it's only natural. i've noticed you see it in the papers or you see it on twitter, when people say we're praying for someone or something, the attitude in some quarters these days is don't just pray, do something about it. the thing is, when you are praying, you are doing something about it. [ applause ] >> whenever people are in grief, or even when they're about to start some great undertaking, they feel the worst pain of all. they feel alone.

how am i going to get through this. why is this happening to me? my god, my god, why have you fore saken me? that is why there is nothing more comforting or more humbling, really, than to hear someone say i'm praying for you. because when you hear that, you realize you're not alone. god is there. and hundreds, if not thousands, if not millions of people are all speaking to him on your behalf. . >> what it says is dignity of the person.

as christians, we especially can appreciate this truth. we belief in jesus christ. we believe god came down from heaven and became a man with a name and a body so that we could know him. we could begin to understand. he walked among the poor and the lowly of this world so that he could raise us to new heights in the next. pray without seizing and in all circumstances give thanks. thank you and welcome.

. >> 50 this spirit of love, joy, affection, a sense that an environment is produced these days that elicits the very best in us. and there's a constant struggle in everyone to find a way in which our best selves emerges. we manifest the love of god and one's fellow human being. and it calls us to something higher, to a calling that gives

us the nobility of what it means to be a child of god. in this spirit, i would like to read from the book of isiah, chapter 58. it's a reading that is done every young kipper, every day of atonement, in every synagogue throughout the world. it's a day, incidentally, where jews fast. and yet on this very day when jews fast, they read this. it's such the fast that i choose a day for a man to humble himself. would you call this a fast a day acceptable to the lord, is not this the fast that i choose? to loose the bonds of

wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yolk, to let the oppressed go three and to braet every yankee. so it not to share your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into your house. when you see the naked, to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh. then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your healing shol spring up speedily. your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the lord shall be your god. then you shall call and the lord will answer. you shall cry, and he will say, here i am. if you take away from the midst of you the yolk, pointing of the finger and the speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in

the darkness and your gloom be as the noon day and the lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire with good things, make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters fail not. and your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. you shall raise up the foundations of many generations. you shall be called the repairers of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. [ applause plauz [ . >> good morning, president and

mrs. obama. let us pray. dear lord, we gather here as one, connected by the strength of our faith, by our pride in this great nation and by our common bond as children of god. let us remember that each of us is beloved equally in the guys of our lord. and let us serve as in .instruments who spread your mercy to our brothers and our sisters. jesus told the disciples in the book of matthew that what we do unto the least among us, we do unto him. so just as the grace of god provides nourishment to our souls and sanctuary for our spirits, we must fro provide food to the hungry, care for the

ailing, shelter to the poor. the bible inb instrustructs us unity in our faith and compassion for all men and women through the example of christ. and i pray that we will find inspiration for the second chapter of phillipians which reads, so if there is any encouragement in christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

having this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in christ jesus, who though he was in the form of god, did not count equality with god a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of man. amen. temperature and god bless. >> good morning. mr. president and mrs. obama, all of the distinguished guests gathered here in prayer, i know we all want to thank dongman juan vargas and congressman robert adderhall for their leadership in making this morning's breakfast such a success. and i thank them for giving me the opportunity to read the following reading from the gospel of john.

as we hear these words from john 13:15, we know that this message and command. from the torah, it says love your neighbor as yourself. none of you has faith until he lues for his brother or his neighbor what he loves for himself. and now from the gospel of john. when jesus knew his hour had come to depart out of this world to the father, jesus knowing the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come

from god and was going to god, rose from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. after that he began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with a tower. when he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and rn returned to his place. do you understand now that i your lord and teacher have washed your feet, you should also watch one another's feet. i have sent you an example as you should do like i have done for you. i tell you no servant is greater than his moster, nor is any messenger greater than the one who sent him.

a little while later, as the father loves me, so i have loved you. i have told you this so that my joy may be with you and your joy may be complete. there is no greater love than to lay down their life for their loved one. all of them may be one, father. just as you are in me and i am in you.

they may guide to bring us to complete unity. that is the gospel of the lord. we're united by our service to god and to one another. amen. thank you. >> good morning. good morning! >> good morning. >> mr. president, our first lady, this is truly the day the lord has made. let us rejoice and be glad in it. let us pray.

thank you, father, for allowing us to live in a country where we can come together in your precious name in peace, fellowship and communion, offering you praise, glory and honor. we ask that you watch over our president barack obama as he literally carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. continue to lead and guide him and bless him with the courage of david and the wisdom of solomon. bless all our leaders from all branches of government. father, bless the leaders from around the world who are chajed with a great response nlt to calm in the midst of chaos and midst of wore. our lies begin and end the day before we become silent about

things that truly matter. we pray our leaders are led by faith. we've been granted this awesome responsibility to lead. father, your word provide us guidance. we must first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shall thalt shee clearly to cast the mote out of our brother's eye. i trey that our leaders will understand to earn hur position of leadership, we must constantly sit in judgment of ourselves. this is not an easy or

comfortable task, but it is one that is essential, whether it's at a prayer meeting or during times of self-reflection. we must examine our actions in the crucible of our faith. ph this nation has invested so much in me. afghanistan and iraq a as united states army officer, my unwaivering faith sustained me while i served in a combat zone away from my wife and my son. my faith sustained me when i was paralyzed shortly after returning from afghanistan.

we relied oour faith to sustain us and keep us. without faith, i know i would not be standing here today. i literally would not be standing here today. phat e, remind our leaders that you told us to have faith in all we do, not some of what we do, but all we do. let our leaders know it's through prayer and faith that our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that work to secure our homeland will return home where war will be no more. faith will keep them or guide them. for i know firsthand that it is because of my faith in the power of prayer that i stand before you today.

a beacon of justice and peace around the world. >> thank you god for answering our prayers. we offer all these prayers up to the father. mark burnett and roma downey are two of television's most successful producers. they made over 3,000 hours of american tv that airs in over 70 countries and received eight emmy awards. they have some of television's most iconic shows including "the voice" "shark tank" "survivor" and their major motion picture "son of god." mark burnett is the president of

mgm television and digital and his wife roma is chief content officer of light works media. to give you an idea of some of their work, we're going to look at a brief flip from their hit television series "the bible." >> lady, i believe your son is the promised king of his people. what is his name? >> jesus. his name is jesus. >> some think he's the prophet. some even call him the messiah. >> i'm just a voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the lord. what are we going to do?

