constitution. and the resolution of that battle is vital to the future of our country. that's arizona supreme court justice, clint bolick at conservative forum silicon valley. can you see the entire speech tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. chicago mayor rahm emanual on his initiatives for education and college preparedness. one of them would require chicago public high school seniors to have a post-graduation plan in place before receiving a diploma. so long before today's guest became a politician, he attended sarah lawrence college. at college, before politics, and long before he was president barack obama's chief of staff. chicago mayor rahm emanual taught preschool. mayor emanuel's love of education followed him throughout his political career, into his tenure as chicago's mayor, wherever he oversees the third largest school system in the united states. he is credited with adding more than 200 additional school hours in the year. he's taken chicago school system 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. mayor emanuel made chicago the first city in the country, to make a b average. early in his first term, chicago endured an historic teach er strike, and the state budget impasse now entering its third year has had devastating impact on chicago schools. he's also had to confront his city's persistent gun violence and grapple how to run a police department facing questions about its treatment of african-americans. even with these challenges, the mayor or rambo, as he's known in some circles because of his tenacity, has kept a steady eye on education. this year the mayor introduced a plan. it uses education not as an end point but as a pathway to further education and employment. the mayor's initiative will require high school seniors to provide proof of college or high school aacceptance in order to graduate. this starts in 20/20. the atlantic calls plans like the mayor's a seismic shift in american education. rahm emanual served as a senior advisor 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. of course education is not the only issue mayor emmanuel has faced. and we look forward to hearing him address other matters as well as he works to move the windy city forward. please join me in welcoming mayor rahm emmanuel to the press club. >> thank you. i just want you to know i started this job 6'2", 150 pounds, and now i'm 5'8". thank you for that introduction. a little over 30 years ago secretary bennett called the chicago public school system the worst public school system in the united states of america. let me give you the results today. the graduation rate when i first became mayor was for 57% and now it's 67%, a growth. third, 42% of all our students today graduate with college credit. 42% of our kids go on and are accepted to college equal to the united states of america. and trust me, our demographics is not the united states of america. another 21% go onto community colleges are the rate is 22% nationally. so even with the demographics for chicago is different, we match with kids going from high school to college to community college. third, our eighth graders led the united states in math games. our fourth graders were third overall in reading games. there are only three districts whose math and reading won't up. every measure of the city of chicago's educational gains are pointing in the right direction and surpassing -- and i'll 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 can get through tsa, i'd like him to come back to the city of chicago and see what's happening. but every measure on high school, college acceptance, college attendance as well as in reading and math scores at fourth and eighth great levels, chicago is exceeding the norm of the united states progress. while the math of chicago 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 our kids had a full day of kindergarten and half were not. if you looked at the math ones that were getting a half day, needed a full day and ones that were getting a half day needed a full day. i did not think it was determinative upon the fact that you should have parents lobbying on your behalf for your child in kindergarten. every child in the city of chicago today has a full day of kindergarten. we've had a 60% of increase in our full day pre-k for our children. we ran the first race to the top for our early childhood so parents could compare the models of early childhood education. and we've also increased the funding where, as i said, for full-day pre-k for all four-year-olds. and the reason is we can see the data for full-day pre-k, what it does for kindergarten and first grade and onward ward, i have a fundamental shared by our schools that kids drop out of college in third grade. kids do thought drop out freshman year. if they're not reading and doing math in third grade, it's not fourth grade is any easier. i do not believe the kindergarten and 12th grade model -- i told you a couple of things we've done on the earlier side. universal full-day kindergarten. a 60% increase for education in our full day pre-k in one of our online portals that's now being praised by the united states government. for its ability of transparency. and we give quality scores on early childhood providers. i have -- we're in the process right now of a reinvention of our high school and what it prepares for. i just finished a graduation, i did about five or six different schools across the city of chicago. crane high school, which is on the west side, 100% college acceptance. finger all the way on the south side, 100% acceptance. chicago bulls noble charter, 100% chicago acceptance. we have with us armando from sarah goode, a p-tech 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. all of them are going onto 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. 