Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140602

A completebe description of all documents beingave been, that are asserted can be withheld. Example, if there is an email from the white house to a state Department Official they are withholding, the privilege log would have to do and by who it is from, who it went to, the date, and some brief description of the subject matter of the email. Again, so the other side whether ordispute not that really is a privilege document. Hi. I am with world magazine. You mentioned the idea of note oftice for the perpetrators the attacks. Im just curious. What about reasoning, just your thoughts. Do you think it is more on the part of the ministration, they had ulterior motives . Incompetence . What would be the motive for nothing . Justice is defined in a number of different ways. And there are number of people interested when they are talking about family members or colleagues and the taking of human life that took place at benghazi. I think it should be swift and it should be proportionate. As i mentioned, i am very worried we are sendingl to others as the individuals who are responsible for this are living with impunity at the is at. You are right, that very interesting question. I guess only someone in the administration can really answer that, but i will give you potential thoughts. Perhaps the investigation is inll ongoing in terms of who particular is responsible for this. The administration took over all sharia on are its terrorism list in particular individuals on its terrorist list. You deftly want to take actions against the right people. I am hoping that the committee will look at some of these questions. Another possibility is the political situation in libya. I think it would be very much a stretch to try to save the libya operation militarily was has been a success overall. Any reading of the press recently shows the country is in complete turmoil. There may be hundreds of militia groups. There are terrorist organizations. I think there is a dispute between the administration and others as to whether groups are affiliated with al qaeda or not, or whether they just embrace al qaedas ideology. We have seen a number of groups in recentf al qaeda years. There are a number of groups are hostile to the United States. Or is a government there is a government in tripoli. There is the potential for civil war between these militias. Thes my understanding that one responsible for the bombings , i think it was last september, the Libyan Government was very unhappy about that. That this was the takedown of the individuals responsible for the attack on the benghazi consulate, was going to be done via the libyans or with the libyans. But my sense is there is not ach of an organization or structure within libya today to undertake something along these lines without major intervention of u. S. Forces, special operations forces, intelligence officers, Law Enforcement. Concern thatbe the there is a major operation from the United States, whether it is a drone strike or an it could leadthat to making the government even more fragile or bring it down entirely, bring more chaos. These are just possibilities. You would have to ask the administration. It is possible also in terms of the administration there is just a lack of intelligence out there. Tripoli is different from benghazi. Benghazi, i would say the insurance the intelligence environment is probably not very permissive. It is very dangerous, very dangerous for americans, as we witness two years ago in benghazi, and in some ways maybe worse. So, they are having difficulty fingering although we have seen these people on the fbi website. As a lawng a hard time enforcement individual not reading the 20 lines on these individuals pictured. They say that these are people of interest because they have their pictures. We would like to talk to them. That is kind of what it says. Language thatque im sure has more meaning than i am able to divine from it. Maybe they got these pictures taken on surveillance cameras that they were able to recover from benghazi. The other possibility is maybe operational landing is ongoing. I do not want the special committee to say anything publicly that would undermine our ability to bring these people to justice. I would like them to look into it. Most of these proceedings, as i understand it, out have been behind closed doors. Im sure classified information will be discussed. I would not want to do anything that would prevent them from looking into this and i do not want them to disclose anything that would prevent them from doing that. These are a couple of reasons. Once again, this is known by and i would like somebody to really ask the administration almost two why after years we havent caught these people brought these people to justice. They may be reluctant to Say Something about it. There are other possible reasons as well, including political ones. Something i would like to know about as long as it does not undermine our National Security. I am really worried. I think we are in a very difficult environments in terms of terrorism. The government is willing to say they are very concerned about verywent on in syria, concerned about these groups, violent islamists who may have america in the crosshairs. I am worried about not sending the signal that the attack on the American Embassy that that is something that may go unpunished. But i hope that something is going on behind the scenes we are not aware of and ultimately, soon these individuals responsible for this terrible tragedy will be held to account. It sets a very dangerous president for future possible andcks on u. S. Embassies u. S. Citizens abroad. A number of people have said over the years about terrorists and is law must terrorist that they cannot be interred det erred. Believe this. Especially with their leaders. Osama bin laden hid out for 10 years. Who knows where he was between but i dont demise, believe that some of them cannot or persuaded or denied. I think it is incredibly important that justice be served. Of course, that depends on how you define justice. But showing you cannot attack american diplomatic facilities, take american lives, destroy american property with impunity. Absolutely. Just a final question before we close the panel with regard to Hillary Clinton, with all of the benghazi investigation, do you think that she is going to be very cooperative with this investigation, or is she going to try and shy away . How do you see Hillary Clinton actually handling potential issues . Do you think she is going to be confronting her critics headon . Or is she going to try to largely ignore the benghazi issue . I think her book, which is supposed to be coming out here june 10, it gives us a preview to suggest she will be on the counterattack. You know, her Opening Statement of the chapter on benghazi is she is not going to make any political hay on the backs of dead men. When you consider her potential role in this and the state department, the mind sort of boggles. Expressed on a couple of different occasion she regrets what happens. Who doesnt regret it . She has at no point suggested she is willing to take responsibility for its. Four it. That suggest the possibility she will try as hard as she can not to cooperate with the many. I think that is why the democrats in the end agreed to be on the committee, so she would have a posse on her side there. Clintonu see hillary actually giving evidence . I do not know what her attitude will be, cooperative or not. From a legal standpoint, it is formersier to subpoena a Government Official than a current Government Official. Once she stepped down from being secretary of state, that opened her up in a way that basically got rid of all of the current protections that high officials have in avoiding testifying before congress. It will be an interesting few months ahead. Thank you very much to everybody for joining us today. Thank you very much to our distinguished panel for an excellent series of remarks. Thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] epa administrator Jean A Mccarthy announced a proposal that will cut Carbon Emissions from existing power plants. Here is a little over news conference. As ours sees rise, so during insurance premiums, property taxes, and food prices. If we do nothing in our grandkids lifetime temperatures could rise by 10 degrees and seas could rise by 4 feet. Toa change will continue affect credit risk worldwide. This is not just about disappearing polar bears and melting ice caps, although i like polar bears and i know about melting ice caps. This is about protecting our health and it is about protecting our homes. It is about protecting local economies, and it is about protecting jobs. The time to act is now. That is why president obama laid action plan to cut Carbon Pollution, to build a more resilient nation, and to lead the world in the global fight against climate. Of epacan see all administrator Gina Mccarthys comments later today on cspan or any time on www. Cspan. Org. House Speaker John Boehner said california senator arba boxer, chair of the environment and Public Works Committee said if you would like to weigh in on what you think the epa should pan to to facebook. Com cs join the conversation. Earlier today, the centers for strategic and International Studies held a forum on the Treasury Departments role in interNational Security. They focused on terrorism and whether they were being asked to do too much. It is an hour and 10 minutes. Good afternoon. Hope everyone is doing well. We have a fantastic line up. I want to thank dr. Emery again for hosting. I also want to thank secretary cohen, the entire Treasury Departments family for to us. Ting this this is an important discussion. We are going to focus a bit more