>> what i would like to do is move on to our next order of business. bob, globalaker is director. he leads partnerships for me to develop. asset building, neighborhood revitalization. to expand access to financial services with particular focus on developing innovative forms for scaling access to finance and savings. based in london, bob sits on a number of committees.

bob will speak on innovative public-private partnerships. >> thank you very much. i will try to be brief. i think of it as a bit of an onlution in the way we work community development are increasingly heading. for years, housing has been a cornerstone of the work that many banks have done in community development. iti, it has been an anchor. in terms of the work that many institutions have has been supported by the community reinvestment act.

as important as it is, sometimes it traps funds in geographies where it is needed, but we cannot go beyond that. institutions go where and do that sort of investing more it is greatest need, not where there is just a regulatory incentive to do it. housing has been a cornerstone of our work and secretary him.an, we worked with building innovation. one of the things about community development has been that it has been very cylert. -- sikloed. often, it was directly with community organizations not

necessarily in consultation or alignment with the mayors offices. we found ourselves evolving a lot of what we've done, moving from only housing, for example, to working with groups in california getting fresh fruit into many areas across the state. or charter school financing. it has been about moving beyond which began as housing. we looked at the opportunities to work with mayors offices and building programs that were scalable and that could reach across the geography of the city . that meant bringing on nonprofit community partners. they deliver so many services. doing it in alignment and hasnership with citi proven to us the way for greater scale.

it has taken us beyond our own footprint. where the need is there, but strong organizations exist and they are in partnership with the mayors. mayors offices have become idea centers. where should we be putting our resources? thisof those areas -- comes at a national level, but it is so much more important for us to drill down to the local level. there are teams we can work with. we are finding amongst our best talent coming out of citi administrations. it is something we can replicate and we should scale. one of the areas, what does it mean -- and i think the

secretary spoke to the idea of really blitzing specific areas of greatest needs with alignment and coordination. that, one of the areas we've been working a lot around, working with small business, getting financed to them. we work with the chicago teams on building the chicago micro finances. how do you replicate the work that important groups are doing in san diego, san antonio, new york? how do we bring scale to that? it takes a leadership of the mayors office as well as the strength of those organizations for us to be able to do that. i know a number of your cities are doing that, too.

inner-city groups that are creating new jobs, new businesses, very much often by young entrepreneurs. that movement around urban manufacturing, a new concept of manufacturing, has a great ,omentum and we are working having begun that in new york and san francisco, to find a network of cities. that linkage to the mayors office brings the opportunity to really be sure that we are going to reach greater scale. it brings you the opportunity to show private funding that corresponds to public money. that is reaching 22 cities. another thing was about linking meant contracts with eligible small minority procurement-

contracts with eligible small minority business. we needed to make sure they were getting certified for the right contracts and getting the support to meet the challenges. roles,e many fiduciary not easier for smaller businesses. one of the areas we have been doing not in los angeles. it is with the university of southern california. of theetting a number small businesses not just certified, that in a position to successfully bid or collaborate on bids. .hey are getting contracts it is keeping some of that work in the city itself. the opportunity for small businesses in your own municipalities to have that access. another focus area that many of , thealked about

unemployment. the longer-term in the older communities, people in their 50s who are out of work. they are having a hard time getting back into the job market. most of whom are strong candidates whose industry has shifted. those groups need something more or different. we are working with a group. the mayor of bridgeport was the advocate for this and convinced us that it mattered and it would work in bringing in some of those long-term residents. we see the numbers dropping, the headline numbers. remainedhis group has

in between and as not seeing jobs growing for them. wasooked at that and that -- that is now in 10 cities. finding financial information. new york did that with financial empowerment. universal child savings, kindergarten through college with the mayor of san francisco. something we did with the leadership of the city. as we looked at immigration, the commissioner of immigrant affairs in new york, how do we work through the schools? do they get programs with the resources they need to do that? we tried to build out a program with the city of new york. this idea of a holistic approach is much greater by working with mayors.

withpe we work many more you. in the past, we have worked directly with strong organizations in your community. by aligning it with the broader programs you have, it we have had more place space. we certainly see that in the work of san antonio, los angeles been awarded. look forward to working with more of you in geographies we have been in and where we have not been. examples of things we can replicate to ledger -- leverage public-private partnerships. thank you. >> thank you very much, bob. [applause] we are here at the community development housing committee. as manyto try to set

substantive issues as we can in an hour. this is who we are. briefll make a presentation and then we will open it up for questions. as i introduce kerry, many of you were in our committee meeting at our annual meeting in las vegas and you had a chance to hear from the women's union. they talk about social mobility. we know -- and it does not matter what kind of city you are in, the biggest issue is this mobility, social mobility. how do we ensure that we are giving all people an opportunity to move from poverty, middle- class and beyond, and how do we do it?

there is a lot of new thinking around the country that is happening how much science behind what is happening. as we conduct our committee meetings, allow for some of the best ideas and thinking that should come into answering these questions. at the last meeting, we had a great presentation on how does movements are happening. i want to allow kerry to speak a little bit on how the brookings institution report on some benchmarking they are doing around mobility and things we should look for from the city standpoint. she is the associate director of the center on children and families at brookings institution. in addition to leading the work with state and local governments on social mobility, her research interests include literacy and education on all levels. she holds a work,

phd in american literature. she will speak on a strategic framework for improving intergenerational mobility. >> i know time is short so i will be brief. intergenerational mobility is simply talking about how we can delink the circumstances of a child's birth from their later outcome. that is what our project is about, whether those circumstances at birth are about the parents income, the code -- zip code, we want to make that link less about [inaudible] thiscans respond more to idea of opportunity. the problem is well everyone

supports the idea of opportunity like they do jobs or growth, we do not know how to measure opportunity. what we are trying to do is put together a way to do that. i am going to not even bother with some of the slides. i am happy to talk to you and tell you more about this. your chances of reaching the middle class by middle-aged, which we measure is about 300% of the popper line, a very greatly -- poverty line, they vary greatly aced on your background and gender. that is the end of the story. how do we get there? [no audio] >> we apologize about that, we

had live coverage from the mayors meeting. they heard from the housing secretary, who had a signal problem. we hope to restore that. yesterday, we covered the education secretary and we will show that to you in just a minute. we want to let you know more about our live coverage. jay carney will hold a briefing at 12:45 p.m. and we will have coverage. the other side of the town, they will hear from rising stars at 2:00. tomorrow night, we are bringing you a look at the shriver report on women and property. shriveraded up by maria and here is bit of what she had to say. theset united both of teams and everybody that wrote for this report and you has been

working on the front lines of humanity is the belief that these women, given the chance, can not only lift themselves up, but lift up their entire family. putting women at the center of the economy is good for women, men, boys and girls, and it is good for the country. that is the mission of the report. to change a lot of old stereotypes, putting you face to this issue and talk about it in ways that people can understand and see themselves. what we have seen and what we have heard with all of the , withge on television thanks and appreciation to so many other people, is what we have heard in all of the responses to nbc. this is my story. my story is not about the glass

