Wiretap. Wiretap. Wiretap. Wiretap. Wiretap. Do something. [cheers and applause] this song is a singalong. It is very simple, even if you do not know it. Ya or you say ay yai say unh. Lets see. Yai yai ya, unh i used to live in a psychic city and i never knew what would happen in a day looking out a window come on over over come on over over we are having a party for you come on over over we are having a party for you ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh live in a voodoo city where every little thing had its own secret life i might be washing up the dishes and the kitchen knife safe hang around baby, baby hang around, baby, baby we will be baking a cake for you hang around baby, baby hang around baby, baby we will be baking a cake for you ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh [music solo] i used to live in a heartbeat city, i swear i would fall in love every minute. You might be Walking Around the corner meetur eyes might , darling, darling where of being, darling, darling we have been holding this moment for you where have you been, darling, darling where have you been, darling, darling we have been holding this moment for you ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh ay yai yai ya, unh [no audio] put your hands together everyone, for yacht. They play so good, dont you right, we act radio, we act radio. Download the nsa mix tape that we produce for this event. Download, it is a mix tape that we put together just for you all. I am going to do something a little unusual. We are in the same boat, right . Everybody i want standing next to somebody to hug somebody. , the this my big brother bill of Rights Defense Committee coming appeared to give a hug all the time. Hiphop electronic mc, get a chance to introduce him, he led the bill of Rights Defense Committee and i want to shout him out, he gives good hugs and i think it is very empowering. You all were just hugging women, that did not count, man. Sorry, i have big gas glasses, icu. All right. Coming to the stage we have an author, critic, activist, cofounder of the American Freedom campaign, she raises awareness for the prosaic pervasive disconnect that exists in society, her latest book, the handbook for american revolutionaries includes citizen promotion or Civic Engagement for the establishment of democracy. Put your rebellious hands together for naomi wolf. Thank you. Thank you. You know, i get really tired, these days, because the news is so often so bad about this country that i used to really, really love. , what i i get tired think is that i miss my country. I miss america. I miss it. Where is it . Do not say that, right . We are starting with despair but we will pivot to hope and love. All right . Sad and i amuly departing from my remarks, because you know all of these brilliant speakers have already said most of what i was planning to say about what was wrong violatinggovernment our most intimate moments and tearing apart the Fourth Amendment, you know that already. What i want to say is that and i am here with you expressing our First Amendment right, protecting our Fourth Amendment, caring about the constitution, i feel like here is a little piece of america that can grow and grow to be again but it was always supposed to be. We know our country has had flaws, dark times, times that it has departed from its goal, but we are kind of in serious trouble right now because especially on the left we have deconstructed the idea of patriotism so that there is nothing about loving those values of freedom, free speech, democracy, separation of powers, accountability to the people, Representative Government dictated by us to them by us to them. We have to love it. Again, those values, explaining them to our children, it is so hard for me to talk to my 13 yearold son about his country and explain why america is violating International Law and dropping drones of people. Code pink is here behind me with their brilliant colleagues. These are americans, right . You do not have to be an american citizen to see that a revolutionary is hanging out with egyptians last night who started the revolution for democracy. That is what this country is supposed to be, right . When we love freedom, liberty, democracy, i will pivot from despair to hope, because i cannot stand this anymore. I cannot. As a mother, a daughter, i cannot try to explain this situation to my children. I do not want them growing up without safety and freedom and explain to them why 100 men have never been charged with a crime and are incarcerated in guantanamo. I do not want that to be my country. I do not want that to be our legacy. I want my country back. I want it back. [cheers] cry if i that i would let this out, but we should be crying so that we can take it back and then we will be laughing. So, right behind us, great thats took place, marches expressed american values. The marshes of the 30s, the depression, they would not lead the steps of congress until congress was accountable for what they promised and eventually they one. The great civil rights marches right here, right here, at first it was people as depressed and dispirited as we are right now, they believed in those most beautiful promises. On that note i am turning to the wonderful people who have joined me. I have studied how you have closed and opened societies. The most successful way to protest the echo singing is part of every successful movement. I am so glad that the organizers have been bringing music. I have a terrible voice, but when people sing together they are heartened for the long haul. Heres who here knows woody guthrie, this land is your land . Will you come closer to the mike . Will you all sing with me, please . So that we remember the country we are losing and why we love it and why we will keep fighting thank you, all right. The firstng to do then we will mod march out and destroy the patriot act, right . For love of what we want to believe in again in america. This land is your land this land is my land from california to the New York Island; from the red wood forest to the gulf stream waters this land was made for you and me. As i was walking that ribbon of highway, i saw above me that endless skyway i saw below me that Golden Valley this land was made for you and me. Not for them, not for the nsa, not Homeland Security. Ive roamed and rambled and i followed my footsteps this land was made for you and me remember what we love ive roamed and rambled and i followed my footsteps to the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts; and all around me a voice was sounding this land was made for you and me. Last chorus this land is your land when the this land is my land sun came from california shining, and i to the New York Island from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters this land was made for you and me thank you, round of applause to code pink and to all of you. Take back our country. Thank you. [cheers and applause] all right. The code pink background singers, Something Else right there. For all of my new on a very black people, i want to let you know about the secret, black folks get nervous when white folks talk about the good old days. Lets be progressive. Lets keep us together. , want to shout out to john hope i am saying it right, am i saying that right, john kee ree ack oo . She organized a nice Going Away Party for john. He was definitely a whistleblower and i wanted to shout him out because his name was not mentioned earlier. Before we go further, i want to make sure that everyone knows that we will be sending Text Messages to support the petitions. Privacy 2877877. Privacy 2877ord. 77 877877 someone repeat that . Crazy. Coming to the stage is dan choi, ladies and gentlemen. Anorak veteran who fought for the repeal of dont ask, dont tell. Going to fold my paper. , headuate of west point announced he was gay on the Rachel Maddow show, give it up for Rachel Maddow, you all. On march 19, 2009, the anniversary of the assassination of biggie smalls, his wife changed forever. The army initiated discharge proceedings against him less than month less than one month later. The audacity of these people. A noted advocate of lgbt civil rights, a graduate of the parachuting school and the scalp either core. Put your rebellious handclaps together for Lieutenant Dan choi. Thank you. Thank you. I am so honored to be here. I have a few words i would like to share with the federal agents that have graced us with their presence among us today. I have a few choice words. You are not our enemy. We are here for the same purpose. You swore an oath to protect the constitution and that is exactly what we continued to do in our shared mission with you. We are not opponents, we are on the same team. When you come across information or take part in a moral, unethical, or wasteful activities inside the agencies where