Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150210

Lobbiest turned around and supported the American People and passed policies that upset his former colleagues greatly. Host and gigi sohn is special council through the fcc and Gautham Nagesh and with the wall street journal. We look forward to having you back. I love the show. I will be back. Cspan created by companies 30 years ago and brought to you as a service by your local cable or satellite provider. Coming up, former graze congressman talks about his trip to iran and scott talks about education and then a talk about defense spending. On the washington journal tomorrow virginia congressman talks about International Issues like the conflict in ukraine and isis issues. And then indiana congressman talks about granting president obama the authority to fight isis arming the jordan forces and the defense budget. And we continue with our president of College Series with the president of nashville. Keep track of the Republicanled Congress and follow the new members through the first session. New congress best access on cspan cspan 2 cspan radio and cspan. Org. James slattery talks next on the iran nuclear deal. The president said today he didnt see a further extension of negotiations being useful. It goes on to say the pressure is growing in congress for spelling out the sanctions iran faces if there is no deal with the United States administration opposes. Republicans have furthered angered the administration by inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to address congress and make his case against the deal. Now we are joined with former congressman, james slattery, on his recent trip to iran. This is an hour. Good afternoon. Thank you for coming out to our first public event. Let me thank the Atlantic Council and the crow share for their generous support. We have been going on four years and i must say the news keeps getter better. Positive indications about the nuclear talks. We are hear to talk about the peopletopeople aspects of the iran negotiations where are just as participant as the techno technicalities technicalities. We want more interaction between the people of iran and the United States. I coordinate the task force here and i am delighted we have a speaker, someone who has been involved with iran for many years, but just had his first visit there. James slattery is the former six term congressman from the Second District of congress. He was a member of the house energy and Commerce Committee which has jur diction over hilary clinton, energy, telecommunication and health care and he is a partner with a law firm and advises clients who have matters pending before congress, federal agencies and regulartory bodies. What is motor important about the congressman from our perspective is he is part of the dialogue that has encouraged interface dialogue and reconcilation between the United States and iran. This is done by a school in norway and the catholic universities of america with vatican participation. And james just came back from his first visit to iran. And i will ask him to come up and talk about what the visit was like and interface dialogue and the prospects for a better peopletopeople relationship between the United States and iran. So congressman. Thank you again for coming. It is great to be with you. Let me say i have admired you from a far and admired the work you did. Your book is one of my favorites. And i appreciate your scall scholarship on that. It is a pleasure to join you to talk about a passion of mine and that is avoiding iran do you want at a talk about getting involved with the interface and what it was like being in the land. Over the last few years, i had the opportunity to participate in the dialogue with iranians. It was composed of muslims, christians, and jews and representatives of the abraham faith participated. The fascinating part was the par advertise pants from iran were approved by the highest leadership in iran and they were what i called second tier people in iran. They were heads of the business community, president s of the universities, personal friends of the Supreme Leader personal friends of the president at the time. Now many of the people that we got acquainted with over a ten year period moved into positions of key responsibilities in this new government. So i feel particularly lucky we had an opportunity to build friendships with these people. And one of the things i learned along the way is the iranians are deeply concerned about respect. The one thing they yearn for is respect. Think about the whole notion of the west respecting them. Very important. Another thing i learned was that if you want to engage iranians and especially the shitte shiite muslims. You can say help me understand what the koran spells out on everything from nuclear war to sex. I think it is a way of demonstrating respect to people of religious faith and many of the people we met during the period were sincere in their faith. Many were clerics and leaders in the political and academy realm. That is the background on the issue. Can you tell me roughly house education and Workforce Committee how many readings . These were primarily meetings in europe. We have probably had 20 meetings at different times. One evening, i took a group of ayatollahs to the floor of the United States representatives. I will never forget standing in the house and the iranian friends were captured by the fact there is an inscription above the speakers house that says in god we trust. And they were fascinated by the fact there is a relief of moses looking down on the house of representatives. I think it is very important for us as we engage iran and for that matter, as we engage the broader muslim world, to respect their religion and figure out how to communicate more effective with them about the common things among christianity and islam. That is another conversation but it is an important part of the relationship that we blow by. I think because of my involvement over the last ten years in the interfaith dialogue, my name may have come on the radar screen in iran. I know a number of people in the government and i received an invitation to talk about a conference called the world against violence and extremism. They told me i was the first former member of congress or current member of congress that has been invited to iran since 1979 to speak. I dont know if that is true or not. But that is what they told me. My topic at the last minute was can religion be a force for peace in the middle east. And the answer to that question is yes, it can be. But it can be a problem, too. But i was particularly pleased that the chief of staff and former Prime Minister and the former president all three spoke at the conference and were clear, strong, and emphatic in condemning the violent acts of terrorism on the parts of isis and other religious phonetical kitchen fanatical groups committed in the name of islam. I wish the western media did a better job of covering the conference. I thought the statements were clear, and strong and saying the things so many of us in the United States would like to hear said by leaders in the islamic world. I remember clearly the first time i went to iran in 1996, aliving in the middle of the night and jet lagged, but the First Impression is important. I remember being a little nervous going as a journalist afterwards afterwards. I put down my passport and this big gruff man giving me a smile. I understand you had a positive reception shall i say. It was really interesting. My trip started at the Pakistani Embassy here in washington where the iranian intersection is located. It blew my mind. I go into a meeting and the three people that interviewed me to get my visa two had degrees from kansas state university. I used to represent kansas state and the university of kansas when i was in the congress. They were both in my congressional district. They started talking to me and one remembered me being the congressman from manhattan, kansas. And he was talking to me about the fact they got married in man manhattan and his wonderful experience in manhattan, kansas. So fastforward to my first night in iran and i sat down to dinner with the mans assistant, and guess where he went to school . He went to the university of kansas. And he was telling me he remembered me being his congressman. And he had a conversation about the jayhawks and their season. Talk about a small world, though. It blows your mind. Back to your point, i arrived inat 3 30 in the morning and i think every light was on when i flew in. Was it thursday night . It may have been. Anyway every light that you can imagine was on and there wasnt a cloud in the sky so it was a great view as you arrived. We arrived and i should identify doctor here sitting in the front row and he was my guide as we landed there. One of the funny things that happened is we got off the plane and went through there passport area and they were short on vips because a lot were there to atened the conference. We had to wait and while why we waited i started chatting with the passport patrol people. One of them who spoke good english said i hope you can get this nuclear thing worked out because we are working forward to meeting american women here. I thought this was once again a reminder of certain things being universal. And i responded by saying to him you have to keep in mind if we do this there will probably be handsome Young American men here competing with you for the attention of the persian women. We had a Wonderful Exchange there. And they asked me if i wanted to go by one of the ayatollahs mosque on the way to a hotel. So what do you do at 4 30 in the morning . It is on the way. Long story i shot i found myself going through the memorial, shine, mosque burial sight and i thought well you know why not . You know, so we walked through and it is pretty obvious i am a westerner, but i found it interesting. So