read, and at that point, intervention is less profitable. so is there any sense that there is a general faculty understanding in more than a small fraction of schools? >> so, these are complicated issues and don't want to blow through them. we have about 1400 schools of education. so if you wanted to have a general or universal faculty understanding, once they entered a classroom, i would argue that's late in the game. that general understanding should happen well before that. # and so i think to get to the root of that, the honest question would be what are are the schools of education doing in this space? >> i got that. of course, on the other hand. if we say wait until those who are currently in school become aware of the issue then we're really speaking about 30 years from now before we replace all those currently affective and no longer would be, so i say that as a kind of, oh my gosh. we need a cohort to be engaged. but that also answered my

questions. most are not aware of this and have not received training dollars to be aware of it. we met the enemy, and it is us. >> so yes, and we invest in professional development. we would like to invest more. and i also argue publicly in many places that the money we put behind current teacher professional development, not future teachers is often well -- sorry. is often poorly spent and not spent on things teachers are looking for. >> it seems reasonable that congress would give some direction, if we see a need to address 20% of the population, that we could give specific direction it shouldn't be like here some money. spends it as you wish. but we have a specific national need. please address. much like concord and hiv are going to the moon. >> there are many children with special needs, many children facing real challenges, and for

me it's not about picking out this population, that population. it's about how to get every single one of those children -- >> i accept that. in times of limited resources, one has to be directed. if you have 80% of the community, it seems more likely you would focus on it. >> so many of your colleagues are looking for us to be less directive. i want to be clear about it. >> okay. i yield back. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you for your leadership in putting forth a budget that supports investments in the learning continuum from early childhood to career. i want to start by focusing in on one stage in that continuum and that's high school, while acknowledging that every state of that education continue um is vitally important. your fiscal 16 budget calls for $125 million investment in our high schools to ensure these schools can redesign to meet

students' needs. i'm concerned too many high schools are failing to help their schools make it to even graduation. even those who do graduate may not be armed with the skills they need to enter post secondary education, training or the workforce. for example, in my state of wisconsin, 13 high schools fail to graduate a third of their students. earlier today i introduced the next high schools action to allow high schools to redesign and innovate better, meet students needs, and increase rigor in course work particularly in the workforce critical areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics mathematics. the stem fields. and career and technical education. so mr. secretary, can you speak to the need to focus on and ininvest in our high schools

specifically, and the necessity to have a dedicated program like the bill i described, the next generational high schools act, that supports students and prevents dropouts? >> so i really want to thank you for your leadership and passion on this and let me take a step back. when you have high schools in wisconsin or anywhere in the nation where, to say the revirs of what you said where two-thirds of students do not graduate, those are drop-out factors. and we have to take that on. we have to challenge the stat the tus quo. we have to do some things very very differently. and i have visited many high schools that a couple years ago were dropout factories and have turned around, transformed. none of them are perfect yet. this is an ongoing process. we're seeing remarkable changes. i met with a young man here last week from a high school in miami that was a dropout factor. they've totally changed the culture there now. in two or three short years. same children, same families.

same socio economic challenges. sam neighborhood. radically different results. those 13 high schools,that is unacceptable. we need to look at that very, very significantly. we put resources you know, behind school improvement grants. clearly we have a ways to go. to state the obvious when young people drop out of high school today, there are no good jobs. none in the the legal economy for that. so we just can't passively stand on the sidelines. so your leadership is so important. many people drop out of high school, not because it's too hard, but one, because it's too easy, and they're bored. they don't see the revens. the more reredesign the high schools, what the tie-in is to the real world, with real jobs. when they're engaged and excited about coming to school you see the drop-out rates go down. and we've seen this in many, many high schools around the nation. wile again i'm so proud that high school graduate rates are

all-time highs, our drop-out rate is unacceptably high for the nation. when you have high schools like that, it's not acceptable for us to stand on the sidelines and continue to see that happen. no easy answers. we should look carefully at those 13 schools and what's going on in the community. we have to do something better. and your leadership on these issues to redesign high schools get more resources there, and have the work be relevant to the real world. it's absolutely the right thing to do. >> i'm definitely going to take you up on continuing to work together to advance these proposals and see them reflected across the country. i have just a couple of seconds left, actually. so i know we're not going to get into this fully. but i wanted to hear a little bit more about the community college program. i actually offered an amendment during our budget resolution mark-up to put this into action. but i -- right now and perhaps

in follow-up to this hearing, i want to hear more about the department's vision for the america's college promise. how it will ultimately save students and taxpayers dollars and, sort of how you envision this proposal supporting the vital contribution also of technical colleges and tribal colleges. >> i know we're talking about trying to be very quick. is that okay mr. chairman? >> go ahead and do a quick answer there. there will be a second time. the 11:00 vote has now been eliminated. so there will be no 11:00 vote. >> do you want me to wait? >> we'll have a second round. just in case the senator has to leave, go ahead. >> yes sir. very very quickly. i'm a huge fan, as is the president, in our nation's community colleges. i've been do dozens of the most inspiring visits. you see them all retraining and retooling.

like baby united nations. you have people from all over the world coming to learn and to get better. and green energy jobs and i.t. jobs. advanced manufacturing and health care. this is the path. the route to the middle class and to the jobs of tomorrow and not the jobs of yesterday. and so the idea of making these community colleges free and giving whether it's young people or middle-aged people the chance to get the skills they need to be productive citizens, to support their families e we think makes all the sense in the world. this isn't the president's ideas or my idea, this is really coming from senator alexander from tennessee, who has done this at scale, and while it's very early the outpouring of interest has stunned them, far beyond what they anticipated. this is absolutely an investment, not an expense. tribal colleges and units will be a part of this. they're doing an amazing thing on shoe string budgets. is whatever we can do to strengthen community colleges provide more people access. and what too many folks don't

understand is it often while relatively speaking, they are cheaper today. just the cost of child care or transportation or gas or buying books can stop somebody from taking that step. we want to eliminate those financial barriers and give hard working folks the chance they need to climb the economic ladder. >> secretary duncan, thank you, let me try to go through several of this em. we have spoken before about the waiver and the issue with no child left behind. it is the importance to replace no child left behind. my state of oklahoma dealt with this extensively with your department. but every state had to deal with the waiver process. and i appreciate your cooperation in trying to get a complete replacement of this do you don't have to deal with the the constant waiver battles back and forth. i also appreciate the comments senator alexander made about the

fafsa. for any person with a junior or senior in high school and they get that form, the very first question is why are they asking all these questions? what does it matter? why is the federal government collecting this amount of information on my particular student? any work that can be done to simply fi that form is extremely important for multiple arens. but if we discourage people from engaging in that process we're doing them a great disservice. so i would encourage that. i do want to spend more time on what senator was talking about with the college rating system. and i want to dig in a little bit to that as well. in your budget, is there a detail of the cost to development, implement and sustain the college rating program that is currently going through right now including some sort of estimate of legal cost? obviously this is going to be challenged tremendously. i would assume your department is aware of that. is there an estimate in your budgest that i'm missing?

>> so let me back up quickly on the fafsa. we reduced about a third of the questions earlien in the administration. clearly we have more work to do. we average completion times down to half an hour. >> yeah completion time versus gathering the forms required to do the completion is a different thing. there's quite a bit they have to gather to pull that together. so that's a different issue. >> no, we have some work to do. but to your point to state the obvious, completing that form unlocks $150 billion in grants and loans each year. if you don't fill that form out you're locked out. ill still a barrier and impediment. so we have to do that. just to repeat, we're still developing this. >> is that something in the budget currently? that there's a section there? can you tell us?

this is not a high-cost item. this is us thinking it through. i'm mush less worried than you are. i think you can talk through the concerns or whatever. this would be a modest effort to try to get more information, more transparency. is there a spot you're looking at saying here's where the statutory reform comes to do it? coming from this committee, saying we're going to allocate some funds and time and fdes to be able to help repair the rating system? or the previous system saying this is within the per view of the department of education to be able to do it. >> i think the role of federal government, state government local government should be around transparency. and i think this is a massive play around transparency. >> sure. >> which is traditionally been the state responsibility that oversees state colleges or private industries. >> this is not overseen. as you know, people aren't just picking colleges in their state.

