they have an urban growth boundary. that has had a number of different impacts. it tends to protect the outskirts of the city. it is very scenic. the city has created more dense urban neighborhoods and they have invested in transportation to support that. it is a package of strategies that has resulted in a city that has a great image, is very attractive. some of those policies come at a cost. host: up as oklahoma. good morning. caller: hello. how does the growth of cities affect the value of agricultural products in the u.s.?

guest: great question. that is on the mind of a lot of people these days about food security and where the food comes from. there is a lot of attention being paid to reducing the carbon footprint. in a place like oklahoma which is built around the agricultural economy, but think that population growth will increase the demand for food, which will increase the value of the agricultural output in places like oklahoma. that is a long chain of events. i think that has to be a good thing for oklahoma. to the extent that cities like denver or san francisco or new orleans want to have a closer food supply closer to the consumers, i think that will be at the margins and will not pose

any kind of threat. host: a slide show in the distance. 26% of those traveling 500 miles or more, 205 -- 21% moving 50 to 199 miles. almost 40% of those moving less than 50 miles. at some context about why people do this. guest: 8 is a reminder when we talk about moving, ought most are within your community. they might just be down the street. there for things like housing related things are fairly important. when we hear the word movement migration, we often think moving means going across the country.

we are a mobile population. host: what drives the moving truck? guest: a lot of that has to do with the type of housing one consumes. that is assuming you are not changing jobs. a lot of migration is based on -- the interesting counterpoint is that people cannot move because they are underemployed. or they're coming out of college without a job. they are staying at home in the basement. the development of new housing is failing to keep up with the

pace of the potential household formation rates that we are accustomed to. there is a match match right now between the likely demand -- mismatch right now between the likely demand and supply. as the economy improves, the demand will grow dramatically. host: this is our america's by america series. our guests are marc perry and patrick phillips. guest: mobility and migration have been trending down over time. certainly over the last few years, they have reached a low. a low in terms of the what started in the 1940's, we now see moving rates at about half what they were.

when we are talking about these trends, i sort of think of the 2000 to 2010 ticket as two points in time. we have 2000 and 2006 were the economy is going on at eighth slow to victory. we had traditional suburbanization and the growth of the outer suburbs. we had your standard kinds of growing cities like vegas. guest: by the end of the decade, washington, d.c. was growing faster than vegas. that is a bit of a head scratcher. certainly, the migration part of its -- your people are moving.

that means that if you are in a place like florida where you tend to get most of your population growth from people moving in, that puts you at a disadvantage. the flip side of that is if you are in a place like upstate new york where you are sending more people up than you are receiving, one -- when the population is rooted in place, you were losing more people than you were before. your growth goes up higher than expected. host: people move away from where they grow up? guest: there is wide variability at thisw the level in terms of -- at the state level in terms of where people reside. there are some states such as nevada were very few people were born in nevada. there are states like pennsylvania and the vienna where the large majority of people were born in those

states. guest: strong predictor of whether or not people will move further away is their level of educational attainment. the people who achieve a higher level of education are more likely to move further away. you see this in the brain power cities like san francisco, san diego, new york. a lot of people from elsewhere. host: one of the slides deal with domestic migration. this was 2009. during that time, 30,000 people left san francisco while 20,000 moved in. about 20,000 moved out. 20,000 moved in. philadelphia, 18,500 moved out and 15,700 moved in. guest: this is among people with a bachelor's degree. san francisco was gaining some people with a bachelor's degree.

it was exporting others. this is also domestic migration. the part of the equation that is not shown here is, you know, these are immigration cities. particularly san francisco and d.c. they're getting migrants who are moving into the system. >> -- guest: great stories in many american cities in terms of their downtown area. we are seeing -- marc as a slide and you are able to see you in chicago, there is considerable population loss. in other areas, there is population gain. this happens at the city level. washington, d.c. has seen more population growth. that is an exciting thing for a city to turn around a decline.

it is certain neighborhoods. they are not all experiencing this kind of boom. some neighborhoods will decline and some will rise up. when you look below the data, you really come down to what is happening in those particular neighborhoods. host: pennsylvania. tony. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. my first point is state governments to spend their money. it is where it goes and what it goes to. they tear up the streets. they paid it. they put water lines and then they passed it. the parking garages in for people who go to the shops and then they want to put parking spaces out front. it forces people to move into big cities because there are more jobs there.

it depends on where the person wants to live. that is all i have to say. thank you. host: how we handle the infrastructure to a text -- fx who lives there. guest: i think we live on the same street. [laughter] we have been talking about the economic rationale for why cities go in decline. i think there is more than that. it is more than just economic reasons although they are certainly paramount. most people are working. they need a job. they need something to economically sustain themselves. there are all other kinds of reasons why people climate. livability. the crime and received -- all the perceive things that go into this livability element are factors.

i guess with younger people moving to sort of cities that become magnets for young single college-educated people. host: go-ahead. guest: when we look at this map here a chicago -- this is a map, and that dark outline the area are the city boundaries. area is all circle you here airport. this is showing census tracks, neighborhood sizes of 4000 people. this is showing the population changed 2000 to 2010. the purple is lost. the green is gain. in chicago, the city lost about 5%.

you see the area around the loop and the downtown area surrounding it, it saw tremendous population gain. host: special young people. guest: if you go to that neighborhood of of the chicago river in downtown chicago, you will see dramatic new building patterns. you will see mixed use projects that have brought level shops and apartments and condominiums above. you will see a lot of people walking to work. you will see a lot of people on bicycles. you will see empty nesters and young professionals. you will see dramatic changes both physically on the ground as well as the nature of the people who live there. host: virginia . good morning. caller: perhaps we should go to the european model in terms of seeing -- i understand the area

it is in trouble right now. it is amazing how cities can survive thousands of years. i do not know how they do it. [unintelligible] you scratch your head wondering, you know, how do theses the othr side -- host: the european approach. guest: very different patterns of development and regulation and mortgage finance. patterns of mobility and lifestyle. extended family nature.

you know, there are a lot of distinctions. the caller was pointing out that we can learn a lesson about the durability of these places and the resilience of cities. i think about norland -- new orleans, which was facing a huge existential crisis and a question about whether the city would even survive. while it still faces considerable challenges, it is doing pretty well. cities are pretty resilient. we may see the beginnings of some rivals over the next generation or so. do not write them off. we can learn from experiences of other countries. host: more call. ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. i remember when i was coming up and i remember when downtown

became desolated. they took all the resources and they move them to the suburbs. now that the people are coming back to the city, they're bringing the resources back. but you cannot afford these expensive buildings and things that they are building, like the condominiums. $500,000 or more. i also want to talk about with this sense is, i think the blacks are undercounted in 1940. how do you get these numbers if the people do not fill out the senses? i am pretty sure a lot of black people do not. a lot of immigrants do not. host: let us start the last portion first. . marc perry. guest: we looked at the rates for the 2010 census and it was a

successful since. i do not have the numbers in front of me in terms of the under and over account rates but they were low. they were lower than i believe they had been pinned in any other senses. you can look at them online at k atus.gov and you can looi the report. the numbers -- there are variations. they are less than they used to be. significantly less than the 1940 census. guest: the caller also highlighted an important aspect of this city revival. that is some people are forced out as property values increased and as the housing stock chan ges. affordable housing policies are

hurting. because property values in this country have declined by so much, they think the problem has been solved. it has not. cities are experimenting with new kinds of policies to try to mitigate the impacts of neighborhood change on low- income populations. host: as far as final thoughts, the trends we are seeing, marc perry, what do you look for now? what kinds of questions need to be asked? guest: am looking to see if 2010 to 2020 will continue the way that the last years of the last decade work or if we will revert back to the more traditional patterns we saw earlier in the decade. certainly one of the other questions that demographers ask themselves is, what are the baby boomers going to do? we have a generation of 76 million americans that are now either at or soon to be at retirement age.

most of them will not move. most people who retired do not go anywhere. they stay where they are. there check goes right where there other >> have always been going. certainly, some of them will. even if it is a small share, that could mean changes for cities across the country. host: we have about 30 seconds. guest: need to look at generation y. we think that is the core of this demand. the other major question not there is how our cities going to finance infrastructure in the era of fiscal stress? host: patrick phillips with the urban land institute. marc perry, u.s. census bureau. part of our regular america by the number series. thank you. romney launched his every 10 counts campaign today.

is a look across the u.s. c-span has a camera on the bus. shaky video and top of that. as we look at that, you should know that he will head to five states today. they won't be covered -- will be covered live. stay up-to-date on the website. c-span with a camera on board to give our perspective as part of our campaign 20 tell series. you can see that from new hampshire at 11:00 a.m. today on c-span and c-span.org. finish our look at financial regulation agencies in the d.c. area. hubert humphrey iii will be our guest. we pick up a conversation when we come back.

>> this week, hillary clinton spoke about the situation in syria. >> we have confronted the russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to syria. they have said that we should not worry. everything they are shipping is unrelated to their actions internally. that is not true. we are concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from russia to syria. that will escalate the conflict quite dramatically. >> watched the rest of the discussion on line at the c-span video library. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we have been looking at financial regulatory agencies here. various amounts of people visiting us. our final look today is the

consumer financial protection bureau represented by hubert humphrey iii who joins us. he is the assistant director for the office of older americans. welcome. for those people who may not know, just going in, the consumer financial protection bureau, what is it? guest: it is a new agency under the new laws that have been passed. it has basically a mission to see the financial markets are open. and that they are competitive. the they are open enough so that you and i. as consumers understand all of the products and services that are out there so we can make good decisions. that is really what the consumer financial protection bureau is all about. it comes at this from the perspective of the -- of the consumers. host: how is that different from

other agencies? guest: have other missions. the sec has a regulatory function that look set the entire securities marketplace. if you have a group looking at trade regulation and others. all of them have some part of effort. congress decided under dodd- frank that much of the regulation of banks would be placed in this new agency. that is where it is house. the other part of not only regulation and enforcement of large banks and financial institution, there is also the consumer education engagement. that is where our offices of older americans is house. host: what is your purpose? guest: what we are trying to do is to enable seniors to be able, through counseling and financial education and training, to prevent the unfair

faults in deceptive practices and abuse that is out there. stopping the scams going on. secondly, we want to make sure that the seniors have the ability, the training and counseling and a financial education, to make good sound decisions as they age. that is the important part of this. to understand that all of us who are seniors are living a little bit longer. as we age, there are changes that take place both with us physically and mentally and we have an expanding financial marketplace that is more complex. there are great challenges. the other thing you need to know is, think about this for a moment -- this is the largest transfer of wealth from one generation to the next in the history of this country. what we want to make sure is that that transfer of wealth

goes to the right places. first to help seniors as they would like to have it happen and to the extent that there is something left that goes to the ones that they are look loving. we do not needed to go to other people, other scammers. host: our guest is a representative of consumer financial protection bureau and we're talking about protecting older americans. if you want to ask him questions, the numbers are on your screen. 202-737-0002 for republicans. 202-737-0001 for democrats. 202-628-0205 for independents. there is a term that is used when taking a look at the white house and other efforts within the federal government. guest: elder abuse is a very broad area. it can be physical, mental, financial. our role in the consumer financial protection bureau is to look at it through the lens of a financial decision making

standpoint. it is a very serious problem. this is the crime of the 21st century. it is very under reported. there have been studies that show that only one out of four -- 40 cases are actually reported to law enforcement to those who can help. we are talking about in 2010, almost $3 billion was stolen. if you multiply that times 40, you figure out just how large this problem is. from a financial standpoint, the elder financial abuse is a huge problem. yesterday, we just celebrated and held a conference here at the white house about elder financial abuse. today is elder abuse awareness day. host: the financial aspect --

some facts from your agency saying older americans lost $2.9 billion in 2010 from financial exploitation. 5% of those were victims of financial mistreatment by family. one in 43 races are addressed by agencies -- cases are addressed by agencies. guest: this is unfortunate. all too often the money is being stolen. it is being taken in wrong directions by family members. what happens when you're older is you need some help. mom or dad need help to pay the bills, write the checks, things like that. who do they turn to? an informal caregiver. their sons or daughters or relatives. unfortunately, sometimes that individual will misappropriate it. sometimes it is because they do not understand what is the responsibility they are taking on. many times, it is very purposely misdirected. what we want to do is put a stop to that. one of the things we are developing is a guide so that

when somebody does take on the responsibility to help mom or dad, they understand they are taking on some pretty important responsibilities. there are things they need to do and consequences if they do not follow rules. host: from twitter -- guest: internet scams, home scams, telemarketing scams, we have the responsibility to bring together the very best practices around the country. i can tell you that there are wonderful people working all throughout this country and they are doing a good job. all too often they are isolated. for the first time in the federal government's history, we have an office of older americans that is singularly focused on these issues of consumer protection for seniors. host: is this just investigative

or can you convict? guest: part of this is education and training in financial literacy and all of that. the other part that i learned when i was attorney general in minnesota was that you have to have enforcement. you need both. our director was the former attorney general of ohio. he understands that. we need strong enforcement. that enforcement can come both federally and it can come locally. what i ask people to do is to not be afraid to speak up and speak out. part of the problem here is that people get very embarrassed by the fact that they have been scanned. they want to keep it quiet. if this dam it is from someone in their family, they are fearful of what happens. we need to be able to speak out because for every one that speaks out, there are so many more that happened to have that courage to do that. to reach out to police, adult

protective services, to those who can help you stop this kind of fraud and deception. this crime. this is truly older pilots. host: california. -- elder violence. host: california. you are on. caller: the worst thing that has happened was when the supreme court ruled that we cannot sue our bosses -- lawyers any more for age discrimination when they fire us and hire a 20-year-old. i just saw on tv that senior citizens are having to collect social security early because their unemployment ran out and they cannot find jobs because no one will hire you if you are in your 60's. you cannot even get a job that you are in your 50's anymore. guest: you raise some very interesting points. one of the challenges here and we have to think about this --

it is tragic when anyone gets camden -- scammed. seniors have worked hard all their lives. they have saved to the extent that they can. now, they are at an age which when they get ripped off, they cannot get it back. they do not have time to build it back. you are talking about something very important. this is social security. it is the foundation of most financial money that most seniors have. we need to be able to make sure that all of that is properly available, not stolen. we need to make sure obviously that seniors are not discriminated against. i appreciate the comments you have but the biggest thing that bothers me is to understand that once this money is gone, it is gone.

there is very little opportunity to recover out of it when you are an older person. host: new york. melinda. independent line. caller: i have a question for you. i am not in my 60's yet. i am on social security disability. i have seizures. i have been on it for about 8 years. i have no choice. i cannot get a job because everything is computerized. computers make my seizures go bad. everyone is saying, oh, you should not be on social security. social security is bad. what am i supposed to do? my husband and i only make $27,000 per year

between the both of us. guest: i appreciate your point. social security is not bad. is very good. while social security is there for those who are able to reach the age of retirement, it is also there for those who are disabled. you are very right in being able to take advantage of that. that is what this is all about. frankly, i do not think he should think twice or feel embarrassed at all about the fact that you are accessing a program that has been in place for many, many years and has helped people with a good life with their disabilities. host: off of twitter -- are in the process. obviously, the consumer financial protection bureau is very much engaged in looking at

mortgages and working with financial institutions. frankly, non-banking institutions. pay lenders. credit agencies. indeed, we are looking at what has happened in those areas. your caller indicated, when it happens to a senior, when you lose your home, the home is the foundation of most people's savings. in my case, i can tell you that our savings is pretty much in our home. i think that is where it is in most folks' homes. most people who have been able to save it have put it into their home. that is part of the american dream. when it is a senior that has lost their home because of the situation that occurred between 2008 and 2010, once again, we are in that real deep trouble area of how are we going to help people live and where are they going to live and under what circumstances?

we are definitely looking into all of that. host: our guest is the assistant director for the office of older americans at consumer financial protection bureau. he goes by "skip." >> where did you get your name? >> hubert h. humphrey, jr. was the vice president of the u.s. i am the third. my son is the fourth. we discovered there was actually a fifth person with the name of hubert h. humphrey, a civil war veteran. host: you served as attorney general of minnesota. guest: yes. host: a lot of these situations ended up in your office? guest: yes. for those of you listening and watching, if you have a problem and you need to have some help, first of all, give a call to the police. call the adult protection services. call the social workers. they will be of help to you.