hostile reactions from anyone. Expressions were friendly. We took pictures of the facility and quitely walked out and left. We went to the hotel and in the morning, there was a session for the conference. But that was my first introduction. I want to open the floor to questions very soon because i know you probably have a lot of them. But i dont know if you would like to say a few words about how the vissit went. I remember many efforts made back when they were trying to have american congressman go to iran but it never happened. There were members of the Iranian Parliament in i believe 2000 who came to new york. They went into the metropolitan museum of art but i dont remember if they went to washington or congress. Thank you, barbara for putting this wonderful meeting together. Before i answer that james, talk about the importance of the dialogue and talked about the iranian side and those who participated. But he didnt mention the american side. There have been many things from the leaders but the key point is we are bringing people who distrust the leadership. You know how our political leaders respect the religious separation here. We need to bring common issues and talk about that and break the breath and also make friendships and connection and us as a human being and people who love to have relation and respect. Outcome of that has been one that was a change of iran. History wasnt just officially in congressman, he was someone who takes care of families as a friend of communities you have been working on for years. That is how we were able to go to iran. And we were received well. Not as an official guest but as a friend. Considering i think whoever came here yes, it has happened but not just because of the abraham trade but because of taking part in World Economy bank or meetings from the parliament. There are other officials meetings going on but some have been part of the abraham dialogue. So they are friend so it is natural to have a recession or guv them a tour. Some members of the Iranian Parliament have been in washington . I think they are coming every six months for the world bank. We dont do what we should be doing to encourage direct conversations. We are dealing with very few members of the administration few members of the Government Congress or the executive branch, have any personal relationships with iranians and this is a tragedy. That is why i like eisenhower believe in people to people diplomacy and building relationships and friendships so when the time of crisis comes you have friendships and relation relationships to have a bases to go from. Are there plans to get the contact . There is opposition in both bodies as pointed out to the Nuclear Agreement which appears to be in the process of being nu negotiate as we speak. It would seem it would be very valuable to have that contact. I will do everything i can to encourage that and already did some of that. I believe one of the great problems we have to overcome is ignorance. It is amazing when i have conversations with members of the Congress Just how little they anyhow about iran. And there is great misunderstanding on the part of the iranians in key positions of leadership about the United States. What we can do to break down the walls of ignorance and suspicion is of value to the United States. Did you meet any of them i cannot attribute remarks to specific individuals, but i did meet with high ranking members, and i can tell you they had several very important points to make. Number one is hawaii number one is they are all deeply concerned about what affect our elections will have on obamas capacity to implement any agreement. That was a deep concern to them. They were troubled by the prosspect of iranians putting their best deal on the table only to have it rejected by the United States congress and in the United States. This would be a political disaster for them. They need to be told if there is a deal that is worked out they want to be approved and implemented by the Obama Administration and will not be scuttled by the congress. The other thing i took away from the conversations especially with the members, and keep in mind these members are populated by more conservative element in iran, than the other governments perhaps, but they made it clear to me they are determined that iran will preserve its rights under the mpt specifically the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purchases. There is not such a right in the mpt. They perceive they have the right and i am aware of that dispute. There is an intense desire that iran be able to retain some enrichment kalecapabilities. And i deconnected a greatfluxability on the part of the iranians with respect to what i call the technical enrichment questions. The level, quantity, center of centrifuges are negotiable and tied to the issue of whether and when the United States is prepared to lift the sanctions. The quicker we do that the more forthe forthecoming they will be with respect to the nuclear issues. Okay. That is a great introduction. And let me open to you, wait for the mike, say your name and ask a question, please. Thank you. I am with the wes asia council and thank you congressman. My question has to do with your view of the american civil institutions like education and universities and the American People and their role unloading the charge of establishing these peopletopeople contact as opposed to always waiting for either government to be the one that leads the way and opens the path whether you think civic activism in this arena could be the Bridge Builder that is needed right now. Thank you. I support all kinds of bridge building efforts whether they are academic religious, faithbased or anything we can do to encourage dialogue between the United States and iran is beneficial for both sides. We should not be afraid to learn. And so i favor that dialogue. And i must tell you that i think both sides are equally guilty of trying to prevent that kind of discussion and dialogue. We have to really think about and address that i would like to see the administration be more forthcoming and i would like to see the iranian government be more forthcoming to admitting more americans to the area and our greatest enemy in this process may be ignorance. This is 2015. We have all of the communication availability we need. You talked about ignorance. What did you lease expect that surprised you on your visit . There is a bunch of things about iran that are fascinating to me. One thing i wish allamericans understood was 60 of the students in the universities in iran are female. A rather unique situation in islam. When i talk to my iranian friends, they share with me off the record they are troubled with what they will do with all of these educated women in the future. I find that very interesting. The other thing that is amazing to me is in the streets, it is like the worst rush hour traffic in washington all day long. The other thing i observed is every third or forth car is drib n by a woman. It is a whole different world than saudi arabia. And the other thing i found walking the streets, and let me share with you i was in baghdad several years ago to serve as an International Election monitor and the sunni areas of baghdad. When i travelled from the green zone and woke up on election day i thought i was in a thunder only to realize there were bombs going off around me. We went out into the sunni areas to observe the voting place and i had to travel with five Armored Vehicles and literally 15 armed guards with me and i would not have lasted five minutes i dont believe in those neighborhoods but for all of this armed protection. I talked the streets and you know, no problem. Went to the bizarre and people talked to me and visited with me and i detected no anger toward me as an obvious westerner. I felt safe on the streets. We didnt walk by the american embassy, but drove by it, and at the bizarre i felt safe on the streets there. I could not say the same being in baghdad. Improved relationship with the United States. Let me elaborate. I left all of these conversations in tehran. Tehran. The conversations i have had subsequent with a firm belief that the rabbani government really wants to get this right. They want an agreement on the nuclear question. I question. I believe they also see us as a threshold decision. Decision. If we can get it right on the nuclear question then i think they believe there is an opportunity to move quickly dealing with the other urgent regional issues the iranians with whom i visited them all of them were puzzled by the fact that the United States was so reluctant to engage iran in dealing with isis. For example, has below. They believe they believe that if we can figure out how to address each others concerns about the nuclear question and do it in no way a way that is respective of and recognizes the concerns of israel than there is no people who are concerned that iran will pocket and nuclear deal and use the revenues to get more money to causes and actually redouble efforts to oppose israeli policies. So how would you answer those critics . I can understand that concern. We have to be mindful of the reality that when it comes to this nuclear question their is no margin for error, no margin for error. As americans i dont think we can get our head around that reality easily. Having said that, i i believe strongly that we have a historic moment right now and we have the clock is ticking on both sides of the table. I believe that the iranians and this government want to do a deal with the United States that we will result in the lifting of the sanctions. I believe that they are prepared to give us virtually unlimited access to the Nuclear Facilities to address our concerns about compliance with whatever agreement is entered into. I think that is the best way for us to achieve one of our most important objectives, to prevent the proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to specifically prevent iran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon that will surely lead to an arms race, Nuclear Arms Race in the middle east which is a disaster for everybody and is in no ones interest. Let me observe, i agree with general dempsey who has said the iranians are rational and i believe that. Smart and sophisticated people and are good negotiators but a lot of people in the United States do not think they are rational. I reject that. I believe they are rational. I believe as a matter of fact, they have told me things. Jim do you think were crazy . Dont you understand that we no that you could unload one half of one of your trident submarines on our country and the rubble would bounce. Do do you think that we dont understand that if we ever militarily struck israel it would result in almost the immediate annihilation of our country . They share those kind of thoughts with me. Me. Now, i just share them with you. I dont believe that the iranians are irrational. I believe they we will act in their own selfinterest. I believe they understand that a Nuclear Weapon does not enhance the national security. You know, you have the Supreme Leader saying that it is against islam to have weapons of mass distraction. They. To the fact that during the iraniraq war they did not respond. One of the side notes, the chairman of the Wave Conference that i spoke up, he was a victim of being gassed. He has shared with me personally that he worries about what effect this is going to have on his children genetically somehow be passed to his children. He has also shared with me that he has forgiven the United States. He believes we were acquiescent, that we were not helpful in terms of preventing saddam from using the gas that was used against the iranians. Whatever that is worth. Right there. Arms control association. Thank you for this presentation. I want to followup on what you were just talking about, the iranian views on Nuclear Weapons. Did you get a sense there is a differentiation . I would assume an i o dc commander might have a different view than ayatollah. So that is the 1st part of the question. The question. The 2nd since there is a religious component in your dialogue how you explain do you explain the christian view about the morality of Nuclear Weapons . Let me take this in reverse order. First of all i believe theyre are difference differences of opinion within iran. There are clearly people who do not want to see an approach met with the United States. I would put those opponents in iran into categories one, those who are currently benefiting from economic sanctions, people who are making money on the economic sanctions and life is good. And then you have another group the defenders of the revolution i would call them the people who truly believe in the Islamic Revolution and see approach met with the United States as a threat to the revolution and believe that it means Greater Western influence which they perceive as being sinful and decadent and offensive to everything important about islam. So that crowd is also opposed. So you have those forces working against an agreement and others clearly. The challenge is how do we move beyond that and take advantage of that group, a growing group who still truly want a better relationship with the United States which is where i put i put the romani government and the team that is in charge right now. The other quick observation is that all of the people i visited with have all indicated to me that they believe the Supreme Leader is supportive of series, these negotiations, and albeit a skeptic as to where this is going because i think the Supreme Leader Still Believes that the United States ultimate objective is regime change. In the back of his mind is thinking the United States wants to see this government go way and they want to see a change a fundamental change in the government. The Supreme Leader has great skepticism, but i believe he has reluctantly agreed to proceed with these negotiations and find out where in the world that lead him. You boil it all down and the bottom line is that under all of our faith tradition, teaching, and theologies will have the right. That is maybe the common ground. You mentioned the Supreme Leader who made some interesting remarks yesterday where he once again expressed his support for the negotiations. Interesting how a language gets married on the other side. Obama says that no deal is better than a bad deal. He also said he strongly implied that the deal that is now being negotiated is a deal that he could accept. There is there is some disagreement in the community about how to interpret his remarks but also there is more forward leaning and a little less hostile to the United States that theyre have been recently which suggests he is preparing the ground for the acceptance of some sort of agreement which would require concessions. I thought it was interesting that he made the. Of talking about middle ground. And that both sides have to make concessions. I had not heard that before. I thought it was rather unique. Again i think, further indication that the Supreme Leaders blessing these negotiations and is guardedly optimistic that maybe something can be achieved. The other side of this, what happens if we fail . What happens if we fail . That is the question i would have. It is one thing to come in and condemn negotiations and be critical. I think i think it was president truman that once observed that any jackass didnt kick a barn down. It takes a carpenter to build one im not. But my. Is, it is easy to be critical. It is hard to negotiate these kind of deals, and hard to build trust. The failure to complete an agreement right now and the failure to improve this relationship has very dangerous consequences for the United States some people asked me why and the world youre involved and why you care. And you know i must tell you i dont have a client in any of this. But the reason i care deeply is because its all about my kids and grandkids, i suppose. As we look over the next 20, 25 years what years what we see on the horizon. An Enormous Economic challenge to this country than we look at the world of islam. 1. 3 billion muslims. This is just country boy kansas common sense. Sense. We cannot as a country of 307 Million People confront the economic challenges that are surely to be on the horizon. We cannot confront those economic challenges while being sucked into a prolonged war in the world of islam. Where does this end . And for goodness sakes, if we think we are as original country to engage in more and more wars in the world of islam while taking on the economic challenges of asia we are fools. We dont wake up 20 or 30 years 46. Thats why it is so important for us to prevent more wars in the world of islam. One of the things that i thought about and have shared when we approach the world of Islam Muslims are directed, directed, commanded, time to follow the teachings of all of the profits from all the prophets including jesus. Now in the world of christendom are we supposed to be following jesus as well . Whether we see him as savior a profit its posted be following the teachings of jesus, jesus, isnt theyre a space here for conversation . And why cant we have that conversation . And i believe if we can engage the world of islam where they are and religion is a big part of the life there life just as it is in kansas, by the way. I think that their could be an interesting conversation. That takes me back to the. Someone raised about the need for more dialogue between the faith communities here and their and academic communities. I think that opportunity exists and should be pursued before we continue i want to recognize former congressman jim moodys brilliant idea it was to invite congressman flattery to come and talk to us about his trip as good as he predicted. I want to acknowledge that. I have been talking to iranian immigrants to the us will have relatives. And i talked to a lady and said, what do the average people want . She said, they want to be able to travel to disney world. Abcaseven and it just blew me away. In the 80s i want to leningrad and they wanted lipstick from loreal, cover girl, cosmopolitan magazine. There is just so much about this issue and it is always focused at the radicals. Who is speaking out for the moderates . And iran . How about just the general population . They did a poll back in 1999 and it was about 70 percent at the time. The government was so upset that it but the poster in prison but the poster was a former hostage holder. So what you experienced with the people at passport control and so on is certainly more common than the death to america that we usually hear about. You know let me strike a balance here. And i believe that if they fail more hardline government in iran. Forces in iran who are opposed to give up any of their nuclear and respectability and project there own devices will probably develop a Nuclear Weapon. The challenge for us to automatically is to empower those in iran to see that that is a foolish course and the wiser is to engage with the United States and find solutions to this nuclear question and move on quickly to address those regional issues where we have a common interest. And in my conversations over ten years for many of them we will tell me that when it comes to the palestinians the palestinians in ot words, whatever the palestinians will accept they we will accept. I think that if we got this deal of the nuclear question it we will reduce hopefully the anxiety and the fear legitimate fear and that would make it easier for us to have conversations about the south of lebanon and hamas. We should not be afraid to have those discussions and conversations. Conversations. I think the 1st. Is to get this nuclear deal done in a way that is the best way available, best reasonable way available to prevent iran