Healthcare while at the same time again reducing costs. That task force and its finding will be discussed at the february meeting in washington. Governors are taking a variety of different leads on this issue. His entire state of the state address to the issue of drug abuse including the abuse of Prescription Drugs and how it leads to more serious concerns about heroin addiction. If you have not read his state of the state, i would advise you to do so. Its remarkable. This nations infrastructure provides the skeletal structure that connects us to one another. We talk about infrastructure but you only think about highways, transit systems that connect people and places. Infrastructure is more than surface transportation. It includes utility systems that connects us to power and water, schools, public buildings that connect us to opportunity and participation. A states emerge from the economic downturn, its critical we work with our partners to rebuild and invest in roads, rail, bridges, airports, waterways, and energy infrastructure. We face a steep funding gap believe to be as high as 1. 6 trillion factoring in the 2. 6 trillion projected to keep the infrastructure system safe and reliable minus current revenue. For surface transportation alone, the federal Highway Trust Fund faces another perilous fiscal cliff later this year. Projected receipts including general Fund Transfers will be less. Infrastructure is about the future. Economic prosperity, innovation rely on a robust and sustainable infrastructure as the foundation. At the state level, governors are leading the way by creating new approaches to fixing, funding, financing infrastructure to help meet the needs of the 21st century. Carefullyrts include managing costs, identifying opportunities for new Revenue Sources using advanced technologies to improve performance, lower lifecycle expenditures, and using Public Private partnerships to speed up project delivery and lower overall cost. Several governors including those from illinois, north carolina, colorado were participating in a new effort to help states examine how they can deploy a financing strategies to deliver infrastructure. We have seen success already with that approach in colorado. We have a new Commuter Rail line expansion in are suing another Publicprivate Partnership to improve the roads between denver and boulder. They have long called for legislation that says longterm stability can allow states to invest in a longterm surface transportation with consistent and reliable federal partner. Fallinay, governor testified about the need for longterm reauthorization of these critical programs. The message was uncertainty forces states to act to fill in the void. Governors agree state action is about devolution. Requires an intragovernmental partnership. Its about more than just roads. Congress is working hard to reauthorize a water resource and development fact, key legislation to help accelerate investing in the Water Infrastructure systems. We call on the house and senate for passing bipartisan bills to reauthorize and call on congress to complete and send a bill are for signature to the president. A Strong Partnership is even more crucial within the state budget. Governors were both hearts and am dismayed when the government deal was reached. Washingtonope that and the state could Work Together to address the fiscal problem facing the country and today was supposed to be another critical deadline that the federal government would again close its doors this the president and congress could not agree. Of state of the state and the federal government are inextricably linked. The politics of fiscal responsibility can no longer be centered around crises and deadlines. We have the budget agreement reached by congress but now we have to have success. The budget deal raises important questions for the country. Governmentrces should provide and at what level, how we should pay for them, and which reforms are necessary for a modern economy. In the area tax reform, recognizing the need to simplify and improve the federal tax code. A taxear, we created Reform Task Force to make recommendations on those areas where it intersects state policy. Two strong recommendations emerged from that group. One, maintain the exclusion of income for interest earned on Municipal Bonds. For more than a century, Municipal Bonds have been used to build this country. They have all been built thanks to the unique status of Municipal Bonds. Federal laws and regulations should not increase issuance costs to states directly or indirectly nor diminished market demand for the bonds issued by state and local government. If infrastructure is a priority for the nation, the tax exempt status of Municipal Bonds must be preserved. Ofewise, the deductibility state and local taxes for federal income taxes part of the federal tax code since its inception more than 100 years ago. Eliminating federal deductibility would reverse the historic separation of federal, state, and local taxing authority. It would be forcing double taxation among taxpayers. One thing congress can and must do is partner with states to pass the marketplace fairness act. This past holiday season, new records were set with consumers paying for more than 500 billion worth of online goods. Storeshe main street decorate our street and select local sales tax, the internet competitors do not. Marketplace fairness is just common sense is legislation that upholds the principles of federalism and is fair, simple, good for business. Stillot like the internet need a lift. It encourages competition and preserves mainstreet jobs closing this unfair loophole, an issue on which congress can and should come together. He Senate Overwhelmingly passed legislation this year and now we hope it is the houses turn. As can tell, we have a lot to do. Governors are innovating and we want to continue to push our federal partners to Craft Solutions to support innovation at the federal level as well. We all want to return one year from now moving our nation forward by putting people back to work, by supporting growth, by educating our children, by improving our security. Innk you all for being here this lovely, wonderful place. Governor fallin, thank you so much for being such a remarkable leader, not just for oklahoma but for all of us governors. Thank you. [applause] i appreciate your comments. We would be glad to take a few statements from the press. From the bergen record in new jersey. Can you tell me if you would want Chris Christie campaigning for you and if you think this would be a problem for you looking forward to november . [laughter] its unfortunate what has happened in new jersey and i think the facts are so undetermined as far as all of the details, no governor ever wishes that upon another to have to go through that type of circumstance and we will have to wait and see what the details are. In the meantime, any time Public Policy hurts the public itself, which it appears that it did do that, thats not right. We still dont know the details as it relates to governor christie. Hes been a strong leader. We saw his leadership during hurricane standing when he helped them get back on their feet. Hes a man that speaks his mind and sometimes but also ruffles feathers. We will have to wait and see. Fox news channel. Can you tell us a little bit about the state exchanges and how its working in both of your states, some of the problems across the country for the different states in the exchanges . As governor hickenlooper stated, all want to improve healthcare and we are all concerned about medicaid costs, Rising Health care costs. We all want to make sure that not only individuals that businesses have access to quality care and we have seen as the rollout of the Affordable Care act that its not been smooth and that is both for republican and democratic governors alike. Each governor has chosen their own path whether it relates to their own state exchange or moving into a federal exchange. We appreciate the fact that all governors have different economies, different budgets, different political situations and different preferences on how the Healthcare System is administered. In my state of oklahoma, speaking for me, i did choose not to expand the federal medicaid system because im concerned about the cost and concerned about Congress Meeting its promises on funding. I also did not choose to form my own state exchange. We went with the federal exchange. Our citizens voted overwhelmingly not to support the Affordable Health care act in our state. We passed a constitutional amendment and oklahoma. What happens in oklahoma is different from colorado. In general, the nga respects other governors and their different budget situations but we do have an agreement on needing to lower medicare costs, improve Health Care Costs and also improving the health of our citizens. Beenthats obviously difficult. Our local exchange was smoother than the national rollout. I think we are close to 150,000 through expanded medicaid or those who did not have insurance for other reasons. One thing that gets lost in the discussion frequently, five years ago before obama care was even fully expressed, 90 of the doctors in the United States used paper for not just the medicaltions but records. We forget that. A big part of this was the Mexican Federal expenditures to incentivize and push modernization of how we do medicine. Obviously we are coming out of recession but we have come out of others before. If you go back over the last 50 for health care is rising but over the last three years, rising at a slower rate than they have over the last 50. Clearly a destructive, difficult time. Change is hard. Each governor, republican and democrat, we share that whole of theoving quality share goal of improving quality. At the same time, we try to figure out how to lower costs. When you are expanding the number of people who have the opportunity to get health care, this is the perfect time to begin using scale and technology to lower the costs and figure out better ways and systems of doing this. The states are the right place where that laboratory of