if we can get more information, again, i can't tell you how many conversations i've had with young people and their parents where they don't have good information. >> sir i understand that. i have high school aged kids myself. >> so you're living this? >> i am. so very aware of that. i would ask that you submit to the committee any kind of budget work that's already been done to tli to build towards this the dollars and ftes that you've set aside to start researching and preparing this rating system. obviously you've spent time going through it. and then any estimates that you have as you guess out the cost of litigation in the future. that would help us in decision makinge inging process in the days ahead. as we're talking about a replacement for no child left blind, which i completely encourage, one of the areas that has come up in no child left blind behind is children in foamhomeless families have to be mainstreamed into schools.

if they're segregated, they're not eligible for federal funding. so a school like that in oklahoma that targets helping homeless kids that have a very difficult time engaging in mainstream schools, public schools, because of their spotty attendance and everything else, have no access to those funds. is that something we can work together? we have the ability for homeless children to have that specific population to at least schools targeted towards reaching them are not excluded. >> it's a great question. i'm not familiar with the school in your state. i would like to learn more. there's a school in san diego, san diego county that i'm more aware. seems to have done remarkable work. it's a complicated issue. you never want to stig mymatize or separate kids. but there's a tremendous challenge that some schools are doing the job of helping to meet. i did not know about this. >> there is a tremendous asset to being able to help the students. and if i could ask one more question for the record as well.

the loan servicing issue, has there been changes on that? 25% will be not for profit. it's capped at that amount. i will be interested of getting the the numbers. why not have the open competition and allow those. i know i'm out of time on that. but that would be helpful. my hope is it doesn't set them up for failure by capping the amount for loan servicing for the multiple companies that are doing it. >> very quickly. going forward. i think in september we're looking at performance. and based upon performance, we'll do reallocations. >> okay. thank. >> are you all clear on the question he asked about money being spent on this ratings system? you're going to submit the information in response to that question. money spent. >> yeah.

there's no -- there's no -- this is just part of what the folks are doing. so there's no big budget. there's no big whatever. but happy to -- >> yeah, i just assume as you're thinking it through your committee, and you're also having to look at what's going to be the core costs possible on this. because again we have to plan on funding. if that's going to be a funding issues in the days ahead dealing with higher court costs we need to know. >> senator -- >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary. it's nice to have you in front of the committee. i want to follow up on a question that the chair was talking about on the gainful employment regulation. you mentioned, i think, the purpose of the gainful employment rule in terms of weeding out the bad actors for the for-profits, understanding that that occurs and that that's a lofty goal but you mentioned that it wasn't just for the for-profits. so i want some clarification on that. are you saying that this goes to public institutions, or liberal

arts schools community colleges? are they subject to this these metrics? how do they compare out when you're looking at the for-profits? >> the gainful employment rule does apply to certificate and non-degree programs at public and private nonprofit institutions m and so -- >> so, so just taking that further, at a public institution if you're getting a four-year degree in social work and you have a certain amount of debt, and obviously that's one of those entry level jobs, unfortunately, because it's so important, it comes in rather low on the scale, you're not getting that. >> no, and again, it doesn't matter whether folks are going to high-income jobs or low-income jobs. we just want the debt manageable and them in a better spot. in some places that absolutely happens. in some places the opposite happens. and to be very clear.

the vast majority are getting 88, 89 90% of their revenues from you and i, from taxpayers. so this is massive public subsidy. and leading to better outcomes that's an honest conversation to have. if you look at the findings we put out this week and again they have a chance to replay. and if we're wrong, we'll say we're wrong. but what we found was stunning. sipt folks to stick taxpayers with this and leave disadvantaged folks in a worse position, that's not what any of us get up every day to do that i don't think. i agree. i'm going to switch over to another question. on student loans, this is something that really bothers me.

i have run into numerous parents, and people and institutions in the financial aid offices who try to get the metrics of what it actually costs for this, whatever institution it is. let's say it's $15,000. is with the students eligible and can loan up to $25,000, you're looking at somebody who maybe might want a car, a vacation, has extra needs. all these things separate from their educational costs. and then in the end you hear about the very large amounts of student loans. what can we do about that? who can we empower to make sure that we're getting more reasonable decisions? that's just a very troubling statistic. >> it is troubling. one thing we're trying to do is empower the financial aid counselors for clear guides. >> we worked in the house on a transparency issue. i mean i think that would help.

but i just see that some of these sums, they are astronomical. but when you look at what the actual cost as calculated -- but that's a piece of the puzzle. these issues are much more complicated than that. but looking at the whole ball of wax where student debt is higher than we would like it to be. and we need to think about all these pieces to producing the debt. >> another question i have which is different than that is on early childhood. and i'm a believer. our state of virginia has pre-k. it's mandatory for each school to offer, but it's not mandatory for the children to attend. and you've said numerous times through the testimony, if we had the resources we could do this. if we the resources, we could do that. you have head start sitting there, an established program sitting there. i've been a supporter of head start. even though it's had troubling

issues. i'm very concerned as we move more into pre-k with head start here, having its issues and other issues an established government program has, political and otherwise, how are we going to make sure the resources are actually used efficiently, for the right -- for the -- directed at the student and the family and we're not going to end up fighting for the resource, for the same child. >> we work closely with secretary sebelius prior, so of all my worries that's not on the list. we have to think about the a continuum. it starts with early home visiting and other things. head start was focused more on the 3-year-old and pre-k on the 4-year-olds, there's other ways to do this. but making sure there's a continuum, a seamless continuum of opportunities 1st through 5. >> and the head starters have facilities in different areas, not necessarily in the school. they have their own buses.

and i'm not picking on it. i just want to make sure we're maximizing what we have in it here. >> we would love to have this at the local level. so whether they're school ls or whether head start facilities or whether nonprofits or ymcas. there's a lot of other places. we have many different places. so this would be developed at the local level. just again for me, what's the problem we're trying to solve? the problem we're trying to solve is far too many children and families who desperately want these opportunities do not have them today because they don't happen to be healthy. >> one of the reasons is because we're competing. or we're hhs over here. >> yeah, that has been 0% of the discussion. we've worked in concert with them on everything. all the grants we've done around childhood education, we've jointly administered with them. we don't do things perfectly. but we're frankly modeled extraordinarily good partnership that didn't happen before.

so thattic that one after your worry list. >> okay. one other comment that has to be on a list of concerns moving forward because of the way education is change inging in every aspect. it's been interesting for me to see the way it grows and keeping an eye on accountability has been a real challenge for the future. thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman and secretary duncan for being here and thank you for your service. i continue to hear concerns about the departments prioritization of grant funding for programs.

as i'm sure you're aware, we have average relative high income levels. on the other hand, we still have pockets, particularly in rural areas where we have real poverty, real challenges with our schools. can you talk about how we can ensure that may not rank so well can still get help for programs we need help on? particularly some of the supports for reading. the programs where we have real challenges because the formulas that we have often benefitted from are not as robust as they used to be in terms of funding. >> so just it's important for the committees to know the

facts. 92% of resources are formula based. we see them as absolutely complimentary. we're seeing the competitive work. whether it's on turning around underperforming schools. we've seen significant rural participation. we're partnering very closely. and again maybe a small state. but there's real strengths to that. that's probably what you guys have done frarngly might be impossible in a larger state. and so please hold us accountable for being a good partner there. we worked very, very hard. and the work that your state is

doing is very very important. so we feel good about our ability to partner with big states, small states, rural, whatever. but i think we have managed that pretty well. >> well, i certainly appreciate your kind words. i think it is a place where the state has done a great job. >> there's a thoughtfulness that frankly we have not seen any other place. they are far far ahead of other folks. that's fantastic. other people can learn from you. but there's real potential there that our team fibds pretty exciting. >> i was pleased to see that you have spoken out about first, which is another great program that started in new hampshire with the robotics competition. they're having the national finals are this weekend in st. louis.

but one of the things that i appreciate having been a teacher is that all students don't learn with a teacher in front of the classroom lecture inging and the tunds for hands-on education is important. so what is is the department thinking about to ensure that every school can have a first team or a similar kinds of team where is the students can do hands-on, work with mentors, get into the stem subjects in a way that often sometimes they're not able to do in the the classroom. >> i'm a huge fawn of what he's created. >> aren't we all? >> it's amazing. for folks who haven't seen it they fill stadiums with students doing extraordinarily exciting work. and all the noise and excitement

that you see. >> it's sort of ooin tine meets michael jordan. so we don't have any direct funding there. so i'm a big, big fan. they can use the resources that we have to go blind it. this is not a big ticket item. and the benefits for students are amazing. so whatever we can do to support and be a strong cheer cheeder and advocate not going out this weekend, but it is amazing to see the impact it's had. >> it is. and as we're looking we're hoping there may be language we can get in that will support programs like that that are hands on. i know the the chair and ranking members are looking at those

issues. mr. chairman, if i can can make one final comment. i know senator asked about the i know you said you would be looking at the numbers and volumes you could allocate. i would just urge you to look at the good job we have one in new hampshire that does great work. i would rather support them than the for-property conversations. >> i appreciate that. we're trying to do this spriktly on performance. >> that would be great. thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you senator. >> we'll have a few more questions. i have a couple. maybe more than a couple.

