government to want it all we do is tear it down. amazing things are going on all the time by public servants and we need to replicate them if we --t to see them replicated recognize them if we want to see them replicated. our government is a tool for collective action, and we need it to solve a huge array of challenging problems. problems we see all the time in the news, but we did not focus on them until they become part of the news. we see that in recent events with the boston marathon terrorist attack. for an issue is whether it is syria or north korea. we see it would there is an interruption of service, for instance with the air traffic controller. there, only the obvious interruptions. we do not recognize the need for public servants until there is a

crisis or service is interrupted. that is not good feedback. this week is intended to focus on the great things happening. i hope you'll take a look at the service for a mayor, letters that have been announced already and we will be celebrating tomorrow. lotteries are incredible, extort a repeople. 31 people doing extraordinary things across the board. i also hope you will take a look very briefly at the letter that is on your chair, both from the president recognizing public service recognition week, and also critically important, the full leadership team of the government, the 15 cabinet members. before getting to the main event, which i am looking forward to, i want to recognize this event is being supported not just by the partnership but by a larger organization by the

public employees roundtable. it has been in existence for a very long time and has been supporting this event for many years. is here.man one of mynted to thank colleagues, jim seymour. 15 signatures of this letter. each of them quite willing to do it, but they are in much demand obviously. jim seymour fornly tracking these down but all the work we do at the partnership. did you very much. you very much. i also wanted think everyone here. the media, people from government, business leaders. it is a were reported that all of you see the effect of government as part of parcel of what you care about. it is our government, not the government.

we believe it is all of you. we all need to be partners in order to make sure we of the government we want and deserve. finally, i have to say the -- hashtag. tag we will try to repeat questions for them. likewise, questions of the end you could recognize they are listening as well. likewise, of the great pleasure and honor of turning the podium over to someone who does not have a cold and does not have a broken arm, which has been designated to sean donovan instead. it seems to be tradition at these events. we will probably have allows large showing the next year. truly a great group of folks here in great leaders and government. am looking forward to hearing

from them. roberts and needs no introduction. the board dacias of of the rock -- directors. a big round of applause for her. [applause] >> thank you. welcome everyone. very kind of some of you to come back. this is transparency at work of taking questions from your own press andand the other members of the public. ofill not do it introduction these lovely people because you know the they are and they are all in your program and they lined up conveniently in the order they are in. you have the secretary of housing and urban development, john donovan of -- sean donovan.

napaletinno.loton n tegrilini. you might know a certain at this at this is to be in the game. italy is well represented it. i did not know if you could hold your own or not. he said he speaks italian. very aggressive biographies air in your programs. i see we do have to start with sequestration. we are stuck with it. , but on everyone's mind particularly your employees' minds. situation got everyone thinking about it.

the airlines were very clever. the airlines were screwing up and leaving it on the government say write your congressman. the biggest lobbying operation i have ever seen. people were ready. i was grateful. each one of you is dealing with in some way or another. why don't you start, secretary, are at the forefront of our people are concerned about government and safety. sequestration really is the worst possible way to manage a government. we are constantly challenge to manage effectively and efficiently. would you do not have budgets, regular order, did not know whether you are in a continuing resolution or budget or shut down you a lot of sequestration.

this is the baseline from which your good to cut. this is the base line. and it makes it very difficult. we have been focused on trying to manage sequestration to minimize the impacts of the personnel. we're very personnel dependent and tried to minimize the effects of furloughs and overtime and the like. mean the text -- effects accrete overtime. summer travelsome mor season, we hope we did not have to furlough officers for customs and border protection.