>> jesus, he's back! >> it has begun. your hunger for righteousness. >> 5,000 came to see him. 5,000. >> there's nothing unusual about his ability to cause havoc. >> the disturbances that took place today are repeated, i will crush any rebellion. >> forgive them for they know not what they do.

>> roma downey and mark burnett. >> all right. >> okay. we are married. good morning, mr. president, madam first lady. members of our armed forces, esteemed foreign representatives and guests. roma and i are so grateful to be

here this year. we're used to seeing out there and have seen for many years and love this prayer breakfast. we're especially grateful this year to be speaking at president obama's last prayer breakfast. it's such an honor. we're also really, really glad to be here to share with you a little bit of our story about our immigrant grant blue collar roots of coming to america. >> it's an honor to be here as a married couple and do this together. as we hear, we're the first husband and wife team ever to speak at the national prayer breakfast. mark and i have been working together side by side for years. most couples can't even do yard work together without argue, and yet we have been together every

day producing "the bible" and "a.d." and the soon to be released epic feature film "ben hur." and i just have to acknowledge mr. morgan freeman who is here today who is one of the stars of "ben hur." spending so much time together as a husband and wife is a blessing and a challenge. and perhaps the real miracle is that we're still speaking to each other. as business parts, we have different styles and approaches. i might tap gently on a door and my husband might kick the door down. there is an art, of course, to public speaking. it should feel like a graceful

dance. and speaking today, we will try not to step on each other's toes. fred astaire and ginger rogers moved so well together. and remember that ginger did everything fred did but she did it backwards and in high heels. for the girls. of course, as you may be able to tell from our accents, i am irish, my husband is english, but we don't hold that against him. >> okay, i admit it. i was born in england, but i'm very lucky now to be an american citizen. so we can officially celebrate fourth of july. i'm also lucky, i'm the only

person in the room that is married to an actual angel. i know what you're thinking, yes, i have been touched by an angel. well, we are married. >> i was born and raised in dairy city northern ireland near the bog side section and darey is the second city of the north and as you know, it was home to a great deal of violence and unrest, particularly in the 1970s and '80s. and our city was divided by a river, which flowed through the middle, segregating the communities and catholics lived on one side, protestants lived on the other and never the twain did meet. and he hardly ever crossed the river to the other side. and those were scary and often dangerous times. when i was just ten 10 years of

age, my mother died. and i remember going to her grave when a fierce gun battle broke out at the cemetery and i narrowly missed being shot. the bullet hole singed the coat i was wearing and missed my head by inches. surely i must have had an angel watching over me that day. and through my teenage year, i can remember sitting in my little bedroom looking out at the rain and listening to one of the only cassettes i ever owned. it was simon and garfunkle's greatest hits and i loved the lyrics, for they created a poetic world where you could hear the sounds of silence. and it seemed possible that you could really build a bridge over troubled waters. and the lyrics painted picture for me, a picture of america and a seed was planted.

the american dream represented freedom and opportunity and there was a young irish teenager, an american dream was born in my heart. this great country provided us with the opportunities to make our dreams reality. >> we both came seeking that same american dream. 30 years ago, i left the british army parachute regiment and i moved to los angeles with zero skills. but i did need a job and a place to live, and i had a friend from home who lived in beverly hill and worked as a chauffeur for a rich family. he suggested a chauffeur might be a good job. at least i could drive a car. but there were no chauffeur jobs available. but there was a job advertised. it sounded great. it was a live-in position in beverly hills. got paid a week, and the job did

come with a room, a car and even cable tv. the trouble was there were two words right at the front of the job description which made no sense for a guy from the parachute regiment. those two words were child care. my friend nick told me it was a waste of time even going to the interview, but i remember him saying, mark, come on, how are you going to go from being a commando yesterday to mary poppins tomorrow. really. but i knew i was desperate. so i showed up that night at 624 north beverly drive beverly hills for a job interview. it was crazy. keep in mind i was 22 years of age, and i had just come out of the army. irving, the husband, began by asking what on earth i thought i was doing there. here he had a 3-year-old from

this marriage, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old from the previous marriage, and what did he possibly need another 22-year-old kid from? kid for? what he said he needed was a nanny anticipate a housekeeper. just then his wife patty cut him off and said, well, you have an accent. where are you from? i said ma'am, i'm from london. she said oh, we love london. the husband did not crack a style. he started drilling me to get rid of me. he said in job isn't just about chasing a 3-year-old around a beverly hills estate. you need to do some cleaning, can you clean mark? i said sir, i just left four years in the british army. they came around with a white glove to inspect our lockers every day. no one ever found a speck of dust on my locker. pat pi smiled and erv got even more annoyed.

then he asked me, okay, can you do laundry? i said sir, laundry, we have to do all our own washing and ironing, i could iron a shirt with a crease so sharp you could shave with it. patty was loving this. but then erving finally got me. he said mark, can you cook? i said sir, i'm british, my mum can't even cook. anyway, i thought i wasn't getting the job. a few hours later, patty called the number i left with my friend nicholas and said it was a very tough sell, but you got the job, can you start tomorrow? and then i began the next day in america as a domestic help nanny housekeeper at 624 north beverly

drive, beverly hills. here's what's really amazing. last year, roma and i, as a lot of you know, merged our company into mgm, which made me the president of the mgm television. i was given a top floor office of mgm. and i looked at this incredible view over l.a., the hollywood sign, beverly hills. and then it dawned on me. the address of this building is 245 north beverly drive. i looked out the window and i could actually see the house where i was a nanny at 624 north beverly drive. you have to know 24 can only happen in america. it's the american dream. >> there are certain things that could only happen in america.