you work with the honorable people that stand shoulder to shoulder with you, it is our obligation, our shared goal that the truth he told, that the whistle be blown. Now, as an activist i have learned a lot of lessons, mostly regarding how to build a movement and here we see the building of the great movement, cutting across so many of our identities and old politics, but i learned that these surveillance programs have a thatncy that is all proven they did term or activists from growing and joining our movement. Deterring u. S. Citizens from joining the movements and standing up for whatever causes they wish to stand up or, it deters them, but we stand here. The good news is we stand here to stand and speak and declare, in no Uncertain Terms that we are not deterred. We are not afraid. We are not against the law, we are fixing the law. As activists we are not against the law, we are not guilty when you overcharge us. We are not ashamed, we are not finished. We can stop mass spying and defend our constitution. Thank you very much. [] cheers [cheers] it will not happen that way, running on yes we can, but no, you wont. You will not tread on us. Will not spy on us. How is everyone doing . Yes . Are you pumped up . Are you pissed off . Well, my name is [indiscernible] and i work for an International Rights ofxtends the abusers everywhere. We are pissed off with all of you. Thousands and thousands of people do not want to be surveilled, just like americans. Thousands of people around the world are holding their government and the u. S. Accountable for violating their rights to privacy, to freedom of expression and due process. On behalf of our large community, we stand here with you and tell you that we are your brothers and sisters, that we are here to make demands of the policymakers and we want to report the patriot act. Are you with us . It is my pleasure to introduce to you a fellow woman, a woman of color, and activist. Written extensively in many papers here in the u. S. And in her home country. She is here to let you know that her brothers and sisters back in tunisia are here with you and are making the demands we are making here in the u. S. Would you please join me in welcoming wataeh. I am really short, so i have to bring this out a little bit. I want to humanize this for everyone a little bit. Think about what it means to be living in fear. Think about that for just two seconds. What does it mean for you to live in fear . I will tell you one thing, if we were living in fear, we would not be here today, we would not teeing we would not be expressing our honest opinions about what is going on right now. Honestly to understand living in fear and what it means, we have to go back to what surveillance means. What is surveillance . , purposefulroutine monitoring of citizen activity, the mundane acuity of the average citizen. I want to really remind everyone that surveillance is not necessarily only digital, it is also physical, which is how it started in tunisia. The development of technology only refined the art of surveillance. It only shifted things from being a physical kind of surveillance to a digital kind of surveillance. Both of those mixed together . You will be living in fear and you will not be expressing yourself. As a result of that you have all types of expression, artistic expression, academic expression, human expression that you cannot express, that you are stifled from expressing. That is a problem. I am not saying we are living in fear because right now we are not afraid. You know what . It might take us 20 years, 50 years, 100 years, but if we do not stop this right now . We will be living in fear. Let me tell you, we do not want that. We do not want to be a committed community, nation of citizens living in fear. I am really glad that you are all out here today, taking concrete steps to addressing this. Not a lot of people really know what is happening. They tell you they have nothing to hide, why should they be afraid . Well, you are not afraid, but if we keep going down this road, you will be. At its core level this type of monitoring and surveillance is a human problem. It is not just about privacy, not just about your rights, it is also about being a human being. Systematic surveillance brings about systematic fear, i want you to remember that and that you really do not want to be afraid. You want to be able to be yourself, for your family, for you, your brother and sister, everyone around you to be themselves. All of us, from the right to the left to the center. If you are not yourself, that does our whole nation a disservice. Lets keep fighting, everyone. [cheers and applause] io, what is up, d. C. . Cameras besides our own are watching us right now. You know, whats up . Notforprofit. How are you going to come . Hands on your head . Trigger of your gun . When the law breaks in, how you going to go . Down shut down on the pavement, waiting in a drone . You can watch us and survey last , youre going to have your answer, too. The guns of freedom, your badge feels real good, your camera as inwell, but shortly heaven, as in hell, you can watch us and surveillance but you will have to answer to the guns of freedom. Freedom let me hear you say whoa, the guns of , i say whoa, the guns of freedom. You have to see the time where you throw your mind from the revelation rhyme and in the revolution redefined you have got to free your mind, mine is frankensteinject theenesis revelation dandelion has a road between the , let me hear you say no more surveillance. No moreear you say surveillance. Me hear you say no more surveillance. No more surveillance. More surveillance. I want to hear you say no more surveillance. Let me hear you say [crowd] no more surveillance no more surveillance get up, standto up, stand up for your rights, get up, stand up, do not give up this fight. You have got to get up, stand up, stand up for your rights, you have got to get up, stand up, get up, stand up, get up stand up for your rights. Let me hear you say no more surveillance. I want to hear you say no more surveillance, i want to hear you. Ay no more surveillance keep it going, now. Im flyer for the fbi. Im flyer for the cia. No more surveillance a , i like itlouder like that, now. No more surveillance, keep your , keep theavigating internet navigating, got to , got toe powers that be , got toe powers that be , keepthe powers that be it going like that, yall. Yall going like that, keep it going like that, yall let them hear you in the white house let them hear you with those big old years. Let them hear you with those big old years ears let them hear you when they are tapping your phones. Let them hear you when they are tapping your phones. Frk the nsa. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] sexual chocolate. Hands, notforprofit. All right, coming to the stage, we have dennis kucinich, former member of congress and twotime president ial candidate. Friends and enemies, brothers and sisters, dennis kucinich. [applause] thank you. We are gather this afternoon before our Nations Capital to call for an end to the spying and an end to the lying. 12 years ago americas leaders made a fateful choice to attack iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with 9 11. Againstht vengeance innocent by standards, millions of iraqis dead, tens of thousands of soldiers injured, thousands of troops dead, trillions added to the national debt, the neverending socalled war on terror is a war of errors and misdeeds, which produced the patriot act, a bill that i voted against because i read it. The patriot act, the patriot act gave rebirth to the National Security agency as a technological cyclops. The nsa grows stronger as it collects more of our personal information. Growss. Constitution weaker. Today i gather to restore today we gather to restore those freedoms, repeal the patriot act, abolish the nsa. [applause] today we gather not as partisans, but as americans. We know the monstrous National Security state is a product not of a single party but a system of government that today bears no resemblance to the lofty goals of americas founders. This system has produced that are a concoction of lies that have fooled no one, lies that took us into iraq, lies that, libya the drones over the skies in many countries, telling us that in the name of security we must give up our liberty. The state has become like a leviathan, unaccountable to anyone, slaying dragons abroad while crushing individual rights and freedoms here at home. As the government claims falsely to be fighting for democracy abroad, we are truly losing our democracy here at home, and that is not acceptable. In the name of security the a big brotherme metadata that has appropriated our private space. In the name of security, the state opens our email. We say to stop the mass spying. In the name of security, the