95% of their freshman are on track to graduate. more than half the students are earning college credit while they're in high school. he 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're 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 have a series of things we are doing to ensure that every child is 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 earn a post-dockerate degree, we live in a period where you earn what you learn. our question as mayor and one of ed principals that are here, is what are we doing to prepare our high schools for that economy. more than 56% of our economy will require a minimum of two years college degree. we all know this, it's studied very much. it's a high school degree is not ready for the 21st creentury economy. we're a pre-k to college model. first and foremost while you're in high school, we have the largest international backleriate program in the united states of america. and it's fancy way of saying liberal arts education. we have more desires now for people to have schools become i.b. in chicago than we can keep up with. because when you take that test, you have that under your belt. your parents don't have to pay for it and you're better prepared for college. dual system in our city, mayor all directored, is the second largest in the united states of america. so when i became mayor there were about 4 to 600 students in dual credit, dual enrollment. today we're north of 4,000. so kids are not only 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 the high schools, 110 of them in the country. so they're not only graduating high school but with college credit under their belt. third, advance placements. we have one of the largest programs, and my data point i think it says 67% of people passing those tests. as well as with ap advance placement we are ensuring the kids of chicago grad what with college credits already under their belt and unless their parents went to school, the college experience under their belt. and i can't say enough about what that means for kids who with 80 some odd% of children who are kids of color, but kids who are at or below the poverty level. they're not only getting college credit, they're getting the college experience, the 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 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%. at armando's schools, which we have four of them at that level, they're not only doing high school, he had seven graduates that ragratuated with not only a high school degree but several of them have grad watted with an associate's degree already under their belt. done. free. have i mentioned free yet? parents don't have to pay for it. in greg's class i think it's 72% graduating with college credit. free. and the big challenge which we all know is cost for higher education, chicago has got a model regardless of color, zip code, background, can graduate with college credit under their belt free, where cost is not the prohibitive factor. i do not agree parents should have a second mortgage to give their kids a college degree. then what we've done additional 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 we call the chicago star. the chicago star plus, which is what tony is part of, is if you maintain your b average in community college -- so high school, average, community college free. you maintain the b average in community college, everyone of the universities in the city of chicago, northwestern, columbia, university of columbia, depaul, northeastern, any one of them, will give you anywhere from 25% to 40% off your tuition. tony went to northside college prep. best high school in the state of illinois. that's just not me, that's "u.s. news and world report." got into the university of illinois, could not afford it. he went to truman community college with a b average for free. now he's going to northwestern university with a scholarship for his education. he will come out with a degree in neuroscience from northwestern university and basically, basically have, no college debt. put that in your pipe and smoke it. so that's our educational plan in a net shell in chicago, go from kindergarten to fourth grade to pre-k through 12 model. and finally what wave established and embarked upon is what was just described. and let me give a full description of it, which is today if you look at college acceptance -- community college acceptance in the armed forces. and i want to get back to the armed forces because i forgot about it, chicago has 65% of our kids already going to college or community college. they're taking college credits in high school, they've got ap or dual 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 over all united states demographics. what we want to ensure and then 42% of our children are graduating with college credits under their belt even though we match that all together, we want to make sure everybody, the class of 2019, 2020, 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 of the armed forces and a letter from a job. it's essential to make sure that while kids are in high school, they have a post-high school educational plan. one, in a 21st century economy you know the data already. basically 80% of all the future jobs are going to require a minimum of two years of higher education. second, we already got 65% of our kids getting there. i cannot in good conscience as a mayor allow the other 35% to not have a plan but the economy is going to require them. when you have all the support system in place in a school rather than when they graduate and oh, i'll figure this out when i'm 18, that other 30% needs that support in high school so they can execute. and fourth, while i don't know everybody in this room, i can say this is a father of three. for any parents in this room, any one of you, leave it to chance to your kids? raise your hand if you say figure if out on your own? okay. well, honey, if you've got seven, i'm building you a bridge in grant park. because let me just say this, on the first two you didn't leave it at chance, by the last five you say i'm over this. i've got three. we do not leave it for your 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 to it to college to chance. not when the an economy tomorrow requires that an education today equals it. so when you're in high school we're going to ensure you've got college credit and you graduate with the confidence you can do it. you graduate not only it with the confidence but your parents don't have to pay for it. it's the number one thing stressing parents out how