under barack obama's leadership and democrats in congress' leadership. [applause] our country is stronger than that. and we fought our way back thanks to democratic leadership that has now delivered 67 straight months of private sector job growth. yes. more than 13 million new jobs. millions of americans now have health insurance that did not ave it before. and opportunities are being expanded to more and more families across america. that is what we want the american people to see. i join you in your excitement to hear from all four of our incredible candidates in just a moment. there's no doubt how important it is we focus on the next 12 months. but make no mistake, there are elections in many places in just 12 days, including in virginia

and throughout the south. there are also important elections in the next few days. i hope all of you commit to knock on doors, raise some money, point to early voting locations, and we can make sure that candidates across america will be building momentum until we election a democrat as the 45th president of the united states. [applause] when democratic women vote, democrats win. ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for your ongoing support. with the women's leadership forum and democratic national committee. we have our work cut out for us. it will not be easy, but nothing worth fighting for is ever easy. i look forward to fighting side-by-side with you. throughout the next year and into the future when we make sure that a democrat is elected and sent to the white house as the 45th president of the united states of next and democrats are elected across the country.

thank you so much and enjoy the forum today. [applause] ♪

>> ladies and gentlemen, governor lincoln chafee. [applause] gov. chafee: what a pleasure to join my fellow democrats. and candidates who come here later. we are all dedicated to keeping the presidency and winning back he house and senate. we all know the republican

agenda set back women's rights and i pledge all my energy towards a 2016 victory for democrats all across the country. we do have a winning message, building a strong middle class, investing in education and infrastructure, extending health coverage to more and more americans, a path to citizenship for those who have lived in the hadows for too long. we defend our civil liberties and women's reproductive freedoms, we respect the rights of our lgbt friends, and nderstand that black lives matter, and we do need to do more for native americans. [applause]

most of all, you can be sure that democrats will make good appointments to the supreme court. something that this country needs and deserves. i've been campaigning on a platform of prosperity through peace. after much thought, i've decided to end my campaign today. i would like to take this opportunity to advocate for a chance to be given to peace. today is all about women's leadership. it reminds me of one of my avorite greek plays. lysistra. a comedy from 400 bc. in that play, a group of women fed up with the warmongering of their husbands agree to -- how do i say this appropriately? withhold their favors until eace returned.

and it worked. the end of the peloponnesian war. studies show that women lead ifferently than men. that women are more likely to be collaborative and team oriented. it is undeniable the benefits women provide to the pursuit of peace. when i was a senator, a general from the pentagon testified on global military powers. i asked him, who is second to the united states in military might? he said, probably the u.k. the point remains true. no real rival to the united states exists when it comes to otal weaponry. we make virginia class

submarines in rhode island. what a phenomenal piece of technology and craftsmanship. a machine bristling with the most advanced power imaginable. and submarines are just one instrument in our staggeringly efficient arsenal of war. yet we are sin ever deeper into an endless morass in the middle east and north africa. people keep dying and peace seems further and further away. it is evident that all this military power is not working for us right now. [applause] let me share a story from vietnam. the city has some any memories for my generation. ust this summer, former viet cong and ex-american g.i.'s were laughing, eating, and celebrating the fourth of july

together. the article quoted pete terson, a former air force a hanoio spent years in prison. he said vietnam and united states have so much in common. why did we do it, he was asked. i have thought about this for a long time. i am convinced the war could ave been averted had we made the effort to understand the politics of the place. had we made the effort to understand the politics of the place. from what i have heard, none of the republicans want to understand anything about the middle east and north africa. they prefer more bellicosity and ore macho posturing.

when i hear all this tough talk, i have deja vu about the evil viet cong. we should be different. democrat should insist on learning from the lessons of vietnam. it all could have been averted. i am not saying all countries are right. we must hold them accountable, but we cannot do that if we do not hold ourselves accountable and change our entire aradigm. the united states is so strong, militarily, economically, culturally, if we have courage, we can have prosperity through peace. not just in the united states, but all over the world. do we want to be remembered as the bomber of weddings and

hospitals? we want to be peacemakers. if american war veterans and viet cong fighters can laugh together on the fourth of july -- en i know, so, too, an iranians and israelis, shias and sunnis. a wise man, president eisenhower, counseled us that only alert and knowledgeable citizenry could ensure the proper measure of both security and liberty. citizens, you, women, humans, to demand from your leaders an end to the endless wars and the beginning of a new era for the united states. thank you, and go democrats 2016! thank you, democrats! hank you, women! [applause]

ms. wasserman schultz: i know that was a special and important message for all of us here and i would like everyone to join me in thanking lincoln chafee for his remarkable public service. [applause] as i was standing backstage and thinking about what words come to mind when i think about lincoln chafee, class act was the first one that jumped into my mind. i want to share with you in a trip down memory lane what it was like when i heard that lincoln chafee decided to become a democrat. that was a big deal. when he joined our party, he

made it clear that his former party had left him and they had gotten too extreme for him to be comfortable remaining as republican. lincoln chafee has been a public servant on conscience. he has stood strong and used his voice and made sure that the people of his state, the great state of rhode island, when he was governor, had governors who knew it was important to invest in education, to stand up and make sure that people who had no voice had his. and to make sure he sounded a clarion call for peace as he did here with us this morning. i thank lincoln chafee for his service in his commitment to electing a democrat to the white house in 2016. we look forward to seeing him campaign with us all across the country during the 2016 campaign for president. thank you so much and thank you to lincoln chafee.

[applause] ♪ ♪

> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage state senator nita turner. sen. turner: good morning. good morning, ladies. i just want to have a keeping it real moment. is that all right with you? i want to keep it real. s that all right with you? i will forgo all my written remarks, that might be a little dangerous, and just speak from the heart. it is such a pleasure to be back here with you. i was near 2013. want to thank congresswoman

debbie wasserman schultz for her leadership. ladies, the struggle is eal. to turn this thing around, it is going to take women to make a difference. if i could take you back down memory lane in this country's history just for a moment, when they founded the country, there was not a lot of diversity round the table. there was no ethnic diversity new york gender diversity, no class diversity. but as a nation, despite all of our flaws, the one thing we can say about this great nation of ours is that we have been a nation of progress. nfortunately, we've got some folks who are stuck on stupid, who are dazzled by dumb, who wavent to take us back.

lady, we refuse to go back because it is too important to the culture of the nation of this country to make sure that we do the thing. and what does that mean? means that women, we have to unite based on what we have in common and push this country to its greatest greatness. we do not need titles to do that. titles are good, but purpose is etter. i am a mother jones kind of girl. mother jones once said she would pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living. we've got to fight like hell for the living all tai long. and we need folks who are committed to doing that. so lady, i say that because

mother jones did not have a fancy title, but she stood up for coal miners in the 1800's, she stood up for babies to make sure this country would have child labor laws that protected ur babies. i think about women like fannie a sharecropper from mississippi, she didn't have a title but she understood it was important for her to symbolically show by her sweat and her tears that african-americans had a right to register and then to go vote to control their own destiny. titles are good, but purpose is etter. it is not just about our reproductive health. it doesn't get any more personal than controling your own bodies. we do not need legislative daddies and executive daddies to tell us what to do with all of this.

