Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Or private sector alternative Medicare Advantage. Yes, the woman is correct you give up some choice to get more benefits. But it is a much better economic deal if you are feeling pinched and that is why many of the people who have chosen medicine cache advantage are Medicare Advantage are low low income not qualified to get medicaid but not able to buy their own medigap. They get to make it every year. So that they dont need to make the decision once and feel like they are locked in as bob said, the question about how other countries do it is a big topic and either at the end of this session or in another session you can explore it. Host we will go to anita in n. On medicare in florida on medicare. Caller im 74 years old and i have lived in florida since 2011. I had never heard of Medicare Advantage advantage, couldnt believe it when i first heard about it. But i selected it. And my question to you is i might as well tell you up front im an old retired nurse so therefore we have a tendency to look at things a little differently. But as i go to doctors here in that. Here in florida, which is not very often because i take care of my own health i see Senior Citizens wanting their bodies to become a bionic body being healed by a doctor who is making money off of things that i think is unrealistic at 90 years of age. Therefore, it concerns me whether or not we are addressing properly taking care of and what is our real goal. What is quality . What is our real goal. Host dr. Berenson. Guest i think the caller has put her finger on one of the issues and is the reason we are having a conversation about value based payment. We have payment systems. In fact most countries do. They are called fee for service for physicians which rewards them for doing more. And it doesnt reward for for keeping people healthy. So, we are trying in a whole bunch of demonstrations that were set up in the Affordable Care act to develop new payment models and new delivery approaches that would reward physicians and hospitals and others who were going to leave it, you can find it cspan. Org. Take you live to the white house where president obama will be unveiling new e. P. A. Regulations. It should be a place where communities are Getting Better at living with natural disasters, not bracing for worse and worse events every year. It should be a place where every generation is better off than the one before it. This is what america should be. This is what america must be be but it only be this for us and our children if we Work Together to protect the planet on whose basis our health depends. Today marks the beginning of a new era, in era in which doctors and nurses, scientists and citizens president s and the pope are all coming together to say that our planet and our health cannot wait. We are coming together to say that the time for action is now and that we will be the ones to act. I thank all of you for your commitment to addressing Climate Change and to improving the health of our nation and the world. With your steadfast dedication and your hard work, we can create a future that is bright and healthy, a future that our children deserve. Thank you very much. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated as the program will continue momentarily, thank you. Were waiting for president obama. Hell be unveiling new carbon emission rules and power plant ules that have been established by the e. P. A. The Obama Administration had released a video yesterday talking about whats entitled including us Power Generators being required to cut their Carbon Dioxide output by 35 , in some of the first limits on Carbon Dioxide. Mitch mcconnell will make a priority of fighting this new rule and multiple states planning on filing lawsuits. And here at the east room in the white house. President obama about to unveil in e. P. A. Rules on emissions. Just waiting for the president s marks. Remind you tonight that starting at 6 00 p. M. Eastern right here on spn, you can join us for the republican president ial forum a number of candidates weighing on the event cohosted by the courier from New Hampshire. The administrator for the e. P. A. And president obamas remarks shortly. [applause] that is so cool to be able to do that. [laughter] i am the appetizer, the dinner awaits, but, hi, everybody, this is really such an incredibly wicked cool moment. Standing here right now, the word proud doesnt even come close to describing how i feel. It means a lot to have a chance to thank all of you, everyone who has worked so hard and waiting so long for this very day to come. [applause] looking around this room, i know many of you have been fighting this fight for a long time and since the beginning and we have been there together. We may be too old by now to remember just how long that is, but it hasnt dampered our enthusiasm or our passion. So we have talked for years about what needs to be done, what we could do. We have gotten a good understanding of how it can get done and, well today, were actually doing it. [applause] you know, the road has been long but we have come awfully far and look at how many new faces have joined in this fight. As many obama will no doubt tell you Climate Change is one of the most important issues we face as a country and as kitts of this world citizens of this world and it affects everyone we know and even we love, our kids, our communities, our ability to obtain a decent living, it impacts our health, our safety and our livelyhoods. One thing is Crystal Clear acting on climate has become what it is a moral responsibility. And thankfully no leader anywhere has understand that better or articulated that more forcefully than our president , no one has led on this issue as fearlessly as he has. From day one he saw Climate Change for what it was, a threat to our core American Values families, communities and safeguarding those who are most vulnerable. He did not back down from the challenge because of his Leonardo Dicaprio and his trust in the great people at the e. P. A. To get the job done right and they got the job done right. [applause] we now have a real shot at protecting this beautiful planet of ours. So this is a historic moment. We are forging ahead to do whats right for our kids and there is no turning back. And i am confident that the huge step forward were taking today will show the world just whats possible and it will encourage countries across the globe to join in this fight because Climate Change is a challenge we conquer together. Thank you. [applause] i just couldnt be happier that we have the right person leading this charge for us. So with that, i am honored, i am humbled and i am proud to introduce our president barack obama. [applause] president obama thank you thank you, everybody thank you thank you so much, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody thank you. Thank you. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Gina, i want to thank you, not just for the introduction but for the incredible work that you and your team have been doing, not just on this issue but on generally making sure that weve got clean air, clean water, a great future for our kids. I want to thank all of the members of congress who are here as well who have been fighting this issue and sometimes, you know, at great odds with others, but are willing to take on what is going to be one of the key challenges of our lifetimes and future generations. You want to thank our Surgeon General who has been doing outstanding work and helping to make the connection between this critical issue and the health of our families. You know, other the past 6 1 2 years we take on some of the toughest challenges of our time from rebuilding our economy after a devastating recession to ending our wars in iraq and afghanistan and bringing almost all of our troops home, to strengthening our security through tough and principals diplomacy. But i am convinced that no challenge posed a greater threat to our future and future generations than a change in climate and thats what brings us here today. Not everyone here is a scientist. [laughter] president obama about some of you are the best scientists in the world. And what you and your colleagues have been showing us for years now is that human activities are changing the climate in dangerous ways. Levels of Carbon Dioxide which heats up our atmosphere are higher than they have been in 800,000 years. 