because i do not believe a breach notification in and of itself motivates businesses to raise the cyber security bar. >> let me ask you, is there any developing insurance coverage market for data breach? your banks have a standard in place today. is there insurance that covers the consequences of a data breach? >> there is. we actually have a captive insurance company that offers some of these policies. it is a market that needs further refinement. as an industry, we are looking at that very carefully and are working with treasury and administration generally to dry figure out -- to try and figure out ways to improve the market and build insurance as a private incentive as opposed to building public incentives. >> senator. >> thank you mr. chairman.

i want to follow up on a couple of questions that the chairman asked. you make the point that preemption has sometimes been narrow. in fact, that concept of protection is that there should be preemption only if there are state laws inconsistent with federal laws and then only to the extent of the inconsistency. that is a quote from one of those statutes. in the health information technology act that principle of narrow preemption has been adopted. has the experience than with that narrow approach to preemption that there are these horrible inconsistencies or

confusion that are witnesses seem to raise of avoiding reaction? >> know, senator. the concern from the state level, as you are aware, and we are assuming you guys will pass something this year -- it took 10 years or congress to pass a breach notification law. there are new threats out there or again, threats that specifically target a group of people, consumers in our state. or there is a rapidly changing area. we want to be able to respond. i think that is the real concern. we have not seen significant problems where states retain enforcement authority of federal law and or the preemption is narrow. i think it works best that way.

federal resources tend to go to larger issues whereas estate issues go to some of the smaller issues. >> mr. duncan, i am troubled by the failure of retailers to take responsible steps to protect their consumers. in fact, some of them i am told have actually blocked some of the new technology that could have been available. i do not want to call any out but i am happy to name them if you wish. i am disturbed that these major retailers have in fact moved to block innovations by disabling their contact list transaction terminals that they offer as a feature to consumers for many years.

mobile payment technologies like apple pay and google wallet, efforts are underway. but, they still have not been deployed as they should be. aren't you disappointed that retailers have not done more to protect their consumers? >> it is not a matter of disappointment in terms of what retailers have done in the past. i can tell you that i have sat in the board meetings of the national retail federation and i have heard the ceos of some of the best-known companies in this country talk long and seriously about the steps they have to dig to address this very serious problem. >> i am sure they have talked. why haven't they done anything? >> we are adopting new technologies -- this is a very complicated issue to address because there are so many ways that the bad actors can get in. he got to develop very

particular systems that will effectively block that. >> why did the retailers disable their terminals? >> there are some technologies that either are unproven, are extraordinarily expensive, or that they control of the company's operations away from the company into someone else. each company has to make its own decision on that element. that is completely separate from a decision about how you secure the data in your files. >> i am struck that you have recommended to the panel that there be preemption not only of state statutory law but also common-law. that is a pretty broad preemption, isn't it? >> if you do not have preemption that is strong and across the board ultimately,

experience has shown us, the court will strike down the preemption and the proliferation of conflicting laws will reemerge. we have to have a very strong law and it has to be a uniform law to be effective. >> isn't that principle virtually unprecedented? >> i do not think so. >> warehouse has it been adopted? >> let look at thesehe telemarketing sales rule. the same kind of approach was taken. all power was placed on the ftc. he did not see individual actions under that rule. >> my time ashas expired but i would suggest that approach to preemption is broader than this committee should consider and that a morning row view of preemption such as the attorney general has

suggested. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator fisher. >> thank you, mr. chairman. miss mcguire, as you know, numerous reports have linked nation state actors to cyberattacks. some of the same countries implicated in these reports may require u.s. i.t. companies to turn over intellectual property. that includes interop -- operating software, operation source codes in exchange for market access. are you concerned that this information in the hands of an irresponsible actor could pose additional cyber security risks? >> we are concerned about having to turn over any of our intellectual property to any country. we believe that that is an

infringement on our ownership of our intellectual property that we had clearly spent extensive resources to develop. we should be allowed to protected accordingly. as it is passed to a second party, it does expose us to potential vulnerability. in short, we believe we should not have to share intellectual property. >> there are instances i believe where companies are being pressured by foreign governments to share that property. do you know how prevalent that is? >> there are some new requirements. actually, some not so new requirements in some countries. i cannot tell you how prevalent it is but we are certainly seeing a growth in those kinds of requests from many different

countries around the world. >> how dangerous is that if we continue to see growth, if the companies do that and increase in market access, how dangerous is that two other companies here in our country when that property is shared? would that put your security at risk? >> it potentially could put other organizations at risk. i am not sure that i can quantify how much, but anytime you have to provide the source code to another party, it can provide additional openings for risk. >> are federal data protection framework is largely based on who is collecting that information rather than tailoring and enforcement based on what is being elected. what he did be better for

consumers and businesses alike is we would apply a more uniform regime for all entities so that enforcement is based on the sensitivity of the information that is being collected? >> that is our view, that it should be a space application and threshold for what type of data potentially is breached. >> for all of the witnesses, if i could just ask a couple of yes or no questions. do you support a federal data breach notification standard that is consistent for all consumers? miss mcguire, if you want to start. >> yes. >> absolutely. >> yes. >> yes, if it is strong and meaningful. >> i will be the outlier and ask for further clarification of the

question. are you referring to which particular type of data? whether you do not want to distinguish between types of data? to a certain extent, the secretarial approach that we have in the united states has worked with regard to financial and health data. since the desire is to get federal breach notification legislation across the finish line in 2015, anything that potentially could slow that down is something we should carefully consider. >> do you think it would be easier to get something across the finish line if exceptions are made or targeting made on what type of data is collected? >> i think it would make it easier to get it across the finish line. if entities that are already subject to data breach notification requirements in specialized areas remain intact. >> senator fisher, with all the

respect, a sectoral specific approach or exceptions to the kind of incentives we need to have effective protection for consumers. >> we have disagreement. i am over my time, so thank you very much. >> senator. >> miss weinman, you and others have talked about the balance strike in terms of over notification. we recognize we do not want to be in a did a consumers and others with notification of breach is that they are not significant enough. it would become meaningless. my question is it determines whether this is a significant risk of identity theft.

is that the attorney general to determine? is it the court, individual companies? i think that is one of the key issues. we can all agree on principle that we do not want to be over notifying that, where that responsibility resides is key. >> thank you. i am glad that we can agree that over notification is not something desirable. i think an organization that holds the data and has a sense of what information has been compromised, the extent to which it has been compromised, would be in the best position to make the determination. >> what standard would they be held to? under the law or their own judgment about whether this would be harmful to their consumers or does this get refereed in court? >> i think the level of risk

would be something that would be codified in a statute. like significant risk of identity that or financial harm. i do think that would be in the letter of the law. >> you are talking about a risk-based analysis. please elaborate. >> along the same lines of what kind of data has been breached and what the risk is to the consumer or the organizations data that also might have been part of that, but as i stated in my statement, we believe that a component of that statute needs to be that the data has been either rendered unreadable or unusable the encryption or other technology so that if the data has been accessed, it is meaningless to the perpetrator. that is a key component of the statute. >> attorney general, maybe take

a half a minute to elaborate. >> i do not think there is any such thing as over notification going on at this point. notification keeps consumers alert to the possibility of identity theft. it certainly depends on what other information these criminals may have access to in terms of what they could be using some information we would use if it is combined with other information. there is no over notification going on at this point. >> i agree with you but we do not want to create a scenario where i'm getting e-mails to our three times a week and i do not know what to panic about and what to ignore. i agree we are not there in reality. if you could articulate what would constitute a strong standard. i respect that the california

