriously on making sure nato was stronger and bring in more than 50 countries together to make sure that ukrainians have the support that they need. you just heard me speak about and assistance, another assistance package that we're going to be speaking more about delivering and that is the conversation president biden is having with president zelensky and that is going to be an important part of the

conversation the president has when he's in germany. we're going to continue to provide assistance to show our support for ukraine, standbys ukrainians and so that's going to be our focus the next couple days and continued focus since the past almost two years now. >> is president biden going to the g20 and as a white house believe vladimir putin should be there if he goes -- >> i don't have anything to share on either of those questions that you asked. >> on the call with zelensky under earlier today zelensky made public parts of it victory plan. i assume he is sharing with president biden but one of those elements is an immediate invitation ten nato. that the white house, present have a response? >> look, what i will and i've been very clear about this, we're going to let the ukrainians speak to the victory plan. that's their plan we will let them speak to it. what were going to continue due

to show our support for the crane it on the battlefield as a continue to beat back russia's aggression. of anything else to share be on that, but we will let them speak to their plan directly. >> yesterday president biden talked about trump's rally in which he stood off on the stage and listen to various musical tunes and said the former president has quote snapped and become unhinged. can you elaborate what he's talking about there? does he have concern trump lacks the mental fitness to go back to the why. [inaudible] anything to that. the very clear on what he felt and saw and was sharing with all of you. i don't think there's anything more to add. >> does he have concerns about the former president -- >> i don't have anything else at the i think the president speaks loud and clear and directly for himself, esso i will his words stand.

>> senator rick scott and senator rubio have opposed -- [inaudible] has a presence in the proposal? we decided? is a pass? >> so look as you know when we tried to do originally the cr, we had a robust, robust component in that cr to make sure that the disaster relief fund was replenished. that didn't go through. that we were disappointed by that obviously, and what we want to see i'm not going to put a number to it or is something that would be worked out. what is is congress when you come back to actually do that, to actually replenish the disaster relief fund. it's important to do so but while we have the fundings now to do the work that fema need to do to impacted areas, we know that there would be a shortfall and we will need more funding to undergo to get to a number or

i've not spoken to the president or the office of lives affairs about this particular proposal that is been brought forth but the president has been very clear. i just talked about the sba and how that fun is doubt exhausted. the speaker made a promise come speaker johnson made a promise that when congress returns that they're going to replenish the disaster relief fund and also make sure cba has what it needs to really address the needs f americans have been impacted on the ground. >> is her timeline for when the back window how much they will need? >> i would refer you directly to fema about that specific timeline, a number that's needed. what we are very clear about is we need to make sure we have funding, additional funding for the disaster relief fund. that's why we included it in the cr it as you know it robust number. we wanted to see that get through. did i get and we're seeing these storms coming through and what

they're doing and had their devastating areas. the president was able to survey obviously what occurred in florida after hurricane milton. we want to make sure those funds are there. speaker johnson made a promise picky set that was going to happen so what you want to see. i think we have to start wrapping up. >> just a follow up on president's comments about vice president -- [inaudible] i know they speak regularly but just wondering if that you specifically had conversations about how she would do that if elected, whether the present is offering advice on whether she has asked for advice? >> i don't have details to the specific conversations. as you know the president and vice president work closer together as a just talked about the two mr. kirk in taking through. you saw them working side-by-side in dealing with the impact of hurricane making sure we are responding to folks on the ground. and look, they are going to continue to work closer

together. the president knows what it's like to be the vice president and knows what it takes to be the vice president and what's needed there. he is very proud of the work she's been able to do. i'm not going to get into details are specifics of private conversations. >> thank you so much. the automakers have said that considering expanding a factor in mexico. i'm wondering if the white house has any response to this possibility and whether you can address concerned that domestic jobs may be lost that improved overseas? >> last year as you know we applaud uaw and still manchester, together after hard, good faith which is what we always left to see negotiations and also reaching a historic agreement. that's a good record raises come greater retirement security and investment in the future. and so that included a commitment to reopen and expand

production and communities that were devastated by previous plant closures. so look, what we want to see is still lantus to live on those commitments to the uaw. and to the community. and so not just any charities but unities that have long supported these industries. that's what you want to see. so we want them to keep their commitment again we were very proud to see that very good faith negotiations that occurred and what was delivered. and so that's what we want to see at the end of the day. i know we have to -- okay. we have to go. sorry, guys. >> later today incumbent senator

kevin cramer faces off against his democratichallenger katrina christiansen in the race watch the debate live at 8 p.m. n on c-span2, she's been of our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> friday nights watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, weekly discussion on how the presidential senate and house campaigns that were in the past week. reporters join to talk about the issues, messages and events driving the political news. and to take a look at the weekend. watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail friday nights at seven eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org or download as a podcast on c-span now a free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics.