2014 was the planets warmest year on record and weve been setting a lot of records in terms of warmest years over the last decade. The one year doesnt maybe a trend, about 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have fallen within the first 15 years of this century. Climate change is no longer just about the future that were predicting for our children or our grandchildren, its about the reality were living with every day, right now. The pentagon says the Climate Change poses immediate risks to our national security. While we cant say any single weather event is entirely caused by Climate Change, we have seen stronger storms, deeper droughts, longer wildfire seasons. Charleston and miami now flood at high tide. Shrinking ice caps force National Geographic make the biggest change in its atlas since the soviet union broke apart. Over the past three decades nationwide asthma rates have more than doubled and Climate Change puts those americans at greater risk of landing in the hospital. As one of americas governors has said, were the first generation to feel the impact of Climate Change and the last generation that can do something about it. And thats why i committed the United States to leading the world on this challenge because i believe there is such a thing as being too late. Most of the issues that i deal with and i deal with some tough issues that cross my desk. By definition, i dont deal with issues if theyre easy to solve because somebody else has already solved them. And some of the them are grim. Some of them are heartbreaking. Some of them are hard. Some of them are frustrating. But most of the time the issues we deal with are ones that are temporally bound and we can anticipate things Getting Better if we just kind of plug away at it even incrementally. But this is one of those rare issues because of its magnitude because of its scope that if we dont get it right, we may not be able to reverse. And we may not be able to adapt sufficiently. There is such a thing as being too late when it comes to Climate Change. [applause] president obama and that shouldnt make us hopeless, its not as if there is nothing we can do about it. We can take action. Over the past several years, america has been working to use less dirty energy, more clean energy waste less energy throughout our economy. We set new fuel economy standards that mean our cars will go twice as far on a gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade. Combined with more gas prices, these standards are on pace to save drivers on average of 700 at the pump this year. We doubled that on our investment in Renewable Energy. Were generating three times as much wind power 20 times as much solar power as we did in 2008. These steps are making a difference. Over the past decade even as our economy has continued to grow, the United States has cut our total Carbon Pollution more than any other nation on earth. Thats the good news. [applause] president obama but i am here to say that if we want to protect our economy and our security and our childrens health, were going to have to do more. The science tells us we have to do more. It has been our focus these past six years and its particularly going to be our focus this month. In nevada later in august ill talk about the extraordinary progress we have made in Generating Clean Energy and the jobs that come with it and how we can boost that even further. Ill also be the First American president to visit the Alaskan Arctic where our fellow americans have seen their communities devastated by melting ice and rising oceans, the impact on marine life. Were going to talk about what the world needs to do together to prevent the worst impacts of Climate Change before its too late. And today were here to announce americas Clean Power Plan, a plan two years in the making and the single most important step america has ever taken in the fight against global Climate Change. [applause] president obama right now our power plants are the source of about a third of americas Carbon Pollution. That is more than our cars, our airplanes and our homes generate combined. That pollution contributes to Climate Change which degrades the air our kids breathe. But there have never been federal limits on the amount of carbon that power plants can dump into the air. Think about that. We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like mercury and sulfur and arsenic in our air an water and were better off for it. But existing power plants can still dump unlimited amounts of harmful Carbon Pollution into the air. For the sake of our kids and the health and safety of all americans, that has to change. For the sake of the planet, that has to change. So two years ago i directed gina and the the Environmental Protection agency to take on this challenge. After working with states and cities and Power Companies, the bench e. P. A. Is felting the firstever standards of elimination of dumping pluge from power plants. [applause] president obama here is how it works. Over the next few years, each state will have the chance to put together its own plan for reducing emissions because ever state has a Different Energy mix. Somesome generate more of their power from renewables, some from natural gas or nuclear or coal. This plan reflects the fact that not everybody is starting in the same place. So were giving states the time and the flexibility they need to cut pollution in a way that works for them. And real reward the states that take action sooner instead of later because time is not on our side here. As states work to meet their targets, they can build on the progress that our communities and businesses are already making. A lot of Power Companies have already begun modernizing their plants reducing their emissions and by the way creating new jobs in the process. Nearly a dozen of states have set up their own marketbased programs to reduce Carbon Pollution. About half of our states have set Energy Efficiency targets. More than 35 have set Renewable Energy targets. Over 1,000 mayors have signed an agreement to cut Carbon Pollution in their cities. Last week, 13 of our Biggest Companies including u. P. S. And walmart and g. M. Made bold new commitments to cut their emissions and deploy more clean energy. So the idea of setting standards and cutting Carbon Pollution is not new. Its not radical. What is new is that starting today, washington is starting to catch up with the vision of the rest of the country and by setting these standards, we can actually speed up our transition to a clean safer future. With this Clean Power Plan by 2030, Carbon Pollution from our power plants will be 32 lower than it was a decade ago and the nerdier way to say that is well be keeping 870 million tons of Carbon Dioxide pollution out of our atmosphere. [applause] president obama the simpler laymens way of saying that, its like cutting every ounce of emission due to electricity from 108 million american homes, the equivalent of taking 166 million cars off the road. By 2030, we will reduce premature deaths by power plant emissions by nearly 90 and thanks to this plan, there will be 90,000 fewer asthma attacks among our children each year. [applause] president obama and by combining this with greater investment in our booming Clean Energy Sector and smarter investments in Energy Efficiency and by working with the world to achieve a climate agreement by the end of this year, we can do more to slow and maybe eventually stop the cash quon pollution that is do Carbon Pollution that is doing so much harm to our climate. This is the rye thing to do. I want to thank again gina and her time for doing it the right way. Over the longest Engagement Process in e. P. A. History they fielded more than 4 million public comments. They worked with states. They worked with Power Companies and environmental groups and faith groups and people across our country to make sure that what we were doing was realisic and achievable but still ambitious. Some of those people are here with us today. So tanya brown wave, go ahead, there is tanya. [applause] president obama tanya brown has joined up with moms across america to talk about the dangers Climate Change posed to the health of our children including tanyas daughter sunay. There is sunay right there. Dr. Sumir has in her career helped families whose lives are i am facted he have single day, doctor, thank you. [applause] president obama sister Joan Marie Steadman has rallied to help take on climate. Thank you for your Leonardo Dicaprio. [applause] president obama she has a pretty important guy on her side. As pope francis made clear this summer. Taking a stand against Climate Change as a moral obligation. Sister steadman is living up to that obligation every single day. Lets be clear, there will be critics of what were trying to do. There will be cynics that say it cannot be done. Long before the details of this Clean Power Plan were even decided, the special interests and their allies in congress were already mobilizing to oppose it with everything theyve got. They will claim that this plan will cost you money even though this plan, the Analysis Shows will ultimately save the average american nearly 85 a year on their energy bills. Theyll claim we need to slash our investment in clean energy, its a waste of money. Even though theyre happy to spend billions of dollars a year in subsidizing oil company. Theyll claim this plan will kill jobs, even though our transition to a cleaner Energy Economy has the Solar Industry to just one example creating scombrobs 10 times faster than the rest of our economy. Theyll claim this plan is a war on coal to scare votes. Even if they ignore my plan to actually invest in revitalizing coal country and supporting health care and retirement for coal miners and their families, and retraining those were as for better paying jobs, and healthier jobs. Communities across america are have been losing coal jobs for decades. I want to work with congress to help them. Not to use them as a political football, Partisan Press releases are not going to help those families. Even more cynical, we have critics of this plan who were actually claiming this will harm minority and low income communities, even though Climate Change hurts those americans the most, who are the most vulnerable. Today, an africanamerican child is more than twice as likely to be hospitalized for asthma. A latino child 40 more likely to die from asthma. If you care about low income minority communities, start protecting the air that debris and stop trying to rob them of health care. [applause] president obama you can also expand medicaid in your state as well. [laughter] here