and back to senator sheehan if she has more she wants to ask. in a budget that asks for 6% increases in total. i think we had a vote on this during the budget voting. and overwhelmingly the congress suggested that the goal of these impact aid programs and pell programs and other programs where we're replacing money that would be there if this were privately owned property should get that money to al level that is near as possible approximates what a private private taxpayer would pay. it does seem to me if if everything else was level funded, i wouldn't be complaining about this by the way. but the priority doesn't seem very high. a million of that goes to missouri schools.

you put that in your own facilities maintenance program. >> i'll take the second half. on the first half, i'm willing to have this. >> there are still 12 buildings. they think some of the schools haven't had the proper maintenance on upkeep on them. >> what do i tell the million, the $925,000 that goes to really in almost all cases really small districts in my states that what they're doing tw the money, you're taking care of 12 federal buildings instead of giving them $925,000. >> we're trying to get rid of these, just to be clear.

that's to be clear what you did. the goal is to move these to local districts. the local districts don't want them today. >> the other argument for the the $60 million, and you might not great with it, and your folks wouldn't, the districts lost the property tax base because of a federal activity. those federal activities are not ones that have resulted in a lot of kids going to school. parks and things like that where the property is reduced. but we have supported the over billion dollars for the impact aid program. in the areas where they are having an impact. but we understand before 1970 they did lose property tax revenue. they can't charge the the federal government for the property tax. but they're not serving a lot of kids in those areas. so you might want to ask them if

there's an argument against that that would help them in developing future budgets, because we've repeated this proposal a couple of years. >> there are a number arguments against that. they still have to run the bus route to pick up kids in the middle of the area or on the side of the area. somebody would be paying a property tax. i think there are a lot of arguments. i will be surprised if that part of the budget is the way you submitted it. >> i'm happy to have that conversation. >> all right. and back to this ratings program. which i'm glad the senator asked to get the ratings on that. i have a clipping in front of me

now where you all put out a list of 56 missouri schools and a number of others to be aware of because of heightened cash monitoring. i think the numbers are all two years old. a number of things would indicate, that's like all these ratings may not be that good. i think they had the perfect score right before they announced they would not be in business next year. i think a lot of these ratings are going to have the same kind of problems. tom, you look like you would like to respond to that. >> not a lot. is it? you're right. you're right. >> they did decide to close on

their own. some of those are minor things. some of the schools didn't complete an audit on time. some 40 or 45 in minnesota. it wasn't a major problem for them. and it's just something to look out for. >> with it's a major problem like the ratings will be a major problem if somehow your school is rated by some matrix of not filling out the form, or something that may maybe matters at the department of education but doesn't matter in terms of whether the school continues to produce a quality student and a quality product. so we're going to continue to talk about this until you give up on this. >> let me just from a broader philosophical standpoint it's a fair conversation to have, and i really respect your expertise in the area. i think a pretty important role we can play is one around transparency sochlt what we did, and not everyone agreed with this. and can we not, everyone inside

our own department agree with this. but not too long ago we put out the list of universities that we're looking at with allegations around sexual assault. an allegation is not a proof o of guilt. we do the investigations and sometimes we find real problems. sometimes we clear a place. i thought personally it was important to review that. it's an issue. it means different things. there's no whatever. but for us to be withholding all the information from the public not being transparent, i think a really important role of government is to be clear on these type of things and to have the public conversation and the debate. i don't think as a public servant we're doing a good job. in a lot of areas the more we can get honest good information out there, and where we need to adjust metrics, we should absolutely do that.

maybe disagree. i thought it was important to be public and to be clear about where we were looking at allocations. >> areas that may not be available, maybe we ought to talk about the accreditation process itself is transparent enough available enough. >> i would love to have that conversation. good. senator murray? >> mr. secretary i was actually pleased to see that your budget proposed a significant increase for the office of civil rights. to reduce the amount of time thattic takes to respond to a complaint and keep up with increasing workloads all things that make our college campuses safer. ocr receives 10,000 complaints a year. that's up from 2010. the budget is still underfunded. their workload includes cases of sexual assault on campus. those are complex investigations. they take a lot of time. i wanted to ask you today can you explain to the sub committee

how the increased funding you've requested will help to reduce the backlog? >> yes. this is an important issue. these are hard tough difficult issues we struggle l every day with again. and your honest feedback is really helpful. t we've gone from 6,000 complaints in 2008 to over 10,000 in 2016. i don't have evidence in back this. i don't necessarily think there are that many more sexual assaults happening. i think we're now open for business and taking that seriously. no one would listen and no one would pay attention. it was swept under the rug. and those consequences are psychologically and emotionally devastating. it's important that we take this very very seriously. it's an extraordinary workload for our team. we have more staff than when this started. i think one thing we owe these universities or more importantly

the individuals to try to bring this to a resolution as quickly as we can. tr a traumatic for the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator. if this the happened, we owe it to the victim to not go through this for two or three or four years. if the alleged perpetrator is innocent, we owe it to the perpetrator to not have them go through that trauma for a couple of years. so we're trying to bring these to thoughtful but relative keep up with the demand. it's as simple as that. i wish our budget was zero. i wish there were none of these cases. i wish we weren't in this line of work. that is not the reality unfortunately on our college campuses. we have the obligation to work as speedily as we can to deal with hugely traumatic issues.

and that's the reality of where we are today. what do you do at these colleges if you do find victims that who rightfully need a remedy? >> you've seen again. i'm just so proud. don't do it perfectly. our civil rights has done an amazing job with this. you're seeing this enter the public dog. you're seeing universities changes the patrolsies and practices in significant ways. now there's a long way to go. we have to keep learning. you see more and more universities embracing these and try to come up with policies and practices that again have a process that leads to the right outcome wherever the facts may leave.

i think the fact that we've been so transparent on this has helped. there's challenges there. and not only young women. there are young men, too. buts t disproportionately young women. and many more are feeling safe in just extraordinarily difficult situations to have their voice be heard. and i think we owe it to them and to their families to listen. >> i think your emphasis is correct. feeling unsafe or insecure should not be one of them. we talked about the issue of sally may. the alleged violation of the terms of the service members civil relief. sally may settleded with the department of justice in that situation and you promised to review every avenue if the service was broken.

it has been a year since the conversation, and i wanted to know what the results of that review were. it looks like may 1 we will be finished with reviewing and finalizing the agreement with sally may. >> so stay tuned. next two weeks. >> are you confident the review is thorough and objective and will identify any issues of denial of benefits owed to service members and veterans? >> it looks like they've been very very thorough. they're putting veterans' needs at the top of the list. >> if you look at the work they did leading up to announcement they did where very thorough, thoughtful work. we don't rush to judgments in the issues, in the situations. and they have a lot on their plate. but they're working very, very hard. >> we look forward to seeing that soon. thank you. >> i have two more quick things.

one is on gainful employment. i think under the proposed, you estimate that approximately 1400 career training programs serving 840,000 students would not initially meet the standard you're proposing. i think the standard is a three-year out of school standard. would they meet it if it was a five-year out of school standard? at what point these school -- many or most of these schools might meet the standard? >> so my honest take on this is that when we are clear and again this is not a high bar. but you see behavior change in significant ways. and these are all projections going guard. we have maximum transparency.

