Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Chairman. You talked about managing risk, mr. Chairman. Would removing our only airborne brigade, b. C. T. , in the arctic, or the only b. C. T. In the asia pacific, would that do to our credibility . Would that boles you are our credibility in the arctic or asia pacific with regard to the rebalance . And you talk about risk. It seems to me Vladimir Putin is militarizing this part of the world. If were actually removing force, removing forces, our own arctic trained forces, thats a way to increase risk because we know he views weakness as being provocative. Theyre making a move in the arctic. If we start withdrawing troops, the 425 in particular, i think that heightens risk. Would either of you care to comment on that . General dempsey yes. I think it increases risk but some of the decisions, and youre talking about the army in this case, but some of the choices that the Service Troops have to make in terms of resources, you know, the army is tasked going from 490,000 active where they are today to 450,000 in the next two years. They got to come from someplace. Senator sullivan its inviting a the Congress Says dont do it in the ndaa. But secondly, thats going undermine our ability in the asia pacific. Those are paid comm forces. General dempsey it sounds like you may have insight. Senator sullivan no, i dont. I hope the army wont make strategic blunder. General dempsey we are familiar with the congress telling us no on the reforms we were trying to make. Because we have 1 trillion thats a t, not bambings a trillion dollars less in Budget Authority over 10 years. Weve said from the beginning its a disaster. Senator sullivan thank you, mr. Chairman. I just do want to mention that. If were looking at b. C. T. s going to the area where Congress Said we need to increase forces, having those having our only asia Pacific Arctic capability which as you know, general, you cant develop overnight and our own airborne capability in the entire air asia pacific, to me that would be a strategic blunder and i think Congress Sometimes comes in has broader Strategic Insights that the military has on occasion, not always, but sometimes and this is one of them. On behalf of chairman mccain, thank you for your testimony. Senator reed i want to thank you for your service to the nation and you, general demptiony as you conclude your uniform service. At chairman mccains direction, ill adjourn the hearing. Thank you. Cable satellite corp. 2015] national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] visit ncicap. Org][br] visit ncicap. Org][br] visit ncicap. Org][br] visit ncicap. Org][br] visit ncicap. Org][br] visit ncicap. Org][br] visit ncicap. Org][br] general dempsey yes. I think it increases risk but some of the decisions, and youre talking about the army in this case, but some of the choices that the Service Troops have to make in terms of resources, you know, the army is tasked going from 490,000 active where they are today to 450,000 in the next two years. They got to come from someplace. Senator sullivan its inviting a the Congress Says dont do it in the ndaa. But secondly, thats going undermine our ability in the asia pacific. Those are paid comm forces. General dempsey it sounds like you may have insight. Senator sullivan no, i dont. I hope the army wont make strategic blunder. General dempsey we are familiar with the congress telling us no on the reforms we were trying to make. Because we have 1 trillion thats a t, not a b. But atrillion dollars less in Budget Authority over 10 years. Weve said from the beginning its a disaster. Senator sullivan thank you, mr. Chairman. I just do want to mention that. If were looking at b. C. T. s going to the area where Congress Said we need to increase forces, having those having our only asia Pacific Arctic capability which as you know, general, you cant develop overnight and our own airborne capability in the entire air asia pacific, to me that would be a strategic blunder and i think Congress Sometimes comes in has broader Strategic Insights that the military has on occasion, not always, but sometimes and this is one of them. On behalf of chairman mccain, thank you for your testimony. Senator reed i want to thank you for your service to the nation and you, general demptiony as you conclude your uniform service. At chairman mccains direction ill adjourn the hearing. Thank you. Cable satellite corp. 2015] national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] visit ncicap. Org][br] the head of the Homeland Security department jay johnson will discuss cybersecurity facing the u. S. And the protection of government networks. He will be at International Studies at 1 00 p. M. Eastern, live on cspan 2. Next republican president ial candidate senator marco rubio talks about the economy and use of technology and innovation and spoke at the 1871 tech incubator in chicago. Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to thank 1871 for hosting today and all of you for being a part of this. I want to begin by pointing out the fact its been 15 1 2 years since the 21st century ended, the American Century. And it was a century where in which our nation overcame depression led the world against evil multiple times and recorded some of the greatested a vastments in human history, airplanes in the sky boot prints on the moon, the worlds knowledge first brought online and all this was possible because we built what no situation had built before, a vibrant, stable, broad and accessible middle class through which our people drove the affairs of the world. So my parents were two immigrants of cuba with little formal education. They reached the middle class in that century and did so through humble jobs, first as an Assembly Plant for lawn chairs and then my mother went to work as a cashier, a maid, and finally a stock clerk at kmart. My father basically was a bartender for a hotel banquet. They never got rich but my parents achieved the American Dream because through these modest jobs they reached Financial Security and raised a family in a safe neighborhood, they provided for our needs and left their children with lives even better than their own. More people achieve this American Dream in america in the 20th century then at any other time and any other place in human history. But today many jones like the ones my many jobs like the once my parents held no longer provide a path to the middle class. Their job assembling lawn chairs or even the cashier job my mother held has likely been replaced by opinion. Other positions are outsourced or paid the same wage for a decade or more. Most of those impacted lack of qualifications to remove them from going and Higher Education is too expensive and requires to be away from the family. The path to the middle class is farther away today than it has been for generation and the American Dream so many achieved in the last century is now in peril. This hardship is not the result of a cyclical economic downturn that will naturally correct itself. It is born of a fundamental transformation to the very nature of our economy, the disruptions of which have been prolonged and compounded by the failure of our leaders, our policies and our institutions to transform accordingly. There are two primary forces behind this transformation. The first is radical technological process, including the development of the internet, Information Technologies wireless and mobile capabilities, robotics and more. The second has risen partly from the first and that is globalization. From where you sit, you can sell a product to someone on the other side of the world almost as easily to the person to your left or to your right. This has pulled us into competition with other nations for business jobs, talent and innovation. In the last decade not a single industry has been touched by these forces and the disruption triggered a cascade of anxiety. Fewer americans believe in the viability of the American Dream today than during the worst of the financial crisis in 2009. Many punds its and Media Outlets spoke those fierce painting a dreary picture of the future in which automation and outsourcing continue to shatter the American Work force. History is not silent on this subject. It tells us the future is swayed by the actions we take, not by the predictions we make. Generations of americans before us frissed faced equally disruptive periods of innovation. Suddenly machines and automated tasks people built their life around for centuries. Jobs were lost and wages were static and new wealth was concentrated at the top. Doubts and fears about the future were widespread. But then something changed. When our children learn about the Industrial Revolution today, they learn its a period of progress. Yes, jobs were lost but even more were gained and the middle class expanded and thrived and laid the cornerstone of the American Century. How did that generation overcome the challenges . It wasnt through resistance, pushing back against new technologies or trying to resurrect old jobs . It was through adaptation, businesses integrating new technologies and workers learning new skills and leaders leading in a different direction. Todays technological revolution carries extraordinary opportunity. Even more, i believe, than the Industrial Revolution ever did. But weve not yet seized these opportunities nor is it guaranteed that we will. Whether we do or do not, will depend on the actions we take, the leaders we choose and reforms we adopt. For the first 15 1 2 years of the century washington has looked to the past. Our economy has changed but our economic policies have not and weve learned painfully the old ways no longer work, with that washington cannot pretend its the same it was in the 1980s and cant raise taxes like it did in the 1990s and cant grow government like it did in the 2000s. The race for the future will never be won by going backwards or hopping on Hillary Clintons time machine to yesterday. She seems to believe, as many do, that pumping more of todays money to yesterdays rams will bring prosperity tomorrow. It will not. Some willinging small. Hiking the minimum wage by a few dollars will not save the American Dream but accelerate automation and outsourcing. It will not help us balance our budget but snuff out innovation and crush small business. We need in this country