back when i immigrated from ireland, i lived in new york city, and the very first job i had there was checking coats in a very fancy upper west side restaurant. and the meals were lovely, but so expensive, and i never could have afforded to eat there myself. one night i checked the coach of regis philbin. he was the very first celebrity i ever met. an he gave me a $20 tip and i thought i had died and went to heaven. and just a few years later, i was in los angeles starring on a tv show called "touched by an angel" enit had millions of viewers each week. and soon i was invited to fly back to new york and be a guest on "the regis philbin show."

checking goats one moment, starring on television the next. only in america. i remember i told regis that story and he laughed and he laughed and he was just so glad that he hadn't stiffed me. for almost ten years, i had the privilege of playing the angel monica on television opposite the great dela reese. and we were undercover angels who showed up at a cross roads in people's lives. often when they had hit the bottom and when they were breaking this, they reached out to god for help. i got to deliver a message of

god's love. before we film these ion jell revelation scenes each week, we would pray a very simple prayer withless of me, more of you. we hope that happens thousands of times. >> yes, we are really fortunate.

we entirely built our tv careers and film careers on family-friendly franchises. on shows as was mentioned. we took that leverage and we told hollywood we wanted to make a brand-new series call ed the bible.

nobody is going to watch the bible on prime time tv. they know the story and they can get that in church. well, as the americans in this room know, the bible became the most talked about television show in america. that he showed the first game from the national hockey league, but head to head the bible beat hockey. >> the bible was also against a

show "the walking dead" and we won. my favorite headline ran on cnn, "god beats zombies." faith was and is alive and well in america. the series ignited a much larger conversation about god and faith in this country. kwerp also humbled that people were inspired to see us, daring to speak out about our love of jesus, daring to talk about our faith in god and our sincere belief in the power of prayer.

i can honestly say that i have never made a decision in my life big or small that i didn't pray about first. the most dangerous brayer you can pray is lord use me. you have to be ready that he might just do so. >> yeah, it was a tv show, but we're also still telling the story of the most sacred book of all time, the bible. it's a really important huge responsibility on our shoulders. we signed up 40 scholars and advisers. by the way, many of you are in

this room right now. you know who you are and you backed us from the very beginning and stood shoulder to shoulder with you with us and we thank you so much all of you in this room who backed us. i think it's fair to say we have become hollywood's noisiest christians. at least 90 million americans attend church each sunday in this country. the christian community is a

mainstream community. they watch nfl, they go to beyoce concerts. it's the community that loves jes jesus, loves their country. it's a very cool community, made up of millions of young believers, many of whom have tattoos, earrings. they ride skateboards, they surf, they tweet, they're entrepreneurs and a vibrant part of the new american economy. owe. >> i remember sitting under the shade of a rock and scripting with actors or praying with them as they prepared for a scene. when we were getting ready to

shoot the crucifixion scene, i sent out an e-mail requesting that prayers would be sent ahead of us to clear the way. the wind was high, the sun was scorching and we prayed for safety and that god would use the series to open hearts to him. and we had a man on the set whose job it was to wrangle snakes and scorpions from each of the locations. and normally he found about one or two snakes a day, but on the morning of the crucifixion, he removed 48 snakes from around the hillside of galgatha. and we believe that was the power of prayer at work and the

symbolism of the snake wasn't lost on any of us. we still hadn't cast the most important role of jesus. so i sent out an e-mail all my contacts with the header, looking for jesus. due to of a severe remarkable coincidences, we came across a portuguese actor. and as he walked up our garden path to meet us for the first time, i turned to mark and i said there he is, there's our jesus. and he was an answer to a prayer, and his touching and affecting performance as jesus helped to inspire millions of people around the world.

>> the actor beautifully portrayed, as you saw on the screen jesus in the bible series. everyone in the whole country was talking about this hispanic actor. it reminds us of a great story. there are a couple of old men who were christians. they lived next door to each other. one was an old black man. one was an old white man. they loved each other and did everything together. in fact, they only had one disagreement. the old black man was sure jesus was black and the other white man was just as sure that jesus was a white man. neither could ever convince the other. one day these great friends died together in a car accident. on their way up to heaven the old black man said, buddy, you're about to find out i was right all along. jesus is a black man.

and the old white man said i'm sorry, you're going to have to find out this way because when we meet him, you're going to see that jesus is, in fact, a white man. they got there in great anticipation and jesus walked out to meet them and he mile smil -- smiled at them and said buenos dias. . >> i suppose when you think about it, jesus could have been irish. he lived at home until he was 30. he never got married, and his mother thought he was god.

we also know being in media comes with responsibility to those whom much is given, much is expected. and we are so pleased that ur step of faith has reinvigorated faith and family programming in this country and is hopefully and a whole new generations of artists inspires and unifies. we have always believed that it is far more effective to light a candle than to curse the darkness. let me say that again. let me say that again.

we believe it's far more effective to light a candle than to curse the darkness. that's what we try to do. to light as many candles as we can in in hostile and hurting world. it's very easy to divide people and very difficult to bring people together. did you know what we learned back in the bible, just among christians alone, there are over 30,000 denominations. think about that. it's crazy, right? and many have argued about their views of jesus for thousands of years. so for us, working across the pros assistant and catholic community, working very detailed way with the jewish community, it was very, very challenging to make everybody happy as we told the story of the bible. we worked very, very hard. many people here advised us so

closely. and we lerched to become bridge builders. and bridge building became our mission. >> building bridges has become so much or our mission. and i know the power of a bridge from my own life's journey growing up in war-torn northern ireland. but today, if you go to dairey, you'll find something new there. peace has been restored there and there's now a walking bridge built across the river foil. and it's aptly called the peace bridge. and it stands in defiance of all that once divided us, our very own bridge over troubled water. protestant and catholic children now play together. but more than that, the old hurts are healing. the leaders in northern ireland finally sat down and talked to each other and listened to each other.

