have more work to do to set up the administrative structure that's going to allow us to be most effective doing this. i urge you to consider that and work with o.m.b. and d.o.j. to try to -- >> u.s. house is about to come into session so we're leaving this at this point. it continues live on c-span.org. and now live to the house floor. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] cappingscappings --s [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] mark walker to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed john a. boehner much -- john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 6, 2015, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour, and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and

minority whip limited to five minutes, but in no ovent shall debate continue beyond 1:50 p.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: thank you very much mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, when the supreme court ruled in 2013 to invalidate the preclearance formula in the original voting rights act, it issued a challenge to congress to pass an updated one. that is a challenge congress must extend. . millions will continue to face barriers at the boll ott box. on april 18 "the new york times" editorial highlighted the disturbing issue that preclearance is no longer

necessary. obviously, the congress of the united states found otherwise. the editorial stated and i quote, quote this process stopped hundreds of discrimination new laws from taking effect and deterred lawmakers from introducing countless more. the process to which they were referring was the preclearance process that the supreme court threw out. the other cited a new study that analyzed more than 4,000 rights cases. they write again, quote, the study provides the most wide ranging impeercal evidence that yet congress was amplely justified in finding that voting discrimination remains concentrated in the covered states and regions, closed quote. when we re-authorized the voting rights act in 2006, mr. speaker, we did so with an overwhelming vote of 390-33.

in the house. and in the senate, mr. speaker, it was 98-0. there was no confusion. there was no doubt in the minds of the congress of the united states and that bill was signed by president george bush. it was an overwhelming bipartisan conclusion that preclearance was still necessary some 45 years after the passage of the voting rights act. this has traditionally been an issue that brings democrats and republicans together and i'm proud to have co-sponsored a bipartisan compromised bill sponsored by republican former chairman of the judiciary committee jim sensenbrenner, who was the sponsor and chairman of the committee when the re-authorization was effective in 2006. the bill we introduced called the voting rights amendment act

with republican former chairman of the judiciary committee jim sensenbrenner and ranking member john conyers as well as john lewis, great hero of the civil rights movement that would answer the supreme court with an updated preclearance formula as they suggested. in fact, in the past two years since the court's ruling, we've seen a resurgent of efforts to limit when and where minorities can vote. the editorial goes on to say mr. speaker and again, i quote, voting discrimination no longer takes the form of literacy tests and poll taxes. instead, it is embodied in voter i.d. laws, the closing of polling places in minority neighborhoods the elimination of early voting days and hours and much more. mr. speaker, i hope the house will take up a bill to restore the voting rights act without delay and crack down on these

discriminatory practices that only serve to weaken our democracy by limiting millions of voices that deserve to be heard. 2015 is a 50-year anniversary of the passing and signing of the voting rights act. that act was achieved only after some died, many bled and a large number participated in the march from selma to montgomery. that galvanized american public opinion and led the congress to pass one of the most significant civil rights and democratic rights bills of its history. congress has the responsibility to act and act now. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the full editorial referenced be inserted into the congressional record following

my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: as i close, mr. speaker, let me remind the members of the congress, mr. speaker, that i discussed this with the majority leader. the majority leader indicated we would have discussions about bringing voting rights act to the floor. as did i and mr. cantor, his predecessor as majority leader. i look forward to those discussions to facilitate and to speed the bringing to the floor of the bipartisan restoration of the protections in the voting rights act amendments and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker last year a national geographic

photographer captured 5,000 desperate people navigating their way through a sandstorm and eventually breaking through a barbed wire for safety at the border of turkey. they were roughly the 11 million syrians who have now been displaced from their homes over the past four years. the rich, the poor, the elderly and the children, christians, muslims, they now share a new identity, a war refugee. though they may be alive, little have hope for batter life. the syrian mother and a refugee under world visions refugee program said she and her family lived in a small apartment. they were happy before the war. they were never envious of anyone. but after living in a tent with some 25 other families in becca valley in lebanon she now envies even the dead in syria. unable to work because it's illegal, the more than 3.8 million refugees in neighboring