heavily on the question of the private sector and the world of the private sector in this new of financiale tools and influence. As we have heard before, and as stewart mentioned in his remarks, one of the revolutions of this period is the centrality of the private sector, both banks and nonbank when actual institutions alike Financial Institutions alike serving as guardians at the gates of the Financial System. American Capital Markets have been pillars of strength with the tools we talked about. We have two phenomenal experts to help us through this discussion. To my immediate left is the former deputy secretary of the treasury, longtime public servant, general counsel during the clinton administration. To his immediate left is reuben jeffery, the Senior Adviser underalso former secretary of state for economic, business, and agricultural affairs. Questions, wen will reward those who stay until the end to ask these experts great questions. I want to thank everybody. The kind remarks dennis made. And just to take a moment and family andto the everyone who works in this community. This is a little bit like a family reunion. Im seeing a lot of familiar and good faces. Its incredibly satisfying and an honor to include not just the treasury, but those who worked for Community Interest in the audits. Let me start by asking our experts a question. Why does this matter question mark not just in the context of what we have talked about today, dopping terrorist, but why these issues actually matter to be safety and soundness and integrity of the Financial System at large . The National Security implications have been much discussed already. But i think it is important to note, and dennis just noticed noted in his remarks the global Financial System of which the u. S. Is the center, i think, depends for its robustness and thength on making sure that inflows are kept to minimum, are not present. That the integrity principles foundation. Apart from all of the National Security implications, it is incredibly important for the worlds economy and Financial System that these kinds of that, whether it is terrorists or organized crime or narcotics traffickers, what every what have you, the light is shone on and they are scrutinized and to whatever extent possible eliminated. We as a country is spent a lot of time policing our own Financial System and running around the globe talking to foreign ministries and banks, private sector participants about the importance of having Financial Systems and economies that are resilient and transparent and effective. And i think that this set of issues, this set of things on we have been focused the last 10 years is important to the functioning of all of that, on which in turn an awful lot of Global Commerce and Global Wellbeing depends. Speak to this from your perspective, both from within the government and in the private sector . Thank you. My thanks to david and the treasury for hosting this. Also my little caveat i look around the room. Trepidation i am here before you as one of the few representatives on the private sector, after a sevenyear teacher, which i would not trade for anything. Rewardingof the most experiences of my life. Just to underscore what neal overstate the confidence factor in the integrity, solidity, solvency, and resiliency of the Global Financial sector and the u. S. I natural sector is elf. Accordingly and the u. S. Financial sector itself. Accordingly, this issue of compliance, sanctions is taken extremely seriously. Any given institution is only as good as its reputation. Say reputation, reputation, reputation at the top of their list of things first and foremost on their minds when it comes to running their businesses, assuring the solidity of their businesses, building those businesses going forward, irking with their counterparties, let alone dealing with their own employees and local communities working with their counterparties, let alone dealing with their own employees and local communities. I went to our general counsel. Said, i better dust off a file on bsa, aml, patriot acts, that sort of thing, and she handed me a 100page, singlespaced manual and took me around the corner and introduced occ examiners,r who is the amlbsa person. This is implementation and, the practical nittygritty of everything this is implementation and enforcement, the practical nittygritty of getting everything afi represents. It is about making sure from the that theselevel desired effects are put in place, monitored, policed, and on theird shortcomings. Thisreally want to connect i think it is true in general, private sector firms really do care about reputation or risk, do not want to do business with people who are with specious finance. But i think the last 10 or 12 years, they have been putting up the mirror and reminding people of this proposition and that beingeople attentive to the set of things is critically important both in reminding folks and heightening the sensitivity. So, it it is not every private sector actor. Certainly not globally. Certainly not in geographies near and far that have overtime given this sufficient attention. I think it is a combination of being in the economic interest of private sector entities, and the work that david and stewart and her colleagues and others in the u. S. Government have done to keep that in their consciousness , that have been the twin pieces of getting the bandage from the private sector in this regime that i think stewart spoke about effectively earlier today. Let me take that point and ask question it is a fair one. I get it sometimes. How can we talk about the importance of the private sector, the integrity of the system, when you see so many examples over and over of banks failing, being hit with enormous fines, are we talking about two different narratives . How do you square that circle . Same story . F the private sector has a lot of different objectives and competing goals. Although they want to be compliant, they also want to make good returns for their shareholders. I think those things can create tension. I also think there can be a tension between the seniormost officials at some of these entities that have a broader view, perhaps, a greater capability of eating able to see all of these different dimensions and come down from these places that you would think our integrity laden, and folks that are very far long, very centralized, very institutions. Compliance with these regimes does not come with the snap of fingers. He talked about a 100page manual. Some of these organizations are 250 or 180in 150 or different geographies. Companies have gotten themselves on the wrong side of this regime with greater frequency than we would like. Tfi doesfi prophylaxis. Withs out lays it out clarity, and they do appropriate enforcement. All of those pieces together make for an appropriate regime in this area. Some people get it right at the beginning. Some people want to get it right, but dont. And the world is full of bad actors in all places. And other people of other objectives in mind. Can you give a sense of where thesee an example or two of private sector calculus around these issues, around the issues of compliance . I do not think there is any at the top and what is permeated through the organization. You are dealing with tens of thousands of people at many of the large Banking Institutions around the world. There is no substitute for doing it right at the top, ethics, procedure, training, etc. That said, mistakes will be made. There will be commercial judgments made that look good at the time, could be mistakes. One of the important aspects of the relationship the 20 private sector and Financial Institutions and governmental institutions about creating these rules and implementing them and enforcing them is the is sufficient is the sufficient degree of trust. Occur,n inadvertent seas it will always be someone no matter what you do in any large organization, there probably is going to be someone who is making a bad decision somewhere that king come back to hurt the institution institutionally. That can come back to hurt the institution institutionally. To punishment is calibrated fit the crime, as it were. There are also situations with Money Service brokers where there is a legitimate clash of strongly felt and important policy interests. One of my favorite case studies in this area is the Money Transfer for businesses in somalia. You have two business purposes that proved to be irreconcilable. One is cracking down on any risk of terrorist financing flows, illicit actors. I think its fair to say history has shown there is probably one or two of those hanging out in various places. The important, crucial, humanitarian concern flows make it to disaffected populations of somalia whople in rely heavily on flows from friends, relatives, others working outside the country. Regulators around the globe were concerned about terrorists, etc. Cant do that. If you stop doing that, the Ngo Community raises their hand and says, wait a second. Depend on us to live. You cant just cut it off. The collaboration is working through and inventing a workaround solution. But a great example of this sort of academic if only you were academic. It is the real world youhe extreme case where get direct policy tradeoffs with two laudable, but conflicting objectives. To importantgo question of something we heard earlier today about the potential overuse of some of these tools, perhaps even overburdening the private sector. You think we have reached a Tipping Point perhaps where we are asking the private sector are to do too much and where we king, it is affecting some of the Public Policy in schools of Financial Inclusion which may be in direct opposition to the tools of financial exclusion, which are the stock in trade of tfi. What to think