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.

furthermore, on the aiib, in asia there's a tremendous demand for infrastructure and the financial system to respond to this is very important. on this recognition, we see eye to eye between china and myself and i think this is a point on which we see eye to eye between many countries. for japan to participate in the aiib is a decision with which we have not taken yet but to create such an enormous financial institution and since in will have an enormous impact on asian countries, a fair governs is necessary of the institution. in particular, the board to review individual projects and to approve of this is

indispensible. and debt sustainability and the environment and society and the impact of this should be considered. we need to secure this. it's not only about the lenders but the borrowing nations. for example, various infrastructure projects may not be sustainable. it may have too much of a burden on the environment. if this is the case, this will be a very negative -- bring negative results for citizens in the countries. it will prove to be a burden and so in that sense a proper review as to whether lending the money to countries will be a benefit to the country. vigorous review is very

important. so from such a standpoint, the two points to be secured i believe is very important. so from such a standpoint japan and the united states should cooperate and we need to continue dialogue with china and it is my intention to do so. president obama: let me agree with prime minister abe when it comes to the asia infrastructure bank proposal that's been made by china. asia needs infrastructure. there are a lot of countries that have difficulty financing infrastructure, but if they got that infrastructure put in place and developed, they can grow much more rapidly and that's good for everybody. it's good for that country it's good for the world economy. it's good for us. we want more markets. to be able to get our goods in and sell our services that are some of the best in the world

and china's got a lot of money. they've been running a big surplus for quite sometime. so to the extent that china wants to put capital into development projects around the region, that's a positive. that's a good thing. so let me be very clear and dispel this notion that we were opposed or are opposed to other countries participating in the asia infrastructure bank. that is simply not true. it sprung up out of one story after the brits decided they were going to join up and folks have been running at it. there have been a lot of editorials subsequently from these reports, not from any official position in the united states government but from a series of behind-the-scenes quotes. what we have said and what we said to all the other countries involved is exactly what prime

minister abe said which is if we're going to have a multilateral lending institution, then you have to have some guidelines by which it's going to operate. that's how the world bank operates. that's how the i.m.f. operates. there may be weighted votes in terms of who's the biggest contributor, but you got to have some transparency in terms of how the thing is going to operate because if not, a number of things can happen. number one, money could end up flowing that is misused or it doesn't have high accounting standards and we don't know what happens to money that is going into projects. as prime minister abe, the projects may not be very well

designed. it may not be good for the actual people who live there. and the reason i can say that is because in the past some of the efforts of multilateral institutions that the united states set ep didn't always do right by the actual people in those countries. and we learned some lessons from that and we got better to make sure we were listening to the community and thinking about how this would affect the environment and whether it was sustainable. and so our simple point to everybody in these conversations around the asia infrastructure bank is let's make sure we're running it based on best practices, based on what we learned from the entire postwar era and how other multilateral financing mechanisms have worked. and if in fact the asia

infrastructure bank that's being set up ends up having those kinds of safeguards is run in a way that ultimately is actually going to lead to good infrastructure and benefit the borrowing countries, then we're all for it and we look forward to collaborating with the asia infrastructure bank just like we do with the asia development bank and with the world bank on a whole bunch of stuff. so this could be a positive thing. but if it's not run well, then it could be a negative thing. and what we don't want to do is just be participating in something and providing cover for an institution that does not end up doing right by its people because when these countries borrow money, even from a development bank for a boondoggle project that doesn't

work, they are oftentimes still on the hook for paying that money back and there have been experiences like that across continents and across decades. with respect to t.p.p., you know it's never fun passing a trade bill in this town because people are understandably concerned about its potential impacts on specific industries but also the general concerns that people have had about globalization and technology displacing workers. we're addressing those systematically. here's what i'm confident about. this will end up being the most progressive trade bill in history. it will have the kinds of labor and environmental and human rights protections that have been absent in previous agreements. it's going to be enforceable. it's going to open up markets that currently are not fully opened to u.s. businesses. it's going to be good for the u.s. economy and because i

always believe that good policy ends up being good politics, i'm confident we'll get the votes in congress and congress, by the way, will have a lot of time to review it when and if it's actually completed. so this whole notion it's secret, they're going to have 60 days before i even sign it to look at the text and a number of months after that before they have to take a final vote. thank you very much, everybody. mrs. capito: -- [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> and wrapping up this joint news briefing with president obama and the japanese prime minister, later tonight president obama will host a

state dinner at the white house in honor of prime minister abe. we're playing the guest arivals starting at 7:00 p.m. eastern live online at c-span.org. tomorrow, the prime minister will address a joint meeting of congress. we'll have live coverage of his remarks starting at 11:00 eastern right here on cripe. and this morning president obama welcomed the japan prime minister to the white house. here's a look at that ceremony on the south lawn. >> present colors. ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and mrs. michelle obama. ["hail to the chief" playing]

♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, the national anthem of japan followed by the national anthem of the united states. ♪

♪ ["the star-spangled banner" playing]

>> mr. prime minister, the honor guard. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

>> ceremonial.