to figure it out. third, we would 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 it played by the russian roulette table. so we've given ourselves three years to prepare the system and prepare the expectations of all children. i will let you know it's 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 or in the front doors of their 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 prince pals and the student will tell you this, not just me, if you raise those expectations and support the effort, kids will meet those goals. everything i'm telling you if i've told you about crane school, sarah good school, bull school, kenwood school, all the cynics, all the naysayers, all the doubters, would have said not those kids. not from that background, not from that socioeconomic class. fanger, 100% college acceptance. crane, 100% college acceptance. chicago bull, 100% college acceptance. sarah good, 94%, $4.5 million in scholarships. kenwood, $35 million in scholarships. 72% with college credit rate. and with every measure some profeller out here would tell you based on background, race, income, neighborhood, family socioeconomic class, those kids couldn't do it. it can be done, are it should be done, it must be done. you don't just put a requirement on it. you support kids and you raise your expectations and help them all the way. there's not one of us who are parents in this room who wouldn't do it for our children. and the other 35% we make sure they have the support to prepare. it's not like we're going to drop it on them senior year. we prepare them, work with them, give them the support how to apply to college or community college or branch of the armed services, a trade or a job. i left out of my litany what we're also doing in terms of largest id, largest ip. they have basically seven applicants for every seat, 80% graduation rate. i just told you just last year where it's nearly 74%, and they have a 90% college acceptance. every school is a one or level one plus school. so the armed branch and the armed forces, so it's not just when we say it, we have also the largest -- program in america, 10,500 kids. and lastly let me talk about one thing when i talk about what we have done and what we have 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. and as mayor i have a responsibility to ensure every child has a chance to succeed. and i have to make sure the system and the structure and the support and our prince pals 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 students have changed. not one point is going in the right direction and 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 on 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 chatter, although both principles here are from neighborhood schools. it is about quality versus mediocrity. i think the entire debate that's happening nationally and even in my city is not the target. if you're a parent and 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 make sure you have a semienrollment school like our students went to or any 1 of our high schools. it has quality, and then you put the right school for our student, your child. it is quality versus mediocrity, not charter versus neighborhood. we have expanded charters have closed failed charters. we have expanded neighborhood schools. crane high school is a perfect example and also turned around schools. quality was our north star. that's where this debate must go. and i'll close on this other point. it's 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. and their jobs are easier when that's happening. when it's not, we need to make sure they have all the support from early childhood education to highly motivated teachers to principals that are not only scared to be held accountable but want to be because they want the independence to be held accountable. and i would say to you that the principals and the parents have been left out-of-the discussion of last 20 years which are always about just teachers because the other two don't play a role in the education and socialization of our children. and we're missing the debate, and you think go back to your own experiences, that's what motivates and changes education. if you're going to make fundamental reforms, that's what has to happen. we may be -- last point. as opposed to the other last point i made. we may be the first school district in the united states to embark on a post-educational high school educational model. but mark my words, we're not going to be the last. new york has their deal, arkansas has their deal, tennessee has their deal, city of chicago has ours. but everybody going to be going this way because that's what the economy requires, that's what our children need if their going to succeed in the 21st century. thank you for being here, and i look forward to taking your questions. >> thank you, mayor emmanuel. how are you funding, starting with questions from the audience. how are you funding the education add-ones you've described and how do you convince your constituents to make your investment. >> let me walk through a couple of things. just as examples, et cetera, the chicago star, which is if you get a b average, community college is free. we spend today at community colleges around $30 plus million 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 awarding success rather than purchasing an insurance policy on failure. so we just channel the dollars differently. second, on greg's basis at kenwood, which as i again just north of north park or chicago, they have the largest use in the city of dual enrollment. so kids are in their high school getting college cloosz classes or they go up to one of the higher ups and take classes. in our other model, they're in the high school date taking already college classes. so that's an example of how we're funding it. and i'll just say this, i think we've proven -- and i've raised taxes for public schools. not only for the teachers pension, but for school modernization facility. i cannot have kids in hallways, well, without air conditioning. i'll give greg credit. he's going to laugh about this. he had seventh and eight grade which is called academic excellence plus high