about that . This is a subject that there is continued scrutiny. You almost need to look at them, almost everyone of them in their individual context. I do not view this sort of set of regulatory imperatives where the tfi imperatives or Money Laundering or sanction regimes that the u. S. Government or others imposes on the Financial Sector as being kind of inherently, it annex verbally in conflict with a set of laudable policy objectives like Financial Inclusion. For example, in some examples without making reference to the smalley an example that he made, there are some that observe the right integrity principles to have an economic incentive to go fill that space. In some cases. And somalia might be this case. That wont be true economic incentive for a private sector entity to go do that. Then you need another set of possibilities, whether that is government, ngos or another set of things. It strikes me as an impossible aspiration to think that you can provide Financial Services to these populations, even populations that have a lot of complexity and are fraught from the perspective of tf five, and are not good with transparency having Financial Services in some fashion or another, allow them to the their lives and do things that are important in other respects, but also make sure that the bad guys are not taking advantage of a Financial System that we think has other a problems other problems associated. I resist the idea of it being zerosum, but i do acknowledge that any one of these particular context, the exact solution in figuring out the particular rubiks cube of that particular circumstance can be very difficult. You have to keep in mind that there has been a substantial evolution of tf i sent 9 11, really. Initiativehe tf i that was taken to shore up the Financial System after the financial crisis. Frankly, we are at a place where and the devil is in the details. You are right, it is hard to talk about this conceptually. At we have to take stock of lot of rules and regulations out there and look at, given the , and it isexperience still a work in progress with dodd frank and the regulations, etc. But to look at what is working and what is not. And they could cut both ways. Announcements could cut off activity to socalled what is it, the acronym . The question is, from a policy standpoint, is it better to have them do that or to work with these certified that actors in ways that you have some transparency, visibility, what have you . That is not to say it is right or wrong, or even to know what they did, but there is a lot of action that Financial Institutions are taking in response of to the regulations. Michele talked about that earlier on the intel bill. Youve got to step back away lobbyists,er media and all of that and say, ok, what makes sense here and what doesnt . And where are the tradeoffs . To other things on your Tipping Point question that are important to think about. One is, the argument out there that the activity will migrate to other places. Its a little bit like chasing a spot of mercury around the table. And to some extent, that is true. That actors will find the weakest places in the system and preferably try to exploit it. You me, that is not an argument that we are overdoing it on the big financial decisions. Tfi has been Getting Better and better at it and i will be important over the next 10 years to try to figure out how to bring some essentially equivalent set of regimes to other parts of the Financial Sector that are smaller, less. Ormal, less interconnected you know, having the capacity to say the dollar clearing the new york fed is sort of the key lever. That will be a complicated business. The second thing is, you know, i spent a little bit of time in the government on Financial Regulation more generally. And you hear globally, this is too much, and its going to be u. S. Firms at a huge competitively elsewhere. And the gfi reaction in the broader context is that it is not the way they should think about it. The rest of the world should come up to our standard and the has spent resources trying to do just that. And it connects back, of course, to where you started, which is that its not for academic reasons that we are putting all of these Different Things in place. Its a huge National Security component and a huge component that relates to the effectiveness, integrity, and proper functioning of our Financial Markets in the u. S. , and therefore globally. Let me piggyback off of that and ask a couple of questions as it relates to challenges and interpretations. Earlier, we heard, and stewart made this point quite articulately. Have animated the ability to cooperate. Are we seeing especially major foreign banks getting hit with multibillion dollar fine jack are we seeing a moment where multibilliondollar find . Are we seeing a moment where it is complemented complicating diplomacy in a way that we have not seen in the past 10 years . I guess, to depending on what you mean. To take stewarts question, there are to be more cooperation ought to be more cooperation between the government and private sector entities. That is laudable and supportable. On the other hand, it is a complicated business. Operates in a anddly classified world conversely, the private sector think of all of their data in large measure as their proprietary set of things and they dont want the government looking around in it, they dont want the possibility of some committee in congress or foreign cluster getting ahold of it. They tend to keep it close to their vest. You have these two broad dynamics that work in opposition and it doesnt mean we shouldnt continue to focus on it, but it means that its hard. On the broader set of things on enforcement measures come i think the following. Anyway, lawry enforcement does its thing and it does it on its own. Im not saying it is good or bad, but the basic judgments about prosecution and enforcing criminal laws are decisions made by lawenforcement officials and not by the rest of the government. Thing thatis a good when Financial Institutions or matter are for that in violation of the law, they are dealt with. Thats not very consultative. I think they have been reluctant they were inthat the midst of in the aftermath of the financial crisis, but this has obviously picked up. I think for all of these institutions, it remains the case. Now stewart who sits in one of the biggest Financial Institutions in the world, it is an unavoidable place for one needs to do business. Not just because of the dollar or the rick serve the reserve currency, which is in the we can get to. But because our economy is the biggest. It is a reason why these firms need to get their act together more than ever before. And i think it also has certain deterrent effects to being a little loose at the joints. Ultimately, they will have to think of it as if they dont think of it that way, they will have to think of it as the cost of doing business, which is not the preferred way. None of them will leave the u. S. Economy as far as my eyes can see. It is unthinkable. There is too much opportunity from an Economic Perspective and Financial Markets perspective. Its true that a series of Law Enforcement maxims have gotten a lot of headlines and a as far asle amount involved, but it has not really change the amount as to why and whether they will engage the u. S. Economy and the u. S. Financial markets. Before you go on this question of diplomacy complication, i do want to get to what this all means for the role of the dollar, etc. But i want to followup on your comment on Law Enforcement. Regulators do you think that regulators and Law Enforcement are now driving debate . In other words, in the next 10 years do you think it will be running a discussion about the role of Law Enforcement and regulators on the one hand and then the treasury with systemic accidents and Enforcement Actions systemic actions and enforcement action . It is hard to say what they will do. But in our country, Law Enforcement is given over at the federal level to the department and at the state level, a range of state and Law Enforcement and cities. I think that is a good thing. The long history of this in the u. S. Is that we dont want our judgments about criminal affected byto be competitions. Her hopefully, when they are thinking about systemic lawenforcement activity and thinking about whether to go after this target or that target, they ought to be taking a cool a whole range of things. I dont think it changes the dynamic. It has always been the case that the Justice Department at the federal level has been in charge of criminal enforcement. And the regulators in the case of sanctions and Money Laundering have been at the core with Financial Institutions regulators. The civil side enforcement, and actual carrying out of the administration of these sanctions regimes. I dont think that dynamic changes. I can assure you that x, y, or z does not want to get on the wrong side of a fast ofat and that is not going to change simply because they are trying to Reach Settlement that include fines that are gigantically big. You want to address that question, and also the dramatic effects. Yes, as far as the newspapers and what they are doing or not doing from the Law Enforcement point, but who is dealing with these issues after day in the private sector capacity, it is unarguable in the private sector people whohat knowingly evade sanctions, things like that, there is obviously appropriate recompense that is due in the form of monetary penalties or whatever is appropriate. Internationally, there is probably some lack of understanding, and perhaps confusion. It bears reminding to our friends and allies that the state and local systems have their own laws and bureaucracies and judicial systems. And we have a firm separation between