we do not need it. but i tell you this. ladies in the great state of ohio, i got so fed up about men, because obviously i wasn't elected to make sure that everybody would have access to a high quality education, i wasn't elected to make sure that rkers would have not decent, working class deserve good and great. that's what we should be talking about as democrats. this ain't about decent. it is about time we get the whole damn dollar. say whole damn dollar. [applause] i introduced legislation to deal with erectile dysfunction. [laughter] i was over it, sisters. i was over it.

i was over it. all i'm saying sisters is that we got to find creative ways to move and push this nation. because only the future is at stake. that's all. only your future and the future of our children, that's all. when we live in a nation where we have to fight for voting rights again, only the future is at stake. that's all. when women have to beg to have access to high-quality health care, that is all. that's all. when we have to deal with whether or not -- can you imagine this? if they take back the white house, they continue to have control of the senate and house, what kind of state this nation would be in? sisters, it is up to each and every one of taos use what we have to make a difference in this world and you don't need a fancy title to do that.

titles are good, but purpose is better. [applause] sisters, we can do this thing. if i was at a sunday morning -- i know we have some ministers in the room. if i was at a sunday morning -- women's day, i would say, if god made anything, just any little thing, better than a woman, he must have kept it to himself. can i get an amen? can i get an amen! so i come to morning because folks are going to give you the facts and the figures. i come this morning to lift you. to tell you that this world will not be right unless you are fulfilling your purpose. and we have plenty of foremothers who did not have fancy titles but they did the

dadgum thing and we've got to do the thing on behalf of this nation and sisters, we can't jump over 2015 to get to 2016. every single election year is important. every single one. from the school board member to the president of the united states of america. it fikes -- it takes teamwork to make the dream work and we are he team. titles are good, but purpose is better. u know, i do this, being the oldest of seven children, having my mother die at the age of 42 years old. and for some of the young women in here that might be old but that is awfuly young to die. my mother died with her dreamed eferred.

i had a conversation with god, said, if you help me, i'll change things. she died -- she did not have a life insurance policy and she had no money in the bank, but she loved her children. when we have elected officials who do not understand they have to care about the least of these, it is personal for me. had somebody written me off, i would not have a fancy title in front of my name and fancy initials behind my name. we are a country who lifts eople. no matter where they are. democrats that is what we do. that is what we do. you see, titles are good, but purpose is better. so listen if your hair is on fire, you want to act like your hair is on fire. and democratic women, we got to have a righteous indignation

about what is right and what is wrong. there's no halfway way to be for working class people to live a good and great life. there's no halfway way to be for women controling their own body. there's no middle of the way way to know that women need to make the whole damn dollar. there's no halfway way to believe that one woman, one vote, one woman, one man, one vote is the way that this country ought to be. ladiddadi erybody, and everybody, my grandmother used to say, should have a right to live a good life. not decent, a good life system of women, i want to send you out of here motivated but i want to send you out of here on a mission. to do whatever it is that you can put your hands to to make a difference in this world, this year, next year, every single year beyond.

so three things i want you to remember if you haven't remembered anything else if you don't remember anything else i've had to say here today. fierce women shape the world. [applause] and we got to get our shape on. number one and most importantly, i believe the creator of this great universe has given us two hands, one to reach forward and one to reach backward, lifting as we climb. we are our sisters and our brothers keepers. number two and most importantly, we can't ask folks to do more for us than we are willing to do for ourselves. brother frederick douglass put it this way, he said, you might not get everything you work for but you will work for everything that you get. sisters, we know all about that. [applause] in the words of my grandmother, who was born in 1913, a country that did not recognize her gifts and her talent because of her

gender and because her skin had een kissed by the sun. my grandmother could not read or write, but she could count her money. she kept her money in the southern lady's bank and trust. when i asked my grandmother what does it take to be successful in this thing called life, she said, my dear granddaughter, all you need are the three bone, the wish bone, the jawbone, and the back bone. she said the wish bone will keep you hoping and praying because hope, hope, hope, hope is the motivator. the dream is the drive. the reason why we co-do what we do each and every day is because we hope and believe that tomorrow will be better than today. there are people counting on us to make sure tomorrow is better

than today. the jawbone will give you courage to speak truth to power. the hottest places of hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis choose neutrality. sisters and brothers, we cannot be neutral. e cannot be neutral. if our hair is on fire, we ought to act like our hair is on ire. but my grandmother said, all the hoping, wishing, talking, praying in the world, all that stuff is really, really good but it means nothing unless you have supercall fradge listic -- califragilisticing xpialidocious bone, the back bone.

the backbone will keep us standing through all of our trials and tribulations and we will go through some stuff in this life, but you cannot have a testimony without a test and we are being tested about whether or not we are brave enough, bold enough, strong enough, human enough, passionate enough, to stand up and do that daggone thing on behalf of ourselves and of generations to come. titles are good, but purpose is better. god bless you. god bless you. titles are good, but purpose is better. [cheers and applause] titles are good, but purpose is better. titles are good but purpose is better.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome senator bernie sanders. [applause] sen. sanders: thank you, good morning. you asked me to follow nina turner, thank you very much.

cannot do that, but i will do my est. let me begin by thanking all of you, not only for what you do in fighting for women's rights, but for what you are doing to expand and improve our democracy. one of the reasons -- let me be very blunt about this -- one of the reasons i am running for president of the united states is that i worry very much that both economically and politically, our country is liding into oligarchy. [applause] i know this is not an issue that you will see discussed much on tv, but it is the reality of what is happening in america. we are the wealthiest country in he history of the world.

as we speak here and meet here this morning, millions and millions of families are struggling to feed their ids. we have the highest rate of poverty of any major country on earth and 40% of african-american kids are living n poverty. all of the same time as 50% of all new income is going to the top 1% and the top 1/10 of 1% owns almost as much wealth as he bottom 90%. as a nation, we are going to have to ask ourselves whether it is morally acceptable, whether it is economically sustainable,

that so few have so much while o many have so little. in my view, that has got to change and we need an economy that works for working families. [applause] it is not just economics, it is politics. as a result of the disastrous citizens united supreme court decision, millionaires and billionaires are pouring unlimited sums of money into the political process through ndependent expenditures. in the last election last november, 63% of the american people did not vote, 80% of young people did not vote, and in today, millionaires and

billionaires are buying the elections. is that what democracy in this country is supposed to be about? i think not. the truth is as all of you know, republicans win when voter turnout is low, when they look -- when millions turn their backs on the political process, when they look to washington and say, i'm working longer hours or lower wages, what are you doing for me? when they say, i don't have any health insurance, what are you doing for me? when they say, i can't afford so send my little baby into decent quality child care, what are you doing for me? can't afford to send my older kids to college, what are you doing for me? when people give up on the political process and don't vote

in large numbers, when republican governors suppress the vote, republicans win and we ose. what do we do? what we do is make it clear that in this country, we need a political revolution. [applause] establishment politics, the same old, same old ain't going to do it. that establishment economics is not going to do it. if you want to win an election, you win an election from the white house on down, you rally working-class people who have given up on the political process. you rally young people who have given up on the political

process. you bring people together who are prepared to say loudly and clearly, enough is enough. our government belongs to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires. [cheers and applause] if we do not do that, and if this is a same ol'type of election and of millions of working people and young people do not participate, republicans will win and we will lose. i'm extremely gratified in my campaign so far that we have hundreds of thousands of people to come out to our meetings and events, that we have 750,000

individuals who have made campaign contributions, not billion dollar contributions, ut $30 apiece. more individual contributions than any campaign in american history. we win when people come together, when we reject the division of men versus women, of straight versus gay, of black versus white, of people born in this country as opposed to people born in another country. hat is what they want.