>> american history tv saturdays on c-span2, exploring the people and events that tell the american story. starting at you p.m. eastern for ticonderoga hosted its 20th annual discussion of the american revolution highlights include installing canadian regiment, the saratoga campaign of 1777 and why general horatio gates went from a dutiful subject to the british crown to committed revolutionary. at 7 p.m. eastern watch american history tv series the story president elections. exploring what made these elections historic. the parable issues of different eras and a lasting impact on the nation. this week the election of 1960, democratic massachusetts senator john kennedy narrowly defeated incumbent republican vice president richard nixon this was a first election in all 50 states participated.

at 8 p.m. eastern on lectures in history, boston college communications professor on how baseball connects americans to the past and culture. exploring the american story. watch american history tv saturdays on c-span2, and find a full schedule on our program guide or watch online any time at c-span.org/history. >> joining us now to continue our discussion of latino voters and campaign 2024 is alfonso i gulick of the hispanic engagement director for american principles project.in good morning, alfonso. >> good morning. happy to be with you. viewers wt american principles project is and how you are funded. guest: well, we are a c3 organization and we also have a

c4 sister organization. we advocate in support of policies that are profamily. we do it before the u.s. government and state governments. and we also get involved in the electoral process to advocate for candidates and support candidates who are profamily. we are funded by donors who believe in the cause of defending foundational principles of our country. that believe that we need to fight against the woke, progressive agenda that seeks to undermine our american values and the family, the authority of parents. we fight against allowing trans

men and female sports. i kate -- against teaching gender ideology in public schools without parental authorization. and we are definitely against allowing minors to have puberty blockers and same-sex surgery. host: you said that you advocate for candidates. have you endorsed anyone or do you endorsed candidates? guest: well, yes we have endorsed president trump. again, like other organizations, we have a family organization. what is the educational foundation, the c3. the c4 is the advocacy and then we also have a super pac and then through that we are campaigning against kamala harris and pointing out her anti-family policies that challenge parental authority and

put our kids at risk. host: and your role with the american principles project is the director of hinz panic -- hispanic engagement. what does that entail? guest: it entails engaging the hispanic community to inform them about the policies that the democratic party and the biden-harris administration have been pushing against the interests of hispanic families, regulation changes to title x to try to force educational institutions that receive federal funding to follow gender ideology policies and to allow trans men to have access to girl sports or locker rooms which puts it risk their security and intimacy pushing policies that

would allow them to participate in sports. and also, pushing and supporting efforts in different states to allow minors to have access to puberty blockers that can cause permanent damage to minors and also to change sex change surgery is, which involvements ectom -- masectomy, and genital real mind meant and basically child abuse. for jewett -- for a majority of americans and hispanics these are policies that are scary. and we are one of the few organizations, actually that point out in the political process. we run ads highlighting the democrat's woke agenda and support for this appalling policy.

and, frankly it is working. we think that the radical trans agenda is a sleeper issue certainly for the edge -- for the meat out. but first for americans it scares them. that is why many hispanics or hispanic men are moving towards donald trump because they are afraid of this agenda that kamala harris supports of schools treating children as not according to their biological gender without telling their parents. and policies like that really concern hispanic parents, talking about graphic sex or sexual orientation to -- orientation or gender identity to minors were very small children in schools is something that should not happen. this is what the biden-harris

administration has supported. so we participate in the political process and campaigns that run ads highlighting that because we do believe that that leads a lot of voters and certainly hispanic voters to support donald trump. host: part of your job does include outreach and engagement with the latino community. is that different this year than previous years? because -- guest: it does in the sense that we are seeing a major realignment in hispanic politics. in the past, hispanics were a vast majority supportive of the democratic party. they saw the democratic party the party of hispanics. as they integrate and assimilate into american culture. they are starting to vote like most americans. they are looking out for their own interests and the interests

of the families. so, it does happen with other migrant communities 100 years ago with italians, and the irish. they arrive and they were driven to the democratic party. with time they started voting like average americans. we are sitting hispanics not necessarily becoming republican. many are. but many just being independent and saying what is best for my family. they are not voting according to groupthink and whatever hispanic identity democrats say, but according to what their interests are. and that is why we are seeing so many move towards the right. we have seen that in the past two elections in the current polling, and we are seeing that as well. not only at the national level is trump receiving significant support from hispanic voters,