we are at a time in the world's history whether there's so much pain and fear and decision. race and religion and in politics. the bridges to peace are harder to build. may we all find our dividing lines and work until we've built our own bridges of peace across them. on this day of the national prayer breakfast. we pray that with god's help, we can heal some of the wounds that hurt us. but it ge begins with us. perhaps a good place to start is to see the image of god in the

eyes of everyone you meet. jesus said by this you will know that you follow me, that you love one another. for in this spirit is the power of true faith, that we learn to love each other. that film than powerful ways of bringing inspirational and hope and emotional stories that open your heart. people will have forget what you said. people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

[ applause ] >> wow. thank you so much. muchos gracias. [ laughter ] >> i have to say thank you again. thank you so much. our purpose in this breakfast every year is to lift up jesus as the solution to the problems

of the world. we came together to love and pray for the president of the united states and his family. we do this with all our hearts and we appreciate the message today that you brought to us. it was the uplifting. mr. president, when we were in law school together, i spoke to one of our classmates. he may have even become a supreme court justice someday. so there's still time, mr. president. there's still time. you're a young man. but all kidding aside, mr. president, we honor you for your dignity. we honor you for your integrity. we honor you for your faith the way you honor god with your life and your service to all of us.

ladies and gentlemen, for one last time at our national prayer breakfast it is my honor to introduce the president of the united states. [ applause ] >> thank you so much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you so much. thank you. very kind. thank you very much. good morning. >> good morning, mr. president. >> giving all praise and honor to god for bringing us together here this morning. i want to thank everyone who helped organize this breakfast, especially our co-chairs robert and juan, who embodied the tradition of friendship,

fellowship, and prayer. i will begin with a confession. i have always felt a tinge of guilt motorcading up here at the heart of d.c.'s rush hour. i suspect not all the commuters were blessing me as they waited to get to work, but it's for a good cause. a national prayer brunch doesn't have the same ring to it, and michelle and i are extremely honored as always to be with so many friends, with members of congress, with faith leaders from across the country and around the world, to be with a speaker, a leader. i want to thank mark and roma for their friendship and their

extraordinary story in sharing those inspiring words. andre for sharing his remarkable gifts. on this occasion, i always enjoy reflecting on a piece of scripture that's been meaningful to me or otherwise sustained me throughout the year and lately i've been thinking and praying on a verse from second timothy. for god has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. for god has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind. we live in extraordinary times,

times of extraordinary change. we're surrounded by tectonic shifts in technology and our economy, by destructive conflict, disruptions to our environment and it all reshapes the way we work and the way we live. it's all amplified by a media that's unceasing and that feeds 24/7 our ever shrinking attention spans. and as a student of history, i often remind people that the challenges we face are not unique. that in fact the threats of previous eras whether civil war, world war, cold war, depressions or famines, those challenges put

our own in perspective. moreover i believe our unique strengths as a nation make us better equipped than others to harness this change to work for us rather than against us and yet the sheer repeatity of change and uncertainty is real. the hardship of a family trying to make ends meet, refugees fleeing from a war torn home, those things are real, terrorism eroding shorelines, those things are real. even the very progress that humanity has made, the affluence, the stability that so many of us enjoy, far greater prosperity than any previous

generation that humanity has experienced shines a brighter light on those who still struggle, revealed the gap in prospects that exist for the children of the world. and that gap between want and plenty gives us vertigo. it can make us afraid not only of the possibility that progress will stall, but maybe we have more to lose and fear does funny things. fear can lead us to lash out against those who are different who lead us to try to get some

sinister other under control. alternatively fear can lead us to succumb to despair, paralysis or cynicism. fear can feed our most selfish impulses and erode the bonds of community. it is a primal emotion, fear, one that we all experience and it can be contagious spreading through societies and through nations. and if we let it consume us, the consequences of that fear can be worse than any outward threat.

for me and i know for so many of you, faith is the great cure for fe fear. jesus is a good cure for fear. god gives believers the power, the love, the sound mind required to conquer any fear, and what more important moment for that faith than right now. what better time than these changi changing times to have jesus standing beside us steadying our minds, cleansing our minds,

pointing us towards what matters. [ applause ] >> his love gives us the power to resist fear's temptations. he gives us the courage to reach out to others across that divide rather than push people away. he gives us the courage to go against the conventional wisdom and stand up for what's right even when it's not popular. to stand up not to just our enemies but sometimes to stand up to our friends. he gives us the fortitude to sacrifice ourselves for a larger

cause or to make tough decisions knowing that we can only do our be best. less of me, more of god. and then to have the courage to admit our failings and our sins while pledging to learn from our mistakes and to try to do better. certainly during the course of this enormous privilege to have served as the president of the united states, that's what faith has done for me. it helps me deal with the common everyday fears that we all sh e share. the main one i'm feeling right now is our children grow up too

fast. they're leaving. that's a tough deal. [ laughter ] >> and so as a parent you're worrying about will some harm befall them, how are they going to manage without you, did you miss some central moment in their lives, will they call or text. [ laughter ] >> each day we're fearful that god's purpose becomes elusive and cloudy. we try to figure out how we fit into his broader plan. those are universal fears that we have, and my faith helps me to manage those. and then my faith helps me to deal with some of the unique

elements of my job. as of one of the great departed heros of our age nelson mandela said, the brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. certainly there are times where i've had to repeat that to myself while holding this office. when you hear from a parade of experts just days after you're elected that another great depression is a very real possibility, that will get your attenti attention. when you tell a room full of young cadets that you've made a decision to send them into harm's way, knowing that some of them might not return safely,

that's sobering. when you hold in your arms the mothers and fathers of innocent children gunned down in their classroom, that reminds you there's evil in the world. and so you come to understand what president lincoln meant when he said he'd been driven to his knees by the overwhelming conviction that he had no place else to go. like every president, like every leader, like every person i've known fear, but my faith tells me that i need not fear death, that the acceptance of christ promises everlasting life and the washing away of sins.

