monitoring and to improve health and again health outcome. in tl are still numerous barriers that need to be reduced. there is difficulty in licensing in smeez requirement that's prevent at dopgs and use of the technologies and the barriers should remember moved and should be examined. again, there is good work on this and attention on the hill. so. so i will close by saying that this is an enormous opportunity as we know and we care deeply seniors over 65 so look out for each other and in a way to improve that reduces cost

and and and it enables those senior stage successfully over many years. thank you. [applause] thanks to the cochairs for your remarks and if you could please join us on stage. >> i am hoping we will have time for question and answer but i wanted to ask a couple of questions on the minds of many of you watching so

maybe we should jump right in the first talk about the cost implications of the recommendations and there are some items with respect to cost of health care system specs i am happy to say a few words but thank u.s. the leader of the task force of any other team of researchers and writers if we could take a moment to recognize those who are involved. [applause] >> a good part of the

indigenous for this report is in fact, the fact that we are increasingly aware of the role of the cost curve of increasing budget expenditures costs related to medicare/medicaid social security are three of the most important drivers of deficits is a function dramatically as it is a mention 78 billion baby boomers that causes the number of people over 65 years of age to double in 85 triple with increasing medical cost and the most expensive years where they

find themselves in lowe's expensing housing ever have a nursing home in the medicare law dash medical care needs so anything we can do as a country by enabling people to stay home longer to have care and home peace of mind as rawl positive aspects it does cost some to extend home services to create the support system but the expectation is that those costs are less than what can be saved for the most expensive form of care.

there are numerous studies done over the years this spoke about trying to create a plateau by what they call compression of the years of morbidity the standard expectations that there is a steady decline and a cost increase over a steady period. that if you can find ways there is a shorter period in which we all concede to the frailties of life and those concepts are all implicit in

this report to mention the personal experience two summers ago mother lives in the home that she and my dad bought when they were married and raised five children 69 years and cannot be talked about leaving the house even after i bother died it would have taken dynamite she knew the birds and was her garden and her house. and she fell down of 2014 and it went downhill from there. in the lost her by november so there is a four month period that was very difficult the she had been at her home perfectly happy in functional at 90 until that moment so i lived through the implications of%

sustained in a place where they can be happy with an inevitable difficulty but if we could create those circumstances for more americans they would be better off in the country as a whole would be better off as well. >> talk about the role of the private sector we know about the low income housing tax credit in leveraging the private sector investments and their other recommendations engaged in an affordable housing and modification had we get the private sector more involved ? >> they strike a great balance with the potential

of savings as well as in gauging the private sector of what would be considered of a low income tax credit i had the pleasure to work with senator mitchell he prides itself as being at the birth of the tax credit and one of the successes is there is a tremendous desire for investment for the benefit they received so some of these recommendations psycho modification if you make it more suitable for someone to live in the home and 90 but so often that is not the case because of the constraints and there is so many things to be a tremendous opportunity with the role of technology.

still looking at those areas of opportunity remember the not-for-profit sector and the private sector will be engaged in a way that i think can create a much more sustainable program. when we have the experience of local government had to look to another program in a better and smarter way with that tax credit with the recommendation we made a couple of years ago has been picked up by senator hatch who is chairman of finance so it's a bipartisan

opportunity for something good to happen where over the years people say i would invest thousands or millions more if i could have the extension so we need to keep that in mind going forward as we try to think of solutions for the long haul to make it more sustainable and also realize that it will require all of the above not just not-for-profit in order to get it done in a way that is sustainable with tremendous challenges. >> focusing on health care the task force makes a number of recommendations from the medicare vantage plan nonprofit hospitals with the recommendations that you outlined as removed

from volume to value and then realizes outcomes is this the time to become a top priority? >> there is a great deal of conversation about all the social and environmental and situational factors that relate to health care that people simply cannot get to the hospital they can't fill the prescription because they cannot make it there or as if they had cataract surgery be he knew he had space to take care of him when he got home and was afraid to get it done but

the fact is that someone went to his home to talk to him to say we will help you with the eye drops to make sure you know, what is being done to make sure you have a successful outcome that can have been over and over also referring to a community partners who can provide these services as the invite the caretakers into their homes or for the families that may not be functioning but they also say this is a stress on the system to provide all this care so we have to think about health care dollars being spent with critical

