as for whether or not the framework is going to improve cyber security, that is a harder question to answer. the framework is intended to raise the bar. that is something that they could help with, especially with small and medium-sized businesses. thatould all be clear cyber security is an ongoing issue that will not go away anytime soon. there is no panacea that will solve the problem. -- echold like to accu what he was saying. alot of times, when they have order of directors or conversation with senior leadership, they say, talk english. ising common language important at this juncture. more eyeballs than we

have ever had in history. my bankers have said this is a process we are usually zayne -- already utilizing. which a lot of our institutions are already going through. one thing that will be helpful is to take that one step further and talk to our supply chain partners.

start.em a place to a lot of times, it is difficult for companies that are less mature to know how to structure this. let alone talk about it. >> the framework does talk about the outcomes. what needs to be done. but it does not specify how. it gives the flexibility for o evolve ands t innovate. the standards tend to be a little bit more focused. does, as my colleague said,

bridge the technical community who has been dealing with the standards with the business community that wants to know, and my secure enough? are we detecting incidents? it provides a translation function between those two. i think it will be embraced. there are critical infrastructure organizations across all sectors that are doing good things today and have done so for market-based reasons. that said, there are inconsistencies across these infrastructures in what they are doing. this is opportunity that it will be embraced to say, what is that right thing to do? does that mean we do not need incentives? does that mean incentives are needed? with improving security -- i think it will raise the bar across the

community. i don't think it will end up necessarily fully addressing the full range of national security risks facing our infrastructure. that is a conversation that will need to keep evolving. but it will raise the bar which is an important progress towards an overall high-level security necessary.

>> up until two or three years ago, did i have many customers coming to me and assessing their cyber risk? that has tipped. the fact that we now have some form of -- we are starting to hear, do you think you can help us out? that is huge. that is huge. --, it is new and nation nascent. we are trying to raise the bar for companies that have not had the chance to think about things. speaking as someone who likes to

think of themselves as a company that is fairly sophisticated and many of these elements, yes. this is a huge success. it is becoming part of the vernacular. customers are asking us what can we do to mitigate? >> let's start at this end. follow-up on that. does the structure of the framework and the language in the framework speak to all the audiences it needs to? we have talked about supply chain. the executives at the corporate level? audiences going down within the company and within a big company supply chain? >> at the sector level, we work thensively to review language. to seek more executive or policy language. we got it.

importantly, at least at the sector level, we spend a significant amount of time talking to the risk managers in the company. do you read it? do you get it? are you happy with it? most importantly, you have to drive it down. the operational level. we were fortunate because we have such broad representation. people were generous with their time. we had practitioners who would tweak the bold, put in the acl was to speakr it operationally. did they get it? did they get the intent? one of the reasons we are successful is because we could meet those bandwidths. we came away with what we felt was important. there is more work to do.

at the sector levels, we will be working with all the various trade associations to further flesh out the framework in such more that it is communication sector specific. we have work initiatives, some with dhs, some not, that are very much focused on mapping. if you are doing this, that sort of falls into that. there is a shorthand so no matter what level you are in -- i am creating the plans were looking at it from a more policy and strategic and board level -- so you can understand, how can you read this and interpret this from a communication sector perspective. so far, so good. dhs spoke about the fact that you have to do education outrage -- outreach and feedback.

in the course of this year, it will be used to evolve the process further. quick you have my croissant as customers -- >> you have microsoft as customers. ,o you think this provides that and taxonomy, that common language to talk to the customers? >> i'm glad you asked. we engaged inside of the company across the different types of audiences. everybody from the person doing coding up to the senior level decision-makers who are talking about resourcing security. that was the internal conversation. question, wew-up had the same conversation with a bunch of external customers. that gets to what catherine was saying.

ishave people saying, what this framework? can you help us figure out what we need to do? it does start to hit the language that matters to different communities. there is still going to need to be some work done. or so page document. and has language that speaks to everyone. oll out the voluntary program, they will have to think more about customizing and specifying messages. overall, i think it is driving a conversation inside the organizations and between i.t. companies, communications companies, and our customers. how to drive this custom -- culture of risk management. >> does it give executives the toe of information they need

make investment decisions on cyber security? >> i think it does. i think it largely has to do we sawe fact that -- migration in the language. a cleanup of definitions. we have some ability to use this. i go back to conversations i have with ceos now. missions is to ensure that language exist for ceo's and their boards. part of that mission, one question i get a lot -- doug, when i listen to you, you scared me. then i go back and everything is ok. e theshould be b beginning of the conversation. what is important as the questions being asked. two years ago, that question was not being asked sufficiently.

where,u get to the point like i said before, you have the eyeballs -- where do they gravitate to? they might gravitate toward regulation. regulation in a lot of cases can be quite technical in nature. what will be some overlying document for a manager to look at and ask the right questions? this framework does start to do that. ,his is an ongoing conversation as angela and kathy indicated. this will continue to morph as time goes on. it will get better as time goes on. dhs and national security step will help us. as this migrates away towards a more collaborative -- increasingly collaborative environment based on what we have done. i think, we have a good basis to

start. inchris, does it speak to audiences sophisticated companies such as yours, at&t? as well as the varied audience you have? >> i think it does. something everybody else has pointed out -- it is the vest yet in terms of bridging technical standards with cyber security. i would not call it an executive level document, but it has a lot of good information. it will still be some challenges in terms of bricking it down in simple terms. it is the best effort i have seen yet. we have a robust cyber program in place today. we will be using this to see how it, meant targeting program. complements our existing program. tellears tell you -- tiers

you, where my now and where do i want to be? membership -- isia, your membership -- this something you are going to be able to use and talk throughout the different levels? >> absolutely. the various utilities that responded -- huge companies and teeny companies. of ownership types. utilities picked this up as an andrt of interest importance. a tool that will be useful for them. you heard at the wednesday rollout event that they are using the framework to speak to board members. that was great to hear. a lot of members have told us this is a useful thing they can

use. i would like to know that it is not -- they do not do cyber security date in and day out. that is the key audience. -- cyber security people know what we need to do. but there are folks who buy, implement, and maintain technology who do not cook in the soup all the time. they need to use this tool. the tools in the toolbox to communicate across the organization with their cyber security thales -- colleagues. it does speak to that level. -- anddo we continue don't we continue and take on a question the last panel addressed. how do you determine if the framework is successful? and the program is a whole?