law and some other statutes are pretty good marks to make. i see a few heads nodding from a few shaking. that is fun but i would like to hear what you think would suffice in terms of being worth the trade-off. >> a strategy i have heard about is we should look at the state laws that are out there. california at this point being one of the high marks. i should say it is not just california. this is a bipartisan issue. texas, florida, indiana, if they do not already have some of the most progressive notification laws in the country. you need to see what the changes have been from the first generation. we were saying, it would be our first name and first initial with our last name as well as unencrypted social security number, credit or debit card number. now we are moving to biometric

data, e-mail addresses with login passwords. as it changes, you need to look and see what is the high water mark and make sure that that really is your floor. >> mr. johnson, you can have the last word. what would suffice as a strong enough standard that we would also comfortable preempting the state laws we would be looking at. >> i think what we're doing at the federal level as a standard associated with when a company makes a valuations -- a valuations. i think also, the financial services companies, even if the breach is not occurring at the company, they have a lot of experience with dealing with

these breaches. i think that is what i would look to. >> thank you. senator. >> thank you chairman. we had a similar hearing in this committee last march. i think at that time, all of the panelists were for preemption. attorney general, i often tend to be in favor of the underdog but i seldom imagine you would be the underdog on this issue. you might be in terms of where other people are tending to end up. i would ask on the topic of preemption and we will see where that goes. i think the president and attorney general had taken a position on this since last march that they agree with the idea of preemption. we introduced a bill last ear

and are working on a bill of this are. one of the things we have not done in that legislation so far is establish an arbitrary time frame. there is an argument about whether or not there should be a specific timeframe established as opposed to established by circumstances. so far, i have stayed on that we need to have some flexibility in the timeframe. i and not absolutely sure that i understand all of the impact that you can have your. i noticed in the of them data breach this week -- in the end anthem data breach, they were becoming the victim of breach fatigue by constantly being notified he could be in a group where information has been breached. many people in that group -- the

impact of that -- we are not lookup legislation with the idea that we need an arbitrary deadline. i have a couple of questions. the question would be, what would you perceive in terms of how a deadline should be established or the criteria for what would be a reasonable response and your view on whether an arbitrary deadline is something that should be included in a data breach notification. >> thank you. i think an arbitrary deadline with a specific timeframe is not useful in that it sets an objective standard. each incident is different. each incident requires special

consideration to address vulnerabilities, cooperate with law enforcement. some breaches will require cooperating with many different types of law enforcement. i do not think a specific deadline is useful. that being said, a number of the states have deadlines that do not involve specific dates. i think that is the right approach, to give flexibility. >> is there any sort of guideline you look at as to whether or not a response is appropriate if the guideline becomes the -- the response is to be an appropriate time for them could be a triggering factor whether the response was appropriately there are not? >> the words we hear a lot is without reasonable the light. -- delay. in examining whether the notification was done without

unreasonable delay, you would look at what the company had done until that point when it decided to make that edification. had they got dotted all of the i' s and dotted the t's, listened and cooperated with law enforcement. >> i am down to a minute. anybody that feels like a guideline should be specific? anyone want to respond? >> i agree there should be a standard for a reasonable notification. i think it is important to recognize that there are different types of breaches. there's a difference between losing a laptop with a lot of data and a network that has been penetrated.

that may require very different responses and investigation timelines. that is an important criteria to consider. >> i would agree with my colleagues. there should be some flexibility there because smaller organizations simply are not going to have the types of resources that bigger organizations can a lake to. some flexibility would be essential. >> it -- my one concern about reasonable response is it sounds like time in court for me to determine whether the response was reasonable or not and contend that it was not. i'm out of time. thank you. >> we are honored to be joined by the chairman. >> thank you for holding this hearing and for focusing on this issue. it is important to our country

had something that congress has been trying to fix or over a decade. hopefully, this will be the year we finally find the path forward that enables us to put forward a workable solution that attacks consumers and addresses this issue which we are reading about today. billions of americans impacted by yet another data breach. i want to ask, i think the question has been asked many times but perhaps not everyone is answered it. miss weinman, you have extensive experience in this area. could you give us your explanation of why you think a single federal law is so preferable for businesses and consumers? >> thank you. i have a chart with me that is 19 pages long that goes through the variances of the different state laws. that reason alone, i think

lends it self to having one notification standard to enable companies to act quickly and provide the required notice. i think it i both business friendly, and consumer friendly. >> mr. duncan, your testimony highlights the need for congress to enact a preempted federal data breach notification law. i agree that would provide a great deal of clarity for companies, including retailers and merchants you count as remembers. it also provides needed consistency for consumers, which is an issue. congress has dealt with in the past. there have been proposals that call for uniform notification procedures and uniform federal data security standards. i appreciate your observations about some of the risks of ftc enforcement. says that enforcement can already occur, wouldn't retailers benefit them a federal

law saying that reasonable data security measures must take into account the size and scope of the information? >> the ftc effectively has a reasonable standard either under this section or unfairness -- deception or unfairness. once you put a lot of different factors in, you have a situation where is a medium-sized company cannot check the box of every single one of those factors then they are likely to be in their a bad shape. that kind of standard works better when you are developing guidance. that is a big distinction between the glb standards and a uniform national standard. if you have an examiner sitting next to you and you can work the region of those various

elements, that may work. but, if you're trying to set one standard for every type of business, then having multiple components to that is going to make it impossible for the average american company to respond. >> could nrs support this type of security requirements? >> sure. a reasonable security standard coupled with a very robust notice requirement, that would work. >> i have a question for the attorney general. ms. mcguire suggested any notification standard should notify customers of their data before it was stolen. ms. wyman suggests it will not result in risk and a notice not

be appropriate. i wonder what your thoughts are. also, how the illinois state law approaches that issue. >> it is the right thing to do. i agree with both of them. illinois law you do not get notification of the breach of the information is encrypted. what we need to see is encrypted information -- encryption information has been compromised. if it is encrypted, unusable unreadable, notification does not need to take place. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this important hearing. one of our major retailers

experienced a breach and i think there is a day that is not go by that we do not hear about another cyber attack. in fact, last night, the media reported the anthem was breached inand as many as 80 million customers could have had their account information stolen. these cyber attacks our increasing in scope. i hope, given that we have already had a hearing, and i appreciate the senators leadership. i hope we can move ahead in this area of cyber security. my first question was about what i just raised.