a new president for a new age, one with original ideas to unlock the two great doors to the future, the doors of innovation and the door of education. Only through an innovative country can we adopt new technologies to new middle class jobs and only through a Higher Education system can we equip all our people to fill these new and better paying jobs. Prosperity in our time is likely if we act to embrace the future. We have opportunities that have never existed before and a chance to seize them that will never exist again. I come before you to discuss my idea to spur our American Innovation onward and include the rise of the machines will not be the fall of the worker and create a new American Century propelled by a revitalized American Dream and captured by a vibrant middle class. We know this much for certain, in the decades ahead innovation will transform the world and cars may soon drive themselves. Which is good news for me if you read some of the newspaper articles. [applause] who are they giving the red light camera to . Virtual reality nanotechnology robotics and more will impact us in ways we yet cant imagine. Our quites will grow more powerful and bring new capabilities to the masses. The question is not whether inso situations are coming but the question is whether america will produce them and whether our people will share in the wealth they helped to create. So build the best economy in the world we must build the best Business Economy in the world. Right now we have nearly the exact opposite. The United States has the highest Corporate Tax rate in the developed world. We have a tax code that punishes American Companies for competing in the Global Economy and have a regulatory system who stops the businesses from competing against established players. The result of the approach are in. For the first time in 35 years, we have more diss buying dying than being alone. For the third time this year our economy shrank for the third time since our recovery began and the last decade the United States has lost 179 billion of Domestic Companies through foreign takeovers. When im present i will empower own vators instead of punishment and cut our Corporate Tax rate to the average of 25 to developed nations. If wed done this 10 years ago instead of losing 179 billion worth of american businesses we would have acquired 590 billion worth of foreign front. I will also establish a territorial tax dispute. Today when an American Company earns money overseas, it is taxed in that country and the country they earned it in and then again if its property back to america. We are the only g8 country that levies that second tax and the understandable impact is that Many Companies never choose to bring their money back people. Back home. Apple has 171 billion sitting overseas and that money would be an immediate economic boost but apple would be punished for bringing it back, they choose not to. We can 100 invest. And the more they pay their workers the less they pay the government. I will put a ceiling on the amount of u. S. Regulation and what they can cost our economy. Just since the year 2008, federal regulations have topped 171 billion. Many of these regulations are a result of an alliance between big business and Big Government. Hillary clinton has argued the economy is rigged in favor of wealthy interests. Shes right. But what she wont tell you is that Big Government is doing the rigging and a massive regulatory apparatus becomes an instrument for lobbyists to influence it. Government should work to empower and affect the private sector, not to control it. Two months ago i sponsored and proposed a bipartisan plan with senator chris kuhn to modern ice our National Lab System which long has been a leading source of research and science, medicine energy and technology. Currently much of this research is trapped in the Public Sector but my legislation would increase the labs flexibility to partner with a private industry. We must also recognize the interests that need special protection in the 21st century. In its short life the internet has become one of humanities greatest treasures and belongs in the hands of our people, not our government. In the senate i fought to safeguard and reinforce Internet Freedom and dinl tall opportunity and continue that fight as president. I led a Coalition Opposing efforts to seize Regulatory Power to the International Telecommunications unit. I will advance a wireless plan to expand unlicensed peck strum, the highway of the dinl tall age. But the amount made public is limited and the result is a Digital Traffic jab. As president i will reactivate spectrum for public use to create an estimated 350,000 jobs for 500 mega hertz. To win the global competition for innovation we must win the global competition for talent and requires reforming our Legal Immigration system to make it skill and merit based rather than simply family based which will protection American Workers and attract more opportunity to grow the economy and create jobs. Innovation is the first door to the future but even once we pass through it, a second door remains shut in front of us. Innovation will create millionaires and even billionaires and also be sure it creates a vibrant middle class and can only be done through the modification of our education system. As our Technological Capabilities grow well see more low paying jobs replaced by machines but thats only part of the story. With the innovation economy i have just discussed, we also will see the creation of higher paying, higher skilled jobs that only humans can perform and history backs this up. For example, when the power loom was invented many feared it would eliminate all textile jobs and the truth turned out to be opposite. The loom increased production and as production increased so did demand and as demand increased, so did the need for killed laborers who could operate the machine. Jobs in the tech economy increased for 100 years thereafter. But these jobs do not immediately pay higher wages. Before that can happen, workers needed to learn marketable skills that could be standardized across the industry. Only then could the methods earned in one factory become useful in another which increases the need for experienced labor and gave workers the leverage to demand higher wages. The lesson is clear, to empower todays worker bemust equip them with todays skills and to do that we need to innovate at the same rate as our economy. In the next 10 years 3. 5 Million Manufacturing jobs will be created but if our Higher Education system remains stagnant and stuck in the past two million of these jobs will be left unfilled. The same skills gap that went across the industry, nearly one off every three employers report having difficulty finding skilled applicants. We still tell our students to get a three but have to spendo four years on campus and tens of thousands of room and board and hundreds of hours in the classroom, often learning subjects not relevant to the modern economy. The result is that today many young people are graduating with a louden of death and those who need it the most, working adults and Single Parents are left with few options that fit their schedule and budget. The problems with Higher Education are many but the ideas from Hillary Clinton and other outdated leader are narrow and shortsighted. We do not need tweaks to the old system. We need a holistic overhaul. We need to change how we provide degrees and how those degrees are accessed, how much does the access cost and how those costs are paid and even how those payments are determined. As president , i will begin with a powerful but simple reform. Our Higher Education system today is controlled by what amounts to a car fell of existing colleges and universities which use their power over the Accreditation Process to plock innovative, low cost competitors fromer ining the marketplace. In a few mund days well bust this cartel which offers know coast innovative providers and would expose education to market choices and competition and prompt a revolution driven by the need of students just as the need of consumers drive the prospect of other industries in our economy. Other reforms can hasten this transition. I will empower students to choose their degree for the right price at the right institution for them. I proposed a student right to know before you go act which requires an institution how much they can expect to earn with a gift degree before they take out the loans to pay for it. I will make income based payment automatic for all drauts and the more they make the faster they pay back their loan and the less they make the less strain these loans will solve. I will reduce the civic associated with the dome and hovering over millions of graduates. But also can create a alternative to loans and ive proposed an idea called the student Investment Plan to whet students to team up with the industry. It may result as a profit for the investor, maybe not. None of the risk lies with the student. As a president , i will make career and Vocational Education more swide spread and example. This is continue early in high school and graduate students with a certification to work as a mechanic, plumber welder, electrician or any number of good paying occupations and i will expand apresentship programs troying on the jod training to allow them to learn from experienced workers and take them to the industry. Its not an exhaustive list of ideas but i can see how they open doors for the middle class. In miami ive seen High Schoolers graduate, certified to begin careers as b. M. W. Technicians. Ive learned single mothers whose degree has warped into providing Financial Stability for themselves and their children and seen Higher Education shape my life in terms of the cost we must remedy and another normal with us payoff we must extend to all. My innovation and Higher Education agenda for only a second of the policy drew print but the whole vision is based on a simple cons accept. The future must be embraced with enthusiasm and with vision. And in the 19th century a generation of americans did exactly that. They faced challenges similar to ourself, a steam engine made the world smaller, a telegraph opened a new age of communicate, new machines treated an upended a status go that was centuries old. Imagine what the world would look like if they assisted these changes and embraced them and imagine they refused to give up the old ways and allow the future of the Industrial Age to pass them by. The loss would have been suffered not only by their generation but every generation after. The American Century would never have existed. The takes for our time are just as high. If we fail to capture this new age well be the first generation to leave a weaker america behind. But if we succeed well lay the cornerstone for a new American Century. Well not just recover economic ground but gain it and see the creation of higher paying, more fulfilling, more exciting jobs than ever before. There are those who say prosperity is impossible but the future is lost. It seemed for a while all you had to do to become a bestselling author is write a book predicting a post person world, one driven by china or europe or another power. Many of these forecasts come from people who rarely leave washington, d. C. That city is all they see. Its no wronger they think america is trouble. I say go to boston and its the most innovative square in the world. You can peer into the Looking Glass to a remarkable revolutionary future for our nation and the world. I say foe to floridas space coast and see how an era of private and Public Partnership put new achievements and new discoveries within reach of humankind and how suddenly a American Flag on mars has turned into a achievable American Dream. I say to them go to reno, nevada see the data center being built by apple. See the 1. 