.re not being made rapidly i think there is a lot of optimism out what can be done in the future. host: deepa seetharaman is with reuters covering the auto thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> we are going to talk tomorrow about medicare with the national committee to preserve social security and medicare. the discussions going on in light of the nomination up paul ryan. that will take place at 745 a and then will be joined by the author of "why america needs sm."al conservative

he makes the case that it is still a driving force in politics. then the carnegie endowment for international peace. he will talk about iran and if there's anything the u.n. or u.s. can do about it. do not forget that we want to get our campaign coverage which will look toward the convention. i would advise you to go to c- span.org and find out what we're going to do there. a countdown to convention, republicans will take place august 27-30. democrats will take place september 4-6. the can find that out on c- span.org and c-span radio appeared in a few moments we will hear from paul ryan --

radio. in a few moments we'll hear from paul ryan. he will address issues of medicare specifically. we will take you to that program starting shortly. ♪ >> we pledge our allegiance to this country, don't we? this is not the first time that people go to political rallies.

this must be the most important election in the history of our country. when my father served in the navy, this was a feeling he had 20 heard this song we do when he heard this song. -- guinier this song. -- when he heard this song. [singing "god bless america"]

>> lee greenwood is singing now. paul o'brien will be making his first stop here in florida. this is the retirement community in central florida. his mother is expected to be here. she is a part-time florida resident. we will likely hear him in touch on at the medicare proposal. later today we will also be taking you up to new hampshire where president obama will be speaking at a rally there. that will be at 2:00 eastern time.

>> we have done at 30 u.s. stores. each one has brought as a privilege. i started doing that since i was 13 years old. i want to make people feel proud of their country. this next song is one of those. ♪

[singing "where the starts and stripes and eagle flys" by aaron tippin]

stars andwhere tehe stripes and eagle flys" by aaron tippin]

>> we are expecting paul ryan to come speak about medicare. he is running a little bit behind. we are expecting him at an o'clock. we will come back to this as soon as we see him. in the meantime, let's take a look at the convention scheduled that is coming up. monday august 27 through the 30th, we will be bring you coverage of the republican national convention. that would be in tampa, florida. here we are. this is the floor of the convention where staff is getting things set up for the republican national convention. that will get underway monday august 27.

[no audio] >> this is the floor at the convention with the republican national convention will be held in tampa. we will also be showing the republican platform committee prior to the convention. that is where the gop meet to set national platform for the next four years.

we are here in central florida. this is the villages retirement community waiting for paul ryan. he will be making his first floor of the stock today since he was chosen by mitt romney to be his running mate. we will also see his mother. she is expected to be here. she is a part-time florida resident. while we wait for him to appear, take a look at some of this morning's "washington journal." >> joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> paul ryan announced in

response from various women's groups. he put those together saying that it is a counterproductive side show. can you expand? >> i think this is the next battle. i think it is very difficult to say what men are unanimously opposed to anything. i think the idea that we are trying to suggest that paul ryan is somewhat antagonistic to women is something we should all be looking down upon. host: you talk about specific topics like bill lee ledbetter act. -- the lilly ledbetter act. guest: paul ryan recognizes they are job killers. these are things that may be presented as protective

legislation for women, but they make the workplace less flexible and more difficult for productivity. these are things that i do not see as beneficial to women. i know that women do not favor government intervention in the serious. host: it is not a women's issue? guest: it is not. we are pitting the genders against one another as if we live in a vacuum. i have a husband and father. brother. what is good for me is what is good for men, as well. we do not want women to >> -- succeed at the expense of men. we want recreation. we want health care premiums to come down for everybody. energy costs to come down for everybody. what is the four women is good for men and we care about the same issues. host: one issue that comes up is the hhs mandate when it comes to contraception.

>> unfortunately, this is an issue that is being used by this administration to try to secure that single women vote. i think it is offensive. a lot of women see a woman brought out to talk about birth control and are thinking i just went to the grocery store and i know that my gallon of milk cost me $6. i think that is what women care about. the idea we are concerned about the government supporting free birth control for women is a distraction from the real conversation which is that these economic policies over the last three and a half years have been a failure. we have 8.3% unemployment. these are the issues women recognize are important, just as men do. birth control is seen as an extremely important issue by 20% of the population. this is clearly an effort to secure the single voter could the sun actually turn out with a kind of enusiasm that the

white house needs. host: were these issues directed toward governor romney? if so, why is paul ryan the new focus of the attack? guest: fresh blood. paul ryan is seen as the true fiscal conservative. when governor romney selected him, it was a nod to conservatives who want to see him standing up for free-market policy. when he selected paul ryan, that was extremely helpful to him amongst his base. it was sort of new blood for the left to say look how bad he is. he will be one of those conservative who hates women. host: our guest is with us and tell a 30 a.m. if you want to talk to her when it comes to republicans in women voters, we are doing something different.

we are asking women to call in. if you want to do so, we have divided the lines directly. republican, 202-737-0002. democratic women, 202-737-0001. independent women, 202-628-0205. women only. we will take those calls shortly. i wanted to show you the latest advertisement from the obama campaign, which directly targets concerns about women or at least women's issues. here it is. [video clip] >> i am barack obama and i approve this message. >> i think mitt romney is really out of touch with the average woman's health issues. this is not the 50's. contraception is so important to women. it is about a woman being able to make decisions. >> i do not remember anybody as extreme as romney. >> i will cut off funding to planned parenthood. >> he cannot understand someone who has to go to planned parenthood. >> i will get rid of planned parenthood. >> romney would drive us back.

host: terms like drive us back and making decisions, planned parenthood was brought up. what do you get from that? guest: i am surprised when i see these advertisements because if you look at the polling, the kinds of families -- women care about the same issues that men care about. the economy and job creation. they do care about health care, but they do it in a general sense. 39% see the costs as an important issue. only 20 percent since the birth control as an extremely important issue. people do not believe it is something that is at risk. people do not believe this is something the government needs to be providing. too often women's groups are concerned with negotiating the specific advantages like free birth control for women without any consideration of the cost to our freedom or the economy. host: if it is about the economy, talk about purell -- paul ryan on an economic basis. guest: this is extremely

important. both sides recognize we cannot move forward with medicare as it is. it is not sustainable. the idea that we need to make cuts to something that both democrats and republicans agree on -- when we are talking about paul ryan, this is the third iteration of the ryan plan. i think there are options and he is injecting competition into the program to allow for us to better accommodate those seniors who really do need government assistance. not to be subsidizing it for everybody when there are individuals who can pay higher premiums on their own. host: do you think governor romney without those principles? >> begin find the rest of this conversation on line. we will take you to the villages retirement community. making his first

appearance here. >> is incredible to be here. how is the volume? fantastic. >> it is so great to see you here today. an is here.yn is >> it looks like it'll still be a few more minutes. back to the conversation from this morning's "washington journal." >> there are medical problems that will turn into something else.

many years ago my legs swelled. i will hear your comment offline. host: what do you think about that in the political context? what should be done? caller: i think it is a woman once, she should go out and purchase it. i do not think it should be on a health-care plan at all. no more than by agra should be. -- viagra should be. guest: i am sorry for the problems that she had medically, but i think birth control is something that is widely accepted nowadays. i think that people are overwhelmingly supportive of women having the ability to access birth control and see the value of women being able to control their family -- plan for their families. that being said, i do not think that is a critical issue right now for the campaign.

i think that is what we need to really focus on. there are obviously problems with the current health-care system. i think one of the biggest problems in terms of trying to reform it is if we try to focus on giving freebies to people without any consideration of what that will cost us -- host: michele, independent line. hello. go ahead. caller: yes, i am a person that feels that this is a choice for a woman to decide. the government should not have any say in when a person is in that situation. first of all, that is a decision before a person to make. for the government to sit there and have an opinion about its -- to say they will stop planned parenthood, they will see so many people carrying babies that cannot even afford to even take care of their kids.

this is the reason people get abortions because of different situations. it needs to be a choice. i am a christian. i do believe that is wrong to have an abortion, but it is a situation that it is that person's choice. i had to grow and maturity to understand that murder is wrong. i do understand that. it is not a government decision to decide that. guest: first of all, to give background on the independent women's forum, we are the only think tank that focuses on economic liberty. we do not touch social issues. the conversation about the hhs mandate has propelled us into a conversation we do not usually have. we are talking about birth control in two context.

hhs mandate is revolved around religious freedom. that is critical. the other is that we have so many other issues to deal with and the idea that women need to be talked to as if they are a special the victim class in need of protection from government and free birth control and special protections in the workplace, that is where we are sort of having a voice in this conversation and i would leave it to the other women's organizations to talk about the pros and cons of abortion. host: memphis, tennessee. democrats' line. caller: good morning. can you hear me? i was calling to ask why they don't talk to men and women -- the republicans have passed their time -- they have not created any jobs.

every time we send a bill over there, they knock it down. we should speak about that and then taking food from children. sometimes some children will only eat twice a day. i'm tired of hearing this. you cannot say you are a christian when you send people overseas to kill babies. guest: i think your caller is one of those people who is looking down at congress. congress's approval ratings are terrible low. -- terribly low. there is a sense that washington has hit a wall and there is not any kind of negotiation. i think that is one of the reasons that we are sort of pushing back on this war on women rhetoric. this does not help us solve any issues. host: when it comes to approval ratings, there was a survey done --

this is congress. taking a look at congress and if they are better off. 40% said they were better off with democrats in control. republicans in control, 39%. guest: there is a gender gap. that closed for the first time not could 2010. that is why we have seen this. i think these numbers are sometimes misleading. when we talked about discrimination. when believe there is some discrimination. when you ask women if they believe the fairness act would

be helpful in changing the direction of the workplace, they are overwhelmingly opposed. we are looking at the independent in week partisans. they are responding very negatively to this kind of political vitriol. >> what does governor romney presented economically? >> a lot of people are waiting to hear more about his plans. the selection of paul ryan is a not that he is moving in that direction. pryor, he believed he was going to cut spending. a lot is still being left to find out. we are hoping he will be someone who will not be picking winners and losers in energy industry. this is an area the president is talking about wind power.

we want to see market forces determine where the resources. host: do not forget. only women callers. caller: i think you should look at the health conditions of women who take it. and they are right up there with men. >> he can find the rest of this conversation online at c- span.org. paul reichmann is making his first appearance in florida. >> how are you? wow. i want to introduce you to my mom.

this is my mom, betty. she is why i am here. she and her grandkids are why i am here. say hi to my mom, betty. at a seat, mom. a seat, mom. we have a big choice to make. this is no ordinary election. it is not an ordinary time. we have a choice. we can stay on the path we're on that president obama has put as on.us it is a nation further in in debt. it is a nation on could decline.

or we could have a leader that will apply our founding principles and restore the american ideas and get people back to work. you see, president obama and other politicians like him in washington have become more focused on their next election than they have on the next generation. not us. we are not going to do that. the we will lead. we want to earn your support. we want you to have a victory. when we went, we have the mandates, moral authority, to get this country back on track.

it is very clear that president obama -- do you see that? do you have a medic coming? thank you very much,. . it is very clear that president obama inherited a difficult situation. there's no two ways about it. the problem is he made matters worse. this is why the president has run out of ideas. this is why the president is thought running on hope and change any more. he is running on anger and frustration, fear and smear. we are not going to do that.

we need a real leadership. let me tell you about the man who is about to be the next president of the united states. his name is a mitt romney. i do not think i have seen a time or the man -- where the man and the moment has met so perfectly. to everything he has done in his life has prepared him to provide the kind of leadership we need. the get the beautiful family he has raised. do you remember the -- look at the beautiful family he has raised. do you remember the olympics in the 1990's? when they needed someone to turn it around, of who did salt lake called? ?

