one plane to another they don't have to go out of security and back through security to make the transfer. there is a lot of demand that exists at every airport. i do think the investment that needs to be made should be demand driven and not we're replacing something to replace ment sake. but there are >> if you look at a capital needs survey, we have identified from the next five- period that the airport's needed $14 billion a year. still means we need $11 billion a year and tested nationwide from an infrastructure standpoint.

ofyou look deeper, about 55% that is related to new infrastructure, and the other is related to replacement infrastructure. there is a lot of need out there. if there is a windfall, we have a lot of happy airports. iam a bad example, because mentioned we were doing a $115 million capital plan, and we are in the fortunate position of having a system that had been run very well for 50 years, so we will deliver our -- for cash. aeronaut borrowing any money, and when we are finished in 2016, we will have a new terminal. we need to take ownership about how we deliver some of our projects, and as jack has indicated, it needs to be demand driven. we do that most around the

country, and we can point to instances where the expenditure of funds has not been done as well as a check had been that, and i want to make sure we are using our resources effectively. >> how would you tell us to spend the money? points,have excellent and to be demand driven, you need to have good business intelligence. i would see an investment in the information structured to get the data out of the silos, out of the airport, between the airport and the faa, and the data between airports and the airline so you have true business intelligence when you are looking at the demands. >> a great point. should we spend our money at airports? >> i think we are in an

ecosystem, so the more we can invest in the integrated system so we make more efficient decisions we are better off. i think again, if airports could play a major part in helping introduce in helpingr and p operations, to enable air parts to make more money, it is a multiplier effect. then we grow and do better. >> before i ask more questions, does anybody out there have a question that would like ask our panel? back there. we saw the microphone going around. ok, thanks. >> hi. this ties back to the last panel, but i would be curious on your perspective, based on your management experience and being at the receiving end, and we hear a lot of the debate, the

discussion about next gen tends to be about, technology, procedures, funding. we did not hear about governance. .e hear it a bit when ms blakey was running the organization and was doing user input, so for the next century we're still talking about a government-controlled entity, would you advocate a better way to organize so that at least in terms of -- with respect to air traffic at this point -- in terms of our resources are allocated, our revenues are raised, and the board today is not really the users. >> anyone want to tackle that? in at the risk of falling on my face, since i

am not a subject matter expert. if we look at atc and some things we might be able to do going forward as models, we can look across our border up to canada, and the canadian model works from the air-traffic control system. is it a panacea? way,ut we need to find a and it is not just an atc. it runs across a broader perspective, delivery, government-related services to the aviation industry that cuts across atc, regulation, and whether or not we need some other body put in place to look at the impacts on a holistic basis of the things the government is putting out, imposing on us today that impact our abilities to do business in

an efficient way that enables us to complete -- to compete in this global marketplace. that is what this comes back to. it is about being efficient and effective in the use of resources, whether it is with airportsystem, standpoint, construction of towers, refurbishing and replacing all towers -- we need to become better still words across the board of the resources, and some type of over-arching board that would look into that across the entire spectrum of aviation would be something we should look at. >> let me add to what they said about the way our government is rganized, is a lot of silos, and what you are talking about is away to some extent to work between them and set some priorities, because right now

the funding for next gen competes for tower closures. it is not a national -- and that as part of what is behind the call for some policy -- there is not a national set of priorities. you see decisions being made about -- very political. a number of us spend a great deal of time on facilitation issues because staffing has been cut, yet, for our local economies, tourism is critical. half of the tourists coming to the new york region are coming internationally. it is so important to be able to handle them, but the decisions to be made, cut staffing, scented out there, etc. there is not one place where the priorities being set that is -- tourism is critical to our economy, and we need to support it in the following way.

changes to the atc system are critical to our economy. we have to set some priorities to ensure they have it, so when the furlough happens, like last time or if it does, you cut the next gen staff. you really think those folks feel good about their jobs and a commitment to their efforts? and they have to organize a team and then reorganize it to move forward. there are a lot of issues a route what it is do we want. we're growing a lot of things come up but they are not talking. i was on the future of aviation panel, a discussion about intermodalism, and i do not know how much progress has been made, but we are not talking among -- even in a transportation mode. while one person is in charge of that, i am not sure the various

silos are just talking, and not sure they are -- priorities are being set that we are making decisions about high-speed rail and is that a better use of funds than aviation, for example. that is the kind of thing that i would like to see more of in that kind of discussion. i cut you off. excellentou raid an point of governments, and the point made that there are so -- silos.nt as 0 we need to explore as many opportunities to we can explore public-private partnerships, to get them into the planning and -- ution of >> the point about canadian model is something that is worth -- and australia -- worth looking at as a way that we might see our way forward.

>> for a lot of what we're talking about, we have the interplay between public service and business. when you look at the business of international travel, as an example, ok, we have a situation where people who are coming into this country pay a fee to go through customs. it exceeds the cost of that customs operation. some of those funds go to protect the border in mexico or what ever. what i think needs to happen is there needs to be a linkage between fees that are received provide aernment to business service, which is getting people through customs, and there needs to be some protection of those funds kept with the service that is being provided. and so in similar ways people

pay tolls for the construction of roads or rail or anything that it happens to be. there has to be a linkage to where the fund are going and how do we get to the point of where in my mind it is more about the user pays. if you think about the operating a business within a government function, we are trapped in a budget were aboard the budget is not linked to demand. in the sense that if we were to have a 50% increase in the number of people who were flying internationally and needed customs service, there is no way to react in a government setting. if we are going to take business, in this case, it is air travel, and we are on to make it part of the government and we get the point where there is this notion that the user pays, heston a beveridge for the folks who are running it to grow and shrink based on the demand for that service. it is this is an interplay

between public service and the operation of a business where those de bibby o do not work together. >> anybody have a question? >> on the subject of airports and air ports authorities role in computed the average, we have seen instances in certain communities, so you are what is going on with the partners at la guardia right now and the resistance and the community to noise issues, which have seen challenges in minneapolis, where we have tried to emulate -- implement procedures, and it is highlighted that we need to have a change of management strategy that might need to be -- tailored to the local committee. the faa tends to be focused on the hill.

i would be interested in your thoughts on the airport's role in shaping that message to the community in terms of implementing performance-based navigation procedures. >> i feel i have spent way too much of my time on community outreach on various airport issues for the last 20-some years. i just have but a conversation with our regional yesterday, and we talked about some of our successes in the past at getting wasunity buy-in, which wildly successful but took a real strategy to make it happen. in the past we had stand the committee's and new works -- newark, and they are represented from community

activists, and we need to i think -- i am talking for the new york airports -- we have all done pieces of this, but we tend to be reactive because let me tell you is among the world's most unpleasant experiences to get screened at until midnight on a regular basis by people who do not want to listen to anything logical, but do want cheap flights to orlando whenever they want to go. they do not want any -- there is not a lot of logic in it, but part of our success and i will turn this over to the panel, has been that when we make ourselves do it regularly, when things are not happening, you develop the relationship so that when something does happen or changes are implemented, you at least have trust and confidence. i think of all of us -- it is a

hard thing to make yourself do, but it is important we do it. we have to do it -- and one of the things i am now on to do is get the airlines, who are benefiting from this, as part of the discussion. it tends to be the airport operating and the faa goes out there and there's not an airline person to be seen, and while there is lots of jobs, airlines give up jobs, they can talk about that epic -- about that economic impact. that is one of the things we're going to reconstitute for us. problemsnot have any -- bring the flight's on in. we welcome everyone. -- is on a community-by-community basis on how you have to address this, because in our community where business driven. they get it, not understand the importance of the airport to the community. a lot of people do not know

about upstate, but it has the highest number of international businesses per capita of any where in the u. s for a civil and community that not everybody knows about it. when you look at michelin -- and i can go on and on -- so part of that for us, the important piece was getting business the community on board and supporting it. the chamber is talking about it, agencies are talking about it, and that is filtering out to the rest of the community, and that has worked well. >> the only thing i would add is that what i have seen is working with a local governments and making them your partner, and we are an authority, so we have to reach out to those local governments, but we have been very fortunate that the counties in particular in virginia that surround our airport recognize the economic benefits that they

receive from the traffic at the airport. they have been very good partners. one case at an airport in reagan national, a type geographic area, and so we have dealt with those kinds of issues, and we have development that is taking place all along, our airport property north and south, so we work closely with those counties on that development, and the developers as well, to make sure that they understand where the flight patterns are. in some cases they have modified their construction to modify noise inside their facilities, and at dulles, have to tell you there has been a lot of long- term planning, so there are i zoning that has been adopted by the county's is

reflective of where our runways are and very careful, since it was a green field, not to put residential development in flight paths. i would just add that appeared we have to work with the communities. it is important to send that economic message, but in addition it is very important to work with local governments and get the support as well. >> that is a good point to end on. i want you to give this panel a great round of applause for a super job. [applause] thank you so much. we're ending almost on time, but i have a few remarks to make, and that is why i say almost on time. i want to thank all of you once again. all of our panelists, all of our moderator's, thank each one of you for coming. there are people i want to

particularly thank, and i do not know whether they are here in the room or not, but they are elissa and ben. a lot of you have been in touch with them, talking about where you would sit, what was going on. this would not happen today if it were not for the two of them, so i want you to give them a round of applause even if they are not in here. they work harder and harder, this was the best yet. so we can be grateful to them, but i also want to thank our a.v. people. they have done a phenomenal job. you could never have heard any of us borer it not for them. certainly our media folks and then putting together, our art people, and a wonderful job they did on this program.

