coverage of the tragedy in oregon, that breaking news all afternoon. a community in mourning and investigation in high gear. here's what we have learned in just the past couple of hours. 13 weapons were recovered. police describing the oregon shooter's arsenal and a hate filled note left at the campus crime scene. we are live in oregon, of course, with the details. after thursday's powerful comments on the shooting, president obama takes question this is hour from the press and we'll bring it to you live. we are also watching, of course, widespread flooding along the east coast and we're traging hurricane joaquin now a powerful category 4 storm. but we do begin with that massacre in oregon leaving nine dead, plus the gunman. 26-year-old's rampage lasted about ten minutes. the victims have not been named yet but we are hearing storying of heroism, stories of survivors and quick thinking. governor of oregon kate brown

spoke to the media. >> all of oregon stands with umpqua community college and the city of roseburg. i am proud of how the roseburg community pulled together to care for and comfort each other during this horrific crisis. >> earlier an atf agent provided new details about the arsenal of weapons recovered. >> so far, we have recovered 13 weapons, out of those 13 weapons, we currently have in custody 6 recovered at the school, 7 were recovered at the shooter's residence. all 14 have been traced to a federal firearms dealer. seven purchased by the shooter or a family member. all within the last three years. in addition, the weapons recovered, we also were able to recover a flank jacket which recovered next to the rifle at the school. the jacket had steel plates

along with five magazines. >> msnbc's thomas roberts is is on the scene. you have seen him there all day. thomas, what are you seeing on the ground now? what else did we learn from the governor? >> so, kate, i think the big thing we're learning about this community of roseburg is it is very tight knit an i'm right down at the main entryway up to the community college campus and seen some cars back and forth now. it remains an active crime scene and not expected to open to the student body and those that work here until next week. but the people that we have had the opportunity to talk to and meet, they are shocked. they are saddened. i had the opportunity to speak with student who is witnessed what it was like to be on campus, to hear the shots, not understanding and being able to process exactly what was happening until they heard screaming and people running. but we are also hearing not just about the shooter and those that were lost but acts of heroism of

certain people, survivors like chris mintz, a former war veteran of ten years and in the hospital after being shot seven times. but they have absolutely given a lot of people inspiration by his family sharing his story of what he's been through and his family saying that it's no surprise that he was willing to put himself in harm's way to help other students to keep them safe. we have also been getting medical updates today of mercy medical and just about two miles from where i am now and then also from springfield. that's the hospital where the more severe patients were sent, some with head injuries and three sent there are listed in stable condition, currently. kate? >> thomas, good news on some fronts and thank you so much. we'll get back to you within the hour. there are so many questions about how something so horrific happened and, unfortunately, more questions than answers at this hour. we do know that the gunman was 26 years old, not a student at umpqua community college.

he moved to oregon about four years ago from california. and his neighbors there have described him to newspapers as shy. we also learned today that he served far month in the army before being discharged. at this point, the shooter's motive not clear. his father spoke very briefly to reporters late last night. >> obviously, been a devastating day. devastating for me and my family. >> any surprise at all? >> shocked. shocked is all i can say. >> let's turn now to nbc news correspondent joe fryer also in roseburg. what are you learning about the gunman? >> reporter: well, we were hoping to learn a little more during a press conference if the sheriff in douglas county but not a lot of information giving us a clue as to the motive or even more of a time frame as what happened and where things happened yesterday during this school shooting but officials told nbc news that the shooter

did leave behind what's been described an a multi-page hate filled note and said he felt the world was against him. now, the sheriff was asked today whether the gunman did leave behind a note. he said he was unable to comment on that and many other parts of the investigation. so right now, a lot of unanswered questions remain but we are starting to get a picture of a young man who was shy according to neighbors, who didn't really engage with people easily and seemed to a little bit more online, whether dating websites or social media sites and one of the dating we believe sites he does make a mention to the fact he does not support organized religion. a lot more information, a lot more research needs to be done to try to figure out why this happened and we have to assume that the note that was left behind to give investigators some clues. kate? >> joe fryer on the ground in oregon, thank you. as my colleague thomas roberts said, there are so many stories of heroism emerging today. army veteran and student chris