they call met rummy and he turned it around. we thank him for that leadership. -- mitt romney and he turned it around. we thank him for that leadership. he helped turn around struggling businesses. he helped create great businesses we know now, sports authority, staples. this is a man who actually created jobs, but who knows what it takes to get businesses up and running to help people in need. take a look when he was governor of massachusetts. of all contrast, this is clear. president obama came into office promising to create jobs and prevent unemployment from getting above 8%. it is in a bucket for 42 months. -- been above 8% for 42 months.

when it romney was governor, it went down. household income, family income has gone down by more than $4,000 of the past four years. when it romney was of the massachusetts, family income went up. member president obama used to say he's going to bring everybody together. we will set aside childish things. it is the most partisan atmosphere i have ever seen and this is the third president i have served with. when mitt romney was governor of massachusetts and a republican in a democratic state, what did he do? he reached across the aisle. he negotiated. he balanced the budget without raising taxes.

this is the kind for this kind of moment we need to lead our nation at this crucial moment. you have heard the president has been talking about medicare lately. we want this debate. we need this debate. we are going to win this debate. like a lot of americans, when i think about medicare is not just a program. it is not just a bunch of numbers. it is what my mom relies on. it is what my grandmother had. like a lot of people, we have

in wisconsin. when you turn 65 you have to go south for the winter. my mom is a snowbird. she comes here for the winter. just like so many folks from all over the country do. my grandmother moved in with us when i was in high school. she had alzheimer's. my mom and i were her two primary care givers. you learn a lot about life. you learn a lot about your seniors and family. you learn about alzheimer's. medicare was there for our family when we need it it. medicare was there for my mom

what she needs it now. we have to keep that guarantee. my mom has been on medicare for over 10 years. she plays tennis every week. she exercises every day. she planned her retirement over this promise the government made here. that is a promise we have to keep. here is what the president will not tell you about his medicare plan. about obamacare. the president raise $716 billion from the medicare program to pay for the obamacare program.

>> [boos] >> in edition, he put a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats to cut medicare that would deny care for current seniors. do you want to know what medicare is saying? one out of six of our hospitals and our nursing homes will go out of business as a result. 4 million seniors are projected to lose their medicare plan that they chose today under this obamacare plan. what is worse, the president's campaign calls this an achievement. do you think that is an

achievement? do you think of powering a board of bureaucrats to cut medicare and achievement? neither do i. medicare should not be used as a piggy bank for obamacare perce it it should be a promise of obamacare. it to the promise to our seniors. here is what mitt romney and i will do. we will end the reign of medicare. -- raid and medicare. we will make sure this board will not mess with my mom or your mom's health care. let me just see a show of hands. how many of the are 55 or over?

ok. how many of you are not? our solution does not affect your benefits. let me repeat that. our plan does not affect the benefits for people who are in or near retirement. it is a promise that was made and must be kept. in order to make sure we can guarantee that promise for my mom's generation, we must reform it for my generation. you have to so it does not go bankrupt when we want to retire.

the good news is that there are bipartisan solutions to do this. the plan originated in clinton commission plan to save medicare in late 1990's. it is a bipartisan plan in congress today that says do not change benefits for people 55 and above. only become eligible we get a choice of guaranteed coverage options, including traditional medicare. we get to pick the plan for us when we retire. that means all those providers compete against each other for our business and we do not have to beg for the mercy of 15 bearcats whether or not we get our health care. we think the best way to save medicare is to empower 50 million seniors, not 15 and

elected bureaucrats to make their decision on how they get health care. mitt romney and i will protect and strengthen health care is a people will have promises that are kept. one of the ways we can make sure this promise is kept is to get people back to work. to grow this economy. that is why we have solutions for more jobs and higher take- home pay. the plan is designed to get this economy growing again. 12 million jobs, grow the economy. this would create 713,000 jobs

in florida alone. the key is to get us back to work. we have lots of energy. let's use it to create jobs and lower gas prices. weeny people who are out of work to be able to go back to school to get the new careers and get back on the path to prosperity. we have to grow more in america. we make things in america. we grow things in america. that creates good job at in america. we also have to stop spending money we do not have. we have to cut spending, get this deficit under control, so we leave our children and

grandchildren a debt free nation. that affects jobs today. we are the champions a small businesses. small business is the engine of opportunity. we need to start that engine. growing up, my dad worked in my mom stayed at home. i have three older siblings. my mom stayed at home. when my dad died, my mom went back to school. she went back to college and started a small business. my mom had three or four employees at that small- business when she started. we were taking care of my grandmother. she was going to school is starting this business. mom, i am proud of you for going

out, getting another degree. i am proud of you for the small business you created. mom, you did build that. that is what america is all about. i am so proud of her for that. i am so proud of her for doing that. this election is the most important election in our lifetimes. no matter what generation you come from. there are a few things my dad would always say that have always stuck with me. he would say son, you are either

part of the problem or part of the solution. usually telling me this lonely were part of the problem. -- when we were part of the problem. he would also say in this country, every generation of america's salt their problems so that their children are better off. that is the american legacy. it is our duty to save the american dream for their children. when we talk about these things, when we look at the enormous choice we have in front of us, when we have such a clear contrast between the leader in romney in the failed leadership of president obama comedy choice is clear.

it goes deeper than that. it comes down to what kind of country do we want to have? what kind of people do we want to be? our founders were so eloquent when they created this country. they made it very clear. our rights as citizens, our rights come from nature and god, not from government. [laughter] [applause] our founders secured this. our veterans have kept it ever since. we think those veterans. -- thank those veterans. here is the commitment that mitt romney and i are making to you.

we are going to give you the choice. we are not going to keep kicking the can down the road. we will blead. we will not blame other people. we will take responsibility. we will not try to transform this country into something it was never intended to be. we will not try to replace our founding principles. we will be applied our founding principles. -- reapply our founding principles. we are suffering from decades of politicians from both political parties that have made empty

promises to voters to get reelected. soon those empty promises will quickly become broken promises with painful consequences for all of us if we do not act. we need leadership. we need to make sure that government keeps those promises to people who are organizing retirement to run these promises like my mom. we need to make sure the promise of this country is not only there for my mom's a generation but for my children's generation. we need leadership. mitt romney is the man for the moment to provide that leadership. this is a defining moment. this is our generation's time. we can do this. we can turn this thing around. we can get this economy growing. we can get families back to prosperity.

we can do this. with your help together, a florida and the rest of america will get this country back on track. thank you very much, everybody. thank you for coming out today. we love you so much. we thank you for your support. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [playing "only in america" by brooks and dunn]

america" rodney atkins]

[playing "it's america" by rodney atkins]

[playing "made in america" by toby keith]

[playing "a little less conversation" by elvis] [playing " a little less

conversation" by elvis]

♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ♪ this is our destiny time after time this is our moment time after time

♪ ♪ this is our moment this is our time backn't holding we are laying it on the line this is our destiny this is our moment this is our time ♪

it is time to turn it up time to rock-and-roll ♪ ♪ >> we are showing some of your viewer tweets at the bottom of the screen. one says -- >> just a couple of tweets coming in. later today, president obama is campaigning in windham, new hampshire at 2:00 p.m. eastern time, and will continue to rochester, new hampshire. the republican national

convention needs in one week, and the platform committee will meet monday. we will have live coverage monday and tuesday. construction on the convention floor for the republican convention is already under way in tampa bay, florida. this is the forum used for ice hockey games. chris christie will be the keynote speaker. marco rubio will introduce mitt romney. other speakers include ohio senator rob portman and virginia governor bob mcdonnell. congress allocated money to security needs. the republican convention begins monday, august 27. democrats will hold their

convention the following week. every speech, every minute of both conventions are live on c- span, c-span radio, and c- span.org. >> which is more important, while for honor? it is not as said by the victors four years ago, the economy, stupid, it is the kind of the -- nation we are, whether we possessed the wit and determination to deal with economic questions, but certainly not limited to them. all things do not flow from well for poverty. i know this first hand, and so do you. all things flow from doing what is right. >> look at what has happened. we have the lowest combined rate of unemployment, inflation and home mortgages in 28 years. [applause]

look at what has happened, 10 million new jobs, over half of them high-wage jobs, 10 million workers getting the raises they deserve. >> c-span has aired every minute of every major party conventions since 1984 and now we are in the countdown to this year's conventions. you can watch our live coverage, every minute, live on c-span, c-span radio, and streamed online at c-span -- at c-span.org. starting august 27. >> housing experts and civil rights advocates discuss the housing market including mortgage lending. we will hear from former obama assistant housing secretary david stevens. this is from the center of american progress. >> good morning, everyone.

i'm a senior fellow and a partner. on behalf of the participants, we welcome you here on a warm, . >> it is five years since the housing market began to collapse. bankruptcy had shot up from sub- prime lenders. until that summer, many commentators talk of this as a sub-prime housing crisis. in august, 2007, what seemed isolated to the housing sector turn into a freezing of the international financial sector. banks stopped lending to each other. wall street loan securitization stopped. nobody was sure who held junk

securities in their portfolios and which the institution would collapse next. fear and panic spread through the global markets, and everyone knows what unfolded after that through today. today, the legacies that led up to that systemic collapse remains painfully clear. millions of american families have already lost their homes to foreclosure. millions more are hanging on, but we do not know for how much longer and have lost equity. production of new homes and rental apartments have dropped to generational lows. with people moving back to the rental market, and a generation looking for housing as it looks for work, read is rising rapidly, and already diminished supply of affordable rents in it is stressed even more. we are a community that could --

see that committees that could least afford to lose 12 have been the hardest hit. more than 45% of african- american or latino borrowers have lost their home or are a significant risk of foreclosure, double the rate of white americans. sadly, this is hardly surprising when you consider that during the unregulated era, african- american and latino home owners with good credit who should have been sold prime loans, or three times more likely than majority borrowers to be sold risky or sub-prime loans. unfortunately, almost since the crisis began, many in the public arena, including many elected officials, have put forward a skewed perspective on the underlying problem.

it does become to come to blame the homeowners and solve all lenders, which minimizes or ignores the way in which the community brought about the crisis. no one is to blame, but there is certainly responsibility. the biggest problem we face going forward has been said to be to free up the private sector even more. we believe strongly we need to look to the whole picture of the housing challenges. it is time to focus the issues in the housing policy area and where it belongs, the people effected. questions such as what policies are best for the best majority of americans having a --? majority of americans having a tough time -- vast majority of americans having a tough time,

those doubting they will ever have the opportunity to own a home. we chose to hold the event in mid-august not because it is the best time to host an event in washington but because we are entering a critical for a -- phase in the election campaign. our speakers will challenge candidates and others running for national offices to address in detail where they want to take us in housing policy. several of my colleagues have released an issue brief. "it is time to talk about housing." you will find copies that asked dozens of questions for each candidate to be addressed. we will hear that americans want equality of opportunity, and this is certainly true. it is a deeply held american value, but opportunity takes on many forms. it does not come from building into the structures of our housing finance system another era of leaving many behind.

as the homes for good open letter to potential can it puts it, despite the progress we have made on equal opportunity and discrimination based on race -- race and ethnicity have meant that communities of color are among the hardest hit by the crisis with historic losses in assets and savings. i'm reminded of this in somewhat personal terms. my father-in-law was invested in world war ii, became a navigator and flew many bomber missions in europe. he tells often that while he was the bomber missions, he and his crews were saved by the tuskegee airmen more than once. when he got back, he was able to get a no -- low-interest, no down payment loans, which enabled him to buy a house, have

equity to starting business, and to roll into a better house. when my wife and i wanted to buy a house, my father and mother had equity to pass on to the next generation. -- father-in-law had equity to pass on. we know that the tuskegee airmen at that time time was excluded -- same time was excluded from the same opportunity. his generation did the that the opportunity to build wealth to pass on to the next generation and so on. we can not perpetuate a generational, not the opportunity to accumulate wealth. so, to help us understand what is needed for effective housing policy and what issues the candidates need to address, we have assembled a fabulous panel of experts. later, my colleague janneke

ratcliffe will introduce and moderate the panel, but i want to turn the program over janice, who is more knowledgeable than many in the room on the issues we are about to address. without further ado, please give us the overview. [applause] >> thank you, david. i appreciate that. it sets the bar very high. i doubt that i am more knowledgeable and many in the room. fortunately, i am not on the panel, so i will not have to prove that claim thank you for our colleagues, in particular, janneke ratcliffe, and team for all of the energy that went into today's event. we also want to recognize manuel ochoa.