countries wonder every day if they will be given aid to feed their kids. safe places where children can go to learn laugh and play don't exist. parents worry that their children might also join the ranks of isis, become victims of child labor or forced marriage. a 14-year-old girl who participated in save the children's programs in jordan had been married off by her father, not because he loved her less, but because it was one less mouth to feed in the family. young girls are torn within their identity. she wonders whether she should be playing with her fellow children or must be a wife. for the seven million people internally displaced in syria. seven million, that's bigger than new york city. most people face a double edged sword every day because they might be killed by assad's monsters or by the rebels. in june, 2012, government forcers executed entire families in front of one

another and their neighbors. 10-year-old girl stood with $10 in her hand asking for the sparing the life of her 11-month-old sister, madison. out of a family of 25, only madison, the mother and grandfather survived those executions. assad kills his people indiscriminantly with barrel bombs that are filled with color even and sharp nell. they -- chlorine and shrapnel. 175 hospitals have been hit by barrel bombs by assad. a doctor a chicago doctor head of the syrian american medical society, have become the dozens of american medical doctors who helped the wounded in this war. he has risked being arrested, tortured and even killed for aiding the opposition.

he's treated victims of these barrel bomb attacks and has shared with my committee a young boy's vivid account of the attack. instead of drawing a sun and animals, this child drew people with their legs severed, severed from their bodies bloody and tears in those kids' ice. these children have had the first year surrounding war. they've been deprived by a childhood stolen by war. we are all made the same way no matter what we look like or where we live. and deep down in our soul all of us, even these syrian refugees, just want to be free. for every day the reign of terror continues the colossal number of 12.2 million syrians who are in dire need of humanitarian assistance continues to grow. u.s. government funded programs is working to meet this need. u.s.-based nongovernment organizations both religious and secular, are doing great work inside sear & the surround -- syria and the surrounding regions to address the many

needs of the displaced. american funding has provided life-saving food and essential items for several hundred thousand people inside the constantly bombarded city of alapo. dozens of medical facilities throughout syria providing trauma and primary health care as well as much-needed psychological and social support. child-friendly spaces are set up in a safe place for children to receive support, learn and to play. mr. speaker war is hell and the noncombantant citizens are the ones who suffer from this hellish is right lens. until the war in syria is over, the life-saving humanitarian care done by these american angels of mercy give hope to millions of refugees. so we thank these selfless people that help those affected by this war in syria. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters, for five minutes. ms. waters: thank you, mr.

speaker. next month almost four million students will graduate from college, but on monday, more than 16,000 students, students who have sacrificed countless hours and resources were robbed of the opportunity to achieve this goal. these students are the victims of corinthian college which closed its doors yesterday amids ongoing state and federal -- amidst ongoing state and federal investigations regarding the school's fraudulent and predatory recruiting tactics. corinthian's closure marks the end of one of the nation's largest for-profit colleges and industry wrought with fraud and deception. the story of corinthian starts with the rising cost of college combined with repeated cuts to other affordable public educational options like community college or hbcu's.

the combination of these factors led to the explosive growth of a for-profit college industry that quickly began to prey on low-income minority and veteran students by enticing them with the false promise of a quality education and good jobs. these promises were simply untrue. corinthian repeatedly misrepresented the quality of its programs and lied about the job placement rates of its graduates. by doing so, corinthian lured in the country's most vulnerable student populations whose federal loan and grant dollars were used to line the pockets of its c.e.o., investors and shareholders. as a result corinthian and the for-profit college industry as a whole absorbed one quarter of all the federal student aid, more than $30 billion annually. during the great recession,

corinthian alone nearly doubled its revenue due to the enrollment of millions of vulnerable unemployed workers who were even more susceptible to the enticing offer of a quality education and future employment. make no mistake, these people preyed on at-risk students and workers. they took advantage of the next generation of america's leaders, and they used the economic distress and uncertainty our young people were dealing with for their own economic gains. as corinthian continued its deceptive practices, the school had 162 failing academic programs, more than any other for-profit college in the country. during this congress, i have continued my lifetime of work on this subject which began in the california state assembly. i've repeatedly called on the department of education to

close corinthian and offer full loan forgiveness for all its students. last month, i was proud to endorse the corinthian 100 in their efforts to obtain full debt relief, and today joined by my senate colleague, democratic whip dick durbin, i'm introduced the class act, a piece of legislation that will help restore students' legal rights against for-profit institutions. . as corinthian knowingly deceived its students, it also included in its enrollment agreement provisions that limited students' access to courts and shielded corinthian from liability for its misconduct. these included mandatory arbitration and measuring that prohibited students from joining together to form a class action lawsuit. as a result, even though