>> the framework has already been successful in a certain way. it changed the level of national conversation on this topic. there was a group of hundreds of people who came together to talk about this. it has been all over the news. my friends, who have nothing to do with this -- they are asking me about it, and that is a good thing. it is positive. wille utility sector, it be achieved when we know in a certain way that utilities have looked at this and implemented some sort of security practices. whether they have done it through the framework -- it really doesn't matter. the framework encompasses them all. when we see that there is some sort of an adoption of some sort of cyber security practice, that is success.

we can actually tell that things are happening. >> chris, there will probably never be a victory parade in the cyber security space. how do we determine we are on a successful path? >> i want to piggyback off of what nadja just said. we were talking about how do we cyberorate -- elevate security to the c suite? that wee conversations are having at a higher level than we have ever had before parad. it is the press reports that have come up on security. it has been elevated to a higher level than in the past. companies are looking at their cyber practices.

the bar is being raised for security. that is how i'm looking at it. how successful it is. >> do you think we and the government will have whether it is being widely used? >> that remains to be seen. that was a topic of conversation a couple of days ago. that is an open question. issome of that gets into,

there some sort of certification at the end of the day? we are moving away from that in terms of adoption. thathing we have learned can be very helpful in this one, if we want to find quantitative measures, they will be more difficult. measure how well can we what we have stopped as opposed to what has gotten into our systems? on the front side, we do that well with financial services. side, we do that well with financial services. we have to measure what we have prevented in order to justify what we are doing. we have done a pretty good job of defining what that should look like. how you measure that. we have done that for essentially since 1997. increasingly, we are measuring

that in the electronic environment. if we can do 10 years from now what we have been able to do since 1997 for fraud, i think we have done well. fraud --for one dollar a fraud, we lost a dollar. last year, for every dollar we lost, we kept $10. kinds of the quantitative measures that we should be able to develop over time to measure our level of success. i think that might be a helpful way to think about it. >> angela? >> what i think about success, i like to put a caveat. it sounds like defining place. we will all arrive at success and throw party and it will be fun. that is not how cyber security works. we have to manage expectations

about what we can pick about success looking like. success --hink about if we can move forward with a phased approach. the phase we are now is we have just released a document two days ago. there are not a lot of incentives to bring people along what not been doing things already. what we have in this phase is the opportunity to touch people and make them aware of this process. changee this cultural that i think this framework wants to affect. down, we canrther pick about, what are the target audience is? are we reaching the right people. challenges is defining what is critical and focusing on the areas of highest risk. outreache past the

and awareness phase is, we should think about what are the target audiences? are we touching them? was the framework useful to you? those are at least two initial phases. i believe, as the incentives get the old and we did feedback on how this is being used -- incentives get out and we get feedback on how this is being we don't want to sit around and count incidents. we will still have data breaches. in addition to measuring success, we also start to have -- have to continue to have the outreach and awareness conversations, particularly with policymakers. counting particular numbers may not be it. we will have to think about an evolving process.

the risk environment will change. the framework will need to be a vault. -- evolved. >> catherine? >> a little more real life. i think we will find it to our benefit if the same number of customers who have serviceab -- this willents be a success if the culture has communicated there is no such thing as being at home without some sort of antivirus and protection on your computer. that makes it a huge success because then you kind of have a safety net. which then allows us to put

resources and time and effort pinpointing what is the most critical 20. that most critical 20, where do we apply the resources so we are automated, adaptive. all of that. so much about the framework in my mind was about raising the bar. , that isse the bar huge. to redirectus resources for the harder things. >> let's plow into incentives. which angela raised. the mostthink of important incentive the government can provide here? how does that fit into the process? >> the government has to provide the incentives to fit the framework. that has to be the cheapest

thing on earth. read it. 40 pages. really, we have struggled so far to make sure it was readable. you could get it. for any company that does not reaction,d have a that has to have been the most cost-effective way of preserving their business. their brand. customers. no matter what company you are in. that is highly cost-effective. that is an incentive. that is the main strength. they are going to need become -- where we are more sophisticated and robust. the news that we as a collective that are moreo

repeatable and adaptive to better protect not only our networks but also our customers use of our networks. need legislation and see if that helps. that will be incentive as well. >> different incentives will matter to different people. the things that may matter to my organization may be different than those for nadja's constituency. security and privacy risk management is consistent with the framework. we had market drivers going back to the ugly days from the early 2000's. we are already doing this. that said, there will be incentives that matter to other people here. that is really important to ofnk -- thinking in terms

our target audience. what are the incentives that will matter? two things i will say for those organizations that are doing a lot already. procurement preferences potentially really driving supply chain effects -- if you have organizations contracting with the federal government, requiring them to use the framework and then pushing that out through the supply chain, i think that will have a significant effect on the market -- as a market-based incentive to drive improvements. another one i will raise, from a global company point of view, one of the incentives we think is important is working toward harmonization of these types of approaches. as we have conversations both industry and government with our partners over in the you -- in

about what are the right things to improve cyber security, working toward harmonization as another significant incentive on the demand side, and one other last 1 -- the supply side incentive. there are a lot of organizations, particularly in the small and midsized businesses who will look at this and say, ok, this might be something i do. how do i do it is to mark i don't have people or capabilities. i am concerned about how to resource it. that challenge will come back to those who provide services. who may be able to offer cloud-based services. you have to think about it again from both sides. what are the things that make convince people to do actions, and the other things what could weg,

offer a customer base to help them? >> doug, what do you think? >> we have heard a lot from everybody. the first panel and also n and angela.kathryb incentivesket-based will be the primary driver. on the insurance side, we have seen carriers go in and ask the question of what are you doing about incrementing fomenting this framework? those conversations are already happening within some of our larger institutions. it in ae looking at large part, but it is the insurance industry looking into how this all fits together. w they might be able to factor in the utilization framework.

that is starting to happen as well. the fidelity is -- association essentially writes the policies. they have come to us and said, we are about to rewrite our policy. in thise factor framework and that process? process?t there are some good thinking already about how this might work going forward. those are the kinds of things that need to happen. it is not market driven, it is not going to succeed. we will not have that opportunity. i will be with the dicey one. the two pieces of liability protection. i have had quite a few of these

.iscussions i know how much he loves the safety act. think these are two very difficult questions in terms of how liability protection can be baked into this case. should they be able to enjoy liability protections? should they be able to have some level of liability protection to give clarity to that information sharing? both of those questions are very difficult and cannot be market driven to the same degree together's have. -- to the others have. t will have a role muchay to decide how

liability protection might have relevance. what kind of clarity can be given in terms of identifiable information -- how it is defined. that does create some challenges of cross sector sharing. those are two areas that the government will have to play a role in. >> chris, what is your take on incentives? particularly for the companies, the smaller and midsize companies, the ones that everyone agrees need to pick up their game. do they need some sort of incentive to make the improvements that we would like to see? >> first, i will speak from an at&t perspective. . chairman speak, we have a big incentive to

invest. it is core to our business. we are not looking for economic or financial incentives. that is not really something that copies of our size are looking for. from a small and medium-sized business side, i cannot speak for them because i work for at&t. we are not small or medium-sized. from that standpoint, one of the reasons -- that is one of the reasons it is important to flip important to framework

is flexible. if you are a smaller enterprise, how can you get them talking about cyber security? do a riskg them to assessment, determine what their risks are and apply the framework, they should be able to pick and choose. can help make it cost-effective as opposed to it being a big checklist. they can pick from the list and say, i will do one or two things. and potentially customize it. not making it something that is a top-down checklist approach, that will allow small and medium businesses to customize it to their risks. the last point i will make is the issue of disincentives.