ceiling, it is about the foundation and how do i shore it up? it is a story not against men, but including men. it is a story about what is good for boys and what is good for girls and what is good for women in particular. the incredible struggles that they face to be breadwinners, caretakers, and to be caregivers . to be good daughters and good mothers, citizens and workers. >> part one of that entire event coming up at 9:00. this morning on washington journal, we ask the question, has media coverage of new jersey governor chris christie been fair? yes, 163e saying saying no. christie is obviously guilty, move on already. we go from fox news touting the benefits of chris christie to

msnbc's reports of the end of civilization as we know it. that is facebook. we welcome your comments. duncanon secretary arnie , guest speaker at the conference of mayors. there are education reform task force. they talked about initiatives for increasing access to early childhood education along with keeping students on course to graduate. we will show you as much of this as we can until the white house briefing gets underway. >> i am going to ask the all the mayors to take their seats. we will begin the task force meeting.

let me thank all of the mayors who are here today as well of those in the gallery to observe the education reform task force meeting. we have a pretty robust agenda and we are already behind schedule. we will jump right into this agenda. mayor ofael hancock, the next super bowl champions, the denver broncos. i did that for mayor strickland over there. we want to welcome everyone to this meeting and thank all of the fans of the broncos. and the seahawks. i'm so excited and honored that

we have the secretary of education here with us today. he has been in so many of our meetings throughout the last several years. i want to thank you for joining us today. secretary duncan has offered and agreed to roll up his sleeves and be part of this working meeting of the task force will stop thank you for doing not -- task force. thank you for doing not. he is not here yet. i know vincent gray will be here from d.c. and we will of knowledge when he comes in. do today is to twofold. we want to acknowledge direction of the committee, the task force, as we advance throughout this year. i want to thank those mayors and their staff members who joined

us on a conference call back in november to establish the focus force for theask upcoming year. we want to discuss a plan of action that we want to pursue for the task force. one of the things we discussed as a task force on the conference call was the should be a working task force. this will not be about presentation and we welcome it if you're wondering what is next. we will walk out of here with a plan of action were all of us will get an opportunity to participate. you will understand what i mean as we traverse through this. for areas of execution for this coming year. and then move into the action areas. i want this to be a dialogue.

we will go about the process of engaging all of us in a dialogue . i will last you first and foremost to sign in. your name should be listed. if you are -- if this is your first meeting, we will ask you to sign your name on the back pages where there are spaces for mayors not listed. as important as your name is your primary contact. we need their contact information if you have it. i want to acknowledge our staff member from the u.s. consulate of mayors. thank you for all of your hard time -- all of your hard work. i also want you to meet my director of children's affairs. thank you, lindsay.

we want to develop online tools that will allow for -- improve policies, practices, and programs with each other over time. i want to acknowledge the four weas that we have decided will focus on over the years. limiting the achievement gap as a goal. that is what these four guiding principles are meant to help us to address.

when it should be we -- when it should be immense -- means to an end game that we should be focusing on. the whole objective or goal of having our kids prepared to compete in the global economy is getting lost in the moment. as we talk about these four areas, i ask you to think about those two guiding principles that i just shared with you. the first area that we want to focus on as a task force is to increase access to early childhood education. increase the number of high- .erforming seats keep kids on track to graduate and i will go into each of these

in just a moment. better job of increasing access to postsecondary pathways. that was just discussed in the i want tottee meeting share with you, we heard the task force members on the phone during the conference call. they felt technology should be a part of one of the four pillars that we discussed. we absolutely agree. technology would be something that would be a common thread woven through each of these four pillars. let me go into the first one. did all of you received this presentation via e-mail?

our best chance of eliminating the achievement gap means we have to address it before it begins. we must address it early. we will focus on programs for three to five-year-olds and other committees are working on birth to three. many of you in this room are working on pre-k programming so we will be looking to you to share your best practices and promising efforts and policies. i want to acknowledge that cincinnati and indianapolis, boston and san antonio have also moved quickly into this arena, focusing on early childhood education. the second pillar, increase the

number of high-performing seats in our classroom. teacher effectiveness. this is one of the best opportunities at impacting the system with considerations for doing it at any kind of scale around the country. the heart of this area really is about teacher recruitment. it is about teacher retention. it is about high quality principles in every school building. i'm glad secretary duncan is here because he can share with us what he knows or what he has seen around the country with regards to this area. to the heart of the challenge we face with regards to school reform and working toward the goal of eliminating the achievement gap. area is keeping students on track to graduate.

this is about making sure our kids are hitting key benchmarks and staying on track to graduate for long-term success. that is why the national focus on grade level reading proficiency and increased focus is so important as we move forward. there are materials in this room, or there will be, many of us participating in part of that foundation -- the annie casey foundation. we need to develop strategies to reengage or keep engaged all of our students and to reengage our dropout. .eep kids engaged make sure we address the full student. make sure their bellies are full, for example. how do we feed our kids after school or summer months? this is talking about after school programs, summer camps,

all the things we need to do to keep our kids focused and on track to graduate on time. is fourth and final pillar to ensure that our students have access and complete post secondary pathways. we are focusing on making sure our kids graduate on time and they are prepared for the challenges of postsecondary pathways. butjust a four-year degree, also a career and technical programs or community college or military. we need to make sure we pay attention to first generation students and make sure they are not spending all of their money on remediation programs. it is about partnering with our local institutions to ensure that they are offering programs that are in line with current and future job markets. increasing the likelihood that our young people will graduate. not one-ognizing that

size-fits-all and we need to prepare all of our kids for a pathway to success after graduating from high school. what i would like to do after reviewing each of those areas is to open the floor for your input and thoughts. i do have some guiding questions i would like to throw out there as we welcome mayor vincent gray . welcome to the meeting. thank you for having us in your city. you also questions, to engage around these issues. i think it is important for us to discuss why we have chosen to be a part of this task force. i want to get into some of these priority areas and how they might fit into the category within the education agenda. let me open the floor.

maybe a few of you would like to address why you have joint and some of the things you would addressed. we are being broadcast live on c-span. i will ask you to introduce yourself before you again your comment. thank you, mayor, and thank you, secretary duncan, for being here with us. early childhood education is important and we have spoken about this many times. we have been working through the data. very frustrating for someone like me who has been part of this issue back to win in the state of minnesota, the governor was there and i was on a task force for early childhood education.

