Income inequality, like watching the end of casablanca. [applause] [laughter] my goodness people are talking about it. Round up the usual suspects. Well, in fact we do not want to discourage their newfound interest. But we are not buying that old trickledown economics that didnt work before and can never work again because it defies arithmetic and reality. [applause] so we welcome them to come with their ideas and that is what it should be about. Elections should be the contest of ideas. And i think emilys list has proven that in that contest of ideas, the women who are willing to enter the arena well equipped in some great measure by the support they get from emilys list, can make their case and can be elected. When i think in my own life history, i am like so many of you in this room and across this country. My grandfather was a factory worker that started at the age of 11 and worked until he was 65 and got to retire. His son, my father went to college. He was a small businessman who worked really hard and made a good life for us. My mother had a terrible abusive childhood. Had to leave at the age of 14 to go to work in order to support herself, having been abandoned by both her parents and paternal grandparents, never got to go to college, but had a spark of resilience that kept her going and gave her the capacity to create a family filled with love and support. When i hear stories like those i not my head. I saw a lot of others. Because just as she had another whose voice echoes in her head so did i. And how fortunate i was and how we want it to be the experience of all of our children along like this way you get a chance to make millions of decisions. Some of them are big, like do you run for office . [applause] [laughter] others are even bigger like the the ones that Gabby Gifford and her husband mark confronted like what do you do when a murderer attacks you . How do you put that gift to work . Shes one of the bravest women i know, and she and mark are making such a difference. [applause] so we have, as stephanie reminded us, a lot of work to do in the next 20 months. We need to listen to the voices of those who set us on our own life journey, and those who we still meet with and encounter. When bill and i were at the hospital waiting for our granddaughter to make her grand entrance, one of the nurses said to me, thank you for fighting for paid leave. [applause] and i looked at her and thought, here she is taking care of other peoples babies and having to worry about what happens when her child gets sick. And how she makes all of that work. Her words stayed with me. I remember being a young mother and having all of the balancing act that we all have to do. And i remember one morning getting ready to go to court and my babysitter was sick, my daughter was sick. I was calling desperately to find somebody to come. Finally found a friend who came and stayed, thankfully. But it just made me so sick inside because i had to leave my daughter. And i rushed home after i finished in court. Chelsea was fine, sitting there with my friend. And for the first time all day my heart stopped aching. That was one day for me. For so many moms and dads, that ache is with them everyday. That is what the nurse was talking about. That is what we have to stand up for. That is what emilys list is fundamentally about. When i look at this room, i see leaders. And my hope today is that whatever you have done, if you were in that basement with ellen all those years ago, or if you have just discovered emilys list and are a firsttime member that you will redouble your efforts in the next months. Dont you want to see more women running for School Boards who will fight for better schools for our kids . Dont you want to see more women running for mayor and governor who will put our Families First . [applause] dont you want to see more women running for congress, who will follow in the footsteps of Barbara Mikulski and champion equal opportunity . [applause] and i suppose it is only fair to say, dont you someday want to see a woman president of the United States of america . [applause] well, in many ways, all of these questions, all of these questions can only be answered by you. So please, be recommitted. Recommitted to emilys list. Do everything you can to help us organize. Take up stephanies challenge. Lets make this a movement. Lets be sure that we do all we can to fulfill the vision of emilys list. The women who have gotten out there in the arena, those who have won and those who have lost and i have done both you actually learn more from losing. But stand with them. Stand for them. And be sure that it is not just an evening like tonight, but a commitment every day. Because there is so much at stake. I am grateful that emilys list has been there for 30 years. I am so appreciative to all of you who have made that possible. Now, we just have to resolve that it will probably be even harder. The stakes could not be higher for american women. For all those who will benefit from their commitment, their victory, and make sure we go from strength to strength. Lets keep up our pressure. Lets understand what we are facing. Lets go forth and win elections. Thank you all very much. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] on friday, former Florida Governor jeb bush traveled to iowa to attend a fundraiser for david young. He talked about campaigning with his father in iowa, his tenure as governor, and other policy issues. This is 25 minutes. Hello, folks. How are you . Come on. [applause] lets sound alive, shall we . I want to thank you very much for coming out tonight. Friday night. There are a lot of other things to do. The state best alternate is going on. But you are here, and i appreciate that. We are 20 months away from 2016 elections. You are wondering what i am doing this so early for. You have to raise funds to get the message out. So thank you for being here. I want to recognize a few people. Greg gansky is here. Thanks for your service. We have some state representatives. Thank you for coming tonight. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. [applause] and my mom and dad and my sister are here. Thank you very much. When you put your name on the ballot, it is like you are voting for family. They are so invested. Applause for the family. [applause] a month and a half ago, my phone rang. And i answered it. David . Yes. This is jeb. Jeb . Jeb bush. Unlike, governor. David, congratulations on your race. What do you i need to do in iowa . I said, you need to get your tail here as soon as you can. I have state fairs coming up. A few months away. Come out and i will walk you around. All of a sudden, he is here tonight. He got here faster than i thought. I want to talk about leadership quickly. Iowans, americans, demand leadership from those they elect. We have avoidant leadership right now in washington. We have void in leadership. When that void happens, it turns into a vacuum. A vacuum is filled with complacency. Characters around the world who want to do us harm. We need leadership in washington dc. We need leadership from a president. I have studied this gentlemans record in florida, and he provided leadership. We also want a president that respects the rule of law and the constitution. We are not getting that right now. We have seen a president unilaterally change is Affordable Care act, obamacare on his own, through executive actions. If the president does not like a lot, we have something called the house of representatives and the senate. It is called the congress. There are three branches of government, if you did not know. He needs to be reminded of that. He also said 22 times that he could not do what he wanted to do last november. But he did it anyway. It is like he spoke and a was created. Three memos. That is scary, folks. We need a president that respects the rule of law and the constitution. That being said, thank you for coming out. Iowans take our politics very seriously. We have candidates come out, we see the commercials, sometimes we shake our heads. It is better that iowa chooses our president then new york or california. We pick more than corn. We pick president s of the United States of america. [applause] i do not know who you are going with, folks, but welcome to iowa. Thank you for being here. Ladies and gentlemen, governor jeb bush. Thank you, congressman mr. Bush thank you, congressman. I do not know why all the press is here, but it is nice to see them too. Thank you for continuing to serve. Thank you for supporting your congressman. He is going to need your help going forward. Early money does matter. I want to get the legal part of this out of the way. I am seriously considering the possibility of running for president. All of that allows me to talk about that possibility in a way that does not trigger a campaign. So thank you for allowing me to be lawyered up and get that part right. I have fond memories of violent. I got married when i was 21 years old. My life can be divided between bc and ac. I met my wife when i was 17. It took three years to convince her. I was ready to marry her than. I lost 20 pounds, could not sleep. Fell head over heels in love with this young woman from mexico. They kind of changed my life. Part of that was we got married quickly. We had two kids. I came back to work and my dads campaign. Most of that time was right here in iowa. It was a blast. I learned to do things i cannot imagine doing. I learned to make a fool of myself speaking. I went to the pork roast twice. I saw Chuck Brantley everywhere i went. [laughter] what an inspirational person. There must be four or five of him at any given time. In the weekends, he is at five different places. I love the state and had a good time. My dad won, which was a spectacular experience. I have been to an iowa where my dad lost and been there when he won. I like the winning part better to be honest. I am excited about the prospect of running because i have a record i think people might be interested in learning about. I got to be governor of a purple state. A crazy, wild state. There are a few iowans in florida, last time i checked. They migrate their once in a while. As governor, as a candidate, i got to say what i was going to. I talked about cutting taxes changing our education system. Turning the system upside down so that people could prosper. For eight years, i got to act on my conservative principles and it worked. Just in case you are worried. The cut taxes every year totaling 19 billion. We reduced the State Government workforce by 13,000 people during my time. But the number of jobs created in the state during those eight years was 1. 