[ applause ] >> if scripture instructs me to put on the full armor of god so that when trouble comes i'm able to stand, then surely i can face down these temporal setbacks. surely i can battle back. certainly i can rouse myself to action. and should that faith waiver, should i lose my way, i have drawn strength not only from a remarkable wife, not only from incredible colleagues and friends, but i've drawn strength from witnessing all across this country and all around this world good people of all faiths

who do the lord's work each and every day, who wield that power and love and sound mind to feed the hungry and heal the sick, to teach our children. think about the extraordinary work of the congregations and the faith communities represented here today. whether fighting poverty or to end the scourge of human trafficking, you're the leaders of what pope francis calls this march of living hope. when the earth cleaves in haiti, christians, siekhs, and other faith groups sent people to rebuild homes for the homeless.

when ebola ravaged west africa, jewish, christian, muslim groups responded to the outbreak to save lives. and as the news fanned the flames of fear, churches and mosques responded with a powerful rebuke welcoming survivors into their pews. when nine worshippers were murdered in a charleston church basement, there were people of all faiths that came together to wrap a shattered community in love and understanding. when syrian refugees seek the sanctuary of our shores, it's the faithful from synagogues, mosques, temples, and churches are the first to offer food and open their homes. even now people of different faiths and beliefs are coming

together to help people suffering in flint. and then there's the less spectacular, more quiet efforts of congregations all across this country just helping people, seeing god in others. we're driven to do this because we're driven by value that so many of our faiths teach us. i am my brother's keeper. i am my sister's keeper. as christians, we do this compelled by the gospel of jesus, the command to love god and one another. yes, like every person, there are times when i'm fearful, but my faith and more importantly the faith that i've seen in so

many of you, the god i see in you, that makes me inevitably hopeful about our future. i've seen so many who know god has not given us a spirit of fear. he has given us power and love and a sound mind. we see that spirit in people like the pastor in prison for no crime other than holding god in his heart. last year we prayed he might be freed and this year we give thanks that he is home safe. [ applause ] >> we pray for god's protection for all around the world who are not free to practice their faith, including christians who are persecuted or who have been

driven from their ancient homelands by unspeakable violence. just as we call on other countries to respect the rights of religious minorities, we, too, respect the right of every single american to practice their faith freely. >> amen. [ applause ] >> for this is why each of us is called on to do, to seek our common humanity in each other, to make sure our politics and our public discourse reflect that same spirit of love and sound mind, to assume the best in each other, not just the worst and not just at the national prayer breakfast. to begin each of our works from the shared belief that all of us want what's good and right for

our country and our future. we can draw such strength from the quiet moments of heroism around us every single day. so let me close with two such stories i've come to know just over the past week. a week ago, i spoke at a ceremony held at the israeli embassy for the first time honoring the courage of people who saved jews during the holocaust. and one of the recipients was the grandson -- the son of an american soldier who had been captured by the nazis.

a group of american soldiers are captured, and their captor es ordered jewish p.o.w.s to identify themselves. and one sergeant, a christian, named roddy edmonds from tennessee ordered all american troops to report alongside him. they lined up in formation, approximately 200 of them, and the nazi colonel said i asked only for the jewish p.o.w.s and said these can't all be jewish. master sergeant edmonds stood

there and said we are all jews. and the colonel took out his pistol and held it to the master sergeant's head and said tell me who the jews are and he repeated we are all jews. faced with the choice of shooting all those soldiers, the nazis relented. and so through his moral clarity through an act of faith, seth edmonds saved the lives of his jewish brothers in arms. [ applause ]

>> second story. just yesterday, some of you may be aware i visited a mosque in baltimore. to let our muslim american brothers and sisters know that they, too, are americans and welcome here. [ applause ] >> and there i met a muslim american who runs a nonprofit working for social change in chicago. he forms coalitions with churches and latino groups and african-americans in a poor neighborhood in chicago. he told me about how the day after the tragedy in san bernardino happened he took his three young children to a playground in the market park neighborhood. and while they were out, the

time came for one of the five daily prayers that are essential to the muslim tradition. and on any other day he told me he would immediately have put his rug right out on the grass there and prayed, but that day he paused. he feared any unwelcome attention he might attract to himself and his children. and his 7-year-old daughter asked him, what are you doing, dad? isn't it time to pray? and he thought of all the times he had told her the story of the day that dr. martin luther king jr. and rabbi robert marx and 700 other people marched to that very same park and during hatred

and bigotry, dodging rocks and bottles and hateful words in order to challenge chicago housing segregation and to ask america to live up to our highest ideals. and so at that moment drawing from the courage of men of different religions of a different time, he refused to teach his children to be afraid. instead he taught them to be part of that legacy of faith and good conscious. i want them to understand that sometimes faith will be tested, he told me, and that we will be asked to show immense courage like others have before us to make our city, our country, and our world a better reflection of all our ideals. he put down his rug and he

prayed. [ applause ] >> now, those two stories, they give me courage and they give me hope and they instruct me in my own christian faith. i can't imagine a moment in which that young american sergeant expressed his christianity more profoundly than when confronted by his own death. he said we are all jews. [ applause ] >> i can't imagine a clearer expression of jesus' teachings. i can't imagine a better expression of the peaceful spirit of islam than when a muslim father, filled with fear, drew from the example of a baptist preacher and a jewish

rabbi to teach his children what god demands. [ applause ] >> for god has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. i pray that by his grace we all find the courage to set such examples in our own lives not just during this wonderful ga gathering and fellowship, not just in the public piety that we profess, but in those smaller moments when it's difficult, when we're challenged, when we're angry, when we're confronted with someone who

doesn't agree with us, when no one is watching. i pray that our differences ultimately are bridged, that the god that is in each of us comes together and we don't divide. i pray that our leaders will always act with humility and generosity. i pray that my failings are forgiven. i pray that we will uphold our obligation to be good stewards of god's creation, this beautiful planet. i pray that we will see each and every child as our own, each worthy of our love and

compassion, and i pray we answer scripture's call to lift up the vulnerable and to stand up for justice and to make sure every human being lives in dignity. that's my prayer for this breakfast and for this country in the years to come. my god bless you and may he continue to bless this country that we love. [ applause ] [applause]

>> thank you so much, mr. president. thank you for your encouraging and also your challenging wording this morning. as you know, this breakfast began with one of your predecessors, dwight eisenhower. we appreciate you being with us all eight years. now let's get ready for a world that awaits us outside the walls of this hotel. let's hear from andree ba bocel singing "amazing grace."

♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ i once was lost but now i'm found ♪ ♪ was blind but now i see

♪ twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieve relieved ♪ ♪ how precious did that grace appear the hour i first believe

ed ♪ ♪ ♪ yea when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall

cease ♪ ♪ i shall possess within the veil a life of joy and peace ♪ ♪ amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me ♪ ♪ i once was lost but now i'm found ♪ ♪ was blind but now i see

♪ was blind but now i see [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you very much. a few words in my terrible

english. ladies and gentlemen and mr. president, there is a dark shadow on the world in this period. many children, elderly, die under the bomb. the war is the worst incident of our intelligence. there is a very small word, an audible word, that is to the base of our tragedy. this word in old greek is ebrice. it means pride, but there is also on the other side a big

reason of happiness, a big reason to be optimist. this reason is the will to be all together and pray together, to be all together also for a moment to put aside our opinions, our ideas, our different goals and to be really very close and to pray. thank you very this invitation. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> wow. what a great morning. better than what we ever imagined. thank you, jesus. let's take away the right kind of pride in what we've experienced today, the right kind. as my mother often said, never be ashamed of your faith in jesus because you never want him to be ashamed of you. as democratic leader pelosi reminded us in her reading, jesus prayed for us to be one and brought to complete unity. we also heard that today with mr. bocelli. so here's my question to you. does jesus get what he prays for? let's work for unity. jesus asks god to send us all together to be one. >> in closing, let me challenge you with this. we've heard a lot about unity

this morning. that's what juan and i wanted, just what we were hoping would be the case. division a great problem, so unity is our greatest need. and we believe that we need to pray our way to that unity. we can't achieve unity on our own. humanity has tried and humanity has failed for centuries. we've tried and we've failed in this city, washington, d.c. unity is a gift from god, and jesus says seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you. bring us the unity we need, lord jesus. and now to offer our closing prayer, derrick henry. [ applause ] >> good morning. i'm so glad and honored to be here to do this closing prayer.

let's bow our heads. lord jesus, i thank you for this today to hear from these great leaders and great people, to hear god's word about unity and us being united as one and how important it is. jesus lord, i pray for people who weren't able to eat breakfast today who don't have clothes on their back or shoes on their feet, but i pray that you make them find a way and have faith in you that they will see better days. god, i pray for the people who have cancer who suffer every day with pain and heartache and that you one day will heal them from all the suffering and all the pain. lord, i want to pray for my generation that every day we wake up we seek you, lord, for guidance and wisdom and that one day we can stand up here and be great leaders, great people, men and women, to speak on unity

united as one and how important it is to this country and to this world. father god, i pray that us, as great people in here, that we continue to use our platform to help others and to inspire others. last, i would like to pray on the food that we are eating today. i pray for the hands that blessed this food and let it nourish and strengthen our bodies. amen. [ applause ] >> well, thank you again.

paco and i are very happy that you have joined us here this morning for this breakfast. i think it was very successful. let's give everyone at the head table who had a part a great hand. [ applause ] >> that concludes our breakfast. the president and the first lady will be leaving shortly. if you could stay in your seats for the next few minutes, but we do appreciate them as they're leavie ining the building and te support for the national prayer breakfast. may god bless the united states of america and every country around the world. thank you and god bless. [ applause ]

ladies and gentlemen, the leadership lunch will begin 30 minutes later than scheduled. lunch will begin at 1:00 p.m. once again, ladies and gentlemen, lunch will now begin at 1:00 p.m. thank you.

[inaudible conversations] the citizens of the granite state are not easily won. the country meeting places are hotbeds of political discussion. in village, town, and city voters brave bitter snow and sleet to cast their votes. >> thanks to the people of new hampshire. >> it's good to be back here in new hampshire. >> first in the nation primary. >> new hampshire. >> new hampshire.

>> new hampshire. >> new hampshire. >> hey, he's from new hampshire. >> it's great to be back in new hampshire. >> one reporter has called new hampshire's primary the most cherished of american political trib tribal rites. >> governor, thank you so much for coming to new hampshire. >> this is a place where you can observe a candidate in the heat of a dialogue, in the heat of getting tough questions about their positions on the issues. it's not just a place where there's a scripted speech. >> new hampshire takes its first in the nation primary status really seriously. >> this is one of a whole series of town hall meetings that we're going to be having. >> this is my 20th town hall meeting. >> welcome to our 115th town hall meeting here in new hampshire.

ahead of the new hampshire primary on tuesday, presidential candidates from both parties are in the granite state. on sunday, we'll take you to a town hall in bedford with senator marco rubio. that's live at 11:30 a.m. eastern. donald trump talks to supporter at a campaign rally in holerness. we'll take you live there at 10:00 a.m. on c-span. congressional budget office director keith hall projected an increase in the deficit today at the house budget committee hearing. he predicts that the deficit will reach $544 billion and the debt will be 86% of gdp by 2026. this is about 2 1/2 hours. >> the hearing will come to order. i want to welcome all to the committee on the budget hearing

on the congressional budget offices budget and economic outlook. before we begin, i'd like to welcome two new members to the committee. frank ginta of new hampshire who is a returning member of the committee. and bill johnson of ohio. we want to welcome them to the committee since they will not be official members of the committee until later today. i ask that they participate in today's hearing. without objection, so ordered. the house is scheduled to have votes later today. i ask unanimous consent, the chairman be authorized to declare a recess at any time. without objection, so ordered. once again, i want to welcome dr. hall. dr. hall, i want to welcome you to our hearing on your cbo budget and economic outlook

going forward. when you talk about budgets, oftentimes people's eyes glaze over, but these numbers matter. the consequences for the american people are real. and i think that will become much more clear in holding this hearing. in its report cbo projects if no changes are made to current policies, deficits over the next decade will total $9.4 trillion. this is up from $7.6 trillion from the estimate of last year. national debt will rise to over $29 trillion from 19196 to its current all too high of $19 trillion. an average economic growth over the next two years will be a full 1/3 lower than the historical average.