wait forecided to not the federal government or for the state government to help us. we are working with our stakeholders and we have a program that is called -- we have a program that begins from birth to kindergarten. we also put an all-day kindergarten in our city. the data says if you can get a child to read by third grade, they will be much more successful and the graduation rate is much higher. best way for us to get our children ready and to be successful. the way we have gone about this is to engage all of our stakeholders from our business community. the program works with parents as well because from birth to kindergarten, you will need the parents to understand what it is

they can do to help their child to succeed. some of the parents who do not know english or cannot read, we have mentors for them. it is very comprehensive. i think it is the right pillar for us to work on. at times, the mayors have to take action and work with our school boards and superintendents to make sure he's things happen and then we use -- to make sure these things happen and then we engage the business community and others from the church community as well as other stakeholders to be mentors so that our children come be successful. >> we will come back to your point about sharing those spots in a moment. >> i am the new mayor of dayton, ohio. i am excited to be a part of the task force. coming from someplace that is just starting this issue, it is we made education

a piece that we really need to work on. i looked at it as a long-term job issue. students, 40% of our will not pass the third grade reading guarantee in the state of ohio. that is a big issue for school and our city. i am excited to be here and to listen and to learn. >> do you see the four pillars helping you to address all of the areas you have laid out as your priorities? x absolutely. -- >> absolutely. nicely.s i was excited to get this in my e-mail box. >> i saw a hand over here.

job on the work for the meeting. well done. maybe we consider adding something to the four pillars. in louisville, we are developing out the cradle to career pipeline. first one is early care and kindergarten readiness. the second is k-12. the third is what we call 55,000 degrees. pillar is 21st- century workforce. there is a fundamental disconnect around most of the country between what the rapidly changing needs of the workforce are and what is coming out of our educational institutions. all the way going back into grade school where we should be teaching basic problem solving and data collection and analysis.

focusing on what the jobs are of today is important with our strategy. it will give us more of an opportunity to benchmark our international competition and beware aware of the global competition. i do not want us to lose sight of that. pathway,the secondary we were hoping to cover 21st century jobs preparedness. i hope that you will be a part of that because i know you are leading an effort on job creation in your city. >> [inaudible] four new mayors, -- mayors do not control their school system, but you cannot stay on the sideline. for the new mayors, there are always ways to be engaged in education. i am focusing on keeping students on track to graduate. that is so important.

really wasay that i passionate about this, but when the former chair kevin johnson really laid a strong foundation for us. i want to thank him for his leadership. it is important for us to be very aggressive. some of the things you mentioned are critical. i do not control the system, but i appointed the first commissioner of education in our city. -- my goalmake sure in jacksonville is to have 100% modulation rate, no more dropped -- graduation rate, no more dropouts. forward to working with the task force on working with those you care about that particular issue. >> now that mayor johnson has come up front about what we are

doing is launching from the foundation he started. as mayors ist us that regardless of what our span of influence and control is, we have a tremendous amount of influence an opportunity to impact education. we get to mayor johnson, if you want to make a comment as well. >> thank you. every social indicator in our -- we are six years into our reform effort. made,reat gains have been but we still have a long ways to go given the poverty levels that we have in our city. beencity that has ayoralorming mi

involvement, there is a delicate balance to be had. it should be aligned between state policy and city policy. there is a delicate balance to be had with community and neighborhood groups who want to be active participants of the educational futures of the children. it requires a delicate balance with a collective bargaining sector. it could send things spiraling out of control, especially for the jurisdictions that are trying to be aggressive in terms of implementing reform. we have been very fortunate to have a good relationship with the secretary. secretary duncan was to be in my city yesterday, that the snowstorm detoured him a bit. doing some good work. we have some schools that have

100% graduation rate, 100% college enrollment rate. but we also have some really, really hurting schools with children as i classify as the poor poor poor. everything from the home to the community to the schools in which they are located and lack of resources really contributes to that cyclical cycle. we are forming some incredible partnerships. -- it is a high school of engineering and science. there is a lot of work to do. i think we need to be very strategic. i also want to congratulate you for this pre-work. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am the mayor of west

sacramento, california. i was one of the founding members of the task force. we have worked very hard with the secretary do get very strong policy alignment. we are one of the leading organizations in the nation around a very solid program for the states and the federal government to ensure closing the achievement gap. i think our policy work, while it is not done, the committee that he chairs has done work in that regard. this task force has been about delivering on the ground. once we have said yes, we are with the administration and the secretary on high quality teachers for all schools and systems to -- systems that work

for all kids, we are actually delivering. thetask force is less about broad statements around the state of the world we would like to see someday and more about what are we going to do and what we will do collectively. what i appreciate about mayor johnson's leadership was how uncomfortable it made me feel so often. the flipside of the synchronicity is sometimes all of those stakeholders are in complete alignment and it is completely failing kids. what works best for kids? the stakeholders in alignment, it is a beautiful thing, but that is not the goal. the goal is to deliver for kids. that is the test of the work we are doing.

the other piece which i really love about the practice and program elements you have included, what are we doing on the ground, as i hope our task force that we can be better addition to take advantage -- better position to take .dvantage we are taking our playbook and taking these policies, how do i take advantage of that $100 million to do something real in my community? this task force can be a great tool for leveraging the federal work. >> you are getting to the heart of what we are going to talk about. we will call for the questions because we will have to stay on time. i have mayor johnson,

strickland, rawlings,. want to piggyback off of what mayor brown said. we all have to get involved as mayors. i meet with the principles quarterly of all of the schools. they have budget problems. we made a commitment that we will fund it and put school resources officers in the school . i think it is necessary. the pillars are a great thing. system,a charter school 5900 students in our charter school system. 11,000 waiting to get in and we are having funding problems even though our state statute says the charter schools will get equal funding. school board members are elected .

has had somecan great leadership in the work , the commitment of this administration to give grants, 25 point $2 million for workforce training to our community college. i want to say what a great job you are doing. >> very good. mayor strickland? >> regardless of the governance structure that you have or the relationship you have with your school district, i believe the mayor of any city should be the most high-profile advocate for education and should be the one holding our schools responsible and accountable. why are we here? i am here for a simple reason. .here is an education pipeline we have an opportunity to fix that at this level. >> mayor rawlings?

endorsement, thank you, mayor johnson, for leading this. -- if there ever was an issue that could be bipartisan, i would think education should be at. be it.ld i call for all politicians on both sides of the aisle to try to get together and say this is the most important political issue of today as far as leadership. i do not hear it yet. duncan hasretary been one of the best education secretaries we have ever had, but everybody has to get on board on this burning lap form. -- that form -- platform.

second is my frustration. i have worked on this and studied this, i feel like we are around the edges. if we have to argue about how we use the word reform, we are talking about the wrong things. ok? this in a very tough-minded strategic fashion. i suggest three things. we don't do best practices enough. when you ask who is doing it right, there is a lack of clarity around that. well, they have the situation or that situation, a lot of smart people in the world that can take those variables out. there are some philosophies and what they do. second is measuring -- if we do not set of measurements that we all agree with, we do not care about it.

