as we look at this political frame. how are we looking at all of these things? we have imf, world bank, trade deals, international treaties we are having difficulty even getting through our congress because we have this parochial versus global struggle. he is going to engage at this very broad level, because the theolic church puts all of growth in the global basket and the u.s. is struggling with this as a country. you see her soul with a multicultural society. think those is that this --cinating that in and of itself will have a ripple effect that are very difficult this the now, that you

beatook through whatever your covering to see how this plays out now on so many issues on capitol hill, not just ours, but others as well. mr. papademetriou: the timing of visit need to pass budgets. we will try to do something, and so unless you begin to write 's visit next week and keep frustrating editors, you should have an article each nextf your outlets for the 30, 40 days. it is entirely possible the

other issues that will simply be fueling the fires of arguments, disagreements, in washington, will quickly make at least that pope's allow the message, on climate, may make it something that may disappear from some of the headline within a day, two, or three from his visit. in philadelphia, the local papers, and new york, he will talk about all these issues in several places. meetingork he will be with migrants an immigrant families. in philadelphia, he will give a speech in independence square on

immigration. before he gets down here, you folks will have an opportunity .o create a crescendo effect this way people can pay more attention. but will is message be able to cut through the din of the arguments in washington, considering the other issues, i do not know. ms. ryerson: this is an interesting site. the third and fourth week of the month, and snap benefits run out by the third week of the month. he will be here during the week of each month that is the most insecureng for food and hungry people. i would like you just need to describe online resources where people can get data and statistics on your particular area of expertise?

mr. papademetriou: i can start. i brought literature sitting in front of the table. thele will tell you that legitimate and authoritative sources are on this issue. this is what others say. we have an amazing interactive, up to date website where you can get everything you can get on these particular issues. in addition to downloading the encyclical, i would recommend climate.gov, which is the u.s. government site. they also have photos and publics material that you can use.

i would also recommend -- i do this because i happen to get in the mail, but "national eographic" is about the popevisit. also, a time resources's on climate change in another website are quite useful. ms. ryerson: you can go to aarp and aarp.org. there is a reason study on baby boomers and beyond. site, you can find links to a number of other resource reports on poverty and hunger, or specifically. "roll call," we

focus on congress and the day-to-day political fights. we have written about the issues that we will definitely have our reporters on the climate changed announcement today, and we have focused on issues that make up some of the side things we talked about a little bit, theicularly the opening cuban embassy in washington. several members of congress have said they want to do everything they can to block the nomination, the confirmation of an ambassador to cuba. -- they are things ," onal with at "roll call and cq.com., other questions? the pope's -- will

visit health engaged the u.s. which is anulation, enormous population, and for each of you, are there activists for your issues that are actively working to engage that population to try to extend impact of the visit? very much so.iou: there are probably around 75 alien, 76 alien catholics in the united states today. million, 76 million catholics in the united thinks today. they had been born here and are legally here, but were born outside of the country, like myself. they include people who are illegally here and unlawful, permanent residents, people with

green cards. they also include 28% of the total foreign-four ovulation test of the foreign-born -- four-born population. illegalal and immigration has contributed to the growth of the population in the united states. the question is excellent at so many different points. i will stay on this for another minute or so. it was such a long time, i was the advisor to the catholic bishops on immigration about 30 years. 1980 4, 19 85, 1986, 1987 perhaps this was one of these ods of time when we were trying to kill each other

when it came to immigration. d immigration at the end of 1986. two things i remember distinctly, the most difficult thing that i had to do was persuade senior bishops, cardinals to actually go to or to maked testify, any public statements, or to pick up the telephone and talk to powerful people. they did not want to touch that issue. radioactive. too everything that we did at that -- the second problem was the bureaucracy was in the catholic conference. they were at least careful and reluctant to touch issues as the people in the

church will. now you can get any cargo to speak on the issue, design statements, to testify on the hill, to go up on the hill and meet with leaders on the hill. pope is coming to the united states at the point when the senior leadership of the church are extremely active, extremely engaged, and address these issues as a matter of statements, lies inny, and with homi the churches at the local level. i expect this will intensify in the days leading up to the po pe's visit, and we may have a comet's detailed

months after the visit. will thisestion is make a difference, i do not have the answer to this day. lumpreider: we tend to americans together as a blob. i think that is a mistake. baby boomers see these issues differently than millennials. 350uld urge us not to see million people at the same, because they are not. and ont on marriage climate as well. science,le, on climate

if you look at an 80-year-old voter and a 25-year-old voter and they are absolutely not the same in the climate profile. so i would start by saying that is just a real mistake to think that somehow these are the same of climate change, because they are not. young people have grown up with .p. and environmental science. they did not have that even when i was young. environmental science is now taught in schools as an advanced placement class. it is easy to say they are political, they are perceived to the utmost generations, and i urge you to dive into it, because one of the reasons you are seeing the change politically is there is a buildup of young people and x we arel power, gen-

trying to make a difference, but millennials are the wave coming behind the boomers. the second thing i will say is, yes, i think you can see that the environmental community is doing a lot organized. there member profiles are coastal. most members are found on both coasts. a meeting yesterday, they were talking about how many members a certain group had in wyoming, and i think it was 10. what you find is there tends to be most of their members in coastal areas. what was justieve said is the most important -- catholics are geographically dispersed throughout the country. what the environmental community does is extremely important, it smaller thanand what the catholic church can do in terms of this long comete''s

tail that was just described, because it reaches a whole set of people in an entirely different way. i will explain that -- i was touched when i read the encyclical because it talked about life. , whennvironmentalists they read it, the church has a position on like that goes from conception throughout life and opposed to the death penalty. it touched me in a way that i was surprised by, as someone who has been pro-choice all her life. pope and thehis judge has a way of reaching people that is very different than any single interest group or linked up set of interest groups can do. and so i think organizing is

extremely important, but it is different than what the catholic church does. goes out to every catholic school. -- it ischurch groups just fundamentally different than what you and we understand advocacy groups are capable of doing in terms of reaching communities and children and people at all hatreds. -- all age that groups. i would say this is different than what we in washington think about postcard campaigns and congress. calls to it is fundamentally different. i believe that people across the nation care that 45 million americans live children,, at 20% are