is the thing. We have heard the same, stale arguments before. Every time america has made progress, it has been despite these kinds of claims. Whenever america sets clear rules and smarter standards for our air, water, our childrens health, we get the same scary stories about killing jobs and businesses and freedom. It is true. I am going to go off script here just a second. This is important, because sometimes we feel there is nothing we can do. Tomorrow is my birthday. So im starting to reflect on age. And, in thinking about what we are doing today, i was reminded about landing in los angeles to attend a college as a freshman an 18yearold. It was late august. I was moving from hawaii. And i got to the campus and decided, i had a lot of pentup energy, i wanted to take a run. After about five minutes suddenly, i had this weird feeling that i could not breathe. And the reason was, back in 1979, los angeles still was so full of smog that there were days that people who were vulnerable could not go outside, and they were fairly frequent. And folks who are older than me can remember the Cuyahoga River burning because of pollution acid rain threatening to destroy all of the great forests of the northeast. And you fastforward 30, 40 years later, and we solved those problems. But at the time, the same characters who are going to be criticizing this plan, were saying this is going to kill jobs, this will destroy businesses. This is going to hurt low income people. It will be wildly expensive. And each time, they were wrong. And because we pushed through despite those scaremongering tactics, you can actually run in los angeles without choking. And folks can actually take a boat on on the river. And the forests are there. So we have to learn our history. The kinds of criticisms that you are going to hear are simply excuses for inaction. They are not even Good Business sense. They underestimate American Business and american ingenuity. In 1970, when republican president Richard Nixon decided to do something about the smog choking our cities, they wore the new pollution standards would decimate the auto industry. It did not happen, catalytic converters worked. Taking the lead out of gasoline worked. Our air got cleaner. In 1990, when republican president George H W Bush decided to do something about acid rain, said the bills would go up come the lights would go off, businesses would suffer a quiet death. It did not happen. We country medic rain rapidly and it cost less than anyone expected because businesses, once incentivized, were able to figure it out. When we restricted leaded fuel in our cars, cancercausing chemicals and plastics come it did not end the oil or plastics industry. American chemists came up with better substitutes. The fuel standards we put in place a couple years ago did not cripple automakers. The American Auto industry retooled. Today, American Automakers are selling the best cars in the world at a faster pace than they have in decades. More hybrids plugins, fuelefficient cars, giving consumers more choice than ever before and saving families at the pump. We can figure this stuff out, as long as we are not lazy about it. As long as we do not take the path of least resistance. Scientists, citizens, workers, entrepreneurs, together as americans we disrupt, old debates, up and old ways of thinking. Right now, we are inventing new technologies, new industries. We are not looking backwards but looking forward to. If we do not do it, nobody will. The only reason that china is now looking at getting serious about its admissions is because they saw that we were going to do it, too. When the world faces its toughest challenges, america leads the way forward. That is what this plan is about. [applause] president obama i do not want to full view here fool you here. Dealing with Climate Change is hard in its entirety. It is challenging. No single action, no single country will change in the warming of the planet on its own. But today, with america leading the way, countries that represent 70 of the Carbon Pollution from the worlds Energy Sector have announced plans to cut their Greenhouse Gas emissions. In december, with america leading the way, we have the chance to put together one of the most Ambitious International Climate Change agreement in history. And it is easy to be cynical and say Climate Change is the kind of challenge that is too big for humanity to solve. I am absolutely convinced that is wrong. We can solve this thing, but we have to get going. It is exactly the kind of challenge that is big enough to remind us that we are all in this together. Last month, for the First Time Since 1972, nasa released a blue marble, a single snapshot of the earth taken from outer space. So much has changed in the decade between that first picture and the second. Borders have shifted. Generations have come and gone. Our global population has nearly doubled. But one thing has not changed. Our planet is as beautiful as ever. It still looks blue. And it is as vast but also as fragile, as miraculous, as anything in this universe. The blue marble belongs to all of us. It belongs to these kids who are here. There are more than 7 billion people alive today. No matter what country they are from, no matter what language they speak, every one of them can look at this image and say that is my home. We are the first generation to feel the impact of Climate Change. We are the last generation that can do something about it. We only get one home. The only get one planet. There is no plan b. I do not want my grandkids not to be able to swim in hawaii are not to be able to climb a mountain and see the glacier because we did not do something about it. I do not want millions of peoples lives disrupted and this world more dangerous because we did not do something about it. That would be shameful of us. This is our moment to get this right believe Something Better for our kids. Lets make most of that opportunity. Thank you, everybody. God bless you. God bless the United States of america. Thank you. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] on the senate floor, Senate Majority leader harry reid talking about the new epa rules, urging governors to wait to implement the rules and let any lawsuits play out. You can watch live coverage of the senate under way now on cspan2. The hill newspaper reporting that the largest privately held coal mining company, marie entergy corporation, says it is filing five that are lawsuits against the new emissions rules. The company will also file a lawsuit against the entire regulatory package and appeal a lawsuit that it lost in june against one of the thenunfinished regulations. If you missed any of the president s comments, you can watch them online at www. Cspan. Org. Also we will be live tonight in manchester, New Hampshire watching out for some of the preparations continue for tonights republican candidates for him. The voters first four room, as we partner with the media outlets. A preview tonight at 6 30 p. M. Eastern time. Then the candidates take questions at 7 00 eastern. Join us via twitter, facebook, before, during, and after the event. We have been getting your comments on what you want the candidates to answer on facebook. Many of you asked, what will they do about deadlocking congress, when they really address the economy, equal pay wall street . Nokia writes nadia writes leave your thoughts on facebook and calling after our live coverage. Pope francis is planning on visiting the United States in september the week of the 22nd. This will include a private meeting with president obama at the white house. And an address to the joint congress and you and general assembly, and a stop at philadelphias Independence Hall, as well as several religious meetings and services. We heard about some of the details of his visit being discussed on members of the media earlier today. Here is a look. I think we will get started. I am the president of the National Press foundation. We are so glad to have you here. We have had more interest in this program than any other half day briefing than we have ever sponsored. I want to take a minute to thank the sponsors for this event. The u. N. Foundation and the aarp foundation. You will meet some of their folks later on. With that, i will turn it over to linda. Linda thank you, sandy. I am going to introduce helena hausmann, secretary of bishops. She is coordinating Media Coverage around pope francis visit next month. She has been a major player in bringing the church into the digital and social media age. In 2012, the Catholic Press association honored her with the same trances award for personal achievement. We are pleased to have her join us today. Helen thank you, linda. I appreciate you in working with me get started on time. I have a meeting that is mandatory for me and several of my colleagues to be at at 10 00 so i have a few slides i will breeze through. But i want to give more time for you to ask questions, if that is ok with everyone. I thought i would go over this morning quickly a little bit about what the different from different people visits papal visits. I work with colleagues who were at the conference for the previous visits of the pope. A little bit about credentialing, social media other resources we are offering to journalists. 