Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140424

With such a situation we have now, i mean, i mean economic environment, thats already inevitable that there was collapse but with such a case we have no, it would add and speed up this process definitely. Why i see analyze this way. First, for the period of year and a half we dont have industrial output. Already more than six months we dont have gdp growth. Two months this year have forward shown gdp has declined. A quarter figure it was announced by the government just a little bit higher than zero but its already declined. And International Results of central bank like a lookalike huge, 477 billion, but, in fact, that is not enough for the whole country to live. All citizens russia right now live on imported products. 90 imported. 90 of medicine imported. And it would mean if the results are not enough, normal import would not be available for people. Moreover, russian stay there, not quite high because we managed to solve this problem with other countries in the past, but corporations already [inaudible] and may need. Thats approximate 300 alien of death of those corporations. And if the International Banks will not be so eager to make this rollover, not under the sanctions, under instruction, but under soft recommendation. So it will be much higher, much more expensive and not available for everyone. It means that immediately, just approach the west on Capital Markets would be necessary. And without the support of the United States the government and the government of the European Union, it would not be possible to obtain appropriate funds. As soon as russian government, mr. Putin feels this, there will be immediate change. Right now he is bluffing, thinking that you are not consistent enough and will not pursue this. He was shocked when he knew the European Union adopted those sanctions. He was actually assured that germany would never allow, german industry would never allow its government to adopt such sanctions. But he made a mistake. Solidarity shows that and appreciate it very much, shows that not everything in this world tradable, as most are put in things families. As mr. Putin things and police. Secondly, just to tackle the problems in russia. What my recommendations would be on ukraine, on ukraine first, the western community should ensure that may 25, announced elections, take place and run successfully, and the results credible, elections free and fair under supervision of a we see oeec making the reports and it will be visible for everyone that everything is all right. This is actually necessary for stabilization. Secondly, ukraine needs immediate refinance their debt. There are many other creditors. Of course, usually all assistance could be provided under special offices of the government, but one year, another package is possible to allow the government to stand up, to be strengthened and walk out of the set of reforms supported by the whole world. It is out to be necessary. And the third one, of course, help, moral help for ukraine government and ukrainian people and their fight for their sovereignty and their territorial integrity. Important point also on ukraine is just to help them to ease dependence on gas supplies from putins corporations. It means just trying to obtain gas supplies from european network. I think thats also very good. For russia, in terms of russia, selfdirection, that is absolutely weakening of cohesion by individual sanctions that will absolutely bring effect. Second, to create conditions for energy, to ease Energy Dependence of european countries. It means alternative sources of energy, and we know that leaders of European Union already give, so that was interpreted time they would have a build of supplies could take place and in this case that will be absolutely difficult for putins regime to stop production. There is no way to pump gas, and just you cannot stop exploration of natural gas, but you will continue to supply. Even if the gas is not paid as what happened now by ukraine. Its inevitable operation. And 30, of course, that is a support of russian ordinary people, just to continue to des to des issuing visas so they could travel and see how the United States and other western countries live, what is relationship between the state and ordinary people, and all these things just necessary to understand what universal values mean in practice. I think with these all three directions together, we can achieve real changes. Now just special moment, a special moment when the west consolidated and consistent measures possible, and i think necessary. Thank you very much. [applause] mr. Kasyanov, thank you very much for those remarks in helping to set the context, also in the region. I want to pick up a few comments that youve made and then turned to the audience to bring them into this conversation. First, could you offer for us your vision of what a healthy relationship, what the relationship to russia and ukraine should be . Even in her own debates in washington as there is consideration about what kind of response United States, the European Union she taken ukraine, there is a recognition that russia has a longstanding relationship with ukraine, cultural, historic, religious, economic. Describe the nature of what you think should be the relationship between moscow and kiev. First of all, i have stated this publicly and its absolutely the right way, that Foreign Policy for ukraine is number one. It is actually necessary. Friendly state, and the historical roots very close. Thats absolute natural. We had a quite good relations for long periods of time when i was in power. And at that time there was Prime Minister in the ukraine, and we achieved a lot. First of all we settled all the problems. That ukraine didnt pay for quite a bit of time, and just become instead of criticizing and trying, just no way and pay, just created a special program, a program of support, support entry. We reduced tariffs so that could make them to make money on russian markets, just to produce, sell more. And that was good. We have a number of enterprises in ukraine, ukrainian enterprises which produce things necessary for russia and integration that also comes from the soviet union time, but today it is true. Today, ukraine has problems, problems mostly in all sectors of industry. Heavy industry. They managed to modernize their enterprises, but still they are not quite consistent but open trade, markets, free markets with European Union i think thats also a great benefit. I also in that time, russia would lead i would see better integration, integration with the European Union. And ukraine could also join us. At the time, at the time we were an example, a good example for Democratic Development and market reforms. But now just of course nobody would like to follow russian example. To pick up on the issue, theres some debate in european capitals right now about the eus approach in the run up to the euro maidan summit. The Association Agreements. What was your take on ukraines process of negotiating association an agreement with the European Union, and hearing from moscow, concerns that would mean a weakening, a setting of the economic ties that are deep with russia . The problem is, the yanukovych have made the right thing just announcing one of the goals of the policy would be having an Association Agreement with the European Union. He even managed to ensure people supporting him in Eastern Ukraine that it was the right thing. Majority of population supported that. But then two weeks prior to signing this agreement, he started to study documents and understood from the documents and also signals from moscow from mr. Putin that this document would kill the whole economy. He started to say, i will not sign this. Its not the behavior of the leader of the state and a National Army when it just two years negotiations and then after that, initialize everything just to say i wouldnt sign it. Thats bad governing, bad ruling. Of course, maybe it could be better conditions agreed with better negotiation process, but still, at least the signing what we have now, Political Part of the agreement, which is necessary. Ukraine as a member of the european council, all those areas we established in those documents. Same in russia. Thats why its absolutely natural to do this way and to produce of those laws and to be an association and the political and civil life. Economic side, thats a little more difficult but they didnt even do this. And he understood that he was faced with a problem and he would lose his position. Like it happened much faster. Losing his position. Because losing legitimacy of other reasons. So let me pick back up where you begin your talk. You mentioned, you start with 2008 in georgia. Clearly the actions of the west, the United States and europe, failed to defer consideration of further actions in europe in 2008. What will deter president putin right now . What would you be recommending that washington and brussels consider undertaking . You talked about sanctions. But i be sufficient to deter an escalation of the and objective was in ukraine or moldova or elsewhere . The west should press right now just putin just to make a statement, to make a statement according to hold these armed groups just immediately hand over weapons, to implement geneva agreement. West should just have a list of individual sanctions. And if it doesnt go this way, then again, we be a feeling that its possible to perform this way. And then there could be further intervention, even in eastern, which always considered to be some kind of important point, important territory. Thats why just im emphasizing that today this very important point, just not too soft the position, but not too over press with the sectorial sanction, but to be consistent with the pressing, and the demanding implementing this agreement. Putin pretends he is nothing to do with all these publications, et cetera, et cetera, but everybody knows. There are a number of evidence that Russian Secret Service is working there. They just record and European Union already provided it. Thats the case. And putin didnt, i would say, come to in a harsh manner those socalled green men with the guns, thats not russians. He said yes, our special armed forces were standing just behind those defenders in crimea, in particular. I think this is absolutely clear, consistency, thats the only recipe. Let me turn to your situation in russia more directly. Obviously, weve been seeing reports of putins own popularity increasing in the wake of what happened in crimea. Consolidation of his authority at home and his popularity at home. How do you help this audience understand whats happening inside russia . The russian peoples reaction to rally around president putin in the midst of this crisis, and what does that mean for actors such as yourself and your ability to either gain traction in the public debate, or even to operate as a political opponent, as a political alternative . We just come as mission, we already named as traitors, a few of us who just allow ourselves just to describe our position. We dont have access of television but russia continues to be a television country. And people in the regions continue to believe something is on television, it is at least almost true. Thats why they are under intense propaganda and theyre absolutely have no, i would say, alternative source of information to of course in big cities people just have internet, 50 million users of internet. 