you'll hear more from them later, but i want to point about in terms -- in case anyone has questions about their own home loan or the local housing market throughout the -- market. brought the summer, there have been community events like this one from detroit, sacramento, las vegas, columbus, ohio, miami, hearing from homeowners that tell us the housing market still needs a lot of work. in fact, the nation faces a home opportunity crisis and analysts tell us we will see at least two million four closures with many more at risk, meaning that hundreds of thousands of senior citizens are losing economic security, children and families -- children and families are being uprooted, and neighborhoods have vacant properties. making matters worse, on equal opportunity and discriminatory targeting of communities of color the minority families are

among the hardest hit, which results in continued drag on the economy, and that hurts us all. in this room, we all know that there are proven and practical solutions that could stop me this foreclosures that could restore effective neighborhoods and preserve their affordable lending, and we can do this while making sure homeownership remains a pillar of opportunity into the 21st century. over the past year, we've seen some progress on this front by the obama administration, certain states and some lenders, and that is reduced the number of foreclosures facing american families for sure, but it falls far short of what we need and they're not getting to the scale. we have not included adequate measures to address on equal opportunity or discrimination in our communities. the campaign calls the

presidential candidates to address our concerns. you can support these efforts. sign this postcard. we will tell the candidates to come to the table with real solutions to stop me this foreclosures, expand affordable rentals and provide a sustainable path to homeownership. so far, the topic has been all but ignored on the campaign trail. neither candidate has laid out a clear strategy for a mortgage system after this election, and this is troubling considering the role housing plays in the economic recovery. the partners are not coming to the table empty handed. we have offered solutions we have gathered in a document called the contact for home opportunity. spearheaded by partners at the opportunity agenda, we list proven strategies for balanced and accessible housing systems.

we caught industry leaders and everyday americans to commit to real solutions and implementing them in ways that are accountable to make them most effective. it encompasses both immediate remedies and long-term objectives. we invite you to go to myhome forgood.com, or you can text for more information. now, it is my great pleasure to introduce vicki shultz, the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights division of the department of justice. we appreciate her willingness to stand in for assistant attorney general, perhaps, who could not make it -- tom pariahs, who could not make it. we are excited to have her here. she oversees fair lending issues in partnership with several agencies such as the

department of urban development and the department of treasury. she previously served as a senior adviser to the maryland labor and advising secretary. i would like to thank vicki shultz for her ground-breaking working investigating the cemetery lending -- discriminatory lending practices and bringing justice. please come to the podium. [applause] >> thank you. it is indeed my honor and privilege to be with you today. i want to say too wide to the senator for american progress for being the forum in which we can have this conference, and to la raza, for keeping a focus on this housing crisis. we know there are many families

struggling and until we address those issues we should not rest. i send regrets from the assistant attorney general tom perez, who was called the last minute to be part of a delegation to the dominican republic for the installation of a new president, but i'm thrilled to be here today because this is a critical issue and we are focused on this issue because we care about what is happening in our country. the promise of equal opportunity is at the core of american values and ideals, from the opportunity to learn, to the opportunity to gain fair access to credit, to earn, to live where one chooses, move up the economic ladder -- our laws seek to level the playing field and provide the cornerstone of economic opportunity, and one of the most basic building blocks has been homeownership.

have an administration, our job is to enforce law -- as an administration our job is to enforce the law so that every eligible person is equal access to employment and housing opportunities, free from abuse and discrimination. it would be the absence of such that to to the housing crisis and led to many of the abuses we are working hard to remedy. this is why in the wake of the housing in foreclosure crisis the federal government, under the leadership of president obama, has responded forcefully with unprecedented levels of foreclosures, mortgage servicing practices have not only failed to adequately address the crisis, -- and this has prompted the department of justice in coordination with hud the office of inspector general, 49 state

attorneys, and banking regulators to conduct an extensive investigation into serious violations of state and federal law. these violations included robo- signing in affidavits and precedents, deceptive practices in offering of loan modifications, a failure to offer local -- alternatives for corporate closing on borrowers, and finally, improper documentation in federal bankruptcy court. as a result, the department of justice has reached a landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to resolve the allegations of mortgage loans serviced violations and foreclosure of uses. the agreement provides substantial financial relief to homeowners and establishes a significant, new homeowner patents for the future the joint

agreement, -- homeowner for the future. in keeping with the homeowner's bill of rights, president obama announced the servicing standards require that homeowners be treated fairly. for example, in establishing a single point of contact, a commitment that homeowners will get assistance before servicers seek foreclosure, and foreclosure will be saw only after other options fail. these standards, in combination with vigilant monitoring, will transform the servicing industry. significantly, $20 billion will go toward various forms of financial relief, including principal reduction, refinancing, and other types of belief -- relief. time is of the essence for a

family facing foreclosure. there are incentives to provide relief sooner rather than later. while it is clear that community is all around the country have been devastated by a abuses in the housing crisis, african- american and hispanic families have been hit especially hard. discriminatory lending played a particularly devastating role in the housing in foreclosure crisis, draining significant wealth from all communities, especially communities of color. our enforcement actions show the two often african-american and hispanic families paid more for loans because of their race or national origin, not based on their credit qualifications. too often, african-american and hispanic families were steered to more risky and expensive loans based on race and national origin, not credit qualifications, and regrettably,

some lenders refused to lend in minority communities, making assumptions based on the race rather than credit qualifications. to address this discrimination, attorney general holder created a fair lending unit. since the establishment of the fair lending unit, thanks to the committed career professionals in the division, we have brought record numbers of enforcement actions. in 24 months, the division filed or resolve 16 lending matters -- i think, now, 17 -- from 1993, to 2008, there was 29 salt. the division produced unprecedented results in 2011 alone, filing a record lending- related federal lawsuits,

containing eight settlements, providing more than three and a $50 million of relief to victims -- $350 million of relief to victims, including the settlement with countrywide, the largest case ever brought by justice, and records settlements known as the service member civil relief act. no one came to rectify the practices in the lending market the contributed to the housing and foreclosure prices. the division's fair lending unit uses every possible toll to address the range of abuses seeing in the market, both in mortgage and not mortgage lending. collaboration is critical for all we have accomplished. much of all unfair lending enforcement is done in conjunction with the banking regulatory agencies and to allay

the nondiscrimination working group, which assistant attorney general -- particularly the nondiscrimination working group, which the assistant attorney general chairs. in addition, the sec and hud reported one of nine -- 109 matters. 55 involved race or national origin discrimination, a combined total but as far higher than the referrals received in 2001 to 2008. our enforcement efforts have been enhanced by the consumer financial protection bureau, a critical partner. we work closely with state attorneys general as evidenced by the countrywide case. from that settlement,. the $35 million, more than 50 times -- 3 ended $35 million,

more than 50 times larger than the next summit, our complaint contended that violations by living the fair housing act and impacted more than 200,000 african-american and hispanic families. at the core of the complaint, a simple story. if you were african-american or hispanic you likely paid more than a white, similarly qualified borrowers, and if you were -- and you were more like it to be steered into a risky sub-prime loan. african-american borrowers who walked into a countrywide store had no idea they could've gotten a better deal. nothing can undo the damage hard-working families suffered as a result of these discriminatory practices, but

the relief will begin to address some of their financial office -- losses and makes sure that behavior will not be tolerated in the market. we also reached our second- largest settlement against wells fargo. there will be a minimum of $125 million direct compensation, and a commitment to provide additional compensation for any victims found. further, money was committed to targeted communities. this will begin to address the community. arms that are the consequence of such discrimination. additionally -- harms that are the consequence of such discrimination. additionally, we had settlements with banks in prime lending, and

the first case brought by the division in at least one decade. a case filed against a regional lender was incorporated in the southern district of new york. many of the cases have relied on disparate analysis to show a violation of law. this approach has been unanimously expected by the courts, and the division is using all of these tools in the arsenal to without discrimination. we settled redlining cases in 2011, one against citizens bank of flint, mich., another of the west bank center of saint louis. citizens agreed, among other things, to invest $3.6 million. in the city of detroit.

midwest agreed to invest $1.5 million in african-american neighborhoods in saint louis. our settlement seeks to expand opportunities for minority communities and individuals to establish a good, sound credit in areas where lenders had previously denied hud services, but our sellers are never required to give loan to unqualified borrowers. they repeatedly referred to extensions for qualified applicants only, and we know there are plenty of qualified minority borrowers. the department makes clear that no provision in any agreement include -- including any special loan programs require banks to make any unsafe or unsound loan. we want to encourage responsible lending to route these committees, and sound products -- throw out these communities,

and sound products. we had a discrimination case against women against the largest insurance company and two underwriters that is currently in litigation. in addition to traditional fair lending work, we stepped up efforts to protect service men and women with the service members civil relief act, which aggressively to protect service members whose homes were foreclosed in violation of that law. as a result, the best majority of all foreclosures against service members will be under court-ordered a review. recently, we reached a $12 million settlement with capital one that will address violations for all -- throughout the their lending arms. our fair lending system has helped to shape and find what access to equal credit means

under a law for all borrowers, just as our housing discrimination and forced the continues to injured people have equal access, the ability -- in sure people have equal access, and the ability to live where people choose -- the foundation of which we build our lives. this is essential for families across a spectrum of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, granting them the opportunity to have a choice, access to schools, and to engage as fully equal members of their community. the department settled its lawsuit against a city in wisconsin for discrimination and violation of the fair housing act, filed in 2011. it alleged that they blocked wanted 80 units of affordable housing projects that a -- 180 units of affordable housing projects the developer proposed

the commission initially approve the product -- project, but reversed course after hundreds of residents objected partly based on racial stereotypes and fear that tenants would be african-americans. in response to public opposition, the city changed the zoning and land-use requirements to bar affordable housing in the city center in the future. our settlement requires the city not take any further action to obstruct or delay the affordable housing project and also requires the city takes affirmative steps to provide the future of affordable housing, including the requirements this to be communicated to fair housing by establishing a housing trust fund that is capitalized with $75,000 initially to assist with such products -- project.

equal opportunity is about prosperity and economic growth. this is administration has and continues to be committed to full and fair enforcement of laws that protect people from fraud and abuse is, keeping open the doors of opportunity for all. we remain committed to addressing the harmful prejudice in a meltdown, and also remain committed. we will continue to aggressively enforce the law to protect the rights of service members and all who face discrimination to ensure fair and equal access to credit and to housing opportunities for all, as the law requires. thank you for the needy here with you today, and i look for -- for letting me be here with you today, and i look forward to the discussion ahead. >> thank you so much.