do not be embarrassed. part of the problem is we have some pretty good con artists out there. they get into and a lien on your trust. seniors are very trusting -- they lean on your trust. seniors are very trusting. unfortunately, these guys really know how to work it. before you know it, your money is gone. the other day, i was at a meeting out in one of the state's that i have been to and a woman came up. she had told part of for stores. she said that she was so embarrassed. over three years, she lived alone. many times, older women are living alone. they are isolated. this gentleman became a very close friend, took two years to work into being her close friend. next thing you know, she is sending money to him. she lost more than $30,000. now, she is having a very hard time.

you have got to ask the hard questions. another individual that i had a chance to visit with kind of put it right. we were talking about, who should do trust? she said, i have to tell you, i have seven children. i love them all. but i only trust three of them. that is kind of funny in a sense but when you think about it, who do you trust? who will you trust with those decisions? those important decisions that have to be made. when you are 85, 90, and people are living to 100. this is a whole other life. now, we have to find a new way of living through it successfully, independently. host: george. barbara. good morning. caller: good morning. my father is 97. my husband is 82. i am 74. guest: congratulations. host: my poor father gets two

bushels of mail a week. they use every gimmick. more letters from the same place. scare tactics. to the tactics. the worst is judicial watch. what can we do to get off the mailing? guest: that is a great question. your description is unfortunately -- situations like that are happening all over. i am going to be going back to minnesota this weekend to see my family. i can tell you that when i get back, i guarantee you there will be at least 5 to 10 invitations to go to a free lunch that someone will try to sell me something. they will be calling themselves experts. senior advisers. that why you to know that one of the things that our office is doing and we are charged by

congress to do is to look into decertifications. these so-called experts that are trying to sell you something. we are doing a study on that. we will be able to look and see how standards are being set. many states have already established some standards. they're different in different places. we want to see what can be done. we will report back to congress on that and to the securities exchange commission. your questions about what can be done -- first of all, make sure that you are on that do not call list. the number-one rule in this is if is too good to be true, it probably is. it does not matter how they sell it to you. if it is so good that you think you have to look at it, take a deep breath and stepped back and they will say you have to buy it now. by now. do it now. you do not have to.

talk to someone who you trust. who can help you work through this. do not buy into this stuff. that is the key. you are the number 1 defense. the well-informed consumers can stop this. you have to be able to be willing to say, no more. if you keep getting all of these messages after you have told the company you do not want anymore, send it to the attorney general's office. call them. call the local police. see whether or not they cannot help you. i can tell you when i was attorney general, we were able to shut down a lot of these. if they call on the telephone, say that i will think you and -- say thank you. i will check with the attorney general's office. -- guest: think about this for a minute.

step back. it sounds so good. these folks are professional salespeople. they know how to get into your address. do not let them. if it is really sounding good, take a breath. stop. by the way, call the police. call adult protective services. work with your financial institutions on this. i was very impressed yesterday at our conference that many banks were there. they know it was a problem. they want to help their customers do the right thing with the resources they are entrusted with. host: twitter -- guest: that is another area that we are looking into. congress has asked us to look at the planning. ahold situation in that area. it -- all situation in that area. we will be getting to that. -- the whole situation in that area.

we will be getting to that. check out who you will see as your trusted riser. do not be a free to ask questions. if it is a securities person, ask them why they are selling it and what they get from the sale that they are offering. if they are a reputable person, they will be happy to tell you what their take on it is. frankly, you know, they are providing a good service. if there quality people, you can measure that. do not be afraid to ask hard questions. host: good morning. deborah. democrat. caller: i have three problems that i feel are very important. i work for the government. when i went to see my doctor, he told me i was disabled. they said they do not even consider you disabled until social security figures out you are disabled. that does not help me at all. it does not take social security years to figure out

whether or not you are disabled. what did you do not have a doctor? that is ridiculous. how much money are you making in the illegal prescription drugs that you are giving? especially those old people in the old homes. guest: you have raised some very good points. first of all, medicaid fraud is out there. i know that many attorney general's are working hard to pt a stop to that kind of fraudulent activity. i would suggest that you check with your attorney general's office with regard to the laws about disability in your state and find out what those standards are. i would hope that social security will be able to give you an answer with regard to

disability that might relate to your particular situation. let me just mention that we are working with the social security administration and we will be meeting more with them with regard to financial decisions that have to be made. as you know, social security is very soon going to be changing so that social security money will be directly deposited into your bank or you'll be given a credit card. that will be coming next year, i believe. there will be a transition here. social security is going digital. for seniors, this can be very disconcerting sometimes. we have to learn about how we're going to take care of this. we need to make absolutely certain, do not give out your social security number, your medicare number.

do not give them to anyone other than the very particular people that absolutely need them. your doctor. your bank. raise a question anytime anybody asks for your social security number. host: two tweeted -- guest: that is a real concern. we are working with states. the states regulate many of these areas. obviously, so does the department of health and human services. we will be working very closely with them. the financial part of that is crucial. all too often, we see situations where someone has been appointed a guardian and they end up taking the money rather than using it for mom or dad in nursing homes, if it used to buy a car or a fancy house or something else. we're looking to see how we can more closely work with our colleagues in the states and

federal government. that is one of the things. we are trying to make sure we collaborate with our colleagues here in washington, d.c. and with some very fine programs that are in the state's. states. host: in terms of programs, do you have our reach two schools? this would help avoid these problems in the future. guest: we are working with fdic. they have money programs. we have others that we are working with. we will be moving forward with that as we move ahead in this area. host: virginia. thank you for waiting. independent line. caller: hello. it seems to me that the biggest problem we face in this country are the money handlers.

you talk about not having access to our money, but given the bankers, we can touch it for five years. the federal reserve can change the value of your money any time. the stock market -- the poker game should only be played amongst themselves. it should not affect rest of the country. host: your question? caller: is there a regulation that is worth something that will be worth the same next week -- guest: let me just say this. i have been impressed with the people who are working at the consumer financial protection bureau. they have great experience in the financial markets. with financial institutions, they also understand the responsibility of regulating and looking at it from a perspective of the consumer.

this is the most important thing you have. are they financial resources and assets that you are able to accumulate for your retirement and health of your family? i can assure you that is the highest priority of the people that i work with. i am very impressed with their ability to do that. host: what is your staff like when it comes to older americans? guest: we have a wonderful, small group. five of us. we deal with 30 million -- gue5 in our total office. that is fight here. when you take in all of the people who are working all across the country and in other agencies, we have thousands of very, very good people that are working. our effort is to help coordinate and bring that together. to be able to allow each of those who are doing good work in one part of the country to share

those best practices with others. that is really the center of what we are trying to accomplish. we will be able to do that with our staff. host: this is chapel hill, n.c. . on our republican line for mr. humphrey. i think we have a great country. -- caller: i did we have a great country. what i want to say about children and their older parents, sometimes our children cannot understand the the amount of sacrifice is the average american makes. it is not that our children the -- don't care what they did not have the time. it is difficult for them to balance the job and finished

raising their children and then have to deal with an older parent. if you can find an indication that can -- can find medication that will bring that back together, understanding without underwhelming, you can sell a lot of that. guest: you have raised a very, very important reality that we all face. our children really are the sandwich generation. we have four beautiful, wonderful grandchildren. we have fun with them. parents have to take their -- care of those children. they also need to be looking after grandparents. and other elders and the family and friends. so, they are squeezed in between this. i will tell you, it is a great challenge to be able to balance that, to do it positively. that is a great challenge.

what we have learned is that wall -- while we want to help those 62 and older, the thought is that we need to help those who are younger. you have framed it beautifully in your description of the question and concern. this is an ongoing effort. hopefully, we will all live longer. hopefully your grandchildren -- hopefully, your care and children will live longer. -- your grandchildren will live longer. we have to look at how people are able to stay independent as they tend to make those decisions that need to be made in a free society, a free market place like ours. it is a great challenge. it is also a great opportunity. host: florida. democrat. caller: good morning.

my question for you, mr. humphrey, you guys are supposed to go after medicare fraud. how come rick scott embezzled $14.2 billion from medicare and paid $375 and predicts 3 and 7 $5 million fine and got put into office? -- and paid a $375 million fine and that put into office? guest: from minnesota, we were trying to stay up on some of the fraud that was taking place. the reality is, we need to all work together at this. there is a lot of money that is going in the wrong direction. i know that the federal government and the state governments are working as hard as they can.

this is an ongoing effort. i can assure you that we are doing everything we possibly can. some people are willing to take resources.of others' it is a great tragedy. it is an outrageous kind of violence that takes place when it comes to medicare fraud and elder fraud. host: what is the forefront? guest: key to us is we are going to get this certification study completed early next year. we are also going to issue -- the consumer financial protection bureau will issue a reverse mortgage study, a key financial product that is advertised on tv. it may be appropriate in some places.

there are big risks and costs with regard to reverse mortgages. there could be many other alternatives that are better suited for seniors. that is another area we are looking at. we're going to bring forth this guide that will help the caregiver to understand their responsibilities. we are looking into this whole question of the planning and their retirement counseling with a focus on elder women. they outlive us. when they do, they're living alone. host: california. this is harry. independent line.

caller: the one thing i remember iis the cookie jar affect. when you get a lump sum from your lender, all of your children and your friends realize that you are sitting on a bundle of cash and before you know it, it is gone. i just wondered what your reaction to that was. guest: thank you. that is why congress has asked the bureau to do a study on this very area. we work all of our lives to buy our homes. there it sits with whether -- with whatever equity is in. a you need to find a way to see

that over time as you retire. it is one of the key assets that seniors told. it you are right. you have to look at how your going to take that money. how you are going to use it. for what purposes? do you take it in lump-sum. do you take it over time? how do you properly invest it? there is a question as to whether reverse mortgages are the best form or product to use. it can be appropriate in some situations. if you are living in a home where you raise a lot of kids, maybe you do not need a big home. by a smaller home for a lower price. realize the equity that way. there are any number of other options. we are going to be looking into that and i just appreciate your point because there are a whole lot of people out there that would like to take advantage of that lump-sum that shows up if that is the way you are taking

your money out of a reverse mortgage. host: from twitter -- guest: absolutely -- guest: absolutely. if you see something that does not seem right, do not be afraid to raise that question and reported to the proper authorities. you do not have to be the one that is the expert to decide whether there is something wrong. you probably are the very first person that can literally save lives. people become so embarrassed and impoverished that it affects their lives to the point of death. host: this is the republican line. you have about 2.5 minutes before the end of the show. caller: if congress is able to cut social security and medicare, will those of us who are on social security and

medicare and have been for several years be protected or grandfathered in some way? guest: i do not know. we will have to look at what needs to be done. i can tell you in my own experience and looking a social security, obviously there are some changes that need to take place so that social security is there for our children and our grandchildren. we also have some time to make those fixes. whatever congress does, i think that they will find a way where the changes will be moderate and affordable. social security will be there for you. it has been a great program. a huge success. it is really something we have put in. now, in our older age, we are taking out. that is appropriate. we need to make sure that it is there not only for us but for our children and grandchildren. c-span3 how you -- host: how do

you gauge success for? your for guest: we have been very -- how do you gauge success for your division? ? guest: we have done very well. i just appreciate all of the people who have come forward and visited directly with me and with our staff. secondly, we are working very closely with so many other organizations all throughout this country. it has been a great success. host: hubert humphrey iii, the assistant director for the office of older americans out of consumer financial protection bureau. thank you for your time. this comes over the associated press. it they reported that the obama administration will stop reporting and grant work permits to children who came to the uss children.

this initiative addresses a top priority of the latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies. the policy change will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. it bypasses congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called dream act. that coming from "the associated press." the house will come in momentarily to talk in pro forma. tomorrow, we will take a look at hearings this week and the law of the sea treaty. that will take place tomorrow on "washington journal." that is it for today. we will go to the house. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

nd gracious god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. help us this day to draw closer to you so that we may face all the tasks of this day with grace and confidence. bless the members of the people's house as they spend their final day away of this constituent workweek. may these decisive days through which we are living make them genuine enough to maintain

their integrity, be humble and good enough to keep their faith always regarding public office as a sacred trust. give them the wisdom and the courage to fail not their fellow citizens nor you. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. the chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. 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. without objection, the house stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday next.

>> the first stop this morning will be at straight time, new hampshire. we will have live coverage of that for you. combat is coming up at about 11:00 eastern. -- that is coming up about 11:00

eastern. later this afternoon, we will have to milford, new hampshire at 2:30 or the campaign will hold an ice cream socials of both of those events are liven coverage is here on cspan + plea week -- we plan to take your phone calls and comments on our road to the white house coverage on c-span. we'll take you to an event from yesterday with president obama. he was in cleveland ohio and talked about the american

>> thank you! [applause] thank you, everybody. good afternoon, everybody. [applause] it is great to be back in cleveland. [applause] it is great to be back here at cuyahoga community college. [applause] i want to, first of all, thank angela for her introduction and sharing her story. i know her daughter is very proud of her -- i know her daughter is here today. so give her a big round of applause. [applause] i want to thank your president, dr. jerry-sue thornton. [applause] and i want to thank some members of congress who made the trip today -- representative marcia fudge, representative betty sutton, and representative marcy kaptur. [applause]

now, those of you who have a seat, feel free to sit down. >> we love you! [applause] >> thank you. >> four more years! four more years! >> thank you. so, ohio, over the next five months, this election will take many twists and many turns. polls will go up and polls will go down. there will be no shortage of gaffes and controversies that keep both campaigns busy and

give the press something to write about. you may have heard i recently made my own unique contribution to that process. [laughter] it wasn't the first time, it won't be the last. and in the coming weeks, governor romney and i will spend time debating our records and our experience -- as we should. but though we will have many differences over the course of this campaign, there's one place where i stand in complete agreement with my opponent -- this election is about our economic future. [applause] yes, foreign policy matters. social issues matter. but more than anything else, this election presents a choice between two fundamentally

different visions of how to create strong, sustained growth, how to pay down our long-term debt, and most of all, how to generate good, middle- class jobs so people can have confidence that if they work hard, they can get ahead. [applause] now, this isn't some abstract debate. this is not another trivial washington argument. i have said that this is the defining issue of our time -- and i mean it. i said that this is a make-or- break moment for america's middle class -- and i believe it. the decisions we make in the next few years on everything from debt and taxes to energy and education will have an enormous impact on this country

and on the country we pass on to our children. now, these challenges are not new. we've been wrestling with these issues for a long time. the problems we're facing right now have been more than a decade in the making. and what is holding us back is not a lack of big ideas. it isn't a matter of finding the right technical solution. both parties have laid out their policies on the table for all to see. what's holding us back is a stalemate in washington between two fundamentally different views of which direction america should take. and this election is your chance to break that stalemate. [applause]

at stake is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but between two paths for our country. and while there are many things to discuss in this campaign, nothing is more important than an honest debate about where these two paths would lead us. now, that debate starts with an understanding of where we are and how we got here. long before the economic crisis of 2008, the basic bargain at the heart of this country had begun to erode. for more than a decade, it had become harder to find a job that paid the bills -- harder to save, harder to retire, harder to keep up with rising costs of gas and health care and

college tuitions. you know that, you lived it. [applause] during that decade, there was a specific theory in washington about how to meet this challenge. we were told that huge tax cuts -- especially for the wealthiest americans -- would lead to faster job growth. we were told that fewer regulations -- especially for big financial institutions and corporations -- would bring about widespread prosperity. we were told that it was okay to put two wars on the nation's credit card, that tax cuts would create enough growth to pay for themselves. that's what we were told. so how did this economic theory work out? >> terrible.