2 million square foot industry bution where house and the giga factory being tested by tesla and panasonic and rill create as many as 9,000 good paying jobs in nevada alone. I say to them, go to hample. Visit southern hannah university which is one of the most organized situations in the world on the list for apple and google and how it pushes against the odds and naysayers to bring Higher Education into the 21st century. And i also say to them come to chicago and visit 1871. This 50,000 square foot celebrity which served as a incubator for the midwest and providing entrepreneurs with mentorship, training and an igs educational resource and a group of investors and fellow dreamers dedicated to pulling american businesses into a new age. These examples are not outlyers but a pattern and anyone who sees these things will understand nothing has changed about these people we hold the American Dream and American Century. In our veins flow the blood of men and women who refuse to accept the burdens of the past or resign to the old way of doing things. Just as we pay respect to the americans of the Industrial Revolution so will the verdict of our time be written by those who have not yet been born. Let them write we did our part, that in we elected new leaders for any time. We adopted policies for americans to adopt product of tomorrow, manufacturing them and seldom throughout the world. We designed Higher Education that allowed our middle class to form great work and leave them great rewards of the century. Time has brought us to this doorstep of the future. Whether we turn the knob and push over step across the threshold of the new age whether we embrace the century with its challenges and opportunities, its dangers, is a decision that is ours alone to make. I say we have lingered long enough. I invite you to step forward with me together. Thank you. [applause] before we get started, i know you love your miami dolphins. I want to remind you that you are in the home of the nhl. The defending stanley cup champions. [applause] sen. Rubio theriault. There we go. There are not a lot of rubios in the nhl. They do not play hockey in cuba. Thank you. Should i wear it now . [laughter] depends on how tough the interviews going to be. Welcome to chicago and thank you for being here. Thank you for 1871 for hosting this event. Senator, let us start by talking about the economy more broadly. The stock market at highest, unemployment is down to 5. 3 and yet, what is the problem . Sen. Rubio that is a great question. What is interesting about this new economy is that a lot of traditional markers of Economic Health or not mean what they once did. For example, the Unemployment Rate added 21st century view of things the problem is that a lot of people employed are underemployed. They are earning wages that have not kept up with costofliving. A graphic example of that is that in 31 states of the country that health care is more expensive and going to college. Imagine you are a single mother that makes 900 a week. For 250 a week, thats going to childcare and that is going to a huge chunk of your budget you cannot live without it. Then you have millions of people who i dropped out and are searching for work. They have given up and have become more lies. Theyre working part times i differ jobs here and there. And the nature of the economy, there are people who will not work at one, company for years, see our jumping out of the labor pool. The result is that the Unemployment Rate no longer means what it once did, especially when you take into part the number of people participating in the labor force is as low as it has been in the last 30 years. Then, you add wages. Wages have stagnated decades while the cost of living has rapidly increase. The only way to close that gap is innovation, better paying jobs, and helping people acquire the skills they need for the better paying jobs. It has led people to talk of income inequality. The top 1 is getting richer while main street is being left behind. What is the biggest of the things you outlined, what is the single most important thing that you would do upon taking office that would help correct this . Sen. Rubio income inequality exists for a couple of reasons. The primary one is that the higher jobs of the 21st century and careers that are economically fulfilling in the 21st century just pay a lot more money than similar previous did in the 20th century. If you are not one of those fields are industries, your stagnant. There is really not want the can do. There are two things you can do. The first is to make america the best place in the world. Then you give people the skills they need to make those jobs. I tell my parents store because they lived in a time and grew up in a time where a bartender and demand to make enough money to afford home ownership, raise a family, and retire with dignity. Jobs like that do not pay enough anymore. In order for my parents to be able to do today what they did 25 years ago, my dad would have had to become a politician. My mother wouldve had to become a dental hygienist or paralegal. That requires education which many people have no access to because they have to work fulltime and raise a family. They cannot shroff everything in sydney classroom two years. That is what we have to do two things. Make america the best place in the world to get jobs and make it the easiest place the world to get those skills. Tom greece is in the news. Puerto rico is in the news. How much of an economic drag is the National Debt and what do you propose about that . Sen. Rubio the more debt is being sold, the more capital dedicated to debt and less available to investment in the private sector. The on, increase the specter of a debt crisis. The debt crisis is not a good thing. If nothing changes and continue doing things the way we are now, at some point we will have a debt crisis. We have insulated up to now because of reserve currency and because other places are unstable. Eventually people who loan money to america are going to insist on a higher yield. That means higher returns on their loading of money out. When that happens, the Interest Payments alone will make a debt crisis and the results will be catastrophic for those economies in the world. The only way to fix the National Debt is the accommodation of dynamic economic growth, which i outlined here today, and by reforming Social Security and medicare. I want to or for programs without making changes for people like my mother. My mother is off Social Security and medicare here i want those programs to say exactly the way they are for her and people of similar age, people who have retired or are ready about for retire. That would require people of my generation that Social Security and medicare will be different than my words. It will still be the best thing in the world, but it will be different. We will have to retire regulated year later than my parents did. Our benefits will not grow as fast as Social Security of my parents did. On medicare plans may involve choices in the private market. My point is that that is the only way were going to ring spending under control and balance the budget long term. Our National Debt is not driven by foreign aids. It is not being driven by defense spending. Its not by food stands and welfare. All these programs are in need of reform. The driver of our debt are these very important programs that spend more money than they take and will continue to do so at an increasing rate in the future. Tom you mentioned regulations. The Affordable Care act is upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutional. I think most republicans in the field say repeal and replace. Is that where you are . Sen. Rubio let me tell you why. We do have a Health Insurance problem in america that we need to confront. We have largely done is put Many Americans into a government mandated finance. These plans, in order to be affordable, have had to do two things. That had to make copayments very high and adoptables very high. What you now have our individuals and jirga under one of these Exchange Plans that are going to an emergency room or doctor. Then they are getting a bill. The bill could be as high as 4000 depending on you to dockable and copayments. This is not have that ability. As result, the provider is not hitting patriot is not getting paid. It limits the number of providers and choices. If the doctor knows they cannot collect the copayment and detectable, theyre not getting the full chart. Then more providers will not want to participate in these plans. Yes, the premium is subsidize, but you have a high to dockable and copayment and limited number of doctors in the hospital. I think a better approach would be to say that in the toy for century every american would be in charge of their own Health Insurance. Every american, whether it is a tax credit