innovation and democracy really is at stake here and i dont know a single governor right now not spending a significant amount of time trying to figure out how to do this better. [no audio] obviously, we want more. Near 800,000ewhere uninsured so we have a ways to go. Are we content with. . We are not. We need more. Dont have as, we many young, Healthy People signing up. Saw todayusetts, we few years. Theres a process by which young people become aware and how we communicate were certainly not satisfied. I am with the bond buyer. You met with president obama yesterday and i wanted to know if you talk at all about his upcoming budget requests and she was planning on continuing to propose a 28 cap on muni bond interest. I dont remember him mentioning anything about on the interest and caps. Talk about infrastructure. As governor hickenlooper mentioned, i had the opportunity to go in front of the transportation and Infrastructure Committee to testify on behalf of the governors. Am a former go member of that committee to talk about the importance of reauthorization and how the states need certainty when it comes to funding our nations infrastructure, whatever form of infrastructure that might be. We did talk to the president about infrastructure. We talked to the president about job creation, education, workforce needs. Those were some of the key issues we visited with him about and we expressed that thomas has governors, as we have outlined in talking about various issues that there are Solutions Coming from the states that we believe can be models for the rest of the nation. We believe there needs to be more collaboration, more cooperation between the states and the federal government and that is where you see the National Governors association both last year and this year doing Something Different that weve never done and that is having a state of the states address to the National Media and some of the key groups in washington to talk about some of the challenges that the state space, challenges that we need washington to address, frankly our frustration at times that washington does not address those things. We need aep seat at the table. We do not have the luxury of an action Like Congress on many key legislation. We have to act. We have to balance our budgets. We have to find those solutions. We believe its important for governors to sit down with the president , Vice President but the house and senate to talk about what were doing in our states. Governor hickenlooper and i gave several examples. One is the states came together to hold 52 different meetings related to healthcare costs, Healthcare Systems, lowering medicaid costs, better quality of care. We have also talked about thatance abuse in issues the governors have taken. Governor hickenlooper and i have worked with other states talking about Energy Policy entirely do believe that america has great resources that we can have Energy Independence and more Economic Security for our nation. We have led an effort and encourage them to look at cng vehicles to save taxpayer money and utilize Financial Resources are abundant. It safe to support every priority in the nga im kidding. [laughter] i do think its fair to say that the president and Vice President we were there for over an hour, but they listen hard. They asked a lot of questions about our points. The governor shall mark utah talked about some of the waivers on Health Care Policy and why they had to be so hard and long. , or many cases, when the talk about waivers for tolth care, theyre trying streamline the process for infrastructure process. The president was literally saying, let me give you my cell phone number. If the bureaucracy is blocking the governors from getting stuff done, let us know and we will get on it. I think we all heard that with. Ratitude both Vice President biden and were clear. Ama lets get past the divisive stuff and lets try to get. Hings done they recognize governors are in a unique relationship with each other. Governor fallin and ill went to detroit 18 months ago to talk to Senior Executives at general ford. , chrysler, said,and again they arent you a republican . Arent you a republican . Argument democrat . What youre doing here . Trying to move forward and have you make vehicles that burns compressed natural gas that makes cleaner air and is cheaper. Now gm is putting an impolitic off the Assembly Line able to burn compressed National Natural gas. Ive got to get my oklahoma guy here. Oklahoman. You mentioned the state of the straight address by the verge vermont governor thomas and people make the same argument about marijuana being a gateway drug. I was wondering how you make a distinction. Governor fallin, would you ever see any advantage in the state legalizing marijuana. [laughter] first, i thought his kurds to really direct almost entirely his speech to this epidemic, a crisis of drug addiction, a lot of people are very concerned when we started using vicodin and prescribing opiates as pain relief that there could be significant unintended consequences. He points out that we are seeing dramatic increases in people going from these Prescription Drugs and going right into heroine. People, thef young lies, the accidental death, the jumping it is dramatically and is not just in vermont. As we worked on the Prescription Drug abuse task force, we see this all over the United States. Relevant and i think something every governor is looking at. Of marijuana, i opposed it. I think almost every elected official opposed it. Not that we dont recognize the war on drugs was an abject failure. It did not do what it was intended to do and had many negative consequences. It is now in our state constitution. We take it that this is the will of the people. As a be one of the great social and weent of the century take being first a serious sense of responsibility and obligation living will regulate the daylights out of it. We spent 15 i spent 15 years restaurant business. When you are making alcohol, the government is relentless and how they inspect your premise, how they tax you. Restaurant sells liquor to a minor, they will suspend on a second ord third offense, you will lose your license completely. We would be no less relentless with marijuana and we passed the standard. If youre driving while high, we will lock you up. Our focus is to keep corruption out. A number of top neuroscientists are concerned the highest thc content, with people whose minds are growing, kids under the age within one week, several exposures to the high thc in marijuana has the potential to diminish longterm memory permanently. Kids dont understand it. They think because his sling allies there is no inherent danger and thats not true. It will be passed that 25 plus local sales tax and we were use that money to create in ring a framework to protect minors in and we do not have people driving high or other places where he put the public at risk. We did not choose to support it but now its here we will take it very seriously. As long as im governor and oklahoma, i will do everything i can to prevent the legalization of marijuana. Him from politico. It comes increasingly clear that tax reform will not be coming, what can states due to shore up promised youms . Think tax competition will play it does not look like we will see tax reform in congress this year, but you do see tax reform being done among the various states. State, partyateby by party. States are very competitive and governors are very competitive. Ive been working on lowering the tax rate in the state of , prioritizing spending needs on different services, like education, healthcare,orrections, transportation also creating efficiencies in state government. We combined 75 Different Agency boards to put that money back towards tax cuts and prioritizing different government services. Each date is doing their own thing. When mcgurk talked to other companies about why they should we sella certain state the different features. We have lower taxes, reformed , increasing academic rigor and a classroom, great infrastructure, whatever the issue might be, states are very competitive. I personally believe tax rates do matter in keeping businesses small and the governor of oklahoma is important to me. Its a healthy competition and states always brag. If you look at all the taxes put , texas, andlahoma colorado are the three lowest in woodcock about it all the time. To attractust companies. States talk about that a lot, but the real attraction is trying to create an environment that will attract entrepreneurs in the next generation of job creators because that is what drives your economy. One of our top competitors, the governor of utah, we compete day in and day out. They have a higher income taxed at the other taxes that are lower. Were often competing for the same type of company, the same demographic. We compete with oklahoma as well. We try to keep it above board, friendly. There are a few exceptions to this. [laughter] not in the room. Not in the room but not among most of the states we directly compete with. That focus when you get an advantage, you want to talk about it. We want to have the best Public School system because that is what young entrepreneurs and people care about that will create the next generation of the workforce. Sure youro make Health Care System works better we have anher guys intervention because people want to move and climate mountains. We have more 2534yearolds moving. We are not the healthiest state. We have Prescription Drug abuse, low birth rate, low percentage of vaccinations. By most objective measures, we are not the healthiest we are working to get there and that is what a better country. Oklahoma is competing with colorado to beat healthiest. If we compete to have the best Education System using the common core, objective measures. We will hold ourselves accountable and the whole standard of performance of the country rises. This evening on cspan, michigan governor Ridge Rick Snyder will give his state of the state address, 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. This morning on cspan, imf managing director Christine Lagarde talks about the Global Economy. Democratic leaders call for raising the federal minimum wage. Isn, washington journal followed by live coverage of the u. S. House as they debate a bill that would require weekly reports on healthcare. Gov enrollment numbers. I think i had little antennas that went up and told me when somebody had their own agenda and not ronnies and not ronnies. Notuld tell him, he did always agree with me, i would tell him. Reagan onady nancy cspan. Org first ladies. 