they actually injure people into the united states that have traveled. of the other hand, the ability to search overtime or for the tsa during a busy travel season, is denied us.ty it just has made it very difficult to manage it as effective as way as all of us would like to. would add to that is, and you made this point, we noticed the airlines and there are impacts being felt all across the country. they are growing over time. we have over 200,000 families that will either end up at: shelters back out of the street incomelies whose average is $10,000 per year who depend

on the vouchers that will end up either at risk of homelessness, and those kinds of affects really do not get hurt. what it reminds me of is that something rising one of the first things i heard during the clinton administration, politics is a felt need. it has to actually be felt in the halls of congress. more broadly across the country if there is really good to be a political response. we could talk until we're blue as cabinet secretaries but average people have to speak up about these changeto really have a be made. it is the unfortunate reality that we live in. these impacts are real. they are happening.

the question is, will we know enough about them to really make the difference in turning it around? this is no way to run a railroad. it simply is not. >> at least you have homeless people you could point to. it would seem to me epa is even harder. causingstration is everything to slow about whether it is permits or inspections. some things are more apparent than others. the thing that is remarkable to me. no harm -- the matter how much chaos, the public servants are rising to the occasion, even toh the pay is being cut make sure the minimal work is done. that is a remarkable story from this is how they have risen to the remarkable challenge from on them. takeover go ahead.

go ahead. >> rising to the challenge is part of what we're trying to do at the tsa. gsa exist to drive down costs of the federal government. we are mobilizing our efforts to getting out to the agencies and 90 ways they can save money but that their operations from collapsing and coordinating the fleet operations and leveraging the scale in terms of acquisitions and using that to try to drive down the cost of government so they could put more back in division what they need it the most. there is a lot of criticism that you are cutting the most obvious things, things we can see and can react to and if you just did it a little smarter, there must be some waste in your

organization, someone that could go and could still keep the coordination function a. is that a fair criticism? [laughter] you want to go first? >> the way sequestration was done was to go account by account by account. back through the entire process and back to the progress and ask for something called a reprogramming, you do not have the kind of flexibility within your departments to move things around. that is why the attack of the department of transportation was really unfair. it did not recognize that the way sequestration was done did not provide flexibility of less you went back and ask for permission. this is what they did.

take a yes. -- >> yes. guest: >> in an era where he did not often get bipartisan support, i would to a hearing where lindsey gramm at one point said to all of us, what you're telling me is sequestration is stupid. we sort of looked at each other. and said it is stupid. you could but design a worse way to reduce costs. we of lived in an era of difficult fiscal times. i just ask our employees what we've been through. the point is that this is not the right way to do it first of all. second of all, there comes a point where even with flexibility you reach a place where you work or to have an

impact on people's lives. of this cynical times we live in to have this become an issue of you are doing this on purpose. one might ask, it is not like congress should be lecturing us on managing these days. but also, and this is something we really need to make sure the impacts are understood by the american people. how you areabout impressed by people still working under the circumstances. a partnership for public service is always concerned about making the government the best it can be. that means having employees be in a position where they feel they could be effective. ,iven this kind of stupidity how you do that? people get into public

service because they want to make a difference. if you have a difficult time doing budget so you could plan ahead and be innovative by setting a course for change that is based on rational as opposed to these episodic issues we're dealing with, you have to motivate your work force on missions. you have to motivate them on andice they are providing the change they could make in the world. that is what we have to fall back on. it is always there but very frustrating to the work force to have to work towards those motivations at the same time claiming to accomplish anything is disrupted constantly. just basics like travel budgets and all of that, are those affecting the ability to get work done?

have donecase what we is reduce travel for what you would normally call getting beatings that would be routine and focused only on a field inspections. we have moved the travel back to the most essential field inspection work so we can provide that service to the public. donovan, you know coming off the economic crisis that there was a lot of upset with the federal government's role in housing and the whole housing sector being one that people became very suspicious of. how do you fix that and bring people back, especially at a time like this? >> this has obviously been a challenge that goes well beyond four years.