we win elections when we stand together and we say, you know what? in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are going to start paying their fair share f taxes. we win elections when we say to the working people in this country, we know you can't make it on eight or nine bucks an hour, and that is why we are going to raise the minimum wage o $15 an hour. and that is why we are going to win the election when we say to women, there is no rational economic reason that women make $.79 on the dollar compared to men. we are going to have pay equity. we win an election in which we say to working families, yes, when you go to work, you are going to have quality childcare

and pre-k. we win this election when we say to the unemployed, we are going to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of decent paying obs. where are good to win -- we're going to win this election when we tell the world what world the republicans are living in when they deny science and refuse to go forward and combat climate hange. we win this election when we make it clear that women have fought too long and too hard to lose control over their own odies.

we win this election on we stand up and say, no, you are not going to cut or defund planned parenthood. you are going to put more money into planned parenthood. so, sisters and brothers, we are in an historical moment in american history. the crises that we face today in many ways are worse than at any time since the great depression of the 1930's. in my view, what this is election is about is not just electing a president. far, far more significantly, it is about transforming the united states of america.

it is about understanding that there is something very, very wrong where the united states of america is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid family and medical leave. how does that happen? the only major country on earth that does not guarantee paid sick time or paid vacation time. ow does that happen? the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care for every man, woman, and hild as a right.

so, what this campaign is truly about is to bring people together by the tens of millions. and that's tough. that is tough stuff to do. but if we do that, were not just going to win this election. we are going to win it by a landslide. because what happens is -- how many people in your communities believe that the republicans -- as the republicans do, that we should cut social security, cut medicare, cut federal aid to education, and then give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 2/10 of 1%? nobody believes that. but republicans can win elections because so many people have given up on the political process.

and what this campaign is about is revitalizing american democracy by bringing people together to stand up and fight for the promise of what this great country can be. [applause] we can be a nation in which the middle class grows, not shrinks. we can be a nation in which we do not have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country and more economic and ealth disparity. we can do that. but in order to that, we're going to have to do something that's pretty hard. pretty, pretty, pretty hard. to quote larry david. [applause] nd this is what we have to do.

in the last three decades, as everybody in this room knows because you have been part of the process, we have made significant progress in becoming a less discriminatory society, and we should be proud of hat. we should be proud that in 2008, the american people decided to vote for a candidate based on his program and his ideas and his character, not the color of is skin. we should be proud that all over this country, as a result of your efforts and those that came before you, women have made extraordinary progress in breaking down discriminatory barriers. and by the way, we are not going back. e are going to go forward.

and if we were here 10 years ago, and somebody jumped up and said, you know, i think that gay marriage will be made legal in every state in this country, somebody else would have asked them what they were smoking? which raises another issue. [laughter] but we have. but we have made progress. we have made progress in women's rights, in gay-rights, in civil rights. we still have a long way to go in all of those areas, but we should be proud of what we have accomplished. but here is where we have not made progress. we have not made progress in the economic struggle. we have lost ground. today, men and women in many cases are working longer hours for lower wages, and almost all of the wealth is going to the people on top.

the essential question in terms of the economic struggle is are we prepared to organize and to take on the billionaire class, which today has so much economic and political power? that is the question. and if we are not successful in doing that, my prediction to you is the rich will continue to get richer while almost everybody else gets poorer. my prediction to you is that the republicans who do not believe citizens united went far enough, want to get rid of all campaign finance regulations, will simply be able to give checks of hundreds of millions of dollars to the candidates of their choice. in other words, having candidates become employees of

their corporate interests. that's the future if we do not educate and if we do not organize. but i have confidence that we can do both. i have confidence that if we come forward with a progressive, strong agenda that is prepared to stand up to corporate america, is prepared to stand up to the koch brothers and the billionaire class, that is prepared to outline an agenda which will improve the lives of tens of millions of people, we can not only win the white house, regain the senate and the house, gain governors chairs all over america -- not only can we do that, but much more importantly, we can transform this country and make it the country we all know that it can become. thank you all very much. [cheers and applause]

♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome house democratic leader ancy pelosi. [applause]

leader pelosi: good morning, everyone. it is a morning, a day of great pride as we take pride in all of ou here. debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for your great leadership. we are all proud of you. ee du -- daughtry, executive director of the convention, which is going to nominate the next president of the united states, and i'll tell you, ohio state senator geena turner, doesn't she turn it on for -- nina turner, doesn't she turn it on for all of us? she is just great. i said, gina --

[laughter] i know nina full well. my daughter christine sings her praises practically every day. thank you, nina. and carol friedman. thank you for your great leadership. here we are today. you are hearing from our fabulous presidential candidates. we just heard the energy and enthusiasm of bernie sanders. we will see the confidence and the voice of the future of martin o'malley. how wonderful that lincoln chafee has said he is stepping aside to fight with those who choose the democrats to elect a democratic president of the united states. and of course, we are very proud of hillary clinton. wasn't she wonderful? [applause] more on that in a moment. today, we come together in celebration of the outstanding leadership of women in our country.

again, we take pride in the power of women in our economy, our society, and our democracy. we are proud of the extraordinary progress women have driven across america and throughout our history. and as women leaders in our party, our community, and our country, we come here to rededicate ourselves to the work that remains. guess what? i will get to that. the courage of generations that struggle for equality and civil rights of so many women. today, we must draw inspiration from their leadership and accept the challenge of their example. this is the day marked by history, 100 years ago today, 30,000 women poured into the streets of new york city, marching down fifth avenue to demand the right to vote as americans.

imagine their courage. imagine their courage. that was the strength of their dedication, of their commitment to change. that is the dedication and seriousness it took to win. just imagine what they could have done with the technology and communication and obilization we have today. we don't have to imagine it. we just have to do it ourselves. as we look to our past and the present, we can see that nothing is more essential to our future, nothing is more wholesome to our politics than the participation and leadership of women. that was an applause line. [laughter] [applause] one of the most valuable resources in our country are the outstanding democratic women in the house and the senate. and i want to brag about hem.

