, with what is going on in mexico . Mayor villarreal not at all. I know it is a blessing. Number, butke a big it is necessary. Our borders are very porous. The responsibility of the border is actually going to the federal government. As for as economies go, i am a Small Business person a long the border. I have the utmost respect for any border people that have any businesses, because the border economies are resilient. We have survived numerous diwali rations, we have survived the recession, we have survived 9 11, we survived hurricanes. I will tell you that the vibrancy of the border and business along the border has never been better, and i believe as we go forward we are going to see much more of that. Host mayor martinez, the politics of securing 800 Million Dollars is politics at the state level, but does it come at the experience of cities like your own . Martinez you have to understand it is what it is. The most practical approach is, how do you figure out how to use that 800 million to your advantage . From our standpoint, we all know the border is secure. Every mayors sitting here knows it is a good thing. I dont care if you are from rio grande city, mcallen, laredo, or el paso. We all have to understand it. It is a reality. Now how to use that 800 billion from an economic standpoint to do it for your advantage, and had a we do it so that it is used more as an economic and trade situation than it is a security situation . Than thato be smarter to define everything coming across the table. Host how do border cities, the image of rapists and bad people coming over our border. We are doing that right now. We went to reynosa, met with a mayor and his people over there and a newspaper over there. We say, it is safe. Whether you are in washington dc, chicago, or many cities in the United States, you have to be careful where you go at night. That is no different in mexico. The publicity they get down there is a problem. I drove a fire truck and reynosa. Moreve to have understanding of what goes on in Law Enforcement, and show them it is safe. Mikey and dora 2000 maquilladora managers go to mexico every day to work. Talking about this is very important. Science, saenz, what about in your neck of the woods . The newspaper once said we were very dangerous. People do ask, i leave laredo and that is usually the first or second question i am confronted with. Thatt to show people laredo is safe and our border is safe. The fact that you are allowing us for me to speak these words in front of this audience is good, because we want to texas, the entire u. S. , and the world to know that the border is completely safe. It is also great for trade. But we will get to that . Coexist withyou the notion that a city like problems likee wit homicide . Mayor leeser we started working together. As awe started working region, it really made a big difference. I actually travel to detroit and chicago, and we have gone to companies that do business within the two cities. Our message is, what do you know about el paso, warez . Juarez . To go out there and talk to them together as one. The 25 years we have been in business, they said they had never had both mayors come out to us and talk to us what about about what is going on. We actually made all issues head on as we talked. We continue to travel together and see that el paso being the safest one of the safest 500,000, country, over and warez is becoming a very safe city. It is important that we continue to go out and promote as one. How do you go from security to the economic benefit that mexico brings . Let me be clear that Border Security is an ongoing effort, the fact that we have one of the most wonderful Law Enforcement officers. We have Border Patrol agents, dps troopers all working together in communities. I was blessed to be able to say that when we were going through the immigration crisis, i had communication with the highest level of each organization within Law Enforcement. They were working with us, not against us, to combat this idea of the border being unsafe. What you have to do is communicate, because to some extent, mr. Sanchez, the creation of media social media creates this image that is not just and not true, and that is why when you listen to people over and over again that we are safe, we are actually extraordinary safe. It is a testament to the leadership of the Border Community and the Law Enforcement officers who are out there at all levels making sure we are safe. Host is it an image problem when you are driving from mcallen to rio grande city, when you see a dps trooper every mile along the way . That seems to be a problematic perception. The situation on the border has been under high surveillance. The border has been under watch for many decades at Different Levels will stop for example, the National Guard that came in and 2014 was also there in 2012. They are reporting to the necessary Law Enforcement officers who are in charge of the op firm in charge of the operation, and they did that well. Even during 2014, their duty was along the web along the river , and our job was to make sure the community was safe, but they stayed as far away from the communities as possible to preserve the integrity and goodness of communities in taxes. Texas. Thats i you combat that, making sure you have Law Enforcement working in conjunction with communities to find a solution to this problem. Carlos mayor martinez, do you feel safer because of the president s presence of the National Guard in your community . Mayor martinez nothing has changed in Border Security. The number of adults going across the border never changes. In fact, it decreased significantly. You