but it has to be on that. can you do that? >> sort of about that. question of timing really. we're in a campaign year. this process going forward that you described, ambassador, is sort of, it strikes me as a bit ad hoc. what are you thoughts about whether anything will actually happen on this pluralateral approach this year, versus should we in the business economy be thinking about building up for a post presidential year activity? >> i think that -- as i mentioned before, there's a lot of energy, and we want to tap into that as much as we can. that said, i think -- i want to -- i would rather underpromise and overdeliver than overpromise and underdeliver since you had a lot

of that over the years in the wto context in particular. i think we should tap into the energy that i see in geneva today. i have been very gratified on this issue by the broad bipartisan support that has been expressed in washington. i have seen no distinctions between republicans and democrats as far as what they think about the concept of promoting services. so i think we should get to work, continue to work going on, there's a meeting this week, the next round of discussions among the experts that are involved in this services discussion. i should mention one very positive sign. we will be joined in a friends group this week by two new additional members. costa rica and peru, two developing countries. approached the group about

participating, and we're very happy to welcome them into the discussion. we view them very much as being like-minded in terms of countries that have a demonstrated interest in services. so we're seeing a very positive dynamic here, and let's build on that as much as we can. >> all right. with that, ambassador punk, i want to thank you on behalf of the chamber for all of the work you're doing, for coming here to be with us today. i want to thank business europe for helping to organize and sponsor this conference and for the chamber for hosting us. and finally, last but not least, of course, all of you for participating. and thank you again. and good luck.

this is c-span3 with politics and mublic affairs programming throughout the week and every weekend, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules and see past programs at our website and join in the conversation at social media sites. tonight on c-span3, american history today with a look at life for african-americans in the 18th and 19th centuries. at 8:00 p.m. eastern, lonnie bunch, director of the museum of african-american history and culture. >> tonight on c-span, pbs's tavis smiley leads a conversation on poverty in america and its affects on women and children. >> there's a number in the fact

sheet that i fair with folks. in 1990s, the average member of congress had a net worth of $250,000, exkwluding their home. by 2010, the average member of congress had a net worth of $750,000 excluding their home. what happens with congress that they could triple their wealth in a 20 year period, meanwhile, the average person had an income of $20,000 excluding their house, but members of congress found a way to enrich themselves. i'm not hating on members of congress, not hating on wealth, but people who don't have that wealth don't understand smbld who needs an extra $40 in their biweekly check to pay for the bus. >> you can watch the whole event tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the vast majority of

consumers in the 90% are okay with this concept that the social networks and companies like google provide free services like webbased e-mail services, like mapping services, like search services, and they do that for free because they're able to sell nonpersonally identifying information about the things you do on the internet. >> this is hardly my view with respect to the concerns about the change in google's privacy policy. you had 36 state attorneys general objecting. i don't think they're in europe, by the way. i think that's states in the u.s. you had congressional leaders in the democrat and republican parties objecting. you had 60 consumer organizations in the united states and europe objecting. >> markum erickson and marc rotenberg on google's privacy

policy, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, on the communicators on c-span2. next, a panel discussion on women in the 2012 vote and efforts being made to get women to the polls this november, and issues important to women such as reproduction rights and contraception. this is a little more than an hour. >> all right, if everyone can take their seats, we're going to start the afternoon session of the women, money, power forum. again, my name is cathy siller. i'm really thrilled to be able to moderate this panel. you're going to be hearing from some of the many feminist leaders who have come together in the her vote coalition to fight to preserve the most

significant gains that women have made that are all at stake in next election. welcome, and welcome to our c-span audience. we're live on c-span. this is the women, money, and power forum, sponsored by the feminist majority and 51 women's rights, labor, and civil rights organizations. welcome. i'm going to just briefly describe the her vote coalition, and you're going to hear from some of its key leadership, and what we're doing to mobilize women's vote in the 2012 election. last august, in recognition of the anniversary of the 19th amendment, which women won the right to vote, and in recognition of the great 1963 civil rights march on washington, which happened in the same month, a coalition of

women's organizations announced a new multiorganization effort called "her vote." the goal -- [ applause ] >> the goal of her vote is to preserve her rights. health and economic rights for women that are at stake in the 2012 election. there are now 52 groups that literally represent millions of activist women in this country that have come together to harness the growing power of women in the united states. you know that women now comprise roughly half of all the paid work force in this country. and women are increasingly a powerful political force, if you're following the polling in these elections, you know that we're witnessing unprecedented gender gaps around these issues going into the election.