[laughter] >> for the wealthiest americans, it worked out pretty well. over the last few decades, the income of the top 1 percent grew by more than 275 percent -- to an average of $1.3 million a year. big financial institutions, corporations saw their profits soar. but prosperity never trickled down to the middle class. from 2001 to 2008, we had the slowest job growth in half a century. the typical family saw their incomes fall. the failure to pay for the tax cuts and the wars took us from record surpluses under president bill clinton to record deficits. and it left us unprepared to deal with the retirement of an aging population that's placing a greater strain on programs like medicare and social

security. without strong enough regulations, families were enticed, and sometimes tricked, into buying homes they couldn't afford. banks and investors were allowed to package and sell risky mortgages. huge, reckless bets were made with other people's money on the line. and too many from wall street to washington simply looked the other way. for a while, credit cards and home equity loans papered over the reality of this new economy -- people borrowed money to keep up. but the growth that took place during this time period turned out to be a house of cards. and in the fall of 2008, it all came tumbling down -- with a financial crisis that plunged the world into the worst economic crisis since the great depression. here in america, families'

wealth declined at a rate nearly seven times faster than when the market crashed in 1929. millions of homes were foreclosed. our deficit soared. and nine million of our citizens lost their jobs -- 9 million hardworking americans who had met their responsibilities, but were forced to pay for the irresponsibility of others. in other words, this was not your normal recession. throughout history, it has typically taken countries up to 10 years to recover from financial crises of this magnitude. today, the economies of many european countries still aren't growing. and their unemployment rate averages around 11 percent. but here in the united states, americans showed their grit and

showed their determination. we acted fast. our economy started growing again six months after i took office and it has continued to grow for the last three years. [applause] our businesses have gone back to basics and created over 4 million jobs in the last 27 months -- more private sector jobs than were created during the entire seven years before this crisis -- in a little over two years. [applause] manufacturers have started investing in america again -- including right here in ohio. [applause] and across america, we've seen

them create almost 500,000 jobs in the last 27 months -- the strongest period of manufacturing job growth since 1995. [applause] and when my opponent and others were arguing that we should let detroit go bankrupt, we made a bet on american workers and the ingenuity of american companies -- and today our auto industry is back on top of the world. [applause] but let's be clear -- not only are we digging out of a hole that is 9 million jobs deep, we're digging out from an entire decade where 6 million manufacturing jobs left our shores, where costs rose but

incomes and wages didn't, and where the middle class fell further and further behind. so recovering from the crisis of 2008 has always been the first and most urgent order of business -- but it's not enough. our economy won't be truly healthy until we reverse that much longer and profound erosion of middle-class jobs and middle- class incomes. so the debate in this election is not about whether we need to grow faster, or whether we need to create more jobs, or whether we need to pay down our debt. of course the economy isn't where it needs to be. of course we have a lot more work to do. everybody knows that. the debate in this election is about how we grow faster, and

how we create more jobs, and how we pay down our debt. [applause] that's the question facing the american voter. and in this election, you have two very different visions to choose from. >> no, we don't! [laughter] >> obama! [applause] >> governor romney and his allies in congress believe deeply in the theory that we tried during the last decade -- the theory that the best way to grow the economy is from the top down. so they maintain that if we eliminate most regulations, if we cut taxes by trillions of dollars, if we strip down government to national security

and a few other basic functions, then the power of businesses to create jobs and prosperity will be unleashed, and that will automatically benefit us all. that's what they believe. this is their economic plan. it has been placed before congress. governor romney has given speeches about it, and it's on his website. so if they win the election, their agenda will be simple and straightforward. they have spelled it out -- they promise to roll back regulations on banks and polluters, on insurance companies and oil companies. they'll roll back regulations designed to protect consumers and workers. they promise to not only keep all of the bush tax cuts in place, but add another $5 trillion in tax cuts on top of that. now, an independent study says that about 70 percent of this

new, $5 trillion tax cut would go to folks making over $200,000 a year. and folks making over a million dollars a year would get an average tax cut of about 25 percent. now, this is not my opinion. this is not political spin. this is precisely what they have proposed. now, your next question may be, how do you spend $5 trillion on a tax cut and still bring down the deficit? well, they tell us they'll start by cutting nearly a trillion dollars from the part of our budget that includes everything from education and job training to medical research and clean energy. >> booo -- >> now, i want to be very fair here.

i want to be clear. they haven't specified exactly where the knife would fall. but here's some of what would happen if that cut that they've proposed was spread evenly across the budget -- 10 million college students would lose an average of $1,000 each in financial aid, 200,000 children would lose the chance to get an early education in the head start program. there would be 1,600 fewer medical research grants for things like alzheimer's and cancer and aids, 4,000 fewer scientific research grants, eliminating support for 48,000 researchers, students and teachers. now, again, they have not specified which of these cuts they choose from. but if they want to make smaller cuts to areas like science or medical research,

then they'd have to cut things like financial aid or education even further. but either way, the cuts to this part of the budget would be deeper than anything we've ever seen in modern times. not only does their plan eliminate health insurance for 33 million americans by repealing the affordable care act -- >> booo -- >> -- according to the independent kaiser family foundation, it would also take away coverage from another 19 million americans who rely on medicaid -- including millions of nursing home patients, and families who have children with autism and other disabilities. and they proposed turning medicare into a voucher program, which will shift more costs to seniors and eventually end the program as we know it. but it doesn't stop there. even if you make all the cuts that they've proposed, the math

still doesn't allow you to pay for a new, $5 trillion tax cut and bring down the deficit at the same time. so mr. romney and his allies have told us we can get the rest of the way there by reforming the tax code and taking away certain tax breaks and deductions that, again, they haven't specified. they haven't named them, but they said we can do it. but here's the problem -- the only tax breaks and deductions that get you anywhere close to $5 trillion are those that help middle-class families afford health care and college and retirement and homeownership. without those tax benefits, tens of millions of middle- class families will end up paying higher taxes. many of you would end up paying higher taxes to pay for this other tax cut. and keep in mind that all of this is just to pay for their new $5 trillion tax cut.

if you want to close the deficit left by the bush tax cuts, we'd have to make deeper cuts or raise middle-class taxes even more. this is not spin. this is not my opinion. these are facts. this is what they're presenting as their plan. this is their vision. there is nothing new -- just what bill clinton has called the same ideas they've tried before, except on steroids. [laughter] now, i understand i've got a lot of supporters here, but i want to speak to everybody who's watching who may not be a supporter -- may be undecided, or thinking about voting the other way. if you agree with the approach i just described, if you want to give the policies of the last decade another try, then

you should vote for mr. romney. >> booo -- >> now, like i said, i know i've got supporters here. no, no, you should vote for his allies in congress. >> no! >> you should take them at their word, and they will take america down this path. and mr. romney is qualified to deliver on that plan. no, he is. [applause] i'm giving you an honest presentation of what he's proposing. now, i'm looking forward to the press following up and making sure that you know i'm not exaggerating. [applause] i believe their approach is wrong. and i'm not alone.

i have not seen a single independent analysis that says my opponent's economic plan would actually reduce the deficit. not one. even analysts who may agree with parts of his economic theory don't believe that his plan would create more jobs in the short term. they don't claim his plan would help folks looking for work right now. in fact, just the other week, one economist from moody's said the following about mr. romney's plan -- and i'm quoting here -- "on net, all of these policies would do more harm in the short term. if we implemented all of his policies, it would push us deeper into recession and make the recovery slower." that's not my spin. that's not my opinion. that's what independent economic

analysis says. as for the long term, remember that the economic vision of mr. romney and his allies in congress was tested just a few years ago. we tried this. their policies did not grow the economy. they did not grow the middle class. they did not reduce our debt. why would we think that they would work better this time? [applause] we can't afford to jeopardize our future by repeating the mistakes of the past -- not now, not when there's so much at stake. i've got a different vision for america. [applause] i believe that you can't bring

down the debt without a strong and growing economy. and i believe you can't have a strong and growing economy without a strong and growing middle class. this has to be our north star -- an economy that's built not from the top down, but from a growing middle class, that provides ladders of opportunity for folks who aren't yet in the middle class. you see, we'll never be able to compete with some countries when it comes to paying workers lower wages or letting companies do more polluting. thats a race to the bottom we should not want to win. [applause] because those countries don't have a strong middle class, they don't have our standard of living. [applause] the race i want us to win -- the race i know we can win -- is a race to the top. i see an america with the best- educated, best-trained workers

in the world, an america with a commitment to research and development that is second to none, especially when it comes to new sources of energy and high-tech manufacturing. i see a country that offers businesses the fastest, most reliable transportation and communication systems of anywhere on earth. [applause] i see a future where we pay down our deficit in a way that is balanced -- not by placing the entire burden on the middle class and the poor, but by cutting out programs we can't afford, and asking the wealthiest americans to contribute their fair share. [applause] that's my vision for america -- education. energy. innovation. infrastructure. and a tax code focused on american job creation and balanced deficit reduction. [applause]

this is the vision behind the jobs plan i sent congress back in september -- a bill filled with bipartisan ideas that, according to independent economists, would create up to 1 million additional jobs if passed today. this is the vision behind the deficit plan i sent to congress back in september -- a detailed proposal that would reduce our deficit by $4 trillion through shared sacrifice and shared responsibility. this is the vision i intend to pursue in my second term as president -- [applause]

because i believe if we do these things -- if we do these things, more companies will start here, and stay here, and hire here, and more americans will be able to find jobs that support a middle-class lifestyle. understand, despite what you hear from my opponent, this has never been a vision about how government creates jobs or has the answers to all our problems. over the last three years, i've cut taxes for the typical working family by $3,600. [applause] i've cut taxes for small businesses 18 times. [applause] i have approved fewer

regulations in the first three years of my presidency than my republican predecessor did in his. and i'm implementing over 500 reforms to fix regulations that were costing folks too much for no reason. i've asked congress for the authority to reorganize the federal government that was built for the last century -- i want to make it work for the 21st century. [applause] a federal government that is leaner and more efficient, and more responsive to the american people. i've signed a law that cuts spending and reduces our deficit by $2 trillion. my own deficit plan would strengthen medicare and medicaid for the long haul by slowing the growth of health care costs -- not shifting them to seniors and vulnerable families. [applause] and my plan would reduce our yearly domestic spending to its lowest level as a share of the economy in nearly 60 years. so, no, i don't believe the

government is the answer to all our problems. i don't believe every regulation is smart, or that every tax dollar is spent wisely. i don't believe that we should be in the business of helping people who refuse to help themselves. [applause] but i do share the belief of our first republican president, from my home state -- abraham lincoln -- that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves. that's how we built this country -- together. we constructed railroads and highways, the hoover dam and the golden gate bridge. we did those things together. we sent my grandfather's

generation to college on the gi bill -- together. [applause] we instituted a minimum wage and rules that protected people's bank deposits -- together. [applause] together, we touched the surface of the moon, unlocked the mystery of the atom, connected the world through our own science and imagination. we haven't done these things as democrats or republicans. we've done them as americans. [applause] as much as we might associate the gi bill with franklin roosevelt, or medicare with lyndon johnson, it was a republican -- lincoln -- who launched the transcontinental railroad, the national academy of sciences, land-grant colleges. it was a republican -- eisenhower -- who launched the interstate highway system and a new era of scientific research.

it was nixon who created the environmental protection agency, reagan who worked with democrats to save social security, -- and who, by the way, raised taxes to help pay down an exploding deficit. [applause] yes, there have been fierce arguments throughout our history between both parties about the exact size and role of government -- some honest disagreements. but in the decades after world war ii, there was a general consensus that the market couldn't solve all of our problems on its own, that we needed certain investments to give hardworking americans skills they needed to get a good job, and entrepreneurs the platforms they needed to create good jobs, that we needed consumer protections that made american products safe and

american markets sound. in the last century, this consensus -- this shared vision -- led to the strongest economic growth and the largest middle class that the world has ever known. it led to a shared prosperity. it is this vision that has guided all my economic policies during my first term as president -- whether in the design of a health care law that relies on private insurance, or an approach to wall street reform that encourages financial innovation but guards against reckless risk-taking. it's this vision that democrats and republicans used to share that mr. romney and the current republican congress have rejected -- in favor of a "no holds barred," "government is the enemy," "market is everything" approach. and it is this shared vision that i intend to carry forward in this century as president --

because it is a vision that has worked for the american middle class and everybody who's striving to get into the middle class. [applause] let me be more specific. think about it. in an age where we know good jobs depend on high skills, now is not the time to scale back our commitment to education. [applause] now is the time to move forward and make sure we have the best- educated, best-trained workers in the world. [applause] my plan for education doesn't just rely on more money, or more dictates from washington. we're challenging every state and school district to come up with their own innovative plans to raise student achievement. and they're doing just that. i want to give schools more flexibility so that they don't

have to teach to the test, and so they can remove teachers who just aren't helping our kids learn. [applause] but, look, if we want our country to be a magnet for middle-class jobs in the 21st century, we also have to invest more in education and training. i want to recruit an army of new teachers, and pay teachers better -- and train more of them in areas like math and science. [applause] i have a plan to give 2 million more americans the chance to go to community colleges just like this one and learn the skills that businesses are looking for right now. [applause] i have a plan to make it easier for people to afford a higher education that's essential in today's economy. and if we truly want to make

this country a destination for talent and ingenuity from all over the world, we won't deport hardworking, responsible young immigrants who have grown up here or received advanced degrees here. [applause] we'll let them earn the chance to become american citizens so they can grow our economy and start new businesses right here instead of someplace else. [applause] now is not the time to go back to a greater reliance on fossil fuels from foreign countries. now is the time to invest more in the clean energy that we can make right here in america. [applause] my plan for energy doesn't ignore the vast resources we already have in this country. we're producing more oil than we have in over a decade. but if we truly want to gain control of our energy future, we've got to recognize that pumping more oil isn't enough. we have to encourage the

unprecedented boom in american natural gas. we have to provide safe nuclear energy and the technology to help coal burn cleaner than before. we have to become the global leader in renewable energy -- wind and solar, and the next generation of biofuels, in electric cars and energy- efficient buildings. [applause] so my plan would end the government subsidies to oil companies that have rarely been more profitable -- let's double down on a clean energy industry that has never been more promising. [applause] and i want to put in place a new clean energy standard that creates a market for innovation -- an approach that would make clean energy the profitable kind of energy for every business in america. with growing competition from countries like china and india, now is not the time for america to walk away from research and

development. now is the time to invest even more -- so that the great innovations of this century take place in the united states of america. so that the next thomas edison, the next wright brothers is happening here, in ohio, or michigan, or california. [applause] my plan to encourage innovation isn't about throwing money at just any project or new idea. it's about supporting the work of our most promising scientists, our most promising researchers and entrepreneurs. my plan would make the r&d tax credit permanent. but the private sector can't do it alone, especially when it comes to basic research. it's not always profitable in the short term. and in the last century, research that we funded together through our tax dollars helped lay the foundation for the internet and gps and google,

and the countless companies and jobs that followed. the private sector came in and created these incredible companies, but we, together, made the initial investment to make it possible. it's given rise to miraculous cures that have reduced suffering and saved lives. this has always been america's biggest economic advantage -- our science and our innovation. why would we reverse that commitment right now when it's never been more important? at a time when we have so much deferred maintenance on our nation's infrastructure -- schools that are crumbling, roads that are broken, bridges that are buckling -- now is not the time to saddle american businesses with crumbling roads and bridges. now is the time to rebuild america.

[applause] so my plan would take half the money we're no longer spending on war -- let's use it to do some nation-building here at home. let's put some folks to work right here at home. [applause] my plan would get rid of pet projects and government boondoggles and bridges to nowhere. [laughter] but if we want businesses to come here and to hire here, we have to provide the highways and the runways and the ports and the broadband access, all of which move goods and products and information across the globe. my plan sets up an independent fund to attract private dollars and issue loans for new construction projects based on two criteria -- how badly are

they needed, and how much good will they do for the economy. [applause] and finally, i think it's time we took on our fiscal problems in an honest, balanced, responsible way. everybody agrees that our deficits and debt are an issue that we've got to tackle. my plan to reform the tax code recognizes that government can't bring back every job that's been outsourced or every factory that's closed its doors. but we sure can stop giving tax breaks to businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in the united states of america -- in ohio, in cleveland, in pennsylvania. [applause]

and if we want to get the deficit under control -- really, not just pretending to during election time -- not just saying you really care about it when somebody else is in charge, and then you don't care where you're in charge. [applause] if you want to really do something about it, if you really want to get the deficit under control without sacrificing all the investments that i've talked about, our tax code has to ask the wealthiest americans to pay a little bit more -- just like they did when bill clinton was president, just like they did when our economy created 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history, and a lot of millionaires to boot. and here's the good news -- there are plenty of patriotic, very successful americans who'd be willing to make this contribution again.