mintz shot seven times charging at the shooter. his aunt said he was trying to save other students' lives. here's a photo tweeted out of his recuperating, smiling at the local medical center and first responders being hailed today for getting the scene within ten minutes preventing even more carnage. nbc's jacob rascon is outside the medical center. jacob, powerful stories coming to light today. >> reporter: initially, there were ten people brought here. after the shooting happened, this place was chaos. the ambulances all rushed right here, only about two miles away from umpqua. and when they arrived, one of the people who arrived was deceased here and then others were carried away into another hospital because they were -- their injuries too complicated and too difficult and then some of the others treated here including the hero shot seven times but some of the good news today is that in all of the

complicated and very serious injuries, all of the injured are expected to survive and one person is critical, that person at a different hospital about an hour north of where we are. but still, she is expected to s survive with the serious injuries. right now, there are only three people left at this hospital and one of them is expected to go home as soon as today. kate? >> that is some good news and that all are expected to survive. jacob, thank you so much. i want to bring in the mayor of roseburg, oregon, larry rich. mr. mayor, thank you for being with us on a difficult day. we're glad to see you. i know you have been i think nine terms in office there. you have been mayor of this town for a long time. i can't imagine what you're all dealing with today. are you starting to heal? >> it will be rough. it is going to be another rough day when the names are

announced. that's because we are going to know who they are. we're a small community and once we have those names made public, this's when i think our community is hit hard by the tragedy. >> do you know when the families want those names released, mr. mayor? >> i think it will be today. >> okay. you were assistant principal at roseburg high school, right? for more than 20 years. >> correct. i still am. been there 23 years. >> you still are. you must know some of these young people. >> and that's what makes it hard because i'm sure i am going to recognize quite a few of them. the assumption is a number of our students, they graduated from roseburg high school last june and just entering the community college first time and probably in that classroom so it will be really difficult when the names are read off. >> were you familiar with the shooter, mr. mayor? >> no. i didn't know who that is. i have to wait until i hear more information about who he is.

i don't recognize the name. >> are you hearing anything there about -- and this is such a difficult question. no one can figure out why these things happen but anything you've learned today that helps you piece together the madness? >> no. in terms of why, i don't know if we'll really going to know why he did it. there's a lot of information and trying to figure that out and a matter of seeing what they come up with. right now, i don't think he even had a connection to our community. >> what do you need right now, sir? i know we have been reporting this afternoon some of the victims as has happened in other shooting tragedies, they have posted online asking for financial help. i know that's often a real struggle for families of those who have been injured. do you need resources? do you need -- do the families need that kind of financial assistance? >> i wouldn't be surprised. it's going to be a matter of identifying who are those

families and then being able to figure out when's going to be appropriate to help them out so i won't be surprised if there will be a lot of needs coming up. >> do you feel like you have everything you need in terms of the investigation? you have had federal law enforcement descending on your city now. >> i have complete confidence on our police department, sheriff's department, state investigators. there's no doubt in my mind they'll figure out and give us accurate information. it's just a matter of time when they're ready to present that. >> all right. mayor larry rich of roseburg, oregon, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> we wish you all the best. mayor talked about a community coming together in the face of tragedy. joining me now, marilyn kittleman, her 17-year-old was in math class when the shooting started and described to her what he witnessed. we spoke with you on the phone, brian williams and i, yesterday afternoon right after this had all happened.

have you had time to process, hug your three kids and what do you say to them? >> i have. thank you. and i wouldn't let ma cray leave town yesterday before i gave him a hug. the whole almost two hours we texted while he was under a desk and hiding, it didn't really hit me until i watched the bus go by with him in it and he waved at me and hit home how dangerous and how in jeopardy our lives really are. >> your son told reporters the scariest part is nobody heard anything so we didn't know if it was a professional with a suppressed weapon or a low caliber weapon and didn't know what was going on around him. >> that's true. and i think that for me we were able to keep in contact so i felt a little better but it was the unknowing. he said, mom, you know, he's been a shooter since he was young and didn't hear any shots.