from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. Let me just observe if we enter into an agreement with iran and everybody pretty much agrees that they have complied with the agreement that was entered into and have eliminated uranium enriched to the 20th percent level in the frozen the program, so any suggestion that if these negotiations have somehow been to the us and the west this advantage is just wrong. The program is basically frozen in place. That is moving us toward a situation where ron does not have a Nuclear Weapon. When sanctions when into place in the place and we pat ourselves on the back but the bottom line sanctions line, sanctions in place, about 200 centrifuges spinning. By their own admission today theyre are 20,000 centrifuges online. You tell me. Lady back theyre. Thank you. I would just like to get your feedback on how you view what is happening in congress right now with the threat of sanctions in the event it is pretty fluid, i think, with sen. Menendez changing his position. But how you view that situation in congress with the threat of new sanctions possibly derailing the Nuclear Negotiations and also if you could comment, is it normal for the president to be negotiated negotiating what is effectively an armscontrol deal without bringing it to the congress to be ratified . Number one i encourage my friends in congress to avoid supporting additional sanctions at this time. Its counterproductive. I dont think it will accomplish anything. It risks blowing up the negotiations. I think the congress is very troubled the fact that these negotiations are extending indefinitely. Yet it is a little bit like budget negotiations. Everybody holds out to the last minute to get the best deal they possibly can. That is part of the art of negotiating. You know i think we have to be patient but i do believe as i i said earlier the clock is ticking on both sides of the table we have situations where the Romanian Government have to have some success here and have to be able to demonstrate to their constituents that an improved relationship with the United States and the west will yield benefits. If they are not able to so that their popularity and politics collapses as well. So i kept hearing when i was in iran that we have a window of opportunity and it we will stay open indefinitely. The clock is ticking on both sides and i i think it is time for us by the end of march to have the framework of an agreement quexs Supreme Leader said he did not want a true faith agreement. Anybody as precise and agreement as we possibly can have negotiated beyond the end of march. By the end of march it is urgent for both sides to have a list of framework agreed upon. Be careful not to get into much trouble, but the iranians asked me and i heard this in several different places can the United States really do a deal that is opposed by the government in israel . And they were constantly asking me about the influence with the United States congress and how you deal with that. Those questions those questions are on the minds of irradiance. They are very sophisticated wellinformed observers of the american political process. As americans we have to make darn sure that we do not miss a historic opportunity to improve significant relationship the relationship with iran because of our own domestic politics. That would be a tragedy. The last. Was the whole issue armscontrol. Let me just tell you as a former member of congress i believe i believe the president and administration will be well advised to engage daily in communication with key members of the United States and to bring the senators into the process as much as possible. I think theyre are some senators on both sides of the political aisle that understand the urgency and believe with the president and secretary and others being personally involved on a regular basis that we should be able to build bipartisan support for some kind of reasonable agreement. We should not prejudge this. Very troubling when i read mr. Netanyahu statement from yesterday. A prejudging of the deal. There is no deal yet. Yet he yet he is saying, i will do everything i can to prevent this deal from being approved. Really . Lets wait until we see the deal. You may not like this deal. You may think it has some risk command it we will but then what are the risks. [inaudible question] you know, ideally you would like to see the congress be in a position where you can have a good, bipartisan, thoughtful debate as we did with other armscontrol agreements. That would be the best for both countries. By the same token if were going to get into a situation and got from the were domestic politics overwhelm the facts of the case and we are end up playing 2016 politics this issue, theyre may be a horrible tragedy, for tragedy, for our country and the world and all parties involved but ideally i would like to see the congress involved. As a practical practical political matter that may not be possible. That is the case that is a sad sad commentary. A multilateral agreement not just between the United States. Thank you so much for coming. Wanted to ask you about an indication. If you were in Congress Today would you attend what do you advise members to do . You are really going to get me in trouble. Well, bottom line this was about domestic politics. His or hours . Both. And i would tell you that i think that that yahoo and his appearance before the United States house and senate and in the congress and joint session is a mistake. I do not want to see the us to be politicized and what hes doing. Its not going to be beneficial for israel not going to be beneficial for the United States. It states. It was a bad choice for theyre decision in my judgment. But as somebody who 1st for thirsts for information i may very well attend the speech. I may not. I may read about it. After he had been fired by the commanderinchief for insubordination, think about that as we look back on that historic moment, president truman was acting courageously doing the right thing supported by general marshall and bipartisanship at the moment. It was the wrong place for the speech. In the back of the way. Im a former member of parliament in iran and im glad you had a chance to visit. Have you had a chance to invite some current members of congress its not for me to invite them to iran. I would love to see the current members of congress visit and i would like to see the iranian officials come to washington and speak. Let me throw out a crazy idea if we are going to have netanyahu come and speak to the joint session of Congress Perhaps the members of congress would like to have the minister testified before the congress and have an opportunity to ask questions. They might be invited to come and testify before the congress, the Foreign Relations committee and answer questions and talk about this stuff. Why are we afraid to talk to people and learn from them blacks flex that sort of puzzles me. We at the Atlantic Council are not afraid of information and we are pleased you had the time to come by to visit today. Thank you all for coming. Excellent conversation. During the press conference president obama spoke about the israeli Prime Minister benjamin and yahoo s visit to congress. Here is a look. We have a practice of not meeting with leaders right before the elections. As she was two weeks away from any election she probably wouldnt have received an invitation to the white house and i suspect she wouldnt have asked for one. [laughter] this is just some of this has to do with how we do business and i think its important for us to maintain these protocols because the u. S. Israeli relationship is not about a particular party. This isnt a relationship founded on the affinity between the labor party and the Democratic Party or the republican party. This is the u. S. Israeli relationship that extends be honored the parties. It has to do with the vagabond that we feel and our commitments to the security and the share of values that we have. The way to preserve that is to make sure that it does and gets clouded with what could be perceived as partisan politics. Whether that is accurate or not that is a perception and that is something we have to guard against. I dont want to be coy. The Prime Minister and i have a difference around iraq and iran sanctions. I have been very clear and angela agrees teresa and David Cameron and others that are a member of the negotiations agreed that it doesnt make sense to sour the negotiations among or two before they are about to be completed and we should play that out if in fact we can get a deal we should embrace that and if we cant, then we have to make a set of decisions and as i said to congress i will be the first one to work with them to apply Even Stronger measures against iran. But whats the rush . Unless your view is that it is impossible to get a deal and it shouldnt even be tested and that i cannot agree with because im looking at what the options are if we dont get a diplomatic resolution and those options are narrow and from the perspective of that u. S. The u. S. Interest and ideally from the perspective of israel although i cant speak for the Israeli Government it is far better if we can get a diplomatic solution so there are differences substantively but that is separate and apart from the whole issue coming to washington. Speaker john boehner is a leading and yahoo to address to congress on march 3. The white house has announced it will not meet with the minister during his visit and several members of congress have announced they will not attend the speech. We will have live coverage of the speech on cspan. According to the cdc 121 cases of measles have been reported in 14 states and the District Of Columbia since the start of the year. The Senate Health committee holds a hearing on vaccine preventable diseases and whether they should be mandatory for children. You can see that live at 10 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Senator