visits in the home it is wonderfully successful with nurse practitioners and independent health care providers and bringing health care and house calls back again and not requiring them to come to the hospital so it's an interesting time and time for innovation. to make sure the financing model is extremely important and obviously with managed-care because it was just continue to grow with the dramatic impact on families with successful and healthy aging they can stay healthy longer and those who are newly 65 and happens every day hopes that is the

case that they are relying on policy makers to talk about the community partnership to allow payment for services and look at what is happening in medicaid or a variety of states to look at the best practices. >> that is great. we're living in interesting political tide in the final six months of when congress and administration of a powerful presidential election. [laughter] so how feasible is it for the next congress to take on the recommendation called

for today? >> we have of a couple of reasons people may be negative about that one is general dysfunction and the other is the inability of congress to come up with big ideas with budgetary problems because we can't talk about this for a long time that both of those will get better from our standpoint that may not be true for every policy area but some and you remember the famous economist. with the unsustainable trend is not unsustainable.

there is a lot of truth to that. the truth is most members of congress will tell you they don't like the fact that if you talk to them individually or small groups there really want to accomplish things i don't know what exactly precipitates that that will be possible but to do what we talk about today was a basic fact politics drives policy making in the average age is going up that is the other side of the clean the political potency of senior lawyers and their kids to have to deal with these

problems so there is a constituency and i really believe with the things that we talk about with the broader war arabia of policies the biggest problem as i mentioned it is not that we won't do anything but we will do a little later than may shed in the of thoughtful way and in the way of other expenditures adult think we will go one time responding to the problems to expand the constituency. we could do wrong and in a way that is too expensive that and said subordinating every of their priority so

it is a great value of the task force to encourage thoughtful action before it becomes a tidal wave. >> those that demand action is a bipartisan consensus so there's almost no words to describe of how potent this is for the country and even has national-security dimensions the very

character of the country itself it she leaves them with not decent housing so that is truly a global problem we see japan european nations, and that will confront issues with the yen under manpower for social security help system so this is our whole peer group of the industrialized nations and besides that watching people who live their whole lives to for a variety of reasons have not ended up with enough money at the end of the day

minorities or marginalized when they're the most frail or most dependent it just isn't fair or right to plan so badly so this is truly a powerful need. >> so with experts of housing in the health care policy so there will be discussion of medicare and medicaid would is interesting about those proposals health care system of self and of those factors around that individuals.

but it does bring together zero word does about communities. they want to stay in their home or in their community. of that bipartisan policy center but those older americans with quite a bit of overlap so are there a whole variety of more affordable levels of housing? and that works for you to.

and then in the communities as well and i appreciate that. with housing in the home and the place for seniors live. >> we do want to open that up. >> as a clinical psychologist in addition to medical care and shelter that is critical for a healthy life. i wonder when people stay in their own home there is that

village movement so the home as the site of clinical care and with the fitness to walk to the park to the senior center for the ymca it isn't only about getting their or the exercise. and that is extremely helpful.

and with that social interaction is difficult. in that is bring you that as well. that they need to assess the situation so with that beneficiary. we're not mandating that people have to stay in place that perhaps the social interaction and the other of walking distance as the energy policy those who have

gone to the hill to come to washington to do nothing. a but other than that i should have left before i intervened soviet-era is to find one way to make the country better because it thought his comments were so are appropriate but this is something that i'd think we can move forward. and there is a number of

ideas and i am also an optimist. so now i will have to excuse myself. [applause] >> one or two more then we have to wrap up. >> end with age ended come in the existing resources with those single homes and that is the modification is hard. and that is very important but there are those in the middle income areas that have resources to make those

middle-class deletions to make good use of dollars her troy and in several forms with the recognition of more appropriately scaled and excessive rise steep new units those who leave the mansion in the suburbs to find something more suitable size wives for the widow after husband has passed or engaging couple so that is one issue so now everybody is excess arising because they have too many stairs or reach up to the cabinet's they cannot reach because they are too high and the

need to handle to pull that. all those things we need to figure out how we provide assistance for people for homes that are appropriate for their age. with the weather is asian of homes with the loss of heat from houses so why wouldn't we tried to do a home for life conversion a life span on conversion? with assistance to make those changes?

