have a national conversation about how we are going to sustain medicare, curtail the costs, drive higher value so that american citizens will have a high quality but affordable health care system going forward. there are a number of ways of doing it. that tends to drive up utilization. we believe innovation and market forces play a role that competitiveness and that transparency of who is getting the best outcomes at the lowest cost does spark innovation. that is a model we have flourished under. there are multiple ways of addressing this. host: what is the importance of preventative health care when it comes to issues such as obesity or smoking? guest: it is absolutely huge.

that involves behavioral change. we have an epidemic of obesity and type two diabetes. that is absolutely critical. health and health care are related. keeping people healthier longer is absolutely critical. we let this slide folks moved to the city, they walk less, they have access to fast food. the obesity epidemic is following the growth of gdp around the world and the developing nations. smoking is a huge issue in our country. host: what is your personal reaction when you see the advertisements for prescription drugs on tv?

the obesity epidemic is following the growth of gdp around the world and the developing nations. this is a huge issue. smoking is a huge issue in our country. but also around the world. tose choices are critical prevent illnesses that result from those bad choices. host: what is your personal reaction when you see the advertisements for prescription drugs on tv? guest: this is not a official position. it does gets people's attention get people's attention about the importance of health.

as we watched those ads and hear about the potential side effects of medicine, i think that raises the awareness that the illness is important, there are treatments available, but they are not without risk. our patients are much better informed than they were 15 years ago because of access to information on the internet. it allows them to engage more in the conversation and the decisions they make. sometimes they need a little help interpreting that information as it relates to them specifically. that is my reaction to that. host: arlene is calling from trenton, michigan.

caller: i wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that three years ago i was at the mayo clinic in rochester and told everyone in michigan that if the example was set by the mayo clinic by every hospital and every doctors organization in this country, we would have much healthier people living here. at my age i am quite cynical of the medical profession. i have to say the courtesy and absolute position while my friend was finally being diagnosed with fibromyalgia -- i think everyone should take the opportunity to walk through the place and see how it was. i accompanied her on those appointments and they were met to the minute. of the diagnosis was made, the treatment was given, and five days later her disability was accepted and approved first time

out. i cannot say enough about it. it is too bad every medical facility does not practice they -- mayo's medical practices. i think they are awesome. guest: that means a great deal to us. we learn a lot from our patients. we can always do better. if we try every day to do better. we appreciate those comments. thank you. host: a tweet -- guest: i think you can have both. we want to be certain that we are taking advantages of everything that is known and knowable of biomedical research.

the practice of medicine continues to move forward. they are getting the right care for them dialed down to the individual level. we cannot agree more. we have a center for individualized medicine. we try to make the right choice for that individual but to really engage them in that decision. here are the options for you. here are the pluses and minuses of those options, try to help the patient make a good decision. i think that is what i am hearing here. as a system across the country,

we want to make sure we have a high standard of efficiency and quality. diagnoses are accurate, they are made quickly, and we get people back to work as quickly as possible. in medicine and you want to prevent the disease if you can. if you haven't illness you need that right answer so you can -- have an illness you need that right answer so you can take advantage of what is available to you to give the best chance of being well again and getting back to work. i think we are seeing the same thing. host: nick is calling from pleasanton, california. you are him with the ceo of a mayo clinic. caller: i like very much how the clinic is run. a lot of them are in it for profit and our local hospital here, talking about the expansion of the service to

accommodate people who cannot afford it. it is up to the individuals to take more responsibility. more recently i got in the mail, from two different doctors, pushing nutritious foods and how to prepare foods. part of the problem is getting the right information and all the nutrients and everything we eat. every doctor has their own opinion and everybody is pushing for something else. at this time i have my own health problems and if i am lucky i will be around for a

couple of more years. host: we are going to leave your comments there and see what the doctor would like to say. guest: there is an awful lot of information out there and you are experiencing that. i think it is important to get trusted information that has been filtered and focused. there are ways of doing that. the mayo clinic website is a good website to go and confirm or deny some of the questions that you are struggling with. it there are others that can help you with that. you are absolutely right. you want to know which information to believe and when they are different like that you can ask your doctor or your nurse or go to the clinic website or in other high-quality websites to help you. host: what is your biggest

frustration with the u.s. health care system? guest: we are frustrated when our patients are frustrated. our patients are struggling with their health care bills. the country is struggling with the health care bills. the inefficiency in the system that we have talked about, the fragmentation of care, the unequal and uneven quality around the country. whenever our patients or families are frustrated, we are frustrated. that is why we are working so hard to reduce the fragmentation, share what we know, improve our quality, help others improve the quality so the citizens in this country get what they deserve. that is highly efficient safe care that is affordable and long-term. host: jeff in pennsylvania, we are low on time so be quick. caller: thank you for taking my call. you have mentioned nuts and bolts. can you zero it down to two

things on the field, like an aspirin for $10 or $15 for a or -- is two cents to make up a they charge you $15 for a little plastic tray. guest: you are right. we are frustrated by that, you are frustrated by that. this is a system that needs to be refined and change. you need to look at what is the cost of care. what is the value of getting the care right? how do we drive more efficient and safer care? this is a very old-fashioned system of itemizing health care costs.

it is a need of reformation and a very complex web that you talked about. host: how do you help patients understand their bill? guest: we are all struggling with the same legacy system that is put in place. it is highly regulated by the insurance and by the hospitals. we need more transparency, we need more clarity. at the moment no one has this right in this country. there are new models that are coming forth. this one is badly broken. being patient and going through line by line on a bill makes patients frustrated wherever they are getting their care and making providers frustrated as well. we need to have this national conversation.

it is not about the price of the bolts. it is about did they do the right thing? did they do it efficiently, did they do it safely? did i get out of the hospital in an efficient way? it comes down to is the diagnosis right? if the diagnosis is wrong, this tremendous human suffering, as the patient goes from pillar to post trying to get the diagnosis right at tremendous cost, meanwhile they are taking medication that may not be helpful. it is a complex question. how do we provide higher-quality care? that will be lower-cost care. he is up the quality of health care fewer readmissions, fewer inappropriate operations, providing safer care at a much

much lower cost. that is where these integrated systems are working together with the patient at the center and we stand the best opportunity of reducing the cost of care in a very meaningful way. host: last call comes from michael in byron, minnesota. caller: i am wondering if it will be effective in rochester or the other places in florida. host: the dmc? caller: the designation medical center. guest: this is the legislation i referred to. it is a minnesota bill that provides up to 20 years of infrastructure support for growth and the economic development, centered in rochester and the surrounding