the Judicial Branch from the executive branch. Is depending sense on how a lot of this plays out, we dont want to be in the position where we have the home country governments among some of the institutions that are , relenting in their post9 11 undertaken as part of the Global Financial initiatives and postfinancial crisis to really need together, and look for vulnerabilities in the Financial System. We will have to work extra hard from a diplomatic standpoint to keep everybody on side. Because going back to things and sanctions applications the ukraine situation or whatever, south sudan, whatever , ourext thing might be sanctions can be effective in a lot of ways, but they are most effective in a coalition of relevant economic powers. Push and pull of the interagency governmental working groups, but also across important thaty it is quiet behind the scenes in workple in a diplomatic that we are redoubling our efforts to make sure that our counterparties understand what we are doing from them for. Hem from that standpoint and making sure that things will not get away from the larger objective of ensuring we never have another 2008, and we shore up the local Financial System, and we continue to Work Together on these issues. Botht me ask you quickly, of you, the question of russia, and whether or not and how the financial sanctions against russia are playing out and demonstrate the inherent limit to these kinds of tools to unplug folks from the local financial order. Does russia proof that the economy is too big or too integrated that there are inherent limits as to how these tools can work the echo or is that a false conclusion . How these tools can work . Or is that a false conclusion . I dont think that is the way to put it. The russian president has decided what he wants to do in ukraine, originally in crimea and now the rest of ukraine. Jack at the statistics this morning had the statistics this morning first thing about the eight implications of the economic sanctions have created. The mission has been clear, sort of exceedingly clear, that if putin does things more aggressive and in contradiction to international law, they will ratchet that up. I think it has been a little bit, located, obviously, a little bit complicated, obviously, with the europeans given their Energy Dependencies and so forth. But i think it depends on what sort of aspirations you pour into a particular sanctions regime. People wanted to know right away why the russians sanctioned the iranianot like sanction regime. They were very different situations. Think it can be an additive to a multifaceted set of tools. No question it has gotten the russians attention. The question is having a real impact with respect to their markets and economy. And it is also clear that the specter of more to come, should whatever putin doesnt a set of terms, sort of make that appropriate. That president is putin is playing a longterm losing hand in terms of the hardcore economics of his economy and he is moving in need are action of thing increasingly isolated by the rest of the world economy. In the short term, watching the measures that the treasury and u. S. Government has taken with respect to sanctioned individuals in particular, it is calibrated. People want to avoid it ratcheting up, but the message getting across not just to those affected, but to other elites who surround putin who try to get the message, gosh, i might be in those crosshairs at some point, too. Suddenly, they may say, should i really be dealing with y . X or miss why ms let me shift. This is where i will come back to the dollar issue that you alluded to. As you said, the attractiveness of the American Economy and the Capital Markets, the dollar and currency, the dollar plays into in the ability to isolate these rogue actors. Counterpart arise and begin to threaten the privacy of the the primal sea of dollar . S thethe overuse accelerate demobilization of the american dollar . The dollar as a reserve cant as a reserve is an unbelievably important asset. Important aspect letter lever work of aspect i. The work of gfi tf because this is such an important asset to the United States, we also ought to be thinking about what it is that has made the u. S. All of the worlds currency in reserve and how we can continue that to be the case. I would say, in broad measure, the reason the dollar is the worlds reserve currency is because we have the deepest,. Ost liquid Financial Markets hugeve an economy that is and essentially consequential to the global economy. A country in which the rule of law is overwhelmingly sanctions andd contracts are observed. These are hugely macro reasons as to why the dollar has this kind of position of the scene. Esteem. And my own view is that though these things such as sanctions and regulations or antiMoney Laundering efforts may have at the margin something to say about the relative attractiveness of the dollar as compared to other things, its also true that a lot of these regimes are pretty multilateral. In those circumstances, it doesnt really create a competitive advantage for the dollar. And the basic dimensions of why the dollar is the worlds reserve currency, at least as far as i can see, it is unlikely to go away. And in particular, since the comparative judgment. Something else would have to replace the dollar as far as the worlds reserve currency. I cannot see Something Else being a meaningful competitor. Not in the short or medium term time horizons. You think about bureau and the euro. We were wondering whether the europa was done. Was done. The euro obviously, the economy is doing well relative to its history. Chinas economy is increasingly important and so forth. Currencies, there is a lot of activity and Energy Behind them in various places, but it strikes me hard to imagine them becoming the reserve currency of the world in the time frames that are likely to be relevant to this conversation. Having said that, we should constantly be worried about this, and vigilant of anything of enormous value. Three more we add sanctions programs, or tighten up sanctions programs, or make it clear to europe that we turn tohink we need to the next mark on the dial with respect to ukraine and russia doesnt really have any real indication in the here and now with respect to the centrality of the dollar. Can you comment on this . Especially given your current role. In the immediate term and the foreseeable future, the dollar will be the reserve currency by virtue of its resiliency and the solidity of the u. S. Economy and the importance of the rule of law. And you mentioned, and it bears repeating, i have traveled preaching the gospel of anticorruption, rule of law, property rights, sanctity of contract, and integrity of the judicial system. Wholeoves back to a policy area. Anything and everything the Treasury Administration is doing to continue to maintain resiliency, spur economic ,rowth, stimulate competition education, all that stuff is critical on an ongoing basis to ensure that we continue to earn that stature. But on the diplomatic front in dealing with the current parties, yes, on any given sanction, it will please some of the people all the time some of the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time. That somer stature people admire and others envy, and we have to be respectful of that and treat counterparties fairly accordingly and bring them alongside on our shared policy objectives and initiatives. I totally agree with everything rubin just said. It is not sort of in the laws of nature that the dollar is going to be the reserve currency of the world. It does require a look over the horizon to make sure that we are remaining in things like flex ability, immigration, innovation, Capital Markets, human capital, all of these things that are at the bedrock of why our economy is so strong and why it is fundamentally the envy of every other economy on the planet and it needs to be tended to. If one does not tend to it over a long time, it could change. I completely agree with rubin on that. Let me ask this question in terms of the main american competitor, the rising power of china economically. The if it does not outpace dollar in terms of currency around the world, does the attractiveness of chinese market, the influence of Chinese Capital begin to affect the rules of the road internationally . And begin to affect the ability of the Treasury Department and the u. S. Government to implement the kind of financial integrity measures that it wants to do around the world . The chinese market, does it itself impact with the u. S. Can do . What the u. S. Can do . I think this should be a substantial focus to the tfi and more broadly now and into the future. The chinese economy is very big and very important. Needs a lotl sector of reform. It doesnt really respond to market signals particularly currently. That is a problem for the chinese leadership, which they have acknowledged. And they are very much focused on it. I think there is plenty of reason for the u. S. To continue its conversations with bilaterally and multilaterally in the broader context with the chinese about the set of see orves, but i dont think of the rise of the chinese economy and china more generally that is, for the moment and for the foreseeable time, being a real constraint or being fundamentally antithetical with what the u. S. Government is trying to achieve in these areas. Ruben . I would agree with neil on that. And im to separate, not worried about the r b taking over as the world currency. Not a developed Indigenous Capital in the sense that we know it. When youre dealing with dollar flows or yen flows or other major currency or financial instruments. Bilaterally in dealing with the one of the more important is the strategic economic dialogue where the