and the gender gaps as hald true and are holding true against all ages and all races and ethnic groups. it's not a small phenomena. this is a powerful political force that can determine the outcome of the election. her vote has outlined threats to the 12 top advances that women have made and that are at stake in this election. you can find out a lot more about each of these issues by going to hervote.org. hervote.org is wonderfull wonderfully --.us. i'm sorry, her vote.us. you can get to it from any of the coalition partners websites. so you can find the incredible information that is available on the hervote.us website. very quickly, and then you're

going to hear in more detail about the threat, but more importantly, what we are doing as a collective force to mobilize women's votes going into the 2012 election. number one, women's jobs and protections against sex discrimination. you have heard about the impact of the recent conservative majority to bring court rulings of women's rights. you know what is at stake in the attack on the union movement in this country. women have a lot to lose and much to save in these elections. number two, the affordable care act. it not only for the first time will eliminate sex discrimination in the pricing of health care insurance in this country, but as you know, it covers a broad range of preventive health services that women desperately need in these modern times. number three, women's right to

vote. is at stake in these elections. because in some 30 states across the country, conservative state legislatures have implemented voter suppression rules and voter id requirements. as many as 32 million women of voting age do not have proper documentation with their current legal name, which is going to be asked for when they go to vote. number four, birth control and the right to privacy. i don't have to say much about that. it is the rallying cry of this year. we have so much at stake as we say some of these so-call personhood initiatives that will appear on eight or nine state ballots this year. title ten, the national family planning program. the first time in the history of the country the house of representatives dominated by conservative interests, voted to

completely wipe out the title 10 program. and many states have already done it. nine states, in fact, including new jersey and most recently now, texas. rowe vere v. wade, number six, have to say much about that other than more than 1,000 pieces of legislation have been introduced in the state letch slachers across the country that if passed could threaten the constitutional right of our right to family privacy, planning, and abortion. number seven, social security. the bedrock of women's security in this country, increasingly, it has come under attack. women depend on social security, asm many in 3 in 10 older women it's their only source of security. number eight, the women's

medicare program. more than half of medicare recipients, 56%, are women. you have just seen yet another budget introduced in the house by the conservative majority to end medicare as we know it. number nine, medicaid. provides 19 million women access to vital health services at all stages of their lives. what you might not know about medicaid is that it is -- that more than two thirds of the elderly in nursing homes depend on medicaid. if medicaid is wiped out, thousands of women, predominantly women, men, too, will be thrown out of nursing homes. number ten, the violence against women act, expired in 2011, has yet to be reauthorized. so much at stake. number 11, title ix.

that prohibits sex education that received federal funding. threatened by a combination of administrative budget cuts, regulations and pressure from congressional opponents that continue to threaten and weaken its enforcement, and finally, number 12, the family and medical leave act or mfla, the only federal law that helps working men and women meet the dual demands of family and paid work. we just had a terrible decision in the supreme court that is always a favorite target of conservatives, the enforcement of availability and family and medical leave. that's the bad news. there is good news. the good news is that this incredible coalition has come together determined as never before to mobilize women's vote and make sure women's voices are

heard at the ballot box this november and that we vote for women's rights. so, with that, i would like to introduce you to some of the key leaders in the "her vote" coalition, who are mobilizing, in some cases, in an unprecedented campaign within their own organizations and constituencies to mobilize the women's vote. so, first, let me introduce linda hullman, president and ceo of the american association of university women. linda? >> thank you so much. thank you. so, aauw, 130 years of breaking through barriers for women and girls. and who would have thought that at this point in 2012, we would be talking about those barriers, much less the kinds of barriers we are seeing every day. so with that, what we are trying

