Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

Concerns. It would be hard to pinpoint. Theres generalities and theyre related to the point in which they ran their meetings and how i think u. S. Soccer would be like to have a greater influence but being one of 35 voting nations and mind you mr. Warner came from the caribbean and 25 of those 35 votes are from the caribbean. It gave me a level of discomfort that we werent going to make progress in terms of transparency and some things i would have preferred as to how u. S. Soccer operates. Did you express those concerns to mr. Blazer . I did not. Any reason you might not have confronted him or asked why hes doing what hes doing . Generally speaking we have the potential to opt out and with mr. Blazer i just felt we had other things to do that could help build our sport as well and there was some concern that if i brought it to mr. Blazers attention i may feel a level of discomfort in other ways. Did you see peers feel discomfort in other ways in order to confront mr. Blazer . It would be hard to categorize it that way. When we reached out to talk to other National Associations, other federations once again we were one of 41 or 35 voting members and there wasnt anybody else that had the same level i did as an organization. Once again were in concacaf by virtue of being a member of fifa. We felt we had to find a way to participate and work our way through. Fortunately by a close vote, 18 to 17 he was elected to the seat in april of 2013 and we think that was a step in the right direction and a step ward reform. And that is the model that we felt was in the best interest of moving our sport forward in a very difficult and tricky environment sometimes. One final question and ill wrap up here. Back on womens soccer here on a happier note the most watched soccer match in u. S. History, as many viewers as game 7 of the 2014 world series. I was looking at the financial numbers here with the United States Soccer Federation and just looking at the investments in the Mens National team versus the woMens National team, i say this as a father of two sons and two daughters so you probably see where im headed with this, the spending on the Mens National team was up 50 fiscal 14 over 13 but the spending for womens soccer went down i think 13 of fiscal 13 versus 14. Just in broad strokes, any reason why the mens soccer would have been up 50 and the womens down 13 . Well, let me first say, thank you for your comments about our woMens National team. Were quite proud of our track record with womens soccer. We are recognized as a world leader. I give you a few small facts. Womens Soccer Campaign is the reason that womens soccer was admitted into the olympics in 1996 and continues to this day. We are the top pay team in the world by far on the womens side. In 2003 when we hosted the womens world cup the winnings there were no winnings for any team. The winning was 2 million. We continued to push fifa in the right direction. Related to your direct question if that was 2014 i dont have the exact numbers in front of me but it could be and ill be more than happy to follow up and provide in writing it could have because of the 2014 mens world cup as a peak year and would create more activity so i dont know no, it was what i was sensing looking at it but it might be worth a follow up. Getting a sense of investments because hopefully well continue to invest in our womens Soccer Program as you already have but the mens program was growing significantly and the womens is coming down some what and were so proud of what the women did we want to make sure that we invest appropriately. As a father of three daughters were quite proud of u. S. Soccer that unfortunately with two failed professional womens leagues three years ago we took it upon ourselves as a federation and we actually run the womens league. Rather than fund 25 to 30 women and cut the team down to 23, were providing a First Division womens Soccer League for 180 in this country. With the success we had we will have additional ownership and investment as well. Let me interrupt. Were about out of time. But thank you for that reply. Thank you very much. Thank you all of you. I wanted to follow up on some of senator danes questions and of course were all very proud of the womens u. S. Womens team and are you aware that were putting together a resolution has been put in from the senate asking for equal compensation between men and women in fifa and the soccer . I am not aware of that. Well be ready for it and i just think given the u. S. s emerging role in fifa and what we have seen the last few years with the corruption. While i appreciate you say that changes are being made i dont think enough changes are being made and i have some additional dollars from what senator danes was talking about. The u. S. Womens team for the victory was compensated 2 million; is that right . Thats correct. And the mens team, the germans team in 2014 was compensated 35 million; is that right . I think it with was 32. 