at the department of justice. yesterday kicked off the annual national crime victims rights week. learn more if you go to their website, ovc.gov. >> tomorrow morning, a conversation on fast track that will require a vote on a trade deal with specific nations. the agreement is still being negotiated, the transpacific partnership. our guest is lyndon-- linda dempsey. then representative jarend polis. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern.

then the senate finance committee on u.s. trade policy. the hearing starts at 10:00 eastern, live on c-span. >> she was considered modern for time called mrs. president and was outspoken on her views on slavery. she provided the unique window into colonial america and her personal life. abigail adams sunday night on "first ladies: influence and image." from martha washington until michelle obama, sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3.

c-span's new book is available "first ladies," providing lively stories of these women creating an illuminating read. it is available as a hardcover or e-book. >> former first lady and 2016 presidential candidate hillary clinton was in new hampshire today where she toured a business for which makes furniture for schools. >> i would like to welcome you to whitney brothers. this is really cool. we are a match in fracture or -- manufacturer of early childhood equipment, which you can see but our main customer is --

our products are in a lot of places, day care centers jewish community centers, ski areas car dealerships, anywhere where mom and dad can leave their child for 10 minutes or longer, if they got a job or have to go shopping. you might fidnnd some whitney products. there are 40 of us employees and we are excited to have the secretary here, and i think the process will be is that briefly my coworkers will identify themselves say one or two sentences about what they do

here come in the years they have been here at whitney, where they live, and then i think we will have a discussion and the secretary will speak to us. thanks. so i will start off. i am dave stabler. i have been at whitney for 32 years, probably longer because i worked here as a boy during the summers. and i did not like it much when i was here. so i left keene in my 20's and came back in my 30's when i realized that keene was a great place to raise a family. and that made it worthwhile, and the business was a growing business, and that made it exciting. i live in keene. i have three sons.

and that is really about it. billy, do you want to start us off? bill: i live in swansea. i have worked for whitney for years. i have one son in the navy and three stepchildren from my wife. very nice working here, a very good place to work. >> my name is ken cooper. i have been here for about a year and a quarter. i run a machine for the finishing department. even though i do not have any children, this is very fulfilling and rewarding to be able to work with materials to make the furniture that i have seen in many churches over the years. >> my name is pam livingood.

i have been with whitney brothers for 11 years. when we receive the -- to manufacture beautiful products around us, we put the end product of into the shipping department which goes out into our communities and daycare centers. i have lived in keene. i have three children, two daughters and a son, and three grandsons. >> i am mary. i worked for whitney brothers for 16 years, as a supervisor. i retired two years ago and came back to whitneyh two weeks ago. i have three children, grown. i have six grandchildren. >> jim? jim: i am jim, and i am from keene. i am in the engineering department. i take ideas that the customer

will bring in or anyone will have or ourselves, providing new products for consumption out there. we do a little bit of everything. i thought i would come in here doing drafting work, and i'm doing testing, new designs. i come out and actually -- what i like about this place is i can walk around and see the thing being built, being manufactured, and to converse with my fellow employees. and personally, i have two daughters and a stepdaughter and a stepson. they are all grown. dave: chris? chris: my name is chris swanson. i have worked at the brothers for 12 years. i started off as a receptionist. i do a variety of things, from human research customer service, to clothing.

i still help answer the phones so i may be one of the voices you hear when you call. i live in fitzwilliam, and i have two grown children, a boy and a girl and a new granddaughter. secretary clinton: well, thank you all so much for inviting me and giving me a chance not only to learn more about this business, which is a family business, 112 years young, and to meet some of the people who work here, as i did when i was walking through and as you just introduced yourselves. i am excited to hear from you about what it takes to get a small business up and going and keep it growing in an increasingly competitive global economy. small business is the backbone of the american economy. here in new hampshire, 96% of

all businesses are considered small businesses. and they employ more than half of the workers, the employees in the state of new hampshire. so new hampshire is a perfect example of what it takes to start and grow a small business. i come from a small business family. my father had a very small business. he printed drapery fabric. he did much of the work himself, sometimes with day laborers, with my mother, my brothers, and me, taking the squeegee, you go down, you go to the next, and you keep going. i saw now there is a machine that you just do the printing on all kinds of material, and i'm thinking back to those years at my father's plant. he made a very good living because of his hard work and his absolute willingness to do whatever it took to design, to

produce, to sell the products that were at the heart of what he produced. and so from my perspective, i want to be sure that we get small businesses starting and growing in america again. we have stalled out. i was very surprised to see that when i began to dig into it, because people were telling me this as i traveled around the country the last two years, but i did not know what they were saying. and it turns out that we are not producing as many small businesses as we used to, and a recent world study said that we are 46th in the world in the difficulty to start a small business. there are lots of issues, and we will get into some of those, i hope, today. i want to hear from each of you, because of what i am doing in this campaign is making my own decisions about what we need to do.

i want to embed what i propose as policies, not in ideology not in some philosophy, but in the real daily lives and experiences of american workers and business owners and everybody who has a stake in making sure that the economy is working again. really, we have to do more for young people because what we're finding is that with student debt -- and new hampshire has the highest student debt numbers of any state in the country -- that interferes with young people taking certain jobs buying a house, even getting married, and certainly starting a business. when i was in iowa last weekend, i met a young man, his dream had to been to own the bowling center is hometown. he graduated from college because he worked during the summers and he wanted to own that business, got a chance to

do it, but with his student debt it was really a struggle because even though he was very responsible, he had done everything we expect a young person to do to try to better themselves, he was running into real credit problem. even now he has got the business, but he runs it -- he has a little grill and restaurant, he with two employees are trying to make a go of it. here is a young, ambitious guy and when i was thinking about my dad, it was a lot easier in those days to have an idea what you needed, and go to work. that piece of this, as we were walking around, as dave was telling about all the incredible machines that are used here in production, all but one are from another country. and many of them, if i am right, dave, are from europe. dave: that is correct. secretary clinton: europe has

high wages, they have high costs. why are they producing these advanced machines instead of us? what is wrong with this picture? you can see that maybe lower cost places that are mastering the art of machine reduction would be competitive, these are high-value machines, sophisticated machines. how do we get back into more basic production again so that we can resume our lead in manufacturing? something that i can get essential. a lot of people disagree with me. they say those days are over. i do not believe it. you walk around here, you see these machines from italy or germany or wherever else they are from -- why aren't we producing these machines? what do we need to do to jump-start manufacturing in our country? we've gone through some tough times, and i think americans have done everything they could think of to do to get through those tough times. but now it is not enough just to tread water. we need to get ahead and stay

ahead, and people need to feel that their work is being rewarded them, that the deck is not stacked in favor of those at the top, that they have a chance to go far with their hard work and their aspirations will take them. so in order to put together a set of policies for my campaign, i really want to make sure that they are in line with the real lives and real working experiences of the people that i would love to represent as your president. so we're going to take on four big fights. we're going to fight to build the economy of tomorrow, not yesterday, and make the middle class mean something again in this country. we are going to fight to have strong families and strong communities, and -- whose customer market is between six months and six years. that is right where i am focused these days. i want to make sure we have a functioning political system. i am going to fight for that. i will work with anybody. i have done that. i did it as senator. i will do it again.

