some of the factors weighing on growth were expected. for example, exports have been soft, reflecting subdued foreign demand and the earlier appreciation of the dollar. also, activity in the energy sector has obviously been hard hit by the steep drop in oil prices since mid 2014. but the slowdown in other parts of the economy was not expected. in particular, business investment outside of energy was particularly weak during the winter and appears to have remained so into the spring. in addition, growth in household spending slowed noticeably early in the year despite solid increases in household income as well as relatively high levels of consumer sentiment and wealth. fortunately, the first quarter slowdown in household spending

appears to have been temporary. indicators for the second quarter have so far pointed to a sizable rebound. this recovery is a key factor supporting the committee's expectation that overall economic activity will expand at a moderate pace over the next few years. despite lackluster economic growth the job market continued to improve early in the year. during the first quarter job gains averaged nearly 200,000 per month, just a bit slower than last year's pace. and the unemployment rate held near 5% even though notably more people were actively looking for work. however, more recently, the pace of improvement in the labor market appears to have slowed markedly. job gains in april and may are estimated to have averaged only about 80,000 per month.

and while the unemployment rate fell to 4.7% in may, that decline occurred because fewer people reported that they were actively seeking work. a broader measure of unemployment that includes individuals who want and are available to work but have not searched recently as well as people who are working part-time but would rather work full time has flattened out. on a more positive note, average hourly earnings increased 2.5% over the past 12 months, a bit faster than in earlier years, a welcome indication that wage growth may finally be picking up. while the recent market labor data have been unbalanced been disappointing it's important not overreact to one or two monthly readings. the committee continues to expect that the labor market will strengthen further over the

next few years. that said, we will be watching the job market carefully. ongoing economic growth and an improving labor market underpin our inflation outlook. overall consumer price inflation as measured by the price index for person consumption expenditures was about 1% over the 12 months ending in april, still short of our 2% objective. much of this shortfall continues to reflect the effects of earlier declines in energy prices and lower prices for imports. core inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, has been running close to 1.5%. as the transitory influences holding down inflation fade, and as the labor market strengthens further, the committee expects inflation to rise to 2% over the next two to three years.

our inflation outlook also rests importantly on our judgment that longer run inflation expectations remain reasonably well anchored. however, we can't take the stability of longer run inflation expectations for granted. while most survey measures of longer run inflation expectations show little change on balance in recent months, financial market measures of inflation compensation have declined. movements in these indicators reflect many factors and therefore may not provide an concrete reading on changes in the inflation expectations that are most relevant for wages and prices. nonetheless, in considering future policy decisions, we will continue to carefully monitor actual and expected progress toward our inflation goal. let me now turn to the

individual economic projections submitted for this meeting by fomc participants. each participants's positions are positioned on his or her individual monetary policy which in turn depends on each person's assessment of the multitude of facts or that shape the outlook. participants projections for growth of inflation adjusted gross domestic product are slightly lower in the near term than the projectst shuns made for the march fomc meeting. the median growth projections remains at 2% through 2018 in line with its estimated longer run rate. the median projection for the unemployment rate edges down from 4.7% at the end of this year to 4.6% in the next two years, somewhat below the median adesment of the longer run

normal unemployment rate. the median path of the unemployment rate is little change for march. finally, the median inflation projection stands at 1.4% this year. a bit firmer than in march. and then rises to 1.9% next year, and 2% in 2018. returning to monetary policy, as i said, the committee maintained its target range for the federal funds rate. this decision reflects the committee's careful approach in setting monetary policy, particularly in light of the mixed readings on the labor market and economic growth that i have discussed, as well as continuing below target inflation. proceeding cautiously in raising our interest rate target will allow us to verify that economic growth will return to a moderate pace, that the labor market will strengthen further, and that

inflation will continue to make progress toward our 2% objective. caution is all the more appropriate given the short-term interest rates are still near zero, which means that monetary policy can more effectively respond to surprisingly sponge inflation pressures in the future than to a weakening labor market and falling inflation. although the financial market stresses that emanated from abroad at the start of this year have eased, vulnerabilities in the global economy remain. in the current environment of sluggish global growth, low inflation, and already very accommodative monetary policy in many advanced economies, investor perceptionless of, and appetite for risk can change abrupt abruptly. as our statement notes, we will continue to closely monitor global economic and financial

developments. we continue to expect that the evolution of the economy will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate. we expect the rate to remain for some time below levels that are anticipated to prevail in the longer run because head winds weighing on the economy mean that the interest rate needed to keep the economy operating near its potential is low by historical standards. these head winds, which include developments abroad, subdued household formation, and meager productivity growth, could per sisz for some time. but if they gradually fade over the next few years, as we expect, then the interest rate required to keep the economy operating at an even keel should move higher as well. this view is consistent with participants' projections of

appropriate monetary policy. the immediate yandle projection for the federal funds rate rises only gradually to 1.5% at the end of next year. and 2.5% by the end of 2018. somewhat below its estimated longer run normal level. although the median federal funds rate at the end of this year is unchanged for march, the be in of participants revised down their projections. for 2017 and 2018, the median projection is one quarter to one half percentage point lower than in march, roughly in line with the one quarter percentage point downward revision made to the estimated longer run level of the federal funds rate. as i've noted on previous occasions, participants' projections for the federal funds rate, including the median

path, are not a fixed plan for future policy. policy is not on a preset course. these forecasts represent participants' individual assessments of appropriate policy given their projections of economic growth, employment, inflation, and other factors. however, the economic outlook is inherently uncertain. so each participants' assessment of appropriate policy is also necessarily uncertain, especially at longer time horizons and will change in response to changes to the economic outlook and associated risks. finally, the committee will continue its policy ofpry reinvesting proceeds -- of reinvesting proceeds from maturing treasury securities and -- from agency debt and mortgage backed securities. as highlighted in our policy

statement, we anticipate continuing this policy until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well underway. maintaining our sizable holdings of longer term securities should help maintain act dative financial conditions and should reduce the risk that we might have to lower the federal funds rate to zero in the event of a future large adverse shock. thank you. i will be happy to take your questions. >> ma'am? >> thanks very much, sam phlegming from the financial times. one of the -- hangover markets right now is clearly the vote in the united kingdom next week. how much of a factor was that in today's decision relative to the questions you've elucidated about, domestic jobs numbers and inflation data? and could you talk about the channels that you think about

when you talk about the potential impact of a brexit on the u.s. economy? thank you. >> well, brexit, the upcoming u.k. decision on whether or not to leave the european union, is something we discussed. and i think it's fair to say that it was one of the factors that factored into today's decisions. clearly, this is a very important decision for the united kingdom and for europe. it is a decision that could have consequences for economic and financial conditions in global financial markets. if it does so, it could have consequences in turn for the u.s. economic outlook that would be a factor in deciding on the appropriate path of policy. so it is certainly one of the uncertainties that we discussed and that factored into today's

decision. >> thank you. the feds' outlook for rates has come down sharply for 2018 especially. but it's been coming down gradually over time almost a full percentage point in some cases compared to a year ago. yet the gdp outlook remains the same. what has happened in say just the past quarter for the committee's outlook for rates to bring it down so much to 2018 where it's 2.8% and further in the long run than it was say in the prior estimate that was tlut? has there been a change this the committee's view on the relationship of the gdp to rates? and maybe you could explain why the fed has to keep lowering the rates and getting that forecast wrong. >> as i mentioned in my opening remarks, there is really a

contract deal of uncertainty around each individual's assessment of the appropriate level of rates, particularly as we go further out in the forecast horizon and when we come to the long term. and i think what we can see and what many kind of metric and other studies show is that the so-called neutral rate, namely, the -- of the federal funds rate that is consistent with the economy growing roughly at trend and operating near full employment. that rate is quite depressed by historical standards. many estimates would put it in real or inflation adjusted terms near zero. now, the path that you see in the dot plot for rates over time is importantly influenced. there is accommodation. and as we achieve our

objectives, i think most participants feel that the accommodation in the current stance of policy needs to be gradually removed. but a very important influence in the outyears is what will happen to that neutral rate that will just keep the economy operating on an even keel? and i've often, in my statements and remarks, talked about head winds that reflect lingering affects of the financial crisis. to the extent that there are head winds, i think many of us expect that these head winds would gradually diminish over time. and that's a reason why you see the upward path for rates. but there are also more long lasting or persist end factors that may be at work that are holding down the longer run