have on a Company Children and families, and that became a border crisis. Those people were not coming across the river, they were coming to seek asylum. What they needed was to social workers to handle the families and unaccompanied children. The press took that into being some sort of huge border crisis. Economic violence and trafficking forced people to flee. Thefrom a standpoint of illegal people coming across the river, those numbers have not changed. This whole border crisis issue, when you are asking if it has changed, nothing has changed from our standpoint, except we had 25 thousand people, family members come across into our bus station who needed aid. Borderu talk about security and the crisis, there was no crisis in Border Security, that has just been a figment of the news people. It makes good print. Im not afraid, nothing has changed. It has been frustrating to deal with that, because if you are down there, what has changed is we have people who need aid. We gave them that. The mayor is correct. The difference is the type of immigrants. They come from Central America this time. We are used to immigrants who come from the same place. The Central American immigrants are more desperate, more determined, or themselves into more danger continuously. I personally witnessed at 5 00 on a friday, on a busy street in rio grande city, coming out of my place of business, we were caught in the middle of a group of about 10 Central Americans who ran right through us. Dps troopers were following them, and our Police Officers were following them. Not to apprehend them, but to keep them safe. To make sure they stopped endangering their lives. It is very important to remember that the crisis we talk about was created also because they came from Central America, and there were children involved. Nobody i actually have pictures, and i dont know why a snap to them. I thought it might why i snapped them. I thought it might happen again. But they were children, and they come from a place other than mexico. Carlos mayor martinez, is it time for the National Guard to vacate the valley . Mayor martinez i think it probably should. The whole idea is, if we dont really address the true problem, all the human families that need to be taking care of each other. When we talk about Central America and the different customs and reasons why they came, we have to understand that nobody really wants to come over here illegally. Nobody really wants to emigrate from their country. There are only two reasons why they do it, safety or economic reasons. It is no different than what you have going in syria, no different than what you have going across the nation and the world. If you try to understand what is going on with the dynamics, and again, fear sells papers, and i economicd there is an reason for that, but we have to get to the core of the matter and understand why they are fleeing and how we address those issues as opposed to just talking about fear. Carlos fear does sell papers, but it also will ask politicians. How is that a problem at the state and National Level . Mayor martinez i am not sure that, becauseby we need to go out and educate people around the country. One of the things we are talking about in el paso, people want to go back to what it is all stop people want to go back to the country they loved. Just like mayor martinez said, they want to make a living in their countries, so how do we Work Together to help them . The biggest problem we have in uarez is that there is a shortage of workers. People want to come to the country, so we have to Work Together as one unit to educate and help each other grow. I am not sure i understand the ar electsthat fe politicians, because doing the right thing would not be fear, doing the right thing is greeting a better world for us to live in. Martinez, a few weeks ago you were one of several mayors on both sides of the border who signed an agreement forming what is called the Binational Economic Development zone. Can you explain what that is and its significance . Mayor martinez going back to whatever betty stated, we are one region. Just because we have a river that runs through it does not mean we are today separate entities two separate entities. The idea behind the agreement is that we understand where mexico is and the Security Problems they have. Sament feel we have the problems, but how do we help them . We have a highway we have a highway going to buy tomorrows. How do we reach out to them and make them also profit oriented . I dont think you can isolate. You cannot let orders get in the way of progress. That is the whole idea behind the binational agreement. I hope it extends and the rest of the border keeps going up. I know we have a lot of interests in laredo in el paso as to how we are doing this. The idea was to go from brownsville to san diego. That is the whole idea. We have to understand that mexico is a big trading partner. Texas knows this more than anybody else. This is why i am glad we are having this discussion. I think that once we get this folks, come the down and visit us, come down and see what weve got, we have a great thing going. In my part of the country, we have spacex coming. I think we will reach for the stars and see them. I think that is the message that needs to get across. We need to have a conversation, but we need to have action. You have to see what we are doing. Carlos standing on this notion, ebody drew the comparison the mayor of austin tried to sell the city without giving any kind of data or interest south of the colorado river. Is that a challenge you will face . Mayor saenz we do. Laredo alone, we do 2 billion worth of trade with