[applause] look, we have no choice about whether we pay down our deficit. but we do have a choice about how we pay down our deficit. we do have a choice about what we can do without, and where our priorities lie. i don't believe that giving someone like me a $250,000 tax cut is more valuable to our future than hiring transformative teachers, or providing financial aid to the children of a middle-class family. [applause] i don't believe that tax cut is more likely to create jobs than providing loans to new entrepreneurs or tax credits to small business owners who hire veterans. i don't believe it's more likely to spur economic growth than investments in clean

energy technology and medical research, or in new roads and bridges and runways. i don't believe that giving someone like mr. romney another huge tax cut is worth ending the guarantee of basic security we've always provided the elderly, and the sick, and those who are actively looking for work. [applause] those things don't make our economy weak. what makes our economy weak is when fewer and fewer people can afford to buy the goods and services our businesses sell. [applause] businesses don't have customers if folks are having such a hard time. what drags us all down is an economy in which there's an ever-widening gap between a few folks who are doing extraordinarily well and a growing number of people who, no matter how hard they work, can barely make ends meet.

[applause] so, governor romney disagrees with my vision. his allies in congress disagree with my vision. neither of them will endorse any policy that asks the wealthiest americans to pay even a nickel more in taxes. it's the reason we haven't reached a grand bargain to bring down our deficit -- not with my plan, not with the bowles- simpson plan, not with the so- called gang of six plan. despite the fact that taxes are lower than they've been in decades, they won't work with us on any plan that would increase taxes on our wealthiest americans.

it's the reason a jobs bill that would put 1 million people back to work has been voted down time and time again. it's the biggest source of gridlock in washington today. and the only thing that can break the stalemate is you. [applause] you see, in our democracy, this remarkable system of government, you, the people, have the final say. this november is your chance to

render a verdict on the debate over how to grow the economy, how to create good jobs, how to pay down our deficit. your vote will finally determine the path that we take as a nation -- not just tomorrow, but for years to come. [applause] when you strip everything else away, that's really what this election is about. that's what is at stake right now. everything else is just noise. everything else is just a distraction. from now until then, both sides will spend tons of money on tv ads. the other side will spend over a billion dollars on ads that

tell you the economy is bad, that it's all my fault -- that thinkt fix it because i government is always the answer, or because i didn't make a lot of money in the private sector and don't understand it, or because i'm in over my head, or because i think everything and everybody is doing just fine. [laughter] that's what the scary voice in the ads will say. [laughter] that's what mr. romney will say. that's what the republicans in congress will say. well, that may be their plan to win the election, but it's not a plan to create jobs. [applause] it's not a plan to grow the economy. it's not a plan to pay down the debt. and it's sure not a plan to revive the middle class and secure our future. i think you deserve better than that.

[applause] at a moment this big -- a moment when so many people are still struggling -- i think you deserve a real debate about the economic plans we're proposing. governor romney and the republicans who run congress believe that if you simply take away regulations and cut taxes by trillions of dollars, the market will solve all of our problems on its own. if you agree with that, you should vote for them. and i promise you they will take us in that direction. i believe we need a plan for better education and training -- and for energy independence, and for new research and innovation, for rebuilding our infrastructure, for a tax code that creates jobs in america and pays down our debt in a way that's balanced. i have that plan. they don't.

and if you agree with me -- if you believe this economy grows best when everybody gets a fair shot, and everybody does their fair share, and everybody plays by the same set of rules -- then i ask you to stand with me for a second term as president. [applause] in fact, i'll take it a step further. i ask, you vote for anyone else -- whether they're democrats, independents, or republicans -- who share your view about how america should grow. [applause]

i will work with anyone of any party who believes that we're in this together -- who believes that we rise or fall as one nation and as one people. [applause] because i'm convinced that there are actually a lot of republicans out there who may not agree with every one of my policies, but who still believe in a balanced, responsible approach to economic growth, and who remember the lessons of our history, and who don't like the direction their leaders are taking them. and let me leave you with one last thought. as you consider your choice in november -- don't let anybody tell you that the challenges we face right now are beyond our ability to solve. it's hard not to get cynical

when times are tough. and i'm reminded every day of just how tough things are for too many americans. every day i hear from folks who are out of work or have lost their home. across this country, i meet people who are struggling to pay their bills, or older workers worried about retirement, or young people who are underemployed and burdened with debt. i hear their voices when i wake up in the morning, and those voices ring in my head when i lay down to sleep. and in those voices, i hear the echo of my own family's struggles as i was growing up, and michelle's family's struggles when she was growing up, and the fears and the dashed hopes that our parents and grandparents had to confront. but you know what, in those voices i also hear a stubborn hope, and a fierce pride, and a determination to overcome whatever challenges we face. [applause] and in you, the american people, i'm reminded of all the things that tilt the future in our favor. we remain the wealthiest nation on earth. we have the best workers and entrepreneurs, the best scientists and researchers, the best colleges and universities. we are a young country with the greatest diversity of talent and ingenuity drawn from every corner of the globe. so, yes, reforming our schools, rebuilding our infrastructure will take time. yes, paying down our debt will require some tough choices and shared sacrifice. but it can be done. and we'll be stronger for it. and what's lacking is not the capacity to meet our challenges. what is lacking is our politics. and that's something entirely within your power to solve. so this november, you can remind the world how a strong economy is built -- not from the top down, but from a growing, thriving middle class. [applause] this november, you can remind the world how it is that we've

traveled this far as a country -- not by telling everybody to fend for themselves, but by coming together as one american family, all of us pitching in, all of us pulling our own weight. this november, you can provide a mandate for the change we need right now. you can move this nation forward. and you can remind the world once again why the united states of america is still the greatest nation on earth. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. thank you. >> thank you! [applause] thank you, everybody. good afternoon, everybody. [applause] it is great to be back in cleveland. [applause] it is great to be back here at cuyahoga community college. [applause] i want to, first of all, thank angela for her introduction and sharing her story. i know her daughter is very proud of her -- i know her daughter is here today. so give her a big round of applause. [applause] i want to thank your president, dr. jerry-sue thornton. [applause] and i want to thank some members every day i hear from folks who are out of work or have lost their home. across this country, i meet people who are struggling to pay their bills, or older workers worried about retirement, or young people who are underemployed and burdened with debt. i hear their voices when i wake up in the morning, and those voices ring in my head when i lay down to sleep. and in those voices, i hear the echo of my own family's struggles as i was growing up, and michelle's family's struggles when she was growing up, and the fears and the dashed hopes that our parents and grandparents had tconfront. but you know what, in those

voices i also hear a stubborn hope, and a fierce pride, and a determination to overcome whatever challenges we face. [applause] and in you, the american people, i'm reminded of all the things that tilt the future in our favor. we remain the wealthiest nation on earth. we have the best workers and entrepreneurs, the best scientists and researchers, the best colleges and universities. we are a young country with the greatest diversity of talent and ingenuity drawn from every corner of the globe. so, yes, reforming our schools, rebuilding our infrastructure will take time. yes, paying down our debt will require some tough choices and shared sacrifice. but it can be done. and we'll be stronger for it. and what's lacking is not the capacity to meet our challenges. what is lacking is our politics. and that's something entirely within your power to solve. so this november, you can remind the world how a strong economy is built -- not from the top down, but from a growing, thriving middle class. [applause] this november, you can remind the world how it is that we've traveled this far as a country -- not by telling everybody to fend for themselves, but by coming together as one american family, all of us pitching in, all of us pulling our own weight. this november, you can provide a mandate for the change we need right now. you can move this nation forward. and you can remind the world once again why the united states of america is still the greatest nation on earth. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america.

thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪

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[cheers and applause] >> president obama yesterday in cleveland. this morning, the obama administration announced they will stop deporting young girl illegal immigrants who came in as children. the obama administration making

that announcement in a conference call. the president will speak about it this afternoon at 1:15 in the rose garden. the first leg on the ronny bus tour, his six-state tour beginning today in new hampshire. this is the exact location where ronny started his campaign about one year ago, june 2nd, 2011. we will take you there live once the event gets under way. we will follow that up with your phone call and reactions. later, moving on to milford, new hampshire, where they're having an ice cream social. if it looks like there will be a few minutes before the event. we will have it live when it starts. looking back when you're going of the launch of the romney campaign. [applause]

>> wow. [applause] >> there are a lot of people love their that we know when love's we appreciate you coming here to share this moment with us. i believe this is a very special, significant moment for the country and the history of this country. mitt and i have known each other since we were kids. we have been married 42 years. [applause] we have five sons and 16 grandchildren. i have seen him in a lot of situations and some of the toughest moments of my life was my diagnosis with multiple

sclerosis. i would not have made it without him and his encouragement to keep me pushing and fighting. the same thing happened when i was diagnosed with breast cancer. he was there with me, encouraged me, and he gave me the strength to fight that disease does well. i have seen him in untold situations in business, with the family, as a husband. there is no one i would rather turn to when there's a crisis moment to please fix what is going on. right now, america is broken. america needs a turnaround. it needs someone that knows how to do this and has the confidence and experience to do that. that is why i have all the confidence in the world that the man standing next to me will be the next nominee for the republican party. [laughter] [applause]

-- [applause] and he will be the next president of the united states. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. what a day? what a woman. she is my champion in life. an extraordinary person. this is what hampshire is all about. a day like this, a form like this, and this is what america is about. do you think? thank you so much for opening your farm. a last be able to come out and allow this with you, i see a lot of friends here. some of whom are retired. i saw some college students and i'm sure you're glad exams are over. couples are here with their kids. >> ronny starting his campaign in 2011 and you can see that all

in the video library. we're going to go live to where the campaign is starting the first of his six-day bus tour. >> every day, the campaign grows stronger and stronger, and america realizes we do not have to settle for these years of disappointment and a kind. instead, american knows the can do better. with your help, we will do better. together, we will take our campaign all the way to the white house and win. [applause] since last june, we have been to towns began small, visited businesses some generations old, others quite new. everyone of them was try to make the best out of a very difficult economy. people have welcomed us into their homes. we have enjoyed long talks about family, country -- family and

country. everywhere i go, i meet people who represent the best of america who are hopeful, hard- working, determined, and proud. they are also anxious and worried. they're tired of being tired. they're tired of a detached and business -- distant president to does not seem to hear their voices. i will hear your voice if i become president if i get your support. [applause] when americans stand up and demand to stop a borrowing money, the president was not listening. he was in china getting another long period when americans went into town halls to say they do not want obamacare, he ignored as and spent 15 months cramming as bills for congress on a

single-party vote. where is the recovery you promised us? , "the private sector is doing fine the go the distance between their town and the white house as never seemed so far, the disconnected. so willing to use restrictions and regulations, taxes and fines, commissions and czars. wondering if our future can be as bright as the past, that lack of faith in our future is a bridge cannot cross. from now until november, our campaign will carry a simple message. america's greatest days are yet ahead. [applause]

washington's big government agenda should not smother small town dreams. in the america we love, every town accounts. every job counts. every american accounts. we are here today to launch a campaign bus tour that will take us from new hampshire to pennsylvania then on to ohio, iowa, and finally wisconsin and michigan. [applause] in the days ahead, we will be traveling in what is often called the back roads of america. i think this will take us along what i call the backbone of america. [applause] this is the american known for driving farms and families to more prosperous towns and

cities, great colleges and universities. solid communities and the churches. american optimism sustained by hard-working and a belief that the american future is one of the limitless possibilities and the opportunity is an american birthright. we're going to travel to the industrial heartland of america. many of the greatest commercial enterprises were born here in these cities. they gave birth to an extraordinary middle-class which never questioned their ability to provide a better life for their children. to many of these americans have been struggling and in distress. the even -- even when factories are closed and jobs are too few, the spirit of enterprise that ran the economic engines, for growth and prosperity, that

still live strong and it is the goal of this campaign and will be the mission of my presidency, to see it flourish again in this great land. [applause] the world knows the great names of those cities -- pittsburgh, detroit, chicago, cleveland. these were the cornerstones of democracy, the four corners of freedom, the melting pot of america. they are a cornerstone of our future. these are also in our small communities that have given us great writers, thinkers, and leaders. before they were literary giants, of great american writers like mark twain and john steinbeck were kids playing in

open spaces and dreaming these stories they would one day tell us. before they were pioneers, thomas edison and the wright brothers looked out into that dark night and into the clear sky imagining great inventions that would change the world. no, mr. president, they were not dreaming of government loans. [applause] small towns gave us lincoln and truman, eisenhower and reagan, and so many others who have sacrificed to defend our freedom on battlefields far away. the vision, the values, the character of the candid spirit you find in our small towns have made america great. you'll also find a special sense of community and in the commitment to our country.

these americans are quiet heroes. they raise strong families, run our factories, coach little leaguers, and soccer. they serve on the pta. they are volunteers in the -- and they dream big,. these families are not statistics. they are our fellow americans and it's time to care for them and recognize them as such. [applause] in recent years, they have shown great determination and bravery. these men and women do the hard things. they keep pressing on even with

government bureaucrats and regulation get in their way. they're letting their dreams go. they're the backbone of america. yesterday, the president gave a speech, but a very long speech. you may have thought it was a moment that he would enologist policy mistakes and suggest a new course, but no. the promised four more years of the same. but four more very long years. that is really what has divided this race. i believe we can and must do better. we will do better.

ok, let me ask you where you stand. do you think america can do better? do you believe that with new leadership and a new president that way at our greatest days still ahead? do you think we can take back the white house and reclaim the greatness of america? i agree with you. [applause] somewhere in that long speech of his yesterday, the president spoke of giving people a fair shot. i could not agree more. president obama is not giving students a fair shot when they graduate and only half of them can find jobs that match their skills. he is not giving the middle class a fair shot when prices still keep going up. under president obama, more americans are living in poverty

than under any other president in history. that's a tragedy, not a fair shot. when he bows to the demands of the teachers' unions, he's not giving a fair shot to teachers all across america. giving a fair shot when he picks winners, or in this case losers, like solyndra. is not giving a fair shot to our children and grandchildren by saddling them with trillions of dollars in debt. if there was every president that has failed to give a fair shot come it is barack obama. [applause] i have a very different vision of america and the future.

i see an america of where free enterprise is nurtured and celebrated, not attacked, because freedom and free enterprise are what create jobs, not government. [applause] i see in america with a growing middle class, with rising standards of living. is the children even more successful than their parents, some successful beyond their wildest dreams, and others congratulating them for their achievements, not attacking them for them. [applause] we must not allow the desperation of a failing presidency to divide our great country. i will not let that happen.

