among which in this day and age, absolutely and positively has to include our cyber networks. our partnerships and collaboration are key. as governor hickam who -- governor hickenlooper lexus it, cooperation is the new collaboration. experts from industry and academia are demonstrating that -- are demonstrating systems that are affordable and accessible. these men and women are outstanding. they have helped us in our exercises and drills and our training. i know that the council of governors is anxious to explore a better defined role for our national guard in this new domain. we also signed a $3 million cybersecurity tax credit into law to accelerate job growth in this field. for all of the focus that we have seen on the national level, we still have a lot of work to do in order to elevate the collaboration between a federal government and states in this realm. that is where the nga resource center on's eight cybersecurity's is working. we are working to fill the void. one of these tools is the governor's call to action for cybersecurity that will lay out a framework that all of us can pursue. governance authority, risk assessment, continuous vulnerability and threat assessments and the like. we also introduced an electronic dashboard that governors can use to understand their states level of readiness at a glance. moving forward, we are exploring for areas. we are looking for stronger collaboration between our states and our federal partners. second, looking for ways that the states can use their state- owned fusion centers to support stronger and more robust cybersecurity defenses on an interstate as well as an interstate basis. we are working to develop effective state policies to address the security of our data and our own infrastructure. fourth, we will be making recommendations on how governors can best develop a more highly skilled workforce to fill the ranks of the needs that are out there in this new domain. so the work of the resource center is essential. we want to thank the able staff that has been working on this. thank you for your leadership on this. and also the grantmakers who have made this work au sable. the american gas association, cities deloitte, good technology, hewlett-packard, ibm, northrop grumman, semantic, and vmware. and i thank you again for the opportunity to bring everyone up to date. >> thank you. rick presentation. i understand that delaware and maryland are working together to sponsor and participate in the cyberspace is academy. we were one of the first states in delaware to host the cyber challenge can to attract young people to pursue a career in this area. we just graduated 47 students from our fourth annual camp. governor o'malley mentioned the air guard and i think i see the tag of the wisconsin guard over there. ice to see you again. thank you for being here. let's all recognize the tag, please. [applause] thank you. they've been with us several times this weekend. we appreciate that. i was when to turn the conversation in that direction for a moment because heather from the nga health and homeland security information committee will give us an update. governor o'malley mentioned the great work done in maryland and the incredible assets there to leverage something i've learned in delaware as well. heather, it's all yours. >> thank you. as governor o'malley mentioned, in addition to the work of the cybersecurity research center, nga is working through the board of governors to address national cyber security vulnerabilities. a key focus of this work is looking at how the national guard can better be leveraged to meet the needs of both states and the federal government given its unique roles and response abilities. crowley, we know that all levels of government face a shortage of trained and qualified personnel to both protect cyber networks in advance and respond to intrusions and attacks when they occur. the citizen soldiers of the national guard announced there'd will roll so ring -- announced their role serving both governors and the president. this built-in talent can provide states and the federal government with access to leading-edge civilian declared skill sets that are not otherwise available within the government and some national guard units have taken the initiative to leverage the capability. for instance, in several states, the national guard is actively correlating with homeland security advisers and emergency managers to know cyber incident response plans did they are also -- response plans. they're also participating in exercises to deal with cyber incident responses. working through the council of governors, we are supporting efforts to expand and enhance an expert at the use of these kinds of capabilities. this will give governors and other to an the toolbox to address cyber security threats to at the same time, we are correlating with congressional offices to increase awareness of the guard as a readily available and cost-effective solution to the nation's cybersecurity challenges. bipartisan legislation was introduced this past spring in both the house and the senate to provide the guard a stronger role in cybersecurity and to provide each governor with a cyber incident response team. nga help support this legislation and help gain ingersoll support for their efforts. we have friendly seen a great deal of support in congress for these kinds of initiatives. but the house and the senate included -- in fact, required considering the national guard capabilities and what it can bring to the table. the council of governors, is meeting again this afternoon to continue discussion on these issues. one of the primary goals of that meeting will be to encourage the federal government to actively partner with states to build and execute a conference a plan to address the nation's cyber capabilities. nga will continue to support these and promote other efforts and opportunities for states to work in national level initiatives. thank you for the opportunity. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you for the great job you're doing. what i would like to do is open it up to all of the governors, any questions either for our speaker or governor o'malley or for help -- or for heather or for anybody else. >> i wanted to follow-up on what heather was saying in terms of the guard. the cybersecurity center and the national guard just had an exercise. we hired the top hackers --or at least ones who said they were. that is what we are doing right now is to set up our own cyber defense, if you will. we are doing wargames. we are trying to see what our vulnerabilities are. we call it a cyber range. it is a combination of the guard capacity and the university point on our cyber defense spear. isn't it -- it is an anti- computer access project. as i said, we do not have all of the results, but this can be done allegedly quickly using existing resources, is what i'm trying to drive at. the cyber capacity at the university, and the everyday training activity within the state department of defense, and the staffing there, is ongoing anyway. what we have done is formalized it. that is the principal forming our attempts to come to grips with some of the elements that have been cited so clearly here today. >> thank you, governor. anyone else? so, maybe i will ask heather again, because i think there is really interesting work going on across the country. i do appreciate governor o'malley sharing some of the details. one is the -- what is the most important thing that the governors can do now to take it to the next level with a resource that are available to them? >> excellent question. i think there's a real opportunity here. the key thing is to encourage the department of defense to move quickly and allow the national guard units that want to move forward in this area. u.s. cyber command is working on having the army and the air force, and the national guard when all of their resources work on this issue concurrently. i think with this session today, we have the good opportunity to drive that discussion forward. i think governor support for encouraging that to move as quickly as possible is going to be credible. >> jack, may i just, just one further point? i should have added, i made it sound a bit too optimistic. we just put this together. i would be interested in maybe to have -- an appropriate point will we are doing this with existing equipment. some has been donated, part of the reason that we have been able to put this together that nobody wants the hardware that we're using right now. this is going to need -- we are going to lose on some of this, by the way. i do not bid we will be totally successful, because our defenses, if you will, are inferior. in terms of the servers, in terms of the routers, etc. i am not sophisticated enough to know all of it, but my point is that the equipment that we're using -- we have top-notch people, but the equipment we are using is inferior. what is being told to me that we are going to have to make an investment if we want to go to more than just being able to retroactively defend ourselves. >> none of us deny those collaborations need to come on board. i guess the point i would like to underscore is that you have great expertise. you know you need a governing structure for this, you know there are risk assessment that need to be conducted. you know that we need to do more training, and awareness of our employees. you have the ability to do all of those things combined also the ability to draw on your own financial services, to form your own cyber security council. you can say look, why are we waiting for washington in the national guard, and everyone in the federal arsenal to get a bus? -- to catch up with us? what can i do now to make sure that we do not have a breach of personal information? >> that is really what i was try to get at. thank you. i have asked in delaware for that head of the department of technology education to see what steps we're are taking. it looks like a pretty good list and i am not sure what resources are available here for us at nga. i want to get the best in class set of standards. can you run through the dashboard, and some of the other questions? there is a dashboard where there is a checklist, we are not talking about dreams and volumes of paper, we're talking about a simple sort of step and action you can take and go through. that is available through this center. also, the names and e-mails of our other partners who are part of this board. members who would be delighted to have a governor call them, or reach out to them, and save what advice can you give to me on this? as with the other homeland security aspects, they need drilling, training, and metrics laid out for us. >> who at nga is responsible for that? so i would ask thomas if he could make sure that we all get that checklist that governor o'malley is talking about? to make sure, that as we are questioning the people in our states that we are asking all of the right and tough, and appropriate questions. ok, thank you. with that, i want to thank all of you for this session. what i want to do now is to call the committee chairs, but i thank you very much for your recent additions. i want to hear it their brief reports of the work of the committee. i went to work on the national resources committee, and the governor of south dakota. >> yesterday, the economic development and congress committee, and the natural resources committee had a joint meeting. it was very productive, it was a session on the state of our nation's infrastructure. we had a couple of very good guest speakers. we first heard from the u.s. representative who is the chairman of the house committee for transportation and infrastructure. we got the vantage point of the house of representatives. immediately following his answers to questions, we received another distinguished guest, the newly up or did -- newly appointed secretary anthony foxx, who held forth on his blue points on our infrastructure -- viewpoint on our infrastructure. i want to thank everyone for being that meeting, and for participating in the discussion. >> thank you. >> for the education workforce committee, governor malloy. >> thank you. the education workforce ready, we discussed increasing workforce innovation to close the skills gap, create jobs, and grow family incomes. we had several distinguished speakers. governors discussed what we were doing our states in job creation at a, growth. we also discussed the reauthorization of the workforce investment act. and importance of restoring, we have 15% set-aside for our training programs that need to be put to local employers. we date -- we would be remiss if we do not take a moment to recognize the directive education and workforce committee who is working with us for more than a decade, and who has moved on to working with our universities to make sure they are the best in the world. when she was hired, she was charged with putting governors back on the war front of national policy debates concerning education when there is no doubt that governors are on the forefront of those discussions. she has a desk in a fierce and effective advocate. i would like to ask you all to join me in applauding her service. [applause] that concludes my report. >> thank you. i want to add my word of thanks to joan as well. she has done a wonderful job. governor o'malley, on behalf of the halls and homeland security committee. >> mr. chairman, thank you. on friday, we met to discuss two important topics in both of them have to do with making sure that we are doing everything in our power to connect our veterans to employment opportunities. and other benefits when