Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140617

Do they enroll their children in the school where they are now or assume theyll be confirmed by then and look at enrolling them in the country in which theyll be serving . Why are we putting people who are serving their country through that type of uncertainty and anxiety . But we are. We are, by failing to move in a timely way the nominations that have been brought forward to us. Ill just mention one other example. I started with the hearing that i chaired today on behalf of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee dealing with four nominees. One was the ambassador to vietnam. I was just recently in vietnam. I met with our current ambassador, ambassador scher. I mention that because hes been nominated to be assistant secretary of defense for asia so hes leaving vietnam. We had a hearing today on the next ambassador to vietnam, a wellqualified career diplomat. The question is, are we going to have the orderly change of command in vietnam, a country critically important to u. S. Interests . Were negotiating a Transpacific Partnership agreement. Part of that is goodgovernment changes we expect in vietnam. We expect our ambassador to be there to to negotiate these issues. The question is, will we have that early transfer, two career people seeking to move forward in their careers, being held up by inaction on the floor of the United States senate . Ill come back to the last point i want to make. Yes, were hurting the United States in not having these confirmed c. E. O. s. Its creating unfairness to the families of people who want to serve our country and the uncertainty thats there. But its also hurting the United States senate because its our responsibility to act on president ial appointments. And its our responsibility to act in a timely, thoughtful way. Were not carrying out that responsibility. By the republicans obstructing votes on the president s nominations on Foreign Policy key Foreign Policy positions, we are not carrying out our responsibility, the oath that we took to serve in the United States senate to protect the interests of this country, its our responsibility to act on these nominations in a timely way and we have not done that because of the obstructionists of the republicans. I urge my colleagues to put National Interest first. Lets move forward with the responsibility. The committee has carried out its responsibility and, quite frankly, chairman menendez, youve carried that out in a very bipartisan way. Weve had cooperation between republicans and democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Weve carried out our responsibility. Now its time for the United States senate to carry out its responsibility, for the republicans to allow us to vote in a timely way on this backlog of nominees for critical Foreign Policy positions. And i urge my colleagues to allow us to move forward in the best interests of our country and in respect to those who have stepped forward to serve our country and in carrying out the responsibilities that we all swore to uphold in the United States senate. With that, madam president , i would suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call mr. Reid i ask consent the call of the quorum be terminated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to paired of morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i ask the chair lay before the senate a message from the house to accompany s. 1254. The presiding officer the clerk will report the chair lays before the senate a message from the house of representatives. The clerk resolved that the bill from the senate, s. 1254, entitled an act to amend the harmful alcohol blooms and Hypoxia Research and control act of 1988 and for other purposes do pass with an amendment. Mr. Reid i move to concur in the house amendment and ask unanimous consent the motion be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i now ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to s. Res. 477. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk Senate Resolution 4 477, designating june 20, 2014, as American Eagle day and so forth. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9 30 tomorrow morning, wednesday, june 18. Following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. Following any leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h. R 4660 and the time during adjournment count postcloture on the motion to proceed to h. R. 4660. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid so, madam president , we hope to begin consideration of the appropriations bill during tomorrows session. Senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. If theres no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands adjourned until 9 30 a. M. Tomorrow. Tomorrow senators continue work on federal spending bills for 2015 including one for the commerce and justice department. Follow the senate live here on cspan2 when members gavel back in. President obama is in new york city this evening attending a fundraiser hosted by the Democratic National committee. You can see his comments live here on cspan2 at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Tomorrow General Motors ceo testifies on gm defective ignition switch recall, which some people say caused 13 deaths she will speak in front of the House Oversight subcommittee live coverage at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on wednesday. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. On tomorrows washington journal former administrator of the Iraqi Coalition of 40 looks at his recent piece in the wall street journal on u. S. Troops. Then california representative Loretta Sanchez on what military and political options the u. S. Has. After that senior staff writer talks about his recent article looking at the Health Care Website and how the original version was fixed. Phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. Live wednesday and every morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. The pieces of the book is that there are a whole group of people in america, a big swath of america that is being ignored, left behind, not included in the discussion, i think, for either party. Particularly, i would argue, the Republican Party. That is what i call bluecollar conservatives, the folks out there that are working people, most of whom did not have college degrees, folks that really still understand the value of work in the importance of work and responsibility and people who understand the importance of family and faith panel believe in freedom and limited government. Those are conservative Republican Voters and in many cases they are not. In fact, a lot of them dont vote because they do not see either party talking to them about the concerns that they have in trying to create in the opportunity for them to live the american dream. Former pennsylvania senator and former president ial candid argues that working americans have been abandoned by both Political Parties and offers conservative answers to their problems saturday night at 10 00 eastern, part of book tv this weekend on cspan2. And this month on our Online Book Club we are discussing the forgotten man, a new history of the great depression. Start reading and joined others to discuss the book in our chat room at booktv. Org. Book tv, television for serious readers. Ohio republican senator and Maryland Democratic representative today discussed the federal budget and different priorities repeat between republicans and democrats. They serve on their respective budget committees hosted by the National Press club. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the National Press club. I am than Newsmaker Committee Event Coordinator for todays bipartisan, bicameral News Conference by two National Leaders on the federal budgets future. Our two speakers will address future federal Budget Priorities and methods to achieve them. They will cover areas budget should attend to, programs that should or should not be funded and to what extent the usefulness and future of shutdowns and sequestration, strategies for bipartisan cooperation and action and the projected time line all in one hour. [laughter]. And to club members. Now let me introduce the two speakers. Congressman Chris Van Hollen is the ranking minority leader of the house budget committee. He was elected to congress in 2002 and beat some very wellknown people with big legacies. In addition to representing the eighth district of maryland and is serving in the house leadership the congressman was reelected by colleagues to serve as the second term top democrat on the budget committee. In this position he serves as the key point of budget person on economic legislation for the democratic party. The Washington Post described chris as a bona fide budget expert and the la times said he is among the partys best budget minds. Roll call has noted which is here today been hollen gets near universal respect for his intellectual firepower and the combination of political shots. I think a few years ago we called chris a rising star. Now hes just a star. The congressman van hollen was recognized by the washingtonian magazine is the best metropolitan area in congress and the local official by the federal magazine. There may be some in Congress Today who have recently lost elections and will tell you just how important that local Service Recognition can be. Chris also played an integral role to pass on behalf of healthcare a four man fought to ensure that adults receive expanded access. He continues to lead the fight for the disclosure act and secret election elections and tn the bills on the disclosure reforreform and whistleblower protections that were enacted. A former professional staff member of the Foreign Relations committee p6 and i emphasize as a former staff member myself has a strong background in National Security policy. Maybe his interests there come from the fact that he is the son of a Foreign Service officer. Before his election in the house, the congressman served for four years in the maryland house and eight years in the maryland senate. He also worked as an attorney private practice for ten years and is the graduate of swarthmore college, the john f. Kennedy school of government at harvard and Georgetown University law center. He lives in kensington maryland with his wife and their three children. Rob portman is the United States senator from ohio. He was elected in 2010 running a campaign that focused on conservative ideas to create jobs and get the deficit under control. He was born and raised in cincinnati where he lives today with his wife and their three children. He grew up in a Small Business family where he learned early on the value of hard work about leadership and fiscal responsibility. When he was young, his dad borrowed money to start Portman Equipment Company where he and his brother and sister worked while growing up. His father and his brother built a Family Business from a small truck dealership with five employees. He developed his own private practice representing small practices. In 1993, he was a partner in a Cincinnati Law Firm when he was elected to congress and where he represented the papers 722nd district in southern ohio. He served 12 years and off seven elections he never received less than 70 of the vote. During tha the time in congresse is involved in the historic welfare efforts and he was an advocate of the balanced budget bill that passed in 1997. He gained the respect of both republican colleagues in his successful bipartisan legislative initiatives including the measures that he offered to increase retirement savings, reform the irs and had over the new taxpayer rights and curb the mandates and reduce taxes and expand Drug Prevention and planned a conservation efforts. In the spirit of disclosure, it is his support for the community antidrug coalition of house members where i was the white house drug office or public affairs. In 2005, rob left the congress when he was asked by president george w. Bush to serve as the United States trade representative come at a cabinet level official responsible for u. S. Trade policy. Under his leadership america and exports increased and the u. S. Brought successful challenges against International Trade law violations. Following his accomplishments and there he was asked to serve in other critical cabinet post offense to todays discussion the director of the office of management and budget. He made his mark as a deficit hawk proposing a balanced budget and fighting the irresponsible year marks and putting in place new transparency measures for all federal spending. He was listed as a Vice President ial prospect in 2008 and 2012 and we wonder will he also be in 2016. So, the nationacertainly the nas club was privileged to have two superstars here today and their staff. Kaitlyn for senator portman and bridget for the congressman van hollen having immensely helpful in also displayed the kind of bipartisanship that we are seeking to augment today. I also want to introduce my wife, doctor Patricia Burke is the professor at George Washington Medical Center in nyc that has a real job looking for cures for cancer. And also i want to thank the national also, rebecca if you would raise your