32 million. So its 2 million versus 32 million and the losing team in 2014 which was the u. S. Men got 8 million. I believe it was 9 million. Okay. So we have a situation where the losing team actually got more than four times the amount of money as the winning womens team. Correct. But let me point out the winnings just as a point of reference or background the winnings payments go to the federations. So the payment to our players are guided and governed by separate collective bargaining agreements between the men and women. So thats one point. As a matter of background its important. But just to go back to this and sometimes they say well womens sports dont get as much of attention but we have a situation here where there was record attendance and tv ratings. Fox broke tv records in the u. S. Making the World Cup Final the most watched soccer telecast ever in the u. S. Male or female. And yet you have this disparity 32 million versus 2 million and my argument would be that certainly the u. S. Should be taking the lead in pushing for more equality here. In tennis they have equality. Wimbledon last year decided to have equality in prizes and it seemed to me that wimbledon seems pretty old school and soccer is supposed to be like so upscale and, you know cool progressive sport and yet you have this disparity that i think is outrageous. We do agree and we will continue to push for greater payments on the womens side without question. Okay. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Could you comment on the why the womens world cup was played on artificial turf when the mens world cup was played on grass. Ill give you a little bit of background background, and as part of that bid from our point of view it included playing on artificial surfaces. Its not something that we liked. We appealed to fifa and to the canadian side for association, to no avail. When our players came to us and wanted to participate in legal activity we supported that. We posed the question to our womens team if this is what we are faced with do we want to move forward and play or do we not want to play . The women decided its not perfect. We dont like what they felt and we agreed was a lot of respect but we were moving forward and many would say were pretty happy we moved forward under some not the best of circumstances circumstances. And the salary range of women and men. So men the minimum salary is 50,000, is that true . 50,000 for a male player . In our collective bargaining agreement. And the women range from 6,000 to 30,000. Im not sure what the reference is for that . This is professional soccer. Yeah. I cant speak to Major League Soccer if thats what the Reference Point is. Its guided and governed by a collective bargaining agreement. I can tell you the woMens National team players that play in our league is well above 6,000 and to play for to play for their country as well as their clubs is well above 6,000. Id be more than happy to follow up and give you more detail on that. Just my view on this whole thing going back to just the corruption and everything thats happening my colleagues have done a good job. Im sure theres more going through all of that as a former prosecutor im glad these cases are being pursued but it seems in general and the reason i bring it up is the u. S. Had a shorter history on the International Soccer stage but has significant pull. Im using that pull for not just reforms and transparency in the International Governance structure just so we dont see this corruption and it gets taken care of. If they can do it with wimbledon they can do it with soccer. Can i make one point . We are the strongest advocate for womens soccer in a world and as a point there were 24 teams in this years world cup. In 2011 there were 16. We were strong advocates and took a leadership position to expand. On the mens side theres 32 teams so compete. So theres greater number of games and a different commercial impact but we continue to push fifa and concacaf to expand the opportunities for women and as a father with three daughters rest assured its top of mind with me every single day. You can imagine women how we feel when we hear that our women watching was so proud of got less than a fourth of what the losing team did last year for the men. Its just not right. Ill be more than happy to give you additional information. I really appreciate it. Thank you to all of you. Thank you. Let me ask, you heard the testimony of mr. Flynn who indicated that i would summarize this testimony. Hes involved in the domestic side of the issues that were involving the u. S. Soccer federation and i think his testimony would reflect that he and his colleagues, no one reported to him any concerns or knowledge of any corruption, bribery, racketeering, i couldnt i think his testimony would suggest that he was unaware of the activity that lead to the indictments. That suggests to me that and i dont know exactly what mr. Flynn does but hes the ceo. What is it that needs to change structurally that this behavior would be known by the u. S. Soccer federation . Whats missing . Thank you for that chairman. Fifa is like no other organization that ive had an opportunity to consult with on issues related to governance and compliance. I want to correct a statement that mr. Barry said earlier. Fifa is not an international organization. Its not an ngo. Its not a corporation. It doesnt follow any guidelines or standards. What exemplifies fifa is a small clique of powerful individuals thats selfdealing was kept very secret at the top level of the organization. Its