[applause] i see an america that is fundamentally fair, that cares for those who cannot care for themselves, that never wavers from our commitment to our seniors and gives our veterans the respect and care their richly deserved. [applause] the america i see, character and trees is matter. education, hard work, living within our means are valued and respected. poverty will not be defeated not without a government check but achievement taught by parents, learned in school, and practiced in the workplace. [applause] this is the america that was won by the nation's founders, in aim earned of for us by the greatest generation that has created the

most productive and harmful economy on the history of the earth. as a look around at the millions of americans without work it, the graduates to cannot get a job, the soldiers return back to unemployment, it breaks my heart. it is the result of a failed leadership and a faulty vision. karmic for president because i have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess. i'm offering a real choice and a new beginning for the american people. [applause] audience: mitt, mitt, mitt, mitt, mitt! >> we cannot afford four more years the policies like we have seen over the last three and half years with the weak leadership. we have to have real change to get this country on the right

track again. starting on day one, on going to do what it takes to get america back to work. obamacare will end. [applause] we're going to open new markets around the world to make sure countries like china finally play by the rules. i'm going to make sure we get that keystone pipeline bill. we're going to send a message to the world that a new era of energy independence has begun right here on our continent. we're going to replace the job- killing tax policies with tax reform to jump-start the job creation. [applause] by the way, the government regulators, for strangling small business, are finally going to learn their job is to help job creators and recognize them as our friends, not enemies. once again, by the way, the era

of big government will really be over. [applause] no wonder bill clinton and so many other mainstream democrats are revolting against the back for direction obama is taking his party and our country. let's make this the beginning of the end of the disappointment of the obama years. make the day a start of a new and better chapter. for every single mom who feels heartbroken when she has to explain to her kids that she has to take out a second job, to every grandparent who cannot afford the gas to be able to visit their grandkids, to the mom and dad who thought they would never be on food stamps, to the small business owner, desperately cutting back to keep the doors open for one more month.

to those thousands and hundreds of thousands of decent, good americans, with nothing more in their hearts and to have a chance, a fighting chance. to all of you, hold on a little longer. a better america begins right here today. [applause] audience: mitt, mitt, mitt! >> they have not thought of giving up on themselves, not on each other, non america. in the days ahead, i need you in this next step toward the destination this november 6th

when the come across america, we can give a sigh of relief and other promise of america has been kept. the believers can -- the dreamers can dream bigger. we can start again. this time, we will get it right. we will stop apologizing for success and never again apologized for america abroad. [applause] there was a time not so long ago when we all walked tall because we had a gift no one else shared. we are americans. that meant something special to all of us. we did it without question. those days are coming back. but that is our destiny. joining me.

let's walk together every day until november 6th because we believe in america. we believe in our future. we believe the greatest days of america are ahead. we are, after all, americans. got was this great country and god bless you. thank you some very much. thank you, guys. thank you. free born born free i was born free ♪ ♪ free like teh wind through the ages strong is the wind i'm facing ♪

>> the scene in new hampshire, the site where romney it started his campaign one year ago. he is starting the beginning of his five-day or six-day bus tour called "everything counts." we of opened up a phone line. if you are a republican -- 202-

624-1111. democrats -- 202-624-1115. for new hampshire residents -- 202-624-0760. in chicago on a republican line, julio. caller: i am still on the fence on the support for gov. mitt romney. i have been doing research on campaign contributions and what he has said previously. i support auditing the federal reserve and a limited constitutional government. mitt romney at one point sent bernanke with doing a good job at the fed.

he may back out on that. but he is getting donations from goldman sachs so i'm on the fence. i'm hoping that gary johnson can get on the the plate -- on the debate platform. if they can get another man on the stage it should make it better. romney may pick mitch daniels. if that's the case, we will get conned back in 2008. host: your candid it is gary johnson? >caller: yes. he mirrors more of my constitutional audiology rather than at romney. governor is a two-term governor,

like romney. host: we have a couple of his events including the libertarian convention. huntington, west virginia, on the democratic line. . -- go ahead. are you there? caller? going on to greenbelt, maryland. what's your name? caller: donna. host: go ahead. caller: i've been a democrat for over 30 years. i would like to say this is the first time i will be voting republican. i think obama is the most arrogant rpresident we've ever had. i have not like the way the country has changed. i never thought i would never say it, but i will be voting republican. i do believe in mitt romney. host: who did you vote for in

2008? >caller: obama. i do not believe in obama out all. host: republican arizona? caller: i just heard the next president of the united states and i thought it was wonderful. i agree with the previous caller about how arrogant obama is. he kept calling him "mr. romney" and would not even call him governor. now we're doing this immigration thing today. they did it for the lesbians and gays. they're doing this for the hispanics. they could have done this in his first year, but they're really need to get people jobs. governor romney wants to give blacks and poor minorities the chance to go to good schools.

the president, he was a community organizer, a state senator, and he would not put his kids in public schools but he wants to jam them down and brought else's throats. america, wake up. look at what republicans are offering. if you want to help minorities get out of welfare, let's get them to the schools that president obama said they could not go to. host: the administration announced they will no longer be deporting younker illegal immigrants, those who came to the u.s. does children. the dream act-age eligible immigrants, those who came here as children. it was made in an announcement this morning by secretary napolitano, some 800,000 potentially being affected. president obama will speak more about that at 8:00 -- 1:15 p.m.

eastern. let's go next to the democratic line. who is on with us? caller: andy. i'm calling from kentucky. i'm a conservative democrat. i'm very concerned about the selection. i feel like all christians need to get out and help mitt romney. host: who did you vote for in 2008? caller: i voted for mr. mccain. host: but good to the democratic line. who is on with us? hello? you're on the air. hagerstown, maryland? caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i don't like the fact that every time mitt romney is

on the tv or publically speaking that he always breakings up obama's downfalls. he's human. i understand some of the things are a rational and uncalled for, but why is he constantly bringing himself up with his downfall? and i do not it think it is a good quality to have in president. i would appreciate it if he would stop, not that he will listen to me, but you do not have to bring yourself lot by putting other people down. your calls.taking the reminder on later coverage on c-span. bromley is starting a six-day tour -- romney is starting a six-day tour on this "every city

counts" tour. next up, robert in maryland. is tihis robert? caller: no. host: we're getting them mixed. caller: i adore tehe caller that mentioned that blacks wants to send children to better school. they want to shut down funding for kids to have opportunities to go to good schools whether they are public or charter schools. i would disagree with the last, because he mentioned you do not have to talk about other people. that's politics. barack obama is not a perfect

guy. they're both running to be president of the united states, they will bring up pickups and each other -- hiccups and each other's mistakes. on this monday, he will be doing the second conservative black forum on capital hill from 1-3. one day, my dream is that being a black conservative will no longer be an anomaly. host: on the democratic line, robert? caller:i just wanted to say mitt romney's plan for america is to criticize obama in to kill any progressive plan obama has put

forth. he has no plan. what do you have to offer the american people? absolutely nothing. he has no plan to revise the economy. host: robert, when you compare what romney said today of the comments the president made yesterday or recent economic comments, how do you think they care? caller: i think obama has a plan. the economy has not progressed as much as we would like and we have a world recession going on right now. we have to depend on other people in this world to keep our economy improving. the have offered us nothing about how to straighten out the housing problem, do stuff about the banks, foreign policy. he has nothing but criticism. host: if you more minutes of your phone calls. birmingham, alabama are you there?

but i'm not are, republican. host: my fault. caller: and calling because i noticed -- [unintelligible] everything is talking about is to benefit the wealthy. i do believe if we give him another term that he will be able to perfect what he's trying to do because congress is not helping him. they're holding him down because they want him to fail. they said they wanted him to fail from day one. that is their party. yes, i do feel like all of these

sound byetes i look at all day every day, they only show what they want toyou to see and hear. host: we will cover the president this afternoon at 1:15 p.m. at the white house. later this afternoon, heading to milford, new hampshire, at 2:30 p.m. eastern, this is the beginning of his six-day, five state tour. if you miss any of this, you can find it all on-line at c- span.org/campaign2012. at this event, mass. senatorial candidates elizabeth warren as well as a senatorial candidate spoke to the group in providence. we will look at that now.

>> hello. thank you all for coming. we should have a good panel today with great speakers. i just want to share some statistics with you about this panel. right now, women hold 17% of the seats in the u.s. senate. clearly arevoices not being heard enough. we saw this on cable news and the people talking about this are male pundits and a male lawmakers. this a democrat bravely took to the house floor and returned to

her sad story of being sexually abused and raped. on these issues, on energy, on national security, the economy, and what happens to a woman's body, it has an important role to play. we have a record number of democratic women running for the senate. there are six up for reelection. there are two female senators that are retiring. congress could shift dramatically depending on the outcomes of the 2012 election. today, we will hear from three women running for congress. we have elizabeth warren in massachusetts.

both of them are running for the senate. first, i would like to welcome d'arcy running in washington's first district for congress. [applause] >> eu all may remember me as the geeky is candid it ever to remember -- candidate ever to run for congress. this was one of the least helpful days, but you will know -- note the pajamas. the fact that i'm a geek is relevant to teh war on women. i started as a software developemt at lotus. i don't know how many of you

are old enough to ever use lotus, but they were better than microsoft office. it cost $99 in an era that they cost $395 but we were losing anyway. i wanted to understand why we were losing. i made my way to microsoft where it learned something very important. they were playing a completely different game. we thought if we build better software that we would win. at microsoft, what they understood was that it was incredibly important to think about how the 1,000th copy was going to be easier than the first.

they had realized it with office products that the single most important factor was you had to exchange documents with. they therefore boot strapped office into big corporations so that everyone that had to exchange documents with them had to use microsoft. they won because they understood what the game really was. i feel, a lot of the time, as democrats, we are the lotus of politics. we think it is all about policy, features sense. we have the better policy, we will win. i'm sorry to be the one to break this to all of you but it's not true. at the end of the day, this is a

game that's about power. the right wing understands that. if we want to win, we need to play the game that is really being played. [applause] the tools that we used to change behavior in other people is power which comes in two flavors. force or consent. anyone who has ever had a small child, they can tell you force does go very far and can send is where the real power is. that is an important thing to keep in mind because they spend most of their energy on force and very little on consent. this is a game we can win if we play it correctly. there are six basic types of economic power. who owns what?

political power, military, police, or court power. what stories do we tell ourselves about who we are? what story to tell ourselves about where we are supposed to be? and network power. who can we connect with? how far is our reach? it's important to understand that all six types are fundibil e. that is true for the other side as well. on economic powers, it can be either things that you buy to change the way the world is where things you choose not to spend money on to change how the world is. in the war on women, there is an obvious application of economic power. let's say, hypothetically

speaking, you did not like the koch brothers and you thought their investments in right wing of the structure was problematic to the future of our country. it happens that on a company called the georgia-pacific which makes a whole bunch of consumer products including dixie cups and brawny paper towels. we do not want women, who do 80% of the shopping, to buy brawny. it's difficult to remember all the products were not supposed to buy. let's make easy on them. if you ever see one of these devices in a gross restore, what we had an application you could use to scan a bar code on any product? [applause]

it would tell you where it was one issue we cared about. let's make it easier for people to exercise their economic power for change. political power is a lapel -- all about votes. i want to point out to all of you that turnouts this year is a real issue. we spend all of our time talking about that small slice of swing voters. these are the real numbers in my district. we up 519,000 that will vote, only 380,000 that are registered. 1% of the people in the district are the swing voters the boat every election.

the real interesting piece in here is the deal left goes left, the democrats do always vote, and the ones that do vote and the people who are not registered. this is a district in one of the highest turnout states in the country. but your to look at a comparable i graph for a state like texas, they would be half the size they are in this diagram. i have exactly one thing to ask -- get women to vote. [applause] military, police, courts power has been used in our favor to combat domestic violence as it was long we decided to desegregate the schools to export people in. if you are in my living room --

they are doing discrimination. the route to be some organization, like the national women's law center, that proactively goes in the fortune dippy and finds plaintiffs, sues them for violating equal pay wall -- pay law. in the new shareholder lawsuits for failing to disclose their risk because they have been discriminating against women which presents a legal liability. we have power. it is high time we use it. cultural power, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, are incredibly important. in the civil rights movement, to kill a mockingbird, as a book and a movie, changed an enormous

number of minds about are fairer system was in just three years. recently, we have seen something a parable on television. my dad was quite shocked as supportive gay marriage. he is a registered republican and in nebraska. he thought it was a terrible thing. i was talking to him the other day. he said, your uncle charlie is probably gave. that is a cultural change. it has now given us that everyone has a gay best friend. that has changed what will become possible. a boeing 2 -- i would ask a give

me 30 seconds that you do not applaud or say anything. statistically, but what i'm about to say is true about one- third of the women in this room. if you are one-third of the women who has had an abortion and is willing to come out about it, please stand up. wait, wait. boeingif you're willing to stah every woman who was willing to come out about having had an abortion, please join them in standing up. this is how we change these stories in people's heads. now you may applaud. [applause] we need to make it ok for women to come out about the choices that we make.

moral power, and on the left, we tend to think about this being of about religion. religion does have an important role l.a. building 10 cents. the idea that we should have others do unto us as we would do on to them as a very productive idea, but it's not the only form of moral power. there is a form of moral power we use on the left that is more powerful even than religion which is the use of protests to undermine consent in an unjust system. but me give you some examples of that. the use of protest to undermine consent in an unjust system. i have had 1 million baby boomers say to me we need a

march of washington. that's not what i'm talking about. there is a recipe for how you make protests work correctly. you have that people letter protesting that the audience considers to be innocent of any wrongdoing. this is why non-violence is so important. they pick up their rocket, carrying a gun, been a long workout as the innocent. they need to voluntarily put themselves in harm's way. the use of official force has to come down on them in a way that is widely communicated. let me give you some examples of such moments you can consider whether you think this is accurate. children being attacked during the civil rights movement.

the arab spring protests. occupy uc davis, occupy seattle. innocent people were willing to voluntarily put themselves in harm's way and subject themselves to the result force in a way that is widely communicated and change the world. it is high time we followed our great grandmothers leads and pass the equal rights amendment. [applause] this is a perfect opportunity for the use of moral power because the american public considers this, particularly

older women, as innocent as it gets. whether we are or not, which would be great, but finally we cannot change consent that people cannot hear us. we have to build networks so we can communicate with people. they can be any sort of communications mechanism. email, telephone, door-to-door, face-to-face. they can be the size of coffee cups -- thank you, starbucks. we have to build a communications network so we can communicate with the rest of the world. what can we do in the next year? i want to give you a set of things it would be possible to do in the next year to go on offense against the war on women. it is time to stop playing defense. we can exercise economic power

and boycott everything that comes out of the koch brothers machine. we can exercise political power and of the only thing we do is get women to vote, we win. we can exercise the court and police powers and enforce the laws that we have fought for and won already to force the largest corporations in the world to the right thing with respect to women. we can exercise cultural power and have women come out of the closet, castoff the shame, but in the embarrassment that the right of life has been put upon us and stand up tall for the choices that we make. we can exercise moral power and fight for something big. 80% think the constitution provides equal rights for women. this is not actually a

controversial idea but it matters. finally, we have to build networks. this is one of the biggest holes in the women's unit, we do not have effective networks. everyone in this room should be participating in some network or organization that communicates issues that are important to women. this is how we go on offense and win. with that, thank you so much for your attention. [applause] let's win. [applause]

nextt's welcome the senator from hawaii. [applause] >> i heard someone yell aloha. aloha. you can tell one from hawaii by the lei. and want to thank all of you that are here. it's a pleasure for me to join all of you. for those of you in hawaii or watching the streaming video of this, aloha to all of you, too. you're going to be hearing from elizabeth warren, soon. elizabeth is running for the senate, just like i am. mahalo.

in hawaii, we are running a truly innovative, modern campaign. when i announced this race, i did so in a video on youtube and we are communicating with literally thousands and thousands of supporters and voters all across the country through youtube, facebook. i'm so grateful to have all of you listening to me today. you are a big part of a modern, creative, innovative campaign. this truly is a there are clearer choices for the people of hawaii to make. i'm looking to you for your help in enabling the people to

understand those choices. some of you are familiar with my opponent in the primary election. his name is ed. [boos] you have heard of him. he is a blue dog democrat who ran against senator akaka in 2006. he was serving in the house, he took alarming votes that were on the side of the republicans. for example, he took a vote that took away funding from planned parenthood. he also shared some things in common with the republican candidate in this race, linda. they both supported the iraq war and the bush tax cuts.

you can boo. we should get excited about the choices that the people of hawaii have. the last time linda was on the national stage, she was introducing sarah palin to the welt as she supported sarah palin's nomination to be vice president of our country. then she went on a campaign trail for that ticket and she took some potshots at barack obama, who really was born in hawaii. [cheers] she is out there collecting a lot of conservative money from all across the country. i know that this is a group that

is so concerns about -- concerned about citizens united and the corrosive effect of that supreme court case on our elections. she is accepting a lot of conservative money. has already been an independent expenditure. rolfe is waiting in the wings. sarah is waiting in the wings. as well as linda. the u.s. chamber of commerce has spent a half million dollars in hawaii perform to her image from the republican that she is to someone that is a moderate -- whatever that is, for a republican. are there such people left? i don't think so. self, i have the longtime champion and advocate on progressive issues, progressive policies and women's rights. strong women is something i know about. when i was a young girl growing up in japan my mother endured a

terrible marriage at the hands of an abusive husband. at was my father. i never got to know him very well at all. by the time i was 3 years old my mother had me live with her parents, grandparents, in another part of japan. then she did something really brave. my mother planned in secret to take her three children and herself and not just away from my father to another part of japan but totally out of the country. by the time i was a it appears old we boarded a big ship and sailed for the haven of america for a new life. landed in hawaii. i'm always grateful that my mother chose hawaii. i'm grateful. she took the courage to make a new life for us in hawaii.