hand because she will be carrying the microphone around to the audience commandeaudience commae immediately able to also get the box advantages of the questions from the audience. And i know thats important to cspan as well. And i want to thank the National Press Club Executive director joanne booze, the staff liaison for the committee, and is st. Johns still hear that it does such a spectacular job and won the outstanding volunteer award for the whole club this past year and are audio people. We will lead first with the senate, senator rob portman. Thanks very much. We have worked together in the past. We consider him an honorary ohio ohioan. Hes worked for republicans and democrats on the drug issue and he has been an advocate for not the current approach to drug abuse and addiction but rather one that focuses on prevention education and treatment and recovery. And i think that this is one of the issues although we are going to talk about directly today is an example of something on the discretionary part of the budget that is being squeezed more and more as we dont deal with a larger problem on the mandatory spending side of the budget and succumb as we are talking about that, maybe we can sort of keep in mind that as an example of a program for instant is the Second Chance act that we are trying to get reauthorized right now thanow i offer to ten yearsn the discretionary side that is under more and more budget pressure even though it is a program that actually saves money because it encourages and saves localities to put in place the Prisoner Reentry Program to keep people out of the revolving door in prison. And in fact it encourages getting people into Productive Lives where the taxpayers are taking care of their families and so just an example of the kind of things i fear its going to be under increasing pressure if we do not do something about the bigger problem in the budget. This is a nice turnout. I would have come thursday if i were you. And i will tell you why. I looked at the website for the National Press club and the description for today is basically come here to talk about the intricacies of budget baselines warehouse on thursday herheres what it says about ths this is a direct quote called on camera smoking cocaine with a downtown what the controversial that he will be done here on thursday. [laughter] i dont know why youre here but thank you for coming. May be the two of us could make this more interesting. We have to stick to the budget. Thats what we are supposed to do. Look, i worked with chris thomas over the years in the socalled Super Committee together that ended up being not so super. But it was a serious effort on the committee to try to find answers. We were not ultimately successful although some of what we proposed you could argue later happens in a sequestration and we really didnt get that again this broad picture of how do you deal with the biggest part of the budget and now two thirds of the budget which is called mandatory spending within ten years the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells us that would be three quarters of the budget and said it is the fastest and biggest part of the budget so we have our work cut out for us. Again, Chris Van Hollen and i have had the opportunity to Work Together before and i hope the opportunity to Work Together in the future to try to find a Common Ground on this and other issues. This debt that we currently have in the deficit is very serious and threatening to our economy. First of all, it is the most predictable economic crisis in history and i agree with him. It is at the top 1 trillion in the next decade and yet it seems like it is off the headlines. And i want to thank the National Press club for having us because shining a light and asking us to be here shows us at least they believe this continues to be an important issue we also be talking to her. Some of us suggested after another to speak with the deficit is only about 500 billion this year but thats okay. And first of all, 500 billion does not seem okay to me. When i was at the office of management and budget, bob mentioned that the deficit was 161 billion i thought i was too high and that is where we proposed balanced budget over a fiveyear period. So i think billion is certainly not solving the problem, but its also the two id card we are looking at again, trillion dollar deficits within a decade and that is based on a Congressional Budget Office analysis. It is due by the way entirely to the cost of the mandatory side of the budget. The vital but unsustainable entitlement program, so i will talk about that in the second. And by the way is a pretty rosy scenario are you assume a trillion dollars a year in the deficit a decade from now. But it is in no recession. No terrorist attacks of the Interest Rates are going to stay at a low rate and in fact historically low rates over the period of time so there is another danger that ththedeficin that. They project a ten jjuliett miller increase in debt over the next decade is a yugo from roughly 17 trillion where we are today and it will be 7. 7 trillion to 27 trillion of debt ten years from now. In a relatively rosy scenario. I hope that nobody is declaring victory. And i hope that we continue to this very much on the front burner and talk about how do we solve this problem. And the problem driving the debt is entitlement spending. I do think most folks on both sides of the aisle understand that so i wont spend a lot of time talking about the math. I dont think it is a big mystery. I dont think it is a matter of ideology or the plaintiff view or arithmetic. And the numbers are simply overwhelming. Social security, health entitlement, net interest comprised of for just half of the budget and get the are responsible for 86 of the new spending over the next decade. Entitled the spending is set to double over the next decade. It will consume almost 100 of the tax revenues within a decade. In other words, the entire discretionary budget from the Defense Health research to education to the Second Chance act we talked about infrastructure, all of that would have to be funded through the nations credit card because every penny of the revenue that is coming in would have to be used to pay for this expanding entitlement spending again over the 100 increase on the entitlement side. So, what do we do . We have to act and do something to save these vital but unsustainable programs and if we dont we are not serving the people that rely on them. Social security faces a 62 billiondollar deficit this year. Some folks say that its in fine shape. The tax deficit would be another 62 million coming