every institution has these facts. and we think we'll see more good programs grow. we'll see bad programs either change or go away. and we think all of the outcomes, more good programs, fantastic. that's fantastic. or bad programs being eliminated. those are all positive outcomes. i'm pretty hopeful f about where this thing goes. >> would you envision like a school financial officer began to say, don't major in art history? >> no, no. this is at the program level. there are institutions with 50 or 100 programs. and see this is not in -- trying to say at the program level, do graduates have a good chance at having a better financial future, or are they saddleded with debt they can't pay back? there's variations across programs and between schools. and we're trying to make sure people make yours and mines huge investment of tax dollars every

year. often 90% or more revenue is coming from us. and using it for good rather than just for pure profit. >> you know, i did also think the senator's points were points we ought to be talking about of the debt problem when we dpet out of school. how much of that related to the cost of going to school and how much it related to what you thought your living standards should be bhil you went to school. and i'm pretty confident over the years that the student expectations for their personal living standards school have often increased where they would have been a few years ago. >> i don't know if that's a huge piece of the puzzle but we should be looking at all of these things. >> i would like you to look at your data on that and see. i think it may be a bigger piece of the puzzle than we think when you accumulate the schools that don't have that high a tuition number, a books number. even an on cam pass living number. you can see them graduating with

debt. you wonder how the debt accumulated. i would like you to give me a -- provide a year-to-year summery of marketing and advertising expenses for the department over the last three fiscal years, as this relates to a topic i've been interested in whether we should specifically identify that this is a taxpayer funded marketing effort, and it would help me to know how needed that is, if we knew what your marketing advertising expenses is. >> we don't do a heck of a lot of it at all. happy to provide you with that point. >> chairman? >> nothing further. >> mr. secretary, thank and your staff for your time today. we look forward to working with you. you can tell there's a lot of interest on this committee and what you do. and it's important to the country what you do. and we're grateful for your time and patience today. the record be open for questions

to be submitted in writing. and the sub committee will stand in recess. we'll stand in recess until 10:00 a.m. on thursday, the 23rd of april.

finishing up this hearing looking at the education department's 2016 budget. if you missed any of what education secretary arne duncan had to say, we will have his remarks for you to view online any time at c-span.org. we have more live programming coming up today. join us at 1:00 p.m. eastern for comments for germany's finance minister. he'll talk about european economic policy and he is

likely to get questions about the situation surrounding the greek economic bailout. 30 seconds after that, we will have live coverage of the remarks for the the greek fns minister. he's sure to respond to any comments about the economic bailout. both will be addressing the brookings institution audience. we'll have those for you here on c-span 3. and be sure to join us later today when united nations secretary general ban ki-moon will be speaking at the national press club. you can see that live starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern on our companion network c-span. >> this weekend in los angeles is the annual los angeles times festival of books. and book tv will be live both april 18th and 19th from the university of southern california campus. the deputy publisher of the l.a.

times is us. when and how and why did the l.a. times start sponsoring this book fair? >> the los angeles times started this book fair about 20 years ago. this is the 20th anniversary of the festival of an important way that the newspaper could engage with the community. could provide a space for all kinds of people from publishers authors, thinkers, but also chefs and artists and actors and actresses to come together to celebrate the -- los angeles as one of the creative capitals of the world. >> and what can we expect next weekend in los angeles? >> we'll have over 500 authors celebrities, musicians artists et cetera as well as hundreds of booksellers publishers, and cultural organizations across nine stages. there's something for everyone. bring your kids bring your grandparents, there's a huge amount of stuff going on.

some of the notable names, we have candace bergen, tc boyle, roy choi the chef, brian grazer, your favorite, billy idol joyce carol oates jason seigel, paulie peretti, tavis smiley octavia spencer -- there is something for everyone. families, foodies hipsters students spanish language programming. more than 100 conversations on everything from california crime through digital privacy rights to the future of the american identity. >> what kind of reaction do you get from the community to a book fest? >> you know, it's been an immediate success. it's one of the -- whether it was started 20 years ago, it right away became a cornerstone event in los angeles culture. people market it all year long. it's been a signature event. it's been kind of a way the "los angeles times" invites all kinds of folks around the community to

come celebrate there this great city. it's grown to one of the largest festivals of its kind. there's nothing like it anywhere in the united states. you know, it started very simply as -- as bringing together people who create books and people who love to read them. it's grown into this broader celebration. among other things, we have a big book award we give out every year. this year we're adding an yesterdays exchange where malcolm gladwell is going to be in conversation with the "los angeles times" film critic kenneth teran. if you listen to npr, are you probably familiar with his voice as film critic. >> as regular viewers know book tv will also be there, the c-span bus. and we have partnered with the

"l.a. times" festival booing bag. if you're familiar with the area on the usc campus we're just about half a block from tommy trojan. is there a cost to attending the festival, mr. mele? >> the bulk of the events are free. some are ticketed due to limited space. but this is really a chance to invite the country in, to invite los angeles in in partnership with usc, look at california. california as, you know, the gateway to both latin america and to the pacific rim, to look at some of the future challenges the country faces in its future. they're quite acute in los angeles from drought and climate change to immigration and the multi multicultural diversity of the nation. across the board, all kinds of exciting opportunities. >> you can go to latimes.com and follow the book fest at lafob, los angeles festival of books.

mr. mele, thank you for being on book tv. >> looking forward to seeing folk next weekend. >> and again, book tv will be live on c span 2 all weekend next weekend from the "los angeles times" festival of books, saturday and sunday april 18th and 19th go to booktv.org to get the full schedule a lot of call-in opportunities. a lot of panels, a lot of nonfiction authors that you'll be hearing from all weekend live on book tv. with live coverage of the u.s.d÷

"lectures of history," delving into america's past. and "real america," featuring archival government and educational films from the 1930s through the '70s. c-span3, created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in h.d. like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. shortly we'll return to the capitol for remarks from house democratic minority leader nancy as pelosi. we'll have live coverage at 12:30 eastern. " until then, a discussion from the "wall street journal" on w lgbte rights. >> welcome back the democrat from long island and co-chair of the lgbt equality caucus. good morning, thank you very much for being with us. you're putting forth legislation to really go at discrimination

against gays and lesbians, outline the parameters of what you want to do and how easy or difficult it's going to be to achieve in congress. >> well, earlier this week, we ifficu actually first introduced a t resolution which is really -- expresses the sense of congress a statement of our values. a discrimination against members of the lgbt community in e lgb housing, credit education e public accommodation, jury service should not be permitted. it's being led by andre carson and the equality caucus is've obviously working d harded to support that. we had in the first fay days over 100 members signed on. that's really a statement of our values. in addition, i'm working on legislation with senator merkley on the senate side that will approach this in aompr more tion comprehensive way, this issue of discrimination against the lgbt community. and really say that you can't discriminate against members of rimina this community. each of these areas in one commu comprehensive piece of and

legislation one strong statement discrimination should not be permitted. and that is a work in progress. we expect that it will be filed later in the spring.y but i think it's where the country isment you know, fairness and ensuring that individuals are not discriminated against is a very sic basic american value.ed t this ideaha that people should be re and treated for who they are and not -- you know discriminated thei against because of race orr gender or religious affiliation or i would say sexual orientation or gender identity. i think this is one where the country has moved very far, and co we need to have protections. in the votermajority of the states in this country there are no- of com protections for members of the lgbt community being protected na from discrimination in housing, in credit, and public accommodations. so this is a real issue. we really need to enact protections to be sure that members of this community are not discriminated against, and iare no think this is -- the country's was in a very different place than the p it was even three or four years

ago. and you look at all the polling data. many people think it's already the law of the land that you can't discriminate against individuals based on sexual ainst orientation. so -- >> you mention thed mood of the public. this is the latest from the al-nbc "wall street journal"/nbc news poll which shows to n your point support for same-sex marriage now increasing at 59%. and 33% oppose same-sex marriage. we've seen these numbers really change dramatically over the l last three or four years. i want to ask about civil rights. as we look back 50 years ago where the country was as president johnson signed the civil rights acts and the voting rights act, congressman chris congre smith who will follow you on this program say said that gay rights a is not the same as civil rights. agree or disagree? >> no, no.y coll i actually think my colleague, congressman smith, actually clarified what he meant. he was talking about the issue of marriage equality which he's been clear he doesn't support. i thinkt he he made clarifying statements after that that make clear that griet are human rights.

that we're -- gay rights are human rights. that we're talking about individuals beingm free from violence and discrimination and marginalization. i think it is well accepted as a universal principle that members of the lgbt community have a m right to be protected from discrimination and violence and being marginalized. i think there's no question that gay rights or r-- gay rights are try human rights, that's the messagetake tha of the country. that's the message we try to transmit around the world.in one of the things that's important to say, it's not only that that's an important statement for members of the lgbt community, it's also a statement because we all benefit, the entire community benefits whey n every individual has the opportunity to realize scrimi their full potential freena from unfair discrimination or limitations. we all benefit b from that.at, the whole community does.ly t not only we ashe members of the lgbt community but everyone in the community.gbt so i think again, this is a value, very central american value.