no surprise to me that an individual Federation Like the u. S. Soccer federation didnt know or understand what was going on. This was pointed out by the Justice Department had systematic corruption and for years now, for over ten years in the midst of many scandals and going back before ten years when mr. Jennings was aggressively reporting on lack of of transparency and accountability it answered to one man and one man alone and this man commanded with a iron fist and grip. That was sepp blatter. When he wanted someone to know something he would let them know and otherwise they would be in the dark and it is discouraging to me that president blatter sits in that same seat today. Let there be no mistake. He has not resigned. He has said he will step aside when a new election is called. Well he has said twice in the past, in recent history that he would not run for office again and changed his mind. Im very concerned that hell do the same thing again that six months from now he will say the Reform Initiative is now complete. I have succeeded and the federations from africa, the federations from asia want me to continue so i have decided to stay as president. That would be the worst thing that could happen for fifa. Therefore in your opinion your testimony is that the best thing that could happen to clean up fifa is for the departure of mr. Foreman blatter . Not only mr. Blatter. There are dinosaurs in the executive committee that dont believe in reform. But let me say this. Were going to see next week at the executive Committee Meeting Fifa Executive Committee adopt new reforms. Reforms that we recommended years ago to be adopted and that were put aside. Its not whats on paper. Its not going to be the Compliance Program or the change in governance structure. Its going to be the culture of the organization that has to change and you cant have a change in culture unless you have people in leadership that believe in ethics and values. Let me ask you this, then what is the motivation for that change to occur . What needs to happen through the u. S. Soccer federation, others around the globe, today what were doing here have any consequence on these issues . Because what i assume that the opponent to change the financial. Theres apparently significant amounts of money that surround fifa and those involved in this what you described culture so how is it that what steps need to be taken to overcome that culture today tomorrow, and into the future . The spontaneoussors and media outlet versus to take a stand. When an individual athlete be it tiger woods or ray rice does something wrong the first thing that happens is the sponsor walks away from that relationship. Fifa has been the subject of scandal after scandal after scandal and no sponsors have taken the lead in with drawing their support for fifa based on those scandals. So the sponsorships have got to be the Media Outlets have to stand up and say if you dont reform and if you dont do the right thing were going to walk away. The med rations like the u. S. Soccer federation have got to come together. Those with similar cultures, similar believes and transparency and accountability and i do believe that thats the belief of this u. S. Soccer federation have got to come together from the bottom up and force change at the top and finally governments, many governments provide subto sports organizations. They support their domestic and International Sports organizations. They have to intervene and let them know that the time is right for change. We provide them with taxexempt status im sorry with exception from antitrust laws which is worth a great deal of money to them. So governments have to influence sports organizations to undertake transparent and accountable governance. What needs to transpire . What needs to transpire today tomorrow that would give you hope that the corruption that you described would be resolved internally and within fifa and perhaps your answer based upon your testimony is fifa has no future. It has to be replaced. Is that different than what he is saying . Yeah, fifa has to be dissolved. They dont want reform. We use words like reform they think boring. Everything works fine. A few get arrested. He went on for years as members of his family got picked off but the operation went on and i would just like to come back to concacaf because im astonished about what i hear about theyre going to have a reform meeting. Well that would be the third one, wouldnt it . Because when mr. Blazer and mr. Warner were out thank goodness, they had reforms. They had reform meetings. They pledged transparency and they brought in two men. Jeffrey webb and someone from traffic, from the corrupt Sports Marketing company and a few years later the fbi go can you step this way please sir. Now theyre doing it again. And who is this . The man that put his girlfriend in to vote at the Fifa Congress in 1998 and i have the document if you want to see it. They are so corrupt but do you know, the United States federation has been cowardly because little Peter Jenkins you know not a powerful country had the guts to stand up and say jack warner is stealing tens of millions of dollars of fifa money that should be developing the sport in the caribbean. He had the guts to say it. Warner and blazer turned their