3 million net new jobs. Youre the only state during those eight years to go to a aaa bond rating without raising taxes. Without having broadbased taxes that in the old days people said you needed to have. We restricted government spending. Personal Income Growth grew faster than government spending. We put in place conservative principles that made a possible for us to garner a aaa bond rating. I vetoed 500 line on its in the budget. Over 2 billion, earning the reputation of veto corleone. We created a process, and it legislature went beyond the process, their items were not included. We eliminated affirmative action and replace it with a model that was not discriminatory but that people who had a chance to go to university did it. We had more africanamerican and hispanic kids attending our universities because they were wellqualified. We were the state that created the first statewide voucher program. We expanded school choice, public and private. We limited social promotion in third grade, this insidious policy that says if you are functionally illiterate in third grade, it is ok to go to fourth grade when you are reading to learn, if you cant read, you cant learn. We cut the number of people that were functionally illiterate in half. This is a state that has more democrats than republicans. We had taken on the teachers unions across the board this. Record is what is necessary to get back on track. If you have a president that could work with david and others in congress, if we fix how we tax, how we regulate, how we move our job Training Programs so people have another chance to be able to move up in this disruptive economy, if we created a more peaceful, secure world i restoring americas presence in the world, this would be the greatest time to be alive as an american. I honestly believe that. My hope is that the 2016 campaign for these races will be about what we believe in, what we are for, that we drive people towards our cause. That we are not as reactionary but much more positive about the future of our country. It is therefore us to fix. When we fix it, the country will lead the world for a long while. That should be worth fighting for by electing principle conservatives like congressman young and others. I hope that you continue to stay involved and make it happen. I continue to stay involved in some fashion. I will let you know later with that turns out to be. But i am excited to be here and really appreciate your support for david young. God bless you, thanks a lot. [applause] questions . Mr. Bush if the hard questions come, david will answer them. Yes, maam . [inaudible] [inaudible] mr. Bush what i am for our higher standard, assessed fatefully, so we know where kids stand. The more important thing is that they are higher than existing standards in every state. States that do not want to participate, that is fine. No big deal. They ought to be advocating Higher Standards in their states as well. In reality, after spending more per student in any country in the world, that is where we stand. Other than luxembourg. And a couple other rounding errors. I got politifactd on that. About a third of our kids were college or career ready. It is shameful. It should deeply disturbed everybody that once our country to progress and rise up. The skills required to be successful in the world we are in today and moving towards requires much higher Critical Thinking skills. It requires the kind of learning that would allow you to get a job. Too many kids are held back. Think of the number of people that cannot get into the military right now because they are not militaryready. Raising expectations and having act assessments of where kids are is tantamount, essential for success. I am not going to back down on that. What i can tell you is that the federal government should not be involved in this. This is an iowa deal. That is where it should stay. The federal government should not have a role in influencing directly or indirectly standards or curriculum or content. Our tradition in our country is the right one, where it is locally administered and statedriven in terms of policy. [applause] yes . [inaudible] mr. Bush yes, sir. Well, i have had a front row seat. As many of us have in the last years of how Foreign Policy used to be a bipartisan deal. I think we need to restore it. There was a bipartisan consensus that american power, with restraint, was a force for good in the world. And it was. Our presence in the world, hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. If you had to pick the one institution in the world that should get as much credit as any other, it is the United States navy, keeping the sea lanes open. As we pull back our military commitment, there will be uncertainty about that. This president is the first president , i believe, in the postworld war ii era that does not believe the military power is a force for good in the world. His pullback is not good for us or the world. It has created uncertainty instability, and greater risk for the homeland. The next president has to restore an american presence where our allies know where we stand. For they do not think that we are pulling back. We are not pivoting, doing things that create uncertainty. We are involved and they know we have their back. Our enemies fear us a little bit. They know we will act should certain things occur. Neither one of those things is happening right now. These boys are being filled by asymmetric threats of terror and by states taking advantage of our weakness. Restoring that alliance, rebuilding the military, shifting to the 21st century, we have new threats that did not exist a decade ago. Cyber security, threats of terror, defending the homeland and protecting Civil Liberties we need to continue to be engaged to make sure no attack takes place in our own country. This president , his former secretary of state has let us down in this regard. [applause] [inaudible] mr. Bush the question is, thoughts on the national debt. Any ideas i have. First and foremost, there is no way we will get out from our entitlement mess, which is going to be more and more a reason why our debt is growing faster than our ability to pay for it. Unless we grow the economy. We should be growing that should be the first priority. Every policy should be focused on will this create jobs, income for the middle class . Will this allow people at the bottom to rise up . Will we grow and generate revenue for government . More importantly, revenue for people. Right now, our policies are about stymieing economic growth. If we work to grow at 4 , which sounds like an incredibly naive belief, almost