but i will also stand my ground if i need to. part of that is getting unaccountable money out of politics, because we cannot afford that, even if it takes a constitutional amendment. and then finally, we always have to be vigilant to protect our country against the threats we know. we can see them. but then the threats we cannot see, pandemic diseases, cyber warfare, etc. so i'm excited about this campaign. i'm thrilled to be back in new hampshire. i see some of my friends out there in the audience. the first place i ever came for any political campaign was in 1991, when i was here campaigning for my husband. in october of 1991 celebrated my birthday here in keene, and i have a lot of wonderful memories. so with that, dave, i'm going to turn it back to you and we can start hearing from some of the folks. dave: i will ask the initial

question, and you guys can chime in. early childhood is our interest, but we are fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters. i would like you to elaborate on exactly what you think you might do for childcare in the future if you are elected. secretary clinton: that is a question near and dear to my heart because i think every society starts with our youngest citizens. and when i got out of law school, i went to work with the children's defense fund. so my whole adult life, both professionally and my volunteer work, has been around children and families, and it is to me the most important commitment we can make. and now it is not only that we want to take care of our children, our grandchildren, but we now know that the way brains

develop, thanks to all the great research that is being done by a -- our scientists, that those early years really are critical to the success that a child will have in school and what that child can learn and then what that child can choose to do, what kind of opportunities will be available. so i think we have to start in the family. and i have been working on a project to convince parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, to read, talk, and sing to their babies, and that is equally important in any childcare setting. so when you are producing furniture that give kids a chance to be part of a circle, to work on a table, all of that, it is safety and stimulation are the two most important needs that little, tiny babies have. and i think we need a much more broadly based universal

pre-kindergarten program so that kids have a chance to get ready for school, and i really applaud states -- and they are not all the states that you might think of. oklahoma has a universal pre-k program because their state decided they would invest in the early years to get their kids better for school. and i think that childcare problem -- i was looking at a statistic that it can cost as much as $12,000 a year in new hampshire for quality childcare. that is more than the community college costs, as i understand it. and what are we going to do about that? how can you expect most families to afford that kind of cost? so we have got to do more to support quality child care and universal pre-kindergarten because by the time a child enters kindergarten, a lot of their brain development has taken place, their vocabulary has been developed. so if we want them to do well in

school, and i know there are a couple of retired teachers out there, you want our kids to do well in school, it has to start in the first five years, and that is where you come in. and you were telling me about a light table and other things that you prepared for settings where little kids are -- that is all to stimulate them and give them a chance to develop that brain and learn more so they are better prepared for school. dave: thank you. guys, you want to start off? anybody? pam: my grandson goes to the head start across the way over there. it is filled with whitney brothers' products -- coat lockers, and in there are our little tables and chairs. it made me feel proud that i worked here that these people were buying --

also, the growing drug problem in the area. we also need to see more for in our area. there are limited resources. we would like to see something in that respect. do you have any further ideas? secretary clinton: i do, actually. i am really concerned because, pam, what you just told me, i'm hearing from a lot of different people. there is a hidden epidemic. the drug abuse problem, whether pills or meth or heroin, it is not as visible as it was 30 years ago when there were all

kinds of gangs and violence. this is a quiet epidemic. it is striking in small towns and rural areas as much as it is in any big city. we see steady cutbacks in drug abuse programs, treatment programs, mental health programs. i see senator kelly here and know the senator here is trying to get resources. we have a perfect storm. we have an increasing problem that it is only beginning to break through the surface so that people -- i think a lot of people are thinking that it is someone else's problem, not my problem, and indeed it is all our problem. and we do not have enough resources, so that if someone decides that they want to get help, where do you send them? what of opportunities do they have for treatment? i'm convinced that the mental health issues -- because i consider substance abuse part of mental health issues -- it is going to be a big part of my campaign because increasingly it is a big issue that people raise with me. and when i was in iowa last

week, i literally heard from one end of the state, from davenport to council bluffs, about this problem and how the state was shutting all their in-patient facilities and there was nowhere for people to be sent. so we've got to do more. we have treatment in the affordable care act, which is a good thing, and we have it, at least on paper. it's called is mental health parity, where insurance companies have to care for mental health like physical problems. but we are just at the beginning of trying to figure out what this is, and the whole substance abuse issues do not end with this. you read about a small county in southern indiana where there was an epidemic of hiv among the people living in the community because they were sharing needles and shooting up some kind of pill that was turned to powder. so now they have not only the drug abuse problem, they have people who have contracted hiv. this is not something that we

can just brush under the rug and wish it would go away. we need a concerted policy national, state, local, public private, and we need to help young people like the mother of your grandson. pam: thank you. >> the drug issue is not really a no-issue either. as a kid myself, as the son of a minister, a preacher, the little town i grew up in, i was the only one my age who was not involved in drugs of some sort. the dealer lived across the street, the kids used drugs in front of the house next door. and there was really no recourse in upstate new york at that time because this little town was 300,000 acres, a lot of territory to cover. it was an ongoing issue.

secretary clinton: that is exactly right. it is not a new issue, but it has taken kind of a new turn, if you will. and i think more young people -- maybe because we stopped the messaging about how dangerous drugs were, because i can remember the same kind of messages advertising that we would all the time, you do not see that anymore. i think for a lot of young people, especially if it is pills, i think they beleive, what is wrong with that? they do not know that taking it and mixing it and the rest will be dangerous for them. that is a good point. dave: bill? bill: in the line with the drug and things, you made a point of educating kids at an early age it might be advantageous to maybe push the drug issue there

at head start, just in a way that they will all understand that it is not a good and to do, even though your friends might do it, you do not need to do this. you do not have to. there are other ways. secretary clinton: so starting early. so you hire a lot of people. >> whitney does drug testing, so we want a drug-free workplace. secretary clinton: that sends a strong message, and a lot of employers are doing that or thinking about that going back to doing that. is that we you hear from your human resource contacts as well? >> yes. workmen's comp likes having it

too, because we have a machine -- if someone is running them and is high someone is going to get hurt. secretary clinton: jim, what are some of the other issues? jim, what are the economic issues? jim: my kids are all grown and they are in their late 20's, so they have established themselves, so i do not have to worry about them anymore the way i used to with young kids. for myself, i'm getting up in age -- and i have worked for a small company all my life. and most of them have just enough money to give you minimal health care, retirement. i have very little saved for retirement because of trying to make ends meet with kids and -- [indiscernible] resources. the company i just left before i

came here a year ago closed their doors because the economy. they were making super insulated panels for the building, which i thought was the way to go. so when they closed the doors, that was 27 years working for them. it left me looking for a new job, and thankfully whitney brothers were looking for my skills to help them with their products, and i'm very thankful for being here. but i look at your ideas on health care and social security. and where are those heading? i'm in my late 50's right now, 10 years from now i'm going to hopefully work less.

in regards to our company here what can be done to bolster our company to help us live a better life? secretary clinton: in your 27 years, was there any kind of retirement account, 401k anything? jim: there was initially, that lasted until the economy went belly up back in 2008. and our company went right down the tubes. people were not going to spend extra little bit of money to get a better product. the same what happens here. we are struggling to try to fight with the chinese and other people who are making similar items to us and are cutting costs, and we look at every penny that we put into our products here and try to get everything out of it as we can with fancy machines, with processes that we use.