again, thank you for your great work at doj. it means a lot to the community to see justice brought to our families. i would like to bring up to the podium janneke ratcliffe, a fellow at the center for american progress, and the rest of our panelists. >> good morning. i am janneke ratcliffe, a senior fellow here, and also the executive director for the gentle of community capital- letter university of north carolina at -- the center of community capital at the university of north carolina. thank you for coming, and welcome to the panel. it is an amazing range of experience and insight that they bring to the question of looking

at where we stand today, and how we move forward, five years since the financial system really began to unravel. for a quick introduction, and my right, the far right, david stevens is president and ceo of the mogage bankers association and is leading his industry forward, bringing an impressive career as a lender with world savings bank, freddie mac and wells fargo cut in real estate, and most recently of the public side as former commissioner of the fha. thank you for joining us. next, terri ludwig, president and ceo of enterprise community partners which provides capital and expertise to create affordable homes and rebuild communities. shares previously led a merrill lynch development co. -- she has previously led a merrill lynch

development company. to my immediate right, jim carr, a housing consultant and former chief officer of the national community reinvestment coalition. he previously headed housing and research at fannie mae, worked at rutgers, search and advisory boards and numerous universities and is a visiting professor at columbia university. is a deeply engaged academic serving many organizations promoting competition domestically and internationally. i would like to start off with foreclosures. the white paper presented today reports 3.5 million foreclosures since 2008. notably, that is less than the 3.7 million households that are currently a delinquent or in the

process of foreclosure, but housing economists are starting to talk about a bottom to the market and maybe even a recovery. how does this square with what you have seen and is it time to stop working on foreclosure prevention solutions? >> thank you. that an excellent way to steer the conversation. i am amazed that i have heard housing economists that -- are you we have seen a bottoming of the crisis. the fact of the matter is just as the economy has sporadically shelled glimmers of greater hope, the housing market continues to show greater hope and then loses steam. whinney to be careful about being overly optimistic about the current state of the housing market because if we do it could lead to taking actions that will severely hurt the budding recovery of the housing market, and that is to stop actively working to repair the housing

market. he remains in deep trouble. the me talk about a few reasons why i say that. on the positive side, house prices have stabilized, and in some markets there have been healthy increases, but they're still down nationally by more than 30%. as a result, we lost over $7 trillion in housing wealth. we are nowhere near having rebuild that lost wealth. in addition, we had closer to 25% of households whose mortgages are valued at more than the houses themselves, translating to 7 billion the -- $70 billion in upside down debt, no where near wiping that out. one of the reasons foreclosures have fallen and why we have to be careful about celebrating too much about the data is foreclosures fell significantly between 2010 and 2011, by about 35%, and that is something to

celebrate, but it does not to do with service is getting more effective at modification. the fact is foreclosures fell because of legal -- legal impediments faced by servicers. now, most of those legal challenges are out of the way, and as a result, when report i recently saw has morgan stanley estimating there are 7 million homes in the foreclosure pipeline. in addition, if you look at data regarding mortgage purchases, or new construction, both of those numbers, again, are up. mortgage purchases looked to be on the right path, but approximately 70% of those are refinanced, which is good now, but not sustainable over the long term. purchased mortgages are below

what we would expect in a normal market, and the same with housing construction, still anemic relative to a strong market. when you are looking of the housing market, it is important to understand housing and the economy are linked at the hip. for the last four years, the largest drivers of foreclosure has been the economy, under- employment or unemployment loss of income. the reality is the economy is still in a precarious position. anyone following the news knows europe is sliding each day closer to an abyss, and it is having negative effects on our economy, but the truth is we do not need help from europe to damage our economy. we are not looking at and debating in washington competitive investments in america that get america back to work. instead, most of the conversation is around the fiscal cliff at the beginning

of the year, which means the focus is on deficit reduction. that is not to say deficits are not important, but we need to address them in the context of a comprehensive investment program for america because the best way to balance the budget is to put america back to work, and instead we are focusing on counting the numbers toward the fiscal >>. i think it is premature to say the housing market -- fiscal cliffs. dispatcher -- premature to say the housing market has bottomed. we need to mitigate foreclosures and not for get the damage done to committees of high concentrations of foreclosures. we need to address those neighborhoods, rebuild those committees, and get the housing homeownership market street, leveraging the fact that we have a house prices now better down -- that are down now, and using the to leverage for

affordable housing opportunities for low-income and minority households. the bottom line is we have seen some good news, and i think that is good. we should accept the good news, it is better than bad news, but we should not run to start and conclude the bottom, and sit back and watch the recovery, because that will not do it. >> thank you. terri ludwig, as jim points out, homes are still losing homes at a great pace, and 30% of americans live in rental properties, and that will only go up as new households are not as eager or able to step into homeownership, but there is a shortfall of affordable rentals. it seems like a key opportunity to reposition policies around rental housing, especially the quality and affordable rental housing. what are the prospects for getting it right this time? >> let's hope, strong, but the

perspective i would like to bring to the conversation is enterprises is working at the national agenda and in local communities across the country. as i share our perspective today, i think it is important to look into the local committees and the public is really happening, and i think where enterprise stands today, and what we promote on the national level is thinking about how to achieve a more balanced housing policy. there is no doubt today, where we are in the cycle, there is tremendous opportunity for home ownership and we think that is vitally important for building wealth. at the same time, the growing need for rentals are there, and many of us read the statistics. i was looking at the joint center at harvard, the housing study that comes out each year, and what we've seen over the last decade is tremendous growth

in the need for rental housing. in the last six years you seeing demand more than double. the pending on which numbers you would like to listen to, the depending on which members you like to listen to, -- depending on which numbers you want to listen to it, there is a gap of about 5.1 million units, which is just enormous. in the absence of any major policy interventions, we will see this trend continued to build, -- continue to build, given the crisis d.c. with rentals. we are in the process of going to not only tax reform, gse reform, and facing a financial -- potential fiscal cliff, so i think we need to be ardent in how we will support their rental sector as we look at ownership policies. what we would like to put forward our ideas is say how to

be looked at programs that have been effective and efficient on the ground, was that can help us reduce -- preserve affordable housing that is up there. the low income housing tax credit was a product of tax reform in 1986. it was a reagan policy, interestingly enough, but how we take that program and make sure that the efficiency we have seen in the program, which i would be happy to argue, has been very effective, creating one of the 25,000 new homes each year that are affordable rental -- wanted 25,000 new homes each year that are affordable rental properties, and also helps to create jobs. talking about housing and economic stimulus, i think the

are -- these are incredibly linked. we want to make sure the credit remains on the agenda. it as leverage about $75 billion worth of private capital. we think it is vital that we prect some of those critical tools that have worked. in addition, enterprise has been trying to make sure that we have additional programs that also help us address issues around foreclosure for something with the neighborhood stabilization program. it has been less than perfect, but it has been a vital it communities that have been hard hit. we're trying to make sure that as they are used, they are used effectively and efficiently, and we can take learning's on the ground back to policy-makers and make sure the next generation a policy continues to strengthen. i also think we will be in a debate. we'll be talking about how we restructure existing

homeownership tax benefits to benefit more lowercase and moderate-income people. we have seen the data out that suggests housing subsidies out there, over 50% of them go to people making over $100,000 or more of a year. how do we write-size the subsidies that exist to make sure the folks that are low and moderate-income our benefit -- are benefited by those? how can we do that in the scope of a reality where we think we can make progress on the agenda? finally, i am delighted and honored to be here today. i think the homes for good campaign, the reason we are here, it is about coming together, and thinking about creating a shared message for the issues that we care about. i think that is vitally important for all of us to think about. how do we get beyond individual silos inspectors and come together around a message with a

specific set of priorities so that we make progress going forward, and i think we can see some of the progress we hope for. >> great. dave, looking ahead to how to create a path to sustainable homeownership, there is an enormous amount of work in progress and more remaining to be done to rebuild our mortgage finance system. the things we all do now that the regulators and lawmakers to do, will change the way holders and is financed for decades to come. can we have a system that is safe and inclusive? how will it look when we are done? what do we do? >> thank you. i would start off, and we share your opening point, escaping policy when you come to washington, that is the first time we have heard that statement [laughter] let's set some ground wallet --

ground rules. it is interesting, having taken enforcement actions against hundreds of institutions, starting a dialogue on the services, which i left part way in between, is remarkable. hindsight is perfect. and related, unsustainable homeowners standards, allowing institutions to promote programs that would adjust in two years to people who have terrible credit histories and have already suffered and are high- risk families -- putting them in programs that ultimately they are supposed to be bailed out of two years down the road are assumptions that proved unsustainable, and we wrap them up in sub-prime loans that were designed to give access to all motorship with the idea that it homeownership, with the idea that it would appreciate --

homeownership, with the idea but would appreciate in a rapid way. institutions fueled this fire towards what ultimately created house of cards. we cause extraordinary damage. my industry has. the same industry i took actions against while i was at hud. you hear that message repeated multiple times. those enforcement actions will work their way through, but the question is how do we get hold back into the housing system? the more -- hope back into the housing system? the more we have discussions where you want to leave and slit your wrists, with the dialogue about the downside ahead, that does not lead from the confidence standpoint, and at the same time we do not want irrational exuberance towards

the future with people making decisions based on expectations better to positive. balance is off the the what we need to think about. i want to talk about a few balances. the first of the balance in a leadership against rental. when i worked for shaun donovan, he worked -- he talked about a balanced housing policy. what does that mean? to many families were promoted into the hope of homeownership, and it particularly destroyed communities of color, committees of low-income levels, communities that were propped it because of water%-financed, not amortized mortgages. you could look at las vegas, detroit, products originated and provided to consumers with similar outcomes for different reasons. the balance has to shift. well qualified borrowers who can

prove their ability to repay that are fully documented, where it is known they will be able to perform is a critical component. we also needed ballast rental policy. there will be -- balanced rental policy. there will clearly be demand. we see shortages right now. we see in commercial and multi- family institutions, they're having a better year than in past years, which is great, showing the demand for rental housing, but at the same time, how will we deal with affordable work force housing, and what happens to tenants better displaced, having to move kids to further out locations where it is more affordable because rent goes up simply because there is a supply and demand this balance? these are the things we have to think about collectively together. certainly, the future of subsidized finance, whether it

comes from hud or elsewhere, treating affordable housing will be key to this, the balance has to be part of this. i will shift to my greatest concern. i'm very concerned about the teacher access to homeownership. i'm worried that in the effort to eliminate risk in the market, and the unfair and abusive practices that existed, we will move too far. if you think of the pendulum, small swings in economic cycles, the way the economy has functioned over years, we've come from a large swing, and are we swinging too far the other way? i looked at rules that i participated in as part of dodd- frank, with a 25% minimum down payment. we no down payment is the single biggest barrier to access for

first-time home buyers, and that ultimately this -- disproportion the effects families of color, hispanics, african-americans, and the first-time home buyer population. a recent study talks about fha and i bristled when i saw the study because the fact of the matter is for first-time homeowners, fha stands for friends of hispanic americans, not the federal housing administration. if you do not have a large amount of the inherited wealth from your parents, and that goes back generations in this country, you'll be limited access without the fha. it is putting down that loan with other restrictions which costs the bar or more than an fha loan. we have seen that if you go back

when decade ago's last year, one decade ago, all loans to hispanic americans and african- americans were done through conventional mortgages. last year, approximately 80% of the same population of loans were down either through the fha, va or u.s. va. when you look at bezel standards, income cuts better defining the ability to repay, fha could have a very unique color boundary to it. then, the 1% will get low, fixed-rate financing, whether it is through freddie mac or fannie

mae, because they live at access to economic fortune that has been passed on and generated from the history of this country. this should not be an ethnic discussion. it becomes so simply because of economics and demographics. while we are making certain to enforce all of the mistakes made, and that will continue, with plenty of that going on. we could talk about the great things happening. you could accuse them of not doing enough for going too far, but the fact of the matter is i'm extremely concerned about access to affordable housing finance credit outside of the fha program, and, quite frankly, in the fha program, depending then what happens in the political arena over the next couple of years, if we do not seriously look at when we stop reverting attention to current will makings in a responsible way that says we are not willing

to restrict access to qualified, sustainable ownership for a large multitude of participants in the market. it creates a vibrant and competitive marketplace so consumers get the best options available, not ending up with the barbell affect, a thick shell, the fha, people on the margins, -- fha, and people on the margins. we need to be very careful about what happens going forward, and that is the fundamental dialogue we need to be happening -- having. enforcement is happening in a rapid weight. it will be a big foreclosure year because of lack of foreclosures last year. only 50% was for coast of what was expected. we need to have a serious debate. those who have low down payments, who need access, and should not be delayed by one

decade, simply because we think it is time to be tough on crime and we have to over-exertion that force and create a huge, the. -- disparate impact by policy, not lending behavior. >> obviously, there is a lot of rich stuff to get into. before we get into those things, i would like to stick with the question you both talked about, a balanced housing problem -- policy. just to understand, we're not at a crossroads where we either have to support rentals, or foster home ownership, or is there some way to connect these dots in a holistic way? >> i would like to comment just to say that i think david painted a good picture of the challenges, and is not -- it is not a disagreement, but just a

clarification for people that do not do this every single day. i think we need to be careful, as we engage in a conversation of the balance of housing against rental, and did we of shift rate never exceeded 50's during. they have said this. not because we went too far in pushing the envelope on a budget a month project, low down payment. it was a sub prime loan that was not intended to promote home ownership. this can get a little bit muddled. for there is high and financing for people that did not know. was taking the

wherewithal to be good candidates for long-term candidates impelling them off the subprimal loans intended to require a refinancing. when house prices flat out, we go back and talk about the balance is caller: caller: s of, ship, we need to question the fixed-rate loans. since the great depression, and they have been underwritten largely for non income and hispanic households. the system worked to make sure they got into homes for which they were intended step of an effort which we forgotten this thing. you would be successful.