level of neutral rates. for example, slow productivity growth, which is not just a u.s. phenomenon but a global phenomenon. you know, obviously, there is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen to productivity growth. but productivity growth could stay long for a prolonged time. and we have an aging societies in many parts of the word that could depress this neutral rate. and i think all of us are involved in a process of constantly reevaluating where is that neutral rate going? i think what you see is a downward shift in that assessment over time the sense that maybe more of what's causing this neutral rate for low are factors that are not going to be rapidly disappearing but will be part of the new normal. now you still see an assessment

that that neutral rate will move up somewhat. but it has been coming down. and i think it continues to -- it continues to be marked lower. and it is highly uncertain. for all of the dots. >> hi, i'm jason lang with reuter's. the median participant forecast for the fed funds rate for 2017 and 2018 came down dramatically but it stands in contrast with the 2016 median forecast. as you mentioned, there were a number -- actually, six participants who saw only one rate hike this year. can you comment on what it would take for two rate increases to be the likely or appropriate policy path? and about this disconnect between the median view and the view of the -- say the voting

members of the committee. >> well -- >> if there is one. i should add. thank you. >> i'm not going to comment on participants' versus voters. you know, monetary policy, the committee feels that monetary policy, when we're looking at several years, we should show the public what the views are of all the participants in the committee, especially given that voting rotates every year. and so that's a decision we made. but you asked me what it would take to have two increases. so, you know, the committee as a whole never discusses how many increases should we have this year or next year. that's not a decision we're making as a committee. we're making decisions on a

meeting-by-meeting basis and trying to give a sense to the public of what we're looking for, and what the basis of a decision will be. and as i indicated first of all, international uncertainties loom large here. we mentioned brexit, the u.k. decisi decision. obviously, how that turns out is something that will factor into future decisions. and we're also looking at the prospects for economic growth and continued progress in the labor market. the forecast that you see in the sep and the statement indicate the committee continues to expect we will have moderate growth, 2% growth, you know, suggests healthy growth for the rest of the year and a pick up in growth in the second quarter. and we expect to see continuing progress in the labor market.

now we had questions about the growth outlook because we did see slower growth in the fourth quarter and in the first quarter. i have to say there, with respect to the slowdown we saw in consumer spending, that seemed to be out of line with fundamentals. we expected it to pick up, and we've seen very good evidence that it has picked up. but now the labor market appears to have slowed down. and we need to assure ourselves that the underlying momentum in the economy has diminished. so as i said, we will be carefully assessing data on the labor market to make sure that job gapes are going to continue at a base sufficient to result in further improvement in the labor market. and we will be watching the

spending data to make sure growth is picking up in line with our expectations. of course with respect to inflation, we're constantly evaluating whether or not incoming information is roughly in line with our expectations. so we will be evaluating that at every meeting. every meeting is live. and we could make a decision at any meeting to adjust the funds rate. but that's the kind of thing that we will want to see, then make such decisions. >> the fed created a labor markets conditions index a couple years ago that was designed to sort of bring together a lot of these factors in the labor market that you have talked about. as i'm sure you know, it's been falling since january. that suggests to some people that it was your decision to raise rates in december that caused this weakening in the labor market. can you address what role, if any, you think the feds' decision to raise rates has played in the slowdown we are

now seeing? >> let me just say the labor market conditions index is a kind of experimental research product that's a summary measure of many different indicators. and essentially, that measure tries to assess the change in labor market conditions. as i look at it, and as that index looks as things, the state of the labor market is still healthy. but there has been something avalos of momentum. the 200,000 jobs a month we saw for example, in the first quarter of the year that's slowed in recent months. exactly what the reasons are for that slowing, it's difficult to say. it may turn out -- again, we should never pay too much attention to for example, one job market report. there is large error around

that. we often see large revisions. we should not overblow the significance of one data point especially when other indicators of the labor market are still flashing green. initial claims for unemployment insurance remain low. perceptions of the labor market remain fine. data from the jolts on job openings continue to reach new highs. so there is a good deal of incoming data that does signal continued progress and and strength in the labor market. but as i say, it does bear watching. so the committee doesn't feel and doesn't expect, and i don't expect that labor market progress in the labor market has come to an end. we have tried to make clear to the public through your actions

and through the revisions you've seen over time in the dot plot that we do not have a fixed plan for raising rates over time. we look at incoming data and are prepared to adjust our views to keep the economy on track. and in light of that data dependence of our policy, i really don't think that a single rate increase of 25 basis points in december has any -- has had much significance for the outlook. and we will continue to adjust our thinking in light of incoming data in whatever direction is appropriate. >> chair yellen, i want to come back to the longer rate projections that you have been asked about. yield on ten year treasury notes have fallen below 1.6%. on five year notes they are near

1%. elsewhere in the world, in germany and japan, long term bond yields are negative. how do you explain this low level of long term bond yields? and does it give you any pause in looking at your own projections and coming to a conclusion about whether those projections are possibly still way too high when the bond market is at a much lower level? >> so i -- i think the levels of longer term rates reflect essentially two things. one is market expectations about the path of short-term rates over -- if we are considering say a ten-year treasury security, what would be the path of short-term rates over the next ten years. and the second factor is the so-called term premium or the extra yield that investors

demand in order to hold a longer term security instead of to invest short-term. and clearly, market expectations for the path of short-term interest rates over the next ten years remain -- remain low. and that is a factor. that is an important factor that is i think holding down the level of longer term yields. perhaps as important or maybe even more important, the term premium is also low and has probably come down. now, when we engaged in longer term asset purchases, our very purpose in doing that was to drive down longer term yields by making these assets scarcer, and

hence, more valuable to the public that wants to invest in long-term securities. and we were consciously attempting to drive down that term premium. now, we continue to hold a large quantity of those securities, but we are not adding to them. but in many parts of the world, the ecb for example, and the bank of japan, are also engaging in quantitative easing, buying longer term assets, and pushing down those term premium. so i think term premium are very low as well as the expected path of short rates. >> do these yield levels give you any doubt about whether you are going to be able to get rates to where projections say they are going? >> well, so i want to say, again, we're quite uncertain about where rates are heading in the longer term.

we write down our best estimates at this time of what is a longer run normal level of the federal funds rate. and those are numbers about which there is great uncertainty. as i said, we have good reason to believe that the so-called neutral rate or rate compatible with the economy operating at full employment is low at the present time. and many of us believe, as a base case, it's reasonable to assume that those rates will move up over time. but we're not certain of that. it is -- it's one of the uncertainties that -- and there could be revisions in either direction. but thus far, in rene seps, i'd say the revisions have mainly been -- have been in a downward

direction. the idea that a low neutral rate may be more closer to the new normal. but you still do see some reversion. so we are really quite uncertain about that. >> in your speech in philadelphia, you called the slowdown in job growth last month concerning. and you mentioned today that you want to verify that the underlying momentum in the economy and in the labor market is still continuing. what do you need to see to convince you that the labor market is still moving toward full employment? and for how long would you need to see it? >> i can't give you a formula. i know you would probably like to have a number that's a cut off for what we need to see in a particular report. there are a lot of different indicators of the labor market. for example, the labor market conditions index. the binia referred to as 19

different indicators. clearly, we will be looking at the next job report. and if we were to see a healthy pace of job growth, you know, above that needed to kind of maintain the status quo in the labor market -- so you know, over time we should expect to see, as the economy comes closer to maximum employment, the likely pace of job gains is probably going to slow down somewhat. and we have seen some slowing. but the recent couple of months was very low, and arguably not even at the pace we need to see to maintain stable labor market conditions. so we will want to see an adequate pace of job creation. there might be revisions to previous months that we change our views, but there will be other surveys of employment

intentions and other indicators of the labor market that we'll focus -- we'll be focusing on. so there is no formula for what it takes. but we will be looking at the labor market. >> peter, and then dana. >> did you want to follow up. >> sorry. i had a quick follow up. in your speech in philadelphia you did not say you felt it would be probably appropriate for a rate hike to occur in the coming months. did you intentionally leave that out? >> you know, we do need to make sure that there is sufficient momentum. i don't know what the timetable is going to be to gain that assurance. every meeting is live. there is no -- there is no meeting that is off the table that -- no meeting is out in terms of a possible rate increase. but we really need to look at the data.

and i can't prespecify a timetable. so i'm, you know, not comfortable to say it's in the next meeting or two, but it could -- it could be. it could be. it's not impossible. it's not impossible that by july for example, we would see data that led us to believe that we are in a perfectly fine course and that data was an aberration and other concerns would have passed. >> ma'am, peter barnes, fox business, hi. we are in an election season. in the fast, the fed has been sensitive to making policy changes in election years. you have three more meetings before the november presidential election. could you comment on whether or not the election will come into play and any concern that if you change policy ahead of the election, and based on your forecast today, you obviously

could, are you concerned that that could then lead to charge has the fed is trying to change policy to influence the outcome of the election? because the fed has been sensitive to that in the past. thank you. >> so we're very focused on assessing the economic outlook and making changes that are appropriate without taking politics into account. look, if the incoming data were in the coming months to justify the kind of gradual increases that we have long discussed that we see as appropriate in light of the outlook, i think markets should not be surprised by such a decision if we make it. and it's obviously consistent with the data that we've seen. and the committee will feel free to move in the coming months if the we think it's appropriate.