tim scott of South Carolina posted an academic for an earlier today on capitol hill. The events focused on the importance of School Choice and Educational Opportunities for parents and children. The first panel of the day features louisiana governor bobby jindal and republican conference chair Cathy Mcmorris rogers. This event is 50 minutes. Im certainly excited about the issue of School Choice and i look around at the audience and i see so many fantastic young folks in the audience and i will tell you that today is about you. The truth of the matter is all of the things we will discuss today will be about making sure the future is bright for you. I am a big tv for that if we are to succeed as a nation that will happen because we empower the next generation and i believe that School Choice provides us an avenue to make sure that each and every student has an amazing future because you have the access to quality education. I am a southern boy from South Carolina and when we Say Something is, we like to hear a amen. So if you hear something that sounded good to use a amen. And if you hear something that you dont understand and you think im confused appeared that is a good time to shut amen. [laughter] i brought with me my South Carolina contingency because they understand how this works. So i have a few folks warmed up in here. I will tell you that while im incredibly excited about School Choice and the opportunity to hear from some amazing panelists from congresswoman Cathy Mcmorris rogers and the senator of course everyone in the country should know one of the leading voices on School Choice and the governor of louisiana bobby jindal. I am also reminded unfortunately up some challenging circumstances. Cathy Mcmorris Rogers will have to leave a little early this morning to attend the funeral of the congressman elected from mississippi with me when i was first elected to congress so if you dont mind we will have a 52nd moment of silence from the congresswomans family. This conference is brought to you today not by senator tim scott by a concerted effort on behalf of a lot of people in this room and specifically my staff. I would like to give a shout out to lizzie simmons. [applause] was he is my e. Is my la for education issues passionate about the issue of School Choice. Shes worked tirelessly to make sure that today is as successful as it can be. So i would like to once again acknowledge lizzie. And you see a lot of my stuff thats time into making sure today is significant and responsible. I would also like to think my partners the American Federation of children along with the Freedom Foundation for educational choice. Both have been major contributors to make sure that it happens. We will hear from amazing speakers beyond this panel and weve also have senator Lamar Alexander and educators like steve from p. Torres schools to gas roots grassroots energizers from phone action as well. Here is what i would like you to walk away with is the understanding that he would be labeled that a childs education shouldnt be determined. The quality of your education shouldnt be determined by your zip code. That every child in every facet of the nation has a potential to be a lifelong learner and to be a child of excellence. So we want to make sure that we focus our attention on making sure that every single student everywhere in the nation no matter your zip code no matter your ethnic background, no matter your Family Income has the opportunity to succeed. And if we do that our future will be amazing. [applause] the brother over here to the left understands the amen. Let me make this crystal clear. We must act now on the issue of educational choice. This isnt an issue we can just say its a good issue. You have to fight for this every single day to make sure that our actions lead to more kids having more access to the highest quality of education this nation has ever seen and when that happens all students will prosper. Our nation will succeed because we cannot separate the future success of this nation from your success. And we have an amazing thank you. Thank you. We are going to go ahead and get started because the longer i speak, the less of they speak and we have some amazing speakers to hear from so if you will join me as they start the first panel. [applause] moderated by the American Enterprise institute, my good friends. Good morning everyone. Thank you senator. Its a pleasure to be with you. Im the director of education policy studies, the American Enterprise institute. Its a pleasure to be with you today and i just want to thank and congratulate senator scott and the leadership hes brought to this issue and challenging the nation to do better when it comes to educating our kids. To moderate the panel this morning as the senator said we have some terrific folks for you. Sitting next to senator scotty has governor bobby jindal and under his leadership, louisiana has been transformed. He has cut red tape for muslim to the size of government, reduced unemployment and pushed education reform to give every child the opportunity to get a great education. Today under his leadership louisiana has more people more jobs, higher incomes, more input, more exports and a higher gdp than any time in its history. Next to the governor we have the state senator elected 1997 represents South Carolinas 37th district which encompasses both parts of the countys and his work includes chairing the Senate Transportation committee and the joint Transportation Review Committee as well as serving on a number of other committees including education. A tireless advocate for School Choice in South Carolina he lives with his wife carol and their three sons. The fourth member of the panel this morning is congresswoman Cathy Mcmorris rogers, chair of the House Republican conference and fourth highest ranking republican in the United States house of representatives and advocate for military families and families of people with special needs, congresswoman Mcmorris Rogers is the cochair of the the military found. Married to brian rogers and the proud mother of three children. Congresswoman, let me begin with you this morning. Theres a lot of ways to think about educational improvement and how to help our schools do better. I would love to have you talk for a moment about why School Choice in particular is something that resonates with you. School choice resignations with me both as a policymaker and is someone that has the honor of representing the great people of washington here on capitol hill and also as a mom. I have three kids. One has towns and drum, special needs. And as i think about the issue of education and the impact that it has on our lives and the importance of having an equal opportunity to education for everyone in this country i dont think theres any more important issue that we face as a country. You think about the next generation and how we make sure that every student every person in the country reaches the full potential its going to happen as we have more opportunities, more education choices. And i have lived it myself. You know, first of all in my own life i was the first in my family to graduate from college. I was also someone that was on the wrong track when i was in junior high in the Public Schools and my mom and dad helped start a school at that point and im grateful they had the opportunity to do that in our community to come together and take me to start a school here and it got me back on track. So im grateful for that. I also have known this issue as a mom. It has only reinforced my belief in the importance of these choices and having the opportunity for every child. My oldest was born with down syndrome. That isnt the news anyone wants to receive her dreams of receiving but because of him i am a better legislator, that her mom and i understand this issue more clearly and im so grateful that as a mom i can go out there and i can go visit schools and i cant figure out okay i think this is going to be the school where he has the best opportunity to reach his full potential and im proud to say right now hes in a Charter School and doing exceptional. Hes in second grade and she is reading, learning his mask on and he is contributing already in ways that were totally unmatchable. [applause] i used to Teach High School in louisiana 25 years ago so im familiar with the troubled legacy education. There has been some progress made. Curious if you can talk about the key pieces and the role of School Choice has played. I want to thank the senator for hosting us. One of the first speeches on the floor of the senate when he was the first senator was exactly about this topic. I know hes asked us to recognize everybody else in this room. Can you give a great round of applause to the senator. Fullstop and i think that he said the reason we are here is better than anybody else could. It just for adjust for an emphasis to the circumstance of a childs birth shouldnt determine the outcome as an adult. And unfortunately it is happening too often in the country. If we allow that to happen, i wouldnt be here today. He was the only one that got past fifth grade and his family. Think about that. None of his older brothers or sisters, none of his younger sisters ever got an education. The reason i know this is by heard the story every day growing up. I dont believe your parents were like that when you have a closecurlybracket if he didnt get an education i wouldnt be her. The congresswoman and i were collected in the same class. I remember before she was married and became a mom. Congratulations and its great to be here with the state senator as well. Weve done several things. The single most important, and probably im probably increased the number of Charter Schools about weve changed the way that we evaluate our teachers and im proud to have done several things. And its often cited as a city where over 90 of the kids are in Charter Schools. 