skyrocketing debt will mean less opportunity, fewer jobs and smaller paychecks. and a nation increasingly vulnerable to national security threats both at home and abroad. this isn't an optimistic outlook for america. it's not a sustainable outlook for any nation. the longer we take to address these challenges, the harder it will be and the fewer options there will be to actually sold them. if you look at just the interest payments on the debt, the interest payments on the debt, we'll talk about spending nearly is $12 a year. that's more than we spend on defense, medicaid, education. pick a priority. money that's spent on paying this interest will crowd out all the important priorities that the american people have. buying a car, paying a rent,

buying a house, starting or expanding a business, sending a kid to college. all of the things that are made more difficult that the american people want to spend their money are are made more difficult because of the level of debt that we continue to accumulate in our government. in 2026 interest on our debt will be the third largest line item in our federal budget. so how can we solve these challenges? many of our friends on the other side of the aisle and particularly the president think we ought to take more money out of the hard working american taxpayer, but federal revenues, money coming into the government, are going to go up by $127 billion in fiscal year 2016 alone. a nearly 4% incomes over the last fiscal year. revenue levels for 2016 are slat slated -- which is well above

historical average. the federal government is taking more money from the american people now than it has ever in the history of our country. uncle sam doesn't need a raise. washington needs to get our act together. according to cbo, spending will reach 21.2% of gross domestic product in 2016 and climb to 23.1% in 2026. this will far exceed historical averages. that means more money again taken from the pocketbooks of the americans and spent on things that crowd out or decrease the likelihood of being able to spend on things they want to. instead of taking more money from the american people to spend more in washington, we ought to focus on real solutions, reforms that will make government more efficient and accountable.

we focus on these two goals. we'll not only balance the budget, but we'll also create an environment in this country where many americans will achieve success, provide for themselves and their families, and a nation that's more secure and stronger than ever before. sadly under the policies of president obama, americans have experienced the worst recovery in modern times. the cbo has continued to downgrade its growth predictions year after year. in january, we learned the u.s. economy grew at an anemic 0.7%. dismal economic legacy this president continues to champion. so we have a choice in this nation. we can continue down this road, stick with the status quo and turn cbo's projections into reality. or turn the page and put in place a budget that balances, that saves and strengthens and secures medicare and social security that supports our brave men and women in uniform.

right now our committee is hard at work putting together that plan. i want to thank you for being here today. and thank you for your work and that of your colleagues at the congressional budget office. i look forward to your testimony and to a healthy discussion about how we solve the challenges before us and i'm pleased to yield to the ranking member from maryland for his opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i do want to join the chairman and my colleagues in welcoming you, dr. hall, and thank you to your cbo team. what struck me in looking at this budget outlook was that it was really not that different from last year's budget outlook. it showed that deficits as a percent of the economy have fallen dramatically since twine and will remain relatively stable for a couple years. then you begin to see increasing deficits driven primarily by an ageing population at health care costs. in fact, the biggest single

component of the increase in the ten-year deficit projection were the unpaid for tax cuts that congress voted on just last fall. $817 billion. round up. you get to a trillion dollars was added to the deficit just last november and december when our republican colleagues put that forward and refused to pay for a single penny. some of those proposals were mer meritorious, but we should be paying for those long-range tax cuts and that includes the interest rate because when you bring in less revenue and your deficit goes up, so do those interest costs. congress just added significantly to those interest costs by refusing to pay for those tax increases. the good news is this forecast predicts stronger economic

growth this year. 2.7%. that's good news because although the economy has generated new jobs for 70 consecutive months, 14 million jobs, we need to add more jobs and most importantly we should get to work on strategies for boosting wages, which is why it is so disappointing that in this new congress instead of getting to work on the business of the american people and focusing on the economy, the very first thing we did in 2016 with the new speaker was vote for the 62nd time in a row to dismantle the affordable care act and just a little earlier this week the 63rd time in an attempt to override the president's veto, which wasn't going to happen. by the way, that vote also included the 11th amendment to rollback programs that protect

women's reproductive health, including a plan to defund planned participaplan ed parenthood despite the fact that grand jury indicted their accusers. instead of just repeating over and over again these efforts to dismantle the affordable care act, we should be focusing on growing the economy and increasing wages, and i'd like to put up a chart. we should address those issues by investing more in our economy, which is why, mr. chairman, i'm a little troubled to here some members on your side may be talking about revisiting the caps that we agreed to last year, which made room for some more investments in things like education and transportation. but as we look to the long-term deficit we should also remember the largest category

contributing to the deficit are the so-called tax expenditures. these include a lot of tax breaks in the tax code that benefit the very wealthiest americans. they include tax breaks like the carried interest loophole for hedge fund managers, which means folks who are managing a hedge fund pay a lower tax rate than people driving a bus or teachers. we need to end the loophole on these inversions. by the way, means everybody else in the country pays more while these companies that continue to benefit from what america has to offer are paying less. so as you can see from this chart, if you add up the cost of tax expenditures on an annual basis, they're higher than the total cost of medicare and medicaid and higher than the

total cost of social security, which is why it was so disappointing that rather than address those issues, our republican colleagues voted last year for the largest increase in the deficit in recent times adding over $800 billion to that te ten-year deficit. so if we're going to get serious about this, mr. chairman, we're going to have to look at the tax expenditure column and end the tax breaks. last chart, which disproportionately flow to the top 1%. 17% of the benefit of those tax expenditures go to the top 1% of the income scale. that is a rigged task system, rigged in favor of the very wealthy. we need to change it. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. we want to welcome again dr. hall. your complete testimony will be made part of the record. we look forward to your opening statement, and you have five