to do and what we will be doing is our major get out the vote effort, which we have geared up for and are about to roll out, and we are putting unprecedented human and fiscal resource behind it. aauw has always done a get out and vote effort for many years, but this one we thought was one of the most critical. is it any wonder that women are sick and tired of being told what to do and that we're ready to make our voices heard? we're tired of our rights being used to score political points, right? and it's about time women are treated fairly and equally and they need to be respected by lawmakers. so our get out the vote effort is called "it's my vote i will be heard." and i want to take a moment to just encourage you to use that

phrase in any way you want to use it for inflection. because you can use it many different ways. it's my vote. i will be heard. it's my vote, i will be heard. it's my vote, i will be heard. so there's many different ways you can use that inflection, right, and depending on how pissed off you are on any given day. so what is the campaign going to look like? auw state organizations which we have representation in all states, over 100,000 members and donors throughout the united states. we have branches or chapters in every congressional district in the country. we're on 600-plus colleges and university campuses with our partners. so we are hosting a series of non-partisan voter education training events across the country. we will train and support

outreach volunteers who will collaborate on voter education and turnout campaigns targeting women in their states. in april, the aauw actions fund will be hiring on the ground staff to help coordinate volunteer activities and voter education efforts. we'll be producing and distributing psas, public service announcements, campaign materials and other resources specifically designed to underscore the impact of the upcoming elections and the impact on the issues women care most about. and then finally, in the month leading up to election day, 2012, we'll be using all of the resources of the aauw action fund, our social and traditional media reach, our mailing list, our relationships with aauw's partners, and to drive home that message that elections matter for women and girls, and go and

vote. so i do encourage you in your organizations, we're already having coalition partners come in with us. we want to help you in your efforts as well. we have just hired a person on staff to be targeting this now. so i really encourage you, we will help you, and we're just as strong -- we need to be together in the coalition. so women are ignored, as you know, at politicians' peril, and in 2008, women had a higher turnout rate than men with 60.4% of women turning out compared to 55.7% of men. and this gender gap continues to hold true across all ages. women have had a long history of being the key demographic. and so we need to keep that going in this election year. women voters want candidates who will move the country forward,

insure economic prosperity, and protect the health and wellbeing of individuals and families. so i'm not going to preach to the choir here about what you can do. but we have a whole list of things you can do to encourage your friends, colleagues, the people that are listening on c-span, just come to aauw.org, and find out all of the different ways we can help you. but remember, voting is a habit, folks. this is something we have to remember. voting, past voting behavior is a good predictor of future voting behavior. so voting is habit forming. once you vote, you're more likely to vote again. so that's why our get out the vote initiative is targeting specificsly millennial women, because we need to get that demographic and those young women into the voting habit. yes, we're nonpartisan, but we

want every woman to vote and think about the things that are most important to them. so women voters can not be underestimated by candidates, both republicans and democrats, and in many ways, women's voices will be heard. so it's my vote, i will be heard. [ applause ] >> linda, thank you. and my apologies to you. i should have had you come to the podium. i would like to ask that all of our other speakers come to the podium and then we'll take q & a from the table. thank you, linda. and i know that what the american association of university women is doing this time is unprecedented and very, very needed. i would like to now welcome to the podium melanie campbell, president and ceo of the national coalition on black civic participation and convener of the black women's roundtable. melanie?

>> thank you, thank you, ellie and kim and allison and the whole family. some people say dont you feel good in here today? don't you feel the power? they pissed us off, it's on. live mike, live mike. i'm honored to be here representing the national coalition of black civic participation. we're a 35-year-old organization that started in 1976. through three organizations, the naacp, and the joint center for political economic studies. one of the first executive directors waw greigea hillman who in 1983 started something called the black women's roundtable, with, i think, if i'm not correct, black women's