mexico. It is huge, the number one lamport in the entire u. S. Land port in the entire u. S. Mexico border. We have to spread the message that laredo is open for business. We need to see mexico in a higher light. Hugemmigration issue is and big, our border needs to be secured, and we need comprehensive immigration, but beyond that issue, mexico is our second, Third Largest trading partner. We need mexico, we are tied to the head of. P. To the hi we need to be careful what we say and presented to the world. Especially now, i know it is the political season, but we know the border, we live the border, we breathe the border. Mexico is huge for us. From my standpoint, what i have it has huge potential. We have energy potential, we have the maquilladoras. Yes, we need to sell it. I thank you for the forum, for the opportunity of spreading the word. The border should be looked at as a reasonable area, global area. We have so many assets and so much capacity there that the theyont understand just dont see that. It is our job to make that known to everyone. Mayor leeser we have to realize the trade is not just for el paso, it is for the whole United States. Trade is not just for the local area. It is working that we continue to keep the human flow, but not just for our area, but for the economy of the whole United States. It seems larger cities are beginning the process of msas. Fying combined i am wondering if there is value in an International Combined msa . We have looked at that. Have tens of thousands of people across our. Iver doing trade it makes sense when we go to sell something up north from an Economic Development standpoint that we show those numbers is a combined msa. It is so much stronger than to tell her story otherwise. Our story otherwise. When you have msa figures that are there, i think it makes much more sense to do that. Carlos mayor villarreal . Mr. Villarreal it is the future. Thatd nafta many years ago open up borders and our minds to if we want toy, look for the future for taxes and this nation, and i will tell you that mexico is texas is number one trading partner, and this countrys number three trading partner. That is a lot. Open new avenues to the future, we have to go into mexico and make sure that the border that exists and replace it with no borders for business. Whatever benefits the trade of this nation and consonant and if its everybody who lives continent benefits everybody who lives in this country. We have to look past the borders that exist. Business is so large and expanding, and in the future you will see a more vibrant rio grande valley. Carlos my newspaper went on a wonderful insight into the city of ran as a. Reynosa. As they were returning to the United States, it took them three hours to cross the border. How do you balance the issue of this trade flow and increased potential trade flow with security . How do you prevent threehour waits . I addressed it a little with my first answer. The city pays for overtime agents for the peak times. It is really a moving number, a moving target force. The Christmas Season or any type of holiday, we have to continue to keep shifting. One thing we have noticed since is thathe partnership times have decreased a little bit, but the traffic has increased a lot. If you have a lot of traffic increase, you would have a time increase, but that did not happen. I just met two or three weeks ago with mayor warez with the z, and he said they were having issues with turnaround, how do we turn around and make sure that they can keep moving their merchandise . We talked about extending hours. We got cbp to agree. They opened at 6 00 and agreed to start opening at 4 a. M. A. M. 0 we are looking at expanding the hours starting at 4 00 a. M. And adding two hours to the commercial traffic so that it is even better than you would think, because there is no traffic during the city as they are coming through. We have also done another thing , they bringrtant their empties. We have 2500 antes coming across every day, and they have to be xrayed as they are coming through. We work with mexico in the ambassador of washington to build a second xray machine at one of our ports of injuries that will cut time in half now as they come through. Again, returning on investment is the most important thing. A second xray facility will be opened in november, so we are very excited. Ways toooking at continue to have private and Public Investment in the city and the people that are trying to continue to do business within our community. Carlos mayor sands, etiquette is very clear that the Economic Conditions on the border are very tight. Mayor saenz, it is very clear that the economies of border towns are very tied. Mayor saenz taxes and the u. S. Should see it as what value does the border bring to the rest of the state, and what value does the greater port area bring to the United States . We bring a lot of value. 