of course, they have always been leaders in issues that relate to women and children and families and their leadership does well beyond that now. on issue after issue, fight after fight, it is the democratic women of congress who are leading the way, ever, ever, even right now as we speak. ranking member maxine waters of the financial services committee, leading the fight to re-authorize the ex-im bank and preserve dodd-frank reforms for consumer protection. congresswoman eleanor holmes norton, on the front of the transportation bill and the egotiations going there. nita lowey on appropriations, the ranking democrat on appropriations, driving our -- joining with barbara mikulski, a woman leader of the appropriations committee in the senate two women driving our fight to invest in america an keep america open, keeping government open. our ranking members --

n rules, louise slaughter, linda sanchez, carolyn maloney on joint economic, all these ranking members will be chairwomen whone we take back the house in 2016. and i want to salute the excellent powerful and successful women in homeland security, armed services and the intelligence committee. the role of women in leadership in our congress is all-encompassing. whether it's the defense of the country, strength of our economy, or protection of people in our community, on every issue women are leading the way. the women of the house democratic caucus are standing with president obama and vice president biden, championing justice and opportunity for hardworking american families each and every day. before i go on about the women, i want to talk about joe biden for a moment.

aren't we proud of the statement that he made? [applause] we owe a great deal to joe biden. he was the champion when we passed the violence against women act over 20 years ago. he was there to have it re-authorized just last year. he has been there for us over and over again and i joined debbie and commending them -- commending him in the fight against cancer, the moonshot to cure cancer, channeling his concern for his own family, his personal belief, his political know-how, his goethal record, to focus on the problem, cancer, that has hit every family in america. it's hard to imagine a family that has not been affected. thank you, joe biden, for your greater -- great leadership, you are a warrior for the middle class. [applause] but now -- when i came to congress, there were 23 numbers

of congress, 12 democrats, 11 republicans, out of 430 ive. -- out of 435. imagine. today we have that -- multiplied by five, house democrats, 65, the most women in a caucus in the history of a republic. but we want more. we want more. and we need you to help us to get more. it is women on the ballots and women at the polls that will lead us to victory. we're so proud that the democratic congressional campaign committee has women running and more than half of ur targeted races. and i think kelly ward, our magnificent executive director. she is fabulous system of respected so talented so politically astute. i don't know if you're hearing from her but you will be hearing from her. she's just great, you should the leadership of ben ray lujan, if i may be allowed a moment of olitics.

but our priority is to elect many more women to congress, and we need your help to do this. we know, this is not a fact, but i tell you this, we know if we reduce the role of money an increase the level of civility in our elections, we'll elect more women, more minorities, more young people, more lgbt people than ever before and all of america will be a victor in that success, because we know that when women succeed, america ucceeds. ok. when women succeed, america succeeds. you've got to do better than that. when women succeed, america succeeds. that's not just a slogan. it, too, is a statement of absolute fact. and that's the title of democratic women's economic agenda for women and working families. not just the women, our entire caucus. our agenda, inspired by our god mother, the greatest, rosa delauro of connecticut, she's

absolutely spectacular. strengthened by doris matsui, chair of the women's caucus. also co-chairs lois fran tell and debbie dingell. they stand on pill loofers fair pay, raise the minimum wage, guarantee women the respect of equal pay for equal work. this is -- this will make our economy grow. paid sick leaf. isn't it exciting that our new speaker wants to spend time with his family? we want everybody in america to be able to have that same opportunity. if someone in the family is sick. affordable quality child care. the linchpin of a working parent's success in the workplace. this is not just for women. this is for family. this is for men and women. and retirement security. ensuring women can trust in a secure and comfortable retirement, a particular tribute

to the vision of doris matsui and jan schakowsky, co-chairs of our senior task force. not that they're seniors, but they're co-chairs of the task force. their work is so important because you will see, as we have the battle of the budget so many of the issues that relate to seniors are at risk. but so many of the issues that pertain to women are out there, if the american people weigh in. president lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with it, you can accomplish everything, without it, nothing. the public sentiment is there for equal pay for equal work, for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, for paid sick leave, for quality, affordable child care, for honoring our seniors. it's out there for comprehensive immigration reform, it's out there for a sensible gun background checks to make america safer. in order to make all of these things happen, though, we must unleash the pow over women. women at the polls, women on the

ball los, women in every walk of life, whether it's the security of our country, the strength of our economy, the quality of our education system, the safety of our families, every issue. yet again and again republicans have shown their uncomfortable obsession with attacking women's health care. even at the expense of everything else in our country. last month, 151 house republicans voted to shut down government rather than allow women access to affordable family planning and life-saving preventive health care. 2/3 of the republicans said shut down the government, mr. speaker, and if you don't give up your -- and if you don't, give up your gavel. this is all about the lack of respect that they have for the lack of women -- lack of respect they have for women to make their own decisions. aren't we prud of se seal richards and how she handled all

of that? they'll keep it as as they will today with one of their bills on the floor where they don't want to fund planned parenthood, and we'll keep at it. republicans are holding america hostage to a calendar of chaos. democrats offer a path to progress. from keeping government open to protecting the full faith and credit of the united states of america, to having a robust transportation bill, protecting our 9/11 workers with care and compensation, the list goes on and on of so many things that are overdue. and then in the next week, our path to progress must overcome their calendar of chaos. as i said, women are in the lead. instead of doing these things that we need to do that i just enumerated some of, republicans are wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars on a select committee they admit is nothing more than a brazen political effort to smear secretary

clinton. [applause] how proud we are of our democratic members on the committee, representative cummings of maryland, adam smith of washington state, adam schiff of california, linda sanchez of california, tammy duckworth of illinois. i don't know if you saw any of it in the news, but our democratic members were absolutely superb, and i'm very, very proud of them. [applause] ms. pelosi: how about hillary clinton? was she not magnificent? [cheers and applause] ms. pelosi: as bernie sanders said, enough is enough. i know the women of the w.l.f. are demanding accountability of republicans' toxic priorities.

let me say what i think the main contrast between the democrats and the republicans that will hit home for america's working families, if you believe, as the republicans do, that trickle-down economics is the way to create jobs in our country, trickles down, if it creates jobs, that would be good. if it doesn't, so be it. that's the free market. that's their attitude. and if you believe that, then the money that it costs the taxpayers to give the tax breaks to the wealthiest people in america, that is trickle down, will not allow for the investments in education and infrastructure and research and development, all the things we need to strengthen the middle class and make sure that everyone participates in the prosperity of our nation. instead of trickle-down economics, we are talking about middle-class economics recognizing that the middle class is the driving force in

our economy. that consumer confidence in a consumer economy is what will turn our economy fully around. and that that middle class is the backbone of our country and that stagnation of wages in the middle class -- we want to lift many more people into the middle class. and president obama and vice president biden have done an excellent job, just to review for a moment, when the president took office, standing on the steps of the capitol nearly seven years ago, the deficit was $1.4 trillion, it's under $500 billion now. [cheers and applause] ms. pelosi: we want it to go lower, but it is 70% less than what the republicans left him. unemployment was over 10% and now flirting with 5%. [applause] ms. pelosi: under his leadership and many of the initiatives that the house and senate democrats

put into the recovery package. the stock market was between 6,000 and 7,000 and now over 17,000. 10,000 points. who says the economy isn't better under democrats? 70 months, straight months of private sector job creation, some of it to the ingent of the private sector and tied to initiatives in our recovery package and related to the rebound of the insurance industry -- excuse me the auto industry. so we have a situation when the auto industry was on its heels and with our policies and the president's leadership, it is now, the auto industry is now thriving and contributing to that private sector job creation. the list goes on and on.