i could go on and on, but there are key to the zero others. -- two others. and a diplomatic career, along with the air club of washington, d.c. this was a real partnership with them, and we are most appreciative. hasso, my friends, that our arrived. and before i say that we are concluding our 12th annual maybe theomummit, best is yet to come. the libation will be as good as the ipad. we may have to spill over into this room, because i never believed that at 5:15 there would be so many of you here. we did have a hook, didn't we? i would like to say that it was certainly this panel and the other key to the zero panels that we had between 3:00 and

now, thank you, thank you, and until next year at about this time, this session is concluded. thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> a reminder, you can see all of our day-long coverage in our video library at c-span.org. at 8:00 we will look at the ntersection of infotainment programming and political journalism. here's a preview. in congresspeople who are in the senate, they are very interesting people. that and peeled back a couple layers, you might find that they are interesting. they are not movie stars, but seeing one of your representatives playing basketball and finding out that he's got a great jump shot and he does this every tuesday night might be interesting to

some people. >> do you have an agenda? >> are not going to go deeper into -- sometimes we talk about someone's politics, but we are trying to make these people, the politicians, the personalities, learn something about the personality, you might be interested in them, and the next time you here on cnn or fox news channel someone say marco rubio -- wait a second, marco rubio, that is the guy that i heard hip-hop.lking about he talked about why lil wayne isn't like tupac. there was a part of me that we

did not delve deeply into his politics, but that was not the conversation. ultimately, it was probably more interesting. i really wanted to hammer him about reaching for water in his response to the state of the union. but it was a fun conversation with this guy. so maybe people are interested now and what marker rubio's politics are now. now we will head it off to the people who will delve deeper into their politics. there's a huge appetite for that, and we can create more of an appetite for people to learn about politics. now a lot of people are turned off by politicians and they do not want to hear anything about them. why not make them more interesting and maybe people will pay attention to what they're voting for instead of instead of what

they are screwing up in d.c. two guests join in the conversation at 8:00 eastern. here hethey first moved spent a lot of time at home. the primary people who would have this of prior to the war of 1812 would have largely been friends and relations from the area. rachel was a good knowledge to be a nice hostess, cordial and welcoming. during jackson's fame after the battle of new orleans, from 1815 on until the rest of rachel's life, they have lots of company and they had many parties or evening dinners or things here at the hermitage. they were entertaining people

who were used to find things in the city, and they appreciated those findings, too. she had very nice things, said this kind of tool image of her as a frumpy country lady, she was not that exactly. i think it was more about her comfort in the big cities than that was about her actual appearance. >> our conversation with historians on rachel jackson is now available on our website. during remarks at the white house, president obama pressed the senate to pass measures to ss measures-- pa against gun violence. from the east room, this is 20 minutes.

>> ladies and gentlemen, the president and the vice president of the united states and ms. katerina rodgaard. [applause] >> good morning.

first, i would like to think from the bottom of my heart, the president, the vice president, for inviting me to speak here today. never in a million years did i think an average citizen such as myself would get an opportunity like this. my name is katerina rodgaard. i am the mother of two beautiful young children. i have a unique background, both in the performing arts and in law. onlye been first and affected by gun violence. as a dance teacher, i lost one of my students at the massacre at virginia tech. she was a bright, beautiful, talented dancer who lost her life that was stolen from her at the age of 18. i will never forget her presence in my classes, and her enthusiasm for dance.

first mother have a grader, i cannot even look at my own daughter without thinking about poor, innocent victims at sandy hook. my heart breaks for them and their families and the families of the children he every day who were killed by guns in this country. after losing her and seeing the horror at sandy hook, my reaction was that i no longer felt it was dave to raise a -- safe to raise a family in this country. i felt like i either needed to leave the country or do something. as an attorney, i vowed to do something because i feel that my right to feel safe in this country and the rights of our children to feel safe in this country are paramount and worth fighting for. activistver been an before. but i have found a voice with mom demand action for gun cents

in america. and i am proud and honored to help them fight for better laws in this country. i am also honored to acknowledge vice president joe biden, strong proponent of gun violence prevention measures in the senate for decades and now in the white house. he is also an advocate for the rights of women and children. as mothers, we are eternally grateful for your support. enough is enough. the time to act is now. i am now extremely honored to introduce to you the president of the united states of america, barack obama. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much.

thank you, everybody. thank you. [applause] thank you. thank you, katerina, for sharing your story. all of us are fortunate to have you here today. katerina, as you just heard, lost one of her most promising students in virginia tech. the shootings there that took place six years ago. she and dozens of other moms and dads, all victims of gun violence, have come here today from across the country. united not only in grief and loss, but also in resolve and in a deep determination to do whatever they can as parents and as citizens to protect other kids and spare other families from the awful pain that they have endured. as any of the families and friends who are here today can

tell you, the grief does not ever go away. that loss, that pain, sticks with us. likengers on in places tucson and aurora. that anguish is still fresh in newtown. it has to nearly 100 days since they were taken from us by gun violence, including grace mcdonnell and lauren rousseau and jesse lewis, whose families are here today. the agony burns deep in family of thousands, thousands of americans who have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from these last hut -- last 100 days, including a girl was killed on her school less than two months ago and whose mother is also here today.

andything they live for hoped for taken away in an instant. we of mothers on the stage whose children were killed as recently as 35 days ago. aren't think any of us who parents can hear their stories and not think about our own children and grandchildren. we all feel it is our first impulse as parents to do everything we can to protect our children from harm, to make any sacrifice to keep them safe, to do what we ought to do to give them a future where they can grow up and learn and explore and become the amazing people they are destined to be. that is why in january, joe biden beating a task force, came up with and i put forward a series -- leading a task force, and i come up with a task force to keep our kids safe. unionstate of the address, i called on congress to give these proposals a boat

-- a vote. in just a couple of weeks they will. earlier this month, the senate advanced some of the most import reforms designed to reduce gun violence. all of them are consistent with the second imminent, -- second amendment. what they will do is keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who put others at risk. moreis our best chance in than a decade to take common- sense steps that will save lives. as i said when i visited newtown just over three months ago, if there is a step we can take the will say just one child, just one parent, just from experiencing the same grief the moms and dads who are here have endured, then we should be doing it.

we have an obligation to try. in the coming weeks, members of congress will vote on whether we should require universal background checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun so that criminals or people with severe mental illnesses cannot get their hands on one. they will vote on tough new penalties for anyone who buys guns only to turn around and sell them to criminals. they will vote on a measure that would keep weapons of war and high-capacity ammunition magazines that facilitate these mass killings off our streets. they will get to vote on legislation that would help schools become safer and help people struggling with mental health problems to get the treatment they need. none of these ideas should be controversial. why wouldn't we want to make it more difficult for a dangerous person to get his or hand on a gun? what would we want to close the loophole that allows as many as 40% of all gun purchases to take place without a background

check? if you ask most americans outside of washington, including many gun owners, some of these ideas they don't consider them controversial. right now 90% of americans, 90%, support background checks that will keep criminals and people who have been found be a danger to themselves and others from buying a gun. more than 80% of republicans agree, more than 80% of gun owners agree. think about that. how often does 90% of americans agree on anything? it never happens. many other reforms are supported by clear majorities of americans. i ask every american to find out where your member of congress stands on these ideas. if they are not part of that 90% to agree that we should make it harder for a criminal or

someone with a severe mental illness to buy a gun, you should ask them, why not? why are you part of the 10%? there is absolutely no reason why we cannot get this done. but the reason we're talking about it here today is because it is not done until it is done, and there are some powerful voices on the other side that are interested in running out the clock for changing the subject or drowning out the majority of the american people to prevent these reforms from happening at all. they are doing everything they can to make our progress collapse under the weight of fear and frustration or their assumption is people just forget about it. i read an article just the other day, wondering is washington -- as washington missed its opportunity because as time goes on after newtown, somehow people start moving on and for getting.

heree tell you, the people do not forget. grace's dad is not forgetting. her mom is not forgetting. as notion that something terrific as what happened in newtown happens and we have moved on to other things in two or three months? that is not who we are. that is not who we are. i want to make sure every american is listening today. thatthan 100 days ago happened. and the entire country was shocked. and the entire country pledged we would do something and this time would be different. shame on us if we have forgotten.

i have not forgotten those kids. shame on us if we have forgotten. if there is one thing have said consistently since i first ran for this office, nothing is more powerful than millions of voices calling for change. and that is what is so important all of these moms and dads are here today, but also what it is important that grassroots groups out there that got started and are out there mobilizing and organizing and keeping up the fight. that is what is going to take to make this country safer. it will take moms and dads and hunters and clergy and local officials like the mayor's here today standing up and saying, this time really is different. we're not just going to sit back and wait until the next newtown or the next innocent

pitiful child is gunned down in a playground in chicago -- innocent, beautiful child is gone down in a playground in chicago or los angeles before we summon the will to act. right now members of congress are back home in their districts and many are holding events where they can get from their constituents. i want everyone listening to make yourself heard right now. if you think checking some as criminal record before you can check out a gun shows common- sense, make yourself heard. if you are responsible, law- abiding gun owner who wants to keep irresponsible, lawbreaking individuals from abusing the right to bear arms by inflicting harm on a massive scale, speak of. speak up. we need your voices in this debate. if you are among let katrina who wants to make this place stronger country for our children to grow up, get together with other mothers like the ones here today and raise your voices and make

yourselves unmistakably heard. we need everyone to remember how we felt 100 days ago and make sure that what we said that time was not just a bunch of platitudes. that we meant it. the desire to make a difference is what brought corey here today. corey grew up in oklahoma where heard that sold firearms at gun shows. today she is a mom and a teacher. she said that after newtown, she cried for days for the students who could have been her students, for the parents she could have known, for the teachers like her to go to work every single day and love their kids and want them to succeed. corey says, now i decided was the time to act.

to march, the time to petition, to make phone calls because tears were no longer enough. and that is my attitude. tears are not enough, expressions of sympathy are not enough, speeches are not enough. we have cried enough. we have not enough heartbreak. what we are proposing is not radical. it is not taking away anyone's gun rights. it is something that if we are serious, we will do. thats the time to turn heartbreak into something real. it will not solve every problem. there will still be tragedies and violence and still be evil, but we can make a difference if not just the activists here on

stage but the general public, including responsible gun owners, say, you know what? we can do better than this. we can do better to make sure that if your parents have to endure the pain of losing a child to an act of violence. that is what this is about. and if enough people like the parents here today to involved and if enough members of congress take a stand for cooperation and common sense and lead and don't get squishy because time has passed and maybe it is not on the news every single day, if that is who we are, our character that are willing to follow through on commitments that we say are

important, commitments to each other and our kids, then i am confident we can make this country a safer place for all of them. thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. god bless america. >> some of the mothers who attended the press conferences spoke out later. shannon watts. we were founded in indianapolis.

the day after the sandy hook shootings. since then we have 80,000 members and and 80 chapters in 40 states. the states include montana, south dakota, texas, some of the state you would not think are four common-cents gun law, but this is a non-partisan issue, and moms are coming together to fight for stronger gun laws in this country on the federal and state level. ruseel.im i got involved in this organization one day after shannon started it on facebook. i am a victim of gun violence. this issue is very important to me. when i realized that my children were no longer safe, i knew i had to do something about it. it has gone on too long, gun

violence is a health crisis in this country, and it needs to be stopped, and we can do something about it. we are a great country and we can prevent gun violence. we cannot take it at all with, but we can reduce it, and that is what we're doing to make this happen. we are calling our legislators every day. we wake up in the morning and let them know we are moms and we need action now. hi, i am the mother of hidea pendleton. i became involved with mothers against gun violence. daughter murder of my on january 29, i am speaking with you guys because what i have learned since my family has become victims of gun violence is that there are common sense

ed, that are not yet pass and we need to implement something that makes common sense. so we can protect our children, our families, our loved ones, and there can be longevity because someone needs to get to work on it. it is time to get to work. >> what was your reaction when it -- [indiscernible] what was your reaction when you hear, you are reminded about the inability of a lot of elected officials -- >> i'm sorry.