with this disclosure, it is important to discuss what is and what is not covered under the health insurance portability and accountability act for hippa. would the breach be covered by hippa? >> what i have heard so far is they claim medical information was not breached so it would probably fall under the various state laws to determine if the definition is met. but i think it remains to be seen what the total extent thaff breach is. >> i think we don't know yet. in your experience if something like this happens, not this exact case, how are the agencies coordinated with the attorneys general whether the departments of health and human services, f.t.c., to enforce these consumer protections, and do you think there is more that can be done when it comes to coordination? >> we've certainly long had a very good working relationship with the f.t.c. because we

obviously had similar jurisdiction over consumer matters. we probably do not have as much interaction with the other entities that are dealing with some of the health information. in illinois the way our breach notification law works if that type of information is taken we want the ability to make sure people are notified. obviously coordination helps everybody particularly when we all have limited resources. at the end of the day our concern is all the same. we're trying to protect individuals from any sort of identity theft, financial damage that could occur because of it. so we are always looking to cooperate whether it's at the state level or the state and federal level. >> okay. mr. duncan, i'll focus some on the retail issue since we're proud to have target and best buy in the state of minnesota, two great companies. last year many of my colleagues and the media talked about the

need to move to chip-and-pin technology similar to what we're seeing in europe, canada, and elsewhere, and following the push for the change the industry made a voluntary commitment as you know to switch over to the cards and readers by the end of october, 2015, which is this year. that's an important timeline i think for consumers. we learned from the home depot data breach that impacted both canadians and americans that cards from canada were actually less valuable on the black market than american cards because they had chip-and-pin technology. we tended to be a target because we've not improved that technology despite the work of companies like target, who had early on tried to but as we know it's not universal across the country. mr. duncan, what percentage of your members have already adopted chip-and-pin payment technology and have the necessary technology to read cards at points of sale? >> this is a quickly changing

number. i have data from several months ago, in which case it was in excess of a quarter of the nation's retail terminals were already outfitted for chip and pin. the concern that many of our members have is that the investment in pin-and-chip technology is extraordinarily expensive. it will cost between dass 25 billion and $30 billion to reterminalize the entire country. it's worth it if you get improvement in fraud reduction. unfortunately, many of the banks, not all but many of the banks are not issuing pin-and-chip cards. they're only issuing chip and signature cards. as you know, a signature is a virtually worthless security device. retailers are being asked to spend tens of billions of dollars for security that is going to be ill luceary. >> just talking to target and best buy i know they're pretty committed to this october deadline which is great, but is the -- when you're talking about the 25% are there just

ones that haven't done it yet but you expect a higher percentage to be there by october? >> lots of companies. i mean, it takes a great -- it's a huge effort to reterminalize a large operation, interconnected operation, but we expect a significant portion of the industry to be there. not a hundred percent. it's impossible to do that in 10 months. >> so your point is that it's very important to have the full technology with the pin and chip. >> if we're going to spend the money to reduce fraud let's do pin and chip. >> okay. good. any comments from anyone else about this? yes. mr. johnson. thank you, mr. duncan. >> why he. thanks for the opportunity, senator. i think one of the things when we have this conversation that we forget sometimes is the fact that the card market is really two different markets to some degree. it's the debit card market as well as the credit card market and debit cards have p.i.n.s. and so you've essentially got more than 50% of the card environment already that is p.i.n. enabled.

but what we've learned from the credit side is the fact that both of the retail side as well as our customer behavior that in the credit environment our customers prefer to use the signature. if they want to be protected by a p.i.n. they can use their debit card. they have effective choice to be able to accomplish that. >> but i think what mr. duncan said is that you get more protection and certainly the situation that we saw with the home depot where the canadian cards were less valuable because they had that full technology, i can imagine everyone would like ease. it's just that if we know one technology protects better it seems we wouldn't want it just for debit card. sometimes i just know from having a bunch of cards in my purse i don't really think through what kind of card it is or if it's signature or not. >> i think that the most important thing here is to really work toward getting rid of static numbers. what we have in the environment right now are credit card numbers and p.i.n.s that are

static numbers that make us vulnerable. and i think that to the extent that we develop technology such as tokenization where numbers are meaningless, if someone was to breach target and capture all the numbers that were associated with those transactions or any retailer the numbers would be meaningless because they'd only work for that one transaction. so i think that's really what we need to be working toward is making those numbers absolutely worthless to the criminal. that's what's going to really protect the customer at the end of the day. >> very good. my last thing is just for the good of my hometown companies that target did fix the breach and everyone can go shopping there. thank you. >> thank you. senator danes, let me first say that a vote is scheduled at 11:30. i want to make sure senator dane gets an opportunity to question. we had intended to take a second round but that may not be possible based on the voting schedule. senator danes? >> all right. thank you, mr. chairman.

this morning 80 million anthem health insurance customers woke up to learn that their personal identifiable information could have been stolen. in fact, we just received this over the fax machine a notice from anthem that says to our members, just quoting from the letter just sent out to their members, it could be 80 million members, "these attackers gained unauthorized access to anthem's i.t. system and have obtained personal information from our current and former members such as their names their birthdays their medical i.d.'s social security numbers, street addresses, e-mail addresses, and employment information including income data." last year in the house i offered an amendment that would strengthen victim notification requirements.

i'm eager to work with the chairman on strengthening these requirements again in future legislation. i've got a question for anyone on the panel here this morning in light of, there's been a lot of discussion about past breaches and now it looks like this most recent significant and serious breach. what is an appropriate notification time period like for the 80 million anthem customers? we still know for sure -- don't know for sure when this occurred but we're hearing it might have been last week. for these 80 million customers that are waking up this morning to hear and learn that their p.i.i. could have been stolen? >> senator, i would respond this way. it sounds unusual and helpful that anthem has actually notified people even if we don't know the full extent of the breach as quickly as they have, because we are aware of situations where there are retailers who have waited months and months, some maybe

as long as six months to notify people which is clearly too long to notify. we've had some extensive discussion about should there be a 30-day, you know, hard deadline? should it be more flexible? i can tell you at the state level there are some that have time frames. we've been very reasonable basically saying to do this as expeditiously as possible. when we look into if that has taken place, we determine when did the breach take place, when did the company know about it, did they have time to put in place a response to secure their system and obviously any exceptions they need to continue to work with law enforcement. so a flexible deadline would be a good one but it cannot be that there is seemingly such a flexible deadline that you never have to notify or you can wait for months because our goal is to let people know their information is out there and that they may be a victim of some form of financial fraud or identity theft. >> yeah. i -- prior to coming up on the hill i spent 28 years in

business. in fact, half of that time with procter & gamble. we prided ourselves on good customer service. the other half of that time was part of a technology startup, a cloud computing company we took public. oracle acquired us an couple years ago. built a world class cloud computing company. i was vice president of customer service working with literally millions of end users and thousands of customers who we were -- we sold a b-to-c customer service cloud based solution. when i was running customer service and looking out for customers and we had a problem, our policy was we'd notify our customers as soon as we were aware of the problem. maybe not always understanding the magnitude of it. we believed we owed it to our customers to get back to them. i'm frankly surprised to think we might be thinking in terms of 30 days or -- i think, frankly, that's unacceptable that the customers, consumers

in this country should be served better than that. and we should ensure that when particularly dealing with p.i.i., recognizing we may not know the scope of the problem at the time, but at least the customers ought to know there's a problem and we're working quickly to try to resolve that. i'd be happy if there's any other comments from the panel please. >> senator, we would support the kind of notice regime that's contained within the illinois law. it's less important as to what number of days are attached to it as long as you provide the time for law enforcement, for example, they may not want to notify because they want to set a trap for the people who have invaded it and have a way of catching them, taking them off the street. you've got to allow for that. you clearly want to clean up the hole so that the people can't come back inside. once you've taken care of that, you can -- 30 days, 10 days, whatever, 40 days, it doesn't matter, just a reasonable time period. i will say, to the specific point that was made a moment ago, one of our members had a breach which they initially

interpreted to be a million card data had been released. once they examined it, it turned out there were only 35,000. so the idea that you would have given notices to 965,000 more people unnecessarily is a pretty serious problem. so you've got to get it right. there is no easy answer here. >> if i may comment, in terms of customer service i agree with you that quick notification is very important, but on the other hand, situations such as my other panelists have pointed out some flexibility is necessary in this situation. one of the biggest deterrents to any organization is loss of trust. as we noticed, anthem has been very quick at reaching out to people and hopefully will learn from their past challenges and also from other breaches that have occurred. lots of trust is a very big deterrent in the current