poison upon him and he just survived. But he had the courage to do it. Where was america . Let me ask mr. Flynn, in your testimony, i just made notes so this wont be identical to what you said but your testimony was you could encounter potential political impact yet you indicated that you opposed the reelection of mr. Blatter. I didnt hear you. You indicated that the u. S. Soccer federation opposed or voted for someone other than mr. Blatter to chair. Be the president , correct. And your testimony had something along these lines and that could have caused potential political impact and our chances to host the world cup. That suggests to me that there is an awareness that the decision about where a world cup soccer match is going to be played is that you would admit is not necessarily based upon the merits. If youre worried about the vote or the chairman of fifa having a consequence on Site Selection that suggests to me that youre aware that something is not above the board or am i overstating that . I think it reflects a managing style. Mr. Blatter yields as others have said a lot of influence in the organization and taking our position to not only vote openly but to nominate prince ali and work very hard for his election. We know that that may come with some difficulties down the road in terms of seeking support for the 2026 world cup as part of mr. Blatters management style. Thank you. Thanks mr. Chairman. Mr. Jennings, would you agree based on your experience that american corporate sponsors like nike mcdonalds, visa, and cocacola have been in some sense enablers . Inadequate. They have had terrible attacks of blindness havent they . When the rest of the world has been categorizing, listing corruption at fifa and the concacaf and documented. We only support the world cup. We dont support fifa. Well isnt that tough and brave of them . Maybe i should amend my question to say they certainly would be enablers now if they continued to be sponsors without insisting on reforms, would you agree . Would they they should with draw unless their money the money that blatter likes so much should be withheld until something radical happens to clean up the sport in the interest of the grass roots. In fact theres precedent for example, in the way that nike dealt with tiger woods following some of the revelations and public disclosure. Thats a very limited case which got huge publicity because it dealt with the private life of a celebrity. It gets a lot of tabloid coverage. But whether its private life or in this instance public corruption, it should be addressed. Oh, yes. And they have the capacity. They have the wealth. They have the brains and experience in their head offices from beaver on the to atlanta to chicago and they havent done anything and they should be apologizing. They talked a lot about the organization of american football soccer not particularly relevant to the issues at hand about fifa. The moms and dads my granddaughter plays football in the park in seattle. You know the sort of people im talking about. The families, the lower level. Not just the stars of your male and female teams. They have been betrayed by an organization that sums itself in the glamour of the brilliant women and brilliant men without doing it so say were america. Would you agree that american corporate sponsors have turned a blind eye to the alleged human rights a buss and potential deaths of Migrant Workers involved in Human Trafficking and the world cup host nations . Should they have done something . You just said it i cant cap that. Of course the answer is yes. Mr. Barry . Theres a serious alt of attention to the exploitation today. Thousands upon thousands of foreign Migrant Workers are forced into a terrible, terrible system that can lead up to forced labor in some cases and its time for the contractors and the businesses involved as well as the host government itself to start taking action and doing something about this labor rights crisis. And they can have an impact cant they . Simply by virtue of their power of the purse and dollars and investment. The sponsors of the world cup can play a serious role in averting the labor rights crisis thats happening and the labor exploitation thats plaguing the construction for the world cup in 2022. Do you agree . I do agree. These sponsors spend tens of millions of dollars to protect their grounds. They adopt governance programs and standards best recognized globally. What does it say about them when theyre willing to partner with organizations that have the record that fifa has . Do you agree with whats stated here . Were happy to have the sponsors weigh in on this issue. As a point worth making from the u. S. Soccer perspective when these things come to light we spent a lot of time with our sponsors explaining the difference between u. S. Soccer and concacaf and fifa and they welcomed that opportunity of discussion with us and were happy if they weigh in on these items and issues. In your view is fifa salvagable . No. Not at all. The corruption is so deeply imbedded that if you cut the head off of the snake the rest will still be wiggling about. America has to join with other countries with similar moral values and say you stay there were out of here. Were not going to be contaminated by sitting at your meetings