community. the growth of rochester and the immunity as a destination. qualitys if a high- permanent jobs over the next 20 years. qualitypect high permanent jobs over the next 20 years. to your question, it is a minnesota legislation. host: some final tweets -- thank you for coming on the washington journal today to be,

pummeled by political questions. you are a great spokesman and very patient with us. we will leave it there. dr. john noseworthy. guest: thank you so much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> on the next "washington journal" sheryll cashin and sophia nelson on african- american history month. .hen nathan hultman is live at journal" 7 a.m. eastern with your calls, e-mails, and facebook comments. new development in new jersey where a former official said that governor chris christie knew about the lane closings

that led to massive delays on the george washington bridge and that am might have been an act of political retribution. governor christie held a news conference addressing the issue. rote this.stein w governor christie's office released a statement saying this. you can watch given to christie's press conference online at c-span.org. we will bring you updates on the c-span network. >> we are very focused on the sochi olympics. we have seen it take in that threat reporting regarding

sochi. this is what we expected given where the olympics are located. there are a number of extremist in that area, particularly a group that is probably the most prominent terrorist group in russia. the leader of that group last july announced in a public message that the group would intend to carry out attacks in sochi in connection with the olympics. we have seen a number of attacks beginning last fall of suicide bombings that took a number of lives. -- tourists difficult for us to find and adjust the rats that terrorists pose. we as a country have done a great job of addressing some of the vulnerabilities in our system. putting together an information

architecture that allows us to move quickly, but you do not know what you do not know. >> the probability of attacks 2001 for me is a hard question to answer. dispersion and diffusion of a threat whereas we are very focused initially on that time now we arel qaeda, facing a much more dispersed threat. span, theeek and on c- nation's top cheats on worldwide security threats. saturday morning at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span 2, your calls and depth.s on in tour ac-span 3,

confederate winter quarter of south carolina general. sunday evening at 7 p.m. today president obama and vice president biden met with ceos of large and small businesses to talk about hiring people who have been unemployed long-term. then obama spoke about new labour initiative that would support partnerships for hiring for nonprofits and businesses. his remarks were about 20 minutes. [applause] >> good morning. my name is erick. it is a great honor for me to be here at the white house today with the president and vice president, especially since, three years ago, i was

unemployed and homeless. i am very happy to report that my story has a happy ending, but for a long time, my path forward was very unclear. i spent six years in the united states army where i proudly served my country as a combat infantryman. work was hard, the hours long, and the duty was dangerous. after my honorable discharge from the military in 2008, i returned home from california to begin a new life with my wife and daughter but was quickly met with the realization that there was no work for a skilled heavy equipment operator and i was struggling to make the transition to a new career. i cannot find work in the construction industry, so i started to apply for fast food restaurants and retail stores.

with no luck, i was motivated to work and i wanted to work, and i knew i could contribute to society like i had in my military service, but i felt helpless, lost, and more importantly, a disappointment and failure to my family. i was very fortunate to find online a new program started by pacific gas & electric company in california called the power pathway program that offered job training and skills to people who had no experience in the utility industry. i quickly applied and was accepted into a 16-week program in san francisco and i'm happy to share that i graduated the pg&e power pathway program in 2009 and was hired in 2010, where i currently work as an apprentice electrician in eureka, california. i want to thank pg&e for giving me this opportunity, and the work they provided me restore purpose in my life and gave me a

sense of direction once again. i am glad that pg&e is expanding the power pathway program to address long-term unemployment and for signing on the president's initiative. let me end my remarks by thanking president obama for bringing companies together to help on work for thousands of americans who only want the opportunity to succeed. now it is my honor to introduce the president of the united states, barack obama. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you, everybody. first of all, let me thank erick for being here and sharing his story for his service to our country. erick, everyone recognizes what

a great success story this is, but also the notion that someone with this kind of skill and talent was having this kind of difficulty finding a job indicates the challenges we face. i want to thank all of you, business leaders, philanthropists, elected officials, all members of my cabinet and administration, not only for coming, but for committing to more success stories for more people like erick, making sure that everyone in this country who wants to work as a chance to get ahead, a paycheck, and the structure that a job provides to people. i said in a state of the union, while the economy is getting stronger, businesses like yours

have created 8 million new jobs in the past four years. unemployment is at the lowest it has been in five years. we all know we have more to do to build an economy where everybody who is willing to work hard and take responsibility can get ahead. we have to do more to restore opportunity for every american. the opportunity agenda i laid out the gains with doing everything we can to create new jobs here in america, jobs in construction and manufacturing, american innovation and energy, \steps we can take to streamline our tax code, incentivize companies to invest here, things we can do to make sure that we are continuing to lead the world in innovation and basic research. we have a whole lot of infrastructure we can build that can put people to work right away.

we have a couple trillion dollars worth of deferred maintenance in america and the ramifications of us taking that on would be significant. we have to roll faster and put more shoulders behind the wheel of expanding economic growth. step two is making sure every american has the skills to fill those jobs. step three is we have to guarantee every child access to a world-class education, from early childhood, to college, to a career. [applause] step four, we have to make sure the hard work pays off, with wages you can live on, savings that you can retire on, health insurance there when you need it. today we are here to focus on that second point, connecting more ready to work americans with ready to be filled jobs, so

folks out of work can apply the skills they have already got. getting people back on the job faster is one of our top priorities, but i have to confess, last month, congress made that harder by letting unemployed insurance expired for more than a million people. each week congress fails to restore that insurance, roughly 72 million americans will lose their lifeline. for our fellow americans that have been laid off through no fault of their own, on implement insurance is often the only source of income they have got while they look for a new job. when erick was out of work, it is a lot harder to look for work if you cannot put gas in the gas tank. if you are worried about whether there is food on the table for your kids. if mom is not making the rent

and paying her phone bill, it is a lot harder for her to follow up with a potential employer. on implement insurance offers that security is about losing your livelihood does not mean that you lose everything you worked so hard to build. that is true whether you have been out of work one month or six months, but those that have been unemployed the longest often have the toughest time hitting back to work -- getting back to work. the longer you are unemployed, the more unemployable you may seem. this is an illusion, but one that unfortunately we know statistically is happening out there. according to one study, if you have been out of work eight months, you are likely to get called back for an interview

only about half as often as if you were out of work one month, even with the identical resume. so we are here tonight to say that is not right. we know there are folks like erick all across the country who have enormous skills and talent and capacity, but they need a change. i invited a mother of two boys to my speech. she was employed since college, never collected on implement benefits, never dependent on the government. impressive young woman. when she lost her job to budget cuts, she could not find another and turn to unemployment insurance to make sure she and her husband could keep the new home they just spend their life savings to buy. as i said on tuesday, she wrote to me and said i am confident i will find a job. i will pay our taxes and raise our kids in the home that we purchased in the community we love. please give us this chance. i thought that spoke for so many americans out there, just give us a chance. they are our neighbors, friends, young and old, black and white, men and women, phd's and ged's. interestingly, the long-term