and 17 million more americans have access to quality affordable health care. [cheers and applause] ms. pelosi: where being a woman is no longer a pre-existing medical condition. but again, this is all great. all the indicators are wonderful except the wage indicator and that's what this debate has to be in our country. the republicans have stood in the way any additional measures the president wanted to take. their obstruction and thire dysfunction has stood in the way of additional job growth and paycheck growth. it is absolute essential in this debate, in this election, the public understands what is at stake and what it means to them, what it means to them and to their families. we have to reclaim our politics for those who would drown our election in -- and suffocate the

airways with their dark special interests, unidentified special interests' money. we will lead and we will act and will overturn citizens united and must elect a democratic president to do that. we will reform campaign finance and engage the power of women across the nation. and my daughter says, we will not agonize, we will organize. our presidential candidates speaking before you, we see wisdom and judgment. we know our nominee will draw a stark contrast with the strength of our values and the destructiveness of republican special interest priorities. we may well be electing the first women president of the united states. [cheers and applause] ms. pelosi: we know we will be

electing a democratic president of the united states. and we know a democratic president will need a strong congress to succeed not the republican congress that is dysfunctional and in an extremeist. we will win big. we have seen the list of a beginning of the way. the fresh inspiration the women leaders you have here today, the inspiration and strength of our candidates for president across the board, our women candidates who run, i'm so proud to be a leader of the house democratic caucus, which is the majority of women, minorities and lgbt members in our caucus. going fl the courageous women who went before us across the history of our country, we must bring the message to your states, to your

districts, to your communities, when women vote, women succeed. and when women succeed, america succeeds. thank you, are you ready to go out and ring doorbells? [cheers and applause] are you ready for a great democratic victory? [cheers and applause] ms. pelosi: i thought you were. thank you all very much. have a good meeting! cheers and applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome governor martin o'malley! [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: thank you very much. thank you very much. nancy ive it up to

pelosi! [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: it is wonderful to be with all of you today. i haven't been in the company of so many strong women since my daughters moved out of the house. [laughter] governor o'malley: it's great to be with all of you and thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to share a couple of thoughts with you this morning. everybody wide awake? i thank our chair, debey wasserman schultz for allowing me to be here. i want to thank all of you and those who flew in from the west coast for being up so early today. [applause] governor o'malley: you west coast folks are very hearty when it comes to the transcontinental flight. let's begin. my name is martin o'malley and i'm very, very lucky to have been -- to have spent my entire life surrounded by strong women.

y mother, barbara o'malley was senator mikulski's gate keeper for more than 30 years. how about that? wakes up every day and goes to work at the ginger age of 87. she keeps that senate office open and keeps it in line and that is no surprise to me because she kept six of us in line. she and my dad were part of that great generation, so-called greatest generation, by tom brokaw. my dad flew 33 missions over japan. went to college because of the g.i. bill. but my mom for her part at the e of 17 at fort wayne, indiana, she and her mom doubled

team my grandfather and my mom at the age of 17, got a pilot's license and flew in the civil air patrol as an aviator. [applause] governor o'malley: strong woman. and she raised all six of us. my two older sisters, three younger brothers and myself to believe that every generation of americans has not only a responsibility to accomplish great things, but also has an incredible opportunity because of this country of ours, this country which if we make stronger, we'll give back more to our children and grandchildren. and those are the lessons that my wife and i have done our very best to pass on to our kids. we are so proud of our daughters, tara and grace o'malley and what they are doing for our country and that better future that we seek.

my daughter tara works at the u.n. foundation and my daughter grace is a first grade teacher at an elementary school in the heart of baltimore city. [applause] governor o'malley: when her dad announced for president about 100 days ago, a lot of her colleagues were there and returned to her class 100% eager to learn, adorable african-american kids and one ugged her by the sleeve, ms. o'malley, i'm not so sure about your father running for president because quite frankly, i like barack obama. [laughter] governor o'malley: a lot of us like barack obama, right? [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: and for good reason. when our country was on the brink of being plunged into a second great depression, we

elected a new leader to make the right decisions and now the nation of 67 months of positive job growth, the country is moving in a positive direction, thanks to president obama. [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: the hard truth of our times is this, we elected a president, not a magician. and 30 years of bad economic choices have left us with this hard truth we must address and that is 70% of us today are earning the same or less than we did 12 years ago. which means we still have work to do. one of the most important things i learned about the american dream, i learned at the age of 17 or 18, i spent a lot of time working in restaurants, many of them were irish bars, quite honestly.

[laughter] governor o'malley: i should put working in quotes because i was the guy in the band. i remember watching from the stage, this new american immigrant whose name was miguel and i wondered how that place could function. he was the first one to open up the door, busing tables and at the end of the night and in a quiet moment and one of the most important lessons i ever learned about the truth of the american dream we shared. i asked him this question. i said mr. miguel, how is it that you work so hard? and instead of telling me how, he told me why in three very powerful words. . said, for my daughter you see, you and i are part of a living self-creating mystery

called the united states of america. but the promise that's at the heart of that mystery is not some vague idea or abstraction way out there someplace. far from it. it is the very real and concrete promise among us and between us that wherever you start in our country, you start where you start wherever your parents' zip code for our own hard work, for our own love of family and love of imagination, you should be able to get ahead. call that an economy that works for all of us. call it the american dream. it is the actions that put into practice in every generation that included more of our people, and the economic and social and political life of our country. it is those actions that earned us the brand, that no other nation on the planet has as being the land of opportunity. we educate our children at

higher and better levels. we make strides to make equal justice under the law to ensure that men and women in our country not only have equal opportunity but get paid equally for doing equal work. [applause] governor o'malley: let me share some thoughts with you. i'm running for president of the united states for one reason and one reason only and that is to rebuild the truth of that american dream we share and that why an o'malley general administration closing the pay gap and restore the truth of that dream. [applause] governor o'malley: a few weeks ago in iowa, i laid out 15 strategic goals for rebuilding that dream, many of them have to getting wages to go up again rather than down. what's the difference between a dream and a goal?