50,000 level view of the schedule for pope francis. And then what we are doing at the conference in reaching out to the general public. Level of interest is one aspect. We had a great deal of interest in 2008, but i do not like to use hyperbole, but this is unprecedented. We closed credentialing on friday. We have over 7000 applications from individuals and probably about 600 outlets that have asked for space at the venues where pope francis will appear. He intends to speak quite often first in spanish, then alternate having an interest translator available to him. He will go back and forth, so that is something new for us. Social media, in 2008, remember, it was just beginning. We had long conversations over whether we would credential bloggers are not. We are not even bothering talking about that now. We are credentialing everybody. The full media landscape has changed dramatically in the past seven years. Mobile devices, Live Streaming etc. Apart id like to emphasize is the bottom line. When we started planning with the vatican, which was actually back in january of this year, from the very beginning every time i would ask the question, are these events open to the media, the answer was yes absolutely. We would like to see it available around the world. We have been working with the networks on tv Pool Coverage of every event. As i mentioned, we closed credentialing on friday. This is only for the venues for which the church has responsibility. That means we are not credentialing for the white house, congress, and United Nations. Let me repeat that. We are not credentialing for the white house, congress, and United Nations, but everything else. We anticipate we will try to be engaging in conversations on social media, both in spanish and english. We have already asked folks to start using the hastags. We are working with the tv pool so that we can have simultaneous translation when he is speaking in either spanish or english for events at this point, we have not reached out to the white house and congress. We know the u. N. Is already planning simultaneous translations. We will have a Filing Center in each city. I will give you those addresses in the next slide. Linda has graciously offered to distribute this to all to you. At each of the Filing Centers we will have a live video feed from the tv pool. We will have copies of the speeches. I have asked that we have those in english and spanish. They are aware of the need to have them as soon as possible, at least on the day of. The holy father does take great personal interest in his text, i understand, and often revises often extemporaneously as he is speaking, so an alert for everyone on that. We will have an interview desk if folks want to interview other people. The holy father is not entertaining requests for individual interviews. If you are on the plane with him , and that has already been determined, the media has been given that privilege. Of course, he does do those onplane interviews with that group, but that is the only time he will entertain interviews. We will have a cadre of lots of other folks to talk with. Also, different this trip from other trips by popes to the u. S. , every day there will be a briefing in the Filing Center from father federico lombardi, the press officer. We will be using the Filing Centers as transport centers to bring the media who have received assignments to the venues, received credentials for the venues, we will be using that to bring you in on buses to work with secret service and other agencies so that you get where you are supposed to be and make sure that all of those places get filled. Extremely high demand for those. The two Marriott Marquise. In washington, it is the Marriott Marquis downtown. New york, Marriott Marquis in town square. Philadelphia, the marriott associated with the convention centers. Convention hall a is where we are running the Filing Center. You will need a secret service credential to go into the Filing Center. Let me run very quickly through the schedule. Most of you are probably aware of this. He is coming in from cuba on tuesday evening, september 22, and will have a briefing that day, immediately after he arrives, with father lombardi at the Filing Center. The next morning he goes to the white house. Again, white house credentials for that. Immediately following that, he goes to st. Matthews cathedral and has midday prayer with the bishops. It is not a mass but it is official prayer of the church. You will have some remarks there in spanish. Following that, in the afternoon, we are over at the campus of Catholic University of america and the basilica National Shrine of the immaculate conception. He will celebrate mass there. I think the numbers are about 22,000 right now, anticipated to be there. He will also officially recognize someone as a saint. Thursday, he visits congress. Immediately after, he will go over to st. Patricks in the city, where there is a Catholic Charity center, and meet with about 200 of the clients, folks who use Catholic Charity services. Again, he will speak in spanish with those individuals. That afternoon he leaves jfk goes to new york, still not done for the day. He visits his 2nd street patricks of the day, st. Patricks cathedral, for the archdiocese of new york. He will have evening prayer with folks there. Friday morning, he is over at the United Nations. Again, those are u. N. Credentials. After that immediately he goes to ground zero, where he has two movements. He will meet with individuals who were affected immediately by the events of 9 11, family members, first responders, etc. On the outside around the two pools. Then he will go inside and then there is a multi religious event with about 700 religious leaders. After that, he goes east harlem to a school that serves immigrant families. Another Catholic Charity center. That evening, he has mass at Madison Square garden. Next morning, he gets up, goes to philadelphia, has mass at the cathedral there with the faithful of philadelphia archdiocese. He is greeted by seminarians at st. Charles seminary, where he will be in residence those two days. That afternoon, he goes down Independence Hall and will have an address on religious freedom. That afternoon, he joins a group of families, a multi family event, Celebration Music presentations. He will be there for about 90 minutes, but the actual festival is about four hours on the Benjamin Franklin parkway in philadelphia. The next morning, he meets at the seminary with bishops who have been attending all week, a gathering for families. World meeting of families in philadelphia. That is part of the festival of families. From there, he goes over to sorry, i just blanked on the name. A prison in philadelphia. He will meet with about a group of 100 incarcerated there, most likely younger people. Again, will be speaking in spanish and english there. And then a large mass, enormous mass on the Benjamin Franklin parkway. We may have up to 2 Million People who want to participate in that. Then he goes back out and wheels up about 8 00 sunday night. Then also very quickly, a little bit of what we are doing the usccb is launching a mobile solution. Our anticipated date is august 15 for the app. We will provide Live Streaming of all the events. We want people to encourage everyone to watch. Every one of you have stories of people who really want to get here to see pope francis. We recognize the intensity of the interest, so what we are encouraging parishes and schools and diocese to do is to think about having watch parties locally for those who cannot journey here. Virtual pilgrims, if you want to call it that. Our website uspapalvisit. Org is a place where you can catch lots of information and streaming. That will be quasipasswordprotected for the journalists, which we are developing now. If you want to write down anything uspapalvisit. Org would be the go to site for the media. If you have any other logistic questions, popelogi stics gmail. Com. I know you have mine, but if you send it to this one, it will not get lost with everything i have going on. I wanted to ask if anybody had any stick specific questions or anything else. [inaudible] helen if you go to uspapal visit. Org, scroll down to the bottom of the home page, there is a link to the secret service website, where you get the credential. [inaudible] helen we are hoping to get bishops, other experts. Again, we are compiling all of that. Yes. For the st. Matthews cathedral event can you give us a sense of how much press will be allowed in there, who else will be there besides bishops . Helen it is not a large area as you probably know. I do not know the full guest list. But there will be limited access for media inside. We are working on risers on the outside as well. But it will be limited. Yes, sir. Good morning. [indiscernible] helen you can still get into the website. For the Filing Center . Helen yes, but we close on the venue is it possible to get credentialed for the Filing Center . Helen yes. And a Daily Briefing will be webcast . Helen yes, it will all be live stream. It will be passwordprotected . Helen that will be part of the pool for the public feed. We will feed a live briefings into what is provided through the u. S. Tv pool. It will be live . Ok. [inaudible] if we apply for a venue, will they get the secret service if we apply for a live venue, do we get the secret service credential or do we apply for that separately . Helen no, the secret service credential if we do that separately if we have done that already helen no,. Nope. I cannot guarantee you will get the venues you want, but you will get your credential. Great. Thank you so much. Helen thank you. I really appreciate you being there. Now i am going to introduce william douglas. He is a correspondent from mcclatchy