corinthian colleges closed its doors, students are still suffering because they do not have a legal outlook to address their harms. if students are to receive any relief, they are at the mercy of the department of education and good faith of corinthian college itself, the same institution that has already deceived them and saddled them with debt. the class act attempts to remedy this problem by prohibiting any school receiving federal funding from including any restrictions on students' ability to pursue legal claims against it in court. essentially, this bill serves as the students' strongest line of defense against any future fraudulent conduct by restoring their right to have their day in court. i encourage all of my colleagues to take a stand against the practices of corinthian college and other predatory for-profit institutions by supporting this legislation and fighting for our students' right to an

honest quality education. mr. speaker and members, we still have a lot of for-profit colleges out there that are treating our students in the same manner that corinthian has. deceiving them and who are guilty of fraud. and we must in this congress take responsibility to protect our students. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. boil -- boyle, for five minutes. mr. boyle: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. boyle: thank you. mr. speaker, this is an important and significant week here in the hall of the people's house. because this week we are going to be introducing the raise the wage act. this argument has been going on for quite some time now and yet frustratingly despite all

the time and energy that has been focused on this issue, the federal minimum wage still has not been raised in almost a decade. depending on what measure of inflation you use the minimum wage in real dollars is either at its lowest level in 50 years or its lowest level in 70 years. either way is bad for american workers. and i want to particularly combat the perception that some have that all minimum wage workers are teenagers. actually, the average age of a minimum wage worker is 33 years old. any time you go into the local mcdonald's orburger -- or burger king in my neighborhood, you can quite see in person that we are dealing with not justine workers, but many who are in their 30's, 40's, 50's. and many who are seniors who need to work in order to

supplement their income. i also want to highlight this important fact. 178.7 million children -- 18.7 million children almost 19 million children are supported by parents who work full-time at minimum wage jobs. we are not talking about a government handout. we are not talking about helping those who aren't attempting to help themselves. we are talking about making sure fair day's work actually pays. we are talking about rewarding hardworking americans. and by the way, if you don't work in minimum wage jobs, you're just an ordinary taxpayer you, too would benefit from increasing the minimum wage. here's why. we have right now in america the highest percentage of minimum wage workers who are currently getting government assistance. food stamps medicaid, other

sorts of programs because despite working full-time, they make so little they qualify for government assistance. by raising their wage, we would decrease the poverty rate and decrease the amount of money needed to be spent on public assistance programs. mr. speaker, this is an issue about fairness. it's an issue about justice. but it's also an issue about what kind of an america we believe in. one that rewards hard work. one that rewards those who are going to work every day and working for a living. or one that just says the wealthiest .1% can continue to grow at the greatest rate of income in american history while the other 70% of americans are losing their share of income. that is wrong. we believe in an america in which those who work hard and play by the rules should benefit. one way of ensuring this will happen is raising the minimum

wage now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the charity declares -- chair declares the house

>> furthermore climate change, critical diseases, the security council reform the world has a multitude of issues facing it. and on these all sorts of issues we have had a frank and candid exchange of views and we agreed that we would cooperate. when it comes to the future of japan and the united states, there are infinite possibilities. energy, infrastructure science and technology, space and in addition to this the empowerment of women.

we agree that is between president obama and myself that we would cooperate and move forward in making investments for the future. i would like to express my due heartfelt respect once again to president obama and the citizens of the united states who have committed to take on the multiple -- multitude of challenges of this world and the instantaneous effort you are making for the benefit of the peoples of the world. yesterday i saw president kennedy deliver his inauguration speech in boston, his speech resonated with me and it still has a lingering effect. i recall the following quote my fellow citizens of the world, ask not what america will do for you but what together we can do for the freedom of mankind.

