Pleasurest say it is a to be here to update President Trump on the optimistic outlook of the American Workforce. Discussedpecifically our process of implementing the executive order in apprenticeships. The president s top priority is jobs and more jobs and the department of labor is implementing his vision to make sure americans have the skills jobs. Eed to fill good there are 6. 2 million job openings here nationwide. This is the highest number on record. Yet 7 million americans are looking for jobs. Americans want to work. American Companies Want to hire. We need to close the skills gap tween the skills demanded by the workforce and those offered by the american people. This is why the president signed this executive order to extend apprenticeships to all sectors of our economy. Cost of demand driven education has been enthusiastically received by private education and state and local officials across the country. Ceos of more than 100 Major Companies signed a letter in support of this executive order. I have spoken with dozens of ceos, college and University President s, leaders and industry groups. They are excited about apprenticeships, excited about this work and are already starting to develop apprenticeship programs. We are currently evaluating hundreds of submissions that we have received in response to the call for nominations of the apprenticeship expansion tax for. Task force we expect the work to begin in september to advise the administration on effective apprenticeship strategies for all industries, partnering with industry groups, nonprofit organizations, joint labor man u and so many others. Industry recognized apprenticeships will teach workers skills that are transferable, resulting in more job opportunities. I want to thank the president for his leadership on this effort and i want to thank ivan office ford the their tireless work. Students attend schools to become lifelong learners, but they also attend school to acquire the skills that lead to good, safe jobs with family sustaining wages. Workforce education is an effort tween the department of labor and department of energy between the department of energy and department of energy. We are working hand in hand in this initiative, and she and i have attended so many events where we have spoken because this really is an effort between the department of labor and the department of education. She is going to say a few words today. Thank you, secretary acosta. Good afternoon, everyone. We had a really productive discussion with the president this afternoon. This is a subject about which he is highly interested and about which Many Americans care. Following the executive order in june, it was very clear the president really wants to see action in this area and secretary acosta has just framed up some of the things that are underway right now. But i think it is important to remember right now that economics and our economies have changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Education needs to keep up. We need to update not only what we are teaching but also how we are teaching. We need to embrace innovation in our approaches to education. Schools are going to be beginning very soon and some actually have already come up but the reality is that there are fewer Traditional College students, Fouryear College students. Many adults are going back to school to learn skills, many going back to change professions. Number of these in my visits to schools in recent months. I think about the dance major who has now become a welder and loves her profession. I think about the court clerk who was bored with a desk job and went back and studied in the mechatronics and is now involved in the industry. There are more than 6 million. Obs unfilled currently it is a mismatch on skills as well as geography. We really need to equip students with what they need to pursue these 21st century opportunities. And this is not limited to Higher Education, either. More can be done at the k12 level. Students need to be able to understand and know the multiple pathways they have to a productive adult life, starting as early as middle school. They need to have access to a variety of ways to learn these interesting subjects. So i will conclude with just saying that the administrations work in this area will help students, first and foremost, but will help communities, our economy, and ultimately will help our country. With that, i think we are ready to take a couple questions. At some point these priorities may need legislative approval and im wondering if President Trump commented about whether he will make that easier or more difficult in the future. This is an area that i think has broadbased support. There are so many ideas on the hill around apprenticeship efforts, and it is an area that , all legislators recognize the American Workforce deserves the best training and education available. We have 6. 2 million open jobs. We have 7 million individuals who want to work. I think there is broad recognition that we need to provide those individuals that want to work with access to the skills that is demanded by the modern workforce. That, ild just add to am sure you are aware that the perkins reauthorization passed the house with an overwhelming majority, as close to unanimous as you can come, so i agree with secretary acosta there is broad support with opportunities, to expand opportunities to Higher Education and learning opportunities. Part of the president s initial executive order called for a review of how they could improve their training for apprenticeship programs. Can you talk about the key obviously we want bipartisan support for apprenticeship programs. Are you feeling that out . Them toreaching out for join with you . There is support across the nation for apprenticeship programs. I have traveled to so many cities this month and i have heard support, heard excitement about apprenticeship programs. Thatxecutive order asked each Agency Review some programs to see how they can better support apprenticeship programs. For example, the department of defense will be looking to see pipelinecan better individuals leaving military service into apprenticeship programs, and we are working with several agencies and that review is underway. We have heard a lot today about the commitment to apprenticeship programs, but the president s budget calls for some pretty deep cuts to funding that would go for technical training, career training, things like that. How do you square those up . Budgetpresident s maintains equal funding for apprenticeship programs and does not reduce it. One of the points i worry about sometimes in washington is that we judge the success of the program by how much it spends, and we should judge the success of the program by how effective it is. If you look at apprenticeships in the building trade, the building trade spent almost 1 billion a year of private sector money on apprenticeship programs. That is a success. The fact that they spend 1 billion a year private sector money should be a compliment and not a problem. So part of these apprenticeship programs and a key here, is that we expect industry to be in charge, that industry should take the lead and be paying for much of this