6 million jobs depend on border trade. The u. S. Mexico economy is over 500 billion worth of trade. Borders,through our and that is essential. It creates all sorts of jobs. Going back to the issue of thingsy, after 9 11 changed, and we all recognize that. We have a balanced security versus trade and jobs and Economic Development. I praise the cbp. Good things have been done better. We are trying to work on infrastructure fluidity. Moving commercial trucks commerce and trade and business through our borders as soon as if someone inuse montana or st. Louis or somewhere else has been depending on that merchandise to get there so they can place it somewhere else and make their own business and make their own living. We are all interdependent. Thatwe have to find talents and become more efficient, especially us in the border areas. , i want toor darling expand on your comment on 9 11, because understandably this country hunkered down after 9 11. Mexico did something quite different. A fact thats inspired this, the United States has three trade agreements with 20 Different Countries around the world. Agreementsfreetrade with 44 Different Countries around the world. What are the implications of that for communities like yours . Mayor darling it shows how progressive mexico is in relation to trade. Safeoal down here is a border, not a closed border. I want to point out that manufacturing ray and those the reynosa is a manufacturing capital. You cannot use parts in the United States that were not delivered from mexico. When people from michigan come down and i told him that, they look at me like i am a crazy person. There are federal legislators that do not realize the importance of mexico to that. I mentioned korea, it is like a country on steroids on technology. But if you look at that pacific trade agreement, it is a worldwide deal. You just cant be that restrictive stop i know that it is a restrictive. I know that it is a political question more than economic, but mexico gets it. We have a Japanese Chamber of commerce in the city of mcallen because panasonic, sony are located there because they have a trade agreement between mexico and japan. As they expand those trade agreements, there will be more pressure, more things getting shipped over from mexico instead of being manufactured here. We need to get on board. Carlos mayor martinez, what are your views, particularly as it relates to energy and all that is going on there he i go mayor martinez going on there . Mayor martinez we have president ial permits in brownsville to go ahead and pipe national gas into mexico. Mexico needs the energy that we have to provide. I think the thrust of our conversation here has to be that not only does the world need to a betterhave to have messaging from our standpoint to let everybody know what is going on and why the border is so important, but i think a good example of what i am talking about is, we just finished doing bid from train rail mexico to the United States in over 100 years. The mayor of laredo is trying to improvise and get something going. The way cut down the amount of time to cross by over three hours but we cut down the time to cross by over three hours by having that rail. Parts the most important of that project is that we have an agreement with mexico that we will take their xray machines and use their images, and they will take ours and we will compare them. Once you have the cooperation of the two countries, this is the first that has ever happened between mexico and the United States. But this is one great example of how we can coordinate our , and for security and economic purposes, we can make those Work Together to everyones advantage. Carlos mayor darling, you have done something similar, providing funds from a gallon for infrastructure in mexico. Mayor darling the irony is that you hear cities negotiating with mexico to increase and better trade with the United States. You dont hear any state involvement in that or federal involvement. In fact, that is one of the barriers to dealing with state and federal government. The Mexican Federal government, from the standpoint of their. We are paying money, the city of el paso, laredo, mcallen, and brownsville pay money for federal inspectors to get trade across that bridge. That does not sound right for me. That is what it does and it takes. It takes that to do that negotiation to make sure we enhance trade and make things cheaper. Talking about barriers, a significant barrier is xenophobia, a popular clinical position to take in the United States at the state and federal level. How do you pull combat this notion . Mayor saenz it is speaking out and people realizing what truly goes on at the border. Going back to efficiency, time is money. The statistic that one of that a one minute delay in the border cost is this much lost throughout the u. S. , that is huge. Causes this much loss throughout the u. S. , that is huge. We have an airport where we have joint customs. Any airplane with cargo landing once it is expected it can land anywhere in mexico, and that expedites trade. The same thing with our trains. Brownsville has done that. Border heightd where it is pretty clear that the rail yards. The train does not have to stop in the middle of the bridge, create Traffic Congestion on both sides. That, trying to eliminate but it takes federal cooperation, which we are getting, but it takes a lot of communication. Canthey have done it, so we do it as well in laredo, and hopefully the entire border can do that. It is all about expediting and making our crossings more efficient. Carlos they are lesser, protected by it is 2020 mexico will enter the top economies in the world. By 2050, it is projected that mexicos economy will be top five. My question to you is, do you think that the economic power of mexico and the Growth Potential of it will ever overshadow the fear of drug cartels and all that is happening in terms of violence in mexico . First of all, i hope to be here in 2050. [laughter] carlos are you announcing your reelection . Mayor leeser that is the important part. But as the economy grows and business continues to grow, it really is what will make the big difference in mexico and in a country. I think in 2020, i think it will make a huge difference in making sure that we continue to share technology, learn from each other, and continue to grow. Villarreal, along those lines we were talking earlier. The big popular mask for halloween in mexico is an el chapo mask. At what point can you make the economy and economic prowess more sexy than crime and violence . Mayor villarreal by government getting involved in working towards goals that benefit international trade. Mentioned that the ability for cities to be able to pay for overtime needed to be legislated. I am very pleased, and i know congress has a reputation of being dysfunctional, and maybe it is deserving, but in this case they did something successful. , an cornyn and Henry Cuellar democrat and a republican, attended some of those meetings where they combined efforts and worked with local and state officials, and federal officials to be able to create that legislation. It was bipartisan. It was great to see. I was a part of it. I attended several meetings. To be able to see that camaraderie and understanding. It is not a red issue, or a blue issue, it is a red white and blue issue. When it comes down to business, we have to focus on red, white, and blue issues and make sure that the aisles find a middle ground. Private and the private and Public Partnership that was created is a good example of how important government is and how they have to step up to the plate to do that. Issue of self perception, it is the notion that people along the border to have been ignored i state and federal governments kind of view themselves as undeserving in many respects. One example recently was announced one example recently, mcallen made it to the being an terms of contender for a president ial debate next year, didnt quite reach it. When they ran that story in the newspaper, there was a lot of commenting from the community saying we didnt deserve it. How do you combat that stuff that exists . Mayor darling i have this feeling i have thisez feeling that success breeds success. You can get that momentum going. One of the things in regards to economics, whether you become a great economic power like mexico is going towards, what happens to the cartels . You have a good example in columbia. Isumbia now is colombia now doing really well in the global economy. That does not mean they are all cartels that all the cartels are extinguished. There is still part of a country that has that trade, but you overshadow it. Medellthey started in in, they have a slogan that says medellin for life. It is also a play on words, if you want to have a good life, you go to medellin. If you talk about the valley having a great life, you can talk about having a great life along the border, but you have to feel good about yourself. This undeserving stuff has no merit whatsoever, but that selfesteem has to be brought up to the level of saying i am were the, but not only am i worthy, i can do better. , know all these gentlemen here and all the mayors i know along the border had that we can be much better than we are, and we are getting there, and we are direction. Different i am sorry some of the folks feel that way, but that is probably not the reason you did not get a president ial debate going in mcallen. There are a lot of different factors. We have to be cognizant of all that. There are a lot of economic factors and things we have to take into perception as to our voting abilities. Do we go out to the polls . I think those are the things we have to work on, as well as. Essaging that is our challenge, to go out into the world and say, yes, not only are we deserving. The chess game is a great example. Rounds bill is the capital of chess. Brownsville is the capital of chess. There is a movie out there called the endgame. It only shows you a little bit of what it takes to succeed. Carlos mayor darling, is selfesteem also commented at the state and federal level . Mayor darling first of all, if we ever have a Football Game north of dallas, we will probably get more selfesteem, but we can do that. [laughter] should we demand a seat at the table . Absolutely. G we are the seventh largest county in the state of texas. Combined, we are the fifth largest population in the state of texas. Are important economically. We have the biggest Agricultural Production in the state of texas. Mexico is even greater. I think it is right that we demand and i talked to my counterparts in the Mexican Consulate office, they have the same problems in mexico city with the border. We are at the end of the line, i guess, in those countries. Ot maps and at the texas border. Ann at the texas border. End at the texas border. You need to understand that the not end at the river. And you need to understand that you need help for mexico to go into the state of texas. Only go out there, we go out with our hand like this. We are important, and we need you to Pay Attention to us. Carlos mayor leeser, 20 years ago el paso made a name for itself, demanding to know why state services were not up to par along the borders. Is Something Like that necessary at this point . Think itser i dont is necessary. It is one of the things that we will continue to monitor, but i would not see that it is necessary at this point. So youre not going to help us all pay for it . [laughter] mayor leeser the court of inquiry is like the star chamber. I think we have done that once in Cameron County as well. It does sell a lot of papers, by the way. Carlos at this point i would like to take questions for the audience from the audience. There are two microphones up there. Please avoid the temptation to give speeches. Go ahead, sir. I grew up in laredo. Isng the border, corruption a fact. That corruption is trending up or down in both municipal, county, state, and federal governments, and do you have budget allocations to combat that, or is that the state and