they come home for the battlefield, and we were joined for the presentation of alan hickey, the assistant secretary for the department of veterans affairs. they are making some important improvements there. they have been using modern technology to create, and clots arms -- robin platforms that we can you stay wide to reach out to our active guard service, or army, our air force, or wherever they come from. we also had presentations from secretary of labor, as well as the office of veteran services. the second half of that. we heard from -- the second half of that time we heard from the emergency management agency a dialogue on building and strengthening assets that we need to respond in the aftermath of natural disasters, whatever hits us. those were incredibly valuable, and we discussed coming out-of- the-box marathon, -- and we discussed the boston marathon bombing the vacations, insert capacity and the light -- like. i want to thank all of the governors who joined us. i would like to thank governor >> i get -- mentioned governor walker earlier. once again, scott, thank you for doing such a great job. you want to make any closing comments before you take off? >> thank you. first of all, think you for coming to the milwaukee boy scouts, we appreciate it. i appreciate all of the governors, their families, their extended families, and all the others who came to our state. indulge me for a moment, i would to thank our commissioner of euro -- the bureau who has done that. you saw a lot of the folks going around in the turquoise shirts who were all volunteers from the community who helped of the last few days. i want to thank them. i also solved by the command center last night. we had a tremendous effort by the state control, the natural the wisconsin natural guard -- national guard. the milwaukee's county sheriff's office, our wonderful partners at the federal level, the fbi, the coast guard to buy with the thank all of them. governor markel, on a personal note, i want to tell you that not only your leadership of the past year, but also when i go through this session and every other one that you have held, your focus in employing people with disabilities has been inspiring. i have taken your document, and we are going to include it, we are going to carve out a segment for employing veterans. we will also talk about the benefits of employing people with disabilities, and we will build off of that going into next year. we appreciate your leadership in many ways, which has impacted each of us respectfully. to my friends, governor fallin, who i have been a friend with even before we were elected. welcome to your new role in leadership. congratulations on being the interim vice chair. we joke about drinking beer, but i'm perfectly comfortable taking drinking coors lite. on a more serious note, i want to wish all of you safe travels. most of you will fly out of the nearby airport, and i will be going just a few minutes south of that. on august 5 of last year, a year from tomorrow, we lost six lives. today we will be memorializing those six lives, and i would like to say i have appreciated all of you reaching out. in a very real sense, we will be celebrating the unity that i saw not just and the members of that temple, but the larger metropolitan community that came together and supported them. the shining example they have given to all of us, the old adage that martin luther king jr. said, only love works. we will be departing for that edited little bit, but we appreciate you all being here today. >> with that, would you please pass on to our -- your whole team our thanks for your great work. i would like to thank all of the governors for giving me the opportunity this last year for allowing me to serve as the chair for nga. i really appreciate all of the sport on building these initiatives. our visits to washington, the bipartisan delegations, the work that you all have done with the nga committees and the like. many of the reporters who are here, are surprised how well we talk about politics in our meetings, and how much this is really about making policy, not democrats and republicans. i really appreciate the opportunity to work with all of the other governors. i also want to thank the nga staff who have done an excellent job. they have them supporting me on this initiative, and an absolutely first-class way. all of the staff who support our committees and the work that goes on in federal elections, the nga staff does doesn't and does an outstanding job. i would to thank you and your entire team for the great work that you do. [applause] yes, thank you. with that, i do want to call governor malloy. we had an unbelievably important session yesterday. governor malloy took the lead, along with governor christie. i just wanted very much thank you for that. i'm calling on you now as the chair of the nominating committee to give us the report of the next year's leaders for the nga. >> i would to thank you publicly for your great leadership and your commitment to finding employment opportunities for those with a disability. i've enjoyed working with you on that as well. on behalf of the 2013 dashboard 2013-2014 nomination, i move that these be and lamented. -- governor of. arkansas, governor walker, chair ofof utah, vice colorado, -- >> thank you governor. i second. i call for a vote. all in favor say aye. >> all opposed say nay. the ayes have it. i am glad to turn this great possibility and opportunity over to you. [applause] congratulations. >> thank you. well, thank you so much. governor markel, you have been an outstanding leader of the nga, and i very much enjoyed working with you on your initiative on employing those with his abilities and giving them a better tomorrow. you have certainly left your mark on our nation, you have certainly helped so many people around our nation focus on the importance on helping those with disabilities be able to find jobs. encouraging us to work within our own state entities to put an emphasis on that particular idea. we have done several projects together already and i know we will have a wonderful working relationship. we have a lot of good things we're going to work on in the future. governor markel, i would also want to say that we know when you are in a leadership position like this, it takes amount of time to do this job, but it also takes time from your staff. i want to say thank you to your staff. thank you to them for all that they have done. it has been a great pleasure for my staff to work with your staff. our staffs will become very close as we continue to move forward. thank you to your staff, and i know she is not here, but i also want to thank your wife, carla markel. she has put on a nice agenda for our spouses, which is important to help them feel engaged. they have had some great programming, and some good bonding, so please express our thank you to your wonderful wife for all that she has done to help with this organization. i also just want to say something to one other person. that is how much we appreciate our spouses because as i move into this position, i have to say thank you to my husband. he is here behind me. he is actually going to be taking over as the first spouse leadership council chair, so that is a new role for him. we're also joined by one of our six children that we have between us, and that is my daughter. always important to have your family present when you have a job like this. more importantly, governor markel, i like to extend on behalf of our fellow governors a gavel. perhaps it is your final gavel, it is a symbol of our appreciation, engraved to you. in commemoration of your leadership of the national governors association, to tell you how much we appreciate your leadership this past year. [applause] thank you so much. i'm very eager to begin this next year. we have a lot of work ahead of us. the nga work is very important, and very valuable to our nation. we had a great week, thank you, governor walker, and your team and your staff and all of the volunteers, all of the corporate sponsors, that made this convention possible. we had a great lineup of speakers, topics, and a lot of fun activities. we have done some things this week, like riding a harley, on a coast guard boat, all of those things were fine. you had something great activities for us, we really appreciate you and your team for all the work that you do. as all of you know, each year the chair has the opportunity to select an initiative to work and focus on. i am very proud to be able to announce my initiative. if i could ask the staff to begin passing this out. works, education and training for tomorrow's jobs. i think that is something that certainly democrats and republican governors along with our corporate fellows and our private sector members are very attuned to and very engaged with. we had so many discussions this past week about the importance of our economy, our workforce education, and how we align all of those systems to be able to meet our individual state cost needs. -- state's needs. and to build a workforce that will meet the needs of america. as global economic regions have become more competitive, not only the united states around the world, our work force has become more specialized, and we have more specialized services, more specialized skills. we have very scarce public resources that are available for workforce training. we have a lot of different workforce programs, so we need a thoughtful, comprehensive approach that will prepare the workforce to keep pace with a very competitive global economy. it is an issue that not only calls for national attention, but it also calls for gubernatorial attention. we can lead the way in helping to create a workforce in america that meets the demands of our employers in our states, and also build a highly skilled workforce that we can reassure the jobs back to america. bring america back to its greatest. if you look at the statistics internationally and where america stands in comparison to many other nations, in the area of reading alone, we are in the 15%'s. you look at math, we are 25th of the world. if you look at sign, we rank 17th out of 34 countries. ranking that low as a nation as great as we are is unacceptable. we need to work together as governors to lead america back, to restore them back to the greatness of having the best educated, skilled workforce in our nation. our future economic security will require significant improvements in education and workforce programs. it will provide a pipeline to a better skilled, educated workforce so we can meet tomorrow's jobs. it will also require a closer working relationship, and collaboration with our high schools, colleges, with our workforce training programs, our vocation training programs, and it will certainly require collaboration with our employers to make sure we know, as governors, what types of skills that our employers need. if you consider that nearly 50 years ago more than 75% of our jobs in america only required a high school degree or less to get a good wage. but today, if you look at that number, it has dropped to roughly 40%. fewer than one third of those jobs pay $25,000 a year. if your reverse that, looking at it in another way, two thirds of the high school jobs available today will make less than $25,000. that is not good for a national economy, that is not good for families, not good for children, not good for our future. while a diploma was sufficient for most of our parents generation, to have access to a good life, we know that today we have to have an educated workforce that has mainly an associate's degree, or a college degree, or some type of workforce training certificate to be able to meet the minimum required for jobs today, and jobs of the future. we have to do a better job of providing for all of our students the opportunity to successfully be able to navigate through our education system. to make sure that they are entering into a pipeline with some type of either education beyond high school or into a pipeline with a career technology field. there are too many students that are capping their own potential by limiting access to resources. several years ago, the nga launched a major initiative, and it was to have more degree completion within a workforce, within our high schools, within our colleges, with career technology programs. we call the complete college america, and it was implemented in the majority of our state. it was a challenge for us to get more degree completion into the pipeline of our workforce. nationally, we know that just more than three quarters of our public high school students will make it to graduation. if three quarters of them make it to graduation, we know that those that continue on to post secondary education, we know that only half of them will finish that education. that makes us fall behind as a nation when you look at those international demographics of where we fall, the math, science, that we have. two thirds of the american workforce is now working age read and they lack the basic literacy skills, and also has troubles with numbers. that does not help when coming to qualify for the jobs we have available today. the challenge as governors we have is very clear. we need to get more students into higher academic standards, within our high school systems, but also to help them graduate from high school. we need to help them further their education, to go on to an associates degree, a four-year college degree, or even beyond. or getting a workforce career certificate, so they can have a career path of some sort. i would help us have a more sustainable, stronger national economic