loans would negative made to borrowers who could not afford even the interest accruing on the mortgage. our rules put further measures in place to make sure that irresponsible lending would never be allowed to reappear. at the same time however we did not anticipate that our rules would affect a broader market in an intense fashion. the loans would be protected under the new rules area -- rules. another special provision ensures that thousands of small creditors can continue to do the kind of responsible lending they've always done to serve their markets across this country. in these ways we protected deelements of the mortgage market, even as we installed new guardrails to prevent irresponsible lending. the mortgage market continuing

to heal from the great damage done by the financial crisis with foreclosure rates and delinquencies continuing to fall. there are also growing signs of pinup demand among first i'm home buyers which could be a key point. this has been a slow segment of the market for several years. so a core purpose of the rule was to help restore reliability to the mortgage market. when people take out a loan to buy a home, they deserve confidence that they're not being set up to fail. they can be more activity engaged in the process of seeking an outcome. they could choose the lender in the product with the ferms best suited to their project. and the vision they want for their families. making the choices effectively will depend on people in weighing their options and understanding how to shop around. but we know it can be difficult to shop for a mortgage. it's hard to understand how to

shop and the process can be intimidating to say the least, especially with all of the paperwork. that's why we're relosing our know before you know initiative called owning a home. it's designed to 'emempower home owners. they'll be able to gain greater control over the process and maximize the benefits of the major transaction. the report we're issuing today on the shopping experience is based on new results in the national survey of mortgage borrowers borrowers borrowers, a joint initiative. when we say that almost half of consumers who take out a mortgage to buy a home fail to shop before applying for a mortgage, this means they seriously considered only a single lender or broker before making their decision. they routinely weigh the most basic questions about which

house to buy, where they want to live, how many bedroom ors bathrooms they think they will need. but they are not as careful of confident in weigh the economic aspects of the mortgage. given the importance of this major purchase, almost nobody look at just one house and decides to stop there. the same when you're spending a lot of money, you're literally betting the house on the choices you're making and it can be highly beneficial to shop around. our study also found that consumers are getting much of their information about mortgages from sources that have a vested interest in the outcome. 70% report relying on their lender or broker a lot to get

information about mortgages, while only 20% rely heavy on websites and 2% on housing kouns lors. certainly lenders can be valuable resources but they also have an important personal stake in selling the mortgage. what is best for them is not always going to be best for the consumer. it's in the consumer's best interest to ask questions and get as much information as possible before making a decision. people may well put more time and effort into shopping for the house and also for things like smaller products, such as appliances and televisions than they do in shopping for the right mortgage. the nail your to look around can mean real money lost for consumers. for example, on a conventional mortgage with for borrows with a good credit rating and 20% down payment, the range of interest rates can span a half a percent or more. for a borrower, getting an

interest rate of 4% instead of 4.5%, translates into $60 in savings. over the first five years the borrower would save $3500. the lower interest rate means the borrower would pay off an additional principle in the first five years. by not shopping around consumers are often throwing good money down the drain. an important and interesting finding from our survey -- i want to emphasize this -- was that consumers with more confidence in their knowledge about the mortgage process were more likely to shop. this was especially true for those who said they were familiar with the available interest rates. they were almost twice as likely to shop as those unfamiliar. we need to try to instill more confidence in consumers and help them make the most of the process. at the consumer bureau we're working to reduce the information gap between learneds who understand the pricing inside out to consumers. it is time to start changing the culture of how people obtain

their mortgages. we need to change the process from one of getting a mortgage to one of shopping for a mortgage, a more active activity. consumers have much more power than they realize. they can use the power to take control of their financial outcomes. to held consumers with, ear improving mortgage disclosures. our know bf you know forms will become the new reality in the market. the forms are consumer tested to be more readily accepted and user friendly which will yees the process. we'll also be bringing out a new consumer friendly booklet that people receive when they apply for a mortgage. although they limit risky product features, mortgages can have different features for the consumer to understand.

key components of the loan including the loan term, type and interest rate. loan terms vary between 15 to 30 years, loan types are conventional loans among others. interest rates can be fixed and adjustable for the upfront cost for mortgage vary across lenders even on w the same consumer. shopping for mortgage can occur at different noint the process but the consumers are well advised to cast a wide net early on. once the consumer knows more she may be ready to meet with lenders and ask about the products they offer in the application process. once the consumer made an offer on the home, she's ready to. -- apply for a loan from different lenders. owning a home has great new

tools to help consumers throughout the home buying experience, from the start of the process all tl way to the closing table. these tools can be found on our website at consumer finance.gov backslash owning a home. a set of tools for, a guide and a closing checklist. our tools will be able to assist. if people need help deciding what to borrow, the tools will be able to help. or if they need help understanding the new mortgage disclosure forms, owning a home will be able to explain all of that. we're working to add these and other tools over the course of the year to give people a comprehensible picture of the entire home buying process. one critical feature contained in owning a home a rate checker. a tool currently in beta release to help the consumer understand what interest rates may be available to them. in other words, we're giving consumers direct access to the same type of information that the lenders themselves have.

borrowers looking to buy a single family home can use the rate check tore find out what interest rates they're likely to be offered from lenders in their area. plugging in the credit score and location, they can see the rates. this is different from the other websites that quote potential rates with a large down payment. those idealized versions of what you may be offered can be misleading because, of course, not all consumers have high credit scores or can afford a large down payment. the result is that many consumers go to lenders and are quoted surprisingly different rates leaving them confused and uncertain about whether the quoted rates make sense. and of course many of the websites focus on soliciting perspective customers.

they require people to surrender their perch information, information they may be used for marketing. by contrast, owning a home has no hidden agendas and the bureau does not retain any personal identifying information. it enables consumers to have more of the information they need to be savvy shoppering and get the best deals they can. the new set of tools offers an understanding of how lower rates translates into dollars saved. it can be hard to understand what an extra quarter amount to in dollars. consumer wills be able to go to the website and plug in information as often as they like to become more familiar with their options. understanding what rates they can expect to be quoted in the market will help them see the value as shopping and gain more confidence about the crucial decisions they need to make

about which mortgage to choose. and it is worth note again from our survey findingings that as the consumers gain more confidence, they become more likely to shop for a mortgage in the first place. when consumers actively shop for a mortgage they'll be in a better position to make the best decision they can about what is the single largest transaction of their lives. tools contained in owning a home, complete with ae,sebrbwo lenders early on and ask lots of questions but wait until they receive official loan offers to make their final selection. is that correct this summer, the official offers will be communicated on the know before you know form.

in addition, consumers will have a reliable estimate that can change in limited ways between the application stage and the closing. this will build their confidence and empower them to make the right decisions for themselves and their families. the central purpose of the consumer bureau was said many times to ensure that empowered consumers have access to markets that are fair, transparent, and

competitive. that is good for consumers, for the honest businesses that seek to serve them and for the american economy as a whole. our important new set of mortgage rules is creating a cleaner mortgage market. consumers are better protected from the pitfalls and booby-traps that hurts many people and led to the financial crisis but when people fail to shop because they are intimidated in the process they're putting themselves in , harm's way. one of our duties is to educate and empower them. as much as we can. we're seeking to change the culture by making it more possible and more fruitful for them to shop around. people should walk away from the mortgage process feeling secure that they've made a sound and sustainable decision about their future and they should be right to feel that way. we've seen all too clearly that when consumer financial products are misunderstood or mus used they can do real damage to people's lives. consumers need to make the best choices that fit their circumstances and they need to be responsible for the choices

they make. we're seeking and finding ways to help them get exactly where they want to go. please join us in supporting this important and exciting work. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, rich. one of the hottest topics in governance is how government can do more to help the middle class and all consumers. in recent days, leaders of both parties here in d.c.

