Transcripts For CSPAN Politics Public Policy Today 20130723

And it was all gods will. Soanyones personality affect did negatively her Husbands Administration, it was certainly jamie jane pierce. Mrs. Pierce suffered greatly from depression and had three sons. Her first two sons died when they were very young. Her third son was 11 years old at the time Franklin Pierce was elected president. On a train ride between andover, massachusetts, and boston, the train went off the tracks and mrs. Pierce saw her last son crushed before her eyes. She considered this to be gods will, as a way of not providing any kinds of distractions for her husband. The fourears, two of pierce years, she did not appear publicly. When she finally did appear publicly, she was always dressed completely in black. It did not help her relationship with her husband and it set a permanent pall over the quality of the administration. The depressing entertaining style, she had black decorations on the table and stiff wired flowers presented at each of the womans seats affected everyone. As one guest said, her woe gun face broke animation in others. Its no exaggeration to say that in that period of time, which was a crucial period of time right before the civil war, mrs. Pierce really did psychologically affect the whole sense of that administration as one that was ineffective with a great sense of malaise to it. She followed by harriet lane, the niece of james buchanan. Harriet lane was the first first lady to welcome a member of the British Royal family as a formal guest at the white house. This being edward, the prince of wales in the year 1816. Youthful, popular, she had listened to the mockingbird named after her, dedicated to her. She made the low neck lace bertha popular. It was her personal relationship with the royal family which raised question about englands role during the civil war. England, of course, remained neutral. There were many people who said at the time that was because of ms. Lanes personal friendship with the royal family that they did so. She entertained the prince just during the beginning of the Secession Movement about a month before Abraham Lincoln was elected president. With Mary Todd Lincoln in the white house during the civil war, her perfect of state china which had been done by other first ladies, her decorating the white house, which had also been done by other first ladies was severely criticized as action incentive to the needs and the conditions of the country. Mrs. Lincoln said it was part of her duty to dress in fine and expensive clothes as a way of lifting the morale of the nation. She felt truly this was her duty and felt that loyal republicans who owed their jobs to her Husbands Administration should help defray the costs of her gowns. Entertaining in the blue room, mrs. Lincoln was harshly criticized for that. How could somebody be spending money on champagne and on food at a time when money was needed for union blankets and guns. And yet she was criticized for not entertaining and halting the public concerts when her son died. There was no National Sympathy of any kind when mrs. Lincolns son, willie died in the white house because everyone was losing family members to the war. But the issue of ones personal life, ones family members came up in an even more harsh way with mrs. Lincoln because she, of course, had come from a southern family and many of her brothers and half brothers and brothers in law fought for the confederacy. When her sister, the widow of a confederate soldier visited the white house, it caused so much trouble and talk in washington that emily helm finally had to leave. Mrs. Lincolns personal friends were questioned. There were stories of her being friends with a drunken russian admiral and her friends with all sorts of questionable journalists in washington. Her project on behalf of the freed slaves for the Freedmans Bureau for the education and employment of slaves was also turned into a political issue. By the 1870s, the white house, the families themselves became much more attuned to the publics responses to their perceptions of white house family life. And so you had lucy hayes and the news that lucy hayes would spend sunday evenings with her family around the piano singing hymns. Mrs. Hayes clothing and hairstyle was compared to the adonna herself. Jimenezes. Mrs. Hayes clothing and hairstyle was compared to the madonna herself. She was seen as a pure and simple image during a time of the gaudy gilded age. She also banned liquor and earned the nickname lemonade lucy. This cartoon of the day shows lemonade lucy smiling in a water bottle and frowning in a wine bottle. But the bun on liquor was more than a personal decision for mrs. Hayes, it was a political decision. Rutherford hayes had been elected in part by the support of the Prohibition Party which was very powerful at the time and made an agreement with the Prohibition Party that if he would ban all spirits in the white house. There was a backlash against this and much criticism of mrs. Hayes for instilling her personal morals in the nations home. Her successor, lou key that garfield refused to continue the ban on liquor, but certainly she and the president were conscious of the hearth and home image that seemed to sell so well on the campaign trail. The family man was seen as the good candidate and mrs. Garfield certainly cooperated against her own visceral action to publiclyities about her good, solid, family life. Fashion, again, became an issue with frances cleveland. Temp s cleveland who, her rans was not to personally drink, she would drink water and turn her wine glass down. She permitted liquor to be served to those who wanted to drink it. Her popularity and eventually the limited access that the white house provided to the press turned into a very ugly situation when rumors began that the president beat his wife. This being the first time that rumors concerning a president ial marriage became common public gossip and made their way into print. It was said that mrs. Cleveland was thrown out of the white house on a rainy night by her husband. Well, in response, mrs. Cleveland began wearing very low cut gowns. Her beautiful shoulders and arms and neck visible to everyone. This in turn prompted the womens christian temp rans union to send a strong protest and begin a campaign to get mrs. Cleveland out of those immoral bare shoulder arms, and bare arms gowns. Reporters also decided to focus on mrs. Cleveland when she was out of washington for the summer and it was a slow news month and they had to somehow presence in washington back home, so they reported that mrs. Cleveland did not like the bustle and would no longer be wearing the bustle. Very shortly after the bustle disappeared not only in washington, but on mrs. Cleveland herself. Americans were beginning to feel that they had a right to dictate the personal style and the prnl choices of a first lady. The use of the family for political purposes reached a great height during the harrison administration. Baby mcgee, the grandson of president and mrs. Harrison was used by the family in photographs and in press stories as a popular sort of popular sort of mascot, if you will, of the add medicine station. Mrs. Harrisons domestic skills and china painting and orchid raising were highly touted. When news were given out about her attempts to fix the white house, it was all put under the sort of umbrella of being a good domestic engineer when in truth it was a political struggle that she went headtohead with the House Speaker on for huge propriation to essentially demolish the white house. The wings and New Buildings and a heart museum and a tour center and a government center. It eventually never came to pass because of president harrisons refusing to make certain appointments to the collectorship of maine and so mrs. Harrisons house bill didnt pass because of political animosity. William mckinleys mother was ed in campaign paraphernalia as a symbol of the close mckinley family since the couple themselves had no children. The president s obsession with his wife, either the demands on his team and his attention was turned into a pious devotion of being he was called a saintly husband. It was marked the first time that a biography, a campaign biography was issued on a president s wife. It was done so to counteract all sorts of rumors that mrs. Mckinley was insane, that she was crippled and that she was catholic. Emember, this is 1896. The Theodore Roosevelt family with the white house Young Children. Not since the garfield days had such Young Children been there and mrs. Roosevelt received a tremendous amount of mail from the public actually concerned in dictating to her what should be the proper education of the president s children. As she said, one hates to feel that all ones private life is public property. She wrote the president , you cant think how much diapers vadse the country about the childrens education. I receive dozens of letters from schools and tutors every day about it. The white house, the notion of a first lady decading the white house truly took on a political purpose during the Theodore Roosevelt administration when during the renovation of 1903, he firm of white, mrs. Roosevelt worked very closely with the architect in constructing essentially what was a stage setting, giving america an imperial look with the classic white columns and the emblems of the flag and the eagle, giving the image of america as the world superpower it had indeed become and also by the early 20th century, the notion of a first ladys Charity Project took on a sharply political and publicly political turn with ellen wilson, the first wife of woodrow wilson. She, of course, had been a parent. Studied at the Arts Student League in new york and she supported the mountain art programs of appalachian families. But her housing bill, the slum clearance bill of 1913 was seen in the black community in washington as racist. It occurred just at the time that jim crow was instituted here in washington and her attempts to place bathrooms, restrooms, and first aid stations into government offices was seen as part of the overall wilson administrations segregation plan. Florence hardings support of the veterans also had a political motive behind it. Mrs. Harding supported the veterans with visits and would frequently hand out candy and cigarettes and write letters to their mothers and girlfriends at home. Her husband had vetoed the bonus bill and mrs. Harding who privately opposed this publicly kept on a strong face in terms of supporting the administrations decision by making these appearances on a regular basis to the wards as if her appearances to the wards were in fact counteracting the reality that the veterans would not be receiving a bonus. Under florence harding, a lot of the traditional role, the center monal role of first lady took on a highly political tone. The traditional role of tree planter, mrs. Harding began the custom of regular tree planting, but it was for various organizations and special Interest Groups that had supported her husband during the 1920 campaign and through his administration. The hardings very much created an image of wholesome maintain street Old Fashioned midwestern image. We are just folks, as mrs. Harding said, shown here touring a better homes in america model. The truth was, of course, that there were poker games going on upstairs at the white house and although this was prohibition, that they were serving liquor in the previous quarters of the white house to their personal guests. This did not reach the publics ear, but the news that a jazz band had enter attended them brought down tremendous and Harsh Criticism from all sorts of religion groups and religion newspapers. Mrs. Hardings personal friendships were also criticized. She was great friends with the multimillionaires evelyn walsh mcclain, who besides owning the hope diamond and being married to the owner of the Washington Post was a morphine addict. Jeff smith who was a great friend of mrs. Harding and mrs. Mcclain frequently seen around washington was the largest bootlegger in the district of columbia, eventually died of his own hand of suicide as the teapot dome scandals were breaking. And while the hardings truly made an effort to present the image of a devoted middleaged couple still on the throes of a youthful romance, the truth was, of course, that Warren Harding had a rather public eye for beautiful women. The press knew it at the time and in fact many of the reporters had covered hardings 1920 campaign heard about it, but they wouldnt report it. The next picture shows president and mrs. Harding at the horse show. You can see where mrs. Hardings eyes are and where mr. Hardings eyes are. By last count, he had five mistresses. One it was a senators daughter, one was a government clerk, one had a daughter by him, one had a son by him, one committed suicide over him and one was his wifes best friend back home. Grace coolidge and her love of the contemporary fashions of the 1920s also served a very helpful purpose for the administration, the coolidge administrations public relations. As someone once said, she did the front door job. She favored this at the time man teller sort. There were a lot of editorials in papers like the New York Times about mrs. Coolidge being sort of with it and fashionable and that this was sort of a good thing for the country. In fact, the Retail Dry Goods Association publicly praised her as an ideal early christmas shopper, a boon to the industry. She was given an award by cartier and worth for her style in dressing shall the first time an American Woman had received such a high honor, which was sort of equal to the nobel prize for a clothes horse and during the economic boon of the 1920s, her shopping sprees for hats, furs and shoes were reported and used by the White House Press office as an example of a woman up to date with the times. Mrs. Coolidge, of course, also did a lot of Photo Opportunities for womens groups at the time. I think this picture shows her cutting the cake for a celebration of the visiting nurses association. She reveled in the role of hostess for womens groups which asked to visitor be photographed and she granted as many requests as possible. It was more than a photo tune, however. It gave consistent focus on her part to working and professional womens organizations without her having to make an overt political statement about women and their political roles. Her project was an involvement with the deaf, the clark school for the deaf. This picture shows her with helen keller at the white house. Behind this was the political purpose. Some of the very first government attempts to service the handicapped occurred during the coolidge administration. During the great deposition, republican president her better hoover had an emphasis on involvism and rather than