you know, the idea of equality, of fairness that we don't ty discriminate as a country. and i think it's important that wheaton reflect that in our policies but -- we continue to reflect that in our policies but also inho the world.moment >> i want to remind viewers and viewe listeners that our phone lines st are open.ener this program is carried live on c-span radio. the numbers are 202-748-8001 for republicans. and 202-748-8000 for democrats.up the supreme court also taking up this case. ultimately, what do you think the highas court will decide? wil >> i mean, i think at least in my mind, very little question that the supreme court will recognize the right to marriage equality that they will realizet permit discrimination in this important institution of marriage is not permitted under the law of the land. i think if you you see the progress we've made as a nation, the e supreme court has to recognize that we have really evolved and have moved. and the vast majority of americans now believe that ieve

everyone should have the same access to marriage and that it's sa an important institution in our to society. so i fully expect the supreme court to do the right thing. >> congressman david cicilli in this, democrat from rhode island. tony ft. worth, texas. democrats line. go ahead. >> caller: i have two -- i'm a s. democrat. but i have actually two problemsights with this. one, i don't like being equated with the civil rights movement because you can change the ation, sexual borientation but you can't change your skin color. and two, you know sure everybody should be treated fairly and all of that. i understand that's true. but when you make that -- when of you make that comparison, it makes it --en y makes me you know, not want to hear anything else about it. and also you know, more and more people are saying that it's all right. and -- being a christian, it's --

is not what i'm saying, it's what the bible is saying. >> thank you. we'll get a response. >> i think, first of all, i thank the caller for his question. but look, sexual orientation is not something people can change. i don't think there's any questionen about that. so the reality is we should always respect the incredible th struggle that our great civie l rights leaders engaged in in this country that created a verye create different america than we would have had without the civil rights movement. that's not to say the work is complete. we continue to say issues that ers require our attention and riminati voters' rights. lots of discrimination and in f otheror contexts. this is a fight for equality andl civi justice even in the traditional civil rights movement.s core at the core is the basic notion of people being treated fairly lly and being treated equally and being treat eded in a way that protects them from unfair discrimination. this bill proposes let's

recognize this category of sexual orientation and gender t identity and make sure the same protections exist for bt individuals in the lgbc community as exists in other on ge categories based onnd gender and eligio ethnic origin andus religious tradition and race. so i understand that there are people who have religious objections or concerns. ultimately, this is a question abouelty, what kind of country it indiv will beid or whether we'll respect the right of all individuals to live lives free of discrimination. you know, it'sdi not going to require anyone to change the ll religious teachings or to feel differently. hopefully it will open their hearts and minds to say you od' know, we're all god's children, we all are entitled to be treatsed with respect and to be is wh protected from unfair discrimination. i think that's where the country wil is moving. i think the bill will help to reflect that set of values which, as i said are really deeply held american values. >> is there republican support forrepu your legislation? >> we haven't introduced the bill yet.

we're in conversations obviouslyboth with colleagues both sides of the aisle. i hope that this bill will be introduced in a bipartisan way.this i think it's very important that this be a strong statement of our shared values. that is on both sides of the aisle. we'll see when the time comes pport. for introduction whether we've been successful earning republican support. >> on thste: republican line, jay is next from dry ridge kentucky. good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> good morning. >> caller: thank you for taking g and my calls. ir ta want to ask. >> we can hear you. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. good morning. i wanted to ask threepr representative, do you believe in god? >> yes. >> okay. do you think god made mistakes by making people gay and

lesbian? >> i don't think god makes mistakes. i think god created us all as call his a nychildren, and i don't think -- i wouldn't call anybody a mistake. >> caller: okay. why would god put in the bible that marriage is between a man and a woman then? >> again, i think there are lots of religious traditions that respect and even recognize marriage equality. but i think again no one is asking anyone to change their religious beliefs. i think fundamentally what god each teaches us is to respect each other, to value each other, to treat each other with dignity. i think that is a religious ions. tradition that exists in -- religious teaching that exists in most traditions. i think that's really the kind of america we all want in which er. we respect and value each other. my gu >> our guest represents newport and part of providence, rhode island. a democrat in his third term.

graduate of brown university andeorgetow georgetown university. let me ask you for you personally, coming out you're of co one of about half a dozen openly guy members of congress. was it difficult for you on a evel a personal level?t and have you felt discrimination? >> no. i mean, i've been very fortunate. i have a wonderful and supportive family. i come from a great state. hav i think people have always judged me on my work and what eve i've done and what i believe in and what i'm fighting for. i've been very fortunate. that has not been the experience for lots of young people in this country who have had a much morethat difficult h journey. i think we're making progress asthat t a country. is but it is still the case that too mu there is too much violence and too much discrimination against members of the lgbt community. if you look at what's happening th around the erworld, there are y still many countries where it's against the law, publishable in do some countries by death. we have work internationally to continue to promote the fair

treatment of members of the lgbt community. my experience in my home state has been wonderful. i have a greatienc family my posi experience, i think, has been a positive one. it isn't that case with lots of tern r folks. >> from rhode island ct is next on independent line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i would like to impart a little common sense regarding the medical policy that seems to be enforced with an iron fist by the food and drug administration. the physicians of this nation should be able to do their job without being commandeered by the food and drug administration

administration. for one thing, they're supposed to be loyal to the hippocratic oath which means do no harm. and with this very profitable thing of chemotherapy and radiation which costs a lot of money, they are being told to use these methods to treat means cancer when there are plenty of natural means to treat cancer v and a lot of other very deleterious disorders of the human system. >> ct, thanks for the call. this is an area that you can comment on?that you >> i don't know enough about cancer treatment in terms of natural versus kind kind of po

traditional. >> let me takein it one step further, not on the caller's point but the fda and how quickly or slow they are in approving drugs for whether it's cancer patients or anyone else. >> yeah. >> does the process need to be sped up? >> absolutely. and ihow think one of the challenges we want a process at the fda that ensures a proper review is done a thorough review so we can continue to have confidence as a country so that when they approve stions something, we don't have to have uncertainty about its effectiveness and safety. we obviouslyis want the fda to be t were able to do its work. but every day that a product that is ultimately approved is we delayed is a day a person may not have lifesaving treatment. i think we have to devote additional resources, we have to reform and speed up the process.ins in that reform we want to tworth ensure thaty it remains a reliable, trustworthy determination because we rely on the fda to do that. and it's an important way to protect the american people by ensuring they can continue to perform that function. >> our next call is sam from

manassas, virginia. next good morning. republican line. >> caller: good morning, congressman. are you familiar with sod am and gam ora? do you know that everything is going around in this country, especially new england and all that all over? number three, have you noticed new orleans used to practice voodoo, witchcraft, and all that, and they drowned. i don't think there will be any to go blessings on this country. you have -- you have to go back and look at the scriptures. i mean -- there's no more blessings on this country, congressman. that's all i have to say? >> do you have have a question sam? >> caller: yeah, a question is do you think that this country's heading the right way doing this, going against god's word? >> i think first of all, this gu country has manyes blessings. you know, i have the responsibility of traveling some as a member of the foreign affairs committee and judiciary co committee.mm

and the more you travelmo and the tra more you see the challenges in more y other parts of the world, the more you realize the tremendous blessings of this country. i think we have a lot of reason to be grateful we live in the best country in the world. and i think, frankly, the effort to ensure that everyone in this country is treated fairly and people are free from discrimination, violence and being marginalize sudden -- marginalized is a deep american value. i think the better our country will be. i'm very optimistic about our future and our leadership in the world in terms of promoting diversity and valuing every human being. and guaranteeing individuals are free from violence and discrimination. i think those are founding principles of this country and we should be proud of that and celebrate it. we should promote it here and everywhere in the world. >> on a side note, i have to ask because people in washington are talking about this. front page of the "usa today," front page of the "washington post." a mailman airing grievances at

the u.s. capitol. 61 years old, doug hughes. the "tampa bay times tribune" knew this of about to happen. the question how could this happen? >> yeah, it's pretty stunning. it raises the question of what's the responsibility of a journalist in some context. learning about this, do they have some responsibility to notify the capitol police. they covered the story but didn't notify capitol police. the question of security but at the -- making sure that washington is a safe city and the work of government can be done safely. but at the same time guaranteeing that images have the right to protest and air grievances is the balance that has to take place. the notion that this kind of transportation vehicle could come on to the capital undetected is pretty alarming. >> he traveled from gettysburg, pennsylvania, a two-hour drive. >> without anyone knowing it it.