so, yeah, the company i worked for i thought was the way to go. secretary clinton: you raise an important issue because one of the really big problems we face is that american worker productivity has continued to go up. american workers work longer and harder and more productively than the vast majority of workers anywhere in the world. but it has been very difficult to turn that increased productivity into increased wages. and in some cases where you have small companies, the margin is too thin. it is really hard to do that. in some places where you have big companies, they choose not to. they would rather do stock buybacks than increase wages adn

salaries. so i think there has to be a look at a range of different kinds of companies because some companies have the cash and make decisions that leave out their workers, and some people are trying to keep the doors open and the work coming and be successful and stay afloat. so what we need to figure out is how we incentivize companies that have the cash to do more with it and how we support smaller businesses to be more competitive to get more market especially export market. dave and i were talking about how important it is for small business is to have access to market openings. how do you get the best support you need for a website or for telling other potential customers about your product? how do you compete with, as you say, somebody doing the same thing in china? so i think we have to look at this from kind of the top and the middle and try to figure out what is the best way to do it. on social security, though

there is a lot of loose talk about social security. and i do not know how people can make some of the arguments they make, because if you look at how dependent so many people are on their social security, they worked hard for it, they retire, they postpone retirement as long as possible because they want to keep working, but they also want to get the maximum amount of payout from social security. the social security trust fund according to the trustees, will be solvent until 2035. so what do we do to make sure it is there and we do not mess with it and we do not pretend that it is a luxury? because it is not a luxury. it is a necessity for the majority of people who draw from social security. so i think there will be some big political arguments about social security. and my only question to

everybody who thinks we can privatize social security or undermine it in some way -- and what is going to happen to all these people who worked 27 years at this other company? what is going to happen? it is just wrong. so part of what we have to do is say, everybody, take a deep breath and figure out what works, and how we build on what works. and let's not get into arguments, as i say, about ideology and rhetorical attacks and claims. let's just kind of take a deep breath here as a country and say, ok, we're going to have retirement issues and people who have worked hard deserve to have enough security when they retire so that they can have a good quality of life. so i am 100% committed to that. dave: that dovetails to what mary's situation -- i do not

know your whole circumstance but mary worked here for a number years, quit, then came back. can you talk about your decision? mary: it was a financial situation. as a homeowner, there are always repairs that have to be done those things that have to be done, that you have to keep up that you do not count on when you're not working. so coming back to work, and i said, why not come back to whitney brothers? it is a place that i know, i am familiar with it. i like it. i like the product. so financially. secretary clinton: did you think, mary, when you retired the first time that you had enough resources to be able to take care of your needs and then something unexpected happened? mary: yeah. i thought i could live like comfortable. not above, but comfortable.

secretary clinton: did you start drawing social security? mary: yes. secretary clinton: what amount did you get? mary: i also have a retirement, too, but i got $1400 a month. secretary clinton: so i think if you look just realistic, especially if you still own your home, you're still obviously independent and able to take care of yourself, you are going to have a lot of expenses, both predicted and unpredictable. so when you came back, did you believe that you were here for a period of years, or are you going to take it year by year? mary: part-time. going to catch up on those -- [indiscernible] secretary clinton: i can tell.

they were calling you every day, saying, why don't you come back? dave: the experience being here so many years, it is truly priceless. that is something i would like to have your address, and that is one of the biggest problems we have, madame secretary, is getting good cnc adults that are trained in math and computers -- we compete against an lot of local companies that -- you look at our ads in the local newspapers, internet, i mean, it is cnc folks, people that have math skills. our machines are metric and the architects and dealers are asking why are we are switching. you need intelligent employees. you have the college and high

school do technical services but it just does not seem to work. we are always struggling to find people like that. would you agree? >> yes i would agree. dave: i mean -- secretary clinton: i met a young man who went to the keene state college program to learn these skills, and that is what we need more of. we need at the high school and the college level, community four-year college, work programs that are related to the skills that employers actually need. what are the job skills that you are trying -- dave: it's technical skills. i think there is a place for the humanities, but technical skills, electricians, plumbers those are the guys we're looking for, those people. secretary clinton: we have to get back to encouraging more young people to see these as careers, and then we have to

have both more education-based skills programs and employer-based skills programs the kind of apprenticeship programs and other training programs that are both public and private and try to get young people the opportunities. it is really important that we do more to publicize why these skills are going to get you a good job. i think we have kind of lost the thread here. too many young people do not know -- nobody told them -- that you can get a really good job, as you just named, an electrician, welder, you name it -- and the computerized numerical system, that takes a year or two of training to really understand, because that is a level beyond what we typically think of as technical education. so i would love to hear from you and maybe start with you, chris, because when people come for a job interview, where have they

gotten their skills, or do they even know that those skills would enhance their chance to get hired? chris: i think the majority of the people come here is on-the-job training. there is a career center at the high school, but it is more metal than wood. it can go hand in hand, but with us, we look more for wood and it is more on-the-job training the people -- dave: so we are having to train relatively green people to run the machines. and it has worked out, but again, in the local marketplace, we are competing against a lot of different companies that need cnc operators. we might train someone for a year or two and they might go somewhere else for a couple of dollars more. that is life, that is tough, but

we would like to think that there could be a greater pool of technically skilled people. >> we are doing with manufacturing and we are -- so we need to give our costs low, and we can only pay so much. secretary clinton: you've got have cost pressures plus skills pressures. you need to have more programs. we've kind of backed off from what used to be called technical education, and i think that we made a mistake as we backed off thinking that it was going to be picked up by either businesses or community colleges, technical schools, and that didn't happen fast enough. it is starting to happen now. there are more places where you can get these kind of technical skills, we need to create a bigger pool of people in order to meet the needs that you are talking about. i visited a community college in

iowa last year that takes high school students and trains them on cnc. and then they are able to really be job prepared when they leave high school. which is amazing. they might graduate 30 or 40 a year, when the demand is much greater than that. i really approve of the president's proposal to try to make community college as free as possible. that would be a big help here in new hampshire, where it is so costly. the amount of tuition is so high, both in the two-year and the four-year schools, but that still will not help unless we provide more incentives for these people to go in trade. jim: if i had to switch jobs can for some reason, thank god i still have decent skills. as a drafter and designer, i

learned how to use the computer on my own without any education. if i had more education, i might be able to do more. but to afford to go back to school, timewise as far as cost, it is always hard. with health care and all that, taking the little bits out of my pay, that there is not enough money for me to go back to school for me to get other new skills, either to enhance what i am doing here or to think about if i ever decided to move somewhere else. >> before i came to whitney brothers i had a chance to look into a cnc program that is offered by the local community college, but it was only going to be in claremont that next session, and that was the middle of winter. bit of a hike up there. fortunately, i found this place and it worked out very well.

secretary clinton: what are your hours of operation? dave: 7:00 to 3:30, but it goes until 4:30, or 5:00, so eight or nine hours. sometimes in the summer we have second shift, because the nature of our business, the busy months are june, july, august, before school starts. secretary clinton: you have this equipment here, so if you get some kind of grant or other support from either local governments, state government, even the community college or the colleges, and you could have a program at night. somebody ought to come in and basically say we are going to designate whitney brothers as one of our training facilities and your expert employees would get some kind of wage bump because you would be the instructors.

i just think we got to be imagining outside the old box about what we're going to do to get our skills up, how we are going to get more people of all ages to have the opportunity to improve those skills. very hard to do it if you are already working during the workday, but maybe there could be some cooperative approach that would make a difference. i hear we do not have enough skilled workers, with technical skills. we do not have enough r.n.'s and cna's. we have a whole missing group of employees that could be employed in our industries, so how do we fix that? if we do not fix that, we will not competitive. we will always be behind the curve. >> going back to changing the mindset. when i was in school and growing up, there was nothing wrong with being an electrician or plumber

or carpenter. these were really good jobs and you could make good money doing that. and it seemed to fall off the table. everybody wants to go right to the top. no, you got to be at the bottom before you can work your way in there. and i think if we work in the high schools, even in the grammar schools, at some point get these kids -- a lot of kids just do not want to go to school. they do not want to go to college. fine, you do not have to go to college to make a good living. but you have to get it out there, that it is ok not to go to college if you do not want to, but these are good positions. you can get a good job, you can make a good living, support your family by doing these other things. that kind of got off track. secretary clinton: i agree with you. this anybody else feel that way?

