i'm part of the breaking news desk at bloomberg news and i'm vice president of the national press club. before we get started i would like to remind everyone again, please, to -- in our in-house audience to please silence cellphones if you haven't already. for our viewing and listening audience follow along on twitter using the #pressclub. for our c-span and public radio audiences, please be aware in our audience today are members of the general public. any applause or reaction you may hear is not necessarily a reaction of the working press. now, i would like to introduce our head table. please hold your applause until each head table member has been introduced. head table participants, please stand up when i say your name. we have jamaal abdul allen, senior staff writer at diverse issues in higher education. we have jerry weller, former u.s. representative from illinois's 11th district and president of the illinois state society in washington. we have mike herks, mpen, a supervisor for ap radio here in washington, dv, that's mike hempen. we have tony trend, star scholar, graduate of the harry f. truman college in chicago and an incoming northwestern student who is planning to study neuro science. we have catherine skiba, washington correspondent for the chicago tribune. we have armando rodriguez president of the sarah e. goode stem academy high school in chicago. we have lisa matthews, vice president of media relations at hager sharpe and coleader of the npc headlines team. we are going to skip over our guest speaker for a moment. the only time we'll do it, i promise. we have lynne sweet, washington bureau chief for the chicago sun times. we have dr. gregory jones, principal at kenwood academy high school in chicago. we have bob leaner, president of leaner public news, op-ed columnist and the npc headlines team member who helped organize today's luncheon. we have michael smith, ceo of green-smith public affairs and a contributor to campaigns and elections magazine. we have caroline henry, executive director of the education writers association. thank you for joining us today. [ applause ] >> i'd also like to acknowledge additional members of the headliners team responsible for organizing today's event. betsy fisher mother, laurie russo, eleanor her man and press club staff liaison lindsey underwood. thank you all. [ applause ] >> so long before today's guest became a politician he attended sarah lawrence college. he spent his first two years there studying to become a preschool teacher. at college before politics and long before he was president barack obama's chief of staff, chicago mayor rahm emanuel taught preschool. his love of education followed him throughout his political career, into his tenure as chicago's mayor where he oversees the third largest school system in the united states. he is credited with adding more than 200 hours to the school year, taking chicago from having the least educational time of any large school district in the country, to being on par with its peers. he implemented full-day kindergarten for every chicago child and fought for and won new accountability measures. during his tenure the district wide chicago public school system graduation rate has grown by 16 percentage points, more than three times the national average for growth. mary manuel ma mary -- mayor emanuel made it the first to offer free college for those who earn a b average or better with high school graduation. early in his first term, chicago endured an historic teachers' strike, and the state budget impasse, now entering its third year, has had a devastating financial impact on chicago's schools. he has also had to confront his city's persistent gun violence and grapple with how to run a police department facing questions about its treatment of african americans. even with these challenges the mayor rahmbo as he is known in some circles because of his tenacity, the mayor has kept a steady eye on education. this year mayor emanuel introduced a plan called "moving forward in chicago." using graduation not as end points but as a pathway to further education and employment. mayor emanuel's initiative will require high school seniors to provide proof of college or trade school acceptance, a job offer or military service in order to graduate. it starts in 2020. the atlantic calls plans like the mayor's a seismic shift in american education. rahm emanuel served as senior adviser to president bill clinton in 1993. in 2002 he was elected to illinois's fifth congressional district. he served as president obama's chief of staff from 2008 to 2010. a year later he became chicago's mayor and was re-elected to that post in 2015. this is not the only issue the mayor has faced while overseeing the nation's third largest city, and we look forward to he seeing him address other matters as he works to move the windy city forward. please join me in welcoming chicago's mayor, rahm emanuel, to the national press club. [ applause ] >> i just want you to know i started this job 6'2", 250 pounds and now i'm 5'8" and 148 dripping wet after hearing that. thank you for that introduction. a little over 30 years ago secretary william bennett of education for ronald reagan called the chicago public school system the worst public school system in the united states of america. let me give you the results today. our graduation rate, when i first game mayor was 57% and our freshmen on track is for 87%. a growth of 52%. second, our act scores after being flat are up over the last five years 1.2%. third, 42% of all of our students today graduate with college credit, while 85% of our kids are at or below the poverty level and defined by the nate government, 42% of our kids go on and are accepted to college equal to the united states of america -- trust me, our demographics are not the united states of america -- another 21% go to community college where the rate is 22% nationally. even though the demographics in the city of chicago is different, we match the united states of kids going from high school to college and community college. third, our eighth graders led the united states in math gains. our fourth graders were third in overall reading gains. there were only three school districts in the entire united states of america whose math and reading four fourth and eighth graders went up, cleveland, washington d.c. and the city of chicago. every measure of the city of chicago's educational gains are pointing in the right direction and surpassing -- and i will go back to high school for a second -- our graduation rate for the