>> what is your your reaction when you hear elected officials are unyielding on this point? but my reaction is it should not have to affect you directly before it matters. that are being scrutinized are trying to be implemented, they are common sense. my 10-year-old could understand what we are requesting, so i do not understand the holdup. understand the holdup in implementing something that makes common sense for everyone. >> there are 80 million moms in this country. it does not matter if you are a republican or a democrat. we need to come together and say enough, we're not going to live in the america that was

outlined by wayne lapierre. we are not going to let the good guys she did that. it is not going to happen. mothers will not allow it. eight children die every day. sandy hook was the first time over 20 babies were murdered. if it does not happen this session, we will be back at the midterms. want?t do you >> background checks. we want an assault weapons ban. and the nation should be tracked and regulated and not bought online. me tould not be easier buy animmo. >> what would you say to the

senators who say they will see a filibuster this? >> it is outrageous. as an obama said, these people deserve a vote. we will not allow in action anymore. we will not forget newtown. a connecticut effect, it is the uprising of 80,000 mothers in this country. >> we are not even a hundred days from at, but the attitudes are softening, if you well. >> it is frustrating that our legislators are trying to hem and haw, but they understate -- underestimate the mothers in this country. we will be back again. rathon, not a sprint. i am telling you, of people think we will forget about this, and they are in for a reckoning

at the midterms. you mentioned a personal story. could you share that. with a good was out friend. he was a high-school teacher. it was four days after columbine. at dinner we spoke at length about how horrific it was, how it could not happen again. after that we were robbed at gunpoint. we were both shot, and philip died. since then i have always wanted to do something, but i never thought my voice mattered. stay insafer for me to my bubble, to feel like that i was this random act and it did not happen to anybody, and it was easier for me to be an anomaly. after newtown, i experienced ptsd sentence that i had been

trying to recover from. palms, yourty adrenaline starts racing, but you cannot move. those feelings came back to me, because i realized i am not an anomaly. i need to wake up. this is happening to a lot of people every single day, and now my children are not safe. i have a first-grader and a pre- k son. i take them to school every day, and i need to pick them up. that is my right as a mother, and i do not want the gun lobby will takes passed that right away from me. they did not speak for me. we are the majority. 56% of americans want an assault weapons ban. we need legislators to know, we are the majority here. it is just the opposition is very loud and organize. they make a lot of phone calls.

we make a lot of phone calls, we are tweeting. we are taking action. a lot of moms like myself have never done any activism before this, but this rocked us to our quiet. can no longer be and moms -- we take care of business, and this is just more business we're run to take care of and we're not pulling away. we are here. it has been so recent, i am wondering how you are processing the continuing grief in the middle of this effort to try to do something against gun violence. , one more time. daughter is of your recent, and yet you stand here today before us, part of this movement.

i wonder how you are processing this personally. >> the question is how to buy process whisking up to an empty bed where my 15-year-old was. that is difficult. well, but iicult as am making sense of it. i have already -- i have always been strong willed. -- i am just determined to be a help to someone else. i feel there is nothing i can do to bring my 15-year-old back. i love her more than words could ever express', or than the tears i could show or scream or yell, and my right has been taken away to continue raising her.

awful, and you will hear me and other mothers who have been affected by an unexpected loss, so we do not want others to feel the same. and so i mean that when i say that. so it is easy for me to process at that i am standing here in front of this microphone, answering questions as best i but at someourning, point you have to get to work. my standing here is a form of work and i hope i am inspiring someone else to also work and have their voices heard. i want to take full advantage of the opportunity to state my opinion and how i feel. every day i am hurt. it is not just saying january 29 numberso one knows when are going to come on the other

side of that dash. that is a consciousness that needs to be raised. but only to the people who actually took my daughter's life, who are being arraigned today, but also the congress and as people who handle laws. there needs to be conscious as there, that people need to think about how we are truly impacted processing that just fine, i guess. >> thank you. >> night, we are looking at the intersection of infotainment and political journalism. we will bring you a discussion with the executive editor of tmz and anchors. here's a preview. >> the single worst day i ever had on television, the actor

robert blake is arrested, he is arrested in the sanford mandell valley for popping his wife. that is about the story is worth, but i just gave you. the actor robert blake who has done one very good performance in a tv series is arrested for killing his wife. we spent four hours on it. not like a figure to four hours. a literal four hours. e were asking "xtra" correspondents, who we both for no reason other than to keep this sucker going, how do you think this will impact your career? he has no career. [indiscernible] i think i was gone by then.

our hours. i get home and my wife who, who is a reporter peter, looks at me and says, why? [laughter] honest to god i do not need this right now. ok? i do not need it. the next day i come to work and there are 15,000 emails appeared on an average day we get 4000. hundred.through a few not one said, dammit, you problems you would give us serious news. you did not do enough robert blake, not one said that to us. >> you can see the entire discussion tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. at 9:15, we will take your phone alls and comments, and two

guests join in > what do you do about the israeli and palestinian problem? it took the president until june of 2012 to get an answer. s answer was two states, israel state and palestinian state, and this is how they will be a deseent, stable, peaceful, democratic, noncorrupt government. irst, that means he has to go. liott abrams gives an inside look at the israeli and palestinian conflict this

eekend on book tv. women leaders from the a.c.u. and the ncaap also took part on . discussion on voter i.d. laws hosted the event. his is an hour and 15 minutes. [applause] >> oh, my goodness. good afternoon, everyone. what a blessing. and what an honor to be with you

this afternoon. i want to start off by saying that, you know, i'm so happy this is my birthday. god has blessed me to walk this earth and to be part of this world for some 62 years. [applause] and i am so honored. one of the things that made every day of my life so meaningful was knowing that i had a mother that was praying for me. i never had a doubt about that. i knew i had a praying mom that no matter what i did, boy did i do some things, that she was there reminding me that god had a plan for me and he had a vision that i needed to listen to.

i thank you mom. thank you. also -- tanya robinson, i always enjoyed you. and i will tell people that when was so wilmer i devastated on one hand and happy on the other because i knew you would go forth and do great things. it is now magnificent to see you now. there's no way on eartha i can thank hassle and her team enough. hazel, you are amazing. you have changed the face of women in the media and african american women and thank you for this incredible forum and this

incredible honor. thank you. [applause] i also have to thank the staff of the lawyers committee because every step of the way since i have been at the helm of the national lawyer's committee since 1989, it is the staff that has helped to do the hard work that has to be done every day. it is the staff that has had to go out there and work the cases. it is the staff that sat across from congress people and convinced them to vote for laws they otherwise would not vote for. it is the staff that goes before the supreme court and argued. it is the staff that makes public education a priority. it is all of these things. i want to bring forth and just to acknowledge the staff for the lawyers committee who are here today. some of the staff. if you will stand please. all of you.

all of you amazing, wonderful, great people. [applause] yes, thank you. that's just a part of our staff. also, beside my incredible mom as you can see, what a mother. she's the mother of 12 children, by the way. [applause] i am one of 12. broke her hird girl, heart and she always loved to talk about how she would tape a ribbon to my head since i was born bald headed. that is before they had the fancy stuff they have now. she got tired of people saying he's so cute. o my mom, she had two girls in succession so that was a good prize after three boys. in fact, i grew up thinking my name was bobby.

it took me a long time to learn that my name was barbara. they always called me bobby as a child. i'm happy that other members of my family are here. somewhere in the room -- there he is. , my first and only child. he's so precious to me. so presmoups also my brother arvin. [applause] one of my three oldest brothers they did not want to be saddled with that girl. also, my nephew marvin's son curtis who is also here. curtis is very special to me. [applause] i'm also very honored that in sidney, sidney

is my mentor and she lives in chicago and she came to be with me this week. i'm so honored. i'm so honored that she's here. you see, it is that pe cure laar and beautiful genius of women, especially of african women. that african genius that has helped to transform this nation. against so many odds continues to persevere and providing the african american perspective and making sure that our voices our take, our words, our policies, our vision is heard by this nation. program.e value of the i'm honored to be joined by my colleague, we've been in

trenches of trenches and fights. laura, leslie, all the judges we have had to deal with. in the 2004 elections, the 2008 elections, then when she went to the ncaap to become the first woman general council, i was so delighted. and dr. scott sitting there brilliantly leading us in the political understanding and just andng departed as the chair departing the executive director the congressional black caucus foundation and now heading the new wonderful walter center in -- at howard

university. what an honor. what an honor. what an honor dr. scott. ron walters was amazing and we miss him every day. sometimes in 2012 i was what are we going to do without dr. waulters being here but thank god there is dr. scott. we all know this year is. we k about it, of all -- as sit here in the beauty that is that god has blessed us to be present just remember, we're here because so many sacrificed. so many people ,ere seen on television as dogs ater hoses, as other threats compounded their fight for

freedom and justice. people were jailed for that fight. we know it took courage. when you think -- if i stood on the bridge just a couple weeks ago and realized when john lewis said when we came to the top of the bridge we look down and we saw -- we saw the state troopers with their batons drawn but we kept on marching. we kept moving forward. yes, they beat us and they injured us and they sent most of us to jail. the 300 on the bridge, by the way, people think about it now and you think about it as thousands but it was 300 brave souls. the next day when dr. king and everybody else arrived and when they got the governor to reverse

and to make sure in the federal government threatened to bring in their own troops that they gave protection to the marchers. but you see it takes that courage, that courageous few that who walked and who said my freedom means more to me. my freedom means more to me than .ny momentaryly sanctuary that vision is what has built us as a people. what it has built us as a nation. when i think about it, i just have to, you know, think about it because many people in this audience may have seen some those visions. many people have just read about it or seen it on tv and it doesn't have the same impact when you walk in their shoes.