government help in getting people through the depression who were needy. Mrs. Hoover was seen everywhere doing everything at least once, even sewing for the needy as she is seen here with some of the ladies of the red cross, the senate wives. As president of the girl scouts, she used that group for a political motive. The girl scouts in her possession as president , they were used in her radio speeches. She was the first to actually deliver radio speeches asking them, the Young Children and other children to become sort of a charity core with adults to donate, time, food, money and clothes and implore their parents to also do so for their less fortunate neighbors. There was also political liability now in the guests when invited to the white house. When mrs. Hoover entertained mrs. Oscar due priest, an africanamerican congressional wife to a congressional wives tea, she was excoriated in the south, even censored by the texas la russa for as they said defiling the race line. Texas legislature for as they said defiling the race line. Eleanor roosevelt is send with hen yeta necessary bit the housekeeper signing a pledge to ave food, rubber and useng eftovers during wartime. od] her entertainment for the king england received tremendous criticismment of course, she served them hot dogs because she thought that was the quintessential american lunch food, but she also had various ethnic entertainers, africanamericans playing American Music and many people criticized her for saying this lacked dignity for the king and queen of england. Mrs. Roosevelt was guided, however, by her wise social secretary edith helm. As mrs. Roosevelt said, she initially thought that the hostess role was a useless burden utterly few tile and not a particularly inspiring occupation. Because of the deposition, she thought it was wrong to think very seriously about purely social matters. But edith helm who worked under edith wilson came to coax mrs. Roosevelt into this role. As Eleanor Roosevelt soon realized, being hostess, she said had real meaning and value. The white house had a deep significance as a form of the peoples hospitality to representatives of other countries and to add a sense of nership and to whom it symbolizes the government. Interesting enough, throughout president ial campaigns, f. D. R. s president ial campaigns, mrs. Roosevelt played a very selfhe facing role as she told a reporter, it was proper that a candidates wife be on schedule, offer no personal opinions, remain undisturbed at commotion, limit personal appearances and lean back in an open car so the people can see him. She also knew the value of a good photograph. Besides her involvement in the inutia of government and the bureaucratic reports, she also posed at a soup kitchen dishing out soup. There was no question that the notion of the good will photo carried a strong message by this time. Events outside of the white house that a first lady involved herself in also began to taking on political meaning. Best truman, after attending an event, a tea she had been enviolated to at the d. A. R. Was criticized because by a congressman Adam Clayton Powell because the d. A. R. Still had a restrictive policy and had not pianist to ife, play there. He criticized her as the last lady of the land for choosing to attend a tea Party Outside of the white house at a restrictive organization. Mamie eisenhower played it very close to the vest when it came to politics. She stuck pretty closely to raising money for the American Heart Association and although that was benign enough, even she did not escape censure for what were purely personal decisions like her bangs which were criticized as child issue, like the entertainment of Lawrence Welk and guy lombardo, which was seen as pedestrian and mainstream and not proper for the white house. When she entertained, there were questions whether she served liquor because of old rumors during wartime that she had had a problem with alcohol. When she took trips to elizabeths ardens home in arizona, there were rumors that mamie went to dry out. Some of the things even printed at the time. And when she took a railroad trip, a Free Railroad trip for a private vacation, it was discould haved afterwards that she had broken the railroad act forbidding officials from free transportation. On , certainly fashion tooko much more of a political statement under Jacquelyn Kennedy. It must be remembered that in 1961, 11 million was spent annually in the United States on the clothing industry and 4 million on accessories. In fact, when Jacquelyn Kennedy went on a hat list, president kennedy yelled what was alex rose, who was the president of us milliners union do to in an election, jackie. Catholic women wore more veils to church instead of hats because mrs. Kennedy did. Her interest in contemporary art and jazz all reinforced the administrations impression and the image of the Kennedy Administration as Young Americans taking over, a youthful energetic add menstruation. Yet her focus on the importance of American Culture and the quality of American Culture versus european culture also carried a political message for she, of course, wanted to provide eventually for some kind of public funding for the arts and humanities. That was the idea behind her very interesting guest list of americas most renowned artists and poets for a dinner she held for the minister of culture from the french government as prize the nobel peace winners dinner. Mrs. Kennedy in her white house restoration also reflected a social movement of the time. It helps spur a National History in accurate historical restoration of mansions and some people tried to find politics in this, the placement of the proper trats and what were the politics of the president s who were in the portraits, the fact that the blue room was no longer blue but now white with blue trimming, that it was too french and not american enough, even though she was emulating the monroe period which was french. Jacquelyn kennedy was very smart. She appointed henry dupont as chair of her white house restoration committee. Due upon was a very well known republican and made the statement that her project was a bipartisan nonpolitical issue. Nonetheless, it helped to spur the formation of many local historical and preservation societies. Her Lafayette Square restoration was also part of a much Larger Movement of the 1960s, that of urban renewal and urban planning because it was as part of mrs. Kennedys view in the notion of a restored Lafayette Square that it should be an area of mixed use, meaning commercial space, government buildings, that this should be the Historic Homes should be integrated into a realistic urban plan. In the same manner, lady bird johnsons efforts on behalf of beautification were to promote a program called discover america. As she explained, the United States had a balance of payment problem at the time and president johnson wanted american money spent in america. Go and see your own land, these Great National parks, he told her to tell them, particularly those parks not heavily visited. The role of hostess in the post world war ii era took on a much more important political meaning. There was more entertainment of World Leaders. It was important for musical themes and national an themselves to be accurate, that performers reflect the interests of the guests being entertained. One had to be careful about the lyrics of entertainment and the implications of entertainment. Foreign protocol and customs on men and women had to be followed. The times of meals and the restrictions of menus because of religion views. There was more involvement of the social office with the state department. Had to vited also reflect the businesspeople in the United States dealing with those nations at the time. Even mrs. Johnsons attempts to provide the first, to establish the first Arts Festival at the white house could not escape being politicized when several of the artists decided not to attend and wrote an open letter to the New York Times protesting Lyndon Johnsons vietnam policy. One of them, a poet, got up and read his poem hiroshima, i hersy, e name, john the poet who read that poem in front of mrs. Johnson. In one of her women doer run chosen. Eartha kitt stood up and confronted mrs. Johnson on her husbands policy. Pat nixons trips overseas as the president s good will ambassador also carried important political messages. Her trip to purru during the earthquake came at a time of difficult relations with the government. At the time the president had courted the soviets, seized american Held Properties there and was leaning toward an antiamerican stand. Now he used the president ial palace for the first time to entertain mrs. Nixon. As he said, her coming here has meant more than anything else president nixon could have done and the newspaper of peru said material aid and moral support of northern American People was provided in the example of solidarity in mrs. Nixon. At his independence velasco declared that u. S. Solidarity with peru was signified by the visit of mrs. Nixon. Ar trip to africa served political purpose to liberia, ghana and the ivory coast. She met with officials and discussed rodeeshia and policy and economic aid. She addressed the Ghana National assembly and relayed information to those nations leaders on nixons Upcoming Trip to china. Volunteerism projects on college campuses, also did not the day. E politics of mrs. Nixon was showing by being on collegeeers campuses that not all of the youth was protesting, some were volunteering. But it focused attention on who were supportive of the president and served a beneficial purpose for the administrations domestic agenda and domestic image. Betty ford, after the first plane load of refugee children 1975 crashed, killing 200 of the refugee vietnamese children that it was decided important for her to actually appearance atl the airport, at the hangar, actually, in california, where the second plane load was coming allayd i think in part to some fears and notions about the immigration, gave a very eloquent speech to those vietnamese immigrants who were scared and frightened just coming to the United States, telling themm and that, like so many other generations of american immigrants, that they, too, would be welcome in the United States. Again, a political purpose, an important political purpose. Deliver thisord message was much more effective and much more human way of conveying a political message of administration. Rosalynn carter was criticized style in somef ways but nancy reagan was certainly criticized for having style. H the china gift, for example, that the Foundation Provided to the white house in mrs. Reagans in a month of tough thession and budget cuts by administration. The same day that the china was announced, unfortunately for them, was the same day that the administration decided that qualified as a vegetable for low Income School lunch programs. Accepting gowns on alone from loan from termed, in part, by the reporting of those gowns and the revelation of those into a sort of greedy symbol at the time. On heria spin essentially created her into a an image of the callous side of reaganomics. Whether that was fair or not, it, again, proved, that even the ofans personal choice clothing had an important hertical impact, and even just say no program. She went to do a just say no appearance, mrs. Reagan always protested by an Organization Called normal, the National Organization for marijuana legislation. It provoked controversy in questions about alcoholism and in adults. When she talked about support for home drug testing by parents of kids, a lot of people raised the issue that this was a violation of rights. At the 1998 democratic convention, Jesse Jackson you cant just say no about such problems. Bushs Literacy Program took on political implications. Addressing issues like homelessness and drug addiction, motherhood, as being taken care of or at least assisted by illiteracy, the administration perhaps might controversialome questions about those social issues and whether federal action or funding might have helped. Mrs. Bush enjoyed the traditional role and continued many of the customs years, by 1992, made even her marriage by the press as a question of legitimacy as to whether the as close as it was claimed to be, the same thing, of course, said about the clintons. Bill and hillary clinton, shown lastis second to photograph, dancing at the aaugural ball, shows her in particularly traditional role. Certainly she brought a new chef and there was a focus that he brought on more regional no longerooking, french cooking, it gave a focus perhaps,er diversity, of american regional cooking but questions about her personal friends, her marriage, her law partners, the thompsons, producers. There was no longer any escaping fact that everything a first if it wasr said, even a personal choice, had a implication. This last slide just shows you a formal management diagram of the east wing staff during Nancy Reagans years. You how large and how important an entity the social is. Ce at the white house its just as important as the projects office and scheduling and press. Tonights short film is actually news reel of mrs. Hoover speechese of her radio with the girl scouts during the we will roll that now and i will introduce our panelists. Now, mrs. Hoover, as a girlsentative of the scouts of america, i wish to present to you this report of joinirl scouts efforts to their elders in helping unemployed men, women and their families, in this difficult time when so many of our fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, jobs. O our motto is, be prepared. We have tried to show our leaders, friends and country that our girl scout training as prepared us to give service to those in despair. Our efforts have been very small in comparison to what the grownups are doing but in our home and school, we have tried to bring relief and cheer to those who have needed our help. Am very glad that as your honorary president it has fallen to me to receive this report of scouts and this recent program of relief to those unemployed. I give to you the messages from various persons and to and to the girl scouts, to all the organizations, the women and the girls, helping during the months and will continue helping as long as the need lasts. Ever faithful. Most appreciative of the achievement of the organization operating. U are all the Womens Division of the emergency the spirit will be due to the way in which the women make it and he they would meet this with the same spirit with which they met their ofponsibility in the time save our country and fellow country men and women. Went on to express his appreciation for your and allion with him agencies in his own way and time but i know he is most appreciative. Actually, why dont i start anyway. Wing weigh in on any of the social decisions made during the kennedy years, the menu, thers, the kinds of people who were being invited, the kinds of decisions that perhaps was more or lesso mrs. Kennedy  . F .  .  . n .  .  and yourself . How frequently and what kinds of on . Sions did they weigh in well, the west wing tried to many times but mrs. Kennedy and i formed a phalanx and we managed to the power away. They gave us the names of the politicians that needed to be invited but the guest list was really formed by mrs. Kennedy and by our office. We did all the things about the food and the flowers and the and the west wing did manage to get in the there dinner guests plus themselves. There was a constant barrage of men in theom the west wing to put themselves on the dinner list. Has always wing tried to tell the east wing what to do, from every president and that ive known. Lucy winchester, for instance, during the Nixon Administration, finally had to go to pat nixon and say, i can take orders from not the west wing, im going to resign and pat then put but up to that time, bob halderman, wasnt he the shots . I know Pierre Salinger did it in the Kennedy Administration, tried to. He certainly fixed my wagon two times but and im sure hed never been to a function, he didnt knowledge about these things that we had or that the in every case and im told the same thing was true in the Johnson Administration look, thisd to say, is our baby and you got to butt out of it. [laughter] there was one first lady that period you covered the white house who you think quote unquote traditional role to the greatest political advantage . You dont want me to go back to abe lincoln, do you . Think thinking along those lines earlier and i think of all things considering probably lady bird because she had tremendous political sense. Helped him wonderfully in campaigning. Was campaigning was whenthat possibly he was running for senator, she had to travel some distance to speech,peech, to give a and had an accident en route and sheinjured somewhat but pulled herself together, thumbed a ride, i believe, got there and made a speech. Many people would do that . And then she picked out things it theu touched on country. Raft, too, with 50 other unoutdoor and that was one for the books, i can tell you. The water in the rio grande was so shallow that the raft i was in and Liz Carpenter was in, she get up, and so did all the men. Just one other woman and myself to drag itd they had over the you know, it was so low. Hysterical but lady bird as completely rounded as hostess, campaigner, political and of course the president made his daughters speak during campaigns. Hed call on them. Didnt make any difference if and 16 or 12 and 14, whatever the difference in get up andhey had to speak so he really expected has and they did. Rm mrs. Bush was very successful, the image of mrs. Bush, in a lot of the goodwill things she did and im thinking specifically one we talk about with her was the time she went up and threw army into the salvation pot when they were trying to do thingsth Salvation Army at the mall. That wereink photo ops andxcxcxc the things shec participated in, the event, were they calibrated by her more as political events or as sending messages for the administration in a gentler way . I think certainly the Salvation Army, do you consider that a political thing . I dont. No, i think most of you had some things you do for the party but when you are in that itsion, the presidency, official versus political most of the time. There doing things for administration and you want to benefit the administration but youre doing things for all the your guest lists are bipartisan although perhaps you have some contributors on there probably and people doing with those countries but youre the president of all the people and first lady of all your calculation there is to make an impression worthwhile. Thats in that case, the Salvation Army, at the time she held the baby. That was definitely planned because at that time people were got aids byt you contact and you didnt. They didnt understand so this breakthroughhd   d  d cynicaludaaaauaaaaue can be. Eaddpdd  of these someppddddq politicians, once they get in, do want to perform a public service. This is the problem of ourutu have nos right now, wed running those who are but it would be very nice to see they do get in office, fact, they do want topn nr pem something for  our society is true so we cant say everything done is political once in office. That said, i open this you, youup for all of know, mrs. Clinton, within a being appointed to chair the president s commission on beenhcare reform, theres this past autumn all sorts of clamor about the fact that she is now assuming more of a traditional role, making doingll appearances and nonpolitical things. Do you think that that her as being a nontraditional kind of first lady is what ultimately has hurt her image or brought her numbers down . By doing morehat quote unquote traditional types which are photographed and reported on throughout the nation, covered on the national night, that her numbers are going to come up . Changed and has first ladies represent that. Barbara bush did a lot of work a grandmotherngp lover of dogs and else. Hing u up was raised as her mother was raised. The same kindu of wife and hostess. The home, the children, the entertaining with style and panache. That was her heritage and she it again in the white house. Right after her administration, during the johnson years, the whole world erupted like volcanos. Women who went to work and got divorces and demanded equal rights. And weflower children had free love and free sex, boy was it great for the young. I missed all that. [laughter] andthe whole world changed it became a whole new concept of women and i think mrs. Clinton woman. Epresents the new shes receded into the background because theyve told her to recede and shes playing cool but i cant imagine that back in remain in the the woodwork. I cant imagine that. Its her own self and another world. Chelsea will be like her mother. Our daughters were like us. Our mothers were like our grandmothers. Look at whats happened to women and its a revolutionaryg, exciting time. The next first lady, god knows what shell be like. Hillary still did something no other first lady had done, by setting up that enormous Healthcare Commission of 400 people and then saying it could not be she would not release the names of the people and it covered one minute and the next minute it turned out they did have certain so they shouldus have been open for coverage so its been very sticky, that thing, and shes brought on herself and also when she didnt frankly tell the of theirut what came investments or about her futures investment when she said well she did it on her own and ladder she admitted someone helped her. Didnt make money in the investment, in fact, they lost, but they did make it. When youre in the public eye say one thing flatly one day and then say the reverse people then question you on everything. Agreejj with tish. Think were the last of people who 8, hxid to grow up and live did and i think0apd0b an important x differentiation to make and i think that the world is much, much more complex. It, our economic our system, is all sort of chaos, revolutionary and] evolutionary change going on in are intems in which we and i think that therefore you have the white house and the reflectssy about it this, that the issues are so complex that the public is angry and frustrated that there arent solutions and i think a lot of this reflects in how we feel about this maybe about the sayingncy and people are the presidency is unmanageable. Well, maybe being first lady is too, in todays world. There is no definition of the is arst lady, itn . Xt . P nowin situation. You cannot come out there criticized. G she wasnt elected, theres no mention of her in the constitution, shes not paid and she cant do right because we expect her to be perfect and we dont know what perfect is so we look good but we dont want her to be a clothes horse. Greatt her to be a hostess but we dont want her to buy china, we want her to be opinionatedbut not so no matter what you do, you know, you cant win. [applause] i want to say, in lots of i have a great deal of role. With the word now, maybe i come to this trouble from working from the inside, but it seems to me what really happens here are how these people lead their lives. I mean, what their styles are, how they feel about their children, their childrens involvement, you know, putting photograph, in the i forget which harrison. I didnt see that as a ploy maybe they i can can see just wanting to have the grandchild included, not doing specific political purposes. In the kennedy years, the press was always on mrs. Kennedy photograph those two beguiling children. She didnt want it. She wanted to guard their but then onceall a year she would do something flamboyant such as putting them sled, the old 19th century sled when there was snow south ground, she hitched up the pony and off they went, mrs. Kennedy in this old wonderful sleigh ridin lawn in the southa snow. Of saying towayp the press, leave us alone for now, weve done this for you. I think the first ladies do that consciously. They do want to help the press get their story, they want to cooperate but they want to have it their idea. Theres a symbiotic relationship between the press and the reporters i mean, and house. Te you write stories and sometimes excluded i have been excluded from white house dinners, i was thrown out of the nixon white house. Bad manners . [laughter] i drank my finger bowl. Lf is a siml n beotic relationship that goes on now the president 8 examining more of the lives of we president and his wife as880 look more deeply into families twodimensional. n controversy, if you can stand it, its very positive and usually if youre on the right come out oking to5 . Dealou have to be able to n . With it and its very tough. Ford was such a success because she told the truth and extraordinary in politics, it is so rare that everybody here liked her immediately because she came out and said and they knew it was the truth. But she also did something was very successful and susan and sheila having both is shefor her and that had it both ways in the sense to speak outable on equal rights amendment and buttonn and use hot issues and at the same time a devotede image of quote unquote traditional what wife and mother, a woman who has her husbands concerns childrens concerns, who liked to entertain, was involved in the menus, still playing the fashioned role and yet maybe the press gave her the that. Because she did one of the best social reallyries ever and i do, i think you were great, nancy. You should hold your hand up and they did was and i dont call this political was to parties as a way that youre american, that you bring in different people, you mix,bbbb b u became a    uu b b v likebnb÷ bc the cb   u well,ys, use that, as influence the whole world. And people gave dinner crazy and copied your menus and so forth as they house do with the white but today entertaining is dropping down. People are not having anyone over for dinner anymore. Theyre not, theyre not going to the trouble and so its very lady, its even more important that she talk about the entertaining and the buttons are entertaining theres got to be more and more and more because we need to do theres got to be more and more. Presst happens when the does what they did to nancy drawing theh was farcical realities of may be the average american, and press picks up on the parties and this and that, and they are criticized again . Andou are damned if you do damned if you dont. Nancy reagan, they were not as great loving family. She did not speak to some of her children. The press ignored it. Was very interesting. Still they carried on this idea that they were really somehow or other the grandparents or whatever we needed. They certainly never had their children over. They were very close with each other. What about their children . Once, and ito me said, why is it that you are first lady whose children ive seen at the white house . Children all of our are grown and have their own lives. Theyre living elsewhere. It is true. It is true that the four children, and some of them are fully grown, they were all adults, but they were younger than nancys children. We all know what patty davis is like anyhow. [laughter] i think the first ladies have been fantastic. We have not had one as long as i can remember your history is a lot better than mine that has been scandalous, that has badly behaved, a lousy hostess. I have all been warm, loving, great first ladies. I think we are jolly lucky. I feel that way. [applause] they do a lot better than many of their husbands. [applause] it is an outrage that the cannot slam the president ial plane. They should be allowed to. On their own. They do not get paid. I do not think they should be able to. They get no salary. If they are going to do anything that is official, if you mean to go up and have something in new york, no, or to meet some other man. [laughter] we do know when speaker sam , then died, lady bird president did not think it was right for her to use the airplane. She took a commercial plane, she sat down, at one airport, i think it was atlanta, and had to wait three hours, and finally bought one at 3 00 a. M. , and the exhaustion for someone who did so much for all of us for the country it is better now. I think things like the libyan crisis, there are Real Security factors here. They do not want to bunt off that they do it. [laughter] also, you tie up a lot of plea a lot of people. The fact of the matter is, it is not that simple. First of all, they go in and everybody has to wait and you become a big show while you are doing it. It is not a simple thing. There are a lot of reasons. Eight secret service men going with you. I wanted to ask you about pat nixon during watergate. You were with her in the appointments and scheduling. I am wondering if there are any times that during those watergate months that it was particularly difficult, every time she went to an event regarding some purpose, the press would ask. Onngnm;nylcm is that ever a consideration toc she went ahead and did her schedule. I can remember that one outburst when asked something about the most recent water kate, she said, i love my husband, and she really had it up to here with it. She was always grace us and they went ahead and was always i remember her interviewing her during watergate. She was sitting and watching the redskins game and ew i would ask about watergate because that was the unspoken agreement, if you wanted the tv footage about her watching the redskins game, you did not ask about watergate. When she agreed to make an appearance for the trimmings of christmas season, people said, what do you think about watergate . What about