last five years, every year was triple the national average. so if william bennett could get through tsa, i would like him to come back to the city of chicago and see what is happening. but every measure on high school, college acceptance, college attendance as well as in reading and math scores at fourth and eighth grade levels, chicago is exceeding the norm of the united states' progress, while the demographics of the city of chicago's students are not the norm for the united states of america. now, some of the things that were noted earlier point to that direction of what was happening. when i became mayor half of our kids had a full school day -- i mean half of our kids had a full day of kindergarten, half did not. if you looked at the math, the ones that were getting a full day could deserve to get a half day, and the ones getting a half day needed a full day. i did not think it should be determined by the fact that you had a parent lobbying on behalf of the child's kindergarten. every child in chicago today has a full day of kindergarten. we ran the first race to the top for our early childhood so parents can compare educational models of early childhood education, and we've dramatically also increased the funding, as i said, for full day pre-k from the city of chicago for all four year olds. the reason is we could see all of the data of full day pre-k, what it does for kind garter, and kindergarten what it does for first grade and onward. i have a fundamental view shared by our schools that kids drop out of college in third grade. they do not drop out freshman year. if they're not reading and doing math at third grade level in third grade, it is not like fourth grade is a lot easier. what chicago is now expanding upon is i do not believe that the kindergarten to 12th grade model -- it is an ak row nichl from the 20th century. we are going towards a pre-k to college model. i've told you a couple of things we've done on the earlier side, universal full day kindergarten, 60% increase for full day pre-k, one of the online portal also now being praised by the united states government for its transparency and ability to evaluate quality, and we give scores on early childhood providers. i have an app with me so you understand on the other side which is where i want to get to the high school and post high school because we're in process right now of a major reinvention of our high school education and what it prepares for. i just finished graduation, i did about five or six different schools across the city of chicago. crane high school, which is on the west side neear our illinoi medical district, where there are hospitals, cook county hospital, 100% college acceptance. finger all the way on the far south side in the rosalind community, 100% college accept answer. chicago bulls noble charter, 100% chicago acceptance. we have with us armando from sarah good, a school associated with ibm. ibm to graduate, they have a little over 90% of their students have graduated. seven of their students have graduated already with their associates degree in hand. they've won over $4.4 million in scholarships for their students. you could go on at another time, but all of them are going on to post high school education, to college. that's on the far south side. i have also gregory jones from kenwood. kenwood is also on the south side of the city of chicago, it is just north of the university of chicago. 94% of their freshmen are on track to graduate. more than half of the students are earning college credit while they are in high school. said to me 72%. they earned this year $35 million in scholarships at their school. they have the largest dual credit, dual enrollment in the city of chicago. now, what we are about and what we are trying to do is take our high school graduation, which was at 57%, by the class of 2019 we're on track for 87%. that's a 52% growth rate. we're triple the national average. we've had a series of things we are doing to ensure that every child the college ready and college bound. we live in a period of time where you earn what you learn. you get a high school degree, that's probably going to be your income. you earn a two year associates degree, you earn a college degree, you own a post doctorate degree. we live in a period where you earn what you learn. and the question in front of me as mayor, in front of the principles that are here is what are we doing to better prepare our students for that economy. over 60% of all future job openings will require a minimum of two years post high school education. we all know this. it is studied ad nauseam, which is a high school degree is not ready for the 21st century economy, yet every educational model at the urban level, i don't care where you are, is in a 20th century prism of time, k-12. we are a pre-k to college model. first and foremost, while you're in high school, we have the largest international baccalaureate program in the united states of america. it is a fancy way of saying a liberal arts education. in fact, we have more desires now for people to get -- have schools become ib in chicago than we can keep up with. because when you take that test, you already graduate with college credit under your belt. your parents don't have to pay for it and you're better prepared for college. second, dual credit, dual enrollment. the system in our city, merriay director, is largest in america. we are today north of 4,000. kids already are graduating with not only high school -- getting a high school degree, they're graduating with college credits under their belt. in fact, at kenwood greg has more students involved in that dual credit dual enrollment than any of our other high schools, over 110 in the country. they are graduating not only with high school degrees but college credit already under their belt. third, advanced placements. we have one of the largest programs -- and by data point i think it is a 60% increase in people passing that test. so dual credit, dual enrollment, international baccalaureate as well as with ap advanced placement, we are ensuring that the kids of the city of chicago graduate with college credits already under their belt and unless your parents went to school the college experience under their belt. i can't say enough about what that means for kids who with 80 some odd percent of our children are not only kids of color, but kids who are at or below the poverty level. they're not only getting college credit, they're getting college experience so that first kind of six months they're familiar with it and they're