unemployed are often times slightly better educated, in some cases better qualified, then folks who just lost their job. just because you have been out of work for a while does not mean that you are not a hard worker. it just means you have bad luck or were in the wrong industry or lived in a region of the country that is catching up a little slower than others in the recovery. i have heard from too many of these folks that show up early they will outwork anybody. they fill out 200 applications, sending out resumes, still finding time to volunteer in their community or at a church. sometimes they have more

may marks and newly unemployed americans. mean that chance, someone to look past that stretch of unemployment, put it in the context on the fact that we went through the worst financial and economic crisis in our lifetimes which created a group of folks who were out of work longer than normal. it does not reflect on all of their abilities or values. it just means they've been dealing with the aftermath of this really tough job market. all they need is a fair shot. and with that shot, and out of work young person can get the critical experience he needs to improve his employment prospects for the rest of his life. with that shot, someone with decades of experience could show someone with less experience the ropes.

that is what today is all about. we really do not have an alternative because giving up on the unemployed will create a drag on our economy that we cannot tolerate. giving up on any american is something that america cannot do. erick made an important point in his remarks. often times, folks, no matter how skilled or confident you are, you get discouraged, and that affects people's physical health, it affects their mental health, and over time, you can have a negative feedback where it becomes harder and harder for folks to get back in the game because they are getting so many discouraging messages. that can have long-term impact, particularly, if it is early on

in a young person's career. so while congress decides whether or not it will extend unemployment insurance for these americans, we are going to go ahead and act. we know it works. we're going to go ahead and see what we can do without additional legislation to make some serious dents in the long term a plumbing problem. we know what works for employers and employees alike. i spoke on tuesday about the head of the detroit manufacturing system. she was with us at the state of the union, sitting with first lady. she worked with the local american jobs centers, early funded, to hire people that were out of a job but ready to work. on average, they were out of work for 18 months. today she says they are some of her best employees. greg is here today. greg has been working in sales for 30 years when he lost a job in december 2011 for the first time in his life, found himself

struggling to capitalize on decades of work experience. after months of pounding the pavement, is on implement insurance ran out, and began, as erick described, darted to feel hopeless and useless. then last year he got hooked up with a program called skills for chicagoland's future, thanks to the work of our secretary of commerce and my former chief of staff rahm emanuel, and so this intermediary trains greg with the skills they need to be employed in a local company. two weeks later, he was back on the job helping people get signed up for health insurance they need. he said it made him feel relevant again, like i have something to offer. so today, more than 80 of the nations largest businesses, over 200 medium and small sized businesses, are now making their commitment to set best practices like greg and misty and erick, can access, and feel as if they

can have a partner in getting back on the job, making the contributions that we know they can make. so i want to thank all the companies who have made this commitment. [applause] with the support of andrew and ursula burns chairing the business council, randall stephenson of the business roundtable, the society for human resource management, we have engaged in companies all around the country, including here today, to commit to inclusive hiring policies, for

making sure screening practices do not visited it folks that have been out of work, to expand the open door policy that encourages all qualified applicants, and of course, it is only right the federal government lead by example. today i am directing every federal agency to make sure we are evaluating candidates on the level, without regard to their implement history. because every job applicant deserves a fair shot. i just had a chance to meet with some of the ceos who are making these commitments. some of them are already participating with what is going on in chicago. they have some great ideas of what works. one of the things we will need to look at is the impact of credit histories on the long- term unemployed. if you have been out of work 18

months, you have met -- you may have missed some bills. that cannot be a barrier of entry to you getting to work so that you can pay the bills. unfortunately, we are setting up, in some cases, perverse incentives and barriers, but in some cases, what i heard was, just pay attention to this. let's see if we are doing everything we can to look at every candidate on the merits. i was really grateful to all of them for stepping up in this way. i am confident that as a consequence of what we did, we will see progress across the country. going back to greg, his life was turned around because of a partnership, not just because he got a fair shot, but because he

had advocates that helped him earn the skilled than he needed to land a job that made sense for him. that is why we are excited to have programs like chicagoland's future platform to implement, and many others are presented in the room. as important as it is for the businesses to make this commitment, it is great to have these intermediaries and on profits who are also able to show success, even with folks who have been out of work for a long time. my administration will partner with the business community and the nonprofit sector. i have asked joe biden to lead an across-the-board reform of all of our training programs, working with secretary of labor tom perez, secretary of commerce penny pritzker, to make sure our job training programs have a single mission. that is what we have to prioritize. today, i am announcing that the department of labor will put forward $150 million in the

ready to work partnership competition, to support more partnerships that we know work. innovative collaboration between local governments, major employers, nonprofits, all designed to help workers get the steel they needed to build bridges to the jobs required. even though the economy is getting stronger, it will not be enough until those gains translate enough into better opportunities for ordinary folks like erick, who have skills and the desire, just need a chance. we are going to keep knocking down barriers to reemployment so more of the nearly 4 million long-term unemployed americans can regain the stability and security that a good job brings their families. and by the way so they have more money to spend on local businesses, which will lift the entire economy up, creating a virtuous cycle, instead of a negative one.

we will keep encouraging employers to welcome all applicants. you never know who will have the next great idea to grow your business. we will keep building ladders so that every american can join the middle class. we are stronger as i said on tuesday when america feels a full team. i want to thank you for the business commitments, the nonprofits here for the work you are doing on the ground. we are going to scale this up and make it happen. most of all, i want to thank erick and some of the other folks that have experienced success. before we came out here, i said, when folks see him doing well, that gives them hope, and it reminds us that we cannot afford to let such incredible talent the wasting away. we have to get those folks back in the game. that is what i am committed to

doing and i know joe is as well. thank you. i went outside the federal commitment. after this, i think you guys still have some more work to do. [applause] >> there we go. [applause] the meeting, the commerce secretary on a labor secretary spoke to reporters outside of the white house. they spoke for about 10 minutes. thank you for being here

today. we had a terrific meeting with a group of ceos, a number of people long-term unemployed, and a number of providers of services to help our long-term unemployed help find employment. what we are talking about here is to make sure all of the programs we have here are industry led. this is something i'm passionate about and i have been working on this for years. to see programs and i have spent years working in the kindhlighted of enthusiasm we see around the country for replicating efforts to bring solutions to those who have not been able to find jobs mostly because there has been a bias in hiring those who have been unemployed. this is really encouraging. we had over 100 companies sign on that they would review the to make surees

that those who have not had a 12 longer 8, 10, months would not be discriminated against. is an enthusiastic and exciting day for those making those who want a job are able to get a job. >> it's an honor and a pleasure to work with you. it is an all hands on deck enterprise and it is a top priority for the president. it starts with making sure that long-termss extend unemployment benefits. gone from crisis to catastrophe and losing the benefits. this is an all hands on deck enterprise.