i think it's a drill. we said, no, no. it is not a drill. stay down. stay safe. >> i want to ask you, i know we don't want to get deeply into politics here, but you are a former county commissioner yourself. you're a republican. i want to ask you about the reaction in town and something you wrote on facebook. if we can pull up that facebook post from just a couple of hours ago. you wrote, more gun control laws won't stop someone intent on taking lives. has everyone forgotten boston marathon? they took those murderers out with guns. big kudos to the local sheriff's department for their quick response. three minutes but it cost ten lives. more people you said to be legally armed to protect themselves and others. you have a very clear point of view on this. do you think -- what is your response to someone like president obama who last night said what we need is gun control? >> he also said that this is his event and needs to be publicized

and using the tragedy in our county and the deaths of our children to further his anti-gun agenda. you asked me what the community feels. i have not heard a single person in this community that said anything different from me or responded differently either in the media, social media or anywhere. you know, it is a very clear factor. all of the shooters taken out with a gun. that's just a reality of the world we live in. if there had been someone in that classroom with a weapon to defend those students, whether it be a teacher, a guard, another student with con celled carry, they maybe could have stopped it at one shot or no shots. we know we had a hero trained in the military who took seven bullets trying to stop a shooting and he didn't have the equipment that he needed. and we had veterans, we had concealed carry people on campus who were not allowed to leave the classrooms to run to help. you know, there's only one way to stop it. that's we need to be able to

take care of ourselves and people in rural areas are used to this. we understand dangers of wild animals. from humans. we understand what guns should be used for. we need people to be trained and protect ourselves and rely on law enforcement when we can't. >> do you agree this is a moment for a national conversation? >> i think we have had the conversation. it's been going on way too long and the conversation has come to the conclusion that guns are the problem, not evil people. evil people are the problem. and unfortunately, this anti-gun culture built up made good people who would have been comfortable and would get trained and could protect themselves and others, stopped them from doing it because either their family members make fun of them or the media says they shouldn't be doing that. people need to blame the problem which is the shooter and stop blaming the car, the alcohol, the gun, the whatever. you know? we need to get trained.

i think the conversation needs to be how do we protect ourselves and that is not by less guns. it is by more guns, by people who know how to use them. >> mare rin kittleman, a mom to three kids, one of whom there yesterday and so glad to hear he is all right. thank you for being with us. >> thank you very much. the investigation of what motivated the killer s. this a hate crime? president obama expected to be asked about gun control and this violence at the news conference this hour inside the white house state dining room. we'll have that for you live coming up. >> looked around. everyone else is looking around. we hear screaming. the teacher, she leaned over to the door, that connects on that wall and is everyone all right? are you okay? we just keep hearing screaming and look out the window and see people running from the scene. that's when i knew we need to get out. we have to go.

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this is a small community. it's a community where everyone knows someone who was hurt or killed yesterday. the community has come together in an extraordinary fashion. >> that was oregon senator jeff merkley moments ago speaking of the devastating shooting in oregon that's left nine people dead plus the gunman. we know the fbi, atf and local law enforcement agencies are all on scene investigating this shooting. let's turn now to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams in washington. pete, what are you learning about the state of the investigation? >> well, in terms of the guns, he had 13 in all.

he took six to the school. he including an ar-15 style assault weapon. a bullet-proof vest. seven others at the home. all purl chased legally. we are told by several law enforcement officials he left behind a multi-page written document in which he expressed his concern about his lot in life. said that he felt his life had no meaning. that he had no girlfriends. no friends. that he was despondent. he said that he was likely with this shooting to be embraced by the devil, welcomed in hell. and basically, just expressing a very depressed and sullen state of mind. we know from neighbors that he was, in fact, somebody who was emotionally troubled. he went to a school for children with emotional troubles when he was growing up in los angeles. moved recently to oregon where he lifted with his mother and officials say all of those firearms were purchased legally. despite his emotional problems, there's nothing in his

background that would have disqualified him from buying the guns. >> do we know, there have been so many accounts of what happened inside the classroom, do we have a clear picture yet of what law enforcement officials believe went down inside? >> what they believe happened is, of course, what they're being told by the surviving students and they say that the students say that he asked them to stand up and state what their religion was and then the severity of the wounds apparentlyapparent ly varied if they're religious or not. >> will they look to see if he's a member of a hate group? >> yes, of course. i think the bottom line here is that they feel -- there'll be no clear picture of a motive here because he was so intellectually challenged and so emotionally troubled. >> so much. >> you bet. the atf reports as peel just said that 13 weapons were recovered, six at the college