u. S. Government engages on the one hand, engages on the Financial Market element issues in a very supportive way to help the chinese help themselves build a stronger, more robust, more marketdriven Financial System. Where i dor side, worry about it and all of us should be concerned about chinese activity is what we heard earlier in the day on the intelligence panel. Verynd out cyber theft is damaging not just to the financial committee, but the Global Economic community. It is in nobodys interest at the chinese be allowed to do that, get away with that, including with other chinese companies. Grow andinese want to develop indigenously. That is an interesting point. Do you see that as a kind of chinese financial warfare . And you see that the potential that china could learn from the u. S. Treasuries and have its own version of tfi and use sanctions and so forth . Not just the cyber dimension, but the fact that china is growing in economic strength, that it may develop similarly to what the treasury has developed . Necessarily have implantation mechanisms implementation mechanisms to have that trigger effect. But there is no doubt, just staying current on the news, that china has triggered out has exert their figured out ways to exert their economic strength at times of their choosing to abandon their own interest. You see this in some countries in africa where you go into some buildings and elevators are chinese made. That is not a good thing or a bad thing, but the chinese are really forward leaning in shoring up their interests in areas where they may have vulnerabilities using their economic access. I agree with all of that. Jeanne harmon talked about asymmetrical warfare. Sanctionst exactly per se, but adjacent to that. There is no answer in our economy generally, but also our Financial Sector is hugely vulnerable to actions from china, or other state actors, or for that matter, a set of nonstate actors. And given how much the plumbing and Technology Related to the Financial Sector in the u. S. , and the extent to which the u. S. Is comparatively dependent on in thecessful at financial world, it is an important vulnerability. Be able tosume to say what is on the mind of the Chinese Government or the more but obviously,ip this set of things is troubling. Stewart got to go in the via when it was a secure environment. I got to go to libya when all hell was breaking loose. [laughter] me, too. [laughter] one more question and then we will open it up to the audience. Going back to the private sector and the totality of American Economic influence and power, one way of thinking about it is a little overly simplistic. I, it hashing about tf developed and harnessed the for ato exclude actors National Security impact. Have we done enough in the u. S. To think holistically about how we use Financial Inclusion and positive dimensions of American Power as part of a National Security strategy . That is to say, we use the stick quite well. We are very good at it. Can we use the clarets the carrots in a commensurate and koppelman are a way . I think there are folks spending time at the state department, or usaid, or the Treasury Department, or others. You know, lots of technology and ways in which people can be brought into the worlds economy, the world Financial System and allow them to realize and men tospirations obviate the kind of things meant to obviate the kinds of things we are talking about here so that people have better opportunity to meet their aspirations. Also to the extent that you goals or basic inclusion. Also, if you think about telephone the of some sort, i an aspect ofs inclusion and also a desire to in a better and more intentional way that is quite symbiotic. Like banking. Yes, or if you take afghanistan or various other places in the world now, there are technology for writers or Payment Services writers that are giving individuals Technology Providers or Payment Services providers that are giving individuals cars. New can have your social Welfare Benefits in a way that is more secure and inclusion in ways that big populations have not had access to before. And by the way, as the intelligence piece of this, give folks like david and danny and others an opportunity to have a pretty keen sense of what is going on. Plai hink on the broadest put theuld transatlantic trade services negotiations. These are all part of bringing the global Financial System and Economic System together in a way that the areas of common interest trump those areas of disagreement and encourage people to be part of the system and to comply with accepted rules, regulations, forms, etc. Down to the individual micro programs that usaid has and the state department, and a lot of this is technology driven. Financialjust companies, but also the Internet Service providers. Those things are ongoing day in and day out. You have treasury professionals and other professionals around the world with their colleagues and likeminded governments and development institutions. Lets open it up for questions. Come to the microphone and ask your question. Right here with the lady in the back. Is anna from reuters. Think you for your discussion about the thinking of settlement issues. I dont think that with the extent the big signs that we ave seen recently it is question of big banks withdrawing from the u. S. Financial system. But do you think this could have any other negative repercussions . For example, voluntary disclosure, which is important for future while asians sanctions. Future violation sanctions. Voluntary disclosure. If i was one of these watching their competitors, it would be better to get the regime right in the first place. It would be better to be more transparent more quickly. That the other way around is just deepening a whole a hole. Onhink that is all there is that. Diplomacy, i think these are complicated things. Governments across the world want, understandably, to make sure that their companies are not being treated comparatively worse than others, that there is not a favoring of u. S. Firms relative to foreign competitors. They have every right to ask those questions. ,nd i think the u. S. Government or in this case Law Enforcement officials, should be providing answers. If you look, by the way, at the range of settlement not my work sessions, but anyway. If you look at the range of been aents, there have lot of happy solutions with a range of firms. And what is important is that it be the case, and it be this perception of the case that what matters is the facts. If you did something to cross the line, the never sponsored by Law Enforcement ought to be calibrated to what you did and how much of it you did and so forth. That ought to be the ultimate decider on those times of things those types of things. From a private sector perspective, when in doubt, selfreport, i think is the thec mantra, going back to requirement to report si are this requirement that the banking regulations post9 11. And as far as what is going on in the legal communitys the legal community, i would share neils view that over time, these issues will be resolved. From time to time, there will be some disconnect between the penalties and the crime. But in many cases what we are talking about is remediating a longstanding pattern of that reallyns shouldnt happen in the first instance. It is important that people step back and wrote amber and reflect on the overarching principles step back and remember and reflect on the overarching principles at stake. Everyone wants to crack down on illicit flows, organized crime, terrorism, human trafficking, etc. Front a question of a question up front, the settlement. But my name is pat malloy my name is pat malloy. I had the privilege of serving chinars at the u. S. Commission. I agree with neil, all of the advantages we get. That whenconcerns is you run negative net exports, it detracts from your gdp and job growth. And the fact that we have 10 net exports in negative net exports, this has to have a lifestyle of not earning him become the largest debtor nation in the world. Do you see that as a problem and something we ought to address as a matter of some urgency . What i was saying is, left unattended, left there are some things that could eat away at the primacy of the dollar. On that list would be the longterm fiscal coherence. No question about it. And also, probably ought to be amountrsion of reason account. Can lookf those, you at the shortterm where they are both Getting Better. You know, contracting on a relatively reasonable rate compared to where it had been. There are a lot of reasons for that. If you look at the fiscal analysis, it has gotten quite a lot better in the last four years. They are on a path now to getting something more like three percent to 3. 5 . You know, which is pretty good. If you look over the longer reflectedhat will be to get worse. It is true that over the longerterm with the dollar, policymakers need to grapple with some of these big trends and that is hard. That becomes right away a political question. I think you are to point out that those are things that also , certainly more than the immediate horizon. We have time for one more question. Lets go to the gentleman in the back. We have heard from a number of speakers that one of the graded great advantages they canools is that be calibrated rather quickly and respond to an event. But if the problem for the private sector when things get turned on and turnoff rapidly in response to an event that can be hard to predict . It absolutely can be. I think it is important for the inment in that context mean, the government cannot in aol all of the factors sanctions program in the first place. If Vladimir Putin decides he wants to take crimea, then adam have to worry about a sanctions regime for russia. Tfi and theue for rest of government in all spheres to communicate as much as possible and with as much clarity as you can possibly muster. I think there is an obligation. It has not gotten a lot of attention today, but it is important for the government to do what he can to bring clarity theprecision so that private actors that depend in the settlement of the objectives , to give them the fulfillment of what they need to do. You do not want private sector flailing around in uncertainty and confusion, which is not good for the economy. Programs to be as successful as they can be. That the government needs to continue to struggle thatind new ways to bring clear and quick indication to reasons,all of those both for its own selfinterest, and because its good for the private sector and therefore good for the economy. They do work hard at it. There is probably room to improve. I think it is a piece of business on which they can and should continue to focus going forward. Clarity, precision, and i would add consistency. That is critical in the private sector. Targeteditutions are against a particular government or group of and visit of entities. Many of them have larger systems and procedures in place and have the organizational ability to react. It is clear, provided you know what the rules of the road are, and you have a shared understanding of what the mutual expectations are. Fantastics been a discussion. Help me in thinking neil and ruben for their insight. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] thank you, again, to neil and to ruben for that discussion. Was great. Before closing the symposium, i would like to say just a few words. First, i would like to thank all of our participants, secretary jack lew, white house chief of staff mcdonough, my predecessor stuart levy for there are marks. Each of our panelists, tom donlin, stephen hadley, michelle mon, quito extender, and keith alexander, and our moderator. The conversation has been highly entertaining and engaging, and also deeply informative. I know i have a lot of action items written down to take care of when i get back to the office. I would also like to thank the center for strategic and International Studies president and ceo and the entire csi s team for hosting at this facility. Weve had the opportunity today to trace the rest the treasuries and Financial Intelligence in the past decade and reflect upon our compliment, and to know where we are falling short and to think about where and how tfi can contribute in the years ahead. Our speakers and panelists have helped us better understand Financial Measures and the makes of targeted an economic financial sanctions programs, financial transparency at home and abroad, collaboration with the Global Private sector, all underpinned by Financial Intelligence. They have become increasingly important tools in the National Security policy toolbox. Todays plan highlights an increasingly central role in projecting u. S. Power, any consequential role, and ill be nonsecurityin a fashion. It is often said that financial sanctions are a new form of warfare. That overstates the case also there is no question that real war is decidedly different and we should never forget that. We should also not forget the tools deployed to deliver real and meaningful impacts. That is, after all, the point. ,nd now, after the past decade the treasurys delivery impact is now embedded in our discussion strategy. Todays conversation has also eliminated some of the key challenges we will face in the future as we continue to employ an increasingly rely upon Financial Measures to help achieve our core foreignpolicy National Security goals. I would like to take a moment to note the few challenges that i see as a lookout over the horizon for the next few months and years, issues that we can discuss at tfi 20. First, the challenge posed by the changing nature of terrorist financing. In part of squeezing terrorist financing out of the unnatural scare Financial Sector, and impart due to the increasing nature of financial enterprise, we have seen it decline in terrorist donor financing. From state sponsorship of terrorism, ransom payments are the greatest source of terrorist financing today. Ap, a q ih as the a q m, boko haram, and alshabaab have collected tens of millions of dollars in ransom in the past several years. These ransom payments are used to fuel the whole cycle of terrorist activities, including inflicting discriminate harms. Improving the effort against kidnapping for ransom is an urgent challenge in the years ahead. Second is the challenge to the international communitys ability to impose targeted conduct based financial sanctions. Caseve never lost a challenging the sufficiency of the sanctions designation. This is because we take great care in building a record before we act, and because there are procedures in u. S. Courts to protect against and necessary disclosure of classified information. In europe, however, there have been a number of recent cases successfully challenging targeted sanctions, including sanctions first adopted by the un security council. Our european colleagues are focused on these challenges, but if solutions are not found soon, europes ability to continue to work with us on combating illicit conduct through targeted sanctions will be imperiled. The challenge to financial transparency posed by new technologies, including new Payment Methods such as mobile banking. And new methods of payment, such as virtual currencies. Without a doubt, expanded Financial Access provided by the nags or role march inexorable arch of new technology is great draw for people around the world. We need to ensure that we are working with these developments and not stifling innovation or undermining the keys to transparency, which serves as the foundation for much of our work. Fourth, we will face the ongoing challenge in ensuring our access to timely, accurate, and specific Financial Intelligence, while also respecting legitimate demand for privacy both by american citizens and foreigners. Make no mistake, Financial Intelligence is essential to what we do. We cannot map Illicit Financial Networks or identify targets for action without intelligence. And we could not have achieved any of our success, from stemming the flow of attacks iran without to action by the intelligence community. Nevertheless, we must remain sensitive against overreach and guarding against the possibility of impairing our core liberties in pursuit of security. And finally, there is the challenge of using Financial Measures strategically against a an expanding range of threats froms. Financial security, trafficking to organized crime to militia will malicious cyber wear. In the years ahead, we will be to dealngly called upon with a foundation of a whole host of illicit actors. These are all compensated challenges requiring skill and innovative thinking. I have no doubt that the great people of tfi, almost all of whom are career employees, are more than a two task. At a time when Public Service is valued nearly enough, and when federal employees hardly ever receive the federal would federal recognition they deserve, i would like to conclude these events by knology and the men and women of tfi. Over the past 10 years, the timee of tfi have shown and again that they are nimble, creative, and tireless. Working with outstanding colleagues within the Treasury Department and across the government, the people of tfi have developed new tools, new approaches, and new ways of thinking about confronting our adversaries, providing a call to action that did not previously exist. Nothing at tfi accomplish in the past 10 years could have been done without their devotion and dedication and skill. And everything we accomplish in the months and years ahead will be due to their continued Outstanding Service to their country. As we wrap up todays symposium, in addition to my heartfelt thanks to produce offense from csi ask, i would like to express my deep appreciation to the team attfi. Thank you for all you have done and what you will do in the years ahead to make our country safer and more secure. Thank you. [applause] in a little more than half an hour, Supreme Court justice theel alito discusses impact of baseball on american life. He is joined by authors, columnist, and a baseball analyst to talk about the sports enduring place in american culture. Here is a little bit of it. But i think its a very good idea. Justice roberts famously said a few years ago that umpires or that judges are like umpires. I think that is true. The umpires on the field are like the trial judges. We know that they get things wrong sometimes, so you have to have an appeal to the umpires in new york who review the replay. And the only thing that is wrong with the system is that it only has two levels. [laughter] and the group rate washington writers held that event last month. You can see that shortly at 8 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. From a policy perspective, the way this should work is congress should appoint an agency that has the authority to manage the spectrum resources of the country and look at the highest and best uses of those resources so we can continue to serve all of the important functions, National Security functions, but also driving spectrum needs of the industry for the continued innovation and investment. Issues facing the Telecommunications Industry with verizon executive Craig Silliman tonight at 8 00 eastern on the communicators on cspan two. On cspan2. On tomorrows washington journal, david. Under and paul bailey discussed the Climate Change initiative. And the goal of decreasing emissions by 20 by 2030. And rendering the 25th anniversary of the prodemocracy protest in beijings tiananmen square. Journal is live tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. It here is an announcement from earlier today on the administrations our proposal. The administrations power proposal. It is half an hour. [applause] thank you. Great to have you here, thank you. Thank you. Wow. It is great to be here. Thank you for accompanying me in and for all of the leadership you bring to this agency. I want to tell you a little bit of a story. About a month ago i took a trip to the cleveland clinic. I met a lot of really great people, but one person stood out, even if he needed to have to stand on a chair to make himself seen while he was talking. He was 10 years old, and he has struggled with severe asthma his entire life. His mom said that despite his challenges, parker is a tough, active kid in a really good hockey player. Sometimes the air is too dangerous for him to play outside. In the United States of america, no parent should ever have to have that worry. Thank you. That is why epa exists, that is our job. We are directed by our laws and it is reaffirmed by the courts that we are here to protect Public Health and the environment. Today Climate Change that is fueled by Carbon Pollution is supercharging risks, not just to our health but to our communities, our economy, and our way of life. That is why epa is delivering on a vital piece of president obamas Climate Action plan. I want to thank our acting assistant administrator at the office of air and radiation and all of the entire team and teams across epa who work so hard to deliver this proposal. They should be incredibly proud of their hard work. I know that i am incredibly proud. [applause] you guys are great. But today, epa is proposing a clean carbon plan that will cut Carbon Pollution from our power sector by using Clean Energy Sources and Cutting Energy waste. Although we limit pollutants like mercury, arsenic, sulphur, currently there are no limits on Carbon Pollution from power from power plants, our nations largest sources. For the sake of our Families Health and for our kids future, we have a moral obligation to act on climate. When we do, we will turn risks of climate into business opportunity. We will spur innovation and investment and we will build the worldleading clean energy economy. The high cost of inaction keep piling up. Rising temperatures bring more smog, more asthma, and longer allergy seasons. If your kid does not use an inhaler, you should consider yourself a lucky parent because one in 10 kids suffers from asthma. Carbon pollution from power plants comes packaged with dangerous pollution like nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, and they put our children and our families at even more risk. Climate inaction is costing us more money in more places more often. 2012 was the second most expensive year in u. S. History for natural disasters. Even the largest sectors of our economy buckle under the pressures of a changing climate, and when they give way, so do businesses and local economies that depend on them. As our seas rise, so do insurance premiums, property taxes, and food prices. If we do nothing, in our grandkids lifetime, temperatures could rise 10 degrees and seas could rise by four feet. Climate change will continue to affect credit risk worldwide. This is not just about disappearing polar bears and melting icecaps, although i like polar bears, and i know about melting icecaps. This is about protecting our health, and it is about protecting our homes. This is about protecting local economies, and it is about protecting jobs. The time to act is now, that is why president obama laid out a Climate Action plan to cut Carbon Pollution, to build a more resilient nation, and to lead the world in the global fight against climate. Todays proposed climate plan is a critical step forward. We were built on your advise from states, cities, businesses, utilities, and ngos, and thousands of people who provided us with comments. I want to thank you for that comment. You will see that they made a difference. Today is about kicking off what we see as our second phase of critical engagement. So shaped by public input, by technologies, as well as a healthy dose of common sense, our plan aims to cut energy waste and leverage leader Energy Sources by doing two things. First, by setting achievable, and forcible state goals to cut Carbon Pollution four megawatts hours of electricity generation. Second, laying out a National Framework that gives states the flexibility to chart their own customized path on how they meet their goals. All told, in 2030 when states meet those goals, our proposal will result in 30 less Carbon Pollution from the power sector across the United States in comparison to 2005 levels. That is thank you. [applause] just to print that in perspective, that is if we canceled out the Carbon Pollution from two thirds of the cars and trucks in america. This was the preferred path forward. If you add up what we avoided before 2030 even comes, it is more than double the Carbon Pollution from every power plant in america in 2012. It is double what every power plant generated in terms of pollution in 2012, and as a bonus, in 2030 we will cut pollution that causes smog by 25 or more if we do not have this rule in place. That is a great added bonus. [applause] now all of that means it is going to result in lower medical bills, fewer trips to the emergency room, especially for those most vulnerable. Those kids, especially those kids who have asthma, our elderly, and our infirmed. This is about an far and mental justice, because lowerincome families and families of color are the hardest hit. Let me get into the details of the proposal. It is all about flexibility. That is what makes it ambitious, but also achievable. That is how we keep our Energy Affordable and reliable. The glue that holds this plan together and the key to making it work is that each states goal is tailored to its own circumstances and states have the flexibility to reach their goals in whatever way works best for them. Two graphs state goals we looked at where states are today, and we followed and looked at where they are heading. Each state is different, so each goal and each path can be different. The goals spring from smart and sensible opportunities that states and businesses are taking advantage of right now, from the plant to the plug. Let me tell you about the kind of opportunities that i am talking about. We know that coal and natural gas play a significant role today in a Diverse Energy mix. This plan does not change that. It recognizes that there are opportunities to modernize aging plants, to increase efficiency, and to lower pollution. That is part of the strategy that paves the way forward. States also have the opportunity to shift their reliance to more efficient and less polluting plants. Since 2009, wind energy in america has tripled. Solar energy has grown tenfold. Our Nuclear Fleet continues to supply zero carbon base load power. Homegrown clean energy is posting record revenues and creating jobs that cannot be shipped overseas. Those are all opportunities at plants, but what about the plug . Existing technologies can squeeze the most out of every electron, helping us use electricity more efficiently and in our homes and businesses. More efficiency means that we need less electricity to cool our refrigerators or to charge our phones. For the fuel we burn, lets get the biggest bang for our buck. All of these options are not new ideas. In fact, they are based on the proven technologies, proven approaches, and they are part of the story of the Energy Progress in the United States of america. Our plan doesnt prescribe, it compels already available technologies to join progress underway. There is no onesizefitsall solution. States can pick from a portfolio of options. It is up to states to mix and match to get their goals. If states do not want to go it alone, they can hang out with other states, we can do multistate market programs. We are doing them today. [applause] or they can be creative and make new ones. More players mean more flexibility, and when you look at this proposal you will see that more flexibility means lower cost. States have flexibility not just in the means and the methods, but in the timeline as well. Under our proposal, states have to design plans now, and they have to start reducing so they can be on a trajectory to meet their final goals in 2030. That flexibility means a smooth transition to a cleaner power that does not leave any Investment Opportunities behind. The flexibility of our Clean Power Plan affords the choices that lead them to a healthier future. Choices that level the playing field, and keep options on the table, does not take them off the table, choices that reflect where we are today, and that sees the opportunities that are here for us tomorrow. Choices that are focused on building up, not on shutting down. So we can raise the common denominator for a cleaner, low Carbon Economy that will fuel growth for decades to come. What is special about the flexibility of our plan . It does not just give states the more options, it gives entrepreneurs and investors options to play, too. [applause] it will deliver the certainty that private investment is looking for that will unleash market forces, that will drive even deeper into innovation and investment. It will spur cleaner technologies and power of all sorts. We can bring new, low Carbon Technologies to the table. Our plan will pull private investment off the shelves and into our Clean Energy Revolution and in all directions, not just the one or two that we know today, because opportunities are endless. The good news is that the states, cities, and businesses have already blazed the trail. We are not doing cuttingedge work here. We are just opening up the door for cutting edge to happen. Our Clean Energy Revolution has