>> i work for secretary caster on this issue we're convinced there will not be a partisan solution so we feel like this is a crisis to see so clearly before it strikes and that is so rarely end within those public discussions need to maximize the agreement. and aging is a universal aspiration and as such has the ability with a broad base consensus to have the consideration on the solutions for middle america andrea very concerned about

the amount of mortgage debt and the other piece that they think about are the modifications to those that are not modifiable and what does that mean? and as they are building our rebuilding senior housing? are those other also affordable to seniors? >> she knows more than i do. [laughter] >> there are those blowing prototype homes and then you

put in a grab bar in the restroom to be a deterrent for younger people you don't put that in now just build a wall strong enough so when the time comes. to be suitable for very fit many families it is not harmful to the interest of those later on. so those of working on the floor plans to do that as a city of all ages but also has workout equipment and they are doing that. chattanooga. and places that these are happening and how do you

build the city for all ages. how do you build housing if it is in walkable distance and then not put in the pediments. em with the telephone poll right in the middle. end intention maliki and that is non costly the awful way to make the communities better.

>> ended is not exactly easy to get in and out of philadelphia. and those factors are very difficult for older adults. and can be quite problematic but maybe a are better off if there were no sidewalks to drive 3 miles or 5 miles to get to the supermarket. very different reasons better very isolating and problematic so the most vulnerable usually speak concerned and we recognize that but even those who have resources is extremely expensive if you have resources well beyond your

means if you go into a retirement community it is not affordable for so many americans and that is a real stress but just don't wait until that moment to figure out how they're in the suburban areas where there is a town center and a main street that doesn't have to be planned for but is available and then you can make up half down to the park to watch the kids so we all need to think about publicly financed and assisting the communities because there will be a lot of seniors out there looking for places to live and

hopefully. >> i think hud could play a major role i know you're talking about some venues and i see mike in the audience who is formerly assistant secretary of policy development but looking read other departments to take the lead to make a difference like the program that goes to localities why can a portion of that the designated to deal with transformation? you did in silly almost touch a thousand communities across the country with that. may be controversial and with congressional consultation but some of that money already exist it

just needs to be pressed to a national need. . . nicki will help us close. >> my job is not to keep you in your seats too much longer. want to give a few more credits

to folks. when you have a year-long effort there are a lot of people to thank, and we've been hard at it. a number of people have been thanked to special thank you to bill hogeland, vice president here and a leader in our effort and hound ground the task force throughout its process to be fiscally sound and aware of all the impacts or recommendations bill we having, putting them out and being responsible in that. also, we tried to practice what we preach in breaking down silos internally at the bipartisan policy center stocker work coastally with our health policy team, katherine hayes, trying to make sure our policy efforts are coordinated, as well as bill mentioned in the production, our economic security team, this kind of response to the last two questions that we're talking about, how to get raid -- get ahead of the challenge and what

to do about middle income households. on june 9th our commission for retirement security and personal savings will be issuing their report, so please tune in for that. we'll address home-ec witness issues as -- home equity issues as well. really relevant to the topic we excused here today. and thanks to our staff, dennis, helped our process, andy winkler, senior policy analyst, and jake, our project assistant. one other thing i want to say, the effort does not stop here. so, my other job is to say that we, as bpc, are committed to this report and the recommendations we released, and many of you have been a part of our process to get us here, but the effort continues, and we always say when a report comes out here halfway done so likely

months more of actual advocacy and education work around the recommendations here. so, please reach out to us, dr. park and i, to figure out ways to work together to advance what is in here and the work you're doing using our bipartisan platform. thank you all for coming and for your patience staying overtime. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

two muslim members of congress keith ellison and andre carson spoke about anti-muslim rhetoric in politics. we moderate this hour-long discussion. >> good morning, everyone. i'm thomas bird, the washington correspondent for the salt lake tribute and the national press club. today we have two members of congress here to take about the rhetoric aimed at the followers of islam. last week two other members appeared in this room to talk about ending the dialing for dollars fundraising effort. gop house policy chair luke messer was here to discuss the 2016 race. and house transportation and infrastructure chairman will shuster appeared before us to talk about his faa bill and the press club has several members