have come out with proposals dueling proposals in some cases in that regard. you in the cfpb team have been doing that every day since you took the helm three years ago in ways large and small. it seems to me that the owning the home initiative is a large way that you're doing that. i thought we'd start by my asking you a couple of questions about that and other subjects and then we'll open things up for questions from the floor. so tell us how you hope these new online and other tools are going to change the home buying process for consumers in practice. what does it mean to the real lives of these folks?

and what else can the bureau do, >> the mortgage transaction is for most people, the most important transaction of their lives. it's the most money they will ever spend. it has to do with achieving what we all consider to be a fundamental part of the american dream. home ownership. and studies have shown, even through the crisis and the extreme variations in house prices around the country that sustainable home ownership remains the single most important way that middle class families can save money and build wealth for their futures. partly that's because of the forced savings component of making regular monthly mortgage payments. but it's a very important part of developing and maintaining and improving a future for yourself and those who depend on you. that's quite important. what we found in our report, as i said, was consumers are very intimidated by this process.

and when they're intimidated they start to not engage. and when they fail to engage they do not get the best outcomes for themselves. and by making tools available that people can use that are fairly straightforward understandable and accessible -- and again a lot of this is very complex and often deliberately so because it makes it difficult for consumers to find their way -- we can make it possible for consumer to understand their choices better, weigh those choices more effectively and come to the best outcomes for themselves. that's what we all should want and that's part of the work that we're doing at the bureau, not only in the mortgage market but across all lines. >> so understand, waik and then engage as consumers.

what about the owe part of the question. what else with the bureau do to encourage even more informed shopping by consumers? >> so there's, i should say, numerous things they wer actively engaged in. one of the first set of tools that we put together was called paying for college. that's another one of the transactions that comes along for families typically once, maybe twice, maybe once in a generation, i guess is fair to say. and it has become an expensive proposition for many families. and to be in a better position to understand your choices and in weighing them not in the same way you like a school like u you do a house, but being able to make good comparisons and know what the choices mean in the long run, how much you're going to owe, what your repayment rights may be, whether you're able to manage that. for people to think about it up front and not fail to think about it and then regret later that they did not think about it more.

as many people told us they do is another way this occurs. where also doing consumer education in many ways across the spectrum of theu[ bureau. -- of the bureau. ask cfpb is one of the sets of information we've developed on our website so that consumers who now have a new situation or something they don't understand it may be that a debt collector is pursuing them and they don't know what their rights are, or they may be trying to understand their credit rating and credit score better hand they don't know how to go about improving that. all of that information is available an consumer finance.government. people can get it in real time when they need it and we think that's helping people gain more confidence in making good choices for themselves. >> one of those web tools, the consumer complaint aspect of cfpb.gov stirred up a little bit of a flap recently because of the determination to include the so-called consumer narrative in those web forms.

can you reflect for us a little bit about the brouhaha and the outcome? >> god forbid that people should know what other people are actually saying and complaints about these companies. and they, by the way, say those things are many websites, having nothing to do with the consumer bureau. but one of the things i want to go back, let me just say, the consumer complaint function, building an agency from scratch has been an enormous challenge. we haven't always gotten everything right and it takes real time and effort to do that as well as do our work. but it's been a great challenge for us and a great opportunity. one of the pieces of that was that congress said that we had to have a consumer complaint db, consumer response function. we had to build it from scratch. we built it not having any sense of what the actual volume of

complaints would be from the american public. that volume is enormous and growing. we've had over half a million complaints so far. we had more than 250,000 last year alone. so the volume is increasing. and every one of those is a voice of the consumer that tells us about a problem that they're seeing in their lives in real time. each one of those is an anecdote. everybody derives anecdotes not being true stricts in data. but when you have hundreds of thousands of individual instances, it becomes in the aggregate real meaningful data. we continue to push on industry and they're beginning to and stepping up to the plate and recognizing they should look at the patterns of what their customers tell them about themselves and respond accordingly. that's changing the culture at these institutions and it's changing life on the ground for whether consumers are being treated fairly.

i'm proud of the people 0 at the bureau who have been doing that work day in and day out from the beginning. >> before we turn it over to the audience for questions, when we announced that we were going to host you, we heard, i heard personally from many of the folks that i had worked with when we were doing our listening preponderance putting together the dot frame. i heard both from folks i talked in the business sector and consumer sector. so i'm just going to ask you a follow-up representing both points of view. first on the consumer complaints, business as they have on a number of things you have done. really on everything you have

done. had strong feels about that. what steps did you take to make sure that the complaint process was also fair to the financial industry and to business? >> so that is very important to me personally. i think it is very important to the bureau. we are doing some things that create change in the industry. the change was needed. consumers need to be treated fairly. and it is sometimes difficult to know the exact parameters of what that means. so we have made efforts from the beginning. and i think everybody would credit this, that we have consistently been very accessible and transparent about people being able to come and speak to us and express their concerns. and we get it from across the spectrum here. and we think hard about that and take that into account in order to formulate any kind of proposal or policy or response to concerns. on the consumer complaints in particular, there was a lot of concern initially that we said we were going to have a public database. that it wasn't enough to have complaints and work them and resolve them and think about

what that means as a pattern in prioritizing our own work. but we thought that the public ought to have access to that information and be able to think about it in terms of what it might mean about choices they would make. and notably, we thought it was important for industry to be able to see not only what they now see which is what customers say about their observe products, but what kind of problems exist in the industry for other providers. and they can see about their own problems and see if they are doing better ore worse and respond accordingly. there are various sensitivities around changes and changes that can be pressing on people. and we want to be thoughtful and responsive to that. on our mortgage rules we have several times gone back in and adjusted various things in response to feedback we hear and monitoring the market and seeing what changes occurring.

i believe that's been hallmark to the bureau and will continue to be over time. >> according to emails i received from the consumer activists they requested, and some are here, but requested they ask you -- first of all they are complimentary of the work you are doing. and you mentioned had word "transparency." the cfpb that is really been seen as the model agency for government transparency. >> not by everyone. >> that is somewhat of a hobby of mine and i give you high marks t in the world of transparency advocates and experts that you have done a good job on that. no one agrees on everything here but, there would be no need for brookings if we agreed on everything. a question they did get was under the dodd frank arbitration study provision, it's taking you a while to do the preliminary study.

we're waiting on the final study . and folks were curious. to the extent you can talk about it, i know you are in midstream. but folks ask me to inquire about the reason for the timetable and when we can expect the final study and some rules >> ok. i want to be a little careful about what i would say because as you say it is midstream. it is notable. the dodd-frank act had provisions in it about arbitration in various contracts and it's been the law of the land going back to the 1920s, the federal arbitration act, that arbitration has become seen as an forum for resolving disputes to our courts and attitudes on that have e volved over time. it said specifically, congress legislated there would be no arbitration in mortgage contracts. that that is in there and that is law of the land. it also then went on to say for

other types of consumer finance contracts, arbitration was put on the plate as a live issue. and it said specifically that the consumer bureau should conduct a study and issue a report to congress on various aspects of arbitration, what it means, how it works, you know, what the consequences are. and then based on what that report contains, consider policy judgments about what to do or not to do about arbitration clauses and consumer finance contracts. it's taken time for us to do a thorough job of work on that. but it is progressing. and when it is complete, we will then reissue that report to congress, be in the fairly near future. and at that point we'll in a position to make adjustment judgments. i wouldn't want to prejudge until the report is complete and issued, and that's something we've tried to be careful about. so i'll continue to be careful

about it today. >> i think you have succeeded. all right. with that i'm going to open the floor to questions. will let's see. i'll start by calling on dan berger. in >> how are you. good to see you. >> good to see you too. >> just wondering whether the cfpb has any initiatives concerning abusive mortgage servicing practicing including abuse of foreclosures. and whether or not it has any initiatives concerning abuse of worst place insurance practices and then i'd like to ask whether or not you have a view on whether the federal government could stimulate refinancing of the millions of mortgages that

are under water by making changes or instituting policy initiatives in that respect which would produce tremendous benefits to consumers and a tremendous stimulus to the economy. in >> let me try to deal with you and both pieces of that. this is an issue that has aggravated me going all the way back to my days as a state and even local official in ohio. i served as our strait treasurer at the time the foreclosure crisis was just beginning to break across the midwest. and it of course became a national phenomenon by the time i was attorney general is when the robo signing broke into view. it continues to be the case that mortgage servicing particularly in a challenging environment is a difficult undertaking and i have not been satisfied with the performance of the mortgage servicers, although it has been improving in some respects, it is not problem free.

we now have new measures in place. the bureau, the consumer bureau, has adopted new mortgage servicing rules thr fairly comprehensive. they build on a lot of work that's been done by other policy makers. they are now understood through the industry, they are uniform. they apply to all mortgage services, whether they are banks, charted institutions and others. we now back those through an effort which is very meaningful. we have rules in place that are uniform and real teeth behind those rules. we've had enforcement activity around the new rules and we'll continue to police this market. because many people have been badly hurt by some of the problems in that area. and i have seen in it my community and across the country. as for refinancing of under water mortgages you are really

more into the realm of programs that the treasury department has worked on and has been developing and states have been working on programs and developing them and to some extent we can jawbone the private sector do more refantasy ing financing. we've some done some on mortgage asks the student loans also. the nature is you take out a loan at the time you are trying to get through school and you are more in a risk. and as you get through school and are in a different place should you have the ability to refinance that loan and build going forward? i think you should. and there are a lot of people who think you should. and industry is starting to step up and respond to this. the overhang of student loan debt right now in our society and also perspective first time home buyers is significant and the domino effects in our economy are very large and a very meaningful negative factor we need the think b more about the high cost of higher education and what it means for

the student loan burdens and how we handle those burdens and how we service those. student loan servicing is also a problematic area we've been forecasted upon. these are all pieces that matter to the future of the country and important grounds consider how to do better this terms of the public policy and execution. >> question? >> hi, director. you have spoken at length about the importance of mortgage choice this morning. given those issues, those benefits, that you see to people being able to shop around, do you have any particular concerns about the one-third to one-half of mortgage borrowers buying manufactured homes who have no choice and are forced to finance with a single lender? >> i've been before congress. and we've had a lot of discussion around manufactured housing. it led us to put time and effort into understanding this market

better. and we issued a white paper last year, as you no doubt will recall that kind of surveys ss how the manufactured industry has evolved and the market has evolved especially over the last decade or two. there are parts of this country where manufactured housing looms very large as a portion of housing stock. particularly rural areas and some of the more difficult train of appalachian segments in southeastern ohio for example. but there are many of these around the country. and making sure that people are treated fairly in terms of being able to buy and finance manufactured housing is an important part of this spectrum. so it is something we're going to continue to pay attention to. the white paper was represented as a pretty serious effort to lay some groundwork for people thinking about policy measures whether it's us or congress or others.

and so it will continue to be a focus of intention for us because of the fact that it is such meaningful alternative for a number of folks. especially on the lower to moderate income end of the housing spectrum. >> ok. we have time for one more audience question. >> thank you. my name is taylor with the new england council. i was hoping you can speak more about the first time home buyers and as the market recovers how confident are you with that aspect and whether you think the growth is coming and whether you are satisfied with that growth. thank you. >> we have to go back to the back drop of this. everybody agrees, although they have different accounts sometimes as the causation here. that it was the housing and mortgage market that broke and caused the financial crisis. and when there is an element of

the economy that causes such a severe dislocation generally throughout the economy, it is almost inevitable that area of the economy will be the slowest to recover and repair itself. the damage was so deep in the mortgage and housing market that it just takes longer to recover. that has been our experience. since the crisis going back to 2008, 2009. so, you know, we're talking five, six, almost seven years now. the housing market has lagged had recovery in the economy. now, that also means that over time we may have pent up demand and we're seeing signs of that, especially among first time homeowners. but what we don't know -- and the federal reserve had a great very succinct summary of eight or ten things weighing on the housing market that has achange we're going to see how the housing market may change. when they talked about this in their open market committee minutes from june of last year. with first time home buyers, what we don't know is whether there's been a temporary lull

that will now lead to increased demand, or whether there is some sort of more permanent change going on here. the student loan overhang, if it is not alleviated could be a somewhat more permanent change or at least temporary over a longer period of time. if attitudes towards credit and borrowing and home buying have changed among young people because they now view itni as a riskier market, that could be a dynamic that could extend for some time. and people are speculating about this now. we don't yet know. as i said earlier, home ownership continues for the middle class in this country to be the single greatest engine of building wealth. most of the wealth is tied up in the homes and over time they tend to build wealth most effectively by being a homeowner. so you have an significant segment of the young people who would miss that opportunity and miss the savings that come with

that would be i think a negative for the economy and a negative for our society. so i'm concerned about that. and i think the people need to make good judgments about the possibility of home ownership and not shy away from it simply because they tend to be most focused on most immediate results that they saw in the recent past. so it is a market that is recovering. and i believe that first time home owners will begin to recover at greater pace. but we don't know that for sure and we'll all be interested the see how it develops. >> i had hoped to do more from the audience but i promised answer for staff. >> my answers were too long? >> well, i think the questions were too hard. i've promised your staff that i will get you out of here timely. i had one more question that i wanted to pose to you. i'll ask you to answer for us. you gave your maiden speech as

cfpb director here at brookings, i think it was on your first day, or thereabouts, 2012. we sit here now three years later. can you quickly tell us looking back now over that three year old period what the biggest surprise has been, both pleasant and otherwise, of those three years as you thought it might have unfolded when you sat here three years ago. >> well, there was a pleasant surprise i hoped would occur when i was confirmed in the senate in 2013. so that is meaningful. what i'd said about the processes i encountered at the bureau. there are two things i didn't quite appreciate before i came.

one is we operate in a space that's fairlycrowded with other policy makers. congress is the primary policy maker in our country and that's a appropriate. but there are a number of agencies that have a different rules and we overlap and it takes real time and effort we all have to put in together. we've been in a landscape where where he have received that time and effort from our colleagues and i think they have received it from us but who there is always the case, it is not a given. the second thing i would say is i came to this job from the attorney general position in ohio, which is an enforcement position. i was not that familiar with the regulatory side of things. it takes longer than i would have wanted or expected to work through the thorough processes of, you know, these are complicated issues. you said there were some tough questions today. these are the questions, kind of questions we're dealing with all day long every day and how to grade ate policy and balance everything and competingeing principles that are fundamental.

and they take a lot of time and effort and require a lot of analysis of data and the like. so things move more slowly than i would like but hopefully they come out better at the other end. >> as you noted it is very very tough to set up a new agency. not every new agency that has been. set up has as happy a story to tell as the extremely successful three years that you have enjoyed. and we're very pleased to have you here today. i can tell from the many hands that were raised that we easily could have gone longer. so i'd like to invite you back to come and talk to us again and share your reflections. >> and let me just go back. i want to thank you again and all those who worked on dodd-frank and continue to work on it and think about it. the fact that an agency like this was created, established, to look after the middle class in this country, the average consumer and to recognize they make choices every day that

affects their lives. some are difficult choices they don't fully understand. some are choices they make all the time. to the extent we can help them to be in a position to do that better and improve their lives financially. that is significant across this whole country. and we recognize that as our mission and it motivates and makes it a pleasure to go to work every day. >> thank you. thank you for the work that you all your colleagues do. [applause]

>> next, julian castro talks about the challenges to homeownership. and then debate on the house floor about the homeland security departments spending bill. live at 7 a.m. eastern washington journal is live. >> coming up today, the national coalition on health care host a discussion on the pain and sunshine act -- a requirement that drug companies dispose payments and gifts to doctors. and at 10:15 a.m., u.s. chamber of commerce president tom donahue gives his annual statement and address. of that is live -- that is live on c-span2. >> the c-span cities tour goes

the u.s. cities to learn about the history and literally life. we partnered with comcast to go into west virginia. >> i wrote these books. the reason i thought it was important is wheeling transformed it into an industrial city in the early part of the 20th century. it is uncommon in west virginia and a drew a lot of immigrants from various parts of europe. in search of jobs and opportunities so that generation of immigrants is pretty much gone. i thought was an important idea to record of their stories and the ethnic neighborhoods. it is an important part of our history. most people tend to focus on the frontier history, the civil war

history. they are important but the most importance in my mind is the industrial time and immigration of wheeling. >> wheeling starts as an outpost on the frontier. that river was the western extent of the united states in the 1770's. the first project funded by the federal government for road production was the national road that extended from cumberland, maryland to wheeling, virginia. when it comes here to wheeling that will give this community which at about that time is about 50 years old the real spurt it needs to grow. over the next 20 to 25 years the population of wheeling will almost triple. >> watch all of our events from

wheeling at saturday -- on saturday at noon eastern. >> ahead of president obama's expected announcement of new homeownership initiatives. julian castro was at the national press club tuesday to discuss the challenges of homeownership by many americans. his remarks or about one hour. -- are about one hour. >> good afternoon and welcome. before we begin our program, i would like to ask all of you to stand and observe a minute of silence in memory of the terrorist attack on the french

publication whose editor and cartoonists were among those killed at the newspaper last wednesday. we honor the memories in the contributions to our profession to freedom of the press. as a mark of special respect to those who died, we observe a minute of silence every day this week and concluding this friday. thank you. please be seated. welcome. i'm an adjunct professor at george washington university school of media and public affairs. former international bureau chief with associated press. 107th president of the national

press club. a leading organization for journalists committed to our profession's future through programming with event such as this while fostering the free press worldwide. for more information about the national desktop, please visit our website at press.org. on behalf of members worldwide welcome our speaker and those attending today's event. i would also like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. you can follow the action on twitter. #npclunch. after the speech concludes, a question answer period. i will answer as many as time permits. introducing our head table stand briefly as your name is announced. to the right, chief of staff of the u.s. department of housing

and urban development. senior adviser to the secretary of the u.s. department of housing and urban development. the washington bureau chief for buffalo news. a past npc president. skipping over our speaker for the moment, the speakers committee member who organized today's event. thank you very much. a former three term mayor of san antonio, julian castro, stepped into the national spotlight when he delivered a keynote address at the 2012 democratic national convention. he was the first hispanic to deliver a keynote address at a national political convention. after that speech, abundance speculated that he would make an attractive vice presidential candidate.

that didn't happen. but present obama chose castro to be secretary of the department of housing and urban affairs, and post he assumed six months ago. castro was born into politics. both parents were political activists. his mother helped found the chicago political party. his twin brother was elected in 2012 to represent the san antonio region in the u.s. house of representatives. as mayor, castro pushed initiative such as expanding preschool education and establishing a citywide college guidance effort. he also launched a downtown program meant to attract investment in the city center. that has attracted more than $300 million in private sector investment. at hud, he oversees 8000

employees and a budget of $46 billion. castro has a b.a. from stanford university and a j.d. from harvard law school. he and his wife have two young children. please give a warm welcome to hud secretary julian castro. [applause] >> thank you very much for your kind introduction. more importantly, thank you for the service you do as president of the national press club. i understand this is your last event at the helm. i know i speak for everyone in this room in expressing my gratitude for your leadership. i would like to recognize your incoming president, john hughes. i know from personal experience

how effective he has been as an editor of the bloomberg news breaking news desk. last week a few hours before we were going to make an announcement, we learned that john and his colleagues already have the story. [laughter] i hope that never happens again. i do wish him well and all the best for a successful term. let me thank the press club's officers and board of governors for their great contributions. finally, i want to thank the entire national press club. this is the first time i have addressed this prestigious organization. it is an honor because one of my degrees in college was communications. there was a time when i thought i would go into journalism. obviously i chose a different path. i have a tremendous amount of respect for the work that you all do. the events of last week in

france remind all of us in the united states and throughout the world the value of freedom of expression and the importance of journalism. if shined a light on important issues. enhance democracy at home and abroad. truly a pleasure to be with you this afternoon. we gather at the beginning of the new year. a time to take stock of where we are as individuals, communities, and as a nation. in this moment, that tells us one thing most clearly -- america has got momentum. 2014 saw great progress. the strongest year for job growth since the tech boom of the 1990's. growth has been highest in

sectors that pay good wages such as technology and many fracturing. most significantly for those of us at hud, the housing market is coming back as an engine of economic austerity. today more americans are feeling confident because year over year, home prices have risen for 32 straight months. more americans are financially secure because homeowners equity is up $4 trillion since 2009. the phones of realtors are ringing. families are looking to the future with renewed optimism. simply, we are seeing gains across the board. hud stands ready to take this momentum in may 2015 a year of housing opportunity.

for the many things that have changed over the years, our nation's fundamental challenge remains the same. be the strongest and safest nation in the world. the totality of that challenge is broader than the scope of our conversation today. i'm convinced the central principle boils down to one word -- opportunity. opportunity is not an abstract concept. it is a path to more prosperous life. housing often serves as its foundation. t.s. eliot once said that home is where one starts from. we call hud the department of opportunity because whether rich or poor, young or old, republican or democrat, black or white, housing shapes the quality of your life. good housing and strong communities are a source of hope for individuals and for

families. hud was created to build a new america that was "beautiful, liberating of life, more inspiring of the spirit." the dedicated folks i serve with worked from sunrise to sunset to fulfill this mission. they do not do it for the money. trust me i have seen their salary. they do not do it for the amenities. buzz feed rank our hud building is the second ugliest washington, d.c. not quite sure who is first. glad we are only second. but hud does this because they care. they are committed to tackling the great challenges of our day. from poverty to homelessness, to climate change, to discrimination.

we are also paving a path to help people get access to the affordable housing that they need. for many americans, that means home ownership. home ownership is still the cornerstone of the american dream. a fact that you can see in the lives of everyday folks. one of them is a person from des moines, iowa. go up as a foster child. change homes and schools on a regular basis. because of that, she dreamed to give her kids better. a dream that came true when she became a homeowner. kim put in years of work. took numerous financial education classes. spent hundreds of hours helping build homes with a local hud partner.

greater des moines habitat for humanity. now she takes pride in the fact she has a permanent address. her kids could board the same bus to school each day. her girls know she will be there when they arrive home. that is why the opportunity of home ownership is so powerful. it is a source of pride. it is a source of wealth. providing both a nest and a nest egg. it strengthens communities and feels growth in the overall national economy. it is also why it is time to remove the stigma from promoting homeownership. some have been surprised by this focus. a few have suggested this is a return to a fuel of -- mania. it is not.

the answer isn't to deny responsible american homeownership. it is to do it right. since 2009, the obama administration has enacted historic safeguards. for example, the consumer financial action bureau requires lenders to evaluate a borrower's ability to repay their loan and prohibits them from receiving bonuses for more expensive loans. in addition -- hud served 9 million folks. helping them buy homes when they were ready. postponed their search when they are not. these are helping folks obtain a place to call their own. now the challenge is to expand that opportunity. i also want to be clear that

there is nothing wrong with being a renter. as a matter of fact, my family and i rent here in washington, d.c. so for most american to struggle with stagnant wages, a homeownership is a better deal. zillow says renters are spending twice as much of the incomes on housing as homeowners. costs are going up significantly in places like portland and denver and baltimore. some folks feel as if they are almost misspending money by paying their landlord instead of themselves. we need to provide them with more housing options. that is where the federal housing administration comes in. fha has long been a beacon of hope for underserved borrowers. in fact, have ventured 1.6

million homebuyers. we want more folks to access our services. this means expanding access to credit. some believe that a few years ago it was too easy to get a home loan. the fact is in 2015, it is too hard. in fact, housing market is missing out on 1.2 million loans every year because credit is so tight. just a couple months ago, then bernanke remarked even having trouble refinancing his mortgage. we've undergone a year-long effort to clarify policy cylinders could feel more confident working with a wide range of credit worthy borrowers.

the soft increase the flow of credit. we are going to keep building on this address. secondly, we want to make homeownership more affordable for those who already qualify for a loan. last week president obama announced that fha will reduce premiums by the end of this month. fha premiums are at a high level. the cost of obtaining the american dream is too great for a lot of working folks. people like britney from maryland. a dental hygienist says she found her dream home after looking for two months. she planned to use a fha loan to make that dream real.

then she saw fha raised the fee. that is something that she had not budgeted for. britney postponed her search. she isn't alone. it is estimated 400,000 credit worthy borrowers are priced out of the housing market in 2013 because of high premiums. it'll help people save an average of $900 over the next three years. it will encourage nearly a quarter million new borrowers to purchase their first home. this is a commonsense step.

fha's premiums will still be even after this reduction 50% greater than they were at the beginning of the crisis. this premium change only makes an fha loan more affordable for qualified buyers. family still have to qualify for an fha loan purely do, the find a more affordable path of ownership waiting for them. main street and wall street believe this reduction is a win. many agree on this point. by bringing the cost down, we are hoping and have confidence it will help lift folks up and it will expand opportunity for generations of americans to come. when i reflect on the work that we do every day at hud, think

about folks like myra from just outside louisville, kentucky. she's a person whose determination and talent coupled with support from hud help the transition from public housing resident to homeowner last year. looking back at her journey, she said that it wasn't the services alone that made such an impact on her life. she said that it was "support, compassion, understanding, and encouragement that was passed through each individual and service." this is what we are about. people. making their lives a bit better. giving them a chance to thrive. that is why we are focused in 2015 on homeownership. it represents family. community.

it leads to stability. security. it is the cornerstone of the american dream. over the years through decades of economic downturns and wars the american people have held on to the dream. and i'm confident they always will. it's part of the fabric of our nation. it is what we do. who we are. we try. we seek. we aspire. for many folks working hard and saving, the aspiration leads them to their own home. for them, the time is now to buy. the time is now to invest in their future.

every day at hud we report to the robert weaver building. we put in the hours to match the aspirations and dreams with hard work on our end to make those dreams a reality. in my five months on the job the biggest transitions i have made is going from city government to the federal government. i'd be lying to you if beginning at that transition there were growing pains. five months later, i'm convinced of this much. at hud and throughout the system, folks are passionate. committed. ready. willing and able. hud stands ready to help make 2015 a year of housing opportunity. we are confident families will

seize that opportunity. we believe in so doing we will help make that american dream more real for millions of americans and help make this 21st century another american century. thank you very much. [applause] >> mr. secretary, what is the biggest problem in helping people secure homeownership? >> thank you very much for the question. i think one of the biggest challenges, and one i address, is access to credit. another is affordability. the goal behind the fha premium reduction president obama announced was to principally address affordability. and the national association of realtors has estimated there are

about 400,000 potential borrowers that were priced out of the market because of high mortgage insurance premiums. the other end of it is access to credit. this is something fha is working on to try to create the business certainty that is good for fannie and freddie, good for fha, also good for the lending community, also good for the american consumer. and so the biggest challenges, i would say, are the issues of access to credit and affordability. both of those are challenges we are prepared to meet head-on with sensible policies that are prudent and have the effect of extending opportunity.

>> you are generating a lot of questions, mr. secretary. are there any steps you have not taken yet in your first five months on the job that you would like to take to increase homeownership? >> we are taking a number of steps at fha. last may, we announced a blueprint for access to credit. we are looking at ways to make that more robust in the future. those are not fully cooked. they are still being worked on. reserved for a later date. if we do expand that blueprint for access to credit, the details of that. but, homeownership very much is on our radar screen. let me also address this point. because i feel like every time we throw that word out, “home ownership,” the first response you get is “well, aren't you

just turning back the clock?” and the straightforward answer is no. in my remarks, i mentioned several of the checks and balances that have been put into the system so that we do not go back to where we were before. from the work the cfpb is doing to new policies at fha, the landscape of lending has completely changed since that time. you can see that most clearly in the credit scores of borrowers today versus the credit scores of borrowers from a few years ago. the case is that the pendulum has swung from one extreme where it was too easy to get homeownership, where it is too difficult. what we need to achieve is a sensible and strong middle

where we had the right safeguards in place. but we also have good opportunity for hard-working americans to be able to own a home. >> how did you reach the decision to cut fha premiums and will you consider cuts to upfront fees and or dropping the requirement that premiums must be paid for the life of the loan? >> it is a very good question. on the annual fees, these annual fees have escalated significantly. fees overall have gone up by about 145% at fha since the crisis began. we made a decision about reducing the insurance premiums based on the latest actuarial report, the annual review we got on mutual mortgage insurance funds. you may know, those who write

about housing, that we said at that time that we were back in the black and would take a step back and analyze whether or not it made sense to reduce mortgage insurance premium. after that sober analysis and really understanding the numbers, listening to those numbers, we made a decision to go ahead and lower it by 50 basis points. .5 points. as to the question of further reductions, right now, there are no further reductions on the table. >> somewhat related question. fha is the starting gate for most first-time homebuyers. is there any concern that fha homebuyers are already upside down the first day they move in? >> we are always generally

concerned about ensuring folks who take out a loan are able to repay that and that homeownership is a positive experience, not a negative one. the goal is to build wealth out there, not detract from it. we believe that some of the policies that have been put in place, the checks and balances during the housing crisis, have held to ensure that buyers that qualify and get a fha loan are in a better position to pay off that loan and benefit from homeownership in general. we also, as i mentioned, have been raising housing counseling as a effective way, both prepurchase and post purchase that buyers fully understand the responsibility and how to budget

their monthly household budget. that house payment, and what the true costs of owning a home are. it is also about the upkeep and maintenance. so through some of the sensible policies we have put in place at fha and things like housing counseling, we are confident that borrowers will have a positive experience. >> did the context of the condo building thresholds for sales that need to be met before any one new loan may be closed, in other words, the holding has to be 50% sold out before the fha will land in there. are there any plans to review some of those rules in order to help facilitate the orderly selling of urban dwellings?

>> i want to thank you all for the question. this is a question that comes up from time to time. i know i have been to a number of cities where the condo market is very large. an important part of the real estate market, a growing part of it. i think places like miami. this is an issue on the radar screen. we have heard a variety of perspectives from different groups, business groups, other interest groups. it is on the radar screen. and we are looking at what is possible. but have not come to any conclusion about whether there are going to be significant changes. >> the fha waiver of regulation prohibiting home flipping expired on december 31, 2014 two weeks ago. is there any benefit to the market to restrict homeowners to buyers? would it be better to impose

guidelines to help ensure quality work? >> thank you very much for the question. let me put this in a bit of a broader context. one of the concerns we hear out there is that, to the extent that fha has a hold of properties in communities, folks out there are concerned that we in we have an eye toward not just what is right for the fha and the fund, but also, how do we help keep the character of that neighborhood in good stead? with regard to the rule that you cited, i have not looked into that in the last 11 days. when we think through how we approach these questions, we want to ensure we strike a balance between the health of

the fha and its business needs as well as the character of the communities we are serving. that we do right by those local communities and their neighborhoods. that is how we evaluate those types of rules. >> peter wallace set of the american enterprise in his new book that the affordable housing goals of the administration are leading underwriting. this will lead to an economic downturn. your thoughts, please. >> in that question, he said -- the questioner is suggesting it is leading to underwriting that is too lax?

the answer to that, first of all, the proof is in the pudding. that is not the case today. if anything, underwriting standards are too strict. we went from one extreme, where it was too easy to get home loans, to a another extreme, where it is too able to get a home loan. what we want to be able to achieve is a strong, sensible, middle round. where we had safeguards in place so we do not slide back. at the same time, folks who are ready and responsible to own a home can get access to credit. and the housing administration has set -- i do not believe they are playing the role the questioner suggests. >> i do not know if you can quantify this, but the questioner asks, how many homeowners were needlessly foreclosed?

did you see it happening in san antonio? to the feds do enough to help? >> i do believe communities across the united they saw the impact of closures. san antonio was no different from that. it was not as pronounced in some markets as it was in others. i am thinking about places like phoenix and las vegas at the depth of the housing crisis. places like florida, very strongly impacted. from day one, the administration took aggressive action to help folks stay in their home. make it affordable to hold onto mortgages and pay them. the announcement the other day was significant because we went back to a housing market that had been very hard hit with the

housing crisis but has seen significant uptick. i believe that the obama administration took very strong, important measures to blunt the force of the foreclosure crisis. millions of americans have been able to stay in their home, and the administration continues to stay committed to helping people stay in their home. at h.u.d., we embrace grants like the neighborhood stabilization program, as well as partnerships with local communities. the usage of home funds to make homeownership possible in communities throughout the united states. >> will congress passed housing reform in this new congress taking office this week?

>> the straightforward answer is i do not think anybody can tell right now. the administration's position has not changed on housing finance reform. the ministration supports reform that gets the taxpayers off the hook were we ever to experience the kind of housing crisis we experienced a few years ago. we believe there is a sensible way to accomplish that. we are pleased to see johnson make it through the senate banking committee. that did not get broader senate approval. it did not get approval in the house of representatives. what we remain committed to the principles underlying the administration. to look forward to see what comes forward in this new congress. my hope is that we can find a sensible way to address this in

2015. >> will fannie and freddie survive? >> that is a great question. and the fact is that depends on what happens in any potential legislation. i think that folks along the ideological spectrum and partisan spectrum believe there is a better way out there. there is a way we can accomplish having a government backstop but do it in a matter that does not leave taxpayers on the hook the way they were a few years ago. and i know that director watt is doing fantastic work at fha. they are very much a part of this conversation. i believe we can accomplish this balance between getting the

taxpayers off the hook, getting good sensible housing finance reform, and also creating more opportunity for homeownership. the fact is congress right now has just begun its work in earnest. and i have not seen anything put out there yet. so nothing is swimming through the process that i know of. we will address it as it comes along. >> redlining is racism in the housing market. is redlining more prevalent than it was 10 years ago, and do you have any plans to crack down on this practice? >> the department is committed to ensuring that everyone in the united states has an opportunity to have a good quality of life where they live.

and opportunity for homeownership. and we have a robust federal housing equal opportunity office that is committed to enforcement as well, to ensure that no matter the color of somebody's skin, or if they have a disability, their religion national origin, they are able to live where they want. where they are able to afford. that includes looking at situations where folks engage in discriminatory lending practices. this issue of redlining is one that has had, over the generations, a profound impact on urban growth patterns. and the location of different communities within cities. it is one that we continue to be attentive to. and fheo and h.u.d. is committed to eliminating that discrimination.

they take up cases that impinge upon those obstacles and seek to make the united states a place where homeownership and freedom to live where you want is possible regardless of the color of your skin. >> how does the credit quality of fha loans in 2014 and 2015 compare with fha's historical norms? >> thank you for the question. this is january 13. only 13 days into 2015. i do not know we have any analysis for this new year. in 2014, the credit quality was still one of the strongest for fha's history. i mentioned earlier that what we see today is that the credit score of borrowers getting

alone, whether it is from fha or gst is traditionally higher than it was in the time period when it was too easy to get a long. but even higher than it was 20 years ago. the credit quality of borrowers is very strong. at fha, for instance, we have done things like put in a credit score floor of 500 and have required that if you have a credit score of 580 or underneath, you need to put 10% down, not the traditional amount. all those things, as well as the credit overlays that the private sector have put on, have created borrower credit quality for fha that are very strong comparatively.

>> as senior population grows, does h.u.d. have plans to expand rental demonstrations and add more affordable housing for seniors? >> that is something on our radar screen. i know that aarp and joint center for housing studies at harvard have done fascinating work on this issue. you just look at the demographics and what is happening in the united states when we talk about cities, we often talk about millennials. this young generation. how important they are to livening up local communities. but the fact is the fastest-growing population is people over the age of 65. that is something on our radar screen. we are looking at how to be more robust in the support we provide for those kinds of housing opportunities, including section

202. >> your focus seems to be on housing. do you plan any changes in urban development? >> as a former mayor, a recovering politician, one of the things i have enjoyed most about h.u.d. our programs like home. a 40 year legacy that they have had in helping to rebuild communities and investments in infrastructure. we like to think of h.u.d. as the department of housing and urban development. i am very focused on the urban development component of that. under the leadership of former secretary donovan, we did great things like the choice

neighborhood grants and promise zone along with other departments. we have invested in place-based strategies for rebuilding communities. what i see is that we need to continue that trend. at h.u.d., we are looking at for the long-term, how do we orient the department in a way that is aimed at serving individual communities better? with more agility? how do we make place-based not just a name of a policy, but truly something that is embedded in the organization? these strategies really are all about urban redevelopment. i would be remiss if i did not say as well that it is not just about cities. because h.u.d. also serves tribal communities, smaller towns.

some rural settings as well. even though we are called housing and urban development. as a matter of fact, housing and community development would be more accurate. my first love is cities as a former mayor, that i recognize the work is more diverse than that. >> questions related to renting and then we will go to general questions. multi family lenders say h.u.d. needs to expand rental housing construction. and ease underwriting standards on apartment loans. do you have any plans to do that? >> we are not announcing anything on that in the near future. the multi family market has been a relatively strong market in the united states compared to the single-family market over the last several

years. there are reports that may be cooling going forward in 2015. however, there is a strong commitment on h.u.d.'s part two making investments in multi family housing. we are not ready to announce anything new in that regard, but we do have a very full commitment to the investments we made in multifamily housing. one of the ones we are excited about is something called r.a.d. it is about taking private sector investment into public housing and making renovation of public housing units more possible. so i will give you an example. there was a gentleman from housing authority in the midwest a couple of months ago

that i spoke to that said in their community, they had been able to make renovations improvements, in public housing units, in two years that would have taken 18 years through traditional funding. we had our first peek at what this project has meant for multi family housing in different localities. we had third-party look at the study. the first 57 rental assistance demonstration deals. that found that for every one dollar of public money invested, there was $19 of it sector investment. over $400 million of private sector investment. this is making possible the renovation and renewal of public housing units that otherwise would not happen or what happened over a decade or more. that is important because we

are losing, as a nation, 10,000 public housing units to disrepair every year. this is one way that we can enhance multi family housing stock. the fact is, often times, there are mixed finance deals. this has been the case for quite some time. that include different types of financing. decision reduces one more -- this introduces one more element, with the ultimate goal being to address rental affordability out there. today, a greater number of families are paying more than 50% of household income towards rent. we want to change that. >> will h.u.d. establish a renter's bill of rights or set standards for what renters should expect to be entitled to?

>> i am all ears on the -- that. i grew up in the household of a mother, single mother, who was renting. and i bought my first house at the age of 25, 26. something like that. but today, i am a renter in d.c. and i know that is, for many folks, the predominant experience of their lives. and they see costs going up. in some situations, i know as a mayor, in local government, i remember many cases on the nightly news of landlords that were not as responsive as they should have been. and that is fairly common out there. when you talk about a renter's bill of rights, that is intriguing.

i am all ears. >> mr. secretary, though you said you are a recovering politician, i have a few questions in the political area. when you accepted the appointment at h.u.d., there was speculation about what it would mean for your long-term political future. to get to the point, do you think serving as h.u.d. secretary offers the experience necessary for one to serve as a vice presidential nominee? >> i am trying to do a great job at h.u.d.. i think it is a great experience for being secretary. that is what i am focused on. i believe, in anything you do in life, as you all have seen from your own profession, the number one way to be satisfied personally, and to have a great future, is to do a fantastic job with what is in front of you.

if you do not do that, you can kiss bet future goodbye. >> i think i might know the answer, but i said i would ask as many questions as possible. andrew cuomo, former secretary is governor of his own state. any chance of your following a similar career path? >> thank you for the question. maybe we have some texans in the audience. that was a tough cowboys loss, i know. i do not know what my future is going to hold after these two years when i sign off in 2017. i am very mindful that, when january 20 comes around in a couple of days, there are two years left. i want to do an excellent job as h.u.d. secretary during those two years. i believe we can for many of

the reasons we have stated in my remarks. we will see what happens. there is no grand plan after that. >> as you say, with two years to go until the next presidential inauguration, do you endorse hillary clinton for president in 2016? >> i have no doubt that i will get asked that question again in november of 2016. secretary of state clinton is obviously an extremely talented person who has made fantastic contributions to our national progress over the last couple of decades. and i am staying out of those politics in this role. but i know that she did a great

job as secretary of state, and i am confident, that if she is elected president, she will do in always good for the country as well. >> on the other side of the political spectrum, former texas governor rick perry is believed to be preparing for a run for president. how were your dealings with him as mayor of san antonio? >> governor perry served, as folks may remember, from 2001 until just recently. and i served on city council in san antonio from 2001 to 2005. most of the time i interacted with governor was around economic development projects. and often times, when mayors and governors interact on economic development, everyone is on the same page. you want to see investment in your local community.

senators are usually involved in sparking that investment. i have said publicly and privately that, with regard to economic development, former governor perry did make that a priority. so my relationship with him on those issues was cordial and good. when he supported san antonio. obviously, i have much different views from him on a whole host of issues. and i believe in general that texas is getting it half right right now for the 21st century. but i wish him well in the future. >> in the same vein, how were and are your dealings with senator ted cruz? >> we had a good meeting when i was going through my confirmation process. sat down in his office, talk about where a good spot to get texas barbecue is in d.c.

