Direct conversation and have the direct and put around issues that we care about whether its Climate Change or infrastructure and know that we have within these agencies and leading these agencies folks who are genuinely looking for ways they can improve their partnerships to help us do our jobs locally so to each of you thank you so much and we really appreciate you being here. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] they were suggesting i give all of you my cell phone number and you can pass that along. Please follow up. It is now my great honor to introduce the 51st secretary of the u. S. Department of the interior. As secretary she leads an agency of more than 70,000 employees. The department of the interior serves as the steward of approximately 20 of the nations land including National Parks, National Wildlife refugees and other public lands. The Department Also oversees the responsible development of conventional and Renewable Energy supplies on public lan
The other thing that weve started doing is we call it moral monday iowa. And i believe it started in one of the carolinas. By right. With the naacp. But we just stole the idea. So every monday at noon before we gavel in at 1 00, we have a gathering that draws a lot of press and a lot of advocates, and we talk about an issue that were not getting any legs on. So weve had moral monday iowas on date rape. Weve had moral monday iowas on disparities in education and prisons. Weve had moral monday iowa on education spending, and next week were having it on womens health. We get these huge crowds. We picked a small room, so thats kind of cool because the huge crowds look really big. But i think we want to reclaim the moral and the freedom issues, because we believe that were the ones who work for those, and i think anybody could do some of those things. We get a lot of press coverage for it. Thank you. Senator winfield from connecticut. I wanted to go back to the point about how we talk about
Chairman of the National Association of governors. Our state Senate Chairman of the National League of legislators. Our chamber of commerce lane beatty has become on the National Board of the chamber of commerce. And our mayor of Salt Lake City is now the president and the National League of cities. And so, we are looked at, i believe, as a state that is well run, knows how to get things done, but recognizes that investment in infrastructure are one of the key pillars to Economic Growth and vitality. So were here today with three incredible mayors that are going to talk to you about their stories. But before i do that, i wanted to read the president of the United States, ive been told, is competing with us today, because hes at the National League of cities. So i very much appreciate these mayors being here, but i have a statement i want to read to you from mayor ralph becker who is the president of the league of cities. And he says, quote, National League of cities and the American Pu