familiar with the rigor of that effort. today right now in the city of chicago 42% of all of our children not only go to college, but 42% graduate with college credit underneath their experience at high school. we set a goal by 2018 to grow that to 50%. armando's school, which we have four of them at that level, they're not only doing high school, he has seven graduates as i mentioned that graduated not only with a high school degree just last week, 10 of them graduated with an associates degree already under their belt. done. free. have i mentioned free yet? parents don't have to pay for it. in the same way that greg's class, i think it is 72% graduating with college credit, free. and it is a big challenge, which we all know is cost for higher education, chicago has a model in which every child regardless of income, zip code, background can graduate with college credit under their belt free, where cost is not the prohibitive factor. i do not believe parents should pay -- take a second job or a second mortgage to give their kids a shot at the american dream, and that's what chicago has embarked on. lastly, what we've done is -- not lastly, but an additional that is, what was just talked about, is if you get a "b" average in high school, we're the only city in the united states we make community college free. two years of your education is free. and then we have what is called the chicago star -- that program is called the chicago star. the chicago star plus, which is where tony is part of and the first cohort, chicago star plus is if you maintain your "b" average in community college -- so high school "b" average, community free. you maintain the "b" average in community college, every one of the universities in the city of chicago, northwestern, university of chicago, de paul, colombia, north eastern, every one will give you 25 to 45% off of your tuition, every one of them. tony went to pierce elementary on the north side. went to north side college prep. best high school in the state of illinois, that's just not me, that's "us news and world report." got into the university of illinois, could not afford it even with the scholarship. he went to truman community college with a "b" average for free, maintained that average and now he is going to northwestern university for his education. he will come out with a degree in neuro science from northwestern university and basically have no college debt. put that in your pipe and smoke it. that's our educational plan in a nutshell in chicago, is go from kindergarten to 12th gray to a pre-k to college model. finally what we have established and embarked upon is what was just described, and let me give a full description of it, which is today you if look at college acceptance and community college acceptance and the armed forces -- and i want to get back to the armed forces, i forgot about it. chicago has 65% of our kids are already going to college or community college. they're taking college credits in high school. they've got international baccalaureate, ap, or dual credit/d credit/dual enrollment, and we match the united states, as i said, in both of those categories even while our population is different than the overall united states demographic. what we want to ensure, and then 42 pearls 42% of our children are graduating with college credit under their belt even though we match that all together. we want to make sure by the class of 2019-2020 that every child has a post high school educational plan that the economy is already requiring of them. so we want you to have a letter from college or a letter from a community college -- these are acceptance letters -- a letter from a trade or a letter from a branch in the armed forces, and a letter from a job. it is essential to make sure that while kids are in high school they have a post high school educational plan. one, in the 21st century economy, you know the data already, basically 80% of all of the future jobs are going to require a minimum of two yeast of post high school education. so we have to restructure our educational system to meet the demand of what the 21st century is going to require of our kids in the same way that the high school education of the 20th century met the demand of the 20th century economy. second, we already got 65 pea% our kids getting there. i cannot in good conscience as the mayor allow the other 35% not to have a plan that the economy is going to require them, when you have all of the support system in place in a school rather than if they graduate, oh, i'll figure it out when i'm 18 or 19. that other 35% are the ones that need the support to have a post high school education, because they're more likely to execute it. fourth, while i don't know everybody in this room, i can say this as a father of three. to all of the parents in this room, do any one of you leave it to chance for your kids? raise your hand if you leave it to chance and say, figure it out on your own. okay. okay. well, honey, if you got seven i'm building you a bridge in grande park. let me just say this, you didn't -- on the first two you didn't leave it to chance, on the last five you said, i'm over this. i got three. we do not leave it for our children -- and as a mayor, as our two principals, we don't leave it to chance. not when you have the support in place, not when you're the first child in your family to make it to college, with the chance. not when the economy of tomorrow requires that an education today equals it. so while you're in high school we're going to ensure you get college credit and you graduate with the confidence you can do it. we graduate with not only the confidence, but your parents never have to pay for it. it is the number one thing that's stressing parents out, is how to figure it out. third, as i said, is what the economy requires, we not only want to have 65% of our kids going to college, going to community college or the armed forces, but also make sure that the other 35% don't just happen to have a play by the russian roulette table. so we've given ourselves three years to prepare the system and prepare the expectation of all children. i would let you know, it is not just in high school. across the city of chicago, in elementary schools we have teachers in schools who put up college banners in the hallways and in the front door of the classrooms, from kindergarten forward. so kids get the expectation and the awareness socially at school about expectations. you raise those expectations, and, trust me, the two principals here and the student will tell you this, not