out and the benefits coming in. The primary trust fund would go bankrupt in just over 20 years which when you think about it we are at the point those that are retiring today most will be alive at the time when the Social Security trust fund goes belly up. And as you all know that means 25 cuts to benefits unless we change the law. As of this is happening now to the folks that are currently moving from working into retirement. Social Security Disability trust fund goes bankrupt in 2017, just around the corner. The Medicaid Trust fund in just over a decade. So obviously these programs need to be modernized and reformed into the longer we wait the more painful that he will be. If we are going to do that of course we are going to have to take some tough steps and it is going to take reaching across the aisle and its going to take both parties being involved and just as it was the 1980s the last time this was on with Ronald Reagan and tip oneill each party has to be involved. There are a lot of myths about the entitlement since deficits so let me attempt from my perspective to clear the air. Im going to touch on five of what i think are the most persistent out there that help keep us from doing this important work and find a Common Ground. And finding a solution. Number one, defining the tax revenues are the problem. For corn leghorn used to say in the cartoons that is mathemati mathematics, and i think it is. He says you can argue with me but you cant argue with the figures. The tax revenues regardless what the policies was stated at 18 of gdp said it has been the average since the 60s. Thats about to change. They project their revenues will sethe revenues willsee their cie starting next year and over the next few decades has the highest levels ever as a percentage of the economy and the highest levels in the nominal tax time talking about the percentage of the economy. More specifically, individual revenues as a percent of the economy will shatter all records in the next decade to within a decade it will be higher than it has been previously. And the Congressional Budget Office not me or some other partisan group. Unfortunately the spending soars even more so the higher revenues it doesnt keep up in higher spending. Spending has averaged about 20 of the revenues about 1800 spending is about 20. The cbo projects that the Health Spending net interest costs would drive the spending to 25, 30 and 35 of the economy in the coming decades. Cbo used to have a baseline that i kind of liked but was called the alternative baseline that played all of this out and i think they said that happened in the 20s and 30s timeframe. They didnt offer that in this last year and i sorry they didnt but if you look at the numbers and projected them out, you see that the tax system simply cant keep up with the spending. You couldnt have an income tax system that collected taxes as high if you keep up in the spending. So, i guess one way to say it is that they project that the entitlement cost of the resulting high interest on the debt, those two things on the higher interest of the dead are responsible for 100 of the rising longterm deficits. Even the highest sustained tax revenues and history wont come close to paying for that. If entitlement spending is driving this, then shouldnt the Strong Majority come from those programs . Or should we just keep chasing the record spending and higher tax levels . That is a race we are going to lose because we cant keep up with it eventually. Number two, Social Security and medicare recipients receive only what they pay into the system. I hear this a lot and im sure chris does, too from the constituents of the Social Security that is becoming more true for the current retirees. A typical person retiring in medicare today will still receive 3 in benefits for every 1 dollar they pay into the system. Specifically, the typical couple in ohio or maryland or anywhere in the country will pay out 119,000 in lifetime medicare taxes and premiums and the premiums included, yet they receive about 357,000 in lifetime medicare benefits. When you multiply that by about 77 million baby boomers, you can see why it doesnt make sense. Number three, Social Security Medicare Trust funds will shield them from additional costs. The trust funds are an asset to the Social Security. But they are also a liability to the treasury. So while the Social Security trust fund ensures that the deficits through 2035 will be funded, it doesnt provide any actual Economic Resources to do it. For the general fund comes up with trillions of dollars to fulfill that pledge. Pledge. And i think the existence of the trust fund doesnt save current or future taxpayers a dime. All future benefits have to be financed by the future taxpaye taxpayers. During the Clinton Administration the office of management and budget had a quote about this that i thought was appropriate an and and theyd these balances were available to finance the future benefit payments only in a bookkeeping sense and do not consist of assets that can be drawdown in the future to fund benefits and decided they were claims of thee treasury that have to be financed by raising taxes and borrowing from the public or reducing benefits and other expenditures. Pretty simple. And i think theres a lot of misunderstanding about what the trustrust funds really mean. Number four, we complete our way to fiscal sustainability making changes to close the gap. That isnt possible. Look at the map. According to the trustees the medicare basically combined 40 trillion of unfunded liability over the next 75 years. That is truly and with the t. They cannot close that gap and the recent expiration of the upper income taxpayers which the president was committed to close raised about 620 billion over the next decade and a lot of folks said that was going to solve the problem. 625. Its about 3. 3 of the projected Social Security dedicated medicare cost over the same period. 3. 