you can imagine the early years were tough. she had no job security, low paying jobs, no health care. growing up in hawaii not knowing english or anything, my greatest fear was that my mother would get sick and that still not able to go to work. if she did not go to work, there was no money. i know what it's like for families in this country struggling to put food on the table, keep their homes, keep a roof over their heads. i know about strong women. when i first got elected to the house of representatives in hawaii, i was one of the founders of the bipartisan women's caucus in the state legislature. it is one that caucus formed that we were able to pass legislation that helped women, their families to reform our sexual assault laws, and to do the type of things i know we all care about. there really is a war on women

in congress. while we have made progress, and one of the greatest things i participated in in this time is when president obama signed the lilly ledbetter law into effect. [applause] i was there. that was progress. that was when democrats were still in control of the house. every single day that i serve in congress there is bill after bill and there's a war on women going on garret w. know what some of these bills are. the blunt amendment would actually have empowered employers to decide what kind of health care coverage a woman could have, based on their own moral perspective. that amendment was defeated by only a few votes.

shortly after that was defeated in the senate, my opponent in the general election, linda, had a fund-raiser in washington where roy blunt was a featured guest. we can believe that i let people know it through the internet that this was going on. we managed to raise the money. this is what we mean about the power of the message, the power of what you all do, that we can get this kind of information out right away so people can respond. we need are people to be mobilized, motivated, so that we can elect a kind of people who are going to make sure that the war on women does not a deepening in the house or the senate. one of the more recent bills we had in the house that passed, sadly, was the bill that would abortionsnalize it abortiod

that are called sexual selection abortions. to many cultures, particularly preventedtures, this presente doctors from asking a woman why she is having an abortion, is this because you think the fetus is a great? how can we criminalize a decision that should be up to the woman and her doctor to make? but the loss still passed. this is the kind of thing that is happening every single day in the house of representatives. the only thing stopping these kinds of bills from passing is the fact this senate is still held by a democratic majority. the republicans need only four votes to get there.

they're banking on linda, their no. 1 draft pick, to take the hawaii seat from new republicans. their first votes will be to make mitch mcconnell the leader of the senate. [bees] -- [boos] that would take the country in the direction we don't want to go. women's rights as well as reproductive rights and nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, equal pay. when you think that we have to have a battle over the reauthorization of the violence against women act because some conservative republicans decided that we should make it weaker. sadly, that version passed in

the house. i voted against it. [applause] i've voted against it along with a lot of other people in the house, because it did not protect women on the basis of sexual orientation. it did not protect american indian women who are abused. it did not protect women on the basis of their immigration status. it discriminated against all of these women on these bases. how can we call a law that says violence against women act with these kind of provisions in their? the battle's going on. that is why every day that goes by that we are not supporting a progressive candidate in the house and the senate is a day that strengthens the republicans, conservatives in

our country, karl roves,s the, the sarah palins, the u.s. chamber of commerce, those folks, to get in there and change things around. i'm looking to you for help to make sure that does not happen in hawaii or anywhere else in this country. i think that, clearly, the senate could have more diversity. [applause] and i bring quadruple diversity to the senate, because i'm a woman, i will be the first asian women ever to be elected to the u.s. senate -- [cheers] i am an immigrant. i am a buddhist.

[cheers] when i said this at one of my gatherings, somebody said, yes, but are you gay? i responded, nobody's perfect. [cheers] let us all work together for the kind of more perfect union that cares about equal protection, equal opportunity, justice for our people. we need to get going, let us work together. i'm counting on each and everyone of you for that kind of support, not just for me but for all the other good people running in this election. let us not have citizens united and all those focused who are backing our opponents. let's not let them win. i need you. we need new spiryou. [bidding the crowd for well in

hawaiian language] >> ladies and gentlemen, elizabeth warren. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thanks so much. you guys will have to live through my voice. i apologize. it was not the convention that did it to me. yinh.s the part spanx you to marry and the entire netroots nation team for your amazing work in making this

a possible. mary.ank you to i was here after the president signed the dodd-frank law, two years ago. after that speech i spent nearly four years standing up to the consumer financial protection bureau. -- for the consumer protection bureau. we worked hard to stop the traps on credit cards and mortgages and bank fees and to start the process for repairing a broken consumer credit market. this agency has the capacity to help millions of people across the country. it won't fix everything that is sinking american families, but it will go along way toward repairing a big hole in the

boat. the problem is there are so many holes that need repairing. today we face a choice between two fundamentally different we build a how future. today's republicans call for tax cuts for the wealthiest and fewer regulations on wall street. thank about that. they want to give the richest and the most powerful more money and more power. and that the same time they want to cut investments in education, infrastructure, and science. they argue that is how we will build a more successful and powerful country. their vision boils down to a single thing -- i've got mine

and the rest of you are on your own. progressives have a different view. we believe we must invest together in the things we cannot build alone. and we believe in rules for markets so that we have a level playing field for our economy. that's it for us. republicans claim they believe in markets. but anyone will tell you a market without rules is not a market. it is a place where the most powerful come to hammer on the least powerful. progressives understand that markets are like football, that every game needs rules and a referee in with officials to enforce the rules. without rules and a referee, it is not football, it is a

mugging. [applause] that is the big picture and that is why i'm running for the united states and senate. [cheers and applause] these competing visions of america are playing out right now in washington it and all across this country. the republican voting record and the voting record of my republican opponent scott brown makes this competition clear. i will mention four examples of at how romney-brown's vision goes to politics. when some of us were working to rein in wall street, the republicans were fighting to attend to nail. scott brown personally held the

reforms hostage as he negotiated to weaken the rules and to give the big banks a $19 billion break. scott brown and his republican buddies voted against funding for summer jobs and voted twice to lead the interest rate on student loans double. just this week scott brown and his republican buddies voted for the second time against equal pay for equal work. just a few months ago he co- sponsored a lot to let employers block access to birth control and routine cancer screenings on health insurance. [boos] scott brown and his republican buddies voted to limit the epa's authority and repeatedly voted

to give billions in subsidies and to big oil companies. if you have any doubt about where the romney-brown republicans stand, just consider this, the republican nominee mitt romney has said that he would repeal all financial reform. the republican nominee mitt romney said that people who are concerned about income inequality are just -- he said that corporations are people. mitt, corporations are not people. [laughter] people have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they laugh, they cry, they

live, and they die. learn the difference. [cheers and applause] mitt, learned this -- we don't run this country for corporations, we run it for people. we are progressives and we stand up for people. we stand for families. we believe in making investments in education and in building a future for our kids. we stand for jobs. we believe in putting people to work, to rebuild the transportation system, and investing in clean energy. we stand for working people. we believe in the right to unionize and in collective

bargaining. [cheers and applause] we stand for expanding equality and opportunity for all americans. equal pay for equal work. marriage equality. civil rights. and justice. we stand for small businesses and for the millions of people who work every day to build a better future. and we stand for accountability and a level playing field so no your purse on main street or your pension on wall street. real people are getting

hammered and they are counting on me to stand up for them. let me be clear, i am not backing down. [cheers and applause] but i cannot do this alone. in. is where you come i need the people of netroots nation. i'm counting on you for your help. the president is counting on you for your help. we're all counting on you. but i want something more than winning an election. i want to change the national conversation. i want will change. --real change. it is up to us to put the wind in our own sales. with your support, i know we can do this.

are you ready to do this? are you really ready? because we need to do this. thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you. [laughter] >> elizabeth, you are over here. i first wanted to jump into an issue of that will likely come up. a new poll by the new york times and cbs finds only 24% of the public wants health care reform.

is this something congress should take up immediately if obama is reelected? >> 24% of the public, how much have we gotten out there in savings? not very much. [unintelligible] i live in massachusetts and am proud to be from massachusetts. "the affordable care act has a lot of features that are important to us. kids until the age of 26 can stay on their parents' policy.

this is our one big chance to find ways to bring health care costs under control, to invest in research, so that we can get better outcomes at lower-cost. the first step is we need to get out there and make the case for "the affordable care act. i'm ready to do that. >> you think this is something congress should take up again if the president is reelected? >> we need to explain to the american people every single day what the benefits of "the affordable care act" are. >> can i jump in o? i must say that it we knew that we were really not getting the message out clearly. it distresses me when i saw the figures. what it said to me was there are so many good parts to the health care law that it's clear to me

that the messaging is still not out there. we need to do a better job. there are millions of people -- out. being helped we're not allowing insurance companies to charge women more just because they are women. we need to get the word out that women are helped by this health care law as well as young people and seniors. millions of people being helped by this health care law and we have not done as good a job as we could. that's where you all come in again. the power of the message is amazing. you did that when we dealt with the susan g. komen issue, how you mobilized everybody. within a day they decided to

keep funding planned parenthood. so the mobilization and the education is key. health care costs in this country are not going to go down unless we do changes and continue to push for the kinds of reforms that will enable everyone in our country to have health care. that is their right. >> since you were in congress and saw how acrimonious it was, it will be an issue if the supreme court strikes it down. is it wise for congress to take this up again? >> we need to, because there are millions of people in our country who otherwise would be left out. 40 million people in our country without health care. it is not an issue that will go away. we need to have focused leadership that will continue to bring this to the forefront. i am hopeful that the supreme court is not going to do a 5 to 4 decision.

i hope the court will say this is going forward, to affect changes to protect the safety and welfare of our people. if it is that decision, it would say that it is a politically motivated decision. >> i have yet to talk to a voter who thinks it would be a good idea to allow insurance companies to say that they will not insure a person recovering from leukemia. i have yet to talk to a towho thinks it's a good idea to have insurance companies to discriminate against women for breast cancer coverage.o or who thinks it's a good idea to let insurance companies benefit.

[unintelligible] >> there's a proposal being circulated by some house democrats that pushed minimum wage from $5 to $4. mitt romney says it's not needed. and there's some who have not signed up on this. do you think it would be wise for democrats to push more in the minute one wage? >> >> i think we should have minimum wage and have it go up with the consumer price index. [applause] >> so what is washington state?

we're $8 in massachusetts. >> it's about $10 an hour right now. >> that's interesting. that's amazing. the question about structural change is an important one. we have come to understand that this is the one place we have not acknowledged so minimum wage can no longer continue to go down over time. it's how we structure in building the minimum wage for all working families. >> i voted to increase the minimum wage as a member of congress and so i like the idea of tagging it to some kind of an index. at the same time, what we need to do is to focus on creating jobs in this country. there are 14 million people who are still without jobs. 40,000 in hawaii.

we need to get our economy going. that is the thing that we have been focused on in the house and senate and we have not. that's the thing that the people of hawaii tell me that they are concerned about the most. let's create jobs. let's get our economy going. [applause] >> let's turn to foreign policy now. how should people that care about the women's rights the war in afghanistan? >> the principle problem that women have in afghanistan is a cultural and economic one. and the status of women in that country is traditionally very low. what we found in other parts of the world that similar culturally is that economically empowering women doing things

like giving them cell phones to communicate with each other, making sure that their television portrayals that people are watching are empowering to women do a tremendous amount to change the outcome. and what we really want is a functional society in afghanistan that protects the human rights groups. everyone there, including women. we'll get there by helping them change their culture. [applause] >> i would think this is right. i don't think we make these changes through war. we make these changes through people and it's true in afghanistan and it's true in other parts of the world. we make investments in women and when we do that, we make investments in families and investments in country. [applause] >> i very much agree with both our panelists and i also want to acknowledge that i doubt very

much that women's rights and the trafficking of women and all these human rights issues that are really women's rights issues also would not have been in the forefront and i really -- this is why when you elect women, it matters. [applause] so what hasn't done in this congress -- [unintelligible] trying not get planned parenthood funded and g.o.p. attempts. is this enough? what if any legislation would you like to see that expands women's access and should congress and the administration be pushing these pieces of legislation even if they don't have a chance to pass it? >> well, you know, it's really hard right now. i can say it this way.

i think the same principle you just talked about. it's -- [unintelligible] it's about a whole attitude toward women. reproductive rights and economic rights are deeply interwoven. [applause] and it is -- [unintelligible] they work in tandem and they are working in tandem to the disadvantage of women. we need to win them not by a little bit, we need to win them by a lot. this is the point about changing the national conversation. we have to get throughout and make these changes. >> do you think that has done enough in the 2012 election? a lot of people think the war on

women is about reproductive rights than economic rights. >> you cannot disentangle the two. it's about the rights of people across this country. [applause] and we have to get out there and speak up. >> i agree with elizabeth. i do think we should go on offense and i said earlier i think we should fight for the passage of the equal rights amendment and guarantee in the constitution of the united states that women will be equally protected in our country. [applause] >> you know, about 40 years ago the very first political letter i ever wrote to our congressional delegation in hawaii, i was in college. that kind of gives you an idea how mature i am. but it was a letter to support abortion rights because in those days, we did not have that and you would think that is a battle that should have been won but here we are, here we are in

2012, still fighting for women's rights to choose without the hundreds and hundreds of eliminations that have been put in place -- limitations that chips away at a woman's right to choose. i'm so glad that there are young women waking up to the possibility that they're not even going to exercise that choice so eternal vigilance is necessary not just in terms of the right to choose, but choice. you know, we passed the equal pay law so many years ago. and we're still fighting that battle. it still takes women until april 17 to make the same amount of money that males make. so eternal vigilance and we need to leck people who have the kind of perspective that we have. and that you have. elections matter. we have to mobilize our people. get out to vote because with citizens united out there trying to do it and all the voters

oppression that is going to happen and all of our races, we need energize and mobilize our people so that they know what's at stake in this election. [applause] >> and how would you respond to people who say that the reason women make less because of the personal choices that they make? >> we already know that that's not the case. we already know that there's example after example of women who to do the same job as men and who are not accorded equal pay. and you know, that's what the ledbetter law is all about. i just saw another piece where michelle obama was talking about barack obama's grandmother who was paid far less for doing the kind of work. it goes on across thundershower country. we know this. >> do people really believe it'sst it's about personal choices?

it should be equal pay for equal work. [applause] it's not just because of personal choices that women are making. [applause] >> how would you respond to many republicans who say that it is unnecessary, you know, unnecessary regulation? >> it's unnecessary if you're the making the same dollar as women are making. [applause] >> it is a necessary argument though. [unintelligible] to support themselves to support the children, many of them have -- if you do the same job and accept the same pay. it's a bed rock issue to us and it is a bed rock judgment issue. [applause]

>> there is a quote that white women -- such as abortion, family planning and contraception. [unintelligible] i want your thoughts on what you think and why there is such a disparity then the two sides. >> what was the question? >> 3 in 10 women believe there is a war on reproductive rate. >> it's clear that there is this principle of thought on reproductive rights. part of it is maybe people aren't paying attention. do they not watch rachel mado? part of it is an education

issue. and sometimes, it takes something being taken away to wake people up and i hope that we're not going to have to wait to that point. they have passed hundreds and hundreds of laws on the books that make it tougher for a woman to exercise that choice to the point where some of them have to go to another state in order to act on just regular health care. >> you know, two points around this one. one may be a lot of women believe in 2012, it simply cannot be true, that women can't pass a law for equal pay for equal work. women can't have access for birth control. this is 2012. are you kidding me? is this really about how many of

our political conversation go forward? [unintelligible] does -- all of the republicans stand around and it's about hundreds of things. it was about birth control, liberty, freedom, it was about opportunities. you know, it was aboutering else. and this is really a big part of the problem. [unintelligible] the conversation is all somewhere else.

it's not just about sending people to congress. it is about changing this conversation. that's the only way we're going to get real change. that's the only way we can effect change. [applause] >> i have a young woman who works in my campaign and she couldn't believe that the republicans are trying to restrict access stose birth control. it steamed unconceivable to her. and she and i had number of conversations about it and i finally convinced her that they were actually doing this but it took a while. one of the things that the republicans do is they substitute out good intent for whatever they do, regardless of whether actual intent is. so they're trying to take away birth control. that's about religious liberty. and the ability of employers to exercise their religious liberty

on all of the rest of us. we have to pay attention when they talk about what their pretend intent is and we need to be willing to speak clearly to the american public and say they claim that's what it's about. they are not telling you the truth. what they're doing. [applause] what they're doing is about controlling women and it's wrong. [applause] >> for a party that is all about overregulation, you know, so there's also an assault about the clean water act, the clean air act, the national labor relations, except when it comes to women and our choices. they're all over it in terms of regulations. so we need to point out these

inconsistencies if not hypocrisy on the part of these people. and i do see this as a war on women. i don't use these kinds of words affirmativeously but when -- day after day to see anti-abortion, anti-choice bulletins, bad things being -- poison pills being put into all kinds of bills. you cannot but conclude that this is a concerted effort on the part of very, very conservative people in our country who are only swayed in the house particularly and clearly often in the senate. [unintelligible]