27% are african-americans. you raises interesting point butt generations different, the intergenerational connections are really strong. anything we can do to breach those dialogs, we have a program where youngation people across the nation 15 through college are taking on the challenge to help low-income seniors, people 50 and older, and we are growing these chapters in schools and colleges, and there is keen interest. that to me is really helpful not only about the dialogue, but also about the actions, and it will be interesting to see whether or not and how colleges and universities and schools beyond this public style -- public dialogue beyond

religion. foundation, though we did not connect it directly, it is important that the national day of service is just two weeks before the pope's visit. on 9/11, aarp is hosting a national day of service on the mall. we will be coming together with core ofgenerational volunteers and 6000 volunteers, to deliver over 1.2 million meals to those who are hungry in the metro region, with a high percentage the 50 and older, and it is an opportunity to call to the forefront all the issues facing us for people who live in poverty. mr. papademetriou: this

the intergenerational kind of set of activities, or poor -- are extremely important. recall and is is motivated from when he talked about what may or could not happen, and we were surprised with the speed with which issues about gay marriage became a non-issue. i suspect years ago the conversation was about generational conflict. i have seenieve this anywhere in newspapers or anything like that for a number of years. this issue seems to have crested, and now it is intergenerational conversations. throughout campuses on american colleges, people get credit, people are volunteering to help very old people, whether immigrants or not, negotiate

life in their 70's and 80's. fantastic initiatives, from temple university to california. in the case of climate change, like immigration, where analysts the economics are clear, the effects are clear, they are anything but clear. the science of these is clear when it comes that so you only -- i do notcome mean to downplay it -- you only have to overcome so that the politics and perhaps a bit of the economics. i would not be surprised three years from now, i do not know may havethe pope contributed, we reach an accommodation where we start taking steps, that include

legislative steps on both of these issues. wentssue of immigration, i neither be surprised or anything else if somehow people started to put together these feel -- piecemeal pieces of legislation. visit becomes a catalyst, i would not be surprised to the it happen as long as -- to see it happen as long as there is trust between democrats and republicans or the administration and congress. that is what we are missing more than anything else on the issue of immigration, of trust. for people who talk about small pieces of legislation and buildup to resolving some of these issues, those small pieces of legislation can only be by either party if they can trust the other

party that they are going to keep their word as to what the next step will be. that is a difficult issue. mr. dick: in the back. parallel was his was feet in 2014. it certainlyriou: did. we are not talking about outcomes. we are talking about the european commission engaged in the issue. there have been outside forces, people dying, particularly people dying in large numbers, that have contributed to this. the european commission has made fourprogress in the past months since march, whatever it is, i six months, then it did on the last 10 years on this issue.

member states are extremely on even. take the case of germany, you know. not particularly in washington, the parochialism, and not caring about knowing what other countries are doing, the sense of germany when i do lectures is that the germans do not like immigrants. over 200,000 asylum applicants last year. it is prepared to take as much asylum seekers this year. an amazing number. can you imagine what would happen? all of them are invited, either parachuting in coming through different ways in germany. 4 of theis about 1/ size of the united states. that would be equivalent of 2 million immigrants in the year

in the u.s. on the other hand, some of the eastern european countries will refuse to take them if they cannot help it. auster says they will not budget says they will not adjudicate a single asylum claim this year. hungary is putting up a border fence. s, they arealai trying to put in five meters high. european member responses are all over the place, the european commission, whatever authority it has, questionable authority, has been making progress and is is is about trying what to do about this. unfortunately, they are focusing on the short-term kinds of know, what do you do

when you encounter people in the military -- in the mediterranean? there is a sense that something but the tough issues, how do you address, how do you keep people protected, create opportunities for them, studying, learning, etc., in the places near where the major 4 syria? people have left what do you do about jordan, lebanon, turkey, who have taken all of those 4 million people? these are hard issues. united states has to engage with europe, but we will not tell europe puts that we will not we will not until europe put some skin in the

game. then they can ask us to participate. thinkannot help but you'll see some of these issues lay out on the campaign trail. we have the first republican debate on thursday. republican front runner donald trump has made it a centerpiece of his campaign to build a wall, which coming from a real estate developer, and these issues look him up again and particularly immigration because some of the brincipal rivals, like jef misstated this is an issuebush, that the country has to deal the in a mature manner, iner, marco rubio, a key 2007.

so this issue, whether all the candidates want to do with it or at, the issue will, and it is welill come up. other questions? as aou have anything for last thing that we did not cover, something about the topic , like one last thing you would like to leave our audience with? mr. papademetriou: human trafficking. noi of everyete conversation. none of these things can happen without facilitation. these are profiteers, they are syndicates, and they are not large enough to be able to penetrate and somehow take them apart.

it is something like the communist cells toward the end of the era of the soviet union, small operations, you do not know who the next operator is. they make a ridiculous amount of money, and they incur none of the consequences of illegal movement, whether people die, get raped him beat up, god, etc., etc. all of the costs are being pushed back by the country. when they get to europe, they get pushed back. all of the costs go to the individual. all the fruits of the process go to the trafficker. the pope has spoken clearly about human trafficking he has -- i am sorry you will have to look up who the other leaders

are -- he has signed an agreement with other faith leaders to eliminate human trafficking by the year 2020. we know these are not realistic kinds of things, but moral authority, shining the light on one of the ugliest parts of this unregulateds of migration is extremely popetant, may have -- the has called it as a crime against humanity. do not be surprised if he speaks about this in the company of undocumented minors. and if you will allow an observation for 30 seconds, this pope has spoken clearly about

the complicity of all of this in this illegal immigration game, by focusing on the fact that the benefit from the presence of illegal immigrants. this is something that the church in most polite conversations do not really include when talking about illegal immigration. written elegantly, there are lots of paragraphs -- if you just google it i will not read it for you --saying we all weefit from their labor, love exploiting them, taking advantage of their presence, we discriminate against them, etc., but we bear some significant responsibility for what is going on when it illegal immigrants

make it into our country. it is very significant. ms. kreider: i would not underestimate the fact that the pope took his name from st. francis of assisi. this is a pope who does not see the application that many of us see between poverty and the environment. the something he comes to seeing both of these things as interwoven. the third thing i will say is this idea of a pope as a globalist -- indian cyclical he talks about the one-dimensionallist technocratic paradigm, which is d.c. in a nutshell. finally, he talked quite a bit .bout the desert of the mind

comment in there that you feel free as long as he had supposed freedom to consume. i believe that with this, my remarks, when he talked about spiritual fulfillment, i think he feels there has become a confusion in society and each of us as individuals have a role to play in our community all caps up to the global. and that permeates all the issues we estimate about today. lesso when he talks about is more and humility and serene attentiveness and gratitude, these are not things that are necessarily -- we do not necessarily look at these things as traits in washington that are in theommon as we work combat environment. i think he is hoping to bring here, to take us out of this

culture of relativism and bring this holistic approach cost is issues in washington and appeal to a higher plane within us, whether catholic or christian or a secularist, to try to find a way to communicate in these ways that we can understand on a higher level. i agree.on: i believe the holistic approach is one he will emphasize. in looking at and poverty were, we need whole solutions. nationsd about many around the globe, that hunger in america is far worse than in any other western industrialized country. that is important to note. then i would wrap up by saying in my mind there is this notion that seniors who are hungry in

america often too embarrassed to ask for the help that they need, to have the nutrition they need to have productive and healthy lives. imagine in the land of our abundance that one in six americans across all ages is a reagent every day. isould say the embarrassment shared. it belongs to all of us. mr. papademetriou: the excellent point about technocracy is the pope has talked about technology as the destroyer of jobs and at the root of unemployment, and you see the link between that and he will having no choice, the lesser of two evils, but try to emigrate in order to survive. the pontiff works all these issues at many different levels and unifies them.