of colleagues here for the sp l spelling bee. i will not ask you to spell anything today but i thank you for being here to discuss this relevant and important topic. i will hand over the podium to the allison fitzgeraldco jack, the chair of our board of governors. >> good morning, everyone, thanks for coming. my name is allison fitzgeraldco jack and i'm the health correspondent at npr and chairman of the board of governors here at the club. a few weeks ago right here in washington, d.c. a woman in the starbucks coffee shop called a fellow customer who was a muslim, a quote, worthless piece of muslim trash. and then she poured a drink on her. and last week a man pleaded guilty to obstructing a woman's freedom to practice her religion after her hijab off of her on an

airplane. while kate crimes are down in general, hate crimes against muslim have increased and in the political arena presidential hopeful donald trump has called on a ban on musliming erngt the united states all together. here to talk about the issue is tommy said. representative keith ellison who is a democrat from minnesota and congressman andre carson has represented the seventh district of indiana since 2008 n. addition to the reporters in the room we have journalists listen on the phone. if you would like to ask, please e-mail them to questions at press.org and identify your news outlet and your name. gentlemen, welcome to the national press club. i think we'll start with congressman ellison. >> good morning, everybody. and let me thank you allison for moderating and also let me give precious and thanks to my good

friend andre carson. when i got elected to congress, i had a few people -- well this is going to be a fluke thing. you will be elected but that is it. and it wasn't long before andre joined me and he is the first muslim on the -- to serve on the house intelligence committee, which is a tremendous honor and a great responsibility. and i'm very grateful to him for his friendship and colleague-ship. muslims are part of the american fabric, always have been. and they are going to be. it so happens that anti-muslim hate spikes with the presidential cycle. it is not just trump. before trump ever said that he was going to ban muslims from entering the country temporarily, that didn't give me any comfort, did it you? we had herm an cane and newt gingrich saying the same thing

four years before that. we had sarah palin making discriminatory and intolerant comments regarding muslims before that. so this political cycle that we live in is something that somehow attracts candidates who want to divide americans on actually any basis that they can in order to achieve electoral success. let me also say it is not just historical, even in this particular race, it is not trump and i hope that nobody here makes the mistake of thinking this is about trump. this is not about trump. perhaps one of the scariest development of this election is when a open well-known muslim hater identified by the southern poverty law centers as a bigot and hatemonger, frank gaffney was put on as a top aid to

senator cruz. also, we know that dr. carson, no relation here, ben carson said that syrian -- potential syrian migrants were like dogs and a bunch of other hateful and scary comments. so what is the fallout from all of this. make no mistake about it. these things have real consequences, and i want to just say, allison correctly pointed out just some of them. but of course there are many more. i remember when the whole ground zero mosque controversy was going on. there was an occasion where a man got into a cab, asked the driver, are you a muslim an the man responded affirmatively and the person in the cab began to stab. i can tell you -- with a knife. i can tell you that i know

literally dozens and dozens of people who feel like they've been pulled off airplanes and held up for hours, it is not just private discrimination, it is an official side to this as well. and so let me -- what do we do about it? we have to adhere to our core constitutional values. equal protection under the law. due process of law. fairness. religious tolerance andin pollution. congress shall make no law establishing a religion. it is if the first amendment, the same one that guarantees a right like the national press club to exist. so we should adhere to our basic value system. that is what values are. in a time of trouble and in a time where there is confusion and fear, we do the right thing by clutching our core values and that is what we must do at this time. let me wrap up my comments and head it over to andre but i want

to leave you with this thought. the muslim community is not taking it lying down. the muslim community is doing a number of things that i think are very important to note. one, the muslim community is reaching out on an interfaith basis to people in the christian and the jewish and hindu and buddhist community and saying, look, we're going to stick together and the diverse faith community of this country has responded in a very positive way. i remember one time terry jones, the well-known muslim hate fresh florida went up to dearborn to try to have a hate rally and there were probably more christians and jews at that rally opposing him than there were muslims. the second thing the muslim community is doing is it is voting. the muslim community is voting and becoming a voting block. today we do not talk about the muslim vote as we might talk about the women's vote or the black vote or this vote or that vote. but we will be, and we should be now. there are a lot of states where