and seven at the apartment, legally purchased. we want to know what investigators are doing right now. let's turn to matthew who ras at fjc security, former atf agent himself. thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> you have experience with an investigation like this. what's happening now on the ground in oregon as atf agents pour in from around the country? >> well, you know, they're evaluating everything from the fll where the guns were legally purchased to who purchased the guns and transferred to the suspect in this case. they're also using the information to go back and go through that manifesto and check the social media and try to determine a cause or a driving factor as to why this happened. also, they're also going to go back and determine if he had purchased or people purchased more guns that may have been in his possession now or in the immediate past. >> and when we talk about six

guns in one place, seven guns at home and i think i heard five magazines of ammunition, for those of us who don't know as much about guns as you do or weapons as you do, what kind of an arsenal is that? >> well, you know, it depends on a person who's pro-gun or anti. people to president obama sesz many more guns or very little guns. the bottom line whether it was two or ten guns, he used these guns to commit a heinous act killing people and injuringing more. >> matthew who ras, we have to leave it there awaiting president obama at the white house. up next. (vo) around age 7, the glucose metabolism in a dog's brain begins to change. (ray) i'd like to see her go back to her more you know social side. she literally started changing. it was shocking. she's much more aware. (jan) she loves the food. (ray) the difference has been incredible. she wants to learn things.

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secretary arnie duncan. he and the president go back as far as chicago and this leaves only one original member of the cabinet, secretary vilsack, at agriculture, in the job to which he was appointed. that's a pretty tough road to hoe during a two-term presidency. but arnie duncan, long-time education secretary and reformer i think can be generally called in that position will be departing and then the white house made it known, the president will open to questions and answers after that. chris matthews in the washington bureau watching along with us. chris, first to the business at hand today before we get to the oregon mass casualty event and that is the tenure of arne duncan at secretary of education. >> yes. i think he represent it is president's thinking. he is a real reformer. he would like to see a real

change in the way we finance schools, of course. we know that the way that he finance local public education is locally with the property tax and a great different shl between wealthier areas of beverly hills, for example, chevy chase or something like that and no money for quality education and like to shift it the another system and also been much more radical saying we have to spend more money on schools and a lot less on prisons and probably save some money on incarceration and use it to keep kids going towards success in their education. so i think he's very much a brother of the president in terms of philosophy. >> you're very much in philadelphia and not at all in the washington bureau as i just realized seeing the skyline behind you. >> yes. >> now to what we expect the question and answer session to be dominated by, coming on the heels of the president's outburst yesterday. that was an angry man we saw in

the briefing room on the subject of guns. >> right. well, you know, i was just checking the numbers as we often do and sadly find they're terrible. this year almost 10,000 people shot to death by guns. 10,000. here we are marking the occurrence of ten people being killed. 10,000. there's no country in the world like this. and in philadelphia, we have the crime rate here, it's up as i've been told at the highest level here that if you don't have a good -- if you have a decent saturday night, expect a bad tuesday night. it is relentless in terms of killings and so we live almost with 200 deaths this week. this year so far, murders in philadelphia this year and in baltimore, big cities, we know about it. irony, of course, the people fighting for the right to bear guns are not the criminals, of course. people believe in it as a constitutional right and that strong american attitude you might call it for guns and a gun

culture allows people who should never have their hands anywhere near a gun, either for criminal purposes or whatever, revenge purposes, are getting the guns easily. this kid had a lot of guns, this young man. >> how do we know the event that is going to change things? if as we kept asking yesterday, if sandy hook didn't do it, a shooting of a member of congress and a supermarket parking lot didn't do it, if this doesn't do it, what will lead to incremental changes? >> well, this's a big question without an answer right now. we're hearing from the candidates for president and it's following the usual spectrum of opinion. you'll see hillary clinton being very strong on this. very much i would say a centrist democrat, if you will. i think that's a term she would accept. and they're for gun control. on the further left, i guess you'd have to say bernie sanders is a bit of an irony basically from a pro-gun state and he is with them on that and very much moderate in terms of doing anything on gun control. he is for some steps.