>> donee is joining you from carmy, illinois, you're on the air. >> caller: thanks for taking my call. i want to ask your guest here. what if he had a child 17 18-years-old and some guy person was wanting to take him or her out and take him to a guy person. what would he think about that? we don't call them guys anymore or -- we do now, but we used to call them, you know, queers. when i was 14, 15 years old, i used to hitch hike. we would have these guys pick you up make -- try to have sex with you and stuff. i don't believe it. i never will.

but it's -- this mother nature didn't mean for two men and two women to get together. i'll take your answer. thank you very much. >> look, there are lots of young people who go through the journey of recognizing that they're gay and lesbian. and i hope that they go through that experience in a family that is loving and supportive. and i think one of our responsibilities as members of the lgbt community are to be honest about who we are and hopefully make that journey for others less painful and less difficult and to help create a country in which people are not marginalized because of their sexual orientation and that they can realize their full potential and live in a country where they're free from discrimination or the fear of violence or being ostracized. i think we've made tremendous progress in the struggle. it's clear that we have lots of work still to do. >> what's the status of the employment nondiscrimination act

called enda? >> the approach with the comprehensive bill is that rather than sort of addressing this issue kind of one issue at a time and to help with the issue of employment, we saw a lot of progress on marriage equality. we did the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. and instead of approaching this one issue at a time, instead what we're doing is we're going to approach it with this comprehensive bill and say actually discrimination against this community any context, including employment and housing and credit and public accommodation. so it would really be ultimately part of a larger piece of legislation, part of the comprehensive bill. >> our guest served in the rhode island house of representatives and also the mayor of providence, now in his third term, congressman david cicillini. greg is joining us from chattanooga, tennessee. democrat line. >> caller: how you all doing? >> good morning. >> caller: the imposition of will imposing your will that's the whole topic. if you go in and buy a cake that's already made from the deli or somewhere, there's no

big deal about it. and nobody cares to serve anybody like that. they're not looking for trouble or nothing. but when you go in and try to force a bakery to get into the wedding and be part of it, that's imposition of will. that's the whole issue here. you think that could be the issue? >> yeah, i actually -- i don't think that's the issue. i think, you know what i thought was interesting was the response to the indiana law. one of the strongest responses came from the business community, of people who said like this is not how we're going to conduct business. there was a very strong response because i think people understood that it isn't the way businesses operate or want to operate. they don't say we're not going to serve you because you have a particular religious tradition or because you're of a particular race. also wouldn't be appropriate to

say we're not going to serve you because of your sexual orientation. i don't know that it's imposing on the will. it's the idea of accepting a basic principle that says you can't discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. that's a principle we should have in this country. it should exist in the areas of housing and public accommodations and credit. and in fact, the polling shows most americans think it's already prohibited. they don't recognize in the ac majority of state there are no protections for members of the community. it's enacting protections to get to the place where the public already is. people already understand for the most part this this kind of discrimination is wrong and that there's no base nice law. america in fact, it's contrary to our basic values as americans, our country built on the principles of equality and, you know, freedom and the sort of individual respect for one another. and fairness. that we

these are american values. i think that's what we're attempting to proposal here.nst to be sure that we are not authorizing or protecting discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation or gender identity.e and as i said i think most la people already accept thatces as the rules of the game. there are places around the country where there are no protection for members of the e cons lgbt community.re peo the consequences with r serious for people fired from a job because they are gay and lesbian. denied housing or credit or rotect services because they're gay and lesbian. there are in the majority of state no protectionsio for these denials. i think that's wrong. i think it's not who we are as a country. and i'm going continue to work to make sure we end that discrimination. >> we have a minute or two left. a comment from gary on our twitter page.ays, i "i believe in god. job i don't think homosexuality is t god's will, but it's also not belief the government's job legislates anyone's religious beliefs."

>> i agree. i think wei should respect people's religious traditions and i don't think there's any -- at least i'm not suggesting in any way that we would not honor people's religious traditions.' at the same time, we can fashion laws that protect sfrids impermissible -- individuals from impermissible discrimination and being fro denied basic civil rights. >> this issue front and center c in alindiana. our finalanne call is from congress, indiana. joann good morning. >> caller: good morning.ig i'mio calling to address the homophobic religious community. for some reason they have only rrah s brought outto the sod am and gomorra story, the man-on-man, who-o-woman activity. they have brought out the whole city and the wayy that treated each other as people. we are trying to go down that .

same road. if we go alongw with the homophobic religious community we cannot allow them to say that their traditional values of what they consider marriage a man and woman. god said man left his family to cleave unto one, a woman. if you leave a family to cleave unto one which these days do cleave unto one not a lot, of one, each person that's out there has committed a fornication before marriage and ondemn they are not beinged condemned forthere that. they do not be condemned for the actual sins that god says there is. but yet they are going to take their tradition and lay. everyone else in america where america wants to say that you have a right no matter who you are or no matter who people may be.

>> thank you. we'll get a sresponse. >> thank you. no, i think the caller's right. i look, the religious tradition that i practice, recognize as the value of every human being and recognizes the value of respecting each other and treat honoringea that we are all created by god and should treat each other as neighbors and with love.their i think that's clearly a religious tradition.lking i think everyone will express and live their religious traditions in the way they its di understand it. i think what we're talking about is fundamentally whether we're going to live in a country that prohibits discrimination against people because who've they are. it's not who america is. it's not the kind of founding plac principles of this e country. and we benefit whether we live ed. in a place where every should ed valued. every human being is respected. where people are free from to discrimination and are per mid to realize their full potential and become all they can be. and to marginalize folks or discriminate against folks

because of sexual orientation orperson c gender identiti, it not only harms the individual, it robs them of all that that person could be and become. and we're better than that as a country.vil righ and i think ultimately we will get there, and we will enact comprehensive civil rights protections for members of the lgbt community and be a better rmally country for that. >> what do you expect to formally submit your bill? >> hopefully next months, in may. we should be done e with drafting and doing outreach to groups ring. that will be working with us on it. we have more work to do. i'm hoping it will be later this spring. >> congressman david cicillini, democrat from rhode island. thank you for stopping by. appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. a live look at the u.s. capitol. you see still cherry blossoms on the trees. the house and senate are in session today. the house working on tax bills including one to repeal the estate tax. the senate today working on a human trafficking bill. you see the house live on c-span. the senate on our companion

network, c-span2. house democratic leader nancy pelosi has scheduled her weekly briefing in about eight minutes or so. 12:30. we plan to bring that to you live. now, her republican counterparts, house speaker john boehner, he hosted a ceremony to mark the passage of a medicare payment bill. it permanently resolved the yearly dock fix. here's what it looked like. in a few minutes i'll sign h.r. 2 bipartisan regular to strengthen medicare. at a time when we face a serious

spending problem this marks the first entitlement reform in nearly two decades. and it was accomplished by working together to find common ground on behalf of the american people. by getting rid of the notorious dock fix seniors will have a more stable and reliable system for seeing their doctor. families seeing their parents will have more peace of mind, and taxpayers will save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 20, 30 and 40 years. we've also extended the children's health insurance program and community health centers authorization. doing all this without raising taxes. so this is a win that every american can share in. i'm going to thank leader pelosi for her indispensable leadership in helping tackle these challenging issues. i thank leader mcconnell and senator hatch who led the effort to get it through the senate.

i also want to thank the leaders of the ways and means committee, the energy and commerce committee, chairman upton chairman ryan. mr. levin and mr. pallone and all of the members and their staffs who really worked hard to get us to this moment. and a special thanks to the doctors' calk here in the house who have been working to solve this problem for a long time. you know about a year ago after some 17 patches over the last 11 years, i decided that we've had enough of this doc fix. and so in recent months leader pelosi and i began an effort to see if we could find common ground. with a lot of hard work by our community and 484 votes in the house and senate we've reached this important moment, and on the 100th day of this new congress.