the muslim vote is a critical vote. michigan, virginia. i could tell you in my own district of minneapolis, most of the muslim votes are somali votes and people talk about the two interchangeable but this is a very important political block in my state, the commodity is critical for anyone who wants to hold office to court. and there are 100% -- but 99% muslim. if they are not, i don't know any. and so the muslim community is responding and not just responding by voting, but by people running for office. and andre people know people like rasheeda talib in michigan, kayo vince amad in iowa. people running every day. not just for congress but for city council, for local races and things like that. and i believe that this anti-muslim hate is going to be

responded to with -- with a renewed investment in activism and the people who promoted this hateful behavior will wish they had never done it because they are awaking a group of loyal dedicated americans who love their country and appreciate the democracy that we have and are going to rededicate themselves to it. and in fact, they are doing so right as we speak. with that, i'll yield the microphone and await questions. >> thank you. allison and co jack, i love that name since i have his hair cut. thank to you tommy burr and jessica and my good friend and colleague keith ellison. i often say that he and i are like batman and robin in congress. he is of course is batman, and i'm robin. i'll take that.

you know, it is a special time to have someone to work with like congressman ellison. yes, he is the first muslim in congress and i came shortly after keith. folks don't know we're classmates. i came in a special election. but you know, we live in very serious times. keith mentioned the founding fathers. and the great thing about the founding fathers, as complicated as they were, they had a reference point from europe, they came over here to make it a point to establish in our constitution that there shall not be a religious test to hold public office and congress shall not make any law establishing a religion or prohibiting the free exercise there of and it was so important that they had it outlined in the constitution. muslim have been a part of our country since the inception of our country and arguably before the inception of our country. you know, i grew up in a

predominantly baptist family i went to a catholic school and farmer alter boy. my conversion came about at a very critical time in my life. i was a teenager. i wrestled with great tenant of catholicism and spoke to the priest regularly and puberty hit and i reality that probably wouldn't be the best path for me. but i was influenced by their commitment to service. even more so of the neighborhood that i grew up in, the street that i grew up on, the middle class street and surrounding that was a crack-infested area. and saw muslims in my own community doing what law enforcement refused to do or was simply incapable of doing and that is pushing back on criminal enterprises, pushing back on drug activity. this is the height of the crack cocaine era. and i was influenced by that

commitment to public service through nontraditional means. and a as a young muslim and a young teenager, i had many run--ins with law enforcement. always walking the down, i was always the tall kid. but there was one time when i was 17 years old and i was actually arrested at a mosque. and the charges were dropped. but that was a defining moment for me. and i didn't know that that situation in 1991 would have me look back as a reference point and see now what we're dealing with as a community. we saw in new york city, unfortunately, where the great new york police department had -- spying on mosques without having met the reasonable suspicion of probable cause test. we've seen instances where

police department relationships with the muslim community are in large part free. but we've also seen instances where you have an apparatus like the new york police department had nearly a thousand officers who just happen to be muslim and many of whom serve in our military. we have seen other instances where there are muslims in our intelligence services. i come from the intelligence community and i work for the indiana department of homeland security, working in intelligence and counter-terrorism. so it is disappointing to hear folks who are running for the highest office in the land say that they don't want muslims coming into our country. it is disappointing to hear people who claim to love the united states of america talk about and try to point fingers at how muslims are the root of all society's ills. you go back and look at the discrimination against irish americans, against the italian americans, against jewish brothers and sisters, against

latino americans, it is continually african-americans, but nonetheless, we as americans cannot stand for bigotry. symbolism has great value. when i see rasheeda talib, great value. when i see city councilman in new jersey, great value. but nearly 8 million muslims don't have a political presence in our country. i can remember and keith can remember as well pre-9/11 trying to register muslims to vote and there was great push-back. the emphasis was on being an engineer or being a doctor, or being a lawyer. and it is true, you go to any major hospital in this country, you'll find a muslim physician. go to some courtrooms in this country and you'll find great muslim barristers and lawyers. but the nearly 8 million muslims don't have much political leverage. and now in the post-9/11

reality, the same community that dealt with racial animosity on one end and you have instances of migrant brothers andsters that would not return to african-americans, now you are seeing this community question its identity in a very real way. and so as we are seeing, as evidented by the clinton campaign, as evidented by the sanders campaign, you are seeing a growing muslim presence in these campaigns and the question becomes how can we leverage our voting block to influence change. how can we come together through the coalition building and through the interfaith movement and through the great work of my friend rabbi snyder and the center for global understanding and other examples in indiana and minnesota and across the globe where muslims are coming together to work for positive change in our society. so i want to thank you. i'm happy to be here and let's get to it, allison.