state downloads our contacts and our photos. We say . No. In the name of security the state monitors our phone calls. And we say . No. The in the name of security the state checks our financial records, and we say no. Some say that we give up our privacy when we join social networks. Will ship. Say that . Bullshit. Reserve the right to control our spoke our social rights without warrants. We reject the rights of the states to make everyone a suspect, no one a free citizen in an orwellian society. We know the truth, we have to be protected from such a state, not biased. The National Security state is a rackett as a racket. With a promise to protect us, what we get instead are drones and extra duty extrajudicial killings of civilians around the collect they information on hundreds of millions of people, including leaders we call our friends. The nsa appears to have gone rogue. What oureflection of own government has become. Many americans object to the mass collection of private in solidarity with ,ur friends in germany [speaking german] we insist on freedom and privacy. Liberty. [speaking french] on solidarity with our friends in mexico and throughout the spanishspeaking world, we say [speaking spanish] in solidarity with our friends [speaking we say brazilian] we insist on freedom and privacy. The state has made this equation , secure your liberty, take your pick. Franklinsenjamin wellknown admonition. 1755, he said that those who would give up essential liberty to purchase temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. Today in 20, faced with the thate from a government moves without morality, without respect for liberty and law here thatroad, let us declare we have made the choice and we choose liberty. We choose liberty over National Security state. We choose liberty over threats. We choose liberty over fear. We choose liberty over suspicion. And we demandrty the protection of our First Amendment rights. We demand freedom of association. We demand freedom of speech. We demand freedom of press, demand the protection of our Fourth Amendment rights, the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. We assert and demand the right to privacy. We want the government out of our bedrooms, off of our phones, out of our emails, out of our reading out of our list, personal finances, education records, we want the government to stop wasting our money trying to prove that they are protecting us. In 1775 patcher can resaid Patrick Henry said give me liberty, or give me death. We demand life and liberty. We claim life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness as our rightful inheritance as americans. [applause] this was the promise of the declaration of independence written by Thomas Jefferson. To secure these rights governments are instituted among men and women deriving just powers from the government that whenever any form of government becomes described to destructive of these ends it is the right of people to alter or abolish it and Institute New government. These words, written by Thomas Jefferson sound radical today, it is because the u. S. Government has buried far from , a spirit of july 4, 1776 spirit not just of revolution, the awareness of that the legitimacy of the state depended on the support of the natural rights of its citizens. Reawaken that spirit and rekindle that awareness. We are here to demand the repeal of the patriot act and the shutting down of the nsa. [applause] liberty, the tyranny of the state, the rights of the free people. We demand that our government focus on Real Security issues at home. , theecurity of the job security of an education, the security of health care for all, the security of her tire meant, the security of housing, the security of our neighborhoods, of investments, of Small Businesses. This is Real Security. We are prepared to take back our government. Arent we . We will take it back from unresponsive political parties, from an administration that mocks the constitution. We will take it back from a congress that gave away our rights in a panic. We will take it back from corporations who collude with the government to destroy our rights. We are ready to engage and prepared to recommit ourselves, as did the original patriots so many years ago and when they mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, sacred honors. Ear the call of history to a new generation of americans to relight the lamp of liberty. Hear the call of destiny that it is for us to reclaim america. Let us do it with a passion for truth, let us do it with a passion for justice. Let us do it with a passion for freedom, with relentless commitment. Let us declare unbreakable unity and prepare for the arduous task of slowly restoring rightsutional freedoms, in this, the land would love. Thank you. Thank you very much. [cheers and applause] [] feedback] hello, my name is tiffany, from fight for the future. Four months ago we started a petition to stop mass surveillance and today we are delivering 575,000 signatures. We demand a congressional investigation and reform to the laws that the nsa uses to conduct these surveillance programs, the patriot act and the faa, holding our Public Officials accountable, so we are glad to be able to deliver this to congress. This is our freedom. Stop watching us. Hello, everyone. How are you doing echo let me take this microphone. I want to take i want to say thank you. You are making a difference. You deserve the credit. We had an amendment that came up that wasof months ago on the defense appropriations bill. , teamed up with john conyers and this is not a partisan issue. This is for republicans, democrats, libertarians, conservatives, liberals, everyone in between. When we fought for that amendment and we took to the house floor and had that debate, that was the proudest moment for me as an elected official. [cheers] we brought republicans and democrats together to speak on that amendment. We only had 7. 5 minutes. That is the debate time they gave us, seven and a half thetes to talk about one of most important issues facing our country and the world. We split it up between 11 or 12 people. On both sides of the aisle. Tell you that afterwards, after we had that debate, people were saying congratulations, they were proud of what we had done even though we had not had the vote yet. When the vote came down, it was close, it scared people. It scared the establishment in both parties. We have the president of the United States fighting against the amendment. It was the first time in his that he came out in opposition to an amendment. We have the intelligence and leadership against it. Despite those obstacles, we came very close to passing the amendment. And we are going to keep fighting and pass something to rein in the nsa. Let me tell you, the nsa is fighting back, the establishment is fighting back. Here,hey are doing right i read something in the paper the other day that the nsa wants us to pass cspa. Apparently you guys have heard of it. The intelligent sharing protection act. Written, the nsa believes they will legalize what they are currently doing it legally. Of course we know that is nonsense, the constitution makes what they are doing illegal. You cannot pass a statute to undo the constitution. They think they can, but what they are trying to do with sis is make sure that companies can give their customer or employee information to the government with no repercussions. A contract with the company you do business with or an employer, the contract Means Nothing under this act. The government can access that information if they decide to. Of it, and outlaws the ability for companies to guarantee the privacy of and employees. How do i know this . I offered an amendment. I offered an amendment that simply said companies should be allowed to guarantee through contract your privacy. They would not let me bring it to the floor. So, we have to keep fighting on this issue, but let me tell you that one of the people who stood up with me on the floor of the house fighting in support of reining in the nsa was jim sensenbrenner. It is important to note that he wrote the patriot act. But he has realized the kind of abuse that has happened under the patriot act and is working with us. I actually went into his office when i was pushing the amendment , saying i wanted to meet with him to convince them to support the amendment. I got to his office and when i knowhere he said i youre here to tell me about your amendment, i will support. T he spent about 30 minutes it was important to pass. Bringing a bill to the house , the usa freedom act, to undo much of the damage of the patriot act. Is something we are working on. It will be introduced soon. We need you to see the cup, standup up, to call your representatives. I cannot tell you how much of a difference it makes when you call people in congress. It makes