impossible to imagine, 4 growth is basically the average up until the last decade. A 4 model would mean we embrace our Energy Revolution of north American Energy with American Ingenuity and innovation. We would fix a broken immigration system where the rule of law would be applied. Where our borders were secure, but we would narrow family petitioning. We would simplify the tax code. Reduce rates. Not have tax expenditures, but allow people through transparency and simplicity to know what the rules are. Let them invest in their own dreams and not have exotic ideas from washington dc. The same would apply to regulation. If we did those things, our country would grow at a faster rate. We are not going to solve our debt problems until we grow the economy at a faster rate. We need to start passing budgets again. Right, congressman . The textbooks are going to be rewritten pretty soon. The idea that every eighthgrader knows, the house passes a budget, the Senate Passes a budget, they go to congress, presented to the president , the president signs it or less it to become law without the signature or vetoes it, we have not had that in five years. We need to put the priorities back in order and challenge the aspects of how we make money. Much of what is going on in washington is because it has been going on in washington. It is inertia that allows it to happen. When i was governor, i had a chance to take this kind of approach. We challenged everything. It was fun. If you are policy oriented going through the budget and challenging every aspect putting performance criteria around things, asking if they could be done better at the state level, normally the answer is yes. Asking the questions, what are the outcomes of this program . Can it be done better . If we grow the economy, we will get our debt situation in better stead. The big elephant in the room is a entitlements. That is be going that is going to begin taking more and more of the resources. That has brought so much liquidity in the markets and has brought Interest Rates down to nothing. Debt service today, even though the dead has doubled in six or seven years, debt service is lower at the in a decade ago. The minute debts get back to a normal place, Debt Services and entitlements is going to be the cookie monster that you cannot stop. We have to reform our and entitlements system in a bipartisan way. Not jamming it down peoples throats. If we do that we can fix six. Fix this. Even today we are growing at a rate better than a handful of countries. We just have a bad government right now that is holding us back. Yes, sir . [inaudible] mr. Bush the nature of the patient. Relationship has been torn asunder. How do we restore it . I think we restore it by repealing at present the Affordable Care act, obamacare and replacing it with a model that is consumerdirect it. Where patients have more choices. More of a direct relationship. Where subsidies are stateadministered. Exchanges are not coercive exchanges that is not employer mandated or requirements of Services Provided that are extraordinary. Where people have more customized insurance based on need a it is more consumerdirect it. Where they are more engaged in the decisionmaking and have more choices. When i was governor, we did something similar with medicaid. It is not the greatest insurance in the world. In florida, there are lower and reimbursement rates. It was a defined contribution land. We told washington we will take a fixed a mount but we want to have the freedom to be able to craft the policies in a way where we will lower costs improve outcomes, focus on prevention. We did that. Patients were more satisfied. Doctors, instead of dropping out did not do so. Still today, that is a big problem in florida. We lowered the cost of medicaid for the state budget. There are 50 ways to do this to be honest with you. The system should not be topdown driven from washington, d c washington, d. C. [indiscernible] would you work with my representative right here [indiscernible] jeb bush look, i just bragged about the medicare plan. We should know about this. This is what our federal system does best. I was asked in the prereception to sign a constitution sign be part you admire it the most. That is hard to do for someone who loves the constitution. I was chairman for the constitution center, that runs the museum for our constitution. I signed the 10th amendment for the bill of rights. When we are doing it right, we are doing it by trial and error at the local state level. When there is a national consensus, the government begins to react. This progressiveliberal has created chaos. Health care is the place it has gotten a lot of attention, but it is also how agriculture is regulated. The department of labor is consolidating power into deciding everyplace has to be done the same way. Where children cannot work on their family farms. Dust is considered a pollutant. We need to shift power back to states. Learn from one another. Allow a more dynamic approach to policymaking. Do i know anything about the insurance of iowa . I dont. But now i know congressman young. And i am sure i am going to get a longer briefing on it [laughter]. Thank you very much [applause] i want to point out what more special guest. Congressman tom wilson. What Great Service you provided to us. [applause] tonight, a discussion on Ukrainian Institute of peace. Views of crimea. Relations with russia versus it europe and the type of relations ukrainians want from the u. S. You can watch that on cspan two. On tuesday, president obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talked about efforts to help adolescent girls around the world attend and stay in school. From the initiative let girls learn. This is about 20 