the lender wanted to have a relationship to go to the next one. that fell apart. there's that one home where we keep taking income. we keep shipping from you. what amazes me is when i hear a lot of economists tell me we need to rethink home ownership. saying is that we need to rethink having minorities and lower house holds. i think we need to not focus on this balance. we need to focus on what are the kinds of loans that hi historically show

that they are well up building. they match up with the kinds that are building. >> you will hear the debate or loan was nothe low t needed. you hear them talk about this for the consumer. you are interesting. seen interest rates go from bought 18 down to 3.5%. if you're ever going to need this, it is going to be here going forward. that is why i talked about some prime. the assistant loans artificially inflated values.

half of all borrowers are going to end up and that sort of trouble. there is a lot of variables and how we deal with this to make sure they are working on access but not pushing people into homes for reasons that will not be sustainable. >> i do not think i could say anything different but to echo this. we have a steady coming out within the next several weeks looking at access to credit. these things will all be present.

low income. we have a bit of a tale of two cities. we have a recovery in some places. the majority of the places we are working in are seeing very challenging conditions. >> if you look at the multifamily environment, their sources are no different than the single family environment. the market is virtually nonexistent. if you look of this going forward, need to make sure we can build plenty of supplies, particularly in their places of work so there is supply there. >> some of the work that we are doing, what we're going to continue to hear is the vacancies for families. we have to be thoughtful about

how we articulate what that means to our economy. i think there is real opportunity to convert some of those single family units. certainly went to own and other programs we think can be too high quality rentals or home ownership. there is a huge mismatch between where they are and where there are opportunities for jobs and the other reasons people choose community. how we think about that as they all go to the hill to advocate for what we believe in, we have to be front and center. >> i want to add to that. and one thing that is interesting we need to remember a lot of households who lost

their homes or good candidates for home ownership. they were before the crisis. they steerstill are now. they just cannot pay the subprimal. as we are looking at the single family is and/or town houses, it is the basic stock. we need to make sure we do not drift. what are the challenges in helping those individuals who lost their homes? have been that as failing on a predatory product is adding insult to injury. it is penalizing them. we have these incredibly low house prices.

what are the products that go beyond the standard fixed-rate. how do we treat a new lease program national and scale that we know is not a predatory market and get people into owning a home or the matters did not matter because they are leasing its. as we think about the balance, we have to think about what happens between rental and ownership. i think recovering from the extraordinary damage is essential as ending the foreclosure and building the market going forward. a lot of homeowners lost their homes. many are just as prepared to be homeowners as current ones are today.

correct it is interesting. this may not even be due to predatory products. it could be an automobile worker that lost his job. to no fault of his own, they have had their credit scores impacted. how do we get them back? this is a really important issue. , thattapose that is great. it puts cash in people's hands. the policy makers found the way to get more refinancing done is to eliminate the barriers to access. that is a good lesson. the more barriers on the other side of the aisle, they could

have the opposite effect. that is where this has to happen. >> that is a really good point. one of the obstacles from a lot of public policy, they are resistant to do more to mitigate foreclosures is the perception is that somehow people are in the troubled they are in financially because of their own doing. they bought more houses than they could afford. it is an important point that it is not as much in the public mind. a lot of people going into foreclosure are really a victim of circumstance. if we are looking at those as the driving characteristics, the ability of us and the willingness of policymakers to legislate more aggressive

litigation should be greater. we have to first remove the perception that people are self- inflicted victims of being irresponsible. >> this really was triggered by a bunch of reckless lending. because some of you have addressed this, what are we in danger of losing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage? we talk about something that needs to be protected. we have been taking it for granted. are there concerns about it? what should we be encouraging the candidates to think about? >> it seems almost blasphemous for many who think about this, it will never happen. i grew up in this industry several decades ago. fannie mae and freddie mac or a much smaller percentage of the market place.

we held them of portfolio. we locked in the interest-rate the night before foreclosures. we cannot hedge forward into the violent market that have been created. we cannot have the confidence in security knowing it and not block them out of the home ownership access. it keeps the economy moving. at its extreme, in the absence of a complete elimination, i think he would seek disruptions in the construction of how this is being created. that evolution has the

securities market. the interaction is now global. it all depends on this flow. it puts an analogy to move this under the sink. this is what we have to be most careful of, over correction, trying to dampen down some of the emotional statements made for political campaign purposes. >> i think there is a risk to any policy given what we are facing today. i do think this is essential policy to retain. i know we see comparisons to global markets that had seen fully functioning markets without it. i think it is important not only in the housing market, but as you look at the credit crisis more globally, i used to be a

small business finance, it is important to determine the perfectibilitpredictability of . for low-income families it is essential. it has something that is long term, that has the features we know l.l. access to a broader range. >> it is also very important for a stable renting. >> i find the whole question to the surreal. for 50 years, there is a reason why home ownership is the single most important aspect of the typical american household. for half a century, home ownership was the most stable and most incredible wealth generating asset. in 2000, we had in this

explosive growth of exploited products. it destroyed the housing market. the wreckage of the housing market, how do we repair the damage that was caused? rather than looking at the products that cause the damage, we said in must be the 30 year fixed mortgage. that is what we got rid of and place of suffering. thank goodness for the consumer protection bureau. the idea that we need to get rid of the projects that half of a century proved itself to be the enemy of the world is incredible to me. when we talk about what would replace it, you end up with conversations that are convoluted and as bizarre and in sense of where they lead to of the same kind of projects that

could lead to another class of the housing market. as opposed to sign on the dotted line. that is what we need. that is what works. there is no reason to be debating whether it exists. >> let's call back. let's look at several years. by 2015, at the country will be majorities last minority. -- will be majority/minority. home ownership for minorities has suffered a bigger loss than others. when we look at the fact that hispanic households are currently accounting for more than half of the home purchases in this country and you look ahead at the growing diversity, what are the implications for how we designed the finance for

the future? >> 53% of all purchases in qe3 were to hispanic households. formations over year, and there were about three under 93 billion households -- 393 billion households formed. in the hispanic community. in the non-hispanic communities, we actually had a loss. if you look at the household formation over the next decade, the single biggest growth factor will be from the latino community.

where i grew up the mom stayed home. a steady in salary, pension or retirement. we think about household formation going forward, we need to think about cultural differences, cash in comes, self employment and come. these mean not pay well. we need to make sure we're looking at how to include all verifiable income that may not be counted in a traditional sense. it is an important demographic. it is going to drive a lot of the u.s. economy. the desire to own a home is extremely high. we have to make sure we're finding a way. >> you're talking about the low

down payment market as well. >> absolutely. >> those are the important trend to look at. we make sure we're paying attention to cultural differences and that we have products that allow us to look at differences in communities. it also has to do with life cycle. when we're looking at generational housing, there is a different way we need to be thinking about the housing stock. folks are also looking at things like how we add more density. if we want to have seniors or intergenerational housing, how do we think of that. as it talk about our future communities, we need to be paying attention to the products themselves. people talk about accessory dwelling units.

it is adding more density to stock. we're looking to do this in a way that allows us to have a productive path. it is important that you look at the cultural norms as well as demographics. >> probably the first time the census department showing the country would no longer be a majority non-hispanics white, it did not get anyone's attention. people would say to thousand it is a long way away. -- 2050 is a long way away. the majority of babies are now children of color. we didn't have 30 years or 40 years. we do not even have 10 years. that large number of minority children will have a profound impact on every aspect of the

economy. integrate in the children so that they can pay the bills. they will be retiring as doctors and lawyers. they will be repaid by kids that cannot get a job as a cashier. we need to think about that. and half of the u.s. population -- when half of the u.s. population are not able to put their foot on economic success. as david pointed out, at the housing became the infrastructure not just for himself and his immediate family but for his children going forward.

we need to fear of how to make that work for non-hispanics. particularly for people of color, we need to figure out that now. we do not have time to wait. the future is today. >> i will be looking for someone to buy my house. hopefully a pact will be found. it is time to open the question up to the audience. i ask that you give us your name and your affiliation. i would remind you that we are here not to comment specifically on the platforms of anyone to putte but rather things for were that could be useful for them and thinking about their housing platform. i am going to start with manual.

he will kick off with the questions. >> good morning. i am the regional director of common ownership for the latino economic development center. i am here with the senior housing counselor. i like to take a brief moment to highlight the story of a real family. we equipage residents with the skills and financial tools to create a better future for their families and communities. we provide micro lending to expand small businesses. we work for stable housing in region. more than 5500 renters and homeowners have turned to get the support they need to buy their first rounds and keep the rental housing affordable.

we provided more than 2300 hours of intervention counseling for 400 families. i wanted to kick off the questions. one is for underwater borrowers. that principle reduction is an important tool. reductionre principal taking place. the seemingly similar cases need to be treated differently than what we have seen in the last couple of months. we started to see some agreed to principal reduction. recent decisions were very disappointed. they said they would not allow mortgage giants to offer struggling homeowners prince of the reduction. more than 50% of our cases are fannie mae and freddie mac loans.

there are also scams that continue to target struggling homeowners. we see this as an issue every day as families come to us and they are further behind because they try to seek help from banks. they have fallen victim to foreclosures scandals. we are working with state agencies in partners to report scans and educate homeowners on how to avoid scams. more need to be done. by the time they come to as it is already too late. the scam artist seem to be changing their tactics to divert vulnerable homeowners. report these as frequently as we can. we also find that many homeowners are reluctant to report these.

rather than rush to foreclosure , it suggests that we need to clear up the housing market. it is important to ensure that deserving families who through no fault of their own have a chance to stay in their homes if it makes financial sense for their families. we wanted to come up here and tell everyone about the cases we most recently had been working with. >> thank you. i am bilingual housing counselor. we see difficult cases every day. i want to share a story with you that just walked into the office last month. if you years ago they fell

behind on their mortgage when hector rodriguez, the husband, got sick with cancer. by the time he came into our office, he has already passed away. they are about eight months behind on their mortgage. the they have three young daughters under the age of five. the wife gets a letter in the mail. the reduced payments as much as 50%. she calls the business for help to save the house appeared in the act for $5,000 to try to work out a loan modifications. time goes by. now she has fallen a year and a half behind.

eventually, they tell her that the modification was denied. . these are the stories we see on a day-to-day basis. there are certain stories that touch the heart of all our counselors. he says the only option left is to put the house on the market. the scammer says they will bite the house in return and return it to her. to do this they ask for $60,000 to be transferred into their own banking account. for her children she agrees.

the house is put on the market. she tells the story to her psychiatrist. he tells her to come to ledc. we tell the story is illegal. what they have promised is they will buy house and give that back to her. she believes it. when she comes in and seize one of the counselors, the counselor tells him know. there is no way that they are going to do this. it is not legal. the counselor telstar to go back

to this person and try to get her money back. she listens. she goes back. she tries to get her money back. a gift for 40,000 out of the 60,000. she comes back to our office. at least she has $40,000. at this point, all of our counselors are involved in this case. we all feel there is no way we can settle for her only paying 40,000 out of the $60,000 she has already given. we continue forward. this client does not want to come forward and report the case. we feel it is our obligation as a housing counselor. any medical doctor would report

a case. it is our obligation to report this case. we did so. the reported to the department of licensing. this is where we are. they got to the point where the third person got a little bit threatened. she ended up giving mercedes back the addition of 20,000. she had a $60,000 back. mercedes to go back to the person's office. and for charlie, the office was closed. -- unfortunately, the office was closed. three other people started talking to mercedes. mercedes told them that what they are doing is not legal.

an additional person to come to ledc was willing to give a deadline. it is sad. there is nothing we can do about this. these cameras are busy. they are working. the only thing we can do is share the story so that more people know and go back with questions. those people might have friends. the word does get along. thank you. [applause] >> we debated about asking a question about principal reduction. we decided to focus today on

the foreclosures caming issue. so many people come to us when it is too late. if they had come to us earlier, our options would be different. we have highlighted the importance of reporting scams. it is a focal. -- it is difficult. she did not allow us to use her name. we wanted to highlight the question. what do you believe can be done at the federal or local level to protect home ownership. >> there are two things that are alive and well. the other thing is the drive to preserve the roof over the head. as for these cameras, what can we do?

