>> the focus on the middle class and raising the minimum wage. this is about an hour and a half. >> good afternoon. on behalf of the board of trustees, i am honored to welcome you to the college of

marin. we are joined today by our esteemed board of trustees. please stand. please give them a round of applause. i also know we're joined today by a variety of other leaders in education, both superintendents and various school board meetings. so if you're in the audience, please stand so we can acknowledge you as well. dayna king was a familiar face in the bay area for 15 years as an 'em my -- volunteering on behalf of children and youth working to make early childhood education accessible for all students.

here in marin county, she is on an organization dedicated to improving access to education, housing, healthcare and knew frustration for youth and is also a founding member of the marin strong start organization which ensures access to quality healthcare, preschool, child care, and after school academic support for all of marin's children. please joini me in welcoming daa king. [applause] >> thank you very much. it's so nice to be back in marin. it's sunny and warm over here. i heard a gasp when someone said she's in oakland. what? [laughter] >> i do miss marin. and i was here for 15 years. and it will always, always be my

home. my children were raised here, attended school here. and now they're grown. so when they flew the coop, i did too. but it's not that far. just over the bridge. i'm just over the bridge. come and visit us. in oakland, we have great restaurants, incredible art. i'm going to do a little pr for oakland. thank you for coming out here

today. we have a very, very important program today. our agenda to jump start the middle class. shall we? yes. [applause] >> and we are incredibly fortunate today to have our esteemed representative in from washington to talk about this crucial congressional plan. democratic leader nancy pelosi. >> and our very own, congressman jared huffman. >> so we're going to hear from congressman huffman in a moment.

>> and our economy and he values it personally for his children and their future success. representative huffman was sworn in as a member of the 113th congress on january 3rd, 2013. he represents our second district. the district spans north to the oregon border and includes all

of plehn. congressman huffman is a member of the committee on natural resources and the house budget committee. in congress, as in the assembly, mr. huffman has distinguished himself as a legislator who works tirelessly and gets results. often by forging bipartisan consensus on issues. you all read the news. you know bipartisanship is hard to come by but that's what congressman huffman does on your behalf. jared is a father, a husband, a member of our community, and a leader in congress. i'm very honored to call him my friend and your commend. so we welcome him now to the podium. [applause] >> well, thank you, dana king

for that great introduction. and thanks for everything that you have done not only for plehn but for the whole bay area as a broadcaster and community leader. and i know i'm not supposed to say this but we hope you'll do more as a member of the oakland city council soon. [applause] >> i want to thank all of the students, guests, dignitaries, the college of plehn for hosting this important discussion today. and of course, i want to thank our great democratic leader, nancy pelosi for giving us some quality time in a schedule that you would just not believe. it is an honor and a privilege that you would spend this time with us. i'd rather be working right now on the mountain of unfinished work that this congress should be doing right now.

some of you may know that many of us in the house of representatives wrote to speaker boehner asking him to keep us in session including a supplemental fundal bill to address the humanitarian crisis at the border. the president has also requested critical supplemental funding for federal agencies trying to fight wild fires in the west this year. and if we were working like we should be in this congress, we could have votes on bipartisan bills to raise the minimum wage, provide long term employment, authorize supporting american small businesses without cost to the taxpayers. we could pass a comprehensive immigration reform that would pass the senate. we could bring up a bipartisan

background check law to better protect our communities from these acts of gun violence that have become all too common in our country. but since speaker boehner declined our request to stay in session and work on those things, i'm happy still for this opportunity to be in my district. i've been working with firefighters on the fire lines. i've met with agricultural leaders and community health clinics and a lot more. of course, today i have the great opportunity to be here with all of you to talk about another very critical priority. that is ensuring high quality, affordable education for everyone in america. such an honor to have leader pelosi here at college of plema.

she is the architect of this thing you'll be hearing from, middle class jump start agenda. what it is, is a hundred-day plan to revitalize our struggling middle class. what she brings to it is kind of relevant to where we are. we have back to school energy here on the college of marin. she manages to bring that back to school energy to her job every single day and all of her work on behalf of the middle class. so i'm so proud of her leadership. three months ago, i had the honor of addressing the college of marin graduating class here. i was struck by two things. the first thing was this palpable sense of pride, accomplishment, and optimism.

just come to a community college commencement and look around. you will get it instantly. the other thing that struck me were stories of hard work, grit, and determination. college of marin certainly takes pride in famous alumni like robin williams who we tragically lost last week. there was a mother of three kids living on public assistance working her way through school. and this young mother after several years of hard work and coming through to get her credential at college of marin will be entering uc berkley in a few days to study sociology. there was a young man i met who

came from taiwan. didn't speak english or have his parentses with him and he worked so hard to make it through college of marin, he will be starting san jose state in a few days to study mechanical engineering. there are so many stories like that across this country about how education transforms lives, communities, and families. when you think about it and i think about my own experience graduating with what i thought was significant student debt but by today's standards, it almost seems trivial, we absolutely have to do much more. if we want young people to keep reaching up and pursuing higher education and everything it can do for them and for their communities and for our country and our economy, we have to do more to make sure graduates can

enter the workforce without crippling amounts of student debt. we have to do much more. specifically, we need congress to do more and that's why i'm so happy to be here with leader pelosi to talk about our middle class jump start plan. the plan, as i mentioned, a 100-day plan for what we would do to turn the middle class around includes education in a very big way. it's a list of priorities that i think everyone really should support. it includes tax breaks for creating jobs instead of shipping them overseas. it includes a priority of building america's infrastructure, raising the minimum wage, focusing on supporting women and families through pay check fairness and critical to the plan is our educational agenda.

affordable education to keep america number one. and specifically, there's a lot we can do to improve our k through 12 education system. so i am working with leader pelosi and other house democrats to pass a bill that we call bank on students emergency loan refinancing act. this just lets folks refinance their student loans at today's low interesting rates. we're doing more than that. we're working to advance president obama's call for universal early childhood education. we know that children who don't attend preschool are often behind in kindergarten and we know many of them don't catch up. that's unacceptable. we also know childcare is

necessary. even here in marin county, one of the most affluent counties in the united states, one out of every four children does not attend preschool. only 34 percent of latino children attend preschool. we have to realize our broader vision of a high-quality, affordable educational system that,s for everyone in this country. we have a terrific program here today. i'm looking forward to hearing from the other speakers. thank you all very much for joining us.