japan wants to be a country that can respond to such calls. hand in hand we want to work together with the united states to spread basic values throughout the world such as those of freedom, democracy basic human rights and the rule of law. and we want to be a country that can contribute to peace and prosperity of the world. in visiting united states, i have had very heartfelt warming welcome by all citizens of the united states. i express my heartfelt gratitude. lastly, i would like to emphasize the following. that as we stand here we will be starting a new era for japan and the united states. i think that 70 years from now

children and grandchildren will look back on the talks we had as one of such historical significance. thank you very much. >> we'll take a couple questions. starting with andrew beady. >> thank you very much, mr. president. first of all, i wanted to know if you think there's a risk in this more assertive u.s.-japanese security stance. if you think it's a risk it might be seen as a propagation in beijing or other places. and for mr. abe, you stopped short of a full apology for japan's actions during world war ii including with regard to the estimated 200,000 women enslaved by imperial forces. would you make an apol guy for that today? thank you -- an apology for that today? thank you. president obama: i think it's very important to recognize

that the u.s.-japan alliance hasn't just been good for the united states and japan, it's been good for the asia pacific region and the world. the basic foundation of peace, stability, ensuring that territorial borders were respected, freedom of navigation, all that has underwritten the incredible growth that's taken place in the asia pacific region. china's benefited from it. it's on that basis that china became an economic juggernaut that ended up being incorporated into global trade. and so, no, we don't think that a strong u.s.-japan alliance should be seen as a

propagation. it should be seen as a continuation. -- continuation of the important work we have done to ensure that you have a stable area where there are diplomatic conflicts, healthy economic competition, but largely we have been able to maintain forward progress for a whole host of nations. and our treaty alliance has been critical to that. the u.s. serving as an arab sha pacific power has been critical to that. and -- as an asia pacific power has been critical to that. and as i said before we welcome china's peaceful rise. we think it's good not only because china is a booming potential market. we think it's good not only because it allows china potentially to share some burdens with us in helping

countries that are not as far along developed. we think it's just good that hundreds of millions of chinese citizens have been able to rise out of poverty. at incredible speed over the last several years. they could not have done that had it not been for a stable trading system and world order that is underwritten in large part by the work that our alliances do. i think it is going to be important for us to continue to adapt to new challenges. so part of the goal here is that the same principles that the alliance was founded on, continually update to concerns about cyberthreats. that we are nimble and responsive to potential conflicts that may arise because of maritime disputes. but i think we have to do it in a way that brings in china and

other countries into a common effort to maintain order and peace in the region. and we are seeking to strengthen military cooperation with china, even as we continue to upgrade our alliance efforts. obviously the republic of korea is a critical part of our alliance structure as well. the trilateral work we do is going to be also very, very important. i don't want to minimize, though, the fact that there are some real tensions that have arisen which i know it round it's approach to maritime issues and its claims. but that's not an issue that is arising as a consequence of the u.s.-japan alliance. it's primarily a conflict between china and various claimants throughout east asia

and southeast asia in which they feel that rather than resolve these issues through normal international dispute settlements, they are flexing their muscles. and we have said to china what we would say to any country in that circumstance. that's the wrong way to go about it. and we will continue to work with all countries in the region starting with our treaty allies to make sure that basic international norms continue to be observed. it prime minister abe: on the issue of comfort women, i am deeply pained to think about the comfort women who experienced enmesh surely pain and suffering as a result of victimization due to human

trafficking. this is a feeling that i share equally with my predecessors. the upper cabinet as a statement and as no intention to revise it. based on this position japan has made various efforts to provide realisic relief for the comfort women. in the history of the 20th century, women's basic human rights have often been infringed upon during wars. we intend to make the 21st century a world with no human rights violations against women. i promise that the general assembly of the united nations last year that japan would stand and lead the international community in eliminating sexual violence during conflicts.

foreign international framework including u.n. women, japan provided approximately $12 million in 2014, and decided it would provide approximately $22 million in 2015. in any case, the 21st century should be an age where women's rights is never infringed upon and it is our strong resolve. thank you very much. i'd like to address this question to president obama. in the east china sea and south china sea china continues to

make for rays into the other shuns and the islamic state is still very active. how does japan intend to collaborate? what do you expect of each other in terms of actions taken by respective countries in japan with regard to the acceptance of exercise of self-defense and the new guidelines? there's a strong concern that japan will become involved in america's wars. how does prime minister abe intend to disspell the issue and what is president obama's take on these concerns? prime minister abe: first of all on exchange and -- extremism and radicalism which is on the rise, the world community should unite to conquer such extremism.