with with a bunch of organized crime experts. Thats what fifa is and it was very good to see your fbi your department of justice assessed them like that. Im very glad they came aboard. You dont go to john gotti and say theres too much heroin on the streets could you cut back on it a bit. Thank you, a couple of keys come off the street. Well thats all right. Thats not how you dealt with the mafia in boston. You went after them. Is fifa salvagable . I would look at the recent reforms. They have been sweeping. I think theyre real. I would like to give it hope that that footprint could be used. Im not an organizational expert but thats one option and i can tell you the weekend of the womens World Cup Final there were two other confederations from around the world that were represented in vancouver that were very well aware of the sweeping reforms. Who were pleased. And hopefully that footprint is at least one step in the interim excuse me in the shortterm to reform fifa. But apart from what concacaf has done, have you seen a tangible meaningful effort at reform in fifa . And doesnt that have to happen for it to be salvagable. Ive seen attempts and they have come you short and we continue as one of 2009 nations and given our structure thats a good model to move forward. We will be doing so with the candidates all running for the presidency moving forward as well. That will be an interesting opportunity to see what candidates will bring forward. Will u. S. Soccer with draw if it takes to take meaningful reforms . The opt out is a very difficult and severe has severe ramifications to our model for the sport. Given the new platform and level of intensity not only from the u. S. Senate but other parts of the world that feel now is the time to make the many changes that need to be made in terms of reform for fifa. Well as a fan as well as a public official as a parent. Let me just suggest that sometimes inaction and silence signal complicity. In effect it is is come policeplicit in the lack of reform or action. You may not have any control over it but i respectfully suggest that may be something you want to consider more seriously. Let me ask whether you will commit to u. S. Soccer conducting an independent inquiry as happened in the wake of the salt late city scandal. Senator we will cooperate with any inquiry thats brought to our attention. Well, im suggesting that you take action. That u. S. Soccer take action to conduct the inquiry. You certainly have the resources and i respectfully suggest you have the responsibility. I think if 1 of 2009 whether we initiated that it will be safe to say we need the assistance and help of other likeminded nations so were committed to have those dialogues and those discussions. Are you committed to seek such an inquiry . Were committed to work with other National Associations to reform fifa. My time has expired. I have additional questions but i have to go vote. Were sort of staggering our terms here if my chairman will take over and ask sufficient questions ill see you again, thank you. Thank you for your patience. Theres other members that want to join us. This may turn out to be the last round. Theres another Committee Hearing in this room later this afternoon. Let me go back to an issue that i mentioned in my Opening Statement and explored a moment ago with mr. Barry because i dont want this issue of loss of life to get lost in the conversation about governance. I think theyre related. So im not trying to prioritize one over another but i want to make certain that theres an awareness by americans by the world about what you discovered about the activities leading up to the gains of the future. Let me ask you mr. Barry again if you want to describe in more detail the findings. It is the massive problem of exploitation. The problem is we heard it starts with laws that prevent Migrant Workers from leaving their employers or leaving the country when theyre put in situations that rise to even the risk of starvation. But it goes beyond that. As you have eluded to chairman. There are Serious Health risks and a lack of accountability and Due Diligence when it comes to the sites where fortuneeign Migrant Workers are putting in the construction, the hundreds of millions of dollars going on today. Numerous reports about deaths. The governments of india and nepal reported that in 2014 over 400 of their nationals in cutler have died in a whole host of ways and a whole host of reasons. What is highly problematic is that the government has not put in an effort to do a Serious Investigation as to how foreign my grantd workers Migrant Workers are dying and why. This lack of any effort by the government reveals potentially a lack of interest in finding out the answers as well as the next steps to solving the problem. The government needs to take steps to investigate the deaths that are happening there today. Deaths that have ended the lives of many foreign Migrant Workers that came to earn money and send the money back home to communities and families in poorer parts of the world where they did not have the Employment Opportunities that they need. Let me ask mr. Jennings an additional question. Your our witness from outside the United States. What influence do you think that america has in regard to reforming fifa. Id rather say