minutes. >> thank you. chairman price, ranking member, and members of the committee, i appreciate the invitation to testify today about the budget and economic outlook. first i'll summarize cbo's economic forecast for the next decade. consumer spending is going to provide the largest contribution to that growth. however the anticipated pick up in growth above last year's 1.8% rate stems largely from investment in business capital and in housing. because of the projected growth, we expect slack in the economy to diminish over the next few years. lowering the unemployment rate to just under 4.5%, pushing up compensation and encouraging greater labor force participation. that reduction in slack will also push up inflation and interest rates. over the years following 2017 we

project output to grow at a more modest pace constrained by slow growth. nevertheless that pace of growth is expected to be greater than it has been in the past decade. now, to describe some of our key findings about the budget outlook, in the fiscal year 2016 the deficit will increase for the first time since 2009. if current laws generally remain unchanged, the deficit will continue to grow and debt held by the public would rise to $24 trillion or 86% of gdp by 2016 up from 74% of gdp at the end of 2015. moreover, it would be an upward trajectory. 30 years from now debt would reach 155% of gdp, a higher percentage than previously recorded in the united states. such high-rising debt could have

serious negative consequences for the nation, including an increased risk for a fiscal crisis. growth and revenues is outpaced by growth in spending. in the coming decades revenue would remain relatively stable in relation to the size of the economy reflecting changes that roughly offset each other. increases in individual income taxes and decreases in corporate income taxes and remittances from the federal reserve. we project outlays to go under current law from 21% of gdp this year to 23% in 2016. this is for social security and medicare. in large part because of the number of people who are at least 65 years old is estimated to increase by more than 1/3 over that period. also because of rising interest rates and growing federal debt held by the public, the

government's interest payments on that debt are expected to rise sharply over the next ten years, more than doubling its share of gdp. by 2016, spending subject to annual appropriations is projected to drop to its lowest share of gdp in the past 50 years. most discretionary funding is capped through 2021. that's the big picture. now a few details. i'm often asked about specifically about our projections for medicaid and for health insurance purchased through exchanges. medicaid spending is expected to increase by about 9% in 2016 after having grown about 15% a year in the previous two years. we expect that slowdown because the optional expansion of coverage authorized by the affordable care act will have been in place for two years and the rapid growth and enrollment that occurred during the initial

stage will begin to moderate. as for exchanges, we in the staff of the joint committee on taxation estimate about 11 million people per month will receive them on average during the calendar year 2016 up from an average of about 8 million per month last year. that number is smaller than the average of 15 million resip yepts per month that we estimated for 2016 a year ago. overall, including people -- our projections of exchange enrollment for the years after 2016 have not yet been updated. we will publish that update in our march release to accompany our next baseline. let me explain how our projections have changed. the 2016 deficit we project is

higher than we last estimated largely because the consolidated appropriations act of 2016 extended a number of tax provisions. for the 2016, 2025 period we project a deficit that is larger than just six months ago. that stems from the laws enacted since august, especially the extension of tax provisions. about 30% of the increase is caused by changes in the economic forecast. chiefly slower growth and economic output over the ten-year period which lowers revenues in our projections more than it lowers spending. the remainder of the increase is primarily in our estimates of outlays. over the next decade spending for medicaid and veterans benefits is higher. in these remarks i provided you with an overview of our

projections which are the work of many people at that cbo. i'm happy to discuss any questions that you may have. thank you. >> thank you, dr. hall. in reading your report, it doesn't paint a rosy picture. in fact, some of the remarks that you make in your report are ominous. the likelihood of a fiscal crisis increasing, lawmakers having less flexibility in policies to address issues, increase rates increasing, federal interest rates would rise, federal budget deficit will increase for the first time since 2009. deficit would grow over the next ten years and by 2026 it would be considerably larger than it has for the past 50 years, 50 years. that's not a pretty picture. i want to touch on growth and spending and taxes, the major aspects of our budget. if you can put up the slide on

growth projections, please. there are three ways basically to solve the more money going out than coming in. you can raise taxes. you could lower spending or you can have a growing economy. and our friends on the other side of the aisle tend to believe raising the taxes is the way to do that, by taking more hard earned money out of the pockets of american taxpayers. we believe holding the line on spending and decreasing are appropriate and then growing the economy is the best way to get to balance and to get to an economy that can actually thrive and create jobs for folks. the slide that was up there and hopefully will return shows that over the last four years the projections from your office, the cbo, on growth have decreased from 3% to 2.9% to 2.5% to 2.3% and now 2.1%.

a downward trend on growth in the economy. and growth in the economy means that folks are able to get a job and be able to provide for their family. why does the growth continue to go down in your estimation? >> well, in our projections like most other projections of the economy we have been disappointed over and over again primarily about productivity growth and the growth of output, the actual data coming in. the most recent reduction from august was over concerns over productivity. two things happened. this summer the economic data changed. the bureau of economic analysis revised down economic growth over the last few years, even though it was already fairly slow. that changed our view again about productivity. productivity was down. then now we've had this sort of

persistent slow productivity growth. it looks like it may not go away for a while and that's at the heart of our most recent downgrade in economic growth. that's probably been at the heart of our most of our downgrades. >> the projections have been worse -- if you can put up table one, which is figure 4 -- i'm sorry, table 1. a lot of numbers that will pop up here -- but the bottom line is there 15 areas there, 15 years that cbo projected a certain rate. only three of them was cbo accurate. it's likely that the 2.1% isn't even accurate. the challenge that we've got is that if we could just grow the economy a little bit, not back to our 3% average over the last 40 or 50 years, but just a little bit, say 0.1%, we could see increasing opportunity out

there. if we grew the economy by 0.1% more than what's projected, what's the result on the deficit. >> the deficit would be reduced by somewhere over $300 billion. >> over 300 billion. so 0.1% increase results in a $300 billion decrease in the deficit. if we could just grow the economy at the average rate of the last 40 or 50 years, we'd see a decrease in the deficit of over $3 trillion. remarkable ought to be our goal, ought to be our goal.