this is an intelligent person who is committed to the things that my colleagues have discussed and i have discussed, that he is willing to see the connections to go beyond sort of like the first order surface kind of things and think second order and think about second order and third order relationships. this will be fascinating. i do not know how you put everything in a series of speeches and analyze it, but i will be looking forward to reading some of the things that he says. mr. dick: thank you very much. drill down able to in a way that we often do not get to. one thing that will be a nice o talking to our next panel, a panel of reporters and editors who cover these topics,

is that washington tends to go to sleep in august. this is like our preparation time. congress leaves people go on vacation and so forth. it has got its own rhythm, but it is also a time that is ripe for deeply reported, well-thought-out stories about things like this. i cannot remember seeing anything it has a potential in terms of a policy cultural -- inicy or cultural event several years in my time in washington, and i know some of here, and we got people from pbs, cox medial, town.ters from alalen the catholic population is

dispersed across the country. they are hungry -- your readers will be hungry for stories about this. in august they will have time to read them. what is a good transition. thank you again, demetrios, kalee, lisa. appreciate it. [applause] [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]

>> switching out nameplates. you may remember william douglas from a couple of hours ago. fialka. here? donna i guess we should give everybody an opportunity to get some coffee. announcer: some of the images from new hampshire where preparations continue for 's forum. c-span3 you that discussion. the preview begins at 6:30 p.m.

eastern, followed by the forum at 7:00. also twitter and facebook comments ahead and during the event. on the pope's visits. he will be here from september 22 until 27, including a private meeting with president obama and a joint session of congress and the u.n. general assembly, a stop at independence hall, and several religious activity. mr. dick: we are the best of reality television, c-span. transition right into our next panel, which is reporting on the pope as i said right before we got coffee.

william douglas spoke earlier about logistics, credentialing. he is the congressional correspondent from mcclatchy newspapers. he has covered the clinton white house. pleasure ofhe covering the presidential race as well as congress. he will be intimately familiar with some of the conflict-driven discussions. is the editor of climatewire. he was the environmental reporter at "the wall street journal." john was know what writing about to know what we were talking about, too. it is a pleasure to meet him for the first time. donna leinwand-leger,

past president of the press club. she has covered everything you .an imagine on th we will dive right into some of the same topics we were discussing, from the perspective ,f how do we as journalists journalists out there, approach this issue, this singular event of pope francis coming, and also what some of our readers might want to look at, too. why don't we start with you, donna. ms. leinwand-leger: we have an address before congress. we have a very political encyclical that he will be looking for reaction to. there are so many things to do. there are stories you do on everything from souvenirs.

i recall my grandfather bringing rope.pe soap on a you will have everything from schy to serious subjects. there are interesting stories to be done on how the pope's latest message, opposition to trickle down economics, jibes with some of the more conservative physical candidates out there in the republican base. the other thing we should not forget is also -- this is not just about catholics -- this visit is going to have impact on other groups, politics, so we should not forget to leave out the jewish relationship between -- with jewish leaders'

relationships with the pope and evangelical christian leaders' relationship to the pope. this is an incredibly popular pope who has been so outspoken on so many i think we will have a lot of conflict stories to write. the other thing is that looking atis visit precisely that his visit -- at his visit processing, he is visiting places where he touches on every one of his focuses. prison, catholic charities, and that will get lots of water for reporters. the last thing i would like to raise is the pope's argent. origin.e --

be done onstory to the conflict between the south american and the american -- the north american catholic church as well. so just a bunch of story ideas for you. ?r. dick: john this is a who was a globalist and a moralist. americans, we are very secure in our box, and we worry about what donald trump is going to say tomorrow. here is a man who is trying to focus on something else. as i left the office today, i read a report from the middle east that set the temperature at 154st set a world record, degrees. think about that. it is life-threatening. talk about the

rights of the unborn, and a lot of you are catholics and christians, he is talking about abortion -- no. he is talking about your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, people who born yet.been warned 154 degrees is not safe. especially among the developed countries, there is -- and the pope has touched on this a lot consumerism,. /. i really like to drive my suv today everywhere. this hope is here today to tell you that the rights it people who have not been born yet, the poorest, indefensible for people outsi the think

boxd,e and what is known about globalists in the developed world? gases tohouse concentrate up there in the atmosphere, the people start of the industrial revolution and are still pushing it, it brought us a great deal of success. separated us from these people degrees,ring under 154 and is there a moral issue, a justice issue here? do we as the richest nations of the world have to lead the way and share our riches and some of to try to get the world back under control, to hit with the united nations would like to do, 2 degrees centigrade? that will be difficult. that will be another part of the box that the pope will like you to think about. ox isther part of the b

the people who are going to leave everything -- future generations, their culture, their line, their legal system, and their nations. who is that? there are a whole group of island nation that the sea level we'reoes over 10 feet, going to lose everything. there are lawyers -- and i am one myself -- who are sitting down and thinking, what happens when a nation disappear? does it still have a sovereignty? do their laws to there anin the ocean? what happens to them? the island nations, quite a few of them, lobby every year and may have gotten so show that people do not listen to them at

the united nations anymore. basicill propose a justice problem, but a huge immigration problem. where are they going to go? do we care -- should we? not too many politicians are going to raise this issue. it is not local, not really national, not something that people really want to hear, but that are those out there this man will raise while he is here. that is a long longer list between the two of you. in covering this visit, so much to do for reporters and publications. this pope seems to be covering the entire waterfront of issues that dovetail what is going on capitol hill and on the presidential campaign trail.

like all good politicians, pope s are polled, and this pope welcome to the united states when his numbers have actually dropped. gallup had been dropping in a tovey last month from 76% 59%, which is where he was at the time he was elected. still popular, but taking a bit of a hit. hand, most of it comes from conservatives, ironically. 45%.opped from 72% to one could argue that this decline is probably based on his encyclical and a bit about his message about poverty. it will be interesting to see how his message plays out among the presidential candidates and how it plays out among some members of congress.

there were some numbers who were not pleased about his role as a facilitator in the discussions with cuba. --ood number of our members --own "the miami herald" including marco rubio were not thrilled and they that know. he will be warmly greeted by these members of congress. they look forward to having him up on capitol hill. re will be fights to see e tosits closest to the aisl shake his hand. this intersection of the message and what is going on in washington and the campaign trail cannot be underestimated. i think that is what i will be writing a lot about. i think also it is important for

us not to lose sight of what we call in washington the real people think about the pope. a lot of us have local responsibilities and our readers are going to want to hear the voices in stories and broadcast about what they think. this is a moment. if you think back to when john f. kennedy ran against nixon and the talk about we are not comfortable having a president allegiance toe the vatican, and now we are inviting the pope to impart knowledge to members of congress, and that is a sea change on how we comes to view religion and religion in politics. that is remarkable. at the same time, what is going on? had a message that is appealing to members of congress, and somewhat worrisome

to members of congress. it will be interesting to see if this plays out in the state of the union address where the president may say one thing, joe then claps, down, and then pope could say something that joe biden might not like, john clapsr pops up and flavor, but it could. climate change message -- no secret that a good number of republicans have a question about climate change. the visit comes around the planned parenthood today. whether or not he discusses abortion, you will see an aftereffect where whatever the pope says will be used as messages in congress, on the trail, for whatever issues.