the president is using every tool in his arsenal to help the long-term unemployed get back on their feet. had a dialogue about the barriers to inhibit getting a fair shake. the fact that their credit record may not be perfect. it's not perfect because they can't afford to pay the bills. they need a job to be able to afford to pay the bills. we talked about eliminating barriers. to do whatnt wants he preaches and so we're doing our level best to provide opportunity to these group of have tremendous talent and simply want a fair shake. the department of labor will be million grant competition to help identify innovative processes across the

country and we heard them today in our session together. there are private intermediaries in we want to take those to scale, learn from them. the president is investigate -- programsting in this and we will continue working 24/seven and we are happy to take any questions you might have. >> you have 4 million long-term unemployed out the most 300mistic area and businesses are agreeing to making these commitments. what percentage of that huge number do you think you can reach and help? this is certainly a down payment. 500 you talk about fortune

companies you're talking about force multipliers and thousands of survivors -- and thousands. this helped over one million people get a job last year. we are working with particular focus on the long-term unemployed with programs such as . wage subsidy 50%-90% of the cost and that is an incentive for them. we've been able to help thousands of workers get back on their feet. we're confident they will be signing up and they will be levelaround doing their

best trying to increase this number. these are the most vexing the helping the long-term unemployed getting a fair shake. back and they were unaware of what was happening in beingown companies considered for jobs they were very qualified to fill. this is a very positive step and . think it will go viral your hearing that they are going -- go back and ask them helping to find them and help find new talent.

that? do you hold them to should the government take their role? >> the companies are pushing themselves. it is an issue for many of the businesses we met with today. frankly, from my own experience traveling around talking to business leaders in my first seven months, i hear about a .hortage of skilled workforce we don't need to hold people accountable. offering to find them a workforce they have been desperately seeking. >> look at the work we've done in the context of hiring. tremendous congress has been made in those areas as their

result of progress made. it is really a model that we can .eplicate >> you have had companies already signed to the principle f that point? >> 100 signed up today and they are now going back to their communities and encouraging them. they're going to go back and say they have gone back to look at their own practices in determining and hearing from one bank, they are turning away someone who might have a change hink inr credit -- cch their credit. they are notan qualified. they're sitting there with open

jobs and cannot find people. it has been a great revelation to many ceos. >> the retraining programs, the skills in greater need going forward or how about working? >> these programs you heard discussed today exist in system.force investment when this was in the partnership we have been working with community colleges. i hope as people out there see the success of these programs, one of our goals is for congress to see that same success. for every person we are helping get a ticket to the middle class, there are other people who want to get into these programs. because of the unavailability of funds we are not able to do it. i'm confident and hopeful we will see more success because success begets success.

i have worked intimately with chicagoland. the training they are doing is geared towards the jobs that are open. a secure job opportunities first gearedn do the training towards those jobs so sometimes it is very specialized towards that particular opportunity. >> time for one more. >> thank you. >> the state department released the final environmental assessment of the proposed keystone xl pipeline project concluding it would not significantly alter global greenhouse gas emissions. officials are still weighing whether or not he would meet the test of the president's broader climate strategy angle. you can find the report at the state department website at state.gov.

on sunday, the chair of the isate agriculture committee our guest on "newsmakers." she talks about the five-year farm bill that just passed the house and what the u.s. should do when they hit the debt ceiling next week. >> very soon we're going to be in a situation where we are not going to be able to pay our bills. shame on us if that is the case. we need to make sure that everybody is responsible and we need to do that as a country. to me, the cost tuition requires us to do it in we need to make sure we are paying our bills. you negotiate on paying your bills. we can negotiate for a lot of things. i've been negotiating on three years for agricultural policy. >> could you tolerate offsets or do you want a clean and ceiling

raise? >> we do not negotiate about paying bills. the interview on "newsmakers," sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. after "newsmakers," the state of the union address on the republican response by washington representative cathy mcmorris rodgers at 10:35 a.m. eastern also here on c-span. lexi was someone who grew in the office. he was badly burned by the bay of pigs experience. he had listened to the experts -- cia, joint chiefs of staff. he went to see the goal that she went to see charles de gaulle in himce 1961 and he said to

you should surround yourself with the smartest possible people. listen to them. herewith i have to say that the end of the day, you have to make up your own mind. he can be remembered for what harry truman said, the buck stops here. after bay of pigs, he was determined to make up his own mind, here with the experts have the same, but at the end of the day, he was going to make the judgment that he was the responsible party and that was when you listen and read the transcripts of all of those tapes during the cuban missile crisis. he was so mad. he was making up his home mind. -- his own mind. they wanted to bomb, invade, and she did not want to do it. cracks inside look at the kennedy administration sunday

night at 8:00 on "q and a." >> next, jason furman, chair of the white house council of economic advisors provides a look at the economy for the year ahead speaking with reporters at the christian science monitor breakfast for about an hour. >> thank you all for coming. our guest is jason furman. this is his first visit with our group although we have been honored to address a number of his right assessors starting with herbert stein. this came into 1996 during the clinton administration when he was still a graduate student at harvard and was hired as a staff economist to counsel. since then he has served as the

senior advisor to chief economist of the world bank, a special adviser to president clinton for economic policy, and a senior fellow at economic study and drafter of the hamilton product at brookings. he is earned three degrees including one from harvard. he has been a visiting scholar at nyu. and a visiting lecturer at yell and columbia. -- yale and columbia. he was the principal deputy director of the national economic council before being named to his current post in june of last year. no introduction will be complete without the obligatory mention of our guest youthful ability to earn money on the streets of new york. great training for spending your life is rising about tough economic choices.