such and such . She would hold her head high and say, i know the truth and the truth sustains me. Everyone thinks she knew the truth. I do not think she did but she thought she did. And she said, the truth sustains me. Julie was the same way, too. She had a press conference. I did a tv interview with her. Again, it was the Wire Services that changed things. I am going back to saying when helen came to the white house in 1960 two cover Jacqueline Kennedy because male editors thought she was a story, that is when reporting really change. Before people did write about what people wore, she then started interviewing people about political issues and asked her about the scandal of the day. Everything changed. Since then, Washington Society existed no more. She said she would go and sally would write soandso got drunk. People stopped inviting people to parties. Also, the press used to make the first lady and the president really mad at those white house functions. The press would corner all the heads of state and top guns and corner them and make none of the guests the senior ranking guests could have access. It was always a war between the president and the first lady. I remember you had a meeting with all of us and said, will you please not surround of the special guests, the movie stars and the celebrities and he said [indiscernible] [laughter]i behaved. Very well ahead. Behaved. People magazine and the People Magazine mentality and reporting came along right at the beginning of the ford administration, the last months of the Nixon Administration. You began to see with betty ford questions of a personal nature reported in several People Magazine stories that you would never have before people ask. The personal detail questions about marriage, the intimate questions about children, nobody dared to ask mrs. Johnson or mrs. Nation nixon whether the johnson girls or nixon goes whether they smoked marijuana but they asked the ford children. There are a lot of factors. The development of the media. Really, people were tired of the Nixon Administration and the lack of information and the lack of candor. They wanted candor and frankness and they wanted to know about the people because character says something about performance. But she was there. I knew her from day one. She was ready to ask. I do not have to defend People Magazine anymore. Lets just say, i think what happened, television happened in america. There were people sitting on television answering every question. If youd say to the present United States, which i did, how do you feel about people playing football without a helmet, and he would say, let me tell you, i went to yell law school. I am really smart. And i would say, who is crazy . Me for asking the question or him for answering . Therefore, i was surprised they would answer the question but you would go out and answer the question. I left People Magazine, and there was a huge brouhaha when they said they would see the white house aides in the Carter Administration smoking cocaine or whatever. This became a huge issue and they did not have people to do it. The question was, why do people answer the question . [no audio] he was sitting there. We were having an interview. It is not abuse that our Public Officials are put to. That kind of question the football without a helmet. The night he was named, they said he could not walk and chew gum at the same time and that is what people were saying. Therefore, you talked and said, how do you feel. I cannot defend him for answering it. Mrs. Ford, the whole ford thing became very bizarre because when he tripped coming off the plane, and i was there and ron denied the president tripped. Then we had videotape. We played the videotape back. We thought he had been shot. Suddenly, the president disappeared from view. We were very frightened. It turned out he tripped. Then mrs. Ford talked about it. There was a coffee table. [laughter] she had a wonderful way with wonderfuljfk had a way with the press. When they would ask the really tough questions, he would say, joe, i cannot believe you asked me that, then he would go, right over there and another reporter would ask the next question. I could not believe my ears when president clinton answered the young 16yearold girl about underwear. You are exactly right on television, people say anything, then you feel you have no privacy. You have to answer the question that somebody asked you. I want to let people in the audience know we will start taking some audience questions if you come to the microphone. Go ahead. In jacket he Jackie Kennedys tour of the white house, i think it was charles asked her, they were in the east room, and she was talking about the Gilbert Stuart portrait of washington, and she was very knowledgeable and this was the first time this kind of thing had happened and she said, are you trying to connect the art with policy . She answered, that is such a tough question. I really believed it was because of her efforts that went in johnson signed. Signed the nea. Absolutely. Why could she not take credit for that . She was an oldfashioned, traditional woman. She used to Lobby Congress all the time for her programs. She would call up the speaker of the house and say, will you do a favor for me today . In a whispery voice. Speaker would go right in and put through any legislation she asked. [laughter] even though she was an Old Fashioned girl in that way, she had a lot of power and she used it on congress. She did. The whole cultural thing. It was really jackie kennedy. It was jackies idea. The reason she could not take credit for it is because even today, for a to be a womand t to be ambitious, it is not permissable. Women cannot be ambitious. Things just happen to us. I just happen to cover the white house. I am very serious. Planning is known as scheming. You cannot take credit for it or else you are widely criticized for it. I asked barbara the question and got sidestepped. Do they wanted as much . Was Jack Killeen Kennedy ambitious . Jaclyn kennedy ambitious . She wanted the white house. She did not like the political world, smoking in her living room and ruining her draperies. She wanted the white house as much as he did. She wanted to be the first lady of land. They are all dying for it. Just one first lady i have known who did not is beth truman. There is no question about it. She did not like it and he could have run again even though they passed a law that you could not have two terms, seven years. Fdrs unfinished term. He could have run again. He told me talking to president s. [laughter] in your bedroom. He told me he did not think he should run again because of the law. In a sense, it was almost seven years. It was really beth truman. I have seen her at a party. I think it was a Party Reception to the club in march and talk to her briefly and was so sure he would not run again. She didnt. He spent a lot of time did not like the white house. Nixon campaigned beside him throughout. I think she never really dreamed of being in the white house. She would shake 4000 hands in one afternoon. She did not have the ambition. She did not have it. We will find out in heaven. [laughter] 1960 election, she was ambitious. 1960. From what i have read and from what i know, in 1968, she was not. She did it because she wanted to. She once said, ive given up up everything ive ever cared for in my life to make my husband president. After the california governorship, she had really had it. My question concerns questions to first ladys that probably should not be asked, and questions that should not be answered. If a first lady lady declines to answer a question, she will probably get more negative fallout from refusal to answer than if she intrigued answers. Is that a correct or incorrect assumption . It might be the way she handled it. Things got personal. She should not handle it that way. She should come right out and say, it is tasteless and bad and disgusting. [applause] i do not think first ladies get asked terrible questions. You ask politicians terrible questions, but i do not think they have been asked terrible questions. The media is so me now, it is unbelievable. Mean now, it is unbelievable. A woman should be able to a president should be able to express his or her opinion. You are in a position to affect change. This is a symbolic office, but you have the opportunity to really do good and to not take advantage of it is a real shame. It does happen too often, perhaps, to the first ladies. I would like to see them answer legitimate questions and express their opinions and do something very meaningful for society. Last week, we had someone on and she was incredible in terms of the detail. [applause] the detail and the projects and the social issues she is involved in and the style questions and entertaining never came up. And yet, you had a woman who came into this position in 1977 and yet, as she said, they remembered the things, she did not serve liquor, she did not necessarily designer clothes. They remembered the down style, the cartoons, because, what you do as well as what you say reverberates. It makes an effect, so no matter what it is, you have to be aware it will land somewhere. There are all sorts of messages in there. You put that very well. It is not only what you say but what you do, particularly with the first lady. Next question . Tonight, i saw on the the news, a quick segment concerning mrs. Clinton. It involved her talking at a school. It may have been a school with low income children. It had to do with something involving dresses for schoolchildren. Breakfast for schoolchildren. I thought, it is nice she is coming out now again in the public and they are trying to do something concerning her image. What struck me was the last line the newscaster said was that the poor children had to wait two hours to eat their breakfast. I thought, my question is, in terms of your knowledge and involvement with other first ladies, how many times does this happen where the first lady is out to do something good and the press distorts it and it comes out not the way it should have been . A second thing is, a frivolous question, in terms of the image of first ladies, what do you think of all of the focus when mrs. Bush had her pearls and also mrs. Clinton, and all the changes in the image of trying to have a sense of her fashion . First of all, i did not see the segment tonight, but it sounds to me like she had inexperienced people, maybe. To keep the children from eating her breakfast, their breakfast, if that is true, and probably mrs. Clinton, if she found about found out about it, would be irate. No good deed goes unpunished. [laughter] every time you try to do something to be really helpful, you get soft in the face. I bet the children were thrilled to be able to see the first lady. Do do you think that happens a lot now that the media is meaner than it used to be . Everyone is meaner. I think it is a tough society we are living in. It is a lot easier in the eisenhower, truman, rosen felt roosevelt area. They are no longer reporting the news. They are digging for dirt. We cannot dump this entirely on the press. What has happened is that the audience has become more important in the story. It is all those people watching television, buying the newspapers and buying the magazines. If people did not, they would report something different. [applause] respond and then we have one more question. ÷ pearls, you probably do not remember, but when mrs. Bushan became the Vice President , the color of her hair was a big dna n e she had a great way she handledn it. She said, if you like my hair and you write and tell me, i have a great form letter i will send you. If you do not like my hair and you tell me, i have a great form letter to send you. It was true. Maybe they are real. I do not know. She did know how to handle. Not answering questions. Last question. Ms. Mason, as a graduate student seriously considering a career in broadcast journalism, why does the press take silly things and blow them into Something Big . For example, asking the president , why do you play football without wearing a helmet, and the fact that he tripped going to an airport or something, and all the sex scandals going on. Even though that tabloid trash sells, does not the media want to take a new approach and focus more on real issues that concern american citizens . The media does that, the New York Times, for the most part, but there are newspapers and magazines that do that. I think, again, that you have to go back to the point that a basic thing has happened in american journalism. The story is no longer the object it is the audience. It is a perversion as it comes over from business. People are buying the magazines. If you do not like it, you do not have to watch it and you do not have to read it. I think, the media is competing. One of the great unreported stories is that no one ever calls nightly news and says, there is not a story today at the white house. It depends on how often you are on the air and how controversial you are. This is one of the great unreported stories. The competition is much greater. When betty and i were reporting covering the white house, so there were maybe 10 reporters at that time. How many were there . There is a huge incredible competition where the world is much more complex. He got his big promotion. It is television people. He got his big promotion after he was really rude to president nixon and the way he questioned him. Without standing up for president nixon, it is the often the office of presidency demands respect. If we do not have respect, who will . We have to. The way he phrased that, it was outright rude. But, he would stand out and he ended up being anchorman. I can i think we can blame the media and im the first to do that. I also think we blame the politicians because they should be questioned. Theyre less candid and that is why we are probing in the wrong way. What has happened has been a great perversion of what should be going on. But i think perhaps we need a little self examination. I think people get governments they deserve and the wars they deserve and the social service they deserve. If you do not like it, go out and become active in politics. Change the world. I am very serious. Before you finish, i was going to say, when people say, what policy should a first lady quality should a first lady have . The Democratic National committee staged the lives of the candidates had them on the stage, and they were all there except jackie kennedy. She was pregnant. Wassister was in unit. There. They were asking these questions. Anyhow, so they asked this question, what quality should a lady have . Lf. She said, it does not make any difference. Whoever is the wife of the president , of the candidate who wins, that is all. It makes no difference what quality she has. May be i mean, in some respects, regardless of who holds the position, whether it is a woman who worked as an attorney for years as as hillary clinton, everyone is going to transfer, whoever it is. They are saying what quality should a first lady have, it doesnt make a difference. I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. I would also like to [laughter] [applause] sheila managed to come and rearrange your schedule in the last few hours and claire in the last few hours and betty in the last week. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] the second series season of first ladies begins monday night. You can watch all the episodes from season one on cspan. Org. Join the conversation on facebook. Com cease and and follow facebook. Com cspan and follow us on twitter. A correspondent for National Journal joins us. The house continues its work on the annual spending bills to keep the federal government funded in 2014. What is coming up this week . Be defenseshow will appropriations in the house. 512 billion. , the issue is, how do you bring it there, and the four procedures set up so they can vote on the bill . That has been the problem on this particular bill. Most republicans and democrats have raised issues with the National Security agency spying program along with some funding the aid tiedegypt, to those two countries. It want to talk about that on the house floor. House republicans leaders want to limit that. They give us a couple of reasons they say there are classified things they are worried might creep up in those discussions on the floor in public. They are also very concerned that some of the programs they do not want cut could become victims to a combination of libertarian republicans on their side and liberal democrats on the other. In your story, you write that there are just 17 legislative days left before the end of the fiscal year, so how was work going on the dozen spending bills that are supposed to keep the government operating past to temper 30th september 30 . Very slowly. They have until the end of the fiscal year before they must renew the current continuing resolution. Take up itslans to first of 12 Appropriations Bills this week. The house has done three and is looking to do for or perhaps five this week. You are right. They only have 17 scheduled the august days, and recess begins at the end of next week. They only have nine scheduled days in september, with the holidays and labor day and constituent workweeks. We may see an incredible latch lastditch sprint of activity, or we will have to consider watching them put together a makeshift continuing resolution once again for the start of the fiscal year. You mentioned overall spending in the defense bill. Do the levels stay under sequestration caps . It does carry the sequestration, that in a way that would impact other bills but in a way that would impact other bills. Members on both sides of the aisle have suggested privately that defense programs should be hit a little bit less than social programs. Obviously democrats have a , but the waythis they did the cr last year with regard to defense spending that seems to be the way they are heading this year, to take a little less out of defense and more from other programs. The house is planning to consider to bills dealing with the epa. What are those bills about . Those are about republican messaging basically. For instance, one of them would require the epa to do a report on any suggestion or program that would cost 1 billion or more to implement grid is are not going anywhere in the senate. It is a way for House Republicans to say they are cutting down on regulation again or trying to. Cutting down on costs to businesses. For staff correspondent the National Journal. We appreciate your time. Moments, a discussion on the Israeli Palestinian conflict and prospects for middle east peace that includes former president jimmy carter. In about an hour, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, representative mike rogers, on the threat of cyber espionage. Now former president jimmy carter leads a form on the israelipalestinian conflict and middle east security. The Carnegie Endowment for middle east peace posted the panel. A group of World Leaders brought together by nelson mandela, the elders, Work Together on peace and human rights issues. This is an hour. Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. We are honored to have with us so many distinguished members of the club, even though the elders club has been formed six years ago by president mandela of south africa, this is the first public event for the club and we are very honored it takes place in washington. Of course, we have with us president carter. I do not need to go through the introduction. And the u. N. Envoy to syria. President ahtisaari is also [laughter] the 2 the focus for this meeting is the palace dan israeli the palestinian conflict. This event could not have been more opportune given the announcement friday the delegation is visiting washington at the start of this planned engagement. Members will explore how they can be helpful. From washington, they would go directly to london meeting with paid. Meetings in beijing and paris will follow. Today, they held talks with secretary kerry and susan rice, mainly on the middle east and why they are not in a position to tell us what they told them, exactly. We would be hearing from them about Matters Regarding the Peace Process and what needs to be done. I thought i would ask of your impression of where matters stand. What can we expect from the latest initiative of carries and and therrys upcoming negotiations and people are still skeptical whether negotiations will need to break through or whether we will see another endless process. You have been a peace negotiator who has been able to bring the two sides together. What can you tell us about the latest round in what can we look for that might offer us more hope . Thank you first of all for letting us come and thank you for coming to be with us. I think it is accurate to say the elders have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of probing probing for progress in the middle east. This is one of the primary charges we got. Visits to the middle east, to israel, west bank, and gaza. As well as to jordan, lebanon, and egypt. We have been able to keep in close contact with all those countries and leaders as best we can. On my left, he has been responsible for the Peace Process in syria. Before that, the now chair, was the convoy for peace in syria. In many ways, the elders remained quite deeply involved in the struggle for peace. We have a few characteristics. None of us are involved in politics directly. Many people have described us as has been politicians. One of our requisites for membership is that we do not hold any public office. One of our members stepped down when she was elected to the parliament. That was we meet with him, we choose, and we say what we really believe and we are not constrained by whether or not we will be reelected or put it is positions of authority. That has given us a chance to meet regularly, as we wish, with the leadership in hamas. We also go to north korea to bring some relationships with north korea. We go where we with wish. We have an insight we always share at the end of our sessions with leaders directly involved and who still hold public off this office. A personal report is always send very soon after we get back from the trip, in which i am involved from the elders. All of the elders have our own organizations to pursue. Mayor robertson is one of the groups. She is the commissioner on human rights. She has been given a choice by the United Nations to deal with the great lakes region, which includes rwanda and the congo and also uganda. She is working on that. She is with us today. She had to leave to go to another meeting. They would be with us today but they have been in russia meeting with the foreign minister to meet and talk about some of the same subjects. Our next visit to the members of the security council, that would be going to moscow. That is what we do in general. We have seen with great pleasure and excitement the intense efforts john kerry has made to recommence the Peace Process in the middle east after five years of a wreck we essence date. No one has known exactly what he is doing because his mission has been very quiet. We also know from the news media, i am not quoting anything john kerry has told us, but we have known netanyahu has a coalition in israel that is heavily dependent on extreme, white right wing groups, but one state that controls all of the area, he is quite dependent in his government for their support. That opens up a very good chance that we should include a Peace Agreement based on anything concerning settlements. Forming a new coalition is a possibility. On the other hand, the head of the plo has very low support, politically speaking, from his own people, and certainly not from hamas, who are now concentrated there in gaza. Both leaders are in adversarial worlds in the holy land and are seriously constrained by their own constituency. If and when they come to the peace talks, they will have shown a great deal of courage, politically and personally, in bringing about this chance they might be embarrassed later when they have to make some concessions. We have very much been impressed about the massive effort being made, not just to bring them to the peace table, but also trying to correct some of the devastating blows done against the Palestinian Community economically. There are so many things that can be done, in palestine, to abbreviate, to improve and make sure they have some insurance. So they can at least survive and have an Economic Life of their own. This is what has been going on so far. We also met with a ceo this morning and he explained what he thought were some of the attitudes of the American Jewish community. I believe from my own experience that if and when progress is being made, which will happen, a solution with an independent and free and safe israel living nextdoor to a palestinian state, that they would have support not only on a worldwide basis. Also overwhelmingly in america. I think we will reserve my time related to any questions you specifically might have. Thank you for giving me this chance. Thank you, mr. President. I would like to turn down turn now to give us an update of these negotiations in an extremely difficult problem. In syria. It is a pleasure and an honor to be here and to see many friends, very distinguished people. It is always a pleasure for me. I am sure everybody here is familiar with the situation in syria. I dont need to hide the depressing numbers that characterized the situation. 100,000 dead. 2 million at least, maybe three, maybe four, maybe five. The destruction you will see on your screen every night. That makes cities in syria look like pictures of berlin, 1945. To say that the situation is bad would be an understatement. The situation is bad and getting worse. It has been getting worse for two years now. The important thing to mention here is that, at long last, the russians and the americans have gotten together and a little bit of what they have said is what ive just told you. It is extremely dangerous, not only for the city, but also for for the syrian people, but also for the region. We americans and russians believe there is not military solution but a political solution is necessary and we americans and russians are going to Work Together and with others to see this political process happen. We saluted this development with a great deal of hope when it happened on the seventh of may of this year. And secretary kerry have met several times with him since and they will meet again in a couple of weeks. The United Nations has met with both of them. We have met with russia twice. We will try to see what are the conditions necessary to bring about that would make an international conference, a u. N. Conference on syria with good success. I do not think we have those conditions already there. But i think everybody is working to get those conditions. The elements are there. They have been there for exactly one year. One year and a few weeks. On the 30th of june this last year, there was a conference organized thanks to my predecessor. And the results of that conference was a detailed sketch of what the solution of for serious should be. The solution for syria should be. The idea now is to organize another conference that is ferred to this time, we referred to as geneva 2, but this time, we hope there will be, we hope there must be, delegations, because geneva has said what is needed is to bring the Syrian Regime together so they can put together to plan and a process to implement the decision. This is what we are trying to, these are the conditions we are trying to make create. We are just discussing directly or indirectly with the government of syria and damascus. With the neighbors of syria, because i think it is not a secret it is dangerously mutating into a regional conflict. Ask the jordanians and they will tell you there are two countries i do not know what word to use. They are sinking under the weight. I think you have one million, more than one million in georgia. In jordan. Less than one million in lebanon. Someone was telling me the other day the second city of importance in the country is now inhabited by almost 50 of its inhabitants are serious. Are syrian. If you remember the few refugees who went to italy from olivia two years ago, the whole world from libya two years ago, the whole of europe was up in arms people. ,000 having already more than one million refugees, and, i think it is more or less, every day, and it is still continuing up to 6000 refugees. A little bit elsewhere. So, the situation, once again, it is extremely bad. The country is being destroyed. I was heavily criticized by both sides a few months ago when i said, what they are doing is cooperating to destroy their country. Therefore, the plea addressed to both the opposition and the government is to show some kindness. To let people into their country and also to their history i am sure there are many of you who know syria who know how rich a country this is. Now, in homs, there is a church that goes back to the year 57. It has been destroyed. There is a mosque that has also been destroyed. The mosque has been destroyed. The market in aleppo has been burned. Of course, in situations like this, you have a lot of habitats stolen and taken out of artifacts stolen and taken out of the country. It is not only the present and the future of syria under threat. It is also the past. Our family history, really, is being destroyed. How hopeful are we that a solution will be found . We are very hopeful. There is no other way but to hope and to work but it will not be easy. Thank you very much. I thought we could ask you