it was against this backdrop that the lawyers committee was created. we want a nice thought to have someone in their head and wouldn't it be nice to have lawyers helping in the civil rights fight? that is not how we were formed. we were formed on the battlefield. president hat that john f. kennedy called together these lawyers and forged a new organization. the lawyers committee for civil rights. it was there that attorney and al robert f. kennedy lyndon johnson and all of the people that gathered there that they created this incredible organization. that was actually the first meeting was in lloyd cutler's

office. it was this that led us to be where we are. frederick , as douglas said you know, change yields only to a demand, right? it only yields to people coming forth and saying that things have to change. so it was clear that we have to as we fought those years that we have to fight for equal aspects to public facilities, job opportunities, voting rights and other citizen rights. we had to put in place the 1964 civil rights act. we had to put into place all of these laws that we take for granted now. because they did not exist back in those days. the lawyers committee had to be part of that struggling along with the legal defense fund and

the aclu and other organizations. it was the result of that meeting that i can stand before you to talk about what we do now. you see, we sent volunteers to mississippi and the volunteers, literally risked that lives. if you talk to some those lawyers that went to mississippi to be part of the lawyers committee in tolden days. they will tell you how they had to hide in mud fields as people walked around with rifles looking for them to kill them. they will talk about being driven fauf roads, they will tell you about being locked up in these jails. yes, they went through so much but they went nothing compared to what she went through and her fight. a woman who was beaten savagely. a woman who waser is liesed against her own knowledge.

-- sterilized against her own knowledge. after thousands of cases, after thousands of public policy voikcy, advancing equality for millions of clients, or courageous clients. we continue to work for volunteers to fight for justice employment, housing, lending, immigration reform, just to name a few. but -- but i want there to be no doubt that even in the modern context that we live in with a black president in the white house, even though the fight is more multicultural, even though there is fox news and so much

else, it is still powerfully urgent that we continue to quest for racial justice. we cannot ever withdraw from the bettle field that our parents and foreparents' blood has stained. so we talked about the right to vote and what happened with all of these saw pressive efforts do you know what i love thinking about, about that fight we just came through, a fight we won because we took it to all of the forums that it had to be fought in. we fought in courts, we fought in state legislature, we fought in the media but we also fought in the streets. you see, we used every tool we had available black churches, sold to the public.

we went on tv and we talked and we told people, we educated people we defended the voting rights act and we overturned voter i.d. laws in south carolina and in texas. we were able to overturn the one in texas and modify significantly in south carolina so it did not have the teeth they thought it would have. in florida we stopped early voting and groups like aclu and other projects stopped these laws in pennsylvania and wisconsin. we did this fight. but you see that is not where the fight was won. the fight was won because we also were able to have a backup through our voter hot line where people can call and get assistance from people who visit the website and etc.

but remember that they fought the only way they could win was that the average person would not know what is going on. they thought they could win because people would not have the knowledge to know what the real state of the law was in their own state. they thought they would win but what they forgot about, they forgot about one thing, one critical thing. that is they forgot about us. --y forgot about our dirpgs, determination, our reality and they forgot about the black press. they forgot about tom madison, they did not know we would be bringing it. hey had no idea.

they didn't know that anita turner from ohio would be out there bringing it. they had no idea how much we ere able to penetrate to the people were so outraged, people were so determined that during early voting and election day their did efforts to make voices heard. they stood in three, four, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 hours in some instances. they challenged when they were asked for proper i.d. that was not required. passed billboards that try to intimidate them. they did so much determination,

so much walking, so much to keep alive of the essence of our march tars and all of them, they did so much we had the highest black turnout in history in 2012. [applause] you see those of us who are driven by an a vision of inclusion and diversity and love, got to realize there are people who are equally driven of a vision of exclusion, privilege , racial superiority and other thoughts. so just as we have won major battle, we have another battle on under our fete. we're now dealing with the supreme court with the shell by case, the itca case and the

one of mmittee argued the cases. we know those decisions are coming. they will be out before june. be out by june probably. we know that we're going to have to be creative and effective in our response to them. you see, we are, as i conclude, we got to be very clear that they have a vision too. they are so determined that matthew, not only do they not want us to vote, that is people of color. not only because already at 2013, the state of arkansas has passed a voter i.d. law.

an ugly, evil voter i.d. and the overnment vetoed it. but right across the river in virginia, the governor mcdonnell signed this week another ugly voter i.d. law that he previously vetoed and said he would not sign. so you see the fight continues in the courts and in the state legislatures. we have to stay vigilant. as i walk away from this platform today but not from this battlefield. ll i want to say all of you is let's unite. let's stay vigilant. let's remember that we never prevail by sitting back and take ng someone else will care of our issues. it is our innovation, it is our

own demmings, it is our own drive and sacrifice that will always make the difference. thank you so much. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you so much, barbara. the few people in here some of the high school students who did t know her, now you know who barbara is. barbara and i go way back. >> that's right. >> way, way back to north carolina. back when she just graduated from duke law school when we put together a black women's coalition. [applause]

let me first before i introduce the panel i want to thank hazel put together there are luncheon for you to come and enjoy not just of the food but also the dialogue. hank you very much, hazel. [applause] i'm very honored to have been asked to serve as your moderator today. as we celebrate the 50th anniversary on the march on washington. i reflect back on my parents engagement in the voting rights struggle. it was not until 1962, one year before the voting rights act that my father successfully convinced the federal courts in louisiana that they should intervene so black people could get registered to vote. it took him 20 years to get registered to vote. along the way he got shot but he lived.

the state of louisiana outlawed the ncapp of which he was the local president and my mother was the secretary. what did they do, they took the organization underground and kept on fighting. you see civil rights is in my d.n.a.. we have a panel with us today, a panel of fighters. these are five women who you will be hearing from who have been engaged in and continues to be engaged in civil rights and justice racial causes, especially from the legal perspective. their focus today will be on civil rights and criminal justice issues with a focus on race. 50 years ago, women did not have a prominent visible role on the march of washington. i'm so happy that during women's history month in 2013, that we have this panel today showcasing the women of the civil rights

movement. [applause] 50 years ago, the signature six as the organizers of the march on washington were known, all males. not to take anything away from them but the women primarily had a role, if you look at the program. the women were the singers and they added after some backdoor uff, they added a tribute to negro women.o -- ,hey choice to honor rosa parks gloria richardson and others. i will introduce our panelists and each one has been allocated

three minutes, which i know is very hard for them to do but they have been asked to take three minutes to speak either on one or more of their top priorities in the area of equal rights and racial justice. and what is their vision for confronting and solving these problems over the next 50 years as we move past the anniversary of the march on washington. i will introduce them and they will come up here on the way that i introduce them. kim is the youngest person who to have been selected for her position. she was coming to ncaap a principal and her practice focused on legal and mitigation. prior to that she served in

litigation practices with two nationally known law firms. she has recently been honored as washington, d.c.'s super law and recognized as the top lawyer by a magazine. the women's bar association named her woman lawyer of the year for her contribution to the profession. she is the president of the d.c. bar. she's a former president of the national bar association. im keenan. [applause] our next speaker will be lesscy. she is the director of the washington office of ncaap. a position she has held since 1998. she oversees policy and legislative work in d.c. she coordinates and implements strategy for federal rights

legislation. she also supervises l.d.f.'s response to reactions involving civil rights. prior to joining l.d.f., she was a civil rights lawyer in birmingham, alabama thank you, leslie. [applause] laura murphy. i like to say that laura murphy is the best nonlawyer that works in the legal field that i know. [laughter] most people in washington thinks that laura has a law degree because she has always operated in that area. say we give her an honor a license and put her in the courthouse. e's a droveingt washington legislative office of the union.

a position she originally held rom 1993-2005. she's best-known as her legislative advocacy and civil rights liberties. she has held campaigns on first amendment, equality, and national security issues. she played a leadership role in .assing a fair senses act prior to her return to the aclu, she directed her own firm. activism and service runs in her family. her uncle was an union organizer. both of her parents ran for political office at several times and her father was the

second african american judge elected in baltimore. laura murphy. [applause] you met tanya robinson earlier but let me say something about her bagged. she serves a a special assistance to the president for justice and regulatory policy. a position she has held since february 2012. she manages a team within the white house that focuses on among other thing, a broad range of civil and criminal justice and policy matters. she convenes the president's national equal pay tax force. prior to her services in the white house, that you have eard, she's was a partner with wilmer. her practiced focused on conflicts and litigation

including congressional investigations as well as discreet civil rights matters. she's served as council to senator joe biden when he was in the senate. i think we have a theme going on here because she was the first african american woman to be elected student body president at duke university. thank you, tanya robinson. [applause] then our final panelists is barbara who you already met. we will start in the order they were introduced. [applause] >> fortunately, i have my ipad so i should know what three minutes looks like. i want to start by adding my congratulations to barbara. she's a warrior and the way you know that is because they had

action pictures of barbara. normally you get a picture with a head shot. but you have pictures of barbara in action. that's what she is. she's is civil rights in action. i want you to know that every time i'm with her i feel like i'm in master class. i feel like i'm in master class because you should take notes because she is just that bad. you want to be like that when you grow up. so proud of her and -- you know, she sets the bar high. whether i'm sitting with her and plotting on what we will do next or figure out how we undue what was done last, she set that bar high so we have to run faster and jump higher to we can reach that bar as high as she has set it. that takes us what we've done

for the last 104 years. we've dedicated ourselves to social, political, and economic opportunities for all people. we were founded by all different kinds of people. yes, we focus on black people because you see us so much but we focus on that for all people. i pledge to barbara this voting rights fight is not over. we will be partners with her on the ground and in the street and everywhere we have to be partners with her. [applause] because that's what it is going to take. history is at a perfect storm for all of us. don't you find it interesting that all of these 50 year anniversaries are coming together in a single moment in time. whether it is the aunanimous nation or the march -- assassination or the march on washington. here it is we are 50 years later and guess what we need to march

for? jobs and justice. i don't know if order is right but i know the priority is good. we need to be marching for jobs and justice. i believe most of those things are founded in our voting rights so we don't have time to go through the top five priorities. i'm going hit you with the voting rights because that work is not done. people think because you have a black president the work is done. no, the work is not based on the color of the president. the work is not pace based on the misconception of the righting entitlement. these are supposed to be the justices who care so much about the wording of the constitution. yet, when it is a black person or brown person it is a racial entitlement. we need to look around and see what the entitlements are. i tell you today that it is not an entynelement to have the free

and right to vote. during an argument i'm watching him say and aisle going has he been out in america recently? has he not known that they moved the voting places and if you vote in the wrong place that your vote does not count? just because they don't know what they did when they walked across the bridge but those things don't exist? we have to stand up. i want to say this one last thing. i was stpwhrufede houston with this reporter who kept saying what about the voter fraud? i said there is no voter fraud. when my grandmother ruby lee jones walks up to the polling place in mobile, alabama no is trying to pretend to be rubey lee jones. no is stupid enough to be rubey lee jones. so i said that to him and he waited. he waited three minutes, right? he comes back and says what

about the voting fraud? i said you're the reporter if there is voth fraud you should prove it to me. it is totally a number that you can't calculate. the voting fraud that it is, it s not that voting fraud. anybody in this room the i.r.s. is find every one of you. during sandy people can vote by fax and over the internet and they can vote every which way and people can figure out who they were we can go -- get this right. how dare we go around the world telling people we're about democracy when we're preventing this. i want you to know today that the fight is not over. he said to me after that you're taking this awfully perm. [laughter] yes, my parents grew up with

segregated signs. it is personal to me. i want to make sure that for the young people here, it is personal. we walked this walk as torchbearers because we've been chosen. we've been chosen to carry on this legacy and until this work is done -- i submit to you that it is never done. when it is done, we have to make sure it is not undone. so it is never done. don't worry, we need you. we need you coming hard, strong with the biggest baddest everything you can bring. because this fight will go on and we will not give up. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. i'm leslie proll. first let me say thank you to hazel. she really provides a unique

contribution to the civil rights cause and i appreciate being included on the panel today. at the legal defense fund we're civil rights litigaters. we were founded by thurgood marshall in 1940. since 1963, we have worked side by side in the courts in the streets with the lawyers committee for civil rights. you know, you can alltel why you why youbara -- all tell want barbara on your side. if it is trying to get an african american woman considered to be the next supreme court justice -- [applause] ally. an we appreciate having her leadership. i want to talk about the future

of the judiciary. teed up m's comments this brief discussion. we saw with the voting rights case that the supreme court heard a couple weeks ago. you know civil rights law are only as strong as the judges who enforce them. at the legal defense fund because of our litigation experience we get very much that who is on the court is very important. for years, for decades we have been involved in trying to monitor judicial appointment, making sure that judicial appointments are diverse and they are nominees that respect the progress we've made in civil rights. one of the things we talk about is -- we encourage public participation in the electoral process to elect a president and members of congress. there should be public

participation in the judicial selection process, which is part of our democratic fabric. [applause] and we encourage that. i want to let you know what is going on right now because we need your help. president obama and, you know, nya has done a superb job in trying to get diverse nominees and great candidates through the process. president nominates judges and the united states senate has to confirm them. the senate is stymieing president obama's efforts. they are slow walking every single nomination through the senate, regardless the nominees are controversial or not. they are getting -- having a hard time getting votes. i wanted to alert you to this so, you know, if we begin this next term and have more judges

fights on the horror zob that you pay attention to it. it is having a cost. we can't get a diverse bench if people are not being confirmed. i want you in this particular audience to talk about what we're going to be pushing these next four years and that is diversity of african american candidates, which we always do but really we need to get some african american women nominated and confirmed. [applause] you know, the scary thing that is happening is a lot of judges appointed by previous presidents who impacted diversity on the bench, particularly president carter and president clinton, they are retiring now. it is very important that new people are nominated to take over the mantle. i have some statistics that i want to leave you with becausic it gives you a rallying cry.

that is right now, there are 21 african american judges on the circuit courts. they are the ones that decide most of the law in this country. the supreme court hears about 75 cases per year. so the circuit courts is where it is at. 21 african american judges. only seven of them are women. only 1/3 are women. same in the district court. we have 75 district judges right now and 50 of them are men. when i look at these statistics, i think we need to do better job of identifying women and getting them nominated and getting them confirmed. i hope you will join the legal defense fund in this fight. thank you. [applause]

>> good afternoon. barbara, it is a much deserved honor today and i've been proud to have been working with you for 25 years. 90-year-old organization. in some places, like kentucky, the aclu and the ncaap chapters were founded in the same basements. so we're so proud to be working with the lawyers committee, we were co-council in the shell by case. we participated in the arizona case before the supreme court. two critical, important voting rights case. we've had a voting rights project for 30 years at the aclu. coming from a black press family , hazel, you are one of the

stars of the black media. [applause] maybe i spoke of too soon, you're one of the media stars. u always tried in your reporting to get to the gift of the matter and find out -- gist of the matter and find out what is most essential for the reading public to know. i'm very, very pleased to be here and to be in the company of these great women. i just want to talk about two issues that are in the news today. one is gun violence and the other is immigration. most of my career i've tried to get people touns that the war on drugs -- to understand that the war on drugs is war on the people and it falls disproportionately on african american. from the movement we entered a

criminal justice system african americans are treated differently. it starts with our first interaction with police. there's still racial profiling in the united states and the aclu helped coin the phrase "driving while black." now we're talking about violence in the context of schools, gun violence. vice president biden easterns would like to see more school resource officers in the schools. that's a problem. because those police officers in the school are much more likely to send african american and latino students into the criminal justice system. i'm not talking about teenagers i'm talking about first graders and third graders who are talking back or having tantrums, who the vice principal would say

you need to go home. once kids are brought into the criminal justice system they get records, they are more likely to not graduate, and they are more likely to be suspended. so we have to work to make sure in this gun legislation that if additional resources are given to schools that what is needed is guidelines for what police officer can and cannot do. i am just very concerned because this is the first step to the prison pipeline. we're not just talking about people driving now, we're talking about youngsters who encounter police officers where oftentimes they need guidance counselors, they need tutors. we are spending millions of dollars in the criminal justice

system. the burrow prisons is the large -- bureau prisons is the largest cost system in the department of justice. we over criminalize in america. we have more people in prison than any other nation in the world. that brings me to the immigration system. in the 1990's, congress made it a crime for immigrants to cross the border. the largest growth in the federal criminal justice system are latinos from the southwest who are arrested merely for crossing the border. now the department of homeland security spends more money on border enforcement than the d.e.a., the f.b.i., and the justice department combined. we're talking billions of dollars. so in a time of fiscal austerity , in a time of sequester, i'm

not just appealing to people of color, i'm appealing to all taxpayers to look at how many people's lives we're ruining because they have to have encounters with the criminal justice system. we worked really hard 17 years to get the disparity in sentencing between crack and reduced, signed into law by president obama in 2010. we have the potential of turning gun legislation and immigration legislation into large feeders into the criminal justice system. people don't need punishment, they need help. people should not be in prison because of drug possession. they should be going to health treatment programs.

to lock people up is a tremendous waste of human resources. once you're locked up, you have a difficult time voting and in some states you can't vote. you have a terrible time finding employment. i will leave you this thought they got from professor paul butler, who is now at georgetown law school. he said in 1965, african americans had a far less chance of being caught in the criminal justice system than they do now. despite the enormous progress in our civil rights laws, which are at risk in the supreme court, not only in voting but affirmative action. but not with standing our progress in the last 50 years, when we look at how many people can't get job, can't get pell grants and can't get the health care they need because they are

involved in the criminal justice system something is wrong in america and we've got to stop this over incarceration binge. thank you very much. [applause] >> good afternoon. again, it is really great to be here and let me begin where applauded barbara for her great work and also thanking hazel for the invitation and facilitating an important meeting. this luncheon is in its third year and already it is an important forum for thought leaders and folks who are interested in hearing our stories and honoring our past

and envisioning a powerful future. for me, it was that intersection and this year's emphasis on the next 50 years, that was so compelling. that is what will make today's discussion so interesting and significant. so again, thank you for the opportunity to join the conversation. we only have a couple of minutes. so my comments, let me begin by telling you about domestic policy council and my role in the white house. i would like to flag one issue that is an example of the president's forward leaning leadership on justice issues. first the d.p.c. the d.p.c. is the component within the white house focused exclusively on domestic policy. i lead a tiny but mighty team that handles justice and

regulatory policy issues. there are almost a dozen other directors within the d.p.c., including a health team, among things is focused on the implementation of the affordable care act. economic affairs and mobility team that leads the president's efforts to create a pathway to the middle-class for more americans. an education team, an energy team. we have the good fortunate to have expertise within the domestic policy on a broad range on issues. one would be hard pressed to dentify a single d.p.c. team for whom "justice issues" are relevant. in many instances central. i can they without hesitation because justice in so many ways

is about opening access. opening access to safe neighborhoods, access to decent housing, access to good schools, access to health care, access to good jobs once you graduate. because of those intersections all of d.p.c. is focused on this justice assignment, not just my team. a part of the going forward vision for us and me in particular, because of those intersections is reminding ourselves always that good governorance and great policy making is about finding opportunities, no matter the particular underlying issue. it but to allow more americans to access the america's treasures. that is the charge for us within

the domestic policy council. that objective has driven the white house's work until several areas. let me mention just one in the time that i have. that is the president's commitment in closing the pay gap, ensuring equal pay for equal work. equal pay, without question, at least my perspective given the current economic climate is a pressing issue today. as we envision 21st century of america for tomorrow it represents a modern going forward of an old civil rights bat fm tools and strategy we leverage would be good not just for that fight but a broader swath of civil rights challenges. let's begin with equal pay. from day one, the administration, the president s been focused and prioritizing equal pay for equal

work. the firls legislation he signed was the lily ledbetter act, which re-opened the courthouse doors to thousands of workers that would be time barred. so from the start, the president has drawn a line in the sand around the issue of equal pay. as we head into the second term, continues to emphasize at the central and signature issue of his administration. sitting here today we honor the lawyer committee's 50th year but we have to know it has been 50 years since president kennedy signed the equal pay act. in the five decades since legislation's enactment we've made tremendous progress but women on average still earn only .77 for every dollar that a man

earns. perhaps unsurprisingly to this crowd, the gap is more stark for women of color. with african american women latino 64 cents and women earning .54 cents for every dollar. that really matters. in 2010 there were more than 23 million women who, like my mom were work mothers. for those women and their families the .23 cents matters. kim, i think is right, is personal. i grew up in durham, north carolina. i'm only the child of a single mother who on more than one jobs to worked multiple make ends meet. it would have been more money for groceries, for my annual

science field trip. i went to college in the south and to law school in new england in cambridge, massachusetts. on each of those campuses i was surrounded by middle-class families and holding down jobs while pursuing their studies and for them the .23 cents mattered. i was partners in a law firm and i was surrounded by women for s and practicing and them the .23 cents matters. regardless where you in the economy, a top tear law firm in a corporate border room, on a construction site, no matter where you are in the region of the country, durham, north carolina or cambridge, massachusetts, no matter your race or age, if you're a working woman in america or if you are

the child or one of families that is supported by one those working women, the .23 cents matters. that's why the president signed the lilly ledbetter act, that's why he created the national equal pay task force. that's why he continues to advocate for the passage of the paycheck fairness act, which would give workers additional tools to fight discrimination. that's why every opportunity amplifies that message. no one should be denied fair pay. for me, the fight for fair pay is a fight worth waging, especially if you consider the children and families that would be cat pulted into the middle-class by the simple act of paying women their fair share. or if you think of the safety net that could be available in retirement for elderly women where they won't lose on average

$435,000 over their lifetime because of the pay gap. i know our assignment here is to envision the next 50 years but in truth, we're focused at the white house on the next two twor years. [laughter] and how to make that work. do what it should and us do what we can in that limited time frame. to ensure that it really is the country's benefit over the next century. i should end there. it is a conversation we are eager to have. is ther perspective, it untold story. there is a compelling economic case that especially in tax women of color and african- american women are around the need to finally close the pay gap. thank you. [applause]

>> we are about out of time. we have time? we will do one round with a panel. barbara did not get a chance to get back up here. maybe we will have time for one question or two questions from the audience. today,at we have heard we have heard central themes, jobs, justice, african-american , black womenally on the supreme court, speeding up the senate confirmations of the judges that have been nominated by the president, gun over the immigration, criminalization in the u.s., and closing the pay gap. just as we try to wrap this up, how about i throw one question

out to the panel and if you could talk to the audience in terms of looking at the themes you have thrown, how can they be engaged in making this agenda happen? if you would pull the mike up to you as you speak. we can go down the line. >> ok. become active in your community. i am making the pitch for the is much moreecause it driven by metrics. voters.ut 1.2 million in the old days, everybody would get up to the podium and say that we got everybody. not anymore. we can tell you name by name, person by person, who got out to vote. be a part of that. or otherit is ncaap

community groups. join. know what is happening. educate yourself about it. when it is time to vote, get one of your friends with you. get a van and put people in it. there are so many things, you could just pick one. if you want to keep black men and black children out to -- out of jail, send them to college. that is the number one thing that is a game changer. make sure they finish. you can change the game overnight. [applause] >> i have to agree with kim. aclu. you to join the [laughter] more important than that is to get on our e-mail list. make sure it does not go to your spam folder. what we allow you to do on our list is to write to your member

of congress. if you do not know who your member of congress is, we will help you find that person. huge racial justice adopted in voting, housing, education, and criminal justice. we worked side by side with the committeethe lawyers and the legal defense fund to try to change the laws for the better. i would say, sign up. even better, joined. if you do not know, you can not act. you should be the best informed person you can possibly be. make it easy so people can put information in your in box and you can click a few buttons and take action.

my great aunt was a founder of the deltas. i have to say when those organizations, when the delta's come to capitol hill, everybody sees them. if you can be part of a group, a church group, fraternal group, and the group that makes visits we cannot seel, your faces, there often enough. >> i think the message i would want to leave you is never underestimate the power of one call, or one letter, or one visit into a congressional office. we are always trying to mobilize folks on the ground, wherever you are. there is always something you could weigh in on. with the internet, there is no excuse for not knowing what is going on. you can look at our web sites

cared all of us have websites. you can see it in the issue of the day. we talk a lot about what is pending in the congress right now today. congress talks about the paycheck fairness act that we are trying to strengthen, the equal pay act that was passed years ago, that is what is going on right now. at any given time, we'll need your help on nominations. your weighing in on the ground is really the most important thing. congress is in recess right now. there is nothing like having a member get a visit from a constituent over recess. this is whatwow, my folks are feeling back home on these issues. that is really important. you can call the congressional office up in washington. i say call the local office. that scares them even more. they think the folks on the ground are paying more

attention. [applause] >> a couple of things. three quick points to remember. racial progress is not linear. it zigzags. make, therevance we .s a backlash and a push back the reality is we could be making forward progress, like having an african-american president and the white house, and then have people at the same time try to take our voting rights. we have to be conscious that racial progress is not linear. it goes forward, gets a backlash, we go forward again, sometimes gets stronger. always expect a backlash. -- only way we fight is with what i want to make sure is that everyone in here hears these messages that we have got to be focused on a multigenerational

approach to our victory. ares important that we mentoring young people, but also remember that every young person in this room has something to teach us. there would not have been this but because of my son. to 25-year-old said you need take it viral and put it on the internet. blah, blah, blah. he came up with that theory. [applause] i want to be very clear we have to have that intergenerational connection. it is also very important. i remember last year when i was here that after we all talk and had our presentations, a number of you came up to me and said, i will go on my facebook and twitter and i want to make sure

my network is constantly said with this information about what is going on. i want to tell you that is critical in this fight. it is where we have to make sure use social media, that we are following all the groups that are here, and you are following us individually. twitter and very active on facebook. i am constantly dropping knowledge, as they say. [laughter] it is critical that we do these fights because one thing i want to be clear about is, the reason why he we were able to make progress in 2012 is because people got active. it is the reason why we were repeal just last week the death penalty in maryland.

people in this room that active and people in these groups -- it works. they just voted yesterday in delaware. to repeal the death penalty. we make these fights because they do the work. it is the movement that killed at the present industrial industrialthe prison complex. we have to be about that. this whole massive industrialization of african- americans and latinos in prison, it makes money, destroys the back of our communities. we have to be at the forefront of those movements. there are movements to be created. there are organizations to be founded. there are things to be done. who areproud of people

litigating as we talk. case, 5york city million african-americans and latinos. guess what? that is more african-americans nd latinos than that live in new york city. got to be verye clear that change comes because we are vigilant, because we get creative, because we get innovative. -- thatse babies here is not right. that they will also be part of the fight. there is one thing we forget, and i was reminded of it very poignantly when i was in alabama three weeks ago. it was that some of the most

were done byhes young people. they were done by children who left elementary school, middle school, high school, and marched. we have got to be very clear that it is a multigenerational fight. you have got to be part of that. never forget, alliances are key. women, our reproductive rights, it is not just a race thing. it is a woman thing. ashave got to be very on it women of color to make sure they are protected and make sure we take some serious responsibility and the educational arena. that is a whole different speech. i will not do it. let's make sure we do that. thank you, my sisters and brothers. [applause] >> i will very quickly reiterate what has already said -- been

said. is important to mobilize outside of washington d.c. and during that fight to congress. the administration has waged a handful of high-profile battles. some of which are going on right now. what has made the most of its and the only difference has been the american people have gotten extremely animated on these causes outside of washington and let their voices be known. of ite most part, much requires some sort of legislative and improvement. there is a real commitment out of it and administration to do what we can administratively. it will require the house and senate to act, and that only happens when folks are motivated and inspired an organized outside of d.c. new lionheart -- d.c. [applause] >> what we have heard here is

that it is not enough to just sit here and listen and wait for them to litigate. they need an action team behind them as they go into the courthouse. as you go back to your organization, we encourage you to be engaged, to go on their web site and learn more about the things they are doing. let me just mention since several people mentioned about the present pipeline, tomorrow, good friday, organizations are coming together for a march in downtown d.c. from the church down to freedom plaza. service at 12:00, right after that. those of you who are in here and would like to do something, that is something you can do tomorrow. a lot of people have to go. we were supposed to end at 2:00.

you haveve questions, the panelists up here. if you can grab them before they run out, or go to the web site and should there -- should them questions. get their card. all the women on this panel are very accessible. they are very interested in action. thank you for being a part of this. thank you for being a great audience. [applause] >> thank you for being such an excellent moderator. let's give her a hand. wonderful. she is doing such great work over there at howard university. i will let you all go. i want to acknowledge a few people. , our event planner, you have met him before. [applause] our marketing appetizing person.

-- advertising person. [applause] i am not a reporter. i am a journalist. i also own a business. he is trying to train me to let you know yes, we do have services. as you leave, pick up a copy of what is called trice edney communication plans so you can see what our services are. we thank our sponsors. fargo, you are awesome. you have been with us from day one. i encourage you. drop the knowledge. i say it right? [laughter] take it back with you. you have heard powerful information today from our esteemed panelists. they did not come here in vain. neither did you. let's take it back and join the march and lead the march is -- arches and let's hone that

vision for the coming years. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] question at 8:00, we are taking the -- a look at the intersection of infotainment and political journalism. we will bring you a discussion with the executive editor of tmz. and former cnn and abc news anchor aaron brown. here is a preview. >> the single worst day i ever roberttelevision, after blake is arrested. he is arrested up in the valley somewhere. that is about what the story is worth, what i just gave you.

he has done one very good performance. and a tv series. he is arrested for killing his wife. we spent four hours on it. fourike a figure to of hours. eight literal four hours. s,were asking correspondence how do you think this will impact his career? he has no career. [laughter] that was the upside. [laughter] >> getting arrested. >> i think i was gone by then. i do not remember. so, four hours. ato home, and i get home 2:30 in the morning. my wife, who was a reporter, looks at the half asleep and says, why? [laughter] god, i do not need

this right now. i do not need it. the next day, i come to work and there are 15,000 e-mails. on an average day, we get 4000 e-mails. 15,000. i looked through a few hundred. you promised us you would do serious news. do one said, you did not enough, robert blake. >> no one was complaining about it. >> you can see that entire discussion tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern. then live at 9:15, we will take your phone calls, tweed, and facebook comments. two guests join the conversation, jane hall and patrick gavin. that begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span.

the flightrney -- was grounded in january because of a battery issues. this is 40 minutes. >> good morning, ladies and tenement. we want to thank everyone who will speak today, particularly those who will sponsor our activities. we are particularly pleased to have jim with us today. as you know, he is one of those guys in town who does not need an introduction. he played baseball with george bush. he worked that procter and gamble. he became the chairman and ceo of 3m, and in 2005, he took over boeing. he serves on the president's

role council, with all sorts of organizations put together to look at everything to do what trade. from manufacturing to trade. he has been an outstanding leader and innovator, an advocate for business. we are glad to have you here. now, we are going to pick some questions, but not so targeted. broad enough that jim can cover a couple of subjects. here is a man who runs a couple of companies in one. so, really, that is two companies in one. a huge defense operation and a massive global aviation issue. so, from that perspective, and the perspective of being chairman of the round table, tell me how you think the american economy is doing, what about the recovery, and how is

your company? >> yes. andk you to you, carol, your team for doing this every year. this is a great year for our industry. i know that everyone that carroll named is delighted to support this. thanks. the economy is what it is. it is sort of bumping along, very slow growth in the united states. not growing fast enough to really generate job growth, as you can see in the unemployment numbers. so, it is not running -- out running nearly productivity in most industries. the housing sector is beginning to kick in a little bit, which could give us over that 2% rate. a lot of people think it will. but it is still a pretty anemic recovery.

the is lots of reasons for it. ownybody has got their favorite reason for it. i have heard your speech on the subject. i tend to line up with you. i think a lot of the issues are country faces on the fiscal side, regulatory side, tax is having an impact. that is slowing some things down. certainty is a word that is thrown around, but it is a meaningful word when you look at long-term investment at this stage of the economy. it is significantly lower than long-term investment in analogous stages of other recoveries. and that means something to see if people are willing to put money behind that, yes or no? i think this is a challenge. we face of banking and sovereign debt issue -- we face a banking and sovereign debt issue in europe.

aredeveloping markets growing. they are where the real action as on a global basis. as i think everyone knows. i think that boeing is doing better than that description implies, and largely because we're in the business that innovates. and we're in an innovation replacement cycle in our industry. we are not bounded by the gnp growth i described because people are replacing old technology with new technology. us and airbus and others. much more fuel-efficient planes, much more responsive to the environment. i think that we are to end at three times the gdp growth we are seeing around the world. more than half of that is driven by innovation.

i think that the aerospace industry in and of itself, not just blowing. the aerospace industry really is by many measures the most globally competitive industry united states has. -- i think that the aerospace industry and an of itself, not just boeing. far less than half is imported from other places, which is a measure of competitiveness. i am tempted to say the country is lucky to have the aerospace industry, because probably there is too much pride in the industry that a lot of us have. it does represent in many cases, i think, sort of the best of our country. and i am very proud to be part of it.

>> great. that was the softball, wake up question. [laughter] now, not from a political point of view, but from an operations point of view for your company and others, give us your quick view on sequestration. >> ah. [laughter] sequestration. wek, i think we all know why are where we are. i think that the administration and the legislative process put in place something that we all assumed would be so scary it would never be implemented. that assumption was wrong. that assumption underestimated the lack of bipartisan capability in this country, and so, here we are. sequestration -- on its face, -- excuse me. it is a silly way to go after -

>> [indiscernible] >> cutting. >> you are not getting that from me. that is a good way to cover up a question. there would be great celebration in this building if i could not talk at all. go ahead. >> i think it is obviously a silly way to go after cutting the budget, which is an otherwise laudable objective, and it is going to have a disproportionate impact in places that would not be completed. take defense. take the faa. aviation. by the letter of the law, the defense cuts will be very debilitating and will impact readiness. this is one man's opinion. that is not a good thing in a world that is more full of

threats and not full of threats. the faa is struggling with how to deal with everything from airport towers to supportive programs, and there are many, many other examples, and i remain hopeful. i am an optimist. i remain hopeful that we will go through some of the salinas for a few months and the sort of blueprint put in it -- this silliness for a few months, and these sort of blueprint put in place for the more choiceful, thoughtful way to go about it will become the force of law. i remain an optimist. >> good. building on your optimistic position, why don't you tell me the latest on the 787 dreamliner? >> the 787 is a battery issue. we are very close. we have high confidence in the technical solution we are testing right now. with the faa. and i think that's it will be sooner, rather than later, probably sooner, seven days,

we will all look at data, have a high degree of confidence that data will tell us and tell the faa, who are the decision makers here, that the fixes are what we needed to be, and we will have this airplane back in service in due time. but, you know, this is a difficult time for us. we have tested this fabulous airplane that can -- and none of the problems -- none of the promise of this airplane really has been diminished. there is something about it that needs to be fixed. that does not take away from the other things that make this a special plane. it is a 20%, 30% improvement in operating cost of the airplane, a raise in the customer comfort with the airplane. and we have taken this time to tighten some things and make sure you're in good shape as we get this back into service.

i must say the faa, michael, have been chance here, they put us through our paces -- have been champs here. they put us through our paces. they have the safety of the american public in mind. >> i think the interesting point that you make is innovation. recently i was talking to very good competitors, and they seriously and vigorously want that plane in the air, because they do not want this continued questioning -- i mean, you have had this problem with every new plane. whatever it happens debate. that are a lot of people

want to get this thing going. let me ask you a related question. you have heard from people here that make other airplanes. the chinese are talking about going into business making airplanes. what do you think about that? bei think the chinese will competitors in large commercial airplanes. they have the technology. they have the money. they have the defense infrastructure that enables

this kind of thing, and they have a market big enough to absorb, to absorb the products. how long will that take? who knows? but they will get there. tohink that really speaks the global competitiveness issue. i think we will -- i think it is boeing's strategy to win by innovation. i do not think we will win by having the lowest cost airplane. i think when you have zero global competition -- when you have global competition and different banking practices. so, back to your point that we are cheering for each other. this may sound a little strange come up boeing and airbus cheering for each other, but our strategies are to innovate, and through innovation, win. and i think that needs to be the

strategy for technology. technologically advanced countries, and particularly this industry. you will see more of that. >> speaking of your competition, it seems that in the overall company to be getting out from under the day- to-day political influence of a number of countries, that should be helpful to them, shouldn't it? >> are you talking about who, the chinese? >> oh, no. the restructuring -- >> i think that airbus can figure out by themselves who they want to be. the model does move closer to -- i think the word that todd uses is "on normal company." i think that word has a special meaning in germany. i think that will create a stronger competitor, which i think is good for the industry. >> talking about competition, one of the things you hear all the time in our country --

people say, when is america going to start making things again? which, as you know, because of all the work you've done not only in real terms, but in public policy, we are a huge manufacturer, a real driver of technology. and by the way, let's have a big respect for the 45% of the jobs -- that innovation has of the manufacturing process. but what role do you think it will play in getting this economy going again, and where will we find people needed to work in it? >> that is a great question.

i think the quick answer is, we never stopped believing in american manufacturing. we have 150,000 folks who work in plants around this country and we have made a lot of long- term investments recently. so, that is speaking for boeing. but for the country, i think we're on the verge of an american manufacturing renaissance, quite frankly. as rates are around the world began to adjust, and americans raise rates, not as much as coming out of the recession -- one good thing about a long

recession is there is a lot of focus on productivity, and as you implied, a lot of use of technology to support that focus on productivity. i think that is strengthening our country's manufacturing base, and i think there is also our realization as people think about tax and fiscal policy that the value of manufacturing in terms of its broader impact on the economy is huge. i forget exactly what the numbers are, but it is like double or triple the impact of unemployment as compared to other sectors of the economy because of the follow-on services, because of the supply

chain, because of the engineering you need to design it. from the public policy, the public policy debate, as people talk about tax and fiscal, a lot is shared by people like yourself, getting to realize -- shaped by people like yourself, getting to realize the huge potential here. we are not going to ignore global capability. we are not. but i think some supply chains are a little too horizontal over the last couple of decades. and part of the story of the 787 and earlier developmental issues was we lost control of some of the designing and engineering of the plane come in

an effort to create a very horizontal business -- engineering of the plane, in an effort to create a very horizontal business. we do have a disproportionate amount of investment vertically in the united states because of the capability we need. the longer-term question, you implied, it is really about education and immigration. i know you are a champion on immigration. i know currently you are at the center of the debate, and everyone in this room should be glad about this gentleman being between john mccain and chuck schumer trying to get a deal done. i think a lot of like-minded people want to see this happen, including you. but immigration, solving that problem, addressing some of the educational shortfalls we have in this country will probably have more to do with the long- term competitiveness of the united states manufacturing than anything else. so, keep those efforts going. keep supporting this guy. [laughter] >> talk a little bit about -- so you manufacture these great products. with the help of the ex-im bank and others, exporting not only products, but exporting u.s. engagement and influence and so on, let me ask you a couple questions about that. number one, we got a three-year extension on the ex-im bank. so many people do not understand that the u.s. ton of moneykes a on this. gives us the real life story -- give us the real life story. >> xm has always been important for companies that import. it has been important for small and medium-sized businesses that frankly find it even more difficult to export without some financial help. the bottle components to our competitiveness -- yes, ex-im bank, i think i have the numbers generally correct. i do not think it has ever lost any money. if you add the money that they

have made on fees and credit support, it is well into the billions of dollars. this is a money maker, not a money loser in the name of corporate welfare at all. it is just the opposite. so, it is a business operation we would all be proud to run, quite frankly. i know some voices tend to be from the far right or the far left that question the subsidy of the ex-im bank. but i think if you stop doing it, it would be unilaterally disarmed. there is support for the manufacturers, and there are trees that guide the behavior and guide the practices, but -- treaties that bad behavior and died the practices that can be used. really, i shake my head at people when they say we ought to do away with the ex-im bank. >> ok, we have great products. we have a bank that helps. we are going to trade them around the world. there are two new things on the horizon. one thing is an e.u.-u.s. trade

agreement, and the second is the agreement we're trying to do in the pacific region. what does that do to american companies exporting abroad? what would it do for your company? >> i think that you mentioned my chairmanship of the president's counsel. we have been actively engaged as industry as well as the nation for a largest exporter in this issue. i think that these agreements are difficult to get done, but it is always worth the effort in my view. ultimately, we have been out run over the last two or three decades. other parts of the world of cut free trade agreements, and we are catching up. it is not an unfair situation. is a very fair situation. i shake my head when people say we ought to do away with the bank. it is all good. >> we have great products, a bank, that helps, and we will trade them on the world, and we have wewto, all of that.

there are two new things on the horizon. one is an eu west trade agreement. tryingond is what we are to do in the pacific region. that do to american companies exporting abroad? what would it do for your company? >> you mentioned my chairmanship of the president exports counsel. we have been actively engaged as american industry as well as boeing, as the country's largest exporter on the issue. are difficultts to get done. it is always worth the effort, in my view. ultimately, we have been out run over the last two or three

decades. other parts of the world have cut. we used to lead around the world. the eu trade agreement you just mentioned would put us back out ahead. i give the administration a great deal of credit here, quite frankly. whether it was colombia, panama, or korea, which was really catch up, in terms of catching up to deals our competitors already have with ttp and etries, but would level the playing field in a lot of ways and take away disadvantages with multilateral agreements other countries had with the agreements. it would allow us to do what we have always wanted, put us on a level playing field. that is all we need. that is the way i feel about it. i think that is the way a lot of people feel about it. i think these will be tough

deals to get. the more countries in these deals, the tougher it is to get done. japan has just joined in the serious discussion ttp side. japan and europe are both wrestling a very slow-growth economy. they are not at the table because they want to get there a economies going. we are at the table because we want a level playing field into these places. i think it is a recipe for something to get done. we support it. two-second edition. they are not only slow growth economies. but they are demographically slow growth. demography is destiny. that will be really interesting. let's shift gears and come back home for a minute. industry and the economy depends on a basic infrastructure. the highwaysild

for national defense and started the business of an infrastructure system. things with all the electrical generation and moving that around the world, the country. how do you see our infrastructure deal? have you thought about it a lot? you can talk for a minute or two about the air force. you have got to get people to work and move goods around the country. we have to have a mobility. if you cannot get to airports, that is the problem. -- >> of thisas country has an infrastructure crisis. railroadlk to the guys, they will talk about sports and the lack of modern infrastructure there. as you move goods in and out of the country. if you bring it home to aviation

for a second, i forget the exact number but i think over the next 20 years, the number of flight double inill almost the country. we do not have an air traffic management system that can handle that. ans is as important infrastructure project as anything. there is a nextgen project i am sure everyone in the room is aware of. it needs to be funded. the return on the funding is infinite in terms of unlocking the ability to move around this country in the air with lower margins and less distances between planes and all the things you need. madee somehow have not yet this the kind of issue at the

national level we need to make. it will really slow down the growth rate of this country if we do not get out there. >> you and i really agree on that. that is why i got you to do that. >> we are the only people enough to remember the eisenhower freeways being built in 1950's. >> that is true. [laughter] we have had a lot of easy questions. i will hit one or two in the role that will be a little more difficult only because of the relationship. droppeds ago, he nlb its complaint against boeing, alleging the retaliation. during that period of time, you have continued to hire more and more people into the company. at the same time, the union members in the private sector in america are dropping very quickly. how do you feel about the relationship between management and labor and labor's influence

in terms of what the government does and how they act? >> i probably have a more balanced view, than you would expect. as our company grows and becomes we need a diversity of places to build things. we need a diversity of products to build. all that is a diversity of relationships with employees. some are union and some are not union. if we were starting with a fresh sheet of paper, we prefer to deal partly with employees without a union in the middle. directly with employees without a union in the middle. but we respect that and work without rigid work with them.

.- work with them unions have in this town and others, the influence is strong. it has to be dealt with. do i wish it were weaker sometimes? yes. do they have a right to petition their government? absolutely. we deal with it. i think ultimately the question becomes, for me, how do i create the most competitive aerospace company in the world? how do i do that? there are some unions that work with us toward that end. you look at germany. i am looking at my friend over here. they have some of the highest wage rates, some of the strongest unions, and yet they are more productive. they more than make up the high cost with productivity. that is a union you can work with.

obviously, in other places where you do not have unions, you have more flexibility to manage your costs and get the productivity equation in a different way. as long as the union wants to have a dialogue with the company and me about how we are a worthy competitor, how we compete effectively against the upcoming talent -- chinese entry, and how we keep driving highly skilled and highly paid jobs in the united states, as long as that is the dialogue, i almost do not care who i am sitting across the table from. but that does not always happen. so we have got to have balance. to a subject which you are very familiar with with your own company. much the chairman of the round table and so on. there is a lot of effort by some people to get companies to stay

out of the legislative, the regulatory, the political debate, saying that is not their role. rathering that we would we do not do that. they will do all of that. we should not do it. over that, as you know. running perspective of one of the most exciting companies in the country, and working all the time on the government issues, what is your reflection on that? >> i think it is hogwash. a right tomuch petition our government as anyone does. comeshat right becomes -- a responsibility. whether we work with you on some issues who tirelessly support us on that endeavor or whether we do it directly, i would go farther than a right. i would say a responsibility.

we need to be actively engaged in the government process right now, whether it is on the regulatory or legislative side, and it is that your own peril if you do not. >> to everybody get that? everybody get that? [laughter] let's shift a little bit. we have a few minutes left. you started at boeing at a difficult time for the company. it made great plains. -- planes. they had high profile ethical issues and so on. rememberin and i do when everybody was trying to recruit you to do that, there was no question you could run the company. i think everybody is really interested in how you came in and fundamentally changed the character of the institution and

what it stood for and how it will function. and i think you should tell us about it. >> you are giving me a chance to be not modest. no, i think the root cause of the situation back then was boeing made a lot of acquisitions. had never been really stitched together. you had four or so different cultures. the language was different and thatunctional things protect the company, financial or legal, were not stitched together across the country. mischief could happen very clarity on expectations of employees, not only their activities but their behavior, was not as clear. the first order of business was to decide what we wanted to be and how we wanted to be it. that was one at a time, moving

around the company and deciding what the mission of the company and what the strategy of the company and what we wanted to be as leaders, what are the six things that define a boeing liter, down to 100 things when you add it up. it was sort of what i would call, leadership, circle the wagons. it was more returning -- less the defining some new set of values and a new way forward. it was more reminding people what they were. more reminding people what boeing was and what douglas was an hughes was. these were all fine companies that lost their way for some reasons. sort of returning to what we wanted to be. and articulating exactly how we were going to go forward. i think it gave people a renewed

confidence. alignment gives people confidence. it was one conference room at a time. >> how would we do the one conference room at a time up on the hill? i saved this one question in case we had a little time. we talked about sequestration. we talked about the fundamental issues of our economy. but it is time to get business and labor and everybody in the room to talk about how we deal with this budget reality that we face here. we had breakfast and i thought we had a good chat about that. i think it would be interesting if we could hear it from the position of somebody that is really sitting in all of the conference rooms at the same time, a major company, the roundtable, other groups in town, working all over the

world, give us your view about that? >> it is extremely frustrating right now. the inside game on the politics dominates, which means the two parties are more about who gets credit sometimes than getting things done. that is a little bit of a harsh assessment. i see more of that than i would like. hand, i see the moderate size of both parties, when you talk to them independently, you can see a solution. so you know it is there. if we can just shift the debate, being dominated by the fringes, and get it back to the people who are right minded but caught up in the politics right now, i have confidence we will get there. this country is ultimately a pragmatic place.

it may take us a lot longer than any of us are comfortable with. we cannot give up. we cannot come back to your bestion about, should we here? we have got to be here. i have been frustrated many times. after somef town disillusioning set of events that happened that day. you have got to pick yourself up and not stop. we will get there. we really will. >> so that is our national challenge. now, you have your headquarters in this state. that is amongst three, four, five blue states that have a massive financial challenge. particularly driven by tensions in medicaid. what are some of the reflections about that? we have manufacturers from

europe planning to come here because of energy. they are visiting states. you look around at states yourself carried how do you see the state's thing? -- yourself. how do you see the state's thing? >> illinois is a problem. medicaid is the biggest part of the problem. when you brought in your question to what you learn from i think someone, because they have to face the issue and confront it because they cannot print money, there are seven or eight governors out there, some on the republican side and some on the democratic side, but this moderate middle i was talking about, that, if faced into the tough issues, i think those are the kinds of people we need to get into this town. i think state and local governments are going to be the wille of the people who solve our political problems because they have done it.

>> that leads me to my last question. you could characterize that as leadership. issue up on the hill saying we need leadership. i think, and in most of my speeches lately, i have been talking about the need for leadership. the beginning in companies, the government, the medical profession. fundamental leaders who have come over the history of this country, driven change, improvement, and correction. where do we get them? >> one source is state and local governments. i believe that. i am biased but i think there are business leaders in this country who have had to face analogous problems in their companies that can be a source of leadership. if you want to be inspired, read what i am reading right now. george washington's biography. you talk about a liter.

you can draw inspiration from reading about him. have an abiding belief that this place will find leaders. we have to keep the ball rolling in the meantime. >> thank you for doing this. i would suggest, i think you should read that book. i would suggest there are a whole lot of leaders sitting around right now, and we have got to elevate them a little bit and support them. my own conclusion and the reason i really enjoyed working with you is you sort of lead that pack in many ways. thank you for what you do. thank you for doing this today. thank you for your support for our conference. god bless. [applause] >> coming