>> mr. president, this concludes the honor. president obama: good morning. [speaking japanese] [applause] president obama: on behalf of the american people and michelle and myself, it is a great honor for me to welcome prime minister abe and mrs. abe of japan, one of america's closest allies in the world.

[speaking japanese] president obama: across japan, over the coming days, our japanese friends are marking special holidays, honoring their history celebrating their constitution giving gratitude for nature's beauty and expressing their hopes for their children. now with this visit, it is a truly golden week.

president obama: for michelle and myself, it is an opportunity to return our hospitality that shinzo, akia and the japanese people have had in the past. in i could ota, michelle had a nn opportunity to play drums and i played are the robot -- and i played with the robot. this visit is a celebration of the ties of friendship and family that bind our peoples. i first felt it when i was 6 years old when my mother took me to japan. i felt it growing up in hawaii. like communities across our country, home to so many proud japanese americans.

president obama: today's the ultimate chance for americans, especially our young people, to say thank you for all the things we love from japan. like can can ratey and karaoke and of course emojis. [laughter] president obama: this visit has

historic significance. in 1960 president eisenhower welcomed prime minister abe's grandfather. here to the white house. they signed the security treaty that endures to this day committing america and japan to an indestructible partnership. president obama: today we welcome president obama abe as we broaden our alliance. we have renewed our relationship in the asia pacific. prime minister abe is leading japan to the role on a world stage. the foundation of both efforts

is a strong u.s.-japan alliance. president obama: ours is an alliance focused on the future, the security of our nations and the world, trade that is fair and free and the equal opportunity and human rights of all people around the world and in our countries as well. women and girls because they truly deserve to shine.

president obama: prime minister abe, mrs. abe, members of the japanese delegation, we are truly honored to have you here as great allies and as true friends. welcome to the united states. [applause] >> good morning.

prime minister abe: mr. president, mrs. obama, mr. vice president, dr. biden ladies and gentlemen, i thank president obama's warm welcome. two years ago when i visited washington, d.c. it was in february during the cold season of the year. i am honored to be back in this season when we can enjoy the beautiful season south lawn of the white house. and i'd like to express my appreciation for the cordial welcome from our american friends.

prime minister abe: this official visit to the united states is a special one for me. since i took office, the top priority of my foreign policy has been to revitalize the alliance between japan and the united states and here in washington, d.c., i had a summit meeting with president obama two years ago. and since then, together with mr. president, we have been

addressing issues such as the trans-pacific partnership and the realignment of u.s. forces. prime minister abe: and now our bilateral relationship is more robust than ever. our alliance is back on track and it is even stronger. this official visit is the culmination of what we have been doing for the past two years, and it is a great pleasure for me to realize this visit.

prime minister abe: the development of japan-u.s. relationship is not something we could achieve without the history of long-standing bilateral cooperation over the years. there have been the relationship of trusts between the leaders, the relationship of cooperation between the two nations and the governments and friendship through people-to-people exchange between the two people. all these have played an important role as a key pillar for the relationship.

prime minister abe: the world is facing enormous challenges than ever. japan will be at the forefront with the united states in addressing regional and global challenges while developing our bilateral ties with the united states in the consistent manner. and i very much look forward to having a discussion with president obama today on those challenges. mr. president, mrs. obama, thank you again for the warm and cordial welcome as well as your hospitality. thank you so much. [applause]

>> honor guard. >> attention. >> right shoulder. >> mr. president, this concludes the ceremony. ♪