a huge difference. I huge difference. When people hear that their constituents are calling them, it changes their minds. I cannot tell you how many times i have been on the house floor and they are called on different issues. Difference. A please, call your members of congress. Let them know how you feel about these issues, how you feel about the patriot act. Let them know how much you dislike it. Let them know that you support the usa freedom act. I want to say thank you, i appreciate what you are doing here today. Keep fighting the fight, we will make a difference. Thank you. [cheers] [applause] hi, guys. I and the activist and director of the Electronic Frontier foundation. In 2005 we had an interesting man come in, his name was mark klein, technician who used to work for at t. He gave us evidence, schematics, blueprints, photographs that showed a secret room in the end in the at t facility not far from my own office, showing that ofy were making copies Internet Communications and sending them to the nsa. We fired a lawsuit. File a lawsuit. Another. E filed thanks to the leaks of edward snowden, this year we filed along with plaintiffs in the crowd a lawsuit stating that nsa violates the First Amendment. We are a nonprofit Civil Liberties law and Technology Firm that got started way back in 1990, defending the rights of individuals to have Constitutional Rights when it comes to technology, but we can only do it because we have so many members supporting us, fighting with us, thank you for coming out here today. We could not do this without you. Honestly, we could not do it without coalition members. A 100 plus organization to companies, folks who do amazing the world, free press, who amazes me, you have no idea how many hours they put into putting this together. They have so much energy, you guys are the best. Fight for the future, which makes me feel conservative by comparison. Yesterday, friday they put together 55 meetings in congress. Citizens all over the country we came together and met in meetings for internet surveillance. We have demand progress and affect, fighting for your privacy. The Libertarian Party has been a phenomenal work. Thank you guys. Right over here. Of course i also want to give a shout out to the people watching this online right now in viewing parties all over the country, Live Streaming on our website and also through the ap and a number of other websites. Part of theou are a movement, even though youre not here today. I believe that when we found out this evidence of Mass Internet surveillance, a lot of us were angry, furious. Confirmation in incredible detail about what happened that and this movement that we have now is a movement that has come together and if we unite and force them to, congress. Mass surveillance. Based notmovement just on anger but the belief that if we unite and work weether across party lines can stop mass surveillance and it will not be easy. You have got to deal with the state secrets privilege and the pfizer court. You, you in the audience, watching online, on your computer screens, you are the fighting force here. Throughfor democracy, restoration of rights and an end to masturbate to mass surveillance. We are starting with a rally. We stop when the National Security agency puts an end to its surveillance program, where innocent people have their data swept up on constitutionally. I am with you for that fight and i thank you for being here, please join me in the coming weeks, months, and years in fighting for this. Thank you for being here so much. [applause] all right, how are we feeling . How are we feeling e feel like a revolution . Feel like a revolution . All right, wiretap. And i want you guys and i want rebellious hands for those who came out here to organize. What you to visualize. Want you to visualize. When you see it, you can achieve it. Need to selfactualized. We need to arm ourselves with information against the nonbelievers. Up. Ave the holidays coming you know the ones in your family. Tell them when they tell you, i have nothing to hide. I do not care the government is listening to me. Ok. What a third party sits down with you at the dinner table, its like wtf. Theomeone is coming into bathroom while youre using it, it is like wtf. Why is any different . All right . Lets arm ourselves. Organically come to me. Shirts. Ck t candlelightntic dinner. A third guy sits down. She is going to tell you she is pregnant. You know what im saying . One person can make a difference. Everyone repeat this one person can make a difference. Everyone should try. 22. Is for november that will be great. One person can make a difference. Everyone should try. Thank you for trying to get one person and trying to make a difference. Can hit me up on twitter. Yall are invited to the wedding. At radio. Do something. Take us home with you. Want to send out a shout out. I sam i first encrypted message yesterday. Sent out myes i first encrypted message yesterday. Arm yourselves. Forget . D i the ta should. A little housekeeping. Thank you. This tshirt is official tshirt of this event if not this movement. You can go to the rally website to pick up the shirt. You can do it today. Do it today. Do it today. Take up your shirt. Think about it when you are at the thanksgiving table and debating with relatives. Thank you everyone who is came. Sible who im o want to i want to thank you and your mama. Anyone who walks away from a sixfigure job and does something. Own soul garage plan. Takniing us home. We are doing it. Hey yeah, yeah surveillance rally was held yesterday right in front of the cap at all. The rallyeports on and reaction. About 2000 people attended. Protesters from both ends from the perspective him spectrum. One congressman says the surveillance is being misinterpreted. Pieces of aa few 1000 piece puzzle and trying to come to a conclusion. Congressman king is a member of the Intelligence Committee and the Homeland Security committee. He says they are not doing it for the fun of it. It is together viable information that helps us and the europeans. The reuters article goes on to say that he says thousands of lives have been saved as a result of the nsa. You can listen to all of the sunday morning talk shows on c span radio as well as later tonight after midnight or you can stream those on your broadcast live at cspanradio. Org. Had congressman fred upton. You talk about overseeing the Health Care Laws implementation. Well have the interview again later today at 6 p. M. Eastern time. As each duration goes on as each generation goes on, we have less and less god. End, i want to create better place for all of us to live. Teenage, upper white boys were quite shaking. Theanted to explore baseline and political lines in the country at what is happening for those who are avatars for traditional leaders in america. A lot of people come to any film about leaders and expect to see whatticultural tapestry of america looks like, but our america is still one politically at least, largely by the upper middleclass and relatively privileged white male. Reacting to that is what i am trying to do. Tt has a comingi of age film in follow the leader. Economicrector of the talksl gene speerling about the Government Shutdown in the debt ceiling debate in the obama administrations economic agenda. This is about 15 minutes. Im jim doyle and im the president of business forward. Those who are new to us we were created four years ago with the mission making it easier for Business Leaders across america to tell washington had you to create jobs and accelerate the economic recovery. Thanks to the help of 50 of the biggest countries in the world we are active in 100 cities. We have briefed more than 400 different members, mayors, governors and members of congress and administration officials. We are honored to welcome Gene Sperling the president s top Economic Advisor to discuss how budget negotiations can move forward and what is ahead on the president s economic agenda. He is director of the National Economic council and assistant to the president for Economic Policy, the first person to hold it twice having held the sail position for president clinton. Prior to this he was counselor to secretary tim geithner. He served as the point person on manufacturing policy, housing, economic assistance for veterans, played a key role in jobs act and Small Business tax credit. During his eight years in the Clinton White house helped negotiate the 1993 and 1997 deficit reduction acts an championed the Childrens Health insurance program, earned Income Credit and direct student loan program. Between the clinton and obama administrations he worked at the brookings institution, center for American Progress and the council on Foreign Relations working on a range of economics and education issues. He is the coauthor of a book on Girls Education and pro growth