newspapers. His credentials include bill clintons second term, the iraq war, and now he is covering Congress Another kind of war. Welcome. William good morning. Thank you for attending. I look out there and see some familiar faces from oh capitol hill. I can speak from a capitol hill perspective. This will be very, very different. This is going to be like a state of the union or a head of the state on steroids in terms of demand for members of congress to actually be in the chamber for the popes speech. Congress people complain congress does not do a lot of things, but last week they managed to vote ex members of congress out of the chamber. They will not be in the chamber because probably all of the seats will be filled by members of the house and senate. Normally when heads of state visit, even Prime Minister netanyahus speech, you usually have filler with staff or interns filling seats. That will not happen this time around. I doubt there will be a member of congress who would want to skip this. For our selfish terms, this will be a challenge for reporters who want to cover the speech. Going back to the state of the Union Address i hate to saying normal head of state, but a regular head of state, for lacked of a better phrase. We normally will go to the house or Senate Press Gallery and they usually will be very, very accommodating. They will accommodate not just us as being the congressional, every day u. S. Rest, but the foreign press. They will have to find time for the popes traveling press. It will be very tight, in the United States press gallery, which is already tight now. If you are not a credentialed reporter at capitol hill, you do not have a congressional hard pass, youll not get into the u. S. Capitol that day. Its not going to happen. They will not honor passes, little stickers. Even with the hard pass, there is no guarantee you will get in the chamber. If you have not made a request, i would suggest you do so today. They still have not gone through how theyre going to do this, but its going to be very, very limited. They will have the press gallery inside the chamber. The wire service will have their seats. Their longterm capitol hill publications and the daytoday presence. Those will more than likely get in. Those who are occasional visitors to capitol hill, even with the hard pass, will not get in. If you feel you are not a routine or regular visitor and you want to be in the chamber, i would suggest you come in the gallery or come up with a plan be relatively fast. It will be very, very tight. The pope speaks at 10 00 promptly. You have to get into the building early. It is advised to go through the house and Senate Building as opposed to trying to get and through the capitol. When you go through the capitol you have to go through the security and there are going to be lines. It is best to go through the Office Buildings. My general rule of thumb, and i am paranoid, for addresses, i tended to get there an hour or two early. Just give my time to go through security and get set up. I would advise you all to do that. There are nice cafeterias in the building. By your time. Just to avoid the hassle, because theres going to be a hassle. Security is going to be much much thorough. They will take it up to another level. Give yourself time. Bring what you need to bring. Do not bring extraneous stuff. Do not bring your gym bag. Do not plan on working out after the speech. Just bring your essential stuff and security will go much quicker. For those folks who do not get in, Speaker Boehner has opened up the west front. There will be a jumbotron outside. That is a ticketed event. Citizens just cant walk through the west front and expect to get in and watch this speech on the jumbotron. I would suggest to citizens who might want to do that, you might want to contact your member of congress. I assume it might be like in inauguration. Yes . [inaudible] william i have no idea. They are working through that. All i know is it will be limited. Limited to capacity, maybe limited by the sheer numbers that will be there. I do not have intelligence on the exact number. If you covered a head of states speech and you have been to the gallery and have been in our sitting area, you know how long the rows are. Just go based on that. So, that is pretty much the upshot of what i know about getting in. If you have any questions, i can try to answer. Helen i into ask the questioners to hold off a minute so we can get you a mic. Is there proceeding on the west front . William we do not know at this point. Theres to working through that. Helen other questions from the floor . You mentioned coming in through the Office Buildings instead of directly through the capitol. Many of us are custom going through those buildings. Will security be beefed up there as well . William security, again, when you have heads of state netanyahus speech, or if there are any when the dalai lama comes, certain dignitaries dictate a certain level of security. Im sure this will dictate a very, very high level of security. Yes, there will be much more security than you are used to seeing. Helen you mentioned, do not bring your gym bag. What would you consider are the essentials . William if youre covering it your laptop, notebook, recording devices, iphone. I would just bring the basic reporting tools you require. Obviously, if you are tv or radio, you have more accoutrements, but just pack smartly. Get yourself through security quickly. Helen do not forget those extra batteries. If you are not able to get into the capitol and you are not one of the lucky people with a ticket to the lawn view and youre standing outside william, what are your best tips for people who are looking for maybe they are Live Streaming the speech on their phone, which apparently will be possible william if you are one of the reporters on the west front, you have Automatic Access to the people, the interview. Once that speech begins, and once that speech ends, you are pretty much going to be where you are. Youre going to be stuck. Your ability to get around, you know i like to joke that when you cover the white house you are a step paid. In congress you are sort of like a you are a stuck pig. In congress, youre sort of like a Free Range Chicken where you have freedom to wander. You will not have that. If you are in the press gallery, you are in the press gallery. If you are in the Senate Press Gallery, you are in the Senate Press Gallery. If you have an idea of listening to the speech and then running around interviewing a member of congress, its not going to be that easy. Yes . So, you to not think they will do anything with statuary hall and have the members be available . William i have not heard anything. This is just me speculating, but i would tend to doubt that just because of security. The previous speaker laid out the agenda. If he does what we call otr and off the record if he decides to rome and visit statuary hall no. [laughter] i think that would be different. I would guess if you want to talk to your member of congress i would call in advance and try to set something up by phone. It probably would be easier or you can make a date somewhere, maybe 35, 40 minutes to an hour after these each. That might be good after the speech. That might be good. If you want an instant reaction, i would see if your member can call you after the speech. Yes . For people who do not have press credentials for capitol hill on a regular basis if you could get some kind of access, what would be the best option to follow . It sounds like you have a lot of different ideas william access to congress . I know not the press gallery lovably, but the chamber . William i would call the press gallery to see if you can get into the press gallery, get into the chamber. You will not get onto the chamber floor. Failing that, if you are honed in on a member of congress or two, i would call that member to see where they plan to be afterward, just to see if you can meet them personally or talk to them over the phone. If you are compelled to be at the capitol, do you have a hard pass . Know, but some of my colleagues do. William they can get into the building. Once you get into the building, it will be a challenge. But i would try to arrange with those folks rather than going up there on a lark. [indiscernible] william there is a chance they can probably get into a press gallery. Getting it does not guarantee you let me go over this two ways. The Senate Press Gallery, there is assigned seating there. Mcclatchy, we have desks there. Some of you sitting here have desks there. Then there are open areas. If you can get there in time and get into one of the open areas why all means, give it a shot. The House Press Gallery, there is assigned seating. When we have these speeches people get there as early as they can come up with their laptops on the chair, and basically lay claim to that space. There is going to be a race for that that day. Again, if you have a hard pass and get get and their get in there, i would have my laptop and my little sign that says dont move me. How early would you go . I know even when i have gone there 9 00 everything is taken up. William well, that is telling you something. This is a regular workday on the hill. William i do not know when they open. That is a key thing. As it closers as it gets closer, you may want to ask them. I would get there as early as i possibly could. Again, if you get there too early, there are cafeterias there, there is work you can do because you are spaced to do it, because but i would say chick