security for our nation. as a nation, we also have to do several things for the challenge. we also need to lay out a pathway, a roadmap if you will, on how to achieve a higher economy with a stronger, more highly educated workforce. we believe our job is to develop a good place of smarter data so we know where our workforce falls within each of our state. that way we can better understand what is needed by our employers, our industries, our associations. we will work with the private sectors. we also work with our state governments, to build collaboration between industry and business, and our education pipelines. we are also going to work on improving the quality and expanding capacity of the education training institutions that prepare our workforce. we are going to encourage innovative partnerships among our business communities, our education institutions, and our government. there are so many great examples across our state. let me just make this initiative a little more tangible to you. this is just oklahoma alone on this slide, and we're going to give each of your states this type of analysis. if you do not know where you are, we cannot get there. we are going to give you that roadmap. if you look at this chart, you're looking at data on oklahoma's workforce, and if you start with the bottom graph, it shows that oklahoma's current education level from the percent of those with high school diplomas is about 45%. the red graph shows that 31% of oklahoma's workforce has some type of college, or has an associate degree rate the green bar shows about 15% of okalhoma's workforce has a bachelors degree, or above that. the purple shows they have a doctorate or master degree. if you compare that to the chart up above, you'll see that the top bar shows the percentage breakdown at the degrees level required for the jobs that will be created in our state by looking at the various industries and skill sets needed. the degree that will be needed, and the workforces that will be needed in the years 2010 to 2020. the blue bar, as you can see, we have a pretty big gap in our skill set. what types of jobs will be required for high school compared to those that will be available for those with a college degree, which is 22%. there is a mismatch in the degree to which we are educating our young people, and educational needs that will be demanded as we help move them into jobs to grow our economy. you can see the higher education level, the higher percentage they will be needed in the job force. in simplest terms, what we are hoping to do with this initiative is to help be able to generate the level of data that will be important that will help as they again to edify specific strategies were each of their states. to begin to align those results between the education itself, and the needs of the emerging workforce. as we begin this initiative, we want to make it really clear that the role of education must be more than just to prepare our individuals and to have some type of degree, but we also want to collaborate with the private sector. we want to make sure that our students and working adults have the type of skills that will be needed to my that will be ardent -- pertinent towards the type of jobs that will be created. we also need to understand that post secondary degrees and workforce certificates are now the new minimum for our nation. things have changed since our parents went to school 50 years ago. without it, if we do not set these new standards, we do not work on these pipelines for prosperity, our young adults will be facing many different hurdles as they try to go into the middle class. as they try to chase the american dream. it will also limit our ability as a nation to be able to become stronger, to become more vibrant, and move the economy forward. to just recap, america works, education and training for tomorrow's jobs will focus on engaging our education about our businesses, our government leaders, and what we can do as governors to be able to work more closely with our k-12 education systems, our colleges, our workforce training programs, to meet job demand. we will supoort our governors to prepare this data for each of your states, to talk about labor demand. we want to mail to meet these demands, and then we will take action steps to be able to make sure we have the type of result that we desire. i think there is nothing more critical than securing the economic future of america, and also being able to prepare our workforce for the 21st century jobs. that is something that we are looking forward to working with each of our governors. i want to thank the staff, and the teams, and our director of education. richard, thank you for all you and your team have done to put this together. we will be scheduling summits across the nation. we will be able to bring forth the data that we are compiling for each state. it will be up to each governor to decide how they want to implement that data, how will work with your education pipelines, and workforce training programs. but i think it is something that is very critical if we're going to continue to build a stronger, more vibrant economy. as we all talked about, bring those jobs back to america, keeping them in america, and make sure that our children have the best future possible. it has been a great meeting, i want to thank you for the great honor to be able to serve as your chair. i look forward to working with you, and thank you for all of your teams, and all you have done. we appreciate it. and if there is no further business? we are officially adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the nga wrapped up its summer series this weekend. if you miss anything, you can see it at our video library at www.c-span.org. the chair for next year's session is oklahoma governor, " the washington post" is going to sell its os for $250o jeff bez million. donald graham was quoted saying the post could have survived and been profitable am a but he wanted to do more than survive. post" has had a 44% decline in operating revenue over the past six years. today at the national press club, they hosted wendy davis who held a filibuster in texas on a late-term filibuster. here is a look. you mentioned your feud with rick perry. are you thinking about running to succeed him? >> a lot of people are asking me that question lately. i am working very hard to decide what my next steps will be. i do think in texas people feel like we need a change from the very fractured, very partisan leadership we are seeing in our state government right now. a bid for another statewide office other than governor question mark perhaps u.s. senator or lieutenant governor? will run forthat i one of two offices, either my eat or thete ste governor. one more question. would you consider running as a vice residential candidates with hillary clinton? in answer to that i would say we will have to find out whether hillary is planning to run for president first. >> you can watch the rest of her comments at 6:25 p.m. eastern tonight. also in washington, the middle east institute hosted a discussion about the hub future of islam. in july the country's elected president was ousted by the military. and member at the audience talked about his own views, why he voted for morsi. his remarks are next, followed by response. >> i am from egypt. p"have heard the word "cou more in the last month than i have ever heard in my lift. art demands were not met until this moment, and yet the egyptians will continue and i expected them to dislike them again. moxie is about the balance. i voted for morsi and for the brotherhood and i took to the streets to overthrow him. social justice, change, and freedom -- none of them have been met, and there were no intentions from the brotherhood to undertake them. the idea was when you see your president that you voted after the revolution that has [indiscernible] and then you find a president who is declaring [indiscernible] and all his decisions and andes are not to be sued then you see him adjusting a constitution that does not guarantee freedoms and allows military trials, and the muslim brotherhood has been tried now and the people have told them do not you this. there are many things we can go through. coup was not a coup. and democracy is not to be adjusted by the military. this is the case, and these are the only available options. this was the worst available option, but also i would this is the worst available option at the moment, because there was no way egyptians would ever accept a military dictatorship -- an elected dictatorship, even if people had voted for them. my question would be given the fact that there are a couple of movements within the muslim my question is given the fact a couple of movements, calm without violence, asking the leaders to go without violence and take the streets. question is how far do you hink these movements and don't know if they will snowball, will the brother hood of national y of the movement? >> thank you for both the question and the comment. want you to send the microphone down there. of the panel.tion moments of few parliamentary reactions. on the streets you have military dictator. entirely convinced this as a good source of action, given the aims, and i am not diplomatic of a process, because i am american. i am not sure. the statements about muslim brotherhood against violence and things. not -- these groups have a they are sort of like -- i had a suspicion that actually really exist in any independent form. i mean if they do, and if they big impact.g a for theit would be good organization. however i would pause and wait actually end up earning a lot of support. event in watch that its entirety any time online, c-span.org and look for the video library link. the associated press talks about senior leadership of muslim brotherhood, meeting in an ndisclosed location, and talks egyptian government mary harp.ith the n you report that deputy secretary (inaudible) and ministers have met today in prison? can, late yesterday secretary bur visited the deputy in efforts to was revent further violence and calm among egyptians to help to democratically elected government. and i would underscore this eeting was been with the cooperation of the egyptian authorities. there (inaudible)? >> beyond what i said, this was diplomatic exchange, and fluid, it's involved and i will not get into more, but we encouraging the egyptians to be part of the process, and that includes the muslim brotherhood and a part of the those on the ground. >> is it possible that he will see orsi or morsi will not him? >> right now there are no plans mohamed o meet with morsi. meet morsi say he would with him? >> i am not getting into the details (inaudible). >> and not just take the word of asheton. to meet with as many, and his brief is to go to the egyptians f we assist in this calming tensions. >> can you tell me how long the meeting is? that in front e of me. >> i understand that it was a and they ing understand this he shouldn't be talking to him but morsi. get more attempt to information about that meeting. he conferenced there is making a point. >> the military said there is say limited time for discussions is clearing that the square and so on. ow far do you feel that these discussions have gone? have they gone far enough to good track? on a >> i clearly feel there is much more work to do. egy e a goal to help the to a ans get back democratic elected government. and clearly we are not there. and we trust the different size process, and e that's what deputy burnes is discussing and the wide range of meetings there and throughout the week. >> in this meeting of the deputy of the muslim brotherhood. it's send the message time to call off the protest and bring the people off the streets. that was the message of cathy ashton. >> the message is that there is the muslim for broth a part of thatbe going forward. continuing to make the point about the necessity of an inclusive process. can you comment on an egyptian report on a grant in ain, the muslim brothers prison and those for a few weeks release of one for the road map and having inclusive elections. >> broadly speak, we have called epeatedly for an end of arbitrary arrest, we have been position has our not changed. to the egyptians but we any steps to those steps incluesivity. >> should we take that request? shouldn't, but just to broadly speaking we have called for this from the beginning. you have a meeting of the secretary, burnes, who re these people not to just egyptians arison of are saying. list, m happy to read the early in the trip he met with and ,entative internal minister and foreign state ministerae foreign affairs. and as well as the members of for legitimacy, nd he met separately with abboya prime minister and prime minister adenine. is still there. >> and as much as we know that today and senators mccain and lindsey are going to be there. there a kind of cooperation consultation together? or everyone going to be a different track. burnes will retary be meeting with them, he's got a lot of meetings. have said that we support any polarization, and the deputies will be meeting with the senators on the ground. > can i -- is there any time how long the deputy secretary will be there? >> we don't have any return announce at this point. and i will let you know -- >> another thing, it's not different from last trip no statement coming out of this trip. is it right what i am saying? or if i am wrong, please correct me. >> we don't have any press availabilities to announce at point. i know that he did one last time, i will let you know if changes. and we have volved been with you every step of