100 of the parents could decide where their children to school. We have doubled the percentage of kids in reading and math on grade level created the percentage in the schools before katrina was 65 and no discount for 4 . Theres more work to be done but it shows you you dont have to bake a long time to make dramatic improvements and i get frustrated when people tell you wait for the incremental gains. This is important because look at the boys and girls in this room. They only have one chance to grow up and i would invite anybody that opposes School Choice or education reform to tell them why they should have to wait. They have one chance to get a great education but if all of those changes have the most single important think we did because you can get a through f. Letter to grades to the schools have changed the policies, allow good operators to have more than one at a time coming event a longer the approval process shut down Failing Schools, do online schools like we have done come at a worse choice. The most important thing and its not complicated is you let the dollars fall of the child instead of the child to swallow the dollars. [applause] Charter Schools are great but that doesnt mean every child should be in a Charter School. The people that know best are the moms and dads. Maybe they will do better in a traditional Public School, traditional private school, dual enrollment program, maybe an independent school. The point is to empower parents and today we had that but only for the wealthy. You can live in a neighborhood with great schools. You can send your children to a private school. We have reversed means testing and education if you dont have the resources you are more likely to be trapped in a Failing School and that is the opposite of what we are doing. Education should help america to be an Aspirational Society and grow our economy and produce an in page to responsible citizens. You are going to hear on a later panel she is here, former state senator from new orleans and offered one of the bills. For her it wasnt about by partisan politics. She was so passionate and eloquent she said here is what will benefit the kids i was elected to represent, that otherwise do not have a voice in the process. So thereve been dozens of walls and im probable that the single most important thing we did is to let the dollars fall of the kids every parent to make the choice that makes the best sense for their child instead of having a onesizefitsall approach. I want to thank the foundation. They are great partners to the cabin in louisiana. [applause] would love to hear about how you came to this issue and some of the struggles that you had. First of all thank you senator senators called for bringing us all here together. We live in an exceptional nation. Some people dont like to see that but we do. We had a higher standard of living, the greatest qualityoflife of any people that have been on this planet and you have to ask yourself why its because we are the freest people. We value freedom. We value freedom. We will die to defend freedom. We employ every aspect of our lives. We bb that you should have choices. Is it Jefferson Memorial saw they define freedom as having choices. And its because of the choices we would see but for some reason we dont think those choices should extend to parents with their childs education. Its mind boggling. I dont get it. We see how freedom has created such while, such prosperity how it has allowed us to become and exceptional nation we need an exceptional Public School system and exceptional private school system, we need an exceptional Delivery System of education and in order to have that, lets let freedom work in schools because freedom in the works every time. Choice matters. The choice is freedom. You will root out what doesnt work and then you will elevate what does work. When it comes to education who loves the children more, the government or the parents . Who has the childs best interest at heart . I know more about my children and the type of education that would work for them damn anybody on the school board was secretary of education would. I want to be able to offer my children and the children of South Carolina and see them have nations and choices in their education. Not every child is the same. Everyone learns differently. But when we give parents choices, we give them freedom and true freedom, we have excellence and we will build upon that and maintain our excellent nation. Senator scott, ive heard you talk occasionally about how it became a passion of yours especially for the students in the room i thought it would be interesting if you want to share a little bit of that part of the biography. The congresswoman may have to leave before she intends because the funeral. Lets give her as much time to speak as possible. I came to the issue of School Choice. Honestly i grew up in poverty. My mother raised me 16 hours a day to try to keep us off welfare. She would do all she could and cant i wasnt doing that though. I went to four different Elementary Schools because as some of you know, that when youre living in poverty the chances are you may have to move a little bit and when you are moving so often you are changing them. So my elementary years were hopping from school to school and one of the reasons i like what bobby governor bobby governor general said is giving the resources to the child and letting the resources follow the child is so important because if you are like me and growing up you can find the right school if the kid keeps moving so allows a key to be very important that because but because of the challenging beginning when i was a freshman in high school and i was funding out, i was not doing very well. I failed world geography. I might be the first to fail civics. I might not be by myself afterwards. I also failed spanish and english. [laughter] you cant even believe im on the panel, right clicks when you have spanish and english they dont call you bilingual but that experience growing up help to instruct me and inform me about the power of education. That is truly the power of freedom and a soda as a legislator im dedicating the vast majority of my opportunity to setting the captives free, to make sure that every child everywhere has a chance to succeed and for me it was easy to come to the conclusion that without choices, without option without flexibility parents like mine and stc and others wouldnt be able to get their kids the education necessary for your success, for your achievement and for your significant. So this issue of School Choice to me is part of my dna. [applause] is now capitol hill is wrestling with the reauthorization of no child left behind. I wonder how the School Choice conversation what role if any should the federal government be playing as far as promoting School Choice or is that a state and local competition quite i believe the best education is going to come at the local level and it really is that local School Boards and parents though elementary and secondary education act was at one time turned no child left behind and it is overdue. This new congress believes that moving forward on some education priorities needs to be at the top list for this congress and its going to be done in a way that is empowering the local communities to make that decision. And as you mentioned, there is a limited role for the federal government. Theres low income dollars that the federal government has that we send to the states but within our reauthorization we want those dollars to follow the student so we give the states the option to allow those to follow for example. We do encourage an expansion of Charter Schools the federal government has done so far is basically said you know, we want more Charter Schools in america. But this time it is getting more tools to allow the Charter School to be improved, to allow for those to be successful and looking them up as models and perhaps allowing those that want a weighted lottery to be able to do so to focus on Poverty Issues or focus on those disabilities and allow more options there. But we also want to hold Charter Schools accountable and ensure that those that are not performing well are held accountable. So those are some things. But it really empowering the local communities and School Boards to make those decisions. The only other issue i might put on the table if im really excited about encouraging schools to look more at blended learning. And i think i just introduced some legislation along with the senator that is focused on promoting the blended learning which i think is kind of the next generation of focusing on the individualized education so that we know in real time how each student is doing day by day in powering. And its a tough area in washington, d. C. That the school last year with the blended learning and the teachers were just really engaged and inspired about coming to work every day. Students were anxious to learn and that and the principle that look that principle at work on her wall every day and know how every student in that the school is doing in a short amount of time they had seen tremendous growth. So again it comes down to empowering the local communities and School Boards and giving them more choices and allowing them to decide what is best for the kids in the community so they can reach their full potential. [applause] i would love to tear you further. You talked for instance about charter accountability which is Charter Schools have to get the permission to open from an authorizer and part of the deal is to shut down if they are not serving children well. Particularly given your own experiences. Recent research pretty university of arkansas has found the parents in the Dc Scholarship Program seem not to put a high premium on test scores and look at other factors and test scores dont show up. Im curious in your own mind as you think about the good Charter School accountability