just me. if you raise those expectations and then support the effort, kids will meet those goals. everything i'm telling you, if i told you about crane school, sarah good school, bolles school, kenwood school, spanger, all of the cynics, all of the naysayers, all of the doubters would have said, not those kids, not from that background, not from that socioeconomic class. spanger, 100% college acceptance. crane, 100% college acceptance. chicago bull, 100% college acceptance. sarah bull, 100% acceptance. kenwood, 72% with college credit already. by every measure with some person, some propeller held out here would tell you by some background, race, income, neighborhood, family, socioeconomic class, those kids couldn't do it. it can be done, it should be done, and it must be done. now, you just don't put a requirement on it. you support kids. you raise their expectations and you help them all the way. there is not one much us who are parents in this room that wouldn't do it for our own children. by insuring the other 35% in high school and elementary school have support to prepare -- it is not like we're going to drop it on them on senior year. we prepare them. we work with them. we give them the support to figure out how to apply to college or to community college or branch of the armed services, a trailed or a job. now, i left out of my litany what we are doing besides the largest ib program and the largest ap. every branch of the armed forces in chicago runs a high school. it is the only city in the united states. every branch. their high school, they have basically seven applicants for every seat. 80% graduation rate. when i just told you already just last year -- not the year they closed but the year before where it is nearly 74%, and they have a 90% college acceptance. every school is a one or level one plus school. so the armed forces, so it is not just when we say it we have also the largest junior rotc program in the united states of america, 10,500 kids. lastly, let me close on one thing. when i talk about all that we have done and what we've accomplished, i believe firmly in the power of education. none of us would be in this room if we didn't have two things in common, the love of our parents and a good education. as mayor i have a responsibility to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed, and i have to make sure that the system and the structure and the support and our principals have what they need to succeed. we did expand the school day. we had the shortest school day and the shortest school year. these data points are not mine. they are what our principals, our teachers, our students and our parents accomplished. the gains being associated with graduation rate, college accept answer, college completion, community college acceptance, math gains and reading gains are because once you took away the impediment to the shortest school day and the shortest school year, our principals could design a structure and academic schedule to allow our students that always could have succeeded to succeed. not one point that's going in the right direction, the others are going the wrong way, at the elementary level, the high school level, the testing into college and the college acceptance are all pointing in the north end. now, i'll close on this one point because we're in a big debate. i think the debate is wrong. it is not a debate of neighborhood versus charter, although both principals here are from neighborhood schools. it is about quality versus mediocrity. i think the entire debate that is happening nationally, and even in my city, is not on target. if you are a parent and you are sitting around thinking about schools, you don't think about, oh, is this a good reform school? you think about quality versus mediocrity. my responsibility as mayor is to ensure whether you want a military school, a stem school, a neighborhood school, a selective enrollment school like our students here went to -- tony -- or any one of our high schools, international baccalaureate, it has quality, and then you pick the right school for your student, your child. it is quality versus mediocrity, not charter versus neighborhood. we have expanded charters and closed failed charters. we have expanded neighborhood schools -- crane high school is a perfect example -- and also turned around neighborhood schools, and we have consolidated with those that didn't work, and quality was our north star. that's where this debate must go. i will close on this other point. it is also a mistake to have an entire debate around just teachers. one, you've got to have three things, an involved parent, a teacher that will motivate you and a principal that will be held accountable and is not scared to be held accountable. every child is home schooled. every child. their jobs are easier when that's happening. when it is not, we need to make sure they have alt of the support from early childhood education to highly motivated teachers, to principals that not only are not scared to be held accountable, want to be because they want the independence to be held accountable. i would say to you that the principals and the parents have been left out of the discussion over the last 20 years, which is always about just teachers as if the other two don't play a role in the education and socialization of our children. we're missing a debate, and you think back to your own experiences, that's what motivates, that's what changes an education. and if you're going to make fundamental reforms, that's what has to happen. now, we may be -- and my last point. i suppose the other last point i made. we may be the first school district in the united states to embark on a post high school education model, but mark my words, we're not going to be the last. new york has their deal, arkansas has their de, oregon has their deal, tennessee has their deal, city of chicago has ours, but everybody will be going this way because that's what the economy requires, that's what our children need if they're going to succeed in the 21st century. thank you for being here and i look forward to taking your questions. [ applause ] zb >> thank you, mayor emanuel. starting with questions from taud yenls, how are you funding the education add-ones you described and how do you convince your constituents in the anti-tax, anti-government era to make the investment? >> well, you left out of my bioi was a dancer. i'm tap dancing my way through this. no, on a serious note, let me walk through a couple of things. just as example also and et cetera. the chicago star, which