3. On the defense cuts, just bringing the troops home whats say we could permanently eliminated department of defense that would delay the budget reckoning by about 15 years. So there is no plausible set of tax hikes that could pay for more than a fraction of the cost. The entitlement themselves require fundamental reform. Number five because obamacare is paid for that makes it fiscally responsible. Again a new entitlement was started and some defend obamacare by saying that its paid for at least almost all paid for by new taxes and medicare cuts. My view on that is it doesnt make it any more fiscally responsible. I use an example of a family than make some hundred thousand dollars and they figured out a way to find 10,000 in savings through hard work and scrounging and they think the 10,000 they go to the mall and spend it. I dont think that they would see that they spending spree is justified because that was paid for. I think we need to look at this in terms of particularly what it does to medicare. I think with regard to medicare we can debate whether the obamacare cuts are appropriate or not. Cbo recently said some of them are unsustainable meaning they will not be sustained by the congress are unsustainable in their view under the Health Care System in the country but lets take that aside and just assumed it was the right thing to do. The savings for medicare providers was about 700 billion. If it is appropriate, shouldnt it have been used to deal with this problem of medicare . Some say well you can double count it. It doesnt make sense. It was used to fund the obamacare and otherwise they could have been available for medicare reform. As a facing the record spending to levels in obamacare the government of the scraped together 1. 5 trillion of tax increases in medicare cuts but to then spend the entire amount on a new entitlement program. This matters because the options are really pretty limited and washington can only raise the taxes so high before it doesnt affect the economy in a negative way. Medicare providers can only cover so much before they just stop participating in the program. Some have already come as you know. The antipoverty prevented the education prevented or in spending programs as well as the entire benefits of the already retired have mostly been taken off the table by the republicans and democrats. The options are really pretty limited. There are only so many programs that can be realistically scaled back. Are there ways to broaden the program cracks of course and there can be savings down there but they are in comparison to the cost we are talking about. If washington keeps using its limited supply of savings to offset that we have nothing left for the socalled bargain at least some kind of bargain to deal with entitlements to save them from bankruptcy and scale back the debt. The president s budget 1. 2 trillion of taxes is used primarily to pay for his spending. The Senate Democrats prefer the tax increase was called the tax that has been proposed as an offset to nearly a dozen proposed spending hikes and for those that follow congress carefully you will recall this happened last week it was proposed to pay for another spending increase and not to reduce the deficit. It would close by the way less than 1 of the budget deficit were zero of course if it keeps being used to offset the spending. It is a struggle frankly as chris will acknowledge because we have worked on this together and as did patty murray and paul ryan. Before i close with me add one more point. We need to have ideas out there. Its easy to criticize them when they come up. Paul ryan gets criticized regularly but they do balance. Democrats dont have an alternative that does that. I often talk about means testing in medicare as an example where we could make that step in the right direction. Does it solve the problems we talked about today . Know that it does take us in the right direction. Its in the president s budget. It does provide a folks that make over 175,000 a year have to pay more in premiums. And part b. Of medicare. Iit saves about 60 billion in the first ten years according to the analysis that we have for 25 to 50 billion over the next ten years which is why it is the kind of proposal that we ought to be talking about because it has this expanding benefits to the debt and deficits that we ought to be looking for because it is a longterm problem that can only be solved by those kind of reforms. And yet we cannot even seem to make progress there. And so my proposal today is lets make a commitment at least to take whats in the president s budget and put that out as a spending reform here even this year because it seems to me that is one that we should be able to find bipartisan consensus and take a small step towards dealing with these larger problems and i think that the success of beginquotes success and we cant allow the Current Situation to continue without making some progress. I raised this in the confirmation hearings recently with sylvia when she was before the finance committee wanting to move from the omb and i dont blame her to the hope and Human Services job. Her response was we cant move on that without a balanced approach and the balanced approach is of course raising taxes. And it is of course raising taxes on upper income americans and businesses that pay the taxes on the individual level and i understand the balance sounds great. But think about the logic of this. We cannot ask wealthy seniors and by the way 170,000 is equivalent to 2. 5 to 3 million. So, we are asking people who i believe can afford it given the situations we find ourselves within medicare to pay more on their premiums for part b. And part d. But the answer was we need to raise taxes on people in order to ask them to pay more in terms of premiums that are also revenue. It makes no sense. There is no logic there. So i am hopeful that we can make progress on these broad issues and come up with this grand bargain i think this year is going to be difficult to do something grand. So next year is an opportunity for us particularly in the first part of next year before we get wholeheartedly into the cycle. But in the meantime, lets take this small step together. A small step together. Lets take the president up on his budget and the one thing in his budget that does deal with this entitlement that we talked about today. Thank you all for being here today for the questions. [applause] we are honored by the president of the National Press club who is here with us. [inaudible] the National Press club is where the news is made and thank you both for helping make this this morning. Let me thank bob for bringing this together today and thanks for all of your leadership. Thank you for your stewardship here at the National Press club. And it is great to be here with my friend and colleague. As he indicated we have worked together on these budget issues. They are tough and challenging and i am hopeful that at some point down the line we are able to resolve them in a more comprehensive fashion than weve been able to today. We have had some piece theyll progress but what we need is more preemptive progress on these issues i also served as the cochair of the bipartisan congressional soccer caucucongrd i want to congratulate the team usa on a terrific victory in the u. S. World cup. [applause] and