50 million users. But only 10 of that use internet for source of information, not just for fun. I wouldnt say remote, even, just those 10 big cities, all of the People Living in section f. Invited. Theyre watching television and russian propaganda right now is very cynical, very sophisticated. Its not the stupid stuff like wasnt soviet union times. People really get at this. You mentioned also just internationally, internationally russian television, International Russian television creating friends in the western societies, providing [inaudible] and it works. Thats why people, people just fooled by intense propaganda. And, of course, as soon as putin fails with this operation in ukraine, same people would have an absolute alternative point of view on mr. Putin, and opposite, and his popularity will collap collapse. Let me ask you one more question and then turned to our audience here. Next week the Atlantic Council is celebrating the Vision Division of a European Union, and nato. As you well know, that vision of a europe whole and free was one that was intended to include russia as part of this community. As we grapple with what the future of our strategy with the future of our policy is, how do you reconcile the rhetoric and the old strategy of a europe whole and free that was inclusive, inclusive of russia, the situation today . Its really just great to reconcile that. Remember, coming back after this disaster here, 9 11, we knew how just relations were strengthened between our two countries. Just to president s, Prime Minister, vice Vice President , ministers were together discussing everything. At that time we provide immediately all these special way full of logistics on afghanistan. It was one of our giant operations. We didnt want just to come there because of our historical memory, but we provide immediately. It was absolutely a great development, and putin said that he didnt exclude in future russia joining nato. My statement was just i dreamed that russia would join nato because we have a common ground. But since that time a lot of changes took place and especially after socalled munich speech of mr. Putin, where he tried to explain rush is surrounded by enemies and we should consider mobilizing, inside the country, squeeze the whole political environment. He closed all parties and started to announce all ngos, human rights people as western spies, et cetera, et cetera. Since that time we have great change. What is your assessment of why that change took place . Might assessment is that mr. Putin pretended to be democratically devoted leader. And then, and then just decided [inaudible] grabbing just privately owned entity to his own friends. And then just trying to first to reconsider all privatization, redistribution properties, and, in fact, thats the main way just property, property, property. And flow of Foreign Exchange and flow of money which produced state corporations. And, of course, just political instruments are necessary. Today, maybe they are already going farther than that and mr. Putin believes that hes a leader of the world, and exist in russia forever. But i think they will demonstrate now and longterm weakness of his regime. He has tried to consider the people just with, i would say threat of external enemy. It means im coming back again like ive already said. Understand it now, and a solidarity manner, just stand up and stand by, just not allow continue would happen. I think the regime will collapse soon, and russia will pursue Foreign Policy based on russian internal policies, based on universal values. The same what you share here in this country and other countries, too. And with that well turn to her audience to take questions but if i may, let me take to in the first row. Then we will, over here. Please and the front will. Before our Television Audience if you could introduced herself and your affiliation. From csis. I wanted to ask Prime Minister about the role of sanctions, but sanctions beyond financial sanctions, in order to deal with the question of deterrence that was raised. Some have argued here in the United States that financial sanctions, although we have become very good at it, its a very potent instrument now, may not be as efficient as these have not been sufficient so far i may not be sufficient to deter putin. That we need to bring some of the more traditional instruments also to bear as part of a deterrence strategy, such as strengthening the defenses of ukraine, and maybe strengthening the potential of ukraine to make russian occupation, if you like, at Eastern Ukraine should adapt more difficult, and confront putin with the potential for protracted conflict that that may in addition to financial sanctions on him and his allies, may be necessary, leaving aside the u. S. Or nato should come to the defense of ukraine because ukraine is not a member of nato. But in the cold war we have states who are not members of the u. S. Alliance by the u. S. Has security relationships in order to harden themcome if you like, against potential aggression. I wonder how would you evaluate that kind of thought . First, i think just talking about financial and economical sanctions, however you call it. I think i wouldnt say they would be redacted. First of all, i dont want my country to be punished this way and people of russia. And secondly that will produce a reason for mr. Putin to intense propaganda inside the country and have mobilization further on, saying he just the west announced the cold war, the second cold war. We should forget about our disputes and just to protect our motherland. That will be just in a rush better propaganda, et cetera at center. But the sanctions against individuals i would even say, not even sanctions but limitation of daytoday privileges to go to United States and the countries of the European Union and of transactions in u. S. Dollars or just in europe. Thats privilege. They already understood this. Thats what im saying, i already feel effectiveness of this and we should continue this way. That will bring results. But again, talking about ukraine, the most important point just to strengthen the authorities there, the government, so that they would have a really good elections recognized by everyone. That would immediately change the whole situation in ukraine. And, of course, of course just not too close ties for any i was a provocation, promotion or unrest by putins regime in the eastern part of ukraine. Thats absolutely the case. He is promoting this and every day we see on television, as people in their discussion, in the families, they understand that because just even those people who in ukraine, they also talk to relatives. They talk to other relatives. The russians its not even a secret that russians are there. But as a result of propaganda, i wouldnt say applaud, but silently supporting mr. Putin also just a normal life, they are against you. Thats what happened unfortunately this way. Propaganda works very effectively. Mayor be won, diplomatic and economic assistance rather than military assistance is a priority. Yes. Lets pick up the question in the second row, please. I am a retired u. S. Diplomat. Mr. Prime minister, there was a typos presentation. Thank you. I hope you are right. Putin sounds like a real bad guy. I believe in good guys and bad guys in diplomacy, not nuances. And i hope youre right that hes on his way out. Has the west for the last 20 years been playing its hand very well and very professionally . Did we not brag that we won the cold war as opposed to just applaud a wonderful, Historical Development . I remember studying marches about 50 years ago and lynn warned against capitalist in supplement. Didnt we rush off and play around installments hometown of georgia and other places around your country that would alarm lots of people, not just a Lieutenant Colonel who never made colonel in the kgb . Thank you. Made i will pick up, maybe there was a second question right he here. The heritage foundation. There are probably about three different snares in ukraine right now. One is that somehow miraculous late mr. Putin will listen to joe biden, and pull the little green men and the russian back to russia, liberate the crimea, and will go to status quo. I personally will believe in santa claus before i believe in that. Secondly, that they occupy Eastern Ukraine and enforce some kind of what they call federalization. Third, they would go all the way to the river and then go south and hook up. And forth, scenario that pretty much all of ukraine is going to be occupied. What are the implications of these scenarios for russia . Kind of operations even when just squeezing and putting people in jail and adjust catching people etc. I never thought that would be in such a scale as it is now. I think just they thought that way and maybe just didnt pay much attention to overall and to just engage with mr. Putin and go on trying to get the profitable. That is the issue and that is a problem unfortunately. Thats why i think just now we all reconsider that. Many of us are appointing him because we thought he would continue to go about democratic russia and thats why therefore i accepted that we have to Work Together and i worked for four years as a Prime Minister mostly just that he implemented all and gave them to me as we managed to put russia out of the crisis to the sustainable Economic Growth and had a gdp growth by 6 per year. And now the only reforms he didnt support was the reform sector, and now we see what is handed out just as they were three tool pricing other countries through supplies. Thats why i think we all made mistakes, but we didnt lose. We had a Good Opportunity just to adjust the whole situation. Talking about this scenario now, you mentioned i think the goal at the moment is simply to press west and advise that his operation was legitimate and to recognize as a bout of russia, to swallow and two digest and he is going to trade with others like Eastern Ukraine in the regions and like the