school where squaer going to take another school over and put the seventh and eighth graders there. so we held a meeting in a room without air-conditioning. let me just say by the next school year they got air-conditioning. it was in the middle of the summer where but by the end of the summer we'll have air-conditioning for all schools. i've raised taxt taxes to pay for modern facilities, i've got no problem. what i'll also be up front about -- you want more revenue? i'll need more quality. i'm for more revenue that succeeds quality versus mediocrity. >> do you anticipate you might use some of that revenue to hire more guidance counselors, to increase the ratio of guidance counselors to students? >> i think you're going to always use more. we're going to have use more to get to our goal. it's going to be a combination. i'm putting both my principals. you know one goal, i don't know if they're in your school. one goal is a nonfor profit, does superb work. there's another group in chicago called a million degrees, that work on completion rates. 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% to all our counselors trained in this. so 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, when we'll support you, a letter of anticipatance from one of five things, college, community college, armed forces, a trade or job. >> how are you preparing your community college system for the influx of students? i imagine you anticipate more students registering with community colleges. >> well, i'm very proud of this. so 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's got the best college to career program in the united states. so a, has the most diversified colleges in the united states of america, actually the most in the world. we copy, you ready, the german model. malcolm x on the west side is all health care. the lead is with children, troegsers, abbot, baxter, they help us on the curricular. all professional services. it, advance manufacturing, human services. every school is aligned with the fastest growing part of our economy with the fastest modern jobs where the industry helps us on curriculum. it was written up as the best college career program. they are getting an influx. but first of all, i don't mean to do this to you, tony, but tony went to the best high schools i told you in the state. north side, it's also one of the top 30 in the united states of america. trust me truman community college never had a northside graduate. they have a northside graduate who's now going onto become an alumnist. because of the chicago star scholarship, which is free -- have i mentioned free yet? it's free. and now because of the partnership of star plus, he's going onto northwestern to graduate debt free. that's how we're going to do it, and we're going to increase the quality of our students. and more importantly for the students who don't belong to northwestern, they are not just coming out with an associates degree. they're coming out with a degree that was designed by the industry, so they know the credentials. and they're not just getting a job, but if they're in health care, they get a job that's leading 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 a higher grade as a nurse, we have an educational system. so we're 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 -- >> they go to that woman's family's house. we'll just send them to her home. >> will they be considered a drop out, or what are their alternatives? >> let me say this, it is a requirement, but let me do two things. first of all, it's not like we just tell you senior year in september this is -- we're doing this all the way through and helping kids and giving 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 those other 30% aren't just by chance but have a support system. and 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 good, you take four years of it. we have a whole host of requirements. i don't think it's a -- and our kids graduate our graduation rate's going up. i do not think it's a stretch to -- yes, it's a requirement but we're going to support you to also ensure you have a post-high school educational plan. you have to do 40 hours of community service in chicago to graduate. you have to have science requirements. you have to have arts requirements. and 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 kid's backs, i bet the children in chicago are going to have a better education than any other child. i'll tell you this, i'd rather leave the insurance policy of the kids who go to high school -- at sarah good, and i can go through all 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 ones in their family to go to college. now, i and amy have five degrees between us. that's my wife. we have all the support we can give our kids if they want a college counselor, advice, tutor. i'm supposed to leave to chance a child, the first one of their family to go to college, outside the support of sarah good and all the infrastructure around? it would be morally reprehensible for 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 they have a plan. >> giving 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's -- >> you mean the u.s. >> yes. >> it's hard for me when you say cuts not to think of the state of illinois. >> we'll get there. >> lisa and i have just talked about this. she's talking about group, but talking about the return on investment of college education and over a lifetime. i bet you the return on investment on higher education is higher than the return of of a home. yet we do full subsidies for home ownership. when you look at your mortgage write-off. i'll take a stab at it. that is an education over a home. i'm telling you guys i mean i grew up in a home -- i mean this is 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 for one thing, education. that's true of how i raised my kids. don't talk about if it's education, it's just not a sacrifice. and i just think we're nuts a country given what we know, the competition is getting more fierce in the 21st century nost not just from china but a whole host of countries, we would not make higher education affordable. i think it's morally wrong to ask parents to