with a gallery, see when they plan to open and i would get there as early as possible. My understanding is they are going to be doing in addition to the congressional hard pass they will be doing their separate credentialing for the speech. That is what i have heard. They say, as the date approaches, we will let you know. I have not heard back from them. William i think what they might mean is again, with the state of the union, they give us a ticket to go into the chamber. That might be what they are referring to. Im sure its still early on that end. I think that is what they are referring to. Bill, for reporters who do not cover the hill of a time, who is the person they should contact and can you provide an email address for that . William i wish i were that savvy. I would call the House Press Gallery in the senate and the Senate Press Gallery. They can give you the information on the point people on this. You can william i can give you the numbers after. Chest but you can get the house director you can of the house director at william or just call the capitol and the complex you into the gallery. Thank you herb. Other questions . Clearly, this is going to be very challenging event for reporters who want to get in there and do it. William douglass, thank you so much. [applause] bill, i am going to bring you back in a bit, but right now im going to ask if members for the next panel of speakers will make it to the front. Looking at kalee. Anybody who is here, come on out. Im going to introduce the speakers. My introductions are very brief. I would encourage all of you to read the full bio that is in your packet. If you are watching on cspan, you will be able to find those at our website, which is nationalpress. Org. This next panel is going to address some of the issues that the post has really brought to the four, things that are on his mind. I am pleased to have so many experts to help us with them. I will start right here with dr. Demetroisetriou. He is the cofounder and president of the migration policy institute. He is a leader in developing solutions and preparedness. We are very pleased to have him with us this morning. Lisa ryerson is a president of the aarp foundation. We are very pleased to have her with us. And Kalee Kreider is a special adviser to the United Nations foundation. She spent time working with Vice President out core working on a film you may have heard of called an inconvenient truth. To moderate, i am going to hand off to jason dick. He is the editor for roll call. Previous to that, he wrote for green wire. Thank you very much. Jason thank you, thank you for having me. These panels can be very helpful to sort through what really is a truly unique events. It combines all of the elements as bill was saying earlier of an inauguration, state of the Union Address, and almost a rock concert. The logistics on this are a marvel to behold. In our next panel, we will talk more about those logistics. Right now, we want to delve down into these issues, particularly issues this pope has made part of his portfolio. And they happen to be three of the most contentious stickiest issues that capitol hill and the country has dealt with in the last well, several decades. Demetrious, lets start with you. You are one of the worlds foremost experts on immigration. Watching capitol hill, they have struggled with this issue over the last couple of decades. They have gone back and forth on it. And with the pope, being at the vatican, he is quite literally almost the foremost of these issues in europe as you have people trying to cross the mediterranean. Lets start with a simple question. You have been doing this for a long time. How does it change when the pope takes an interest in your topic . Dr. Papademetriou good morning, everyone. Thank you for the question. I think when the pope speaks from a perspective that is both global and, at the same time very moral when he focuses on the dignity of the individual when he focuses on the importance of families of protecting children, he certainly gives voice in a very clear way to the kinds of issues that lots of people will want to hear the pope speaking. But i am not quite sure whether the u. S. Congress, or at least those people in the u. S. Congress who have been unable or unwilling to reach any agreement with regard to immigration, that it will influence them one way or another. It is more likely to sway public opinion. This is my sense. The issue is very difficult, not everything because not only because everything seems to be broken up on capitol hill, but philosophically the two parties or at least two major wings of the two parties are fundamentally disagreeing on how to move forward on this issue. I am talking about philosophically. We talk about who should get credit or not get credit, etc. , etc. Washington cannot really move forward on difficult issues, but the most specific one is the two parties have a fundamental philosophical disagreement about the size of immigration how to do with Legal Immigration, how to deal with challenges of the border, how much immigration we should have, and the formula is self. Lets not forget. The way we choose immigrants today was designed lets see, 1965 . 50 years ago. It was designed 50 years ago. With the exception of we would not drive a 50yearold car without updating it. Were falling behind on immigration. We understand that. People wanted to come here first and foremost, for fairly obvious reasons. We can discuss them. We are losing that advantages everyone is becoming more and more aggressive in trying to attract immigrants that they want. We are still the leaders. But the pope is not going to be addressing those issues. The pope is going to be focusing on what the pope and the Catholic Church has always focused on. Lets call it whatever. Lets call it Legal Immigration undocumented, unregulated. Lets say if its going to be unregulated migration, mass migration, more generally, and anything that involves issues of protection refugees, etc. Etc. These have always been both sides of the churchs concerned with immigration. The church and this pope is of two minds on immigration. He argues rejection for protecting lives saving property not exploiting people. He argued strongly against discrimination, it said rick, it set her up. Of but at the same time, theyre very conflicted and the pope himself is very conflicted about migration more generally. Often the church thinks of migration and speaks of migration as the lesser of two evils. The evil of staying home where one has no advantages, no development, no jobs, no opportunities. Versus the other one going to a society that does not treat them well. Again, its not about all immigration. Its about immigration of the poor, the persecuted, of people who seemingly have no other choice but to go elsewhere to have a life for themselves. Jason lisa, your foundation the aarp, deals with a but wide variety of issues. Particularly hunger and other issues that affect the elderly. Its a little more diffuse, more amorphous than just the immigration proposals congress is looking at. Would you care to speak to that and what your organization is looking for in the pope and how they are approaching this visit . Lisa thank you to my colleague. First of all, its great to be with you as we come together and think about this in hortons conversation with pope francis. What this important conversation with pope francis. What is extraordinarily important, he speaks on many occasions, really all occasions about dignity for all people. Giving a voice will be important in terms of lifting that. We focus on antipoverty work, income isolation, seeing those areas as totally interrelated. You can imagine in individual would have difficulty in one or the other. There is a Multiplier Effect for individuals. What is on my mind . It is just over 50 years since president johnson declared war against poverty. We see that poverty is on the rise rather than on the decline. I think we come together at this moment in time to spotlight this issue and also talk about some issues that have worked. When we talk about poverty and hunger at the four, which the at the fore, we know there are tens of millions in the United States who are going hungry every day. You might think of it as a temporary or physical state of not having food. Food insecurity is a problem i hope is really address. People with a lack of access to affordable food. It is about children. Is it about young adults, adults, seniors in our nation and that is about. It is true in rural settings, urban settings. But the highest number are in suburbs where individuals have been pushed out of the cities but do not have enough income to meet basic needs. We know in america, there are programs that have worked to reduce poverty. Any highlighting of the great work and supplemental nutrition we know for seniors the problem remains that they persistently do not apply for benefits for which they are eligible. Its really just over one third of seniors accessing these really important benefit that our nation is supportive of. That could be about many things. That is about lack of education these benefits exist. It is also about Older Americans and going back to dignity. Maybe there are more fewer more in need that they are. Snap reduces poverty rates in the United States. We want individuals who are eligible to enroll and have access to nutritious and affordable food, but also because it is that little bit extra that could lift them out of poverty. We also know the solutions for hunger in america are