progressive and Economic Strategy for shared prosperity. He graduated from the university of minnesota and yale law school. He is a native of ann arbor, michigan, and will rejoin his family in california at the end of the year. When he finishes the remarks we will move over hear for q a. Thank you very much. Gene. Well, thank you very much for having us here today. I want to thank jim doyle very much, not just for today but for all of the leadership of business forward, all the consultations, even the recent meeting with your Small BusinessAdvisory Committee as we went into this recent round of Budget Discussion discussions. Again, i really want to thank you and business forward for the leadership that you have shown and the desire to look beyond your own particular situation to the larger economic issue that away face as a country and understanding that that affects all of us. So, again, i really want to thank you. I guess i would just say we are, as usual, going into another phase of the Budget Discussion. We are now going into a period where we will have a budget conference that will go until december 13. We will have then a c. R. That goes to january 17. And debt limit that is extended at least into february. And i think as always you will see different people go quickly into the weeds and details, which is not inappropriate, but it is important at these moments to step back and remember why we care about these issues. Sometimes here we start to think that the end goal, the end goal of all of our public policy, is to hit a particular metric, a particular budget or spending or revenue metric, as if those are the goals in and of themselves. But it is person for us in policy to remember that each of these metrics, however important, are means to larger goals. The larger goal of what we do, the end goal of what we do, is really to have an economy, to have Economic Growth that allows us to live the vision of the United States as a country where there is a growing, secure and inclusive middle class. Thats not an obama or romney or anybodys unique particular vision. That is the vision of the creation of our country, is to have an economy that was not a bar bell economy with a tiny group in the middle and a lot of poor people or some well off people, but to have more of a bell curve economy where there is a large number of americans that can be in the middle class and have the benefits of a middle class life, a chance to have their children do as well or better than them. That is one of the fundamental goals, the end goals. The second end goal is that people in our country who work hard and take responsibility can work with dignity, raise their children with dignity and retire with dignity. Third, that we are a country where the accident of your birth does not overly determine the outcome of your life. So, of course, nobody more than me will get lost in the difficult issues of pay fors and offsets and budget totals, et cetera. But it is very important for us to step back and remember that all of those measures have to be measured against whether it is fulfilling that basic goal of a strong inclusive middle class, being able to work or raise your children with dignity in a country where everyone has a chance to rise. That is what we ultimately measure our success against. And i feel that at times we do lose our way on this. When you look at current fiscal policy right now, you can feel that some who advocate forget what that larger goal is. For example, we work very hard, president obama works very hard in thinking through and design being a pro growth and pro jobs fiscal policy. We understand that you have to hav have that the goal is not a budget policy per se but an Economic Policy that promotes these values and these issues of job creation, a strong recovery, inclusive growth. So, when we look at how we do a budget, we look at whether the budget as a whole meets those goals. Right now, i think there is among a lot of people a consensus as to what the ingredients of a pro growth fiscal policy are. It would be a fiscal policy that, yes, did give more confidence in the long run that we have a path on entitlement spending and revenues that gives confidence in our longterm fiscal position and that we are not pushing off unbearable burdens to the next generation. That is very important. But it is also of a pro growth, pro jobs fiscal strategy to ensure that you can invest in the things that are important to growth and productivity. If you could hit every single fiscal goal that you wanted, but your bridges crumble and none of your students, or a tiny percentage of your students could read or perform well in school, nobody would say that your Economic Growth strategy was working. On the other hand, if some of those things are going well and you have a completely fiscally unsustainable future, that is not so great either. You have to think about this as part of an overall pro growth, pro job strategy. Also, theres no question that right now we still need to give this recovery more momentum. We cannot possibly be satisfied with the levels of projected growth when we are still coming back from the worst recession since the great depression. We have too many longterm unemployed americans. We have too many middle class families who are doing better, working harder, but still are harder, but still are not where they should be or where they deserve to be. We need stronger growth. We need to give this recovery more momentum. So, it is not hard to think about how you would design a pro growth fiscal strategy. You would make sure that right now you werent overly contracting the economy. Chris van hollen asked the Congressional Budget Office asked the congressional budget asked the Congressional Budget Office recently how much the sequester would cost us in jobs this year, next year. They answered 900,000. Really . We can afford to have a fiscal a fiscal policy that our independent score keeper thinks is going us 70,000 to 80,000 jobs a month . But it is worse than that because that is not static. Economies are about momentum. So, we could have a Economic Growth strategy where we had a more pro jobs, pro recovery fiscal policy right now that included that did not have this harmful sequester. We could have more savings that were on both the revenue and entitlement side that were long term and would help in the future. And we could make sure that we are making room for the things that almost everybody thinks we need to do more of. The amazeing buy kpwhroel research from n. I. H. The efforts to make sure Young Children from poor families have a chance to have a fair start when they go to kindergarten. I have not had any Business Leader come tell me they think the United States needs to invest less in infrastructure. None. So, a pro growth fiscal policy as president obama has it is one that has as component a strategy to have balanced, longterm fiscal discipline, deal with entitlements and revenues for the longterm situation, but also includes allowing this recovery to get more momentum and allowing us to do the investments that are in the critical ingredients of Economic Growth and competitiveness that virtually everyone who is not operating from an ideological or political frame thinks is important. The president is today. Heading to brooklyn to go to the i. B. M. Tech school. This is the things we are talking about, turn high schools that allow young people who may not have been on a college path to start in ninth grade on a career path to get maybe in four to six years have a high school degree, a technical degree, perhaps a job waiting for them or perhaps to be turned on to education enough to go to a fouryear higher education. These are important serious things. You go to the Business Roundtable or Business Council meetings and they are talking about these things because they go to the skills gap they are trying to fill. But too often here we are just in a world of abstract numbers, metrics, and even when we are talking about how we deal with the economy we are not asking ourselve ourselves, you know, we talk about whether were cutting spending as opposed to cutting unnecessary spending and investing more in the things that are good for Economic Growth. We forget the frame that everything we do needs to be measured against the goal are we encouraging a growing more prosperous middle class. It is relevant to the budget conference you are going to see today because even if you do not have the big grand bargain, if you were to have a medium deal or small deal, those deals could have permanent loophole closers and permanent mandatory savings that would help permanent, our permanent longterm fiscal situation. At the same time, they would allow more room right now for investments that will be important to growth in the short term and important to our investments and competitiveness in