we know we've got more to do to fix these entitlement programs for our kids and grandkids, but we've take ten a good step here. again, we've done it by finding common ground on behalf of the people that we serve. ms. police? >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. this is a happy day indeed. thank you for your leadership. pleased to welcome our colleagues from the senate to the house side. for some of them back to the house side. and i also want to acknowledge ron wideyden who has joined in addition to acknowledging the senator's leadership. it is a doc fix yes, but it is a remedy for seniors. that's what it's about. our seniors and their ability to access the doctors that -- whom they like whom they choose. it is also about our children. i'm particularly happy about the childcare -- excuse me, the children's health bill. i always call it schip, i have

to get the words in. it was one of the first bills we sent to president obama's desk when he first became president. and this continuation of it is very, very important recognition of the priority that our children are to us. the speaker mentioned the community health centers. it's very, very important. and that extension for the community health centers essential to the health and well being of the american people. so this is what's -- what's exciting is not just that it's a remedy, a doc fix, and about the children. it's the manner in which we recognize performance, not procedures value, not volume. equality not quantity of procedures as we compensate doctors for their care. as the speaker said this has been going on for a long time. the longer it went, the more expensive it became. so in terms of reducing the deficit as we meet the needs of

the american people, it's really great to be here with you, mr. speaker, in this bipartisan manner so that you can send the bill to the president. with that, i'm pleased in joining the speaker and welcoming and acknowledging the republican leader of the -- majority leader of the senate mitch mcconnell. >> well you know, when the american people choose a divided government, they're not saying they don't want anything done. in fact, american people have chosen divided government most of the time since world war ii. i think what they are saying is they want us to look for thing that we can agree on to make progress for the country. i particularly want to thank the speaker and democratic leader of the house. i thinking about able to come together and figure a way to go forward is extremely important. we were very pleased in the house, senator hatch and his team senator wyden is here. have been working on this, as

well, for a number of years. but this agreement between the speaker i think and leader pelosi is what finally brought it together. and i want to congratulate them and everybody up here who's been involved in this issue over the years. only eight senators opposed it. this is a very significant piece of legislation, a big step forward for the country. and i think the message to the american people is this congress intends to be very productive. we intend to look for thing that we can work on together on a bipartisan basis and make progress for the american people.

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[ applause ] >> congratulations. this weekend is full of live event coverage on the c-span networks. with politics on c-span, "los angeles times" festival of books on book tv, and historian discuss the end of the civil war on american history tv. on c-span saturday morning beginning at 10:00 eastern live all-day coverage of the new hampshire republican party first in the nation leadership summit. speakers include texas senator ted cruz, wisconsin governor scott walker ohio governor john kasich and kentucky senator rand paul. saturday at 1:30 p.m. eastern on c-span2. book tv is live from the university of southern california for the "los angeles times" festival of book with panels on journalism and publishing and author call-in programs throughout the day. some thars you'll hear from are

scott byrd, tavis smiley and hugh hewitt. our live coverage of the festival of book continues sunday at 2:00 with panelists on history, john quinones and richard reeves. on c span 3 saturday at 8:45 eastern, for an all-day event on the end of the civil war. harold holzer, james mcpherson, and barbara gannon. then saturday at 8:00 and 10:00 the 100th anniversary of president lincoln's assassination with a ceremony at lincoln's cotsage. re-creations from ford's theater and a tour of peterson house where the president died. get our complete schedule at cspan.org. this weekend the c-span cities tour has partnered with comcast to learn about the city life of st. augustine, florida.

>> opinions onponce deleon may or may not have been searching for the fountain of eshlgsternal youth. people said he was out for to find land for the king and colonization colonization. we know he came ashore after searching for good harbor, took on water and wood. this area presents one of the few freshwater springs in the area around 30 degrees, eight minutes, and is also the location of the 1565 first settlement of st. augustine, 42 years before the settlement of jamestown was founded and 55 years before the pilgrims landed on plymouth rock. >> the hotel ponce deleon was built by henry morrison flagler. now, flag sler a man who is very little known outside of the state of florida. but he was one of the wealthiest

men in america. he essentially had been a co-founder of standard oil company with john d. rockefeller. he was a man who always wanted to undertake some great enterprise. and as it turned out, florida was it. he realized that he needed to own the railroad between jacksonville and st. augustine to ensure that guests could get to his hotel conveniently. so clearly the dream was beginning to grow on flagler. he was a man who had big dreams. he was a visionary. >> watch all of our events from st. augustine saturday at noon eastern on c-span2's book tv and sunday afternoon at 2:00 on american history tv on c-span3. >> a live picture from capitol hill as we await remarks from

house democratic leader nancy pelosi. this afternoon it's time for her scheduled weekly briefing set to begin shortly. we'll have live coverage when that starts. to let you know, the house is in session although they've completed legislative work for the week. that only after passing a bill that would repeal the federal tax on estates. it's been referred to as the debt tax. the vote was 240-179. the white house has threatened to veto that bill. the senate also in session today. they have been debating human trafficking. earlier, senate lawmakers withdrew an abortion amendment. votes on executive nominations remain on the senate agenda for this afternoon. the hill is reporting concerns about the stealth capability of that aircraft that landed on the capitol grounds today. they say it flew too low to be detected by security systems according to the head of the department of homeland security. dhs secretary jay johnson said the lightweight gyro-copter which was piloted by a u.s. mail carrier protesting the influence of money in politics apparently

literally flew in under the radar, according to the associated press. jay johnson says he's awaiting results of an investigation before weighing in on the possible need to tighten security measures around the capitol. "i want to know all the fact before i reach an assessment of what can and should be done about gyro cop terse in the future." piloted by doug hughes, 61-year-old postman from ruskin, florida. the copter took off from southern pennsylvania. flew for several hours before landing on the capitol's west lawn yesterday afternoon. the pilot was arrested by capitol police.

>> still awaiting remarks from house minority leader nancy pelosi. should be here in just a moment. we'll have live coverage here on c-span3. while we wait, we'll have more on the stealth capabilities of the aircraft thats landed on the capitol grounds yesterday.s >> following the story for "roll call." she's joining us live on the phone. thank you very much for being with us. are there any answers? it seems to be the one issue most people in washington are talking about. in is among the most secure -- this is among the most secure s airspace anywhere in the world ld and yet he was able to penetrate it. >> yeah, that's exactly right. it appears that he was working in concert with the "tampa bay times." they posted th e story about his flight before he touched down on the capitol lawn. the reporters reached out to ecret both the secret service andse the capitol police. and there's an unidentified sergeant quoted in the "tampa

bay stimes" saying that they knewnothing nothing about this man's arrivalolice beforear he came. capitol police arrested him, butre few we still -- there are few answers for the press who was the ca assembled yesterdaypi on the capitol lawn waiting for the police chief to address them about what capitol police knew, ve whether they knew it, how they nted. were cooperating with the secret service, whether or not this could be prevented. we had senator lindsay graham come out yesterday and suggest op that thiste gyrocopter should have been shot out of the sky. >> let me ask you about the tampa bay newspaper. the story from inside the style section of the "washington post," as you indicated, the r is a headline, "paper is along for the ride." the "tampa bay times" getting flack for not telling about the flight. pointing out if a reporter or newspaper knows months in

advance that a stunt could panic the capitol they liable to alert law enforcement authorities? that's ae question. and should they be faulted for not doing it until the last minute? story on lineou h at washingtonpost.com. what are you hearing on that front, hannah hess? >> it's an important question to consider. again, there aren't really answers from theom t thi capitol police who h how this would have been handled had they known these were sensitive intelligence e ques economies.it but it's obviously important to think about what the newspaper's responsibility is, you know, vey they definitely could have shot ell me down this plane. my sources tell me that the cop come who was first seeing the flight come in was over the raya issing does this guy have -- does this guy have clearance? what's going on? there was obviously confusion there. and some of my sources refer to

the shooting -- confusion on ober 3 october 23rd of 2013. drove her car into the security gates outside the white house headed toward the capitol. in that case lethal force was used, and she was shot to death in her car.ase, l you know, when there's an death unexpect d unexpected ded ded libel that breaches space around the capitol what is the response and how would that have changed if they had more intelligence about what waswhat w about to ashappen?et >> first let me give you more information on that their gyro-copter which weighs about 254 pounds, according to the "washington post." it cost about - $10,000. it needs a runway of about 100 feet to take off. again, the range is between 70 to 80 miles. 7 doug hughe0s traveled from gettysburg, pennsylvania which is in drive time about a two-hour drive from washington, d.c., to gettysburg. and during that entire time he was not stopped by anyone the bi

despite the billionsll that we pay for nor ad and air security. and to the larger point, hannah hess, that you indicated of other security concerns, there's a piece from nationaljournal.com that points out this iswash certainly nothing new. and also change in the leadership of the u.s. capitol police department. can you touch on those issues? >> yeah. so i reported that just a coupleopter hours before this gyro-copter landed. the officer at the capitol police had received notice that the one of the deputy chiefs would be taking over for the resigning assistant chief of the capitol police. i'm sorry -- retiring. his retirement comes at a sensitive time for the department. the capitol police chief has submitted his letter of had s resignation to the capitol oard. police board. it's still unclear whether or not that three-person board