change. Well i certainly learned today that america is a terribly unimportant Little Country thats terrified of countries not agreeing with it. When the United States Olympic Committee realized it had a massive moral problem with its crooks it didnt go ask anybody else. You dont have to go and ask the rest of the world is it all right if we have an inquiry in america into our own people. Please. I find this very dispiriting about america being gutless. Get on and do it. Dont ask permission of other countries. Its your country and you have screwed up with fifa. I hear talk about reforms. I dont believe it from concacaf . Is horace there . The same bunch of crooks there for 20 years. But you can do it. Its not that you have Nuclear Weapons that matters. Youve got the sponsors, youve got the media and the moral power of this huge country and western europe will be straight in and say can we join as well please. They just need some leadership and theyre not getting it. Mr. Jennings you must think theres sufficient value in this hearing thats taking place right now here that you came from britain to the United States to testify. What do you hope comes from this hearing today . What can you expect . What would your desires me that we accomplish . As we were saying earlier the independent inquiry similar to the United States Olympic Committee is first essential because then you look in the mirror with u. S. Soccer and you see where you went wrong. That inquiry could go back into how you were blind and deaf and dumb over the concacaf problems. America doing that would have other countries saying we can do this as well. So i would hope that you do set up independent not with the permission of them but your own commission of inquiry. I think thats the first thing. The second thing is this farce going on, blatter is going to set a date possibly for a congress. I will tell you that there are no congress facilities booked for the rest of the year by fifa. Hes going to stay there and wait for us all to get tired and go away. It worked for him in the past. Only the fbi can sort him out but you can walk away or our cowards and weak and have no perspective on the rest of the world. And i dont think thats true of america generally. You were let me look and see the right words member of fifas independence governance committee. What didnt occur . It appears to me that there was an effort at changing previously. You were involved in that effort to make a change but it didnt happen. Is is that an accurate analysis and why not . Well it is an accurate analysis. We came in as a group of independence compliance experts and sports experts to look at the internal checks and balances of fifa. To look at their compliance and governance procedures. We did so. We made a number of recommendations. Many of which were adopted by fifa. For example establishing a new Ethics Committee with two cochairs. Independent outciders. One to do investigators and a judicato judicatory chamber. We stiededdecided an audit chair of fifa but when it came to recommendations that i consider to be no brainers because they are common standards around the world including term limits for executive Committee Members and the president. Including transparency of compensation, to this day no one know what is the president of fifa is paid nor what the members of the executive committee are paid. When it came to having them create an independent outside body to ensure that governance and Compliance Programs that we recommended were being implemented, they turned that down as well. So a number of key recommendations that might have made a difference were turned down. Having said that i want to emphasize that i dont believe even if they had adopted the recommendations without a change in leadership without a change in culture, we would have seen much different. Thank you. Mr. Flynn, the u. S. Soccer federation has a greater role to play. I want to make sure that you have a chance to tell us anything that you would like for us to know to, in a sense, set the record straight if theres something that you feel needs to be said and also to ask the question is there something that you would ask for us as we try to rely in the efforts for change, reform, improvements. Thank you. One point id like to crystallize is that u. S. Soccer would support an inquiry as a National Association. We have the authority to do so under the current governance. As it relates to your question what the u. S. Senate could possibly do we welcome any opportunity to weigh in on your counter parts in russia or whoever it might be for any particular issue we would welcome that and be ready to work with you on that as well. Do you know if theres any on going conversations between u. S. Government officials and other countries associated with fifa and these allegations and criminal indictments related to corruption at fifa. Do you know whether our government is associating with other countries trying to facility change. Excuse me. Im going to recess the hearing just for a moment. He is on his way back from a vote. Ill cast the next vote and ill be back but well have a brief subject of the call to chair recess which might be a value to those of you that have been sitting there for a bit so that the subcommittee is recessed until a call to