is if you get a "b" average community college is free, we spend today at community colleges around -- i'm doing this round -- 30 plus million dollars on remedial education. so we took a portion of it into if you get a "b" average or better, you get free community college. why? i'm rewarding success rather than purchasing an insurance policy on failure. so we just channelled the dollars differently. second, on greg's basis at kenwood, which as i say is just north of hyde park and university of chicago, actually president obama's neighborhood -- they have the largest use in the city of the dual credit/dual enrollment. so kids are in their classroom getting college classes or they go up to one of the community colleges and take credit, and that split between chicago public schools and community colleges. in sarah goode, armando's, they are in high school and taking college classes. that's an example of how we're funding it. i will just say this, i'm -- once i think we've proven -- and i have raised taxes for public schools, not only for the teacher's pension, for school modernization facility. i have no gumption. you want a 21st century education? i cannot have kids in hallways, stairwells without air conditioning. i will give greg credit. we once had a meeting -- he will laugh about this because he had 7th and 8th grade which is called academic excellence plus high school. we were going to take another school over and put the 7th and 8th graders there, so he held a meeting with me and the alderman at a time in a room that had no air conditioning. let me say by the starting of the school year they got air conditioning. it was in the middle of the summer, but we've actually by this summer will complete every classroom in the city of chicago -- it hadn't been done since '63 -- will have air conditioning. i raised taxes to pay for modern facilities. i got no problem and will be up front about it. what i also want to be up front about, you want more revenue, i want more quality. i think it is a fair trade and people will make that trade. i have been up front about it and we succeeded in finding the revenue. i'm not just for more revenue. i'm for revenue that succeeds, quality versus mediocrity. >> do you anticipate that you might use some of that revenue to hire more guidance counsellors to increase the ratio of guidance counsellors to high school students? >> i think -- look, you could always use more. we're going to have to to get to our goal. it will be a combination. we have -- i don't know, i am putting bothful my principal also on, but you know one goal. i don't know if you're in your school, it is a not for profit. one goal is not for profit does superb work. there's another group in chicago called a million degrees that works on completion rates that we work with, but we're going to have to invest in this. now. that's why in our policy we gave ourselves to 2019-2020 class. we're already at 40% of all of our counsellors train toward this. over the next three years we will get ourselves to 100%. there's two goals to remember. by 2018 we want to be at 50% of our kids graduating with college credit already under their belt, and by 2019 to graduate -- and we'll support you -- a letter of acceptance from one of five things, college, community college, armed forces, a trade or a job. >> how are you preparing your community college system for the influx of students? i imagine you anticipate more students registering with community college. >> i'm very proud of it. when i became mayor we were one of the worst systems in the united states. the world bank came out three years ago and wrote a report that chicago has got the best college-to-career program in the united states. so, a, chicago has the most diversified economy in the united states of america. actually, one of the most diversified in the world. no sector of our seven sectors controls more or contributes more than 13% of our employment. so we copy, ready? the german model. malcolm x on the west side is all health care. the lead is rush presbyterian hospital with children's memorial, stroger hospital, walgreen's, abbott, baxter, they help us on the curriculum. without going through them all, washington downtown led by insurance, all professional service. southwest side, transportation, distribution, logistics. it, advanced manufacturing, human services. every school is aligned with the fastest growing part of our economy, with the modern jobs, where the industry helps us on curriculum. it was written up as best college career program. they're getting an influx, but first of all i don't mean to do this to you, tony, but tony went to the best high school, as i told you, in the state. northside. it is also one of the top 30 in the united states of america. trust me, truman high school -- truman community college never had northside graduate. they have a northside graduate who is going to to become an alumnus in the next two years at northwestern university. he always wanted to go big ten. couldn't afford u of i, but because of the chicago star collarship which i mentioned the free, he is going on to northwestern and basically will graduate debt free. now, i'm only a city. i would love to have a state budget and i would love to have the united states government backing us up, but that's how we're going to do it and increase the quality of our students. more importantly, for the students that don't go on to northwestern, they're not just coming out with an associates degree. they're coming out with a degree that was design by the industry -- so they know the credentials -- and they're not just getting a job, but if they're in health care they're getting a job that's a career that leads them to the middle class. key difference. you're in health care, you want to be a nurse, we got a way to do it. second, you want to bounce yourself up in the higher grade as a nurse, we have an educational system. we are more than just a job. we're a career that helps you get up that economic ladder. >> with the new requirements for students starting in 2020, if a student doesn't present these qualifications-h -- >> they go to that woman's family house, extending to her home. >> will they be considered a dropout or what are their alternatives? >> here's -- i know -- let me say this, it is a requirement, but let me do two things. first of all, it is not like we just tell you senior year in september, this is a requirement. we are doing this all the way through and helping kids. we're going to support them and insure they get there and give them the support to get