environment, internet enabled gathering session, people have to quickly respond. >> yeah. well, i would hope to continue to work on this issue of trying to establish what we think would be without unreasonable delay and trying to perhaps put better guard rails on that because i think it's probably in the eye of the beholder sometimes. i can just say my experience in years of working with a cloud-based computing company i just believe it's better to err on the side of the consumer and for their protection. i fully understand you can create maybe a bigger problem by notifying everybody without understanding what really has happened. but i think as we lean one way or the other on this i would just urge us to lean toward a quicker response, defining that. i think better safe than sorry particularly looking at this notification that went out. this is social security numbers. this is personal income data. this is perhaps private medical records. this is very, very serious. i think the consumer has the

right to know about that sooner than perhaps waiting a week as we try to walk the fine line here of law enforcement and not creating a mountain out of a mole hill. i tell you what, i think we should be trying to make this tighter. i had two days. i hope we can work to something here that we can actually define. >> mr. daines, thank you very much. the bell has rung indicating votes and we will conclude this meeting momentarily. i'm not going to ask any additional questions but, dr. pendse, i would be glad to have you visit with my staff. you know kansas well. what small businesses should we be worried about? what innovators may be deterred from greater innovation as a result of this kind of legislation? i'd welcome your input. >> absolutely. >> then i'd be interested in hearing from any of the witnesses about graham leech bleily and its potential being used as a standard.

i'd like to know whether the bankers, if there is information that banks have that could be breached that is not covered. and, also, the same kind of question related to hipaa. where in those two arenas health care and financial services is there something that we ought to be considering a standard or a starting point as we look at broader breach opportunities or is that just a bad idea? >> yeah. i agree with you that it offers a potential model here. mr. johnson, i gather you feel that preemption language you said in your testimony, i'm quoting, "the extensive breach reporting requirement currently in place for banks provides an effective basis for any national data breach reporting requirement for businesses generally" -- i gather that you support the preemption model contained in graham leech bleily. >> that's correct. >> because i think that may provide some common ground

here. and i invite the witnesses, i know mr. duncan, i apologize my time expired before you may have been able to provide a full teens my question so i'd invite you to supplement your answer in writing if you wish because i value your further comment. thank you, mr. chairman. >> if i may, senator blumenthal, i would emphasize the fact that this is essentially guidance. it says you should, you ought to something like that. that differs quite a bit from the state laws that have a mandate and a requirement. we would favor a mandate and a requirement rather than something that's merely suggesting. >> i was referring really to the preemption model there. >> senator klobuchar has exceeded her time at the earlier opportunity. [laughter] >> but any concluding comments? >> in the great tradition of senators that's what we're expected to do. i think actually, snore daines

followed up on the question that i had but i want to ask one more time. mr. duncan a couple different times, has established a matrix of what might go into a reasonable standard. is there anyone on the panel who's concerned about the congress pursuing, as we look at this issue, a reasonable standard sort of along the lines that have been outlined or as opposed to a specific notification period? >> are we talking about time frame? >> we are. nobody has a problem? nobody is proposing that we should include a specific time frame in any law that we require notification in? >> senator, what i can tell you is the reasonable time frame such as what illinois has, we have seen it abused. and so the idea that you would put in a specific deadline maybe within the most expedient time but in, you know, no

circumstances less than, i mean, put some sort of a line there or as i said, it could be six months at which point your information is long gone. it has long been purchased on the black market. and who knows what has been done with it or damage that's been done to you. you need to have further discussion about how do you better define what the time line is going to be for notification. >> anyone else? >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. to be bipartisan in my admonition senator daines also exceeded his time allotment. i also notice senator clope char was very effective in putting me in my place by something like "the new kid on the block." we're delighted you were all here and appreciate the information conveyed us to. the hearing record will remain open for two weeks. during that time senators are asked to submit any questions for the record. upon receipt of those questions the witnesses are requested to respond to those, to the committee as soon as possible. i thank the witnesses again for their testimony and i conclude

this hearing. we are adjourned. >> thank you. >> both the house and the senate have been in session today. in the house members approved a small business regulation bill. earlier this week they voted again to repeal the 2010 healthcare law. lawmakers failed for the third time to advance the homeland security department funding bill that would also block the president's immigration executive order. the we're live house coverage when members return here on c-span and you can see the senate live as usual on c-span 2. tomorrow on "washington journal" maryland representative donna edwards looks at president obama's 2016 budget request and how it affects the federal work force and then joining us louisiana congressman john fleming to discuss his membership in the newly formed freedom caucus which was designed to challenge

the republican study group. plus we'll take your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. "washington journal" live friday morning at 7:00 eastern here on c-span. and be with us on saturday for a special presentation of the communicators when we'll go in depth on fcc chairman tom wheeler's plan to regulate the internet as a utility. fcc counsel gigi sohn will join us to talk about the new proposed rules to ensure net neutrality. 6:30 p.m. eastern here on spon. >> here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the c-span networks. on c-span 2's book tv saturday night at 10:00 on "afterwards" washington bureau chief for the sunday times in london toby harnden on the british efforts in 2009 to stop the taliban advance in afghanistan while awaiting u.s. marines reinforcement. and sunday at 10:00 the senior editor on the u.s. senate torture report and why his company decided to publish it.

on american tv history on c-span 3 all this month interviews with former korean war p.o.w.'s. this sunday at 10:00 a.m. eastern charles ross. an army sergeant captured by the chinese and held as a p.o.w. from 1950 to 1953. just after 9:00, a look back at selma and the voting rights act 50 years later with congresswoman eleanor holmes norton and cbs white house correspondent bill plant. you can find our complete television schedule at c-span.org. let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 202-626-3400. e-mail us at comments@c-span.org. or send us a tweet @c-span # comments. join the c-span conversation. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. >> president obama says the u.s. will never stop fighting for the freedom of religion around the world. his comments came earlier today at the annual national prayer

breakfast. the event is hosted by the fellowship foundation and u.s. senate and house of representatives prayer breakfast group. just under two hours. [applause] >> may everyone have a seat. thanks very much everyone. we're honored that the president and the first lady are with us. i want to get right to our program so we can keep the program moving along. as senator wicker and i said earlier, we're honored you're with us this morning and we're grateful for the folks who helped put this breakfast together every year. to begin our formal program, i'm honored to share with everyone in this audience an

excerpt from a message from rome by pope francis. this message is to all of us gathered here at this national prayer breakfast, and he writes in part, and i quote dear friends -- i send prayerful, good wishes for you for the fruitfulness of your work. i ask you to pray for me and to join me in praying for our brothers and sisters throughout the world who experience persecution and death for their faith. upon you your families, and those whom you serve, i cordially invoke god's blessings of wisdom, joy, and peace. we're honored that the holy father would send us that message. the entirety of the message will be read at today's

luncheon. while pope francis couldn't be with us today in person, his excellency the papal nuncio the holy father's representative in the united states is here today. and we're honored by his presence. all of us -- [applause] all of us as well had the extraordinary privilege today to be joined at this breakfast by another inspirational spiritual leader and peacemaker, his holiness the dalai lama. we're honored by his presence. [applause] when i was in state government in harrisburg, pennsylvania, i worked in the finance building. and right over the building the front of the building was an inscription that i think is a good summation of what it means to be in public service.