>> thank you, congressman huffman. the work that you do helps build our foundation and it starts with education. it starts with pre-k. when a chimed doesn't go to pre-k compared to tcompared to . we're talking about college right now and the affordability of it or sometimes the lack of affordability of college and how difficult it sometimes can be to keep a job, go to school, get good grades, eat well, and have a life. i'd like to bring to the stage kantalea. she entered -- she transferred

to -- in order to save money and continue her education without having to take time off from college. she's majoring in international studies and currently serves as a student ambassador. as an ambassador, she focusing on helping students better understand the true cost of college so that they can make informed decisions. [applause] >> good afternoon. thank you all for being here. i'm glad to tell my story. after high school, i first attended city college of san francisco and then transferred to the fashion institute of technology not realizing how expensive it was going to be. that's where i learned the true cost of college.

my parents unfortunately living as they were could not afford to help me. so i had to take out loans from the first year and then ended upcoming back to california not too long afterwards when i realized how much debt i've already accumulated. now attending college of marin, i'm trying to work and stabilize my financial situation but i'm in eight much more reasonable cost with a very supportive community. my advice to other students would be to do your homework on different college options like community colleges, public and private universities, what you might qualify in terms of financial aid. i don't regret my college experience so far but i also wish that i wasn't 22 years old with $15,000 in debt. the time and energy to research different college options can really pay off and you can then make better decisions.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. if a student comes out of school with huge debt, they can't buy cars, furniture, start their lives. we really have to work on this. i'd now like to bring to the stage a young man originally from los angeles. lance reyes entered college of marin in 2010. he was extremely involved. he spent much of his time advocating on behalf of students. he focused on creating projects that increased access to

educational opportunities with special attention to the unique needs of com students and supporting their success academically and socially. he majors in electrical -- majored in electrical engineering and computer sciences and transferred to u.c. berkley this fall. [applause] >> congressman huffman, special guests, congresswoman pelosi. thank you for being here today. my story is one that strays from a traditional path. i didn't go to college straight out of high school. i actually never felt like college was for me. i went into -- i went to look for a job and ended up in an

electrical apprenticeship program where i learned the electrical trade. there was a component of that, that had a night class. that was the spark that brought me back to school. so when i was looking for how i would go about this, i wanted to go to a class that had smaller classes. community college made sense for me. smaller classes. personal attention. affordability. that was a huge factor for me. i didn't have a lot of means to go to a university straight out of college. i came to college of marin and enjoyed every minute of it. but it wasn't easy. i -- there was a lot of times where we had -- i had to think about where the cost of education doesn't stop at

tuition. there's books, supplies, housing, transportation, so many other things that happen through the course of your life, the most inopportune time, you have to fix an ac problem or something like that. so i had to look for resources. one of those being the pell grant. my story doesn't differ from a lot of other students. there are a lot of others in the same situation, maybe even worse. what made the difference for me was being able to come to a place that i knew was affordable and that i knew had the resources there so that i could get my education. many of our students face a lot of obstacles as well as many facing their legal status, whether they're going to be deported. i think that has another

psychologic psychological effect that students are not really aware of but should be. thank you. [applause] >> inspirational voices. there is a struggle. the question is how much of a struggle does it have to be. that's what we're working on here. he introduced me so i now get the opportunity to introduce college of marin superintendent and president david wayne kuhn. dr. kuhn has been recognized for his leadership locally, regionally, and nationally. he came to marin following a

successful five-year stint as president of ever green valley college. before that, he held a variety of administrative positions in the washington state community college system. he has a bachelor of arts deg e degree, a masters in education and public administration, and a doctorate of education in educational leadership with emphasis in organizational development. he was presented with the 2006 central achievement award by the central washington university alumni association. [applause] >> that's pretty awesome.

aren't we fortunate. dr. wayne kuhn has taken great pride in shaping the center with his own sense of humility, integrity, and commitment to service. dr. wayne kuhn. [applause] >> thank you for that kind introduction. it occurs to me in the beginning of the program that i ask you to acknowledge the leaders of our school districts. those people are our teachers. if you're a retired or current teacher, please stand so we can acknowledge all the work that you've done. [applause] >> thank you for being here today. i would like to provide context today by sharing information

about college affordability and our teacher training program. with respect to financial aid, despite the relative wealth in marin county, 50 percent of our 75,000 students are 50 percent. this includes a combination of fee waives, grants, loans, and scholarship. on the bright side, we anticipate awarding over $150,000 in scholarships. according to the initial center for education statistics, the number of students at -- 2007 to over 74 percent in 2010, 2011. another troubling statistics pertains to the rising default

rates for student loans. that rate is at 21 percent nationwide. that's one in five. and it's projected that this rate will increase in the coming years. so one question to consider, if community college students still borrow less than counterparts at colleges and universities, why are they increasingly defaulting at higher rates? one answer is they transfer to institutions when they already have accumulated a lot of debt. the average age of our students in our credit program is 34 and over 22 percent of our students have previously earned a bachelor's degree or higher. so not surprisingly, one of the major factors is the poor economy in the recent past. many students had no other choice than to borrow and borrow

more. initially, some students relied upon loans to supplement lost income and most continued to rely upon loans to help cover living expenses while they're pursuing their education. unfortunately for students, there's no way to get out from underneath the student loan. the bigger issue is that the interest on the student loan continues to grow whether a student is in default or not. so that mountain just keeps getting bigger. so while the overall amount of debt students accumulate is the greatest concern, financial planning is a factor. that is why colleges are focusing more attention on early financial aid counseling. with regard to early childhood

education, california community colleges have been the educational system responsible for early childhood teacher preparation. more than 100,000 california community college students are enrolled in early childhood education programs and more than 10,000 student parents are using campus centers. it's one of the top enrolled disciplines in the california community college system. the college of marin is the only institution in marin county that trains marin's early childhood educato educators. located on our campuses are california subsidized preschools that provide subsidized preschool for families around the country. they provide model learning environments that can

demonstrate the best practices. i thank you for the opportunity to talk about affordability and the curriculum. [applause] >> very hopeful to hear that there's $150,000 in scholarship money for students here at college of marin. that's awesome. and now i'd like to introduce you to dr. michael wattenpaw. during his 30-year career in public education, he's worked as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. in 2005, he was named

superintendent of the year. since his appointment here in 2007, he's led district and community initiatives to create and ensure equity-based opportunities. the district now receives over $1.5 million in annual grant funding to support closing the achievement gap ensuring a quality education for every child. he has built new partnerships and collaborations with local and national foundations and nonprofit organizations. the district is engaged in a multi-year collaboration with a national eh inquiriquitequity-b.

[applause] >> thank you. as dana mentioned, i'm the superintendent of schools just north of here. our student enrollment has consistently grown over the last several years. we're projected to grow by another 3,000 students in the next several years. but our district is the most diverse district in all of marin county. 60 percent of our students are latino. 60 percent participate in the free and reduced lunch program.