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Our series continues live monday with first lady barbara bush. Of the International Monetary fund, Christine Lagarde, spoke about the World Economy at the National Press club yesterday. She discusses the effects of tapering by the Federal Reserve and a budget deal in congress. This is what our. One hour. Now for our guest today, she is the first woman at the helm of the International Monetary fund and the first woman to hold a finance minister job in a g7 country. Christine lagarde has led the imf for two and a half years during which time she has been a European Economic crisis. When she took over the job headquartered in washington ms. Lagarde was not you knew. She attended Holton Arms School in bethesda and worked at the u. S. Capital as an aide to then represented William Cullen where she helped him correspond with this frenchspeaking constituents during the watergate hearings. [laughter] a onetime member of the French National synchronized Swimming Team and devoted antitrust labor lawyer, madam lagarde became the first chairman of the law firm baker mckenzie. Early in her career at the Job Interview law firm impairs she was told she would never become partner because she was a woman. Later in her career she would stress it will opportunities for women encouraging them to work and advance their careers. Climbing from latter madam lagarde joined the french government in june 2005 as minister for foreign. She worked briefly as a minister for agriculture and fisheries in 2007 became frances head of finance. She also chaired at the thing counsel, the body of economics and finance ministers of the european union. This experience with the e. U. Europe as he came in handy when the dam lagarde negotiated a bailout of greece and economic help for portugal and cyprus. According to a news report in the darkest hour she handed out m m candies to lift the spirits of her global counterparts. [laughter] with europe slowly emerging from the deep recession and the u. S. Dealing with its own budget issues she expressed optimism about the Global Economy in recent weeks saying the imf will raise its outlook both for the u. S. And for the Global Economy. Yet she remains concerned about the Global Recovery being uneven and subdued and about the slowing of the emerging market economies the main engine of willful growth in the last several years. Speaking in mali on january 9 she said the risk of volatility in the Financial Markets may create new challenges in emerging market economies and further slow growth. In the u. S. She is urging the funds largest shareholders to fulfill a pledge made three years ago to approve the increase of the imfs lending capacity and allow developing countries including china. Clearly for the iron lady of the Global Economy the challenges are far from over. To hear about these matters today least join me in getting a warm National Press club welcome to managing director of the imf, Christine Lagarde. [applause] thank you so much. As you can tell i do as im told i thought i had to. About the time when the media clearly failed. Good afternoon and thank you very much for having me with you. I would like to thank the National Press club and especially Angela Greiling keane for not only inviting me to this prestigious venue but presenting the outline of what i want to talk to you about now. As is if we have prepared that together which we have not. Let me first of all of course begin by wishing all a happy new year. I guess its still time to do that given we are just exactly halfway through between our western new year in the Lunar New Year which will come in a few weeks time. I think its also appropriate to wish ourselves a happy new year given what i would like to talk to you about which has to do with the Global Economy and what we should expect for 2014. Im going to test you knew more ologies skills by asking you to think about the magic seven, okay . Most of you will know that seven is quite a number. All sorts of themes, religions and so if we think about 2014, all right im just giving you 2014, drop the zero, 142 times, seven. That is just part of the example so 2014 will be a milestone and hopefully a magic year in many respects. It will mark do hundredth anniversary of the First World War back in 1914. Its this 17th anniversary, drop the zero. [laughter] of the Bretton Woods conference that actually gave birth to the imf. And it will be the fifth anniversary of the fall of the prayer room berlin wall, the 25th. It will also marked the seventh anniversary of the Financial Market jitters that quickly turned into the greatest Global Economic calamity since the great depression. The crisis still lingers. Yet, optimism is in the air. We have left the deep freeze behind us and the horizon looks just a bit writer. So my hope and my wish for 2014 is that after those seven miserable years, weak and fragile, we have seven strong years. I doubt whether the g7 will have anything to do with it or whether it will be the g20. I certainly hope that the imf will have something to do with it. Now is this Wishful Thinking . No, but it will not happen randomly without us together and policymakers in particular making the right decisions. Having the right policy mix, organizing themselves in a coordinated way. Let me talk about first of all the Global Outlook as we see it in that i would like to touch on the policies that i believe will help us transform those seven miserable years into seven strong years. Now im going to anticipate potential questions that some of you might he tempted to ask, by just stating clearly that im not going to give you the number of our revised World Economic outlook number that will be disclosed on january 21. Suffice it to say that it will be directionally positive as a revision. But im going to discuss the main traits. We saw the momentum strengthen in the latter half of 2013 and we believe that it will continue to strengthen in 2014. Largely due to improvements in the advanced economies. Yet, despite that and that directionally positive movement, growth is still stuck in fairly low year. The potential which we believe is at around 4 which means that the world could, if it were at full potential, could create a lot more jobs than before and we do have at the moment and we could do that without having to worry about the inflation genie coming out of the bottle. Without positive initial statement, i would also like to add that it will not be without Downside Risks and significant ones. With inflation running way below central bank targets in most corners, clearly we are seeing rising risks of deflation, which could prove disastrous for the recovery. If inflation is the genie, then certainly deflation is the ogre. It must be fought decisively. During the years of the crisis, we have relied heavily on the emerging market economies and on the low income economies to actually be the drivers of growth and if you combined those two categories emerging and new Income Countries they produce actually threequarters of Global Growth. However, a growing number of those emerging market economies are slowing down as the economy cycle continues so that is also one of the risks that we see Going Forward. We also see risks arising out of the Financial Market turbulence and the volatility of capital flows. The reaction to the feds tapering has been calm so far and this is partly due to the run and we had a dry run back in june. It is good news that this is gone but there could still be rough waters ahead. Overall, as they set the direction is positive, but Global Growth is still too low, too fragile and too uneven. Moreover, even as it is, or as the forecast that it will be, it is not enough to create the 200 million jobs that are needed by people who are looking for a job everywhere in the world. Additionally, into many countries, actually most countries, the benefits of growth are being enjoyed by far too few people and just to give an example in the United States, 95 of income gains since 2009 went to the top 1 . 95 of the income growth, gains, went to the top 1 . Now this is not a recipe for stability and not a recipe for sustainability. Lets now turn to the policy recommendation. Because all of that really points to the fact that policymakers all need to stay focused, focused on the policies that are needed for sustainable and inclusive growth as well as rewarding jobs. We so far have certainly avoided the worst Case Scenario and all policymakers have made part of the necessary efforts. Those that went way beyond the call of duty were the central bankers. They did that to keep Interest Rates low and the Financial System functioning while governments in most places deployed fiscal stimulus where they could and applied adequate, sometimes a bit too much Fiscal Consolidation where they should. The road has certainly been difficult and it continues to be so but is edward mauro once said difficulty is the excuse that history never accepts. Now that the Global Economy looks more stable, the big priority for policymakers from our point of view in 2014 is going to be to fortify the feeble Global Recovery and make it sustainable. Great. What does it mean in practice . Im going to run you through the advanced economies that i will take my groups and then the emerging markets, then the low Income Countries as to what we see as a good coordinator policy mix that should the applied in order to secure and strengthen that growth and create those jobs. If we look at the advanced economies first, what it means is that you remember what i said about the monetary policies applied by the Central Banks. Well Central