mr. zients, will not be able to take questions, but for the panel that follows mr. zients, those here in the audience, you consummate your questions on cards provided. and those of you who may be watching on television can submit questions online. we are very technically updated here by twitter #bpclive. or you can e-mail your questions to bipartisaninfo at bipartisan npolicy.org. let us begin. some have dubbed this event the policy throwdown, surrounding the department of labor's judiciary standards. officially, we are much more boringly named. we certainly have champions, and we probably have a few critics represented here today. a little over a year ago, the bipartisan policy center launched the commission on retirement security -- retirement, security, and personal savings. the commission is headed by former senator ted conrad and the former deputy commissioner at the pension benefit guarantee corporation. that commission is made up of some of the most prominent anchors in this country surrounding pensions and savings, and they also include the two public trustee

mr. zients the stage is yours. >> thank you. it was great to see a strong bipartisan vote in favor of trade mo motion last week in the senate. we were pleased to see this closer to getting down. middle class economics, the idea the economy does best when it grows from the middle out has animated everything the president has done since he's been in this office. this vision is unpinned by the basic promise of america. if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. over the past six plus years the president has addresses twin challenges to that vision. increasing health care costs and reduced access. the good news is the data shows that under the president's leadership we've made real progress toward addressing these. 12.2 million jobs across 62 straight months. the highest rate in history. more than 16 million additional americans with health insurance and health care cost growth that is near its lowest level in 50 years. we're now the number one producer in the world of oil and natural gas. the amount of electricity w