-- scammers, what can we do? >> there's something the secretary has been focused on. i used to travel around the country and visit with housing counselors and certain hard hit markets. i thought there was a shortage of money. as a result, the resources is not enough money to deal with the need. the consumer is being affected. they do not know where to go.

you hope there is enough out there. it is a difficult one. it is illegal. >> the only thing i would add is that one of the things that has been mystifying is that so much of the abuse of consumers can be encouraged by having good quality testing and have those turned over to institutions such as the department of justice. i should calling these artists and establishing legal action against them. you want to address the damage that is being done.

it can be increase pretty substantially. if you purge these abusive behavior is, you have much less federal dollars to compensate for the damages. one of the opportunity is to do the testing of them and turning over those and put them out of business. a lot of this has been done over the last couple of years. a lot more could be done. >> before they take their toll. >> i will change the agenda up a little bit to say it is so important to talk about this

kind of feedback. what i would want us to do is to think about what is the back end process. we have millions of homes being transferred to new homeowners today. whether it is on trading or whether we have sales going on at irving bought up by private equity players. there is so much activity that will be facing individuals as well as communities that we serve. one of the conversations, it is important to have that other part of the conversation. we have established the national security stable as fashion -- stabilization to start buying of

nonperforming loans. we thought it was important to have irresponsible player that could do principal reduction, -- to have a response ballplayer that could to principal reduction. we're using the hardest hits in illinois. many states have not been utilized yet. why not take some of that meeting to try to do the principal reductions. it gives them the training they need to be a productive homeowner. we are doing that anyway they have restructured this. we are looking at the other end

vacancies. he happens to be irresponsible private equity player. they are concerned about the bulk purchases that are being bought up. what happens to the other 20% or 30% of the homes? they're sitting in our community. they will be resold? we need to think about what is the next generation our communities will face. we will be facing these issues inside years times. >> i am glad you're taking us out of the legal recommendation.

one of the recommendations of the home for good campaign is to mandate mediation. in the processn up desperately looking for someone to help them but they have been required to sit down with their servicer and have legal representation. they would have had good advice. they would have all the alternatives. it would have been clear to push this through the services. there would have been ways to modify the loans and allow them to maintain this without ever having to start making phone calls to institutions.

requiring that they actually meet the standards, there is a whole list of those recommendations in the home for good campaign brochure. a lot of the scanning will never have the opportunity to occur. >> if you read the standards, it has two obligated points. the first is the mandatory letter. this happened very early on. these were mirrored in the proposed rule. it requires everybody to behave the same way.

>> we have tiebreaking more audience questions. thank you. >> i am with the national association of hispanic real- estate professionals. if you mentioned one solution. you also made six talk of principle reductions. this is a historical low interest-rate. >> i believe principal reduction is something that should be done by fannie mae and freddie mac. it is not clear why the administration is opposed to it. initially it was said that it

was not effective. it needs to be done. it is not clear why it is being done. there other things we have not even talked about. bankruptcy protection for principal residence. this is something they recommended over four years ago. the estimated it could be dealt with in that way. you can give bankruptcy protection on your second home and rental property. when it comes to the family home it is off limits, parts of early in this crisis -- particularly in this crisis. i think this is a real peace. only talk about this mass rate financing, you are talking about a proposal on capitol

hill. one of the problems is that if you see how long it takes to le written, ilu think we really cannot afford to wait. we had mediation that it happen immediately. when we have all these things that could be done, there are real penalties and consequences for not following the role. we could be mitigating hundreds of thousands or foreclosures. those are nice ideas. i think we should be doing things that we can do right now. >> i would disagree. you heard by you on principal reduction. i think we have seen cases where it works very well prepared there have been studies talking about the cost of foreclosure

and why it makes sense from an economic standpoint. i would just that though these comments to say principal reduction is an option that i think we should. i think we need to clear the housing stock and get the recovery going in a stronger reduction. prince will reduction could be an important tool. >> -- principal reduction could be an important role. >> one thing i would suggest one comes to the rate finance proposal, this would extend the program to provide more access to consumers. this is one advantage. there are some issues with it.

there are opportunities there. the bill which proposes taking private label mortgages and real financing those is very close to this program. there are things in play. these can happen fairly quickly. the challenge of legislation, you have to take it all or nothing. it could potentially move forward. >> how is this working? it is having a permanent solution. it is improving the cash flow of millions of americans. >> i was not referring to those

proposals. i thought your referring to this one of new trusts. realistically it would take a couple of years to put something like that. this is why i am saying this. >> any last burning questions that make it a quick one. >> hello. my question relates to credit issues. a lot of folks have been damaged by the foreclosures.

they declare high medical bills. we see folks every day. it may take several creative type of innovative programming. is anything possible for folks like that? >> we need to be looking at credit scores and how they are being used for everything. it is understanding how we can get out of those damaged scores. it is the result of an obviously exploited project.

we have enough that had been pursued by the department of justice. there were clearly a lot of illegal behavior is happening. that goes to my point about innovative products. if you're working on a least purchase, the credits for does not matter. your credit behavior will be determined over three or five years of being a rancher and in that property. -- of being a rancherenter in tt property. let it raises the question of having a viable place to live. there needs to be products.

they are designed to the credit products. it allows people to excuse certain things like medical things beyond someone's control. one of the things we do is think about innovation and process. is there a way that has some non-traditional funding for some specific needs. i think that might be quite used to that. >> how do we set ourselves up? we are trying to find ways to provide home ownership. how do we go there? >> the question is key to a really important dialogue. i spent time in a rural area.

they have lost their jobs. the credit is being impacted. they have re gained employment. he can talk about predatory practices. you can talk about simple job loss. as we go forward, disobey what should the minimum downpayment the? how do we deal with this issue around credit scores and being able to isolate times of bad creation that your issues of no fault of that family -- that were issues of no fault of that family. some of disadvantage of the markets. we need responsible behavior is going forward. i think that is a really

important debate. >> i am looking for to the upcoming debate. i would like to thank our panelists. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> president obama goes to new hampshire this afternoon for a grass-roots rally. he plans to focus on tax cut in the budget differences between democrats and republicans. and experts released, president obama will tell voters the republican plan is trickle-down theory dust. what his comments live at 2:00 eastern time here on c-span. republicans meet monday to choose their party's priorities for the next few years. we will have live cartridge beginning at 1:30 p.m. eastern. events onso find the bandse

[unintelligible] c-span.org. the keynote speaker will be chris christie. we talked to a political reporter about that peak. >-- pick. >> why did the republican national committee select chris christie to be their keynote speaker at? >> ever since 2009, new jersey is the only state to have off- year elections. they were almost instantly pressed into the spotlight. he is brash. republicans love him. as much as a reporter and "are

you stupid? -- he asked a reporter "are you stupid?" earlier in the primaries you had a very divided republican party. by the end, you really need someone to rev up your base in the ready for the last few months are so. you wrote that governor christie is a rock star among conservative. >> in an interview with usa today, he actually said he was going to focus more on mitt romney's accomplishments as the governor of massachusetts. rather than attacking barack

obama. it is an interesting choice. you think he would be be the attack dog. it also might present a shift in the tone and strategy of the romney campaign. pivot point.a pet it >> what is the sense of his larger political aspirations beyond new jersey? >> he has been cagey about that. was at the top of governor romney's vice-presidential pick list. he always said he is not ruling out a presidential run but it is not in any of his plans at this time. his name has to be up there for 2016 along with people like jeb

bush he was named as a vice- presidential contender. it seems as though he is rather ambitious but also understands it is not quite his time yet. that is how he phrased it when he said he was not going to run this time around. >> the other was the selection of senator marco rubio to introduce governor romney. is this a consolation prize that do they have a larger plan for senator rudy? -- rubio? >> i'm not sure i would call it a consolation prize. but it is a big task certainly.

i think the romney campaign sees marco rubio in the same way as paul ryan. he is very telegenic. he is very conservative. he can reach into the hispanic community which is very important in florida in tampa with the convention is being held. he will certainly be a top surrogate for governor romney regardless of whether he was giving the keynote address or introducing governor romney. >> you can read his report in washingto. thank you. >> chris chris depose a keynote speech is set for august 20 night. keynote chris steve's 9.eech is set for august 2

you can follow these events on c-span radio and c-span.org. >> together that to make sure inat our prosperity is no riches all working families. i am happy the stock market has boomed. this country is richer and stronger. >> this was as high as a percentage of our economy. today our high taxes found a surplus. some say this means washington

has more money to spend. they have been a bad word. the surplus is the people's money. >> we are in the countdown to this year's conventions. he can watch our gavel-to-gavel coverage at the republican and democratic conventions of life on c-span.org and c-span radio starting monday august 27. >> inserted a copy in the new york times. i was in a training program when i got out of the army. >> he talks about his various jobs as a journalist. and his criticism of the defense department's budget priorities. >> they built a $4 million

facility. it keeps been $4 million on an elementary school someone would raise questions pictures. >> smartphones maybe soon on peke -- patient-generated health information. speakers from the hhs discussed new applications called observation of daily living. they are being tested by a patients doctors. they discussed whether the application should be regulated. this is just over an hour. >> i am with the alliance for health reform. on behalf of senator rockefeller and our board of directors, i want to welcome you to this program about patient- generated health information and

its potential for making our health system function more efficiently and a more consumer- friendly process. we will be hearing about the vices and process these that can transmit your glucose levels through your electronic device where your physician can use it to monitor your condition. we will hear about some of the potential advantages of that technology, challenges the advances are encountering, and what might be done about it. we are very pleased to have two partners today in sponsoring this briefing. one is the robert wood johnson foundation, which has been helping americans in to help your lives and get the care they need for 40 years. i have a little but nine men to wear. thank you very much to rwj for

pulling this together. you will hear from steve in a moment. the other co-sponsor is the bipartisan policy center. a project of four former senate majority leaders, two from each party, which is only d.c.-based think tanks that actively promote bipartisanship and has health care as one of the main focus areas. we are very pleased to have co- moderating today, the chairman of the health information technology initiatives. i would like to turn to her now. >> i think you got it. >> thank you. it is a great pleasure to be here today. we are talking about something that is very important to us at the bipartisan policy center. we were established back in 2007