55 percent are english learners. and for purposes of the new state local control accountability plan, 65 percent of students are an unduplicated count of -- so here we are in the wealthiest county in the nation and it's hard to believe that the demographics of a school district in marin are the demographics of san hafael schools. about 50 percent of our entering class of kindergarten kindergarten have been to preschool. the other 50 percent have not. for those children who have not

app the ethe enen attended preschool are apair to 3,000 less words than those that have. our staff is committed to doing whatever it takes to move these children forward. it's an hurculean effort but we arrive every day with the intent to prepare these children for careers starting in kindergarten. we also support families who are uncertain how to necessarily support their own children in that pathway to college because it begins early. it doesn't begin just in your ninth grade year in high school. we know from our experiences that these early childhood years

pave the way for college. in the next few days at the end of the week, i'll go to every single class and ask the question who's going to college. every single student will raise their hand. they know that it's something to aspire to. in the second grade, i'll ask them what they'll do after college. so i get answers like a vet, a doctor, this last year, a second grader told me i have a back-up plan. [laughter] >> and so her first choice was vet. and her back-up plan is to be a singer. [laughter] >> so i told her keep going. regardless of the college or career pathways that our children choose, entering

kindergarten sets the path. public school districts like our schools must work in partnership with our 0 to five partners, those who serve children between the age of 0 to five because they help us get ready to prepare them for school. we also must engage the entire school community in helping to collaborate and work with us so that more students arrive ready to learn. we must create welcoming school environments where every family feels welcome. that they see a place for them at their particular school site. we know that 70 percent of our high school graduates begin college immediately after graduation. about 60 percent of those go back for a second year. but after a six-year period, it's only 30 percent that

graduate with a bachelors

degree. >> setting the bar really high for our youngest ones. let's get them through college, all four years and then beyond that. so day after tomorrow, you're going to have a lot of shiny new pennies, everyone excited. what a joy. it is now my honor to bring to the podium the democratic leader of the u.s. house of representatives for the 113th congress, congresswoman nancy pelosi. [applause] >> from 2007 to 2011, ms. pelosi

served as speaker of the house. the first woman to do so in american history. in 2013, she was inducted in the national woman's hall of fame. for 27 years, leader pelosi has represented san francisco, the 12th district in congress. she has led house democrats for a decade and previously served as the house democratic whip. i learned a lot about that on house of cards. [laughter] >> she's tough. okay. under the leadership of ms. pelosi, the 111th congress was heralded as one of the most productive congresses in

history. she spearheaded health reform legislation in the house which provides insurance for tens of millions more americans while lowering healthcare costs over the long term. she also led the congress in passing the student aid and fiscal responsibility act which reforms the financial aid system to save billions of taxpayer dollars. leader pelosi comes from a strong family tradition of public service out of baltimore, maryland. she's married to paul pelosi. she's the mother of five and the grandmother of nine. ladies and gentlemen, the leader of the house. [applause] >> thank you all very much. good afternoon. i'm very eager to hear your questions so that's why i'm moving us along. it's an honor to be here with

each and every one of you. certainly with my colleague jared hoffman. thank you all very much for sending him to congress. for president coon, thank you for the great leadership you are providing with michael watenpaugh. lance and kalea, the vips of the day. you are the future and we learn from you. and dana, good luck to you and everything you are pursuing. thank you so much for being here with here in marin county. i'm honored to be here. i was mentioned earlier -- it was mentioned earlier that robin williams attended this school and i want to say thank you for contributing to his magic.

when they talked about mozart, they said people would call him a genius but a genius is someone who if you watched what they did, we could learn how they do it if we worked very hard and were very smart. but mozart was not just a genius, he was a magician because he had every repeated example -- examples of excellence. that's what i think of robin williams. he's more than a genius. a magician who was constantly be entrepreneurial in so many ways. thank you, college of marin for contributing to the joy of our

country. thank you so much. [applause] >> in acknowledging jared hoffman, i also want to acknowledge his predecessor who was an a champion in congress. her legacy is a great one working with congressman george miller, the chairman of the committee from across the bay. she's so happy that jared hoffman is following not necessarily in her footsteps because he is making his own path but for carrying the banner of public education in such a very strong way. personally with his two children but also officially in the congress of the united states. everything to do with children and their future whether it's the air they breathe and protecting the environment, whether it's budget priorities, in terms of establishing the

priorities right for our country. who better than jared hoffman and his values and understanding. effective from the start. one of the leaders in congress already only there a matter of months, not years yet, recognized leader in preserving our planet, protecting our environment, and doing it all for our children's future. thank you. [applause] >> jared went through a long list of pieces of legislation that if we were in session we could pass. they have bipartisan support, immigration, gun violence, reducing gun violence, voting rights. he named a long list. i won't repeat it except to say to association myself with the concern that these are bipartisan pieces of legislation that have the votes to pat but are not passing. we have to take this out to

americans to get the job done. president lincoln said public sentiment is everything and to the extent you get this message across about education and jump starting the middle class rather than stalling the middle class really helps. that's why today for me is so important for us, jared and i, something we will report back to our colleagues on. as he said, it's about jobs and growth, making it in america, increasing our manufacturing base by having tax credits to keep jobs here, and building the infrastructure of america. it's about the heart of the matter. when women succeeds, america succeeds, giving women equal pay for equal work. paid sick leave is a huge issue. and then the issue of quality

affordable childcare. children learning. parents earning. which segues into our -- it's part of lifetime learning. let's just establish a couple of things. when we had this debate with our colleagues and jared knows this firsthand, they'll say, oh, we can't do that. it increases the deficit. there is nothing that we can do to public policy that brings more money to the treasury and, therefore, reduces the deficit more than investing in public education. [applaus [applause] >> all of it reduces the deficit. so if somebody says, well, we

can't increase the amounts of pell grants because it's going to increase the deficit or we can't get rid of these high interest rates for kids because that helps reduce the deficit. that's totally wrong. in fact, it's not smart. what we want to be ant education is smart because it is fundamental to our democracy, it is fundamental to our middle class and those who aspire to it. today, what we're doing, investing in education to keep america number one. it's not just about individuals although that would be justification, helping people reach their aspirations whether it be veterinarian or singer or both, who knows. or whether it's just about keeping our economy number one. we think an important part of that is unleashing the power of

women in the economy with some of the things we talked about, early childhood education and the rest. but you can't unleash the power of women unless we have education and that is the key to everything. so i'm very proud and i accept the kind words of dana on behalf of my colleagues in the congress on the democratic side who made all of that possible and also to say just to list to help the students afford a higher education with increasing the pell grant. the fight we're having right now is it's frozen at 4,000. we raised it to 5550 with indexing to make it higher. costs go up. right now, our colleagues want to freeze the amount for ten years. that doesn't make sense. i don't even call these issues though. these are values debates.

the education of the american people. assisting graduates to pay back their loans. this is essential and as jared said at a lower and re -- and refinancing it at the lower interest rates. we did it before but it expired once we lost the majority. we want to do it again. whether it's a g.i. bill for the 21st century, returning veterans coming back and going back to school. many of them in community colleges. what i learn as i visit community colleges across the country, they are the bridge, they are the threshold whether it's into occupation or another institution of higher learning. these veterans in schools, some of them very young. some of them not so young. all of them a valuable asset to the classroom. that's what the kids tell me.

also whether it's by colleges, minorities serving institutions who are hispanic or native americans or the rest. and then as was mentioned ear earli earlier, helping kids shop for the best deal for them. it's really important to have that happen and then helping them transition to employment. nobody does that better than our community colleges. this is essential. i always say to people who are at this place with kids who are making it through high school, tron additioning to -- transitional to colleges, that is the future of our country. having spoken at commencements at community colleges, i always say people brag about their child graduating, these are our

victories, success stories, some of them having to support their own families, their parents, some of them having to support their families if they're married or have children. imagine the challenge challenges and optimism they have about the future. we're very, very excited about it. this all begins at a very young age from 0 to five years old. that's really important. as i go around the country and we have events, what we're doing now is the middle class jump start. so this is our education week and i couldn't be more honored to be here in these events. but early on when we were asking women what would help you the most to unleash your power in the work place and have the

balance between home and work, we would go around and listen to stories. one story that i'll close with because it goes to these young children is a woman came and she was going to tell her story. and when she got up, she said i'm a mother of five, english second language, single mom, you name it, she had it all. she had ever challenge. she said i -- now i'm confident. i just got a promotion at work. i went to community college. got a promotion at work. but i was nervous speaking at all these women at a meeting such as this. so she said i listened to my kids will you listen to mommy's speech because i'm nervous about tomorrow. she lined all of her kids up, the youngest being four in head start. she said at the end does anybody have any comments or questions. four year old raised her hand in head start and said i just have

one question, mom, who gave you permission to use my name in your speech. you go girl. and that is the confidence, the self-esteem. it's about knowledge. it's about vocabulary, socialization. it's about so much that makes a person have the confidence to go forward. so thank all of you for what you do. how indebted we are to all of you teachers and all of you and the trustees and the rest for what you do. it's about the middle class, the backbone of our democracy. nothing supports a democracy more than informed populations. thank you for your patriotism and your values. [applaus [applause] >> and thank you for your leadership, nancy pelosi. all these years recognizing that

investing in our students is what makes america great. and this is a great nation. i have a bunch of questions. they're not mine. for once. i'm retired inned from that question-answering phase of my life. so thank you for your questions and i'm going to >> how much time do we have for this round? >> the leader says we can go longer.

we want to honor everyone's time but when nancy pelosi says we can go longer, we're going longer. so sharpen your pencils. we're going to start with a question here. how will you plan to help the families who do not qualify for public assistance with child care and realistic costs here in marin county. how can a single parent in school be expected to decide between food or a $300 book? who wants to take that? >> i'll take a start at it. and the reason i asserted myself in terms of the time is because i was a little late getting here. here's the thing, that's why jump start has a oneness to it.

this is why we have to raise the minimum wage. now it's time to do it again since 2007 when we raised it. we must raise the minimum wage so that if you raise the minimum wage, you take, like, 4 million women off of food stamps. you lift maybe 6 million people out of poverty. that's still not a lot of money when we're talking about $10.10 where we want to go, but it's a big jump from where we are now. b, we have to have -- and we have several pieces of the material childhood education because it's about children learning, parents earning. it's not just about the children watching tv or something. it's about them learning. so the parents can -- look, let me tell you this other story. this sounds like -- this woman

was supposed to tell her story. she was a bus driver. she had the same thing, single mom, kids, this, this, this, and she worked herself up, got a job as a bus driver. and she said i'm not going to tell you my story. i'm going to tell you the story of what i see as a school bus driver. my bus pulls up to the curb and i'll see a mom there crying tears in her eyes. i know what's going to happen. she's going to put a sick child on the bus. because she has absolutely no choice. she doesn't make enough money to say, well, i'll take a day off and be doced the pay. she has not one day of paid sick leave. not one day. and there are millions of people in the country in this category. not one day of paid sick leave

and absolutely no way to pay for childcare. so she has no option but to put a sick child on the bus which isn't good for that child or anyone else on that bus. you can just imagine on the bus no matter what it is or at school. how could it be, you talked about marin county being this wealthy county and still we have kids with lots of needs here.

and we have to -- what we worked on when lynn was there and jared worked on at the state level -- california has led the way. to have paid sick leave. especially maternity leave in california. california has led the way, thank you, jared huffman. here is the thing. i was there when we signed the bill, family medical leave. president clinton signed the bill. but for tens of millions of families, they have no paid -- they just cannot afford it. california has led the way.

it is the 10-year anniversary of that initiative in california leading the way. all of these things that are pieces of something that we know, the economic stability of the family, whether it is relating to health, wages, childcare, whatever it is, to lift these families up, in this case, a woman so she can unleash her power in the workplace. this is not just a title -- it is a good title. it tests favorably. but it is an absolute fact. when women succeed, america succeeds. so, this is about that woman, her family, and the greatness of our country so we're not a country that has to hold our head down and say, put the sick child on the bus. that is the trickle-down we have in mind for you. thank you. [applause]

>> just briefly, as a postscript, there are a variety of programs. two programs in particular i can think of that would be helpful to this student would be the gops program or single stop. i encourage the student to stop by student services. and actually i see the single stop coordinator in the back row, she may be will to help you as an individual with the question. >> i also say in the idea category, he is our hero in congress. jared huffman is really leading the way. thank you. >> the next question i have -- she mentioned that she had $15,000 in debt at the age of 22 and is working to pay it off, and my first question is, are you worried about that kind of

layout? increasing the debt? and the questions in the audience for the panel as well -- student loans. what can you do to help former students whose loans have fallen into default due to the poor economy during this economic downturn? do you worry about increasing that amount? >> of course. i am always worried about it. sometimes i have nightmares about it, which i shouldn't. it is something where i am trying to put a dollar in the piggy bank every day just to make sure i can at least put $50 towards that or tour the interest that is accumulating, but it is definitely something that is worrying me and i hope to get through it as soon as i can. >> thank you. >> i just want to say that loan forgiveness is one part of how we need to respond to this staggering student debt issue. she is facing a worrisome amount

of debt. if you want to go through college to med school, become a primary care physician, we desperately need more primary care physicians now. the amount of debt that is involved -- so we're going to have to look at the types of public service work we want people to do. we want teachers to be able to afford to have a good standard of living and not be crippled with student debt. we want a lot more doctors. i think there are a lot more places where we need to look at debt forgiveness as a tool to help people through this. >> if i just might say, through the middle class jumpstart -- the tierney bill in the house and elizabeth warren in the senate -- this is a bill that will enable kids to refinance their loans. the interest is the killer, especially cumulatively. jared mentioned that particular bill.

if we could pass that, and if this is any source of encouragement to you -- across the country this is a big issue. how can kids leave it school and for the reasons dana said. how can kids leave it school and pursue higher education even or even get married -- any optimistic entrepreneurial thing you might do, you are constrained by debt. and the parents of these children trying to help their kids and then trying to help their parents, in an atmosphere where in 24 states the governor is not accepted medicaid. does the governors have not extended medicaid. parents in nursing homes at one end, college loans of the other, parents in the middle, economic stability, financial stability, great risk. we can do something about it. we can do something about it.

>> a greater -- for me, there is something bubbling here. i was told and taught to invest in myself. so, i encourage student loans as well, but is there not a greater question here, because i think the investment is not necessarily a bad thing. it is when students graduate and they come out into an economy that has no jobs for them -- you know, what do we do with that? if college is the way out and once you get out than the jobs -- did the jobs do not exist, where's the responsibility for growing that? >> the three legs of the stool are jobs and growth, invest in education, when women succeed, america succeeds. on the jobs these, there is something we can and in some cases have done. when the president became

president, we passed the recovery act, which created and saved 3.5 million jobs now. again not enough. we need to do more. but there has been obstruction as to doing more on his agenda and that is something we have to debate in the selection. but two very specific things we say our right now under the current regime in the congress, if you send jobs overseas, you get a tax break for it and by the way you can deduct for sending those jobs overseas and your taxes. this is ridiculous, right? our initiative says, no, reverse that. give a tax break to a company that is keeping jobs in america. [applause] good paying jobs in america. a.

b, build the infrastructure of america. that means nontraditional jobs -- we have a trillion dollars of debt. we have mass transit and water projects and broadband and school infrastructure for the future. these are jobs that are needed immediately to build the infrastructure. our bill calls for build america bonds, paid for by closing tax loopholes for special interests, like subsidies for big oil. none of this increases the deficit. and we have one other one in there that you may be interested in because it addresses income inequality, the disparity in income, and it says if you are a company and you want to pay a ceo more than $1 million a year, you can do so, but the a taxpayer is not going to subsidize it.

you are not getting a tax deduction for that. and if you want to, you can qualify for something more by giving a raise to your employees who have made the success of your company possible. [applause] so, you are absolutely right, dana. we have a moral imperative to create jobs. good jobs. well-paying jobs, too. that is why lifting the minimum wage not only helps those families, but if you make money, you will spend it right away on necessities. you will inject demand into the economy creating other jobs. minimum wage increase is a big stimulus to the economy in addition to bringing assistance to those families. >> common sense governance. wow! that is awesome. [laughter] leader pelosi, you mentioned the

pell grants and your colleagues, you call them, we will call them republicans, want to freeze the pell grants for 10 years. the question from larry hershman is -- what are the prospects of redirecting the pell grants away from poor performing colleges to public universities, including community colleges. -- colleges? [applause] >> i do not mean to be talking all the time. >> she is really good. i like hearing her. >> you might not have known, but when we passed the affordable care act, which addresses the economic financial security of , american families, when we passed that, at the exact same time there was one bill that had two revisions. -- provisions. one was affordable care act. the other was the higher education bill. it had three parts -- at least three parts. one of them was the heaviest investment we could make in community colleges, recognizing

the important role commute -- community colleges play in our economy. and in the lives of the american people. the second piece was pell grants, to increase the overall the amountwell as from $4000 to over $5,000. the at that time we were cutting third point, in half the interest in the federal stafford college loans. now we want to take it down even further to the market, where the interest rates are. but that -- so the pell grant was really an important part of that and wherever it is used, whether it is a community college, a for-profit college or not, we have to make sure that those colleges are used very -- those pell grants are used very well and we subject all

elements of users of pell grants to that scrutiny. theome cases you see for-profits abused that. first of all is about the education of that person and taxpayer dollars we do not want to be squandered. this pell grants thing -- i want to tell you a story. promise you will not tell anybody. [laughter] three years ago we were having this debate right about now in washington on the budget. we had to have about $200 billion worth of cuts so we could agree on where we go from here. president obama was agreeing to -- and they kept walking away. these proposals the republicans kept putting forth. they put it out there, then they would walk away. that is neither here nor there. i said to them, we could save $38 billion if we cut the subsidies to big oil.

big oil gets 38 billion dollars in subsidies. as an incentive to drill for a period of time in which they will profit $1 trillion. they do not need the 38 billion dollar incentive. i said to republicans, let's take this $38 billion -- that is a good chunk toward our $200 billion. they said almost with one voice, the leadership, why would we do that? why would we do that, when you can save the same amount of money by cutting $38 billion out of pell grants? so that is the challenge that jared huffman has on the budget committee. [laughter] >> piece of cake, yeah. i certainly agree with everything that was just said

and we certainly have that accountability role we need to play for pell grants. i think the broader student that picture comes into play though. i think we need to do much more for these largely private institutions that have figured out a business model that depends on bringing folks through their system, racking up lots of debt to pay their tuition and turning them loose without much success. president obama, i believe, deserves a lot of credit for proposing meaningful ways to address this. including something that is a little controversial, i suppose, but including ranking systems with transparency and accountability and a way to getrm students when they the brochures, how many folks after getting the grants and their loans found jobs? and we can make more informed choices for our students as well. [applause] >> i just wanted to bring the importance of pell grants home here at the college of marin.

aboutear we administer $13.5 billion -- $13.5 million in aid to students. $6.4 million of our age is pell grants, over half of what we administrate and financial aid here. >> this question is from sally matsuishi. here in marin county, according to the uc accord, we have one of the largest education equity gaps in the state. to what extent do you believe -- to what extent do you believe this is a function of racism, funding, or poor leadership? what you think is the best way to close this gap? >> i guess my name is on that question. i think probably a combination of all three things. i think that in this community there are people who don't recognize people who are different contribute something

different to the society. we found at davidson middle school that when we put students together, all students together in heterogeneous groups -- all ability levels, all ethnicities, every student in the school, the test scores rose. what we found was, when you put a group of diverse students together, all scores rose. thead an 86-point gain on academic performance index and california to raid we also so wed suspensions by 86% kept students in school. it was all about recognizing that we bring something to the table. we all have something to offer. it is recognizing how to be allies of people who are not like ourselves. i think there are issues around

race and ethnicity, but poverty plays a bigger piece. piecey is a much larger than a person's ethnicity. it is poverty that is, what we find to be, the most detrimental to children's education. and i think the leadership in the community is continuing to try to bring people together. but it goes back to maybe what happens in the house of -- i am not going to talk to you right now and i will let you know when i am. i think that happens in our community as well. >> talking about modeling behavior. would someone else like to join in? thank you very much, mike. this question from ellis reed, i think, is vital. i want to piggyback it with something mr. reyes said as well. i am going to add to it.

as we speak ferguson is in its , ninth day of disarray. michael brown was going to start college. as educators do we need to teach , young men of color how to walk in this world safely as much as we teach them how to access college? and furthermore, we have a crisis on our border with mexico and young students here that are fearful of progressing academically because they are not americans -- american citizens. how do we do this thing that we need to do? >> i would start by saying we absolutely have an obligation to have these conversations with our students. i am confident that many of our faculty are having these conversations with our students. we have an obligation to bring a community together like we are today, to have forms and conversations to better understand the issues and how we

can ultimately have a positive impact on our students so they are more informed and better aware, better equipped to deal with the society we are preparing them for. >> dana i would just say i hope , our response to these situations is not that we need to teach young black men how to walk down the street. that is not the response that is needed. clearly it is a wake-up call that tells us we are nowhere close to a post-racial america. we have an ongoing challenge of teaching police and others how to do a better job of working with communities, responding to specific circumstances, and there's just a lot of racism and racial tensions still left in this country -- not just in ferguson, missouri, but washington, d.c., too. i will tell you, the politics we see, the vitriolic, personal animus we have seen presented to this president of the united states is unlike anything any of us could have imagined when he was sworn in in january 2

-- january of 2009. we have a lot of work to do. [applause] >> thank you. on the subject of the border, they have spoken so beautifully about ferguson. i guess one of my biggest problems with ferguson -- i have been on the phone with my colleague from there, his father is african-american. and emanuel cleaver lurk, who was also in congress. it was something they did not want the outside to exploit. they wanted to find justice. they wanted to find justice. they were saying people are coming here, agitators, anarchists and the rest. throwing molotov cocktails.

that is not what is coming out of our community. let us make our own peace here. as far as the police are concerned, whatever the circumstances were, they were unfortunate. but to leave michael brown there for four hours, a human being on attended, is something -- i just don't even understand that. but i want to go to the border. that is why i was late. because i was on the phone on the subject of ferguson. it is a very big deal. the president spoke once again today very beautifully on the subject. but on the subject of the border and dreamers, not many of whom may be in your school, the last two bills we have in the congress of the united states nor the comprehensive immigration reform that passed the senate in a bipartisan way,

but instead passed two really destructive pieces of legislation. we extended a hand of friendship to the speaker to say, let's find a path, a compromise. so, they went further to the right. do not take my word for it. the national catholic conference of bishops said the legislation they passed that day on the floor dishonored america. that is about the legislation was. overturning the president's initiatives on the dream act, putting up barriers to the president doing anything -- they had a bill that was terrible. we said, are way and we can have a compromise. instead they went the other way and they dishonored america. i am not painting everyone with the same brush, but the fact is the way it is happening in washington, d.c. is not away any republican i know would take pride in. this is really something -- how

can they talk about all of their religious fervor and how they respect the dignity and worth of every person, the spark of divinity that exists in everyone of us, including themselves hopefully, and treat people in a way that is almost subhuman? it is really a remarkable thing. that is what my colleague was saying about respecting other peoples views is so important. we talk about women. the beauty is in the mix. that is where you get the best results and the most legitimate results. so in terms of ferguson or in terms of the border, if we just all remember what we possess, and that is every person has value, perhaps we would come out with a better result, but we have plenty of work to do in that regard. i hasten to add, republicans and

democrats in the senate passed a bill -- a good bill. not great, but -- [laughter] a better bill. in the house, it dishonors america. >> thank you. thank you very much. we have a lot of work to do. obviously our representatives in the house and senate need your help. our leaders have come before you today. they are your leaders as well in your communities and neighborhoods. we need to pass legislation that moves forward the middle class, that gives honor to all people who live in this country. thank you so much for coming. your questions will all be answered. if you have more, they have

offered that. i am not making it up here it if you have any more -- i am not making it up. if you have any more, please distribute them to congressman huffman's staff. thank you. we wish you the best. lance reyes. he is a cal bear. [applause] president. college of marin. thank you. representative jared huffman. [applause] and our very empathetic and compassionate leader nancy pelosi. thank you so much. [applause]

>> and our moderator dana king. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> an update on a story about a suspected shooter at fort lee. fort lee has given the all clear. a female soldier apparently turning the gun on herself, firing only one shot. the shooter injured herself, but none others. the shooter has been taken to vcu medical center. her condition at this time is unknown. we will be keeping you updated on the c-span networks. and president obama has sent three emissaries to the funeral of michael brown, the

african-american killed by a police officer two weeks ago. "thismccaskill said morning i will attend mike brown 's memorial service as a mother, not an elected official representative steven horsford said "solemn, somber mood. our country must do some soul-searching, live up to the american creed and alice rivlin will be talking about drug rest in implementing the health care law in seven southern states. she will be joined by a speaker from the heritage foundation. we will have that live at 130 p.m. eastern time. and at 3:30 p.m., a debate on whether scotland should be independents. ahead of the independence referendum that will be held september 18 read we will have that live at 3:30 here on

c-span. and senate republican leader mitch mcconnell and governor steve becher were guest speakers at the kentucky state fair. they gave differing perspectives to the changes to the health-care system and discussed the importance of agriculture in the state economy. the event was about half an hour. it was hosted by the kentucky farm bureau. >> thank you. thank you all very much. all, let me advise you we have been married now for 45 years, and i think it is going to take. [laughter] we have about decided we're just going to live it out. the first lady since her

greetings to you this morning. she actually about three weeks ago underwent a partial knee replacement. know of you who know her that she is already up and going. the crutches and all of that stuff went out the window in about five days, and she has told her doctor that like it or not, she is going to be back on respect and about three more weeks. and i believe her. and those of you who know her, i know you believe her, too. you know, it is great to be here again with some 1500 of my closest friends. i would like to start out by who marke three people haney did not introduce here today -- [laughter] to stand up and let's give them a round of applause. [applause]

you know, it is always a thrill breakfast,at the ham right in the middle of the state fair. this state fair is a celebration, just as this breakfast is, of our farm community, of our culture, of our heritage, of what really makes kentucky what it is. those values that we all hold so dear and has been the foundation founding.y since its you know, together over the last seven years that i have been 's farmr, kentucky community and i have overcome a number of challenges. the big one, as we all know, was the great recession that we all went through. experiencedalso weather disasters, if any key market at times, rapidly , a changinghnology regulatory atmosphere, and the

ongoing struggle to diversify. yet through it all, farming ofains the heart and soul kentucky's economy. the numbers speak for themselves. total economic impact in 46.3 billion dollars. cash receipts hovering around $6 billion. attributable to farming. everybody who has ever killed a field, rakes hay or mocked out raked hay, field, out a stall recognize -- deserve recognition. as governor and co-author of a small farm, i want to say here this morning how thankful i am to have leaders like mark haney

and the farm bureau helping to lead this farm economy into the future. and we owe them a round of applause. mark, thanks you for everything you are doing -- mark, thank yo u for everything you're doing. [applause] theave other partners in effort. roger tom is in the governor parole office of ad policy. i know you all know rog. up again,m to stand because folks, they do such an outstanding job of helping us diversify our ag economy. [applause] thank you. our department of agriculture komar,missioner jamie our many county level officials. all of these people together have made those numbers a reality. ever-evolvinghis

world, our farmers the people in our full positions to stand up for us, and to focus not on politics, but on real issues that affect our everyday lives. last year at this breakfast, i talked about the need for farmers to have affordable health care. at that time, the enrollment per for connect, kentucky's health care connection, was about to begin. and they urged politicians to stop the partisan bickering and focus on helping people. i told kentuckians from day one, look, you do not have to like the president of the united states. you do not have to lie congress. there are a lot in this room that don't like either one of them. because it is not about the president. it is not about congress. it is about you. it is about your families. it is about your children. yourou wrote it to families to find out what connect could do for you.

i am happy to report that over half a million kentuckians took my advice. young and old, black and white, singles, families, democrats, republicans, city folks, country folks. you went looking for the facts, waswhat you found high-quality, low-cost health insurance. half a million people, and now they are getting care. in the five counties with the highest farm related cash receipts, almost 30,000 people signed up through connect for subsidized private health plans and expanded medicaid alone. in every one of our agriculture centric counties all across kentucky, the number of uninsured families has dropped substantially. let me give you some examples. in christiant,

county, down in my end of the the adults were uninsured. that number is now estimated at 12.1%. county, not far from central kentucky, those numbers went from 18.1% uninsured to 9.5% uninsured. county, down next to thatki county, mark -- number went from 18.7% uninsured to 10.1% uninsured. in monroe county, that number went from 21% uninsured to 11.5% uninsured. folks, that is in nine months. kentucky is second in the entire reduction of its uninsured population. going from 20.4% of adults without insurance in 2013 to

11.9% in mid-2014. now it is easy to recite numbers, but folks, those are numbers. those are families. those are kentuckians. -- many of you know frank and renée. they farm down in casey county. i think they are here today. a seventh generation farmer, raising primarily beef cattle. before connect, they could not afford health coverage. now they have insurance. and their monthly premium is zero. frank told me that before they skipped doctors visits, ignored health concerns, familyn he or his absolutely had to appear, they paid outrageous out-of-pocket costs. folks, that is not a strategy for good help. frank had a disturbing

looking spot on his face that he could not afford to get checked out. but once he got insurance through connect, he saw a dermatologist. that spot was skin cancer. he had it removed. as frank said the other day, and connectrs cost saves lives. most of you know joe ball mattingly as well. he is a farm bureau director. paul and his wife luanne have a farm in marion county. they are fifth-generation farmers. had insurance, but his premiums kept going up, so he was open to looking for alternatives. an agent sent him to connect. there joe paul found he could buy insurance that was not only cheaper, but also better. now that was not medicaid, nor did he get a subsidy. he is paying full freight.

but even so, he figures his premiums are about 20% lower for better coverage. said, he chose to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. politicians.aren't they are farmers. they are kentuckians. and they are just trying to take care of their families and preserve a way of life. we can just get the critics of health care reform to be like joe paul and be part of the solution instead of part of the problem, we would all be better off. but that problem is familiar. washington has been poisoned by partisan bickering. politics and finger-pointing. divisiveness. you know, in kentucky we have divided government, too. we have a democratic-controlled house and the republican-controlled senate.

but we know how to make democracy work here. for seven years, i have joined with that democratic house and that republican senate to balance our budgets and rein in spending. kentucky is among the nation's leaders in export growth and job creation. just this year, we passed a budget and we're going to move forward and build a veterinarian center in hopkinsville, kentucky. [applause] we are building things like the west kentucky bridges. hundreds of other projects under the kentucky agriculture development fund program. since 2001, we have allocated than$400 million to more 4800 projects designed to increase net farm income and create sustainable farm based business enterprises.

mentioned- and mark this -- roger tomas and i worked with attorney general jack conway to settle a long-running legal dispute that threatens kentucky's annual payments. consequently, we were able to restore funding cuts and we will paymentsore in msa over the next three years then we have budgeted. and i am firmly committed to making sure at least 50% of that money goes toward increasing net farm income. my office continues to work agricultural commissioner jamie kummer on the agriculture proud program and i have partnered with hal rogers and state legislators to increase access to high-speed broadband all across the state.

folks, long after the careers of politicians, and go, the needs of our families and our farmers and door. eastern, down in kentucky, congressman rogers and spearheading the appalachian region initiative. we are working with the people of that region to diversify and remake its economy, given the historic downturn in the coal industry. be ae confident we can catalyst for diversifying the coal-based economy. why? because you and i together have already performed such a transformative shift in agriculture. think back. 49,000, kentucky had tobacco farms. about 4500.had

1/10. in 1998, kentucky tobacco income topped 120 $4 million. by 2012, that dropped 60%. and yet, during that same time period, total farm income increased from 4.2 billion dollars to around $5 billion. and it is around 6 billion dollars today, just two years later. how did we do this? because we work together. we worked with the farm community to build partnerships, to nurture grassroots support, to focus on real issues, and to invest in our economy. we ignored differences and work together. whether you are talking about appellation, kentucky's farm community, or the state at large, folks, that -- that is a winning strategy for the future of this state. thank you very much. [applause]

>> we are also pleased that senate republican leader mitch mcconnell could join us on this morning. november 15, 20 06, senator mcconnell was unanimously selected the senate republican leader by his republican colleagues. as such, he is the highest-ranking republican in the united states senate, and widely considered one of the most effective lawmakers in congress. senator mcconnell was instrumental in achieving passage of the tobacco buyout. he won the american farm bureau's friend of farm bureau award in every session of congress since 1996 and the golden plow award in 2005. in 2000 two, he won the american farm bureau's distinguished service award, becoming the second kentucky and -- kentucky and to win the award.

please welcome senator mcconnell. [applause] >> good morning. >> good morning. >> well, good morning, everyone. thank you, mark, for the great job that you do leading the farm bureau. it is great to be here every year and to see all of you again. this morning, i have some good news and some bad news. thinkod news is, i kentucky agricultural economy is doing rather well. the prices for corn and soybeans are not going to be so good this year, but under the new farm bill, the crop insurance program, i think, will help sustain everyone during that process, and of course if you are in the livestock field, you're pretty happy about prices

you are likely to be paying for feed. over the years, i have been pretty invested in agriculture. we were losing an asset created by the government back in the 1930's, where they actually measured your production, assigned it to your land, and it was an asset that youread your -- buoyed property values and made a great living for a lot of people for a long time. given the health concerns, we knew we were going to lose the asset entirely with no compensation. that was a pretty hard sell, i must tell you, to try to convince colleagues from nontobacco reducing states that coming up with a program to compensate the holders of the

quotas for their asset was a good idea. not an easy thing to achieve, but we did achieve it 10 years ago. this is about the last year of the buyout. the sequester sought to reduce it somewhat, but we managed to get that but back. -- put back. governor as the indicated, have used the receipts for that asset the government created, paid for by the users of the product, to move in a different direction, or stay in tobacco production. discrimination against tobacco still remains. there was an effort during the farm bill debate to make tobacco farmers ineligible for crop insurance. actually it was a pretty tough fight. we managed to defeat it, angst to a whole lot of republican senators. the estate tax -- my single top forrity for the last decade

american agriculture, and in particular kentucky agriculture, would be to get rid of the death tax altogether. i have always felt it was -- [applause] i always felt it was the government's final outrage that you had to visit the irs and the undertaker on the same day. obviously our friends on the other side of the aisle really like the death task. they think it is a great idea to confiscate your property at the end of your life and have the government redistributed. a pretty tough fight. i end up -- i ended up in a very key position. i was negotiating with the vice president a two-year extension of the bush tax cuts back in december 2010. i said, joe, the one thing i want is at the very least a $5 million per person estate tax indexed for inflation.

