agriculture secretary tom vilsack and white house intergovernmental affairs director jerry abramson. should be started momentarily at the mayors meeting. also the president will address the mayors this afternoon. we'll have that live as well. scheduled for 4:45 eastern and that will be over on our companion network c-span3. as we wait to hear from the mayors, and their panel discussion with the members of the obama administration, we're going to bring you part of a discussion anyway from the chamber of commerce and the recent look at the state of american business. >> thank you very much, suzanne. but let's not lose sight of the fact that i am irish. and thank you, again to the foundation and their team for organizing this event and thanks to all of you for being a part of this annual chamber tradition. the state of american business is improving. six long years after the recession, technically ended, investing, hiring and consumer spending are firming up. the housing sector continues to recover in fits and starts. entrepreneurship and good old-fashioned ingenuity in the energy secto

julian castro, anthony foxx, tom vilsack and jerry abramson.hey described how they applied their experience of being mayors on their caramels -- current roles. [applause] >> all right. are we ready? all right. yesterday, you heard from the doctor who wrote a book if mayors ruled the world. i'm starting to think that president obama must have read that book because he has appointed three former mayors to his cabinet. we have to give around of applause for that. three former mayors. he just appointed a past president of this organization. we have had an incredible presentation over the last couple of days. a great relationship with this administration. i thought it would be interesting to bring the mayors back to our meeting to have an open and honest dialogue. we talk about what i call a new federalist compact an opportunity for us as mayors to redefine our relationship with the federal government and for the federal government to redefine relationship with mayors. i know we like to hear from these particular mayors. i want to hear what their pe

let's give a round of applause to our very own jerry abramson.ause] >> thank you, buddy. >> thank you. the irony of this last one, the transportation person is not. . -- this is a new group of mayors. we are not late to stop i'm going to introduce him and when he comes in, he can hop up on stage. going to put it in perspective why he's not here. he was designated during the state of the union as a designated survivor. do you know what that means? he's a member of the u.s. cabinet whose part of the administration appointed to be at a physical distant, secure an undisclosed location when the president is given -- getting his state of the union. we just down him and we are getting him out of the bunker so he will be here in short order. let's give a round of applause for anthony foxx. [applause] are you guys ready? we're going to start off a little fun and we'll jump in to some serious topics. i'll start with tom maybe you on the very end. give us a little bit of background. i kind of alluded to this earlier, going back when you were in city hall, y

and i think as this crucial point that jerry abramson made it's not just our ability to turn to the congress members who represent our cities, per se. it is our ability to turn to the congress members who represent our entire metropolitan area who represent our states as a whole, the senators from our states, and say with one voice that things like the transportation bill should transcend politics. they're about our economic stability and our economic future. i believe working together with our business communities working to the with our labor communities, with civic organizations, we can create a critical mass. and again, i think at this moment, the people are more receptive than ever to the kind of investments that will move the country forward. we, as mayors, have the ability, i think, to spark a different discussion locally, and that we all know there will be some members of the house and senate who may be a bit hesitant or may have ideological reasons for standing apart. i think when they feel the full weight of our ability to crystallize support in our metropolitan areas, and point ou

round of applause for jerry abramson. the last one, he is not here yet.hter] this is a new group of mayors, we are not late. i will introduce and now, that he can hop on the stage when he is here. but i will put into perspective why he is not here. he was designated during the state of the union as a designated survivor. do know what that means? he is the first member of the u.s. cabinet who was part of the administration appointed to be at a undisclosed location when the president gives his state of the union. we are getting him out of the bunker. he will be here in short order. brandon of applause -- round of applause for anthony foxx. [applause] are you ready to go? we will start off with fun and then jump into serious topics. i will start with -- give us a little bit of background. going back when you were in the hall -- city hall, what do you think they most need to know about the federal government. >> i think it is important for folks to know the broad array of programs available through the federal government. agriculture, you ought to know all ab