the secretary burns met with others. ut not with arab, and and the headquarters is in cairo. >> he is still on the ground, meetings to more announce tomorrow. gain he's met with a broad spectrum of egyptian leaders and people involved in this process, more meetings are to announce, will do so. >> what is the calculation of not meeting with president morsi, is there a building of is legitimizing someone who was particularly be favored by the united states government? of he larger question safety and ell-being if something were to happen. >> i wouldn't want to get in the specifics of how we put together our schedules here. we are happy that he has a with the brotherhood of mentioned but i won't get into the schedule. mentioned (inaudible) having a role in the democratic agent you are calling for. egyptian to the people to decide what their overnment will look like when they return to a democratically government. it's not up to the united have been clear from the beginning. >> what gives the opportunity? >> again i will not make the for the egyptian people. up to the egyptian people, we said that all parties need to involved in this process. a meeting with president morsi, are you saying of the process? meeting secretary is with a variety people. >> not the president. >> he is making a meeting, and we are not taking a side or party, and he's making that everybody. are wide swath of egyptians aking to the streets and shouldn't that be part? > it's not up to us to decide what it should look like, but it's up to them. >> the deputy is a muslim brotherhood and that the americans should be talking to mor mort -- morsi and again we are not. >> again we said that we were all parties and groups. have the statements of who we are making the decisions, we are including all groups and of course that muslim brotherhood. >> could you say specifically if ou are opposed to meeting with president morsi. >> i didn't ask that -- point there is no plan to, i am not going to make whether or notnt we are willing to meet with one to on, but we are willing talk to all parties as part of this process. brotherhood slim sees this as their leader, why him.t you meet with >> again, deputy secretary burns plans to meet with him. i am not making a broad be a lation, there may meeting. >> let me try another way, if taking sides, wouldn't it enhance the u.s. with the people in the streets protesting and they act as an honest broker in this process? believe that we are acting as honest broke, and now we are a meeting and now not re saying that's enough. >> because are talking about elected leader and clearly the conflict is and those inleader the interim government. are in charge and to use force. > i am not going to characterize what it's is on the ground, but to be part of polarization. can the u.s. say they want to be an honest broke to this crisis and not meeting with a representative figure. met with the muslim broth met withod and we have weroad swath of parties, and will continue our engagement of all parties. wouldn't read into what isn't or is happening, he's still and pi -- and i am sure more meetings. >> but for secretary burns to other reason than to report to his brothers and i him and we can report, x, y or z. i am not going to get making of cision developing the deputy secretary's schedule. important that he meet with many parties, including the muslim brotherhood. this is an ongoing dialogue in egypt and i don't want to draw a conclusion on one meeting occurred. not it >> (inaudible) egypt? >> yes, is there a question? comment.could you >> i have no personnel announcements to make at this ambassadoro the next to egypt will be. gain i said as i said before, ambassador ford is a career and serving diplomat that posts. in dangerous and well respected by parties. and no announcements to make on any announcement would come from the white house. a focus (inaudible) >> again no personnel positions ambassador ford is involved. >> you say there are no plans to meet with morsi, but could they change. >> correct. saying it's not it, he's still on the ground. to get in a nt hypothetical whether that changes. i am not trying to dance around it, but you are right, he's ground and if we have additional meetings, we will do so. mentioned the work in the issue of involvement in egypt. wants to explain to this yptians what does mean, not just the role of the united states in egyptian affairs? >> i think it's what we said you along, we have a long historical partnership with the people and leadership. back to an them get democratic process, and deputy secretary burns is those issues now. and one thing that is important for us is to consistently say process, we do not support one party, one group. what the etermine should look rnment in no way isrward, role.ur >> there was (inaudible) interview at the post that you influence on muslim brotherhood so you can convince them to change their attitude. is your comment on that? >> well, we have seen the interview. sort of the uld be same comments we have made for a while. e are calling publicly and privately for all groups to be a part of this process. to that's why we want maintain these relationships. hat's why people like deputy secretary burns, and also our iplomats on the ground are engaged in this issue every day, talking to the different groups and leaders of push them into the place process, ultimately that's best egyptian people. a also, and it's not just comment but evaluation that in egypt a lot of people, even in hill, they on the leverageoning that our or our influence are shrinking. o you have anything to say about that? >> well, i would disagree with the notion that we don't have leverage. or we have a long historic partnership with the egyptians. is obviously our but it goes tance, beyond that. these are long historic and you have seen that between the interaction u.s. leaders and egyptian leaders. nd we will continue that going forward. but i would disagree with hat... the e state department and white house discuss closing u.s. embassies, 19 remain closed throughout saturday. his is what white house spokesman, jay carney had to say about the closures. and the public and of course in our administration, we take the seriously.y and have taken action because of that. position to discuss specific intelligence, but we believe that this threat is significant. taking it serious ly, reason.t and have taken the actions that he state department has announced out of an abundance of caution. monitor continue to this and take action as necessary. contain justthreat to american, and americans to seas or any threat americans in the u.s.? >> i would say that the threat and maybe g from directed to the arabian peninsula. that, 's beyond potentially. and that is why we have taken some actions we have taken. can't be more specific than that. say that the embassy announced are e in reaction to that. ut of abundance of caution and closures ion of those stream reflect a news but more in taking precautions. clarify t to (inaudible) beyond that, does that include americans in the u.s.? > i think the threat from al-qaeda and affiliated organizations to the united to the american people has been a reality that we have talked about for a long now. >> is it specific threat? > again i am not going to get into specific intelligence matters. i can tell you that, you know, the action we have abundance ofrather caution. nd we have issued the warnings we have issued. in order to make sure that the american people are aware of the threat.l the potential threat that has us, but which th is heightened at this time. and we will provide more can, mindful s we of the need to maintain. >> you can watch the white house riefing in its entirety, go to c-span.org and click on the link library.ideo new onight at 7 p.m. in jersey we will have the debate u.s. candidates for the senate, for the seat, they will be: debate l be the first with all four candidates participating. scheduled for august 13, and a special election in october. a mock debate at 7:30 eastern, here on c-span. >> i have pushed for this in the that we move cybersecurity legislation, it's big and complicated. that word cybersecurity means different things to different people. to get it done, and as hard for me to say that the has done something right -- i am teasing about that, they are fine. they have passed some of this, and we need to look at what they have done. want to take a stab in the senate, that's great. get moving on this in the senate. this is a real threat and problem. my colleagues on the ommittee, i am not, but they this done.ke to get > communications issues on capitol hill, tonight on c-span 2. we have never really known our first with ladies, and that's particularly in the recent times. on the one hand they are expected to have causes. you can't imagine a first lady without a cause. and is the other hand those upon are not to intrude lawmaking or an official capacity. o it's all a tight rope, and seeing how each of these women rope tells you a lot. them but the society they represent. this week we begin our presentation, first ladies, first a look at our ladies, week nights all this at 9 starting tonight p.m. eastern, and during tonight's program on martha washington, join in the onversation with the author, patricia brady at facebook.com/c-span. c-span, we bring public affairs to washington putting the room, in hearings and riefings and conferences, and offering complete gavel-to-gavel overage in the u.s. house, provided by the industry by funded by your local satellite provider, and now you us in h-d. >> before tonight's u.s. senate in new jersey, a look at press club, hosting senator, wendy davis, she's the hosted a 10-hour abortion, talking bout politics in texas and her own political future. [gavel] and welcome noon, i ame national press club, keane, president of the ational press club, for more information about the national press club, please visit our www.press.org, to to te to programs offered the public, please visit press.org/institute. of our members world wi wide, i would like to welcome you and if you hear applause in audience. members of the general public is visiting, and would like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. available on are podcast using itunes. on twitter, w us after the guest concludes, we ill have a question and answer period. now time to introduce our head table guest. each of you to ask to stand as your name is announced. nuston, r right, carl "dallas morning news." callaway, u.s.a. today, in chief. garcia.e the honorable rodney ellis, senator.te podium, allen he fitz-gera fitz-gerald. and bob karnen, with karnen organizing ns and today's lunch. fort worth , a business leader and owner of the dodgers. betsy martin, the manager of nbc ical programming for news. arrow thompson, chief of thompson writers. nd rick dunham, a political reporter with the houston chronical and a former national press club president. [applause] it seems now that the whole watching, when our guest today literally stood up beliefs on the floor of the texas state house. filibustered a republican abortion bill, and that act blocked the abortion and made wendy davis a hero. stranger to is no she was he odds, at 14 helping her mother, and then by mother as a single herself, and she eventually community college. degreeminated into a law from harvard. member from the fort worth city council, and chose to texas senate and well-known incumbent. senator davis won an election in in a race that was considered one of the biggest upsets in texas politics. reelected in 2012, despite and every office campaigning against her. her issues are economic development and family issues. she was named freshman cited asr in 2009, and ofas monthly magazine as one the state's best legislators. she seemed to like the in 2011 she had a a restoring of money to the schools. mentioned as a guberitorial candate -- candidate in texas. help me give a national press club welcome to senator wendy davis. [applause] >> thank you. for havingll so much me here today. and thank you, angela for to ting me, such a pleasure be in such an esteemed group of people. have to tell you that people et nervous when i approach a podium these days. i am sure that you heard what appened in the texas legislator, in case you weren't ne of the 20 people live streaming it, i thought i would --- get today comfortable. i am honored that you are to hear more from me. reminded how y important to have a voice. a voice that affects everyone's future.d and though i mean voice figuratively, my initial understanding of voice was quite literal. was a young girl, my family tried to spend as much as we could with my grandparents. hey lived in the panhandle in texas in a small city called muleshoe. my grandfather was a tenant mid-'60s, he n his suffered a massive stroke. he from that point forward lived the rest of his life in a nursing home. and s partially paralyzed had a very difficult time his ng words because of paralysis. hen my mom and siblings and i would pile into my mom's old hatch-back volkswagen and drive muleshoe, we would keep him in the home with us. those occasions my grandfather would beckon me into kitchen. and sit with him at the old formica table. have the hose that silver band around the side. he would bring a piece of paper out and point very determinedly it. and i knew my task. he would dictate to me a letter he hoped to communicate to a friend. nd as you can imagine, he is sitting there in his wheelchair, legs stuck to the plastic chairs in their a hot, summer day. it was a lot of hard work. slow and it could be very, very difficult. and it was challenging not just challenging for me as well. those ariably on occasions my grandfather would crying. which meant that i would start crying too. a s a very hard lesson for nine year-old to witness the grandfather's face. but the experience drove home a to me.werful lesson the importance of having a voice. lose it.ul it is to and how important it is to speak foror those who can't speak themselves. and to be true to what they could.say if they many of you heard my name for month.st time last in the last n said hours of the legislative partisans attempted an abortion ust bill but a bill that would block health care access to millions of women in texas. were seeking to rob texas women of their voice. showed up at omen the capitol to testify, and they up by the thousands. many of them were turned away. and they were unable to give voice to an issue that has a their lives.n before i took the floor that longest 13 the hours of my life. staff to track down testimony that was but tted in commit hearing not read. and during the next hours i read of their stories outloud. very were real people with personal stories to tell. ever f whom had never, given story of their voice human being.ther at first my staff was worried they was reading them a little fast. hours you can imagine is a long time to fill. throughout the day, as the word spread through capitol what was happening. our e-mail started filling up stories from women and men of all over the state texas. n fact by the day that was over, we received 16,000 personal stories. 