>> dagina. >> gina, bloomberg. you mentioned in your remarks we are getting a slightly different signal when you look at inflation versus when you look at inflation expectations. could you tell a little bit which you look at and wait more. are you more concerned with the expectations or focusing more on the slight pick up in actual inflation? >> we are looking at both. i would say with respect to the behavior of inflation, inflation is behaving roughly in the manner i would have expected. i have really not seen significant surprises there. we have long said that important an important reason that inflation is as low as it's been is because of past declines in energy prices and increases in the value of the dollar. if those factors began to

dispayne paid we would see inflation moving up. now that's exactly what we are seeing and that's in line with our thinking and with the data. so those things have stabilized. their influence is dispaiding. and with respect to core inflation that's partly influenced also by the dollar. but trying to pull out the dollar and import price influence, core inflation seems to be behaving roughly as one would expect with well-anchored inflation expectations and an improving labor market. so i'm not seeing anything -- inflation, even core inflation is running under 2%. i continue to think the evidence supports a projection that it will move up over the next couple of years back toward our 2% objective. but we've seen in the past an economic theory suggests -- and economic theory suggests that

inflation expectations are relevant to price and wage setting decisions so we do monitor indicators of inflation expectations carefully. now it's very hard to know exactly what inflation expectations are relevant to actual price and wage decisions. so for example, we've seen the michigan survey address household inflation expectations move down. it's hard -- that's a preliminary number. it's hard to know what to make of it. we've certainly taken knost it. -- note of it. survey of base measures where forecasters are queried have really all been quite stable. and measures of inflation compensation i'm always trying to be careful to call it inflation compensation rather than inflation expectations because they are not inflation expectations. inflation expectations influence

those market measures, but there is also an inflation risk premium. and there are actually good reasons to think that the inflation risk premium could have declined significantly and may be depressing those measures. so we watch them. we have taken note in the statement that they have moved down. but actual inflation is behaving more or less as would be expected. >> marty? >> marty with the "associated press." when the april minutes were released, they caught markets by surprise and they seemed to show there was an active discussion of a possible june rate increase, something that we hadn't gotten from the policy statement that was issued right after the meeting. was that a conscious decision to hold back and tell us when the minutes cam out about the june

discussion? if so, could you tell us what surprises we could see in the june minutes? >> so the minutes are always -- have to be an accurate discussion of what happened at the meeting. so they are not changed after the fact in order to correct possible misconceptions. there was a good deal of discussion at that meeting of the possibility of moving in june. and that appeared in the minutes. i suppose in the april statement we gave no obvious hint or calendar based signal that june was a possibility, but i think if you look at the statement, we pointed to slower growth but pointed out that the fundamentals -- there was no

obvious fundamental reason for growth to have slowed. and we pointed to fundamentals underlying household spending decisions that remained on solid ground suggesting that maybe this was something transitory that would disappear. we noted that labor market conditions continued to improve, in line with our expectations. and we did downgrade somewhat our expressions of concern about the global risk environment. so i do think that there were hints in the april statement that the committee was changing its views of what it was seeing in a direction we continue to say that we think if economic developments evolve in line with our expectations, the gradual and cautious further increases we expect to be appropriate.

and i suppose i was somewhat surprised with the market interpretation of it. but the june -- the minutes of the april meeting were an accurate summary of what had happened. >> jeremy? >> jeremy with the afp agency, the fed repeatedly vased its concern over the slow pace of wage growth. i was wondering do you think increasing the federal minimum wage could be of any help, could boost the higher wages and eventually drive up the inflation? >> so i think that the minimum wage increases that are gone into effect estimates that i've seen suggest it is a relatively minor influence on the aggregate level of wage inflation. i would take somewhat faster

wage increases to be a sign that labor market slack is diminishing and that the labor market is approaching conditions that are consistent with maximum employment. so i think -- you know, i think we have seen some hints, perhaps preliminariation indications that wage growth is picking up. as must have as anything i think it is a sign of a generally healthy labor market, which is what our mandated objective is to achieve maximum employment. and so it would be a symptom of it. >> okay, greg, and then justine. >> greg rob from market watch. there has been a lot of discussion in the last couple months about the slow pace of demand in the global economy. and so economists think that central banks should think about

using helicopter money. maybe in japan first or europe first. but then former fed chairman ben bernanke weighed in saying he thought it would be a good thing to put helicopter money in its tool kit in case there was a downturn in the united states. i would like to get your comments on that. >> so, in normal times, i think it's very important that there be a separation between monetary and fiscal policy. and it's a primary reason for independence of the central b k bank. we have seen all too many examples of countries that end up with high or even hyper inflation because those in charge of fiscal policy direct their central bank to help them finance it by printing money.

and maintaining price stability and low and stable inflation is very much aided by having central bank independence. now, that said, in unusual times where the concern is with very weak growth or possibly deflation, rather rare circumstances -- first of all, fiscal policy can be a very important tool. and it's natural that if it can be employed that just as monetary policy is doing a lot to try to stimulate growth, the fiscal policy should play a role. and normally, you would hope in an economy with those severe downside risks, monetary and fiscal policy would not be working at cross purposes, but together. now whether or not in such extreme circumstances there might be a case for let's say

coordination, close coordination, where the central bank playing a role in financing fiscal policy, this is something that academics are debating. and it is something that one might legitimately consider. i would see this as a very abnormal, extreme situation where one needs an all out attempt. and even then, it's a matter that academics are debating. but only in an unusual situation. >> justine, and then steve. >> justine underhill, yahoo finance. now that the fed has started the process of raising rates, various fed officials have said, including ben bernanke, that the fed could go cash flow negative in the scenario as capital losses are taken on the portfolio bond. do you still see this happening? and when might this happen? >> you are talking about our

income going negative? >> yes. >> well, it is conceivable in a scenario where growth and inflation really surprise us to the upside that we would have to raise short-term interest rates owe rapidly that the rates we would be paying on reserves would exceed what we're earning on our portfolio. now, even then we have about $2 trillion of liabilities, namely currency on which we pay no interest. so this does require an extreme scenario with very rapid increases in short-term interest rates. so it is conceivable, but quite unlikely that it could happen. but, you know, if it were to happen, we would have an economy

that would be doing very well. this is probably an economy that everybody would feel very pleased was performing well and better than expected and where monetary policy -- you know, our goal is price stability and maximum employment and we would probably feel that we had done very well in achieving that. so we usually make money. we've been making a lot of money in recent years. but the goal of monetary policy is not to maximize our income. you know, in a very strong economy like that, the treasury would be seeing a lot of inflows in the fom of tax revenues. >> madam chair, steve beckner of market news international. to what extent do you feel constrained in raising interest rates by the low or even

negative rates that foreign central banks are pursuing possibly out of concern for what it might mean for the dollar exchange rate? and if that is a constraint, what extent might you also be concerned about the impact long range of low domestic rates on possibly distorting domestic markets? >> so the state of foreign economies, both their growth outlooks and the stance of monetary policy, those are factors that influence the u.s. outlook and influence the appropriate stance of monetary policy. so of course we do look at foreign rates, the prospects and the prospects for growth in those economies in considering the stance of policy.

differenttials between countries in likely policy paths do tend to spill over into exchange rates. that is a standard part of how monetary policy works. and a stronger dollar does have both a depressing effect. it creates channels through which domestic demand is depressed. at the moment, net exports -- well, for quite some time, and probably going forward, they will be somewhat of a drag on u.s. growth. so that's a factor that we take into account. and increases in the dollar that we've seen since mid-2014 have served to push inflation down as well, can also have impacts on commodity prices that are relevant. so it's -- it is certainly

relevant to the stance of u.s. monetary policy and a factor. but when one says a constraint, i really could not go so far to say it is a constraint on monetary policy. when we have an outlook for continuing above friend growth that if we held rates absolutely flat, we have reason to believe in flags would overshoot our target, we would see a case to gradually raise rates over time. at the moment, i think markets do expect -- and this is factored into market prices, a gradual path for rates to increase over time. but for example, if we were to see upside surprises to growth and to inflation, and had to raise short-term fast, or thought we should, one of the channels by which that would work would be the associated

impact on the dollar. that is a standard channel through which the monetary policy transmission mechanism works. and we would take it into account and would not feel constrained but that would be part of how it would work. >> last question will be nancy. >> nancy marshal ginzer from marketplace. how much are you watching oil prices and their impact on inflation and how that could affect the timing of future rate increases? and how much you might increase rates? >> well, oil prices have had many different affects on the economy. and so we've been watching oil prices closely. as you said, falling oil prices pulled down inflation. now, it takes falling oil prices to lower inflation on a sustainedis base.