by former senate majority leaders and focused on a broad range of issues, one being health care. we are particularly interested in the discussion today because we are talking about how one could more effectively engage consumers and patients using electronic tools. that is something that we focused a lot on. we are experiencing a number of pressures in our health care system today between rising health-care costs, uneven quality, he running coverage, and clearly, when you look at all of the rapidly emerging initiatives, moving across the country, whether sponsored by the federal government, states, or even a number of private sector health plans and providers, all of them had a key

goal of activating, in gauging, at a much higher level in their health care. we have a tremendous opportunity to leverage electronic tools, mobile technologies to make that happen. in fact, and what we will talk about today, a number of consumers would really like to use a smartphone or a pda to monitor their health if they were able to access their medical records and also not only download information, but push information to their clinicians and care team. physicians, too. some of the research indicates -- there was an article published over the last couple of years that while 64% of physicians had never used a patient's electronic health record, 42 percent and are willing to try. we are seeing a lot of interest

in this area. in fact, stage two of meaningful use -- there is a proposal that is out there right now that actually has a number of key requirements that are proposed around further in gauging patients using helfer tools like the ones we will talk about today. in keeping up the discussion, there are some key areas that we will want to explore to make exciting things that we are hearing about in this panel move forward in a more accelerated way. the first is, and i am looking forward to hearing some of the presentations around how between policy and market action clinicians can be supported and

educated in this transition to the new ways of providing care and interacting with patients. i know we will talk about clarification needed to policy issues and privacy. maybe a little bit about security. one of the things we are hearing, and i am not sure we will get there today, but it is about the need to align incentives for there to make sure that this happens and then of course, continuing to build awareness among consumers and assuring that nobody gets left behind. due to access to some of these technologies. i did not put it on the slide here for folks, but there are some technical issues that would also need to be figured out. i know we have a policy audience, but something called data providence -- if you will talk to the folks that use

records as they deliver care, particularly clinicians, figuring out if i have different sets of data, where did it come from so i have a better understanding -- >> you can find arrest of this discussion on the c-span video library. we will go live to win them, new hampshire. >> thank you. it is good to be back. it is good to be back in new hampshire. first of all, thank you for being here. i know it is a little bit warmer. >> i love you. >> i love you back. if you are standing, then your knees a little bit. we usually see some folks dropping out a little bit. [laughter] feel free to sit down and

relax. i want everybody to give a big round of applause. [cheers and applause] not only for the great introduction, but for being an outstanding teacher. i love teachers. [cheers and applause] two other people i want to acknowledge are annie custer. [cheers and applause] and my national co- shereen 2008 -- coach here in 2008 is here. [cheers and applause] all of you are here. i am very happy about that. [cheers and applause] let me also say thank you for returning my daughter's safe and

sound. they were up here for camp for a month. they had a wonderful time. their parents miss them a lot. we were glad to get them back. you guys took good care of them while they were up here. i appreciate that. [cheers and applause] now, when they were at camp, there were no tv's. unless you have been able to have your tv or cable, you may be aware there is a campaign going on right now. part of the reason the campaign is so intense is because the choice we face in november could not be bigger. it is not just a choice between two political parties. it is a choice between two fundamentally different visions about where to take this country. two finally different -- a fundamentally different paths for america. and the decisions you make, the

direction you choose for us to walk in will have an impact on your lives and an impact on your kids in your grandkids and generations to come. some of you are involved in 2008 when we came together a -- [cheers and applause] it was not just democrats. we had even some republicans. there you go. the idea was that we needed to restore the basic bargain that made this country great. the basic bargain that created the most prosperous economy that the world has ever known. it is a simple bargain. it says if you work hard, that work should be rewarded. it says that if you put in enough effort and you take seriously your responsibility, you should be able to find a job

to pay the bills, afford a home to call your own, count on health care if you get sick -- [cheers and applause] you should be able to retire with some dignity and respect. most important, you should be able to give your kids the kinds of opportunity that allows them to do better than you ever did. [cheers and applause] that is the american promise. that is the american dream. we knew restoring it would not be easy. it would take more than one year or one term or even one president because we have gone through a decade and that promise was not being kept.

we had seen a decade in which incomes and wages were going down even as the cost of health care and going to college are going up. we had seen a decade -- [cheers and applause] -- in which jobs were being set overseas and we turned a surplus into a deficit, ran two board on a credit card, all culminating in the worst financial crisis since the great depression. middle-class families who are already getting hammered lost their jobs, their savings, some lost their homes. the american dream seemed even further out of reach. when i ran for office, i told you there are no quick fixes, there are no easy solutions. i also insisted that if we pull together, we have everything we need to meet our challenge.

[cheers and applause] yes, we can. we still have the best workers in the world. the best entrepreneurs in the world. the best scientists, researchers colleges in the world. [cheers and applause] we are still a young nation. we have the greatest diversity in talent and ingenuity. there is a reason why people still want to come here. no matter what the naysayers say and how dark the other side tries to paint the future during election time, there is not another country on earth that would not trade places with the u.s. [cheers and applause]

most of all, the american character has not changed. in fact, during this crisis, we saw how people may have gotten knocked down, but they got right back up. people in their 50's losing their jobs go back to school, get retrained, and find a new one. small-business people keeping their doors open, even if it means them not taking a salary because they understand that their workers have families that are depending on them. we may have gone through tough times, but we are tougher than tough times. [cheers and applause] that is how we say again on the industry on the brink of collapse. that is how we created for a half million jobs. half a million in manufacturing.

we are not there yet. we still have a long way to go because we have to make sure that here in america, the matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, no matter what was your last name is, here in america, you can make it if you try. that is what this campaign is about. that is why i am running for president. [cheers and applause] [chanting four more years] now, i have to say this is a choice in this election. we have a particular vision about how to move the country forward. my opponent and his running mate had a different view.

they believe the best way forward is to go right back to old top-down economics that got us here in the first place. >> boo! >> their ideas are pretty simple. they're not hard to explain. they think if we get rid of more regulations on big corporations and big banks, some of which we could not -- we put in place to protect and if we do more tax cuts for the wealthiest americans and somehow prosperity will rain down on all of us. that is their theory. in fact, the centerpiece of my opponent's entire economic plan is a new five trillion dollar tax cut, a lot of it going to the wealthiest americans. his new running mate -- >> boo! >> people for a plan that will

let governor romney payless than 1% in taxes each year. here's the kicker -- he expects you to pick up the tab. >> boo1 >> this is not my analysis. this is the analysis of the independent folks who analyze tax plans for a living. that is what they do. [laughter] their analysis shows that governor romney's tax plan would raise taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000. >> boo! >> not to reduce the deficit or grow jobs or invest in education, but to give another tax cut to folks like him. as governor romney and his running mate, when they are here in new hampshire on monday, asked him if that is fair.

ask him how to grow the economy and how it will strengthen the middle class. they have been trying to sell this trickle-down snake oil before. it did not work then. it will not work now. it is not a plan to create jobs. it will not reduce the deficit. it will not move the economy forward. [cheers and applause] it is the wrong direction for america. [cheers and applause] you know, i think they know it is not a very popular idea. you can tell that because now they're being dishonest about my plans because they cannot sell theirs. they are trying to throw everything at the wall to see what will stick. the latest thing they have been trying is to talk about

medicare. you think they would avoid talking about medicare. given the fact that both of them have proposed to voucher rise the medicare system. i guess they figure the best defense is to try to go on offense. in new hampshire, here is we need to know. since i have been in office, have strengthened medicare. [cheers and applause] i have made reforms that have extended the life of the programs that have saved millions of seniors with medicare hundreds of dollars on prescription drugs. [cheers and applause] the only changes to your benefits that i have made on medicare is that medicare now covers new preventive services like cancer screenings and wellness this is for free. [cheers and applause]

governor romney and congressman ryan have a different plan. they want seniors to get a voucher to purchase their own insurance. that could force seniors to pay an extra $6,400 a year for their health care. remember those guys to analyze this for a living? that is their assessment. that does not strengthen medicare. that undoes the very guarantee of medicare. it is the core of the plan written by congressman ryan and endorsed by governor romney. here's the bottom line -- my plans raise money in medicare by tracking down the fraud and insurance. [cheers and applause] their plan make seniors pay more so they can get another tax cut.

my plan is our extended the life of medicare by nearly a decade. [cheers and applause] their plan would put medicare on track to be ended as we know it. it will be an entirely different plan. a plan in which you could not count on health care because it would have to be coming out of your pockets. that is a real difference between our plans on medicare. that is the choice in this election. that is why i am running for a second term as president of the united states. [cheers and applause] four years ago, i promise to cut

middle-class taxes. that is exactly what i have done. by a total of about $3,600 for the typical family. [cheers and applause] just like we have a difference on medicare, we have a difference on taxes. right now, i want to keep them where they are for the first $250,000 of everybody's income. if your family makes under $250,000, which that includes 98% of americans, that is you. [laughter] 97% of small businesses, you will not see your income taxes increase by a single die next year. [cheers and applause] if you are fortunate enough to be in the other 2%, you will still keep your tax cut on the first $250,000 to make. that is a pretty good deal.

all we're asking is for folks like you who made more than $250,000 per year, we are asking you contribute more above $250,000 a weekend pay down this making college more affordable, making sure our teachers are not getting laid off, making sure everyone is there to respond to emergencies. making sure our economy booms. keep in mind asking the wealthy to pay more does not eliminate our deficit. we will still have to make sure the government does its part by cutting away all of the spending we do not need. i have are to cut one trillion dollars in spending. we cannot just reduce our deficit and debt by gutting education and research and development and infrastructure. all we are asking -- go back to

the rates we paid under bill clinton. which was a time when we created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history. and a whole bunch of millionaires. [cheers and applause] i am getting all fired up. [cheers and applause] i want to explain that this is not just good for middle-class families and working families. it is good for everybody because what happens when a police officer or a firefighter or a teacher or construction worker or reception -- what happens when they have more money in their pockets? they spend it on basic necessities. maybe they go out and finally after 10 years by a new car. maybe they buy a new computer

for their kid going to college. that means business has more customers. that means businesses are making more profit. that means businesses are hiring more workers who have more money to spend, which make businesses do even better. that is how you grow an economy, not from the top down, but from the middle out. or bottom up. that is the choice. that is why i am running for president for a second term. [cheers and applause] on issue after issue, the choice would not be clear -- my auto industry was on the verge of collapse it romney wanted to try to go bankrupt. i said a billion dollars, let us spend it on american manufacturing and workers and three and a half years later, the american auto industry has come back. [cheers and applause]

governor romney likes to tout his private sector experience, even though a lot of it was investing in companies that were called pioneers in the business of outsourcing manufacturing jobs. >> boo1 >> he wants to keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. i want to give tax breaks to companies who are investing here in new hampshire, the u.s., hiring american workers to make american products, the seller on the world. that is the difference in this election. [cheers and applause] dela romney things clean energy is imaginary. since i took office, we have double the use of renewable energy. thousands of americans have good jobs because of it.

it is not imaginary. it is real. we have to stop giving $4 billion per year in taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies that are making plenty of profit. we have to use that money to help american homes -- american energy that has never been more promising. that is the choice in this election. [cheers and applause] int 2008, i promised i would end the r in iraq. we did. [cheers and applause] i said we would go after al qaeda and osama bin laden. we did. [cheers and applause] we now are transitioning so that afghans take more responsibility for their security and we can bring our troops home. [cheers and applause] all of these things we did only

because of the incredible courage and dedication and patriotism of our men and women in uniform. [cheers and applause] that is why we have made investments in the va because i believe anybody who has fought for america should not have to fight for a job when they come home. should not have to fight for the benefits they have earned. [chanting usa] we could not be more proud of them. we want them to return to a strong economy, which means that after a decade of war, it is time to do some nation-building here at home. [cheers and applause] let us create a better -- veterans job group.