across all sectors. We have found that faithbased organizations are really important partners, but we know it will take cross collaboration from the private sector, the charitable sector, the notforprofit world, as well as government, to come up with new solutions. It would be about putting together this Food Supply Chain with the work of notforprofit so we are really looking at how we can produce more nutritious more affordable, more accessible food for children and Older Americans as well. There is this question i think we all need to be asking, which is why arent we winning the war on poverty . And when you think about hunger, how do we bend that arc, because it is getting worse. In a land of such abundance, why do we have such a persistent disconnect the tween the Food Supply Chain and those who are food insecure in our nation . I am happy to take questions but really see this as a great opportunity to let people know there are so Many Americans who are hungry. There are 10 million americans who go hungry every day. This is an opportunity to lift this issue up into the sunlight or spotlight and hopefully encourage people to take more direct action, to be biased toward action. Jason we are going to take questions. We have an opportunity to speak to your issue. It is at the forefront today. The president well announce another Climate Change program. It has already attracted a lot of criticism on capitol hill. As complicated and contentious as global warming, Climate Change is as a political issue the pope has approached it from a new level. I was wondering from your vantage point, how has that changed . What are you looking at . Kalee i really encourage all of you to download onto your smartphone the cyclical released by the pope. In english, it is praise be to the lord. It is 184 pages, but they are short pages. It has a historical section and six chapters. The pope will be addressing the work of prior popes as well as st. Francis, Saint Bonaventure the 50near history of the Catholic Church addressing these issues, from saint from pope saint paul the 23rd, even pope benedict. It really hit some things from the entire nature of creation. About how a rupture between god, nature and the earth is then. Is thin. And with our throwaway culture there are no solutions if we have lost our moral compass. I think we will see these in our remarks. What i think brings this panel together, in the encyclical, the pope makes clear that poverty, Climate Change are not two Different Things or two different stovepipes. Over the weekend, the United Nations adopted new Sustainable Development goals, which some of you may cover in the other part of your life, but the Sustainable Development goals build on goals that deal with poverty, education oceans, and Climate Change. But the pope sees this relationship between ourselves and nature as one. The pope really has laid this out in a new way. If you look at how we treat people who might be trafficked and endangered species that might be trafficked, it comes from the same place. So, although not all of us grew up in german catholic families like i did and feel this sense of guilt as i sit here and try to do my best to channel what he had to say far more eloquently than i, i do think it would be most helpful because with all due respect to my colleagues in the environmental community, i felt when the encyclical came out, there was such an effort i everyone to hang their issue on the encyclical, and only a small sliver of the encyclical got covered in the media and there is really an opportunity to take a much larger lens. I am focusing now on Climate Change. The pope does have an entire section of the encyclical that looks at approach and action. Today is a big day. The president has an event in the rose garden to announce the Clean Power Plant. It is part of our u. S. Domestic response to a large treaty meeting at the end of the year. It will be a climate summit. Over 100 nations will be gathering in paris. They look at the popes visit and they look at it as an art that is happening right now with this large domestic visit. It will carry through to paris at the end of the year with this large climate summit. Speaking of interconnectedness, i think as we look at the Large International issues at the end of the year, when we look back whether it is the pope or world leaders, the Tipping Point is based on three key pieces. First, did we link the agenda of poverty, Climate Change, and finance, putting all of these pieces together to create change. Did the large countries actually start to take action on Climate Change. And i agree the popes influence will be on the broader public. My own family are thinking about taking a road trip to florida. This could be their only time to see the pope in the knighted states and the enthusiasm for the community is very difficult to in the United States and the enthusiasm for the community is very difficult to convey. I have seen this and i of course have the fortune of having worked for former Vice President gore. There are sentiments many people feel compelled to say. Many of them, as you know, they give privately. They donate their time. They go to africa. You actually do see movement on some of these issues. I actually do think a visit like this does affect these members personally. What will be intriguing to me, as we get out of the primary and move toward the general election, whether we see a softening of flashpoint issues because the primary is not the best time because that is many issues are sharpened. That is when both parties are playing more to the base, and it really wont be until the general election until we see the impact of a visit like this. Jason i would like to open it up to questions, because i know we have there is a lot of interest and we have a slate of issues. Many of them are interconnected. Who is first . I wonder, how important is the popes science of ground to the development of his ideas . I know he has degrees is a chemistry . Kalee actually, the vatican has held several conferences on science to educate the staff and i think its very interesting. In the encyclical, he speaks to the importance of having a dialogue with science. I think there is a misperception sometimes born from a lengthy history go lay oh and the rest of it galileo and the rest of it, that the churches tossed out the science. Think age met with the Scientific Community has been very strong, not just on Climate Change. The encyclical also deals with gmos in a very nuanced and interesting way that talks about the technology. It is not just this hope, but the Catholic Church itself has a strong engagement in science. This pope seems to be particularly interested. In the opening seven or eight pages, he does walk through the history of the commentary in this space, which is particularly interesting, but he is able to speak to some of this, to some of the science. Some of the reporting in the u. S. Even speaks to the fact that the encyclical addressed carbon credits. So, it was not just the science, but he was able to speak to the rio convention, carbon credits. Even particular policy initiatives in Climate Change and genetically modified organisms and elsewhere. I think you will find it very interesting, the level to which they have a grasp and an understanding of what is going on. I wonder if any of you can comment on the significance of the significance of the popes visit . That there might be a broader issue he is focusing on . I am happy to speak about it a bit. It will be more from our point of view that the pope with that visit and in general, the conversation about disparity in america, i guess i would speak about it from a policy standpoint, it is important. We have invested in at aarp foundation, for example, a program in l. A. A food program called l. A. Kitchen, but the premise is neither food nor people should go to waste. Its interesting. People taking fresh food and the growing amount of food waste in the country, and of course in l. A. , packaging that. Its a very multicultural population and l. A. Its interesting. It is them bind with the Job Training Program it may be people who aged out of the foster care system or people released in facilities. Yes, as some of you may know this is a significant issue. A federal judge minors waiting in detention, waiting for their cases to be in a hearing. The detention for unaccompanied minors is a large issue and continues to be an issue in the next 30 days or so. I would not be surprised if the open were to address it, a blakely perhaps. Nonetheless address it. This is a pope but does not hesitate to enter difficult waters. He speaks very frankly, very forcefully about these issues. He does so regularly in rome. His first visit the first time this pope left rome the place where all of these immigrants used to come now they are coming in all sorts of different places in italy. And he has spoken directly about the issue of unaccompanied minors. How they crossed the border, how we should treat them, et cetera, et cetera. I would not be surprised if he were to develop a narrative that would address the issues more directly than any other person any other hope might have. Jason over here . [inaudible] i will say congress is pretty set on these positions and the pope may not be able to change much. But let me put a question to you, jason. You said in congress any of these three areas might follow on the popes visit . Jason i do not pretend to know which way the speaker or the majority or minority leader is. I would point out that the speaker is a catholic