i'm quoting from that precept inscribed on the building. here's what it says. all public service is a trust given in faith and accepted in honor. senator wicker and i and those who are in the room who are elected officials have accepted that honor to serve. we also feel privileged. i know this is true of roger and me and so many others. but we're privileged to do our work in the senate. but the excessive partisanship in politics that occurs in this town too often gets in the way and divides the senate. that's why the weekly prayer breakfast on wednesdays, every wednesday the senate is in session, is a way for us to have an oasis from that -- the politics of the place. we gather at that breakfast for prayer and to share some time

with each other every wednesday morning. just as we're doing this morning with people from so many different states, different countries backgrounds, faiths, and beliefs. we're reminded this morning of the journey, the journey of faith that we're all on. and we believe that faith is a gift and a gift that we're blessed by today and express gratitude. senator wicker? [applause] >> thank you bob. the senate prayer breakfast dates back to world war ii when a group of legislators met in the senate restaurant. we can only imagine the conversations that took place during those early days as the deadliest conflict in human history swept the globe. then as now the weekly meetings

which occur when the senate is in session have remained largely low profile. in january 1943, an article from "the washington post" describes them as without fanfare, front page publicity, or ballyhoo. that is still true. in many ways our prayer breakfast is a welcome sanctuary from the politics and partisanship we hear about. each week we sing a hymn. we hear prayer requests that we call the sick-and-wounded report. we actually join hands and we pray together. and we hear presentation from one of our members. but not before a very thorough introduction of that member by either senator mike endsy or senator jim inhoff. snow, the senators are here today and i think it's high

time that something be said about their introductions. everything we do at the prayer breakfast is off the record, but this needs to be said about their introductions. neither opposition, research professionals, nor the f.b.i. have a thing on enzi and inhoff when it comes to background checks. mike and jim relentlessly call former classmates, teachers, old friends, and relatives to discover something a little unusual about each week's presenter. sometimes i wince. sometimes i cringe. but the introduction always ends on a high note with the verse of scripture and the suggestion that our speaker is much like a biblical character of old. thank you for that jim. thank you for that, mike. then we hear from the senator, himself or herself.

a democrat one week, a republican the next week. what we learn about each other is a lot. during my time in the senate prayer breakfast, we've heard from our own american sniper our own astronaut. he's here today. our own missionaries. we've had several. and our own award winning composer. from camp directors to university presidents we've heard the good and the bad. we've heard about difficult family backgrounds. we've heard about financial bankruptcy and home foreclosures. we've heard about spiritual journeys. from the heights of achievement to really, really tough times. it has been said there is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it ill behooves any of

us to find fault with the rest of us. and that is true about the attendees and the senate prayer breakfast. in short, on wednesday mornings we learn we are a lot like you and you and every other child of god. and almost always i come and almost always i come away with the blessing. this morning, i acknowledge and thank the people who have gone before bob and me, in the senate prayer breakfast leadership, over, the period of six decades, and, along with bob i'm honored to continue with their tradition. now, at this time, it is my pleasure to recognize a few distinguished guests at our head table who will not be given the opportunity to speak. i will ask the next three ladies

boosted and and remain standing. mrs. stevie waltrip. mrs. terese casey. [applause] and mrs. gail wicker. [applause] thank you for joining us ladies. thank you so much. you may be seated. and it is my very special honor at this point to ask each of you to give our appreciation and love to the first lady of the united states, mrs. michelle obama. [applause]

and now, it a special privilege for me as a senator from mississippi to introduce a familiar face from home. jasmine murray is from columbus, mississippi. she has been a broadcast communication major at mississippi state university. she was a finalist on "american idol." and she was a finalist in the miss america pageant where she proudly represented my home state of mississippi. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome miss mississippi jasmine murray. [applause]

♪ ♪ ♪ why should i be sad, why should the shadows come ♪ ♪ why should my heart feel lonely, and alone for heaven and home ♪ ♪ when jesus is my portion, a

constant friend is he ♪ ♪ his eye is on the sparrow, and i know he watches over me ♪ his eye is on the sparrow, and i know he watches me ♪

♪ i sing because i'm happy, i sing because i'm free ♪ ♪ his eye is on the sparrow and i know he watches me ♪ ♪ his eye is on the sparrow, and i know he watches, i know he watches, i know he watches me

♪ ♪ i sing because i'm happy, i saying because i'm free ♪ ♪ his eye is on the sparrow and i know he watches me ♪ ♪ his eye is on the sparrow and i know he watches me ♪

♪ he watches me ♪ ♪ i know he watches me ♪ ♪ he watches me ♪ [applause] >> thank you. >> thank you.

i don't know how to fix this stand so i will stand here. [laughter] maybe someone within the sound of my voice can come help me with these technical difficulties. jasmine, that was wonderful, thank you. that was just great. [applause] i'm delighted to introduce our next guest. he is a former mayor of san antonio and current secretary of housing and urban development. as a member of the president's cabinet, he represents the executive branch of the family while his twin brother, joaquin, covers the legislative side as a member of the house of representatives. please warmly welcome to read from the old testament secretary of housing and urban development, julian castro. [applause]

>> thank you. thank you, so much, mr. president, for the great assist, good morning and mr. mrs. obama and cochairs, senator casey and senator wicker and to all of our distinguished guests. it is an honor to join you on this day of prayer and peace. last week i had the opportunity , to travel to los angeles where i met some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens, men and women living every day with homelessness. although they have endured incredible difficult circumstances, it was clear to me that they never let their hardship extinguish their hope. i spoke with an older woman who spend her nights on a tattered

quilt over cold concrete. night after night that wears on a persons body. yet this woman's spirit was unbroken, and her faith a true testament of strength and of grace. it was this angel in the city of angels who reminded me the true measure of our progress is how we care for those with the least. the passage that i will read speaks to the hope we must preserve, the needs we must meet, and the common humanity that we must always honor. a reading from the book of isaiah. is this the manner of fasting i would choose, a day to afflict one's self, to bow one's head like a reed and lie upon sack cloth and ashes? is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the lord?

is this not rather the fast i choose, releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the oak, setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke. is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and homeless into your house? clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh. then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall be quickly healed. your vindication shall go before you and the glory of the lord shall be your rear guard. then you shall call and the lord will answer. you shall cry for help and he will say, "here i am." if you remove the yoke from among you the accusing finger, and malicious speech, if you

lavish your food on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom shall become like midday. thank you and may god bless you. >> amen. [applause] thank you, secretary, castro. thank you, secretary, castro. our prayer for the poor will be offered by sister mary sculina she devoted her life to service, advocacy and of course god. she is one of the founders of project home in philadelphia. i'm proud to say that today. project home is a truly exceptional organization that does the important work of providing housing, employment opportunities, medical care, and education for the homeless and the impoverished. for her work, sister mary was named one of "time" magazine's

world's 100 most influential people in 2009. sister mary. [applause] >> it's an honor to be here, mr. president and, mrs. obama. thank you very much and all honored guests and greetings to everyone from philadelphia pennsylvania. god of compassion and justice, we humbly come before you with gratitude and a clear understanding that it is in you that we find our home. for when we are rooted in your truth and grace, we are

empowered to pray thy kingdom come. we recall how through the ages you have been a god of compassion, justice, and liberation, with a special love for the poor and the oppressed. we remember your servant moses leading your people out of bondage. we recall jesus, healing the sick and proclaiming good news to the poor. we recall those times in our own nation's history when moved by the promise of liberty, and empowered by your spirit courageous leaders worked to end slavery, to enfranchise women, to welcome immigrants, and to expand economic opportunity for all. your constant revelation, god, is one of non-violent liberation from anything that oppresses the human spirit. as we gather here, millions of your beloved children are

suffering under the burden of poverty, oppression, and violence. our prayers today can only be authentic if they compel us to act. let us hear the cry of the loving parents struggling to provide for their children. let us hear the cry of those all around our world impacted by violence. and those in our nation who suffer the wounds of gun violence. let us hear the cry of millions of children whose magnificent gifts and possibilities are lost in underresourced schools and economically-plundered neighborhoods, condemning them to a life of persistent poverty. let us hear the cry of our veterans suffering from the wounds of war, especially those who are homeless.