let us take some of the savings from war to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our schools all across america. increase broadband lines and wireless networks that can make us more competitive. let us put construction workers back to work. that helps everybody. that will help america be strong for decades to come. that is the choice in this election. that is what is at stake. [cheers and applause] i want to make sure that we have got the best place in the world. i want to help school districts hire the best teachers, especially in math and science. i want to give to million more americans the chance to go to community colleges and learn the skills of businesses right now. i want colleges and universities

to bring their tuition down because in the 21st century, our young people have to be able to get a college education, a higher education. it is not a luxury. it is a necessity. that is the choice of this election. [cheers and applause] yes, a hampshire, i am running again because i still believe that nobody should go broke because they get sick. [cheers and applause] i am kind of fond of the term obamacare. i do care. that is why we passed the law. that is why six and a half million young people can stay on their parents' plan now. that is why seniors are seeing discounts in prescription drugs. that is why families who have got somebody with a pre-existing conditions can now get health care.

it was the right thing to do. a free court has spoken. we are not going backwards. we are going forward. [cheers and applause] we are not going back to the day when serving the country you love depend on who you love. we ended do not ask to do not tell. we are not going back. we are not going back to the days when women did not have control of their own health care choices. we are going forward. we are not going back. [cheers and applause] on issue after issue, there is a choice. all of these issues, manufacturing, health care, education, all of these things tie together because it is part

of what makes up a middle-class life and creates opportunity for people to get into the middle class. that is what we believe in. that is what we are fighting for. that is how the economy grows. that is what we learn from our parents and grandparents and our great-grandparents'. some came here as immigrants. they were working hard, overcoming obstacles, understanding that in america, not only can you do better, but your future generations can do better. that is what is at stake in this election. that is why i am running for a second term as president. [cheers and applause] let me say this -- let me close by saying this. over the next three months, you will see more negative advertisements then you have ever seen in your life.

these folks on the other side are writing $10 million checks. basically, their argument is the same one over and over again. the economy is not where it should be and is obama's fall. they know their own plan does not fit. all they will try to do is hope that if they can tap into people's anxiety, that they will win, even though what they are selling will not work. what they are selling is not a plan to create jobs or reduce the deficit. it is not a plan to revive the middle class. they are counting on outspending us to win. here is the good news. i have been counted out before and i have been outspent before. what i have learned and you guys have helped teach this to me, is that when the american people cut through the nonsense, when you focus on what is important,

when you are reminded of what values built this country, when you remember that we are in this together and you affirm the basic american notion that everybody in this country gets a fair shot and everybody should do their fair share and everybody should play by the same set of rules, when you are focused on the things that make us a great country, we do not lose. you will help get us there. we have too many more jobs that we have to create. to many more teachers we have to hire. two -- too many people who need to go to college. too many people that need to come home. more energy we have to generate. more opportunity we have to open up to everybody. if you are willing to stand with me and fight with me and make phone calls with me and not on doors with me, if you are willing to vote for me, we will win new hampshire. we will win this election. we will finish what we started a

round the world. we are the united states of america. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [cheers and applause] ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪

♪

>> president obama talking to the crowd in new hampshire. he mentioned paul ryan putting forth a plan that would lead mitt romney pay less than 1% in taxes. if fact checker says that paul ryan did propose cutting capital gains but that was not in the most recent budget. that analysis was from abc. here are some tweets you have sent in -- >> it is. go to c-span.org and ususally

media -- you social media. you can let others know about the video. we heard earlier from republican vice president of kennedy paul ryan. his plan would change medicare for those under 55. speaking to an older audience in florida, he said the program must be overhauled so his children would be able to count on it, too. watch his entire remarks followed by president obama's comments you just saw. the republican national convention begins in a week. on monday, the platform committee meets to choose the party's priorities for the next four years. we will have live coverage at 1:30 p.m. we will take a look at some of what ryan had to say earlier today. these are his comments from florida.

>> our solution to preserve, protect, and save medicare does not affect your benefit. let me repeat that. our plan does not affect benefits for people who are in or near retirement. it is a promise that was made and it must be kept. in order to make sure we can guarantee that promise for my mom's generation and the baby boomers, we must reform it for my generation. you have to reform it for my generation so it does not go bankrupt when we want to retire. the good news is, there are bipartisan solutions to do this. the plan we support originated

in the clinton commission plan to save medicare in the late 1990's. it is a bipartisan plan in congress today that says do not change benefits for people 55 and above. only become eligible we get a choice of guaranteed coverage options, including traditional medicare. we get to pick the plan for us when we retire. that means all those providers compete against each other for our business and we do not have to beg for the mercy of 15 bureaucrats whether or not we get our health care. >> we heard earlier from the vice-presidential candidate, paul ryan. and we will bring his entire remarks tonight and that will be followed by president obama's comments that we saw a little moment ago. >> i know that there are those

who criticized me for seeing complexities and i do. some issues are not all that simple. saying there are weapons of mass destruction in iraq does not make it so. proclaiming mission accomplished certainly does not make it so. [cheers and applause] three days after september 11, i stood where americans died. in the ruins of the twin towers. workers in hard hats were shouting to me whatever it takes. a fellow grabbed me by the arm and he said do not let me down. since that day, i wake up every morning thinking about how to better protect our country. i will never relent in defending america, what ever it takes. [cheers and applause] >> the c-span has aired every party convention since 1984 and

our countdown to the convention continues. my on c-span, sees in radio, and c-span.org. that starts next monday with the gop convention with chris christie. also, 2008 president of nominee senator john mccain and former governor of florida jeb bush. democratic convention speakers include castro delivering the keynote address plus michelle obama and former president bill clinton. >> c-span, created by american's cable companies in 1979, brought to you as a public service by your tv provider. >> a heritage foundation discussion on the fense department's role in domestic disasters. the defense department's assistant secretary was there.

the panel examined the historical and specific roles of the the dance department during transportation, communication, medical personnel, and search and rescue. this is an hour and a half. >> good morning. welcome to the heritage foundation. we welcome those who join us on all of these occasions on our heritage website. we are pleased to welcome those who are also joining us via c- span this morning. we would ask everybody in house to make sure that your cell phones have been turned off as we prepare to begin. we will post the program on our website within 24 hours for your future reference. our internet be worse or welcome to send questions or comments throughout our proceedings by simply he mailing us. hosting our discussion today is a senior research fellow for

defense and homeland security. he focuses on special operations and cyber security as well as the fans' support to civil authorities. he served america for three decades as an army special forces officer. he also assumed duties with military assistant to secretary donald rumsfeld and work with the secretary for five and a half years. upon retirement, he continued as deputy assistant secretary of defense, and america's security affairs. prior to joining us, he was a lead consultant to ibm on cyber security policy. please join me in welcoming mycology -- my colleague. [applause] >> thank you for being here on this rainy day in washington and

to discuss the cheery topic of when the next catastrophe strikes. unfortunately, we always face that. there was always going to the next event will occur in the only thing we can do is to see how well we are prepared to address it. we have three speakers this morning who are an ideal group to make that a discussion real for all of us. this is the first of the events we have for our homeland security 2012 week. i think this is an excellent vehicle to kickoff etsy reece of panels. the speakers will speak for about 10 minutes apiece and we will start with admiral johnson and go to the assistant secretary and west, we will wrap up with jim. i am going to introduce each of

them first and then turn them loose and if they start to go over the 10 minutes, i will jump up to the podium and they will realize that something is afoot. otherwise, i will stay in my seat and enjoy their comments. normally, when you do these, it gets difficult to introduce people but with this group, it is pretty easy for me. beginning with vice admiral harvey, admiral johnson is one of my heroes. he spent 35 years in the u.s. coast guard and they are some amazing people to work with because they are so oriented on getting the jobs done. johnson is a beautiful example of that. in addition to his 35 years in the coast guard, he spent three very busy years as a deputy

administrator and chief operating officer of fema. i like to say he is one of the people who put the m in management when it came to the disasters because he did actually do that. and i know that because i was usually on the other side of the seat. at that point, d.o.t. was going to support his efforts. johnson has been the commander of the coast guard pacific area. he was the assistant commandant for operations capability and the assisted, that for operational plans and policy. he is a go to guy. he did that for many years. he is currently working as a vice president for bae systems. when we invited him here, he told me he would serve the enjoy his job in the private sector but he was excited to come back

to have a discussion about something that he poured so much of his life into. next, we will have the man responsible for these things, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and america's security affairs. he owns our hemisphere for the department of defense and he is responsible for homeland defense activities for dod. he deals with all the countries in the western hemisphere. he established his comrades by

working at the naval postgraduate school for a long time. i was the benefit of the program he established. i got to teach several times. it sets the standard for home and security education. it is catered to the chiefs of police, fire departments, the people on the ground dealing with those issues. it is a wonderful program. he is a co-editor of the homeland security, a graduate text and is on the editorial review board for a homeland security affairs. he's the guy in the seat today for the department of defense dealing with these issues. leslie, we will wrap up with my boss and -- leslie, we will wrap

up with my boss. jim is presently the acting director of the katherine ann jobean and davis institute for studies. he is a career army officer who landed -- ended his career as the speech writer for the chief of staff of the army and was also the editor for join forces quarterly. he teaches regularly and is one of the most energetic thinkers that i have ever had the opportunity to work with. particularly if you get e-mails from him every minute saying have you seen this? he is an ideal guide to wrap up the formal part of the presentation because his breath of thought is quite wide. with that, i will ask johnson to

begin in we will go 10 minutes apiece with each of them and then we will do q&a. when we get there, if i do not hear a question at the end of the second sentence, i'm going to ask you to stop because we have a bunch of people here we would like to insert -- answer. >> thank you. let me start from operational perspective. as we pulled the lever so power and policy in washington, d.c., it results in the operational outcomes that affect the citizens of our country. many were never expect they would get federal support. bonds and a burst of 2008, hurricane -- in 2008, a hurricane was headed towards new orleans. it was almost a replica of katrina. category four.

headed straight toward psoralens. the biggest element of disaster was no evacuation. the mayor had religion on the evacuation before the hurricane arrives and the streets of new orleans were a ghost town before the hurricane are right. he did not happen by accident. there were 7 million people evacuated. there is that group in our country who need some form of assistance. there were 35,000 people who needed some form of assistance to get out of new orleans in time. 5000 of those were evacuated by air. they went to cities in arkansas and kentucky. how could we bring enough planes into the airport in new orleans to get the people out? it was only done by trans. they did in an aging dogs of coordinating with the -- an amazing job of coordinating with the aircraft's.

no one could have pulled it off other than them. at the other end of the state, where it is more difficult to evacuate by ambulance, there were 66 patience who were critical care patience. they were making life and death decisions to save their lives or let them die by the process of evacuation. i remember being on the phone with general webster, plugged into an air craft commander in louisiana, waiting for that last ambulance to arrive. they were met by a critical care airtran support teams, 10 of them evaluated 66. everyone survived. very likely could have died had

they stayed in the hospital and lost power in care for an extended time. this is quite a hurricane season. 12 days later, a category four storm was headed for houston. talk about a complex catastrophe. had it stayed on its path, that could have devastating effects. the hurricane went to the right hand the after effects destroy galveston island for the second time in the last hundred years. the island was almost inaccessible. they were on it like white on rice.

the government was just about decimated. in excess of a to the island. how in the world will we take the first step to recover the island? fortunately, through our discussions, the uss -- assault ship departed hampton roads under the prospect that the hurricane would strike the galveston island. on the 18th of september, the mayor went aboard the ship and it came in with two helicopters, a thousand sailors and marines. they provided medical care, 17,000 meals, and they were credited with reopening the airport in and the ports, which they had done their job before. the recovery of the island would of been extended for an enormous number of days had they not been