moderation is the best method. we have to face extremism. there are moderates who at the very forefront facing extremism, and we want to support this. with the rise of extremism there are refugees and support to these refugees, and also to the influx of refugees, there are countries who are facing difficulties. to these countries it's important that we provide support appropriately and to the moderate countries we need to tell them that they are not alone. they are not isolated. in the international society the moderate countries should be supportive. we need to express that.

at all times. i believe that is important. in the middle east there are people who are living there, including the welfare and livelihood of these peoples, areas which we'd like to make efforts. from such a standpoint united states and japan would like to cooperate to respond to the challenges. another point, the guidelines, defense guidelines, and with regard to the security legislation that we may be involved, get caught up, involved. people tend to label this in some cases. it's very unfortunate labeling activities of this kind is not the first time it occurred. in 1960 when we revived the security treaty, people -- some

people said that we would be involved in wars of the united states. and that was the core of the criticism which was aired then. it's been 55 years since then. this criticism has been proved totally wrong and that is very evident. history has proved this. our choice made at the time to revive the security treaty and in case japan suffered some aggression between japan and the united states, we would respond through cooperation. and in the far east, to maintain security, japan's facilities would be leveraged and u.s. military with leveraging facilities to conduct these activities.

to such activities, japan's safety was protected and prosperity happened and safety in the asia pacific has been maintained. to further strengthen this trend is provided for through the new guidelines. and seamless response is made possible. and by so doing deter rens would be enhanced -- deterrence would be enhanced. japan-u.s. alliance would be more efficient and functional. the response capabilities would be heidened as a result -- heightened as a result and this would lead to peace and prosperity to japan and regional peace and prosperity as well. this is my firm conviction. in the streamlining of the laws, i should like to explain to the citizens and the parliament in a detailed fashion. president obama: ultimately the people of japan and their elected representatives will be

making decisions about how best to approach their defense. i think it's important to note, as prime minister abe said, we have seen over multiple decades now that japan is a peace loving conditiontry -- country. having absorbed some very difficult lessons from the past. japan does not engage in aggression on the international stage or in its region. and that the alliance that has been built with the united states is principally one that seeks to defend our countries from potential attack or aggression. and what the new defense

guidelines and the collective defense approach that prime minister abe is proposing simply upgrades our ability to carry out those core functions. we do share as people in countries all around the world share, a determination to eliminate the kind of barbaric terrorist acts perpetrated by organizations like sisal -- like isil that have resulted in the death of innocent citizens from the united states from japan, from other countries, and most of all from muslim countries. and that's why we have a broad-based coalition designed to defeat isil. and we will continue to work with a wide range of countries

around the world in our counterterrorism efforts. japan's cooperation in that is vital and appreciated, but there are many ways in which coalition members participate. japan's willingness and commitment to provide humanitarian aasentence makes an enormous difference in -- assistance makes an enormous difference in countries that have been destabilized. japan's willingness to serve in areas of peacekeeping and working with other countries to rebuild after they have been destroyed makes a big difference. so i think it's important to recognize we do not expect some instant and major transformation in terms of how japan projects military power, but we do expect that japan, like all of our allies, and like ourselves will continue

to adapt to new threats. understanding that our basic core principle is not territorial ambition, it's not aggression towards others, but is simply to defend prosperity and liberty and the sovereignty of countries as we have done for a very long time now. as we have done together for a very long time. >> thank you mr. president. as you know, the national guard is now on the streets of baltimore. the latest aftermath in a series of what has been high-profile confrontations between black men and police officers. there seems to be growing frustration among african-american leaders that not enough is being done quickly enough. mark of the urban league said the u.s. is in a state of emergency of tremendous proportions. the president of the naacp

legal defense fund says we are in the throws of a national -- throes in the national crisis. are we in the throes of a national crisis? what are you prepared to do about it both in terms of baltimore and the larger picture? and what do say to critics who say that since the death of trayvon martin, you have not been aggressive enough in your response? and to prime minister abe, how important is a pacific trade deal to keep the influence of china in check both economically and militarily? and do you agree with president obama when he says that failing to complete a deal will simply further china's influence? thank you. president obama: before i answer the question about baltimore, i'm going to horn in on your question to prime minister abe. i have been very clear that t.p.p. is good for american businesses and american workers. regardless of what china's doing. and we will make the case on