it's a deadline. so all of these are tied by deadlines. to get there, we need clear measurable road maps of action and the first step must be taking pay discrimation head on, today in america, women can be paid less than men with no real penalty that any employer must face. we must hold employers, prevent retaliation against women who speak up and empower women to find out whether or not they are in fact being paid just as much as a man doing the same job next to them at work. [applause] governor o'malley: that's why i have called for making pay data publicly available so all employees can see they are making a fair wage for their job. another issue, curbing pay discrimation alone is not enough. part of the reason why women are paid less than men for doing the same work is that many are

forced to leave the work force in order to raise families and they are penalized for doing so. get this. only 12% of american workers have access to paid leave. 40% can lose their jobs for taking even unpaid leave to care for a newborn child. chailedkire costs more in america than public university in television -- tuition in a majority of states and forcing some parents who would like to work to actually have to stay home. if women decide to have families, they shouldn't have to choose between a career and taking care of their children. [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: all parents both men and women, gay or straight, married or single should be able to take 12 weeks of leave with pay in order to care for newborn children or

loved ones. and no family especially low or middle-income parents should have to pay more than 10% of their income on safe, affordable child care in any given year. these are the choices that include more people in our economy. but perhaps more pressing than either of these challenges is what we are witnessing from the republican presidential candidates and what we are witnessing in this republican congress. what am i talking about? i'm talking about the way that they are kicking around women's health care and planned parenthood like it's some political football, and it has to stop. [applause] governor o'malley: it is the all-out ideological fundamentalist right-wing assault on women's health. republican eyed logs are defunding planned parenthood

which provides services to millions of women at all income levels every year. every single republican candidate for president has embraced these backward, misguided and dangerous policies. think about it. if they had their way, millions of women every year who rely on planned parenthood for cancer screenings and prenatal care and contraception would be in the dark. we cannot take our country backward and deny women's basic health care services. we must stand firm to expanding women's health care options for all. [applause] governor o'malley: i have been proud to have been in this fight throughout my years of public service as governor. and prior to that, as mayor. i'm the only candidate in our party with 15 years of executive experience. as governor i signed into law

the family planning work act giving 35,000 low-income women access to contraception and cancer screenings. [applause] governor o'malley: i expanded family planning clinics into more comprehensive health centers and medicaid eligibility for prenatal services. because of these efforts, because of these actions, we cut maryland's infant mortality rate by 18% and drove it down to one of the lowest levels. [applause] governor o'malley: as president, i would stand up to the republicans who are restricting women's health services, holding states accountable and providing funding so all women have access to essential reproductive health care, including contraception and i would support universal access to comprehensive prenatal care, adopting access as a

measure for quality health systems and for states. [applause] governor o'malley: because it's about time that every woman in our nation enjoys to have a healthy life begins some of the idealogs that have taken over the republican party. i have had a record of protecting women's health care and i have been running on 15 years of experience. ometimes the trickle-down -- trickle-down economics are surprised to find we do the right thing when you do the just thing, when you treat people with dignity and equal rights under the law, that's also good for our economy. that's what we did in maryland. we just didn't talk about creating economic opportunity. -- for women. when i was governor, we actually

put together proven solutions because 2/3 of minimum-wage workers today are women, we raised our state's minimum wage and passed the nation's first living wage -- [applause] governor o'malley: because the early childhood years are critical for students' success and a tough balancing act, we took steps to improve quality education. we put in littlely ledbetter act and we set and met and exceeded one of the most ambitious goals in the country for women and minimum right-owned business procurement. as a result of all of those choices, we made maryland, according to the center for american progress, the best state in the nation for women's economic opportunity and security. [applause]

governor o'malley: today, our state -- our state also has not only the highest concentration of women-owned business of any state in the nation, but we also have the lowest gender pay gap in the country. these things actually work. [applause] governor o'malley: the good news about the future we face as a people is this. look, we don't have to put on new alse selfs or invent a formula. we must return to our true selves and acknowledge the powerful american truth that our economy is not money, it is people. it is all of our people. [applause] governor o'malley: therefore, just as our parents and grandparents did, we must always raise the minimum wage to keep

it above the poverty line and raise it to $15 however we can, wherever we can. [applause] governor o'malley: we should make it easier and not harder for men and women to join labor unions and bargain for collective and better pay. [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: and unlike those in the other party who want to privatize or cut social security, i say we should expand social security and pay for it by uping the cap of up to $265,000. [applause] governor o'malley: we need to change some of the formulas in social security so we do not penal idse women who come out of the work force in order to take care of parents or kids and the other things we have to do as a nation. look, in every generation we found a way to face the great challenges and make them

opportunities. what am i talking about? i'm talking about climate change. the greatest opportunity to come to america in 100 years. i'm the first and hopefully not the last to put forward to move towards a clean electric grid and create five million jobs along the way. [cheers and applause] governor o'malley: and if we want to get wages going up in the right direction, yes, we must restore wage and labor policies back to the center of our economic equation and one of those important policies is this. you want to get wages to go up rather than down. let's get 11 million of our neighbors out of the off the book shadow economy and into the full light of an open economy by passing comprehensive immigration reform! cheers and applause]

governor o'malley: our race, the democratic's race for president has just begun. there are about 100 days to go before the voters first have the opportunity to have their opinions made in the iowa caucuses. and i'm excited about this contest. i'm excited about the future. i'm in this to win this and i could not be more honored to having this conversation on our stage because you saw the debate the other night and you heard very different debates than what the other people have, didn't you? there was no bashing of immigrants. there was no bashing of immigrants. you didn't hear us saying denigrating things about women. far from it. i know it's easy to become discouraged about our national politics. speak to young americans under 30, because you will rarely find among them young people that deny that climate change is real or who want to deny rights to

gay couples or bash immigrants. that tells me we are moving to a much more connected and generous and giving place. our opportunity in this election is to advance its arrival by another 10 years and there are a lot of people hotel me, boy, you've got a tough fight. this is an uphill fight. you know what? there are a lot of people who would look me in the eyes and tell me that your fight to give your sons and daughters a better future with more opportunity rather than less is a tough fight. i kind of like tough fights. i have always been drawn to tough fights. perhaps it's the toughness of he fight that tells us the way god has a way of telling us it is worth saving. our children's future is worth saving, our country is worth saving, the american dream is worth saving and our planet is

worth saving. we are all in this together we need each other and we need to help each other. i need your help and i thank you so much for allowing me to be with you today. thanks so very much. [cheers and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome c.e.o. of the democratic national convention committee, daughtry. ah ms. daughtry: good morning beloved sisters. in just nine months, in july, 2016, we will gather in philadelphia, the city of brothererly love and sisterly

affection to nominate and present to the world our nominee for the president of the united states. i have the great privilege of serving as your c.e.o. for the 2016 democratic national convention. [applause] ms. daughtry: and it is my job to make sure that our convention is successful, to welcome our 50,000 attendees, to ensure that our 500 buses run on time, that our 15,000 hotel rooms are filled, that our 20,000 journalists have power and connectivity and 200 miles of cable is installed, that the stage is built, the carpet is laid and most importantly, that the drinks are delivered. [laughter] ms. daughtry: but really, more importantly and most

importantly, it is my job to ensure that our convention gives our nominee the strongest possible springboard to launch into what is sure to be a tough general election campaign. and to demonstrate to the world and our party that our nominee and our party is ready and able to lead. it's a tall order, but we are up to the task. building a convention is like building a house. we are digging the foundation, laying the groundwork and building piece by piece, layer on layer, nobody should try to build a house alone and that is why we have assembled a great construction team of seasoned professionals who work with me every day to make sure we deliver on time, on task and on budget. in addition, this isn't my first time at running a convention. i was c.e.o. of the 2008 convention in denver and makes me the first person in