take a second mortgage, second job -- to give their kids a shot at the american dream. and i'll just tell you this, i left it out. the chicago star scholarship, which is a free community college, is the only public scholarship in the united states that's open to dreamers. and every one of the programs i've mentioned, meaning the chicago star and chicago star plus is open to everybody and dreamers included. meaning northwestern, they do the add-on, north eastern. i think it's 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 there are students because at sarah good they graduated with not only a high school degree but an associate's degree. these are working families. tony could not go to the university of illinois because of the aide in a school, basically the aid was too expensive. i think it's crazy what we're doing as a country, and we're trying to take a stab 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 for me than anything else. go ahead. >> two related questions. do you think the state of illinois will enact a budget before the 2018 election and will chicago schools open on time this fall if the state of illinois doesn't pass the budget the. >> we've already answered number two. we're opening up on time. parents don't need the anxieties about that. we're opening up on time. it's time the state of illinois meet their responsibility. let me just say a couple of things. first, sils dead last in funtding public education. we beat out mississippi for dead last. the city of chicago is the second most competitive economy and seventh in the world. now, we're going to open up on time. we've 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 in a city or state, in this case a state, introduces a budget. i can't make a prediction. i can tell you i hope it does, it needs to. the governor has an obligation to introduce a balanced budget that shows all his priorities. our students are going to school. that's where they belong. we will do whatever it takes to ensure our kids go to school. our doors will be open. they will be learning, and we'll be beating records. now, i didn't mention this. in the last three years every gain in the state of illinois, either graduation, reading or math 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, if you take them out, every day their reading rate is either flat or declined, their math rate is either flat or decline. illinois without chicago would be falling backwards. we're opening our doors. the governor will have to figure out what every ert 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? well, i'll give you -- well, there's two things. look, let me give you a couple of 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 direct for foreign investment in united states of america. and in 2016 we're our entire investment was greater than atlanta and montreal all combined. this grew faster than the united states, faster than new york, faster than washington, d.c. i'm getting to my answer. i was just giving you data points. federal government in my backyard, thank god. no, i'm getting to my answer. i was just giving you data points. the reason is, is because we've created certainty. 36% of the kids in the city of chicago have a four-year college degree or better. in the united states it is 27%. we have the largest capital investment in the united states in transportation system, both public and aviation. we are also the home to the largest amount of graduates from the big tech. we have a community college system as i already outlined to you. we have a transportation, technology, training, transparency, and also what i said in the effort of the transportation system, all of the five t's, talent, training, transportation, technology and transparency. we have created certainty. the biggest drain on the city of chicago is the uncertainty of without a budget. i think this is -- also this debate about taxes that affects everything, what businesses, big, medium, small, any size is looking 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 20th century transportation system, certainty around finances and you will get investment. you create uncertainty and you get the net result of that. the biggest drain for chicago, which i told you, by any global standed, carney came out seven weeks ago, seventh most competitive economy in the world, second in north america, is uncertainty. there are other human resources as it effects 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 sports is atrophying. for all of these people that say, oh, 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 sides, 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, and 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. gist ma just make the -- look, harry s. true man signed, he didn't say go see sam rayburn, the buck stops here. every chief execity,ness the responsibility of the office, here is the budget, here is where i'm going to invest, here is where i'm going to cut, here are the choices we're going to make. we've gone 700 plus days with our chief executive not introducing a budget. everyone walks around scratching their head and says, you don't have a budget. well, introduce it and we will get to work on it. >> do you plan to run for a third term as mayor of chicago, and what will your campaign nirtive be in a nutshell. >> well, first of all i plan on running for a third term. the first person that i'll talk to will be my wife, not you. no, i'm joking. so i plan on running for a third time, i have already said it before so it is not beige surprise. i got to be honest. look, i've been honored to work for president clinton, president obama, i've been honored to represent the north side. no job has been more intellectually and emotionally rewarding. any mayor would tell you that. it is emotionally also challenging, but i look at what we've done. i can't say we got it 100% right, but i can tell you we are trying. now, i was the other day at a community college. we did our first cohort 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, and he said, i'm going to graduate debt free. he said, i'm the first in my 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 can you make an imprint, put your thumb on the scale and tip it towards justice and equity. and i will say to you, in a time in which we live with greater polarization, a period of time where people want more sense of ability to influence their own lives in the democratic process, local government is where that is possible. right now the rest of us look at this city as disneyland on the potomac. i will 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, and i plan on intending to keep it in the top ten as a global leader, economically, culturally and intellectually. and then my measure as a mayor, my measure as a mayor is to make sure that the kids of rogers park where tony went, the kids of ravenswood where i live, when they look at the power and energy represented by the city that they all share the same sense, that that's my city. 