moment thatredible we are going to be covering. i think it will be interesting to see how it plays out. one of the things we tried to keep track is some of our local coverage particularly the institutions that make up congress like capitol police, and everything we have seen that our reporters have gathered about this event, the secret service, the architect of the capitol, is that they have never seen anything like this and they are expecting upwards of 2ywhere from 1 million to million people. the west front will be a ticketed event, that they will not be able to keep kalee's amassing by the lincoln

memorial. there are a lot of stories from rope, which i remember from john paul ii's visit in the 1980's, the ridiculous to the sublime. and i wonder, do you think there who may be cut out -- what kind of stories do you see even in washington for people, because there are more reporters than will fit in the chambers? where do you see reporters going for stories in the midst of this event? ms. leinwand-leger: we talked about the souvenir story. almost every city, catholic

church in the country will send delegations here that can be followed. religious stories to be done. the church has a lot of internal issues, you're looking at a pope has a popularity of a rock star. n up morehe do to gi support among catholics to rejoin the church? catholic education has fallen on hard times, and there are two aspects that can be covered. first of all, higher education. we had these fine universities we alsorgetown, and have secondary school. as dioceses have close, people have lost the secondary schools. those are very important issues to folks outside of capitol hill that we can look at. in terms of being in d.c. and

capturing the color, we want to know who is going to, for this. will only be catholics, or is this guy such a superstar the there as well be to witness this incredible moment in history, which is indeed what it is. you will be able to capture also and security stories, voices, voices of people what they are hoping to hear from this pope. mr. douglas: there's probably something to be done about recruitment part of the problem with catholic secondary schools, i am a product of the catholic education. i went there from first through fifth grade. when i went through catholic school, it was almost

exclusively nuns. we now know there is a nun shortage. that is why we see schools closing. cannot philly-new york-washington visit facilitate an interest in people becoming priests and nuns? has been hard to do in north america over the last decade or so. i wonder if that place out -- and because this pope has been so vocal, whether or not this is appealing to a younger generation who might not otherwise have taken an interest in serving in the catholic faith. i have participated in, is there a catholic vote? you may see a revival in this

depending on what the pope says about this particular issue. you may see people thinking harder in the church about the things that william and donna has said. and i see this as a lifelong catholic, someone who has written about the demise of the nuns, is there a second act , that sometimes feels like it is sitting on its great? should there be a catholic vote? theuld in japan this is answer is yes. whether we see it or not is a question. ms. leinwand-leger: in addition to the catholic vote, there's also the catholic social movement, social progressives who can times past in this country, catholics have been key

to different social movements. you have got this pope who say on things like minimum wage, and do you change the way you think about your employees because of the teachings of this pope? there are also stories to do interacts ass pope a social movement with business owners, people who control other things besides politics, economics and education are the two things that comes to mind. mr. dick: yes, we have a question. >> a question for john. what do you remember -- years, during the carter the effect of that visit was drowned out a couple weeks later when the hostages were seized in hran.

is there anything that can be visit? regarding that mr. fialka: you are dealing with somebody in italy is known as p the rock star. they have spoken out on climate change. it goes back a ways. the timing on this is exquisite. he has a big issue where he can -- you will not hear politicians give his lines about a throwaway culture. we beggar people because we have all the things and they do not. you will not hear politicians specialut money is interest. this pope will walk in doors and

raise hell. mr. douglas: some of the candidates are speaking generically on the issues where the pope my college poverty, they might call it income inequality. it may prompt a discussion of forces clarification on what we mean by addressing income inequality, by addressing housing. conversation. the i mean, this is where it gets interesting, because he does not have a vote in congress from heat is not running for anything in washington, d.c. but for moral authority, he comes in here and he can steer some things and influence things. another point in the influencing and steering of that, going back to the 1979 visit, from our first panel, to the lady who

talked about the schedule, this pope seems very, very savvy about media, very savvy about social media. he is reaching beyond us, the on the mainstream media. he seems intent on reaching the masses. he is not going over our heads, but he is supplementing the coverage by reaching out, by the are welcome.ggers for some events, political conventions, sporting events, some institutions do not like bloggers because they cannot necessarily control them, they don't know who they are. but he has put up the welcome sign and he wants to reach as and heople as possible realizes that people can have an influence on institutions. ms. leinwand-leger: this is a pope that tweets. we really can't say that before. >> you mention millions of

people coming for the speech to congress. when helen was talking about logistics, she said the event would be the mass in philadelphia. when we have inauguration day, we have the inaugural committee giving us the purple tunnel of doom and that kind of thing. i understand that the house gallery is handing the seats in the chamber and the speaker is controlling the west line -- west front. is there anything on the mall? is the park service dealing with this? is it going to be like fireworks days when there is going to be screening set up? from myka: understanding of what congress can control or pretended to control -- at least in this case, we have a very controlled access to the house gallery, as willing was talking about earlier this morning, to the point where the told former , unless the week

speaker asks you specifically, you can't come, which is an extraordinary move could i don't remember too many times that happening. we won't have potted plants in the house gallery. it will be members of special invited guests. cardinals come in different parts of the country. the west front of the capital is controlled by congress. that will be coordinated with the capitol police and secret service. park service jurisdiction comes right at 3rd street, write about their. about there. they are expecting somebody people that all these governmental agencies are working together to make sure they have some sort of safety -- i think they probably learned the lesson with the purple tunnel of june. for those of you who were not

here for the delightful thing, it was a way of channeling people into the inaugural space in the national mall, and it was 10 degrees in january. starts speaking and people were still in line in the purple tunnel of doom and just kind of trapped in there. they started talking about this as soon as the announcement that the pope was going to be speaking. but even that is a limited area. i think that what they are expecting as -- they are thinking that this -- there will be a spillover as we saw during the inauguration, the people are gathering around the fdr memorial. they won't even be able to see the jumbotron images. may, is word that the pope after he is done speaking, go out on the west front and say a few words. who wouldn't want to try to see that, see the pope in person? it is going to be a sea of humanity, if you will.

the congress, secret service, park service, metro pd, all are coordinating as best they can, but there's only so much you can do when millions of people are potentially coming. is there a danger for us as journalists to get swept up in this so-called rockstar status of the pope? how can we be appropriately and respectfully critical and cynical as necessary during his visit here? mr. douglas: i think we just do our jobs. to the first part of your question, there was always a certain degree of hype, a certain degree of miracle whip to cover something that is unique and unprecedented. obviously, the pope visiting the u.s. is not unique. , thatngressional speech is a little different. in terms of the critical part, you just write stories.