democratic party history to have held this position twice. [cheers and applause] today, i am here to talk to you about why i'm so extraordinarily proud to be a democratic woman. politics and civic engagement is in my blood. some of my fondest memories as a child are on voter registration drives and annual trips to albany with my church. and one of my earliest memories is of barbara jordan during the watergate hearings. [applause] ms. daughtry: watching her, a strong, intelligent, persistent, insistent powerful woman using big words and asking important questions. and i asked my father who is that lady. and my dad explained to my

nine-year-old self, who she was and what she was doing and why she was doing it, and i knew i wanted to be smart like her and strong like her and persistent like her and a democrat like her. [applause] ms. daughtry: 50 years ago, nnie lou hammer attended our 1954 convention and demanded to be heard and pressed her right to be seated as a right. as i rose in the ranks of the democratic party i was in awe of the tenacity of women like ms. hammer. i i used to think she could not have imagined this time and this day. she could not have imagined all of us together in this room, strong, accomplished, powerful women working together. she could not have imagined me

in this position. but then one day, i realized that wasn't true. i realized that the reason she fought so hard, the reason she made so many sacrifices was because she could imagine us, because she did believe that one day we, all of us together, activists, organizers, officers and executives, we would be possible. because she believed that one day we, strong, accomplished, powerful women, could and would be together in a room like this, working and planning together. because she held a vision that one day, a black chick from brooklyn could and would be c.e.o. of the democratic national convention. [cheers and applause] ms. daughtry: not once, but twice. that we could be you union presidents and college presidents that we could be

state party chairs and members of congress and governors, that we could be on the presidential ticket and we could lead the presidential ticket. they believed in our party and they believed in us and what we could and would become, that one day we would stand together in one voice fighting for the soul of our country, fighting to preserve the values of our party, so hard fought and earned by our foremothers, like susan b. anthony, women like patsy minching and rosa parks, women like shirley chisholm and geraldine ferrer l arrow. our women who were visionaries and way makers and door openers, strategy crafters. we are the party of freedom fighters, community activists,

day laborers, c.e.o.'s, mine workers and environmentalists, the working poor, the middle class and the folks who have a little extra. we work together to create opportunities for every american. we fight together for truth and justice, pressing the truth and equality. honoring diversity, because we understand that doe have to be the same to fight for the same things. we understand that diversity is not just words on a piece of paper or something we talk about. it's about for us what we do. it is a lived principle. we are democrats. we are women. we make something out of nothing. we take little and make it much. [applause] ms. daughtry: you can't outrun, out think, outwork or outvote us. we are the backbone of our party and this nation.

and so fight because we believe that every american because of color, creed or zip code should have an equal opportunity to get their potential. we fight for the less. we fight for the american dream and the belief that the promise of america should be the practice of america. these are the values that we will present to you and to the nation and to the world in july, 2016. and there is no better place than philadelphia, the birthplace of american democracy. there is no better place to showcase our vision and our values, our strengths as women and the priorities as a party. so join me in philadelphia in july, 2016 and let's make history again. god bless you. [cheers and applause]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> c-span takes you on the road to the white house, rallies and speeches. we are taking your comments on twitter, facebook and by phone and always every campaign event we cover is available on our website at c-span.org. allowing the house to consider a bill that would re-authorize the export-import bank buypassing the normal committee process. a bill to re-authorize highway

programs and legislation to protect retail customers. this wreak, the house will be selecting a new speaker. john boehner announced his retirement. paul ryan is running for the position and on wednesday, the republican conference meets to vote on his candidacy. if he receives the support of the conference there will be a full floor vote. if elected, he will be the 4th person to serve as speaker. and already moves on capitol hill. bill clark of "roll call." . capitol workers are starting to move boehner's stuff. a potential proposed budget deal, two-year budget deal between the speaker and mitch mcconnell and the administration. their statement says in part, --

>> forcing a vote on the house floor this evening. >> one of your pieces says it all. house braces for a late night on

ex-im bank. walk us through this. what's the procedure look like and when is the last time the house did something like this? >> the last time a discharge petition was used was back in 2002 with campaign finance legislation. so it has been a long time since the house has seen it played out. three-part process tonight and tomorrow. first, congressman fincher is expected to bring up a motion to discharge meaning that it will bring forth a rule out of the rules committee. and after 20 minutes of debate. they can debate up to an hour on the rule that outlines debate parameters for the underlying legislation. then once the house approves the rule, they can move to the actual underlying bill to re-authorize. >> here's his tweet.

it has the 218 signatures. proud to see members stand up against washington and fight for jobs. what does the ex-port import bank do and why has it attracted bipartisan support to bring this measure to the house floor under this discharge petition? > it finances u.s. exports abroad. democrats and business-minded republicans see it as a way of financing americans jobs overseas. and of the bank's charter expired on june 30 and since that, congress hasn't acted to re-authorize it, the lawmakers who support the bank are worried that jobs will be lost back in their districts. that's what motivated these republicans who turned to this rarely invoked procedure to buypass the majority leadership and force this vote. >> normally it would come through a committee. which committee got bypassed and

how does the chairman feel about this procedure? >> it's in the jurisdiction of the house financial services committee, but the chairman, jeb hensarling opposes the export-import bank and was extremely disappointed that 42 republicans signed off with democrats to force this vote and said in a statement it empowers nancy pelosi instead of the republican majority. >> what about the republican leadership in the house, how do they feel about the bank itself? >> majority leader kevin mccarthy said he opposes the bank and since he schedules the floor schedule, he has prevented any vote from happening since it expired in june. >> assuming it makes its way through the house, what happens next? where is the senate on re-authorizing the bank? >> senate majority leader said

he opposes the bank personally but open to catching it to other legislation such as the highway bill. senator mark kirk is one of the vulnerable senators in 2016, he offered this amendment to re-authorize this and it passed. so it shows it can be re-authorized in the senate. it's a matter of the right opportunity. >> as the house gets under way with this rarely used procedure, a tweet, three-part process for ex-im. first vote on discharge and vote on e rule and follow it thehill.com. thanks for the update. and the house is expected back in at 6:30 eastern and have them live when they gavel back in here on c-span.

tonight, on "the communicators," republican representative, marsha blackburn talks about cybersecurity and data breach legislation. she's joined by a technology reporter for the "wall street journal." >> as individuals become subjected to these breaches and many people have, they have come toll realize it's not if you have your data breached, it is when is your data going to be breached of the so having ar federal standard and exercising some preemption and setting a period of time, a framework of time that companies have to conduct that information and then to inform consumers and set penalties for enforcement, those are appropriate steps that should be taken and they are the steps that are covered in that data security legislation that we have worked on of energy and

commerce committee. >> tonight at 8:00 earn on "the communicators" on c-span 2. >> all persons having business before the honorable, the supreme court of the united states admonish draw and near and give their attention. >> we have not seen a court overturn a law that was passed by congress on a economic issue like health care. >> the case is whether a majority rule, a state legislature can take away your life and liberty without due process and the court ruled no. i think it's a wonderful decision. >> this week on c-span's "landmark" cases. n 1895, new york legislature based the bake shop act. baker owner violated the law and

was fined $50, refusing to pay, he took his case all the way to the supreme court. find out why he it is known as one of the most controversial decisions. >> next, remarks from secretary dunch and on improving the effectiveness of standardized testing. he spoke earlier today at the national press club. >> we will begin wrapping up this conference at around 10:30.

we have been asked to meet with the president on this report at 11:00. so will will end early so we can get over there in time. we will take questions around 10:30. i apologize for that. i would like to thank our panelists and moderator for being here today and we will introduce everybody shortly. it looks like our last two are coming in now. before we begin, i want to acknowledge and to thank the great council research team that produced the report that we are discussing today. and they include ray hart who is the senior author on this report and others. would you stand, please, so everybody can see you.