for you do from your employers money you will have the opportunity to purchase Health Insurance from every state in america and you will get the insurance that you want. For some people, that may be a Health Savings account for outofpocket expenses. For others, and may require more confidence of care. My point is that if he of how the consumer, the private sector will begin to create plans and compete for your business on the basis of price and quality. The way you see Auto Insurance you cannot turn on the tv without seeing five commercials. This prudential and progressive which one has flo . Progressive,. [laughter] they will target and margaret to market to you based on pricing. Tom you mentioned immigration reform. I thought you mentioned that was to protect American Workers. Did i hear that right . Do you think immigration puts downward pressure on wages. . Sen. Rubio you are now bringing people into this country based on what should be economic. Some people think of them as high skilled workers. This is not have the be in the tech industry. What the evidence shows is that when you are able to attract the worlds best talent, it creates jobs for americans. It allows them to create jobs for people already living here. That is why this next phase of immigration is what we need in the 21st century. We are engaged in a global competition for talent. We need to have a Higher Education system to allow those to attract the best in the world as opposed to immigration system today that is largely built on whether or not you have a relative living. Tom i want to ask you about Cyber Security. We read about the office of Personnel Management hack and 12 or 13 million files stolen. We are seeing this more and more. A lot of people saying it is the biggest threat. What is your take on that and what would you do about it . Sen. Rubio i think it would be important to get the best practices on the cutting edge. Suddenly, sometimes, three generations out of step with the latest practices in the industry. I think it is important for government to the come infused become infused with the best practices and have unitary standards that all agencies comply with good ultimately, you can hack into data for the files of one agency and he gives a backdoor access to other agencies as well. The second is that we half important Cyber Security bill that allows us to share information with government without being exposed to lawsuits. This is an ongoing threat. This is evolving as Data Solutions are. You come up with a solution for a cyber breach and other five new potential threats have been created that you have to confront. Even to have more collaboration especially because there is no such thing as the Government Technology sector in a private Technology Sent her. In the technology sector. They are all interwoven. I think it is important to pass Cyber Security legislation that harbors more collaboration between the private sector and the government. Tom as you look at the global landscape, who is our biggest economic challenger or threat overtaking america . Sen. Rubio i dont know about overtaking america. Our biggest that is america. We are the biggest threat to our of the refuse the greatest opportunities it the great news about between for century is that it is not a zerosum game. That does not mean someone has to be worse off. In a globalized economy prosperity here can lead to prosperity somewhere else and vice versa. We need to stop thinking about it in terms of we win, you lose whether it is our domestic economy or the world at large. Technology has flattened information. Today something innovative in this building can be shared in seconds with someone halfway through the world. Knowledge is a shared commodity as opposed to something can troll by a careful people at the expense of someone else. There are other bases that would like to replace us on a global stage. I clearly believe china has that ambition. Their leadership does, but that doesnt necessarily mean theyre people do. I think that many respects how america and china interact with each other will be the biggest geopolitical forcibly 21st century and determine what happens of the world. I think russia has significant domestic problems. Their gdp is only 2 trillion. It is not economic power, but it is a military power, run by a man who is determined to be a great leader of a great country. They can only do that militarily. They also post geopolitical challenges. There also grand master criminal groups like isis, etc. As turn his overtaking in terms of overtaking, i do not view it that way. The 21st century will create prosperity for americans and hundreds of people around the world. We look hundreds of millions of people on this planet to afford to buy the things that we do and the services we offer the products we manufacture. Tom i know you have to get out of here. Five minutes left . I also notice that you mentioned in your speech that we cannot continue to grow government like we did in the 2000s. George w. Bush was president for eight of those years. Sen. Rubio Congress Heading had a role to play in that as well. Its how people in my own party promising to limit the size of government, but then they grow it themselves. When you look at that time, we had tax retention reductions but we had historic growth in government that was over showered overshadowed by historic increases. Government has a role to play. Have understand that you cannot have more government and what you can afford. Theyre learning about the hard way in greece. They are learning that in the territory of the United States, puerto rico. There learning that in detroit and other places in this country. Tom he also mentioned that the system is rate. If the government is doing the rating, there is interesting populist strain from the left and the right. Yet heard from Bernie Sanders and elizabeth ward and occupied wall street folks you have heard from Bernie Sanders in elizabeth ward and occupy wall street folks and they are against crony capitalism. How big of a problem is that fit what would you do against it . Sen. Rubio the more people who control the economy, the more they can control the government. My students were complaining that they traveled somewhere and how to use this new system called uber. No one had heard of it. They were upset when they cannot get it when they waited. The reason why you cannot use uber in miami is that an established industry raised a lot of money and have county influence over the government. They told the government to not allow services that they offer. For themselves, they created a monopoly using the power of government to crowd out competitors in that space. Im in a connection because i the that happens quite often in American Government in american politics. You have established industries that create rules and regulations that only they can comply with, knowing it will crowd out and innovative competitor to enter that stage. After dodd frank, big banks have consolidated to the point where they are bigger than ever. While 40 of small banks have evaporated. They have either been bought out or close. Imagine if Blockbuster Video when it was around, and some people do not know what that is imagine if they passed a law that said this. In order to rent a movie, you must rented at a retail facility where you show your id. The argument would have been at the time, look we want to prevent kids from seeing rated r movies. The only way to ensure that is to make sure that come to the store and show us the idea when they were at the movie. That would be the argument they couldve made. Have they done that, we never wouldve had netflix or other services available. I know that sounds farfetched and i know there are former blockbuster shareholders kicking himself for not thinking of it but that is something you see quite often when you see established Industries Using their connection to government to create regulations or parameters that only they can comply with. They limit the amount of competition. Tom last question. Youre heading straight from here to iowa. What are you hearing from voters on the trail in regards to the economy . Sen. Rubio i would describe the state of the country as uncertainly, and security about today, and uncertainty about the future. There are two reasons why this is happening. On geopolitical level, every single day brings news of something happening in the world that makes it more dangerous than ever. Isis beheads 20 more people. A terrorist attack somewhere. Russia is invading a country. China is building islands. At home, they know something has changed. All the things that we once told people to do to succeed to not work as well as they once did. No one has yet explained what the new way of doing that is. Since no one has a splint to people why the old ways no longer work and what the new way should be, i think that is what is embedded in all the questions that we get. You run into people and tell everything that they have been told. Now theyre working somewhere where they couldve worked without 50,000 student loan spirit they have no idea when they can have a career, by a home, or do anything else. You have people working at the same job 10 years ago. 10 years ago at that job, they save money. Now, they live paycheck to paycheck. If the refrigerator breaks down, now thats trouble. That is our society. Our leadership has not explained why that is happening and what the new way of doing things should be. Tom i said that was my last question, but i lied. We have time for one more question. This race is remarkable. It is distort. Historic. 14 or 16 candidates on the republican side and a big debate coming up soon. What is it like to be in this moment, in this race, that is distort historic . Sen. Rubio i have nothing to do to having not run for president. I think it is a symptom of a new economy in a new age. Yesterday, you have to have access to large funds to get your message out. There are some new ways to communicate with voters that cost little money so many people can launch a campaign. That is a factor. I think another thing i would say about it is that to me it is an Incredible Opportunity to have a vibrant the break debate about our future. What we are facing today is not a down turkey this is not the norm of some downs of economic life. This is a massive ongoing rapid restructuring of every asset of our lives. We either adjust to it and embrace it, or we will be left behind by the future. That is what im excited about being able to use his campaign as a platform to have that conversation and ultimately the hopes of serving as president to guide that new america. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, i appreciate it. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] next, a discussion on the future of radio with mike francesca. This is part of the 25th annual talkers magazine conference in new york and it is 15 minutes. [applause] mike thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. Its good to see brian kills this. I was talking to sean hannity and long island guys a representative this morning. I work right down the block here, a couple blocks away. It was an easy job this morning to come in and say hello. I was looking through some stuff the last couple days and i thought i should wear black the way everybody is talking about radio these days. It is amazing the amount of negativity no matter what part of the business you are in. I have been part of wsa and 1987 thats wsafan in 1987. Same hour, same station, since 1989. I used to have a partner. I dont know where he went. 19 years, i looked up and he is gone. I think he is working. I sent out notes and every thing. He is doing fine on another different part of it. Obviously serious xm and doing a baseball show. All you read now is consolidation leads to debt. That would be a dirty word. Cutbacks nobody has a good word for radio anymore. Im here to tell you even though i probably closer to the finish that i am the start, back when i was pounding on the door to wfan and it took me 18 interviews to get hired folks, i would be as bullish on radio and as gung ho about getting a career and feeding my family is radio now as i was led to as i was then. [applause] mike i know you do not believe me. Im telling you. All you hear now is that companies listen, i work for a big company now and i fight with them all. You can see that some of my executives are the room. Ive not talked to them once. Maybe even years [applause] mike im not going to discuss that today. I like to, but i will. But i wont. The point is yes, its hard. Its much more fun. Im a big believer, although we caps on and so many other people who have done so well and built Brilliant Industries and as this is doing Network Radio businesses doing Network Radio mine has always been life and local an immediate and i like this small city here as my home turf. I think of it as my own as a matter of fact, folks. But my point is coming yes, it has changed. It is not going to change faxes we know it is not going to change back. We know that most of the stations are going to be owned by people who have a lot of stations, making them just for have more than one station to run, salespeople involved in more than one kind of program, all that stuff. It is all true. But it does not change the dynamics of the business. Im just getting over a cold, so i apologize. The point is that life a local has to go back to that no matter what part of the business you are running because eventually it is about a guy who has a showroom to sell cars, or a storefront that people want to walk into, or a restaurant that he was people to eat at in your job is to sell that. And it works from there. Whether youre talking about and network entire like sean has or one station where ive been able to control things for a very long time here in new york, either way, it is still the same dynamic. He gets back to the same dynamic. And has to eventually get back to the community and get back to live in local. But it has changed because you now have to deal with the digital aspect of this. Digital is not going away. So digital has to be a partner in all this. Look what it has done for sports. That is obviously what i do. Digital and let me tell you this, the owners of the baseball teams, of the football teams guys you see who really are given credit for being so much smarter than they really are because they fell into this digital thing. They did not know it was going to happen. They own some of these scenes for many years. They bought it mostly out of vanity because what happens . Some type is lucky and rich and nobody knows who i am so im front to buy a team and get publicity. That is where the jerry jones is of the world come from. They fell to the digital end of this, which is now producing insane amounts of money. I can give you an app where baseball is making a billion dollars off of one app. The nfl is making billions in revenues. The digital part of the radio side has to be enhanced. There is no way around it. It has to be embraced, but that is the way to success. We talk now about social media and we all deal with it. If you have been in radio for a long time, it is something at first but you have to live with it. Ive had to do that. But think about it. The first real social media was radio. The first real mass social media was radio. Radio is twitters father. Thats what it is. They are the same relation. A matter fact, facebook as a little harder to apply to radio, but twitter is the most perfect and itll all deal with twitter. They still do know what to do with twitter. They dont know how to monetize it, just like a lot of people in this room do not know how to monetize the digital part of radio and websites. If you go to some of these sites, excellent to be this. The digital part of this ive not got an answer yet. Same thing with twitter. You hear every day, how do you monetize it . They have a product and they do not know how to monetize. Twitter is immediate and a nonstop information source. What is radio . Immediate in a nonstop information sort and a nonstop information source. They need a guy maybe not need because im not smart enough a for it, but the guy who does will make a fortune because it is a perfect complement. They are from the same living space. It is a great way. We use twitter a lot with our show. My producer is on it the entire show. We use it a lot. We use it to our own devices. I tell you we do. The point is that you have to whether you are in management or in sales, you have to marry what is the life, local, based part of radio where everything starts whether it is local radio or network and married the digital part of this. That is not going away. It is going to continue. Not everybody in the world carries a transistor radio. What is the last time you carried a transistor radio . We all do now. You have every car with the radio and not everybody has a radio in their pocket. It cannot do better than that. That as an advancement from where we were 20 years ago, when basically radio was just in a car. Dont wear about the house. We took care of that was simulcast. Do not worry about anything else. Now, you can touch people everywhere they are, anytime, anywhere. Hopefully when they are not driving a train. [laughter] mike if you are the management part, you have to embrace that. If you are the talent part, you have a couple things you have to do now in my mind. Number one, you have to understand the audience has more information than you have because they care about a certain subject inseam and person. They can get more information right now and you can about a single subject. Your job is different. It has to be more. It has also been entertainment. They used to be informed not anymore. You have to have the right opinion, or at least an opinion that stands out. You need personality and presence when you perform. And then, you have to figure out a way to cut through. If you are not a brand, youre not going to be successful. There is so much noise out there and so many people out there. There are so many more people working now than they were when i started that you have to stand out. If you are not a brand, you would not be up. You were not a brand. Im a brand. Hannity is a brand. If you are not a brand, you would not be doing this. That is how it works. On top of that though, you have to understand and figure out how to utilize in monetize and figure out the value and this is essential going forward, i think, of what you do with the secondary and tertiary applications of your content. What we are in radios content providers. My content has always been 5. 5 hours live every day. Later on it became, were going to do the interviews, and they were going to cut them up and send the opening in the interviews to the website. Im like, do not do that until the show is over. We fought about that for a long time. They did it anyway. I said wait second. What you are doing is wrong. You are bastardizing the product. They said, this is the right way to enhance your i said tell me how its going to make money. I never got an answer. You are not a canton content provider anymore for just radio or just television. It goes to a podcast. He gets cut up. I will give you an example. My show goes from five and a half hours live every day and then goes to cbs local sports. Com and play it. Com and there he goes to different places from there. Think about that. I did the interview with the guy who won the triple crown, the whitehaired guy. I went to nine different places after i did it. That is not secondary. That is the ninth degree. I do not get paid for any of us. For any of those. The point is if i was not and i was starting out, i would want to put a value on every one of those applications. They have to be able to monetize those. If theyre not, theyre not doing their job. You have to be able as a broadcaster to be able to put value on those because the secondary and tertiary into the ninth degree of content of what you are providing you are a content provider. Youre not just a broadcaster anymore. Youre are now a content provider. That in all those different places all are selling it to somebody or their plan is to sell it to somebody. You should be getting something for that. That is what has got to be decided. I think our business, the executive in it, and to a lesser extent, the talent, have done a terrible job of monetizing the digital aspects of this. Ive never gotten a straight answer in all these years on how we monetize even the website. Now, i gave the all the different places. Theres more. If i were to produce content in it is going to go eight places and be sold in a different places im going to have to share in the pie. If i was good to be here for 30 more years, i would be sure to share the pie. Im not going to worry about that now. But that is the future. You are not just a broadcaster anymore or a tv person anymore. You are now a content provider across all these Different Levels that are going to be there and more are going to be created, whether its in podcasts. Look at the ones that cbs has created. Look of the ones they keep creating everyday. They have these things of me and these cartoons, which i have never approved, but they say they own the content and they get a tremendous amount of hits on. All they are are my old bits and interviews and rants. There are a lot of rants. My old monologues you never know when im going to go off, folks. They also said i fell asleep on my geeky post game. Got 1. 3 million hits on youtube. That was on letterman three nights in a row. The point is the stuff is good to get used abused, and worn out. The company has to figure out a way to monetize it accurately. As talent, you have to be part of that. Thats a big part of your future. Its not about what your hours are on the radio. I understand that in exchange we were talking Network Versus local. Im talking mind. Sean can talk his. The point is that it all gets back to the same place. If radio forgets that it all gets back to live in local, and to that guy trying to sell a car in the showroom or to fill his restaurant, and, you know what heck of a will be wearing black for radio. Thanks for coming back. Have a great day. We will see you soon. Thank you. On our next washington journal, we will talk to texas representative Louie Gohmert on the Confederate Flag and other items in the news. One third of americans are working to or three jobs in what has been called the gig economy. Mark warner joins us to discuss his economic trends. He serves on the budget and finance committees. Later, conversation on some of the challenges they face selfemployed workers who hold multiple jobs. Katie of the National Association of the selfemployed is our guest. Washington journal is live each morning at 7 00 eastern on cspan. You can join the conversation by phone or on facebook or twitter. The South Carolina Senate Approved the bill removing the flag Confederate Flag from the statehouse grounds. The chamber approved the measure 363. This vote comes after nine people were killed after a shooting at the emmanuel ame church in charleston. One of those killed was the pastor of the church, who also served in the state senate. The centers widow was on the senate floor following the vote. The house is now debating the measure. Here is part of the debate at the statehouse in columbia, set of carolina. South carolina. Members of the senate and guest, will you please rise as we receive our president . Senate, will please come to order. Members and guests, please remain standing while we are led by a chaplain in the pledge of allegiance. The prophet ezekiel declares, you are my sheet, the sheep of my pastor. And i am your god. Says the lord god, from ezekiel chapter 34 verse 31. Let us join our hearts and prayer. Holy god, how comfy it is to be reminded that you are our shepherd. That each senator and staff member and all this together are the sheep in your pastor. We truly thank you, lord, for your care, your guidance, your blessings, and for your gracious , comforting love. Moreover, we pray, dear god that these servants themselves will always labor diligently on the half of, and be concerned and thoughtful towards those who are in their care. Every woman, man and child here in this pastor we call South Carolina. Maybe shepherds and play with them and demonstrate study integrity in their leadership of our state. For your glory, of course, if for the betterment of all our citizens. We play pray this in your wonders name a lord, amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, sir. Please be seated. The prisoners presentations from the jury are suchlike paper. There are no things introduced by the foot. I will just be new bills and resolutions. The clerk will please read. Clerk the honorable wendell and arms meal, the honorable elaine. Confirmation georgetown magistrate. Isaac l hiett and elliott. Those in favor of cap observation say aye . Ayes have it. Clerk aaron c butler. The honorable christopher j iraq is. The honorable gerald t whitley, junior. The honorable mark a harris. The honorable monte l harrelson. These are all magistrates. Margie b livingston, christopher j, Benjamin C Allen gerald t whitley, junior, bradley d mares, mark a harris, and monte l harrelson. Those in favor of confirmation signify by saying aye . Ayes have it. The desk report is clear. Any request for legal bills . Local bills . Im hearing none. That takes us to the caliber. Page four, statewide third reading. Senate bill 897. 897 the clerk will please read. Clerk flies to be flown above the state complex to remove symbols of the confederate state of america and remove permanently the flag and that it shall be transported to a confederate relic room for appropriate display. The question is third reading of the bill. This is senate bill 897, the third reading. I like to be heard. Proceed. Senator members of the senate. First before i get into this, i want to thank my friends are bringing to my attention. I do not mention him yesterday but he is my friend. I have to say that in the South Carolina senate, the democrats are the minority report party. Im in the minority of the majority in many issues. I wanted to speak today, but the emails i received overnight from folks that were very upset. Many of them said whether i could be someone in the South Carolina senate. Could i be removed because of my pushing my faith on others . And as i was walking into the lobby, i noticed that we have a chaplain in the senate who read from, you guessed it those folks who have hostility towards almighty god he read from the bible. Then he said a prayer in your name, which will i would assume that since he read from the bible that it would be jesuss name. I guess that all the folks that watch the National Media will now be coming after him. Or guess all of you. You see, it does not stop with the flag. We found out yesterday that it is not the flag. I put up an amendment for a flag that has not been used by hate groups. It was only recommended that it was only flown as the first flag of confederacy and it got very few votes. It is not about the flag. It is about heritage. The emails that i got yesterday and i want folks to understand. I had several people said, why were you talking about gay marriage . Why did you bring up gay marriage in this flag debate . Are you not paying attention on the senate floor . I know we have an Attention Span of about 30 seconds, and im guilty of it. That is why millions of of millions of dollars are spent on 32nd ads. We are also busy in an information society. I know many people do not have time in this entire proceeding to amend our signing to put a bill to the Supreme Court ruling that came down. I had someone that told me that the Supreme Court does not decide that for South Carolina. We have a judge that this out of it before it came to this record. If the Supreme Court ruled otherwise, obviously it would have had an impact. This idea of federalism, this idea of states having rights pretty much ended with this war. It pretty much ended. Lincoln lets think about this. This is a president who suspended an entire state legislature. Ive had people that have come up and said, well, youre not a patriot. Youre not a patriot because those folks were traitors. These are the emails im getting, from people in our state. In our own state. These men fought for what they believed was what the constitution said. Listen, i have the founding of our nation was wrapped up in slavery. You cannot get around it. I got email today about how i need to end the cycle of pay. I realized how many people of color died on the slave ships. Ive got to tell you not one Confederate Flag flew over a slave ship. Lets learn the real history. That is what im worried about with this flag because it is the real history being removed. Lets discuss it. Lets debate it. Im not going to belong today. I do not plan to filibuster. I do not plan to drop this thing out. But these emails ive been receiving from people in our state need to be addressed. This thing about our nations history not having anything to do with god is absolutely ignoring history. To say that the confederacy, the fight for states rights, was only about slavery is to ignore as much as ignoring the history of god in our founding. And the federal government passes in amendment when the federal government passes an amendment to basically and strive enshrined slavery in the constitution in order to get the south to return, we are going our history. Legislatures are not here for history lessons. But we are involved in public policy. I know the house is going to have a much different debate. Im what the viewers out there that say that this country was not founded on judeochristian values to study history a little bit. They did not what a state religion. But they did not want a secular humanistic state either. They do not want a situation to wear lets think about what happened under the flight that i love the United States flag. I love our flight. I love our country. There has been more good done to the world by the United States than any other country in history. Im not ashamed of that. There are things done under our flight the im not proud of. You look of the way native americans i have native american history. They were drug from their land. They died on the way. You read about the trail tears. I think it is so hypocritical to throw our confederate ancestors of the bus because they are not here to defend themselves. It is popular right now. Let me tell you it is a popular. Attacking the south and Southern Heritage and those racists from the south is very popular. It has been very popular for a long time. Ive got to tell you what you saw in trusted in the south has changed. In charleston and the south has changed. There is love in the south. I know that folks came up and spoke yesterday about what happened in charleston and the grace that will show and the grace that example files christ. I appreciate that grace. It is humbling to see it in my home state. I do not believe after that vote yesterday on the stars and bars, getting rid of the battle flag but when i saw the vote on the stars and bars, i know where we are. Its not just about the flight. Its about an acquiescence of the south was the racist, the evil, the white supremacist, and lincoln was this great emancipator. Its just not true. People need to know the truth. It have a right to know the truth. People have a right to know the history. The history is that politicians i want to say that one my favorite quotes is by napoleon. That is that history is the most agreedupon fable. We need to learn our history all of our history. What happened in the 1960s, the way people of color was treated was wrong. What happened during jacksons days of dragging indians across the country was wrong. You were at war with germany and japan, but we did not lock up the germans, but we locked up the japanese. That was wrong. Japanese americans, people from japan, that was wrong. I could go on for hours about the things that we do that are wrong. But one thing that was right that our ancestors did for the states having the rights to debate make the decisions that were left to the states. I think the very fact that an amendment to the constitution was passed by the congress and the senate to get the south to come back which is something i never heard of. I have studied history. I was not a history Major College in college, but i have this feeling in college that i was taught a lot of things that were not true. If i studied as a study further, there are a lot of things taught in college that are indoctrination. Higher education has traded into more of an indoctrination camp. Its distorted. The media for the most part the media has, especially the National Media, they have a beds. I do not think anybody you know, its up to the citizens to be informed. Its up to them to take all different forms of media and come up with their own conclusions. Regardless of where you get your news from, it needs to be through a filter in your mind. I think that is the bigger problem we have got. The fact that this debate on the flag has been purely onesided. I wish that there were folks more than obviously just myself and more folks willing to come to the well and talk about the fact that what has happened with the government, our federal government, and how it has removed all references to god in our Public Schools. That seems to be ok. Its amazing. If a principal did what our chapel did today, what would happen in our Public School right now . I know theyre trying to take the 10 commandments out of every vestige. It seems like people seem to be ok with that. Whats wrong seems to be pretrade is right. Whats right seems to be portrayed as wrong. And that is the popular sentiment. But back to the flag. I believe that lincoln has been worshiped and pretty much canonized because he was a centralizer of power. I believe that move continues. If this nation does not turn away from the centralized power this power that is in washington that is trampling the very foundation of which our country stands, to think that we by removing this flag to think that that is what to end racism thats going to and our history not just in our state automation, to think that you can go to the edge of atlantic and drink the ocean drive. We are going to do what politicians do. Were going to pass something that makes us feel good and make a great press conference. At the other the day, we will not have changed anything. What we have done is take people who respect Southern Heritage and kick people of the two. Im not going to fill guster filibuster. Im going to ask for a rollcall. With that, i will relinquish the floor. I asked for a rollcall. Senator from lawrence. Mr. Burden. Lady and gentleman of the senate, my wife is my conscience and my timekeeper. When i got home with light, she reminded me that i went beyond what she allows as 15 minutes. Anything or sanction be set in such timeframe. Worth saying can be said in such timeframe. She grinned me deposition but i will be holding the floor for the length of time of the amended i offered yesterday. But i do want to try to put a cap some of my thoughts. Cap still on my thoughts. Sen. Verdin i want to share with you some verse from a him that our mother said to me less than hour ago. To me, it encapsulates the ministry in life and death of clementa. It embodies his ministry, those of his parishioners. I believe this verse embodies the experiences of south carolinians over the last 19 days. I believe historically it embodies the life and testimony of the south carolinians that have preceded us in the 20th century, the 19th century. The 18th century, the 17th century, and it is my prayer that it will be the testimony that embodies the life of our children and grandchildren. Turn your eyes upon jesus, and look full in his wonderful face. The things of this earth will grow strangely dim in his wonderful grace. So much of the truth of that word has been lived in creed. I heard you, senator from charleston. I reflected on it. So much of it has been demonstrated here in this chamber. The streets of our cities. The prayer rooms of our gatherings, even in our private places of meditation and prayer. So, i am encouraged i am encouraged that things that transcend time, things that transcend time and carry for eternity, will remain poignant for us. I also had a meditation shared with me by someone close to me who reminded me of the struggles of a very human, yet very saintly servant of the lord king david. A man who sought the face of god in trying times. Try to deal with the aftermath of his fallen state. Im talking about his child with the wife of uriah lamenting the anguish and angst as he implored the lord to fix things that humans can mess up. Well, the lord didnt immediately answer the prayer of life for that child. After seven days that child died. David arose and went forth. He sat down for bread. He praised god, and he led his people into the greatest times of blessing and rejoicing that that family had ever seen. I am so anxious, and is so looking forward to that for our family and our people. Not knowing that i will have another opportunity, i just want one more Family Experience to share with you. Yesterday, i shared with you and i hope this is emblematic of a lot of people who would have their story told, but in the spirit of fairness, within my own family, let me invoke the memory of Reuben Rufus Owens. Yesterday, my great great grandfather, my childrens great great great grandfather today another great great great grandfather of my children, the greatgreatgrandfather of my wife, Reuben Rufus Owens h age 19 and listed in tent South Carolina answered in the army of tennessee. Unspeakable hardships and to throughout that war. The poignant experience that is recorded in history, that is bill need that is still near and dear to his descendents, is something that touches on eternity. Hot summer of 64, things are looking bad. Josten has had a symptomatic retreat through georgia, and they are in the desperate battle of georgia. As rick church, ezra church, Reuben Rufus Owens, the color bearer again. Not all of my great great grandfathers were color bearers, but these 2. R. R. Owens with the colors of the tent. With his captain, his dear friend john palmer. Four pieces to the front and a pace to the left went down in a desperate, desperate struggle on a hot day in july 1864. At the conclusion of the battle, r. R. Owens entered his captain in a makeshift shallow grave with a small wooden plank with his identity. In the following spring, upon returning to upper dorchester county, he took captain palmers father back to the battlefield. The entire distance. A Hard Crossing through many a river in georgia. They found the burial site brought r. R. Owens act to a small Methodist Chapel in ridgefield, South Carolina. Went off to war, not contemplating so many matters of eternity, but through the hardships and cruelty, the viciousness, the ugliness of war looked and sought something better. The lord was made precious to him through his son, our lord and savior. At that point in 1860 four, and before bringing his beloved captain back to richard o, he promised the lord if you spare me, i will return and i will derrect a monument. A place of monument a place of prayer and peace, a bethel for your people. He completed that task in the late 1860s. It still stands today just west of ridgeville. Those are the places that i like to go and meditate, contemplate how things can be good. Again, i am voting in the memory of john jericho, and hope that his legacy and others, i vote john shared john jericho yesterday as a reflection on clem. Though ship in eternity fellowship in eternity with our lord. As the theologian, the senator from charleston reminds us that each eternity is a continuum, we should live for eternity in time. If anything i could do and say could knit our hearts together for that purpose and cause, i commit to live that creed for you, and all my frailty and weakness. I do want to say some think some thank yous, and i hope i can save them for all of us regardless of aisle or position. I think about the 340 year current of Gospel Ministry in the state. The prayers for us, i dont know about you, but i cannot keep up with my text messaging, with the overwhelming sense of we are praying for you. So, to family, and friends, and constituents to constituents who have been longsuffering realizing that i am not speaking for them particularly on this point, i thank even you. I do want to thank each of you. I think that, again, what we demonstrate should be an example to how we communicate, and how we commune less than a few hundred yards to our immediate north. So, in light of what we might see that has been intimated to us with rule changes next year as it relates to the points of personal interest and the efficacy of the body, mr. President , i still am looking to be looking for opportunities to incorporate historical reference and historical and hi and historical anecdotes and try to bring Practical Application to the contemporary issues that are before us. Im not sure how im going to do it. It might just be very short points of personal interest, but i am going to try to let history in its proper place speak to me, and if you will allow it ill try to share. I appreciate what the senator from cherokee said yesterday theres no