>> a place called hill country he said. he and i have different views as well. but what i am looking for as a newcomer to washington dc is where we can work together on policies. whether it is on premium reduction or the work we do in public housing or any number of policies. i am here to get a job done, to create more opportunity for folks out there. if it is senator cruz that we can work with or senator cornyn, who was kind enough to introduce me at my confirmation hearing, i am eager to do it. i am eager to work with people across the ideological spectrum in the service of creating opportunity for everyday americans, whether they come from texas or somewhere else. >> could you comment on the president's outreach to

cuba? >> as the president has said the policy we had in place with regard to cuba was in place for five decades and did not work. and so, the question now is, how do we go forward with a sensible policy of engagement that requires cuba to begin making a change of course? and i am satisfied the president has taken a sensible prudent step in that direction. that is very meaningful for many americans. i know in the cuban-american community, this is a source of a lot of different views. but i believe that folks on different sides of that

recognize that the goal is to ensure we continue to promote freedom and democracy. and the president has said he believes this the best and most effective way to do it. and many folks of different ideological backgrounds have said that they agree with that this is a sensible policy. i look forward to progress on that. >> the penultimate question, before we had the last question, do you think republicans will get on board with immigration were warm, and did the president go far enough in his immigration proposals? >> the president made a prudent decision to take action. a first step to fix our broken immigration system. there are folks who have suggested that he did not go far enough. i disagree on that. the president has done what is

within his authority, and he has been very reasonable about that. doing something that is measured and at the same time, does go further than any president has before to say that we are a nation of laws. we are also a nation of immigrants. and we are going to create a way to be both of those things. to help keep families together. we have folks that are acting responsibly united they, get them to the back of the line. it is also true that the congress has the opportunity to pass legislation. in congress disagrees with the president on his immigration action, they can pass a bill. in fact, americans out there are waiting for congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. if it passed in a wide partisan way in the senate, the house of representatives should have brought comprehensive immigration reform to the

floor. they did not. now it is up to the congress to do the responsible thing and pass comprehensive immigration reform. i believe, if and when they do that will look a lot like what the president has laid out and the senate supported a year and a half ago. something that is responsible and accomplishes both ensuring that we protect our borders but also that we do something about the 11 million folks who are already here. because it is not realistic to think we are going to report 11 million people. >> mr. secretary, i would like to resent you with a traditional national press club mug. should you return on future occasions, you will complete the set.

>> i have not met your twin brother, but the questioner says, being a secretary means being overcommitted. that being the case, will you ever consider allowing your brother to serve as your body double? >> i have to be honest that i will not consider that. my brother habitually introduces himself by saying i am a minute uglier than he is. i will skip that. >> thank you, mr. secretary. thank you for being here. we are adjourned. national cable satellite corp. 2015] the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> president obama travels to yade iowa today to speak about broadband access. >> after his first full year in office, virginia governor terry mccallive delivers the state of the queftsdz today. live from the state capitol in richmond today on c-span 2. >> our guest this sunday on q&a is on the front line battling against infectious diseases. >> we have drugs right now that when given to people who are hiv infected if someone comes in i could show you the dichotomy in the early 08's if someone came in to my clinic with aids, the median survival would be six to eight months which mean half of them would

be dead in eight months. now, if tomorrow when i go back to rounds on friday and someone comes in to a clinic who is 20 plus years old who is relatively recently infected and i put them on the combination of three drugs, the cocktail of highly active ant viral retro therapy i can tell accurately predict and say if you take your medicine regularly you could live an additional 50-five-zero years. so knowing that 50% are going to die to noge if you take your medicines you could live essentially a normal lifespan, a few years less than a normal lifespan that's a huge advance.

>> a congressional reporter with politico, and she is talking about the amendments as far as immigration is concerned. how and why is all of this coming up now? >> so it is coming up together right now because the funding for the department of homeland security runs out on february 27th. it is only mid january and republicans are working plenty ahead of time to make sure that the homeland security agency is funded because they want to attach these controversial legislative language that got. it is very impossible to get 16 votes in the senate. >> so let's see, five amendments and one of them offered by house republicans. he sent out a tweet about his amendment.

most important requirements in funding executive amnesty will get a house vote this week. what would this amendment do specifically. >> it was hard to see how the debate moved to the right. the conversation originally began last week looking at overriding the executive actions that the president announced just last november. now they are sweeping and they could affect up to five million people. but what other members wanted to do was attack older executive actions including what they do as the deferred action for childhood arrivals. the dreamers brought here at an illegal age. they got work permits from a 2012 program. they want to override that and a series of memos dating as far

back to 2011 that set the administration's priorities. >> what about the other four amendments, what are some of the details? >> the one being offered had a similar effect. it says no, they cannot take any new applications or renew any applications. right now the dreamers under this program only have two year work permits, so that makes hundreds of thousands of young immigrants eligible again. people, immigrants accused of domestic violence or sex offenses have a higher level. and it is a symbolic resolution.

>> what about funding? is there anything in those amendments that would affect the funding and how that would come across? >> basically when people say they're blocking the implementation, they're using the power of the purse saying congress that directs basically how the federal government controls the money that is what congress is trying to do. they're trying to let the implementation stop, a lot of the programs are fee funded. the latest kpektive actions that the president announced in november will be run by immigration services that is under dhs. that agency is almost entirely fee funded. so it's been a little bit tricky trying to figure out how exactly you will defund an agency that is not actually funded by congress.

but the republicans think the language they put together saying no money, not even fees can be used, they think they found a way to do it. at the same time president obama is sure to veto this. >> what about house democrats, nancy pelosi, any democrats supporting these amendments? >> i spoke to a few lawmakers and aides today it seems unlikely. it is likely to be just a couple at most. a lot of very conservative house kms that volted with republicans in the last congress, i'm thinking about former congressman, they lost their reelection bids and are now no longer in office. >> you mentioned a potential veto here, what is president

obama's thoughts on the under lying bill here, the homeland security spending bill. he is opposed to it why, and could this lead to a government shut down? or at least of the agency come february 27th? >> the white house and the department of homeland security, secretary jeh johnson express support for the bill. it is funding for the homeland security department that runs through the rest of the fiscal year. it funds immigration, and it is a diverse allegation that has to many different operations. they're find with the different spending levels they set for the various agencies. it's really those immigration amendments they're taking issues with. if those get attached to the under

lying bill it doesn't matter if they like the funding bill everything will get vetoed. >> thanks for your time. we will be following you on twitter and politico.com. >> thanks for having me. thank you, mr. speaker. today i am privileged to present to the house this bipartisan, bicameral agreement providing appropriations to the department of homeland security d.h.s., for fiscal year 2015. before i describe the details

of this agreement, i want to thank everyone who has worked on this bill here today because despite its importance to national security and public safety, its past to the floor has been far from certain. first the speaker and majority leader and your staffs, thank you for doing what is necessary to get this bill to this stage in the legislative process. to mr. rogers and the full committee staff, thanks for fighting for this bill. it wouldn't be on the floor without you. to the house and senate subcommittee staffs and my personal staff, derrick newby, chris mallard cordell teague, laura silky, ann wake, steve

gilliland steve, val, thank you for your advice and counsel in crafting this agreement. your work takes you away from home and your family, and i appreciate your efforts. finally, to the honorable david price, ranking member of the subcommittee, much thanks to david. our partnership is critical to this bill's success. your experience is -- his experience and measured approach makes this agreement even better. thank you, david for your service and more importantly, your friendship. as everyone knows, several amendments will be proposed to stop the president's recent executive actions on immigration. i plan to vote for these amendments because like many americans, i believe that the president's actions exceed the authority provided to the executive in the constitution. we need to have this debate, but after all the arguments have been presented, the underlying appropriations bill must be enacted because it is

critical to the nation's security and to public safety. mr. speaker, last week we watched a terrible tragedy unfold in paris. as armed terrorists killed innocent french citizens who were doing nothing more than going about their daily lives. like 9/11 this event and others have occurred this year remind us that our democratic values are under constant attack and serve as a warning that we must remain vigilant. make no mistake, what happened in paris can happen anywhere, including the united states. and we must provide the resources necessary and root out the seeds of terrorism. therefore passing the homeland security appropriations bill is an imperative we cannot fail to meet. mr. speaker, this agreement