this will take through the second term and beyond. part of it is a fundamental debate that we're having in the country about what is the right role for the federal government? how do we limit the role in the right way and direct it where it is most needed? the thing weof need to focus on is that whether it is housing or many other things, you have to look at how support what we can all agree on is that coming. too often whether it isn't housing or any other very -- or any other area of government we do not think enough about it a child does have a place to live, how does that affect how they do in school? how does that affect their health? how does it affect all of the other things that might reach booksyond the traditional

that might hear nearly about housing is an issue. particularly in these times, and this is something the partnership has focused on and something we all could do better on, what does it mean when you make an investment? whether it is in housing, health, or education. what does that also mean in terms of what we can save in the long term? really being able to look at my child does not have a decent place to live, it does that mean they're going to read more slowly and not get as good a job? not contribute to society as much of the long run. the more we can measure it and understand, the more we can make the case to the american people, here is the reason why you as a taxpayer should care about this, even if you do not care for housing%. i think we all have to do a better job to show why housing because it not just

means more economic investment but has a broader impact on health, education, and other things as well. ." g >> question in metrics is true even more so than 10 years ago. this is what you'd do, try to measure how government -- how you can get government operating was officially. >> in many ways that is the counterpoint. but we really should be doing is biting deep into the programs and asking ourselves, what are we getting out for the dollar we put in. what is inspected is respected. we need to develop a government driven by data rather than anecdotes. that is the challenge we're all facing as we tried to deliver services, demand for which is

not going down but going up. the resources we have to deliver , if we're lucky, it is staying flat. we have to figure out how to get more productivity and outcomes for the resources we put into them. >> one of the things we do with the partnership is to have annual surveys of the best places to work. this has something to do with the whole general outcome of washington's uncertainty and all of that. winds with a score of almost 68%. that is very good. ateland security comes in

its 53%. do you use this measurement in evaluating how the job your doing and the department? >> we use it. we did not like the numbers we're getting. ranks very low, part of it is the newness of the department. part of it is the fact that the employees oftentimes feel like they were given those/win situation where what they prevent does not get public notice but if something gets notice, it gets a lot of or if a mistake is made it goes up by row. we have to work on that part. we also discovered other things.

for example, we have learned when people were looking at the first line super boreal positions, there were not trained on how to be a supervisor. we can fix that. we have instituted a process and training to do that. have an executive steering council on how to deal with employee satisfaction with our place as a place to work. i really committed to seeing if we could raise the numbers. i meet regularly with the component heads. it is 60,000 employees. tsa is another 60,000. these are large components, larger than some agencies frankly. how could we improve individually in terms of the employee's satisfaction.

is, are you happy with the survey? the answer is no, not at all. we of a challenge in front of us. a challenge in front of us. >> responding in this way is exactly what this was set up for. someone gets promotes to a job they do not howl -- know how to do it gets evaluated poorly as a result of that. devastating effects. exactly right. >> when you get better grades, what is response to that? to get as many people to participate as possible and that improved the accuracy. we're pretty happy we continue to rate tightly in employee satisfaction. we're in the top three of innovative agencies and the survey the partnership does.

i think that relates a little bit to the mission that we have in terms of trying to develop strategies that can be innovative. we are happy, but all of the numbers have gone down a little bit. this is a good barometer for all of us to work on, but also need to note to the barometer is going down across the board with a few minor exceptions. that is from some of the things that max mentioned, the constant drumbeat that there is something wrong with public service and public servants and nothing could be further from the truth for how hard people work in service to the american public. has anot only demoralizing effect on the people that currently serve, but likely to have a negative impact on recruitment. particularly in a place like

epa where you work a meeting -- competing for engineers. everyone is competing for the graduates out of college. >> they really are. we have over 5000 scientists at epa. it is a core capability we have to maintain the three kinds of decisions for the public. have fellowships the the laboratory. identify innovative teachers who might be interested. we're trying to work closely with students. we do have the mission to help attract. we have these programs that keep our face in front of people we want to attract. we're working on that. it is challenging in the current environment. the interesting thing i have seen, and i followed the survey very closely. i always talk about this as one

of my most important report cards i get, whether i like the grades or not. >> 54. >> think you. -- thank you. [laughter] >> appreciate your reminding me. i often find the hardest part is not the recruitment peace. i think project early president obama said one of his jobs was to make public-service cool again. then there was 10 years ago or 20 years ago to get into public service. i think it is how we as leaders keep those folks and build career paths that as so often the challenge. where we may get 100 presidential management class. we went all out to recruit them.