once they stabilize at whatever level, their impact on inflation dissipates over time. so we're beginning to see that happening. not only have they stabilized. they've moved up some. and their impact on inflation is waning over time. but oil prices have also had very substantial negative effect on drilling and mining activity that's led to weakness in investment spend asking job loss in manufacturing and obviously the energy sector. now, it has different effects in different countries and different sethors. for american households, it's been a boone. we've estimated that since mid-2014, the decline in energy prices, in oil prices, has probably resulted in gains of about $1400 better u.s. household. and that's had an offsetting

positive impact on spending. but in many countries around the world that are important commodity exporters, the decline we've seen in oil prices has had a depressing effect on their growth, their trade with us and other trade partners, and caused problems that have had spillovers to the global economy as well. so it's a complicated picture. >> thank you. >> announcer: cspan's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up tuesday morning, mark price with the economic policy institute joins us to discuss

their new report looking at income inequality in all 50 states and how it's grown in recent decades. then former republican congressman and presidential candidate ron paul will be on to talk about gun and privacy laws in the wake of the orlando shooting and offer his opinion on the state of the 2016 presidential campaign. and david drucker, senior correspondent for the washington examiner will discuss the dismissal of donald trump's campaign manager coury loun do youski as long with his recent story on campaign fund-raising. be sure to watch washington journal tuesday morning. on tuesday, federal reserve chair janet yellen presents her semiannual report to congress on monetary policy. she'll also discuss thursday's vote in the u.k. on whether or not that country should leave the european union and how that vote could impact the global economy and interest rates. janet yellen testifies in front

of the senate banking committee, and it starts live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on cspan. here on cspan 3, a hearing examines the status of the public safety broadband network. witnesses look at the cost of deployment in rural areas as well as the broadband network's plans to become a self-funding entity. the events held in front of a senate commerce subcommittee and you can see it live at 9:30 a.m. eastern. next, remarks from ceo anna marie chavez on the future of the girl scouts and its current impact on women in america. 75% of current female senators were girl scouts as well as democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton. held at the national press club, this is an hour. our speaker, ceo of the girl scouts of the u.s.a., anna maria chafsz chavez is here to mark the 100th anniversary of the gold award.

the organization's highest achievement for scouts. girl scouts devote as much as two years in a sustainable community service project. they must design, plan and execute to earn the gold award. chavez credits her experience as a girl scout with kindling her interest in public service helping her to see possibilities beyond the borders of her small town in arizona. she held several positions in the bill clinton administration. and as deputy chief of staff to arizona governor januarity in a poll fanno. she oversaw food distribution programs for hungry and -- since becoming the ceo of the girl scouts of the u.s.a. four years ago, this yale alum has been named one of the world's 50 greatest leaders by fortune magazine. she has take ten organization into the digital age with her digital cookie initiative and

badges zbeerd towards cyber etiquette and math learning. please welcome anna maria chavez, ceo of the girl scouts u.s.a. [ applause ] good afternoon. and good afternoon girl scouts. i feel like i'm with family. this is wonderful. first of all, i do want to acknowledge what is heavy on our hearts this morning. to our fend and family in orlando. as all of you i was disdressed and overwhelmed by seeing the tragedy that played out this weekend. for all of us who understand the importance of inclusion and diversity, i stand before you heart broken. i do want to send my remarks and special thanks to all of the first responders who were there on the scene and to the girl scout families that were impacted this weekend.

thank you for the opportunity to be here. it is my second time at the national press club. thank you for having me back. i guess i did an okay job the first time. thank you. i want to thank the organizers of today's luncheon, specifically to my friend here, thank you so much for your leadership and for organizing this amazing luncheon, debra. i also want to thank my colleagues from the girl scouts of nations capital. i know they are in the room. where are you. thank you. to their ceo, lydia soto harmon to their board president, faith fields, and of course for their steering committee members debra and angela, thank you for your hospitality today. and of course to the prestigious members of the national press club who are here in the room and on camera this morning. again, it is an amazing opportunity to be here, actually, with the room full of girl scout leaders. i share this leadership mantle actually with many people. first of all i'd like the ceos

of our local girl scout councils to please stand up. [ applause ] these are representatives of 112 ceost who are doing an amazing job of continuing this movement that's been around for 104 years. i'd also like to recognize the members of our current and former national board. would you please rise. [ applause ] and i do want to acknowledge a special person in the audience, somebody who has also worn this title, marty evans, the former national ceo of girl scouts of the u.s.a. [ applause ] again, as my wonderful host said, we are here to celebrate something fabulous. tomorrow, we will take on the

capitol hill with troop of capitol hill. these are women who serve both in the senate and the house who are going to host us to recognize the major achievement that a girl does and earns when she gets her gold award. it is the 100th anniversary of this very important honor. and i want to spend just a few minutes talking about it. because i can't tell you -- i'm sure many of you in the room have experienced it. as you are talking to people, they talk hey, what do you do in girl scouting. you ask them that critical question. do you know what the highest award is in girl scouting? they kind of pause. they kind of go like this. well i know it's the eagle scout for the boy scouts. so this is our year to really talk about the seminole award. again, it is sort of the hallmark of a girl scout leadership journey. it really encaps lates what she has done in our girl skourt career to make an impact on local communities. we are excited to be in washington, d.c. to really mark that 100th anniversary. you know, in 1916 when it was established we knew that it was going to be a hallmark for

girls. and today, less than 5% of all girl scouts earn this award. they do take action projects that are making, clearly, important impacts, not only if their local community but all over the world. i have been able to actually travel the world and talk to girls who have made this great achievement happen in their lives. and they are doing incredible things. they are thinking about how we continue to have a sustainable food source in this country. they are talking about how to get girls and boys out of sex trafficking. they are taking on unprivileged communities. they are talking about how do we invest in girls so they can take on the leadership mantle for this country in this world and according to our own research at girl scouts, the power of the girl scout gold award excellence and leadership in life a report that we recently did we found that gold award recipients exhibit more positive life

outcomes including a strong self sense of self, life satisfaction, leadership, life success, community service, and civic engagement. and over 90% of girl scouts not only attributed their success in life to this organization that's meant so much to so many of us. they also stated that belonging to girl scouts left a positive imprint on their lives, providing once in life time immersive experiences they could not have enjoyed anywhere else. this year marks a century of talented and selfless girls embracing the opportunity to discover their passions, connect with others to solve community problems, and transforming the world in progress because we know that girls don't wait until they are 25 or 30 years old. they do it now. even when they are 5 years old. [ applause ] yeah, absolutely. so all of us had some sort of connection, even the men in the room, who were men enough to be girl scouts. you know, whether we bought the

girl scout cookie or we were part of a family with a girl scout we all have our own personal story. i have my own. i grew up in a small local community of farmtown in eloi, arizona. it was an amazing place. i thought it was the epicenter of the universe. i thought everything that was great happened in my local community. one day my best friend came to third grade and said i'm going to be a girl scout. clearly i didn't know the significance until i went home and started to explain to my grandmother in spanish what it would mean to me. and when she asked me what are you going to do in girl scouting? well i'm going to go camping and sleep in a tent. my grandmother said why would you do that. we have a bed for you. i said i would do good things for people and sell cookies. she said you have got a groeshy store. but when i told her i would help other people in our community she said absolutely.