the long term. So, it would be a very positive thing if we used this moment to push forward a pro growth, pro jobs fiscal policy where we look at the components and make sure they make sense, not just for hitting a persons particular metri metric, but whether they make sense as a pro growth fiscal policy that will be good for the middle class, good for economic security, good for our longterm competitiveness. I think it is again a very important reminder as we go forward. The second thing i think we need to do is we just have to put an end to the sever inflicted wounds selfinflicted wounds. I became the n. A. C. Director in january of 2011 this time for my second swing through. And it was actually quite an interesting time. We had a veried about election in november very bad election in november if you were the Obama White House or democrats. But after that we had been in a very tough situation, yet i had been privileged to be part of working out a compromise deal in the lame duck that probably didnt make anybody, or definitely didnt make anybody entirely happy, didnt make us and Many Democrats happy because we extended some of the tax relief at the top that we didnt think were the most fiscally responsible thing to do but we did it in a context where we extended longterm unalignment. Middle class tax relief and a new payroll tax cut. And we surprised markets and growth was actually lifted up a half percent almost everywhere. Beginning of 2011 i think we were looking at 3 growth. I understand things happen right after that, i barely remembered where the bathroom was when you had both the developments in the middle east raising gas prices, you had the unprecedent eed Natural Disaster in japan that had a much, much deeper and more harmful on the Global Economy than anyone expected. Those are the things you cant prevent. Those are the external factors. Even the european Financial Difficulties that you have to deal with. But what you dont expect is that you are going to manufacture your own domestic crisis to inflict wounds on your own economy as you are trying to recover from the great recession. But unfortunately that is what has happened. The question is, why . It is not because we had divided government. It is not because we had great difference differences, philosophical differences in how to do a longterm fiscal plan. It is because we started seeing in 2011 really for the First Time Ever a serious use of a threat against our own economy and against and the potential for default as a budget tactic. That is what hurt us. It is not having divided government. It is not having a difficult budget negotiation. It was the practice of threatening the default of the United States as a negotiating tactic. And i think it is very important for people to understand that single fact. Because i think sometimes i read descriptions of the president s positio position. It often seemed to be about would the president negotiate, will he negotiate. There is no question that this president has been willing to negotiate and compromise on budget issues. Lets be honest, most of the flack he has received from his own supporters has been when they thought he was too willing to negotiate or compromise. But the president does believe in divided government and that everyone has to give a little and compromise cant be a dirty word and if you are going to move forward nobody is going to get 100 of what they want. What the president was doing was taking a stand against using the threat of default or put it this which. He was taking a stand against sanctioning anyone using the threat of default as a tactic in budget negotiations. I cannot express how important it is that this issue be resolved in the right way and soon. It is very important that we as a country decide in these next couple of months that the era of anyone threatening the default of the United States economy is over. Togethere need to come , the Business Community, both parties, and decided there are going to be many ways we will battle each other on our priorities. Air of threatening default is over. People would say, really . President s can take part of that stance . He is so determined not to sanction that type of negotiation that he will stand firm no matter what . The 11th hourt to or it is 11 59 p. M. On that critical evening . The reason why the president did and was willing to stand firm was that he believed and his entire Strategic Team believed that if the president made concessions at the last minute to, even for the purpose of preventing a crisis, that it would increase and not decrease the chances of default. It would increase the chances we would undermine our full faith and credit and not decrease it. Why . It is logic. If after all of that the Lesson Learned had been yet, you put a gun to the American Economy and you get your way, why would people have not continued to try that tactic for the rest of the Obama Presidency . Obamais used by the party, why in the world would you not expect payback . Thatould you not expect the Democratic House of representatives would not do the same thing to republican president later and saying they will not sign the debt limit unless there is background checks are higher minimum wage . Important very ofuggle for the future saying an economic this goal policy. Where there twice has been willing at the end it to extend the debt limit without, you know, concessions or someone being paid to agree to not default the country. T is very important that this ends now. Let me give some reasons why. We had a very wise secretary in alexander hamilton. When you read him, you really do have great admiration for his foresight that he could establish the u. S. Had impeccable credit, future generations would in effect. The actions that he took at a time when that was not so a conventional wisdom or understanding, a showed a great foresight. Great gift that we have maintained for over 200 years. I think we should look at it this way. I think that we should consider it a precious asset possessed by all of the american people, our credit standing over 200 years is a precious asset that is owned by the entire american people. And has allowed us generations of businesses and entrepreneurs and families to invest in the future at lower costs. It has helped lead us to be the worlds reserve currency. It has helped the world to believe that treasury debt is the safest, most risk free financial obligation of the world. That was established over 200 years through world wars and on the things we have been through. We should not play around with damaging that brand, that precious asset. Thisep worry is that if happens another time, we will heart. We will do lasting damage to that brand. Questionthere is no that there was a harmful impact on the economy. We had a couple of Companies Come in and talk to the talked aboute the the impact on Consumer Spending and confidence that their company. Crisis, itfinancial is only been matched by 911 and pearl harbor. And pearlt 9 11 harbor. That is not a great thing. We have lived through the second threat of default to our economy. It was estimated that he has cost us many jobs this quarter. Many people feel that is conservative. It is no question we will take a hit in growth. I most worried about what it means for the threat of lasting damage. Think about some of the spec trum. Jpmorgan, blackrock. Not holdded they could the treasury bills that have maturities in early november. Is i going to do take our economy . No. Is that the kind that you want to send to the world . That your own top financials into shins are divided and they are still unsure of their own government they are not willing to even for a short amount of theyre not willing to hold shortterm treasury debt it is not something we want to send. We have received some memory e mails from people saying they did a contingency plan and never thought they would have to do it again. Goinge gone through through another contingency plan. Sooner or later, we will implement those contingency plans. That it was bad that this happened in 2011. It was more harmful to confidence in our Financial System that happened a second time in just a little over two years. I worry that three strikes and you are out that a third strike within two years will start to do some of the lasting damage. Let me give you a couple of this iswe have told larry fink, this ceo of black rock. This is from the financial times. Who holds therson largest assets in the world. Many Foreign Investors are rethinking their approach to investing, even a marginal change in the willingness of government and Pension Funds and other institutions around the world will incrementally raise Interest Rates and drive up the costs of financing our deficit. Student loans are tied to treasury. People are rethinking their approach to investing in our that. Damagell do lasting