-- i thinke issue of that, as long as the framework is a voluntary thing -- you will see white sort -- widespread support in industry. if they use the framework but faces the risk of regulations, that will have a chilling effect for the framework. the folksopriate, as have talked about, for companies to look at regulations in terms of how to streamline. in terms of harmonizing with the framework to . of growing the framework would have a chilling effect. --is the issue of >> utilities will benefit from the market raced -- based improvements.

especially in the supply chain. when they purchase various pieces of technology. liability protection is important. utilities currently share locallyion, primarily with who they know. getting the right information from the government in a usable shape and form, and then sharing it among themselves -- that is important. another thing that is important is that utilities have federal, state, and local regulations. regulatory agency is independent. -- it iss cautiously the way it is. various vendors of guidelines --

standards of guidelines are important. any work that the agencies can do to work with state and local organizations so that what ever they end up doing to regulate local utilities does not conflict with the framework. we are in a situation where a in aty that is located different state will get different results from the same set of information. we would like to do the thing once and demonstrate compliance or adherence. whatever that is is our members are subject to. >> that reaches to my next question about regulation. we heard this morning and repeatedly from the administration that the goal is not to create new regulations. section 10 of the executive order has been something of a bogeyman.

fearful ofa little what may come out of that. what is your sense of what -- whether there is a command-and-control regulatory structure in the future here? are you satisfied this is on a voluntary track? >> personally, i am very satisfied with the reassurances from the government folks that the us is voluntary. -- that this is voluntary. an anxietyalways be on this topic. especially with having and independent regulatory agency in our space. plus state and local agencies. this is outside of the executive order. that theborative work white house and dhs are doing with state and local agencies is extremely important for us in ensuring this does not somehow inadvertently become the basis

for regulation when it was not intended to do so. >> chris can you talk about how this interacts with existing regulations? and your thoughts about what the future holds? >> it is entirely fair for streamlining and harmonization to occur. there will always be some anxiety in the private sector side about regulation. is we are encouraged that it non-regulatory and voluntary. we are optimistic we can work with them to roll out framework within our sector in a way that will work for both business and agencies. pointedrine -- kathryn out, we are ready to roll the framework out and get the broadest-based adoption. right now, i am optimistic. we will check in and see where we stand in a year or two.

right now, we are optimistic things will proceed down the right path. we can encompass a lot of things without going down a break with tori path. >> your sector has -- without going down a regulatory path. >> i would observe that the framework has not slowed them down at all. [laughter] in any way, shape, or form. we have seen a lot of interest managementrty risk and outsourcing risk management. cyberas not driven by the security framework. that was driven by regulatory concerns in that particular area. a reminder that all the partners the to adhere to safeguarding requirements.

we already have by regulation a andage between regulations third-party services within the supply chain. with the framework does for us is gives us an opportunity to have a better vehicle to talk about how companies can implement that. that i amchris cautiously optimistic on this one. i think over time, we will see. whether or not there is an increasing push toward making some of the stuff mandatory. some of that will obviously be n by events.ivem it is up to congress to make those determinations. there was a lot of thinking earlier that this stuff should be mandatory. that could be revisited. we will have to see. is up to us in the private

sector to do what we can on the market basis to keep that from happening. job, government doesn't have to come back behind us on a legislative basis and to try to do that for us. >> i am laughing. i would say just as much as there is anxiety when i talk with customers here in the u.s. about a regulatory approach, there is speculation outside the u.s. about whether a voluntary approach will work. i would like to make the point that doug made clearly. the impetus is up to us to make it work. as i talk with customers -- and i spent a huge amount of time talking with the customer base -- there are a lot of customers assuming regulation is coming. that is the mindset they are operating in.

the conversation i have come into this -- the conversation i have is the impetus is up to us. a have to demonstrate that approach can improve cyber security. we have to take the actions to show this can mitigate and manage risk. we are in it for the long game. we didn't just come to develop a framework. we won't just be here for the first round. this is an ongoing conversation between industry and government. we have to see how much the government -- market can do. there may be some space left over. let's make sure we get the opportunity to see -- now that we have defined what, how much can we -- those small areas of narrow. very the limited resources of

government and industry are prioritized on that base. >> -- on that space. between the four individuals. no, there's nothing left to be said. >> i have a question for you. [laughter] you thought you were getting out of that. anit is from patrick, analyst. what kind of legislation do you think is needed for communications providers? >> you should talk to my washington office at greater length. by and large, we have been seeking some form of legislative support in terms of not only the iece, buton sharing peace

communication sector isps are not supposed to share anything about a customer. we do not. if we have a banking customer, and the customer is under attack , i don't say anything. i tell my bank, maybe you should call your -- and share this. we who see so much and can manage so much are absolutely precluded by law, and we follow that, about following -- sharing information. it may be time to revisit whether that is appropriate. whether we might be able to share faster so others can protect. as one element. -- that is one element. there is also an element of, if we see something bad coming, what do we do?

if we see bad things, cross, heading directly for major flaws, should we turn it off? do?there things we should are there things we could do? those are areas that need to be madessed, explored, understandable and repeatable e. in the current environment, we cannot do so. we might be in a better protection -- position to protect their customers. if we take action and him would meet turn off people because we are trying to protect others, that is the sort of dialogue that needs to occur. we will see how it plays out. >> there are a lot of

conversations between our industries about those various just -- about those variations. >> i think the industry as a whole, and at&t -- we are pushing for a clear legal practice around cyber security. it is not just about information sharing. it's about cyber security. exception.d as an perspective,om our is important in their be clarity mean law that cyber security is -- it is important that there be clarity that cyber security -- including things like network monitoring. that is where we would like to drive the conversation in congress. >> question. yes, ma'am.