what we found was the toughest part was how we make sure we continue to have the right challenges and opportunities? we started to institute not only training but a location program to help them go up to the field and understand a variety of things. it is often i find that that is the biggest part, how you keep the idealism that brings people into public service alive. how the remind folks of why they came in in the first place and what success looks like. >> after they survive the hiring process. [laughter] to this. want to add i think the interesting thing in the depression of the scores are having less of an effect on the entry level recruitment. we still have many more people that want to come work for us that opportunities. you have people saying i am not sure i want to go and make all

the sacrifices. that is the harder part it clear corn to continue to review and rejuvenate the leadership of the organizations as well. we need to make sure we keep people going through and continue to grow. we also need to have rejuvenation across all levels. about making sacrifices. before i open this up, we said at the beginning of the theme for this week is why i served. -- "why i serve." each of you has spent a good time in public service. why are you serving? i served because i grew up in new york city at a time when homelessness was exploding. when we were wondering whether american cities would even

survive. i was at the 1977 world series in the bronx where howard said bronx isce the burning. i felt like having witnessed that that the best way i could give back was by working in public service to end homelessness and help cities come back. been you think there has movement along those lines? think there has been movement along those lines? >> charlotte street that president carter visited, homes are selling for $400,000 on that block. bronx has come back as amazingly vital community. that kind of success story is not everywhere. you can still walk the streets

in dietrich into the challenges. we sought to many homeless folks around the street -- around the country. government is not the only answer why we made progress. it is part of the answer. >> you may not be at the world series in the bronx this year. [laughter] cokie. was not >> says the wife of a rabid white sox fan. i serve because i think the future can and should be better than the present. i think working in public service is the best way to help achieve that. i did it when i was a governor. a focus on education. mcardle a focus on security and immigration and the role of law. each of those are very

different away but they have a common united team. me, think it is simple for tried to make a difference of the world. wrong withthing idealism. i started working in city government where it is it is -- where it is up close and personal when you're dealing with the neighborhood problem and have to go to the meetings at nights and having that experience of working a befuddled level has been a remarkable blessing that i have. i really and all of the work that we do here. i wish i had had to go last. >> i blame my parents. they raised with the philosophy

of to leave a better world of the one you were born into. found a place where you could have the most impact was in public service. why i continue to serve is an interesting question at some level. the reason why continue to serve is the incredible people and get to work with. the quality of the problems we get to deal with are so outstanding. they are incredibly challenging and deeply frustrating the key to coming back and coming back. as the portly i continue to serve because i have a wonderful family who supports me in doing it. i would like you to stand up and ask questions. microphones there and there. we need you to go to the microphone because it is being recorded. if you could tell us who you are, please, when you come to the microphone, and if you want to direct your question to a

particular member of this illustrious panel, please do so otherwise we will just let them figure it out. lundy with the f aa. i understand that those to go to college with as the major, 40% drop the major during the first semester. it seems to me that would be a very lucrative, very rewarding give guidance to those individuals. does anyone have a program for that? in college? >> we have the ego ambassadors program was some colleges but i am not sure they're focused on keeping people in some stem programs. the president has been focusing stem education really hard and hoping to continue to get people motivated for the needs that society has for people that are

able to excel in of those programs. >> the president has been pushing this along with the department of education and several prominent people in the business community that have joined with the government, public/private partnership to try to really emphasize those programs, practically for girls. of course girls are the majority in college. the vast majority in graduate school. to not have them in the stem program is a real problem. we have a report on this very issue coming out may 16. how about that? very good. over here, please. decode josh with politico. with politico. earlier it was referred to her -- back in the day, she referred

to the situation that happened with the person that came in to have a student visa but was not apparent -- but was not as did any more. you think that was a mistake? you have made changes. how you treat that where -- without having the conversation that every * a college or university make the pepperroot -- paperwork mistake that a foreign student does not get held up for 72 hours locked up? without talking about that particular incident, because obviously this is an open matter, but we always learned from these events. you always learn. one of the things we're doing now is checking it manually the most recent student visa information because it changes all the time.