but hispanic support for kamala harris has dropped dramatically. remember on the national level, the democrats were used to to winning for 3040 points. kamala harris is only ahead by 14 points. if you look at the battleground states, and most of them hispanic votes will be decisive. and that margin is even smaller. kamala harris is ahead in most with the hispanic vote but the margin is smaller and in arizona, trump is winning the hispanic vote. this is a major development in american politics. but it shows that as hispanics immigrate and assimilate they becomes more independent which is against everything that we have been hearing from democrats

for so long. the hispanics say -- but at the end we say they share the same ideas and that is true. the biggest diversity in the hispanic community is the diversity of ideas, even within different ethnic groups. puerto ricans in new york think different from those in central florida. we have had that diversity and that is what we are seeing. we cannot generalize. and i think democrats are still doing that and that if you listen to kamala harris' campaign rhetoric, they are still treating hispanics as a monolith. we are trying to victimize him saying that republicans are racist. but hispanics can see beyond the pandering that race baiting.

frankly they are saying we do not buy that. and that is why so many are supporting trump. host: our guest, alfonso aguilar will be with us talking about latino voters and campaign 2024. if you have a question or comment you can call in. the lines, republicans, 202-748-8000. democrats, 202-748-8001. independent, 202-748-8002. and if you are a latino voter, the line for you is 202-748-8003 . alfonso, i wanted to ask, when you are talking with voters what is your pitch to get them to vote for former president trump, if they are not a supporter right now? guest: and that is exactly what we are doing. because you have to look at

undecided hispanic voters in the battleground states. the first two issues they care about is the economy, specifically high prices. prices remain very high. across they are seeing that in the supermarket, the gas pump, so that is the number one issue. second is border security. and hispanics still would like america to be a welcoming country. hispanics do not have the same views on immigration. they may have had it in the past and they believe in more restrictions, and hispanics believe in deportations, so ask about border security.

hispanics believe trump would do a better job. thirdly, social issues matter. we are seeing that kamala harris is bleeding hispanic male voters, and one of the reasons is they are concerned with sexualizing kids in schools, allowing trans men in female sports, access to the same-sex surgeries, hormone blockers, and they are aware of it because democrats talk about it, so that is another reason and that is something that needs to be talked about. i think another issue that is important to them is crime, and, obviously, that is related to the mass migration we are seeing because they are seeing high numbers of illegal migrants

arriving in their communities and taking away resources that they need. also, an increase in serious crime from murder to violent crime committed by illegal immigrants. and it is impacting the community, so that is an important issue for them. that is more or less the issue being talked about, and hispanics respond to that. host: callers are waiting to talk with you. richard, augusta, georgia, democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. mr.aguilar, how can you support a man who separated over 4500 mothers from their children at the border and did nothing to try to reunite the families together? right now, biden and harris has worked on reuniting the families. another thing, on the economic

issues, the president cannot control what corporations raise prices when the government opens up the strategic reserves. other than that, the gross restores by corporations, they are the ones who raise the prices. guest: well, first, let me address the separation of families because that is a talking point for democrats. we saw an increase in illegal arrivals 2019. president trump took action i was able to achieve control of the border. we do not want migrants from latin america or over the world to make the dangerous trip to the southern border. over 60% of women and girls are victims of sexual assault, rape, we do not want to see that. massive gratian facilitates child trafficking.

do not want to see that, so we would like to take measures like trump did from the remaining policies to dissuade people from making that trip. you mentioned the children. people do not talk about the over 300,000 unaccompanied minors that the biden anhydrous ministry should have lost -- and harris avenue station have lost contact with. they do not know where they are. and our government has lost contact with them. that is the scandal. that overshadows what happened with the separation a family policy, but nobody is talking about it. we should ask kamala harris, where are those children? many of them are being sex trafficking. we know that massive migration of facilities, the trafficking of children, the border patrol is so overwhelmed, sometimes hhs

releases those children to individuals they think our relatives when they are actually traffickers. the government cannot communicate. they don't know where over 300,000 children are. and they are not talking about that separation of families, so that is a political point. the situation we have in the border right now, president biden said he wanted it to have a humane system. we have humanitarian crisis right now. it is anything but moral and humane. people are risking their lives, it facilitates the sexual salt of women and child trafficking. it must stop. inflation started going up to 9% under this administration. why? because we have declared more on fossil fuels. that has an impact in the market. that inundated the cost of

energy, and energy is a basic component and pillar of the economy. we already had an overheated economy. government had invested a lot of economy because of the pandemic, which was an exceptional situation. instead of reducing government spending, the biden-harris, station started overspending with a different build a past. and the inflation reduction act had nothing to do with inflation, it was about massive subsidies to the environmental agenda, and that did not help low income individuals, so inflation, right now, and high prices, due to the policies of this ministrations, it happened on this demonstration, so every pulses biden and harris is responsible and trump would do a better job. that's the reality. host: let's hear from