chair. Chair calls the meeting back to order. That was a quick recess. This will be a brief few questions. Mr. Flynn would you commit to establish a better system of accountability within u. S. Soccer through some kind of internal inspector generals, a watchdog protection system. We actually have hired someone to look at all of our ways in which we govern ourselves and that process has been started. And supported by our board as well. When will that process be completed . Its just started so i think it would be a better approach for us to get back to you with the time frames once we have a chance to discuss in more detail. You testified that sports are undermined by a lack of accountability. Would you say that voluntary system is efficient to bring some higher degree of integrity to a corrupt system or at least u. S. Soccer has been involved in a corrupt system . That its being skrutcrutinized by a public authority. I dont want to see them take away autonomy from organizations. I dont think that would be the way to go but i do think if voluntary standards and principles are not enacted then government should set up regulatory protocol to ensure that sports organizations are keeping best practices and standards. Theres a tremendous threat to sports worldwide. We it hasnt come pleatlypletely hit the shores of our country yet. Illegal gaming in sports totals about 500 billion a year. 500 billion a year is bet on sports illegally. That has lead to an increase in match fixing which has been endemic in europe, in africa, in asia, in latin america. While we havent experienced it here its raring its ugly head, six detroit was sentenced to six years in prison for paying College Basketball players to fix matches. And so what im hoping this committee will do and what our government will do is get ahead of the curve to begin to see that certain standards are put in place voluntarily or otherwise in order to bring a bit well hopefully to bring some of the wellknown purity back to sports. Mr. Hershman, you said that members of fifas executive committee should disclose their salaries, i believe . Thats correct. Mr. Gilotti is on fifas executive committee. Mr. Flynn, do you agree he should disclose his earnings . I believe that we have pushed for change on that and i believe that u. S. Soccer and we would support that, yes. Actually, if i might interrupt, senator. Mr. Gilotti, before he was appointed to the executive committee, he served with me on the independent governance committee, and he voted in favor of our recommendation for compensation transparency. Can we expect that will happen then, mr. Flynn . Well do everything we can within our power of the United States Soccer Federation. Ultimately i believe thats going it be a to be a Fifa Executive Committee vote. When will fifa make that decision . I dont know the answer to that. Be more than happy to follow up and get you that. I would appreciate it. Mr. Bery, can you tell the committee what more you think fifa can do, very specifically and directly to stop human rights abuses including Human Trafficking, exploitation of child labor, horrific working conditions, illegal holding of passports in effect involuntary confinement of workers and other abuses involved in construction in host facilities, in hotels, the breadth of these violations, i think has been somewhat inadvertently lost in these proceedings, which have focused more on the corruption, the overt criminal corruption and yet these human rights abuses are real and unspeakable. Youre absolutely right, senator. The bottom line there are two big pieces of the puzzle that fifa can help solve when it comes to addressing the major problems of labor exploitation in qatar today and potentially in future countries that will be future host countries for the fifa world cup. The first piece of the puzzle is the question of what the evaluation process is during the bidding process to be a potential host of the world cup. Now fifa said for the 2026 world cup it will include human rights requirements in its bidding process. Its unclear right now what those human rights requirements are going to be and any such initiative must result in fifa having qukt human rights due dill gens systems in place to avoid human rights abuses in staging world cup events in the future. So thats the first thing, any such evaluation in the context of qatar, for example, would have revealed Serious Problems with labor exploitation, rising up to forced labor and as weve spoken about, the risk of injury and death to some foreign Migrant Workers in the country. The second piece of the puzzle for fifa is what happens when it raises an issue verbally, or via text to the host government in this case qatar, the government of qatar then says okay were going to do x, y and z and a year later as Amnesty International has documented in our report, the government of qatar largely fails to address the issue. Verbal assurances are not enough. So theres a real question for fifa as to what happens now. The clock is ticking and its not enough to wait five years from now to have serious reforms when it comes to labor rights in qatar. Every day that goes by is another day that more of the hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure for the 2022 world cup are already built and completed. And