we check this with customs informational, which is held in a different place. that is beingeing done manually. we're trying to be sensitive of the fact that there is a lot of traffic back and forth. at the end of the month we will probably have a technological solution to the issue. i would not go so far as to characterize what happens in the light of boston in terms of immaterial it -- and mentality. having a solution to that seems to be really tough. colleges do not have a clue what class's their kids are in four weeks after this semester. frankly, our country is enriched by students coming from

abroad. the colleges are. [laughter] know, we are constantly balancing our security needs and the need to with foolproof as possible the fact that for example traffic needs to travel across the land borders. people need to be able to come and go. that the appropriate balance is something that is constantly looked at throughout dhs. variousd, uniting systems that are in place in many different areas. some are not even within dhs. these are big and technological challenges which is why we need more stem graduates. is dr. raymond on

mulberry. i am an employee of the department, it security customs and border protection. i would like to first thank madam secretary for her service. she communicates very well with the department. the question i have is three- pronged. i wrote an article this spring entitled "connecting the dots between people, budget, and missions." relate the questions directly to the article. how we invest with less in terms of human capital? how do we extract and transfer knowledge from the baby boomers before they leave in 2016? this is a big one for me. my dissertation was related to this. my third one is how do agencies

leverage information management without money to reduce costs and be approved -- and improve efficiency across the government. >> those are big questions. we are doing something at tsa we're working with other agencies to build awareness of. we are using an internal social media types of to create links between people. the first up is to get people to self report what experiences are. we're using it to fuel ideas, get ideas for how we could be a better service provider. we launched a great ideas hunt. 600 great ideas. 20,000 comments were people are exchanging comments and views in perspective of those ideas. we let people from any part of the organization, up and see your organization. we think collaboration,

cooperation, overcoming hierarchies, recognizing the value of people's experience in finding ways to get them to share that experience is going to be the key for how we address that fiscal constraint we're going to face for the foreseeable future. hud have an interesting challenge around the question of baby boomers. we were founded in 1965. we had a huge surge with all of irving and challenges we had at that point of interest and others coming in. the president of harvard was an intern. many others. .ut lots of those books stayed we of more retirement eligible employees than the share did any other agency across the federal government. this is a real challenge for us. one thing we can do is build a hub connect -=- hud connect

system. it really has spawned all of whereinterest groups folks are sharing ideas, thoughts about the agency, knowledge in ways that we could that we could never create. we started to connect those employees to the denver employees. riven under 5 group. not that they are under 5 years old. [laughter] that they have been there less than five years. we of connected them with some of the most experienced managers. it has been a great thing both for the bulls to have been there 30, 40, 50 years, and as well as the ever employees to get to the point of before, which is how you up encourage folks to stay once they are ready in public service? the ways tone of

invest in human capital is to in making the decisions that have to make. we have an initiative designed to be an employee-driven mechanism by which we could identify costs, avoid things we did not to spend money on. process cheese that were overly redundant or cumbersome and the like. think conservatively we have saved the taxpayer well over $4 billion through that effort. some of them are big issues like police management. you get the magic -- imagine the department like ours, what that looks like. steps in ame of the procurement tower break that up. what has todone to

be on paper and what does not. there are lots of little things that add up to big things. there are very big things. all of the others are under way. it is like saying our human capital is the greatest resources. we need to invite them into a creative space where they can participate in the agency and a much more fundamental way. satisfies two things. first of all, it does get the whereency of smartly people have had experience, but also the engagement of employees must make them feel valuable and someone you pay attention to and therefore, someone that helps with the question of retention and morale. i would hope so. we find the most valuable five-seven ars are the

years employees. this provides them is based to be creative and innovative and really helps to improve the agency. >> we are rolling out something we called skills marketplace. since we now have the business- oriented social media, what we're trying to do is capitalize on that and have people have skills sets on there. we're changing our h our policies on details. i call it a micro detail. a big heavy project somewhere and they are good on, as a manager they can't get resources from around the agency. it makes people see the agency from another perspective, be involved with other parts of the agency for a small part of their time each year. agency benefits from the skills sets. we're really excited about getting this going. i think you see a bunch of

technology options that are i knowtune to perhaps -- that his agent myself a little bit, the denver employees gravitate to these tools. >> go ahead. >> my name is kenneth boxer, founder of boxer advisers. i began my career as a present presidentialer -- manager in turn back in the day. the front-line supervisors. however, the data icy talks about the importance of senior leaders in engaging in retaining talent. my question to all of you, what specific actions are you taking, and what suggestions would you have four other senior leaders eat your agency or the federal government that boost morale and send messages to the employees if they are really value?

valued? >> one of the first things is just communicate, communicate. the great things about the technology we live in, part are traveling on the road, go spend time with people. making sure you are spending time with employees, and not just talking to them, but listening to them, hearing what the ideas are about what is happening in the industry. technology is an amazing thing. we now do a regular town hall that includes every field office around the country. we are unusual to up 2/3 of our staff out of the field across the country. for an agency of 9000 people, 80 field offices. very dispersed. technology is incredibly important terms of communicating. that process of listening to

employees, taking questions, video over teleconferencing -- teleconference is a very simple plan but amazing how much that means to be able to really understand what is going on in my head and the of their senior leadership and to hear from employees as well. >> 9000 people at an agency must, by kevin to you. 240,000. the third largest department of the federal government. i do some of the thing -- same things when i travel. i tried to go to the airport, the border, to see some of the operations, talk to some of the asylum officers. it just depends on what we're doing. i think one of the most important thing is the senior leadership needs to do is have a clarity of vision. it is not as communicating or

saying you are doing a great job, it is saying this is where we're going in we will have a crisis and the congressional outings end the media piece there. there is always the crisis is sure, but there needs to be a bigger vision and then communicating that so people understand their role and what is it you wanted to do. and you are not only preserve them for their efforts but holding them accountable for helping that this should be achieved. i think good accountability helps to build good morale. absolutely agree with both of my colleagues. career add evolving senior leadership in the process of running the agency is an important motivator for the senior leaders in the agency. they need to feel they are part

they want to make a difference in the same way that i want to make a difference in public service. we have created executive management councils, and other tools that will not go into detail here. the key is bringing senior career leadership into decision making processes is a vitally important thing. would add ising i continually reenforcing and reiterating the significance and importance and the impact of the mission and the work we get to do. it is an honor. it is something incredibly motivating in and of itself. to problem is if you listen the very negative rhetoric you can believe to believe -- begin to believe it or become shy about saying you are actually committing yourself to something bigger than yourself. you are committing yourself to something that is important as a

nation and incredibly important work and people need to be reminded of that from time to time. >> that is one of the reasons why we do this. you do have among you some winners. napaeltino, michelle cole be in the foot and mouth disease vaccine development team. they develop a safer vaccine to protect america's livestock industry. it is huge. the america economy would be devastated. anyone who was sitting glidden during that time saw hall awful it was. and you also have john attended -- john mckennon. than 160rescued more victims of child pornography. as a mother, that is really

something. new forensic in gustatory techniques to track down the predators who abuse them, resulting in over 50 arrest since 2010. congratulations. and gsa. marth dart deliver timely information to engaged -- and engaged citizens through social media, crowd sourcing tools and powerful search engines. congratulations to you. when you hear the stories of the people who win these awards, they are really quite something. they are goose bump provoking. aboutend you to learn them and aspired to them, because it really is something special. unless there is one more question, we will adjourn this. go ahead. foret me just say thank you