Banks are going to have to slightly gradually over time and properly communicated, undo what they have done. That, they should not do that until growth is robust enough and firmly rooted. So the way in which tapering is applied, the way in which from and conventional to conventional return to have to be very welltimed. At the same time, countries will need to use the rule created via that unconventional policy used to put in place the reforms that are needed to jumpstart growth and jobs. So its not just for central bankers to do some policy work but its also for the other players. In terms of budgetary policy in particular. Now let it go deeper in touch on the different regions. And we will look first at the largest economic player in the world, the United States. Growth in the United States is certainly picking up driven essentially by private demand. And that recovery that we have observed in 2013, that unfortunately was the fiscal calm consolidation of 2014, will be helped by the loosening of the fiscal concept as a result of the recent budget deal. Still, it will be critical to avoid premature withdrawal of monetary support and to return to an orderly budget process, including removing the threat of the debt ceiling. If we look now at the euro area, the euro area is clearly turning the corner from recession to recovery. But when you drill down, growth is still unbalanced with some countries growing reasonably well and some economies doing quite well and other still lagging behind. And some of those are actually suffering from significant high debt and credit constraints as well. So here are Monetary Policy can can continue to help. Clearly the ecb has done quite a bit to facilitate the financing of the economy but they can do more and we believe that it can do so in a very targeted way by facilitating targeted landing in particular in order to avoid the financial fragmentation that is still there despite the unconventional policy that has been applied with Going Forward compliance. We believe the forthcoming assets, quality and stress tests that will take lace in the course of 2014 is going to help if it is done evenhandedly and in a credible manner. And obviously well communicated as well. In the euro area we also believe there is a need to accelerate reforms, did lose labor market and enhance credit market access. Now lets turn to japan. In japan the initial boost from economics and the three arrows has been effective but it is weakening a bit. Hopefully temporary fiscal stimulus announced by the Prime Minister abbe will actually offset or partially upset the negative effects of the necessary consumption increase which is one step in the process of increasing consumption tax. Now the challenge for japan is to agree on medium term fiscal adjustments, mediumterm and to the economic and social reforms that we believe are needed to strengthen growth in japan. What do i mean by that . Well, the regulating the service and Public Markets that is heavily regulated and highly protected and that is what i mean by social reforms. Making sure that women in the japanese economy can actually access the job market. I am very pleased actually the high minister abbe has listened to that recommendation and that he is including in his budget for 2014 significant amount of spending on data centers for japanese women. Now, moving away from the advanced economies lets look at the emerging markets. The challenge there is going to be to navigate any bumping us and stay strong. Policymakers may be wary of any signs of financial excess and they should especially in the form of asset bubbles are rising deaths including through backdoor channels or instruments. Financial regulation needs to be strengthened in order to be able to better manage credit cycles. And yes, many countries also could do more in the structural thought. If only by way of investing in the necessary infrastructure, you know well managed and with a good strategy in order to remove the bottle met that some of those emerging markets faces they have grown quite steadily over the last five years. What about low Income Countries . Hear the news is generally good. This country has really been the bright spot of the Global Economy. But now is the time to look in those games and make sure that some of the buffers that they have used during the time of the financial crisis are reconstituted and that they can build stronger defense against either the direct by way of the markets for instance or the consequential external shocks that could result from movement of capital flows that would weaken the growth in the emerging market economies but particularly the trading and Investment Partners of those lowIncome Countries. In addition, countries, the low Income Countries in addition to building the buffers including byways in revenues frankly because they have the benefit of strong growth but we havent seen in those economies and equivalent and proportional increase of their revenue so they have to focus on that. But they also should keep on spending effectively and selectively on important social programs and infrastructure budgets. I have to say that im just coming back from two fast growing regions of the world. I was just before christmas in asia visiting cambodia, myanmar and which is not in the category of the lowIncome Countries and i just got back from south africa kenya and mali. Those regions have growing at the rate of 6. 5 and 5 respectively and when we are here in d. C. Often we tend to forget the massive movements that are taking place in those markets and how those economies are on the go and how the middleclass is building and the economic power is strengthening in those areas. Everything is relative. Lets face it anyone who has been to mali will not say that a middle class is rising and everything is growing, no. The speed for which it is taking place is just phenomenal. I will not close that sort of pattern of the Global Economy without mentioning the air countries in transition and while you are right that we had to spend quite of bit of time on europe and the euro area we have also spent quite a bit of time on the countries in transition to try to help them strengthen the economy in order to restore some political stability Going Forward. Its exactly three years ago that the arab spring started back in tunisia and then spread out to the rest of the region. As these countries grapple with the reforms needed to unleash the dynamism of the private sector and create more jobs for the young people, they need support and they need International Support in a significant way. And not just from nextdoor neighbors. So i have tried to take you through the various regions of the world up in terms of where we see those economies, where we see them Going Forward and i have tried to describe the policies and the coordination of policies that they apply which doesnt mean to say that there are no issues that actually cut across those different groups. That requires, and resolve Common Solutions to common problems. Think about the legacy of public and private debt for instance. Think about the Fiscal Consolidation. Think about the reforms to the Financial System that do not apply only by virtue of the doddfrank act but that apply acrosstheboard because just like environmental threats, just like contagious disease, those issues know no borders. The same mystery with rising inequality. As i mentioned to you, rising income has gone to 1 of the population. Now you will say to me of course this is as a result of the improvement of the security market. Those are problems that cut across all groups of countries and they are not abstract. That we can actually ensure them future prosperity, that we can meet the rising astion of the young people in those countries and global citizens more generally for jobs, for security, for opportunity and for dignity. So i will conclude. At the outset i made reference to the Bretton Woods conference in this country about seven years ago and the funding of the imf amongst others. Now to move forward, and for the imf to continue to be supportive force and an ally and partner Financial Stability that is needed for all economies to prosper we need the same spirit of cooperation and Global Solidarity today. Some people sometimes worry and they wonder and they say why is it that the imf is supporting europe at the moment . And i remind them 70 years ago the first countries that have the benefit of imf support for European Countries like my country. France was actually the First Program with the imf and then it moved around the planet. We had to help latin american countries. We had to help asian countries. We are helping african countries throughout different kinds of businesses and we are helping europe at the moment. And it will be another group of countries next time around. Now i believe that the imf can play an especially Important Role here as a forum not just lending and collecting back as we always do but also to operate as a full coordination. We have certainly played our part in collective response to the crisis. We have made no less than 154 lending commitments and provided Technical Assistance to 90 of our Initiative Since the onset of the crisis since 2008. And we have abided her best possible advice to all 188 members. One of the strengths of the imf is that we actually see the bigger picture. Its not being arrogant about it. We just have to look under the skin of the economy of 180 members and we have to compare best practices. We have too offered vice that takes into account what spillover effects will be as a result of the domestic policy decided by one country or the other. No other institution can do that at that skill that scale, that level. The role certainly become more important with time. We need to continue to adopt and to reflect the changing dynamics of the Global Economy and homeownership. That is why we need to continue the support of our entire membership. I will end with one thing. I would just like to pay tribute to the organization and through you to the journalists who very often have this commitment to truth and honesty and do that sometimes in very difficult circumstances in very faraway places where they take risks, much more so than we often think of. I will end with another icon of american journalism here. I mean Walter Cronkite and he actually says, you will know what he says. But he says something which i have heard president chirac say so many times in the French Version of course during cabinet meetings. He used to say after having describe something horrendous happening in the world, and all of those you know sort of waiting to see what we could do, and he would say why law. Walter cronkite used to say, and thats the way it is. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. We have lots of questions on lots of topics from all around the world. Lets start here in the u. S. What is your reaction to the u. S. Congress leaping the increase in the imf budget out of the omnibus spending bill and have you met with our law may kirson recent weeks and you do you plan any more meetings now but that decision looks to have been made . Is that the only question on the u. S. . [laughter] okay, good. I did say right after the announcement of the deal which in and of itself is great. You know to have a deal on the budget, no matter what the deal is i was going to say is a good indication that there is willingness to actually work in a more orderly fashion and it is i hope one step of many. And i certainly hope in the many steps to come the imf reform will be included. I very much think its a question of timing and not a question of determination to exclude the imf. I would find it extraordinarily disconcerting given that the International Monetary fund was actually created in the United States largely under the joint initiative of treasury secretary white from this country and lord keynes from the United Kingdom and given the fact that the imf s main mission is to work, help with and ensure the best possible enhances stability in the world, which is clearly in the interest of all economies, first amongst all the u. S. Economy which is clearly the largest player, my largest shareholder and one that is bound to have a vested interest in Financial Stability. So i very much hope it is the imf working in partnering with all of its funders but also essentially as far as this country is concerned the United States of america, yes. And have i worked with lots of people . Yes, i have. And what is your strategy for twisting those arms to get a different result when the u. S. Works on its next budget to . You no my partners there the table will tell you i have never been in the business of twisting arms which is probably the reason why i will never be a very good politician. I am the other hand believe that time is on our side number one and number two that the merits of the case would suffice to convince those in charge that its essentially a force for good and as a force for Economic Development and find Financial Stability which is not only in interest of the entire planet that in the interest of the economic layers including of course the United States of america. And given the role that it can play in the institution, what i will hope is that by continuing to explain what we do, why we do it, what principles we do it in the name of, i hope that sensible and common sense judgment will prevail. Is the imf still have a timetable for the 2010 quota in governance reform . Now this is coded and not Everybody Knows about this. So im going to explain just for a second. The 2010 reform was a decision made by all members of the imf particularly the g20 countries because that is where it was really essentially pushed but it was decided for the imf. To actually strengthen the institution, to give it more permanence financial strength, to intervene where it was needed and that was called the doubling of the quotas. The imf is a institution and the second part of the reform was to change the position of the imf so that they would be less european representation on the board and more voice votes, quota available for emerging and dynamic countries that were underrepresented. That was you know the genes of the 2010 reform. The commitment was to complete the reform by the end of 2012. We are now at the end of 2013, the beginning of 2014 and we are still short of one of the three thresholds to actually complete that reform and the United States support is vital for that what are their repercussions of the u. S. Congresss action on your european programs and their support among developing countries . Well i am not sure about the intention of the question but for all the programs that we have put together, both for the European Countries and the euro area countries and lots of other programs that we have, and just to give you an example their programs with jordan. We have for grams with tunisia. We have programs with morocco. We have programs with pakistan. There are lots of other countries. Its not as if the imf were just written for the euro area. Those programs are divvied up, negotiated in partnership with the governments on the ground and then taken back to the board of the imf and approved by members of the board and once the program is approved, it becomes the program of the country. Its very important that the country takes ownership of that program but it is fully supported by the board, the entire board. To you see the u. S. s failure to increase the funding is a turning point for the future . No, not at all because i really think you know as a lead economy, as the key partner at the table, the United States of america art round to support the institution and you know we work for stability, we work for Economic Development and its in the interest of the entire membership but is clearly in the interest of the United States as well. Lets assume that we have not been able to help the euro area countries and they have been there have been difficulties in that part of the world. Its a key partner for the United States and its a key economic region in the world. If it had been in disarray, everybody would have suffered as a result so i think everybody is interested including the u. S. Looking to the fed, what is your assessment of the impact of the fed tapering on the Global Economy . While its a bit difficult to say because they are beginning now. They have sort of hinted back in may and june that they might be looking into tapering and that gave us a bit of a dress for her soul of what it might be. More than a dress rehearsal, i think it has helped everybody anticipate what the outcome of the tapering would be and that has helped countries as particularly emerging Market Countries prepare. This is what has taken place in the last six months. So what the consequences will be, difficult to predict that the announcement that was made in december certainly did not produce the outcome that we saw in may and june. So we can hopefully expect most of the anticipation has not taken place and if conducted gradually, if communicated as it was in december should not reduce massive effects. There will be consequences, clearly because you dont move as significantly yet gradually is has announced without consequences. If you dont anticipate massive heavy and serious consequences. What would a premature fed asset timetable look like . The premature exit . Exit timetable. Why should we speculate on that because its been clearly announced that it would be gradual, that it would need anchored in various economic criteria that have some flexibility about how the board of the fed will read them, but it doesnt seem that there is any prematurity to be feared. You know, prematurity would entail all sorts of things but clearly because people have thought about it its unlikely to happen so why should i speculate . I wont. [laughter] looking to the fed leadership much attention is being paid to the fact that janet yellen is the first female chair. From your own perspective, what is the significance of that . That women can do anything. [applause] if i may add, particularly janet on the topic of women, in addition to ms. Yellen we have of this week gm women heads of state in korea and chile and this is happening in recent months. Are we finally starting to see real change in terms of women in these top leadership roles . I would say that those changes are all very welcome. As i said in africa just recently in front of the representatives of the corporate sector in kenya and i was happy to see that they had to gm kenya and a few other countries around was also a woman. Its not as if it was a token appointment to show up with a woman at the helm. There is clear determination and there is clear potential that is being tapped and i hope it will be continued to be tapped but i think that requires constant vigilance as well. Looking at women who are not necessarily at the top he talked about the importance of funding daycare in japan. Tell us a lot more about the importance of women in the professional workplace as it concerns Global Economic growth, an area that you study. What other countries besides japan has seen positive development in what countries is there concern . The work that we have done, the analyses that we have conducted leads us to believe that its positive acrosstheboard. Its never a negative and there are countries where it is more so the case. Japan is one. A country like saudi arabia is one of the country like United States of america as well could benefit from better and facilitated access of women in the work lace. As i said its acrosstheboard a and in some countries where the hurdles, the obstacles and cultural differences are more announced there is a potential higher upside to them joining the workforce but its acrosstheboard. You told us in your speech that the walmart be getting a preview of the Economic Forecast until next week but on the topic of forecasting can you address the ims forecasts are more backward looking based on data that we are to have rather than true predictions looking forward . The imf works on models so clearly you develop your model on the basis of Historical Data and then we dont just stop there. We dont just run numbers through models to sort of anticipate them. We also check with the country. We have 188 country desks that include economists and sometimes Financial Experts focusing on those particular market so we also use their knowledge, theyre close to the ground understanding of where things are going and then they read from the Economic Indicators and they read whats happening both at the privatesector level but also obviously on the basis of the policy mix decided by the country so its a combination of both that leads us to the forecasts. But you know as a lawyer background as a noneconomist background although i understand it, i would say a forecast is a forecast as a forecast and then it is closer to the truth the better we are but its a forecast. We try to do it as well as we can. This questioner says a year or two ago the term currency wars was very popular but we havent heard as much about them recently although we are hearing a lot about currency. Are the currency wars over now . Yeah there was big talk about it and the finance minister brazil who started that in the first place. It was about three years ago actually and no, we dont see the currency war and clearly in our models we see a much better alignment of currencies relative to the fundamentals of the economys. Added to which you know the monetary tools that have been used by those countries when there were capital flows, when there were currencies adequate to facilitate a much more consistent and harmonious monetary system, so know there is none of that at the moment. You have suggested that there needs to be more than one reserve currency. How do you see more currencies are merging over time and over what timeframe . You know when you look back, you see that for instance the sterling, the british pound gradually over time, and it was accelerated by the wars of course, lost its role as a reserve currency and gradually the u. S. Dollar went up. This is a reflection of i think a combination of the strength of the economy and the confidence that the rest of the world has in that economy so you actually have both, more reserve currency to not necessarily rifle joined the u. S. As a reserve currency. I think we will see that and what period of time i dont have a clue. How would you assess the stability of the Global Banking system at this point and what more needs to be done to shore that up . Well, the Banking System is certainly more stable than it was six years ago. That is really a truism. But we also believe that a lot more needs to be done. There is then significant work by the Oslo Committee which brings all the financial and monetary experts together, which is a group no matter how much we have heard about them. There has been a lot of work done by the fsb, the Financial Stability board and at national revelatory levels and legislative levels there has been a lot of work conducted in various corners of the world and in this country and europe as well with several directives that if taken place. But i would say that there is more work to be done on the issue of cross order resolution for instance. If we had a Major Financial Institution that was in significant trouble and such troubles were to expand beyond the borders of one country and the issue of crossborder resolution is not yet settled and resolved, i would say on the derivative market there is still work to be done as well and i think that we need to think mort the imf, we need to think more about the consequences of these financial regulatory changes as they apply to the emerging markets but more so in lowIncome Countries because we are clearly seeing now a translation of some of the financial groups affecting lowIncome Countries and we need to be wary of that. What the factor of this regulation in the u. S. . Are you comfortable where this country is out on back . It think its not just in that country. That was appointed trying to make. We had it about seven years ago when we had no idea where those products were, how much there was, where were the county parties counterparties and the platforms have to be strengthened. There has to be more coordination between the various markets and that is where we need more. Its not just in the u. S. This questioner says a consensus is forming in the developed world particularly Central Banks should accept or least tolerate higher inflation. What is your opinion on that . Well if only inflation could be as high as the highend of the target of central bank it would be quite good that we are not there. I dont think it can be as sort of straightforward and onesizefitsall as the question would imply. I think it needs to be very tailored to the specifics of the economy. When i look at for instance japan where clearly the inflation target is somewhere around one of the moment and it will take time to get to two, that is an effort in the right direction. If we look at the regional currency zones like the euro area there are all differentiations that could be helpful but is not the case at the moment because there is one single target number. I would say a little bit more would not hurt. At the imf meeting in october you were quite critical of the u. S. Congress and of course a lot has happened since then. I had nothing to do with it. To the Government Shutdown hurt Global Confidence in what is your assessment of the u. S. Congress since october . You know, i said at the time that any degree of uncertainty is hurting the economy simply because the economic players do not know in which framework they are going to operate, whether its budgetary, whether its tax wise, whether its regulatorywise. In all dimensions they need predictability so the Government Shutdown in and of itself without mentioning the dire consequences of having federal employees not operating in a normal way although i know there have and salaries have been constant compensated, it questions the ability of a sovereign to monitor its operations. So i think we are all very pleased to see that an orderly budgetary process is back on the hill, that there is a determination to observe fiscal principles so all of that is much better. As i said you know any deal is better than no deal, lets face it area and see if the stock market in the u. S. Has the correction this year that it has anticipated, what sort of impact would that have on growth in the Global Economy and how significant an impact do you see your rear with that he felt the most . You no more importantly than the stock market corrections i think what will be very important on a crossborder basis particularly the emerging markets will be the Monetary Policy. That is what will be observed and will have consequences if not done properly. I doubt a slight correction in the stock market would have a major impact outside of the u. S. What do you see for the value of the euro relative to the dollar this year . This questioner says strategists have been calling for this for the last couple of years, only to lose their shirts. Strategists have been predicting the euro will fall relative to the dollar for the past couple of years only to lose their shirts. They have been saying that for the last 10 years. Some observers have been saying that ever since the euro was put in place. They still have pages of magazines and the financial newspapers that were predicting it. As much as there is trepidation and concern, and there was in the stability about the eurozone and its viability is to protect the currency and the level of the euro visavis the dollar are not going to go there. Is europe really likely to face deflation . You now as i said the inflation target which is then the Monetary Policy decided by the European Central bank is much higher than the inflation actually observed in that region we really have to distinguish the core inflation to see if that is the case, and it is. So to inflation is a rising risk we are seeing some interesting development. Spain for instance was almost, at least for short period of time, moving into the deflation zone. It has picked up. It is back in the inflation zone so it is a risk, but i would not put too high a probability on that. We have questions on probably every continent in the globe on the pile but moving to one of their continent. Its been a year since johanns johanns share with us your opinion on how successfully you think that program has been and whether it has had any spillover effects around the world . There is no question there has been success as a result of what is now commonly referred to as clearly the massive shift in the Monetary Policy decided by the central bank of japan has had a huge impact. The fiscal stimulus that had been announced a few months ago will also have an impact. We understand that there is political determination to actually raise the consumption tax first in april and then later on. I think it is still short of two things. One is a mediumterm Fiscal Consolidation policy that will be anchored in the economic policies of japan and probably even more so than has already been identified by the japanese authorities. The Economic Reforms that will actually boost and consolidate japans economy. I think more can be done. What the should the imf do to address rising income will fully . You mentioned the scope of the problem. What is your role in addressing that . You know, the only thing that we can do because this is our mission in article i of the articles of the imf is to locus on stability and financial and economic stability to the extent that any factor jeopardize that stability we need to look into it and internalize it and do enough correlations and so on and so forth to identify where there is a problem. So this is what we have a gun doing and we will continue doing so as we will continue to work and study the relationship between growth and jobs. Because we also regard that as a critical issue. We are unfortunately almost out of time but before asking the last question just a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. First of all i would like to remind you our next speaker on january 22 we have d. Murray smith the executive director of the nfl players association. Secondly i would like to present our guest today with the traditional National Press club coffee mug. See i was told about that. [laughter] are we making a. Yes, we are doing a swap. Lovely. Thank you. [applause] ladies with the mugs. [laughter] and they match. One last question. One of our audience members wants to know whether you will consider a run as candidate in frances next president ial election . [applause] you now im very happy as budget director of the imf settled here in washington d. C. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Thank you for coming today. I would also like to thank our National Press club staff including our Broadcast Center and the National Press club Journal Institute staffer helping organize todays event and heres a reminder you can find more information about the National Press club on line as well as a copy of todays program at www. Press. Org and thank you. We are adjourned. Weon washington journal, will discuss the spending bill with two members of congress. Tur and Scott Garrett of new jersey. Also, calls from viewers. Stated inpresident march and reemphasized, the goal of the United States in afghanistan and pakistan is to disrupt, dismantle, entity feet al qaeda. The International Military effort to stabilize afghanistan is necessary to achieve this overarching goal. Robert gates served to secretaries as residents as defense secretary. Friday at 6 00 on cspan 2, a live book tv event. About his relationship with the white house and congress. In a few weeks, look for bonnie morris. She will take your questions and comments on indepth. And online, join our books to be took Club Discussion on mark amendmentse liberty. Yesterday, the labor secretary and Democratic Leaders called for raising the minimum wage. Reefing begins with minority leader nancy pelosi. So many cameras and we are pleased. It is an honor to be here with secretary. We are very proud of him. He honors us with his presence and with his effort to raise the minimum wage. We will be joined shortly by our democratic with, who is working the floor right now. To have the leadership and service to our country of George Miller two different committees. Really want to welcome a special guest. Will tell their personal stories. Thanare more eloquent anything a public official can say. They explain why it is important for us to raise the minimum wage. Country,el across the you see the work ethic of america. Andicans are hardworking productivity has soared. The paychecks have not kept pace. Widening income inequality is urting families and holding back our economy. There are all kinds of anniversaries and stays to observe that are happening now. We observed the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty. A few months before that, i was at the Kennedy Library and we observed the 50th anniversary of hacking passing the equal pay act. The Commission Report that came out said to raise the minimum wage. That is something that has been needed and continues to be needed. George miller can attest that after he raised the minimum wage, we went out to a rally. It went past the house and the senate. We went out to a rally and many of you were there. Many of our friends were there. It had not been raised in 11 years. First 100 hours, the democrats had control of the house and we passed the minimum wage increase. Said, youy turned and know all we have to do now . He said raise the minimum wage. We just have to keep on doing it. If we do, if we raise it to 10. 10, it would give a long overdue raise to hardworking men and women. It would create 85,000 new jobs and lift americans out of poverty. Helped to feed and clothe and shelter some 14 million children. The American People know that this is the right thing to do. Polling tells us that 71 of you support increasing the minimum wage. 52 of republicans support raising the minimum wage. We have to make sure that that message my colleagues hear me the public time that consent is everything. The public is there with us. They know that what they are seeing from other working families that this must the raised. We have to make sure that translates into votes in congress. Our nation should honor the work ethic of the American People. It is the moral thing to do. Now, i have the privilege of yielding the floor to a very special guest. The distinguished secretary of labor from maryland. Any of us to have any connection follow his directives. He is not only a person of commitment and knowledge on these issues, he is a person of her age. He is willing to fight for the issues. Were are glad that you are with us. [applause] thank you so much. Toit is an honor to be here increase the minimum wage. This is a critical cause for working families. As a proud marylander, thank you so much. Shock i am still in over congressman millers announcement. I worked for senator kennedy for years. You and senator kennedy i know he is here. I have no doubt about that. The great work that you do is so appreciated by americans. Thank you for your example and encourage. America needs to hear your voice and understood that the dignity of work requires the dignity of a fair wage. You mentioned the various anniversaries. Today is a birthday. Is the 85th first day birthday of dr. King. You talk about the causes that he championed. You talk about the march on washington. It was a march for justice. This is what he said. We know of no more crucial civilized issue facing the Congress Today than the need to raise the federal minimum wage. That was 1966. Words that continue to be timeless. It is that basic bargain of america. If you work hard and play by the rules, you can earn a minimum wage. 100 years ago, there was no less ital than had referred henry ford, who doubled the workers wage on the Assembly Line. In addition to the 360 efficient rate that he was investing, he said the following. If we can distribute high wages, than the money will be spent. It will serve to make more storekeepers and distributors and manufacturers and workers more prosperous. Their prosperity will be reflected in our sales. Feltrywide, high wages countrywide prosperity. That was henry ford. He knew a little bit about business. Wages led to countrywide prosperity. Why americans and Business Leaders support an increase in the minimum wage. They recognize that it is not simply proworker and profamily. It helps to retain workers and it helps the economy to grow. It puts more money in peoples pockets. That is why we have such a proud bipartisan history everything the minimum wage. Mentioned in 2007 the work that was done here. Ella signed by george w. Bush. When i worked for senator kennedy, the leader here was newt gingrich. Bush. Herbert walker the labor secretary was elizabeth dole. She said one of her proudest was her role in raising the minimum wage. It is a long, proud tradition. Minimumwage workers come from all backgrounds. Typically, she is, and you will hear from our speakers today, a provider and breadwinner. Responsible for paying bills and running a household. How can we expect her to get by in a way that is not worth as much as it was during the Truman Administration . Minimum wage has not kept up the cost of living, the cost of all essentials that a family needs to survive. Orther a gallon of milk more. Why do we expect to take home less and produce more . Since 1979, productivity has increased more than 90 . Real earnings have gone up by only 3. 2 . This is a fairness issue. We should share in the prosperity and productivity. The minimum wage is 75 years old. It was signed by fdr. We just celebrated that anniversary at the department of labor. This is what fdr said. Before he signed the fair labor standards act, except for the Social Security act, the fair labor standards act is the most farreaching program for the benefit of workers ever adopted here or in any other country. It starts us toward a better standard of living and increases purchasing power to buy the products of farm and factory. In order to keep this promise that was outlined and make sure that it remains farreaching and to ensure high living standards, we all know that Congress Must act now. Too many people are working a fulltime job and falling further behind. Is working a fulltime job and having to live in poverty. That is what we have. That is why we need to raise the minimum wage. The president sticks about this often. He applauds leadership. He believes that this is one of americas most unfinished business. It is a continuation of dr. Kings work. If we will be a country that provides those letters of opportunities, and delivers on the promise that no matter who you are, you can make it if you try, we must pass this bill. We must. I am proud to be here today with you. I am proud that we will hear shortly and they will tell you their stories. They are the stories of millions of americans struggling to make ends meet. That is why we are here. They wake up every morning and do their jobs. They are simply asking congress to do its job but passing the themum wage and giving them race that they deserve and need. And so, that is what we are here for. I am proud to be here and the president is proud to stand with to voice his support for this basic fairness issue. It is my great pleasure and privilege as a marylander and an american to introduce our with in the house, steny hoyer. [applause] thank you very much. Senator kennedy ladies and i am convinced that senator kennedy is here. Im convinced it was that way when i turned to nancy and said you have been such champions of the minimum wage. We just passed it. Lets start working on raising the minimum wage. Why would he say that . We would have to raise the minimum wage three dollars so that they would have the value that it had in 1968. Two years after Martin Luther king jr. Calls us to invest in our people. To empower them to participate in this land of opportunity. And enable them to support themselves and their families. To buy the products that america produces and makes. If we want people to make it in america, we need to make sure that they have the resources. For themselves and their families. Wage wase average replaced. Today, 39 . We want people to work. They lose their jobs. There are some people who talked about incentivizing work. Let me suggest to them that nothing will decentralize going to work more than not paying a wage that people can live on. Friends, my on my republican colleagues to not only pass Unemployment Insurance we pass a that minimum wage and raise it to 10. 