am from in energy -- an energy cooperative in minnesota. i have an observation i am this roomeveryone in comes from large hot buddies. -- large companies. we have an i.t. staff and the security apartment. department.urity our members do not. they might have one i.t. person. we have 88 independent telephone companies in minnesota. they are in a similar situation. i don't know that they know this framework exists. i'm curious if there is a plan on how to communicate the framework to these very small companies who may not know it

exists. they have a very large impact as well collectively, that as much is that large companies, but collectively there is a large impact. having make sure they are being -- how do you make sure that they are taking the considerations of the framework into account? >> we are conflicted on every single issue. we represent large as well as small and medium-sized institutions. we have thousands of community banks we work with. i deal with that issue every day, trying to ensure the largeres are in institutions are repeatable and community environments. repeatable in community environments. we have 4000 members within a arep, and many of them

community banks. we use the coordinating council as well. represent smaller institutions within our financial services sector broadly as well. the answer is, every single communication vehicle imaginable should be utilized to get the word out that the framework is out. it and second of all, how can we talk about the framework to encourage institutions to look at it and think it is relevant to them? at the job of the trade associations. so the smaller institutions understand this has meaning to them. it can be helpful to them.

as they have conversations about cyber security. >> that is an issue of importance to your membership. >> absolutely. with was a site next door a bunch of people stuck in town. they could not get out of town. i appreciate the support and presence here. reaching out to smaller organizations and people who hasot spell cyber security been a concern throughout this process. we are doing a number of things. the usual outreach stuff. we also understand there are a number of things being done by individual sectors, specifically r.e energy sectors there are a variety of outreach efforts we need to do as a community, outside of the normal

cauldron we are all in. people in smaller organizations. maybe they have read the news and they notice a problem. it is an evolving conversation. we are all working on it. >> we have been very fortunate within the committee kitchen sector. -- within the communications sector. in particular, the cooperative association. we will be working with them collectively and individually to make sure they have what they need to talk to their constituencies. they will be part of the feedback loop back to the implementation. if we find out that the cooperative's, the telephone cooperatives are not -- are missing this or do not get that or need more help there, -- that

could be a key important feedback loop. >> i would add, you have asked the point we have been trying to make throughout the panel. we have to think not only about rod our reach and awareness, but who are we intending to target? broad outreachut and awareness, but who are we intending to target? what we arek to trying to accomplish, not just get a shot in the resources. shushotting the resources. >> thank you very much for broadening the issue. of thee point of view framework, i would like to applaud the fact that we have

mexican --of common around we can rally globally, not just in the u.s.. one thing i am concerned about his cyber security is an issue around design and the ability to and clement it throughout the supply chain. holistic implementation. have autility sector, we 30 year life cycle. but some of the things we are talking about is if we can do it in nine months. i am interested in how we are going to secure holistic design and elimination -- implementation to secure critical infrastructure timely. >> who wants to take a shot at that? >> a couple of things i

would say. up at least one point where i think there is an opportunity for improvement in the framework moving forward. tore is an opportunity enhance the guidance around secure engineering practices associated with the framework as we think about moving forward. you are talking about the holistic overall approach. organizations, mine included, who have secure and rigorous engineering practices. that said, almost everyone has some form of i.t. producer or provider. you are building in-house apps to do the processes unique to yourself. of enhancing the secure engineering practices so those are promulgated more broadly across the ecosystem.

that is one area we can pick about improvement. time --r is change over you have environments architected in one place, but the risk landscape is moving fast. --t is an aerial receipt area where we see parallels between what happened in the infrastructure space in the early 2000 and what is happening now. we are having conversations about secure engineering practices. how we use new environments icloud and virtual machines so you can run light switch -- live switch. framework is the driving a conversation that needs to occur. some of the practices and innovations that occurred in the primary i.t. space may need to

occur in the operational technology space you are dealing in. i don't have a specific answer now, but i think this is a catalyst for a conversation between communities that will help to start either address or manage some of these concerns. >> did you want to -- >> certainly. the framework has been discussed as useful to > -- for discussion between suppliers and acquirers. happening ins been the i.t. and communications space for a long time. hopefully, as for the utility space, it will help provide that catalyst for the suppliers to further adapt good practices. it will not happen overnight. would beng the level

helpful. >> one other point, i think a lot of the large medications companies -- -- large communications companies, we have expectations that are suppliers are abiding by security practices. i think that will continue. i hope the framework does become a catalyst for a discussion interfering --re engineering. the framework is about business processes and risk management. it is not getting into below that layer. each individual company has their own business and has to apply to themselves. i hope software developers and others will apply to their businesses. you talk about privacy by design.

security by design in software is of the that will be necessary in addition to the framework. >> i want to thank everybody in the panel. this was a terrific conversation. i think you helped to enlighten audience.e -- the i look forward to continuing this conversation. i will hand it back to robert. [applause] quickly, i want to thank our panelists. i want to thank our moderators. i also want to thank our audience here in person. and folks in cyberspace. we look forward to further discussions. a venuecontinue to be for these kinds of conversations. i think all of you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] and tonight on c-span, the house democratic caucus wraps up a retreat in maryland. we will so -- show you president obama and vice president biden cost clothing -- closing remarks. jim jordan discusses changes to welfare. ted cruz talks about u.s. energy production. discussed public and private partnership and the impact on foreign policy. >> the new www.c-span.org website gives you access to a library of political events. more are added each day. we have nonstop coverage of

politics, history, and nonfiction books. access more than 200,000 hours of archived video. everything c-span is covered since 1987. our video is searchable and viewable on your desktop tutor, tablet, or smart phone. just look for the search bar at the top of each space -- page. makes itww.c-span.org easy to see what is happening in washington. it is the most comprehensive video library in politics. >> president obama spoke today on the last day of the house democratic caucus retreat in maryland. he spoke about jobs, the passage of the debt limit increase, and enrollment goals for the health care law. he spoke for 15 minutes.

max ladies and gentlemen, to introduce the president of the united dates, please welcome congressman joe crowley. [applause] >> thank you. we are short on time folks. i can stay here all day if you like. some of you asked me whether or not i would be singing my introduction of the president. i do not want to disappoint you but i will be disappointing you. last night we had an opportunity to have a little dedication to pete sieger. my newfound best friend in congress, derek hoffman. we played a view all simon songs as well. i got the president to seal on the presidential podium, my mama loves me.