>> when i was in high school, we had a semester of shop classes. pam: everything got computerized and everybody wants to design computer games, that is what i am good at. it is true, you need a nurse. you are going to get sick sometimes. we all want to live some way. we got to have people building our houses. we want to be here working at whitney brothers. somebody has got to be making -- >> [indiscernible] pam: we are not all computer geeks. i do not think i could be one if i tried. you have to find your fit, you know. but i think the generation

coming up needs that push to say, well, here are some of these other things to do besides sit in front the computer your entire life. secretary clinton: one of the kids they told me about at this community college, advanced manufacturing program, graduated from high school and got a $40,000 job as a welder, because there was such a shortage. there was a two-year program passed a national certification. here he is, 18 years old, and starting off on a really good track. yeah. >> you probably know more about it than i do, but i heard there are several high schools in chicago that are affiliated with ibm is one of them, and it is an eight-year program, not four years, and these kids are trained through high school and into this extended high school as it were, being mentored by

ibm. and when they get done, they are guaranteed a job at $40,000 a year in the company. and so, you do not have to go to the university of illinois. you're going to get your training right here. and i think five out of the eight schools in the country are in chicago. secretary clinton: that is exactly the kind of model that we need to look at and try do see where we could intimate that. >> implement that -- implement that. we have to try all kinds of approaches and figure out what is already working and do more of that. and then i think you make a strong point, we have to persuade, particularly young people, that this is an opportunity, that this is part of the economy that really needs them. and, yeah, some might want to be computer programmers and some might want to be the best

welder or the best plumber. but we need to make it attractive for young people to feel like that is a good route for them. dave, we will give you the last word because you have been here -- how long have you worked here? dave: 32 years. a long time. it has been great. it is a wonderful industry. i get to do r&d work by going to childcare centers. you get the four-year-olds running around. it is really quite -- i have an enviable job. but i am still a small business owner and as such i have the worries also. it is not all peach and cream. in 2006, we had a flood. and actually there was about two feet of water where we were sitting. and the sba was great to give us a low-interest loan. kudos to the sba.

i guess one final question i would ask, capital improvements. we like keeping our machines up to date, and the last years we have been writing off the capital improvement in the year they were installed. and now in 2015, they're talking about reducing that to $25,000. i know that is congress, but i am curious as to your feeling. i mean, if you are president what can you do to help small businesses like ours to improve the equipment that we have and not make it so onerous so that we can spread it out and still do right eye the irs? >> by the irs -- by the rs irs? secretary clinton: that is a good question, and i can assure you that i do not want to make your life any more onerous.

i want you to be able to invest in both maintenance and upgrading of existing equipment, and, like that new printing machine that you should become a new equipment, if that is going to make you competitive. we have to look at the whole tax system and try to figure out what is an economic investment as opposed to one without economic purpose, because there are a lot of those, where people are basically playing games and -- capital gains was supposed to be for, example, a way to reward people who made risky investments, investing in someone else's business, and now it is just being churned. you have to take a look at the whole tax system. but i can assure you, i would not support anything that makes your business more difficult to run, because you have real economic imperatives. you are in the production goods, and i want to do everything i can to support goods and real services and take a hard look at

what is now being done in the trading world, which is just trading for the sake of trading. it's just wrong that a hedge fund manager pays lower tax rate than a nurse or trucker or an assembly worker here at whitney brothers. so i think we have to say, look, if you're doing something which is enhancing the economic productivity of your business and the larger economy, we will be open to that. but if it's just playing back and forth in the global marketplace to get .1% advantage, maybe we should not let that go on. because that is unfortunately at the root of some of the economic problems that we all remember painfully from 2008. so i think that from your perspective, i would want to be a president who made it as easy as possible for you to be as

productive and profitable as possible because you have got 40-plus people whose lives and families depend on that. dave: i thank you all for coming. i know the secretary has a busy schedule, so i'm not quite sure how this works. secretary clinton: i think what we would like to do is a picture with everyone who was in the roundtable, and then i want to say hello to some of my friends who are here. if you could come stand behind me and get a picture. can you get us all in, barb? this is great.

don't get lost. ok. this is great. thank you. >> can i get a picture of you? secretary clinton: sure. good to see you. where are you from? >> upstate new york. >> one of my cousins is there now. he is in our age group. >> you're kidding. >> they are in our age group. secretary clinton: young people. >> you were in my neighborhood.

secretary clinton: so beautiful. i love the hudson valley. thank you for being part of this. i am going to say hello to some people. >> [no audio] [no audio]

>> he was considered modern for her time called mrs. president and was outspoken about her views on slavery. as one of the most prolific writers, she provides a unique window into colonial america. abigail adams, sonny not --

sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern, examining the public and private lives of the women who fill the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency, from martha washington until michelle obama and as a cumberland to the series, -- and as a compliment to the series, c-span's book, "first ladies," creating an illuminating read. it is available as a hardcover or e-book to your bookstore or online bookseller. >> on tomorrow morning's "washington journal,"

the transpacific partnership and our guest is lyndon dempsey -- linda dempsey. then efforts to provide legal protections to fight discrimination against gay people. and jennifer lawless. "washington journal" is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. after that, the senate finance committee looks at the transpacific partnership legislation and will hear from tom donahue and the president of the afl-cio. that hearing starts at 10:00 eastern, live coverage on c-span. >> here are a few of the book festivals we will be covering

this spring, this weekend, we will be in maryland for the annapolis book festival, hearing from authors such as our bartow gonzalez. -- alberto gonzales. then the gaithersburg book festival with tom davis as well as david axelrod. and then move will close out may with an expo in new york city. the first week in june, we were our live in chicago, including a three-hour program with lawrence wright and your phone calls, on c-span2's "book tv." >> josh earnest it your question about the violence in yemen, betting isis, -- combating isis and climate change.