>> well, several hours later the two leaders held an hour-long news conference in the white house rose garden. you can see that on c-span.org. also the president and first lady will be hosting a state dinner for prime minister abe and his wife. c-span2 will have live coverage of their arrival at the white house beginning at 6:30 eastern today. and tomorrow the japanese leader's on capitol hill. he'll be delivering remarks at a joint meeting of congress. he will be the first japanese leader to do so. that will be live at 11:00 a.m. eastern time right here on c-span. >> this weekend the c-span cities tour has partnered with cox communication to learn about the history and literary life of topeka kansas. >> when the kansas-nebraska act was signed in 1854, the very act of signing of it, of just

signing that piece of paper was viewed by missourians as an act of war. so when northerners decided that if popular sovereignty will decide the fate of kansas, we're going to send people to settle, that was viewed as an act of war by many missourians who had just assumed it would all be theirs. there are raids back and forth across the kansas border. in may of 1856, john brown, his sons and a couple of other followers dragged five men from their cabins along the pottawatomie creeks and they are shot and hacked to death by broad swords. that effectively cleared that area of southern settlers. >> here in topeka, if you looked at the schools just standing outside you'd be very hard pressed to determine white students or african-american students attended because the school board really did provide

all of the same materials that the white schools offered. and what is even more interesting for most people when they come to visit is they find out that after graduating from elementary school african-american students attended integrated middle and high schools. while they certainly were no supporters of segregation and obviously saw the injustice of having to attend separate elementary schools, the african-american community also was very proud of their schools because these were excellent facilities. so while there was support for the idea of integration, there is also some resistance, especially from the teachers and the local chapter of the naacp who feared the loss of these institutions and the loss of those jobs. >> watch all of our events from topeka saturday at noon eastern on c-span2's "book tv" and sunday morning at 10:00 on "american history tv" on c-span3.

>> the white house returns at 2:00 p.m. eastern. until then earlier today maryland governor larry hogan held a briefing on the violence and vyots over the past few days in baltimore, maryland. here's what he had -- riots over the past few days in baltimore, mrd. here's what he had to say about it. governor hogan: hello, everybody. thank you for being here this afternoon. this is -- we moved the governor's here at 6 st. paul. we're currently running the entire state operation out of here in conjunction with our emergency operations center at camp frederick. as you can tell, we have a lot of assets on the ground here in baltimore. we've been reaching out. we've toured the communities all morning. we met with volunteers. met with community leaders. we just came from a meeting -- we had a cabinet meeting here. we just came from a meeting with some of the faith leaders and community leaders throughout the city. we wanted to do some listening. we wanted to talk to them about their concerns. we wanted to see what kinds of needs they had and how we could address those needs as quickly

as possible. the discussion primarily focused on the immediate needs about getting the city back under control making the city safe protecting our innocent citizens, property. we also talked about longer term issues and how that -- this might be the start of an ongoing dialogue with community leaders to see what we can do to address some longer term issues and problems. 9 vast majority of the people in baltimore -- the vast majority of the people in baltimore who were protesting did so in a peaceful way. yesterday unfortunately a smaller group of people acted out in a violent way. we see this as two entirely different groups. criminal activity will not be tolerated. we're going to ensure we're going to bring whatever resources are necessary whatever assets are necessary, as much manpower as necessary to let the citizens of

baltimore know that their neighborhoods are going to be safe, that they're not going to be in danger and their property will be protected. we're not going to have another repeat of what happened last night. it's not going to happen tonight. i want to thank the faith leaders for their involvement. all throughout this they've been preaching peace they've been saying that violence isn't helping the situation. the people who have legitimate concerns and frustrations about the ongoing investigation with respect to what happened to freddie gray are not served well by these violent acts. and this violence isn't accomplishing anything. it's counterproductive. we're going to make sure that we get baltimore back on track and make sure our neighborhoods are sick again. be happy to answer any questions you might have. reporter: governor can you explain to folks how states of

emergency work when your state of emergency declaration was prepared and what happened in the next 48 hours? do you have to wait for the mayor to ask for it? governor hogan: well, as you know, the violence started at 3:00 yesterday afternoon. we had prior to that taken preliminary action to prepare the state for if in fact violence did take place, if the city did call us and ask for the assistance so we already activated our emergency command center as of last saturday. i had already talked to the national guard. i'd already been in communication with the white house. we had been in ongoing communication on a daily basis with the mayor. this violence started i think about 3:00 yesterday afternoon. we were in constant communication. finally i believe around 6:00 the mayor said -- requested us to bring in the national guard and declare a state of emergency. we did so immediately because

we had already prepared the order the week before. we already had called up and the national guard had already been put on alert. they were ready to act. the emergency command center was already activated. we had representatives from state agencies. we had already called local police and fire, other services throughout the state. it was about 30 seconds before we completely activated all of the resources we had to bear. it's been now less than 24 hours. you see we have a couple thousand more people on the streets in baltimore. to my knowledge there's been no incidents. this morning we're still concerned what might happen this evening. we're continuing to bring more people in from around the state and around the country. we're going to put as much manpower and as many resources we can to make sure that we do not have that kind of situation. reporter: you did nothing until the -- you could do nothing until the mayor made a phone