russian language. I think that is what the goal is. If you hear what he is saying about that, he is saying why advise our rights and annexation in crimea with the rules and standards and its different examples etc. , etc. They do not follow appropriately and consistently. Just if it is easy to do something in the whole environment. He would be interested so that they would have more power. They already have more they areo the control they dont want the Central Government to have just come and they want more for their operations there and to have some kind of support in ukraine. That is what the goal could be but that is not the case. But keeping in mind that he believes thinking that everything could be on the market and hes ready to have the transactions just in the universal values like territorial integrity and human rights etc. He doesnt understand like the belief come he doesnt understand that the western leaders are not going to train them, that is to protect them. In some countries you can see this but that is what we would like them all to be idealistic as the reality. A couple of questions over here and then come to the gentle man on the side. In the service for the voice of america thank you so much for the presentation. I have a couple of questions i would follow up on. So, the data russia would protect the interest in ukraine by all means and one of them in serious do you really believe that this option of allout war and moving into ukraine is out so just training for a crimea and if so should ukraine say has crimea leave us alone. Do you think that its a good idea and to the said about the sanctions, the sanctions work, but i personally believe they can turn into north korea and people will be poor but north korea has been blackmailing the world for years and they have a Nuclear Arsenal that is much bigger. So whats the sanctions would really work into north korea and just stabilize this kind of regime. I will pick up right here as well please. Thats from the American Institute of the german studies and you mentioned in the presentation that the eu, the ukraine Association Agreement i think that you are aware of the european strategy and the advisor on the Customs Union in his threats to ukraine and this idea of joining up with this issue. Now come in your presentation, you had received a damn view if you could ge of the agreemend whether or not also, this is an Association Agreement ending the Customs Union are as russia has contended two mutually exclusive or do you see any possibility of any compromise to the types of organizations. Let me pick up a final question here. Im with the Atlantic Council. Thank you very much payment history. To support the argument, i made the argument that he may be the mckale garbage off in an entirely different dress up and immediately but on the longerterm. I wanted to followup on what you think his view is for the short and the longerterm. You have been fairly general in thway or you think things are headed and i wondered if you could be more specific. You obviously read the letter to the members of the European Community about what he wanted to do. He obviously has leverage over ukraine in terms of gas into the money that is being owed. What do you think the immediate plans are and how far is he going to go and what do you think that he wants to do is he waiting for that or is he going to move before or after and over the next four or five or six months, do you see this turning into a crisis to the european and of the World Community or increases for ukrainians . We are going to bring the questions back concluding those comments to the possibility of the Association Agreement in the plan. First of all, i think just thats not a good idea. Absolutely not. Second, i think just yes, russia, putin to undertake any military aberrations doesnt mean to just take it serious, but i think there is an intention to have something to give up. The goal is crimea. But again i dont think that we should take it up. Its not lawful in the 21st century to take such sanctions. That is the whole environment to establish existing for many years. On the plan and on the concrete actions, i think as i said, the whole environment is such that putin has a lack of legitimacy and part of crimea as getting in the history to recall and to have the consideration of the society and the popularity among people and just initiating and encouraging the instinct of the soviets etc. That is right now unfortunately the case. But again, it is absolutely adjustable as long as there are consistent approaches and as well as the opposition which is getting weaker and weaker but continue to pursue their own views and intelligence views. Of course he doesnt want the elections in ukraine to be viewed as free and fair he would like to have the government so every time he has the right to protect people, russian citizens were speaking people into the mission already reported that the there are people who now under any threat thats simply wide there was no protection for the russian speaking people. And in russia, too we are facing a big problem. We felt there is some kind of liberalization in this area. It means access to the directions and we anticipate they represent the regions and if they adopted another piece of legislation. It means again, we are coming to the instrument that we thought would be just very practical, not the revolution on the street through the normal constitutional ways to have a granule change for such opportunities and today i already made the statement that now we have underway to consider it another to also create another wave of purpose it might be in one year or two years but people understand that and to just perform appropriately as he promised to people in his truck and because of ukraine would be another failure and it would be another disappointment of people that would give up the whole colossal regime and thats where a lot of the different circumstances we should view but in this case in the position i would say in the principled position is absolutely necessary. There are a lot more questions in the audience, but we have run out of the hour. We have to bring this to a close. With me just first thank you and as david said at the beginning for your own courage and coming to the Atlantic Council to continue the conversation its been a platform for these debates. We have probably twice in the past 12 months during one perspective and we have invited other rusher and government officials to the stage as well to continue the conversation. We are grateful that you have taken time out of your schedule to argue your view and alternative view to Vladimir Putin and we are going to continue this conversation. We have become particularly next week we will be having many views that followed the issue for continuing conversation about what is the future of europe and where can they find their vision and strategy. Please join me in thinking that asked the farmer Prime Minister of russia. [applause] what we are seeing right now in the capability is more and more into the environment. Some technologists disagree but i personally consider the smartphones we carry around for 70 of the american position carries around with it to be a trademark example of the internet of things. We are all carrying around an extremely powerful computer in the pocket but it also takes the form of different sensors that exist in the physical world. It takes the form of radio frequencies that we pass underneath when we access on the new jersey turnpike. It takes the form of the centers all around us. Certainly surveillance and cameras that selected the data and then send that somewhere else. This is part of the internet of things and is the embedding of computers into the real world. Once again secretary of state john kerry will be the featured speaker at the Export Import Bank conference. We will have live coverage getting underway at 1 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. While we wait a discussion on Food Insecurity on todays washington journal. Our focus hunger in america o and Marisol Bello is a reporter for usa today. This headline a silent crisis hl workingin for 49 millionfor americans. What did you learn . Guest the story that youre talking about actually was a story that was based off ofa repo af a new report that feedingamec america wrote and published earlier this month and basically found 49 million americans who are food insecure. Food insecure is not the same as hunger. Basicallyot it is having the havi the feeling that you dont have f enough money to pay for patricias t meals. So we found that since the recession that number hasntrecs gone down. Gone d that number has remained pretty steady since 2007, 2008. Host there is one quote is want to highlight because these hee the saddest thing is when my oldest son say mommy how you can eatg my food. Guest thats pretty sad. I was talking to a family in philadelphia. A married couple with three children including twins and t they have moved around quite ab, bit trying to find a portable housing. Their their children have epilepsy and asthma so trying to find homes that were safe and not full ofd not mold and mice infested and cockh cockroach infested so in the course of trying to balance all of that, they ended up having to forgo meals and cut back on fooc not foutr the kids before their parents. The pa they would skip meals and they would eat a slice of bread so when you have a six and ayyearold is enough for theiras mom and their data, they responded to that andhey they sy have some of my food. This is responsible for the Food Stamp Program and you can see the figure the average benefit per person of those pero receiving supplemental nutrition assistance. Back in 2014, two years ago it was about 73 now it is 133. 