but then donald trump is basically saying so far that we basically have a problem with half a million years and this is it. this is the way we live in a free society. we will have a few people as he puts it with mental and emotional problems to fall between the cracks as he put it and live with the consequence. but i think most americans and every poll fall very much on the side of, sure, we have a 2nd amendment and should honor and make sure that the people that should not have guns go through some screen to make sure they don't get the guns and shouldn't. that's where common sense lies, in the middle of this issue. unfortunately, there's a real imbalance in passion for the next couple of days we'll be talking about it on the air. i'm going to talk about it tonight for most of the show. two, three weeks from now, talking about something else, the situation in syria or something to do with obamacare. the pro-gun people thinking heartdily about this matter and fighting with great resistance

any threat as they see it to their gun rights. >> let's talk about the strength of that lobby. kelly o'donnell standing by on the north lawn of the white house and, kelly, being around congress every day of your professional life, what do you tell people about the strength of the nra? >> reporter: well, they have a great power to control some of the dynamic during primary elections which can be very influential in the outcome. and in the last attempt to have expanded background checks, a number of what we call red state democrats who voted with republicans not wanting to see any changes. some of those democrats went down to defeat giving the senate that republican majority and one of the things i hear from many conservatives on capitol hill and the conversation here is that we're in a point now where many americans mistrustful of government, frustrated with government, not believing that government works effectively so adding more laws or layers of laws is something that they

resist. and also, the idea of how do you decide when someone is mentally ill and when someone is troubled and where is, you know, there is a certain process where people can through a court be adjudicated as mentally ill. the system would catch them and not let them purchase weapons but for so many other people who are somewhere else on the spectrum, maybe it's mental illness, a difficult time in their lives, mabel it's deep anger or a feeling of being alienated, how would you capture them in a background check situation? that's where the debate is tricky. that's where there is such a sense when chris was talking about people with very strong feelings that anti-government issue, that anti-regulation issue, makes it hard for even people who think, yeah, something needs to be done to say what would that something be and look like? who would it anekt that's what really makes this difficult to really move forward on, bri yn. >> this calls for a little bit

of a progprognostication, will change anything, this shooting in oregon? >> reporter: looking at a congress dominated by republicans on both sides, it's hard to imagine there would be a change in the immediate future. there might be an opening to try to deal with more funding for mental health treatment, try to deal with some other societial issues that could be a contributing factor. but taking on the issue of guns in the sense of expanding background checks, they do already exist in certain ways, that is hard to see where that will would come from. will the president offer a new piece of legislation about this? will democrats want to take that on and perhaps subject themselves to the money of the gun lobby? those are questions that have real every day political ramifications and that becomes very, very difficult for congress and when democrats were in control, that might have been their best chance but there was other big important business and the health care law and other things that they were focused on

then so it's hard to get this done. perhaps state by state is a better avenue for those who want to see changes to gun laws because that would also reflect the differences in culture, rural states might have a different attitude than parts of the country more urban and a different relationship of people and guns. brian? >> chris matthews, do you see anything in the near future? >> no. i think it's going or the very hard because again, it is the passion question. it's very easy to understand, if you take something like abortion rights, women are primarily concerned with that issue. everybody generally but particularly women. if you talk about education, again, women. much more focused as a group on education and if you look at the statistics and the way people vote, a passion of mothers to get the kids educated. a strong one, obviously. i think with guns it is a man issue. men, it is a macho thing. it's a -- so personal to some men. they think they're taking aabout

something of them taking away the guns and fear what's coming and even something reasonable too many and manchin and pro-gun, they have come with a message, in terms of proposal which is basically about checking who gets a gun. they have gone right up to the line and i hope in the interest of gun safety that they don't go too far. i think they have gone just about right and you can't in any way suggest to someone you're anti-gun. you have to -- manchin is out there i think in the tv commercials with a gun in the hand. it's almost -- i mean, we saw john kerry duck hunting in full gear, full camo a couple of times ago. you have to be almost outrageous to show you're a gun guy and even a gun woman. joannie ernst castrating hogs

and you have to be so tough and not just a sportsman but a 2nd amendment guy or woman and i wonder about hillary clinton. i look at the states like kentucky, ohio, pennsylvania where certainly pennsylvania and ohio normal democratic opportunities and to come out against guns like she's been doing so forcefully the last couple of hours and days now, it's very tough. it is a profile in courage to take on the gun lobby. >> andrea mitchell listening with us, andrea, as chris speaks, i'm reminded of the photograph released by the white house of the president firing a weapon. >> exactly. >> at camp david. >> i mean, they have all played this game and they have played into that basic impulse in american politics to be associated with hunting and with guns. and but i think it's gone the other way and i think that the polling shows that hillary clinton is better off being consistent with her past