and how he makes sure that they are serving the kids well, how much of that should be a question of student achievement on reading and math assessments and how much needs to be about Something Else . Thats a great question and i think its important that we are looking at how parents and School Boards make sure they have the information so they can make the best decision possible and sometimes transparency of what is really happening in the school can be difficult to get and i think it definitely goes beyond a test score itself. Thats one measurement. But theres other issues that need to be taken into consideration as we make those decisions but ultimately its about transparency that parents can be involved in making the decision and that the administration of the school will know whats going on and if the children are getting the education that they need. A i will piggyback on what kathy was talking about. One of the things i realized in the dc opportunity Scholarship Program was the level of Parental Satisfaction was over 90 and when you think about why that is part of it is because of the environment that their children are in. The culture that is conducive for the learning and high higher chief but also encourages each child to maximize their own potential and when you factor in on top of the actual academic progress being made by a student i think part of the foundation for that achievement seems to be a culture that is conducive for achieving and an environment that seems to be best for the child and the parents seem to be very excited about a place where their child gets a quality education and the child is safe and the environment is solid and the teachers are loving and invested. So i think thats why its so important. The other characteristics of a Successful Program that goes beyond the simple academic achievement. A youve been wrestling with this on the ground. Curious how in louisiana you struggled to make sure that the schools of choice for good schools without taking away the event of the appearance to make decisions that are just about test scores. Absolutely. One coming to talk common to talk about Charter Schools. I think one of the things that makes them so different, not only do they have the flexibility with traditional Public Schools but they have to actually earn their students and the reality is that parents will vote if the Charter Schools are not doing while they will not enroll their students in the Charter Schools and if they fail to perform here after year they are alternately shut down and thats important. There is accountability. But it doesnt happen. When it comes to transparency and provincial information cathy was right you have to provide information to the parents that they make decisions based on a number of factors. Ive met with bombs in new orleans ive met with mothers in new orleans whose children are going to be schools under the program and is saying this is the first time my child is going to school where they wear a uniform or i felt like my child is safe. I heard one say that this was the first time they brought from home work or that they were thinking about going to college after they finish school. So there are a number of reasons and factors that they use in picking a school. I would like to talk about this issue of tests. The reality is the reason we have tests is i think that it was a rightful response to the fact many schools especially those serving serving up a disadvantaged minority students were not doing a good job and there was a good impulse to say we have to correct that i think that this one too far the other way where we have become so obsessed and the classes were pretesting and it feels like always were like all for doing this testing and not learning learning and the crowd about art and music and social studies because all we are testing his math and reading and if it becomes to dominate a school day to the detriment of these other areas. You know, there are two things. One, we need to benchmark test so that schools have greater diversity of choices so there isnt just one that everybody has to use a topdown approach. There are many great assessments. Why not have a benchmark where people can take different tests and then you can compare how they are doing across different states or countries the second we need to be more aggressive in getting the waiver so that when they have done a good job they can come back and say can we waive the test so maybe we have other ways to measure like the character evaluations are assessments but the point is if we are teaching a years worth of work in a years time, we shouldnt be held at the scene just micromanagement and all the tests so you can have accountability with flexibility and in terms of the federal government, im so proud of the senator he has so many different pieces of legislation that one in particular the choice to that tries to give military families more choice and gives more to making the dollars more affordable were affordable and we called backpack funding where legislators will vote for kids that they want a Technical Education or have special needs or the disadvantaged and they get extra dollars for those dollars dont actually go to help educate those children so often we actually fund our schools based on seniority and staffing cost and as a result the dollars that senators vote for the kids dont end up benefiting the kids as they debate no child left behind and i hope they will block grant a lot of the funding and reduce the role of the department of education. The department should be involved in civil rights, transparency and deregulation and thats about it. Everything else should be done at the state and local level quite frankly. [applause] i wont start a whole new topic but i think that means you need to get rid of common core spec one of the conversations we talk about a lot is whether School Choice is for those families that are trapped in schools that are just not working for the children or whether School Choice is a mechanism for holding all families educate their children better. For instance it is useful to know 70 of the families tend to get their school and a worthy. As you thought about this and worked on this issue curious whether School Choice is something that is more universal. It is for everyone. Freedom only works every time and if my child is what many would consider a great Public School, but if he if hes not learning, that isnt helping him and if they want to go somewhere else and they cant and they know that its not working then i hear from the School District you have to give us more money. Thats the problem, the 12. 5000, we need to 20. We need more. And so we appropriate the money and the scores are bad and ballmer knows the child is does the child is learning how to read and they are still stuck that if we allow freedom to work and we give that child in the rural area that has basically no choice they are in a school that is failing she isnt getting opportunities but we give that child an opportunity he may drive 50 miles to the nearest town to a better Public School if we allow choice. Some is better than no choice. The greater the freedom, the greater the quality and the more exceptional the nation becomes. When you get choices, you allow freedom to work in the schools that are losing students. They have to do something a little different. So the poor performing schools they do better. The good schools they do even better because when we are competing for dollars on the one when you are competing for the backpack funding you will do what is necessary to grow the school and create educational choices and opportunities, so School Choice is for everyone. Its not just for those that are in bad schools. Its not just for those that had a really good schools. If the school isnt working, you need another choice. How do you respond to those that say luck i hear what youre saying about freedom, but it feels like the Charter School and vouchers are under attack under the traditional School Districts and it feels like you are trying to dismantle something that is important to america. We have too many senators. I introduced some of the first legislation in the state in 1998. Ive introduced the bill after bill and i can hear even from my good friends involved in the Public School teachers what are you trying to do are you trying to destroy Public Education . What a horrible statement. No one wants to try to destroy Public Education. We just want them it short Educational Opportunities are available for every child and freedom works. We have examples we can see the School Choice programs have worked in the states they tried it. And every incremental change we have made in our state whether it was creating the legislation to allow for the Charter Schools you are destroying Public Education. We created the Charter School and it worked. We created a statewide Charter School district and we have more Charter Schools. We created some choices in the public but it worked. Then we went and made it where you can have it debuted opportunities for exceptional children. At the First Choice Program that involved the private sector. And i dont think that we have too many. Anytime weve been able to expand choices in the state we have proven that it works and that it benefits both the Public Schools at all schools and when parents make that choice about when they are empowered to make that choice all schools perform better. So there are some with power money and they never want to give it up. Those with power and money never give it up voluntarily. It has to be a grassroots fight. Freedom is worth fighting for and i think those that are here today and those that are listening and understand that freedom works. Lets fight for it. How do you respond to those same concerns . There is no doubt that education is improving in a large part of the improvement that we have seen has come because of the competition