hopefully that is a sign of things to come as everyone knows we are in a tough bracket. Also, bob indicated that my father had served in the United States Foreign Service and earlier in my career i was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I do want to say a word about iraq. We want to look at the situation there. Obviously it is a time of great chaos and uncertainty. And we have learned over the last week that when it comes to Foreign Policy pundits in washington there seems to be no accountability because what we are witnessing in iraq is the fallout of one of the biggest foreignpolicy blunders in the United States that has ever ma made. It is offered as to what we should do and in my view that is a little bit like asking the arsonist help to prevent a fire. As we go forward in this debate, we will have a little bit more accountability with respect to some of the pundits that are out there. And of course the iraq war is directly related to the budget issues. We lost close to 4,489 americans we have had over 32,000 wounded, and in terms of the budget cost, it is well over a trillion dollars of unpaid for all on the credit card all adding to our deck. So, now let me turn to the budget and the economy. But, the good news is the economy has been steadily improving. We have seen a growth in jobs month after month. Still i think that we all recognize that we could be doing better. And our focus right now should be on boosting job growth and boosting wages. That should be the priority in the budget process and we have one challenge immediately before us which is the Transportation Trust fund. The Transportation Trust fund is currently scheduled to have a big shortfall as early as august. It means the money coming into the fund is not enough to pay for the current programs. You already see the slowdowns in the projects around the country. This is threatening thousands of construction jobs around the country. So priority number one when we deal with our budget issues should be addressing issues like that. The president has a plan in his budget but only to provide current funding for the Transportation Trust fund, but actually to boost the investment in the infrastructure. It is a 302,000,000,000. 4 year plan. It is paid for largely by closing in the specialinterest tax breaks that actually encourage American Companies to ship american jobs overseas. He would end those perverse and counterproductive tax breaks and invest those funds in the jobs here at home and the infrastructure development. Unfortunately, the House Republican budget has no solution when it comes to the Transportation Trust fund. It is actually assumes no more revenue coming in, and it assumes the shortfall coming o out. There is a proposal in the house that is being put forward by the House Republican leadership to essentially extended by ten months by ending the saturday postal delivery on a permanent basis. That is not a longterm solution to the Transportation Trust fund issues. We should really bite the bullet and make progress on that. Some other things we should do right now, we should deal with the huge burden on the student debt and loans. I think everybody here knows that a student debt is now over a trillion dollars. That means when students are graduating from college is and universities, they dont have the funds to help buy a new apartment or get a mortgage. They have to struggle simply to be pay those debts and so the president has put forward a plan to relieve some of that. There was a plan that the senator mentioned in the senate. If we arent going to do that we should have an alternative to address this very important issue. We should be boosting our investment in science and innovation in early education. The senator has a great proposal dealing with energy efficiency. That is a deficit of natural proposal that we should adopt in the senate and in the house. Those are the kind of investments and initiatives that i think make sense. We should extend emergency Unemployment Insurance. You know how more than 3 million americans out of work through no fault of their own the Congressional Budget Office tells us that extending the Unemployment Insurance will also create jobs between now and the end of the year again senator portman was part of a bipartisan agreement to pass that in the United States senate. It is now sitting in the United States house and we have asked the speaker for a vote on the measure and the speaker has been tied the opportunity to have that vote. As he has also denied an opportunity to have a vote on the issue of preemptive Immigration Reform. And theres a direct link between comprehensive Immigration Reform into the budget. The Budget Office told us what we can do to reduce blank that we break away from this to take you live to president obama in new york attending the Democratic National committees annual lgbt gala and has just begun his remarks. [inaudible] it was a victory for human decency and equality and justice and freedom, so we thank you for your courage and your inspiration. [applause] i want to thank Debbie Wasserman schultz for the work that she is doing as the chair. [applause] andy making sure that the money goes to the right place. [applause] henry, thank you. Thanks for the beautiful performance. Jesse tyler ferguson. [applause] congratulations on both of your weddings. [laughter] that you can finally tie the knot. Michelle and the girls were crying. These they were married a couple of hours ago and they decided to make this their after party. If you have a glass, raise it up to them for a lifetime of happiness. For, its a time of celebration and this year we have a lot to celebrate. If you think about everything thats happened in the last 12 months, it is remarkable [inaudible] that includes hawaii and illinois. [applause] the nfl draft at its first openly gay player. [applause] the Postal Service made history by putting an openly gay person on a stamp, the great harvey smiling from ear to ear. [applause] now you flash back ten years ago. No single issue divided the country more than samesex marriage. In fact, the Republican Party built their entire strategy for 2004 around this issue. Remember they calculated the constitutional amendments banning samesex marriage on the ballot and they turned out more voters they would when come and frankly they were right. People flocked to the polls. Those amendments were on the ballot of the 11 states and passed in every single one. Now here is a good bet. They are not going to try the same strategy in 2014. [applause] when i took office only two states had marriag marriage equa twoday, 19 states and the district