that is the end of the biographical portion. we are on the record here. no live blogging or tweeting or other means while breakfast. if you would like to ask the question, these send me a subtle, nonthreatening signal and i will happily call on one and all. let me offer the guests to make some opening comments and then we will open to questions from around the table. thank you for doing this. >> thank you so much for having me and for the long tradition of this brick this. i want to talk very briefly about where we are in the economy and where we are in

economic policy. yesterday we got gdp for the fourth quarter of 2013. a group at 3.2% that followed a strong third-quarter and event that for the four quarters of 2000 13 as a whole the economy expanded at a 2.7% rate. that was the fastest rate in three years. one of the important things to understand about the economy in 2013 was that it was with the sequester. it subtracted from growth. with the shutdown which subtracted from growth and with other fiscal drags for things like the payroll tax. if you look at just the private component of gdp in 2013, they grew at a substantially faster rate, the fastest rate in a decade. that is important. as we look to 2014, we think that the fiscal drag is mostly

behind us. the budget agreement in december is a substantial portion of the sequester. it will put fiscal policy and a much more neutral stance. if congress does its job and sends the president a debt limit without ransom or hostage taking, then we will be in a position that if the private sector can repeat what it did in 2013 that we could have strong growth, but usually stronger growth, -- potentially stronger growth in 2014. at the same time that the economy is picking up, we continue to have a number of challenges. we have short run cyclical challenges and longer run shoretel challenges. probably our biggest short run

cyclical challenge is long-term unemployment. if you look at what is happened to the unemployment rate, it has come down from 10 to 6.7%. one point two percent reduction. it has come down very steadily. now the short term, 26 weeks or less, is lower than the average of the previous economic expansion. the entire elevation in the unemployment rate is now due to the long-term unemployed. our unemployment rate is 2.5%. it has more than doubled them what it was generally prior to the great recession. the president today at the white house is having a group of ceos, foundations, and long-term workers over to illustrate just what you can do with his phone

and with his pen to a deal with our economic challenges. over 300 companies have signed a pledge to have best practices in hiring the long-term unemployed. that is the phone mobilizing all of the companies. we found would hundred $50 million that can be used to challenge competition for best practices in dealing with the long-term unemployed. that is something the president can do. then we have about 10 foundations that have made a range of specific, tangible commitments to do things they would not otherwise have done. that again is the phone. that is an example of how the president is putting what he talked about in the state of the union into action to deal with a short run cyclical problem. our longer run structural

problems is the challenges we face in terms of opportunity for american workers. you have seen several things the president has done in that regard including announcing that he would be giving a pay raise to federal contractors as the new contracts come online, establishing my are a -- my r.a. accounts through the treasuries and finally a revamp of skills and training. this builds on the strength of the economy we have. it deals with the outstanding challenges that we still need to make progress on. so. >> thanks for doing that. let me just picked up on what you are saying about the ex for a better economy coming along. they expect a growth of about a 3% pace, accelerating to about 4%. does that sound reasonable to you? >> when the budget comes out we

will have a new forecast for 2014. and 2015. broadly speaking, there are a lot of things that are unpredictable in the economy. there is always a lot of risks. they're constantly reminded of event and the rest of the world can have a big impact on the u.s. economy. broadly speaking, the thing that is the most predictable right now is the fiscal policy. last year we cut the deficit by 2.7% of gdp in a single year. it was a big headwind for the economy. the private sector muscled through. in 2014 we will not have anything resembling that deficit reduction. we will continue to see the deficit coming down and to be stabilizing the debt. we will be in a much less contractionary stance. >> 2015 as well? >> 2015 as well. in terms of the private sector of our economy, housing.

we saw that decline in the fourth quarter after several years of increase in residential investment. there is a lot of fluctuation from quarter to quarter. it is also something fundamental in the housing sector. it is just because of a growing population and appreciation of the housing stock. we are going to need to build about 1.6 million houses a year. we are only building about one million houses a year. you know you're going to make your way out for one million to 1.6 million. that is about 2% of gdp that will be added over the time that that happens. >> you're talking unpredictable things. there are unpredictable people including harry reid. on wednesday he said i am

against something the president came out for in the state of the union. what is your reading on the fate of the trade deals that are pending? >> i think his views on this were not a surprise to anyone. they were not really his in that sense. the president called for is that trade with our specific partners, trade with our atlantic partners can be enormously beneficial to our economy. it can get more opportunities for consumers. for the united states in particular, we have lower tariffs. we have fewer nontariff areas. with many of the countries we have higher labor standards. that means we have a significant potential to gain in terms of improving trade, reducing the nontariff barriers and a race to the top in terms of labor and environmental standards.

that is the economic case the president was making in the state of the union address. in terms of what we need from congress in order to implement the agreements, we have always said that would be a process. it is something we would work with them on. it is something that will be an ongoing effort. >> thank you, kevin. >> can you speak to people in the room back here? >> i will do my best. >> without getting to the details, what do you expect in the labor market? about the degree to which this is from long-term expectations. what it would be for the participation rate and more narrowly tied to that, how much do we know about the geography? can you give us a sense how you

avoid being overly broad? >> in answer to your first question, there are two things that are impacting dissipation rate. there is a lot of things. there are two important things. the first is democracy. it was very much forgettable that after 2008 you would start to see a decline in the trend rate, trend participation rate, as the first baby boomers turn to 62 in 2000 a and became eligible for social security -- 2008 and became eligible for social security. it was not just predictable, it

was predict it. in 2004 they said you would see an increase in decline in the participation rate after 2008. cbo predicted it. when we take a look at the data, you can basically look at the participation rate, holding accounts of -- holding it constant and ask what would have happened if there were no changes in the economy but there's just the change in the ratios of these different aging demographic groups. with that type of methodology, you find that about half of the decline and the participation rate since the end of 2007 is due to demography. if you zoom in on the last two or three years, pretty much all of the decline in the participant rate is due to demography.

he saw that in the study from the philadelphia fed which uses somewhat different methods. the other factor is cyclical. when the unemployment rate rises, some people will stay in school longer rather than looking for a job. so maybe after having a baby. some will certainly be discouraged and give up looking for a job. as the unemployment rate comes down, we expect to see those people coming back into the labor force. that is important. as the president said, america is strongest when we are fielding a whole team. as he people are coming back into the labor force, the demography will continue to pull the participation rate down. for the next couple of years, you're basically going to be

seeing two offsetting effects on your participation rate. in terms of your second question on the long-term unemployed, to the first approximation to the long-term unemployed look a lot like the labor force as a whole. this is not some specially disadvantaged, poor, less skilled drupal. in fact, the educational attainment of long-term unemployment is slightly higher than it is for the employed. this is a group that for the most part, through the bad luck of the worst recession where we were losing over 700,000 jobs a month, at some point lost their job and have not been able to get back on their heat sense and now we are in a position where he have a self perpetuating cycle of audit studies. if you just send resumes that say the person has been unemployed for eight months, they are less likely to even get

interviewed than somebody with the same exact resume that was unemployed for one month. now they are just caught up in a bad cycle. we are to work with companies and foundations to set best practices to get them out of that place. >> i hope so. there is no reason congress can do what it did twice last year and basically with out ran some or hostagetaking send the president a debt limit, an increase that he can sign so that we pay the bills. there is no reason they should not be able to do it with less drama. in terms of the secretary, he mischaracterized it a little bit. the united states hits the dem the debt limit on february 7. at that point, the secretary will be able to deploy extraordinary measures. they do not last as long as they would have at other times