she knew the power of our brand and that brand continues to have an impact on all of us. it also opened up a sisterhood for not only me but for the millions of women who have been in girl scouting. 59 million in the last 104 years. what does that mean for us, a sisterhood? it means that we can count on other women to be there as supporters, as endorsers, as people who care. well, i brought one of my friends in the sisterhood. it's a woman that actually invested in me right out of law school. i didn't know much. all i had was a law degree printed on a piece of paper. but there was a woman here in d.c. who took me sight unseen and said i'll take anna. i'll mentor her. joan did that for me. i was very young, and very naive. didn't quite know what the law would bring, not only for myself but for my community. and joan bond riff took me on. because of her expertise and being the first woman to serve as the general down is for the

maritime administration she allowed me the experience to go on and actually create an opportunity for others. i got to go on and work with the department of justice on a case that went to the u.s. supreme court. joan is here today at the head table because not only did she support me. she has continued to support me in my life. my family and i always know that she is there to say, anna, even in tough times you are going to get through it. and when you are on a leadership mantle it is your job to reach back and help others and pull them forward with you. thank you, joan. [ applause ] so, it's obviously an important experience for all of us in this room. but how do we impress upon others about the important economics of investing in girls here in the united states and abroad? like us, we know what is important for an investment. we look look for the roi.

when people ask me, what's the roi of investing in girls? i say not only is it important to understand the return on your investment, but i always talk about and always sort of ponder over the question of what is it return on ignoring a girl? ignoring that investment? you know, today only seven cents on aer dla, philanthropic dollars donated in this country go to girl and women causes. people give more to animal causes today than to girl causes. now, don't get me wrong. i have a brand-new puppy. his name is cody-licious. excuse me. cody. he is a wonderful dog. but he will not be the president of the united states one day. a girl scout will be. so we need to look at the economics of both investing and not investing in girls. what is the economic impact of a

girl's behavior when she's making the wrong decisions? what happens when we fail to give that girl a safe place to thrive and to live? and what happens when we don't put embracing mentors in her life to understand the need that girls have every day? they are constantly looking for role models, people to say you are worth it, that you can do anything even though the data is stacked against you. this is what you can do. this is your power. and what are the prospects for girls and families who can't participate in girl scouting when even a $15 annual registration fee is a barrier? well, what's interesting today, of the millions of girls in girl scouting almost 50% of them are on scholarship. that means we are paying their $15 annual membership fee. we are paying for their uniform. we are paying for them to go to girl scout camp.

but it is amazing to me how hard it's been to convince people in the united states to invest in girls. but we're not done. we will continue to tell the story about what happens when you do invest in girls and women. look at what is happening here today in the capitol. if you look at the women currently serving in the senate and the house, 70% of women in the u.s. senate are girl scout alum. more than 50% of the women in the u.s. house are girl scout alum. if you look at almost every single woman sitting in a governorship in a state capital across the country, they are girl scouts. so for me, that's why i love talking about it, because i get it. i've seen the lack of investment in girls and where that investment ends up happening. it ends up happening in our correctional systems. it ends up happening in foster care, in child protective services. i would rather invest in girls

and see them blossom than invest in these systems. for girls, what does it mean for them? well i have got to tell that you the average age of my boss is eight years old. and they are pretty clear about what they need in life. and what i also get to do is i get to talk to future employers. they tell me the huge gap in the skill set that they are seeing today. and they are seeing, looking out into the future in 20 years and saying what are we going to do? we have all these stem jobs but we don't have enough girls and boys in the pipeline. so that's where we come in at girl scouts. we have developed the most amazing stem programs in the world. actually we've been doing it for over 100 years. a lot of people forget that. some of our first badges dealt with it. our founder julie gordon lowe, who is amazing, audacious, kreetdive, she had girls doing welding, welding, back in the

1916. and today our girls are now working on their nanotechnology badges. they are learning to code. they are understanding the connection between their lives at the local level and how they can actually have an impact on ensuring that science creates solutions for diseases that exist today but unfortunately will continue unless they engage in science and technology. and of course in girl scouting we're staying relevant. we're listening to our bosses who are saying you know what, we love technology. can you bring it into girl scouting? that's what we've been doing. we have invested multimillion dollars in the last few years to actually upgrade girl scouts in the technology arena. we built the first multichannel e-commerce platform in the history of the united states for girls. and they have taken it to the next level. they are selling their cookies -- and why is that important, that they are selling cookies on line? because with that revenue they are taking and it taking their

take action projects onto higher platform. for us, that's what's important. in addition, i also think it's important to understand what girl scouting does off of technology. we teach girls soft skills. we teach them how to deal with uncomfortable situations, when people are trying to talk them into doing things that they clearly know in their gut they shouldn't be doing. unfortunately, i have seen way too many news articles these days about girls who are hurting themselves, girls who are taking their lives because they cannot stand up to the social pressure of not being pretty enough, not being smart enough, and seeing how people attack them on social media. but that's where we again come in as girl scouts. we create a safe environment for girls to learn those skill sets, about building grit and resilientsy so that when people who say nasty things or spread rumors around them -- they stand up and say you know what, my

girl scout family believes in me, and i will not believe in that rumor. so, again, this behavior is important to deal with because if we don't deal with those issues at a young level, both boys and girls, and we don't teach them to be inclusive, supportive, move athletic people, what happens when they become adults? for any woman who has been in the work force need i remind you of situations where you have seen yourself some fronted with some mean girl opportunities. but that's what we are fighting here today. we're teaching girls that they don't have to be on that dark side of that argument. that they can actually be the light in their community, in that conversation. they can take the side and be allies to other girls who are being bullied. i loved it. most recently i read on line about a girl scout troop in lake havasu, arizona, who did an

amazing project at their local starbucks to raise awareness about bullying in their local community and to take a stan. but that's what we do. so for girl scouts and for families, this is important. but now i'd like to speak to the parents. why aren't your daughters girl scouts today? we are the most ininclusive organization in the history of this country around girls. and for us, we had to study to see and understand why parents want certain things for their daughters. i mean what we clearly learned is that actually parents are looking for groups that will help build resilient see in their daughters. they actually want their daughters to take risks so they understand when they fail -- and i tell girls fail miserably, that's when you learn what you are about, that's when you learn the skill set to pick yourself up and go on. by listening to parents we are building those lesson into the

skill set troop level. for parents, why do you need to come back home? why do you need the reinvest in this organization that has had such a powerful impact not only in this country, but across the globe? and that's because today we need a different framework for leadership in this country. just watch the news on any given day. does that leadership model resonate with you? man or woman? boy or child or girl? personally, i want to see leaders stand up and take the hard stance on being ininclusive. i want leaders to stand up and think about the positive, positive opportunities for this great country versus tearing people down. and that's what girls want to see. their leadership preference is actually not top down. it's all together. it's building solutions around a table. and then figuring out and delegating who is going to take the lead. but it's going to particular the adults not only in this room

today but across the country to understand that's the leadership style that resonates with girls. and we have to continue to invest in this program because we have been doing it the best for 104 years. and what did we need to do next? well, once our girls get into these leadership positions we have got to support them. like the women who are currently ceos of the major corporations in this country. the women who are running major research universities, the women who have been brave enough to put their name on a ballot. so i will end to say that i tend to be an optimist. i've always been glass half full versus half empty. in going back to our thoughts in orlando, as we continue to try to create a culture of inclusion, a culture of empathy,

of possibility thinking, innovation and creative leadership, what a better place to start than in your home town in your community by investing in a girl, by becoming a volunteer, and understanding that anything is possible. when you take a little girl's hand and says, you say to her, you are worth it. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much. now for a few questions. as you might have guessed, i was not a girl scout. however, i was a boy scout. >> okay. >> and when you started talking

today, you mentioned that when you talked about the gold award people say oh, that's like the eagle scout. how are you trying to change the conversation from thinking that it is the equivalent of an eagle scout. >> we have to talk about it and also understand that again the name has changed over the 100 years. so we have to understand it is an inclusive award. so there are women who have earned the crabar. they are out there waiting to also come back home. i'm hoping that people today will understand it's the a very important award and we'll continue to highlight it for girls. >> in a leads to the second question. what percentage of girl scouts would you like to see earn the gold award? >> un1 hundred%. >> do you want a high percentage or make it more exclusive so that it is ahard to get. >> because they don't see it in their local communities, they don't see it unfortunately at the top news cycle they don't

realize this is part of their development path. so if more girls understood that if i say in girl scouting eight years, ten years not only would they achieve the ward but they would also get more skills under their belt. when we have found by studying girl scouts we found the longer they are in our program the impact of or program is stronger. and actually if you look at first, especially latina and african-american girls our program has a higher impact for them than most other girls. >> can you tell me a little bit about the girl scouts of the united states membership and fund-raising trends. it harder to get girls to be girl scouts and adults to be leaders. >> what a lot of people don't realize we currently have a waiting list of girls who want to be scouts. the latest count was 30,000 girls on the wait list. for us it's getting the adult to volunteer. we realize it's harder and harder. families have to work two jobs. a lot of single parent