you just write -- what he says will not go unchallenged. you will have a situation where if you talked about climate change -- if he talks about climate change, we will call the bush campaign, we are going to call rick santorum, we going to call all of them ask what they think. -- and they might not like that, the message that the pope delivers. same thing with poverty, same thing with cuba. you know, to this degree, criticism is all built in. built in. hilto you are respectful because it is a world leader and religious leader. at the same time, you don't just let him state his case and go unchallenged. you just write. ms. leinwand-leger: i mean, the insurance policy for everyone on that is to have many, many voices in your stories, just to be sure that people are getting

their say, and analyzing what he has said. you know, don't take it as law. want to goer thing i to is the earlier question that someone brought up about the logistics and what the mall is going to look like at all of -- with all of these crowds. the story that you could do in visit isf the pope's not only about the logistics and the security, but about the economic impact. is every hotel already booked? i suspect it is. mr. douglas: to her point, you could do a comparison and contrast of this visit versus the 2008 inauguration, where you cannot get a hotel, the transportation situation. there is sort of a tourism story that definitely can be done. the 2008 inauguration has become

the gauge of how, you know, how deep is the depth of humanity in terms of washington, d.c. you know, that is a good starting point. she is right when checking with the d.c. department of tourism, the hotel industry, to see where they are, and the airline industry, quite frankly. in 2008 they had to add flights. thatw the bus services ran up and down the northeast, they had to answer is, as did amtrak in 2008. it is worth checking out. ms. leinwand-leger: if anybody think they will be able to get a ticket between washington and philadelphia, better book now. i would also suggest that there may be people getting out of town at that time and the listings will al already be up on airbnb. reverse migration. one of the element's of

criticism is to know the subject and to see whether the person being criticized has actually and has his own record, contradicted previous statements. if you don't know what his are reallyyou handicapped. you can put as many voices in your article as you want, but you need to know what he said. visit.ntioned the 1979 there was a time later on, i had a chance to ask carter what they talked about, what his oppressions were. -- impressions were. er, ifoehen uld you could get a chance, or policy, or anybody who saw him up close, was there any smalltalk, what were his gestures like? in other words, to really personalize him and his

interactions with others, and you can't do that because you are there to witness it but if you talk afterwards, they might share of it. -- share a bit. mr. douglas: well, i think what you are going to have -- there is high expectation on capitol hill for this. you are going to have members who are going to be -- it is rare that a member of congress is, for lack of a better word, giddy about meeting somebody. you have a lot of giddy folks on capitol hill right now. i'm not sure about access to ner, but i think there are members who will have access to the pope and you can talk to and get their thoughts and weed out what was said and done -- get a readout of what was said and done. i'm hoping it is possible. john -- iestion for

have a question for john. there seemed to be moments on climate change over the last 20, hasears, where the issue popped up in pop culture, so to speak, and "an inconvenient truth" was one of them, the movie by the former vice president al gore. i feel like in a way, the topic continues to come up a little bit. they wentries "vice," to antarctica with a fairly well-financed trip and it made every journalist in the world kind of jealous about being able to do, and that might have been able to translate it to a different generation. is there anything that compares to this visit either pope -- by the pope? other ev -- are there other

climatearticularly with change where came to a head in the way we are expecting? badfialka: well, it is too kalee left the room because she could talk about the agonies al gore had raising this issue when nobody was talking about it. he has a moral streak in him that is very deep, and he really push this issue. what we know about what he did is there is a strong streak of denialism. people something don't want to think about this issue, because it could require painful decisions. giving up some of your material goods, changing your lifestyle, giving money to the poor, worrying about the unborn, not bickering future generations. these are not fun thoughts. gore really laid a lot of that out in every way he could think of, and here we have

him who haslowing i probably watched gore going to dispose saw of inertia, and he .akes some risk at that as well this will bump along, this will go in spikes. or forest now in california than anybody has ever seen. -- more forest fires now until 20 than anybody has ever seen. and are getting in freeways messing up with traffic, which is sacrilegious. goes up one day and down the next. the people who hold it up and say this is a big issue, pay rare people.re and now we of them, have this man, and he is starting out in the big leagues. it will be interesting to see and how long he endures. he understands this issue is going to have an historical

right sign and he wants to be on the right side. he wants to make the right side. mr. dick: in the back, sorry. >> i think i would like to approach the economic question -- i mean, i come from cameroon, where in 1985, the pope came, and after that there was an economic crisis in my country. for all the times i've been reading about the pope visits, i've never heard about how much it cost for a pope to travel to a country. i'm wondering where one can have information about this financial know, or, i don't financial reward by the pope visiting. you have been talking so much about poverty. how would that correlate to the impact of his message? of dollars toions

bring the pope to the united states. who takes charge of that? ms. leinwand-leger: so the cost in the united states is going to be different than the cost in cameroon, because washington, d.c. in particular -- new york especially -- are two cities that are very used to handling in arm cements. handling enormous events. in terms of cost, there was always a security cost. -- very used to handling enormous events. in terms of cost, there is always a security cost. you can see how much has been spent on things like security. fillurse, hotel rooms up and that brings occupancy taxes. d.c.can go to the department of revenue and compare similar events to get a of what money is coming in on what money is going out.

i think there is an economy of scale here that is different. when you look at it from that perspective, you will be able to compare and see the difference there. mr. dick: one thing that might be an interesting topic for story is he is going to be in cuba before he comes here. cuba does not quite have the infrastructure. we are talking about super bowl cities in the united states, these cities that are capable of absorbing an incredible demand and commanding and infrastructure, security infrastructure to guarantee safety and move people along and so forth. cuba is a little different, and direct contrast between what they will be doing in cuba and the next couple days in new york, philadelphia, washington, will be a fascinating story. ms. leinwand-leger: one other

thing i wanted him mention is we have focused a lot on the pope's visit to congress. he is also going to be visiting these other places that make for really good entry points to stories. in philadelphia, he is going to go to a prison. he has been rather outspoken on forgiveness and care of prisoners and social justice and criminal justice. it is a great opening to do a story on the state of our criminal justice system. when you mentioned cameroon, it reminded me that we have one of the highest incarceration rate in this country of developed nations. it is a really good entry point to look at issues like that. even if you can't get access, get into congress to cover the pope's speech, there are so many other access points that would allow a journalist to get in and write a really great pope story. if we see a picture

of him carrying his own bags, i would like to comment on leadership and i would like to see. mr. dick: other questions? what sort of question i have, for my own purposes, i guess -- i'm coordinati colors for my own paper -- it's hard to see beyond this as a big event, and you have these policy issues we're talking about, the cultural issues of the huge gathering of people and so forth , and kind of like the day after the super bowl, you have an empty stadium. where do we go as journalists? what kind of stories to tell in the wake of a visit, from where you stand? ms. leinwand-leger: one thing is that we are going to write all of the stories about all these issues that the pope is going to talk about, and the next thing

we want to do is follow up to see whether or not he has any impact. did he change any minds? did he pricked any consciousness? that is a great thing to follow up, is to start keeping track of those issues that the pope addressed to see if there is movement, there is movement in congress. ew does lots of religious surveys to see if we see a surgeon membership of the catholic church. or even some things as simple as going to a catholic church maybe two weeks before the event and returning to the catholic church one week after to see whether filtered that, of course, is an anecdotal story, not based on any real scientific .vidence but you can give your readers a feel for whether there is an impact with those kind of color stories and those kinds of policy follow-ups.