because they have a lot of cash going out in the month of february. as a result, by the end of february or beginning of march, the secretary said it was more likely by the end of february, we will hit that point at which we basically cost of those extraordinary measures. they need to raise the debt limit. >> [no microphone] >> i really see no reason why congress would not act. i am very much hoping they can capitalize on the momentum we have in our economy and in the greater fiscal certainty we are creating to take care of the debt limit and take care of it

without drama or delay. >> the tax credit was part of the president's speech. we heard sister ruby are talking about it as well. senator rubio talked about getting rid of the itc and getting a wage supplement that will be part of every paycheck for childless workers. is there a middle ground there? are they completely different missions? >> let's talk a little bit about the proposal. then up with the details out yet. it will certainly be out no later than when the budget is released. over the last several decades, we have greatly expanded the earned income tax credit for families with children. that is appropriate. the families both have higher expenses and also have have higher poverty rate. the evidence is that it has had profound effects in terms of single mothers in the workforce. helping to increase mobility and

upward wages and the impact it has on children in terms of everything from better child nutrition to test scores in reading and math. what we have not done is pay as much attention to how how -- to households without children. the tax rate has basically been unchanged in the last 40 years. there is this dramatic reduction for families with children. the president is proposing we take that told that has worked so well with families with children and expanded for households that do not have them. that is very much a work oriented approach. it is much about increasing this. we expect to have many of the same benefits in terms of participation and mobility. we certainly, there's absolutely no reason that that we could or

would want to cut back on what we have done with families for children. in order to expand opportunities for families. this has been proven to be extremely effective. what you are talking about is something that is budget neutral where you are taking from one group in giving to another. there's a lot of space for conversation about how best to expand and build on the successes we have had over the last several decades and make sure that we are reaching more people and benefiting more people. i think it is terrific he have senator rubio talking about

ideas in that space. you have a lot of economist on most sides of the spectrum talking about this for those who have criticized minimum wage. it will be good for the people to support this and help push it forward. >> as for way we are going next >> laster the president proposed last year the president proposed linking benefits to train cpi's. will the president renew that offer and attempt to bring down the long-term deficits? what vision does he have for dealing with long-term benefits?

>> i do not want to lift the curtain on any specifics one way or another about the budget of the president is going to be putting out. i can't say that it is a budget that is just like all of his previous budgets and we will take seriously the need to make investments in key areas for economic growth and also will take seriously the need to reduce our deficit over the medium and long run to make sure that deficit reduction is done in a balanced manner. that includes revenue. it protects the things that are most important. the other thing i would say in thinking about the budget and the long-run budget is that i think it is important for people to understand that there has been a significant and prove meant, not just in the short run budget but also in the long-run

outlook cbo putting the fiscal gap, the measure of how big the deficit is over the next 75 years, at 1.7% of gdp which is considerably smaller than estimates the fiscal gap had been even just a few years ago. that is the progress we have made on the growth of health care, what we have done in things like the budget control act on spending, and what we have been able to do on revenue with things like the higher rates and high income households. >> keystone is something the state department is handling, not something that i have personally been involved with any analysis related to. i expect the state department to

continue to be doing that process. >> there are the policies of opportunity. [inaudible] it is very hard. have you talked to the president? [no microphone] the cbo report said it expanded the gap. how do you reconcile the report? >> i guess i completely disagree with the premise of your question. cbo has said that immigration will expand output by $1.4 trillion. cbo has also said, and this is very important, that the expansion will not just be

because it expands the labor force it's also because it expands what economists call total factor productivity, the total amount you can create out of a given amount of capital and labor. this the closest thing we have in economics to a free lunch. this is a study done by the chief economist of the labor department. they patent at higher rates than nativeborn americans. americans even -- end up patenting even more when they are in the proximity of immigrants. you have a lot of entrepreneurial immigrants, those that create jobs. the basic flaw is that there's not a fixed number of jobs in

the united states. the question of how many people are there who are lining up for the jobs, the question is what you want to do to expand the number of jobs and expand the number of good jobs. or is no doubt that immigration will do that. we were talking about the participation rate. to a degree you want to deal with something like a declining trend participation rate that creates challenges for your budget, for dealing with programs like social security. immigration reform. they say it increases your participation rate. cbo did not say anything about what it would do to wages of people who are here in america who would have been here in america otherwise. it set wages, even including the lower wage people, would eventually be higher.

>> regardless of all that, it widens the gap between the rich and poor. how does this increase the opportunities for americans, actual americans? >> if you look at the president's speech that he gave, he talked about several parts of the strategy to deal with the inequality mobility opportunity challenges. thethe first thing he talked about was expanding the pot and the opportunity that we get this country. immigration reform is all the economic policies that are on the agenda right now, the one that we do the most to expand it. it would expand it not just by

having more workers in this country but by having more ideas, more innovation, more entrepreneurship. that has the potential to benefit everyone. the cbo has said that it would ultimately raise wages for everyone including a new set of will that you are bringing up. >> this is an interesting discussion. now whether there is a stagnation problem in the economy. and whether it resulted to some fundamental change in the economy to require new things. i wonder what more current view is on that? >> i generally do not think there is very good evidence for secular stagnation.

i ain't, first of all, -- i think, first of all, there is less of a puzzle to be placed that stagnation would have you believe. second of all, in terms of where the economy has been lately and where it appears to be going. less reason to believe going forward. to take those in turn, less of a puzzle. if you look at growth over the last couple of years, relative to what you normally have coming out of a systemic financial crisis like this, we have over performed most of the other countries around the world and over for armed our own history.

-- over performed our history despite the fact we have had some very significant shock from the rest of the world. and a very serious fiscal contraction in the past year. i think if you take those fact or is -- factors, they pretty much explain any deviation between what you might have forecast and what actually happened. we talked about the outlook for 2014 and 2015. i think that tells you that a lot of what you have seen has basically been a cool phenomenon, not a secular one. the one important copy out to all of this -- caveat to all of this is the labor force. it is lower today than it was in the past. you do not have women entering the labor force en masse. now you have women having plateaued in terms of labor

force participation. you have the baby boomers getting to retire. that component of gdp growth is growing more slowly. that is one of the motions for things like immigration reform, to help keep that labor force rose up and keep our potential growth. >> i wanted to follow up on your answer to immigration reform. how should we think about how economist analyze the difference between legal status between a path to citizenship? >> there is a lot of arguments for why you want to have a pathway to citizenship. one thing the president said, you do not want to do it once in a generation piece of legislation on solve half the