about the linkages between syria and palestine, including the roles they could play. The role iran could play with rowhani. What do you make of all of these linkages . I was asked by my colleagues to come to new york and talk. And to find out what their attitudes were. I was in new york in february of last year. [indiscernible] [laughter] [indiscernible] i met the representative because the american and chinese representatives were in the capitols. Annan was there to take up the special envoy tasked while i was in new york. Disappointedly that the permanent members were so incapable of starting to talk. Members, andanent i am an old u. N. Hand, as many of you know,. I always say that permanent members have an important and responsible task could they have more response build even ordinary members. Responsible task. They have more responsibility than other ordinary members. From my talks with the permanent members, i do not feel it would have been important. Brahimi say, the situation has deteriorated, but when i think about these linkages, i am much more optimistic than i was a few months earlier. For various reasons. With the nothing to do three countries that the chairman mentioned. See thek at how i permanent members are getting their acts together on other issues as well i mentioned today, i see that we may have a situation developing where the americans, chinese, and russians can actually cooperate in the dean tries asian denuclearization. Every opening will help in the other areas as well. A serious effort ,tarting, hopefully this week on israelpalestine. That is an important element here as well. Lately, not only here in washington but in startl, that finally we hearing that we should seriously start looking for political and not talksyria about military solutions. I think far too little has been discussed and thought what will happen if one seriously starts pursuing military options in syria . What are the consequences . Positivelso developments, as you mentioned, the new president in iran, which definitely gives an opening. This is a moment where we actually have to talk to dialogue and start the not only on the Nuclear Issues but on other issues as well. Therefore, i hope that these developments that i have mentioned now it will take , but we will finally start looking for political solutions, which i think we should have i was disappointed the year ago because i there would have been an opening to get it done, but as a special envoy of the secretarygeneral on a number of missions in the past, i know how brilliant those personal representatives are. If they do not have the main actors, they cannot do anything. Guest i was left wondering, the state insurance commissioner has until august 15 to, put some kind of rules that say who is ,he navigator and what criteria and i was wondering how many would get bogged down. It could happen or not happen on the. Utah, tory in victoria in utah. Caller i wanted to know what the rationale reasoning was for making them work the work week 30 hours rather than keeping with the 40. Why wouldnt that be something that they would take about it in rid of like they did the class act . Guest there are some bills out for that. The idea was that they wanted to maximize coverage in the workplace. It is written and the law that it is 30 weeks. In the law that is 30 weeks. Because it is written in the law, it is not something that treasury or the department of health and Human Services can say, ok, we are going to change it. There is little more more wiggle room if it is a regulation. With the law, congress has to change it. Will Congress Change it . There are a lot of obstacles to that. Im not entirely sure that in an entire year there is always wheeling and dealing i want this law passed, and if you want my vote, we can do that. You package pieces of legislation to make them more acceptable to get the votes you need. There are some democrats including a few liberals who are saying, they are hearing this arty our week as hard 30 hour week as hard. There is legislation pending. We have another year for this. Could that change . Im not predicting it is, but i wouldnt drop over with surprised if we saw change. If you are parttime and you do not lets say they go back to 35 hours or 40 hours the people who do not get it at work could go to the exchanges and be eligible for subsidies or for medicaid in the states that are expanding medicaid. Lets hear from bob in Colorado Springs on the independent line. Caller good morning. Im wondering about the credit the in game. I went out to connect colorado. Get 1000income, i credit. If i had 63,000 of income, i wouldnt get any credit. Next year i will be able to play with the credit. One thing i noticed when i went plan, the cost of a bronze was going to cost me 1500 a month before the credit. If i did not have the credit, that plan would amount to about 28 of micro sink him. Gross income. Guest i do not think you are subject to the mandate it reaches a certain percentage of your income. Then you are not legally obligated. They have a technical definition of modified gross income if it became unaffordable, you do not have to have it. I do not know the specifics of exactly all the plan options in colorado, but there are people wherever you put the limit if you put it at 50,000 or 80,000, the one the person one dollar above that with any thatof economic benefits, is why it is sliding. Low income people get more than the person who is right up at 399 of poverty. There will people who fall right on the line. Can probably talk to an accountant about how to get your income so you can get some help, or you might be exempt. Host are you still with us . Caller yes. Host how are you learning about the law and what it means for you . Caller there was a lot of advertisements in colorado starting about a month ago. They gave the website on the advertisement, so i went to the website and put in my age and my wifes age, and i do have a lot of control over my income. I already talked to my accountant. Guest you cannot fight the law, but you can talk to people about what you can do legally. Host joann kennon, political healthcare editor. You can see one of her recent stories about representative earl blumenauer, legislation he is working on yet again. The bill that became known as the Death Penalty or couple years ago. It really came close to blowing up the healthcare lot in the summer of 2009. It is a simple bill that became the reaction was anything but simple it says if you are on every five years, you can talk to your doctor about the care you would like at the end of life and get a documented and make sure that you understand your choices and that the doctor would get paid for his time. The doctor gets paid for cutting you open, and this still would say, the doctor can also get paid by listening to you in a fairly complicated discussion. Dodoesnt say you have to dnr. It doesnt say you cannot get what you want. Your doctor should know what you want. The all remember what happened. He still thinks it is a good idea to have your doctor know what you want at the end of your life. He brings it back every year. He doesnt collect the Death Penalty bill. Joann kennon, thank you so much for talking with us. On the next washington journal, will discuss the congressional black caucuss plans to inform minorities but Healthcare Options of Oil Available in the Affordable Care act. He will also be joined by republican representative Patrick Mchenry of north carolina. He will discuss the role of the iressa in the role in targeting political groups and in implementing the Affordable Care act. We will also discuss what is in the healthcare law for the selfemployed. Live onton journal is cspan at 7 00 a. M. Eastern everyday. President obama spoke with the Group Organizing for action which advocates for the administrations agenda. One of the things he talks about was his upcoming speech on the economy. 15 minutes. This is 15 minutes. [applause] hello, everybody. Hello, ofa thank you. All right everybody, sit down, please. Youre getting me embarrassed. It is good to see all of you. [applause] i miss all of you guys. I miss you. Can everybody please give bill a big round of applause for the great introduction . [applause] im so proud of him. I want to thank our outstanding partners, Senate Majority leader, for being here. [applause] and our outstanding democratic nancys, representative policy, for being here and here. Mainly i just wanted to see all of you guys. And say, hey. Michelle says, hey. The girls they went off to cap. We are a little lonely at home right now. Bo says, hey. It is wonderful to see all of you from all across the country. I know you guys have all been working hard today. All kinds of training, all kinds of new ideas, everybody sharing approaches to how we get folks involved in our democracy and our country. I could not be prouder of not just the work that you did before the campaign and during the campaign, but more importantly the work that you are doing now after the campaign. It is inspiring to me. [applause] i had a chance to see some of your fellow organizers backstage and talk to them. It just reminded me of what an incredible crosssection of people we have involved. From rural areas and big cities,ducators, Business People folks who are just committed to making sure that the promise of left to theot just professionals here in washington, because that can , but that folks all across the country are consistently involved and engaged and offering their ideas and pushing and prodding the political system to make sure it is responsive to families. Office, irst ran for have always said that running for office is not just about getting elected. I believe in winning. Winning is good. [laughter] office and you win so that you can actually get and stun. Things done. It is the beginning, not the end, the process. It puts you in the position to deliver on behalf of the folks who are fighting for. I ran in 2008 and 2012 because i believed that america was forged out of this basic bargain, the idea that if you are willing to work hard, if you are willing to put in the effort, if youre willing to sacrifice and make hard decisions and delay gratification, if you do all those things, you can make it here in america, regardless of where you came from, what you look like, who you love, what your last name is. That was the idea behind the first campaign, and that was the idea behind everything i did after i was president. The good news is because of the work that we have been able to and moreer, importantly, thanks to the grit and determination of the American People, we have made enormous progress over the last five years. Things have changed for the better. Just like we sought to bring about when we worked so hard back in 20072008. Now weve got to keep the momentum going. Awaywe have done is clear the rubble of this incredible crisis that we went through. Is to get backge to that first order of business, the challenges that are facing families that were facing families long before the crisis and Great Recession hit. We have gotten back on level ground, but now weve got to keep climbing. There are still too many of our friends and neighbors and family members who are out there hurting. Who are still struggling. For still treading water. Beneath our feet is a little firmer than it was, but we have a long way to go before middleclass families feel secure and before those who are willing to strive to get into the middle class have more letters of opportunity. Ladders of opportunity. We have created 7. 2 million jobs over the last 40 months. The fastest job growth that we have seen since 1999. Which is good. [applause] but way too many folks out there are still looking for work. For those who were lucky enough to have a job, wages and incomes are still flatlining, whereas for the top 1 , they are still seeing massive increases in their wealth and income sprint we have growing inequality in our society. And a continued sense of insecurity when it comes to ordinary families. We have seen record numbers of people go to college. Person you meet, they talk about the incredible debt burdens that they are carrying us and is a graduate, and they wonder whether or not he will be able to pay it off given their employment prospects. We have seen healthcare costs inflationr healthcare decline, since we put the Affordable Care act into place. Savings stillhose have not been enjoyed by a lot of ordinary families. It hasnt been passed onto workers. Across the board, we have made progress, but we have not yet delivered on restoring fully that basic argan that we bargain that we believed in, the idea that if you acted responsibly, if you work hard, you can make it. Because we have a lot more work to do, on wednesday, i will go back to galesburg, illinois do we have any illinoisans here . [applause] they didnt give you any seats . Andre going to galesburg, illinois, and the reason is we are going back to knox college, which is where i gave my first big speech after i had been elected to the u. S. Senate. This was back in 2005. I talked at that time about the Building Blocks that we needed to put in place, the foundation, the cornerstone that we needed to make sure the American Dream is alive and well. I am going to talk about where we need to go from here, how we need to put behind us the distractions and the phony debates and nonsense that somehow passes for politics these days, and get back to basics. Refocus on what it it is everybodys talking about around the kitchen table, what people are talking about daytoday with their families, and it is going to be the kickoff to what is essentially several months of us trying to get washington and the press to refocus on the economy and the struggles that middleclass families are going through, but also for us to start exploring some big and bold ideas, some of which i have offered in the past, some of which will be new, but allow us to consistently, steadily make progress. Here is the thing it will be a pretty good speech [laughter] learned i have given some pretty good speeches before [laughter] then things still get stuck here in washington. Which is why i will need your help. We had close to 20 Million People who were involved in the last campaign. Close to 20 Million People. We had 4 Million People actively in five dollar, 10 dollar, 20 increments to the campaign. Some of those folks, they wanted to have dinner with george clooney. I understand that. [laughter] themome of them, most of i like to think did so because they believed in the mission and the cause of making sure that we are restoring a be andf what america can that we are passing it on to the next generation. One of our challenges i know what you have been talking about all day is, how do we keep people involved . Naturally, it is not going to be as full of razzmatazz as a campaign. First of