following up on that, you can go to a catholic church afterwards and see whether you hear about climate change in the sermon. i don't remember one. he could change that. but that is a good question. mr. dick: in one of the previous questions was about how do you maintain your skepticism as a journalist with an event like this. how do you get beyond just the man crush that a lot of people are going to feel for this single event? do that, ways to looking at before and after, ,ooking at contrast, looking at ok, who is going to do is legislation based on any of their pet topics? you cover a particular delegation, particular member of congress, find out what the issues are and find out if the pope has anything he is their policywards

expertise or just something that they feel very importantly, and whether they follow up on that and whether they will capitalize on it. demetrios in the earlier panel was talking about whether this would be a ready-made list of homilies, before and after the visit. i wonder if that is -- is that just going to take over, dominate some people's thinking about what they want to hear more what some of the-- hear or some other people in the church, what they want to talk about and haven't been able to until now? ms. leinwand-leger: we also don't pay a lot of attention to the internal politics of the pope, the vatican, the catholic church, until summary like the pope shows up on our doorstep. -- until somebody like the club shows up on our doorstep. there may be cardinals and bishops who do not think this

pope is heading in the right direction. it would be dishing to opt some of that. -- it would be interesting to watch some of that. there's a catholic newspaper called, i think, "the catholic reporter," and boy, do they have some great story ideas in there. idea to read and get story ideas for you to follow up as well. no questions? client group. ", lots of questions -- oh, l ook, lots of questions. >> and wondering what your different news organizations are toppling which issue because he is expected to give a lot of speeches in spanish, and as you have seen him he goes off the cuff a lot. i used to work at newspapers and they were never the most diverse monolingual.rgely how are your organizations preparing for that? we're notnd-leger:

very monolingual. we have a lot of french speakers and spanish speakers and german speakers. good shape inty that way. it is an something we are terribly concerned about. we also think there is going to be a great deal of translation that is goingell to be covered on tv and i think everyone will have translators available. but it does bring up an interesting issue, which is the idea of covering different ethnic groups. the place with the church is really the strongest now and is growing is in this country among hispanics and among the immigrant groups, new immigrant groups, and worldwide, you want to look at where the church is growing and that is a really great jumping off point for a story about who the pope is going to try to send this message to. itwill speak spanish because

is his native and most comfortable language, surely. but maybe he is also choosing to speak spanish to connect with people. that makes for a great story, something to explore. >> i don't have anything to add to that. >> i would address that to any of the experience reporters on the panel or anybody in the room. i wonder if you have tips for covering a large event for actually being there in the crowd. how do you protect your equipment? what equipment do you bring? how do you keep yourself safe? how do you make sure you follow your story, etc.? mr. douglas: a couple things. first of all, a crowd like this, safe is probably not a problem. this is a crowd there with a common purpose. the only thing you have to worry about is the volume as opposed

to some of the to be something unscrupulous. -- as opposed to somebody doing something unscrupulous. as i mentioned the other day, bring to bear minimums. your laptop, your notebook, recorder, whatever video apparatus you have to shoot with . and then you just go about -- it is always good to find from your -- find the friendlier faces. those are the ones you want to talk redirect -- those are the ones who want to talk were interact. for me it has always been easy. people are there together. it is a shared moment they want to share. filing could be a bit of a problem because if you are out on the mall, obviously, wi-fi could be an interesting endeavor if you don't have a hotspot or some other form of connectivity. you might want to preplan going to a coffee or wherever you

think would be nearby to where you expect to be and find that place to file. if you cover congress and you have space in the gallery, i wouldn't bank on running outside, running to the mall, then running back into the capitool. that would be too time-consuming. ahead of time, look for a place you can file. even if it is the mall early, to avoid the purple tunnel of death, just get to the mall early with as little stuff as you possibly can, and the minute you get into the secure area, just start interviewing. ms. leinwand-leger: one thing i noticed with both the most recent inaugural, inaugurations, towers, thecell

cell phones got completely overloaded. couldn't even tweet something. you should be prepared for that eventuality. i had both my ipad and my phone with me, and one was working in the other one wasn't. i covered the disasters for most of my career, and i never thought that i would say you have to have two forms of communication on the national mall, like the same way i would ever covering an earthquake in haiti. but that is something to think nt cellhaving two differe providers on your phone even if you have a disposable phone and temporary service for the event. the second thing i think about his reign. oh, my gosh, what if it rains? that is just horrible. it will not allow you to bring an umbrella on the wall when they have a crowd like this. during the 50th anniversary of the march on washington, i have never seen such a collection of umbrellas standing outside,

where the police were. it made for a fabulous picture. you will get wet and you should prepare for that. when your paper gets wet, remember that your plan won't work. pen won't work. i'm a proponent of having a pencil and one of those little sharpeners you had in your school boxing school, just in case -- school box in school, just in case. peeled.your eyes are there any mannerisms that are unique to him? if he is out, does he stop and tousled hair of a child? some of these things at dimension to a human being could the only problem with tweeting and so forth is you take your ? es off, and then what

one of the main things we want to accomplish is to portray him as a multidimensional human being, in addition to all the trappings. underneath all those trappings, there is a man. what is he like? likable, i'm sure. communicate? mr. dick: one series of tips i would have along the lines of -- aso bring and so forth much as you can and still look professional, you should wear comfortable shoes and comfortable clothing. if anybody has spent any time in washington or new york or philadelphia in september, it can be absolutely gorgeous or it can be absolutely horrible. you never know quite what you are going to get. you have to prepare for rain or sunshine or a cold blast.

it -- but you don't want to be miserable. we really do get lucky because he is coming in september as opposed to january, and i had a reporter i work with get in 2009, on her feet the 2009 inauguration. be prepared just in terms of .our personal comfort you may need to be out -- your job may require you to be out for several hours were all day long. -- or all day long. it is sort of the sport in washington to talk about metro and to complain about it. i would not plan on taking metro to this. unless you get there super early. this is the kind of thing that can probably cause blood kje, having just spit

the way. if you can, get on a bicycle, find a way to get to where you need to be in the places you need to be that doesn't require the good graces of the transportation bonds.-- transportation gods. mr. douglas: this is a basic tip. i err more on the paranoid. the last two inaugurations, i began my day at 4:30. i got to the office at 5:30 in the morning. andt to the hill by 6:00, just waited. then i went outside and started interviewing people around 7:00 a.m. and i was out from some :00 a.m. until -- from 7:00 a.m. until the time president obama stopped speaking. larges how i plan for a event like that. it is just an all day never. -- all day endeavor.

there is no last go here, go here, go here. no last-minute go here, go here, go here. if you want to be some place, go to that place pit it is incumbent upon you guys to talk your editors and let them know can and cannot be done logistically. editors have a habit at the last minute of saying, well, we heard there is a family from wherever over here. can you go find them? [laughter] not necessarily that easy. just take that clear. ms. leinwand-leger: i hate to say this, but you know where i am coming from. as a disaster reporter, you have to think through what your condition is the -- what your contingency plan is going to be something bad happens, and there can be all sorts of bad, from a stampeded to weather event at lollapalooza where a tent blew down and killed somebody. you have to think when your contingency plan is going to be for how to file and those sorts

of things. i would tell you to think it through in some way. be different depending on your organization and how many people you have out there. >> in terms of logistics and getting around, we have a lot of affiliates from around the country coming to town to give them guidance on how they are going to get from point a to point b. has anybody seen traffic maps? .c. put this out on road closures and parking? mr. douglas: probably not until he gets closer to the date. that is probably still being worked out between the law enforcement folks and, as you know, because we are sort of a hybrid, the federal government has to do with the d.c. government and they sometimes don't share the same idea what is worthy of being closed. negotiations are probably going on about that. >> do you think we can expect inauguration-type closures? mr. douglas: yes it may be -- yes or maybe worse.