there, that's a. b, i'm going to tell you this, outside of you, nobody in this room doesn't do this for their own children, both subtly and directly. i'm going to make sure that the other 35% aren't just by chance but have a plan and a support system. we're going to help them get there. today to graduate you have to do 40 hours of community service in chicago. you have to do four credits worth of science. to graduate sarah goode you take four years of i-t. we have a whole host of requirements. i don't think it is -- and our kids graduate and our graduation rate is going up. i do not think it is a stretch to -- yes, it is a requirement, but we're going to support you to also ensure you have a post high school educational plan. we have -- you have to do 40 hours of community service in the city of chicago to graduate. you have to have science requirements. you have to have arts requirements. i'm a former dancer, as i told you, i'm for that. the idea that you are going to actually have a post high school educational plan and all of a sudden we're putting a burden on our kids' backs, i guarantee you the kids in chicago will be better prepared for the future than any other child. every other school system today leaves it to chance. i will tell you this. i would rather leave the insurance policy of the kids that go to kenwood high school to greg jones and the support he's giving them than to just say, well, good luck, figure it out. at sarah goode where armando is, i can go through all of the schools i mentioned, these are kids of color. overwhelmingly on free and reduced lunch. i don't know the percentages, but a good percentage who are the first one also in their family to go to college. now, i and amy have five degrees between us. that's my wife. we have all of the support we can give our kids if they want a college counsellor advice, tutor. i'm supposed to leave to chance a child, the first one in their family to go to college outside of the support of sarah goode and all of the infrastructure around? it would be morally reprehensible of me to do that when we could do the opposite. so that's what we're doing. it is a requirement. when they get there we're going to ensure that they have a plan. >> excellent. given your priority on education, what would the government administration's proposed cuts in college loans and grants do in chicago? how would that affect chicago? >> you mean the u.s.? >> yes, the u.s. government. >> it is hard for me when you say cuts not to think of the state of illinois. >> sorry. yes, we'll get there. >> you know, lisa and i just talked about this. i have not -- she was talking about a group, but talking about the return on investment of a college education and over a lifetime. i betcha the return on investment of a higher education is better than on the return of investment for a home, yet we do full subsidies for homeownership, when you look at your mortgage right off. i'll take a stab at that. if it is not equal, it is better, that is an education over a home. i think any -- i'm telling you guys, i mean i grew up in a home engulfed in me and beaten into my dna, and i had a father who was an immigrant, so couldn't have been cheaper about everything in life except one thing, education. that's true of how i raised my kids. don't talk about -- if it is education, it is just not a sacrifice. i just think we're nuts as a country, given what we know about the world, what we know that the competition is getting more fierce in the 21st century, not just from china but a host of countries, that we would not make access to higher education affordable. i think it is morally wrong to ask parents to take a second job, a second mortgage. if i'm asking you a second job, it is usually a third job in the home of two parents, not the second job, or a second mortgage to give their kids a shot at the american dream. i'll just tell you this, i forgot to -- i left it out. the chicago star scholarship which is the free community college, is the only public scholarship in the united states that's open to dreamers. every one of the programs i mentioned, meaning the chicago star and the chicago star plus, is open to everybody and dreamers included, meaning northwestern you'll see they do the add on, northeastern, columbia. i think it is crazy to cut funding and leave it just to banks. again, i'm using tony as an example, but there's hundreds of students. i know the seven students at sarah goode who graduated not only with a high school degree, with their associates degree. these are working families. tony's parents could not make -- he could not go to a state university, the university of illinois because of the aide for the school, basically even with aid it was too expensive. he is going to northwestern now. i think this is crazy what we're doing as a country, and we are taking our stab at trying to reverse that and make it better. >> so coming to illinois's state administration -- >> you guys got another hour? >> i wish we did. i really wish we did. >> so do i. it would be more therapy than anything else. >> so two relate willd question. dow think that the state of illinois will enact -- and will the chicago public schools open on time this fall if the state of illinois doesn't pass the budget? >> we have answered number two. we are opening on time. i'm not going to take -- parents don't need the anxieties about that. we're opening on time, we will meet our responsibility. it is time the state of illinois meet their responsibility. let me say a couple of things. first, illinois is dead last in funding public education in the united states of america. we beat out mississippi, alabama and louisiana for dead last. we're the fifth most populous state. the city of chicago by a.t. carney is the second most competitive economy in the united states, seventh in the world, yet last in funding education. if you're poor we really whack you. it is not only dead last, it is one of the most inequitable funding systems in the united states of america. we're going to open up on time. we have gone 700 plus days without a budget. the governor has gone 700 days without introducing a budget. you will never have a budget until the chief executive of a city or a state -- in this case the state -- introduces a budget. i can't make a prediction. i can tell you i hope it does. it needs to. it has -- the governor has an obligation to introduce a balanced budget that shows all of his priorities. our students are going to school. that's where they belong. we will do whatever it takes to eninsu insurance o insure