what has been very inspiring for me. i started at the department of energy five years ago. carolyn mcgregor and i worked in international affairs office there. there is something about the five-year the use your thinking -- especially my generation. my parents' generation went to work someplace and stayed there their whole career. it does not seem to be the mode for mind. among my peers there is a question of whether we should go get experience in the private- sector because there is a sense that that is where the top management comes from. they hire from there. that is experience that really counts or something. on that path of career growth. >> that is an interesting question, the question of whether people are more attractive coming up to the ranks and going outside or coming up and then going back. >> i have never worked anywhere

in my adult life of the the government. i did work up burger king in the gas station, but i do not think that counts as private sector experience. pmi inson i started as 91f. is it is a bigck operation and there are many levels of government. we have opportunities may be for you at gsa. [laughter] trick, aeally the chance to scratch the itch and get the experience. the best employees are those that take command of a career and try to develop experience to the fullest extent possible. that can be done entirely with of the four corners of the federal government or go out and come back. the trick is we need a government that reflects the many different facets of the

society in which we operate. >> i would agree. it is important of a mix of people of agencies. not shower -- shy away from seeking experience. i have worked in the private sector, the non-profit -- private sector. -- important to be open to different experiences. >> it really depends on the position we are looking to fill whether we think private sector experience would be relevant or more relevant than public-sector experience. we do ae the suggestion

lot of international war. our work is inherently international in scope. we work a lot in science and technology. we have research and development director. have the big components that are also doing major law enforcement operations are -- across the country. you can have a variety of experiences depending on what you're interested in, without saying in a narrow career path. thatall having worked in private sector, i do think those experiences are important, but as i sit down to talk to but what i look for is

how much does someone making a difference matter? take my experience in new york city. i was the house a commissioner. i remember talking to folks that have gone out and become enormously successful. they would often say to me the best job i ever had was three years after college i worked for the mayor or whoever it might be in government and still talk about it as if they missed it. i think if you are somebody that has the passion to serve, if you are someone who can put up with where max started today with being the butt of jokes at times or even feeling like you are questioned as to why are you doing this -- i wanted to make a

difference. i was at the kennedy school of government never thought about working in government and my mentor came and work in the clinton administration and asked me to come down and work for him. it really is a colleague i think. i studied architecture. franklin right used to say if you could do anything else, you should. realized as i could not do anything else. to me, that is the difference. >> i literally would not want to do anything else. if you really want to serve, there are lots of great places in the private-sector and non- profit and government is the best place to serve. you all for your service and for being here today. if you would stay please while we let the guests leave. thank you. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> i will shake your right hand. thank you. >> thank you all very much. have a great public service recognition week. we will see you next year. thank you. >> this morning on c-span3, a senate panel will example -- examine provisions of the emigration bill. live coverage from the senate homeland security committee :30ins at 7 -- at 10;3 eastern.

mary jo white will testify about the budget request for the sec. live coverage at 2:00 eastern. begins at ajournal" moment. we will look at today's news. the house is of this morning at 10:00 eastern. at noon eastern they will begin debate on the measure to allow private employers to get caught time instead of extra pay to employees to work overtime. live coverage on c-span. in 45 minutes, we will about theli lake boston marathon bombings, syria, and last year's attacks in been gauzy. that an update on president obama's nomination of mel watt, to head the agency that regulates brandy lay in freddie mac. regulates fannie mae and

freddie mac. we will also take your call, e-mails and tweets. ♪ host: congress returns after a week-long recess to take up in number of issues. the senate foreign relations committee will hear testimony from debra jones, president obama's choice to replace chris stevens, the u.s. ambassador killed in benghazi. look for coverage on c-span.org. also in the senate, the homeland security panel will focus on the border security pr