the merits as to why it will open up markets for american goods, american exports, and create american jobs. so this is not simply a defensive agreement. this is something that's going to be part and parcel of our broader economic agenda in moving forward. when 95% of the world's markets are outside our shores, we got to make sure we are out there competing. i'm confident we can compete. with respect to baltimore, let me make a couple of points. first, obviously our thoughts continue to be with the family of freddie gray. understandably they want answers. and d.o.j. has opened an investigation. it is working with local law enforcement to find out exactly what happened, and i think there should be full transparency and accountability. second my thoughts are with the police officers who were injured in last night's disturbances. it underscores that that's a

tough job and we have to keep that in mind. my hope is that they can heal and get back to work as soon as possible. point number three, there's no excuse for the kind of violence we saw yesterday. it is counterproductive. when individuals get crowbars and start priing open doors to loot -- prying open doors to loot, they are not protesting. they are not making a statement. they are stealing. when they burn down a building, they are committingarson. and -- they are committing arson, and they are destroying businesses and opportunities in their own communities that rob jobs and opportunity from

people in that area. so it is entirely appropriate that the mayor of baltimore, who i spoke to yesterday, and the governor, who i spoke to yesterday, work to stop that kind of senseless violence and destruction. that is not a protest. that is not a statement. a handful of people taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes. and they need to be treated as criminals. point number four, the violence that happened yesterday distracted from the fact that you had seen multiple days of peaceful protests that were focused on entirely legitimate concerns of these communities in baltimore.

led by clergy and community leaders, and they were constructive and they were thoughtful. and frankly didn't get that much attention. and one burning building will be looped on television over and over and over again, and the thousands of demonstrators who did it the right way, i think, have been lost in the discussion. the overwhelming majority of the community in baltimore, i think, handled this appropriately. expressing real concern and outrage over the possibility that our laws were not applied evenly in the case of mr. gray. and that accountability needs to exist. and i think we have to give them credit. my understanding is you got some of the same organizers now going back in these communities to try to clean up in the aftermath of a handful of pro-- handful of criminals and thugs who tore up the place.

what they were doing, what those community leaders and clergy and others were doing, that is a statement. that's the kind of organizing that needs to take place if we are going to tack this problem. they deserve credit for it and we should be lifting them up. point number five, and i've got six, because this is important. it since ferguson and the task force that we put together t. we have seen too many instances of-we put together. we have seen too many instances of police officers interacting with individuals primarily

african-american often poor, in ways that raise troubling questions. and it comes up, it seems like, once a week now. or once every couple of weeks. and so i think it's pretty understandable why the leaders of civil rights organizations, more importantly moms and dads across the contry, might start saying this is a cry -- country, might start saying this is a crisis. what i say is, this has been a slow rolling crisis, this has been going on for a long time. this is not new. and we shouldn't pretend that it's new. the new news is that perhaps there is a new-found awareness because of social media and video cameras and so forth that there are problems and challenges when it comes to how

policing and our laws are applied in certain communities and we have to pay attention to it and respond. what's also good news is the task force that was made up of law enforcement and community activists that we brought together here in the white house have come up with very constructive concrete proposals that if adopted by local communities and by states and by counties, by law enforcement generally, would make a difference. wouldn't solve every problem, but would make a concrete difference in rebuilding trust and making sure that the overwhelming majority of effective, honest, and fair law enforcement officers, that they are able to do their job better because it will weed out or retrain or put a stop to those handful who may be not doing what they are supposed to be doing. now, the challenge for us is

the federal government is that we don't run these police forces. i can't federalize every police force in the country and force them to retrain, but what i can do is to start working with them collaboratively, so that they can begin this process of change themselves. and coming out of the task force that we put together, we are now working with local communities. department of justice has just announced a grant program for those jurisdictions that want to purchase body cameras. we are going to be issuing grants for those jurisdictions that are prepared to start trying to implement for the new training and data collection and other things that can make a difference. and we are going to keep on working with those local jurisdictions so that they can begin to make the changes that are necessary.