ironically to the deficit and to middleclass families. Not because of the power of watchman nurser innovators. It is simply about dysfunction in the practice of threatening default in our budget battles. Bill gross, the worldview of the u. S. Has been damaged by all of this. This dysfunction appears to be a herman and disease that should concern longerterm treasury and investors as for the volatility of washingtons debt. The international Financial System is based on the assumption that the core of the system will predict early and responsibly if this false, the rubes would be pulled out. This is a very serious issue. I really do believe it is not a partisan issue. This is about the brand and the benefit that we as a country enjoy from the precious assets of our credit standing of over 200 years. I think we need to do decide that era threatening default has to be over. Is that this is the way it has always been. One into. People have to give up leverage. I want to contest both of those. I think i have made myself a bit of a history buff on all have to debt limit increases. Times but have been not often where the debt limit up in an issue or two. Maybe once or twice. Thee have been times where debt limit was perhaps to used as a deadline. Beforere has never been this and organized, longterm effort by a faction of a Political Party used to use the key element of political or Economic Strategy. That has not happened before. Let us remember that the House Republican leadership bill actually in the last budget put in a prioritization bill. They were putting in a bill. Heres how you should manage the default of the u. S. This is unprecedented in the sense of it being a sustained and serious effort to use the debt limit and that private default is a key element of a political strategy. Second, the idea that you need this for leverage is what we know from our civics classes as junior high students and medical students. Our government system is enormous leverage to the Minority Party. Wants to pass Immigration Reform. Strongs to have a infrastructure bill. He has offered a deal, compromise that will combine on term Corporate Tax reform and infrastructure investment. Program projobs. He has many priorities. None of them in our system can get through without the cooperations of the republicans in the u. S. Congress. That is the levers that is given to the Minority Party in our government. That is the leverage that is given even if you control one house. When we did the balanced budget agreement, we have the and both houses of congress. The one in medicare savings. They wanted a lower the capital gains. And we are going to get the Childrens Health initiative and investment funding for education, we had to get the cooperation. That is a mutual leverage that leads to compromise. You do not need the thread default in your country for leverage. Leverageore of a super that is designed to nullify election results. It is not taken within normal leverage you have to force a president or the other house to work with you in the spirit of compromise to make sure that something that passes includes the priorities for both the democrat and the Republican Party. That is what we do to do about two. Golfing anyone to give up their leverage. That is what we want to get back to. Not asking anyone to give up their leverage. We need to move forward. Thank you. [applause] thank you, gene. The first question comes from hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs that we deal with all the time in the last couple of months. When you are negotiating, does to fourthquarter earnings, but the table . Does it come up in the negotiation . That is interesting you mention it. I think there have been people in the Business Community who have been frustrated that their words have not have the force that i should have on washington. To be honest, some of them have 500 as many of the orchard ceos are republicans fortune 500 ceos are republicans and may not have had the impact on some elements of the Republican Party. There are selfinflicted crises. If there is one thing that seems to really break through, it was theed the idea that putting crisis point in the middle of impact thes going to Holiday Shopping season and the awareness that for many businesses large and small, the 70 75 of Business Revenue can i was struck the fact that one day we were doing significant outreach one day and the president was talking to a Bipartisan Group of governors. I stayed on the phone after to take questions and answers. Other than issues on parks, the number one issue for most democrat and republican governors was, these dont do this thing where youre going to make the date in the middle of december. Then, we walked downstairs and the president and i met with a group of Small Businesses and literally the first words out of the first person who went to us was a person who sells gift candles who said she was dead if this happened. It was very interesting. It seemed like in a very short period of time, the republican proposal that was going to extend into the middle of december suddenly went to january. I think that perhaps the reason that broke through was that it was a commonsense message that people were hearing from the largest businesses, but also the smallest businesses in their district. I think it says a lot about what has impact, which is a lot of people do care what the ceo of the 15th Largest Company in the world thinks. A lot of times they care a lot more about what theyre going to hear the town hall meeting. Perhaps in their home with a Small Business they may not be hearing as much about what is happening to money market funds or Interest Rates, but they are hearing somebody say youre going to kill me. I usually hire more people at the Holiday Shopping season, i meant to lay off more people. Thats a pretty powerful, tangible message. I think that broke through. Secondly, i think the shutdown i think the negative impact of the shutdown was felt quite broadly, for a couple of reasons. One, with the sequester, the sequester is going to be is obviously harmful to growth, harmful to investment, harm to a lot of families in our country but when it first go into place, people are able to, you know, do goes into place, onetime things, find that money under the cushion or whatever and so it doesnt necessarily hit as quickly. I think in the shutdown, people might have expected it was going to be like that as well. Or they might have remembered the 19951996 shutdown where maybe only half the government was shut down. I think this ended up being very harmful. I think people felt it in their economy. I think people started to realize thats not just about federal workers. They saw the Small Business contractors. I think what a lot of members of congress started to hear was the Small Businesses say, hey, when you open this government, federal workers will get paid, not me. You know, i missed a payment. My credit is hurt now. You know. I already took the hit. I think there was a broader sense of the economic harm there. I think the reason why, unfortunately, while all those things are extremely harmful, the thing that would be the most, you know, the most scary and threatening would be a default and yet that might be harder for some people to digest. Clearly some members of congress tried to pretend that, you know, it would be the United States could somehow get through it or the United States for the first time in its history massively not meeting its obligations, breaking its bond, would not have this terrible, harsh effect. Fortunately, i do feel that the leadership on all sides did not buy that. I think there are members of congress, house and senate, who take that position. But i think those in the leadership of the democrat and republican parties were not confused that a default would be financially devastating, but its not the kind of thing you want to prove. We found that Business Leaders might be unwilling to talk about sequester cuts because theyre not experts, but we talk to them about what with happens if they dont pay their credit cards, theyre they know about that. You talked about the farm bill. What do we have a chance of getting done before you leave at the end of december . Well, let me Say Something on immigration. I do believe that immigration, comprehensive Immigration Reform will eventually become the law of the land. I think there is just an overwhelming logic, humanitarian logic and political logic for both sides. I think there should be as much pressure on the system as possible to get this done. A couple of things. Obviously it would be a great thing for the economy. We know that immigration would be good for growth. We know it would help more Companies Continue to locate in the United States and employee more people. And employee more people. We know would be good for gdp, but its also