secretary earnest: good afternoon, everybody. you seem to be in a good mood this fine, monday afternoon. it is nice to see you. we will get started quickly. i know some people are closely watching the clock for the presidents remarked the national champion at buckhead's afternoon. this weekend at his weekly

address, the president spoke about his commitment to battling climate change and keeping america safe. we celebrate earth day is wednesday and the president will visit the everglades and speak about the latest part of his effort to call attention to and act on the threat of climate change. the effects of climate change can no longer be denied or ignored. last year was the planets were missed your recorded. 14 of the 15 hottest years on record has happened in this century. climate change poses risk to our national security, a conic come -- the economy, health. the u.s. has cut carbon pollution in the past eight years more than any other country. we are leading here at home and

on the world stage in combating this global threat. recently, the president joined the surgeon general about the powerful effects of climate change. that is just the way we will start the week and you can expected here more from the president and others on this over the week. reporter: can you give some reaction to the deadly developments we have seen out of libya? is there anything the u.s. can do to address the instability there? secretary earnest: it is clear that we have seen remarkable for moral -- term or inside libya -- turmoil inside libya. the u.n. and other international organizations are engaged in trying to reach a diplomatic solution to the turmoil in

libya. the u.s. is strongly supportive of trying to find a diplomatic resolution to that crisis. it is clear the situation there is one that is not sustainable and there are concerns about that kind of instability spreading throughout north africa and continuing to enact a humanitarian toll. reporter: should european leaders take military options off the table? secretary earnest: the concerns are understandable. we are concerned about the security situation as well. we are mindful of the fact that a diplomatic resolution is one that is required. there are obviously a lot of parties to that dispute and the u.n. and other international institutions are working diligently to try to bring an end to the violence or reduce the violence so parties can come together on the negotiating table and try to work out

differences in the political process. reporter: can you respond to a ron -- iran's op-ed? secretary earnest: there is one element of the op-ed i think we can agree on, which is that these education in yemen is one that must be resolved double medically. one of the concerns -- diplomatically. one of the concerns we have with iranian behavior is exactly continue to supply weapons and offer support to the rebels in yemen. what the u.s. and the international community has called for is an end to the violence in yemen with the hope that the u.n. and a gcc led process will reconcile the

rather dramatic political differences in that country. a little ironic for the iranian foreign minister to be calling for a diplomatic resolution to that situation while his country continues to supply arms one -- parties that disputes of the violence can continue and worsen. we are hopeful the international community will unite behind the u.n. led effort to try to resolve the political crisis in that country. reporter: one last on the fence jumper last night. what is the president's reaction with that? is there frustration? secretary earnest: this is based on the information i have been provided. this is the first incident of a fence jumper this year. the individual was probably detained after jumping the fence . that individual is still in

custody at a understand will be appearing before a judge later today. these kinds of incidents a re not unheard of, but what the secret service and others are gauged and is an effort to try to strengthen the security posture at the white house or make sure the security posture reflects the security threat that exists. the concern that everybody has including the secret service, is making sure the security precautions are balanced against the priority, protecting public access to the white house. whether that is people who work your on a daily basis through or tourists who want to have the opportunity to tour the white house and see this symbol of our democracy. balancing the need to move hundreds of thousands of people a year for the white house case -- gates with the need to

protect the white house from those who are not legally authorized to be here is a very difficult challenge. but one the secret service is committed to and the president continues to have full confidence in the men and women of the secret service, that these professionals are capable and admitted to this -- committed to this task. reporter: president donnie -- ghani --does the u.s. believe the islamic state as that can of capacity in afghanistan? secretary earnest: we have seen reports that a group linked to isil landers on stability for that suicide bombing on saturday. at this point, we cannot verify that particular claim. in general, we remain committed

to the objective of ensuring that afghanistan does not become a safe haven from which violent extremists of any form can attack in the u.s. or our allies. that is why you see this partnership between the u.s. in afghanistan strengthened. that is why the security posture of u.s. personnel is a structured to make sure we are supporting afghanistan security forces so they can be responsible for the security situation. there were lying on the -- relying on the international community. the u.s. remains committed to that partnership because we recognize there has been circumstances for the security situation was left unresolved and extremists were able to capitalize on that instability to carry out attacks against

americans. we are mindful of that threat but the good news is the afghan central government is mindful of that threat. that is why the u.s. will continue to partner with president ghani. reporter: is the scale enough -- if it isn't that link the islamic state -- is that enough to change u.s. thinking about dealing with the islamic state with a link to afghanistan in particular? is that so far off from what we have seen in afghanistan? secretary earnest: we have seen previous incidents where there has been individuals who have sensitive propaganda opportunity by aligning themselves with isil and separating from the taliban in doing so. that, frankly, has more to do -- says more about the success that

the afghan government has had in taking the fight to the taliban than it does about the success of isil's effort to spread. i don't want to prejudge this claim because it has not been thoroughly investigated at this point. it is why we are going to continue to act in support of the afghan central government that is biting extremists and threats from extremists regardless of the kind of particular extremist threat from which it emerges. reporter: i want to see if you can respond to where obama's executive action on immigration now stands? on friday, a federal appeals court heard 2.5 hours of debate on this and it is unclear.

is there any concern that the launch of the executive action could push to the end of the presidency and is very plan b or something on a smaller scale or a different legal action? secretary earnest: the thing important to remember, julia there are a number of elements related to the executive actions the president announced in november that are being of limited as we speak. they were not related to many of the actions -- not subject to this specific legal proceeding. there is an important part of those executive actions that are in question in front of the circuit. the department of justice is acting expeditiously to process these -- or to engage in these legal arguments. people confident in the strength

of the legal arguments we are in a position to make and we will make those arguments aggressively and we will urge the court to act quickly to consider them and rely on them. it will not prevent the other aspects of the present executive actions from moving forward. reporter: you didn't want to comment on what happened in afghanistan but what about the killings of these ethiopians in libya? the easy open government believes it was isis that executed those people and just to go back to julius question -- julia's question -- can you speak at all to the scope of isis the on where they started in a rack -- iraq in syria question -- and syria? are these groups that can be franchises almost anyway there are groups that can be franchised of al qaeda? can you pin that went down?

secretary earnest: let me start with your first question. the u.s. condemns in the strongest terms the brutal mass murder by isil affiliated terrorists. what the murderers claimed. we express our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the ethiopian government and people as they grieve. these terrorists killed therese people solely on their fate. that is why we support the when process of establishing a national unity government in libya. that is the first thing. as it relates to isil more generally, there is continued progress being made in iraq and syria to rollback ifo fighters

from territories than previously -- rollback isil fighters from territories they previously occupied. that is being backed by coalition and air power. there are recent gains. the recent gains around the beijing oil refinery something we talked about a bit last week. that is a refinery that iraqi security forces have retaken and there are efforts to resupply and reform to find those elements around the oil refinery. there is continued success to point to on that front. we have long raised concerns about the efforts of ifo to -- ifo -- isil to use social media to propagate their social rhetoric and engage people and ask a brutality. that is something we continue to

be mindful of in terms of domestic security but also as it relates to be spread of isis and their tactics throughout the region. reporter: they are operating in countries outside of iraq and syria? secretary earnest: that is a difficult thing to assess their some situations in which we believe individuals claim a link to isil without a lot of credibility because they sense a propaganda victory embedded in the claim. reporter: there is no one in the intelligence committee that has made that observation? secretary earnest: this is something that we assess/ . it wouldn't be particularly surprising if we did cents there was some extremist groups trying

to align themselves with isil. whether there are communications like that that may be beyond just seeking a propaganda victory. we are mindful of this threat and it is one of the reasons the president has marshaled so much international support for the effort to try to snuff out this ifo threat and not -- isil threat and not allow it to continue to spread across the region. reporter: there is another young man who has died in police custody, another high-profile case in baltimore. i know the white house has a 24 century policing task force and the president has spoken on this but we haven't really heard him talking about these cases much at all lately. i'm wondering if we'll hear from him again and what is your take when you see these happening almost once a week? is this sort of an epidemic of

police brutality we are seeing or is it just we are seeing more of these cases being reported? secretary earnest: what is clear is the public in general is more sensitive to these reports now. we talk a lot last summer about how the situation in ferguson was an environment that is not necessarily common all across the country, but at the same time, not unprecedented. that is a testament to the staff the vast majority of men and women in local police forces across the country do an excellent job of serving the community. these are individuals who go about their work with a lot of diligence and a commitment to truth and justice and safety. they do so in a very dangerous environment. in many cases, they are