41. Guest that is 2013 and 2012 right . Well during that period of time, i guess it was they had a really big boost to food stamps in a stimulus bill and so that is number one that really boosted p up the amount of families the receive each month. Ive a mo independent actually was cut rates last year and then just about cost of inflation and thee cost of food taken into account. Although some people say that the formula is not quite right. E it is not going much as itsed should be. So its just utilities and thatd sort of thing. Post we make reference to snap we are talking about the food program that half of recipients were either chose when a 45 are elderly about 9 in the remaining between the ages of 18 to 59yearsold but 54 of children were or elderly. Guest that has changed inch the number of children because when the program started 50 years ago after the war on poverty, the bulk of the people that were poor recipients were th elderly and would be in the Social Security and some of the other programs that help to seniors we have had a flip and so we have more family and more children now that are considereo poor ansndid that will receive d stamps more than the elderly. Host let lets look at the u. S. And look at the northeast. It is concentrated from maine all th ae way to the midwest. You get into kentucky, tennessee, louisiana, it is especially heavy. The number of those on foodthe h stamps as a percentage of the population. Its also particularly heavy in new mexico and in oregona and later in the Rocky Mountain states of colorado, utah, wyoming, nebraska and north dakota. Guest poverty and Food Insecurity are connected. And so generally you how youre the Food Insecurity and so ine d in this country the poverty rates tend to be higher and then you have places in new mexicomexico because of the indian reservations particularly and you see some of that, but thenes you have states like oregon lik which is a littlee bit of an outlier and you wonder whats you woer in oregon, but they have a very boom or bust kind of economy. So when the economy is bad what happens in the recession is thes made a strong effort to have more families sign up for food stamps for that reason. What yoe so, what you are seeing is more of a correlation of both poverty rates around the country and then also in the case of oregon efforts to have more families sign up. Ap host let me ask about the working poor. How do you define that in terms of income . Guest basically they are families that dont meet thene e poverty level, federal poverty guidelines which very depending on the number of people and families. But these are all folks that are generally working, and icommandt what is interesting is when you look ates the snap recipient sok Something Like 70, 80 of the rp recipients are inie households where there is an adult or two that are working. So some of the people that receive a food stamp they are working seven or eight or 9 an hour and they just cant make the utilities or their rent and you will see in the stories ive written there and in the previous stories countless stories of families that are having to bounce around and work in contemporary jobs working for an auto plant store making Something Like 9 an hour didnt have the funds to pay the rent and utilities living out of her pickup truck, so they are struggling. You earned under 12,000 a year you were declared to be in poverty for two. Its 15,730 a year and for a family of four, just under 24,000. Of course, thats very if you are in new york city versus p. Re a illinois, that income will vary significantly in terms of what you can live off of. Guest the federal guideline doesnt change. So if it costs, you know, 2,000 or 1500 a month, then impede your ei is 800 a month for a twobedrootwo bedroom apartment. The federal guideline is still the same but if you live in new york or la, what you have to pay is going to be a lot higher. Host this is based on the report 202012 survey of 45,000 households. This is a very large study that was conducted to saying that 49 million americans are food insecure and as you said earlier people that have less go hungry or eat less nutritional meals because they cant afford to teach better. One of the issues that have come up with the First Lady Michelle Obama is what she calls through the deserts that we travel to the inner city there is no place to buy fresh meat, bread and vegetables. Host . Guest absolutely. Its both the inner cities and you also see it in the Rural Communities where people have to drive for miles. I actually was an ins kentucky earlier this year and met with one of the place as president johnson visited the war on poverty. To get to the supermarket you have to drive 45 minutes and you definitely have issues related to access a food and then the other part is that when there is access it is expensive and so. So things like ramen noodles or processed kind of foods that have been created their own set of health problems. Host let me get more information from usa today in terms of what he found. In 324 counties across the country boastfully in the south one in five are food insecure and the figure is one in seven and they need on average an additional 15. 82 per person per week to buy enough groceries that is an increase from 14 back in 2011. More counties with high your numbers are seeing food costs also grew up. Guest and it is where you live so you have Something Like when they first started doing this study he would have eight counties that had if insecurity that were also in places where the middle class was high end of this was back in 2009. So from today we have 23 counties with high Food Insecurity and high food costs as well. So it als its also just shows e increase their folks are seeing. We also go through the market and what would have cost 100 to buy the weeks of groceries now cost us 120 if you are buying fruits and vegetables and fresh meat and while it affects everyone different is that some folks. Host for those that make the decisions the white house and congress what does this report do for them . Guest poverty and the varying programs like the Food Stamp Program that help support the poor have been sent back 50 years ago or political. There are debates depending which side of the aisle you fall it depends on what you want to do so there is a lot of discussion on training to reform the programs likud stance. Stamps. So depending on what side of the aisle you fall some folks say you have to add more funding into change some of the guidelines that reflect the rising cost of utilities and food and everything else. On the other side, folks say we cant just give people like checks. In this case they are not getting actual cash but we just cant give people blink benefits. You have to make sure that there is some kind of a component to it. So the debate continues and it has been raging for 50 years. Host the story is Available Online at usa today. Com. Marisol bello who is with usa today on 49 million americans who face the risk of hunger or are food insecure. Thanks for being with us. Guest thank you. [crying] i am just calling because i want you to help me. Host tell us your story. Caller [crying] host i will put you on hold. We will come back you. I promise. Stay with us. We go to bill, good morning. Caller hello. I would just like to say to people being able to e caller has nothing to do with fraud or anything on this part of food stamps. Food stamps have traditionally had a low rate of fraud. The real thing comes down to the tea party, and people like the Koch Brothers who put up the money to form the tea party. Theyre not worried the deficits, theyre not worried about how people are playing ball straight. The Koch Brothers got 5 billion in subsidies for the oil business. And the other thing is you look at what the Koch Brothers are about, getting rid of Social Security. What do you think that would do to this country . This country in the preamble is, the United States of the people, by the people and for the people. Not for the Koch Brothers. Host bill, thanks for the call. Did you want to respond . Guest you know, what i would say is, actually with, in terms of food stamps, the caller is correct, there is a low percentage of fraud related to food stamps. That doesnt mean it doesnt happen and, in fact, i have visited places where people have used their food stamp cards to barter for other goods. So theyll buy racks and racks and racks or cases and cases and cases of soda, for example, and then go out, sell it for cash. So that does happen, but its very minimal in terms of people that are arrested in the kind of fraud, so the caller is correct on that. Host a followup question from one of our viewers, are food stamp recipients outnumbering workers . Guest thats interesting. I dont know well, no, the answers, no. Because we still have many of the food stamp recipients are workers. As i mentioned earlier, you have Something Like 7075, maybe 80 of folks that are receiving food stamps are actually working. And then you have, obviously, everyone else who is working. So the answer would be, no. And again, its sort of the misconception, i think, that people may have of people that receive food stamps. Many of them do work, and the majority of them are working. Theyre just not working for a lot of money. Host and let me share with our audience this chart, and if youre listening on cspan radio, a look from 2001 to 2013. The snap caseload and the headline from the department of agriculture, its leveled off in 2013. It was between 1820 million at the start of 20012002, and right now its just below 50 million, the most recent number is from 2013. Lets go back to marilyn. Thanks for waiting. You okay now . Caller yes. Im not working, and im not working. I have no income, no income at all. So how i supposed to survive . Marilyn, tell us your story. Are you an american citizen . Guest yes, yes, i am american citizen. I have my Social Security, but what happened, sir, my drivers license was taken away from me, and so i dont have my drivers license. So i am american citizen. I have my citizenship here. I have my Social Security. The only thing i do not have is my drivers license. But i am a born, im a citizen. Host how long have you been out of work . Caller ive been out of work since june of last year because i used to work for aarp. I used to work, the last employment was macys incorporation. That was the last employment, and that was last year. June. And i did not even receive my w2. Host marilyn, how old are you, and hows your health . Caller im 42. My health is good. I have a the last time i take my diabetes, i take my sugar, it was, the level was lowhigh because im not eating properly. Maybe thats the reason why. Host okay, marilyn. Thank you for phoning in. Well get a response from our guest. Guest marilyns story is very ive heard marilyns story pretty much around the country. And what ends up happening particularly with families that we were doing really well before the recession when our economy had been doing well, people were able to get out of poverty. You still had a lot of people that lived on the margins of poverty. And so while they were out of poverty as long as they were working. But if they lost their jobs or if they had a Health Condition or you name the circumstance that may have happened to them, it was very easy for them to fall back into poverty. And so, and sometimes they can fall even a little deeper than they had been. So marilyns story, unfortunately, is very typical of stories that i have heard. I would say to marilyn that you might want to think about going to your maybe closest food stamp store, food stamp offices. You might qualify. I dont know because i dont know your, all of your economic circumstances. But you might want to start there especially if you do not have enough funds to buy food. Host were talking with marisol beyu. In the land of plenty, many go without, the headline from last thursdays usa today. Its also Available Online at usatoday. Com. And one of our viewers saying the hunger game is not a fun game, america can do better to feed its people. Well go to tom joining us from humble, texas. Good morning. Caller you need to go from the food bank to the voting booth. Its a damn shame. Are we in russia, north korea . How can you sit there and let people cry in people cry . Go straight to your food bank, go to the d. O. T. , maam, whatever you get, and vote. Take care. Host okay. Tom from texas. Well go to dave from rancho santa margarita, california. Good morning. Caller oh, i just wanted to make a statement. I dont understand why the republicans are always cutting food stamps or anything thats good for this country. And why they dont raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage in australia is, like, 22 an hour. Were at the bottom, were a little bit above mexico. I dont understand why the republicans and the democrats both but mostly republicans. Democrats want to raise the minimum wage. Today always say, well, if we raise the minimum wage, therell be less jobs. No. If a person was making 22 an hour, we wouldnt have one guy working two or three jobs and, you know, taking up other jobs from other people. And hes working to make a living, has to work three jobs, and hes killing himself working and cant spend time with his family. And these people that are starving in this country and those republicans cut food stamps, i dont understand whats wrong with them. They shouldnt even be in congress. And heres one in any congress. They should make the minimum wage. Half of them are millionaires, and they dont care about the people of this country. Democrats want to raise the minimum wage, they want food stamps, but the republicans dont. So could you make a comment on that . Thank you very much. Host dave, thank you, from california. Guest well, i wont offer an opinion on what the republicans or democrats are doing, but what i can tell you is that when you talk to advocates for the poor, when you talk with researchers and scholars who look and study this issue, certainly what they say is that programs such as food stamps are extremely helpful for families. And that theyre not depending, again, on the researchers. Some will say they should be higher because they really are the biggest help that you can offer a family. Others will say that they are supplemental which is in their name, obviously, and so that they can help buffer and add a little bit more to the cost or to help pay for the cost of food. And so it really when you talk to folks, pretty much Something Like food stamps is considered one of the really big help, a really big help to families that need it and that are poor. Host in terms of the risk, most states are in the low to mid teens. North dakota is the lowest, just over 7 of the overall population. And not surprisingly based on reports from mississippi, it is the highest at nearly 23 . This is a full list available from last weeks usa todays story. Daniel is joining us from michigan. Good morning. Caller yes, good morning. Thanks for taking my call. I just have a comment. It seems Like Congress whenever theyre in there cutting social programs, i think the gop should take some of their own advice. If they want to cut, say, the snap program or anything like that, turn around and cut the same amount of subsidies from the 1 . I think were paying at this moment somewhere around 2008 we subsidized wall street on an Interest Rate at a quarter percent which takes 80 billion a year. Thats not anywhere near what were spending on food stamps, but thats what were going to cut . One more comment. They claim religious what not. Read the bible. It says feed the poor. It doesnt say take from the poor and give to the rich, pause this is what this countrys doing. And i think, i think this election, the 95 percent are going to wake up, because we can take control of this country. The rich doesnt have to control it with their money, and thats whats going on right now. Anything you want to change a law in this country, you can if you have money. Host okay. Daniel, thanks for the call. This is from one of our other viewers. We talked about this earlier, a question specifically on food deserts. Why arent stores filling needs this these communities both in inner cities and, as you aptly pointed out, more rural areas around the country. Guest thats a really good question with. I dont know i know completely the answer to that. You go to places like detroit. I lived in detroit for several years, and good luck finding a supermarket in detroit. I mentioned this other community that i visited in kentucky earlier, and i dont know what the if there is a business decision at play there for the folks who are opening or not opening stores. And you look at businesses like walmart. Theyre often in Rural Communities, but they dont end up in places, in all places really. And so i dont completely know the answer to why you end up with that kind of a circumstance. I mean, you talk to folks, and, you know, there seems to be some concerns about just whether or not they can even make money. I mean, theyre businesses, and theyre there to make money. You occasionally hear things like that, but you have a population of people that want food. So im not quite sure that i understand the argument. Host and this is a tweet from michael who says poverty is the root cause, therefore, if private industry will or cannot hire folks, it then should be the governments responsibility. Lets go to rick joining us from new jersey. Good morning with marisol beyu of usa today. Caller good morning, how are you . Host fine thanks. Caller theres no way that we cannot talk about poverty within our country unless talking about Martin Luther king. And thats what he was doing during his death and before his death. The poor peoples campaign. And you figure the money that was being funded asking, basically, to stop this war in vietnam, put it towards our inner cities, put it towards our schooling, put it towards the poverty in our country. In essence, thats the real reason why he had to go. Obviously, the same as well with Bobby Kennedy as well. So you stopped funding these wars and you put that money towards where it needs to go really. Host hey, rick, stay on the line because as you were making your comment, we got this tweet from a viewer who said food and health care are basic with needs, but programs must be efficient. They are not even close. Why spend more on waste . Some how would you respond to that sentiment . Guest thats a very typical sentiment. So that you have, again, a lot of people on both sides to have aisle who say Something Like food stamps is needed and helps, but how you administer it is more of the question. And so on one side youll have folks that say we have to redo these really complicated formulas so that they reflect more of the costs for families, and on the other side you have folks that say you cant just keep throwing money at this thing, you have to have people work for it, for example, or be on it for a certain period of time. Like they did, like was done with the cash welfare. So it really, theres a lot of debate about how to change and improve it. And weve seen various proposals from members of Congress Related to that as well. Host rick, did you want to weigh in on that . Caller i just personally feel that just the way you after 9 11 i just figure clinton had our deficit down, and then some strange reason why every time democrats get in office, they want to shoot things back up. And thats what destroys us. Host okay. Thanks very much for the call. This is from peg with the questioner comment mostly women and children, the faces of hunger today, question mark. Guest mostly children. And, yes, mostly women as well, because you have a higher percentage of singleparent families that are poor and also food insecure. And thats, again, down to economics, whether or not mom is and generally mom is working given you can see the rest of this washington journal discussion in the cspan video library. We will leave it here and go live now to the exim Bank Conference taking place here in washington. Secretary of state john kerry is about to address the audience. He is being introduced right now. This is live coverage on cspan2. Senator kerrys a man ive known for more than 20 years. I first met him when he was in the mid to early 90s and admired him as a fierce advocate for equality. And, of course, everybody here knows secretary john kerry by his distinguished public career. Hes the recipient of the bronze and silver star, fiveterm senator, president ial nominee, 68th secretary of state. But i bet you not many of you know he was also a successful entrepreneur. Because before secretary kerry became secretary kerry, he was chef kerry [laughter] and he was proprietor and head baker of a bake shop that made cookies. [laughter] so i bet a few of you thought that the only baker to become secretary of state was the name james, and now you know youre wrong. He sold the store a few years later, which is a shame because, mr. Secretary, for all of your accomplishments, you missed out on one, and that was to become our Small Business exporter of the year. [laughter] now, you might not have won automatically because, actually, susan axlerod of loving quiches is the win or of that award this year. So there was stiff competition. But from what i can tell, ive known you for 20 years, you would have given susan a run for her money. I also had a chance to work with the secretary when i served as deputy and acting administrator of the fda under clinton, so hes been a vigorous advocate of Business People, Small Business, entrepreneur. He knows what it takes for companies to succeed on the global stage, and he knows that when i go around the country and speak to american entrepreneurs, they know that the u. S. Government stands firmly behind them because secretary kerry has been a fierce advocate in our country and around the world advocating for the commercial interests, the business interests of American Companies so we can support more exports and more jobs here at home. And he knows that its important to have a level Playing Field so that those companies can compete be globally. So hes a Small Business owner, former Small Business owner, he knows a thing or two about dough, and im honored to call him my friend. Our secretary of state and our keynote speaker, let me introduce secretary john curry. [applause] secretary john kerry. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Thanks a lot. [applause] thank you very much. Thank you, fred. Thank you all very much. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Thank you for a standing ovation. Winston churchill said the only reason people stand and give a standing ovation is they desperately need an excuse to shift their underwear. [laughter] so i know you all had a much more noble thought in mind. [laughter] anyway, im happy to be here. Im very happy i didnt nose out susan axlerod at any point in time, because if i had, i never would have become secretary of state. [laughter] so congratulations to her for winning the Small Business entrepreneur. Im a little embarrassed, fred. Thank you very much for a generous introduction. I appreciate it very much. I more appreciate our friendship, and i thank you for your support through my political life and now through my nonpolitical life as secretary. Im greatly appreciative, and im delighted to have an opportunity to share some thoughts with all of you here today. Freds ability to find out about my foray into the cookie business gives you some sense of exims deep expertise in matters of business and personal affairs. [laughter] ill have to make sure as far as that goes. [laughter] fred was actually very diplomatic many not telling you more about that escapade, because he didnt really mention that it was a triumph of hope and late night wine that gave me this notion that i was going to open this business in the marketplace. I actually was having a wonderful dinner at one of the establishments in fennel hall. And the friends i was with, we did enjoy one bottle too many, and we came out. I dont know if youve ever had that late night Chocolate Chip Cookie craving. [laughter] for the right reasons. [laughter] but at any rate, i came out of there, and i was somewhat bored as private sector attorney for a few years. And i really did have this notion i wanted to do something in retail business. And there was this vacant space in the hall, and i looked at it and thought, god, itd be really interesting to open this Gourmet Food Store there. So literally the next morning as a young lawyer i found myself in the Rouse Company with the developers, and i negotiated this lease. And i wanted to have this sort of really great emporium of cookies that was then going to become, you know, a National Effort and flag store or whatever. And i was roundly brought to ground by the Rouse Company who said we dont want any more fast food things, we want a gourmet place. I said, well, thats exactly what im going to do. [laughter] i gave them this explanation, and then lo and behold we have the lease, and we started laying it out. And they had these wonderful ovens that you could see the cookies progressing through them and developing out on the other side. And everything was moving swimmingly. I had my hobart mixer. Id never done anything like this before. As you all know, we were one week from opening, and id isenly realized i suddenly realized, god, you know, i need a cookie recipe. [laughter] so i went home, and i took my i had been a toll house cookie baker since i was a kid. I love them. Anybody whos traveled with me will tell you. And so i started baking and baking and baking. And i learned the chemistry of food is the hardest thing in the world because as you get bigger, of course, it changes. Its not an automatic progression. I learned that the hard way. Many batches and hours later, days later, but we out together these incredible cookies with pure Lindt Chocolate and honey and amazing all natural ingredients, everything was all natural, and within one year i am proud to tell you we won the best of boston for our cookies, for our macaroons, for our brownies, for our everything. And i only sold it when i had the idiotic notion of going into public life and running for lieutenant governor, and i didnt want anybody accusing me of having sweetheart relationships which i didnt or anything, but that doesnt stop anybody in american politics from telling you you do. [laughter] and so i sold it to my manager, and im proud to tell you that 20 whatever number of years later it is still there and thriving. And my dream had been to take it, you know, id actually visited hair rods in harrods in london, and i was going to take it you know, the old notion, you know . You get 40 stores, 50 stores and sell it for ten times earnings. That was the story. And, of course, i didnt, and here i am now, a public servant, and im not making anything. So [laughter] what can i tell you . But its a long way of telling you all and this really helped me, i have to tell you. It really helped me in the United States chairman where i did become chairman of the Small Business committee. And i was on the Small Business committee for 20plus years. It taught me an enormous amount of the difficulties of being a Small Business, about having 35 or 40 parttime employees, getting your tax forms filled out, working on your withholding, dealing with the health department, getting your license, dealing with inspectors, getting i mean, you know it better than i do. But it really taught me about entrepreneurship and risk taking, and if any of us, you know, need a reminder of how critical leadership and vision are to the success of any leadership effort, you can ask anybody at any one of these tables here. Every single one of you are living examples of that. You know how to do it. As does fred hochberg. Ask and im delighted that fred is leading the exim effort. He himself is a very skilled, capable business person. Not so long ago freds father gave him a tie bar not a tie bar here, but where you hang all your ties. And he listed wcbdsoya and it was supposed to be an acronym, i dont know how you say that, but heres what it means you cant do business sitting on your ass. [laughter] it is a maxim that has driven him to take his family Catalog Company global. Its what made him an exception alleyeder at the small exceptional leader at the Small Business administration and at his own company, and today it is driving him to work to try to tie the world together with american exports. Be now, i think every single one of you here would agree that this man has been anything but an idle executive. In five years on the job, he has helped to finance over 188 billion in u. S. Exports and support 1. 2 million american jobs in the process. The exim bank has been the driver of Economic Growth for much of the past century, especially during difficult times. And thats been true, frankly, since exims beginning when it was found during the height of the great depression. Its been true again in our recovery recently from our own great recession. The exim bank has played an absolutely vital role in driving president obamas National Export initiative forward. And i want you just to think about it. Only a few years ago, a few years removed from the greatest financial crisis in our lifetime and believe me, i will never forget the treasury secretary, henry paulson, coming up and literally quaking in front of us in the lbju ]md let me make clear, that kind of recovery was by no means inevitable. It was the result of specific economic choices that we made at the federal level of our government. It was the result of strong partnerships between everyone at exim and with so many of you out there and others who arent here today. I want to thank the many Business Leaders in this room who have done so much to gain a bigger foothold for American Companies overseas and to create opportunities for our workers here at home. And every american needs to understand none of this money is a giveaway. Its not a gift program, its not a charity. Its in our interest. We are not just promoting american businesses here at home, were promoting American Values where they reach abroad. And were helping to strengthen countries that are on the brink in some cases of maybe being a failed or failing state. Now, i didnt come here to talk about the road that we have traveled. Its important because youve got to know where youve been to know where youre going. But i want to talk to you about something thats more powerful than the past five years or even the past eighty years of exims existence. Everywhere i travel, everywhere i am privileged to travel as the secretary of state of this great nation of ours, everywhere that i travel i see how the aspirations that make America Great are moving globally. I see how people around the world want the same kind of opportunities that have defined our countrys success and the success, i might add, of many of our partners. When i was in kiev walking recently where the snipers had killed all of those protesters, i was struck by one pan who came up to me one man who came to me, a ukrainian who said, in pretty good english, i just came back from australia, and i was motivated by what i saw there. I want people here in ukraine to be able to live the way theyre living in australia. It was a personal witness to the possibilities at how life can be because of jobs and business and the ability to create a larger and larger middle class. Wherever i go whether its the middle east or asia or africa where i will be next week, i am engaged in efforts to insure that the rise of the global middle class helps advance opportunity here at home. Thats what its about. As i said at my confirmation hearing last year and as i tell our team every single day, Economic Policy is Foreign Policy, and Foreign Policy is Economic Policy. What we do to invest abroad, to build businesses, to help people be able to export and import, all of that is the way you tap into the potential of people in the world, and that has never mattered more to our strength than it does right now. When more than half of the worlds population is under the age of 30, when hundreds of millions of young people all over the world will enter the job market in the next decade, we honestly dont have a moment to waste. From sao paulo to sanaa, all across the world young people are more connected than ever before. All they need to do is flip on their mobile device, and theyre in touch instantaneously with everybody, everywhere, all the time. They can see the kind of opportunities that are emerging across the world. They know the challenge of one country, and they share those challenges in another country. They understand particularly the disparities in wealth and the disparities in opportunity, and they see that theyre just as real, and they experience them, believe me, every single day. Whats worse, they fear that its those disparities and not the opportunities that are going to define their future. Their phones, they brought millions of people out there to throw off the yoke of corruption and open up a sense of possibility for the future. And then it happened again. It took another one in syria where people are so desperate and upset about what was happening. We want jobs, we want an education, we want a future. And when their parents went out with them after they were arrested the first time around, they were met with bullets and explosions, and the rest is history. Im telling you as sure as im standing here that this connectedness is not capable of being put back in the bottle by any politician anywhere. And in the end, everybody is going to be affected by these hopes and and aspirations. Its both a challenge, but its a huge, huge opportunity for business. When you look at the different markets that are out there, half the worlds population living on 2 a day or less, almost a huge proportion living on 1 a day or less. These are people who need schools, they need jobs, they need opportunity. We want these people to be able to reach for the brass ring and to be able to have their opportunity to be able to tap into that possibility. You know, just consider the opportunities on one continent. Just look at africa. Home to eight of the ten Fastest Growing economies in the world and home to 1. 