16,000 people who were hungrying heard. day, i oint in the stopped worrying about running out of stories and of running of time. when i stood at my desk, i had filibustering the bill was the right thing to do. would ad no idea that it trigger a positively response country.e across the state and the country, there was an outpouring women.ort for texas and the most remarkable thing that it, is that stories otherwise would never have been told were suddenly national news. the voices that we heard in support of my filibuster that ones that we the hear amplified across the state of texas. of people t a lot that live outside of our state are surprised that they exist. texans know that the voices in our state that shout the not been the have ones that speak for everyone. hat night the nation was introduced to a force within our state. a force that is going to have a lot to say about the shape that future of texas takes. takes.pe that america as the second biggest state and largest ry's second economy, we have know out-sized on the direction of the nation. and many americans already see the gateway to a better life. e are the number one destination for internal migration. the reason as any texan will right, bobby, is that we have a lot to be proud of. here is our very diverse and fast-growing economy. our abundant and natural and resources. our long coast lines. our ow unemployment, and low cost of living. is just as importantly there our fervent belief that a better omorrow for ourselves and our children is just within our reach. texanse life i have seen create those tomorrows for themselves and their families. i have seen them raise themselves up by their bootstraps, and by their sling backs. and in my case by pink running shoes. work hard. and we believe that hard work should pay off. and the majority of texans know that our state is stronger when investments in its people that help them reach their full potential. texans know that there are areas where we can and we do better. one out of every 10 public school students in the united states goes to school in texas. the lowest roduce percentage of high school country. in the entire -- fourth of our children one-fourth live in poverty. aboutough we like to brag our economy in the state of texas. e have the highest number of children living without insurance. that's obviously nothing to brag about. but like i said, we do have a lot to be proud of. joined today by a few who not texas leaders only know we can do better. but are helping to make texas better. some of them in our audience today. we have our county commissioner, roy brooks. i am thrilled to be joined by community faith leaders and also a school board pastor michael evans. y incredible sister in the texas senate, latishia, that at 10:30 that night at what point would it voice to be man's heard in the texas senate. congress member frost. and city council george burns, old city sents my council in fort worth, justice dellion, ce, sergio and at the head table we have people. you have been introduced to them. obby patten truly defines a texas success story and true entrepreneur. county sheriff, adrienne garcia, and my dear colleague, ellis. during the mber afternoon of the filibuster, a ator ellis helped me with back break on the senate floor. nd i think it's fair to say that from this day forward, texas women know that senator ellis has our back. [applause] these leaders, these amazing part of the growing state that build a is more star and less lone. and while they are proud to talk texas is, they are also ready to talk about how greater. even the majority of texans are ready to start that conversation. but their voices are too often rowned out by the shout of people in power who provoke division. that shouting will distract from real solutions. doing serious damage to opportunities of the texans that they claim to represent. hey brag about our low unemployment. and at the same time slashing underfunding public education. they travel to states as far york,as california and new trying to lure business to texas. same time ignoring the needs in our community college and our higher education make sure that opportunities are available to s, and our young texan soon we know the consequence of be ultimately we will have to travel to other states to import brain power too. not being true to what people in texas are actually saying. that they claim to represent. i uld be just as if to what g to listening my grandfather had to say and felt.g down what i you know the saying, and some of may know the vern gosman song, this ain't my first rodeo. and as alison said, this was not first filibuster. a public stand to not cut $5.4 billion from our system, and after that budget cut came in place, was 49th in what it's investing in the future of this country. to filibuster so it put s in a special session where teachers and parents had an to the ity to come capitol and be heard. it was very important to me that be part of our conversation. and here's why. because i have seen first-hand is absolutely a pathway from poverty. 30 years ago i could not have imagined standing in front of standing in washington, d.c. before a group of people like you. because back then my life looked so very, very different. looked a lot like my mom's life. my mom has a sixth grade education. after my parents divorced, husband, no financial security and four children to raise. meal that my mother put on our table was a struggle for her. was 19, i also was already married and divorced and raising a young daughter, myself. poverty and facing the i e challenges and hardships have had seen my mother face. nyone who believes that everything is bigger in texas, trailer that my young daughter and i lived in. financial rink of a my car . a flat tire on chose a belonging to pawn at the pawnshop. often at grocery store, i would counter andd at the choose what i had to put back. of course the baby food for my negotiable, andt food i had tocent cut to make it last four meals. narrownces like that can your vision, can crush your optimism. down to a simple calculation, if i wanted to make for amber, i had a to improve my own. to startartful of love that journey. working as a was for a pediatrician, care and r had health free medicine and formula. a worker came in and my desk pamphlet on for tarrant county community ollege, and when i opened that pamphlet, it opened a door to me. always thought of college as something that belonged to i eone else, and on that day believed that it could belong to me. and the state of texas helped to affordable for a single, working mom like me. to work, i still went full time and worked part-time. it wasn't easy but in the texas grew up, it was possible. financial scholarships that covered the cost of my tuition. ut today students who are facing the same challenges that unfortunately e not able to receive that same kind of assistance from our state. there is so much greater need, so many qualified students in simply can't get that help. because there is not enough to around. here were other things that made my future possible too. hen i needed basic health care help, i had a women's clinic and i received the entirety of my health care. texas, and after severe budget cuts has cut that tens of thousands of women across the state. and each of them has lost the health care they have ever known. politics, i f your think everybody would agree that's just bad policy. i was able to go to school. and law i was able to be a part of starting a couple of small businesses. and to be part of contributing back to the economy of my state. and that's how it works. and i want so very much to make sure that more people have the to do that. and so the challenges that i have taken on as a legislator really about two things. a path. a voice. and though i have been characterized by our governor others in the legislature as a bit of a problem. really about trying to find solutions. started my politics on the fort worth city council, and in texas we do not run for local affiliation party next to our name. nd as a consequence we don't govern with one either. naturals, from as the s and serving chair of economic development fostering economic development through private/public parternships. was determined to take that mentality to austin, in act it was one the reasons i ran for the state senate. the district i represent was not democratic. but the people that i represent re a lot more interested in seeing problems solved than in partisan labels. how seriously i take bringing their voice to austin. work w willing i am to with anyone to get things done. should know about we don't havetol, an aisle to cross party lines. aisle. there is no instead if i want to work with a republican colleague, i scoot my share across the senate floor and we begin. for example in the last worked ive session, i ith a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to pass equal work -- equal pay for equal work legislation. and even though there were epublican lawmakers that were willing to work with me to see made right.ce overnor perry in an overtly partisan move vetoed that bill. and not only undercuts the women, it of texas makes texas a less attractive place to do business. texas families are paying the price. i understand ere, how precious those few dollars an be, and how much of a difference they can make. and that's why another passion reform.n consumer to go to a had pawnshop or pay-day lender in have., and i you know that texas is the wild, wild west in the lending industry. the state turns its head as this ciphles precious dollars from local economies, hard-working families debt they cannot escape. coalitions to with aarp o prevent this, from to the defense department. the fact of so many military are subjected to those practices. that have worked to ensure state agencies operate with and ight and transparency commitment to be effective dollars. of taxpayer in texas some officials have agencies intotate cash cows to further their own to reward their donors, and to all the rhetoric we all hear it about big government. everyone wants, good government. i continue to take on issues of democrats, these problems don't have a party afilmiation and their solutions shouldn't either. champion the need of returning richard. veterans like after returning from iraq, he criminal elf in the justice system. vanderput, and i helped create veteran courts to needs.terans and their and to prioritize treatment and them.ling for we wanted those veterans back on job feet and back in our force. [applause] i have also been a strong for transportation and water infrastructure to grow our economy. hen the natural gas industry needed a way to transport gas nd waste fluids from fracking sites. i helped transport that valuable as and waste water through pipelines in our states right-of-way. and i fought to help rape christie, make sure that the state is getting predators off the street testing every rape kit in an evidence room. it's of course a very important way to make our communities and to provide victims and their families of the comfort of attackers t their will be prosecuted. those are just a few examples of important it is to find common ground. with ant to leave you this, i will seek common ground. we all must. to take ames you have stand on sacred ground. liberty, the freedom to choose your future will hold. i have so few weeks many young women to tell me how to see me nt to them stand p for them and to alongside them. and after filibuster i have had few come to me and simply cry. and what i see in them is not of defeat. instead it's their for standing, even if only a short while. mine voices as much as made a difference in the landscape of what is happening of texas.te they were feeling the empowerment of discovery. the moment of realization that they had a voice. a powerful feeling. i know because i remember the irst moment that i discovered my own. you may think that, that moment walked across the tage at harvard law school to accept my diploma. or you may think it came when i hand for the first time to be sworn into public office. actually it happened when i of a anding in front bookshelf at tarrant county college, holding what was to be my first college book. feeling ver forget the of that book in my hands. it was an incredible and overpowering moment. it was farther than anyone in my family had ever gotten. farther than i had ever hoped for myself. proud my mother was, because i know how proud i was first day on their of college. every texan deserves that moment. deserves a voice. nd every texan needs to know that the future belongs to all of us. play a role in shaping it. the leaders who capture this the ones who texas he next chapter in story. in america's story. sitting at the kitchen table with my grandfather. task may not be quick and it may not be easy. it's important. it's essential. it can be done. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, we have a lot of them as , and many of you might imagine are along the same themes. this out of the way right away. you mentioned your feud with ick perry, are you thinking about running to succeed him as governor? > well, a lot of people are asking me that question lately, as you can imagine. working very hard to decide next steps will be. i believe that in texas people we need a change from the very fractured, very partisan seeing in our re state government right now. bid for another governor?e office than erhaps lieutenant senator or governor another powerful state in texas? certainty, i for will run for one of two offices, state senate seat or the governor. [applause] >> one more question along these lines. this person asked, would you candidate ing as vp with hillary clinton? answer hter] well -- in to that, i would say that we whether to find a way hillary is planning to run for president first. are having a ly big moment in the spotlight, we here ppy to have you today. own potential electoral future, what can you parlay us into next? think that the most extraordinary outcome from the what i he filibuster is talked about in my speech. the opportunity to be a voice people. and to continue a conversation going whether it is the dramatic defunding of public education that has put us into a battle in the court system texas really is not listening to families. defect it is to germanic -- dramatic defunding of education that has put out into the court battles in texas, whether a failure to address in higher education, texas is not and i seeto families, it. when you look at the voter ,urnout in the state of texas and i think it can be actuated the democratict process it will not make a difference, and if any outcome comes from the moment in the spotlight, that the filibuster provided, it would be to make sure that i play a part in changing that in texas. >> which legislative rules did you consider when planning the filibuster, those that help you do that for so many hours and those that might have hurt? >> the rules in the texas senate for filibuster are very different than they are here in d.c. and the u.s. a filibuster is a filibuster. the person conducting the filibuster -- i am touching the podium right now. i could not have touched my desk. no water, no bathroom breaks, no food, and you must talk continuously, and talk on topic, at least relatively so. that had been the tradition in the texas senate and has been respected. the filibuster that i conducted, senators would agree, they have been there a lot longer than i was, it was subjected to extraordinary scrutiny he that had never occurred before. in fact, the day before i started the filibuster the senator who was quite well known for filibustering in the senate came in to give me advice. he said it is not that bad, you can lean on your desk, you can have a few hard candies in your pocket. people on occasion have been known to get ice chips on the senate floor, it will be fine. it did not take very long to get that response from many of my colleagues in the many would agree the rules were broken to bring thatnd to the filibuster las night. we saw the senate colleagues using the rules so masterfully to argue procedures, and we were watching the clock ticking, ticking. ultimately, when even they could not succeed after taking the football and running down the field with the people in the gallery all day long, so respectful. they finally had had enough. ultimately could not respect the rules themselves. them off. comment set it was a beautiful and powerful moment in democracy, because it was such a force of voice and it was wonderful to see that at least for a time they were able to stop a bad piece of legislation from passing. >> describe what else was included and what you saw as the most damaging provisions in that measure. >> republicans would like everyone to believe that is what that bill was about, but in texas, .57% of those procedures occur after 20 weeks. the dramatic numbers of those were in a situation where a very well-loved baby has been found to have very severe problems. instead, what the bill was really about, and disappointing this has not been enough of the conversation, it was about closing women's access to a very important health care service in the state of texas, because .hese clinics are dual purpose by the rules there with three other pieces. one was ambulatory surgical center standards would have to be adhered to, though the sponsor could not point to a single reason about the rules that would make clinics any safer and could not point to any problems that existed in texas. by moving them to that standard, instead of being inspected once a year, they will only be inspected every three to six years doctors must be licensed, to have admitting privileges at a hospital within a short distance of these clinics. again, no reason could be provided why that was important, but what it will do, and clearly those who advocated for it understand it will do is severely constrained the practitioners in the arena and thereby constrain of course the service. finally, the residual vision, ru-486ng the way could be administered. again, no real reason could be provided for why that was important, but what it will do, and clearly those who advocated for it understand it will severely constrained the practitioners in the arena and there is a drug used in the very there are two doses taken. they are taken at home. many patients select to do that. in texas, the first dose must be given up a surgical center. no one can describe why that needs to happen. the second dose must also occur at the ambulatory surgical center and then the woman must come back to weeks later for a follow-up visit. prior to that, of because of the law that passed last session, she also has to have had a sonogram. four visits a woman must make. for many women traveling great distances, and many of them have to. it is estimated 37 of the 42 clinics will close, women will literally keep lose access to what was most distressing about it, the american college againstologists argued that bill and urged us to understand this is going to have a very germanic and negative impact on women's health in texas. yet they were a door. there was a lot more to the build of they would like for you to think there was. >> could you discuss what legal thes you do support?>> supreme court has made that decision. it is one of the protected liberties under our constitution. i respect our constitutional protections in place today, whether it be for this purpose or whether it be for other protective purposes of the constitution. i do not think we can pick and choose. >> for little boys and girls who are considering that they may someday serve as elected official, what advice do you have for them?>> >> the thing i find most wonderful about serving has been two pieces of my life have come together in a way that i feel is perfect for me. one is the journey to get here, and the hearts and understanding i have four people, but also, the incredibly excellent education i was able to receive. those things combined have served me well in my public service capacity. for anyone wishing to pursue a public service career, i would ask them first to listen to their heart, see what it is truly they are passionate about and motivates them and get a good education. hopefully one day in texas we will provide more and more of those for young people to find their way along that path. >> what is your reaction to the fact that governor perry is considering a 2016 repeat of a presidential bid? >> i have three responses to that. [laughter] i think that is all i am going to say about that. >> would you like to give us those responses? [laughter] which statewide office to you think democrats have the best chance of winning in texas? >> i think the question really is, what chance do new leaders have of winning elected office in the state of texas? i think the best place to start the conversation is to talk about what texans want to see in their government and not to talk about it in party frames. i represent a senate district that many consider to be republican one. it's certainly a swing district at least. the people that i represent have never wanted to have conversations about party. they want conversations about problems and what my proposed solutions for the problems are. the best chance we have of bringing new leadership in texas i think will look a lot like that. >> this questioner asks what is keeping texas from shading more purple? why is it so hard for democrats to win state-wide office? >> first of all, people have to run. second of all, i think back to a point i made earlier, we have a very low voter participation in texas. our current attorney general has done everything he can to depress that as much as possible. i think there is an opportunity, not to be thinking about this in terms of red, purple, or blue, but to be thinking about it in terms of speaking to the true values texas families hold and encouraging and inspiring them in a way they feel engaged to participate again. >> a couple of questions about when you think democrats might achieve parity in texas with republicans. parity will be at the choice of i think principles align more closely with texas families. i think what we have seen in texas we of seen all over the country where the districts have been drawn through redistricting processes that have taken place over the past couple of decades. that has meant conversations only take place at the extreme party level. in texas, where a dramatic number are republicans, all the conversations really being had in the political arena, which is the best place for public discourse on issues, are taking place at the very far right extreme. it is not reflective of who people in texas really are. i think parity will come, to be able to engage with people at their values and hopefully getting them to think about things in a new way. >> how does the democratic party become attractive to texas hispanics while advocating strong pro-choice policies? >> the latino community in texas is no different than the anglo or african-american community. they want leaders who are quick to care about and work on things that are going to matter to their families. everyone wants to prioritize economic development. everyone wants to see us prioritize aching healthcare available to all. those values translate across ethnic lines and can certainly and absolutely most certainly are being better represented by the democrats in texas than they are elsewhere. >> do you think hillary clinton stands a chance of carrying texas in 2016? >> there is a lot of buzz and washington about the castro brothers and texas. which one has the better chance of winning statewide office? >> they are such extraordinary people. we are so lucky to have young, emerging leaders like them. i think the sky is the limit for them. i think they both have incredible opportunity to them. the moment they decide to set the put -- set their foot on the path to make it happen, and they will see it happen. >> would you like to see cecile richards return? >> she is an extraordinary human being. we spent a lot of time together over the past few weeks because of the issues we have been talking about in texas. she is confronting this battle as the executive director of planned parenthood all over the country. she has a special place in her heart for texas because of her mother's history there, ann richards. the work so incredibly hard to get elected. they are true believers when it comes to grass-roots conversations and organizing. they are true believers in the fact that we can have leaders that will reflect real people in real communities all over the state of texas. cecile -- i think she sets her mind to something and will do it. i would welcome her back to texas. i will sign up for her campaign is she wants to run. >> in texas, to you believe the court ordered and from congressional redistricting laws violate the voting rights act in the wake of the shelby county ruling, and if so, why? >> i absolutely do believe that they violate the voting rights act. the reason, i am not sure if you are aware of the distinction that texas holds right now. it is not one for us to be bragging about, but we are the only states that recently went through redistricting and a court challenge were intentional discrimination was found. i believe in the drawing of congressional maps. i think, because of that intentional discrimination, they will continue to be subject to a voting rights challenge, in spite of the threats to section 5 that shelby county proposed. the voting rights act is still alive. the only piece that may go away is the injunctive relief it provided. i think at the end of the day, the court will be consistent with earlier rulings and will find a voting rights act challenge to be