of columbia. [applause] they are pending in other states as well. And despite the great work of some incredibly talented and courageous lawyers, it is important to understand it isnt just the law that is changing. Its the hearts and minds. Conventional wisdom says all this change is due to young people growing up with different attitudes than their parents and their grandparents had come and anybody that has kids knows that there is truth to that. The basic attitude is im sorry what is it that you are talking about here, what is the big deal. But what has been remarkable is the way that americans of all age groups are increasingly embracing the marriage equality. They understand that love is love and for many people whose minds have changed, it was love that did it, for the child or grandchild with a friend or the coworker who sat down one day and took a deep breath and said i am gay. Almost everybody in this room was that child or grandchild or friend or coworker at that point. And you may not have known it at the time it may have seemed like an individual act, but in those moments, when you summon the courage and reached out with that hopeful love, you were doing it for everybody. And thats why i here tonight, to say thank you for helping me make america more just and compassionate. [applause] i want to thank all of the incredible friends in the room for this important items so many of you have offered my administration over the past five years. Sometimes you were a little impatient. [applause] sometimes we would have to say will you settle down weve got this. But because of your help, we have been able to do more to protect the rights of Transgender Americans than any administration in history. [applause] weve repeal dont ask dont tell because no one should have to hide who you love to serve the country that we love. [applause] we reauthorize the violence against women act with new protections and i find a hate crimes law because hate driven violence has taken the lives of too many in this country. [applause] i went to the ban on people with hiv traveling to the u. S. And prohibited discrimination. Prohibited discrimination in hospitals and housing that received federal funding because they have no place in our law. Weve made it illegal for Health Insurance to deny coverage based on Sexual Orientation or gender identity. Starting next year on Insurance Companies that offer coverage to a straight couple have to offer it to gay couples, too. [applause] we have worked to address and prevent bullying because it isnt enough to say that it gets better. We have to make it better. Today the Senate Confirmed two gay judges in the same day. Before i took office only one had been confirmed in history and we have ten more. [applause] and as i said in my second inaugural address, if we are truly created equal, then the love that we connect to one another must be as well. Thats why we stopped defending the socalled defense of marriage act in the courts and argued alongside before the last court in the land. Thats why we are working to implement the ruling to extend benefits to marry samesex couples whenever possible. People have been waiting a long time for justice and we are working to deliver on that as fast as we can. So, we have got some pretty good reasons to celebrate. That doesnt mean that we can grow complacent. Progress doesnt just have to be fought for, it has to be defended. Today a lawmaker in oklahoma is trying to ban all marriage rather than recognize samesex marriage. [laughter] that seems a little overthetop, but thats just my opinion. The texas Republican Party platform endorses the conversion therapy in 2014 the legal fights are underway to stop marriage equity for expending any further or the Court Rulings taking effect. And most of all, there are still americans out there that are foldable and still need our support. So, we can stop. We have to keep fighting. We have to keep fighting for the human rights of people all around the world to those that face violence and intimidation every single day and who live under the governments that have made the existence of anybodys lgbt illegal. We need to send a message to those folks and let them hear we be leaving your dignity and the quality of the United States stands with you. [applause] and we have to keep fighting to protect the lives of our brothers and sisters here at home. Last week i got a chance to hear the film version of the normal heart and i actually called ryan afterwards to tell him how much i admired it. Its more than just a story from our past. Its a reminder that we have to stay vigilant in the fight against hiv aides and especially the Minority Community that doesnt have all of the resources, doesnt have all of the information that they need. It still takes a toll. And i know that many people in this room have photographs with smiling friends from the days gone by and a lot of those friends are gone and taken before their time but because of a disease and because there was a government that failed to make iit might disease in time, and that could happen again. [applause] thats why my administration created the comprehensive strategy. Thats why we are working towards the generation so fewer people have to know the pain of this disease and to the country doesnt lose any more of its sons and daughters. We have to keep fighting for equality in the workplace. Right now there are more states that allow samesex marriage and the states that prohibit dissemination against lg bt workers. Think about that. We have laws that say that americans cant be fired from their jobs because of the color of their skin or for their religion or because of the disability but every day audience of americans go to work knowing that they could lose their job and not because of anything that they did that because of who they are. That isnt right. Its wrong. Congress has been considering legislation to protect the workers for decades. For decades. Last november they finally looked like we were getting somewhere. The Senate Passed the employment non discrimination act had strong bipartisan support. The shocking enough, the house refused to act. [laughter] meanwhile, millions of americans are still waiting. Its been decades. The majority of the fortune 500 companies, Small Businesses already have non dissemination policies to protect their employees but because it is the right thing to do but cause it helps them attract and maintain the best talent. They are right. We dont benefit as a country or an economy. Businesses dont benefit if they are leading talent off the field. Thats why ive directed my staff to prepare for my signature an