positions on this than trying to change herself. we saw what happened to john kerry coming out and looking uncomfortable with that camo gear back running in 2004. the outlier here is bernie sanders because this is not the position of his base. he as the vermont senator has been voting with the nra but certainly not the large numbers of people who are contributing to his campaign, raising so much money. and getting such large crowds. that base, liberal democratic group, do not associate bernie sanders with being on some parts of guns being in favor of guns. today, you know senator blumenthal from connecticut responding, of course, in the past to sandy hook and newtown, what happened there at sandy hook, he came out with new legislation today. he and chris murphy of connecticut and talking about background checks and trying once again and asked him why should this time be different? he said, well, it depends on

whether the republicans will let us take it to the floor. that's the problem. >> chris matthews, you're so right about authenticity. take the kerry photograph. if it looks like a drive-by at cabela's or worse yet an aide go there and drench you in camo, for that one outing or hunter's orange -- >> yeah. >> -- it's not going to work either. >> that's right. i got my start working with politicians in utah. back in the early '70s and you had to be out there in hunting season and wayne owens, a moderate democrat, was elected to congress, had to go out every hunting season in utah and such a quiet, nonviolent guy and not fire the rifle but had to be seen walking with the guys with the rifle. he wasn't going to shoot anything. he wasn't going to shoot any animal. he didn't want to. but he had to sure look like he was going to do it to get elected. it's america. >> well, guns in america will be among the topics as they say.

we have just received from the white house word that the president will be out here in two minutes. this is running exactly ten minutes late thus far. and a reminder. excuse me. we are going to see the president with the outgoing and incoming secretary of education, he will be saluting arne dunc duncan's service in office and what becomes of the department of education prior to taking questions from the press corps there in the portion of the room that is not visible on this camera shot, the president's chief of staff came in. and here are the inviting guests. presumably members of the duncan family. and the new incoming education secretary. let's listen in to the room.

so we are hearing another correspondent file her last-minute report before the president comes in. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, accompanied by secretary arne duncan and dr. john king. >> please be seated, everybody. good afternoon. arne duncan is one of my longest serving cabinet secretaries and he's been a friend for a lot longer than that. so it's with some regret and sorrow that i have accepted his decision to return to our

hometown of chicago. after more than six years of living in washington, arne's wonderful wife karen and their excellent kids claire and ryan who are also buddies of mine wanted the move back home and that's meant in the interim a lot of time apart so i'll be honest. i pushed arne to stay. sorry, guys. but i also know from personal experience how hard it is to be away from your family on a sustained basis. so while i will miss arne deeply, he is more than earned the right to return home. take a look at what arne's accomplished over the last six and a half years. he's within of the longest serving secretaries of education in our history. and one of the more consequential. just a few years arne and the team delivered incredible results at every stage of the educational experience.

more than 30 states have upped their investment in early childhood education. nearly every state in america has raised standards for teaching and learning and expectations for what our kids can learn and our heightened school graduation rate at an all-time high. we have helped millions more family afford college and more families graduating from college than ever before and that's just scratching the surl fast. he's done more to bring the educational system, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the 21st century than anybody else. america's going to be better off for what he has done. it's going to be more competitive and more prosperous. it's more equal and more upwardly mobile. it's record that i truly believe no other education secretary can match. arne bleeds this stuff. he cares so much about our kids. and he has been so passionate

about this work. and everybody who interacts with him including people who disagree with him on some issues never questions the genuineness and heart that he has brought to this job. so i couldn't be prouder of him and he has the most points scored if a nba all-star game. [ applause ] and he is my favorite partner in pick-up basketball. the smartest player i know. even though he's very slow. and has no hops. he knows it's true. i will say watching ryan by the way that the son will soon be surpassing the father. because this young man has got game. now keep in mind none of this change has been easy and we still have a long way to go.