prepared to put their life on the line to try to make those communities more safe. that is a commitment and a calling that is worthy of our support. at the same time, there are also people who live in communities across the country that don't feel that kind of trust and support from local law-enforcement. those unique situations are situations that are task force has developed a set of best practices to try to address. the good news is we see local law-enforcement officials and political leaders all across the country participating in these efforts because they understand how important it is to build a facility that trust between local law enforcement and the communities they lead and protect. that is a good thing and an indication people are tried to

take the right steps to protect these communities. there is a lot of work that needs to be done. and, we are going to continue to be supportive of it. i don't want these comments to be read as any sort of reflection or rendering any judgment on this particular baltimore case. i've seen some of the news reporting but i understand this is being investigated by local authorities in baltimore. i don't want my comments to be read as a particular judgment on that case but rather as a statement on the broader circumstances facing a lot of communities. reporter: every time one of these cases happens, the president's attention has been raised, i would assume. every time -- secretary earnest: what we're seeing if these events get a lot more national media attention than they had in the past. as a consumer of the media come i'm confident the president

reads these reports and is aware of them. i don't think anybody is in a position to suggest that these incidents that are getting national attention necessarily represent a spike in more violent police activity. i think it represents a greater awareness and heightened sensitivity in the news media and among people across the country about incidents like this. mike. reporter: two iran questions also can you talk about how the president is in sharing -- is in sharing -- ensuring negotiations and what he is promising. and could you talk about the

washington post reporter that was charged today in iran and how it is the u.s. compartmentalize his negotiations with a country on the one hand and a continued holding of the reporter and others in ways that the u.s. doesn't approve of? secretary earnest: as it relates to the threads of the uae, they are having lunch as we speak and will have a more detailed readout of that meeting once it has concluded. the president is having an extended conversation with him about a range of regional security issues, including the ongoing efforts by the international community to pursue diplomacy and prevent ira from obtainingn a nuclear weapon. this is of concern to a country like the uae.

they have been a strong and solid partner with the u.s., including in our efforts against ifo and we appreciate -- against isil. we are interested in making sure they are aware of her ongoing efforts to address the wide range of security challenges and at region of the world. we will see if we can get you a slightly more detailed update on the meeting. i don't know if anything like that will come up but we will see if we can get more information about that. reporter: let me start by saying that while the u.s. is not aware of any official announcement yet, from any iranian judicial authorities, we had seen reports that --has been charged with espionage. these charges should immediately be dismissed.

we will wait until we see some more official announcement from iranian judicial authorities before we comment further on his gaze. generally, the ongoing effort to try to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon through diplomacy will not succeed in resolving the wide rage of concerns we have with their behavior. our ongoing concerns about their destabilizing activities and the region, including shipping arms we continue to be concerned about their support for terrorism and their language that carly emanates from the leadership that threatens our closest ally in the middle east, israel. we have concerns about other americans who are being unjustly detained in iran. one thing we have done is raise

on the sidelines of those talks are concerned about the status of these american citizens and we will continue to press that case as we move forward reporter: -- as we move forward. reporter: why can't you just say to the iranians that the condition of making this deal final is you have to free jason? he will not resolve all of your issues in iran -- they are very complicated, perhaps. here you have one case of an american who has been held prisoner since july of last year now brought up on what you just said were absurd charges. why not say, we will not sign a deal until you let him go? secretary earnest: the reason simply is that the effort to reach the international community's strong support for a

diplomatic resolution that would shut down every pathway iran has to a nuclear weapon are very complicated. we try to focus on these issues one at a time. that is why you see regular, consistent forceful statements from the u.s. that these americans should be released while at the same time we are working with our partners in other countries to compel iran to sign on the dot line and agree to shut him every pathway they have to nuclear weapon and cooperate. reporter: can you tell me what the administration's position is on whether or not sanctions will be lifted immediately or whether or not they will be phased in over a time as the iranians demonstrate their compliance? secretary earnest: we have been resolute about this that any sort of agreement we reached

with iran will be iran making specific commitments to shutdown every pathway they have to nuclear weapon. there are a lot of details about this commitments we released. these are steps they would take to overhaul the plutonium reactor. we would also insist on their cooperation with the most intrusive set of inspections ever imposed on a country's nuclear program. in exchange, the u.s. would take steps to phase in sanctions relief in exchange for iran taking these steps that would be delineated in the agreement. it would not make sense as a negotiating posture for iran to sign on the dotted line and for all of the sanctions released to be given to them.

that would largely remove the incentive for their compliance of the agreement and given their rather shorted history when it comes to candor about their nuclear program, that would be a non-wise move except that is why we believe the u.s. will work with the international community to structure in phased sanctions relief in exchange for specific steps that iran will take to shutdown every pathway they have to nuclear weapon. reporter: i think you have just said that there will be no deal to lift the sanctions immediately, the only deal the u.s. will sign on will be one that lifts sanctions over time in return for ronnie and compliance. -- iranian compliance. secretary earnest: this is consistent with what the president has said before. the best way for us to structure an agreement is one in which an

exchange for iran making serious commitments and following through to shutdown every pathway to a nuclear weapon -- in exchange, the u.s. and international community would begin phasing in sanction lifts. we believe the sanctions relief also makes sense because we want to leave the underlying architecture of our sanctions in place so if we detect iran is not a blood letting their part of the deal, sanctions can be snapped back into place. that is the other virtue of this phased in sanction relief strategy. it allows us to keep the underlying architecture in place so that if iran doesn't live up to their end of the deal, we can move quickly to snap those sanctions back into place. reporter: i am sure you have seen the allegations regarding

donations to the clinton foundation. the allegations that are being made are that there was preferential treatment given to donors of the clinton foundation and to those who gave fees to former president bill clinton. can you say, categorically that no donors to the clinton foundation -- no one paying bill clinton received any favorable treatment from this administration or from the state department? secretary earnest: let me say couple of things. the first is there has been a lot of talk about this memorandum prior to secretary clinton taking her office. this was a memorandum of understanding that did ensure that given the unique circumstances, that a

presidential family foundation that was doing excellent work across the world -- the wrist that's taken to ensure -- there were steps taken to ensure she and her office were compliant with all of the existing ethical guidelines in place. in many places this memorandum was beyond the baseline level of those guidelines to put in place strict, ethical requirements and i know there is been a lot of accusations made about this. not a lot of evidence. the president continues to be extraordinarily proud of the work secretary clinton did as a secretary of state. for the details of some of his accusations, i would refer you to secretary clinton's campaign. reporter: can you assure us that there was absolutely no favorable treatment given to donors of the clinton

foundation? secretary earnest: there are a lot of accusations like this. reporter: that is a pretty basic -- secretary earnest: i don't want to be in a position -- reporter: you can say it didn't happen. secretary earnest: there is no evidence to say it did. i will not be in a position that -- to say it is not true. i can say clearly what happened which is there is a memorandum of understanding put in place that one above and beyond the ethical guidelines the federal government play beasley had in place. the president continues to be extraordinarily proud of the work secretary clinton did. for these accusations that are presented without the evidence i would refer you to the political types that are more well-versed. reporter: you repeated your call for the ability to snap back