i think it's going to be important for organizations like the fraternal order of police and other police unions and organizations to acknowledge that this is not good for police. we have to own up to the fact that occasionally there are going to be problems here. just as there are in every other occupation. there's some bad politicians. who are corrupt. there are folks in the business community or on wall street who don't do the right thing. well there's some police not doing the right thing. and rather than close ranks what we have seen is a number of thoughtful police chiefs and commissioners and others recognize they got to get their arms around this thing and work together with the community to solve the problem. and we are committed to facilitating that process. so the heads of our cops agency

that helps with community policing, they are already out in baltimore. our assistant attorney general for civil rights division is already out in baltimore. we are going to be working systematically with every city and jurisdiction around the country to try to help them implement some solutions that we know work. i'll make my final point, i'm soarry, mr. prime minister, but this is a pretty important issue for us. we can't just leave this to the police. i think there are police departments that have to do some soul-searching. i think there's some communities that have to do some soul-searching. i think we as a country have to do some soul-searching. this is not new. it's been going on for decades. and without making any excuses for criminal activities that

take place in this community, what we also know is that if you have impoverished communities that have been stripped away of opportunity where children are born in the abject poverty -- into abject poverty, they got, parents often, because of substance abuse problems or lack of education themselves can't do right by their kids. if it's more likely that those kids end up in jail or dead than they go to college. in communities where there are no fathers who can provide guidance to young men communities that where there's no investment and manufacturing's been stritched away -- stripped away, and drugs have flooded the community and the drug industry ends up being the primary employer for a whole lot of

folks. in those environments if we think that we are just going to send the police to do the dirty work of containing the problems that arise there without, as a nation and as a society, saying what can we do to change those communities, to help lift up those communities and give those kids opportunity, then we are not going to solve this problem and we'll go through the same cycles of periodic conflicts between the police and communities and the occasional riots in the streets . and everybody will feign concern until it goes away, then we go about our business as usual. if we are serious about solving this problem, then we are going to not only have to help the

police, we are going to have to think about what can we do, the rest of us to make sure that we are providing early education to these kids. to make sure that we are reforming our criminal justice system so it's not just a pipeline from schools to prisons. so that we are not rendering men in these communities unemployable because of a felony record for a nonviolent drug offense. we are making investments so they can get the training they need to find jobs. that's hard. that requires more than just the occasional news report or task force. and there's a bunch of my agenda that would make a difference right now in that. i'm under no illusion that out of this congress we'll get massive investments in urban communities. so we'll try to find areas where we can make a difference.

around school reform and around job training and around some investments in infrastructure in these communities and trying to attract new businesses in. but if we really want to solve the problem, if our society really wanted to solve the problem, we could. it's just it would require everybody saying this is important. this is significant. and that we don't just pay attention to these communities when a c.v.s. burns. we don't just pay attention when a young man gets shot. or has his spine snapped. we are paying attention all the time because we consider those kids, our kids, and we think they are important and they shouldn't be living in poverty and violence. that's how i feel. i think there are a lot of good meaning people around the country that feel that way, but that kind of political mobilization, i think we

haven't seen in quite some time. and what i have tried to do is to promote those ideas that would make a difference, but i think we all understand that politics are tough because it's easy to ignore those problems or treat them just as a law and order issue as opposed to a broader social issue. that was a really long answer but i felt pretty strongly about it. prime minister abe: first of all on t.p.p., this is not something that we create out of consciousness about china. the economic growth of the region will be a positive and create opportunities for japan and the united states and the world. the t.p.p. is such that to the eyes of many countries it has

to become a model. it could be a model for china in that it's an ambitious attempt to create a new economic sphere in which the people goods and money will flow freely within the asia pacific region. it's a new economic region. freedom, democratcy, basic human rights and rule of law. with countries that these universal values that we will be creating new rules. this rule benefit regional prosperity. and it also has a strategic significance related to regional stability. on this point we see completely , between president obama and myself. the early conclusion of t.p.p. by achieving this, this will work on other countries nonmembers of the t.p.p., to

follow rules. and i believe that this will lead to prosperity. .

on the proper rules to flow freely. without a doubt we'll make affluent of the countries participating in the t.p.p. and the asia pacific and the people in the countries will be able to lead affluent lives. i believe this will go into it. as soon as possible with the general public understanding we'd like to make efforts and in this context japan and the united states, president obama and michaels will bring about an early conclusion of the t.p.p.