valid. >> there has been talk about a war on women. do you think it is a real phenomenon? >> we had a couple of examples of why people are feeling that way. one was the issue of reproductive rights. it is following on the history of number of things happening in texas. in the prior legislative session, there were distinct challenges that were brought back on women health care in texas. one was a challenge to the women's health program where we were getting 90 cents of every dollar to the federal tax return to texas to support women's health. it was about $36 million a year. it is now costing us dramatically more in increase in medicaid births that occurred as a consequence of that. these are family planning clinics that do nothing but that. we're not talking about reproductive rights. these are clinics that are providing birth control family planning. they are providing mammograms. they are providing other cancer screenings and blood pressure and diabetes screening. again, for many women, the only place where women are receiving their health care in texas. two-thirds of the funding for that was removed in the 2011 budget. literally within months clinics all over the state of texas started closing. at last count we had 56 clinics that have closed. there has been no return of that service for women since that time. in spite of the fact that we added money to the budget in the last legislative session to accommodate that, the safety net is so badly fractured that putting it back together will take many years. in the meantime, many women will go without their health care needs addressed. in the last legislative session the equal pay for equal work bill. it was a lot of work trying to get that bill out of the senate and out of the house, but we did it. after all of that work, to veto the bill and demonstrate that he did not think it was an important issue, that he did not understand how very valuable that is, to women who are part of a two-party working relationship for a family, how badly it hurts them. >> we're almost out of time. i have a couple of housekeeping matters. i would like to remind you about the upcoming luncheon speakers. september 10, dr. thomas friedan, director for the centers of disease control and prevention. september 17, mary fallin, governor of oklahoma and vice chairwoman of the national governors' association. november 11, president and ceo of the charles schwab corporation. second, i would like to present our guest with the traditional national press club coffee mug which we expect to see of the desk if there is another filibuster. >> thank you. [applause] >> for the final question, most of you in the audience cannot see the shoes that are on today, but they're not sneakers. they are cream-colored open toes finbacks. we want to know what would become of the pink sneakers. >> i immediately put them back on and started running on the trail again with them. at some point before they completely fall apart, i will set them aside. there will be a memory i will treasure forever. -- they will be a memory i will treasure forever. [applause] >> thank you. thank you all for coming today. i like to thank the national press club staff for helping organize today's event. finally, you can find more information about the national press club on our website, and if you like a copy of today's program, you can find it there as well. thank you. we are adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> i have never really known what to do with our first ladies, and that is particularly as onn more recent times the one hand they are expected to have causes. you cannot imagine today a first lady without a cause. on the other hand, those causes are not permitted to intrude upon lawmaking or an official capacity. t has always been a tightrope. and seeing how each of these women walks the tightrope tells you a lot about them, but also about the institution and society they represent. ourhis week we present presentation of first ladies, looking at the private lives of our first ladies. this week, martha washington to mrs. van buren. starting tonight at nine a clock attern -- starting tonight 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> we will be going soon live to new jersey for the new jersey debate between the democratic candidates for u.s. senate. the seat he vacated by frank lautenberg who died in june, and the candidates, cory booker, holt, sheila oliver, and frank pallone. taking you live now to the broadcast. good evening. we welcome you to the campus of montclair state university. atm the managing editor here njtv. in alphabetical order, the candidates are court booker, ru andolt, sheila oliver, frank pallone. is an editorial journalist. each will have 60 seconds, but each will also have up to 60 seconds for rebuttal. there is a timing light that will be used, and it is my job to see that light and to use that light. you have no studio audience tonight. if you would like to join the conversation, he you can be part of it. you can follow us on twitter. let's begin. the candidates drew straws. cory booker starts. >> good evening, and i would like to thank everybody who organized this debate. i began my career in new work, ,ut i was born in bergen county some of the smallest towns there. i chose to move to new work am a but to one of our houses -- thomas neighbors. when you bring people together, you can make tremendous progress. the heroes i met and others during my time as a person representing people who cannot not afford attorneys showed me that philosophy could work. 15 years later, going from a time when newark's headlines were about crime, the city has changed, but the city has seen him its progress. we have lowered crime, ushered in the biggest economic element 1950's, andthe hope is on the horizon, testimony to what people can do, taking on difficult challenges working together. as we look at washington, we do not see people doing that. i believe it is time for new leadership that can bring people together to make changes to do difficult things to help us have progress. >> thank you very much, and for the next opening statement, rush holt. >> thank you. i should level at the beginning by saying i have never run into a bill learning -- burning building. known to many in new jersey because i am the guy who took on the jeopardy! computer and won. i am a dedicated progressive. i hope new jerseyans know me as one who is dedicated, hard- service.ublic someone who fights and gets things done. when a new jersey soldier committed suicide and and his parents said he not let that ever happen again, i got $40 million for mental health and suicide prevention for soldiers and veterans. knowing that through investing in education and research, you create jobs and improve the economy, i got $22 billion in new research money, medical research, environmental research, the largest increase ever. ofg before anyone had heard edward snowden, i was leading the fight in congress to take the nsa to task. i wrote a legislation to repeal the patriot act and the fisa amendments act. throughout my career, and this campaign, i have been advancing the bold ideas that we need to extend the american dream to all americans. bold ideas people will be talking about tonight. >> thank you very much. sheila oliver. opportunityate the to engage in dialogue with my opponents in this quest to fill the seat of the late senator frank lautenberg. voters ofope that the new jersey listen intently this evening as we focus on issues that are not just important to capitol hill, but also those issues that are important to the people that live in the state. as a u.s. senator, you have an obligation to engage in moving the agenda of the nation forward, but you should also use that representation to help move an agenda forward for the state of new jersey, and its citizens. as a legislative leader, i have visited the length and breadth of the state, engage with communities from cape may up to just during at campaign. i think that my 10 years in the state legislature and my four of the newe speaker jersey general assembly had equipped me with the ability to best represent the state of new jersey as a u.s. senator. i look forward to the dialogue this evening, and i know that the residents of the state are better served by having the opportunity to see the differences and the similarities to tween our respective candidacies. >> thank you very much. now frank pallone. >> thank you for being here as well as thanking outward doblin, and it is important that this is the first time they candidates are getting together for the debate. it is an opportunity for voters to see where we stand on the issues and to make clear choices. i think they will see clear choices. i would like to be your united states senator. you now in congress. i am the father of three children raised in the same town where we still live. i really want you to understand that although you may hear often tonight that congress is broken, that i really believe that in congress, as a senator, i can make a difference, and i have tried over the years in congress, or i have been now, to actually work on problems and come up with solutions. i think you can get things done in congress. when first elected to congress, all of the beaches were closed along the north jersey shore, and i worked hard to clean up the ocean and close all the ocean dumping sites, often with senator lautenberg who was my partner in the senate. i worked with him in order to inan up toxic waste sites new jersey, with the super front -- superfund grant. when obama became president, i helped to provide universal health care with the affordable care act. it is making a difference in peoples lives. i believe in congress you can make a difference. you can get things done. >> thank you. that concludes our opening statements. we want to discuss issues that are germane to our state, country, issues that taken the role of a senator, which transcends our communities and our state and takes in a worldview as well. lt, you up first. the question revolves around the terror warning that was announced over the last couple of days. information obtained by the nsa resulting in the u.s. issuing traveling warnings overseas, closing a number of embassies throughout the arab world, and drc heightened security at home. you have been very critical of the role of the nsa and the surveillance program as well. knowing what we know right now and knowing that much of this information has come from sa, arepts by the n you changing your mind about the way you view the nsa surveillance programs and the way they may impact our fellow americans? >> no. was on thei intelligence committee in congress. i understand how they work. i do not know the details of these. i am not on the intelligence committee now. but we can presume that these were international intercepts, which we should be doing. but the idea of vacuum cleaner wholesale collection of information, personal isormation, about americans completely acceptable. it is not simply unconstitutional. it changes the relationship between a citizen and a citizen's government. if the government regards people as suspects first and citizens second, that changes the very structure of our nation, and a reason for being. and this has to be put to an end, and that is why i have the legislation that would repeal the patriot act, would repeal the fisa amendments act. >> thank you. madam speaker, your view of the nsa programs? experienced loss of life in benghazi and we learned today about the terrorist activities in yemen and the al qaeda extremists, i believe there has to be a balance. there's no doubt that for national security and for the sturdy of the citizens american the, we must engage in election of intelligence data. that must be allen's very properly with the constitutional rights that citizens in this country have. age of technology. our smart phones can be tracked. red light cameras are on us all day. surveillance happens at every intersection in this country. i think that technology has where us in a situation it is inevitable that data is collected on us. but it is imperative for our nation's commander-in-chief and the joint chiefs of staff and the intelligence community to have the ability to protect us. >> thank you. congressman paloolone? >> the terrorist warnings do not change my mind with the problems with the nsa. to protect civil liberties, and i'm concerned we have gone too far with this nsa program. i did not vote for the fisa amendments. i do not vote to reauthorize the patriot act as i was concerned about infringement on civil liberties. i think at a minimum we should say that any kind of information gathering that goes or is obtained through the fisa courts has to be only for a particular investigation, not just a broad brush that you go after anything that you may not even use. there has to be transparency with the fisa courts. their decision should be made public in most cases. he have to be worried about how these judges are appointed in the fisa court because they are not appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the senate, which they should be. again, i think we have to have a balance, but right now the balance is skewed too much toward surveillance and infringing on civil liberties. we have to change it. >> thank you. iswhat is going on overseas not an abstract concept to me. it is something we are dealing with that have to with in newark. we have to every single day work to keep our residents safe. that is what i sent in the situation room in the white house. balance the to urgent need for security with the other urgent need about what makes us american, which