our kids go to school. the doors will be open, they will be beating records. in the last three years, every gain in state of illinois in has come out of the city of chicago. if you take the city of chicago out of illinois, which i'm telling you every day i want to do, but if you take them out the state's graduation rate is flat or he declined. the entire gains for the state of illinois by any governor has been because of the men that are sitting in front of your and their 600 plus colleagues. illinois without chicago would be falling backwards. we're opening our doors. the governor wants to figure out what every other school district does that is poor or represents minority kids, but chicago will be open for the future. i can't say that about illinois. >> including education, what has been the biggest disruption for the city of chicago from the budget impasse? >> oh, from the budget impasse? >> uh-huh. >> well, i'll give you -- there's two things, but, look, let me give you a couple other points that you may not know. for five years in a row chicago is the number one city in the united states for corporate relocations. not one, not two. every year for five years. for five years in a row chicago is the number one city for direct and foreign investment in the united states of america, and in 2016 we're the only city in the united states on the top 20 and our entire net investment was greater than miami, atlanta and montreal all combined. for five years in a row chicago's economy -- this is jll economist, grew faster than the united states, faster than new york and faster than d.c., and i do not have wall street or the federal government in my backyard, thank god. one of -- no, i'm getting to my answer. i was just giving you data points. the reason is because we've created certainty. 36% of the kids in the city of chicago have a four-year college degree or better, and the united states is 27%. we have the largest capital investment in the united states in the transportation system, both public and aviation. we are also the home to the largest amount of graduates from the big ten. we have a community college system as i already outlined to you. we have a transportation, technology, training, transparency and also what i said after the transportation system, all of the five t's -- talent, training, transportation, technology and transparency. we created certainty. the biggest strain on the city of chicago is the uncertainty of without a budget. every -- i think this also this debate about tax as if that's everything, what businesses, big, immediate yumedium, any sig for is certainty. you create certainty around talent, you create certainty around the pool and resources of talent coming in, you create certainty around a 21st century transportation system, certainty around public finances and you will get investment. you create uncertainty, you will get the net result of that. so the biggest drain for chicago, which i already told you by any global standards, a.t. carney just came out two weeks ago, seventh most competitive economy in the world, second in north american, is uncertainty. there are other human resources as it affects to homeless, domestic violence shelters, taking care of indigent and poor. i can't tell you what it means not just in the sense of funding a budget, the actual infrastructure around human support is atrophying. for all of the people that say government is the enemy, go look at a city -- a state that doesn't fund basic operations. it is in another -- it is in a third world place. so it is not just -- so i would say on the human side it's been tremendously draining. on the kind of business environment, it is -- i mean chicago is doing what it can, but i would rather have -- just don't be a drain. if you can't be a net plus to the state of illinois, just don't be a drain anymore. okay. >> thank you. >> i could go on and on. it really felt good there for a second. i will say this -- let me close on that point. the governor is about to give what he calls a special session. he is about to give a speech. i just want a budget. just make the -- look, harry s. truman, signed. did he say go see sam rayburn or the buck stops here? every chief executive, it is the responsibility of the office, says here is the budget, here is where i'm going to invest, here are the choices i'm going to make. we've gone 700 plus days with our chief executive never once introducing a budget. everybody walks around scratching their head saying, you don't have a budget. well, we don't have one introduced. i've been in congress, introduce it and we'll get to work on it. >> do you plan to run for a third term as mayor of chicago, and what will you campaign narrative be in a nutshell? >> okay. first of all, i plan on running for a third term, and the first person that i'll talk to will be my wife, not you. but, yeah -- no, i'm joking. so i plan on running for a third time. i have already said that before so it is not beige surprisa big. i have been honored to work for president clinton, president obama. i have been honored to represent the north side. no job has been more intellectually and emotionally rewarding, any mayor would tell you that. it is also emotionally also challenging, but i look at what we've done. i can't say we got it 100% right, but i can tell ul we ayoe trying. i was at the other day a community college. we did our first cohorts of what we call the chicago star plus. a young man just like tony introduced me, he was a star, got a "b." he got a "b" average in community college and he is going on to dominican school, dominican. he said, i'm going to graduate debt free. he said i'm the firms in st in family to go to college. an immigrant, a dreamer. he says, i could not do it without what you did, mr. mayor, and i want to thank you. i got to that podium and i could barely hold it together. i cannot think of anything better in public life than to know that you can make an imprint, put your thumb on the scale and tip it towards justice and equity. i will say to you that in a time in which we live with greater polarization, a period of time where people want more of a sense of ability to influence their own lives in the democratic process, local government is where that's possible. right now the rest of us look at this city as disneyland on the potomac. i would just tell you if you look around the world, there's 100 cities that are driving the economic, intellectual, cultural energy of the world economy, and chicago is one of them. i plan on continuing to keep it in the top ten as a global