open our eyes, lord, so we can see suffering as a prophetic sign that calls us to radical transformation. god, we know that our faith does not give us answers, it gives us courage. as a people of faith, we pray for the courage to live truthfully, justly, and compassionately. help us to see through our hypocrisy and falsehood. empower us to stand squarely on the side of those who are poor and struggling on the margins. help us to move beyond our idealogical polarizations and economic disparities. form us into a united community that affirms each person's dignity and works towards a shared prosperity. let us build the society, free from the scourge of poverty, a society that truly reflects our kingdom.

most of all, let us understand that your ancient call for compassion and justice is in truth, an invitation to us for fullness of life and richness of human community. as we meet the needs of those who are poor, we are healing ourselves and our nation. as we insure that all families have enough to eat, we are building the banquet table for everyone. as we work to provide health care around education, we are making our whole society healthier and wiser, as we bring those living on our streets home, we are finding our own way home, because none of us are home until all of us are home. fill us with that same spirit of liberation that filled jesus and the prophets. fill us with the spirit of joy

of hope, that inspired the prophet isaiah in his powerful challenge. if you spend yourself on behalf of the hungry, and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noon day. god of compassion, god of justice, fill us with this yearning, and give us the strength, the grace, the courage, to make it real each and every day, as we pray thy kingdom come, amen. [applause] >> thank you, sister mary.

a few minutes ago, when i said perhaps someone within the sound of my voice could come to my assistance i guess that did include you, mr. president. [laughter] so i thought perhaps someone else would step forward but. thank you, young man, for figuring that out. [laughter] i first became involved in the prayer breakfast as a house member and i'm delighted today to introduce to say a few words the cochairs from the house prayer breakfast. congressman robert holt from serving 10th term from alabama and congressman juan vargas, serving his second term in california are cochairs in the house. by virtue of that they will be the cochairs of this breakfast the 64th annual breakfast next

year. [applause] >> good morning. it is a real honor for juan and myself will be here on behalf of the house breakfast which meets every thursday morning about 8:00 at this time in the capitol when the house is in session. the house of representatives weekly prayer group meets. we come together as democrats and republicans. we come together once a week not promoting a party or particular issue or particular agenda. we come together this one hour during the week to promote jesus. we are told in john 3, just as jesus lifted up the snake in the

wilderness in in-- we are honored to be your this morning, glad to be here with our colleagues and all of our friends and families from literally around the world. it is an honor to work together in a bipartisan effort and to work with our colleagues and especially this year to work with my colleague juan vargas from california. [applause] >> thank you. greetings from the prayer breakfast, mr. president. it's great to see the assist you gave today. we went to law school together played against him a couple times and basketball. he didn't assist like that. [laughter] >> a little rougher out there. >> great to see. we did come together every thursday morning, and we call it the best hour of the week.

we come together as democrats -- who would have guessed, a california democrat and republican from alabama. we come together and we pray and would bring jesus into our prayers and we lift up the country, we lift up the congress. we know that special things can happen, and they do. and because of that i think we are all here today, and to -- and appreciate very, very much the prayers that you all have for us. we know that you pray for us throughout the country. i've gone to many, many services where we hear that you pray for your leaders you pray for the , president, for all of us in public office, and we love that and we understand that. we bring those prayers up, too. so again thank you very much. and for all my colleagues i invite you to come pray with us every thursday morning, the best hour of the week from 8 a.m. until 9:00. and really it is something special.

you get to meet people that you wouldn't, who would've thought i would've loved louie gohmert? louie gohmert is one of our leaders and its fabulous to come and pray with them. he brings us of jesus every thursday, so thank you very much. it's an honor to be here. [applause] >> thank you very much for the members of congress. i'm pleased to introduce the honorable deborah lee james, the 23rd secretary of the united states air force. she joins us today to offer a prayer for the leaders of our nation. secretary james, of course, is a distinguished leader in her own right for our nation's military and has the response of managing more than 690,000 air force personnel. and a budget of $110 billion. please welcome secretary deborah lee james. madam secretary? [applause]

>> thank you so much, senator casey, senator wicker. thank you so much. it is truly an honor and privilege for me to come before all of you today. mr. president, mrs. obama, senators, congressmen, distinguished guests, friends , and allies from around the world, may i please invite all of you to join me in a prayer for our national leaders. oh, mighty god, it is in you that we trust. we ask for your blessings on our president barack obama. lord, grant him the wisdom and the vision to lead our nation toward a more just, peaceful and prosperous world. help him to keep the beacon of american freedom burning brightly as an inspiration to all who long to live free from

fear, free from want, free to speak, and free to worship as they choose. we ask you also, lord, to bless our first lady, michelle obama. strengthen her as she works to inspire all of america's children, to retire and to live healthier lives, so that one day they will be ready to build strong families of their own. compassionate communities and contribute to a better world. please guide our vice president joe biden, lord, and all the members of the president's cabinet. grant to these and all others who serve and advice our president the grace to lean not only on their own understanding , but also to trust in you with all of their hearts your lord, bless our lawmakers sent from every corner of america to form our congress. grant them the priceless gift of insight, courage, and unity.

shepherd them by your spirit to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with you. grant our chief justice and all of our judicial leaders across the nation your wisdom, lord that they may judge the law impartially as instruments of your will. and very close to my heart lord, please, please protect our men and women in uniform, and all who stand in harm's way to preserve the freedom we cherish for our children and grandchildren. and as you watch over those serving far from home, also please encourage those who wait for their return, and comfort of those who have suffered unspeakable losses. lord, may the service and sacrifice of those who have gone before us and the lives of the hero's to walk amongst us, let those individuals inspired the rest of us to give our country and our communities and our families the very best that we

can with our fullness of heart particularly in these uncertain times. being always mindful and grateful to you, lord, for the many blessings that you have the stowed on -- bestowed upon us. amen. >> amen. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you, madam secretary. thank you so much. as you can see from the program in front of you, our next speaker was to have been king abdullah ii of jordan. we all know the heartbreaking circumstances his country is experiencing at this point. they required that his majesty king abdullah returned to jordan. our prayers are with the people of jordan during this troubling time of crisis. the passage that king abdullah was expected to read this from

-- is from the new testament luke 10. i will read this passage at this point. on one occasion an expert in law , stood up to test jesus. teacher, he asked, what must i do to inherit eternal life? what is written into law, he replied. how do you read it? he answered, love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. and love your neighbor as yourself. you have answered correctly, jesus replied. do this and you will live. but he wanted to justify himself so he asked jesus, and who is my neighbor? in reply jesus said, a man was going down from jerusalem to jericho. when he was attacked by robbers. they stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. a priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he

saw the man, he passed by on the other side. so, too, a levite we came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. but a samaritan, as he traveled, came with a man was and when he saw and he took pity on him, he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. the next day, he took out money and gave it to the innkeeper. look after him. when i return i will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell to the head of robbers? the expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him.