consist of the house at arms res sergeant-at-arms, and the capitol. accept his resignation or they've also apparently challenged him to come up with some new solutions for how to he handle some security concerns around the capital. so there's tension among the forces, between the rank and file and lipmpt that raises quate questions about whether or not communication is adequate when there's an emergency. we hauls a scary event at the cap -- we also had a scary event sa at the capitol this saturday. there was a suicide on the west front. that appeared to be an isolated incident. it wasn't connected to terror. you know, some -- it also causedalso cos a lockdown of the capitol. >> hannah hess who follows the capitol grounds and security issues for "roll call."s her work available at rollcall.com. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. next weekend in los angeles times

is the annual "los angeles times" festival of books. and book tv will be live both campus april. 18th and 19th from the university of southern o mele california campus. i nicco mele is deputy publisher of the "los angeles times." where and where and how did the "l.a. times" start sponsoring the book fair? >> the "los angeles times" started the book fair 20 years 20 ago. it's the 20th anniversary of the festival of books. it was an important way that thee newspaper could engage with the community.r could provide a space for all s kinds of people from publishers, ch authors, thinkers but also chefs and artists and actors and actresses to come together to celebrate the los angeles as one the w of the creative capitals of the world. >> and what can we expect next weekend in los angeles?

>> we'll have over 500 authors, celebrities, musicians artists et cetera, as well as hundreds of booksellers publishers cultural organizations across nine s nine stages. there's something for everyone.g your bring your kkids bring your grandparents, there's a huge amount of stuff going on. some of the notable names we have candace bergen tc boyle, roy choi, the chef, sarah bill dessin, brian grazer your ates favorite, billy idol, joyce carol oates, patton swalt, jason seal, paulie peretti, john scalazzi, tavis smiley octavia spencer. there's something for everyone.rs families foodies hipsters, spanish language programming. everything from california crime noir to digital privacy rights to the future of the american t: identity. >> what kind of reaction do you

get from the community to a book fest? >> it's been an immediate event success. when it was startedge 20 years ago, it rights away became a cornerstone event in los angelesng. culture.n when people market out all year long, it's been a signature event. it's been kind of a way the "los angeles times" invites folks around the community to celebrate the great city. it's grown to one of the largest festivals of its kind's no there's nothing like it anywhere in the united states.. it started simply as a bill bringing -- an event bringing together people who love books and has grown to a broader celebration. among other things we have a give big book award we give out every new year. and this n idyear, we're adding something new. we're having something called an ideas exchange where malcolm glad gladwell -- >> join me in coverage this weekend on book tv.

now live to the capitol. we'll hear from nancy pelosi. >> the 114th congress controlled by the republicans. this week we also observed equal pay day. this week, republicans rejected our attempts to pass the paycheck fairness act. equal pay day for those of you who weren't at euro equal pay day press conference is the day by which women have finally started earning for this year. unless they have equal pay for equal work. over 70%. so 78%, 78 cents on the dollar, you worked until the middle of april for free as a donation to your employer at the expense of your children, your retirement, your ability to reach your

fulfillment. so i think this is one of the strongest manifestations of the difference between the democrats and the republicans in terms of middle-class economics versus trickle-down economics. in this week when they're talking about putting more money in the pockets of women largely in the middle class, they're rejecting an opportunity for us to turn our economy around. the middle class are the job creators in america. when the middle class succeeds, women succeed. when women succeed, america succeeds. there's a reason for that. while you may see all these indicators talking about how great our economy is doing and they are -- that is -- they are good, i'll go into some of them in a moment, we're not going to have the full recovery that we need to have until we have stronger paychecks for america's middle class. the middle class will then use

that money, inject demand into the economy, create jobs, turn around the economy. the consumer confidence that we need is directly connected to strengthening paychecks on america's workers, middle-class economics. the president talked about it in the state of the union address. on the other hand you have trickle-down economics. the same trickle-down economics that took us to the brink of depression in 2008 before president obama took office. they want to talk us back there gwen. in the first 100 days they've passed marked up tax bills that willing give tax breaks -- that will give tax breaks to the super wealthy and special interest up to about $600 billion and more to come.

this isn't job creating, it is definitely increasing. this is the same trickle-down economics that has never worked that they had proposed. republican president after president president and now congressional republicans. again, took us to the brink, they want to return us to that place. it's a fight we must make for americans. hopefully nonpartisan. the fact is it takes a while for americans -- it is taking a while for americans to recover from the scars they received in 2008 where their homes, their pensions, their parkwaychecks and their children's education were threatened by what happened in 2008. and while other indicators show the economy on the rebound we won't have the full rebound until we put bigger paychecks in the pocketies of the middle class. so that's what you see that week. it's an amazing thing.

they had a bill to eliminate the estate tax. it will cost over a quarter of a trillion dollars to do that. $269 billion. and it affects the affects the top 5400 states in the country. 5400 families are subsidized by taking $269 billion out of our pool of resources. it is the same time they are -- that's the -- this is the 101st. that's how their starting the second hundred days.

if you're a millionaire you'll get a 200 million dollar tax break. at the same time it has to raise taxes on the middle class if you're going to have any balance. increases the deficit. undermines or abilities to invest in the future. i've said this to you before. because of what they're doing on these tax breaks and all the rest they'll say we got to give $38 billion in tax incentives to big oil to drill the five big oil companies.

we can reduce pell grants to cover that. nothing brings more money to the treasury in addition to helping people reach their aspirations in addition to keeping network number one because innovation begins in the classroom. ta they voted to deport dreamers from the only home they've known, america. voted advanced unprecedented assault on women's health, dragged the department of homeland security to the brink of a shutdown and thank heavens we got out of that.

let's invest in the middle class which will bring more revenue to the treasury enabling us to support the infrastructure that we need. better infrastructure, bigger paychecks. i'm very proud of my house members. in the days following the ejection of the court legislation, my members rallyied to the president and said we will support a veto. we will sustain a veto of that damaging bill that would be harmful to negotiations to go forward. i believe that it had an influence on the senate because they knew were wasting their time. people will vote for it but it

won't have i don't think we need any legislation. no problem going forward with that. we are very proud of what the president has done. the diplomatic effort to organize the p five plus one in these negotiations china, russia. plus one in germany. it is very, very exciting. it can't be squandered was a of somebody's view of their role in the world when we have to weigh the equity of what is the best thing we can do to stop. very significant.

our members were at a very good place to support the president reassured by those briefings increasing our numbers in that regard. the tpp and its inpactmpact on the environment. it's my understanding the capitol police are now conducting an investigation working with the secret service department of defense, faa and

the d.c. police. understood our responsibility. it's a stunning thing to think we have that visibility and we're interested in getting the answers. i understanding is i don't know how long the investigation will take but we need answers to it. yes, ma'am. >> 30 to 52 days in which influences and some scenario.

>> congress can also act on anything. it was harmful. i don't think it's as harmful now. >> you said this incident yesterday was stunning. over the last weekend there was man that took his life out there on the west front. then this happened in the middle of the day. are you confident or at all concerned with the policies placed to keep the campus safe or do you think there needs to be a complete review of everything to determine whether the tourists that do come and visit will be safe out there?

>> the first incident was horrible. it happened outside the cabinet. when i first heard was saturday. they got into the cabinet but wasn't in the capitol. it was on a saturday. that doesn't mean there weren't lots of tourists around. that's what these investigations will have to attest. how much security can you have to still have a free flow of people coming into the capitol to see the capitol? it's the constant balance of security and freedom that something that would make a judgment and everything that we do. it's essential to have the investigation to see if people have gotten that far or -- that

exposure is stunning. str have such restriction of people having access to it. i think this investigation, we can surmise. we really want know what facts are. >> after 9/11 there was a different mind set with air space around here and still a vulnerability like this is exposed yesterday. does that give you any -- >> we lost two of our capitol police a number of years ago. security changed a bit after

that and then 9/11 changed everything. how to legislate in the capitol by nonetheless ensure their safety. i don't have anything more to tell you until we hear what the investigation will yield and we'll go from there. i'm sure we'll be doing it in the most non-partisan way. >> yes, sir. i thought it was you. >> i heard a voice but i didn't see a mouth. then you'll be next and you can speak for him. >> you mentioned the deficit of the tax bills today. you're critical of that. your democrats almost to a man or woman supported the sgr,