leader, economically, culturally. and then my measure as a mayor, my measure as a mayor is to make sure -- i got it -- that the kids of rogers park where tony went, the kids of rave enswood where i live, and the kids on the far south side, when they look at this great city and they see the power represented by the city that they all share the same sense, that that's my city. and if they do, berlin, london, beijing, tokyo, new york, watch out, chicago is coming for you. nothing will hold us back. that's the measure of our success. >> thank you. >> do i have a few more minutes? >> yes. i'm going to try two more questions. >> got it. someone often credited with being one of the architects of the democratic takeover of the u.s. house in 2006, what will it mean for your party's prospects in the 2018 midterms if john ossa wins tonight in ga and if he loses? and do you -- you helped lead the last democratic takeover of congress. can it happen in 2018? >> sure, it can happen. anybody that tells you it will happen this far out hasn't been in campaigns. it is too far to predict, a lot of things happen. i would rather be a democrat today going into 2018 than a republican, and you didn't pay me to say that. okay. every time the house of representatives has ever flipped, it's been in a midterm election. so that's a fact. no party has gone into a midterm with a president this unpopular at this point -- remember, it is 18 months, or 17 months -- without a severe consequence to that party's position in the house. you have three factors, maps, voting rights and money that are different than any other time before. we don't know the consequences. in '06 in the sixth year of a presidency, which is not the first time and we did it last time, you had beginnings of a recession, two up popular wars, an unpopular president and a corruption scandal. it was enough, and there were enough candidates in the places to create a wave and then to ride that wave. i don't know what's happening across '18, but i also want to say as somebody who spent my life building the party, we are 1,000 seats shorter to date than we were in 2009 or 2008. this is not about one election. it is about building a party, building an apparatus. what i mean by that, chris murphy out of connecticut, the class of 2006 to congress. christine gillebrand, the class of 2006. john donnelly, the class of 2006. i'm about building a party. so if it is not about one election, it is about making sure we win state house seats in north carolina, georgia, new mexico, in all of these areas, and other people and promote them not just to congress. so anybody that says what is happening in 2018, i say okay, what is happening in 2018, 2020, 2024, and are we doing what is necessary intellectually, organizing and party building to make sure we're prepared for the next decade, not for the next election. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> before you leave, we have a small gift for you. it is a longstanding tradition at the national press club to present all of our luncheon speakers, each one of them, with a mug from the latin national press club. we hope that you use it in good health. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] >> and very, very briefly, i wanted to ask you, who was your favorite teacher and why? >> larry gould, history teacher in high school. he was also my home room teacher in high school. >> wonderful. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> before we close today's luncheon i would also like to invite all of you to join us on thursday, july 27th, when we will hear from army chief of staff general mark millie. the national press club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. for more information about the club or to apply for membership, please visit our website at press.org. to donate to programs such as scholarships or training opportunities for journalists offered through the nonprofit national press club journalism inls institute, visit press.org/institute. we are adjourned. [ applause ] the senate has adjourned until monday afternoon 4:00 p.m. eastern. the congressional budget office will analyze the health care law replacement proposal and give it a so-called score early next week. the score will include the cost and number of people the health plan will cover. we posted the discussion draft at c-span.org. follow live senate coverage next week on c-span 2, online at c-span.org and on the free c-span radio app. this weekend on book tv on c-span 2, saturday at noon eastern from the franklin d. roosevelt presidential library and museum in new york, the annual roosevelt reading festival featuring presentations about president roosevelt and roosevelt era politics. others include steve twoomey and his book. the book eleanor and eleanor roosevelt, the story of his father and daughter in the gilded age. kathryn smith, the untold story of the partnership that defined a presidency. and joseph leilyveld and his book. and then at 8:00 p.m. eastern a conversation with best selling author guy talese from his home in new york city. >> the books i have publish in the last couple of years are the same odd characters written by an 84, 85-year-old guy that the 24, 25-year-old guy was writing about when i was that age. >> mr. talese talks about his career over the past 60 years. his books include "the kingdom and the power," "honor thy father" and ""unto the sons." >> i wanted to talk about unknown people, maybe a little woman who fed pigeons in central park or a little woman who clean the chrysler builder at 4:00 in the morning or a doorman outside the plaza hotel and what he saw or didn't see. i wanted to write about what it was like to be a bus driver in manhattan or clean the subways at 4:00 in the morning, the obscure characters that people do not -- ordinary people do not recognize. i wanted to be a chronicler of those who are unrecognize wild, untitled. >> for more of the weekend success yul go to booktv.org. >> the supreme court unanimously decided a naturalized american citizen can be stripped of citizenship if a lie or omission was irrelevant to the government's original decision. a rejection of the government's argument even minor lies can lead to a loss of citizenship. the case involves a woman who said she faced persecution in bosnia because of her ethnicity and her family faced retribution because her husband avoided serving in military. she was granted refugee status in 1999 and became a u.s. citizen in 2007. it was discovered she lied in the process, her husband did serve in a unit of the military