interesting, were sitting here talking about, youre seeing comments from congressional leaders saying, maybe we can get something done. Maybe its not going to be a large deal. Maybe we can get something done. When you look at what the, you know, what people are talking about, it makes you realize that the c. B. O. Has scored the immigration bill as reducing the deficit by almost 900 billion over the next 20 years. So if youre asking yourself right now, what is one of the most promising, bipartisan things we can do to reduce the longterm deficit, you should be supporting and actively fighting for passage of the comprehensive Immigration Reform that passed the United States senate. But obviously its just also the right thing to do from a moral point of view. The president s mentioned the farm bill, where theres been bipartisan movement. You know, one of the other things that we talked about with the president quite a bit is understanding the ability of the president to get things done and have change even beyond legislation. Now, legislatively, a couple of other things i mentioned, i think theres some bipartisan progress on patent reform, and trying to reduce the degree of abusive litigation that gets in the way of innovation. I think chairman goodlatte has shown leadership in getting in moving forward a bill that will probably still need some adjustments from his democratic colleagues but nonetheless is consistent with the president s, you know, goals. I think that there has been surprising but promising opportunity on g. S. E. Reform in the senate. Myself and Shawn Donovan and jack lue, the three of us have been working very closely, often behind the scenes but to work with those who are trying to forge bipartisan progress on g. S. E. Reform. I think there are areas along with Immigration Reform where, you know, if we could if washington could get itself in a better state, we could make progress but theres also areas where were working with members of the Business Community or other stake holders to make progress where you might not need, where legislation would be most helpful but you could still make progress. Weve done an enormous amount, the president and first lady have, and mrs. Biden, on veterans. In a very serious way. Reforming the way the military deals with people coming out, reforming credentialing. Very serious things that will affect hundreds of thousands of people. The overall majority has been done without new legislation. We proposed the manufacture and innovation institutes weve been able to do to pilot our first one in youngstown and well be announcing before the end of the year the next three. This is being looked on in the United States, at universities around the world, as one of the top innovations in manufacturing and encouraging jobs here. Weve done it with federal resources but weve been able to find ways to do it without new legislation. Now that people have seen the success, there is, you know, senator blunt and senator brown have a bipartisan bill in the senate. Theres a bipartisan bill in the house. A couple of areas we have been working with the Business Community on is longterm unemployment. Just making sure that were talking to companies about making sure they dont have screens that unintentionally dont give people who may be who maybe have been unemployed for six or seven months or a year, dont give them a chance to at least interview to prevent that negative cycle. If you could get a real change from Companies Large and small, those things could help. Were talking to colleges about, you know, college cost and value and what they can do to help more lowincome students. So you know, one thing to be very clear is legislation is the path to many of the very big things we need to do but its not the only way to make progress. We spend a lot of time on the National Economic council on legislative proposals but we show how we can move the ball forward on some of these issues about advanced manufacturing, longterm unemployment, with or without new legislation. So youll be busy through the end. Ill be going full speed. Another thing is detroit. We cant do anything about detroits bankruptcy or their larger Financial System but we met with the Business Community, the philanthropic community, the community leaders, the African American faithbased leaders there. What are the what were the Top Priorities . And we went through our budget and looked for something that was stuck in pipelines that we could work or do in partnership and went there, myself, Shawn Donovan, secretary fox, all four of us, and announced over 300 million. Again, that was a major effort and a major show of support for detroits comeback. A it did not include new dollars or new legislation but its going to make a its going to make a big impact. This president , you know, makes very clear, no excuses from his policy team that we didnt make progress in something because we couldnt pass legislation. I will be going full blast to the very last day to try to get as much of these things done like that particularly, before i turn over the reins to jeff sykes. Thats great. Well be in detroit on november 7, i believe, i believe theres an invitation in your inbox. Are there questions from the group . A health care question. Not necessarily on the exchanges but can we get him a mike tone microphone, please . Thank you. Health care question, not necessarily on the exchanges but the a. C. A. Overall. Lots of good components in it, lots of things that have already taken effect. Its sort of being clouded by the exchanges but there are also some other rules that are going to come out before the end of the year that might have an adverse impact. Im just wondering, with the Government Shutdown and some of the delays that came from that, whether or not some thought is going into how those sort of proceed and whether any of those are on your radar screen. Obviously, one of the things that, you know, one of the things we did as soon as the shutdown was over is to try to look immediately at whats been held up and you know, if the shutdown is going to impact rules of any kind to try to quickly let people know. If there are dates that are changed. But look, we have always people will not agree with every decision we make, but we have always come i think jim would say this, we have always listened. We have made adjustments like on the employer reporting, that were due to us hearing the practical considerations of businesses employers. We are always going to do your best to strike the right balance between getting things in place as quickly as possible and thats our goal. But i am happy to check on, if you have a particular thing, im happy to go back to our health to and ask. I would say right now one of the things the president asked a cabinet secretary to do is immediately look throughout the government at where this Government Shutdown might have taken a certain date that was expected in anything beyond healthcare and moved it and tried to give people clarity on that as soon as possible. That is going on as we speak. We ran a little late, i apologize for that rate we will have the staff available to take your information. Have all your specific questions written out and we will try to get you answers. If you questions that you didnt a chance, i apologize. We have is missed forward staff to take those questions and well get back to you. Jeanne, thank you so much for gene, thank you so much for joining us. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] later today, cspan profiles to lawmakers. Andtor manchin representative rodgers. Here is a brief look. The campaign changed our family because of john kennedy. It made West Virginia the battleground. We were catholic. Was going to be a big part of this election, could he break that religious barrier . I never thought there was a barrier. Everyone worked in the coal mines. My father and grandfather had a store. Everyone was equal and made about the same amount money. There were no classes. I never thought religion was a problem. Methodist friends are baptist friends or whatever. We are all the same. Thing. S a big it got me interested. I will never forget when i we were watching the news and they were talking about whether kennedy got elect it. Mom, i do not think they know the catholics that we know. The Republican Party needs to change what it stands for. It has been longstanding. I think the republicans have to do a better job of connect and with how people live in the 21st century and also using 21st Century Communication tools. The days of just issuing a press to do tvr going off and the television ads, that is as much. Cting we talked a little bit earlier about social media. In the two thousand eight election, when president obama was able to create this network and2, 13 Million People their email addresses, that was a real wakeup call to meet. Here