and the minority leader of the house is a catholic, nancy pelosi. They do not put religion into their policy positions, but i certainly would i would say one of the most surprising Political Developments of the last 10, 15 years i have witnessed i have been in washington since 1998, first that national journal, now with rollcall is the rapid evolution on gay marriage, to the point where politically it is almost not an issue anymore in congress. No member of Congress Really wants to talk about it much anymore because they see were the public is on it. It is remarkable how quickly congress can change positions on things when they think that the public is getting ahead of them. In terms of where we see these issues right now again, three of the thorniest issues congress has dealt with in the last couple of generations immigration, Climate Change, income inequality we are discussing them in congress. But there is not the impetus yet for members to go out on a limb, to talk about these things. In particular with immigration. You have probably seen this a couple times now where Congress Gets a very close. They may even vote in one chamber overwhelmingly, and the moment just gets away. There are some many variables about these issues. I think it would be interesting to see how congress approaches if they issue policy statements. It is getting close to the end of the year, the election starting. Before the popes visit and what they say afterward. Hello. Sorry. I am really wondering since the pope is coming to the u. S. From cuba and he played a significant role in releasing alan gross and the policy change, do you see the pope bringing up the issue even if it is behind closed doors and not publicly . How will he play a role in this engagement between the u. S. And cuba . Thank you. Kalee first of all, i think the white house would likely welcome his engagement on this issue, and i absolutely would not be surprised to see him address it in some form or another. I also think there is more to come from the white house on cuba. I dont think they are done yet announcing initiatives there. And on foreign policy, right now, i think two pieces i think iran and cuba are shaping up to be two major pieces of the president s legacy. I think anything from their perspective that raises the cuba these will be welcomed by them. Dr. Papademetriou i think that is a very good question and a very good point you made. I think we are focusing perhaps too much on what the pope would say or not say and how directly or a bleakley he may say it or not say it. During the days leading up to what the pope would say or not say and how directly or obliqu ely he may say it or not say it. During the days leading up to it , even if the pope does not say the word cuba directly, he probably will Say Something about facilitating a dialogue and after all, lets not forget this is a pope would that understands, and has lived all of his life, has preached, became a cardinal in latin america. He has lived with these issues. It and the president , if nobody else, the president will speak about the popes role in the opening toward cuba. I think all of these issues will be put on the table directly or indirectly. Kalee i just want to add to that great point, which is to say to use an analogy. I do not know how many of these folks saw interstellar. Someone asked me what it was about, and i said it was about love. That was what it was about. I think in the end, what the pope would say is this is probably about love. You can read the entire encyclical and in the end, when you look at it, it is about interconnectedness and love between people and nature. So that is very tough to cover as a reporter, because you cannot write a story about love. We want to cover all of the political pieces, but whether it is cuba or something else, it will be his perspective on the interconnectedness and love and peace and joy. Lisa i think you are right both of my colleagues. I cannot speak to your question, but i do think this goes back to thinking probably around these issues of common humanity and they also share accountability when we look at these issues, particularly lifting people out of poverty. At anything we can do to make sure that the facts are shared, the disparities along racial and ethnic lines and providing information on solutions that might work. We all do better when each and every member of society does better, too. Jason one thing we keep coming back to is this popes ideas about dignity, the essential dignity of human beings. And it is difficult sometimes to convey that within a political system based on conflict. I wonder, do you have as policy people, do you have advice for other policy people, for the layperson or observer how do you both address this is a political event he is a head of state. He is going to congress. He is going to the white house. How do you makes those . How do you make that transition and talking about the politics of it, and get in our conflictdriven clinical system political system, to this unfortunately alien concept of dignity and love for other people . Dr. Papademetriou let me sort of take this on for a second. I think this pope is a globalist in the most fundamental sense of the word. We know the Catholic Church thinks of itself and is the universal church. We all understand this. This particular pope speaks very directly about globalization and he speaks repeatedly about globalization. And lampedusa, for example, he spoke about the globalization of indifference and he contrasted that with the globalization of charity in cooperation and cooperation. This is one of many, many instances where the pope wants us to push against the frames, which we discuss policy issues and make them larger. He borrows language from the universal declaration of human rights rate he speaks clearly about the application of the refugee convention. These are documents that have been around for 60, 65 years. These are documents that, in the United States, had rather restricted use. But these are the kinds of things he speaks very clearly about. And he really expects his audience, you know he has a captive audience every time he speaks. He expects people to actually engage. He wants to force people to engage those big issues from a far broader perspective and well beyond catholic teachings, as it were. Lisa you know, i would agree. Im not speaking from a policy standpoint but the requirement that conversation, that is a global conversation, that could be an opportunity for all of us is the need to know our place in that dialogue were solidly. The opportunity to speak about where we are at with the issue of hunger and how persistent it is and poverty are across all age groups becomes really important. It allows us to be a smarter participant, and as you were saying, it is a global dialogue. Because solving hunger requires that we solve it not just for children, but Older Americans and we think how interconnected we are with the food chain around the world. So it is an opportunity. But it is also an opportunity to talk about programs that are supported by the government that do work. Like the wic program and the snap program. When accessed fully, they are programs that have worked over time and improve the sense that hunger is a Public Health issue. They highlight when we do not have access to nutrition how difficult it is for young people, for older people to participate, to be educated, to be successful, and for Older Americans, to become so ill with chronic diseases that they, too, can no longer live their best lives. There will be many, many, more Older Americans. The good news is we are living longer, but that can be challenging as well. It is an opportunity to engage in the global conversation. Kalee i will just add to that. The pope as a globalist comes to the u. S. At a time when ratifying a treaty is a very tip opening. We have a very difficult thing. We have two big issues in the koran package. We also have the agent trade deal we have two big issues in the iran package. We also have the asian trade deal. It is very difficult to muster 60 votes in the senate for a treaty. We also have the world bank. We have the asia and Infrastructure Bank and the question of the u. S. s role in the world and whether americans should continue to run these institutions and how the chinese and the indians want to play and the fact that the and in population will he larger than china it looks like 10 years earlier than thought. The pope comes in as the embodiment of some of that change that is happening and the u. S. Is in a struggle between parochialism and globalism right . We have the reaction to the job losses from wto, nafta. You can argue about whether that caused it, but there is certainly the perception in the u. S. That it did and the reaction against it. He comes as someone who is essentially engaging us as a global player. We are a global leader. But we are having difficulty even renewing the exim bank. I think that that is a challenge as we look at this political frame. How are we looking at all of these things . We have imf, world bank, trade deals, International Treaties we are having difficulty even getting through our congress because we have this parochial versus global struggle. He is going to engage at this very broad level, because the Catholic Church puts all of the growth in the global basket and the u. S. Is struggling with this as a country. You see her soul with a multicultural society. Think those is that this fascinating that in and of itself will have a Ripple Effect that are very