is our privacy rights. this is not abstract to me. we have had to do it. when we put up the public safety waseras that the speaker speaking about, we reached out to the aclu first. we have to deal with this everyday, i look at washington and i see they are not in balance. chris has a job. it is not being done right now. they should be doing a lot more to get oversized to the executive, and do some of these things like the fisa court which are doing things that are unnecessary infringements onto the privacy rights of america. >> we have a one-minute rebuttal period. >> the point of the fourth amendment is not to make things difficult for enforcers, but it is to make sure that they do their job, to make sure it is not to preserve civil liberties niceties, it is to make sure that these agencies that have fearsome powers to intrude on people's personal lives demonstrate to an independent judge that they know what they are doing. that is what makes us safer. this wholesale vacuum cleaner collection does not make us safer, and it tears at the fabric of our society and our government. , i am the one in this campaign that has been anding about this openly vociferously and repeatedly and strongly. this and the other progressive issues that we need to get our country going to where it should be going. >> thank you. madam speaker? no novelty in the united states, the collection of intelligence eta on citizens -- data on citizens. when we saw the release of the hoover, wej edgar learned he was collecting intelligence data on some of the most cynically minded citizens in this country, martin luther king, the kennedy family. intelligence gathering has been happening in the united states way before we had to deal with terrorism. the issue today is that with our place in the world's warder and the importance of the united states and its allies, there are extreme theocracies that operate in the middle east that have as their main purpose for working urposeolving -- purvis thwarting democracy. >> what i am saying in terms of how this should operate, you talked about the terrorist warning. or had anncy knew inkling that there was an al qaeda attack that was about to begin and was coming from pakistan or yemen, they could go to the fisa court and they could say we have this investigation, we have this information, and therefore we need some surveillance to look at the actual situation in pakistan or yemen or the al qaeda operatives that are actually potentially planning this attack. that would be a specific investigation that they would be going before the court and ask for that authority. that is not what is happening now. verizon simply asking or at&t for anything that they have about anybody without there being a system of investigation. that is what is wrong, and i do not know if that is what was intended with these fisa amendments or the patriot act. in the patriot act, it actually says you have to have a specific investigation. that is not what is happening now. >> this is a point of distinction that is important. please understand these security and privacy issues are paramount and i agree with the congressman about how people are concerned about that. do not forget the congressmen holt and pallone voted for the patriot act. this is where i disagree with congressman holt. the reality is there are aspects of that they need to be changed, but this needs to be done in a special manner because there are aspects of the patriot act about people who drive dangerous chemicals throughout state that empower police like mine better conjunction with our federal authorities. these are difficult issues, and a key right now is that we need aggressive for site and action by congress -- oversight and action by congress to keep people safe. we need privacy rights of american citizens. >> second question, we will start with you, madam speaker, and it is semi-related. mr. snowden has been granted temporary asylum. many people within the u.s. government are appalled by that. many are equally appalled by the treatment of the eight community in russia because of some new laws that have been adopted by the prudent administration. some say it is starting to feel like the cold war over again. should the united states reevaluate its root relations with russia? >> i think president obama has certainly expressed in his discussions and his meetings with putin that he is displeased his stance that russia has taken, so much so that they could not engage in a long discussion. you know those talks took off. i think that we do have to re- examine the motives of russia as you look at eastern europe and you look at the breakup of the soviet union. there is a lot of dissension in that region. we saw in boston this year that you had two brothers who emanated from that region and they came to the united states and to boston with the intent havoce of wreaking and harming americans. i believe that we have to re- examine our relationship with russia. we have known for years that russia is the provider of arms and potentially nuclear weapons to a number of different countries that are not necessarily our allies. >> thank you. >> i think relationships between the united states and russia or between united states and any country should be primarily based on democracy, rule of law, and also a market economy. those are the principles that we espouse. i think the president has to look at the relationship in that respect. if he feels that the treatment of the gay community or the way that they are granting asylum to snowden is something that goes against those principles, for example, the rule of law, then he has to decide what kinds of actions to take. it abe that the case of snowdon is not important enough to our relationships with russia. we have to worry about those three principles in everything we do, in terms of our foreign- policy. and to push russia to become more of a democracy, to recognize the rule of law, and move toward a market economy. everything should be looked at in that way, and i am not sure the snowden case is enough of a problem to recap back on our relationship. i think we need to work on the treatment of gays and push russia for the rule of law. on, not not just snowed just what is going on with the gay community, it should mark the outrage of all of us who believe in human rights. is alsond that russia supplying support to the sr regime in serious, and what that regime is doing to its people is unconscionable. over 4 million displaced people, 1.3 million outside the country, humanitarian issues are abounding because of russia's actions. the reality is we just saw an boston how important it is that a relationship with russia to share critical of safety information. it is in this context that i support the president in using measured the post missy, pushing for what are not just american issues, but when it comes to see rick, case and let his indians, humanitarianand -- and human rights as well. we need to advocate for what is for critical american interests. >> russia is always testing and straining the relationship. we should not sacrifice the diplomatic relationship with russia because of the snowdon affair. not that significant right now. we need russia to be working and as on syria, number of other things. we need to take them to task on many matters around the world and within their country. when i mentioned earlier about my background as a teacher, a scientist, to say i would bring a unique background to the people of new jersey to the is important to point out that the senate has a lot of international responsibility. i am the person here who was actually on the negotiating team in geneva representing the united states across the table from the then soviet union on missile violations. >> time for rebuttal. >>yes. you know, the issue of snowden, snowden is not the first. it is just that attention has been drawn to his most recent disclosure of sensitive information. our military leaders have been dealing with and having to address members of the have,igence community who with frequency, taken measures of national security and provided documents and other things to other nations. isi do believe that snowden no anomaly. we have a history of this and we can point to those who have done this in other situations. i think the snowden issue raises a broader issue when we begin to contract out to defense operators responsibility for our national security, we cannot control the outcome. >> congressman? >> i think russia and our relationship with russia is very similar to what it has to be with other countries. he believed in democracy. we believe in the role of law. we want to protect the human rights and we want to have a market economy. often times the countries do not live up to that. the arab spring has brought that out. that was an example where many people in the arab world were really looking for democracy and so with mixed results because they do not have a history of democracy. russia is very much the same. we have to recognize that russia is an important country. they have nuclear weapons. they are on the security council. it is not like we can cut off relationships because of the snowden case. i do not think that makes sense. i do think at all times we have to think about what we are doing to push the russians toward democracy and towards rule of law. i very much and concerned about how they have changed their laws in ways that violets human rights. you mentioned the gay community. you sell instance with adopted children, or they were taking the wrong stance. we have to continue to work toward those guiding principles. >> this is an example that is difficult and challenging. russia is playing an important role globally, whether we want to recognize that or not. the reality is when it comes to nuclear weapons, one of the biggest threats to the safety of america or our allies is nuclear proliferation. thated to make sure problems like that do not get out of hand. we live in a community now. should is somebody that be returned to america and given a fair trial. there are so many other interests on the table right now. you proliferation, terrorism, what is going on in syria, and not necessitates america acting single-handedly, that acting in a community of countries that can give a call to the consciousness of the globe to begin to push for human rights, to begin to push against nuclear proliferation, and begin to suppress the urgency, not facing america, but all democracy on this globe, pushing against the real threat of terrorism. >> thank you. ansion?l or expens had am sorry, i thought we been through that. i guess this was a repeat question. >> your chance to rebut. >> thank you. as i was saying, i would agree with the mayor that there are many things that we need to work with the soviet union on and we should not throw away the relationship on the basis of the snowdon affair. a trip to oure studio next door and out for standing by, our colleague with first question. there are conflicting opinions about what the united states should be doing with regard to syria. after lengthy wars in iraq and not anstan, there's appetite to be engaged in any kind of boots on the ground combat. there is some discussion about whether we should be providing aid to the rebels and there are questions about whether we know who the good guys are. what do you think we should be doing in syria? >> the u.s. always has to be guided by certain principles, and this i primarily to my chrissy, rule of law, and a market economy. in the aftermath of the arab spring, it is clear that the people in these countries would like to see democracy. they're not used it and there's not a lot of experience. right now the problem in syria that the president pointed out was the use of chemical and biological weapons, which he said would be a mark whereby he would then intervene in some fashion. but he has been very cautious. he does not want to put boots on the ground. he is talking about arming some rebels, but is concerned whether they are possibly terrorists and they are democratic oriented. we have to avoid the boots on the ground if at all possible, and we have to be very careful, constantly being guided by visiting crystals of democracy, rule of law, and market economy. that is easy for me to say in the abstract. in terms of reality, we have to be very cautious. i want everybody to understand why this is such a serious issue. you have the caps on regime who is in league with the iranians who are the single largest state sponsor of terrorism, and the assad regime is in league with hezbollah. this poses a serious threat. it would be easy to think we need to do everything we can to oppose them. on the other side, a group of forces opposing assad that range from pro-democracy folks to people who are terrorists and selves. there's no easy way to arm the opposition and win them. that is why the obama administration is doing the right thing. one is not committing the american troops. that should be the last issue. we need to support our fil allies, jordan, turkey, and we're dealing with millions of refugees, making it difficult on their infrastructure. we need to act thoughtfully and make sure we do the right thing by not just americans >> thank you. emerson. -- brisbane. -- congressman. >> as someone who fought against the iraq war. that the public has no stomach for military intervention in syria. nor, should we. we should apply the lesson that we learned in the 1980s in afghanistan when the armed the rebels, now known as al qaeda and others. the principle applied was "the enemy of our enemy is our friend. --

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