minutes. [applause] president obama thank you so much. Everybody have a seat. [applause] everybody have a seat. Thank you, charlene, for that terrific introduction, for everything that youve done to help those young girls in liberia, and all the young women i hope that are inspired here in the United States by seeing your example. We couldnt be prouder except for your mom. Shes prouder. [laughter] mom is here. And we know that youre just getting started, so youre going to do Amazing Things in the future. I want to thank the members of congress who are here today including congresswoman kay granger, whos a leading advocate for Development Done right. Where is kay . She was here just a second ago. She had to run back to vote on Homeland Security. So we really wanted to get her there on time. [laughter] i also want to mention congresswoman nita lowey, who is also in the midst of this department of Homeland Security vote, but has championed the cause of Global Education for over 20 years. We are looking forward to working with all of you on this initiative in the months ahead. Now, my job is pretty easy. I am here to introduce her. [laughter] an extraordinary woman [laughter] a passionate advocate for girls in the United States, around the globe and in the obama household. [laughter] michelle obama. [applause] and in just a minute, shes going to announce a piece of this new initiative which is sure to make charlene and her fellow peace corps volunteers excited to get back to work. But before i turn it over to michelle, i figure you need a mans perspective. [laughter] so i want to talk a little bit about why we all need to care now, i wish i could just say because theyve got the same potential as boys. Its pretty straightforward and we could just stop there. This really should not be complicated. Wherever they live, whoever they are, every girl on this planet has value. Every girl on this planet deserves to be treated with dignity and equality. And that includes the chance to develop her mind and her talents, and to live a life of her own choosing, to chart her own destiny. That may be obvious to us, but we know its not obvious to everyone. Sixtytwo Million Girls around the world who should be in school are not. Thats not by accident. Its the direct result of barriers, large and small, that stand in the way of girls who want to learn. In some cases, their families cant afford the school fees. In some cases, the only local school doesnt have a girls restroom. Maybe the risk of being hurt or kidnapped or killed by men who will do anything to stop girls from learning is just too great. Maybe girls arent in school because theyre expected to get married and become mothers while theyre still teens or even earlier. Even today, in too many parts of the world, girls are valued more for their bodies than for their minds. Thats not just antiquated. Its not just a bad strategy for any country thats serious about growing their economy or promoting stability. It is just plain wrong. And we have to do more to stop it. And im proud to say that the United States already does a great deal to support Girls Education around the world. But what we do we tend to do quietly. It doesnt get a lot of publicity. And what we determined what she determined mrs. Obama what we all determined. President obama what we all determined is that weve got to take this work to the next level, and tie all our different programs together in a single, coordinated strategy. And thats what this initiative is about. Our diplomats and Development Experts are hard at work. Were making it clear to any country thats our partner or wants to be our partner that they need to get serious about increasing the number of girls in school. We are looking for every opportunity to put our partnerships with ngos and businesses and foundations to work every day on behalf of girls everywhere. So this will be, yes, a focus of the first ladys, but its also going to be a focus of the president of the United States. And we expect results, because this matters to all of us. [applause] and just to be clear, i come to this issue as a concerned citizen, but also as the leader of the Worlds Largest economy, and the commanderinchief of the worlds most powerful military. And im convinced that a world in which girls are educated is a safer, more stable, more prosperous place. [applause] the evidence is compelling. We know that when girls are educated, theyre more likely to delay marriage. Their future children, as a consequence, are more likely to be healthy and better nourished. Their future wages increase, which, in turn, strengthens the security of their family. And National Growth gets a boost, as well. From a political standpoint, and a security standpoint, places where women and girls are treated as full and equal citizens tend to be more stable, tend to be more democratic. So this is not just a humanitarian issue. This is an economic issue and it is a security issue. And thats why it has to be a Foreign Policy priority. Now, i will confess, i also come to this as the father of two fabulous, extraordinary, awesome young women. [laughter] theyve got a lot to offer to the world. And what we know is, is that everywhere there are girls just like malia and sasha. Theyre funny and theyre caring and theyre inquisitive and theyre strong, and their heads are buzzing with ideas. And theyre constantly changing their minds about what theyre going to do when they grow up because there are just so many things they could be doing and want to do and want to explore. What an extraordinary privilege it is to be the father of those two girls to watch them learn and grow, and become strong and capable women. And i want to make sure that no girl out there is denied her chance to be a strong, capable woman