1 billion people. I think they have to educate Something Like 150 million kids in the next ten years just to keep up. Unbelievable challenge. But think about the size of the opportunity. Its more than twice as large as the european market, and thats the largest market in the world. And, you know, you look at what exim and your companies have helped to do for europe and in other developed places, but we now see these possibilities exponentially in various parts of the world. And whether its in agriculture or infrastructure or energy, particularly i might say in energy, you know, the marketplace that created the great wealth of the United States of america in the 1990s which, netally incidentally, was the greatest wealthproducing period in the century. We created more wealth in the 1990s, and every single quintile of American Income earner saw their income go up. Why . Because it was a period of extraordinary growth as a result of the Technology Boom. The Technology Boom represented a marketplace of 1 trillion, and there were one billion users. The Energy Market that i just mentioned is a 6 trillion market with 45 billion users today, and it will reach perhaps 9 billion users within the next few years. Just think about that. Thats the mother of all markets. And the opportunity to be able to move on alternative, renewable and different types of transportation, energy saving, efficiency, building materials. Run the list. Its gigantic. And i want to see american businesses being the leading innovators and the leading providers in order to be able to capture that market. So ill tell you something, whether it is in africa or the americas or in asia, i see this enormous hunger out there not just for american products, but for ideas and ideals that are uniquely american. Young people i met, i was in kuala lumpur last year in malaysia at this incredible Global Entrepreneurship summit. 15,000 young people, and i heard them screaming and yelling and chanting. And i said what is im at a rock concert or something. Not a rock concert. This was their energy and enthusiasm for entrepreneurism. They were excited. And every single one of them, they werent interested in becoming pop stars, they were interested in becoming the next bill gate cans or the next steve jobs bill gates or the next steve jobs. Believe me, they were thirsty for opportunity. Ask theyre all, they know what everybody else is doing everywhere else in the world. Theyre talking to them. So we can help create the climate for these young people to take an idea and make it into a business biharnessing their by harnessing their energy and ingenuity. And this, frankly, matters to us deeply. Because i firmly believe that the places where citizens have the freedom to be able to develop an idea and take it out there and even to, you know, try and make it a reality, perhaps even fail. But to be their own boss and have that option, these are the societies that are most successful, they are the most cohesive, the least conflicted, the most peaceful. Thats why, you know, not one of the political problems that we are working so hard to resolve today is, and not one of the solutions that were working hard to achieve is going to endure without Greater Economic Exchange and development. I think its something weve seen over and over again world over. Prosperity is a Vital Foundation for any kind of lasting, durable peace to take root. It happens to be one of the principle lessons that we have learned from asias incredible rise. Its a story that america proudly helped to write with our enduring commitment to security and Economic Exchange across the pacific. Even as i speak, right now, its a story that were building on. The president of the United States, president obama, is hard at work in asia right now leaving japan, heading to the next stop, strengthening these ties for the future. And hes driving forward negotiations on a High Standard trade agreement that can be the foundation for greater Economic Opportunity for decades to come. The transpacific township, tpp partnership. Its a trade pact between the United States and 12 of our pacific partners, and it would be the largest Free Trade Agreement of its kind in the world. And what would it do . It would set High Standards for trade and competition for 40 of the Global Economy. That matters to us, my friends. It matters to us that there are rules of the road and that everybody is playing by them, particularly for a nation that lives by and is proud of Something Like the foreign corrupt practices act. Were competing in a voracious world market wise, competitive. You know that. So the chance for an agreement like this where we raise the standards for everybody, where we create transparency and accountability and rules by which everybody lives evens out the competitive marketplace and provides opportunity because i dont need to remind you this kind of opportunity doesnt come often. And ive billion part of these de ive been part of these debates, and it doesnt come easily. Remember the battle for free trade in the senate . I fought that for 29 years. Im proud to they saw almost every single trade agreement i voted for, and its clear that these voices are going to be determining where we go as we go forward. The voices of opposition are going to grow louder, obviously. But the clamor for those rules of the road is precisely what president obama is determined to try to achieve. He wants to break down the barriers to trade, open up the possibilities of opportunity, and thats what he has been setting out to do since the day he came into office. From the Free Trade Agreements that the president sealed with the republic of korea, colombia and panama during the first term, the president , i think, has been very clear about the need to tame the worst forces of globalization and harness the best possibilities of globalization. He is continuing to lead the charge on the Transpacific Partnership as well as our negotiations with europeans where we are negotiating the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, a Free Trade Agreement that would comprise another 40 excuse me of the Global Economy. So as you gather here to think about exim and its future and the global marketplace, you dont have to be a big company to do any of this. There are huge opportunities staring all of us in the face. And there is a lot at stake for us both in these negotiations and in this moment of history. It really boils down to this will the Global Economy be defined by a race to the bottom, by the search for cheaper and cheaper labor, the lowest quality products and the most lax, if any, regulations . Or will globalization be defined by a race to the top with High Standards that we set becoming the standard of the world . Today as the largest market on earth we have the power to determine what course the Global Economy is going to take. Because these agreements are so important for our Economic Future be, i have made future, i have made certain that we elevate the capacity of our Economic Team within the state department. Thats why i have brought leaders with a proven track record of private sector experience, private sector accomplishment to the table. Leaders like ambassador david thorn who is here, like ambassador Charlie Rifkin whos our ambassador in france until a few months ago, our new undersecretary for economic affairs, kathy no villi, who i stole from apple. Former fund manager scott nathan from boston. Theyve all come to the table because they believe in helping to tame these worst forces of the marketplace and try to open up the best opportunities. Its why ive challenged every Foreign Service officer, every one, to be an economic officer and make our prosperity agenda what i call an allhandsondeck job at the state departmentment thats department. Thats why weve partnered now with department of commerce to bring Foreign Investment and private sector experience to our shores through select usa to encourage people to come and invest in the United States. And thats why were using the direct line program to connect American Companies with opportunities to expand overseas by connecting them to economic insights of more than 15,000 ambassadors and diplomats around the world with. Thats what were doing. We need you to tap into that. Thats why together were not only committed to leveling the Playing Field through the ttip and the tpp, were or fighting corruption were fighting corruption by advancing the antibribery convention. Thats why were working with the exim bank, to expand the president s nei agenda into the nei next phase be, promoting american exports based on their quality and potential for innovation rather than basing it on just how much they cost. Thats why were using Public Private Partnership Like the partnership for new beginnings to try to open up new possibility for changing life on the ground for people who have seen little improvement in those lives over decades. And thats why the president started the president ial ambassadors Global Entrepreneurship program, to bring the most of the insights of our most successful Business People to entrepreneurs across the world. Were doing all of this because in the world we live in today there are far fewer borders to trade and talent, and that means and you know this better than anybody our companies have much more competition. In the cold war when i grew up, the United States could actually make a bad business decision or a bad policy decision. We were the sole economic power after world war ii. Everybody else was crushed. Or undeveloped. And