training. And so first, let really let me reiterate, the president s budget does not reduce the funding for apprenticeship programs, but secondly, lets not judge a program by how much it spends by how effective it is. Theou are talking about education budget specifically, and the cte funding is relatively level compared to the year before. We are looking at programs that have been duplicative between agencies and we are really searching for the way forward to support those that are effective , and to do away with the things. Hat are ineffective secretary acosta is absolutely right, the private sector has stepped up in a major way and we need to partner with them in a more intentional way to ensure there are more opportunities that are meeting the needs of the jobs that exist. The president has touted many Times Since Taking Office how great the jobs numbers are, his success at creating jobs. Before he was in office he called the unemployment numbers fiction and they were fake. How do you square those two things . Does he have confidence in the unemployment numbers . Out, there isted a new spirit of optimism that has led to incredibly strong economic numbers. Unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in 16 years. Six, the broad u6, the broadest measure of unemployment has hit a low. 1. 7 as of today as opposed to you have month, so confidence and optimism that is among job creators reaching levels we have not seen in many years. And i guess i should just say, if you look at the jobs numbers, just since january or than 1,070,000 jobs have been created. As you point out, there are several measures of unemployment. The bureau of labor statistics puts out six measures of focused on a each different measure and each getting progressively broader. I would simply reiterate the Standard Measure that we usually , 4. 3 has fallen. 5 , with the broader measure which hasrest brent reference fallen even further, by 0. 8 which in six months is rather a stunning decrease. Theust to be clear, does president have confidence in the numbers that come out of the department of labor and why had he previously called them fake . I am here to tell you what the numbers that come out of the department of labor are. I would leave it to him to comment further. Let me say this i think the about thehas talked job figures and he has pointed out how incredibly strong they are. We have a renewed spirit of optimism that has led to Economic Growth. Lets just look at the numbers that have come out of the bureau of labor statistics month after month after month. Unemployment is down 0. 5 . It is a 16 year low. Number is down 0. 8 . This data, and it is data, Shows IncredibleEconomic Growth and we should focus on the growth that we see in this economy. Let me just add to what secretary acosta said, in that we can acknowledge at the same time that there are too Many Americans that have decided to leave the labor market and are not looking for a job, and we want to in sure opportunity ure opportunities for them to realize everything that they actually can be and have paths , and toues to good work have opportunities that have hereto for not been afforded them. A lot of the messaging that has been sent to them over the last decade is if you do not attend a Fouryear College or university, you are less than. This is a very different approach that we have in this administration, to reach out and to say all of you are needed and all of you are important parts of our society and parts of our country. This apprenticeship program, the apprenticeship focus, and the focus on multiple pathways to Higher Education, is a really important effort to better engage a greater swath of our population. Are both here and a time when the president is also dealing with issues related to foreign policy. As two members of his cabinet, did he share with you any of the larger concerns he is dealing the u. S. Or review position related to what is happening with north korea . My perspective, the president was focused on the American Workforce, on how to create jobs, and he wants to see more jobs and even more jobs. This is something he cares very passionately about. He comes from the Construction Industry and is very familiar with the success of the building apprenticeships, and he wants this expanded across all industries. He is focused on opportunities for all americans. He does not discuss these larger issues that i realize are not your direct area of responsibility, but as members of the team . That is not what we are targeting today. Thank you very much. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] next week at 8 00 p. M. Monday,on cspan, on former National Security advisor who served the last dose copresident s, including stephen hadley. I am a little worried. I think we are in a dangerous period with russia. I think putin has decided americans are just antirussian. As his ambassador says, there is no room for constituency within the united states. He says, if you say i am an enemy, i will show you what it is like to have an enemy in russia. The future of the internet. We are talking about how certain platforms came to provide people with information that reaffirms what they already think, but it is not like you are aaid, hey, conservative, i am going to keep showing you conservative content. They said, im going to show you things from the people you know and show you content from the pages you like, and when you click on those pages i will figure out whose content you like and show you more. If facebook had not done that we would not be having this conversation because they would not have grown to this scale that they have today. More on the changing role of cities. Here is the former mayor of rio de janeiro. Period is a transition and i think cities will play a major role in fighting against populism. The way cities can change , weesentative democracies see this as a very Great Machine to change. An indepth look at the opioid epidemic, including the Ohio Attorney general who is suing several drug companies. What is different about this drug problem we have is how pervasive it is. It is absolutely everywhere. It is in our smallest communities, our cities, our most affluent suburbs. The conversation with Supreme CourtJustice Elena kagan. You said we are not a peer democracy, we are a constitutional democracy. That means the judiciary has an Important Role to play in policing the boundaries of all the other branches, and i can make the judiciary and unpopular that can make the judiciary and unpopular set of people when they say to a governor or president or congress, no, you cannot do that the cousin it is just not within your constitutional powers. 8 00 p. M. Ext week at eastern on cspan and cspine work cspan. Org. Listen using the free cspan radio cap. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. During the senates august recess, senators have been Holding Town Hall meetings with constituents. In this meeting in kansas, senator jerry moran answered questions about services for veterans, farm policy, and the effort to repeal the Affordable Care act. This is an hour and 20 minutes. Sen. Moran good afternoon, everyone. Excuse the delay. I miss the days of more normal town hall meetings