problem and lead people in some type of in between state. i certainly think the more you bring all in from the shadows, the more you give them certainty, the better that is for the economy. if you look at investment, and investment could be going to school. setting up a store or anything like that. the more certainty you have, we keep this under your able to invest. it makes you invest in education. you know that you're on the path to become a citizen of this country. if you work hard and play by the rules. i cannot be of a particular

economic study that states the difference between the two of these. it is not like there is a lot of impure coal variations from the past. another country runs it one way and another another way. everything i know from economic logic would tell me that you want a pathway to citizenship. >> thanks. i wanted to follow-up on the question. first of all, is the budget paying for that? [inaudible] >> the president has, for his entire administration, always paid for his ongoing initiatives and is always believed they should be paid for. certainly you will see in our

budget how to you would propose to pay for this. in answer to your second question, there is no reason you need to do a broader tax reform in order to do that. there is a set of parameters in terms of what the rate is, where the plateau starts, what the phaseout rate is. you could change any one of those four without a more thoroughgoing reform. i certainly think when you get to tax reform i look at tax reform, the president looks at tax reform, and judges it less by what it does to the top rate and more by what it does for the middle class and for people all working hard to get into the middle class. this is precisely when you're

this is precisely when you're looking at the tax code. it is almost the first place you would want to do. >> as you said, about people see this as an alternative to the minimum wage. you have some over what the minimum wage number would be in exchange for this. >> i do not foresee this. i think it is not either or. they are complementary to each other. you're going to see the president out there vigorously pushing the minimum wage, not offering to bargain it away in exchange for something like that. >> another and gratian question. -- i have another and gratian

question. is the path to citizenship a dealbreaker? >> that is something that the president has been very clear and what congress does. he can put us on a going forward. people have explained it in terms of even just what could pass the congress. economically, i think we are strongest if you deal with all the different aspects of this at once.

you are increasing the amount of certainly -- certainty. that is why we are pushing so hard from it. >> i was wondering what your thoughts are on this point. there is not something that the white house or the council of economic advisers has been. >> take a little swing. >> sorry. >> can i revise my question? >> certainly. about whether it should be done or can be done. we need to put in new sanctions. [inaudible]

>> i do not want to talk a lot about this. there are some of my colleagues which is what their entire focus is, what the president would do for a sanctions bill it he said he would veto it. he said he needs the space to

negotiate with and continued the negotiations we had. i do not have anything to asked what my foreign policy colleagues would be able to say. >> thank you. what is your best sense of the cost benefit utilizing marijuana? >> i just really have not looked at the cost benefit of that question. at all. so. i do not have anything for you on that. >> want to go to mark's question. as we get here, it has never change. >> you're just going to have to wait and see what is in the budget. >> dropped for the first time in a well. the made an aberration. i wonder what your take on that is. it has been slowing. to what extent has obamacare been in the labor force and job growth?

>> as you noted in the way you framed your question, the health sector was one that pretty much was adding jobs throughout the whole cycle. things have varied from month to month. december was obviously much weaker of a month in that regard. we're doing a lot to reduce the cost growth in health care. as a result, for cap it's a help is -- per capita health is growing. we have written a report. i talked a lot about the ways i think the affordable care act is one of the fact is that is interesting to that.

even with all of that, all of the projections are that health spending will increase as a share of gdp. it will increase at a much slower rate. part of the increase is just the democracy -- demography of an aging population. part of it is the fact that you have never had the same productivity growth in the health sector that you happen a lot of the other economy. when you take those factors together and what we're going to need in terms of, we are not going to replace home health aides with robots anytime soon. this is going to be an area that i think you will continue to see medium-term drop growth, even if it does fluctuate from month to

month and the things that might affect the pace of the job growth. >> we going to go next. >> how important is getting trade promotion for 2014? where does the president directly put in republican lawmakers that he could do directly that would have an effect on the economy? >> what is economically important is tpp. we are currently negotiating. you cannot negotiate those with our partners and you cannot implement them here in the united states if we do not have tpa.

the goal here is not some kind of process. the goal here is these two trade agreements. what we want to be looking at is all the ways which i spoke to earlier about how these trade agreements would expand economic growth, expand good paying jobs in the united states. what is important in that regard is that it is clear that we are moving forward toward getting that on the trade promotion authority. we were very clear that this was a start of a process. this is a process that would involve a love of occultations and engagement. it is something that i can tell you right now the white house are really focused on continuing to push forward. i do not have a particular timetable for you in that regard. >> [inaudible]

>> i cannot give you this date is this cost and that date is that cost type of answer. what important is that the ambassador is negotiating with the europeans and our other partners in both of the agreements. he could make it very clear to them that, as we're asking for concessions, that we are going to be able to deliver and limit those agreements here in the united states. that is why it is so important to strengthen the hands of our negotiation by having forward momentum and a path forward. that is something the president was putting forward. in terms of economic right ortiz, dutch priorities, this is

one of several important priorities for the economy. -- in terms of economic right ortiz, this is one of several important priorities for the economy. but what can the companies do to help them? how much do you think can be achieved by best practices? what else can be done by the administration, for instance to bring down the unemployment rate for the long-term unemployed?

is that a zero-sum game where if more of them get hired it means fewer young people get hired coming right out of college? >> in answer to your first question, with the pen he is doing a presidential memorandum as one of the largest employers in the country. we are putting these practices into place for ourselves. we are asking companies to do the same. we have called around to ceo's about this. a lot of them this was not even on their radar screen. for a lot of then you're able to make the case that means good business sense to find the most qualified people and make sure that as you're looking for applications there are not some falling out for no good reason. we got businesses to make on these force of -- four specific pledges. -- for specific pledges. in terms of your second question, i do not think the economy is zero-sum. there's an old wall that supply creates demand.

we discovered that about 80 years and we have rediscovered it rather painfully about six years ago that it is not true at every point in time. it is broadly true. even the short run is bringing it to the field. it can expand the number of consumers, expand productive opportunities and increased the total number of jobs, not just the total number of people seeking jobs. in particular, what we really

want to avoid is that our economy fully hears itself from the great recession. there is a permanent class of people that are discouraged and no longer contributing to our economy. i think we can avoid that. the unemployment rate continues to come down. i do not think we have any evidence at all. i think to make sure we do not have it will require our continued vigilance and continued effort. that is one thing we are doing today. >> earlier had a question about the labor participation rate that you had answers think a lot of it had been propped up by women in the workforce but are