households. grandparents raising grandkids. we are trying to make it easier. that's why again this technology investment was so critical this year to allow everything to be simpler. we are digitizing all of our volunteer tool kits on line. so when you are done with your day and like myself when i tuck my son in, my husband in to bed at night i can get on line and do my volunteer activities. we are doing that and we are reaching more girls that way. >> this is a question from the audience. i was a brownie and then a girl scout in a suburban area where scouting seemed natural. how do you reach inner city and urban youth. >> we have been doing that actually for a very, very long time. we clearly understand that our volunteer model was based on model where people could stay home without working. clearly that's not the case anymore. again, that's why we are investing in technology. we are also understanding that people want to become episodic volunteers. you may not want to be a troop

leader but may want to share your expertise with girl scouts. we are encouraging men and women over the age of 19 to volunteer for the organization to help reach more girls. because i happen to work in new yorkcity where we have our girl scout council there, i will till there are a lot of girl scouts in urban communities and both kurl communities. for us again it's meeting their needs now and most importantly showing adults that this is a great place to volunteer. >> you set a lot of goals today of where you want the girl scouts to be and where you have been with the millions of girls who have been involved. how do you measure the impact of the girl scouts? >> that's a very good question. first of all, a couple of data points i am a data geek. so i will share data points. first of all when we turned 100 years old in 2012 we did a research study on our alum. we have 59 million living girl scout alum in the united states and across the world. when we compared them to

non-alum we found some fascinating things. if this resonates to you, nod your head for me. first of all, we found that our girl scout alum went on to actually get a higher level of educational attainment. they went on to get their bas, mbas, their ph.d. their jds. they had a great time in school. two, they volunteer more in their local communities. if we actually compared our girl scout alum who are mothers to non-alum. the girl scout moms are actually volunteering more in their children's school. they also, interestingly enough when we asked them questions about are you happy with your life decisions they said absolute loo. and they had a higher level of satisfaction around their partnerships and career goals and staying at home and raising their kids. what's interesting, when i was here a few years ago talking about this to to some of the white house officials i shared with them that our girl scouts are very communityively and

civically engaged and they vote and they vote often. it is a testament to our program again that we've been giving these girls an amazing opportunity to give back. >> the girl scouts of america have a great brand recognized internationally. but that brand is also very strongly associated with cook yeast. other than its asset as a fund-raising tool is the cookie an aset or liability and how do you move beyond the cookie as the brand of the girl scouts in the 21st century. >> the last three weeks a magazine published a list of the most powerful impactful brands in the world. brands that when people saw it they immediately resonated with sort of theettos around that bran. the girl scouts is number seven in the world. so very proud to say that we -- [ applause ] . absolutely. in addition, i think we have been making headway. first of all, we embrace our cookie program. it is the. >> laest kbrep newership program

for girls in the world. they raise money that stays at the local level that they reinvest in their local community. they probably fund most of the non-profits in your cities and towns they use that money to fund their bronze silver and gold award projects. in addition if you look over the last three to four years from the media coverage you can see that one -- for example, we were rated one of the most innovative nonprofits in the world just a couple of years ago. and they continue to see that we're going to be able to use the technology in a way that's going to not only resonate with girls, but also be an amazing opportunity for individuals, corporations, foundations to be strategic partners with us. and we're seeing that more and more. for example, dell recently invested in us. visa also as well, in our digital cookie program because they clearly saw that this is

the necks iteration of girl scouting. and most importantly, that we do bring opportunities for girls globally. >> we both discussed earlier the tragedy in orlando this weekend. how does the girl scouts program help young girls understand and adjust to such terrible tragedies? >> unfortunately, at least in my tenure in girl scouts -- it's been eight years that i have been working as an adult in this movement. unfortunately, i've seen some of these same issues play out in other communities. sandy hook and other local communities. it's heart breaking. unfortunately, today the girls growing up live through the great recession. they have grown up during a time frame when we were at war. they have seen how hard it's been for their parents to make a living. but what i've also been very surprised about if you take a moment to sit and talk to a grl about issues she cares about.

they are very positive about their future opportunities. they don't stay in the dark. they don't stay in sort of ambiguity. they look forward into the future. and what i have found is that girls are very mf move athletic. so when they see, again, sitting down around the kitchen table in the morning they see the news on -- and i had the news on this morning with my son, and i said don't thank that to cartoons, we are watching the morning show. he is also very focused. kids today realize the world is consistently shifting around them. homeland security issues are at the forefront unfortunately. but girls want to create solutions. that's where i see a great connection for them. because we are developing girls who are going to think about inclusion and diversity very differently. they are not going to see it as negative. they are going to see it as a positive. they are the ones who are going to try to reunite and unite communities and countries around solutions for many diverse communities versus trying to segregate and trying to separate

people because of differences. so that's why, actually, i sleep very well at night, because our hands are in great -- our lives are in great hands with girls. they are going to be very vocal and very positive. [ applause ] >> we've talked a lot about the girl scouts. let's talk but for a second. how do you feel being a minority woman in the professional world? can you tell us some of your experiences with that? >> joan saw some of them. i'll tell you an interesting story. joan is here, she'll allow me to do this. you know, it was interesting, growing up in girl scouting i thought i could do anything. i had a family who really invested in me, said you can do whatever you want to do. don't listen to your brothers [ laughter ] . so i just grew up with that mentality that if i was nice and i was a person of faith, that i could contribute. so i goat d.c. and i'm like gung ho. i've been waiting to be a lawyer since i was 12 years old in girl

scouting so i'm ready. and as i said, joan picked mimi up as a novice attorney. i was brand-new out of law school with the department of transportation. and they said where do you want to go? i said i want to go work for that amazing fee mall general counsel in the maritime administration. people looked at me, you are from the desert. i said no i want to learn from here because she had spent a career dealing with issues on capitol hill. if she could have survived capitol hill i'm sure she is going to teach me a few things. i went up there, and they basically gave me the box that had been in storage, this really old case about a crane that had been damaged in egypt buy one of our maritime administration's ships. so i rolled up my sleeves. long story short, i did my homework and before we knew it joan was getting a phone call because there were two egyptian

diplomats coming from egypt to meet with anna chavez. and she goes, anna, what did you do? i said, i did what you told me to do, joan. what was interesting is they came, the state department officials came over. joan and i sat there. but we had to pull out a male lawyer from our general counsel's office to actually conduct the meeting because the diplomats wouldn't talk to us because we were female lawyers. so this was 1995. i think we've come a long way. but this shows you that there is a lot more to be done. and i will tell you i've seen that progress in my career. i rarely now meet unfortunately those situations -- or maybe people just don't tell me what i'm missing. but i also don't dwell on it. for me, it's about what you make out of a situation. what you learn from that situation. and i hold no regrets. >> let's keep on diversity for a few minutes. you were the first latina ceo of

the girl scouts. what do you plan and what do you plan to do to expand the scouts into the latino communities and there is resistance because of unfamiliarity with the concept of scoutings. >> my grandmother probably told everybody, don't go camping. no. here's -- i'm only going to speak to it as a latina who grew up in our movement. first of owl our culture didn't have an affinity to girl scouts. my grand mother grew up in mexico. my other was active in the community but not as a girl scout. when they thought of an opportunity to volunteer girl scouts didn't resonate with emthis. but our bran was so strong that allowed me the opportunity to engage and they trusted the local girl scout volunteers. i think it is an opportunity to explain to them what we are and what we've always been. what i will say is that if you look back at our history,

actually some of our first troops in savanna georgia were made up of diverse communities. some of the first troops were from the local orphanage in savanna. and some were the jewish women leaders in that community. we have had girl scout troops in texas with latina girls since the 1930s and 1940s. and we desegregated troops long before the federal government told us to. that's our dna. i think we have to explain to all communities, immigrant communities in the united states that we are ininclusive, a good investment, that your daughter, niece, daughter will have a positive experience and you are investing in their future. >> the washington post did a story, 5,000 boy scouts, members of a mosque based troop or members of other religions or civic organizations. is there a responsibility within troops to learn from each other

about culture? >> absolutely. people may not know this. we have had relationships with all the faith organizations for many, many decades. we are in all communities. we are in every zip code in the country. you can imagine the amazing group of individuals, local community members who are part of our organization. faith has always been part of it. i'm actually wearing my girl scout catholic award that i earned and was presented to by cardinal dolean on the altar of st. patrick's in new york city because, again, we not only teach girls about their faith. but we also allow girls to learn about other people's faiths. and that is part of our, again, our history, and our future, and again, it builds girls who are move athletic and also understand that there is strength in diversity. >> recently, the catholic leader of the st. louis, archbishop robert karlsson urged cutting ties with the roman catholics

and girl skougtd. he says the girl skouts u.s.a. promotes role models in conflict with catholic values. what does the archbishop's statements mean for the girl scouts? and how do you respond? >> well as the ceo of girl scouts of the u.s.a., as you know i'm non-partisan, and i represent girls in all faith. i happen to be a catholic. and i happen to teach sunday school. and actually, what has also been weighing on my mind is a future in ministry. so for me, this is about girls. it's about communities. it's about all faiths. i will tell you that they have we had over 100-year partnership with the catholic church. we have them in catholic schools. and it is a strong part of our organization, as are girls in other religions. again, what i'd say to anybody is sit down with us, talk to us about our program, what we do, and what we don't do, and you will see, again, that we are teaching girls about leadership. and most of our girls are young

girls, k through 5 and we are teaching them to go camping, light some fires, and also sell cookies on line. it is what it is. >> this next question comes from taylor, my 11-year-old friend who is my girl scout cookie hook up she explains in the new york area most of the troops are community based and not school based. >> i ran a local girl scout council in southwest texas. i knew how hard it was to go into the schools for many different reasons. you know, a lot of schools are cutting their budget. they are having to shut down the schools after school because of the electricity bills. but what's interesting -- and we had our troops actually in the tennessee area just pass a bill in the state legislature which allowed them access to all schools in tennessee. which is great, for boy skpouts and girl scouts. i think you are going to start to see more schools see girl

scouts after school. what i also want to explain is we currently have girl scouting during the day in schools across the country. in communities where transportation may be an issue, where they may not have a local troop meeting in that elementary or middle school we actually bring staff and volunteers to provide the girl scout program during the day. it's been an amazing opportunity to reach underserved communities in a way we have done for many years. of course those programs tend to be a little bit more expensive. going back to investment in girls that's how you can invest in your girls, support our local counc councils, donate to them so they can spread throughout the communities. >> what more can somebody do than volunteering or buying cookies. >> again, we would love men and women to be part of the organization. because i've traveled the world i met a lot of cookie dads, men

who are wearing their t-shirt, man enough to be a girl scout. what's interesting, going back to girls and reference. connecting stem, it's the skill set needed in this country and in this world. we did a research study around gerls and stem. we found that 74% of high school girls love stem. they love science. they excel if math. but subcontract around fourth grade they stopped raising their hand in math class. that's when they start getting messages that perhaps they are not good at math or why do you keep raising your hand? and when wed and girls in high school, we found that 74% of them again loved stem. but when we asked hem to rate a stem career, it actually came at the bottom of their list of potential careers in the future. so there is a disconnect. but we found that, actually, the largest sort of influencer in that girl's life on whether or not she decides to go into stem was the male figure in her household. that's why it's foreign to get dads and uncles and can you

seeins involved in girl scouting, because they need all role models, male and female, to tell them what's problem. >> question from the audience. the boy's program teaches boys how to do things. the girl's program requires them to read it. there is revision in the works to teach girls how to do rather than how to read and study. >> i know there is plenty of members in the audience that say that he actually do do more than read to earn those skill sets. right [ applause ] i have been out in field with girls. i have done repelling off of many walls. i've done amazing things in the wilderness. but i've also been with girls who are doing stem activities, who are donating their time to help local food shelters.

so the girls are doing many things. what i think is excite being the girl scouts today is we are allowing them to actually vote on their badges. just couple of years ago, girls did vote on their badges. over 60,000 girls voted on line. it was interesting. they picked outdoors in their badges. and of course that means different things. for a daisy who is 5 years old, to an older girl skouchlt again, they are also connecting outdoors with stem. they want to do geocaching outdoors. they want to understand areason tomy in a different way. i will tell you these girls are learning not only hard skills but soft skills in girl scouts. >> next question, an audience member said one of her best experiences in scouting was living with nature, the outdoors part of. that but you are also emphasizing career achievement. how do you merge the two? and you have discussed that in some ways. but how do you also include the nature part and the career achieve men? >> you know, i have been hanging

around a lot of doctors lately, talking to them about what they are seeing in the medical field n the science field. and specifically, the impact of technology on kids today. i have a 14-year-old son. he clearly has many devices that he is working on. and what i've seen is, unfortunately, in the research and talking to the medical community is that technology is actually doing things with kids' brains. it's rewiring them. shortening their attention span both for children and adults. right? when was the last time you were able to put our phone down, right? so i think we have a great opportunity to bridge those worlds, of understanding the technologies here and will continue to be here in the future but that the outdoors are important. there has to be a balance. everything in moderation. and i love when i see girls at camp and we're right about to get into camp season for girl scouts that they enjoy it. they sometimes fight like you mean i've got to give you my phone? three days later they have

forgotten it. they have enjoyed getting off the grid. and as an adult who actually has to do this for work, to be on line, to be on twitter, and on linked in, it's a lot that you have to manage. so imagine being a 10-year-old girl and being pressured into being on these systems. so what i love again about girl scouting is we are bridging those worlds and allowing them to be a girl as long as they can be a girl. >> speaking of digital tell us about how successful your digital cookie initiative has been since its release in 2014? and do you plan to do more in that digital space. >> sure. actually dimmingal cookie came from girls. it was an idea that came up when i was sitting with a group of teenage girl scouts in san antonio, texas. we were sitting around the table. they were my catchen cabinet. i was asking about the program, what did they need more from girl scouting. i asked them, so any of you selling contact yeast next year? not one hand went up, including

the young woman who had been my top cookie seller the previous year. when i started talking to them about it. they said we want something different. we want an e-commerce platform. we want the ability to sell to family across bown draers. again, they are global citizens. they don't think in geographic artificial boundaries anymore. and they wanted to think through how they could leverage it into a larger program base for them. that's what happened. that idea in partnership with several organizationingses that again become the largest multichannel e-commerce police man in the world for girls. within the first pilot year it was unbelievable. when we launched it in december -- let's see, it's currently 2016. we launched it in december of 2014. and in three days we had 4 billion media impressions from around the world. the reason people were so excited is they knew the power of our cookie program. they knew the significance of investing in the our girl

scouts. but they also saw it as an opportunity to leverage technology andn a brand-new way. what you are going to see with this platform it's the first foreway into girl skourts digital program, it's the first of. what i'm excited to see is what girls do next. we are not designing itible autor. we're taking their ideas and replicateding it and getting adults to invest it. at the end of the day, the ideas are coming from them. that's what i think at the end of the day will keep girl skourts alive and thriving in the united states and on the global if we continue to focus on the girl and we keep the girl in the center. >> what progress have you made to carry out your mission to close the leadership gap between men and women in one generation? >> that was an you a dishaudaci. i think it's happening. that same year we launched the most ambitious fund-raising

campaign on behalf of girls in the world. and we are halfway there, to a billion dollars. in addition, when we talked about again changing the leadership landscape in the united states it was also about bringing men and boys in. because it's not about boys against girls. not at all. again, i happen to be raising a 14-year-old boy, but also 2 million girls. and i know what happens when you create equality in conversations, when you make people from different communities and areas and towns understand each other. over sometimes artificial boundaries. so for me it is an amazing opportunity to talk about what girls can do in the future. and i think we continue to have opportunities to talk about leadership. and of course seeing the current political landscape and what you are seeing and hearing on the news, our girls are watching, right? they are sitting down in front of the television. they are listening to it on their phones and they are watching how it plays out.

but our research also shows that both boys and girls think it is harder for a woman to be a leader today than for a man to be a leader. so we have got work to do. >> someone in the audience is very concerned about our chall a. does that still exist? how does one schedule a visit? can one just show up? >> to explain about girl scouts. our fonder was creativityive but understood she had to create the largest organization for girls in the world. not just some domestic program. from the very beginning we have been part of a global movement of girls across the world, 10 million of them. part of that amazing countedu opportunity is to connect with them around the world. we have given global sites. one of them happens to be our chall a. we have a cabana in exco. we have a place in india. unfortunately i have not been to

those places because i have focused on visiting girl scouts here domestically. you can go on line and sign up to go to any of these amazing locations they are alive as well. and the lodge in england. you can go there as well. being part of girl scouting you are immediately part this global sisterhood. you can go anywhere. i can go to any state in the country, any state in the world, somebody will see my pin and say girl scouts, very cool. >> on that note, tell house how the girl scouts are adjusting to cultural norms for its programs in other countries. has there been much expansion in other countries in the last decade? >> it's interesting. we saw a membership decline domestically in the last 12 years but an increase in membership overseas. i think we can learn something from there. two, what i love about our global girl scouting the we are serving military families. we are serving individuals who are serving the state department, who are working for american companies abroad.