if you do not measure it, it is not important to you. i am a believer in racking and i tip my hat to you, mayor, and to mayor strickland, because the cowboys were eight and eight. you guys are going to the super bowl. we need that clarity around our school system. who is the best? who is the worst? politics, but put them all out there. let's know who is good and he was bad because that is what will create organizational change. the third point is the changes we make our around the edges. -- systemic tests. we have a lot of cities and i would take a couple of cities would have done something that nobody else has even thought of.

let's see how that works. let's figure out how we help fund those test. andybody is in the middle we are arguing about stuff and not really approaching this with the intellectual vigor that i think is necessary. sign me up, but let's take it much more than what we are talking about. >> hold that thought. i have a request for you. >> if you are married to an educator, this would be in front of you every day of your life. i will never get quite about this. if we do not fix the road to five-year-old word skills, we will never make the rest of this happen.

our metrics are changing. if we do not fix this, the rest of the good things we want to do, we have to evolve the way the world is evolving. tired of the big company saying, we do not have enough trained workers. if you do not fix the munchkins of the world, and it is not their fault, it is our fault. it is a crime and we have to fix it. you can tell it really gets to me. i talk to parents and i listen to my wife as she is a saint. >> secretary duncan? morecould not agree with -- i could not agree more. scorecardcould have a . early childhood, how many seats do you have? what are you doing each year? inm much more interested

growth and gain than where you are today. if you are at 70, how do you get to 78? how do you define a high- performing seat? what does that mean? having those honest conversations compels you to behave in different ways. graduation, freshman get you lots of information on best practices. what are you doing to intervene early for those kids who are not getting the help they need? looks to college -- if you at community colleges across the country, 40% of young people have to take remedial classes. if you look at public universities, it is 38%. where you have low standards, those kids are not ready. now?s doing this well

if you look at that -- if you look at the city comparison, mayor gray knock the ball out of the park. in terms of improvement. they are not where they need to be or want to be, but growth. a huge focus on early childhood education. they adopted higher standards a couple of years ago. ,hey created some heart aches but low standards are never going to get you where you need to go. they have had a relentless focus on teacher and principal quality . this had a mixed delivery system. they have adjusted every single year, so they have not done things perfectly. they make changes.

they are doing some things. it is a package of things. it will never be one magic bullet, but a package of things together in bc -- i see -- in dc. if there is not transparency, if iere is not a scorecard, think this is just words not actions. >> i love it. that is a perfect segue. i would like to entertain a motion to formally adopt the agenda for the task force the sheer. -- this year. i will assume we have consensus. i want to move on to the action item. secretary duncan -- i keep wanting to call you mayor.

the idea that we are fostering here goes to the heart of what secretary duncan just talked about. as we keep having conversations about education, there are a lot of cities doing some good things that we can follow. mary johnson created a framework for us that we all have -- mary johnson created a framework for us that we all have the handbook that was tremendous. to begin to codify the best practices, policies, so that we can access it from our offices, our staff can access it, is to create an online play book. we would seek a committee from , hopefully led by mayor mike rawlings, that would create the framework for

setting and evaluating those best policies and practices and programs that would go online and we would have them codify based on the four pillars we have created. and then they would be measured based on their effectiveness. we would have a tool in which to see how the city is performing with regards to certain metrics. the idea is to create this online playbook. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> you spoke so well. that is one of the dangers of being so eloquent is that you get chosen to do other things. >> [inaudible] >> this is a very important piece. i want to talk about the online playbook. it would be something we could keep up to date. if you want to know what a city around andou turn you hit the website.

vetted,ty that has been ups and downs, will be right there. this takes this whole idea a step forward. it does not say we are doing something, we are putting out there for other cities to replicate good and promising efforts. we would do that for each of the four areas. we will talk about those four areas. s for would be committee each of those four areas. some areas have artie volunteered their names. -- have already volunteered their names. put together the framework so we can do this online playbook. i will throw that out there for final discussion. i want to know what you think

about the online playbook. is there an area that you are most interested in if you would be willing to serve on a small committee to help us flesh out some of the best practices and programs around the nation? i think it is always great to have an online playbook. maybe just suggest an addition, if there is a way there is a chat room we can have a continual conversation amongst ourselves to say what is working or have you tried this or whatever. i do think we get stuck sometimes and we do not always break through those barriers. i am a vikings fan. i got nowhere to go on this at all.

it is an example of how was the community, we cannot just focus on that one factor. it is the teams we are allowed to build. one of the things we overlook sometimes because it is harder to measure -- i appreciate the desire to measure. -- emotional skills >> you can see all of this on our video library on c-span. we will take you live to the white house. jay carney is getting underway with today's briefing. >> later this evening, the president will speak with more than 250 i partisan mayors who are here for their annual conference in washington this week. the vice president will also attend. mayors are key partners with the white house. senior number of

officials have also participated in the conference to discuss how we can continue to grow our economy, strengthen our communities, expand access to educational opportunities, help more consumers access affordable health insurance and more. some of these mayors were also here a few weeks ago when we announced the first five, stone designees -- first five promise zone designees. hadecember, the president the opportunity to meet with more than a dozen newly elected mayors from across the country. we look forward to hosting the u.s. conference of mayors at the white house and continuing this dialogue. >> [inaudible] >> i should proofread this. they are mayors from all parties. [laughter]

>> thank you. the president has a speech coming up next week and i am wondering if you can give us a sense of where he stands. how he views the speech this year. the president is continuing to work on his state of the union address. that the speech is coming along and the president will continue to refine it over the coming days. the state of the union address is a unique opportunity for any the state of the union address, no matter which year you give it is an opportunity for any president to speak to the nation from congress and lay out as has been the tradition, his or her vision for the coming year. an assessment both of where the country is and where if can and

should go. the president will cover a rain g of issues, and i'm not going to preview the speech today, but i think you can expect that he will, as he consistently does, focus on the essential need to expand opportunity across -- throughout our country. to reward hard work and responsibility, to move forward with our economic recovery so our economy grows faster, it creates more and better jobs. and that we continue to invest in a way that solidifies an economic foundation for economic growth in the 21st century. >> he fipcally travels around the country in the days after the state of the union. is that the plan this week as well? >> i don't have a specific announcement to make. we will certainly, as we get closer to the state of the union address, tell you what our plans

are. it stands to reason that we will be continuing to discuss elements of the state of the union address in the days and weeks that follow. >> the situation in ukraine seems to have deteriorated over the past couple of days. i'm wondering what the u.s. thinks of this dynamic now between the government there and the protesters. >> you are correct in your assessment. and we condemn the violence taking place in kiev and we ask both sides to refrain from violence and deescalate the situation. we welcome the news that the president is meeting with opposition leaders. political dialogue to address the legitimate concerns of the ukrainian people is the necessary first step of resolving this crisis. next we need concrete steps taken by the government. this problem in ukraine is the result of the government failing to acknowledge the legitimate