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. do i have, what, four minutes? >> yes. >> okay. >> i'm going to try two more questions. >> got it. >> as 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 the party's prospect in the midterm if john ossoff wins? and do you think a democratic takeover of congress can happen in 2018? >> sure, it can happen. if anybody tells you this far out it will happen, it is too far to predict. i would rather being a democratic going into 2018 rather than a republican, and you didn't pay me to say that. every time the house of representatives has ever flipped, it's been 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 the presidency, which was not the last time, did it last time, you had beginnings of a recession, two unpopular wars, unpopular president and corruption scandal. there was enough to create a wave and ride that wave. i don't know what's happening across '18, but i want to say as someone who bit my life building the party, we are 1,000 seats shorter today 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. kristine gill brand, the class of 2006. joe donnelly, the class of 2006. i'm about building a party. so if it is not about one election, it is about making sure that we win state house seats in north carolina, in georgia, in new mexico, in all of these areas and other people, and promote them not just to congress. anybody that says what is happening 2018? i say, what is happening in 2018, 2020, 2024, and are we doing what is necessary in party building to make sure we're prepared for the next decade, not 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 national press club. we hope that you use it in good health. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] >> yes. 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 mille. the national press club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. for more information about the club or to apply for member shl, please visit our website at press.org. to donate to programs such as scholarships or training opportunities for journalists offered through the nonprofit press club journalism institute, visit press.org/institute. we are adjourned. [ applause ] on thursday american history tv on c-span3 will be live from the new museum of the american revolution in philadelphia, which opened in april. from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern we'll be joined by top museum staff to learn about their artifacts and exhibits and to answer viewer questions about the american revolution. here's a preview. >> the next room which we call resistance is about the decade stretching from the stamp act in 1765 to the outbreak of the revolutionary war in 1775. so this is a room that also introduces one of the exhibition techniques that we use, which is to create these immersive spaces to try to make you feel transported back in time. so we've recreated here the elm tree that stood in boston in 1765 that became known as the liberty tree. this was, of course, a phenomenon that spread through other towns, through other colonies in the period, but it was a place where sons and daughters of liberty gathered in a kind of open air political -- you know, political meetings to talk about how they would react to these efforts by the british to impose taxes through parliament on them. we've actually embedded in the trunk of this tree a piece of wood from the last standing liberty tree. it was standing until 1999 on the grounds of st. johns college in annapolis, maryland. this is actually a piece of that popular that was blown down in a hurricane and some of the wood was salvaged. it is just a wonderful, to have kids in particular feel like they're, you know, touching a piece of history here. so this also is a gallery in which we explore some of the symbols of the resistance movement, forms of resistance. so non-importation, the impulse the boycott goods that were mr.ed in britain and replace them with locally-made goods. so we think now days while this buy local, buy american movement is something we invented, it has roots going all the way back to 1760s. save your money, save your country is actually a slogan from a newspaper in the period. >> that's just a brief look inside the new museum of the american revolution in philadelphia. to see our complete program, join us live thursday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv here on c-span3. sunday on q & a -- >> i'm not asking anybody to compromise their values or their believes. i'm just asking them to open their eyes to other people's so that you can figure out your place in this infinite world. >> brooke gladstone, co-host and managing editor of wnyc's "on the media." ms. gladstone discusses her book, "the trouble with reality," a rumination with panic in our time in which she looks at what constitutes reality in our time and how it has changed over time. >> i set up at the beginning of the book our biological wiring, and i wanted to show how we have evolved a culture that was designed to validate us and not to challenge us. certainly not to contradict us. it gave us the illusion that our realities were water tight when really they were riddled with weak spots and places that would crunch in. sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q & a. >> c-span where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider.