the point is, here he was come eligible all those years for that care and no one that talk to him or asked, have you ever served in the military? yes. what did you do? i was in vietnam. you need to go to the va. they will help you with your care and there might be an opportunity to help you with some compensation. when you have a long list of those diseases, and of course, the hepatitis c virus in all the things that happened with that, the debilitating disease -- i think the most difficult.

ischemic heart disease. a study give us a hint. we saw that. now it is expected. did they serve in vietnam? did they have this diagnosis? and we will take care of you. forn who served in vietnam a long time, there was the suspicion that there was not a lot of data, that some of them were at risk of birth affect. -- for birth defects. they compensate the children of women who served in vietnam. if they had spina bifida or other birth defects.

this is a good example of the exposure to a hazard, environmental hazard. and the effect on the offspring. we had more difficulty with providing improving the link -- and proving the link. with the men. as we learn, things change and new evidence comes to light. operations desert storm, that was the first time that women really combat. over 41,000 women served. iwill share with you that have the opportunity to meet with a group of women who had returned from iraq. actually, it was not desert storm, but iraq. it illustrates the point. --n the troops him back from came back from iraq, it was ever

a bigger than this. i was with the governor and the general. i quickly saw that i was the only woman standing in the room. most people were wondering if i was standing. [laughter] youwe talked about when come back, these are the services and this is what you can expect from the state of connecticut. afterwards for women came up to me. they asked me if they provided counseling services. i said, we do not do the counseling ourselves. but we can hook you up with someone who does. i said very gingerly that the issue might be military sexual trauma. they said, we were writing and a -- riding a humvee and there was a bomb and there was an arm that landed on my lap.

when i go to bed at night, i see that arm and i see my buddy. don't let me minimize the fact that sexual trauma is a factor. 23%va and the da deal with of the women in iraq and afghanistan have reported that they had been sexually assaulted i a coworker -- by a co-worker. we think would happen at duke in 23% of women had reported that they were assaulted by a coworker? wouldn't that the an outcry? -- be an outcry? and yet they still continued to serve and volunteer. the heavy reliance is a very important factor. that is why we have been talking about this.

when they come home from deployments, they not only have unique issues, i'm not talking about radiation. it is not necessarily that everyone is touching radioactive materials. as a projectiles goes through, it sharpens itself. that is how they can penetrate armor. some people who are cast -- oh, excuse me -- i'm glad i really do not need those. their task is to clean out the tanks. some of them have inhaled the dust. it has an effect on the kidneys.

the other thing is, the multiple deployments. is anyone here have family member who has been deployed? how many times? one? two? three? four? five? multiple deployments for people coming and going back. they do not have time to decompress from the first experience before they do another experience. my concern is that i have veterans who have, home -- have come home. someone comes along and tells him that all they have to do is

sign this paper to stop the va benefits and they can do another tour to iraq and afghanistan. the idea that the troops are not keeping up the needs because there are recruiting quotas, this is something that'll come home to roost. we have no idea idea what the far-reaching effects of multiple deployments are. and not just the military members himself, but that tammy. family.n the one million children in america have had one or both of the parents deployed since 9/11. one million. they're not in dod schools.

they are in your school system. teachers have to become aware of some of the important part of what deployment means on a family. positions in a good right now. everyone is thinking about this and is concerned about it. that is wonderful. after vietnam, this is great. this is a game changing moment for healthcare and veterans in america. you as a private people, you're going to be the first line of identifying who these people are. unfortunately the va does not take care of families yet. when you have a healthcare system designed by congress, being in the family does not seem to be politically prudent at this time.

so, welcome home. i want you to know that i used to work there. we did -- some of this is coming from -- i do not think it has changed the five over the last two years. nothing prepares you for the realities of war. when you're deployed three times, you know the drill. this is what is different about this war and any of the others. millionn people or 9 people in uniform. here are people reported that a percentage of them have experienced small arms fire. this is a high percentage but have experienced hostile action.

during the readjustment study in which i was an interviewer, they went the extra mile to have three groups of people who served in vietnam, men and women, people in the military but did not serve in vietnam, men and women, and men and women from the civilian sector. when i was asking women who served in vietnam, have you ever served in combat and they all said, no, but the next question was, have you ever experienced hostile fire, it yes, everyone said yes. how often? every day.

of we're getting a picture the perception. i love the one answer. how far weight would just make -- away would you estimate the fire was? how far away is a football field? they're firing at each other. i was not in combat. it is a mindset that i was not in combat. because of the readjustment study, we were able to illustrate that women who served as nurses in vietnam experienced more death and dying and taking care of people than the combat veterans. you had to have symptoms to be eligible for posttraumatic stress.

a great deal of this came from our understanding of what goes on for those in the military. blood is not for the faint of heart. 86% to someone who was injured or killed. saw a dead or seriously injured americans. and 48% admitted they had been responsible for killing somebody else you would not find that ratio in other wars. this is in your face war. as the commissioner had many questions about all of this. and there were no wereon google. -- no answers on google.

we found the money to do the connecticut veterans and needs assessment. peopleed at, we asked who had just returned to fill out a question here. and i want to show, because i think it is a sample -- it is connecticut, but at the same time it gave me -- what i did with this information in the needs assessment, i went to my legislature and i said i see these needs and we need to do something about it. being in combat is life altering. the importance of camaraderie. let me tell you that that is one of the most important characteristics of this generation. they cared deeply for each other. they did not have to be in the same unit. isolatedof them feel

a been in their own home town. they find that they are more comfortable with fellow military or veterans than they are with anybody else. in, thet this one experiences of women are not the same as men. they need to be looked at in a very different way. this was our health -- the health concerns. it was not totally revealing, -- excuse me. this is what they actually identified as major problems of not going to the v.a. navigating the system. how do know what is available? but congress has a bill requiring that every v.a. within a state, one v.a., at least one, will have all the services. so you do not have to say, for example, in new england, if i

wanted to have, if any veterans in connecticut want treatment for prostate cancer, they have to go to boston. the availability, long waiting times, and i heard today -- great news -- the v.a. is going to be having a weekend and evening hours, and that is a very important thing, because this is also a generation that wants success. they are going to eat up the road until they get to the end. they are going to be doing their job. they do not want to spend an inordinate amount of time waiting to see the doctor at the v.a. many of them already have doctors, especially women when they were deployed. ribbon.is our -- our were thatst important

they did find terrible difficulties with connecting emotionally with their family when they return. some of them it is just too much. the people that do the work would know, they get a big party and they left because they could not take it. too much. the problems of the spouse or partner, and the absence of the military member, they've had to do with less. let me go back to children having problems adjusting. believe it or not, when veterans have on our a little network -- someone said, it's also women. a calendar with pictures of women in in iraqand in-- and afghanistan. they had a major with two pistols and it said, major so

and so is a kindergarten teacher he will have trouble, too. having served in the reserves myself, i loved when i was doing my reserve duty. acclamation toe life when you came back to reality. this was one of the things we found about traumatic brain injury. in the beginning of the return of the deployed, the v.a. was not doing the screening and exam, test for concussions or traumatic brain injuries. 20% of the people had experienced -- some -- which would have caused us to believe the

possibility of concussion. because you answered yes to these questions, listen, you need to go for some better testing. youi would share with what we found as high risk for veterans. that is my statisticians note. they had common characteristics -- there were younger, less educated. let me say that many of the people and the guard and reserve have used tuition waivers and our state. 48% of the people in my sample had bachelor's degrees. they were not in a relationship. here's the zinger. there were more likely to have been on active duty and there were coming home alone, without the support group. we talked about the stigma.

this was some of what they actually said. i think the most glaring thing was, they do not want to be seen as weak. this is men and women both. but also, those who most need help receive the most stigma. they are the ones that say, i do not want to ruin my career. actually, the low number of 25% to 40% that get help, the fear of the career. when you have the chief of the army get up and say, i had posttraumatic stress. it's ok. if you think a posttraumatic stress as a natural reaction to an abnormal situation. a natural reaction to an abnormal situation.

shinseki areetary trying to get rid of that d at the end. it is posttraumatic stress. it should not prevent you from getting help and help for your family to deal with the symptoms that you are having. that is the federal v.a. since you are in an area where you know the v.a., people do not know there are state governments. every state government has someone like me who is responsible to the citizens and the governor of the state for the care of their veterans. and this is kind of like a wonderful opportunity for us to work with the v.a. and with our own community to craft a continuum of care. i do not see myself as the commissioner as being in a contest with the v.a.

my job is to dovetail with what they have, to be sure that the veterans in my state received all they need. that takes a lot of liaison and networking. but you go forth in the confidence that first of all, you are all in the business trying to do the same thing. thatelieve that the people you are working with have the heart of the veteran at their heart. so i told you a bit about what i do. my marching orders come from the governor and the connecticut legislature. in the state of north carolina, you have tim workerman, your director. when i reported -- to the gove rnor. i am honored to serve my third governor. republicans and democrats, so i must be doing something right.

we work with employment and training, which is a big factor with high unemployment now. i want to tell you more of something we call the military support program. stateoon ago, we sold facility at blue hills. the general assembly set aside $1.4 million to cover the mental health costs of programs that were not covered, and people that were not covered by the v.a. 102ndn we had a unit, infantry, 1000 people. we were sharing the fact that we had someone from every town and city in connecticut. it brought home the fact that they are going and when they come back that will be in every town and city in connecticut. what we did was, connecticut had

an experience after 9/11 where we had a great influx and great need. the department of mental health and addiction services created training programs to help clinicians in the community to be able to take some of the load off of their department. using this concept that you take people in the business of providing mental health, and we gave a training program that was 16 hours of what we call the military 101. it was trying to get clinicians to understand what all the complexities work. if you ever do this, the best teachers are to get veterans who are coming home to talk about their experience. because it helps people to understand that they may be in the military mode, but they have not yet crossed over into the civilian world. i find one of the things -- i

will tell this story. this is a marine who was in uniform and his wife called him up, honey, can you stop and get me some milk, bread and eggs. will do. stops by the stop and shop. he goes in, and i looked around and i ask myself, what are these people doing? they are lollygagging around, going up and down the aisles. i am here to get bread, eggs and my milk. he just makes a line. so the manager came up to him and said, excuse me. is there something we can help you with? he said, i got it. i have my breadc, eggs, milk. he said, your schering these people to death -- scaring these people. he said, i had no idea cuss i

was in my military mindset. -- because i was in my military mindset. this program was the department of mental health maintains the credentials. to be part of this you have to go through basic training 101. you have to maintain your licensure and all the things required for the state. but also, you are in a registry, and if the veteran call sue, yo umust --calls you, you must give your word that you will talk to them within 48 hours. this is across the state of connecticut. we have a 24/7 hot line. we call in and say, linda schwartz. my brother is having a terrible time and i did not know where to take him. he has just come home from iraq. they say, connecticut. these are the conditions in our network in your town and geographic area. these clinicians will see you.

the military member, the spouse, the children, the significant other. 15 sessionsgive you in a calendar year. if you have no insurance, we have a grant to pay for your care. know, because of the increase and the concern about suicides in the veteran population at large, the department of mental health and addiction services commissioner is a nurse. the governor has given his blessing. this was started for the returning military members. it is now for all veterans and their families in the state of connecticut. that is not to take away from the v.a., in the middle of the night you want to talk to somebody, you have somebody to talk to and you have a plan. when the clinicians see them, if this is over their head and they

think they need somebody else, we have over for all system back to the v.a. so this is like all local triaga. e. amny military members will go to treatment with their families. why? because i am doing this for my family. i do not have the problem. i am helping my family. it gives them a face-saving device. i strongly suspect that they received some help. we had this going now for five years. we have had over 3500 calls. 500 people in treatment. the beginning came from a sale of property -- the legislature felt so strongly that they refunded it. why? because they feel it is a good

investment, but also, it is a small price to pay when you think about the outcomes. military 101.ur i'll leave this for you. it's important for you to know that veterans expect to -- they are professional. you be professional. they are used to facts. to not be calling 0-- coating it. they expect honest answers. they told me this. saying you don't know is better than giving book as answers. that is from a young man -- better than giving bogus answers. the problem with the v.a. is their policies are hard to find. the trust is lost when they do not find it to be just like the

marine corps. and confidentiality, i know you know that, but that is why the military program working with private clinician's works very well. but it also is that a private clinician -- somebody is there to take their call. sometimes you cannot find that in the v.a. that's why we have had -- if there are limits to the confidentiality, they have to be stated up front. it should not be something they find out later. professionalthat fix all problems. that is the military. and -- would say, this is from the leave politics at the door. we're not talking about the war. some clinicians make the mistake of doing that. be available for them.

not only for friends but people at church. and the most important thing is -- these people existed in a hostile atmosphere. they have qualities you want to build on to help them face issues. it is called resiliency, but i'd like to believe that they want to ehlp if you want to help them get can.you you don't judge. you have to start where they are, not where you think they should be. do not let petty or anchor influence your reactions.

this is jordan. he sent me a letter from iraq. he was wounded. what heondering about expect.g to i said, go to the website. he said, i've been to the website. that is for the old guys. what are you going to do for me? six months later, we were dedicating our new facility and one of legislature's come up and asked me, can we do a moment of silence for the young marine was conn. from milford,

i said, i would like to know his name. they said, it was jordan. he gave me my marching orders. with the youngup guys. with that, i thank you for your kind attention. i hope that you have something, that you learn something. any questions? [applause] [inaudible]

>> it all depends on your medical center director. my first director was a guy named roger johnson. we work well because this dovetailing of not duplicating services is not a was happening before i came. going through the university hospital for all of their care. came up to bent renegotiated, i asked john dempsey, and to you take military history. he said, we don't think that military experience is anything to do this. i called dr. johnson and i said, i have 500 veterans here, how can we work together? mee paid at the va to find with a key clinical nurse

specialist and a part-time psychologist because summoning of marseille the veterans had been at care at dempsey. then we evaluated each and everyone of them. i have my own clinic and physicians. this is for every single one of my veterans that are in a residential program. i don't want them to stay with me forever, i want them to have that when i leave. with the homework, and one time i was mentioning that they had a huge backlog at the be a parent of they had 20 people waiting for nursing home placements. the heart of the matter is that the individual who is doing the talking, it is not the people in washington or the congress, it is the caregivers, it is the

hands on people who make things happen. this just evolved. with the homeless, also. that is the one thing that the va has to come to the realization, states to bring something to the table. you cannot do it alone. i have a veteran that the team could not place. 70%is a woman who is service connected. she has four children. the youngest is 10 months old and the oldest is 14. they could not find a place for her. i could help. who would not want to help if we bend their few roles, maybe we did not look the right way. in the end, she had a place to get an act together so that she and her children could have a life.

feel that each individual can ask and know what the answer meant. this is a partnership that will becauseevolve more now the nature of where your patience are. >> thank you have not only for the information but also the stories. this is timely given the recent decision to allow military and -- women into active combat. i am wondering if you have thoughts on what might be anticipated. be uniquegoing to types of needs for women coming

back in combat as opposed to men coming back from combat? >> i just want to show you one picture. tell me, are those men or women? they are all women. they have been carrying guns, they have been in combat roles. the difference now is that america has been able to give them the credit they deserve. women have commanded vessels at sea. when women are fighter pilots, commanders of wing. what i see is that if women want to change does take on the challenge of being in the marine corps, then they need to gradee to make the same

as any man. i do believe with so many women getting into a physical fitness, that will happen. if they want to take on that challenge, when you join the military, they promised to a quality in pay and opportunity. on, america has made good that promise. the sky is the limit now. it is up to you as the individual. we are seeing it now. tammynybody see my friend on the nightly news when they said to her, what do you think of women in combat. she said, how do think i lost his legs, in a bar fight? that is it. they are flying helicopters. i think it would be more openly except it if we ever see the sure i will not

be here to see that. the marines are a tough group and they will not lower the standards and i hope not because there is a certain challenge now to be able to accomplish that and it could be the goal of some young woman to be that. as being a member of a flight crew i can tell you that in the heat of things, you really don't care if it is a man or woman next to you, you want to know that the person you are with his confident and capable and i think that that is the mark of .hat women will have to >> to think about what happened in your state and what happened

recently. i think it was maybe dr. troy recapitulatesma drum up. i was wondering if you're noticing that what happened to these children in new town is having an impact on veterans. >> i will facts it with the governor when he heard the news. i was with the commissioner of mental health and the child and family services. i was really part of the mobilization of what would be done. at that time, we had no idea. if you saw my friend, the i could tell when i saw him. hisirector of advocacy,

nephews were in the school. in the background was a marine, a personal friend of mine. the part that was more excruciating for them was the ittal picture of what must've looked like in that school room. they know what will is due to human flesh. they can only imagine what it would do to a six year-old. i come of from the state of ohio. i was raised around the ends. lovesomebody says, i'll i shooting a 50 caliber out of the ocean. i said, have you ever seen that does to a body? no. one of the things that is a big

thing is the troopers, many of , they startedans special groups and i will tell some of the people on site as well as some of the people from forensics. we have are on forensic mental health and the state of connecticut. yes, it did call to mind so much so that we cannot even watch anymore. whats the visualization of they know what it is like. one more question.

>> [inaudible] >> if you have a veteran and have you as, have you ever served in the military and they i was a and you said, mortuary officer. that would set off bells.

you need to hear from your what was going on. desk sitting and in a working for university and they came by as a flatbed truck of all these things that reminded me when they were in japan. that know what was happening to me. it was a flashback. of the cannot plan these programs of these things. at these times, and nobody told me these things. my boss said, those are our new desks. for me, it would shadows of the past. once you get your foot in a store and know that person is doing, i leave that to you and

your nursing practice to explore what that has to do. there are some i know secrets. you would know enough to look for those things. the other point that i tried to make. some in vietnam were misdiagnosed and they were left with these horrifying worries. some would say you are not in combat and you don't count. we have come so far. the most important thing is that we want to benefit from the lessons that have been learned.

my hope is that things like the military program will flourish. the hope that you will incorporate this knowledge. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> dr. linda schwarz. i call her general. on behalf of all of us here, i want to thank you for being with us. thank you for all of the work you are doing, the direct benefit to connecticut and beyond. thank you. [applause] areor those of you who

expecting continuing education credit, i want to remind you to stop as the -- as you leave the lecture hall. militaryoining us from times, a senior staff writer, who is not only covering this issue but the military much more broadly. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> what do you think the most pressing issue is for returning veterans in terms of health care? was a report that they

said it is about 44% of iraq or afghanistan veterans are having readjustment issues. david transition from the military to the d.a.. so, that is one of the largest problems. issues, itve health is even a larger challenge. sometimes you don't know where to turn or you may not have the ability to understand the care you need. if that is where they need help. >> one of our viewers posting of .acebook the mantel of mrs. coming up,

has the returning and those party veterans suffering mental mrs.. -- the mental health issues coming up, has the returning veterans -- ering mental illness >> the secretary and the former secretary of defense leon panetta have said that this national crisis, there is a shortage of national health care providers. the fda is moving to hire more. they have hired a thousand in the last 8 months or so with the intention of hiring 600 more to serve this population. it is an issue. a recent study that came out just this week was mentioning

that many qualified health-care professionals do not take health insurance. it keeps people on the health care plan from getting military health care and from hiring qualified personnel. >> this is the plan for active service members? >> this service the active service members and their families as lafco as active retirees. there is a group of people that we're injured on active duty or became injured on active duty and it was service related and they might have received a medical retirement.

>> let's take a couple of snap shot looks at the veterans' population. some statistics from the veterans affairs department. 22 estimated total number, million. the enrollees in the health care system, almost 9 million. in terms of conflict, it is broken out by the various wars.

1.4 million vets are still in the system. 2.3 million from korea. it -- from the early 1990's, 6.2 million. first, barbara, welcome to the conversation. >> i am just calling to give a veteran, and my husband was diagnosed last october with a rare disease, and he got the best care. we live in the suburbs of new top hospitals. i think it is important we hear what we have to cut services and -- but services to deal with thehe had the best of doctors. i think the va deserves to hear that. services people do not use.

>> barbara is giving them an a grade. >> i think they are going to be excited to hear that review. i have heard a generally once people arsine va are, they are-- once people are in va care,they say, once they're in, they love the doctors. they are all highly skilled and very happy. the issue has been getting that care. as you noted, it is a vast population seeking care. they have 1400 facilities but a that health care. oh>> those facilities break down

like this. 821 veterans' facilities, and outpatient clinics, 300 be a vet centers. across the country. good karl is next. go ahead, carl. >> i am a vietnam veteran. appointment for three, four, or five months. as time progresses since i have veterans are getting into the system. is anything being done to try to improve the system so you do not have to wait to see a doctor. >> there are a number of initiatives under way. the committees have been pressing the the a very hard to increase access -- pressing the va very hard to increase access.

a directive was put down the some facilities will start offering and evening hours and weekend hours, so widening the hours and also eliminating the backlog of people, and they're speed up the process. >> i guess before congress and went on their easter recess, they write about senators telling shut hegel the d.e.a. backlog is simply unacceptable. a group of bipartisan senators with high veterans population said to help address the backlog of claims. carol from alexandria, good evening. caller: i am concerned about how we can ensure veterans who are incarcerated received the appropriate health care they

need. these are complex situations with complex injuries, and the person who is put in jail as a veteran who loses his veteran administration status. >> can you give an idea of perhaps how large the population of folks would be to our veterans and incarcerated? >> i know we have 5000 iraq and afghanistan veterans in jail right now, and there is a lag time in terms of how people are processed, so i cannot give you a number. they do not offend either greater rate than the population, but veterans who do offend and end up being incarcerated are 4% to 5% more likely to have committed a violent crime and spent two and

a half times more in jail and the rest of the population. >> patricia, what do you know of that? >> that is not a population i have considered. i have covered issues where veterans have ended up in federal prisons, and they are covered by a public health system that serves as federal prisons, and maybe something i need to look into as a reporter. >> our conversation is your thoughts on veterans' health care and care for returning service members are from iraq and afghanistan. a statistic looks at how veterans plan to use their d.e.a. coverage -- va coverage. aftert those who served 9-11, and a fairly stark difference between those who chose to use the va to supplement health care. 52% use it as their primary source.

almost 30% of post-9-11 use it as a source of health care. that puts additional strain on the system. >> the va has a rule that when operation entering freedom veterans come home they have five years of service for conditions or injuries, and that is one reason the figures are so high. >> let's go to texas. daniel on the veterans line. you are on the air.

caller: i am daniel blake, and i watched the program tonight, and there is one thing they never mentioned. what they used to call cold war veterans. i served from 58 until 63 in the navy, and i was exposed to ionizing radiation. the 21st of this month will be 10 years. i have travelled to hearings. i have regional hearings, and i have got a transcript of both hearings, and i tried to join every veterans' association, and they accept me, and they will kick me out because ionized radiation is something nobody wants to talk about. my united states senator, my

state rep, michael burgess common and another state senator, i have called all their offices. i have got tons of mail back and forth, and finally the texas bar association advertises to help events. the retired naval officer is an expert on military stuff, and she contacted the va, and she has hired security clearance -- higher security clearance and they do, and she told me my records are still classified. >> i am going to let you go.

his case goes back quite a ways. is that common in veterans in the va? >> i would have liked to know whether his appeal, whether he has had benefits to this point or whether he has never received benefits and was three with an illness related to ionizing radiation. that is environmental exposure the va is aware of, and i am surprised he is having those kinds of issues. he says he approached some veterans' organizations, but i would suggest veterans who have problems with their claims go to one of the organization that helps with claims, and a few of those are disabled american veterans, the american legion, veterans for foreign wars -- paralyzed veterans of america up.

they have people on standby that help assist people on claims. >> one of our recent guest was ron jones, who talked about his treatment. he had prosthetic legs and talk about life after the war and his operation. here is what he had to say. >> what is your overall feeling of the treatment you have gotten? >> the treatment has been a top notch. the surgeons were taking care of me. the nurses were great, and physical therapy has been unbelievable. i cannot say and of good things about it. >> have you had other prosthetics decides what you have today? >> i have legs to ride a bike. i have legs to walk around in my room.

they are short. i have legs for rowing. i have running legs. i have a couple other set of needs that i have tried before. >> have you gotten used to this? >> probably as much as you karen. n. ca >> are their computers in your legs and? >> these particular legs have microprocessors. >> what is the service's attitude about the future? will you be supplied legs for the rest of your life democrats i am not positive about how that works, but i am pretty sure -- will you be supplied legs for the rest of your life?

>> i am not positive about how that works. i have not looked into everything i have to do, but i am pretty sure bet is how it works. >> the marine a veteran on q&a, all the program available on our website. patricia with military times, the technology has changed the future for many vets, hasn't it? >> it is pretty amazing. the va has the largest prosthetics program in the country, and it is largely responsible for advances in prosthetics we have seen in the past 20 years. it is on the cutting edge of prosthetics the move like blue sky walker's arm in empire strikes back. -- like luke skywalker's arm in empire strikes back. they have contractor to create his arm that moves like a normal arm does.

they have been testing it, and eventually it will get approval and be in the general public. lake prosthetics are incredible. -- leg prosthetics are incredible. and we have seen that in the ability to regain complete function of their limbs. veteranse several ready to share their stories. we go to steve in washington. >> my name is steve. thanks for taking this call. this is a great program. i am a nam vet. inm calling from an ic unit washington. you have any statistics on the number of vets who have been

injured from nam, the iraq war, and afghanistan? given there was agent orange exposure, they have been excellent through the years. one of your earlier callers said waiting times have gotten to be an exceptionally long, so if you are using the medicare or have your own insurance you will have a couple of months. there are a lot of nam vets beginning to enter the later stages of their life, and medical issues are getting higher and higher. >> two questions. the number of injured and also the waiting times. >> my apologies for not knowing the number of vietnam veterans injured and using the day care, but there have been at least

35,000 iraq and afghanistan vets who have been injured. there are some numbers but say a quarter of a million have suffered from head injuries, although 70% of those were mild head injuries, concussions, and another estimate that an additional 300,000 may have symptoms of ptsd. >> we have a chart from the veterans affairs. they look at veterans deaths, and they have three lines. they have the vietnam era. the world war ii era, the korean conflict, and korean and war ii deaths are leveling off, but if you look at the art of deaths for vietnam era that begins to trail off

after 2030, but we are on the upward swing of fat, and certainly injuries and the use of veterans facilities must track with that as well. go ahead. >> i retired in 2009 after 30 years of service, and in 2010 i was diagnosed with prostate cancer. when i went to the va, it was an outstanding issue. however, my question is who makes of the panel that looks at that? ageined the service of the of 17. they said, we need to come up with a service connection.

if after one year i come home with prostate cancer, how is there an issue with connections, who sits on the panel determines whether an injury is service connected or not? >> that is an interesting question, and i cannot enter that. there is a large claims process, and a disability system that is usually staffed bynes va va staff. >> phone lines are open. we are also checking facebook and twitter. earlier we have the chance of speaking with the

representatives who sits on the veterans affairs health committee in the house. in addition to your veterans committee work, he founded the caucus. what is the goal? bring goal is to awareness. i want to thank my friend who is also serving as a co-chair of this group, and it was basically to bring awareness to lot of people have not paid attention to. i am a vietnam-era veteran. outrved in and when i got of the military, the country did not pay attention to our

veterans, and it created a lot of issues. one was the suicide rate. and when i present these statistics and i speak to veterans groups and other groups around the country i say, look, we understand that in 2012 we lost more soldiers to suicide than actual combat. they always think of the deaths in combat and in our neighborhoods and you hear on the radio and you hear it when you lose a neighbor. but you don't hear about it when you lose them at their own hand. we've held several hearings, unofficial hearings to see what we can do about this. there's a bill, that will affect two groups of people. thatctive duty soldiers have never been deployed. two, they are the ones we absolutely know there's a direct correlation between the

number of times you've been and the suicide rate. i have visited afghanistan on two occasions. i hope to make a third trip there as we wind down over there. the military is very aware of this. they have made some steps to look into this, a buddy program, bringing people off life, de-stigmatizing for people to ask for help. i think that is the problem guys, is they we internalize, we're tough. we are out there doing a tough job so you don't ask for help when you feel like you're in trouble. that's why we did this and i hope we're helping. >> when you look back at the involvement in iraq and afghanistan, how well do you this that the u.s. has lived up to its obligation to it returning service members? >> we'll never be where we need

to be. i can't thank these people enough. i can't do enough for young men and women who have dedicated their life to service their country. i came back in one piece, i had family came back too and i had no injuries to deal with. i was very lucky. many of these veterans cannot go on with their lives, and some soldiers have suffered injuries and they are amazing people. when i left, you just walked and that was the end of it, basically. we can do more. one of the problems we've got, know there have been articles written about it and the secretary is extremely

concerned, i've talked to him is the backlog of claims. isfeels and i feel it unacceptable to have 900,000 to one million claims of service was backlogged and not able to get to them this with today's technologies. that is one of the challenges we have to decrease this backlog. towe've asked our viewers post comments on facebook. george posted it's been six months since i've -- 16 months since i sent in my claim. another twitter message, not enough appointments is her complaint. >> in georgia, agree with you on the sound bites. this is my third term in congress. you do get tired. the v.a. has 300,000 employees and a $400 billion budget. the i first got to congress, it was $100 billion. the v.a.'s budget is harmed very little if any.

i left the v.a. hospital just 20 minutes ago before this interview. i think if these were timely veterans -- there is no reason, i cannot with a straight face i can't give you a good reason. so we have to look into it. it is not acceptable right now, i agree with george. >> one more question. you're a physician. what do you think that the veterans administration, the health service can learn from the private sector and vice versa? >> i think it has a very good functional electric system.

we put one in my private practice. one of the differences is that the efficiency of the private sector is probably better. someone called in and needs to get seen, we get those patients in and there's a motivation for us to say we need to get you in. the v.a. tends to be slower. the cause of the bureaucracy of the system, it's so big and it is a massive system, 150- something medical centers. they are slow to react to some things. once you get into the system, our v.a. here in tennessee just won a very prestigious award. but it comes down to get people like george or nadine the benefits they have earned in a timely fashion. right now, they are lagging on that front. >> thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on.

"militarya with times" talk about electric record keeping. why is it so tough to marry up the system between the veterans department and the administration? >> well, they have two separate systems. the v.a. system has been around for at least 25 years. pioneeringly was a system for electric health records. systemense department's is newer. the vision a few years ago was to build an entirely brand-new system that would work and cover both departments. but that has not come to pass. and last year -- excuse me earlier this year, both the secretaries of the departments

said that they have found in order to move things along quicker they are going to try to come up with technology to help the two systems work together so we can maybe speed up the claims process, which might help. >> before secretary hagel took over as defense last summer, the secretary spoke on this issue. here's what he had to say. >> these departments have their own electric health record, which happened to be very good, maybe the two best health records in the country and trying to bring that culture together to say we're going to have one. it's entirely possibly. notree with you, it is technology, it's leadership here. between secretary panetta and i we have in the last year, met five times -- four times. we're going to meet again in september.

we're here today testifying together, i think this is a great signal to both of our departments. prior to that, i recall meeting with secretary gates four or five times. in 17 months, the two secretaries of these two largest departments have sat side by side in communication with issues like this with the integrated health record being the primary discussion. >> let's get back to calls on veterans' health issues. welcome to the conversation. >> thank you for giving me a time to speak. i'm a korean war veteran. i'm 81 years old. my concern is i don't think the v.a. has enough former -- enough veterans working with veterans. you've got to have somebody who understands what is going on in that person that you're trying to serve. i've lived in connecticut for a

number of years and i taught personal development classes out of the rocky hill facility that linda talked about. my success was phenomenal. any class they taught filled up. but it wasn't the course contents. it was the fact that the veterans could sit and express themselves and they had a sympathetic ear that understood. and i tried for seven years to work for the v.a. as a counselor. i told them they needed to put some round pegs in square holes. >> thanks for weighing in this evening. your comments about needing vets in the administration. >> he makes great points. that is something that the administration is starting to figure out.

there are 300 vet centers, provide counseling and counseling and transition assistance to help veterans. staffedthem are now with veterans. beinger of hot lines are set up and going nationwide. there's one called vets for warriors, which was set up for reserve and guard members. it has staff veterans and serves veterans. also, the v.a. crisis line, which is the -- used to be suicide hot line, it also

ofstaffed with a number veterans and they are trying to make efforts to do that. >> you mention about suicide -- that is the number one issue that the congressman mentioned when we asked him the question, the most pressing. health concern. administrations made any progress on that front? well, a report came out earlier this year that said roughly 22 veterans a day are committing suicide. in 1999, the number one 20 a day. and it seems to video stayed fairly stable but the issue with the report and the v.a. admits that it lacks some data from states that have large v.a. populations, like texas and california. onther issue is that often the death certificate the was of death suicide doesn't appear. it is a challenge to get a

handle on the problem of suicide among vet rans. but v.a. is working very hard and will probably have another report out in the next six month that may give us a better idea of the scope of the issue, which they feel that, you know, will help them develop programs to continue fighting suicides among veterans. >> checking our facebook posts. here's one from shelby who writes about his v.a. care. he says i'm a retired member and i feel i'm receiving the best of care that this nation has to offer. andoyees are always caring do whatever they can to help. to st. louis next, allen is a former p.o.w. good evening. >> hello? >> hi, you're on the air.

allen make sure you mute your television and goal ahead with your comment. -- go ahead with your comment. >> i don't consider myself a veteran for several reasons. am -- \[unintelligible] veteran is anyone who has been given a uniform. a ex-prisoner of war is someone who came back alive. in my group there was almost 10,000 in my camp and i doubt there are 50 people left today. i got to tell you something else, as a side note, we jewish boys lost our religion when we went into service and you never heard a peep. you never heard anything about it because we did what we had to do, we got in, we got out and now all we -- i got to tell you something. i think the government and the v.a. is doing as much as they can to help veterans without questions. there's room for improvement, there's improvement for everything.

but i do think we veterans -- i got to tell you something, it took more than any war. anyone who puts on this -- >> you were a prisoner in world war ii? >> yes, sir i was shot down over germany, sir. and i'm jewish person. and the guy that was integrating me, i kept my dog tags, which has an h on there we were told to throw away. i kept my prayer book that has hebrew and establish and i told the man that was interviewing me i'm jewish. >> allen, thank you for sharing your story this evening.

the veteran's administration only covers returning veterans but also prisoners of war and 50% or more of disabilities are covered. howard is a veteran. good evening. howard, you're feeding back to us. make sure you mute your television. i'm going to put you on hold. we'll come to you in a moment. wichita, kansas. don is action active service member. >> i'm in the united states army. i just wanted to say the gentleman who called in, i do not disagree with him about having more military members and personnel involved with the v.a. i agree in a sense. but at the same time i avoid going to the v.a. because

you're become a number. sometimes when people have more rank than you are intimidated and you don't speak your mind. i just celebrated 28 years of marriage and it could be different for all of us. my success before i deployed has been family. when i came home, family wasn't important anywhere. i realized i was about to lose a marriage and the love and care of my kids. >> where did you serve, don? >> i served in iraq, two tours. the sad thing is i volunteered for the second deployment because i felt like i lost something over there. i felt like i lost myself and i thought i could go back to retain that and that was a mistake. >> so you went back to address that issue? >> i did. the first deployment was

because i wanted to serve my country but the second time, i think i was doing it for myself. >> the concern and i want to bring patricia into this. is there concerns that repeated deployments have -- are to cause more ptsd problems? >> i do. i think it also becomes addict i have. i have friends of mine who have volunteered and have been gone three or four years at a time because that's how long the army deploys. i want to emphasize that i pray and thankful for the v.a. to take care of us. >> thank you for joining in the conversation this evening. what did you hear from don? >> he made interesting points about the need for civilian care. there's a definite effort to teach civilians a little bit -- a lot about the military

culture so when they work for the v.a. they come out of it with some kind of understanding. that seems to be two different camps of veterans. some that don't want to talk to somebody who hasn't been there and done that or veterans that don't want to leave and see a civilian doctor and be happy with a civilian doctor. he made an interesting point about becoming addicted to going back to combat. the adrenaline and the very high pace of operations is often blamed for behavior, risky behavior when veterans return home. because they are still trying to capture that same energy and so that is why you see the earlier call who mentioned, some veterans may be in jail because they engage in risky behavior or they may speed or have anger management issues.

those are some of the signs that they are having post- traumatic stress not fully blown post-traumatic stress disorder but trying to capture the feeling that they had that they had in combat. >> one of the veterans from iraq and afghanistan. the veterans' mission has a map looking at veterans under the age of 25, so those who could have likely served in afghanistan or iraq. the percentage of the u.s. population is .9%. in five states that is up near 2%. 1.9%, including hawaii and alaska. we go back to howard who is a veteran. good evening. >> yes? >> go ahead. howard, you're on the air. >> i like this program so far. i have ptsd and i applied for benefits that i was denied. >> why were you denied?

>> i don't know why. they didn't say. >> are you considering filing an appeal? >> yes, i filed an appeal yesterday. since 19 -- i can't think right now. >> howard, where did you serve? >> i served in vietnam. i was a combat medic. >> patricia, do you have lounge the appeals take -- how long the appeals take? how long does it take to get the appeals considered? >> considering the backlog is quite large, the v.a.'s goal is get the claims done within 25 days but 70% of the backlog is

past the 25 days. it could be quite a long time. it is not uncommon that vietnam veterans are part of this appeals and claims -- new claims process because there has been a lot of news after iraq and afghanistan of ptsd. we see the older veterans realizing that they do, you know, have some issues that they would like to have resolved. a few months ago i had a world war ii veteran call me and ask for some guidance or where he could turn from help because he had a flash back an it was his first ever. he didn't understand if he could have ptsd. so it was interesting to talk an 80-year-old man who promised he would talk to the vet centers and get help. >> you can read her reporting at

"militarytimes.com" one of the recent articles you filed looks at a survey. surveydline is new reveals troops drinking and drug use. a new worldwide survey shows that they are engaging in harmful behaves less than they did in 2008 with incidents of drug use and alcohol abuse on the decline. but troops show high rates of overall stress. reporting the highest levels of stress with the latest vices including drinking and drug use. what does the defense department do with this data? >> this report is a survey done every three years and it really does give a snapshot of what is going on at the troop level troops tend to be honest with it and they use it to decide

where their programs are falling short or what they can do to enhance other programs. for instance, one of the recommendation in that report regarded sexual trauma within the military. the suggestion was because it looks like there's an increase of reporting by both women and men having been assaulted since being in the service. the report recommended that they focus on programs geared towards military trauma and prosecuting those cases. one of the interesting things that report was the issue -- regarding the issue of stigma. in 2008, about 13% of troops said that they were worried if they sought professional help for mental health counseling. they were worried if that would damage their career but that figure has gone up to 1/3 of troops thinking it will damage their careers, which goes

against the grain when the military has been trying to in the last three years really de- stigmatize the process to get mental health help. senatechairman in the bernie sanders spoke about that recently. here's what he had to say. >> one of the cultural issues we're struggling with, the military is struggling with, the v.a., is the culture of the stigma. i lost an arm and a leg, guy get treatment. culturee deal with the

that says from a military perspective and something that is not quite manley about you if you have ptsd, how do we deal with that? do you want to respond to that? >> it is challenging and it's not a problem we're going to solve overnight. as a marine sniper i was part of one of elite units in the military and it is one that cares that stigma heavily. we don't seek counseling. like clay did after being wounded in iraq before being redeployed in afghanistan. you're often seen as a weaker link. that is a stigma we have to fight. i myself have gone to seek mental health counseling since getting out of the military and

i've worked with the v.a. and their maketheconnection.net initiative. it requires a regular meeting where veterans can get together. we need to get them together in their hometowns. we need to get marines together with sailors and others in oakland, california or wherever where they can talk together and sharing their experiences after the military. >> that was the senate affairs committee. let's see if we can get a few more calls here. to michigan we go. robert is a veteran waiting there. thanks for your pares.

>> i tuned in late. i want to do quick comments. first of all, i've been associated with the v.a. for about 12 years. it never ceases to amaze me the ability of the people they worked with and end up taking care of me. the ability and the caring attitude. another positive thing has been the pharmacy. i'm still impressed how quickly they respond to my needs. on the negative side, and this probably can't be helped but their telephone protocol, i've waited as long as 45 minutes without them braking in and saying -- breaking in and saying someone will be with you shortly. i've been on hold and they haven't gotten the job done but

overall i'm very, very pleased. >> robert in michigan. thanks for that. >> i'm a vietnam veteran and i've been with the administration system for a year and a half. i agree with the previous caller the quality of care i received, the primary care physician, the staff is outstanding. it is on par if not better than any p.p.o. insurance that i had when i was working. the computerization of records, ordering your medications online, secured messaging to your primary physician, the mailing of medication from the pharmacy, it works so well. you just have to take the time and patience to understand it. my experience with the administration has been positive and very good. i certainly want to thank the v.a. and the staff for doing an outstanding job. >> patricia, the administration, do they find around largerrs population veterans perform better? is there any evidence to show is that that? >> other than that fact that they are extremely busy but

they have the tools and the ability to serve veterans best. one of the major problems the v.a. faces it getting the care to veterans who live in rural populations. they are exploring ways to get men tell health counseling to them and they have pilot programs where they would not be providing the care but they will contract with private providers to get the care. sometimes veterans have to travel up to 400 miles to get care for their service connected disability. themoal is to perhaps get care closer to home. >> we've heard mostly from men

this evening in terms of veterans. >> certainly, in iraq and afghanistan more than ever. here is a look at the increasing population of female veterans. what particular issues, or are there particular issues that face returning females? >> there are definitely a number of issues facing -- from the a point of view, providing health care into a population, they traditionally have not serve from standing up gynecology, and being able to provide physicals. and also just changing the entire culture to not automatically assume that when you call somebody a soldier, it is not a man. the a has made a concerted effort to educate its personnel to address lemon issues. on the flip side, a lot of women are reluctant to go to the be a because they do not feel like they would connect and get the care, but, again, and there are some barriers. have care, a lot of women young children and do not have a place to release their child when they get an appointment.

again, there is initiative to provide some help to those service members and providing child care and special clinics, and places where they feel more comfortable getting care. >> it looks like we have three veterans coming on line. callsget through these quickly. let's go to missouri. >> hello. i want to say the va hospital is one of the finest you can run into. i would also like to ask the question, i had cancer and congestive heart failure. for the last five years, i have been trying to get the benefits all straightened out. what i have run into is the cancer back the second time when

the radiation came back the third time, we do not know what we would do. i just wondered if they are waiting for veterans to die, to help not have the problem? >> it is a common thing i hear said quite a bit, but is there any truth in it? i could not answer that question. i will say the leaders in the -- to care very deeply about veterans. a lot of top leaders are veterans. it is a large bureaucracy, that in order to change, to be able to reach all the veterans, they have to change their bureaucracy and that is what they face. >> we talk about female veterans. let's hear from when calling

from alabama. hello. >> hello. i want to make a statement about veterans, before they get out. you do benefits before discharge. you do that prior to medical discharge from the military. i received a traumatic brain injury. i was discharged because i was

caesar -- seizure-free for six months. then, after i got out, i got out in april, 11 -- about 11, and i did not receive any benefits -- 2011, and i did not receive any benefits until 11 months later. the only way i was able to get in there for doctor -- a doctors appointment was because i e- mailed president obama online. they sent the information back saying i could not get care. that was me not being able to get care. that is just not acceptable. i am a single mother. >> where did you serve? >> i did two tours in iraq. i did 12 months and the second time i did 15 months. >> one more call. al is in victor, new york. >> i am a korean veteran. after i got out of the surface, it was a couple years before i

needed information on my military service. i road to st. louis and they returned my call and said the plant burned down with all my records. anad no records but honorable discharge. and something in my wallet that was worn out after 50 years. what recourse do i have? >> it is true there is a major fire that destroyed many service records of service members. i would strongly suggest calling the disabled american veterans, american legion's, vfw, and find out, talk to their experts on this issue and how to apply for benefits. >> joining us here at c-span, patricia kime. you can follow her reporting.

thank you for being with us this evening. >> thank you. >> thank you for all your calls this evening. a reminder, too, that you can continue the conversation on mine. -- online. poster comments and thoughts to facebook.com. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> renewable energy is the subject of this documentary from destin bigsby, carl olson, and kieran reiser of long beach polytechnic high school in california. they are third-prize winners in c-span's studentcam contest. ♪ >> i'm carl olson. >> i'm destin bigsby. >> and i'm keiran reiser. >> we are here -- >> to support renewable energy -- >> across america. >> mr. president, we live in an age where renewable energy has become our only solution to impending climate change and a

struggling economy. >> everybody's life is affected by this issue of energy. they don't think about it, but they get up in the morning and they take a shower. that is energy coming from a hot water heater. they turn off an alarm clock first. that is energy coming from electricity. they have a slice of toast. that is energy with a toaster. every waking moment, almost, is blessed with abundant energy resources in this country. >> since we live in one of the top renewable energy states, we thought we would take a trip to palm springs, california, and see renewable energy up close. we were curious how wind energy has advanced over the years, where it stands today, and the possibilities for an even more efficient tomorrow. >> this is a lattice-type wind turbine. it was invented in the 1980's,

and it is the first kind of turbine to have been placed on this field. it is ineffective, because if the wind blows too hard, they will be forced to shut down. one wind turbine nowadays will replace 16 of these. >> behind us we have a two- megawatt wind turbine being constructed. it powers 500 homes and pays for itself in five years. >> these are natural gas turbines. they are used to compensate for days when wind is not strong enough, because if we do not have enough electricity, power goes out. luckily, these are cleaner than coal or other fossil fuels. >> nearly 2/3 of the oil we use in america we have to get from somewhere else. we use 1/4 of all the oil that is sucked up out of this planet every single day. we drill holes very deep in the surface of this planet and we

find oil, and we suck oil out of the planet, and 1/4 of it must come to this spot on the globe called the united states. that is a prodigious appetite we have for energy. >> one of the questions we are asking is, why is shell interested in making wind energy? shellpanies such as understand renewable energy is the future. for the last 60 years, renewable energy consumption has been climbing steadily and is predicted to take an even more dramatic climate. >> the more we rely on american-made energy, the more jobs we create here at home. >> the united states right now, 1.26% of its electricity is coming from wind.

that employs roughly 800,000 people. by the year 2030, we want to be at 20%. that means 75% of all new electricity coming onto the grid is going to be wind energy. with that, 20% growth of 800,000 jobs. we're tapping into the renewable resources quite well. we're utilizing wind, which we get 220 days of wind-producing electricity, and we tap also into 325 days of sun, so we are using solar. >> u.s. renewable energy consumption for 2011 states that petroleum, natural gas, coal, and nuclear take up about

91% of the total energy consumption in the united states, leaving only 9% of the whole to renewables. mr. president, we need to expand the 9% to a greater proportion. so we decided to look into solar technology, which is still in its infancy. we met up with numerous solar experts in los angeles, california, at the grid alternatives solar-thon. >> it is an exciting project, and we look forward to flipping the switch and the solar tv panels will be providing this family with solar from the sun. >> these solar panels on this one house, it represents a beginning for what can happen in the future. we need more support from the president in terms of a vision for driving economy forward, making it possible for middle- class and working-class people

to bring clean energy into their personal lives on their homes, to have it used for power electric vehicles and to have a cleaner, safer environment. there is a big deal made out of sandy, but what i am hoping is the election will influence the future so if there are fewer sandys. >> we are just doing 10 houses today, but if you came back here in five years or 10 years, what you would see is a multiplication effect. if california can do it, i don't see why the other states can't do it, either. we are the leader. we are at 20% of our state's power coming from renewable sources. in 2020 we hope to achieve 33%. if we can do it, everybody in the united states can do it. >> next we went to amonix solar in seal beach, california, to see the most efficient solar panel in the world. plesniak,with adam director of advanced technology and member of american solar energy society. >> the important thing is

efficiencies in all of solar energy continue to climb, which is good for the future of solar energy, because as we get more efficient, we will be converting more energy from the sun to electricity. dear mr. president, solar is the next big thing. it's going to be just as big as computers, and everything like that. it will take a while to get there, but it will be big. >> this country is on the path toward more energy independence, and that is good for people's pocketbooks, good for the environment, good for our national security. we do not want our economy dependent on something that happens on the other side of the world. >> there are people out there that think renewable energy is not the answer. they believe that we should

continue to focus on cheaper alternatives like coal and fossil fuels. but the truth is we are going through extreme climate change and 2/3 of the oil in this country comes from foreign soil. renewable energy is the future. yet the approximately 9% of our country's energy comes from renewable sources. if we put more focus on renewables, we can have more jobs and a safer environment for this generation and hundreds of generations to come. mr. president, we need your continued support to move forward and spread renewable energy across america. >> the debate over immigration policy continues around the country. morning, the national history center will look at u.s. history of the years. span3, a the day, on c-

discussion on the war in afghanistan and some of the political challenges ahead. that is live at noon eastern. >> it is important to remember a central banker cannot control everything that goes on in the economy. writers like us, it is very important what they do. day, they havehe finite powers they can use. they have a dial and they can say they will put more money into the economy or less. it is more complicated than that as you and i know. they can influence things in other ways. to think that everything that has gone wrong is their fault and is wrong -- is wrong.

allen probably got too much credit for the great moderation and many years of strong growth we had in the 2000's. to blame the federal reserve for the crisis. sunday night at span2.astern on c- and assessment on the federal deficit, national debt, and the long-term stability of the u.s. economy. they spoke at the society of american businesses and writers conference. it is an hour and 10 minutes. >> welcome. thank you for being here today. when we name this panel month because -- months ago, we called the new austerity, thinking the nation would be in the midst of major discussions about

austerity and probably a lot further along than we now see that we are. we knew we had a debt problem. the nation knows we have a debt problem. the question is, what do we do with that and who feels the pain? we seem to be caught there in who feels the pain. the public is adamantly have to do something with that debt. i don't know about you, but i write about the economy and the market that i get the mails from people constantly screaming we have to do something about the debt. some of these people are hoarding gold because they figure a disaster is coming. but then you get to the questions that you have seen in some of the polling -- people believe we have to do something about the debt, but then you get to the specifics like medicare, social security and people say no way. i talked to someone at a town

hall about the debt and about what government should do about it. one very angry man who is retired stood up and said you keep the government out of my medicare. [laughter] that's where we are. mix into this the fact that we are in fragile times. one in four people in their 20s and 30s lost jobs and their pay cuts that 11% if they got rehired. or one in six people lost jobs and took pay cuts of 23% to get new jobs. people are worried, they're worried about their investments, they're worried about their retirement. half of the people that saved for their retirement. we are fragile and we are touchy

about what to do that during the debt, yet we know we have to do it. to help us understand what we need to do and how we need to do it and what the implications might be, we have a fabulous panel.

..

>> yes, i appreciate you raising this question. i am very well aware that this is an important and a legitimate concern for a lot of people, particularly retirees who want a safe way, who want to have bank deposits or hold cd's and the amount you can get on that is close to zero. we hear all the time, and it is natural and it is difficult, so there is no question about that. why do we do this? the reason we do it and we think it is in the best interests of the economy overall is because we think it is a way to stimulate a faster economic recovery. we think that will be good for virtually everyone in the

economy, even including those who are suffering from low returns on their cd's. when you think about people, they are not just one- dimensional. there's more to their lives. most people have some investments in the stock market's or are expos in some way to the stock market's, and the policies we have been pursuing probably have been good for stock market returns -- most people have some investments in the stock market or are exposed in some way to the stock market. even retirees barrault, if it is to refinance mortgage that helps them or to buy a new house, and they have children, and they have grandchildren.

when they think about their children's and their families futures, what are they thinking about? i had a kid who is graduating from college and entering the job market. can my child or grandchild find a job? what about me if i want to supplement my income and work part-time? can i find a job? when people think about all the different concerns they had with the economy and all the different hats that they wear and think about what the broad set of consequences is -- yes, the low rates of return on state deposits -- that is a cost, but there are a lot of other benefits. how are we going to get interest rates back up to normal levels? when we have a normal economy. when will we had a normal economy? when we are able to stimulate a strong enough economy to get things back to normal. >> i will not step on that exit line. that was very good. i will not even ask the rest of my questions because that is a good answer and it is getting late. it is now time for the house to

ask -- just identify yourself, your organization. try not to be as long winded as i am. >> steve from fidelity investments. thanks for joining us. a couple of interesting questions were raised on the panel this morning, and i wondered if i could get your reaction. one was that the fed's policy of low rates was not effective enough stimulating the broader real economy and that it was being used to advantage mostly by institutions like banks and other players in that space -- low rates. i wondered if he could tell us your thoughts on that. it is either incorrect or ineffectual that the fed is mandated with two things -- stable prices and full employment -- and that the fed

might be better off without the full employment mandate. can you talk about that as well? >> a great questions. i am happy to address them. with respect to the impact of our policies, do they have an effect on the economy -- look at what is happening in the economy. housing is beginning to recover in a way that i think is very impressive. house prices are going up, and they are going up more than i would have expected six months ago or even nine months ago, and i think it is making a whole lot of people feel a lot better about their financial situation. of course, housing prices are down 36%, and housing activity is low, but it is beginning to rebound. look at consumer durables, purchases of cars. they have been holding up really well, even though at the beginning of the year, we had

tax increases that you would have expected to negatively impact spending. people have to borrow to buy cars. i do not have any doubt that our policies are contributing to the lowest interest rates, weather it is borrowing for a car or mortgage -- whether it is faring for a car or mortgage, we are looking at historic low interest rates. i believe that is not only caused by our policy, but our policy is contributing. that is what is going to get the economy moving. when we get more construction activity and more spending on cars and consumer durables, that creates jobs, and jobs create income, and when people have income, they feel better about their economic condition, and

they spend, and that is the virtuous cycle we need to get this economy going. that is the purpose of our purchases, to get interest rates down, and i think it has been successful. there are a lot of studies, and i think the general conclusion while there is uncertainty about how large the effects are, they virtually all come to the conclusion that on these purchases, and he has been helpful. bankers frankly come in and complain about low interest rates and say it is hurting them, not helping them. we could debate that, but i do not think that would be the general view you would find in the banking community. on the dual mandate, let me say this -- why should we be interested in unemployment and inflation? this is the mandate congress has

given us. i am strongly supportive of it. if you ask the typical american what they care about -- do they care about inflation? absolutely. do they care about the job market and if they can find a job? absolutely. these are two things the american public i think cares deeply about. most of the time, there is not the trade-off. think of now -- we are very focused on employment. we are very far from full employment, but is there a trade off in terms of inflation? no, inflation is running at or slightly below our target. i would say that at this point, there are many, many central banks around the world that have adopted what is called formal inflation targeting regimes, where their prime objective they have been given is to achieve a

numerical inflation target over the medium run, but if you look at what they do and look at their mandate, you will see that for almost every one of those central banks, they are also encouraged to use monetary policy to support economic growth and job creation to the extent that there are not serious, long lasting trade offs. if you look at the behavior of other central banks, the bank of england over the last several years would be a case in point. they are just as focused on both objectives, i would say, as we are. practically speaking, there really is not that much difference, if any, between what the fed is doing and what the major central banks are doing. >> i think we are going to have an auction process for the last question. i think we are out of time and kevin is going to shoot us. can we go along? go along, just like football.

>> among fed watchers right now, you are considered the favorite to follow ben bernanke, should he step down when his second term ends in january. if that were to happen, you would be the first woman to head the reserve in its 100-year history. i will not ask about that because i know you will not comment, but the central banks in the world still remain an old boys' club. so does the broader economics profession, which is made up of only about 1/3 women. do we need more women to lean in to economics and into the leadership positions at central banks, and what could that mean? >> thanks for that question. yes, at the highest levels of central banking, there are very few women, but i am pleased that the representation of women is

increasing a lot at other levels, at lower levels of central banking and in the financial markets and institutions more broadly. i taught in an mba program for a good share of my career, and over the 20 or 30 years that i did that, the representation of women in those programs in general and in finance increased dramatically, and we are really seeing women get ahead and making a difference and moving up to the highest posts. i really think that this is something that is going to increase over time, and it is time for that to happen, and it is a great development. >> my name is greg fields. i am a research fellow.

one of the things i am interested in your opinion on is why is there such a plodding pace of implementation in dodd- frank, and what are some of the institutional challenges for an organization like yours as that law is implemented? >> well, it has been an enormous challenge to implement all that is in dodd-frank. as soon as the legislation was passed, we sat down and made a list of all that we had to do to carry out what the fed's part of this was. we identified 252 separate projects. >> that is all? >> there were items like a voelker rule -- >> which nobody still understands. >> it was things like that

followed by residential mortgages and other things that are really major efforts. first of all, there has been a huge agenda of work. first of all, it is complex, and we do not want to put rules into effect that have not been thoroughly thought through. we need to get input from the public, public reaction. we put out notices of proposed rulemaking for comment. we are working jointly with many other agencies here in the united states to develop these complex rules, and it often takes time to try to reach agreement. we want domestically a level playing field in terms of we all agree for different parts of the financial industry what the rules should be, but even more

challenging and very important the financial industry is global, and we do not want to put in effect rules in the united states that will affect our institutions and to find that there are completely different rules in other parts of the world. ideally, we would like a level playing field globally, and we do not want a set of regulations where as soon as we implement them, firms will say, "leave the united states and go off to another country because our rules are tougher -- that firms will, say, leave the united states and go off to another country because our rules are tougher. we are working constructively and actively with regulators all over the globe to see if we can move together jointly. i have to say -- i understand when you say the process has been slow. it has been a couple of years now, but if you saw how much is

going on and how much constructive dialogue is taking place and how we have got an agreement on so many important things -- enhanced capital requirements for globally active banks, reforms to derivatives, liquidity standards -- i think we are really making a lot of progress. when you ask why that could not have been done in six months, we want to do this right and move forward jointly, and this is a great deal of what we are spending our time on. >> it will be surely done by 2015. am i wondered if you could comment on the bank of japan's aggressive monetary stimulus.

do you think it will work? how does it change your view about the global economy? >> i prefer not to comment on the details of what the bank of japan announced, but i would certainly say that here is a country that suffered deflation for well over a decade and had very weak economic growth. when you contemplate the fact that nominal income, nominal gdp in japan today is slightly lower than it was, i think, 20 years ago, that is really remarkable when it has resulted in all kinds of problems for japan. i really think that taking an aggressive approach to try to end deflation is something i understand. when you look at central banks in advanced countries -- the

united states -- europe has a slightly different set of problems but very high unemployment -- the united kingdom with high unemployment and slow growth, japan -- we really all face a common situation where we have had disappointed economic performance, and we are all taking steps -- all of us, different packages of monetary policy steps -- to try to address that, so i think that is something completely appropriate. about a month ago, the group of seven issued a statement because these policies can have some impact on exchange rates -- issued a statement saying, "we think it is entirely appropriate for countries to use domestic policy tools to promote key domestic policy objectives like

trying to achieve full employment and price stability." in that sense, i think what japan is doing is something that is in their own best interests. it is something that if successful will be good for stimulating growth in the global economy, and it will be good for us, too. >> last question. >> your speech said the 2005 growth rate did not lead to an overall increase in inflation because the public believed that the fed would keep inflation in check. what is the evidence of that, and do you think the public still has that faith in the fed? >> the evidence that people believed the fed would keep inflation in check -- we look at many different measures of inflation expectations, both survey-based evidence and evidence that we try to weed out

a financial market prices -- evidence we try to read out of financial market prices. we can see that inflation expectations remained extremely stable and well-anchored. the other thing we can see is that in contrast to the 1970's, although they were in sequence, they were sort of unexpected. 2005, world prices rose. people thought it happened once and it would be the last year. it turned out the next year and a year after, in each case, oil prices rose through a sequence of increases in oil prices. in each year, they were unexpected. forecasters were surprised. but one issue is, of course, we saw that show up in energy

prices, but did we see any passed through to other prices more broadly, so-called core inflation? and during all those years, there was little or no pastor of little or no passthrough into core inflation -- >> we are not going to have a debate here. >> i guess -- i cannot prove this to you, but i would contrast this with the 1970's, when we saw shocks of that sort that induce workers to really try to protect themselves from what they thought was going to be chronic inflation by trying to demand wage increases, which

their employers gave, and pass through went to inflation, and he saw inflation expectations spike. we went into this set of oil shock increases in 2005 was now a decade and a half of a really strong record in terms of having kept inflation of around 2%, and i think that was the difference, but i cannot disprove that there is some other theory that could explain the same thing. >> dr. yellen, thank you. i hope you do not bill by the hour. [applause] >> more coverage this morning. some of the challenges that face media organizations. watch live coverage at 9:45

eastern time on c-span 2. the export/import bank continues its conference. later, vice president joe biden are among those scheduled to speak. our live coverage starts at 10 a.m. eastern here on c-span. but they had a political marriage, much like john and abigail. in the halls of congress. she was careful to say, my husband believes this and my husband advocates that. she was doing the pitch. ,ne of her husband's opponents she would take up housekeeping like a normal woman. and she said, if james and i are ever elected, i will not keep

house or make better. >> one of the most influential first ladies, sarah pull -- po lk. we will take your questions and comments. first ladies at nine eastern on c-span and c-span 3, also on c- span radio and c-span.org. in rat, remarks from president, david keene. this is 30 minutes. >> i want to say that it's a real pleasure to be here. here in pennsylvania. i have a soft spot in my heart for pennsylvania. rich was talking about the pittsburgh annual meeting that we held a couple years ago here.

that's where i was elected president of the national rifle association and got to know rich. i can't think of anybody who i would rather have introduce me. this is mr. gun rights in this state. [applause] it is a particular pleasure to be here but pennsylvania is a great state personally and from the standpoint of the national rifle association. many of you probably know this, there are more n.r.a. members in pennsylvania than any other state in the union. texas doesn't -- [applause] my wife is from texas and texans don't like to hear this but it is true. you know pennsylvania's supportive of the second amendment rights has gone a long way. the folks who live here seem to get it regardless on what part of the state they are from,

particularly those in the middle part of the state. i remember some years ago being on the panel with james, you remember him. he described pennsylvania as pittsburgh and philadelphia separated by a third world nation. [laughter] i said i beg to differ it is pittsburgh and philadelphia separated by america. [applause] so i can't think of any place i would rather be this evening. i have to tell you i was the c.i.a. -- c.e.o. of cabela's. he said i have to tell you how come wayne lapierre gets to go to the turkey federation and the mule dinner and they send you to harvard? i said i guess that is what happens when you get second

choice. tonight, i had a chance to meet many of you. i thought this was a lincoln day dinner and i see this is a gathering of n.r.a. members and i truly appreciate that. [applause] the national rifle association is not a partisan organization in the sense that the republican party is. i happen to be a proud republican. in terms of the second amendment, the second amendment and the right to keep and bear arms in this country is not, never has beens, and should not be a partisan position. the n.r.a. has had its support over years and has had its influence, not because we're a conservative organization or a republican organization, because we're an american organization. n.r.a. members include democrats, factory owners,

farmers, businessmen, lawyers -- yeah, lawyers too. people from every walk of life that one can image. this is a lesson for politics, the strength of the n.r.a. stems from the fact that those who believe strongly in the values that we all share have something in common that goes beyond party, beyond whether they are a liberal or conservative, beyond position, beyond class, something that mr. obama understands and this is a dedication to american valley use and principles and freedom that gets them to step forward whenever they are challenged. this is a country, that strength derives in large part from the fact that americans have never been obsessed with politics. i have been, some people in this room may have been but most americans are not obsessed with politics.

they are obsessed with their families, living their lives, paying their takes and they want to do that without having to devote all of their time without political activity. but the one thing that has distin wished americans that when those values are threatened our willingness to step up to the plate, whether it comes from abroad or whether it is here at home. that's what has marked on those who believe in the second amendment rights, when our values are threatened we do what we need to do to step forward. politicians, many politicians, i was told by someone i won't

name out of courtesy but someone you would be familiar with but the only reason for a party to exist is to get hold and exercise power. my response to that was that is why we got into politics in the first place. that's not why we got active in the political sphere. we got active, not so we can hold a job, not so we can exercise power, not so we can aggregate power to ourself but we believe in things. we believe in a view of america that goes back hundreds of years and we believed in preserving the values that we inherited. we believe and do believe we want to pass on the nation and the society to the next generation that we inherited from the last. that's why we're here tonight. not simply because we're republicans.

not simply because some of us are running for office or because we hold office but because we believe. a successful party, a successful political movement has to be based on principles and bleefs, values, and tradition -- beliefs and values and traditions. that's been the strength of the national rifle association. that is the strength of a successful political movement. it is something we must all do all the time, in every way we can. no political movement worth its changes its values to suit the whims of the day. a successful organization meets the needs and the policy goals. before this last election, the n.r.a. was criticized, particularly in the media

because wayne lapierre and i and chris cox went around saying if and i went around saying if barack obama won a second term he would threaten the rights of american. we were told that was a ridiculous view. chris mathews suggested on the air that wayne lapierre was insane to suggest that. during the campaign, the president said i will never take your rifle, i will never take your shotgun, i will never take your side arm, i'm a believer in the second amendment i was asked why i did not like that comment, it meant he had to go against everything he ever said in his political life and every action he has ever taken, even before he was elected to political office.

i did want think he believed it. i received letters from n.r.a. members, remember when we perceive our rights and values are threatened we step up to the plate. i received letters saying i listened to the president and he sounded fine. i saved those letters until election day, the day which i hoped would turn out differently didn't. sent all those folks a note. noting that within two hours of barack obama's victory speech his state department notified the united nations they would like a small arms trade treaty for signing just as soon as humanly possible. the negotiations that were going on in the u.n. at that time to come up with a treaty that they voted on this week was coming to

a conclusion in august. at that point the white house and the state department contacted the unite nation and said that the american administration would like those negotiations put on hold. somebody noticed that if things are progressing as they were, a small arms trade treaty would appear on the president's desk in september and would become an issue in the president's campaign. the one thing they wanted to do was avoid second amendment issues. if they weren't able to avoid them a lot of people would step up to the plate and do what they needed to make sure their rights were safe. right after the election, the president said he wanted the treaty. i wrote to those members and i said the fact that it took two hours to send that letter is a clue.

it is clue that this guy is going to go after your rights. in newtown, connecticut they thought they saw that opportunity. the tragedy that took police there in the minds of the people at the white house and in new york, that was an opportunity to achieve policy goals they have been seeking for decades. to begin taking guns if they could, registering if they couldn't, and limiting the choices that american people have in purchasing firearms if they had to be limited to that. right after the tragedy, the president and others suggested that we needed to ban a list of guns, we needed to have all kinds of measures to keep honest americans from exercising a fundamental constitutional right, all in the name of saving the children. but, in fact, when the president named his vice president to head a task force and invited various

people to meet with him, we sent our director and he closed the door and said the president and i know what we want to do and we're going to do it. so let's talk about something else. it did not shock us, it did not surprise us. it is what we expected. it is our position and i think the position of the american people, that the president and his folks were asking the wrong questions. in the wake of the knewtown, they were not asking how do we protect our children? they were asking what do we do about guns? isn't this a chance to do something about guns? the n.r.a. and others suggested that was the wrong question. as a result of that we asked the former congressmen from arkansas, former u.s. attorney,

former head of the drug agency and the former number two men of homeland security to put together a task force and right the ask questions and that question was how do we protect our children? the task force included people like the head of the secret service. they came forward with a series of recommendations, one of which is the one way you protect your children is providing armed security to them because there are people in our society that is of so mentally disturbed they are likely to do anything. the day after the newtown tragedy, i found myself israel touring a facility where school security officers were trained. back in the 1970's israel had a whole spade of shootings.

at first, veterans and others rallied to the cause as volunteers and provided security in their schools. over the years that system morphed into something more institutionalized. today, israel schools, each school hires in some way through the school budget or local financing private security to protect the schools in that school. they don't use the military, they don't use the police, they use trained, often veterans but trained people, especially trained to provide security in the schools to solve that problem. when i came back we suggested that is something that should be looked at in this country. a number of people said we were crazy. then they looked at it and realized out of 137,000 schools over 30,000 already have armed security so they did not want to suggest those people were crazy.

finally, the president said now was skeptical of the idea. we put together this task force and the task force agrees with what the american people said. the gallop poll shortly after newtown, asked people what did they see the problem that created this? the number one problem they saw was a mental health system that doesn't work because the kinds of people who involve nems this sort of thing are crazy. they are not criminals in classic sense. they are looking for some place to vent their fantasies and hostilities and that is someplace that is not protected, among those places are movie theaters, shopping malls and the like. second, american people said the problem was we're not providing security to our schools. we provide guards at meaningless office buildings. we have armed guards at banks and jewelry stores but not at

our schools. perhaps our children are not as important as those things. we decided we need to look into this and that is why the task force was put together. this week they came back and said among other things, every school in the country, with every local law enforcement agency, with teachers, administrators, and parents, look at their facility and look at the things they can do to protect their children under their care. one of the things they should look to is providing the presence of an armed security officer. those officers could be financed through local grants, state grants, school budgets, they could be volunteers, they could be part of the administration that exists today, but they should have the training necessary to do what they need to do. we're not talking about arming every teacher and every

principal, we're not talking about simply letting these folks have firearms to do with what they will but providing the real training necessary in a shooting situation in a school. the empirical evidence suggests that in shopping malls and elsewhere, when there is someone there armed that school shootings are stopped, shootings in malls are stopped because the people who engage in this are not looking for a battle they are looking for a killing field. when the killing field is denied them they go away. we made those suggestions. those suggestions are on the table and we think will be taken seriously. interestingly, one of the parents of the children killed at newtown called and asked if he could come to the press conference and we said he could come and say what he wanted. we did not urge him to do so. he came and he said specifically

that he wanted to thank the n.r.a. because we have taken the problem that resulted in what happened in newtown seriously and have take an look what the could be done to prevent future tragedies of this sort. that's what we're doing. we take our responsibility seriously. we take our defense of the second amendment seriously. we take the concerns of our members and the citizens of this country as seriously as any organization that any of you have ever seen. most of you here, many of you here are members of the n.r.a., many of you are life members, many have been member for decades. those who aren't and even some of you who are, when you go on the street and ask someone about the n.r.a., they think of us in term as the advocacy mission. we're the organization that defends the second amendment. that's a core part of the mission of the national rifle association but that is only

part of it. the n.r.a. was formed in 1871 by a group of former union generals who saw during the several war that the american understanding and facility with firearms had decreased as people from europe who moved in with no firearms background, from a culture who did not use guns and the n.r.a. was the answer to that to make you are sure that americans in the future would have the same skills and same familiarity and the same appreciation of the second amendment. two of the founders were general, and between 1871 and 1970, the national rifle association never endorsed a candidate. we didn't have a lobby organization. we didn't have a lobbyist. we didn't need a lobbyist. we didn't need a political operation.

there was widespread agreement in this country that the founders knew what they were doing when they included the second amendment in the constitution. like members of the n.r.a. included everyone from kennedy to roosevelt to humphrey. there was no partisan divide among gun owners. that changed as the culture wars in the 1970's broke out. all of a sudden, hostility to the second amendment became an ideological card to many in this country. it was a democratic member of congress, a man who is still serving from michigan. he came to the n.r.a. and said you can teach as many people as you want about gun safety, you can teach as many people as you want about gun handling, you can train as many shooters an you want, you can provide as many

trainers as you can train, but unless you defend the second amendment, there's not going to be any huntsers, there's not going to be any competitive shooters because it will be gone. because of that the institution of legislation was founded. because of that the n.r.a. got into the role, which many people see as key to our efforts today. despite of that, 90% of our funds and our efforts go into the traditional things that we're always involved in. we're involved with boy scouts, the girl scouts with competitive events and the like. we have 92,000 shooting instructors in this country. one of the things we're going to do as a result of what the group suggested is we're going to take seriously on to ourselves the

development of best practices set of training for people who will be involved in school security, whether they are police. we do train a lot of police today. whether they are school officers who are assigned to schools and one level or another, whether they are private security people or if they are school personnel. we're going to develop and provide to the extent that we can the training that these people need to be certified as having the skills necessary to protect our children. the n.r.a. has always been interested in these kinds of things and always will be. we will never and i say this before a partisan audience, we will never surrender our principles. someone criticized me because i met with someone during the course of the argument. i said i will meet with anyone, i will talk to anyone but i won't surrender.

we do need, all of us, if we believe strongly in this, we need to talk to people, we need to educate people. the one thing we don't need to do is surrender our principles and the two things are mutually exclusively. you can talk to those who don't agree with you but you don't have to surrender. members of congress don't have to surrender and legislatures don't have to surrender. this is an example of a guy who would never surrender. when i talk to partisan groups when i talk to gun group, that is what i tell them. if you're involved because you believe never, ever surrender your beliefs. think about ways to get other people to join you. think about ways to increase your numbers. think about ways to win. that's what a party does, a

proper party does. that's what a movement does. that's what people interested in affecting the future of the country do. you know, i would like to -- i'm accused of going on too long so i'm not going to do that. i want to tell a story. we're in a position today, and i know in this room, probably 99% of the people here feel as i do about the second amendment. i was talking to a group of congressmen last summer. i was asked by one -- it was at a breakfast, he asked me what would you say the is the greatest accomplishment of the national rifle association? the n.r.a. can't take credit but the entire second amendment community and the sports community can take some credit. we live in an era if you talk to people they will talk to you

about how the american culture is deteriorating. but in terms of the second amendment, the american culture has changed for the better. if you asked someone in 1968 after the passing of the gun act or two years later when the comfiscation case of all side arms was with passed, if you suggested then that we would have the rights under the second amendment that we have today, people would have laughed at you. we have those rights because we stood up and demanded those rights. we organized. the congress is not doing what the president wants it to do on second amendment issues because thousands of upon thousands upon thousands of american citizens have been calling and contacting their congressmen and senator

saying don't you dare. i talked to a good friend from a gun-friendly district, a member of congress who has been a-rated by the national rifle association. he says in the last three weeks i had my staff count, i received 5,000 phone calls from my own constituents and their general message is we now you've been a- rated. that was yesterday. we want to know what you're going to do today and what you're going to do tomorrow. he said i'm going to do what i did yesterday. at the end of the day, politicians listen to the people that elected them. they listen as long as those people make their opinions known. that is our job to make those people involved in the political process. that is our job as the people of america to realize that vision. people who work for us know what we expect them and what it is we want them to do. if we do that we will success. at any rate, i said in answer to this question, i said you know,

nobody would have guessed it would be today. when we face the last great challenge of second amendment grounds the n.r.a. had 1.8 by the time wes. get to houston, we will have 5 million members. when this current battle started, we had 4 million members. the greatest day in terms of new membership became the day barack obama delivered his statement and 58,000 people called and joined. we not put him up to that. [laughter] the fact of the matter is, so me americans share our concerns and are willing to step up. i said what is happened over the last few decades is more and more americans are involved in shooting for the first time in three decades. the study of outdoor sports found that more hunting licenses five-year.han in any

in recent. a lot were young people. that has not happened before. more people are going to be range to shoot than ever before. high school shooting teams that were abolished in the 1970's are coming back. we know because we provide grants. big difference a between now and then. that is, today, firearms are cool. people are enjoying the shooting sports as they never have before. they are buying guns not just for self-defense but to hunt, to go to the range to shoot, to have a good time. ,ifferent groups are coming in 10 or 15 years ago, could i have gone -- but anybody have gone to a gun store and found a paint gun -- pink gun? [laughter] manufacturers don't just say i think i will make a pink g uun.

they do market research. women have been taking to the field, taking to competition, buying firearms for personal protection. i talked to the organizers of a gun show in virginia that do a lot of these east coast gun shows and they keep track of these things. they said five years ago, 8% that attended were women. go to an nra meeting and see how many women were there. that was not the case 20 years ago or 30 years ago. when i finished this presentation -- this was during the summer -- a young lady came up to me. , you are you know absolutely right. she said i'm geomet to school, and she said of my sorority, we all go out to the range and shoot. i looked at her and i said, you know something, 45 years ago at the university of wisconsin, if

i called up his or her to girl and said it is friday afternoon, when we get our gun and go to the range, i don't think gotten that date. [laughter] in somed has changed ways for the better. we are not going to let a group back thosees roll gains, not now, not ever. [applause] i am here tonight for the same reason you are here tonight, and that is because the people who you organize for and participated in their campaigns and helped knock on doors and provide funds for their campaign believe in these principles. they deserve your support and deserve all of our support. if they did that, we are going to be able to pass on to future generations the nation we inherited from those who came

before us. thank you very much. [applause] ,> senior white house adviser valerie jarrett, spoke at the women in washington series this week. does next on c-span. on this morning's washington journal, topics include religion, freedom and public policy. discussionndtable on obesity and diabetes in the united states. washington journal is live every morning seven eastern. the debate over immigration policy continues around the country. this morning, the national history center will look at u.s. immigration policies over the years. watch live coverage at 8:30 eastern on c-span 2. later today on c-span 3, a discussion on the war in afghanistan and political challenges ahead. that is live from the institute at noon eastern -- cato

institute. tot, senior adviser president obama talks about her role in the white house and about women in politics. she spoke with linda douglass of atlantic media. this is 55 minutes. .> thank you, elizabeth thank you very much and all of you for being here. thank you, valerie. i will take you a couple of things about her before we get started. full disclosure, we used to work together on the first obama presidential campaign. heri get the chance to ask all those questions that i always wanted to ask. [laughter] is a senior adviser to president obama. she oversees the white house office of public engagement, an important office to the president. also the head of the council on women and girls. she was the senior official in many capacities in the city of chicago and was the chief executive officer of the habitat

company. she is a lawyer and has practice in a couple of law firms. she has gone from law to private business and now to the very top position, one of the very top positions in the white house. one of the most senior roles ever played by any woman in the white house. let's start there with that very -- whathich is the everybody is so interested in about you, the role you play at the white house. some describe you as the most influential person in the president's staff. you are certainly the most influential person on the staff. you will probably dispute that, so i would still like to ask you, why do they describe you that way and how do you see your role? >> first of all, i am delighted to be here and see all of you.

i am thrilled to be in an audience full of women and a few brave men. [laughter] glad to see you in the front, that is really bold. [laughter] i don't know why people describe the way i am. i think part of the answer is the way you phrased the question. it is unusual to have a woman who is this senior in the administration. you can get more attention when there is historical reference that people can rely on. what i enjoy is the fact that it is 18. -- it is a team. given the state of the world the president inherited, the challenges are huge. the only way this is going to make the best decisions is to have a diverse group of people who are all thinking together. i don't think there is that kind of a hierarchy. the president listens to people

that say things that are interesting. and often, the people that disagree with him. in that sense, we are all equal and you are as good as the last piece of advice you gave him. [laughter] >> since he listens to people who disagree with him, are you someone who was more willing to disagree with him than others because you have such a long friendship? >> i think perhaps in the beginning. as in any situation where people have a new boss, particularly if your boss is the president of the united states, leader of the free world, if you get to know him -- linda had a chance to spend a lot of quality time with him -- the circumstances were quite intimate. you see very quickly how interested and engaging he is, and he likes people to disagree. toing that sounding board say if you look at it this way

or that way, i probably came into the job with a lot of comfort. people who spend time with him appreciate the fact he doesn't want to be pushed. his goal is to make the best possible decisions he can. that comes from listening to a range of opinions, which is part of my response ability in the white house, overseeing the office of public engagement. the outreach offices that bring perspective to washington that are outside of washington, whether it is the governor, mayor, the state legislature, attorney general, things from outside or whether the range of interest groups that we communicate with on a regular basis and ordinary americans who have thoughts and opinions, too . more about your relationship with the president and also by the office of public engagement and governmental affairs. let's talk about your relationship with the first lady. it is unusual to have somebody

at your level in in the white house who has a relationship, personal and professional, with most -- both the president and the first lady. she was artie practicing law at a law firm when i met her. it took me six years to figure anybody practicing at a law firm out there? it is a matter of finding your own passion. i realized early in our career -- our first conversation was about that experience at a law firm and me trying to visit to her the public surface -- ser vice and how she was going to make an enormous difference. i turned out to be right about her. >> so you started as her boss