at someas hoping to get point was permanency. we could not get it in 2010. we did get a two-year extension. the good thing is, you do not even need to die to take advantage of it. you cannot use it twice, but if you want to hand your family farm down to the next generation, you can. joe biden and i were back at the table new year's eve of 2012. i preferred to be with elaine, but i found myself with joe biden once again. [laughter] , new year'sall were eve, trying to hash out the fiscal cliff deal. what i wanted more than anything was permanent the -- permanency a $5 million exemption, indexed to inflation. why does permanency make a difference? the law can be changed. when you have an expiration

date, it automatically goes away. , it has to go to the house and senate and be signed by the president. we got permanence. that will save 99 percent of kentucky's small businesses and family farms them having to be sold to pay the federal taxman, and i hope it makes a difference for kentucky agriculture. [applause] and also, as we look for new directions for kentucky agriculture, commissioner comer, senator paul, and others began to discuss the possibility of a new crop, industrial hemp. back in henry clay's day, it was a big deal. the problem was, as you know, there was a good deal of diffusion between industrial hemp and some other crop that was a bit more controversial and it took a bit of explaining to

do. that was worked on in the general assembly and ultimately was -- thanks to commissioner paul's work and senator and others -- on a bipartisan basis, the state made it possible for us to try something new. but that was not enough. that was not enough. it had to be permitted at the federal level, and i had the same kind of challenge that you did in frankfurt, to convince my colleagues that this was something different from that other crop, that first came to mind when he brought the subject up. what i did was to talk to the conferees, the people the two leaders put on bills to write the final bill, talked to the conferees about my desire to have this and their desire to be on the conference report was helpful. so, i found some new enthusiasm for something they had had no interest in in the past. so, what we work able to achieve was the permission to have pilot

projects that are now being u.k. and murray and that western, and we are hopeful, are we not, commissioner, that we are going to have something that will mean a lot to kentucky agriculture in the future? that is the good news. let me talk about the bad news. there in the 60 year of barack obama administration. at the rate we're going, he will double the national debt in eight years. year ofe in the sixth the barack obama administration. we saw the stimulus. we saw obamacare. you notice the average is not use that word. he just does not want to say it. and i do not blame him. the deal. here is here is the deal. i have done 70 hospital town hall meetings over the last two years to ask the people directly involved in health care delivery, how is it working out?

here is what obamacare was. a trillion dollar hits on the providers of health care over the next decade. 700 billion dollars in medicare reimbursement reductions. hometals, nursing homes, health care, hospice, and the like. taxes on medical devices -- like wheelchairs and stents. taxes on health insurance premiums. a trillion dollar hit on the providers of health care to all the rest of us. what about all the rest of us, the consumers of health care? higher premiums, higher copayments, higher deductibles, lost dobbs -- jobs. the congressional budget office, which does not work for republicans or democrats, says that obamacare is going to cost $2.5 million. it is a job killer.

the medicaid expansion -- apparently in kentucky the governor has sole ability to expand medicaid. that is a decision to be made at the state-level according to the supreme court. i would only say this. the federal government is only going to pick up 100% of this or three years, and i do worry about our state government and its ability to meet these commitments in the future. it is a big challenge, because --icaid is a program shared a shared expense between the federal government and the states. on the bureaucracy. this administration has the most aggressive, adversarial bureaucracy and anybody's memory. they go into every workplace in america with the view that if you are making a profit, you must be up to no good. at your obviously cheating your

customers or mistreating your employees, and they are here to help you. this is the principal reason, my friends, we have had such a tepid recovery after the deep recession of 2008. the government itself has slowed the growth of our country, and that is the reason we have persistently high unemployment. the pattern in the past has been the deeper the recession, the quicker the bounce back. not this time. not this time. too muchborrowing, spending, too much regulating. i will close with this. you can tell by the president's approval rating that the people have had it about up to here by this crowd. if you want to change directions, there is one thing that can be done. one thing in 2014 to take america in a different direction. the thing you can do in 2014 is to pick a new majority leader, a guy from kentucky, to begin to

take america in a new direction. thank you very much. [applause] ♪ >> in a primary race in tennessee, the republican state hastor there who challenged conceded after a 38-vote loss. a tuesday deadline to decide whether to challenge those results. a look at the st. louis post-dispatch says hundreds of mourners are gathered at michael brown's funeral. the white house has sent three representatives to attend. the state governor and a u.s. senator are expected at the funeral, which is underway right now. later today we will hear live chair --former vice

alice rivlin. also joining her a scholar from the heritage foundation and an editor with the online news website vox. we will have that live at 1:30. and at 3:30, discussion on scotland should be independent. that is ahead of the independence referendum set for september 18th. we will have live coverage at 3:30 eastern here on c-span. >> this week, special primetime programming on the c-span networks. tonight on c-span, from glasgow, the debate over scottish independence. issue spotlight on irs targeting of conservative groups. wednesday, the president of harvard's preparatory magnet schools on educating children from disadvantaged backgrounds. thursday, the house discussion on federal and state

anti-poverty programs. friday, c-span history. on c-span two, book tv in prime time. school, a discussion on choice. tuesday, "how the poor can save capitalism." on wednesday, the author of a biography on neil armstrong. thursday night at 8:00, a tour of simon & schuster. friday at 8 p.m. eastern, in-depth with former congressman ron paul. on american history tv on c-span three -- tonight the reconstruction era and civil rights. tuesday, the end of world war ii and the atomic bomb. wednesday night, the anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. thursday, a look at how american attitudes on world war i changed through the course of the war. friday, a nasa documentary on the apollo moon landing. find our schedule one week in

advance at www.c-span.org. about know what you think the programs you're watching. call us. comments at @cspan.org. join the conversation. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. >> a discussion on the future of news at the atlanta press club's 50th anniversary. joining him, margaret sullivan and alex taylor. . [indiscernible chatter] >> ok. let me remind you. this program is being taped. taped is not the right description in this world of

technology. this is being taped for c-span. so don't embarrass yourselves. as i might. also, microphones for questions are in thegram center of the room. i regret that in some ways, because those of you on the side of the room will need to come up. it will create a short line. this is being done primarily for technological reasons. do not let it discourage you from coming over when we get to the q&a time. i should've introduced to you the person who has been the mover and shaker in getting this together. that is a person who worked with me at cnn. she is the executive director at the atlanta press club. that is lauri strauss. right here. [applause]