sanctions. yet, there is a lot of skepticism that sanctions could be structured so that particularly, sanctions imposed by the land and other nations could be snapped back -- by the u.n. and other nations could be snapped back under a violation. what makes you sure that is possible? secretary earnest: let me acknowledge what you described is concentrated. that is why our negotiators come even after establishing a good come political framework -- good, political framework, have left themselves to negotiate the details and make sure the details for the implementation of that agreement reflect the commitments made in the context of that political agreement. i will acknowledge it is complicated. the united states and our international partners are committed to this strategy that what i described before about

the need to preserve the sanctions architecture so that if we detect the iranians are deviating from commitments they made, we want to have the ability to snap those sanctions back in place. the mechanics for doing that, again, are admittedly complicated, but something they are working on. obviously, the iranians who are making very serious commitments about their nuclear program in exchange for the sanctions relief are understandably interested in how that situation gets resolved and how it gets written into the agreement. there is a lot to work through. the strategy we are pursuing is one that makes a lot of sense. it is the best way for us to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and it is a strategy the international community signed onto. reporter: they are more than public and when you have a number of people involved --

sanctions involved. when you're talking about releasing cash and bank accounts , you don't turn that around on a dime. secretary earnest: we will structure this in a way that we can satisfy not just the concerns of the u.s. but concerns expressed by a number of countries. reporter: today is the fifth anniversary of the oil blowout in the gulf. there were reports that there are companies seeking to dig even deeper wells in the gulf. are there safety protections the administration is convinced will allow that? secretary earnest: it is certainly possible. this is something that will be carefully reviewed. the other regulatory agencies that have oversight of drilling operations had been reformed in the aftermath of the deepwater

horizon explosion five years ago. there are a number of changes put in place at the behest of the white house. these are better emergency response standards for oil and gas companies. these are new standards for oral equipment and reduction systems -- well equipment and reduction systems. there have been changes to clarifying the missions of the regulatory agencies that there is no confusion about which regulator is in charge of regulating which aspect of a drilling operation. administration and has also saw to better resources for these regulatory agencies so they can do the important work of monitoring these drilling activities and protecting the environment. there's a lot of work that has gone into this and i do think i fell confident in telling you does drilling operations are safer than they have ever been before. at the same time, there are also

innovations and new technologies some of these drilling companies want to capitalize on. you want to make your weekend keep up with innovations and ensure these drilling operations only get safer. justin. reporter: back on sanctions, i think the president's comments last weekend. i wanted to figure out specifically if the u.s. is willing to roll back any sanctions on iran before fully reducing the stock file of uranium and centrifuges? the question is whether we start to roll back before -- secretary earnest: the reason i cannot be specific on this is that we are not negotiating the agreement from here. what we have indicated is that

iran has to take steps to shut down every pathway they had to a nuclear weapon before the u.s. is going to consider any sanctions relief. once we start to see iran take important steps toward shutting down every pathway to a nuclear weapon and creating -- cooperating with intrusive inspections, we can begin the work of starting to phase in sanctions relief. that sections were legal only commence once iran has begun taking the tangible, measurable verifiable steps they commit to as it relates to curtailing and limiting their nuclear program. reporter: it is not necessarily completed. secretary earnest: i think the question lies around how it is going to be structured. what are the steps iran will take int exchange for what he

can essentially leave question is what steps do they have to start taking you receive the sanctions relief? that is actually the cracks of the negotiations -- crux of the negotiations. reporter: obviously, there is a big push this week. their vocal protests -- there are vocal protests. there is not a current supervision embedded intot tta. the trade adjustment programs is not embedded in the senate bills. it is struck dumb and goes to the house. -- down when it goes to the house.

[indiscernible] secretary earnest: you have asked about two things that are not included in the proposal. the reason the president is supporting and believes this is a commonsense bipartisan compromise is because of the things included. this is the most aggressive, far-reaching promotion authority bill in history. they reason that it is so progressive is it includes labor provisions, enforceable environmental provisions, provisions related to human rights. these are things the administration strongly supports and believes it should be included. this is consistent with the presidency that any trade deal he signs will be one he is confident. is in the best interest of american workers and businesses. if not, he won't sign it. he has been blunt about that. there are some who have

suggested -- criticize the president by saying he is only doing the bidding of the chamber of commerce that have long been strongly supported of trade measures like this. i think the president was pretty pointed about this one he answered this question from your colleague in the news conference on friday when he said he is not doing this because the chamber of commerce supports it. it doesn't usually support the president, certainly not in the last election. he feels he has a strong basis of support because he has a campaign around advocacy for working families. he is not going to abandon that now in pursuit of a trade deal. he has been very definitive about this. that is why the things included in the trade promotion authority are things that the president supports and that is why those kind of principles will have to be written into a tpp proposal

for the present is supported. you asked about currency. it is a top priority. no country should grow its exports is on a persistently undervalued exchange rate. we have more tar to promote a level playing field for american workers and have all countries play fairly. we have made progress and will continue to press for more. they're a number of tangible results. there is progress in a number of countries because of the work and dialogue the u.s. has been engaged in in a variety of multilateral forums. there is measurable progress made there. that is a testament to this administration's commitment to fairness when it comes to currency policies and it is one that is not diminished. as it relates --what was the

other thing you asked about? reporter: the provision that would protect workers -- the sense they will take off the taa? secretary earnest: the resident believes a strong taa package should move along with a tpa bill. this needs to be part of what we believe is important. the president addressed this in the news conference when he talked about the fact some people point to communities where -- that have not benefited from previous trade agreements. despite the fact there have been important contributions to global economic growth and even economic growth and job creation across the country there are communities that have been hurt by this. what the president has said is we are going to include enforceable provisions in this

trade bill that were not included in previous trade agreements that will serve to better protect those communities. we also want to make sure that our communities and workers are -- can benefit from assistance to help them benefit from these trade packages. a lot of these trade adjustment systems include things like funding for job trading so that when you have workers who may be negatively affected by one aspect of a trade deal, they can stand to benefit from the upset by going to get additional training. the president does believe that this other package of taa is being negotiated in the senate is a critical part of our approach to trade policy. reporter: [indiscernible] secretary earnest: that is a more specific procedural question. one i'm not ready to render judgment on at this point. i believe these kinds of taa

proposals are an important priority when it comes to our overall approach to trade policy and we will try to fight to ensure they are included in this broader package. the procedural aspect about whether it is embedded in the legislation or if it moves at the same time is something i can confirm. reporter: secretary clinton came out and said she would support tpp and pda under certain conditions including adding a current supervision. i wonder if the president expects the secretary to get out and promote this considering she helped launch of the idea when she was in office. is it disingenuous for her to hold back if the president is on board? secretary earnest: it is not. my short answer is no.