if my mother could only see me now. our next speaker is the perfect conclusion to what has been a marvelous and wonderful two days despite the weather. on helping us to shape our goals and agenda for the rest of 2014. critical issues including minimum wage including equal pay, unemployment benefits, immigration reform. they all need to be tackled. we need to help our country move forward. we should not bother in an election year. all of these issues get lost in the chaos in the republicans lack of leadership. i say otherwise.

so desire president. just look at what we have accomplished with this man. this wonderful man. we are helping people today because of his leadership on the the leadership of nancy pelosi, steny hoyer and all the house leadership because of what we have done in passing the affordable care act. history has a way of treating is better than we sometimes treat ourselves. i believe the same will be said about this democratic caucus and our leadership when it came to the issue of her writing for the least amongst us. this is a reminder of what we can accomplish when we work together. our next guest understands what opportunity is all about. he understands what we have accomplished so far and when used to be done.

as a boy from woodside, queens, it don't get much better than this. if my dad were here today, he would hardly believe it. all four grandparents, all immigrants, would hardly believe this is the grandson. i thank you for this opportunity to introduce to you the leader of the free world, more importantly, our friend, president barack obama. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you, everybody.

everybody sit down. sit down. it is good to see you. thank you for the wonderful introduction. let me be the first to say happy valentine's day to our fearless leader nancy pelosi. [applause] paul will hopefully get you more than just a thank you. to steny, javier, deed israel who was doing an external or job under the circumstances. it is great to see you. we just saw each other at the white house for the recently. i'm not going to give a long speech year.

i want to spend most of my time answering support questions. let me just make a couple of observations since we saw each other. first of all, i stated in our state of the union that the single most important thing we have to do, not just as a party but as a country, is make sure there is opportunity for every single person that we are focused every single day in this town or in washington making sure that if you are willing to work hard and take responsibility that you can get ahead. it is not matter where you live or what circumstances you were born into. what you look like. who you love. you should be able to make it here in america. as i said at the state of the union, i want to work with congress to make that happen. i am not going to wait.

there's too much to do. america does not believe in standing still. america insists on moving forward. we laid out some very specific ways we can move the country forward. raking them down into a few categories. number one, creating more good jobs that pay good wages. number two, making sure folks are trained to fill those good jobs. number three, making sure our kids have the best education in the world. number four, making sure that hard work pays off, that people are not poor if they are working full-time. that they have some semblance of retirement security.

that they can count on health care if something happens to them. already, just in the last couple of weeks, we put forward a range of executive actions that are going to make a difference. yesterday i had a chance to be with a group of minimum wage workers for federal contractors. these are folks who are washing dishes or cleaning close on our military bases. sometimes the debates on capitol hill get so abstract and to be next to folks, average age by the weight 35, these are not teenagers. these are looking after families in trying to raise kids and see what it would mean to them for us to have a federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour and how much relief it would give them. it reminded me of why i am a democrat. it reminded me of why i am so

proud of this caucus. [applause] you are standing up on behalf of them. we signed the executive order. these folks are going to get a raise. america deserves a raise. now is the time for congress to act. i pointed out yesterday that the majority of low-wage workers are women. that is why we will push to make sure we have equal pay for equal work and we have sensible family policies. as i said, when women succeed america sit succeeds. i still believe that.

we traveled to manufacturing plants up and wisconsin to talk about how we can continue to accelerate his danced manufacturing and technology in this country. we have some great possibilities to create hubs that keep us on the cutting edge. we have already set up a new retirement account that allows people to get a starter retirement. a lot of people do not have 401(k)s.

across the board, we are moving. as i said at the state of the union, i want to repeat today that we can get a whole lot more done if we have congress working with us. this caucus has shown time and time again, under the most difficult circumstance, the kind of encourage in unity and discipline that has made me very proud. i was just talking to nancy before i came out here. the fact that we are no longer going to see anybody try to hold our government hostage and threaten the full faith and credit of the united states of america in order to contract policy concessions, the fact that we are able to pass a clean debt limit is just one example of why when you guys are unified you guys stick together. this country is better off. i could not be more thankful.

i cannot be more proud of what you are doing. just a couple more points. you have seen reports over the last couple of days though we slightly exceeded our targets for enrollments this past month. we now have well over 3.5 million people who have signed up and are getting insurance to the marketplace for the first time. we're going to keep on pushing on this to make sure here in america everyone can enjoy the kind of financial security and peace of mind for good quality health insurance provides.

i just want to say thank you for hanging in there on issue that i think 10 years from now or five years from now we will look i can say this was a monumental achievement that could not have happened had it not been for this caucus. finally, there are some big things we have to do that i cannot do through executive action where he have to get congress and where the american people are on our side. the federal minimum wage law is one of them. another is making sure we've got a smart immigration policy in this country that grows our economy, get people out of the shadows, makes sure our businesses are thriving. that has got to be a top priority. i believe there are folks on the other side of the outage and only want to see this done but they are worried and scared about the lyrical blowback. look. everybody here is an elected official. we can all appreciate the maneuvering that takes place particularly in an election year.

we have to remind ourselves that people are behind the statistics. their lives being impacted. punting and putting things off for another two years or three years, it hurts people. it hurts our economy. it hurts families. part of what makes us democrats is not some abstract ideological set of beliefs but the fact that we are reminded every single day that we're here to help a whole bunch of folks out there who are struggling still. they are counting on us.

we has outstanding members of congress who are willing to fight for them regardless of the political cost starting with your leader nancy pelosi. i'm grateful for you. we keep on making progress. even if we get resistance from the other side. the american people know that we could be breaking out in washington gets its act together. it is important for us to be that process. thank you very much. [applause] all right. thank you. thank you. >> vice president biden also spoke. he spoke for about 20 minutes.