jesus told him, go and do likewise. may god add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. and at this point, it is my pleasure to introduce our next guest. he, too, so recognized by "time" magazine for 2014, he was one of the persons of the year of "time" magazine. dr. kent brantly, and his colleagues became known as the ebola fighters for the work saving lives and caring for those affected by this deadly disease. as a doctor with a christian relief organization, samaritan's purse, dr. brantly contracted ebola in liberia. now fully recovered, he gives thanks to god and to the power of prayer. today he is with us to offer a

prayer for the leaders of the [applause] >> let us pray. our father, who art in heaven. the lord, the lord, the god of compassion and mercy. slow to anger, and abounding in a love and take. lover of all people in the earth, there is no god like you. you keep your covenants, and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion. hallowed be thy name. remind us that all nations are as nothing before you. their governments but a shadow

of passing age. all authorities are intending to be your servants come a to do good under your care. to ensure justice for those who have been wronged. we all, including our leaders will stand before your judgment, o god. and as surely as you live, oh lord every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess to you. thy kingdom come on earth. granted by children throughout the world, and especially to the leaders of the nations the gifts of prayerful thought and of thoughtful prayer. that following the example of our lord, we make certain what isleaders of the right and do it. bless the leaders of the nation that they may not walk in the council of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of markers. -- mockers. bless the leaders that they may

the light in the light of the lord, that they may meditate it day and night that i will be done on earth as it is in heaven. help us, lord, to protect and to provide for all who are hungry and homeless. especially those who are deprived of food and shelter family and friends. for true religion is as acceptable to you lord is this, to care for orphans and widows in distress, and to flee corruption. give us this day, our daily bread. forgive us for neglecting to seek peace and pursue it. and finding ourselves in each new crisis ready to make war than peace. for choosing violence and war over peace and reconciliation. we have not loved you with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. forgive us for neglecting the needs of our people, for choosing corruption and greed over integrity and generosity.

forgive us for compressing the minority on the majority is filled with pride and self-reliance. we have all sinned and fallen short of your glory, the lord. forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. let us not seek revenge, but reconciliation. let us not delight in victory but in justice. let us not give ourselves up to pride, to prayer. lead us not into temptation. be present, lord, to all your children. be present to those who are killing. and tolead us not into those who are being killed. the present to the oppressed and to the oppressor. be present to the leaders of the nation's. deliver us from evil. subdue our selfish desires to possess and to dominate.

forbid us arrogance and victory and self-pity and defeat. bless the leaders of the nations, father, that they might act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with you o god, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. in the name of jesus we pray. amen. >> amen. [applause] >> thank you dr. brantley. please pass along our good wishes to those at samaritans first. ladies and gentlemen, the national association of stock car auto racing, commonly known as nascar, is second only to the

nfl in terms of tv ratings in our country. nascar races are broadcast in over 150 countries. our keynote speaker this morning is one of the best-known figures in nascar. simply put, darrell waltrip is one of the great racecar drivers in history. in first corinthians 9:24, we hear, that in a race, not all runners run. the internal combustion engine had not been invented yet. [laughter] all runners run, but one receives the prize. darrell has received that price 80 something times. he has one 237,733 laps. his life includes an important fate journey. i believe god>> he is moving slightly

in the air.

>> well, he made it. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen, mr. darrell waltrip. [applause] >> let's go racing, boys! i always chuckle when i see that clip because my insurance man says, have you ever had an accident? [laughter] i've had a couple. [laughter] but, good morning mr. president, first lady, although the distinguished guests, congress members, everyone here this morning. this is a huge honor for a kid that grew up in kentucky and now resides in franklin, tennessee.

i knew about the prayer breakfast. i've heard about it going on since the early 1940's, so i've heard about it for a long time. but i have to tell you a quick story. when the committee called me in, asked me if i would like to come to breakfast, to the president's prayer breakfast, and have breakfast with the president. i said well, they must know it's my birthday. [laughter] what an honor to go to washington dc and have a list of the president. this is going to be great. by the way, we would like you to be the keynote speaker. [laughter] uh... i will get back to you on that. but i thought about it, prayed about it, i have great friends that pray for me all the time. i said, i got. it. i'm not a brain surgeon and i

am not running for office, so i am the perfect guy to be here this morning. [laughter] [applause] i hope that was ok. [laughter] my wife told me i maybe shouldn't say that. she is sitting down there, shaking her head now. i would like to introduce my family, you have already met my beautiful redheaded wife. jessica and sarah, my two daughters. they are out there. it makes me feel so good to have them here this morning with me. i love my family, and i love the lord. is the room should start vibrating just a little bit don't get excited, don't get nervous. it is just all my friends back

in franklin, tennessee, my tuesday morning bible study group. , friends over and charlotte north carolina at racing outreach, my ministry at the track. all my friends are praying for me right now. i don't know if you can see it or not, but i certainly can. i'm thankful for. if it starts shaking a little bit, it is just the lord. he is amongst us. [applause] being here this morning reminds me of before you start a big event, the daytona 500 which comes up in a couple of weeks as a driver, you go on a pit road, you are with your car, you get in your car and it never fails.

there is always that adrenaline, those butterflies. excited, nervous, because you didn't know when they would drop the green flag what would happen. that is how i feel this morning. i don't know what is going to happen here, folks. [laughter] they kept asking me, do you have an outline? i said no, i have never really done an outline for a speech. [laughter] that is when they thought maybe i wasn't the right guy for the job. [laughter] i have to tell you this. i shouldn't, but i am going to. they call me up and told me all the great speakers that have been here before. all the great speeches that have been given here before. as they went down the list, i said well, wait a minute boys. i am not sure i'm qualified for this job. they said, we kind of knew that

going in. [laughter] so either way, i knew i was in good company. sometimes i think all of us in this room know that your biggest assets can be something that works against you. can be a blessing and a curse. that is how racing was for me. it was sort of a blessing and a curse. i grew up in owensboro kentucky. my dad drove a pepsi-cola truck. my mom was a cashier at the local grocery store. my two brothers and two sisters did not have a lot of money. we worked hard to put food on the table. when i went to races as a six-year-old kid with my grandmother and came home and told mom and dad that i want to be a racecar driver sunday, they said, it looks. -- good luck, son.

my dad was a believer in hard work. he said, if that is what you want to do, maybe someday you will be successful. that was all about the encouragement my dad gave me. a cost a lot of money to go racing and we can have a lot of money. -- we did not have a lot of money. i became a self promoter. in other words, i bragged a lot. [laughter] god had given me a talent, no question about that. i don't know where it came from. there is no reason for me able to do what i did, other than it being my passion. that is what i cared about. i tell kids every day and mr. president, you know this. there is nothing more discouraging or disheartening when you ask a kid, what will you do when you grow up? and they say i don't know.

really? embrace something. you have to have a passion. my passion was racing, and quite honestly, i went at it in all the wrong ways in the early years. i was just as aggressive off the racetrack as i was on. i didn't have a lot of friends. i didn't think i needed friends. i looked over in the car and i was the only one ever in there so i didn't need friends to be with me. [laughter] my relationships early on were shallow. i didn't have any real close friends. quite honestly, as i look back, in the hardest thing to do this morning is to look back because when i look back i see things that are disturbing. i see things and i say, how could i have acted that way? how could i have been that way? but i was.