executive order prohibiting dissemination by federal contractors on the basis of Sexual Orientation and gender identity. [applause] [cheering] [cheering] it shouldnt be a tiger rebel offense. It will be better if they as ask them or contains a flaw that doesnt just cover federal contractors. [inaudible] dont take the pressure off congress. This seems to be a pattern these days. Everybody is giving us so much on the congress. We end up doing something through executive order and that is helpful, but it doesnt reach everybody that needs to be reached. Congress needs to start working again. So lets make sure that we keep the pressure up there. This is a country where no matter who you are unaware you are or who you love and if you work hard and do take responsibility, you should be able to make it. That is the story of america. That is the story of this movement. People who stand up and come out and march and organize and fight to expand the Rights Direct them to other people. People who work against the odds to build a nation in which everybodys freedom moves to be who they are and that you are judged based on our new kind and competent and work hard and treat each other with respect and are a team player and look after your communities and care and love and cherish your kids. Thats what made it possible for me to stand up as your president and for the freedom to live their lives freely. Its what should inspire us to keep working to assure that all of our children grow up in america where the differences are respected and even celebrated and where love is love and its also why those of us who in the past might not have always enjoyed the full liberty of this amazing country of ours has to offer that we had the thinking about others who are still struggling. Thats why this community has to be just as concerned about poor kids regardless of the orientatiosexualorientation andy should be looking for the workers that are not getting paid a minimum wage that is high enough and thats why this community has to show compassion for the Illegal Immigrants who are contributing to our society and just want the chance to move out of the shadows. Thats why this community should be concerned about equal pay for equal work, straight or gay. Thats why this community has to be concerned about the remaining discrimination. [applause] if you have experienced being on the outside, you have to be willing to bring more folks and even once you are inside. That is our task. [applause] thats our job. Thats why we are here tonight. God bless you. The thesis of the book is that theres a whole group of people in america back in a big swath of america that is being ignored, left behind, not included in the discussion. I think for either party. Particularly though i would argue the Republican Party, and i call it a bluecollar conservative. The folks out there that are working people, most of whom dont have college degrees, folks that really still understand the value of work and the importance of work and the responsibility and people understand the importance of family and faith, belief in freedom and government. His account you say those are conservative Republican Voters and in many cases they are not and a lot of them are not voting at all because they dont really see either party talking to them about the concerns that they have been trying to create an opportunity for them to live the american dream. On capitol hill today a critic of highspeed trading and other practices of wall street firms said that u. S. Financial markets are rigged. Bradley is the ceo of an alternative stock market exchange. Executives from the New York Stock Exchange and major Brokerage Firms defend wall street practices in a second panel of the senate hearing. It is two hours and 45 minutes. Good morning everybody. Most in the stock market is shaped by a single room. They await a ceremonial bill to kick off todays activity and then trade the shares with millions on scraps of paper. In reality, the shares are traded off on a floor in manhattan, that interact with computer servers with new jers jersey. They travel through fiberoptic cables. The increase on the stock markets comes not from thoroughly assessing the companies for their investment potential, but from exploiting the incontestable advantages and unfathomable speeds earning billions of price differences measured in pennies. We are in the era of highspeed trading. I am troubled as are many isometrics hallmarks. It is the era of the market instability. As we saw in the 2010 crash which the subcommittee and the Senate Banking committee explored in a joint hearing and in several market descriptions since the crash. It is the era in which the stock Market Players by the right to o locate their Trading Computers closer and closer to the computers of the stock exchanges and conferring with a miniscule speed advantage yielding massive profits. It is the era in which millions of trade are place placed and tn canceled and in a single second raising the question of whether much of what we call the market is in fact an illusion. Many including this senator questioned whether the rise of highspeed trading is overall a good thing for the market and investors. But without question, this has seen a rise of conflicts of interest. Hes conflicts would be my focus today. Other senators may focus on this or other aspects of highspeed trading. New technologies should not erase the values. Financial markets cannot survive on technology alone. They require a much older concept. Trust. And trust is eroded. Conflict of interest damage investors and markets first by depriving investors is a certainty that their brokers are placing the interest of their clients first and foremost, and second by feeding the growing belief that the market for something not fair. In fact, the polling shows that roughly two thirds of americans believe the stock market unfairly benefit the expense of others. This may be a factor that over half according to the Gallup Survey earlier this year owned the stock or the mutual funds which are down for more than two thirds of americans who go stock or mutual funds in 2002. The lack of the faith has allowed us to grow and will undermine a very important public purpose of the stock markets to efficiently raise capital so that businesses may grow to create new jobs and added to americas prosperity. In the previous hearings and investigations, this subcommittee has shown that our Financial Markets have become plagued by conflicts of interest. We have uncovered investment banks willing to create securities based on the junk assets, help them with their clients independent against the same