all, we do not have 1 billion to spend. Second of all, there is just something very clear about a campaign and an election date and voting and targeting. Nevertheless, in some ways, this stuff is more important. That is where all of you come in. How are we going to make sure that we are engaging all of the people that we touched during the course of the campaign in this central question of arising,and building thriving, active, growing middle class . That is why we have been mobilizing people on a whole range of other issues. It is the reason why we are going to need you to continue to stay involved to get Immigration Reform across the finish line, because now is the time for us to get comprehensive regression reform done. [applause] Immigration Reform done. [applause] it is the reason why we will need to need you to stay involved on Climate Change and make sure we are passing on the kind of planet to our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren that is the same. [applause] it is why we continue to have you guys get so active on the Affordable Care act, because starting on october 1, we are going to be able to sign up people are these marketplaces for these marketplaces that will give people a square deal when it comes to their health insurance. But we can only do it with you. [applause] weve got to get folks activated and involved. Ultimately, what you do dayto ,ay away from the tv cameras that is what is going to make it powerful difference. Usede same way that bill some of the skills he used during the campaign to now andnize around wildfires Environmental Issues in colorado, hopefully all of you have taken away something from your involvement and made it manifest throughout communities all across the country. We need you to keep on doing that. That is the essence of citizenship. That is whatse, the campaign was about. I always remind people, ive run my last campaign michelle is not sorry about that. [laughter] daysgot a little over 1200 left in office. I am going to spend every waking minute of every one of those days thinking about and acting upon any good ideas out there that are going to help ordinary americans succeed. To make sure that the next in theion believes American Dream, because they have seen it in their own lives. That is how i am going to spend my time. I hope that is how you are going to spend your time. [applause] if you do, i guarantee you, we will continue to make progress, and we will deliver on everything that we talked about in 2008 and 2012. Thank you very much, ofa. I love you guys. [applause] keep it up. Are you still fired up . [applause] the chairman of the house intelligence committee, representative mike rogers, criticized china on monday for statesponsored Cyber Attacks against the u. S. Here are a few minutes of his comments at the International Institute for strategic studies. The next level up is certainly one we have talked about frequently, the chinese, primarily, economic espionage, where a nationstate has tiered its military and Intelligence Services towards this single focus of stealing intellectual back,ty, taking it repurpose and that intellectual property, and competing illegally against both u. S. And european, and asian, companies. A huge problem. Keith alexander, the director of the nsa, has called it probably the largest transfer of wealth illegally in the worlds history. Many believe it is pushing 2 trillion in value. Of lost and stolen intellectual property. These are the blueprints of companies. They go in and spend as much time they need to spend. They will have these long, persistent threat. They will lay there as long as they need to to find specific pieces of intellectual property to steal and bring back again for repurpose in. What we are finding i talk about the chinese, and other nations do it, but nobody even comes close to the level and comparison when it comes to theft of intellectual property they have certain sectors of the economy of which i will identify and then pass on to their units who are designed to steal that particular intellectual property. When you get up in the morning, if you are the i. T. 30 guide for the Manufacturing Sector piece or a pharmaceutical or biologic piece, or military keys of hardware, it could be on a trade deal, you get that list of companies and sectors that you are supposed to target until you are successful in penetrating if you are the i. T. Securityguys anonymous list to be on. An ominous list to be on. You are responsible for defeating a nationstate and its economic espionage committees. That is why we are losing this fight, not because we do not have great i. T. Guys i guarantee you its a nationstate dedicates its intellectual capital and resources to getting into your network, eventually they are going to get one otherod morning. Bad piece of news. We have seen this in china. Some of these very enterprising, young cyber hackers who are designed and trained and employed by the chinese government, either they are military or civilian Intelligence Services, to steal intellectual property they are very good. They spend their 8, 9, 10 hours a day doing the work for the chinese government. Then they have realized, if you are a company on that list but you are way down the list, why not pick up the phone, call that company, and say, im free nights and weekends . For a little cash, i would be happy to spend my time trying to get intellectual property. We understand our problem set. We lets say it is 10 people. Half of those say it will boot on the nights and weekends. They have increased their ability towards cyber economic damage to the United States and our allies by 50 overnight. This is a huge problem. The reason they think they can go there is because there has been no consequences i mean, no consequences to their economic espionage. It has been a free run. If you think about that china feature grow at 6 , 7 to sustain their economic social they are not doing it by innovation. They are doing it by theft. You are the victims of that. We will be lucky to grow at 2. 5 this year just to meet their this year. Just to meet their number at 7 , they are not innovating. You can do the math. Other innovative economies around the world and the United States, very dangerous stuff. If you look at the last level that concerns us this is the stuff they talked about in the beginning, many called it the digital pearl harbor or other things to try to get people to thatnd the gravity is militarystyle or terrorist style Cyber Attacks for the sole purpose of creating chaos, causing damage, punishing enemies. Billy house, a correspondent for National Journal joins us. The house will continue its work to keep the federal government funded in 2014. What is coming up this week . The big show will be defense appropriations in the house worth 512 billion. The issue in the house is, how do you bring it there and howd you get the floor procedure set up so they can actually vote on the bill . That has been the problem for the last week on this particular bill, both republicans and democrats have raised issues of the National Security agency ,pying along with some funding to syria and egypt, activities tied to those two countries they want to talk about that on the house floor before passage. The House Republican leaders want to limit that. They give us a couple of reasons. They say there are some classify things they are worried might creep up in those discussions. In public. In reality, they are very concerned that some programs they do not want cut could become victim to a combination of libertarian republicans on their side and liberal democrats on the other. Rightyour story, youre that there are just 17 legislative days left before the new fiscal year begins. How is work when on the dozen spending bills that are supposed to keep the government operating past september 30 . Very slow. They have until september 30, the end of the fiscal year, before they must renew the current continuing resolution. The senate plans to take up its first of 12 Appropriations Bills this week. The house has done three and is looking to do for or perhaps five this week. You are right. They only have 17 scheduled legislative days. The august recess begins at the end of next week. They only have nine scheduled days in september with the holidays and labor day and the constituent work week. We will see an incredible lastditch sprint of activity, or we will have to consider watching them put together a makeshift continuing resolution once again for the start of the fiscal year. You mentioned overall spending in the defense bill. Do those levels stay under sequestration caps . It does carry sequestration, but in a way that would impact other bills. Members on both sides of the aisle have both privately and thatpublicly suggested defense programs should be hit a little less than perhaps social programs. Obviously democrats have a this, but in the cr last year with regard to defense spending, that seems to be the way they are headed this year, to take a little less out of defense and more from the other programs. Later in the week, the house finds to consider two bills dealing with the epa. What are those bills about . Those are about republican messaging basically. For instance, one of them would require the epa to do a report on any suggestion or program that would cost 1 billion or more to implement. These are not going anywhere in the senate, but it is a way for the republicans to say they are cutting down on regulation again or trying to. Cutting down on costs to the businesses. Billy house as a staff correspondent for the National Journal. In a few moments, a Brookings Institution forum on the effect of immigration policies on cities. Washington journal is live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. This morning we are looking at several aspects of the Affordable Care act, including the role of the irs and what Healthcare Options are available for minorities and the self employed. A couple of live events to tell you about his morning. , labor te Health Committee will hold hearings on the president s new nominees for the National Labor relations board. That is on cspan 3 at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. ,ere on cspan at 10 30 eastern democratic senator ron wyden of oregon will be at the center for American Progress to talk about the nsas collection programs, security, and privacy. That role of the first lady, she becomes the chief confidant. She is the only one in the world that he can trust. He unloads to her and talks to her. They have all done that. They are all strong women. They accompanied usually a strong man to where he was. I would say that is their main role, confidant to the president. Our original series first ladies influence and image examines the public and private lives of these women. Watch the encore presentation of first ladies from Martha Washington to ida mckinley starting august 5 on cspan. Now a Brookings Institution forum on the effect of immigration policy on cities. The discussion includes White House Domestic Policy Council on ther Cecelia Munoz economic effects of Immigration Reform. This is an hour and a half. Welcome to brookings. We really appreciate you joining us this morning for a discussion about Immigration Reform and its implications in major metropolitan areas. I want to set the conversation today and why we are focusing on cities and metropolitan areas, particularly as we focus on this important topic. Our program recently released a book coauthored by bruce adn jennifer [indiscernible] called the metropolitan revolution with an ambitious subtitle, house cities and metros are fixing are broken politics how cities and metros are fixing our broken politics. Leaders in cities and metropolitan areas across the country are stepping up with innovative, often Bipartisan Solutions to some of the super sized challenges of our time, such as reviving the Manufacturing Sector in northeast ohio, one firm with one University Partnership or Industry Partnership at a time. In denver through primarily local funds, or through boosting exports and trade at the point of production, such as in portland, oregon. Todays forum is about local leadership in another super sized issue, managing the flow and immigration of immigrants. Now, this morning we will hear how leaders in regions of as diverse as Silicon Valley, Salt Lake City, and new york are moving forward to advance opportunities for immigrant families, workers, and employers in the absence of comprehensive Immigration Reform. To be sure, regional leaders must leave because they know the unique assets of their economies best, but they cannot go it alone. A strong and transparent partner goes a long way to enabling on the ground social and economic success. Our panel today will remind us why comprehensive Immigration Reform matters to strengthening regional economies and opportunities. I also hope that you will learn that if washington cannot make inroads on Immigration Reform, there does remain a silver lining, that progress is still possible because of the hard work and creative collaborations and regional leaders. We had the good fortune a hearing from one key federal munoz, theilia director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She has long been a champion for immigrants rights, both prior to joining the administration and now, where she has been working tirelessly within the administration and with members of congress to get a program that programmatic and legislative reforms done. As a test of it, she received the macarthur genius award in 2000. I also wanted to take note that cecilia was born and raised in detroit. Her father works as an engineer at the ford motor company. Digit time permitted we are hoping to get a window into whether there is a shortterm role for the federal government to get out of its fiscal crisis and emerge as a matter mighty center of innovation and production, but in the meantime lets focus on the topic of today. Please join me in welcoming cecilia munoz. [applause] thank you very much, amy, for that introduction. I am a big, big fan of brookings and this is an incredibly important forum. Thank you for allowing me to be part of it. As you have heard, i have worked on immigration policy for over 25 years. While this issue is discussed and decided upon, the impact of the discussion around the country, dealing with the implications, helping them become fully integrated into american life, as you heard i know this from personal experience. I am from detroit, the daughter of immigrants from bolivia. I grew up surrounded by communities populated around the world. The neighbors were from the ukraine, finland, from all over. This is very much part of the detroit story as much as it is the american story. California, chicago, building coalitions. Immigration and integration happens in local communities. When i started at the white house before i became the director of domestic policy council, it means i managed the white house relationship with governors and mayors across the country. In that role i worked closely with local leaders as they struggled to recover from that recession. Many of them from both Political Parties understood and understand the role they play in helping them grow the local economy and get through difficult economic times. I can tell you that president obama understands this as well. The president developed a view that Immigration Reform was not just the right thing to do, it was an economic imperative. Two weeks ago bipartisan Immigration Reform bill that passed, it was a significant there will be a significant cost to our country if Congress Fails to act. Let me just give you a few of the highlights. There will be more investments. Our economy will grow by an additional 5. 4 . If Congress Acts, deficits will fall by 850 billion, our debt will shrink as a share of the economy. If Congress Acts, the Social Security trust fund will be extended by two years and the shortfall will be reduced by nearly half of 1 chilean. Of 1 trillion. If Congress Acts the recovery of the Housing Market will be strengthened thanks to stronger demand and homes in neighborhoods hardest hit by the recession. If Congress Acts, through the permanent authorization of travel promotion that will provide a significant boost to tourism and hospitality around the country. Yes, it is a moral imperative, a security imperative, and it is about basic fairness, but on top of all of that the Economic Cost of inaction is too high. I should add that if Congress Acts, we can finally address the challenges cities have been facing as they grapple with the symptoms of our broken immigration system. Congress has the authority to enforce, local governments live with the results of what congress does and fails to do. Because congress has failed to address the broken immigration system for years, local governments wrestle with the challenges of undocumented immigrants within their communities. States and municipalities have to face these challenges in a variety of ways. Attempting to engage local Law Enforcement officials, that is a federal function, to the states that passed in state tuition laws. Police forces wrestle with challenges of building relationships within communities in the fear of context within communities, making it hard for folks to come forward. School districts worked to integrate children through the fear the their parents may be deported. As you might expect, that kind of fear interferes with student performance. The fact is that states cannot regulate immigration. That is the job of the u. S. Congress. Even if they could, we could hardly say that a patchwork of 15 different approaches is a rational policy. We know that it is happening in states and local governments. I know you are going to hear more about that today, but it is their job to regulate and in the framework of a rational policy we could be giving states and local governments the support that they need to do this job well. So, to the start describe the current state of play a little bit, i am hopeful that on june 27, 2013, things will go down in history. I was fortunate enough to be sitting in the gallery as they passed the immigration modernization act, the bipartisan bill we have been talking about for so long. The vote was a result of countless hours put in by a an extremely dedicated group of staff providing Technical Support along the way. No one got everything that they wanted, including the white house. The final bill reflected the president s principles. It was consistent with our history as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. When the time came to vote on the bill, the Senate Passed it with an overwhelming bipartisan majority. But that in perspective, only two places, utah and washington, d. C. , give either candidates the vote. The reason is it is a smart compromise and a good policy that creates a fair halfway the citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in our communities, a pathway that will require them to learn english, pay taxes and penalties, going to the end of the line behind immigrants caught in the limbo of immigration backlogs. It will put food on our table. These immigrants play an integral role in improve security and it is time that we gave them a path with the citizenship. The bill creates an expedited at four young immigrants known as dreamers who have lived in constant fear of deportation. The bill represents the best chance our country has that in decades to modernize the Legal Immigration system, building on the process of cracking down on employers that exploit undocumented workers, creating a meaningful halfway to citizenship, modernizing the system for families, workers, and employees. So, we know the Immigration Reform fights has never been easy and we do not expect it to be easy this time. There are folks predicting that we will not get any further, but there is little question in my mind that the senate bill or Something Like would pass if they had a chance to vote on it. As the president said, now is the time that and how they will try their hardest to pull this a part to stop commonsense Immigration Reform from becoming a reality. So, we have work to do. Even in todays washington the call for action is too broad, too deep, too forceful to ignore. I believe that congress will listen to a clear majority of americans. They will listen to the business community, the labor movement, the chamber of commerce, leaders from across the spectrum, faith communities, Law Enforcement, and importantly state and local governments, all of whom are calling for a commonsense Immigration Reform along the lines of what was passed. Just yesterday, David Plouffe and Steve Schmidt wrote a joint oped with the title pass the immigration bill. We are engaged as a clear majority telling them that now is not the time to let up, it is the time to speak up, to make sure that everyone in this city and around the country knows what is at stake. I came to this work because families like mine are still working so hard for the American Dream and we have come too far to quit now for immigrant families and communities all over the country. I will not quit, i know the president will not quit. With the help of the voices from around the country, we can get this done in cities and counties around the country. I look forward to the effort of getting to the place where the president signs that bill into law. Thank you all very much. [applause] thank you so much for being with us this morning, cecilia. She has more or working on those issues for most of her professional career. Good morning, welcome, everyone. I will be moderating our discussion today. We have three awesome panelists. I want to ask the panelists to come up and get microphones. When that is happening i will say a few words, awkwardly moved to the seat, and continue the discussion myself. As you just heard, there are many good reasons for Immigration Reform with many facets to make our system work better and strengthen the u. S. Economy. The immigration debate is very much alive in congress as they continue to discuss how to change laws, many of them were just mentioned. With industries and policies around the admission of legal permanent residents. We do not know yet what the outcome of the permanent effort will be, if we will see a lot resembling the package of immigration policies one month ago or if congress will take a different approach, like those discrete bills being discussed presently, or will they not be able to come to an agreement . What are the consequences of doing that . We know several things, u. S. Immigration policy has not been overhauled in more than 20 years. In 1986 the act was for the immigration legalization of about 300 million standard thousand undocumented 3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The 1990 immigration act followed four years later with increased models that establish priority systems of employment and family based immigration with family based programs such as h1b. The economy has changed. National economies have default have developed abroad. There is now a global economy, which is where the u. S. Compete. On top of that the u. S. Now has twice as many immigrants, more than 40 million today. Than we did in 1990. This is part of the pressure of on the United States and to keep a policy that works better with our economy. I am going to make my awkward move to the chair right now. Hopefully i will not [inaudible] to continue, the discussion today is about federal an abrasion reform, but today were Immigration Reform, but today were looking at it through metropolitan lights. Cities, suburbs, the states across the country are already in agreement, incorporating immigrants and their children. Our three guests are going to help put this into perspective. We have seen many state municipal actions over the years showing the effects of immigration, positive and negative. Broadccess of brought Immigration Reform hinges on how it is implemented at the local level. Since most of american immigrants live in metropolitan areas, the debate over Immigration Reform happens there as well. Cities and metropolitan areas are of course very different from each other. They have different Housing Markets, skills, composition. Theyre different from each other. They start businesses, pay taxes, and two states like arizona and georgia, they have taken measures to make the states unwelcoming by creating their own enforcement laws. The benefits made by municipal governments, nonprofit organizations and benefits businesses, they we have three different distinguished guests when it comes to these policies around immigration, they are going to talk to us about what is happening in their cities. To my far left, from new york city the commissioner of the Mayors Office of immigrant affairs. She has had a number of jobs in City Government and beings brings the from lack of government work of a city that has more immigrants than any other in the United States. She recently put out a blueprint for immigration. She is a true leader among city officials in the United States and abroad. Next to her is jason mathis, executive of the Salt Lake City chamber of commerce. Alos the also the executive director of the downtown alliance. A pragmatic statement of five principles here to guide the utah immigration discussion, we will hear more about that this 125,000 immigrants make up about 17 of the population. She brings the need for effective unique perspective of building skills applying to workers, the family, and the community they live in. Los angeles is the second largest, about 40 of residents were born outside the United States. These metropolitan areas and many others are focusing on making sure that these businesses, these families with children in schools, the health care can integrate with immigrant communities, helping to build skills, and immigrants who are ready to naturalize get the help that they need. There are the most strategic and innovative practice programs around the country. As you have just heard, there are lots of possible ways that Immigration Reform my come out over the next couple of months. Several measures, discreet bills on certain issues, support enforcement measures. We just heard from the administration about what they would like to see. Which parts of the Immigration Reform resonate with you . Can you talk about the efforts in your organization . First, good morning. Thank you. I have to say, whitbread in new york first of all, i have to say that we care most about is ism meeting to happen. Reform is a must. It has to happen. The mayor cares a great deal about this conversation. He started a National Coalition that brings together Business Leaders and mayors. For us, it is an economic argument. The reality that 40 of our city, if we add the children, 60 are immigrant children. Nearly half of our labour markets, these are individuals in the system, in our homes, they make the system, they make everything from main street to wall street. For us, ensuring that any number of individuals could come out and truly be a part of our citys economy is critically important. These individuals graduated from our high schools, we want them to realize their full potential, become professionals, add to the tax base, it is critically important to us. Become homeowners of tomorrow. For us, Immigration Reform is critical. I have to say the mayor would prefer a program that is not piecemeal. The senate bill does provide a framework for other cities to think about this, challenging us to think about the strategies of englishlanguage acquisition and other opportunities to come out of the shadows and prepare a portfolio that allows for reform to happen. Are there particular facets that are more important for new york city . In the high school space, in new york we recognize that we are building what we hope to be competition for Silicon Valley and transforming it into silicon alley. We have Technology Campuses coming. We have a number of institutions and universities in new york. Clearly, the opportunity to see any number of individuals in these programs become part of the infrastructure of the city give back and allow us to compete globally, that is critically important. That said, you cannot have, if you will, the doctor without having the janitor. You need both to make that city fundamentally work. We need to recognize what it needs to have these individuals come out of the shadows. I think it is important to recognize this in the community, individuals to build our homes, and maintain our streets and buildings, are very much a part of who helps us maintain the vibrancy. We are a city with over 50 million tourists for year. The reality is having a Diverse Community be a part of that city. Without it it is very much we are and who we need continue to be. Jason, do you want to jump in and talk about the kinds of efforts are lining up in your place . Salt lake city is not nearly the size of new york city, much smaller, but many of the issues are really the same. It really boils down to seeing it in simple terms of being an inclusive place, a place where people want to contribute to the community. Whether it is high skills or hourly employees. I think the Current System right now does not work for anyone. For people concerned about amnesty, the Current System is the facto amnesty in many ways. The time is now to solve this problem. People from around the country need to come forward and tell members of the house of representatives that now is a time for a great sense of urgency in the great parts that they have done to document that. We stand in solidarity. I imagine that in some ways, Immigration Reform is something that we know is going to change life as we know it