problems of its people. they have criminalized peaceful protest of key democratic protections under the law. this demonstrate legislation written into law in recent days and withdrawing the violence, and beginning a dialogue with the opposition. from its first days, the movement has been defined by a spirit of nonviolence, and we support calls by opposition political leaders to reaccomplish that principle. we, the united states, will consider -- continue to consider additional steps including sanctions in response to the use of violence. >> one of the demands from the protesters is that the government be completely dissolved and elections be held. is that something the u.s. supports? >> we support an end to the violence. we support a dialogue between the government and the

opposition movement, and we will, obviously, as the situation evolves, consider other steps. >> at what point would you move to impose additional sanctions on ukraine? >> i wouldn't predict. i would say we will consider those steps in response to the use of violence. i can tell you that the state department has already revoked the visas of several people responsible for the violence, and we will continue to consider additional steps in response to any violence by any actors. so for those kinds of moves, i would refer you to the state department. but we will consider other actions. >> what's your understanding of of when the debt ceiling would be reached? >> i would refer you to the letter the secretary wrote and make lear our view that this is

something that is congress' responsibility and ought to be acted on without drama and without delay. it is simply an action that congress takes in order to pay the bills that congress has incurred. and therefore should be done in a manner that in no way endangers or disrupts economic progress. >> speaker boehner said there is no way the house will approve a clean ceiling debt -- debt ceiling increase. is that something you would agree with? >> i would point back to the disruption caused by the shutdown in october. the harm done to our economy by the threats house republicans made to our economy through threatening to fall back in 2011, and suggest that pursuing that path is always a bad idea, and it is harmful particularly to the middle class in the united states. we wouldn't expect that kind of

action to be taken. >> lastly, are you -- we got into this a little bit yesterday. are you satisfied with the level of cooperation you are getting from the russians on the sochi olympics? >> we continue to engage with the russians about security matters in sochi. we have offered our full support and any assistance to the russian government in its security preparations for the sochi games. the russian authorities, as you know, will be responsible for overall security at the games, and the state department of diplomatic security has a diplomatic security for the united states. we will send f.b.i. agents to liase with those countries' law enforcement officials. we have been in discussion with the russian government about that. as i noted yesterday, we have seen an uptick in threat reporting prior to the olympics.

that's a concern, even though it is to be expected when you have an international event like this. so we have offered the assistance that we've offered to the russians, and we continue to discuss with them security matters related to the game. >> may i follow-up? >> yes. >> have there been discussions along the same lines with u.s. nato allies in terms of the ecurity? >> i don't know the answer to that, john christopher. as would be expected, we are in conversations with the host nation, and making the necessary preparations that we would do in an event like this given the fact that there will be american athletes and american spectators and corporate sponsors and the like. i would refer you to the other countries in terms of what

cautions they are taking, and, you know, the kind of conversations they may be having with the russians. >> phone calls -- >> i can't account for every phone call made between the state department and other allies on these issues, but i can tell you this is something we're obviously very atentive to. and i can tell you lisa monoco, the president's national security advisor is leading a white house and interagency coordination body to ensure the full resources of the u.s. government are aligned in support of our athletes, delegation, and americans attending the olympics. as with any large international sporting event in which the united states participates, this includes the diplomatic security and f.b.i. agents on the ground. we are also engaged with the russians in answer to your question and other close barns and allies and conduct regular

checks on the state department travel web site. as i pointed out yesterday, the state department has issue aid travel alert. americans planning to go to sochi for the games should avail themselves to that information and should take the precaugs in hat alert. >> in an interview with cnn, the foreign minister said, quote, the white house tries to portray it as a dismantling of rein's nuclear program. that is the word they use time and again, referring to the word dismantling. we have gone through the record and we have seen the white house only use that a couple times. what do you think is going on? do you think they are trying to play to a domestic political audience? >> you said it for me. we expect the rein government to spin -- the eye iranian for nment to spin this

their political agenda. when it comes to the commitments we rein -- iran has made, have always been clear that this will halt their program and roll it back, stopping the advance of the program for the first time in nearly a decade and introducing unprecedented transparancy while we initiate a long-term comprehensive solution. now, we have also been clear that as part of that comprehensive solution, should it be reached, iran will be equired to agree to strict constraints including the dismanhattan -- dismantling of its nuclear program. so i think the dismantlement of this has to do with a comprehensive situation. the initial agreement with the

5 plus one have been clearly spelled out. ow the iranians want to characterize it, i think, has to be viewed through the prism of the audience they are speaking to. what matters to us, and to our partners and i think to the broader international community, is what iran actually does and whether or not it adheres to the commitments it makes. there is a level of transparancy and verifiability in this agreement that will allow the p5 plus one and the iaea to make assessments about compliance. s you know, the modest changes to sanctions that have been made in -- as part of this agreement work like a spigot. any don't all come at once

violation or failure to respond could be met with those consequences by allies. it is not about what they said, it is about what they do. it is absolutely the right thing to do to test whether or not iran is serious about coming into compliance with its international obstacle gation providing in a verifiable transparent way proof they are not pursuing a nuclear weapon. because that is in the world's benefit and in iran's benefit, in our view. >> the foreign minister does say we are not dismantling any centrifuges. president rohani said in a separate interview, we are not going to destroy any centrifuges.

are they going rogue on this? >> you are with cnn and i think that's part of it. >> what does that mean? iranean e answered how officials characterize this to their demoastic audience. it matters to us what they do. it has been verified that iran has stopped producing 20% enriched uranium. it has reduced the cent rifment . gues in addition, it has not installed additional centrifuges. that is in compliance with the clearly spelled out requirements of the agreement. we take what the iaea says and assesses and verifies as our guide to whether or not iran is doing what it said it would do.

>> have you given any further consideration to the fact that the white house should release the text of the deal so the people can see it and read it? >> i think again, as i explained last week, we have provided that text to members of congress, and we have provided a summary of that text to the public. this is a document that the iaea is basically -- basically guidance for the iaea for the joint plan of action. >> any response to the civil liberties board report calling into question the legality of the program? >> on friday the president announced the results of the administration's review of our signals intelligence program over the last six months. this review was led by the white house with other departments and aths agencies across the government. in addition to our own intensive work, the review process drew on ey stakeholders, including the

and the privacy and civil liberties oversight board. i would say a couple things. one, as you know, the president met with the privacy and civil liberties board on a number of occasions, including near the end of his own administration's review and was able to benefit from the conclusions of that board in draft form that they discussed. in a speech he made on friday and the acks the president described on friday, he is taking steps that would directly dervifed from some of the recommendations by the club. on 215, we disagree with the board's analysis on the leg at of the program. consistent with the recent holdings of the united states district courts for the southern district of fork and california as well as the finding of 15 judges of the foreign intelligence surveillance court

on 30 separate occasions over the last 10 years, the administration believes the program is lawful. as the president has said, however, we can and sl make changes in the program to give americans greater confidence in it. he has constructed congress and others to evaluate in the coming weeks ways to handle the data so he federal government does not retain control of that data. but on the specific issue you raised, we agree with the courts on this and the fisa court. why if i could follow up on that, the privacy and civil liberties oversight board also said the data collection program only had a minimal effect on the ounterterrorism efforts.