he would have expectation that she will do what other presidential candidates do which is focus on the presidential campaign. she will make up are on mind on policy positions she will take. after all, tpp is something still negotiated. that is the other aspect of this. this is evident from the statement but at the secretary clinton's campaign. she is going to withhold judgment until they have an opportunity to take a look at the agreement the u.s. has signed on to. reporter: she left a couple of years ago. negotiations have continued. she didn't know enough -- the general framework, i wonder shouldn't she have known enough to know where it is headed and that the other countries might not take the current

supervision? secretary earnest: what we are encouraging everybody to do which is withhold judgment until they have an opportunity to take a look at it. the president has said is that he is going to aggressively push for a trade agreement that is clearly in the interest of american workers and businesses. because of that commitment, we believe people should -- even people who might be predisposed to trade agreements, should withhold that judgment until they have an opportunity to take a careful look at the agreement that president obama signed on to. chris. reporter: a different topic. on friday, the president [indiscernible]

does the white house of any indication that there could be movement and the next couple of days and if there is not, with the press and be supportive of harry reid bypassing the republicans? secretary earnest: we have been clear about the fact that loretta lynch is a career federal prosecutor. you guys can recite it with me now. she has the accolades of law-enforcement, civil rights leader someone who is a tough but fair prosecutor, she has stood up to and convicted terrorists public officials. she takes her job seriously. she has a stronger petition for fairness. she is the right person to be the next attorney general of the united states and republicans in the senate now has for too long block her confirmation into that new job even know she has bipartisan support. so, we certainly would welcome

senate action and the next 48-72 hours but that action would be long-overdue. and the indication we have is from the public comments of people like senator corker and trying to ensure the american public that is growing increasingly impatient about the situation to assure them they are trying to resolve it. we would have liked to see congressional action on this sometime ago. we haven't because of the republican obstruction but if it is removed, we would welcome the development. reporter: i made the assumption that there were conversations going on. there might be -- my question is, are you getting any indications there could be movement? if not, would depress and be supportive of harry reid? -- be -- what the president is

supportive of harry reid? secretary earnest: i would repeat that we are ready to see some action. i think the american people are. there's a sense that this highly qualified, highly decorated independent federal prosecutor has been treated very unfairly by the republicans in the senate. it is time to take action to rectify that. as it relates to the procedure that is something for the senate to figure out. we're hopeful the senate will act quickly. reporter: a question about the reports over the weekend. the fbi acknowledging there are serious problems with dna evidence in cases that happened over the course of 20 years. if the president aware of this and as he spoken to eric holder

about taking some sort of action in this case? secretary earnest: i have not spoken to the president about this issue but obviously some it is one that has gotten a lot of attention. understandably so. i would refer you to the department of justice about steps they have taken to correct this problem. it obviously is a problem that has had serious consequence for many people across the country. the steps they may be considering are important. i understand that many of the practices under the source of concern our practices that it added quite some time ago. i do for you to the department of justice -- refer you to the department of justice. reporter: conversations you had about looking about how this could be rectified? secretary earnest: no. reporter: you mentioned

memorandum of understanding about the clinton foundation. if my former colleagues reporting is correct him the clinton foundation's donations were not subject to administration review. with that, is the white house confident the memorandum is enough to avoid any ethics problems? secretary earnest: there have been a lot of accusations that have been logged in the context of just starting the presidential campaign. his accusations have not been accompanied by evidence. i'm not going to stand here and respond to accusations. i'm not suggesting you are asking in a legitimate question. for questions about the actual text of the memorandum, i refer you to the state department because that is where the memorandum was signed and where it lives.

i'm confident secretary clinton's campaign would be happy to have a conversation with you about it. reporter: a related question. the clinton campaign said this is something the president would not do in both campaigns. what he encouraged the secretary to keep the lobbying ban? secretary earnest: i will not be in a position to comment on the practices they announce. the president did set a new standard. ultimately, every candidate in both parties will have to decide what standard they will set for themselves. that certainly applies to the presidents decision to not except money from lobbyists and applies the steps you took in the first days of the administration to close the revolving door between the white house.

laura. reporter: [indiscernible] secretary earnest: these reports are frightening. early indications are that it may have been hundreds of people who were lost at sea in a pretty scary episode. it certainly does a highlight the consequences of the ongoing political instability we see in libya. the u.s. is obviously concerned about is that situation but it is our allies in europe on the frontlines of it. i have seen them talking about is already at encouraging other european countries to work to try to address this humanitarian issue.

reporter: is there anywhere for u.s. forces to combat isis in india? the focus is to combat them in iraq and syria but is there any consolation for american forces to be olivia? -- in libya? secretary earnest: we are trying to reach a diplomatic resolution to the turmoil there. there are a wide variety of extremist operating in libya and they do so because there is not the kind of strong, central government there that can impose some order and restore security. the international community is concerned about that. the u.s. is amarin -- among them. we have been supportive of the process to bring the parties to that dispute together so they can try to restore some order to libya and the consequences of

continued disorder are many. they include potential continued humanitarian situations like the disaster we saw at sea over the weekend and they also include the effort of extremists to capitalize on that unstable area and to launch other acts of violence. we are very mindful of how the instability in libya is not constructed to the region. reporter: you have a moral obligation to do this? secretary earnest: we feel the need to be engaged with the u.n. to try to bring a diplomatic resolution to the turmoil. kevin. reporter: before the framework often you would say, it is a 50-50 shot at something gets done. now, the framework has been agreed to and the work continues.

given the disconnect between what is being said in tehran and here, would you say there is a less than 50-50 shot? secretary earnest: i would observe that back in november 2013 when the u.s. alongside international community reached an interim agreement with iran there was a similar dynamic in place where a political framework was reached in november and as negotiators left a couple of months for the technicalities to be worked out. the technical details were worked out and laid the late -- and laid the foundation for the talks around the political agreement. there was a similar dynamic or after that framework was reached, there were complaints from republicans suggesting this is a terrible deal. the same that agree this action should remain in place.

the other dynamic at play is we saw the iranians were trying to sinpin their set of the agreement -- side of the agreement. those negotiations were successful and the technical details or locked down at a joint plan of action was finalized. that is what i'm not particularly concerned about these particular statements emanating from iran. we are focused on the ongoing talks to try to resolve the technical details of this agreement and to make sure we had a technical, finalized agreement that reflects the broad parameters that were agreed to a few weeks ago. reporter: dishonest trickery -- secretary earnest: you cited

some of the least offensive things we have heard in the last few weeks. reporter: why is it important to have the uae here? what is this feeling of concern about the possible nuclear armed iran? secretary earnest: the government does have concerns about the ability of iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. that is why the u.s. is leading efforts to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon. it is the view of the presidencyt that it is our job. the other thing you can expect is a robust discussion of our ongoing cooperation when it comes to our security efforts. the uae has been a partner for in in the coalition to take the fight to isil.

they have made important contributions, including militarily. there are uae fighter pilots that have had taken strikes inside syria. we have worked with the uae on our counter finance efforts. this is a priority in terms of our efforts to destroy isil. we want to shut down their funding mechanisms. the uae has played in important part in that. they are played an important part in our ongoing effort to coordinate the effort against foreign fighters. we are appreciative of the significant role the uae has played to work alongside the united states and international committee to destroy ifo. -- isil. reporter: i want to ask you about the concerns in the u.s. about increasing persecution of religious christians. if the white house doing all it can to protect christians all over the world increasing violent attacks? secretary earnest: the white

house is working hard to counter any extremist efforts, to target anybody because of the religious affiliation. the ministration is willing to state that runs directly contrary to the values of this country but also runs contrary to the universal human rights that every human being should be able to enjoy. that is why you have seen the u.s. with our coalition partners take steps inside of iraq. that taken steps inside northeast syria to try to protect christians in northeast syria that were at risk from isil fighters. we have taken steps to try to protect anyone being targeted because of that religious identity.

>> coming up tonight, house and senate negotiators debate their budgets and hillary clinton hosts a roundtable in new hampshire. those contraries met for the first time today to work out their differences in the 2016 puzzles, and andrew taylor of "the associated press" writes that both chambers want to use the fast-track budget process to stop the health care law and to pad more spending. the house and senate republicans have asked for major cuts to medicare, medicaid, highway projects and domestic projects to create balance within a decade, all without raising taxes. and now to that meeting of the conferees on the 2016 budget. it is just over two hours.