one of the things about education is that it doesn't deliver results tomorrow or the next day. this is a decade-long or longer proposition. we plant seeds now. we make changes now. and we watch each successive class benefit from these reforms and it goes in fits and starts and we have a decentralized system. that's how our education tradition evolved. so it's not easy. an it's not quick. but we are making progress. and we're not going to stop in these last 15 months. and that's why it's so important and why i think we're very lucky that even as arne steps down we have got an exceptionally talented educator to step in and that's dr. john king. john is already on arne's

leadership team. he's been an educator all his life. a teacher, a principal, a leader of schools. the new york state's education chief. he's the right man to lead the department. he shares our commitment to preparing every child for success in a more innovative and competitive world. he's got a great team already at the department of education of which i am very, very proud. his family is equally cool and good looking. and he has equally exceptional children and i know that together we're going to continue to be able to do great things on behalf of our kids. so arne and john, i want to wish both of you hearty congratulations and good luck. now i'm going to let them say a few words and then i'll make a few remarks before i take some questions from the press. start with arne. >> i cried more today than i

have in a while. i'll try not to get up here and cry. i'll start with the president. when he asked us to come to d.c. and work with him, that was a one-minute conversation with my wife. not that we wanted to leave chicago. wasn't necessarily to be education secretary. i just wanted to be on his team and believed so much about what he was about and stood for. i have to say seven and a half years later, my admiration is only greater. and it's pretty remarkable, important for the folks to know every hard decision his only question is, when's the right thing to do for kids? and challenging us and the team to fight for kids every single day and often that's a hard political decision and that was never a factor in his passion and his commitment has been exceptionally extraordinary. for me it is not the political leadership. it is not educational leadership. it's the moral leadership. and i just can't tell you, mr. president, personally, what an unbelievable honor it was to spend sometime and for those --

every day you see it folks watching him last night talking about the horrendous massacre, gun massacre in oregon and how preventable these things are, we need that moral leadership and please keep that fight. to our team, the team you have at the white house, cecilia and dennis and others, extraordinary to work with the dpc. i think our team at the department of education is stronger than it's never been. you never know how the teams go and do you have the b-team towards the end? we have the a-team and a combination of being able to work with the white house, shawn and sylvia and so other folks are here, anthony. with the team in place. i'm hopeful and confident about what they can do together. emma and ted and the rest of the crew. said a little bit about john and the folk that is know for all of us, this work is very, very personal. for the president very personal. for me very personal. john was a kid that probably shouldn't be in a room like this looking at the stereotypes and

not the easiest time growing up. he'll tell you more about it. lost both of his parents an at early age. lived with his brother and not easy either and had an amazing teacher that saw something in him and kept him going and today he gets to stand with the president and so many times i think in this society write off kids that look like john and come from places like john and to see what he can accomplish, i think that drives so many of us and so many other kids to reach and while i'm deeply, deeply sad to be leaving i'm extraordinarily thankful and proud that john carries on the work with the team. i want to thank everybody for the their hard work. i want to quickly thank my parents, as well. my dad, lifelong edge aor the at university of chicago. taught there all his life. my -- my -- my mother's started inner city tutoring program before we were born and raised us as part of that program and that changed our lives.

and all of our life we saw what kids can do when they're given a chance and why we do this work today. and to be able to see what she did at a little corner and have had a chance over the past years, to have an impact around the nation because this man gave us a chance. for my family, i can't tell you how much it means to us. and to my family, i love this, wo, i love this team, i love the president, i love the chance to serve. the only thing i love more is you guys. and i can't wait to come home and see a couple more track meets and get to coach ryan a little bit and have a few more dinners and maybe go to a movie someday. that would be pretty amazing. [ laughter ] >> wow. all right. >> it's been too long. and it's been an amazing, amazing journey, and i feel so proud -- so lucky to have been a part of this team. mr. president, thanks for creating a climate here, in

which all of us could have the impact we did. and we could never repay the debt of gratitude we owe you for your leadership and courage. thank you so much and i want to turn it over to john. [ applause ] [ applause ]

>> thank you, arne, for very kind words. thank you, mr. president, for the opportunity to serve, and for the faith you've placed in me and the team that we have at the department. i'm deeply honored by the chance to serve and also deeply humbled by following in arne's foot steps. arne is an extraordinary leader, who i have watched demonstrate tremendous courage in fighting for kids, in fighting for what's best for kids. but also being willing to listen to folks and make adjustments and to make sure that everything we do every day is towards the goal of greater equity. mr. president, you and arne and our team at the department have laid out an ambitious agenda, from strengthening early childhood education and expanding access, to raising standards for teaching and learning in k through 12, ensuring that more americans