in the education space. Lets focus for just a few minutes on the Public School options and forget about the School Choice. Frankly if you think about the advent of the magnet schools Charter Schools, homeschooled online schools Virtual Schools five of those options i named our width in the public footprint so the reality is theres a way to improve education that includes Public School options. But in deed the most powerful tool that. As is choice. But does not obligate the choice simply to the public footprint. Im a big believer whatever the parents as works for her very often as a single mom whos already working two shifts like mine was. Lets give her the peace of mind to choose the quality education she she has determined is best for her child and when that happens, i believe that that competition will drive better results in the local Neighborhood School and when that happens, kids get a far better education, i think there expectations in life sky rocket and we all benefit from that. Lets shifted jeers of it. You have been successful at pushing the recovery School District in louisiana which predates you and has played a big role but youve pushed the course of choice, youve pushed statewide vouchers for the lowincome children. Youve pushed the Charter School expansion in the state. Can you talk about how these options are different and a little bit about the practical challenges of pushing them forward . I couldnt agree with both of the senators more. Its about choice and freedom. For example the course of choice, this is one of the waves of the future. We said not only do we want the dollars to follow the child, youve heard about the statewide School Choice but it also involves unpacking those dollars. What does that mean . You may start your day in a Public School or maybe you are in an urban school. Whatever it is you benefit by taking an online course or maybe you benefited by taking a course offered by a local employers who not only do you get an education at a certification or skill that will skills that will help you into the workforce when they saw what we have done with course of choice is not only is it to the students but its divisible so that private and other providers, it could be a local university, Technical College online provider, private employer can also offer courses during the school day. You can earn academic credit and we will pay for it with the dollars that are being allocated for the students education. So when you look at the stories and the Scholarship Program and Charter Schools, we have over 90,000 students in louisiana in some form of School Choice of the out of the total of 700,000 that are in Public Schools in total but the point is this chabinsky just oftentimes started and it makes sense because they are concerned about the kids trapped in Failing Schools but it happens with low income families or starts with those in Failing Schools and i believe as the senator said it needs to be for every child and every parent and this is a fundamental philosophical question. If you only run under one thing about the whole debate because it can be confusing with the acronyms. The Education Savings Account what im a big supporter of there are Charter Schools, Scholarship Programs, tax rebate programs like when we give the dollar for dollar rebate for those that get confusing it really boils down to this one the central question. Its usually moms but mom and dad to make the best decisions for their kids or do you think they are bureaucrats in washington, d. C. Or someone else thats that know the needs of those kids better and this was illustrated in the debate how to get this done . It is contentious because the forces of the status quo dont like change and so for example we have one union leader in louisiana that said parents dont have a clue when it comes to making choices for their kids. I met a group of moms that told me we make choices for our kids every day and we know the needs of our kids better than those pure prejudice out what made the difference i believe in louisiana it is fine for us to speak about this but the one group we need to thank for being here are the students and the parents that let them come here because what made the difference in baton rouge is when the mothers showed that legislative hearings into the capital because education reform too often is an asymmetrical fight. The people who like the status quo show up and told a legislative leaders we care about us and we are watching the process as the senator if you try to make the change we will criticize you and we have recalls against the speaker and others we have protested it got to be so bad that whenever there protests in front of the capitol i would talk to my Young Children and those were just more powerful than any other special interest are those groups of moms showing up saying this isnt political for me it isnt partisan, doesnt matter if im a democrat or republican this is about my little girl or my little boy. There is no eloquent defender or speaker for the School Choice. Its not a senator, governor, state senator. Its the kids here and there parents and so what made the difference in louisiana is we got the families involved and employers involved and decide if this doesnt change we will have a skilled workforce. The final thing that i will say is there are a lot of studies about how education can improve the earning potential and how it can reduce the chances teenagers who become pregnant and increase the chances you will go to college. One study showed america could add trillions of dollars for the economy if we caught up with canada for others over the next several years in terms of educating our kids and those are all great arguments. There is a study in stamford if you can increase by having a great teacher in the classroom but education thats great. Im all for it for those reasons. The reason we provide a Public Education and Public Education and the reason its so important in the first place is we are a selfgoverning republic. If you want informed citizens not only able to make their own decision but also to help make the decisions that make the country so exceptional and so great, the reason historically the country started investing in Public Education is to make sure they could be a selfgoverning public and use the freedom of the Founding Fathers gave us so this is about teaching the next generation of the citizens to ensure that the republic endures so its more than just economics. What does the quality want to leave our children and grandchildren for the most Important Group in this entire conversation, boys and girls that are here i know that you hate missing a school day. [laughter] that was a sacrifice to come up your thank you for coming here and your parents for caring enough about your education. [applause] senator scott, lets close the panel to this question. You tackle this issue in the legislature and state level in South Carolina, you spend a little bit of time now here in washington to wrestle with this issue. Is the code ocean as far as trying to bring people together to do the things all of you are talking about i wonder if you have insights you could share about what you have seen along the way. Disconnect the more you talk about the issue of choice that more people start paying attention and one of the things we have to have happened throughout the country is a grassroots conversation about what is happening to our kids today. If we have that conversation, you will find that the coalitions that exist will be drawn to that conversation about what is more but what is more powerful is that the appearance are engaged at the Grassroots Level and then you find out if those interested to promote more organizations, more interests and more desire. One is a number of member of athletes, professional athletes that are starting Charter Schools entertainers who are starting to come out on behalf of School Choice because when you think about answering the question whats next, you better educate who is president because if you want to have the best whats next, lets educate who is president today said that conversation around the country starts at the Grassroots Level and we have a number of partners like aei and others who commit fabulous job of providing us with good deed and good information to encourage the conversation to go to the next level. Thank you. [applause] if you will join me in thanking the Panel Expenditure exports to fix start to the day. [applause] we are going to break for a minute and reconvene at 11 00 now a panel of education administrators discuss School Reform in the public, private and Charter School perspective. This is 45 minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second Panel Building stronger communities through exemplary schools. Thats harder to follow from the first one i have to say that was amazing and we heard some Great Stories and great information and we will do the same here. We are honored to be here with senator scott and our friends at the American Federation for children. Im excited about the sale for three reasons today. One is that features representatives from every sector in the k12 education public, private and charter. Number two, it is kind of focus on the transformative power of Educational Options at the Community Level of the communities and as a group of gifted people who have been here and done that and worked in the communities and made a change. One of the groups of people is seated to my right. The executive director of the secretary at the United States conference of the bishops. In her role she is responsible for supporting and assisting the bishops in the Development Management and communication of pyrenees, plans and policies. She is frankly the go to person when it comes to the education and understanding the schools in particular which isnt a surprise. Doctor steve perry is the founder and ceo of one of the top Public Schools in the