now, today, its totally different. Were not alone. There are other powerful economic entities on the planet, many of whom we helped make powerful. Through the Marshall Plan and other efforts of our values and ideals. But the result is theres more competition. We welcome that. I know you welcome that, because American Companies are the most innovative in the world, our workers are the most productive, and we can compete against anyone. We understand that. And particularly if we have a fair Playing Field where theres an absence of corruption and a plethora of opportunity. When American Companies are the most innovative in the world and when our workers are the most productive, we can welcome competition. But when other governments are out there aggressively backing their own business, aggressively under the table in some cases and above the table in others, we need to be out there, too, pushing back. And we need to be partners with you and your businesses every step of the way in order to make sure that we are able to win in a battle that is fair and square. We need to be fighting for a rulesbased system that levels the Playing Field. And when 95 of the worlds consumers, 95 of the worlds consumers live outside of our market, thats exactly what our companies and our people need us to do. I have directed all ambassadors to promote American Values, but also be powerful advocates for our economic interests. We are going to make certain that each of our posts and missions around the world have both a political and an Economic Mission and that they are joined at the hip. We need all the gears that drive Economic Growth driving in the same direction. The first part of that effort is going to be to tell our economic story, our incredible economic story. And thats a story that every one of you ought to be proud to go out and tell wherever we go. I know that wherever i touch down whether its in few misor tokyo tunis or tokyo, you know, anywhere in the world, the words made in america still mean something, they mean a lot. And thats pause our economy is envied thats because our economy is envied as the most innovative economy in the world. It is also the most resilient economy in the world as we have seen in the aftermath of the great recession. And that is because it continues to adapt and change to meet new challenges and because we have a greater free allocation of capital and movement of capital to ideas and more people willing to take a risk and possibly fail in order to find be an idea that workings. So lets make certain that we Going Forward improve on that formula. Lets make certain that we build the partnerships that we need to create a shared prosperity in our country and around the world the world, as you all know, keeps on turning. If we refuse to stop turning, with imf, with u. S. State department, with all of the tools at our disposal, we are going to have an extraordinary impact and have Extraordinary Results here at home as a consequence of our Economic Engagement in this world, and most importantly, as a consequence of American Leadership with respect to the rules of the road. Thank you and keep on working. Thank you. [applause] cspan2 providing live coverage of the u. S. Senate floor proceedings and key Public Policy events. And every weekend, booktv now for 15 years the only Television Network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2, created by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Coming up tonight at 8 eastern on cspan, the National Museum of women and the arts hosts a discussion on women judicial leaders with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg and rosalie abiela. Heres a portion. It was inconceivable when we started practicing law that we would ever be a judge. Inconceivable. There were no women judges, maybe two or three in the whole country. So one of the reasons that was an advantage, and especially if youre kind of an outsider, and i know its hard to talk about outsider insider when youre on the Supreme Court, but we all understand what it feels like to be an outside insider. You do what you feel is the right thing what do you mean, outsider . What do you mean . If youre different, if you know youre different, if youre not like the rest of the culture that you are professionally in, if youre not i mean, for me in ontario, i mean, i was jewish, immigrant, female in a male profession that was largely, i mean, grandfather was a Supreme Court judge and father was a Supreme Court judge. Anyway, i say that only because it can be a great advantage to understand that youre different, that youre never going to be like everybody else, and thats good. Enjoy the fact that you are different. Dont try to homogenize. And the reason its good if your comfortable in your skin is because it means you do things not towards the possibility of an ultimate objective, ie one day i want to be on the Supreme Court of canada against which you measure all of your opportunities and choices. You take risks. You say, okay, sure, ill run a labor be board, that sounds like fun. Sure, bill a judge at 29. Ill run the Law Reform Commission when nobody else wants to do it. Nothing was against my ultimate objective, because i was having a wonderful ride in the legal profession. Thats the first. So i now give advice whenever im asked to young people and say you dont end legal, your Legal Education and say this is where i want to end up. You have no idea where youre going to end up. Yes. Give yourself a chance. A great songwriter was once asked what comes first, the music or the words, and he said, the phone call. [laughter] i get that, you know . And you can see the entire discussion with women judicial leaders tonight starting at eight eastern. And coming up on booktv in prime time, the Civil Rights Movement beginning with todd purdum, author of an idea whose time has come. American history tv prime time features the watergate scandal that brought down president richard nixon, and that starts at eight eastern. Well show you oral histories with three figures from watergate on cspan3. For more than a year, there have been allegations and insinuations that i knew about the planning of the watergate breakin and that i was involved in an extensive plot to cover it up. The House Judiciary Committee is now investigating these charges. On march 6th i ordered all materials that i had previously furnished to the special prosecutor turned over to the committee. These included tape recordings of 19 president ial conversations and more than 700 documents from private white house files. On april 11 the Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena for 42 additional tapes of conversations which it contended were necessary for its investigation. I agreed to respond to that subpoena by tomorrow. Forty years ago on april 29th, president nixon responded to a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for additional watergate tapes. His response plus reflections from former Washington Post Journalist Carl Bernstein sunday night at 8 eastern, part of American History tv the this weekend on cspan3. Air force chief of staff general mark welsh now on the impact of cuts to his budget. He spoke yesterday at the National Press club, and he took questions from the audience. General welsh took over as lead of the air force in 2012. This lasts about an hour. [applause] myron, thank you so much for the introduction and congratulations on your appointment as the president , but more importantly, on a remarkable career in your chosen profession. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for letting me be here. I get to do a lot of stuff in this job that i still feel like a little kid when i get to do it, and im at the National Press club. Pretty amazing. You guys have kings and queens and heads of state and movie stars and sports icons and kingpins of the financial world, and you picked the wrong morning to come. [laughter] because you get me and j. J. And sid today. Let me thank them for being here. J. J. Jackson, chief of the air force reserve, and sid clark, the director of the air national guard, have been tremendous partners few me for me along with general frank grass. One of the things weve worked hard at are bringing our total force together in a way that reflects how well they fight together at the front end of our business. Well continue that effort. Its just a way we have to do business. But it wouldnt be possible without their help and support, and thats why i asked them to join me today, and wed be glad to talk about that later if youd like to. This is a fascinating time to be in the u. S. Mail tear, actually, and its military, actually, and its a great time to be an airman, and it is always a privilege to be the chief of staff of the United States air force no matter whats happening around you. Your airmen are incredibly proud of what they do, and theyre incredibly good at doing it. Their biggest frustration, actually, is most folks dont really have any idea what that is. A good friend of mine whos the director of the joint staff, dave actually has an analogy that i will shamelessly steal this morning. I used it in a presentation last month, and i think it describes exactly how the air force is seen. When you walk into a room and you look at a light switch on the wall, unless youre an electrician, you really dont have any idea whats behind the wall. But every time you flip the switch, the light comes on. Every single time. Thats kind of the way our air force is. We dont do a whole lot of things if in the world that are visible every day. But, for example, we have 600 security air lifts flying around the world. Thats one every two and a half minutes every hour of every day of the year. We have almost 130,000 american airmen moving people and equipment around the world. I have never heard the question asked in washington, d. C. As we look at options in moving a Brigade Combat Team or moving marines to the black sea or whatever were talking about the question can we get it there never comes up. Never even heard it whispered which is an incredible compliment to the people who do this business. When people start to think about using a precisionguided weapon somewhere on the planet, if theyre an American Military member, they dont worry about whether or not the satellite constellation that makes it possible is operating well that day. You dont worry about it when you start your car. You dont worry about it when you look at your cell phone to see what the time is exactly from a signal youre getting from space. We operate eight satellite constellations and 77 satellites. We have about 25,000 airmen who do that around the clock every day, all day, and they support military operations all over the world