call? governor hogan: no. what i told you is we had been working all week and called up the national guard. we already activated the emergency command center and when the mayor requested we brought them in. reporter: between 3:00 and 6:00 yesterday, you could do nothing? governor hogan: we did quite a bit but we waited until the mayor asked for us to come in. we didn't think it was appropriate to come in and take over the city without the request of the mayor. reporter: who's ultimately to blame? governor hogan: well,ry don't want to place any blame. i want to focus -- our response has been incredible. as i said we acted instantaneous. i'm proud of the effort by all of the state and the local partners have been working together. reporter: does this qualify, do you think or do you seek disaster relief? governor hogan: our folks are in communication with the federal government. i plan to talk with the president a little bit later. we're going to make sure we provide all the assistance from

the federal, state and local level. we toured businesses that were burned and looted. we've met with citizens who've -- lost their homes. we've talked -- we had a cabinet meeting before the community leader meeting. our insurance commissioner already started a rapid response who has insurance. we talked to the small business administration about financial assistance for folks that do not have insurance. whatever resources are necessary from the federal, state and local level we will provide. reporter: governor, can you talk a little bit about the immediate needs in the community over the next 48 and 72 hours and what will your department bring to bear? governor hogan: our immediate thing is to bring calm and peace. i think we're well under way of getting that accomplished. there are no more fires burning. there are no more looting going on. you see a tremendous presence on the streets now which we didn't see yesterday. there's also issues like emergency housing which we're

providing from both the department of human resources and the housing agency. there's financial assistance. we activated 2,000 volunteers through the governor's office of community initiatives from around the state. we're asking for volunteers and donations. we've been in communication with other states to bring in resources. governor christie in new jersey has agreed to send in 150 new jersey state troopers and a lot of assets to help us. the guard is calling up another 1,000 who will be here by tonight. and we're going to make sure that the city is brought back to peace. reporter: how many assets are here now? governor hogan: we have a couple thousand new police officers and guard on the street currently and is going to continue to grow. we'll put as many as we need. reporter: governor, some of these community leaders last week asked for long-term help for systemic problems in baltimore jobs programs. what are you trying to do to help the systemic problems in baltimore? governor hogan: we sent the

lieutenant governor and kieffer mitchell former delegate to the meeting. we met with the groups again today. we talked about some of those issues. i expressed to them my number one concern is jobs. it's what i've been focused on. creating more jobs and -- is our top priority of the administration. today is the emergency actions that need to take place. tomorrow we work on how to create more jobs. reporter: what can you do to convince businesses to come back into baltimore given what happened yesterday? governor hogan: it won't be pees easy. reporter: did you call the mayor or did she call you? governor hogan: i called the mayor multiple times yesterday. reporter: between 3:00 and 6:00. who is ultimately responsible for all the crews on the ground, you or the mayor of baltimore? >> the mayor of baltimore had the city of baltimore police on the ground. quite frank leeling they were overwhelmed. all the rest of the boots on the ground came from us.

reporter: so you're in charge? [inaudible] reporter: is that a concern -- governor hogan: sure it is a concern. this is not the baltimore that we know and love. this is certainly not putting us in very good light. it doesn't help with tourism. it doesn't help bring in businesses but we're going to be stronger after this is over with. it's very unfortunate and sad incident. we're going to do everything we can to move on from here. reporter: ask you talk about the -- whether there were any conversations with the mayor about ferguson what might have been learned from ferguson, whether you decided to pull back on bringing in troops because of what might have been learned in ferguson? governor hogan: those are questions you should probably direct to the mayor. i don't know if she had discussions about ferguson.

as soon as she made the decision we got to work. reporter: are there damage estimates at this point? at least a number of businesses and homes that have been damaged or destroyed? governor hogan: i know our insurance commissioner has called to make those assessments and make it priority o. i don't have an assessment at this point. >> thank you very much. governor hogan: thank you, everybody. >> and that briefing from earlier today, we'll continue to monitor events in baltimore and bring you updates when they happen. the u.s. house will be back shortly and earlier today during morning hour speeches, assistant house democratic leader steny hoyer spoke about the voting rights act. 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 ywe'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 cred c.d. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> now live to the floor of the u.s. house. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by guest chaplain reverend dr. jim birchfield first presbyterian church, houston, texas. the chaplain: eternal god, we give you thanks for the gift of this new day and for the promise that you are with us. thank you for your grace, your love and the many blessings that are ours through you. forgive us for falling short of your grace and your call upon our lives. and help us to