and what i hear constantly about our global girl scouting programming is that it's connecting them back to something that's really important to them. so it's not only a community of american girls abroad. but it's also a group of men and women who are american who are looking for that connection to the united states. and they are great ambassadors for us. unfortunately, as we talk about terrorism and issues impacting the world, i remember sitting in my office in new york city and reading about the paris attacks. you remember this. and thinking immediately oh, my gosh, we have girl scouts in paris and getting on the phone, trying to finds out if everybody is okay. will bely our girls and our volunteers were fine but they were in tears for other people who were impacted in paris through these terrorist attacks. again, i'm cognizant that we have an amazing platform for girls and they are doing great things. but my heart goes out to them because they are living in trying times. i hope again that they will stay

resilie resilient. they will stay focused on a positive future. >> tell me how do you keep older girls involved as girl scouts? is girl scouts -- how do you keep that like it is a cool thing when you get past middle school and into high school? >> that's a hard one. even my son is like, ma. he's like, ma, that's not cool. and i try to say words -- he is like mom you missed that one completely. don't even try. i think there will always be that. when things are cool and adults start saying them, they are no longer cool. part of our community is to continue to try to channel a girl and what's important to them. we are currently doing research on older girl programming to ensure we stay relevant for girls. i think again we need to continue to listen to them. we need to tweak and transform our programming. and i would love, again, for volunteers in the millennial generation to also come back and volunteer. i think it's very important for

our recent graduates to come back to girl scouting torque start troops, to be mentors because the younger girls love it and they think they are cool. >> what's next? the girl scouts has had its centennial, your leadership initiative and the gold award centennial in recent years. what's the next big moment? >> first of all, i think we are going to think about what we've done for 104 years because as girl scouts sometimes we just keep going, right? fushsz first i want to thank everybody for the amazing dedication, your energy, your passion, for those of you watching today thank you for your investment in girl scouting over all these decades. you have made a difference. you really have. i think you are seeing the fruits of your investment by seeing women who are putting their names on ballots. you are seeing them as they stands up for really important issues in this country. i also love the fact that anywhere i go, i do see men and women who are still very focused

on ensuring that all kids get a step up in life. and you know, the next thing in our iteration of girl scouting is again to keep up with girls, to ensure that we are thinking five to ten years, 15 years out. and that's on the cusp. and you know, for me, eight years into this role, i couldn't be prouder of the legacy of not myself but actually the hundreds and thousands of staff, volunteers who have given their lifeblood and soul to this organization to keep it relevant and to keep it at the forefront of our families. because, again, it was important for me. it was important for millions of other women. and we owe that to girls around the world. >> i'm going to take back the podium for just a minute. before i ask the final question i have a few announcements. the national press club is the world's leelding professional organization for judgists and we

fight for a free press worldwide. for more information about the . i'd also like to remind you of upcoming programs. on june 20th, the federal communications chairman. the next day, michael middleton, the interim president will speak here, the next day june 22nd, tom perez will speak and july 14, the head of the national security agency, michael rogers will address the club. i would like to present our guests with the traditional press club mug. [ applause ] i expect cookies in return. my last question. you were selected by fortune magazine as the 24th greatest leader in the world. what comes next? >> well, you know, i've been praying on that actually. and i think that again the world

gives us many opportunities. it gives us many paths. i've learned a lot in the last eight years. i think that i'm going to be called to again ministry. i think that the opportunities that i have seen, the people i've met have taught me one thing, and that's the power of kindness. i hope what i've learned, what my family instilled in me will allow me to take that lesson and have an impact on more people around the globe. and i think being on that list wasn't important to me, it was important to this organization. it showed that the girl scouts is back on the map, that we're doing great things, leaders in many different fields. and i think my grandmother was smiling in heaven because the pope was on the list too. [ laughter ] [ applause ]

>> thank you. thank you to the national prez club staff, the staff of the journalism institute, all of you being here and the audiences on public television and radio. audiences, we are adjourned.

c-span's wauk journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up tuesday morning, mark price with the economic policy institute joins us to discuss their new report, looking at income equality in 20 states and how it's grown. then former republican congressman and presidential candidate ron paul will be on to talk about gun and privacy laws

in the wake of the orlando shooting and offer his opinion on the state of the 2016 presidential campaign. and david rucker senior correspondent will discuss the dismissal of donald trump's campaign manager, corey lewandows lewandowski. be sure to watch c-span's washington journal 7:00 a.m. on tuesday morning. on tuesday, janet yellin presents her semi annual report to congress on monetary policy. she'll discuss thursday eesz vote in turks k on whether or not that country should leave the european union and how that vote could impact the global economy and interest rates. janet yellin testifies and it starts life at 10:00 a.m. eastern. and here on c-span3, a hearing examines the safety of the

public safety broad band network, their plans to become a selfentity. you can see it live at 9:30 a.m. eastern. last week the democratic national committee held its southwest regional platform hearings ahead of the party's convention in philadelphia next month. representatives from a wide range of organizations testified on various potential energy and environmental policies they want to see included in the 2016 democratic platform. this is four hours. >> good morning. good morning. and welcome to the democratic national convention committee's southwest forum on the 2016 democratic national platform. i'm congressman elijah cummings of maryland and it is an honor to chair this panel, participate in this process.

and i welcome all of you to these very, very important proceedings. i would like to call this forum, the 2016 platform drafting committee to order and would everyone now please stand to pledge allegiance to the flag? i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> on behalf of my colleagues on the platform drafting committee, i welcome you as we continue the series of regional events designed to hear from democrats on the key issues affecting their families, their

communities, our nation and indeed the world. we will continue this open and transparent process to allow those ample opportunity for every viewpoint to be raised and to be heard. before proceeding with today's events, we must take a moment to recognize the senseless tragedy that took place in orlando last weekend. dozens of innocent americans lost their lives in an act of hatred. together we grieve for those who were killed and the families and loved ones left behind. let us take a moment of silence to honor those 49 victims, please. [ moment of silence ] thank you

very much. before asking the democratic national convention committee ceo, reverend daughtry to bring welcoming remarks on behalf of the party, i want to again thank her publicly for her leadership of the convention and its many components. and it is my pleasure to welcome my colleagues on the committee, other democrats who join us today. and members of the public as we begin these discussions about the future of the democratic party and the future of this great nation. lee gentleman -- leah? >> good morning. thank you chairman cummings for your warm welcome and your

leadership that you have prov e provided over so many decades to this nation and now to our drafting committee. we appreciate you and thank you for your service. last weekend our nation stood still as news of yet another horrific act of violence, hatred and terrorism flashed across our screens. all of our hearts break for the victims of this horrendous attack in orlando and the families who now must daily grapple with the reality that their loved ones have been snatched from them senselessly and too soon. since last weekend we have heard many offer good thoughts and prayers and well wishes for the families who are navigating their way through this tragedy.

and this is good and heartfelt and appreciated, i'm sure. but i would suggest that the good thoughts, while well sbrengsed, and the prayers while well meaning are not enough. faith without works is dead. just as thoughts without action is meaningless. it is unconscionable that in this, the greatest country in the world, deadly weapons can be obtained more easily than the plane tickets we used to get here. but i am a prisoner of hope. and so i believe that if we stand together in one voice with one intention we can make our community safe again. and we must respond to this tragedy by showing those who seek to divide us who we truly

are. an inclusive nation that embraces all americans, not in spite of but because of who they are. in many ways, that is why we are here today, to ensure that when democrats gather in philadelphia just 38 days from now we are able to present a national platform that is representative of our party's commitment to that of americans most enduring value, that of we the people. and when we say we the people, when we profess a commitment to we the people, we mean all the people. as the party that embraces and celebrates our differences, we have committed to addressing the needs of all of our people. and that commitment means that we are intently focused on protecting the needs of all americans and expanding their access to the democratic process. this is not without its

challenges. but it is a fundamental element of who we are. a vital component of protecting access is ensuring that no american is denied the most basic promise of our constitutional democracy, the right to vote. after all, the right to vote is the foundation of our government. and defending that right is part of our never ending effort to create a more perfect union. men and women are fought, marched, bled and died to gain and protect the right to vote. and as democrats we stand firmly against all attempts to prevent americans from exercising their rights. every american should be able to vote for the candidates that represent them. every american, the least, the last, the lost, the locked out