>> thank you. thank you. >> hello, everybody. please, please. you have had a long week. thank you very much. thank you. last time a group stood that long in clap for me, a guy in the back said "keep talking, it is raining outside." i am sorry i cannot be here yesterday. i want you to know i have a deadline. as i got off the helicopter and drove in the short distance to the hotel, i said if you're not out of here 10 minutes till the president cannot land. that is an incentive for everyone. for everyone.

in light of the time, you have been kind enough to invite me to your caucuses before, to this retreat. i have always enjoyed it. i've always been willing and anxious to say as long as you have questions. in order to get to the questions, i am going to be fairly brief and what i have to say in my opening comments. mainly, i came back to say again thank you. i'm not being gratuitous. literally, thank you. were it not for the house of representatives and the way you stood right the president, particular the leadership of nancy, it would not have been amid this could have been a much rougher road. we understand as well why we were reflected, because an awful lot of you in this room. the president has committed and i am fully committed to put in every bit of effort we can to be

of help to any of you. [applause] as jimmy eastland said to me, he said what would they do for you in delaware? some places you help in some places you would her. he said i will come to delaware and campaigned for you or against you, whichever will help you the most. i want to thank steve israel for being so helpful in directing the where he wants me to go. we had breakfast the other day with about half a dozen of your pollsters. i am anxious to help. i also want to thank debbie wasserman schultz. she has been one of the best spokesman we have ever had. [applause] debbie is always there and always doing it well.

i am trying my best to help you raise some money there as well. you are doing a heck of a job for us. i want to thank you. i particularly want to say thank you to shelby, her daughter. every time to comes over i convinced shelby to hang out with me a little while. folks, look. i am optimistic about america's prospects and about our prospects. i really mean that. if you take a look at where we are relative to the other countries in the world, we are so much better positioned than any country in the world to be the 21st century. it is not even close. it really isn't. i love reading the stories about how the chinese are doing so well on their going to eat our lunch in the europeans are coming back. you would not want to try positions with any foreign leader for all the money in the world. they have more problems. we want to see them work their

way through his problems. america is the best nation to lead the world, particularly economically. if you noticed, it is come home to america. an awful lot of corporations, as you know, manufacturing is coming back to the united states of america. it is coming back for simple, basic reasons. we have the most productive workers in the world. i want the chinese to do well. i just that with the president for five hours and told him how much we wanted to see him do well. i said we want you to buy our products. i really mean it. take a look around. take a look at why companies are coming around. the best research of the needs of the world, not even close to any others in the world.

we have a court system where we protect intellectual property. we have a growth in ingenuity. think about it. what products can you name. how may times have you been making speeches about how the chinese have graduated 45 or 60 as many engineers? we are so much better off than anyone else. it always amazes me that we do not talk more about it. i was recently, i traveled about

800,000 miles so far as vice president. i was coming back from a trip that ended up being around the world. i was coming from india to singapore. i met with a man that said if you have met with, one of the wisest men i have met with. the only guy i have heard henry kissinger said he learned something from. li quan yu is 92 years old and frail. his mind is still extremely sharp. he is still very articulate. i sat with him for about an hour. there is a book written where it is a group of interviews with him about four countries, china, india, the united states and russia. i turned to him about 20 minutes into the conversation and said

"mr. president, what are the chinese doing now?" he said something interesting, "chinese are in the united states of america looking for the buried lack. box you know, like flight recorder boxes that contain the data. there try to figure out what it allows americans to be the only nation in the world able to continually remake itself." continually remake itself. i said "i think i can tell you what is in that black box. i said, there are two things in a blackbox. one is a steady and significant stream of immigrants coming to american shores" -- [applause] "those immigrants who come are self-selected. they have the most courage and sense of optimism. they have the greatest sense of the ability of they and their fellow immigrants to make things new.

when you think about it, the strongest come. it takes a lot of courage to pick up and say i'm heading to a country that may not particularly want to me and i do not speak the language but i'm going anyway. it takes a special breed of person. that is the first thing. the second thing is in the united states, whether you are naturalized american citizen or by birth, you are talking the time you are a child to challenge orthodoxy." we are the only nation in the world where as difficult as our elementary school education is and we criticize it and we want to make it better and it must be made better, no child in america is ever criticized for challenging orthodox. think about every other country including our allies. orthodoxy. it is the holy grail. you cannot build something new and less to break the old mold. that is the magic of this country.

when i take a look at our attitude about ourselves as a people, it always surprises me when we do not have the degree of optimism we should about the state of the nation. in spite of who is president or in congress, the american people are so much stronger, so much more recently and, so much more capable. even the ridiculous policies of our friends on the right can i keep them from moving forward. that is what you see all over. the other thing we have going for us in this moment is this the first time in my career where on every major issue the american people agree with the democratic party. it's about it. [applause] i really mean it. i know that sounds like hyperbole.

every issue facing the middle class for what you were able to do at the debt ceiling to minimum wage, 72% supported an increase of minimum wage. , immigration reform, background checks on weapons, 90% of the american people, infrastructure. he said i do like south carolina but i like their port a lot, too. they meet hundreds of thousands of jobs. the american people agree with us. 55% of quality. overwhelmingly they grieve for pay equity. 35% is all the difficulties with the aca. 35% of the people do not want to see it repealed. i cannot think of a time where most of the issues that affect the middle class are overwhelmingly in support of us.

i wish there was a deal or compromise in know when he got up from the table it was done. that is what political parties are able to do. all you had to do was look at the response of the state of the union over three or four. i'm not being facetious. i think we should just get a little focus. let's get a little focus. to focusing on the few things we

do have problems with, focus on all we have going for us going forward in this election. the middle class, you have heard me say this before, we have great economists in the white house who will debate with you whether middle-class means $49,870 or $52,100. middle-class is not a number. middle-class is a value set. it is about whether or not you can only her home and not have to rent it. it is not whether not you can send your kid kids to the park in the neighborhood in a worry about whether he or she will be mugged or molested going to and from. it is about being able to send the kid to your school in the vicinity where you know if they do well they will qualify to go to school after they graduate, whether it is trade school or community college or a four-year college.

it is knowing that you're going to be able to take care of your parents that are elderly and hope and pray your children will never have to take care of you. that is what being middle-class is. the middle class is being clobbered. they talk about the fact that we should not be talking about income inequality. i think it would be a sin if we did not talk about income inequality. [applause] when you go from when i was did to ceo that made about 25 times more than the lowest paid employee to now 240 times, i understand all the economic arguments. anderson globalization.

i understand the consequences. the reason america is a strong and as vital as it is, it has the most robust as any other nation in the world. this is why it happened. when the middle class does well, the rich gets richer and the poor have an avenue. that is closing. it seems to me -- that is what everything we talk about is about. making sure we are building this country. the thing that amazes me most is about how with republicans all of a sudden infrastructure is bad. building think the country needs, i do not get it. i really don't, by the way.

it is one of the things after all of the years i served in the senate and now five years as vice president, it is the one perplexes me the most. i do not get it. their friends and business are for it. the american public is for it. we are for it. all they have to do is look around and see how badly the need is, but there is this hesitancy to do anything. i know we got a budget deal. it is a good thing that we're moving on to not have to refight the budget again this year and next. does anybody in this room think that the republican party has walked away from the ryan budget? does anybody in this room think if they are able to take the senate or maintain the numbers that is not what they will get back to?

i campaigned for a lot of congressional handed it. i am proud to. many times i go into the districts and supporters are saying there are x number of republicans competing for nomination and this one or that one. kay hagan had about 1500 people. i said the thing you have to ask anyone of the candidates, if they are elected, are they going to vote against when the republicans moved again to reduce taxes by another $220,000 a year for people making over a million bucks? are they going to vote against a woman's right to choose, access to a good job? what are they going to do? are any one of them going to deviate from the orthodoxy?

the orthodoxy of the republican party in the house of representatives right now. folks, i think we have, between now and november is three political lifetimes. the one thing i'm actually confident about in large part because of the caliber of candidates you have been able to recruit and the nature of your leadership and because the american people are already where we want them to be, already with us, i cannot

imagine our prospects of being viewed by the president and everyone else as being a whole hell of a lot brighter by the time we turn in september than now. keep your eye on the ball. keep your eye on the ball. the american people are where we are. let's go out and make every single effort not just to defend but to aggressively push our agenda. they are with us. they are with us. i am glad i am with you. thank you very much. [applause] that's according to the new york times, the president talked about the trade agenda. specifically the partnership, which is a regional trade deal involving 12 countries. part of the administration positivity towards asia. the vice president acknowledged that congress will not grant fast track trade authority. the article also cites remarks by senate majority leader harry reid. nancy pelosi said that giving the president this authority is out of the question for you can

read more online. >> on the next washington journal, the inmate -- the american enterprise institute. we will look at the health care law and the recent extension given by the obama administration to medium size in lawyers in providing health insurance. alicia caldwell will discuss the future of the homeland security department under jeh johnson. this is all in washington journal. >> one of the things that we worry about his physical dangers. i always think, what keeps me up at night, -- i wonder what

your greatest fear is to a physical attack here in our country. >> i would answer it by two things. by the fiber, an attack against our infrastructure. that would have a potential damaging event. financial is an area that we have to pay close attention to. side, there are a range of things that keep me up at night. when you see these mom by attacks, what happens in nairobi, what happens in the boston marathon, those are the things that we have to continue to work together on to make sure that we are working as seamlessly as possible to share everything we have on the defense side and the national side, but also on the arrow side.

that is important. we are trying to work on integration of intelligent systems. >> the senate armed services committee looks at worldwide cyber rat. saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.. watch coverage of the savanna book festival. that starts saturday morning at 9:00. as part of this presidents' day to reporters of power. american president in a national orchard gallery. >> earlier this week, the heritage foundation hosted a conservative policies, it. jim jordan discusses his recommendations for improving welfare. this is from washington, d.c. it runs an hour.

>> let's rejoin the conversation here. i am excited to introduce jim jordan. a lot of you know him. he is absolutely a great leader on every conservative issue that we work on. is federal spending, tax reform, entitlements, pushing back against cronyism, jim is on the friend life. -- the frontline. the scene when he chaired the republican study committee. his leadership was extraordinary. it became clear under his chairmanship that this was a guy to keep on eye on. since leaving the chairmanship, he has not slowed down at all. he has become the voice of the conservative conscience in the house of representatives. on top of everything else, he

has taken on a very important job. he is transforming the welfare state. this has been a very important issue. been at the core of what we have been working on for decades. in keepingrumental those victories and keeping to transform the welfare state. working to translate those ideas for how to keep going. we are ready to make a massive plus. we want the leadership team to bring this to the floor. it is an important piece of legislation. he has joined one of our panelists and i am excited for you guys to meet him. he had gone out in the field to see firsthand what kind of challenges we are facing.

as you know, this is going to be important. i want us to be able to find a way to put out. we are excited to advance his golfers -- event this bill. >> don't clap if you haven't heard me talk yet. thank you. thank you to heritage, one of the greatest policy think tanks in the whole world. they are doing all the work. i does have the privilege of introducing the bill. has done all the analysis and all the work. we appreciate their work. doing work on all kinds of conservative issues. we have been down in richmond about 1.5 years ago. what peoplehand

getting in the trenches -- helping people, not just talking policy. they go out and they administer -- they minister to people. they help them improve their lives. jennifer marshall organized the whole trip. she has done so much research in this area. if you are going to stop poverty, and i will talk in the broad sense, if you are going to cure poverty and prevents it, there are three things you need. work, strong families, remarket. -- free market. let's be honest, this administration is not doing well in any of those areas. that is what we need to change. we need to highlight that. that is what our bill is about.

i want to talk mostly about the first thing and that is were. we crossed the line last week. we have one of the two major parties in the country embracing the concept that less work and more help from government is part of the democratic platform. i would argue that we fought that line last week. shows froms on the nancy pelosi -- did you hear. reid said? hear what harry reid said? it is sad to hear the party step over the line and embrace the idea that somehow he is good when people were class. we come from an entirely different focus. this bill comes from an opposite direction. we think work is a good thing. do a short exercise. think about the first job you ever had. the very first job you had.

maybe was a paper route. maybe it was babysitting the neighbor's kid. maybe it was working at a mcdonald's or a burger king. maybe it was as a waiter or a waitress. of me, i was in the middle ohio and it was billy hayes. i was mowing lawns. i was speaking about this over the weekend. -- yousons i learned think about the things you learn from that first business. how to manage money and resources. we had an interesting operation. my dad was old school and he said he would provide a truck and built the trailer. he will give us a lawn mowers and we had one question hour. ush mueller. you guys pay for the gas. you can have a date on the weekend, and that will come out of the money you earn.

you learn to manage your resources. if you were screwing around and you broke something on the mower, you have to pay for it. it was normal wear and tear, he would cover it. you learned about work and the satisfaction you get from doing a job well. you get it signed and you see the nice lawn that you mode. you learn basic values. when we don't let people experience that, or we have policies that this incentivize that, we are robbing them of the opportunity to learn those deals , those lessons, those values that we all got from that very first job. we took those skills and moved on to better employment. line, butmow my own that is what we are missing. this focus on work. , you learnyou learn to deal with people.

whenever someone would call her house, and find out that we were in the lawn business, someone would call and we would go to the phone, and we knew someone was asking for us to mow their lawn. we figured we had 20 at the time and we did not need more. we would be in the background telling him we did not need more. my dad never turn anyone down. we always have that additional lawn. you learn to deal people. we had the steinberger lately -- ladies. they were never married, they live together. two sisters. they had a big lawn, but we quickly learned that you grab the mowers and get to learn -- get to work. with that house, we went a few minutes before we started to talk to them. if we talk to them a little bit, they were more likely to make chocolate chip cookies and have been waiting or a.

you learn those skills. they are important in the business that i'm in now. we have to keep track. so many people wanted their lawns mowed before the weekend. there were different things you have to do. my point is that we are robbing people of the opportunity to develop those skills. we have a bill that focuses on how or work is. our bill is simple. let's figure out what we are spending money on now. 77 different social programs. your tax dollars are being used to fund them. but aggregate that. , let'sequire states incentivize states, to have work problems -- work programs that make a difference in people's lives.

mowing lawns, flipping burgers, a paper route, whatever it is. let's teach people basic skills so that they can move on to better employment. if you had a chance, you could see this story. here i have it. it was in the wall street journal. do you see this story? he is the guy behind. we had professor mulligan speech at a subcommittee hearing a year ago on the unemployment concerns. this guy had it right. it was largely his analysis. it is worth reading that if you get a chance.

i will get to our panel soon. he wants to strike at the causes of poverty, not just the consequences. that is what our bill will do. if you want to get at what causes poverty, you have this incentivizing work. it is not adhering to free markets. when we focus on those things, good things can happen. , andast thing i will say they used to say this to student know my, this lets you background before he got into the business of politics. i was a wrestling coach at ohio university. i used to tell our student-athletes that hard work does not guarantee success. but insurer -- it sure improves your chances. hard work is the best ticket. we have a culture and government policy is that going the opposite direction.

that is a mistake. that is something we should correct. when you focus on that work that, you bills a quality is the most important character quality necessary for anyone to achieve anything of meaning. that is self-discipline. it is so important. i think i have shared this story before. it stuck with me. coachgh school wrestling -- wrestling is big in our school. my brother is a code. it is a big deal. started with our host back in the day. the wrestling room is named after him. he had cancer a few years ago passed away. there was an amazing memorial service. he would talk about discipline every day. was the toughest teacher in our school. he taught chemistry and physics

i still remember. it was not just any old class. he said, if you want to do well in my class, you better come prepared and participate. it will take discipline to do well in this class. and in the rest room, he was driving me nuts. self-discipline is the most important character quality. i thought, would that i showed up? he is just like my dad. now i have to get in the classroom and in wrestling. but it hangs in a wrestling ring today. discipline is doing what you don't want to do when you don't want to do it. things the right way. even when he wanted to give them the easy way or the convenient way. the biggest problem is that we always do think the convenient way instead of the right way. this bill is about teaching

people qualities to do things the right way. we want them to experience the american dream so they can better their lives. it is all about these concepts of hard work and self-discipline. that is why i am so excited about it. you guys know this. anything worth doing is never easy. it will take effort, but if we are working with the heritage foundation, i will bet on that team any time. time for questions. [applause] >> if i could invite our panel of. >> i will introduce them as they come up. >> you are in for a treat today. ab woodson is the founder of group. he has been working with folks in congress, getting them to talk to people. he wants to understand and rub shoulders with folks.

his work has been really toortant to this effort marshal the heritage foundation has been working a lot with bob. the director of domestic policy studies here at heritage. we are privileged to have her here. i will open it up with a couple questions. then we will go to the audience. bob, your testimony at the senate budget committee, we saw that very powerful. you shared a story about your knees. that is what we are connecting with. would you mind sharing that with the group? can you talk about the implications? >> when the chairman started off. they left behind six children in rural poverty.

they all went to college on a government scholarship. that was her defense. my response was that we generalize about poor people. we aggregate them. you have people who use welfare as anhe did anyways use annual in-service, not a full transportation system. they may have a young mom in wisconsin who saved $5,000 of shewelfare check so that could center dot urging college and she was charged with felony. she said she made a decision. it wasn't because she had bad character. ae made a confident -- conscious decision. there are those who are poor because of the chances that they take and the choices that they make. there are character deficits there.

they are alcoholics or they have bbs out of wedlock. giving money to that last category only injures them. i said that my own knees back in the 90's was an alcoholic. she was living in public housing. she had a small child. i spent a year and thousands of dollars trying to wean her off and finding her on a farm in. i found great job. i went to pick her up at 2:00 in the morning and one of the days -- one of the most dangerous housing projects in philadelphia. she was drunk. i could not compete against a with housing. i cannot not compete against food stamps. it was only after welfare reform was she compelled to go out and work. now she is on her feet. i say that to say that it is important for us to this aggregate that and recognize

that help -- people tend to look at all welfare recipients as if they are category one. people on the right tend to look at all welfare recipients as if they are category three. conventionsst our to meet the categories of people we are trying to help. >> thank you. one other question. i know this will probably come out. talk about the importance of bringing folks like paul ryan and some of the other folks, why do you think is important that conservatives get out there. lot -- people on the left, when they looking for people, they see victims. people on the right see aliens. i think when we talk about poor people, we spend too much time talking about their deficits and their shortcomings.

we give statistics about the 70% were born out of wedlock. people are not motivated to change or improve by warning them about injuries to be avoided. we as conservatives must inspire people and talk about victories that are possible. instead of always focusing on the 70% of the families that are raising children in indigent communities, we should look about the 30% who are raising children that are not dropping out of school or in jail or on drugs. we should go in and find that 30% and ask them what they are doing that is different than their neighbors. how can we find support and that the to them so 30% can begin to affect the avenue percent. we should be the champions of the 30%, as much as much as we are opponents to the 70%. we have seen firsthand what

happens when you go into communities that are suffering problems. intervention by those who are living in the same cultural zip code anything geographic zip code. nothing is more powerful to a person trying to find direction that exposure to a witness who says transformation is operable. that is more powerful than an advocate. this, iso, and jim saw that we go into those neighborhoods and identify people who are healing agents. we know the human body is oriented towards health. the moment there is injury, healing begins. we need to go in and identify those community antibodies. we need to find creative ways that we can insinuate resources, information, and money so that these individuals can become a

whole immune system. the body of the neighborhood is healed from the in and out. people arese healing grassroots organizers. they embody conservative principles. they believe in sacrifice. they believe that he may be knocked down, but you have to get up. they believe in all of the things that we believe in. they will articulate conservative principles. there, the in qualities that make them effective also render them invisible. they are not whining or complaining or petitioning government. they are just busy doing their work. you have to act like a geiger counter and find them. do, you will recognize

the strength that they have. you will build on their strengths and enable them. there are many barriers that we found when drug and alcohol was involved. there are problems in amerco alcohol and drug this education, with because our problems he sent a savior, but that's something else. >> thank you. i'll ask one more question and 2u7. we'll open we recently had a lot of commentary about 50 years since war on poverty was launched. to talk pportunity about what our solutions are as conservatives. but