the president said last june the nsa's -- n.s.a.'s data collection programs had saved lives and prevented attacks. now you have this privacy and civil liberties board saying it has had only a minimal impact. who is right here? >> what i think the president said on friday, john, is that this program, combined with the other programs and efforts that are undertaken as part of our intelligence collection, have had the effect of making americans more safe, of disrupting potential terrorist plots against the american people, as well as our allies, and that it is a useful tool in the effort to combat terrorists who have designed on the united states and on the american people and our allies.

it is one of a number of tools, and i think you saw that the president announced in his brief that we can take steps to end that program as it currently exists and adopt another p club recommendation which is to only querrey the metta data with a court order in order to provide more safeguards and reassurance to the american people that the program itself is not being abused. it is a useful tool, john, and combined these programs protect the american people, protect our men and women in uniform verseas, protect our allies. and that's, as the president said, the very important and often thankless work performed by the men and women at the n.s.a. and elsewhere in our tens community. >> can you point to a single plot this program has helped to prevent? >> i would refer you to odni.

as the president said, there is no question that in his mind this is a useful tool, one of a number of tools we are able to employ to help the united states gainst terrorist attack. he wants congress and others to work with him to make changes and reforms to ensure that the program is not subject to abuse and that while it is still allowed to help us combat terrorism and the threats gainst us. >> i want to ask a question on the status reports. fundamental the president is unable to strike a deal with cars yy -- >> there -- if they are unable to strike a deal with karzai --

>> there would be no troops beyond 2015. >> karzai has to do this before he leaves office? >> we would have no choice but to initiate a post 2014 future in which there would be no troops on the ground in afghanistan. we can't have that signed by -- >> signed by -- >> signed by the afghan government. i know we have had discussions about future governments. there is not tisme to wait for a future potential government. the fact is, we are beginning to speaking e" broadly here -- but the administration and nato are beginning to make assessments and plans for 2014, and those decisions have to be made promptly. and they have to be made with or

without a signed bilateral security agreement. they can't wait well into 2014. so every day that passes, the further we get into this year, the harder it is to plan in any other way than it is with the expectations of the bilateral agreement would not be signed. we do not prefer that outcome. we do not think that is the best policy. but we simply can't plan for or have u.s. troops in afghanistan beyond 2014 without that agreement signed. >> it sounds like you are making a distinction there between karzai signing the agreement and whomever succeeds karzai signing the agreement. >> no, i am not. i'm simply saying, it has to be signed by the afghan government. i don't know who physically has to sign it. the issue isn't a future government. it has been negotiated by the afghan government. t needs to be signed, and we

cannot act upon -- we can't act to plan for a 2014 presence that would be for a new mission focused solely on counter terrorism and the training and upport of afghan troops absent b.s.i. p did you just say it was the club that flinsed the president -- >> no, i am saying it was the p club's review and it was one of the suggestions that the president adopted. >> does the president think that yanukovych -- >> the opposition here was a

nonviolent movement and adopted those principles. we call on the government to refrain from violence, and we support dialogue between the government and the opposition. we have taken some steps, the state department has in response to the violence, with regard to visas for those responsible for ome of the violence, yanucovych sident resign? >> it is a requirement for the government to respond to the grievances of the ukrainian people. >> edward snowen is holding a live online chat later today.

do you a response to that? >> no. have a comment on his statement that he may have been working in conjunction with russia? >> i think i answered this question earlier simply by saying this is obviously a matter handled by the department of justice. the charges have been brought against mr. snowden for releasing classified information. these are felony charges. he ought to be returned to the united states and face those charges. here in the united states he would be accorded the full protection of defendants in this country. it is our view he should come back to the united states to spaste face those charges. >> trying to pin you down on this point, is the administration ruling out the possibility that he could have been -- >> again, these are matters that are under investigation. he's been charged with felonies.

i'm not going to weigh in on those kines of assessments. >> south sudan's government, the rebels are apparently preparing to sign a cease-fire shortly. can you update us on that situation and what the administration has said about t? >> we welcome the agreement between the sudan and opposition forces. this is the first step in building a sustainable peace in south sudan. we expect both parties to fully and swiftly implement the agreement. and to demonstrate full acceptence to the letter of the agreement in the coming weeks. the united states urges both sides to move on this momentum by moving swiftly to a political dialogue to resolve the underlying causes of the current conflict. the u.s. will remain a steady partner to those who choose the

path of peace and continue to work for a more unified south sudan. as brams today was quoted saying that some of the atrocities committed in south sudan were as bad as those committed in syria. we wonder if the u.s. will support accountability for -- >> those who have committed atrocities must be held accountable. that is our position. >> back to iran. -- er thing president because of what president rouhani said, can --

>> in violation of the sanctions that remain in place, there will be no more acceptable or tolerated than it has in the past. i think we are -- have been clear that the modest sanctions relief that comes as part of the joint plan of action is limited to the very specific aspects that have been detailed in the agreement. so i think -- that's all there is. the point that we made again and gain is that the sanctions structure and the regime remains in place. we continue to enforce all aspects of it and have demonstrated that in recent weeks. if iran reaches a comprehensive solution with the p55 plus one, obviously part of that would be considerations of further measures to end iran's isolation and improve their economy.

we are a long way from that. >> i hear you saying that on their nuclear comments that making these comments for domestic political -- is broadcast outside of iran? >> yeah, i've seen it here. >> aren't they also sending a message to you, to the president, to the u.s.? it is not just domestic political consumption if they are talking to a broader audience. >> ed, what i can toll you is we are looking at what the iranians are actually doing. are they complying with the specific commitments they made in the joint action. as i mentioned earlier to jim, and cnn ing both cnn

international here, the fact is that on monday the iaea verified that in a written report and ubsequent briefing for p5 plus -- technical everts that the that iran has begun diluting its existing stockpile of 20% enriched uranium. so those are the specific actions they are committed to or bound to, and the iaea has verified that they are moving forward on that. how the leaders characterize the agreement matters far less to us -- whether or not they >> senator albright said specifically that iran has to to roy 15,000 centrifuges

make sure they decent get break-out technology, make sure they don't get nuclear weapons. so my question is, based on president rouhani saying they will not destroy nuclear weapons -- >> again, i won't speak farsi, and it matters less to us what than what they do. but "we have not" is different than "we will not." >> "will you destroy centrifuges?" "not under any circumstances." >> iran will be required to agree to strict constraints including the dismantlement of its nuclear infrastructure. now, we are just at the beginning of this process. if iran fails to comply with the agreements its made or if iran fails to reach agreement with p5 plus 1, then, we will

have to resume discussions. the point is to see if iran is serious about coming into compliance with their commitments to dismantle nuclear weapons. >> that would have to include the destruction of some centrifuges, correct? > the dismantlement of centrifuges. iran does not need nearly the centrifuge capacity as it has today. as part of the joint plan of action, iran greed to leave inon rathrabble half of the cenrifu gefment s at matan and as part of comprehensive solution, we will require that iran dismantle a significant amount of its nuclear infrastructure related to nuclear enrichment.

again, we are at the beginning of a six-month process. where we are at the end of that process and whether or not a comprehensive solution can be reached is unknown. but it is absolutely the right thing to do, having locked in the joint plan of action and commitments that iran has made to halt and roll back aspects of its nuclear program to test hether iran is serious about halting nuclear weapons. the sureest way is to have iran's verifiable transparent commitment not to do that. so that's why the united states and the p5 plus 1 is pursuing this potential diplomatic resolution to this conflict. >> the former deputy director of the c.i.a. said there is reason

to believe that snowden's material was compromised when he landed in congress congress. in other words, much sooner than previously thought. of which the ng white house is aware? >> on matters like this, i can only tell you that it's -- there's a legal process in place. mr. snowden has been charged. i would refer to you, whether it is by comments by lawmakers or to the department of justice. >> this is something that we have not heard before. >> there is a legal case that is being handled by the department of justice, so for questions like that, i would have to refer you to the department of justice. roger? >> on trade promotion authority what does the president make of these calls around town of the business groups, joined by mr. boehner and everything, that he needs to mention did in the

state of the union and get members of his own party on board? how does he view that? >> i'm not going to preview any of the action of the state of the union address, but i can tell you this is a key part of a comprehensive authority to support more american jobs at higher wages, including a stronger manufacturing sector. we have welcomed the introduction of the bipartisan trade act of 2014 as an important step toward congress updating its important role in trade negotiations. and we are actively working with democrats and republicans in congress throughout the legislative probs to pass t.p.a. legislation that has broad bipartisan support as possible. that includes obviously republicans and democrats. >> is it critical that it pass this year, or can it be brought -- >> well, it's the priority of the president's. it's part of a strategy to increase exports and increase american jobs.

i'm not going to put a time frame on it, but it is a priority, and we're working toward its passage. >> a lot of the things the president called for last year is still languishing. how does he adjust this year? does he go back to the same ideas? does he trim his sails a little bit? >> i'm not going to preview the state of the union address, but i can say one of the things he discussed was comprehensive immigration reform. the senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill that meets the principles the president laid out, and they did so in a bipartisan way. we certainly hope that the house will follow suit. that is not completed, but progress has been made, and we hope congress will act so that the president can sign a bill that reforms our immigration in a way that strengthens our borders, gives significant

benefit to economic growth and provides the other benefit we ave discussed. when it comes to what the president has discussed, there are things that he and the administration can do without congressional action. the president has been talking about that quite a bit in recent days, and you can expect that in the coming weeks and months of this year, as part of what we're calling a year of action, you will hear the president state other things that he can and will do and that the administration can and will do, using the power of his office, both the pen and the phone, to help advance an agenda that expands economic opportunity, that rewards hard work and responsibility, and lifts up the middle class and makes it more secure. beyond that, you'll have to wait and see what's in the speech.

>> will there be a move to go back to minimum wage? >> you have seen state after state pass increases in the minimum wage, and you have seep other states considering raising the minimum wage. this goes to the point of rewarding hard work. i think in the united states there is broad agreement regardless of affiliation, that if you work full time, you work hard because you want to take responsibility for yourself and your family, you should be paid a living wage. you should not be paid a wage that -- so as a basic principle, raising the minimum wage remains as compelling an idea today as it was last year. the president is certainly encouraged by actions taken by the sfates, but that's not enough. congress ought to move forward to raise the minimum wage, and

we support a move that would do that. >> there has been some talk about what happens if there aren't enough young healthy people to sign up for the affordable care act. would the administration take a definitive stance that there would be no taxpayer bail out of insurance companies if the worst comes to worse on that? >> fred, i think what you have seen in the data that's been released is that there has been steady and significant increases in enrollments, especially in december, and that includes an even quick erin crease in the enrollments of young people under 35. we expect that will continue. in fact, the data released by c.m.s. tracks very closely with the way that the massachusetts health insurance reform program unrolled upon implementation, and that includes, as it relates to the percentage of young

people who enrolled. we obviously created a lot of problems for ourselves with the aulty rollout of the healthcare.gov webb web site. significant improvements have been made. proof is that there has been so little reporting on that. tolook forward to continuing see increases in enrollments, including among young americans. chris? vitalulation growth is so for russian development anything that gets in the way of that should be collarred up, using a call for military action. what is your view on that?

>> i didn't see that. legislation that has been passed in russia has been clearly expressed. i can't comment on that particular report, except that we obviously believe it is very much in the interests of russia o conduct an olympics that and our views ne n the matters of lbgt rights and equality are very clear. >> freezes the assets of citizens and finds violation of human rights for lbgt. is anything like that under consideration? >> i haven't seen any report on that. i haven't seen an update on the memitzki act, but you can be sure that our concern is that

lbgt rites and civil rights are clearly expressed by russia or elsewhere or countries in conflict with those principles. >> do you have any comment on president putin? >> i don't have a further readout than what we provided. >> at the r.n.c. winter meeting here in washington mike huckabee said the democrat's message to women is that, reading from the report, helpless without uncle sugar coming in and providing them a subscription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido without the government? >> i haven't seem that report, but whoever said it sounds offensive to me and to women. >> much has been made about

deportation. the president took political action on the dreamers by not deporting younger people who came to this country without any conscious decision on their own. in response to the heckler, you he said he can't do that for the rest of the illegal population. opinion on -- >> legal analysis or -- for legal analysis i would refer you to the department of homeland security. what the president has made clear is that he and the federal government has to enforce the law. this is an issue that goes right to the heart of why it is necessary to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that addresses all of the aspects encompassed by immigration reform, including the need for border security, including the need for improved legal immigration so that we can

take advantage of all the brilliant young people from around the world that come and study in our universities and would like to start businesses here, but currently face obstacles to doing that. they provide a path to zip for the 11 million un-- citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people in this country. this is not something that can be resolved by a single action of the president. that's why we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform. >> governor mccarthy is the number three republican in the house. he came out in an interview with his local station in favor of a path to leg at if not citizenship to those here illegally. what's your view on that? >> our view has been that we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform scomprks when it comes to creating two classes

of people in this country, we have always thought that was the rong approach. one of the notable hall marks of the push for comprehensive immigration reform is that it is supported by democrats and republicans, by labor and business, by law enforcement and faith communities. it is broad based. it is nonpartisan. it has enormous economic benefits to our country, and that's why we ought to pass it. hanks.