[applause] >> thank you so much. we are here this morning to talk about a new report from the council of the great city schools called student testing in america's great city schools and inventory and preliminary analysis and the next steps that all of us on the panel are proposing as we move forward. this council study was initiated two years ago by our board of directors, which is comprised of the superintendent and one school board member from each city. in the discussion they had when they met in albuquerque about this time in 2013, my board realized that frankly, we did not know as an urban school coalition how much testing we were actually doing, nor did we have a good sense of the testing policies and practices in place from district to district. our board charged us with taking an inventory of the tests being

administered in urban public schools in the 20 -2015 school year as well as resuing how these tests were being used and reporting out the results of our inventory no matter what that inventory said. we were not interested here in saying who was right, who was wrong in the public debate about testing, what we were interested in doing was informing the public conversation with some actual evidence about the extent of testing in our schools and proposing some next steps. finally, you should know that no one paid us to do this study. it was all done in house with our own staff and it was released as soon as we had finished it. there is more data in this report than we can possibly describe this morning but we concluded three overarching things from our research. one, everybody has had a hand in what our current testing system

looks like. this situation was not created by just one entity. lots of people have played a role. and a lot of people have pointed fingers at one another, and we have concluded that they were all correct. [laughter] >> two, because so many people have been involved, our system of assessing students, which is really not a system at all is disjointed, incoherent and redundant and generally lacks any strategy or theory of action behind how it is defined or how it operates. and three, there are a lot of tests, but it is hard to know how many tests are too many. but it would be difficult for any one to conclude from the results that we are releasing over the weekend and today that what we have here is not too many tests or that the tests aren't being too frequently given. in general, we found that the average student in our schools

will be required to take about 112 standardized tests between pre--k and high school gaugs. this amounts to about eight standardized tests per year. we count tests in different subjects like reading and math as two separate tests and we count multiple administrations of the tests during the school year as separate tests as well. in all, there were over 400 test titles that were administered across our 66 big-city school districts not counting special education diagnose gnostic tests or career or technical education course tests. and students across systems which we have data sat 6,700 times in the 2014-2015 school year. the time devoted to taking mandatory tests constituted about 2.3% of the school year at the highest tested grade level,

which was grade eight. you should know at this time, only included the time devoted to these mandatory tests that every student in a designated gade would take. it did not include optional, sample or program tests, or tests designed for special populations and did not include time for test prep, time to prepare for administration or scoring and did not include time spent on tests that were purchased or developed at the school level. we did not count these tests because not everybody takes those tests. so mr. aderholt:ing them to the time -- so adding them to the time that everybody is given seemed to be adding apples and oranges. so we only counted one type of test in our calculation of overall time. one should also keep in mind that many of these tests are given in a three-month span during the second semester of any school year. so that period often feels like

a very long period of continuous testing. generally, we divided the tests into three broad categories, mandatory tests that are given to every child in a particular grade, optimal tests and special populations tests. we further divided mandatory tests into five subcategories. ne, state specific exams including parks, smarter balanced and other career-ready exams. two end of course exams that were given at the secondary grade level such as tests in american history or chemistry. three, formative exams that are given periodically over the course of a school year to assess student progress. some of these were required by the state, some by the district, some were commercial and some home grown. four, stunned learning objectives that are given in

untested grades and subjects and form the base is of evaluating staff and five, other mandated tests, only when those tests are requide for all students in a particular gade. all of our districts administer congressesally exams that will take between six and nine hours a piece. 71% of our districts administer end of course tests in one or more subjects that will consume between two and five hours per grade. nearly 60% of the districts issue exams on average three times a year that will take between seven and 11 hours per year in the districts that give them. about 38% also administers student learning objectives in dozens of subjects that take between five and 11 hours in each gade and nearly all of our districts will give other mandatory tests that consume an

average between three and nine hours. many in the same subjects, to the same students in the same grades. our second big category involved tests that were administered only to samples of students, not everyone, although they were sometimes required. the category also include optional tests like the a.c.t. and s.a.t. however, when tests like these were required and they are required in some districts, we put them in the mandatory category. the category included tests that were associated with participation in a particular program, like advanced placement or international baccalaureate or career in technical courses. these assessments can take another five hours or so, but some program tests, particularly career and technical course tests can take longer. the final big category is

special population assessments. we included english language proficiency for english language learners. in addition to the overarching conclusions that i mentioned earlier, we also found that the tests were usually not aligned with each other or any particular standard, although others are. testing time did not correlate with student reading or math achievement. third, there was considerable redundancy in the testing. and four, some tests are not used for the purposes for which they are designed. five, test results are not always well used to inform or improve instruction. six, the technical quality of some of the exams are suspect particularly tore the purposes for which they are given. in addition, districts receive their results too late to use them for instructional and

parents don't always like tests but they want to know how their children are doing and whether or not they are on track. in general, we think that these and other findings that this report is full of should give the nation pause. we made a number of preliminary recommendations and we have listed steps that many cities are taking to reduce their testing. you will hear more about what miami and north carolina are doing this morning and we got word last night that the boston public schools will be reducing its tests by half as a result of this study. in addition, we are pleased to announce that the council of the great city schools will form a commission of academics, practitioners, teachers and parents. we will do this in conjunction with our partners at the council of great city school offices and charge this commission with developing proposals and models making our system more

strategic, thoughtful and coherent. with that, i will be happy to answer your questions during the panel discussion, but i want to introduce, first of all, our secretary of education, secretary duncan, for very brief remarks. arne. [applause] secretary duncan: thanks so much. i will be quick. i want to thank mike and his team. i don't know what the equivalent of a pull itser or nobody ell prize might be but this team -- i went to mike two years ago and said we need to have data on this stuff and don't know what's out there. if we do it at the federal level, it will be a federal requirement. i said are you on it. it took two years and that speaks to the complexity of this issue. this is one of the things that all of us in education have struggled or thought about for a

long time and i told the story when i took over the chicago public schools in 2001, we were taking the illinois state test and iowa state test. and made less sense. we cut out the iowa test and tried to get to a place that made sense. what our team thinks about all the time is the gell of high standards. low standards that many states adopted in reaction to no child left behind have had negative impacts on children who were told they were on track to be successful and they weren't even close. we believe in high quality assessments, mike spoke a lot about that in his comments. we believe in meaningful accountability. we have to look at students in communities that aren't being served well an