been unfolding in front of us. I went to Salt Lake City where the mayor and the utilities are teaming up on building efficiency. I went to st. Paul where there is a Science Center that is recycling energy waste, and is actually teaching kids what we adults are just beginning to learn. I have seen fortune 500 companies revamp strategies to lower Business Risk by meeting the demands of a carbon constrained future. I want to give a shout out to all of the local officials, all of the rural coops, and all of the public Power Operators and utilities that have been leading the charge on Climate Change. You know who you are. I thank you. It is clear you act not just because it is reasonable, but because it is right. Governors and mayors of all stripes are leaning in to Climate Action. They see it not as a partisan obstacle, but as a powerful opportunity. We know that success breeds success. That is how everybody ends up winning. Epa has had a Longstanding Partnership with states to protect Public Health. We set goals, and states are always in the drivers seat to meet them. Releasing the Clean Power Plan shifts much of the conversation to the states. If youre a teacher, a scientist, a mechanic, a business person, or just someone who has a good idea, share your thoughts with your state leaders. Help them see that they can build a plan that will better all of our futures. I know people are wondering, can we cut pollution while keeping our Energy Affordable and reliable . Sure, we can. We can and we will. Critics claim that your energy bills will skyrocket well, they are wrong. Shall i say that again . They are wrong. [applause] any small shortterm change in electricity prices would be within normal fluctuations the power sector has already dealt with for years. Any price increase we might see is about the price of a gallon of milk a month. It is offset by the huge benefits. This is investment in Better Health and in a Better Future for our kids. Just like these kids right here. Are they girl scouts . Just hanging out . [laughter] in 2030 the Clean Power Plan will deliver Health Benefits of up to 90 billion. For soot and smog reductions alone, for every dollar we invest in this plan, families will see 7 in direct Health Benefits. If states are smart about taking advantage of efficiency opportunities, when the effects of this plan are in place in 2030, average electricity bills will be 8 cheaper. That is how you write a rule. [applause] this plan is a down payment, we will know it to be a more efficient 21st Century Power system. It is a proven path, and a lot of states have been doing it for years. Think about it like this. We set is stored youll efficiency and earns that doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas. Many of you were engaged with that rulemaking. That means you fill up less often and you save more money. That is what efficiency does for you in the audio industry, that is what it will do for you in the power sector as well. Given the astronomical price that we pay for climate in inaction, the most costly thing of all we can do is nothing. The most costly thing that we can do is to do nothing. The critics are wrong about reliability. For decades, power plants have met pollution limits without risking reliability. What threatens reliability and causes blackouts is the devastating extreme weather that we are going to see that is fueled by Climate Change. I am a little tired of people pointing to the polar vortex as a reason not to act on climate. It is exactly the opposite. It is a wakeup call. Climate change heightens risk from extreme cold that freezes our power grid, superstorms that drown our power plants, and heat waves that stress our power supply. It turns out efficiency upgrades that slow Climate Change help cities insulate themselves against blackouts. That is how it works. We know it, they know which. Despite all of that, we are going to see special interest skeptics who will cry that the sky is falling, who will deliberately ignore the risks, who will deliberately overestimate the cost, and will deliberately undervalued the benefits. The facts are very clear. For over four decades, epa has cut air pollution 70 , and the economy has tripled, all the while putting the power we need to keep america strong. [applause] Climate Action does not actually dull americas competitive edge, it sharpens it, it spurs innovation and investment. In 2011 we exploited almost 33 in 2011 we exploited almost 33 more cars than in 2009. That is a clear sign of a competitive industry. Our fuel efficiency standards help to make that happen. Companies like best buy are investing in low carbon operations. Bank of america actually pays its employees to cut Carbon Pollution because investors see climate risk as business opportunities. Do not get any hint that a raise has been ordered for these people, but this is good news. Any business will tell you that eliminating waste means more money for other things, like hiring employees. Corporate Climate Action is not bells and whistles, it is an all hands on deck call. Even without national standards, the Energy Sector sees the handwriting on the wall. Business Like Spectra Energy are investing billions of dollars in clean energy, and utilities are weaving climate considerations into their business plans. All of this means more jobs, not less. We will need thousands of American Workers in construction, transmission, and more to make cleaner power a reality. [applause] you have heard me say this before, but it is worth reiterating again. The bottom line is we have never, nor will we ever have a have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. [applause] there is a reason why empty allegations from critics sound a little bit like a broken record. It is because it is the same tired play from the same special interest playbook that they have been using for decades. In the 1960s, when smog choked our cities, critics cried wolf and said that epa action would put the brakes on auto production. They were wrong. Our air got cleaner, our kids got healthier, we sold more cars. Thank you for the folks that epa. In the 1990s critics cried wolf and said that fighting acid rain would make our industry die a quiet death. They were wrong again. Industry is alive and well, our lights are still on and we have dramatically reduced acid rain. Time after time, when science pointed to health risks, special interests cried wolf to protect their own agenda, not the agenda of the american people. In time after time, we followed the science, we protected the american people, and the doomsday predictions never came true. Now Climate Change is calling our number. And right on cue, these same critics will once again flaunt manufactured facts, standing in the way to meet our moral obligation as stewards of our natural resources. Their claims that science will harm us flies in the face of history and shows a decided lack of faith in American Ingenuity and entrepreneurship. I do not accept that premise, the president of the United States does not accept that premise, we should not accept that premise. We can lead this fight, we can innovate our way to a Better Future. That is what america does best. [applause] yes, our Climate Crisis is a global problem, and it demands a global solution, and there is no hail mary play we can call on to reverse its effects. But we can act today to limit the dangers of punting this problem to our children. It is no accident that our proposal is a key piece of president obamas Climate Action plan. Though there is still much work to be done before we get Carbon Pollution down to be safe levels we need, but i am hopeful. I am hopeful when i see the progress made, i am hopeful because i see the pattern of perseverance that defines america. From the light bulb to the locomotive, america has always turned small steps into giant leaps. We have cured diseases, we have explored the stars, we have connected corners of the globe with the click of a mouse. Because when critics say it in cannot be done, we say you watch us. That is what america is made up, we do not settle, we lead. That is how we will confront this Climate Crisis. When it comes to our plan, we may not agree on the details of how we do it, but i sure hope we agree on why we do it. When our kids ask us if we did everything we could to leave them a safer, cleaner world, we all want to say yes we did. When we think of our children, him parker from cleveland, ohio, it is easy to see why we have to be compelled to act. As governors, mayors, ceos, school teachers, nurses, factory workers, and most of all as parents, in particular the moms who are here, we have a moral obligation to ensure that the world we leave behind is safe, healthy, and vibrant, just like the one we inherited. Our Clean Power Plan is a huge step towards delivering on that promise. Thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] i have some signing today. This is the opening of our second round of engagement. I look forward to it, and whoever said the sword is mightier than the pen, they are absolutely wrong. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. [applause] a discussion on Climate Change initiative and emissionso decrease by 2030. After that, chris smith remembers the 25th anniversary of the prodemocracy protests in tandem and Square Tiananmen square. In a few moments, discussion of baseball in american life, including comments from Supreme Court Justice Samuel alito. And in a little more than an hour, the administration announced the clean air plan to reduce Carbon Emissions from power plants. And in the Heritage Foundation recent supremeow Court Decision striking down limits on Campaign Contributions may have had may affect First Amendment freespeech rights. 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