federal government . One of the things you need to realize is large amount of money causes corruption. You have to look at the Attorney Generals Office in the state of texas. A large amount of money causes corruption. We have a large amount of money in drug transactions coming to a neighborhood near you. That is all i can tell you. If you have a large amount of money, you are going to have corruption. We get unjustly accused of corruption in the valley. Our last three sheriffs were in jail, but that is because of things that were influenced because of that, but i dont think we have any more than any other country. Jim is right inmayor martinez the sense that is widespread, but is it on the upward spiral . I dont think so. We are all acutely aware of that and very sensitive to it. When something comes across our table, i know i truly call out on the Texas Rangers and fbi and say, i want you to come down here and take a look at the situation. Until we completely eliminate it, but but i think it is a thing that needs to be talked about. I dont think we can just sweep it under the carpet. Inhi, i started college 2008, and it was before the lgbt was made and i have a lot of friends from the valley, and they have this stigma against it. A lot of people that i know came to austin from brownsville, mcallen, they say, i dont want to go back, so what can you do to incentivize people who have degrees to go back to the valley . Tpa utpa,d you and i am very proud of that fact. Anything you see me say or respond to is because of my education at utpa. I want to say that the trend sometimes is that negativity has existed in this world forever. We have a platform on social media, and social media has made this bubble up to the top. From my standpoint, im very proud and i encourage young people not to look at, i want to go back to the valley or a want to go back to austin, go to where the opportunity is. If you are an engineered and you want to be hired, go find that opportunity, but dont believe everything you read, every thing you hear, and definitely dont believe everything that you hear that is negative on facebook or twitter, a cousin conversations i have had with young people has been challenging the system and not as much doubting the system, so i will take that at face value whether young people are getting that on social media. Statistics come out from the Census Bureau that there are many people who earn more than 100,000 in austin, and that we are number three in the country, so i think that is a reflection of the university, Health Care Going into our area, those kinds of things. Like every other mayor, our goal is Economic Development, job creation, healthy living, and of course, quality of life. In laredo, we are moving along those lines. That we workrtant with those universities. That we go to el paso and we work with those communities and figure out what type of workforce we are looking for, engineers, doctors, any things that were anything that we are looking for that will help us. Companies go to el paso and it the youthportant that is supported in our community because the youth is our future. We have been working very hard with the community college, so even if you start in your high school and your grade school, you can kind of see what is going to come to el paso so we can have that kind of graduate. Truth, there is a lot of that particular, prevailing attitude. I think what you are seeing is a whole lot of change, with the university, with space x, with a whole lot of different Jobs Opportunity job opportunities. If you have friends who are talking like that, give us a chance to see what we have, because in my part of the world, so i canvid cyclist, hike trails, quality of life, things like that, so the things that we have to offer are a lot different than my generation. [no audio] about mexicos policies on your streets. How it has it affected your policy and how . You can take care of your families when you are not watching them adequately. There are people who are being paid well, their families are taking care of, they have a good chance to take their kids to they haveead of Good Public Health providers, and these are things that they want to strive for. Anyone else . I just want to add once upon a time that mexico did not have cartel problems. There was a time when mexico tourists would flock into these texas counties and this was a big part of our industries, so we are fighting that change, and now mexico is struggling. Have that kind of sensitivity to make mexico successful. As far as a border town, they are next to the border and then they are along the border, and all of us are next to the border, pretty much, so i can tell you that we are safe and that we can say that with confidence, again, i keep on saying that they Law Enforcement, first responders, and that others who respond [indiscernible] and i think we can all learn from it, i think the root cause is, what caused that route turmoil in mexico foot turmoil in mexico . There are no values, family values, and sometimes, ice big to qualify generals, and they dont know what it takes, they say will take 10 years for the socalled militarization on the mexican side. Now that we have seen the horribleness of the situation, now parents and people will be more cognizant and talk with their kids and building those values that we grew up on. You know, along the border. So it is something that we can all learn from and it is something that we have to be mindful of. You are right on target when you talked about, you know, understanding the problems and having a longterm solution. It is not, what can we do today, because today may be different from