>> what do you think citizens united and women's voices. >> the answer -- on the voices of human beings. that's part of what's happening here. it's effectively the united states and supreme court saying that the corporation can grab the electoral process and they can squeeze the power that they want. [unintelligible] it takes one party to push that on citizens united. it should be independent spendture would have to disclose

who's funding them. it should be clear. [unintelligible] if we can push back on since united the corporation will run this country. >> karl rove rafse about 70 million dollars in under a year and 90% of that came from 12 people. i would say they were 12 guys. so yes, that is a way to frame the impact of since united that it's going to be another way for candidates pro women, pro-choice candidates to be defeated in the

polls and frankly, those were really citizens united to play out in this election cycle. the supreme court left us very little room in the house, left us very little room. i've come the conclusion that we really need to push for a constitutional amendment and this is yet another way that the support of -- without that, we're not going to be able to pass the constitution anticipate. equal rights amendment helped with the first state to ratify that. we didn't have all of you then. [applause] i think if we did, maybe we would have modified them. >> we do clearly need a constitutional amendment to overcome citizens united. i am sure corporations are not people but we also in the short term, nort have any chance of having that constitutional eargets in order to have any chance of disclosure are going to need two things from all of

you and everyone you can talk to one, you have to talk to your friends and neighbors about politics and candidate asks things that matter. [applause] because karl rove will drown. out then airwaves and the only way for us to combat that is for people to be talking to their friends and neighbors. and -- and the second thing is i can almost guarantee you that in the general election, karl rove will be spending money -- sending money to all three of us higher on stage and we are going to need your help. elizabeth did an amazing job of raising millions of dollars in small contributions from ordinary americans. that is how we can take back our voices and take back our country. [applause] >> i think we have time for maybe one more question. i mean, we talked about getting

more women's voices in congress and the importance it has, but do women work together at all differently if i've heard this from some senators when they're in a real meeting with other republican women, they get along better. things go better. i want to get your thoughts on how -- and if you think women in congress will need more by power in things getting done. -- -- bipartisanship in things getting don't >> when i was legislature in hawaii, there were only eight members at that time who were women out of 51 and some of us got together and said let's form a bipartisan caucus and the guy said you don't want to be that and we noticed we were not able to pass a lot of the legislations that was to support families. i wanted to push toward changing the sexual assault laws. we formed a bipartisan caucus

and guess what? bill after bill, and also because women work in a collaborative cooperative rate, people in the community are advocates and we were able to pass law after law. and the guys did not want to be the one who is were against the women's package. it worked. and i've also had the opportunity to do these high round campaigns with elizabeth and others that running. there are five talented women who are running. me, elizabeth, heidi from north dakota, shell through burkely from nevada and cami from wisconsin. [applause] when we get elected, we will be the first women. we already get along! [applause] and so when people see the dynamics, it's really great. people can envision.

here are women who are going to be able to work together and get the agenda going on behalf of the people of our country in ways that we haven't seen. [applause] >> so you asked earlier about afghanistan. they had parliamentary elections in afghanistan recently and they set aside the number of women that have to be in public. more women were elected in afghanistan than the quota required. that 26% of the afghan parliament is now parliament. which means they have more women they have in their parliament than we have in our con aggression. if we want to talk about the -- congress. if we want to talk about the status of women, the fact that we have 17% of the congress that is women is an enormous problem. and you all can help fix that. [applause] >> you know, i'm just going to

add a -- one thing. if you get yourself in a position to one of the united states senator or the united states house of representatives and you're a woman, believe me, -- [unintelligible] >> yeah. [applause] >> we're here. >> money laws and dealing with wall street issues. there's never a line in the ladies' room. [laughter] but, you know, it makes you --

you're going to find out what's in your own card. and that's what teaches the real firm nation to make the connection we need to make. [applause] >> thank you all very much. >> thank you. [applause] >> the administration announced today that it's going to stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants to came to the u.s. as children and have since led

law-abiding lives. the announcement made this morning by the secretary. we will have that live for you here on c-span. we take you our road to the white house coverage takes you on board the reporters bus, the media bus as the tour gets underway for mitt romney. his six-day bus tour. this is the media bus, following the campaign heading from vermont to milford, vermont. and we will take you live there as well. he will be hosting a ice cream social in vermont and that will be live at 2:30 eastern. while we wait for the president at 1:15, a discussion from this morning's "washington journal" on civility in politics. >> also 63% of those who

responded said civility was -- expect civility to worsen and blame politicians and 40% say they accept incivility as an inherent part of the political process. one of the people that gotten an early look at this poll is roger simon. and he wrote a column on it taking a look at that and some of the other statistics. these are chief political columnists. good morning, mr. simon. guest: good morning. host: your initial thoughts in the united states and how it's influenced by politics. guest: that things were bad. that americans overwhelming number of americans perceive this as a country that is rude. and yet and that we don't treat each other politely. and that common courtesy as large livannished from many,

many aspects of american life. people don't like it. they think it's harming the country. and they don't know that two do about it either. host: did the poll emphasize what part of the political process when it comes to the incivility that responsibilities have the most problem with? -- respondents have the most problem with? -- problems with? guest: the number one group or institution that is being deemed for incivility is political campaigns. overwhelmingly, 76% of americans think that uncivil -- they're uncivil. that is followed by government itself. and number three, you get into things like pop culture and the american public and then the

media. those are bunched pretty much together. and then strangely enough, school is to blamed. professional sports. the occupied wall street movement. all of these without giving you the specific numbers, all these are above 50%. republicans in congress are blamed by 56% of americans. democrats and congress by 51% of americans. so you see that basically, anybody associated with government, our politicians and especially the political campaigns are considered as really behaving in ways that's detrimental to american life. host: one of the facts of the polls or one of the things they took a poll of was civility influence on 2012 voting decision and this is those rated at somewhat or very important saying that when it careful to

positions on specific issue, 86% said it was important. when the way the candidates treats with people, 84% said it was important. down from 90% last year. and it takes a look at the tone or level of civility and those rating it somewhat important when it comes to the their voting decision, 83%. whether it means for those running for office currently? guest: well, it mean that candidates perceived as being rude or impolite won't get votes. the trouble is in most races, i'm guessing as the public per sees both candidates that way. -- perceives both candidates that way. it becomes a situation where many members of the public feels that there's not much of a choice. and the presidential matchup for

instance, i think mitt romney mitt romney was considered more unsettled than president obama. the poll was conducted in late april. you do not know what it is today. the difference was 39 to 33. not a great spread. in fact, both were under 50% in terms of the american public thinking they were uncivil. it is not a great number, but it is hard to believe the presidency will turn on that issue. host: and what you cited in the poll, you mentioned mr. romney with 39%. president obama, civil at 59%. i don't know if you specifically talk to politicians, but how do

think they perceive their influence on stability not only in politics in general, and maybe on america at large? guest: i am guessing, i think some would say, look, they're engaged in a zero sum game, for one person to win, the other has to lose. you know, negativity in american political advertising is almost the rule of the day. it used to be considered a hard and fast political rule that you had to establish your positive qualities before you could go negative. that is no longer considered true. campaign's start from day one with negative ads about the other one, about your opponent.

sometimes they skip positive ads about themselves entirely. you know, when we see the president of the nine states, in this case was president obama giving a speech to congress -- president of the united states, in this case it was president obama giving a speech to congress, and a congressman shouts out "liar," you sort of realize how far we have, or dropped as a country. host: looking at civility in the united states, especially the influence on politics. to find out more, politico dot com is where you can turn to print mr. simon, thank you for your time. the number we highlighted, taking a look at one of the

stats, 81% believe incivility is harming america's future. if you want to talk specifically about that number or the idea of civility in politics and how much politics and fled disability, you can do so by calling in. you can always send us a tweet or email or reach out to us on facebook where we will read some of those comments as well. cape cod, massachusetts, a democrat but tickets are waiting. what you think about the role of politics and how it plays on civility? caller: kiki for taking my call. i think politics -- thank you for taking my call but i think politics is setting a new standard that we did not used to have. we used to be very respectful of

politicians, regardless of whether we were democrats or republicans. we treated each other with respect. i think people took note of that and behaved accordingly. i think now that the media has gone involved, the media presents an opinionated news and encourages america's attitudes. they focus on bad things, then immediately want to know a response. what you want to say to him? it is almost a provoking up a fight that they can carry on negatively, instead of ignoring those things or actually repudiating them like we used to. john mccain did a few years ago when a lady in the audience said something negative and incorrect about president obama.

[unintelligible] i do not necessarily agree, but it does not mean he is not a good man. i think the diminishing of the rule of petitions [unintelligible] they can pretty much do what they want once they get in, because no one wants to be bothered with the back and forth nastiness. host: that was story on our democrat line but about 24, facebook right now read one of them from gloria adding -- dividing families as well. if you want to reach us on twitter, joseph did. civility is always good, disagree agreeably. second call this morning, illinois, republican. guest:

caller: i hope i have good reception. i had to come outside to talk. it is sad that our history is going to be talking about this with politicia and their incivility and not be able to make decisions, not be able -- they have to compromise. they do not want to compromise. it is just sad they go to this can,me so that's they what's best for america. both sides have "what's best for america's crime the best is that we get things done. that is what is best. i'm just -- it is a sad tale that our children have to see, that we cannot work together to

make things happen. politics, whether you like it or not, they do run the way we live in this country. host: so it is reflected in the process of the day-to-day process? caller: yes, the day-to-day process. the system is great, but we have people in there now that they will not give, they will not budge because of their stand or their beliefs. they have that right, but they're supposed to represent me, you know, you and i. they are representing themselves and what they think. it is important we vote for those folks who are going to be able to get things done, because they cannot get things done. the group we have in there, they just cannot work together. they do not want to work together. host: our topic is civility in

the political process. 81% saying it is harming the u.s. future. you can agree or disagree, comment if he wanted you may want to talk about in general the role of civility in the political process. call us. los angeles, california, democrat line. caller: i just think it is unbelievably hysterical that incivility is talked about. the government is uncivil to all the people in the united states. people all over the world are screwing the little people. it is nothing but the wealthy landowners, and we are being thrown in the river. there is a famous saying, and i think you all know it, "let theme at cake."

look at the children. they cannot fix their teeth or their car and you're having to do it for them. everything is out of control. that is all i have to say. this government has taken the declaration of independence and thrown it into the sewer. host: our previous caller said the political process is a reflection of the people. caller: the people, what options have we got? what options have we got? big money is blasting public relations. everybody sees sound bites and they're like, this is what is happening. no one studies, works, listens to anything else but what is on the television. we have been duped for a long time, since the beginning of civilized man. host: michael, republican line.

caller: good morning. civility in today's politics? well, we see it every day. we feel it. we feel it in our pocketbooks what is going on in the country. the choice is clear, america. romney for president 2012. host: give some examples. caller: you got the bomb throwers and you have the people that brushed that off and get to the point. in the end, the closer we get to the election, the clearer the choice becomes. if anybody watched the speeches yesterday, romney and president obama were talking up their election. it is obvious, there were both civil, but the rest of the day,

you can watch whatever news channel and their sniping at each other. there have been a few people on there that really get nasty, then they apologize and start over. you know, then it gets heated again and they get nasty began. it will calm down after the election on president romney takes the white house and we will all get back to normal. host: michael, republican rick "the boston globe" had a write up on the speeches. for mr. obama, seeking to make it a choice between two economic agendas and not just a referendum on the last four years. commitment to building an economy where everyone gets a fair shot. mr. romney, that message was freedom read -- was freedom.

chicago, illinois, political instability or civility in politics. go ahead. caller: i wanted to make a comment. it can be directly correlated to the demise of the fairness option, which was part of the republican agenda and also the rise of the first partisan news network, being fox news and followed up by msnbc. those two factors have driven incivility more than anything else in the political discourse. host: florida, republican line. caller: i would like to say regarding the matter of incivility, i really hold speaker john boehner primarily

responsible from a leadership role, in this case, and lack of leadership. we need congress to act. as the speaker, he has the responsibility to recognize the importance of compromise, yet you generally find him at the center of the incivility, surrounding himself with the tea partyers and how we're going to reduce the debt at all costs but what is going to do is destroy this country. we have a very limited time frame to take action, and it is going to require leadership by the speaker to bring congress to gather and take the action necessary. the man seems to pride himself on scott brown and coming from poverty and growing up to become the speaker of the house. now take a leadership role and do something positive. host: such as what? caller: bringing people

together, recognizing he is surrounded by hard-line tea partiers who are doing what they believe is correct in demanding deficit reduction and only deficit reduction. but he needs to recognize ,no, it is not going to work that way. >> allowing for tax increases? caller: he will have to look at spending reduction and revenue enhancing. you're not going to accomplish this as a problem the country has an improving economy and getting jobs going simply by focusing on reducing the deficit. host: a joint poll from looking at civility and america with these specific look or aspect of politics. 84 percent sign saying politics is becoming increasingly unstable. 81% saying is harming america's future.

72%, it deters qualified people from going into public service. 69 percent intense political disagreement between democrats and republicans can no longer be discussed cybele. -- civilly. send us an e-mail, tweet or facebook. houston, texas, good morning. caller: thank you for having me. i was going to say, i think was mentioned earlier about the influence of money and politics. i think what people kind of rally around when we see the low approval ratings for politicians and all the numbers you just mentioned, it is the fact because money can have such a

big influence on politics, it has become almost to the point where politicians do not necessarily answer to their voters as much as they do their campaign donors. it is not because they're bad people, it is just the way the system is set up. it is really tough now with the system -- citizens united case. they said it is unconstitutional to restrict money from certain limits. i think that is really the only feasible fix, if you want to fix the system in that way. host: baltimore, maryland, independent line. baltimore, maryland? i pushed the wrong button.

caller: how are you doing? you said 84%, i think i'm part of the 16% bid i think it is too subtle. i think these politicians play patty cake with each other, high fives after work. a little bit of kabuki theater and the senate and house. the more they cooperate, the worse it gets. i think you have a least two sharply divided political parties or not even three or four -- but that will not happen. host: how would you define several? caller: i guess lack of physical confrontation. if you say something that hurts someone else's feelings, they're not getting anything done and they skirt the issues.

it is a kabuki theater. everyone knows their part. they know what to say. they apologize, this person really did not mean that. nothing is really getting done. at the same time, as soon as they get together for one part can peel off a couple of republicans or democrats, you get things like obamacare. we have the immigration issue pushed through almost. these things do not help the american public. it is increasingly more civil -- it is a boys' club. in this case, also a ladies' club. host: charles, on twitter says --

are democrat line, arkansas. caller: i think the program mrs. the key point -- misses the key point. the haft -- you have to go back to the so-called gingrich revolution in the 1990's. they decided to get back the decades they had not been to a person's or co-chairman of committees, the big budgets they had not had a controlling voice in the congress. they have got a mighty good job of that. the media has contributed to

this so-called incivility. c-span, especially. it is you try to present a balanced view of an unbalanced subject. it is not the democrats that are contributing to instability in congress, it is the republicans. you all try to split the apple as if it is equal on both sides. it is not. it is the republicans to have an agenda of bringing this country to a point of the smallest amount of government. the only government republicans want in this country is the police power to protect the money of the richest people. host: are democrat line, arkansas. you can continue to call and taking a look at the annual

congressional financial disclosure statement that are made by members of congress. to some of the highlights from these stories, the first one. "wall street journal" lawmakers bet on stock and horses. it talks about the financial disclosure forms showing house speaker john boehner invested some of the republican's least favorite companies. freddie mac, fannie mae. $15,000 to about $50,000 in stock last summer. in january, 15,000 to $50,000 in fannie mae.