thank you. >> thank you, both. i'm going to go to questions and ask when i call on you to please say your name and your affiliation but i'll start with the first question. so we talked a little bit about the experiences that other people have had of islamic-o phobia and have either of you in recent months had personal experiences like this and could you share them with us. >> i think both of us have had -- >> could you come up to the mike? >> i think we've both had anti-muslim hate experiences and i think on twitter feed we get them every day and get them through the mail nearly every day and it is a pretty common thing. we've had them officially -- i remember when i first got to congress, you know, one of my first experiences was with congressman virgil good who told everybody that if america followed the virgil good

immigration policy we would never have a problem such as a muslim entering congress but the only problem is i was born in the united states. so any way -- and we had more. i think when peter king used the homeland security committee to only tagt muslims, that was -- target muslims, that was anti-muslim hate and bigotry. and so it is officials -- in private individuals, think it is very important and i hope one of the messages that gets through is it is not just bad individuals acting badly there is an official component to this and it must be addressed and we're not going to stop talking about it. but, you know, more recently, we -- we've gotten threats. one thing is that andre and i and other murslims engaged in american political life and british muslims engaged in british political life have been thre threatened by daesh because we don't do it the way they say we

should do it. so we're dealing with it on both sides. people proclaim islam who are haters and killers like daesh and the trumps of the world. and it is frequent but we are undaunted. >> and one more. you both seem to feel that you need to speak for the entire muslim community as the only muslim representatives in congress. are there other members of congress who are standing up with you, strongly and who might be? >> oh, yeah. absolutely. my good friend from new york joe crowley, i think javier bassera and maxine waters, i think of one of my mentors someone like emanuel clever who is the former mayor of kansas. but also a christian pastor. and i think it has a lot more

weight coming from a christian pastor to speak out against islam phobia than to talk to me or keith. but there are scores who are progressive and forward thinking. sherry out of illinois, my next door neighbor. nancy pelosi who put me on the intelligence committee. she deserves a lot of credit. it was a bold move for her. and i think it speaks to the kind of great leader she is. so there are scores of people who are speaking out against islama phobia. >> and can i mention the other day, steny hoyer and i stayed late on a friday and didn't jump right on the plane to go back to minnesota and stenny and i went to a mosque in maryland and sat down and talked with community members. so this is common and after some of the hate was really pumping in december, andre and i and crowley asked the whole caucus to reach out to the members of

the democratic caucus to reach out to muslims in their community. and a lot of people have just come up to me very -- you know, very informally and talked about how they've done this. even new members like kosman -- the guy -- the guy with the auto dealer. yeah, don beyer has been a leader on this. he has been a leader on this. and i just want to mention those as well. >> okay. you had a question? >> [ inaudible ]. you've mentioned trump and cruz and carson, but i think all of the names you mention ready republicans that are some form of islama phobia and there was a piece recounting [ inaudible ] in 2000 after hillary clinton asked her of allegations that she was taking, quote, unquote, muslim money, returned the money and refused to meet with members

of the muslim american communities. so would you -- how do you respond to an incident like that, the democratic party itself is clear of islam phobia as well. >> i could only speak on what i know about. and i'm a bernie supporters. and i support bernie running all the way through the election. but i have to be honest and tell you that i'm not aware of that, right. well, i'm not aware of the incident. i tell you what i am aware of. i know when she came to minnesota -- and this is just being fair and honest, when she came to minnesota, she specifically reached out to the muslim community and had a sit-down to talk about anti-muslim hate. i know about that. i also know that years ago when she was secretary of state, the black caucus had a meeting with her and she had recently

appointed a special envoy to muslim communities -- and she set andre and i next to pharaoh to make sure we were medicar we comparing. i don't want to say if something did happen, but if that did happen, if there is her reaching out as well. again, i'm not trying to discount anyone's experience, i don't have any information on it. but i could tell you she did some things and has not in any way contributed to anti-muslim hate. in fact huma abedin is one of her aids and she's been a target of anti-muslim hate herself and i've never sensed that secretary clinton is backing away from her association with huma abedin. and if you want to talk who i think should be president, i believe it is