have access to high quality higher education, to ensuring that we support and invest in our teachers and provide the best preparation and support and leadership opportunities for them. it's an incredible agenda and i'm proud to be able to carry it forward with the amazing team that we have at the department. earlier this week, arne gave a speech at the national press club. and he said education can be the difference between life and death. and i know that's true, because it was for me. i grew up in brooklyn. i lost my mom when i was 8, my dad when i was 12. my dad was very sick before he passed. i moved around between family members and schools, but teachers, new york city public schoolteachers are the reason that i am alive. they are the reason that i became a teacher. they are the reason that i'm standing here today. those teachers created amazing educational experiences, but also gave me hope about what is possible, what could be possible

for me in life. i know schools can't do it alone, there's work we have to do on economic development and housing and health care, but i know that my parents, who spent their lives as new york city public school educators believed that school is at the heart of our promise of opportunity for all americans. that's what they believed, that's what the president believes, that's what arne believes and that's what i feel privileged to work on with this amazing team we have at the department. every child in the united states, every college student, every disconnected youth, every working parent who just wants a few more credits in order to improve their salary and position at their job, everyone deserves the kind of opportunity that i had, to have a great education. every child deserves the kind of opportunity that my beautiful daughters have to have a great education, a kind of education their grandparents worked to provide.

i'm so grateful to my very supportive wife melissa, so grateful for the secretary for the opportunity he gave me to join his team, and so grateful to the president for the opportunity to work with the people at the education department to try to expand opportunity. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. [ applause ] >> all right. two good men doing really important work. so i'm lucky to have them both as colleagues and as president i'm looking forward to seeing even more work done in the next few months. we have some other business to attend to. so all of you who are here to

celebrate arne and john, you're lucky enough now to have to sit through -- [ laughter ] -- a little bit of a press conference with me. so, make yourself comfortable. [ laughter ] i warned the kids ahead of time. i said try not to look completely bored. i'm going to take a couple of questions from the press, but first a few additional pieces of business. first of all, we learned today that our business has created another 118,000 new jobs in september, which means that we now have had 67 straight months of job creation. 13.2 million new jobs in all. and an unemployment rate that has fallen from a high of 10% down to 5.1%. these long-term trends are obviously good news, particularly for every american waking up each morning and heading off to a new job.

but we would be doing even better if we didn't have to keep on dealing with unnecessary crises in congress every few months. and this is especially important right now. because although the american economy has been chugging along at a steady pace, much of the global economy is softening. we've seen an impact on our exports, which was a major driver of growth for us, particularly at the beginning of the recovery. and so our own growth could slow if congress does not do away with some of the counterproductive austerity measures that they have put in place, and if congress does not avoid the kind of manufactured crises that shatter consumer confidence and could disrupt an already skittish global economy. on wednesday, more than half of republicans voted to shut down

the government for the second time in two years. the good news is, there were enough votes in both parties to pass a bill and keep the government operating for another ten weeks before we can get another long-term solution. but keep in mind, that gimmick only sets up another potential manufactured crisis just two weeks before christmas. and i've said this before, i want to repeat it. this is not the way the united states should be operating. often times i hear from folks up on capitol hill, the need for american leadership. the need for america to be number one. well, you know what, around the globe, part of what makes us a leader is when we govern effectively. and we keep our own house in order. and we pass budgets. and we can engage in long-term

planning, and we can invest in the things that are important for the future. that's u.s. leadership. when we fail to do that, we diminish u.s. leadership. it's not how we are supposed to operate. and we can't just keep on kicking down the road without solving any problems or doing any long-term planning for the future. that's true for the military, true for the domestic programs. the american people, the american families deserve better. and we can grow faster and the economy can improve if congress acts with dispatch. it will get worse if they don't. that's why i want to be very clear. i will not sign another shortsided spending bill like the one congress sent me this week. we purchased ourselves ten additional weeks, we need to use them effectively. keep in mind that a few years ago both parties put in place harmful automatic cuts that make no distinction between spending

we don't need and spending we do. we can revisit the history of how that happened. i have some rather grim memories of it. but the notion was that even as we are bringing down the deficit, we would come up with a sustainable, smart, long-term approach to investing in the things that we need. that didn't happen. and so now these cuts that have been maintained have been keeping our economy from growing faster. it's time to undo them. if we don't, then we will have to fund our economic and national security priorities in 2016 at the same levels that we did in 2006. now understand, during that decade between 2006 and 2016, our economy has grown by 12%. our population has grown by 8%.