10. Then senator kennedy will say it is time to start working on getting it back to 1968. 54 level. Perhaps 60 level. Perhaps even higher. In 2006. Ced a wage nancy and i were members of the labor subcommittee. It passed. We are republican votes. Republicans were in charge of the house. President bush was president. They never brought the bill to the floor. We never got a chance to vote on it. Let us hope that is not the case now. Sabethia samethia and so many other americans today millions and millions are being underpaid vastly for the extraordinary value of the work they are doing for all of us. Us thea is going to tell challenges that that caused her and her family. [applause] thank you and good morning. Ler and is samethia but live in washington dc. I work at mcdonalds and earn 8. 25 per hour. I urge the same amount years ago. 25 per hour. 20 years later, i am working again and earning for more dollars per hour. I am on food stamps. I dig my friends and family to help me out when i cannot pay my rent or helped my children get things that they need. Home, i walked him the halls and people are doing extraordinary things in my building. Andve to buckle up my tears explain to my kids why i cannot provide for them. My son wants to go to college. I cannot help them. He is 18 years old. I want to be able to help them. My daughter wants to do gymnastics. I cannot afford to take her. Raising the minimum wage would help to put food on my table. I hope to get another job. If it pays minimum wage, all of the hard work be for nothing. I am a d. C. Resident and voter. I was introduced to a community organization. We fight for our people who are living and want a living wage job. I and other leaders here today with nancy pelosi demand that we will no longer stand for corporations getting richer off of the back of hardworking people. As bosses and executives pay themselves Million Dollar bonuses, the least we can do is raise the minimum wage. Do not take away the hope. Thank you. [applause] i am George Miller. Secretary perez for joining us and later policy. Hoyer, think you for your leadership in this house and in our caucus. Do president is asking us to talk about wage inequality income in this nation. We can do an awful lot to address that issue if we simply raise the minimum wage. It is unacceptable that a fulltime worker earns just 1 4,500. That is below the poverty line. That is why she has to make the choices she has to make. That is why she has to worry if her son will graduate. Those are the kinds of choices that they have to make. They do not have a livable wage. They do not have enough other than income of an income to support their families. Workdo incredibly valuable for our communities and neighbors and state. We have to reward that work. We have to reward it with fair pay. That is why raising the minimum wage to 10. 10 will make sure raisehose servers at the and are not worried about whether someone leaves them a tip. It is unfair. The public does not like it. The public does not like the idea of the current minimum wage at all. The country, they overwhelmingly believe that the minimum wage should be raised. They now understand how important this is to our economy. But we heard from Small Business was that there were not enough customers. There was not enough money in circulation. People were having such a hard time after the financial scandals. Now theres more money on the street. 22 billion dollars of Economic Activity by raising the minimum wage of these workers across the country. That money will go back to main street. Employers will hire more people because they will have more business. We will have more prominent , joined by nobel prize winners, tell us that all of the old excuses are not true. Cities with a higher minimum wage have more Economic Activity. There are more people hired and Small Businesses. State with higher minimum wages do better. More Economic Activity. Congress has not been able to see this. Governors and mayors across the country are seeing get. If they want a vibrant city or economy, they have to raise the minimum wage. You cannot build a rich economy on the backs of poor workers. You just cannot do it. Know is thatow raising the minimum wage is good for the economy. It is good for business and good for the employee. It is good for the mother and the child and the family. We are going to do it. Were going to do it. On the 10th of every month, were going to ask to raise pass hr1010 the minimum wage. These workers will have the wages that they need or better wages. An additional 100 per week. This is incredibly important. It is important to our economy. Were trying to get growth to create more jobs. To have businesses make that investment. That is what they do when the minimum wage has been raised. Introduceonor to anna, a tip server in the district. She works in two separate restaurants to try to make ends meet. I am delighted that she is able to join us. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you so much. Pelosi ando nancy the secretary perez. Hi everyone. I am a tip server at two d. C. Restaurants. It is hard work, but it is honest work. I have not yet had to support a family. It is still difficult to meet ryan responsibilities. Tips are not constant. Have children and the struggles and compromises they make are heartbreaking. A coworker agrees to cover a shift for me to miss her sons birthday party. She needs money to support him even more. Another coworker has a child and works double shifts regularly. She loses precious time with her kids. These are choices that so many are forced to make because it is the only way we can support ourselves and families. Than ple, i made more no more than 50 for a five hour shift. It is not enough. I have to work two jobs to make ends meet. I only have myself to support. This industry is dominated by women workers. Letting customers directly pay our wages in the form of tips can vary widely from week to week and month to month. Did you know that servers usually receive paychecks for zero dollars after taxes . How can ingres sit by and allow this wage discrimination to be legal . It makes no sense. That is why i am a member and i support the fair minimum wage act. It will raise the minimum wage for all workers and eliminate omen who gap for w are working hard to provide for themselves and their families. Were grateful to congress, who is fighting with us to pass this act. [applause] we are so thrilled to hear from them. We have been joined by a member of our freshman class. He has been beating the drum on bringing up the Unemployment Insurance issue. I wanted to acknowledge dan. These join us. He is from michigan and champions this act. Thank you so much. I walked in and the secretary was talking about henry ford. I come from michigan and i saw firsthand how the economy of our was built by the understanding of henry ford and others that it is not just right and better to provide a decent living wage. Economic interest to have a sustainable economy that depends on a strong purchasing power of people. It ought to be enough of an argument that it is the right thing to do to make sure that someone does not love in poverty. For those to which that is not enough of an argument, we should think about our own interest. Our economy is still as strong as it can be when theres purchasing power in the hands of people. [applause] i can speak for my colleagues here in inking the secretary for being with us. Andse give our thanks appreciation to president obama for his leadership. We all want to thank samethia and anna for their courage to come before us. For theu for speaking people behind us and in front of us. It is interesting to see that one of the newest members of congress is speaking for the freshman class. Miller, who will be in the congress for 40 years. [applause] you heard the secretary say he has 40 years of enthusiasm for fighting for working families in our country. The fight always continues. It is an issue of fairness that is who we are as a country. We will be persistent and dissatisfied. We will be relentless until we make this happen. It can only happen if the American People demand it. That is what today is about. Samethia made the case so brilliantly. Someportant to note 40 years ago, the model for income was one that talked about stakeholders. Think about the stakeholder capitalist. When decisions were made, it was about what it meant to management. The ceo and the rest. Community and the customers. Everybody had a stake. Income roser for the ceo and entrylevel worker, so does productivity. It all went up like this. It is not stakeholder capitalism. The only thing that was of interest was the shareholder part. The ceo got the prophet. Productivity continued to increase. The worker leveled off. A right angle going in the wrong direction. That is what this is about. Over 60 of the people making minimum wage are women. We want this to be increased for everyone. We recognize that it affects women disproportionately. Within iny we have america that is why we want america that is why we want women in america to succeed. The first up is to raise the minimum wage. [applause] today on cspan, washington journal is live next with your phone calls. Then our coverage of the u. S. House. L on healthd a bil and Human Services enrollment numbers. Minutes, we will talk to ohio congresswoman marcy yesterdays vote on the omnibus spending bill. Host the house yesterday by a vote of 300 5967 approved the trillion dollar spending bill for the rest of 2014. A vote is expected in the senate by friday. 64 House Republicans voted against the measure and they were joined by 3 democrat. The Senate Intelligence committee released their longawaited report on what happened september 11, 2012, in benghazi, libya, calling the attacks preventable. We will get your take on the committees review