starting to come down. do you have a sense and the boomer -- in the boomer category how much this is boomers just did well and how many are boomers that have been sort of squeezed out of the workforce, less than voluntary departure? >> there is very little of the latter. the labor force participation rate for ages 63 age 75 and each of the groups with and that has actually gone up quite a lot in the last couple of years. the evidence is that this cohort is in jobs for a little bit -- that are a little bit less physically demanding so they are able to work longer. more women are staying in the labor force longer. you have actually seen them increased participation. it is still the case. i making up numbers here. you take a group participation rate. he goes from 25 to 30. if you are shifting a lot of people into something that used to have a 25% rate and now has 30%, that will still take your overall participant rate down. >> i was wondering, if given

republicans reaching out to women, do you think there's a better chance of some sort of legislation on the paycheck? if that does happen, what is the president prepared to do in terms of the executive order? >> i do not personally have [indiscernible] in terms of passing the paycheck fairness act. i would note it has been before them for a while. it has not exactly been rushing its way through. in regard to your second question, we are always taking a look at the full range of executive actions the president could take, in particular i want

to ask with all of them what it can do to improve the economy and efficiency of the federal government. >> [inaudible] is there ahistorical example where a president might look to in terms of whether it was particularly effective in this regard? >> not that i am aware of. that is not to say that there is not. >> anyone you has been waving at me and i have not seen. >> you said we're not going to

replace a home health aide with robots of the we are seeing major restaurant chains talking about eliminating waitstaff and just ordering from your table. does automation, does that keep you up at night worrying about job security? >> it doesn't keep me up at night because we have had hundreds of years of automation and for most of the time, about 95% of the people who want to work can find a job. this gives to the same issue we were dealing with of immigration. we tend to have an economy that has a set of mechanisms that do not always work area well in the

short run. it is not always work as quickly as we would like. they do get you to some type of equilibrium in terms of the people that want jobs. in general, having more capital means people can produce more per hour. it is a big compliment for labor. that has not always been the case. the president did say technology in some cases has taken away good paying jobs. that is why we need to be working hard with anxiety education, some people can take advantage of that technology and use it as a consummate rather than a substitute, why we need to do things like connect the education space. we are taking vantage of that to actually improve outcomes in terms of education and not taking it for granted and assuming that the logical process will always be good. it creates opportunities.

public policy can help make sure you seize those opportunities. >> what are the two or three economic studies for the past five or four years that most surprised you were changed or are different than what you would have expected? >> that is a good question. i don't know if it's a price mean. that if it surprised me, but the oregon research on medicaid has been -- i do not know if it surprised me, but the oregon research on medicaid has been the most surprising. the economic research finding that health-care insurance is good for your financial security, as of five or 10 years ago, it was a little bit weaker

than a lot of economist with like to admit. not because it is clear that this is good for its help but there are so many issues in the causation that were hard to sort out. it was hard to prove that to the type of scientific standards we would all like. i think by taking advantage of that experiment you're able to establish a set of things. for example, they had some indicators of health did not approve. they only had an 18 month window and you would not have expected them to improve within that. they finally had emergency departments that was part of that story. we complemented interest that drives people to care, what that

would do to emergency room's. that is one set of studies that is among the best. i think the biggest questions are in economic development and growth of countries over long periods of time. at the same time, economics has gotten better at some of the micro questions in terms of randomized on trial. what we have been able to do in terms of growth has been doing this for a while in terms of importance of institutions. it is not new. he has pulled together really well in his book. and i think understanding interplay of institutions and growth has also been very important. >> i want to ask your question about income inequality. someone recently caused the response as "paranoia of the bureaucrats." the nations wealthiest denizens appeared to be having a collective meltdown. how can we have mobility without lapsing into a language of class paranoia?

>> you can take a look at facts. you look at the tax rate on the top 1%, for example. even with the higher rates as part of the tax deal at the beginning of this year, it is still lower than it was in the mid-1990s. for example, the capital gains and dividend rates are both lower than they were then. i think some is just hyperventilation around not paying attention to specific facts and data. no one here is talking about 100% tax rate or 70% tax rate. the average tax rate is a tad bit lower than it was in the

mid-1990s. there's an awful lot of high income, middle income, moderate income households in this country that are in the discussion about what we can do to make sure we have equality of opportunity. what we can do to take the tremendous resources this country has and make sure people can get a preschool education. can go to college, can complete college and the like. i think of anything, there's probably more conversation of that type. >> we have about a minute left. >> want to talk about going forward.

[inaudible] >> the bls does not produce a price index for the elderly that reflects the full set of things associated with the elderly in terms of where they shop and the composition in some respects. they have said the experimental index partially adjusts from some aspects that is not anywhere close to ready for prime time. i do not believe they have any plans or have the budget to have a plan to have a more comprehensive measure of prices for the elderly.

>> are you treating one for another? -- trading one for another? >> we can discuss the ins and outs of different price measurements. that is what they currently do. >> thank you for doing this. i hope you will come back. tanks. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> tonight, the directors of

state health insurance exchanges from around the country talk about enrollment efforts at the state level. followed by discussion about the u.s. health care system with the mayo clinic president. then, president obama on assisting long-term unemployed with a new labor department initiative. later, the economic outlook for the year with the chair of the white house council of economic advisors. on the next "washington journal, a discussion on the state of race relations. he talks about energy policy, the growth of hydraulic factoring, and whether the u.s. should install the keystone pipeline. "washington journal" is live with your questions at 7 a.m. eastern.

>> watch our program on first lady hillary clinton and live monday night our series continues. >> i was in a car wreck. i wrote about extensively in my book. the whole time i was in the hospital not injured. i had a cut on my leg and a broken ankle. i was praying that the other person in the car would be ok. the other person in the car was one of my best friends i did not know. i did not recognize that at the site of the crash. because i prayed over and over for him to be ok and then he wasn't, i thought, well, nobody listens. my prayer was not answered. so, i went through a long time of not believing and not believing that prayers could be

answered. >> the challenges of implement a stealth health insurance exchanges with the official training exchanges. speakers included audrey haynes, the secretary for the cabinet of health and family services. she was the guest of michelle obama during the state of the union address. then experts represent california, maine, massachusetts, new jersey. this is about an hour and 20 minutes.

>> good morning and welcome to our robert wood johnson sponsored roundtable. today our topic is where are we now, the state of health insurance exchanges and enrollment. to briefly introduce some of my colleagues who were here today. kathy hempstead. thompsonague, brett who runs communication for our coverage. today marks the end of the fourth the full month. the 123rd day.

this is the 123rd day of the markets created under the affordable health care act. it was very rocky for the federal marketplace and for some of the state marketplaces. on the other hand, other state fared much better. for medicaid or the children's health insurance program through the exchanges. today we've gathered five people who worked closely with some of the most successful state changes to report on their experience. now, none of these exchanges were without glitches. on the other hand, many things worked. and we're going to hear about both the challenges and the success. we've asked all of our speakers o bring us up to date on the enrollment who has signed up for coverage, what outreach