with the resources that she needs to succeed that no girl is prevented from making her unique contributions to the world. Every child is precious. Every girl is precious. Every girl deserves an education. And thats the message that we want to deliver here today and were going to sustain over the next two years and beyond let girls learn. Now, to say more about why and how were going to do this [laughter] let me step aside for a very strong and capable woman the first lady of the United States, michelle obama. [applause] mrs. Obama thank you all so much. [applause] thank you, guys. Thank you. We are excited. This is good stuff. And i want to thank barack obama [laughter] [applause] for that wonderful introduction. He doesnt always get to introduce me a lot, so i like to watch him say good things about me. [laughter] its a really nice thing. But as you can hear from his passion, im just so grateful that he is such a champion for our girls all our girls not just for malia and sasha but for every girl. And he does it every day as president , and he does it even better as a father. And i am proud of him. I also want to recognize ambassador rice; and representatives granger and lowey, who had to leave; Valerie Jarrett for her tremendous leadership on this issue. I want to also thank charlene for her great work just an inspiring young person doing terrific things. Just an example of why this initiative is so important all the outstanding work shes doing to give girls worldwide the education they deserve. And i want to thank all of you for the work that you all are doing. For years, you all have been working at the grassroots one family, one community, one girl at a time. And youve been driven all along by a fundamental belief about how change really happens a belief that barack and i share that true change doesnt happen from the top down, it happens from the bottom up. And as ive traveled the world over the past six years, ive seen time and again how our young people particularly our girls are so often pushed to the very bottom of their societies. Everywhere i go, i meet these girls, and they are so fiercely intelligent, and hungry to make something of themselves. These girls are our changemakers our future doctors and teachers and entrepreneurs. Theyre our dreamers and our visionaries who could change the world as we know it. Just take the example of malala yousafzai. All it takes is 30 seconds in a room with this young woman to realize what a blessing she is to our world. And malala would be the first to tell you that she is not unique, that there are millions of girls around the world just like her. These girls know they have the spark of something extraordinary inside of them, but too often, that spark is snuffed out by circumstances of their birth or the norms of their communities. And thats where this issue becomes personal for me, and for barack, because i see myself in these girls. I see our daughters in these girls. And like all of you, i just cant walk away from them. Like you, i cant just sit back and accept the barriers that keep them from realizing their promise. So i know that i want to use my time and my platform as first lady and beyond to make a real impact on this issue. I want to lift up the extraordinary work all of you have been doing long before i came to this issue, and i want to bring new resources and new partners to this effort. And in recent years, ive worked with my staff and weve consulted with so many of you to ask how i can be most helpful and folks from care and brookings, the Global Partnership for education, the National Peace corps association, and so many others you guys have stepped up. And time and again, you have told me that whatever these obstacles these girls face whether its school fees, or violence, or cultural beliefs that girls simply arent worthy of an education youve said that these problems will not be fixed from on high, that these are Community Challenges that call for community solutions. And that made a lot of sense to me and it made a lot of sense to my husband, because thats the kind of work we did long before we came to the white house, back when barack was a Community Organizer and i was running a little nonprofit Americorps Program in chicago. So with the help of many of you in this room, and in collaboration with the peace corps, i am thrilled to announce that as part of let girls learn, were going to be launching a new communityfocused Girls Education initiative across the globe. This effort will draw on the talent and energy of the nearly 7,000 peace corps volunteers serving in more than 60 countries. Through this effort, peace corps will be supporting hundreds of new Community Projects to help girls go to school and stay in School Everything from afterschool mentoring to girls leadership camps, to entrepreneurial projects like bosh bosh that charlene talked about, and many more. And i want to emphasize that these programs will be communitygenerated and communityled. Theyll be based on solutions devised by local leaders families and, yes, even the girls themselves. And you can learn more about these projects and how to support these efforts at letgirlslearn. Peacecorps. Gov. As part of this effort, the peace corps is also going to be eventually training all of its volunteers about gender and Girls Education. So even volunteers who are focusing on other issues Like Health Care or agriculture can also help support Girls Education on the ground. In other words, peace corps will soon be bringing new expertise and leadership on Girls Education into every Single Community they serve. So while the focus of this effort will be local, because of this work, the scope will be global and the impact will truly be generational. Now, if you think about what