>> i plan on going to more than one event in the same city on the same day. ms. leinwand-leger: you can't get between multiple offense. -- events. mr. douglas: if you have people from out of town, you can't expect them to move. mr. dick: to your colleagues, affiliates, i would say to preach a little patience and build in a lot of extra time to get around. d.c. is noty, particularly pleasant for traffic. little time in the tunnel myself between the smithsonian and federal triangle. any other questions? alright, i think we've got a little transition time for the next panel, then. thank you so much, william,

john, donna. it's been a pleasure to talk in this in-depth manner, and thank you for your time. [applause] jason, i want to thank you for doing a terrific job moderating these last two panels. i appreciate it. i want to thank all of you for being here, and for those of you on c-span, thank you for watching. this is the national press foundation at the wilson center. this briefing has been presented call,ur partners, cq-roll and our partners at indiana university. thank you so much. images from saint anselm college in manchester, new hampshire, where preparations continue for tonight's gop candidates voters first forum. c-span is teaming with "the new hampshire union leader" to bring you the discussion.

our studio preview begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by the forum at 7:00. commentsfacebook before and during the event. "q&a," formern emergency manager of detroit kevyn orr talks about financial issues and his job overseeing the largest municipal bankruptcy in u.s. history. kevyn orr: if the trade had taken that $1.5 billion when the stock market went down to 6700 and just invested in an index fund, dow jones industrial and ask -- index, whatever, the stock market is trading at almost three times what it was not only would it have tripled their money, they could have paid pensions in full and gotten was to business of what called the 13th checks, the practice of giving pensioners of 13 to check at the end of the year in addition to the 12.

they could have fixed themselves if there was some sort of sober management going forward, just like any management in the united states as well. if you have strong and focused leadership, you can resolve these problems. but it takes a lot of effort. "q&a."night on defense secretary ashton carter spoke to the military children's education coalition on friday about how to make sure that children of military families receive a good education. this is 15 minutes. [applause] sec. carter: good morning. mary, thank you. stephanie and i -- where are you, steph? half right there, stephanie. we just met with a few kids from the student to student program, your program. where are they? are you guys out there? where are they? yay~!

give those guys a round of -- what amazing, incredible kids. what a simple and powerful idea, that local military children -- and they are not all local military children -- two new military children who have moved nearby. it is a great take on the tradition of sponsorship in our military. a tradition of sponsorship of new transitions to new bases and new communities. thanks to this organization, it has now gone down a generation to our children. we are grateful for that. that is just one innovative way that this coalition supports our military kids beyond the classroom. i want to thank you for orchestrating this tremendous training seminar, for being part

-- being the department of defense's go to partner on the well-being of our military children. it means a lot to us. i want to thank the teachers, counselors, administrators, parents here today for your service to our next generation. for committing your mission to making their success stories -- making their stores success stories. to the people in this room, the scope of our mission is clear. think about it this way. for our recent high school graduates, the entire time they have been in school during elementary school spelling bees, junior high school prep rallies, and senior proms, america has been at war. last week, i spoke to our men and women on the front lines in iraq. many of them are parents, many of those who aren't hope to be someday. and for most of their lives, america has been at war.

regardless of the tumultous reality they have lived in, military children muster the same grit and courage apparent -- their parents devote to defending our country. that is what makes our military the finest fighting force the world has ever known -- it's our people. that's our secret sauce. their families, their kids, who proudly embrace their service. kids like marguerite flynn, whose story is told in the magazine on the move. she is in high school and her dad is a coast guardsman. they have moved six times. she said moving is both the best and challenging thing about being a military kid. she was asked about the most important thing that people should know about military children.

i'm told she said "kids serve too." "kids serve too." she's right. so many kids like her proudly own their service, they are creative, wise beyond their years, and they seized their story, the unique experiences, as an opportunity, a challenge, the challenge this coalition has valiantly taken on is to provide the support they need. one time i was professor carter, so i am an educator too. we know education is critical to a richer quality of life, critical to a vibrant democracy, but as secretary of defense, i

can tell you that the education of our military children is critical to our mission, to our security, and to building what i call the force of the future, the military that will defend our country in the years to come. let me say why. it is true that a capable, dynamic force of the future will depend on maintaining an unmatched operational edge and unmatched capabilities, but it is more than advanced weapons platforms to keep people safe. people keep people safe, so our men and women in uniform, their families, their conviction, courage, sacrifice -- let me say it again -- it is that which makes our fighting force the finest the world has ever known. [applause]

sec. carter: if we are going to stay the best, the u.s. armed forces has to be an attractive, inviting, supportive place to serve for families of all kinds. the world is changing. labor market is changing. younger generations and young families want flexibility and choice in their career paths. we know that. more and more, we are seeing that they want to be on a jungle gym, where you advance by moving around and having new experiences, not like an escalator, where you get on and wait your turn. dod has to keep up. keeping up means being more responsive to the needs of our military families and their children. that is our obligation. given today's abundance of career paths to choose from, we can't take for granted that military children are twice as likely as other kids to join the military.

nor can we take for granted the inclination to recommend military service for their children. both of those things happen. there is tremendous value in families upholding a tradition of service that is passed from generation to generation. it makes our military stronger. there is no substitute for the unique, potent mix of passion and mentorship that comes from a military mom, dad, granddad. in the case of a lot of kids i was speaking about earlier today, or all of them. i recently got a letter from a fourth grader who wrote, "dear mr. secretary, i want to be in the military to defend our country and our country's freedoms. my mom and dad are in the air force and that is what inspired me." there it is. it is a great reason. military children like that

future airman, who already see the virtue of their parent's service, also see their peers chase those jungle gym-style careers. they too see businesses trending towards more family flexibility, more opportunities to pursue higher education, and fewer long-term commitments, so we have to adapt to keep up and to compete for talent. when we make the department of defense a more attractive place to join across the board, the virtue of service becomes a more worthwhile endeavor for military and civilian families alike. our force of the future should be family focused, parents in uniform who never feel like they have to choose between pursuing a promotion and supporting the family. to give families more flexibility, we are expanding maternity and paternity leave, and we are creating on ramps and

off ramps between active-duty and the reserves, so our personnel don't have to get an -- don't have to derail their careers to get an advanced degree or have a family. to give service never send a families greater choice, we are overhauling the way we place oo, to offer more options and potentially fewer moves, meaning fewer first days of the new kid in the school. to give families more opportunity we make sure that serving in uniform does not mean you have to trade in your aspirations to wear a cap and gown, if that is what you want to do. the post-9/11 g.i. bill has helped over 1.11 million americans go to college. those benefits are transferable to family members. we are looking for ways to make it work even better. those are just a few of the ways

that we are working hard to be more responsive to the needs of our modern military families, which of course support our military kids. but when it comes to education, we have a specific set of tools that we use to deliver direct support in the classroom. more than 74,000 kids attend dod run schools overseen by our department of defense education activities office. our schools have good teachers, high graduation rates, and above average sat scores. we are doing well, but we can always do better. that is why starting with this coming school year, we will be a dopting college and career-ready standards across all dod schools. so our military kids can hit the ground running in college and be first in line for 21st century jobs. dod schools are only a small

part of military child education. as you all know. more than 90% of military children attend local public schools. working hand-in-hand with groups like this is essential to pushing progress outside the department's own schools. we are working together to make moving easier on kids. one way is by creating a military dependent student identifier which lets parents, educators, and schools track performance, funnel resources, and make smart policy decisions on behalf of our military children over their entire educational careers. if we know how particular groups of kids are performing, we can better target resources to maximize their success. dod firmly supports creating the identifier. we greatly appreciate the ironclad support. thank you.