agenda and others, dorothy hooith and others who knew coming together as a coalition of black women is a key. when you talk about the black vote, you're talking about black women primarily, and about the way we vote and who we vote for and how we vote, what we're focused on in 2012 is really to maximize that vote in unprecedented ways to deal with an agenda that says that this time, we're going to ask for some things with our vote. we have been really focusing on the vote, really, really excited to work with the "her vote" coalition and building the kind of coalition that crosses all kinds of areas when it comes to whether you're talking about race or gender or age or income or whatever, if we ever fully came together, really ever fully came together, that's what's

going on as we speak, that would not happen. i think coalitions like "her vote" groups in this room, and those who are still working around the room, we know that we have yet to fully exercise our power. we're focusing in, i work with the national counsel of negro women. dr. barbara williams skinner with the african-american surgeon network. we had our first summit last week where we brought women, we have been working for a year now on a tour for the black women's roundtable focusing on issues of health and wellness, economic security and sustainness for women and girls. the names you know like susan taylor, and names you don't know, came together last week culminate in a year and a half, trying to get a handle on what it is we want to do. and one thing for sure, we left there fired up and ready to fight. and so our coalition will be

focusing on power of the vote. the kinds of attacks that have been going own when it comes to worker's rights. we had women from labor that we're pulling together. cleola brown is a partner of ours. when it comes to voting rights, we're working with the lawyers committee and all of the women working on -- because a lot of thei issues around voting right run by women are kind of like a secret. we're talking about judy brown with the advancement project, and of course, barbara, we're coming together when it comes to voting rights. we also from the family perspective, cannot walk away from the mike without talking about va trayvon, and what is going on in my home town. i'm from a great big city. i know everybody has been there on your vacation list. but in florida, where i grew up,

is 20 minutes from sanford, florida, i have cousins who are there. the issue of criminal justice. young people, if they vote this time, it's going to be issues of justice. we have leader whose are coming together next week around the banner of the black youth vote, focusing in on making sure that young people are fully engagedand the issue of justice, what they're calling vote for justice campaign this year. we have our target, will focus on the issue of juobs and underemployment. there's a major focus for our target around underemployment, especially around our young people. a big focus for us is going to be on the voting rights issue. we know that those who don't believe in inclusion have done a very good job of studying what happened in 2008. they looked at who voted where, how they voted, and the fact that we voted on sundays in some

place. my state of florida, everything wrong we find a way to do it in florida. my 82-year-old mother said keep fighting. all you have to do is keep fighting, so we have to keep fighting, and we know there's some folks who got in a room that we weren't invited to and studied the vote and looked to see, how did we vote inhow did the turnout get so high amongst women? how did it get so high among african-americans and other people of color? how do we make sure even when it came down to seniors when they looked at these things and folks like that, the newspaper will tell you who it is, that's a see-through statement, alex made a good job not a healthy job of making sure they found a way to exclude. so we talk about the 99%, and arlene talked about that. but it's about those who want to have it all and those who want to make sure that others don't get a little bit.

so the reality is we're in that kind of a fight, and so for us, the voting rights issues are kind of three-fold. we know the lawyers are doing everything they can, the legal community, the justice department, but we have to have a street fight as far as those who have to make sure they know what to do when it comes to their voting rights. so some of them are going to have to go to jail, some are going to have to go to jail and fight for our voting rights. we saw that march from selma to re-enactment from selma to montgomery. if we know why that happened, there are people who died, am i wrong? there are people who went to jail and did what they had to do. what are we willing to fight for? what i love about ellie, she's running around, doing her thing, she's not afraid to fight. if you want them to know you're ready, we need to make noise and say we're ready to fight. can we say, we're ready to fight? we have to know we're ready to fight.

for us, it's about being organized. we have mentioned the fact we had a black women's roundtable last week, women from ten states who came together, and we brought young ladies with us, the girls in to learn about how all this works. we have our youth training next week. we're organizing and getting ready for the fight. we're going to focus on 100,000 new black women as far as registration, 100,000 youth. but the big thing is around voting rights and being able to make sure we're prepared. fay anderson is somewhere in here. fay, the cost of freedom act we're about -- am i saying the right? cost of freedom act, i'm learning it. person down there with moms rising, but we have an app to get people to know what they need to do. you take that, okay. south caro