you are going to love this. [laughter] this is what people said about me. they said i was brash ruthless. pushy. cocky. conceited. aloof, boastful, arrogant, and just downright annoying. [laughter] i hope you don't feel that way this morning but if you do i am sorry. i have to tell you, those were people that liked me. [laughter] so, you can imagine what people that this likely had to say about me. -- that disliked me had to say about me. fans booed me. as soon as i got up, they would start doing.

they hated me. the drivers despised me. richard petty once told me, i don't know how you keep a sponsor, you are so unpopular with the fans, i don't know how you keep a sponsor. and this was richard petty. is that icon, the king of our sport. i wanted to be king, that i added all the wrong ways. -- went at it all the wrong way. i never liked the rules, because they never went in my favor. we know guys like that, right? [laughter] [applause] always wanting to change the rules. i always like to say i thought the law, i thought the law and

the law won. those were things going on the track. in my personal life, it wasn't much better. i was so arrogant, i really was. my kids are sitting out here for heaven's sake. but the hardest thing to do is look back and see how you were. my personal life was a mess. i drank too much. i like to go to the bars and hang out with the boys. i just did everything to satisfy me. whatever felt good to me, i did it. i did not give it a second thought. that was my lifestyle. . that was how i lived. like i told you, i didn't have any close friends. if i wanted friends, i was figured i would get a dog. i have several dogs. [laughter] but my beautiful wife,. who i

love dearly, we have been married 45 years. [applause] that in and of itself is a miracle. she was married to that guy i was telling you about. she lived it. my wife once described me as, that she had lived with two different men with the same name. that might be a little confusing to you. i must explain, but that her skype that i told you about that was the guy she was married to originally. i knew god had his hand on the limit stevie -- on me when i met stevie. i felt like god spoke to me. god says to me, i give you this woman, i brought you this woman

don't let her get away. i tried to always be on my best behavior around her, and certainly around her mother and father. [laughter] they didn't think a whole lot of a race car driver. when i told him that i said i am going to be a professional racecar driver. he was the president of texas gas. and he didn't quite understand how a racecar driver could make a living and be able to support his daughter. he wasn't sold on the idea, that he became a big fan as time went by. stevie would always pray for me. she is a godly woman, and she loved the lord way before i did. she always prayed that someday, somehow, we would get involved in a bible study or a church. i would always love her off, say laconic, i race on sundays

don't have time to go to church. i just don't have time for this church stuff and this got stuff. i just don't have time, ok? and you know what she said, i will just keep on praying. when someone says they are praying for you, you better pay attention. don't take it lightly. people don't pray for you if they don't care about you or love you. [applause] amen amen. it used to happen to me at the track, and people would come up and say, i am praying for you. and i would say, thank you very much, i have to go now. don't ever do that, embrace that person. is not a waste of time, it is an embracing you. and caring about you. that is the most important and in the world, that we all caps about each other. -- that we all care about each

other. at home we hold hands. i was going to ask everybody in the room to hold hands we pray, but i thought maybe you are that close just yet. [laughter] i let that one go. i got a great opportunity in 1983. i had a chance to dry for junior johnson. he was a childhood hero at the last american hero. they wrote books about him, they made a film about him. as a kid growing up, i listen to him on my transistor radio. junior johnson drove this white number three chevrolet with a 427 mystery engine. junior johnson, a moonshiner from wilkesboro, north carolina, car number three, with a mystery

engine. that his hero material right there, for a guy like me. [laughter] i thought maybe someday i would get to meet him. never thought i would get to drive for him. it was the best years of my career. 1981-1982, we want 18 positions two championships. junior was a nose nonsense and guy. he said, let me tell you something, when you drive for me, you work your hands and not your mouth. when junior spoke, i listened. we had a great time together. in 1983, i had a horrible wreck. worse than you saw there. i had a concussion. i went for a couple weeks the next couple of races. i didn't remember being there. when i finally woke up, i realized that that wreck had knocked me conscious. it scared the hell out of me.

and i mean that literally. i realized i could have been killed that day. what if i lost my life right there that day at daytona? what would i have done? what i have gone to heaven or hell? i thought i was a pretty good guy. but folks, let me tell you something. good guys go to hell. if you don't know jesus christ as your lord and savior, if you don't have a relationship -- [applause] if he is not the master of your life. if you have never gotten on your knees and asked him to forgive you of your sins, you are just a pretty good guy or a pretty good gal, you're going to go to hell. and about that. -- think about that. it was a wake-up call. stevie and i started going to church. we met dr. cortez, one of the grumpiest man, preached from the bible.

-- he knew about every sport there was, and he knew me personally. -- one of the godliness to men. i felt like he was talking directly to me when he was preaching. we met in high school in hillsboro just outside of nashville. we met in this high school was july, it was hot. no air-conditioning. i got down off my high horse. i got down on my knees. and dr. cortez and stevie and i prayed that the lord would come into my life, forgive me of my sense, and be my lord and savior. -- forgive me of my sins. and that was the greatest day of my life. [applause]

that changed everything. i will never forget, we were going home that night. i told stevie, i said man, the weight of the world has been lost for my shoulders. i feel like i have been born again, like a new man. i felt different. and i knew i was different. when the lord comes into your life, you're going to be different. have to be different. if he comes into your heart, and you are not different, you better go back and try it again. [laughter] because the lord changes you and he changed me. and it was for the better. we left that night -- listen, you don't make a deal with the lord. 's don't work that way, folks. he is there for you, to walk with you. what you have to do your part, too.

did my personal life change? things on the racetrack? i still had wrecks, i still have problems, things still happen. but i wasn't in it:. -- in it alone. i had someone to protect me and guide me. and i needed to use it. stevie and i had a family. we were having trouble having kids, we had a couple of miscarriages. we pray to god, can you give us a child? we got to the point where we thought we would just adopt. and then stevie got pregnant, and we prayed, and the lord gave us peace about it. he said, hang in this time, i have something special for you. and sure enough, jessica lee walker we had our first child. i was on cloud nine.

i was so excited, i couldn't wait to get to the track. i left that we can to go to martinsville. i get to the racetrack, i am a proud papa. and everybody is congratulating me because they knew how badly we want to get. in the seat of the race card on sunday morning, there is a base with one rose in it. and a note. i pulled the no doubt, opened it up, and it said, when this one for me daddy. -- win this one for me. i had never been called daddy before. and i had never been a father before. i am so happy. i have to tell you, this was a fairytale. i never led a lap of that race. i wanted so badly to win that race for jessica.

never made a lap until the last one. [laughter] and you won't believe what happened. people say, can you tell me a time when god showed up? i don't think you is working against the other guys, but he was sure working for me, i know that. [laughter] the room white flags in the air, and i was running third. dale earnhardt was a bit quicker than i was. a little paperclip racetrack. keep once into the back of dale, and when he does, both cars get a little loose. athey slide and dw goes riding back. [laughter] that he won thatdaddy won that one. my second daughter, same deal. i go to the racetrack.

i dominated that race. like being held up in a salad bowl for 500 laps. is hurting you, your eyes are burning. i get out of the car and i can't remember my daughters name. [laughter] so i'm trying really hard. sarah! caitlin, she had a lot of names. when i left the hospital, we hadn't decided exactly what her name was going to be. it took a little time, but it came to me. [laughter] she has never let me forget that. one story for dell earnhardt senior. i don't know if you remember the old intimidator. we were frenemies. we were friends on the racetrack, but not so much off the racetrack.