we are also working to extend our reach in creative ways. case in point, our competitive educational partnership grant program, where funds go towards local schools with 15% or more number of military kids enrolled. those funds recently paid for stem partnership that helped more than 10,000 high school students earn ap exam scores that qualify them for college credit. that is an incredible return on investment. i am proud to say that this year's round of funding totals $52 million. i want to thank you once again for your continued support for this program. let me make clear that we are also open to new ideas. i have shared with you some of the ideas that we have, but we are looking for more. i hope all of you will think of us as a partner and a resource

as you tackle these challenges in your districts and your neighborhoods. i want to close with the story about a visit i made to an air base in japan this past april during the month of the military child. i had a chance to spend some quality time with military families and kids, and of course for me, it's the best part of this job is just that hands-down. i met some five-year-old students who were making birdfeeders in a craft class. in my day, i remember we made ashtrays. [laughter] it goes toarter: show how priorities and times have changed. to boost our military children's potential, we have to change too. our security demands it. the force of the future demands it. flexible, thorough support of our military families and kids

demands it. together, we can meet that demand. i can tell you they are resourceful and resilient, -- i canyou they are tell you they are courageous, compassionate, and i continued -- can tell you that they are proud of their parents and proud to serve alongside them, but instead, i will let a military child tell you in their own words. there was a poem published by katie, a sixth grader who goes to school in new mexico. her poem is entitled "military girl". i'm going to recite a few lines. "i am not in the rank of command orders i do not get but my dad is the one who does this i cannot forget i am not the one who fires the weapon who puts my life on the line but my job is just as tough i am the one who left friends behind my dad makes the sacrifice my dad works to keep his country free

but so do my mom, brother, sister, and me even though i might get a little wild i stand with the rank known as military child." that poet, katie, is one of nearly 2 million military children whose parents serve a among our active-duty guard and reserves. that is the scope of our education challenge and our opportunity. marguerite, katie, thousands of kids like them, give us a glimpse of the grit and wisdom of military children. and need to make their lives work. our mission is to have their back, to cheer them on, to make sure their stories are success stories, happy stories, and stories of fulfilled lives. because the brave men and women who defend our freedoms and risk

their lives all over the world to serve the peace of mind that comes from knowing that their families are being taken care of back home. thank you for all you do to promote that. [applause] sainte of the images from and some college in manchester, new hampshire, where preparations continue for forght's gop candidates him. c-span is teaming up with "the new hampshire union leader" and other organizations to bring you the discussion. at studio preview begins 6:30 p.m. eastern time, followed by the forum at 7:00 and your calls after that. also, twitter and facebook comments ahead of and during the event. today, president obama announced lands to cut emissions from power plants to try to reduce the threat of climate change.

plan gives the states flex ability to determine how to reduce those emissions. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell spoke on the senate floor to call for governors do not comply with the new rules. senator mcconnell: president obama will deliver another blow to the economy and to the middle class. he will unveil regressive regulations that are set to harm struggling workers and families. they are projected to cost literally billions. they threaten to ship good middle-class jobs overseas. they are likely to make it harder to maintain reliable beat demandnergy to could they will likely result in higher energy bills for those who can least afford them, potentially raising electricity rates by double digits for people that i represent. all of this, mr. president, and for what? for what?

not only will these massive regulations failed to meaningfully affect the global climate, but they could actually end up harming the environment by outsourcing energy production to countries with poorer environmental records like india and china. they may also be illegal. to governors wrote earlier this year and they take a responsible way and see approach and allow the courts 2:00 a.m. before subjecting the assistance to such unnecessary pain -- subjecting their citizens to such unnecessary pain. review toe court's the white house in june on another environmental relation undermines the witness of this -- wisdom of this approach. even though that market really cury regulation was tossed out, most of its damage had already been done. it reminded governors that it would be reckless not to take a wait-and-see approach this time.

now, mr. president, several governors have already decided they won't allow the administration to rush them into adopting these regulations. and i expect more to follow. i was recently able to place language in the senate into air appropriations bill that would frombit the administration arbitrarily imposing its will on states that take this responsible approach. -- alsoaputo has has a bill that would prevent regulations for moving forward until the courts have ruled on their legality. these are not the only legislative options congress can consider. we can pursue other avenues like cra resolutions and further as thesetions riders regulation's are published and

they wind their way through the courts. but here's the bottom line about today's announcement. if the obama administration were actually serious about advancing renewable energy, then it would follow the example of what leaders like senator murkowski have been achieving in the energy committee. she is showing how we can make big strides on energy diversification, that we can do it in a bipartisan way, and that we don't have to punish the middle class to do it. but this white house seems to want good politics, not good policy. officials in his administration have said they want to make electricity rates skyrocket, and they want to make examples of people who get in the way. they are tired of having to work with congress, the one people elected. that is why the administration is trying to impose these deeply regressive regulations, regulations that may be illegal, that won't to meaningfully impact the global environment, and that are likely to harm

middle and lower class americans the most, all done by executive fiat. triumph ofts the blind ideology over sound policy and honest compassion. and in kentucky, these regulations would likely mean fewer jobs, shuttered power plants, higher electricity costs for families and businesses. so i am not going to sit by while the white house takes aim at the lifeblood of our state's economy. i will keep doing everything i can to fight them. >> just after senator mcconnell's remarks on the senate floor, president obama and the head of the epa announced new rules to reduce emissions. they spoke for about half an hour.

>> that is so cool to be able to do that. i'm the appetizer. the dinner awaits. this is an incredibly wicked cool moment. [laughter] standing here now, the word "proud" doesn't come close to describing how i feel. it means a lot to have a chance to thank all of you, everyone who has worked so hard and waited so long for this very day to come. [applause] sec. mccarthy: looking around this room, i know many of you have been fighting this fight for a long time and since the beginning and we have been there together. we may be too old by now to remember just how long that is, but it hasn't dampered our enthusiasm or our passion. so we have talked for years about what needs to be done, what we could do. we have gotten a good understanding of how it can get

done and, well, today, we're actually doing it. [applause] you know, the road has been long, but we have come awfully far and look at how many new faces have joined in this fight. as many obama will no doubt tell you climate change is one of the most important issues we face as a country and as itizens of this world and it affects everyone we know and even we love, our kids, our communities, our ability to obtain a decent living, it impacts our health, our safety and our livelyhoods. one thing is crystal clear, acting on climate has become what it is, a moral responsibility. and thankfully no leader anywhere has understand that better or articulated that more