later on it highlights talking about the investments turned specifically to greece. despite turmoil in greece, one lawmaker decided to build up a financial stake in a large greek bank. the stakes were between $1,001.15000 dollars each in the national bank of greece on five occasions, the records show. its stock price fell more than $20 a share to less than $2 a share by the end of the year. meanwhile, rep loretta sanchez won between $1,001.15000 dollars from a horse race in california another story on this can be found in the pages of "washington post." saying been pershing, writing that the senate majority leader harry reid collins between $100,000.200 $50,000 on his home mortgage.

if you were to look below the fold, a few more facts. taking a look at finances, specifically senator reid. assets totaling at least $2.8 million. his gop counterpart, mitch mcconnell, or at least $9.7 million including a money-market fund worth more than $5 million as part of an inheritance from his father-in-law. if you want to look for yourself. san antonio, texas, republican line. caller: on the civility in politics, if anyone has launched -- watched the senate

and house of representatives in 2006 through 2010, i was embarrassed at the way they call each other names. they took the whole process all the way back to the days of people shooting each other with guns. it was just embarrassing to me. i think we have some stability in the process that goes on in the senate and house of representatives.

caller: they would not discuss it. they just pushed it through. they said you have to sign it before you could read it. it was like a bunch of kids gone crazy. cnbc is definitely -- cnn is finally becoming a little more balanced. host: at what level would you say incivility exists today? caller: to me, 20% in the 1990's. george bush ran the second time, that was the highest i have ever seen in it.

it was horrible. that is what has me so angry right now. i have not yet decided who to vote for. baryon is making such a big thing about how obama is being treated so badly in the news. he has not even had a scratch of what president bush had to go through. that man was going through a war and everything and he had to put up with everybody. host: facebook, people are participating. the next call, sacramento, california. caller: thank you. mr. mcconnell and crew, wanted to make sure he was a onetime president.

everything he tried to put forward. highways, transportation, people talking about health care. we have spent more money on war and cannot even take care of our own people and make sure that health care. talking about hatred host: new breed, massachusetts. caller: it is not incivility, it is ideology. saying we did not spend enough, that we should be spending more even though we are borrowing 40%. why would they blame boehner? all he wants to do is try to balance the budget. the tea party is just getting fed up with spending, spending, spending. give us a break. thank you. host: florida, independent line.

caller: first, and this is about the instability, 81% say it is harming the u.s. future could i find it humorous that every single person that calls is saying they agree that incivility is harming the u.s., yet it is the other side's fall. that is exactly the beginning of with the true problem is. i wish people would take a look at what they're about to say on this show. they're talking about instability at the same time in the most partisan country i've ever seen in my life. the second quick point, it is read part of the story about money and politics from "the washington post." i think this is the true root of the problem. these politicians -- nobody finds that we're the only people in politics now are lawyers or

extremely rich people. on top of that -- there is no normal, regular, everyday people in politics. but i think the true problem is, people are making millions and millions of dollars on books, speaking tours. newt gingrich or bill clinton is making an ungodly amount of money going to colleges, this place and that place and speaking. the truth is, to be able to make the money they want to make in these speaking tours, they have to hike up the rhetoric as much as possible. look at how much money these people are making at fox news or msnbc. you had newt gingrich or sarah palin who really had a thing for like two months about whether or not they wanted to run for the presidency of the united states because they did not want to lose their contract with the news corporation. host: "the washington post" and others, supreme court decision

on the health care law.

host: pennsylvania. christine. democrats line. caller: the statistics you just read out line that president obama is a caring person. smaller government is codeword for unelected corporate control and since citizens united it has been pandemonium as far as commercials because these corporations have bought these commercials and they are buying our politicians, and that is really what is causing instability. smaller government leads on

elected -- on elected corporate control. corporations would like lower wages, no benefits, no health care, no unions and everyone goes down to the lowest common denominator. everyone is in pain who is not lawfully, which causes more instability, rapidly reaching the state of the third world country. these corporations are run in our country. president obama does care. he has a jobs bill out there that is absolutely opposed by the republican party and the jobs bill will hertz corp's parent host: victor on twitter says >> the president was at a fund- raiser last night in new york.

host: new york. joe, independent line. caller: good morning. it is not about civility. it is about results. who could provide jobs? who could get us back from the brink of economic scott -- economic collapse. have you ever watched the news and there has been a mass murder and everyone says he was always so polite? this is not about civility. this is about confidence. do we have anybody that has

answers to our problems? if you do, please speak up and we will know who to vote for. thank you. >> wisconsin -- host: wisconsin -- we will hang on for wisconsin. this is "the wall street journa"

tel wisconsin. brian, republican line. caller: these are all things president obama has said. punish your enemies. if republicans win it will be hand-to-hand comment. you can come along for the ride, but ride in the back. the election is over, john. high one. is this bipartisanship? i do not think so. >> fort hood texas. good -- host: for hud, texas. good morning. caller: one of the underlying reasons why there is instability

is because of the ethnicity of the president. you have to tell the real deal. they are going crazy over it. that is what is causing the division. yes, there is money involved in politics but they are going crazy because this is the first african-american president and that is the problem with him. that is the big deal. that needs to be discussed. there needs to be programs about the president being who he is and why they defy him so much. host: "washington post" this mo.

host: boston, massachusetts. independent line. caller: i find it ridiculous. both sides know how to fix the problems with the economy. this is one of the lowest interest rates to borrow money and invest in our country, and they both know how to fix the problem but they both want to take credit for it. it is ridiculous. we need more than this two-party system. it is not working. citizens united is totally running our political system. it all means to be changed. they all need to be thrown out of commerce because they are not serving us, they're serving themselves. >> coming up, we will take you live to the white house with the

administration announcing they will stop deporting and begin giving work permits to younger immigrants that came to the uss children. this will get underway in about 50 minutes or sell -- to the u.s. as children. this will get away -- underway in about 15 minutes. the president is scheduled to hold meetings with the leaders of russia and china at a summit. reporters have a preview of the summit today at the white house. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> it is so quiet. good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. thank you for being here. as you know, and has then

announced we have three guests today and i will turn it to them. on my right is the undersecretary of the treasury for international affairs. to her right is the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs and then the deputy national security advisor to the president for strategic communications. ben open and they will be available for questions about the upcoming g-20 summit. thank you. >> thank you, everybody. i will make a few opening comments, then run for the president of the schedule and then we can speak about the agenda and more about our efforts to support progress in the global economy. the president will be going down to loss cobbles on sunday night

and begin with a bilateral meeting with president felipe calderón of mexico, who is hosting the summit, so this is a chance to check signals. they have a phone call recently. the united states and mexico are also close partners on the security issues. the president is -- president felipe calderón is nearing the end of his presidency. following that, the president will have a bilateral meeting with president vladimir putin of russia, the first since he was elected and inaugurated. expect that the agenda will cover a range of issues. we continue to live good cooperation with russia on afghanistan -- continue to have good cooperation with russia on afghanistan. the talks will be taking at

roughly the same time. russia has been united with the p5 + 1. iran will be a subject. commercial ties will also be on the agenda given our efforts to get greater access for u.s. businesses to russian markets. syria has been a point of difference or the last couple of months but we have been working to see if we can move forward in support of a political transition. obviously the united states believes president bashar al- assad needs to step down and that will be on their agenda as well. when the united states and russia get together a broad range of other security issues will be on the agenda. later that afternoon the

president will move into the g- 20 sessions. there is an open session and a working dinner. the next day, there are sessions for of the day on tuesday. following the conclusion of the g-20, the president will have a bilateral meeting with president hu jintao of china. this will be the 12th meeting between the presidents and they will have a a chance to review the progress made on the global economy at the g-20. china is one of the key partners in coordinating action to sustain global growth that is balanced and sustained. they will also discuss a range of security issues, iran, north korea and the talks as well. following the meeting president obama will have a press conference and we will return to washington late that night. of course, there are additional

discussions that take place on the margins of the meeting so i am sure he will take part with a range of other leaders. we will go to the g-20 agenda in more detail. >> thank you. this is the sixth g-20 that the president will attend, and since its foundation the g-20 has established a solid track record in continuing to avoid a global depression in 2009 that would have destroyed thousands of jobs and businesses. updating the financial regulatory system, and reforming the financial institutions, addressing major challenges including food security and infrastructure, and maintaining an open trade system in the midst of the most serious economic crisis in 80 years.

did -- it has launched the phasing out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. it is important to support of the maintenance and creation of decent jobs. under the leadership of the g- 20, they continue the agenda, putting an emphasis on the role green growth templates to create jobs in deal with the challenges of energy security and climate change. there is a particular focus on food security, and the structure and financial inclusion, the expansion of access, the savings, credit and insurance. there has been strong progress on anti-corruption and fossil fuel subsidy payouts. the summits have three main purposes. first, there are opportunities to engage with counterparts on a range of issues on the global

economy and broader issues. president obama will do that in bilateral meetings and on the margins of the sessions themselves. often the most important work is done outside the formal sessions of the g-20. second, their action-forcing event which drive member governments to reach agreement on a variety of topics and some involve the direct involvement of the leader and some do not attend next week there will be announcements on the progress of a number of areas including senator regulatory reform and other global issues as well -- financial regulatory reform and other global issues as well. third, they gather to discuss the critical issues of the day, and that is where the g-20 will have the participation of the largest economies around the world, which makes it the most appropriate place to do so because you have relevant

leaders at the same place, at the same time. the situation in europe will be central in the leaders' minds. europe is our largest trading partner and a key part of the financial system so it is important to the united states and the rest of the world that they were through their issues. the overwhelming focus of this g-20 is likely to be how to promote and maintain global economic growth. because the stakes are so high, the president, secretary timothy geithner, some of us at the white house, have been in close contact with european counterparts to share ideas and offer support. the europeans have made clear they believe it is in their new collective responsibility to do what it takes to keep the eurozone together. they have made important decisions and they have substantial resources to address those issues but they recognize there is work to be done --

reaching an agreement among the 17 countries is as angela merkel said a herculean task. the president looks to hear more from the european leaders on their progress in stabilizing the banking system to promote growth, and to hear what their vision is for taking this effort forward. that being said, it will not be the final word on the eurozone. he is a continuing conversation with important milestones, including a meeting with all he leaders in brussels at the end of the month. if the united states will continue to provide global leadership in terms of strengthening the global recovery. president obama is intensely focused on creating jobs and has put forth proposals to cut taxes for small businesses hiring to help families have invested homes and infrastructure, and to put teachers, police officers and firefighters back to work. he is also proposed putting

medium-term on a more sustainable flooded as well. the president -- sustainable footing as well. the president's approach represents the best policy to protect the u.s. economy and to do our part as the world's largest and most important economy to maintain the global economy -- recovery. >> as you know, and g-20 leaders are coming at a challenging time. the euro area fragility remains a key risk to our recovery and to the global economy. europe is our largest export market. so, weaker demand in europe means weaker job growth here at home. european banks are inter- connected with financial markets around the world, so volatility in europe may undermine

sentiment here at home. for that reason, europe will be at the center of discussions in mexico, where we will have a timely opportunity for european leaders to update on their progress and serve as a catalyst for future action looking ahead to their council meeting at the end of june. here in leaders have told us they are committed to doing the european leaders have told us they are committed to do whatever it takes to strengthen their union, focused on first laying out a path to financial union, which is a national -- complementary national union. it will permit greater risk- sharing on bank capital and deposit insurance, which are critical for confidence. as our experience here with the fdic has shown, these are critical threads in the financial sector safety net.

spain, the commitment to recapitalize its banks is a key step and further clarity will be important. second, the euro area authorities need to continue to make financial backstops more effective and credible in the face of market pressures. spain and italy are undertaking difficult, important long-term reform and it will be important that they continue to borrow at affordable rates. third, there is recognition among european leaders of the importance of supporting growth in the face of a weaker outlook and this includes support for investments in infrastructure and retail liberation of fiscal consolidation paths. finally, european leaders face a challenging situation in greece. it is a complex situation and the greek people face difficult decisions. it is in everyone's interest for greece to remain in the bureau

well-respected commitments and to expect the european partners to work together. beyond the event in europe, growth in many key emerging markets is also lagging. many of these countries have the capacity to take action to spur domestic demand and support global growth. the g-20 will look to maintain momentum on rebalancing demand, which is critical to stronger overall growth in key to achieving this is for china and other surplus emerging market economies to take simple and other measures to support domestic consumption as well as allowing exchange rates to reflect market forces. leaders will be able to point to a significant progress on global financial reform. we continue to lead on this area with implementation of the dodd- frank act, and we will see continued movement from our g-20 partners and implementation in key areas such as over-the-

counter derivatives and cross border bank resolution. the president will make clear that his top priority remains boosting growth in getting americans back to work. in short, the focus will be supporting growth and insuring that our european partners are escalating their response, recognizing the stakes are high for all of us. >> with that, we would be happy to take your questions. let me start here in front. >> can you bottom-line this for us? the president does not have the ability to get europe to do the work it takes to you about line. when is a good outcome for the g-20? what does the united states want to get? hashe president's understood from day one: poured the stakes are for the world and

us here at home and has been deeply engaged as was said earlier, and a host of officials have continued to work closely with european partners. what we expect to see act los cabos is european leaders articulating how they're going to move forward on escalating their response to the crisis. of course, a catalyst to action looking forward to their meeting later this month and the actions we are looking forward to hearing more about and that he has been talking to european leaders about our -- are areas like moving forward and banking unions, reinforcing fire walls, working to reinforce and retail a brick path of fiscal consolidation to support growth and charting nicest thing about. fort totten greece. -- a sustainable path forward

on greece. >> just to add to that, there will be the revolving debate on the growth and the critical component, the european peace. emerging markets are also slowing down that could take further action. we have our role to play in managing a pathway towards meeting-term fiscal sustainability. coming out of the g-20 i think a unified message about the importance of growth reaching what all of us can do to contribute to that, and most and -- were all of us can do to continue to that, and what you're to do -- europe could do -- that is our outcome. >> what can the g-20 and the united states do to calm markets after the greek

elections? >> it is according to recognize that we are hearing from european partners and from the main candidates in greece and the greek people that they're all looking to find a path forward that will keep greece in the rural area, even as greece moves forward on -- euro area even as greece moves forward on reforms. if i think it will take a little time to see the full outcome of the greek elections given that it is a parliamentary system, but obviously we will be in close discussions with european partners and, again, there is a commitment on both sides to look for a path forward to help greece meet its commitments, keeping greece in the euro area, while recognizing the great people are facing very challenging economic circumstances. >> are there measures that could be taken or words that could be said that give confidence to markets after that election?

>> so, i would anticipate that as the election outcome is more clear and that as the party in greece work to form a government that we will hear from our numerate -- government, that we will hear from our european partners that find a path for the recognizes the adverse circumstances in greece but, of course, it is important that greece moves forward on that their reforms. european partners have been working closely on this as have we. i think everyone is well- prepared to, in the wake of the elections, and greece work together and make sure there is a path forward that is sustainable and bolsters confidence. >> the g-8 had a fairly robust statement about oil reserves.

will that issue discussed in the g-20? >> part of the discussion of the global economy, obviously energy issues will fit into that, and it tends to be part of the broader discussion. we do not expected to be a major focus at the moment, but i am sure it will be part of the overall economic discussions. >> the bilateral meeting with vladimir putin, there is a report that moscow has sent ships. are we concerned about that? >> i have seen those reports. we have to take a closer look to understand what has taken place. pressure has a court that they have transit awarded through in the past. we will have to run down the report and have a full understanding of what is taking place. julie eni?

>> you mentioned that german chancellor angela merkel said herculean. i am wondering if you could comment on some of the other things she said, easy solutions were backfiring and that germany's power was not incident -- infant. how did you interpret that? >> we have seen a number of statements from european leaders and, again, we expect to hear more of this in los cabos, showing that they are fundamentally committed to solving the euro area in no way that makes the monetary union much stronger -- in a way that makes the monetary union much stronger with stronger banking he does come political unions. obviously, these are steps that will take time, but what we

recognize is that no one country is going to be able to undertake that on their own, and the euro area countries are going to work together on banking unions, for instance, that involves risk- sharing across the euro area and backstops the system across the area with centralized supervision and regulation. you have to put this in the context of europe already taking remarkable steps. when they started with this crisis they had no fire wall at all and they worked together to put in place is very substantial resources to protect the economies in europe and to make sure the sovereigns have access to financing. ecb has taken important actions to inject liquidity into the banking system. so, what we see