tomorrow. So really, to understand the problem, it is really important, and how do we sustain and have a longterm solution . So that is very important. Question over there . My name is denise, and a lot of this along the border is safe, a lot of our towns are safe, and [indiscernible] just like they mention, communication, and this is just the stigma that those in the border towns have in general. So how do we bring those hightech companies to the valley so we can have students stay there and work . We have students saying that this is a very negative stigma. Well one things, we started an incubator for people in hightech areas, and they want they everybody to started graduates, so we started an incubator, and we want to allow access to computers and access to the national markets, and growing our own. I think that is very important. We can grow our own, and i think that is important. There are huge opportunities in that type of area for Small Businesses. [indiscernible] around the country to talk to companies that have already established themselves in el paso and others, and we want to invite them, and maybe there is paso,ire to come to el and we have had over 90 different people come to el paso, and we show them what el paso, you know, what is possible with our community. Have 35,000 troops, we have colleges, and we actually, you know, we can take pictures and we can send them videos, but through the private sector, it didnt cost the taxpayers a dime. Sector has actually funded 100 of bringing these companies, the need these individuals, to come and look at el paso, and they would say that el paso had not been on their radar then, but el paso is definitely on their radar based on what they have seen today and where they see themselves. I invite [indiscernible] to reallyite reach out to the university, because i tell you what, all the way out to rio grande a rio city to brownsville, we are really reaching out. There are a lot of companies coming, and they want to meet you guys, and spacex is a good example. There is quite a bit of interest in a fellow by the name of juan martinez. There are a lot of different areas, and i think what happens is, you guys have to start looking at this and say, you know what, we need to come here, and it is our turn, so that is good. From our standpoint, the city does have incentives, and we have many acres that we could provide to companies who could provide good paying jobs. Job creating companies, so keep that in mind when you are thinking about the border and especially in the laredo area. Invest in not just education for your colleges, but in the Community Colleges and [indiscernible] trainersarket, and the before that, make sure you have a job. There is also Vocational Training that is also important that can provide wonderful living, wonderful opportunities, and it young people have got to come out and vote. Old people do it, but when i hear people who were young, they say, my vote doesnt matter. Yes it matters. It matters and it matters a lot. Organized and organized as a group, your voice will be heard and you will shape the future, you are shaping it already, but you are going to be shaping the future of government, and that is important. My question is really for laredo and the impact of the production of the eagle thus , andbut also the prospects will the prospects be lower or will they remain lower . [indiscernible] [indiscernible] we are a big trade town, what we have done, and now it is a goodsized city now. But there is a potential also on the southbasin on end, that is opening up, that is developing, and that is going to create all sorts of jobs and activities knew the border area, and who else but us and the border towns have had all of the experience with gas production. We have the expertise and given of folks whoies live in mexico, there is a lot of potential there at the i have been involved in the oil and gas transactions for the last 37 years, and it is cyclical, what will go down will once again come up. That is why we are altogether in this. There was a pipeline that was created all the way near mexico hear aboutknow you the Keystone Pipeline or other things like that, but we have a version of that in texas and it is feeding mexico. We have got to make sure that we support the Energy Industry and that we dont stifle it, that we encourage it in positive ways and that we protect our environment. But that is an example of how International Energy can be. There is a pipeline that goes from texas and it goes a long way [indiscernible] 12 10,ow approximately and that concludes our panel. As a reminder, we have provided a sampling from all of austins food trucks. Would you please join me in thanking the panel again. [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] quebecs conversations with two new members of Congress Conversations with two new members of congress. That is followed by a discussion on the impact of money on political campaigns and the ethics issues campaigns have to deal with. The Memorial Service with french president hollande for the paris terrorist attack victims. This is Hillary Clinton. I want to thank you for letting me speak to you about an issue that is central to the future of children. Model for being first lady. Is not something that is out there waiting to happen to us. The future is something we make. Believe thered i is a good possibility that sometimes in the next 20 years, we will have a woman president. X Hillary Clinton experienced many firsts in her role as first lady. She has endured several scandals, including his impeachment. Her story is still being written. Hillary clinton, this sunday night at 8 00. Examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency. Onday at 8 p. M. Eastern cspan 3. The congressman discusses his political career, his time in the hospitality business, and other subjects. This is 25 minutes. This is 25 minutes. Congressman mark desaulnier. Did i pronounce the name properly . Yes. It is french. How do somebody from lowell massachusetts and up in california. That is a great question. I get that a lot. When i graduated from college in 1974, i graduated from college im from lowell, massachusetts my plan was to go back to go to law school in boston. Emerson first looked at the bay area and said, many people will never go back when they see this. I stayed. I got married to a california girl and had two kids and i have had a had they i have had a wonderful california career and life. You went to holy cross . Host yes. Did you run . Rep. Desaulnier i played football and lacrosse. I started running when i moved to california because the weather is so great. Running in massachusetts in the winter has its downside. Have you prepare for it and how do you get motivated to do 21 marathons . Rep. Desaulnier that is before i ran in politics. I said iran long distances i ran long distances to satisfy my level of masochism and now i am in politics and that takes care of it. I now live in contra costa county. It is a wonderful opportunity to be physically healthy. The 11th district is in the east bay of the San Francisco bay area. A former republican turned democrat. You were appointed in a couple positions by republican governor pete wilson. What was your relationship like with him and explain your party switch . Rep. Desaulnier growing up in massachusetts, i registered to vote when i was 18 in boston. Republicans are very different in new england. I wanted to vote for ed burke from massachusetts. Pete wilson appointed me to the board of supervisors when i was mayor of a city of about 130,000 people and then appointed me to the California Resources board. So, in those days, before pete wilson decided to run for president and what he did on immigration, i thought he was a liberal republican. Basically, the Republican Party has driven people like myself out of the party because they had tolerance for people who deviated from not just conservative, but very reactionary. What does that tell you about the state of a Republican Party now with a democrat and politics in general . Rep. Desaulnier Michael Dukakis is a friend. He likes to tell a story about when he was running, people said there was not enough differentiation between the two parties. Now there is such an extreme. I prefer the previous. I dont think there is that model of progressive, new england republican. We dealt more with solving problems rather than rigid ideology. It was more the basic function of daytoday operation, which is into 60 isnt too sexy or interesting, but that is our main job. You studied history at holy cross. What can we learn from History Today in washington in this congress . Rep. Desaulnier we had a great moment with david mccullough, who i just love. He was talking about the wright brothers. He has written so many great books. 1776, his book on truman. His book on john adams is a masterpiece. I asked mr. Mccullough, what would you advise to us . He said, courage. He said, i think members should be willing to vote on difficult issues that they know are in the best interest of the country, but may not get them reelected. That is a pretty susinct observation of where we are at right now. Members are so interested in their own careers and that is across the board to a degree. As a former republican, i think it is very true for the Republican Party, particularly the extremists who are not ideological, in my view, they are just interested in their own selfinterest and whatever their view of thei heroic role is here. We heard that earlier this year when Speaker Boehner announced he was stepping down as speaker of the house. Why have we reached this polarization point . Rep. Desaulnier you know, we have been through these kinds of swings before. We had one just before the civil war. I just think we are in one of those periods. I think it is made worse somewhat by social media, not to blame the media, it is just something that the world has changed. I think a lot of people go into politics could politics nowadays, unfortunately, our not motivated by what they were 20 years ago, 30 years ago. When i went into politics, a majority of people on both sides went in for the reward of making sure the government worked and less about their rigid ideology. Now, for some reason, i think too many people who are very smart, but not very selfaware or empathetic about other people get in these positions and it has led to this dysfunction. Who else do you like to read . Rep. Desaulnier ellis is great, Walter Isaacsons book on innovation. So generally nonfiction. Both of my sons are big readers. They both like to read fiction and have always encouraged me to read more fiction, but i cant help myself. I read nonfiction and i find that nonfiction is more interesting than fiction because reality is more interesting, sometimes, oftentimes. You are new to this job in washington, but you served in the california legislature. What has been more satisfying to you personally . Rep. Desaulnier they are different ways. I was a city councilmember, a mayor, a board of supervisors member, a regional board appointee, they are all different. I think they have all reinforced, at this point in my life, the amazing structure that this government had when the founders devised it and how it has evolved and how i t
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