the peace corps means to so many just think about the many leaders in developing countries businesswomen, politicians, activists who can trace their journey back to a peace corps volunteer who inspired them and invested in them. And think about the kind of daughters these leaders are now raising. Think about all the other women and girls these leaders are inspiring today. Thats the kind of impact that this initiative can have. And i am so excited to kick this effort off with a trip later this month to japan and cambodia. Ill be starting with a visit with mrs. Akie abe, the wife of japans prime minister, who also shares our passion for Girls Education and is eager to partner with us in this work. Ill also be meeting with our ambassador to japan, caroline kennedy, who just happens to be the daughter of the president who started the peace corps. And in cambodia, ill be meeting with peace corps volunteers and visiting a school where communitydriven solutions are changing girls lives. But while the focus of this work is international, i just want to be clear that for me, let girls learn isnt just about improving Girls Education abroad. Its also about reminding our young people of the hunger they should be feeling for their own education here at home. You see, through let girls learn, i hope that more of our girls and our boys here in the u. S. Will learn about the sacrifices girls worldwide are making to get their education how theyre pushing forward in the face of poverty and violence, Death Threats and so many other horrors. I want our young people to be awed by these girls. But more importantly, i want them to be inspired and motivated by these girls. I want our kids to realize that while their own school may be far from perfect and believe you me, this guy here is working hard to fix that they still have an obligation to show up every day to that classroom and learn as much as they can. I want our kids to understand the transformative power of education. Thats something that barack and i understand from our own experiences thats our life story, how a good education can lift you from the most humble circumstances into a life you never could have imagined. And finally, i want our kids in this country to be citizens of the world. I want them to connect with, and learn from, kids in every corner of the globe. Thats why, when i travel abroad, i use all kinds of social media and technology to reach back here to young people at home. And im going to be doing so again during my trip to asia working with pbs, and girls rising, and girl scouts and yay [laughter] so many others great partners because i want our young people to learn about the world and dream of being peace corps volunteers, and diplomats, and International Business leaders and more. I want all our young people here in the u. S. And around the globe to dream big dreams, as my husband always says dream big dreams for themselves. I want them to have big, ambitious futures. And i know thats possible, no matter what obstacles they face, because ive seen it again and again in the most unlikely places. The Martin Luther king girls secondary school, which i visited last year in senegal, is a wonderful example. The school is concretefloored classrooms, rooms containing little more than desks and a few faded posters but, oh, those girls, man, they were fierce; ambitious; confident. They had serious dreams for their future. One of the girls wrote a poem about those dreams. And she said it was about a world free from pollution and global warming, a world where violence and wars would be replaced by mutual acceptance and tolerance and love. The poem ended with this line she said, i have a dream that one day, the Martin Luther king girls school of dakar, my school, will be as prestigious as harvard and princeton universities. [laughter] yeah. So we owe these girls, and girls like them across the globe, an education worthy of those dreams. So i am so proud to join this movement. Im honored to learn more from all of you. I am inspired by you. And im excited to roll up my sleeves and work hard with you over the next few years and beyond. So lets get to work. Thank you all. [applause] tomorrow president obama will address the National League of cities congressional conference. He is the to focus on local part or ships. Monday night on the communicators, founder and ceo of media, Communications Corporation on the challenges facing Media Companies and the fallout from the latest fcc ruling affecting the community. If they are going to charge regulatory fees, additional fees, taxes at the local level i think the regulatory utilities in the states will get into the act. I have not found one government that does not want to raise more money. Monday night at 8 00 eastern on the communicators on cspan two. The Political Landscape has changed with the 114th congress. Not only are there 15 new democrats in the house and of new republicans in the senate there is also 108 women in the senate. Including the first African American woman and the first veteran woman. Go to cspan. Org to see new congress, best access. On cspan, cspan2, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Next, q a. M. Day with author David O Stewart talking about his book medicines gift. Then questions from the house of commons. Then secretary of state Hillary Clinton and jeb bush at a fundraiser in iowa. Announcer this week on q a, our guest is david o. Stewart. His new book, madisons gift five partnerships that built america, focuses on the central role that James Madison played in the founding of our nation and the relationship he had with george washington, alexander hamilton, thomas jefferson, his wife, and james monroe. Brian lamb david stewart, your book, what was madisons gift . David st