>> president obama's budget for next year will be reached on march 4, about one month behind schedule. the budget department said the release will be late because congress was late to finish up an omnibus spending bill. that means the administration can wrap up work on the 2015 budget. in 15 minutes or so, we will take you back to the republican national committee winter meeting. we are going to be hearing from what they are calling their rising stars, 2:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. tonight a forum to raise awareness to key issues facing women. "the shriver report" talks about some of the conclusions. >> what what united everybody who wrote for this report and who has been working for, what i call, on the frontlines of

humanity, is the belief that these women given the chance cannot only lift themselves up, but can lift up their entire families, and putting women at the center of the economy is not just good for women, it is good for men, it is good for boys and girls, and it is, most importantly, good for the country. that's really the mission of this report, was to change a lot of old stereotypes, put a new face to this issue and talk about it in ways that people could understand and see hemselves. what we have heard on television, and thanks to beyonce who has pushed this into pheres i hadn't even heard of, what we have heard is, this is my story. this is not about the glass ceiling, it is about the foundation and how do i shore it

up. it is a story not against men, but including boys. it is a story about what's good for boys, good for girls, good for women. in particular, the incredible struggles they face to be bread winners, to be caretakers and to be care givers, to be good daughters, mothers, citizens, and workers. the written national committee meeting this week, we have been watching today chris -- asking has media coverage of chris christie been fair? the poll so far, 170 saying yes, 200 saying no. >> a few from anthony who says, from a civil engineer's point of view, this has been blown way out of proportion by the media.

at worst, it is a slap on the wrist for those involved. we will take you live shortly to the winter meeting of the republican national committee. up until then, a couple of the mayors in town for the mayor's winter meeting. cities joining us at the desk toy. joining us, the mayor of houston, annise parker. ofo joining us, the mayor baltimore, stephanie rawlings-blake. thank you for joining us. you are here as part of a conference that takes place. can you tell our audience when you gather here, what are you talking about. it play out overall in the united states? we talk about everything that happens in cities. we are divided into committees and we have a committee on parks, public safety, infrastructure.

we share best practices. resolutions. we offer each other moral support. can you talk a little bit about what you're most concerned about? guest: there are a lot of concerns about meeting epa requirements and making sure we are able to keep the infrastructure improvements affordable. -- weinteresting to hear have our own challenges in baltimore and it is interesting to hear you different concerns that each of the cities are having. drought, water a access issues. some have a similar infrastructure issue like we have. is do we approach it -- there a unified way to approach it? i think that is an example of president issues in city --

example of present issues in cities. get to learn from their cells or other people. sidesther issues, both infrastructure -- besides infrastructure issues do you generally share concerns with? guest: it changes with each meeting. .e meet twice a year lastnuary in d.c., but the meeting, we were talking about detroit and what it might mean for our cities and the issue of whether the bonded debt of ,etroit, if it wasn't protected what would it mean to borrow money as cities. it ranges widely. your economies are concerned, give a snapshot of where the economy is and how it is affecting your city. we released a report

yesterday and it talked about the fact that we are growing out of this recession. we are going to see real inflation-adjusted growth in about every single metro area across the country. it is clear that while the economy is growing, we are leaving too many people behind. too many people have left the job market. how do we create jobs that can get those individuals that have decided to leave the job force, how do we get them back to work? host: what would you add to that? thet: we have one of strongest economies in the united states, even through the recession. even in a city that is doing well economically, any unemployment is a challenge.

areicularly, the worst-hit minority males. there is an education issue that is part of that and often violence issues around that. your unemployment rate? guest: i don't know what it is right now, but an enviable rates. the way your economy is growing, what would you attribute that to? the oil ande still gas capital of the world. this is a good time for oil and .as america's largest exporting port. we have a strong manufacturing base. host: what about your economy? what is it like, what is unemployment like? guest: our unemployment is

higher than the national average. we have, unfortunately, the concentration of the state's poor, elderly, seniors, and that presents its own challenges. very strong medical institutions, including johns hopkins. we will be hosting millions throughout me summer. -- throughout the summer. i was encouraged by what i heard from the commerce secretary yesterday. she addressed the mayors at the meeting. it was about the interest of the obama administration in a re-shoring a lot of the

manufacturing jobs that have left the country. a blue-collar city, we are poised to take advantage of that. guest: the conference meets here direct accesshave to whatever presidential administration is in office. they have been very responsive to us. ofare the economic engines the united states. we are where the economy happens. it is important to keep the city healthy and strong. i want to let our viewers know they are welcome to ask questions of our guests. if you have questions for them, the phone lines available to you -- democrats, (202) 585-3880. republicans, (202) 585-3881. independents, (202) 585-3882. you can send your thoughts --

@cspanwj on twitter. is leonard, michigan. democrats line. caller: happy new year to you. goingstion is kind of with the cities and how they fit together all of the different from the governors state, all of the extra money they are spending, when that be better to stay within. the mayor of ohio ran for presidency. he that man there decided to hold onto his city instead of letting big business take over the cities, which helped the city quite a bit. with bigger government getting involved with the cities,

correct me if i'm wrong. does the city not have the power to overturn the government? >> we will let our guest respond. >> the year of the mayor. -- thinkbelieve it there will be a mayoral revolution. is withthe revolution respect to how the federal government and administration sees this. there is no debating policy. we have to get it done for our constituents every day with no skis is. it is that attitude mayors have to have that i think is to theive administration. you have seen more mayors prominently featured. we had our former mayor, now the

secretary of transportation. there is no revolution but there isn't enough. the result is controversy appear about whether this is and do not have to worry about that. cities have to function 24/7. -- you will find whether we are republicans or democrats. in general, we are all democrats. we are very pragmatic and focused on getting the work done. we think that kind of attitude would benefit up here. also from michigan.

hi. i think she left us. also, -- that is his assessment but i do not know how that plays out. guest: we have experienced the most violent crime in decades. a very preventable crime. down forrime has been several years. we are a gun rights state. conceal and carry and have guns in their home. >> in baltimore, we have seen homicides in the last two years. we were able to get homicide rates down to the lowest while

violet crime has reduced, the homicide rate remains consistently high. we talk about how to address that. i discuss with other mayors here at the conference of mayors. we are looking forward to bringing some of those into baltimore to reduce some of the homicide rate. kennedy onith david his cease-fire model. it is a heavily community involved process. he helps cities like new orleans reduce their homicide rate. there is a program that works with young people who have repeatedly offended and when no one else wants to work with you,

this program does it out of massachusetts, another program we are bringing in. we are dealing with violent crime in the sense we have worked in the schools of elementary kids, teaching young people who, all they see is violence as a way to deal with conflict and teaching them another way to deal with conflict. we are trying to head it off in early stages. we are also dealing with a heavy with those repeat violent offenders. we have strict gun laws. we continue to work with our federal partners. almostar alone, we took 2000 illegal guns off the street. we cooperate with all