greater museum, theres no greater repository of history, corporately that we share and experience together than right here. So, i might just start with the listing of all of the things that have been near and dear to those that have gone before us , because it concerns me that if we dont continue to show that reverence and respect for those and their emblems and their monuments that have gone before us, those that come after us might treat us the same way. And there is a biblical injunction for it. When god was good to the children of israel, he had them market that goodness by piling stone upon stone, so that their children, and their childrens children would be able to come back and reference what are these stones . A means that god has been good to you. God has been good to us. Ill take my seat on the bill. While im here, mr. President , i would like to introduce your friends of mine. Stuart jones, county councilman from orange county. A good man with a pure heart. And what of my nearest and dearest friends. Jim yates. I dont want to embarrass him but the last time he was in the chamber, he was seated directly overhead, and the si senator from clairendon and the senator from manning sitting in his desk right here and his camera, sergeant jim, youll probably remember that the camera hit the top rail and it sprung into a million pieces here on the floor. That was my first day in the chambers. Jim, i love you and appreciate you being here. Also, my near and dear wife who is kim and caroline. Please stand. A month ago my oldest daughter was here, and theyre here so infrequently and i appreciate you indulging me in this introduction and kims text message, please thank you both for joining us here today. I know that it is sometimes hard on all our families to see us so infrequently, so as caroline, as you head off to college many i can get reacquainted with your mama when shes not running our business. I know that it is sometimes hard on all of our families to see us so infrequently. Kim is the businesswoman in our family, and i thank her for carrying and toting my load. Thank you all. Welcome to the senate. We hope you come back. Without objection, so ordered. The third reading of senate reading, the senator from berkeley. Senator cleary. Without objection so ordered. The third reading of senate bill eight to 97 has a request for roll call. The clerk will please ring the bell. And call the role. This is a two thirds vote. Mr. Alexander . Aye. Mr. Bright, no. Mr. Bryant, aye. Mr. Campbell. Esther cromer. Aye. Mr. Gregory has leave. Mr. Grounds. Aye. Mr. Hembree. Aye. Esther jackson. Aye. Mr. Leatherman. Aye. Mr. Malloy. Aye. Mr. Larry martin. Aye. Mr. Shane martin. Aye. Esther matthews. Aye. Mr. Nicholson. Aye. Mr. Rankin . Not voting. Mr. Reese. Aye. Mr. Scott. Aye. Mrs. Shealy. Aye. Mr. Thurman. Aye. Mr. Turner. Aye. Mr. Williams. Aye. Mr. Young. Aye. Have all of the senators voted . The polls are closed, will the clerk please tabulate . By vote of 363, senate bill 897 is given or is given third read. I would like to be heard. Proceed. Unanimous consent request for a leave from now until mr. Bryant . I have shared this story with a few of you. A couple of years ago i was asked to speak at my church about the resurrection. We all appreciated senator p clement to pick me possible booming voice. It would be nice to have that booming voice as the angel and that saying. If you remember, part of that passage in the scripture, the angel asks why do you seek the living among the dead . He is not with us now, but he is not dead. Also, it has been said many times very eloquently of the grace the victims showed. The biggest shock was when Family Members of the victims showed up at the hearing of this murderer and offered their forgiveness, and pointed that man to christ. We need order please. Any other time, any other place in the world violence would have been returned for violence, but not intros 10 South Carolina. When a victim can show up less than 48 hours after Family Member has been murdered, and offer forgiveness, and point that man to christ, mr. President and members of the senate, i dont know if i could ever forgive someone who killed one of my Family Members. Especially 2 days especially 2 days. That is the kind of leadership that our friend clem. , and we appreciate it. I have a unanimous consent request from the invitations committee. Mr. President , according to rule 35b i asked that miss Jennifer Pinckney and reverend middleton have access to the floor behind the rail. Without objection, so ordered. I would like to be heard behind the rail. Without objection, so ordered. Senator from darlington . While he is coming up permission to distribute material . Without objection, so ordered. Senator from darlington, mr. Malloy . Mr. Malloy obviously, we have done something momentous and historic. At this time, i have been in conversation with mrs. Pinckney on a daily basis. As clementes wife and everything, i will tell you she has been amazing in this entire process. Words cannot describe the deep grief that his family has been suffering from. The senate has responded, and jennifer has been our strength around us. Accompanying her today, i say this is senator pinckneys real best friend from childhood, brothers in christ they came through the ministry together. He told me that this guy could preach the paint off the wall. And middleton is a pastor that has gone through college with him. Gone through the ministry with him. They have been together almost 30 years. So he was a person that he talked to on regular basis. And our discussions, jennifer wanted to be able to come today to thank the senate. She wants to thank everyone here. Mr. President , the president pro tempore has given us great latitudes with the body, and has signed on to get the portrait hung. The senator from cherokee without hesitation, has allowed us to lie in state. He is on the committee, and there was never a second glance. Our tremendous clerk of the senate did a great job in coordination along with john hastert. They were coordinating with us to plan from day one, during this tough and difficult time. Even from the lying in state when jennifer was trying to decide how to take him back home to ridgeland, and going back to mother emanuel. She was saying that she wanted to have his funeral. There was a lot of choices, and what she has done is that she continues to be our rock. She has 2 small, young daughters. Ilyana and milana. Clemente called them grasshopper and baby girl. Clem is smiling down on us. He would be very proud about the way the senate has responded. Today would be an appropriate day, not before this boat and discussion, but afterwards, for her to come by and speak to each and every one of you, it has been very tough, but she wanted to show her gratitude. As a matter of fact,clementes grace is contagious and is shining throughout the state. What we have done, we have spoken with one voice with unity. Were not being divisive. There are no winners and losers. We are just trying to make sure we move the state forward. I want to make certain that one way bring her in she has not been in public yet, but today is the first day. Where he served and she wanted to be. With that, a lot of folks want to see her. I hope the media and the public would give this family time to grieve. Let them make their exit when they leave without trying to force interviews on her. She has expressed that she does not want to have that kind of conversation, now. There will be a time. She has her confident in this guy. Reverend middleton has been amazing, and he was the architect he find everything. Getting the choir, the obituary all of that work. In your steadfast support, and being there on a daily basis and the calls that we shared during the day, and obviously it is very comforting to her. In conclusion, this state loved senator pinckney. This state loves you and your girls. They love the entire pinckney family. We will keep our arms around you and this family forever. It is the least we can do for our brother. We hope to have you back here soon. We will hang his portrait, and he will be sharing this spot with us forever. Jennifer is a believer. The first time that we saw him in his physical internal rest jennifer said to us, do you see that smile on his face . My husband is going to heaven. He is already gone. With that she had peace. I hope that we have peace, we continue this, that we keep the doors open, and we keep this family with us. Welcome jennifer to the senate. In a moment we can all go and greet her. The senate will stand at ease. The South Carolina Senate Approved a bill removing the Confederate Flag from the front of the state house 630. The bill now will be in the South Carolina house for continued work. We will have live coverage at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. Washington journal begins in a moment to take your phone calls and look at todays news. Afternoon easter they will continue working on the interior department and epa spending in the house. Watch live coverage on cspan. Cspan gives you the best access the congress. Live coverage of the house congressional hearings, news conferences, and bringing you events that change public policy. Every morning washington journal is live. Cspan created by americas cable companies, and brought to you as a Public Service by your local satellite and cable providers. Coming up, we will talk to the texas congressman about the public display of the Confederate Flag, and some of the recent Supreme Court rulings, along with other items in the news. 1 3 of americans have been working one or more jobs. Mark warner will discuss this economic trend. He is on the budget and finance committees. Later, a challenge on selfemployed workers holding multiple jobs. The National Association from the selfemployedyou can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Host good morning, everyone. It is wednesday, july 8. Up on capitol hill, house members will continue to debate ace ending bill for federal agencies, with lawmakers checking out the interior department and epa funding. Over on the senate, they will be voting on the no child left time law. You can look for coverage on both of those debates, the house on cspan and the senate on cspan2. Cspan is preparing the South Carolina debate on moving the carolina flag on cspan3. We wil