every single day that goes by without labor reforms in qatar is another day in which a foreign Migrant Worker is subject to potentially subject to forced labor, potentially puts their life at risk in a very unsafe construction facility, peshlly coming home to a filthy set of housing accommodations, or is simply denied their pay while their family is at risk of being evicted from their home. The question for fifa what will they do now when a year after the government of qatar has claimed its going take steps to address the problem . The reality is, for some of the worst Human Rights Violations in qatar in the context of labor exploitation, not enough has been done. I want to just add one last or maybe two last questions one of them having to do with an issue raised by my colleague, senator klobuchar. I was astonished and troubled to learn that mens teams that exited in the very first round of competition in the world cup were paid 8 million, an amount 400 greater than what the women world champions were awarded. Mr. Flynn, what can be done . And what are you planning to do to address this pay disparity. Thank you. We are a strong advocate for the womens game. During the championship weekend i met with my counterpart who was the operating officer for the world cup. We addressed several things in terms in an action report being compensation. I would call team environment, the types of hotels, the number of teams at hotels, all of those kinds of things, should be included in an afteraction report. Well continue then with our Fifa Executive Committee member mr. Gilotti to push for continued development on the womens side and continue one of those items is increase in compensation for those competing and participating teams in the world cup and in other competitions potentially as well. Thank you. I will have more questions for you on this issue. I will submit them in writing. I think your testimony, all of your testimony has been very helpful and informative. In my view this hearing is really only a beginning of an inquiry that the congress has a responsibility to conduct. And that inquiry is only one step in a larger, very intensive and critical scrutiny that has to be given to the responsibility of United States sports organizations. We have spent a good deal of time over the last 24, 48 hours talking amongst ourselves about issues of national security. And the agreement that has been reached by the administration to stop nuclear proliferation, most specifically with iran the power of the United States consists not just of its military force but its moral example. Its exceptionalism devised from its values and its ethics. And the fans here and around the world deserve better from these sports organizations that have responsibility to oversee and organize the game of soccer. Corruption is not a game. It is deadly serious. It is criminal. And it betrays the trust of fans,. U. S. Soccer as ive said earlier, had a responsibility to know or should have known and the fans can judge which is worse. I want to thank you again for being here today. And hope that you will continue to cooperate with our inquiry. Thank you. Mr. Blumenthal, thank you very much. This is our last round of questioning. Ill bring this hearing to a conclusion. Particularly under the assumption i may have suggested to you you needed a recess, so were going to give you one were going to adjourn. First let me say before i do that, thank you all for your testimony. This is, in my view, something thats a very important issue, a very serious matter. Mr. Flynn, i particularly thank you for your testimony. And i want you and our audience, our witnesses, those who are paying attention to this hearing that we want absolutely the best for u. S. Soccer. I think the point i would make is we cant tolerate the status qu o quo, and theres circumstances from that status quo, they are real, perhaps lifethreatening, or lifetaking. And we dont want another decision to be made for the next site of the world cup that is subject to allegations that corruption continues to occur. So from an individual senator i offer to you mr. Flynn, u. S. Soccer federation the opportunity to work in any way we can to assist you as you make the effort to make sure the status quo does not continue and i thank you very much for being here as i would say to all of the witnesses here. Thank you for the serious nature in which we treated this topic. With that, let me say a few significant words that are necessary for the record and that is that the hearing the hearing record, the record of this hearing will remain open for two weeks. During that time senators are asked to submit any questions in writing that they have for the record. Upon receipt by you the witnesses we would request that you submit written responses to the Committee Just as soon as possible. And with that, i will continue conclude this hearing. And again, thank the witnesses. This hearing is now adjourned. [ hearing adjourned ] the head of the federal air Marshall Service testifies tomorrow about air marshall readiness and aviation security. Well have live coverage from the House Homeland Security subcommittee on transportation at 10 00 a. M. Eastern here on cspan3. Later in the day, Janet Yellens back on capitol hill to take more questions about Interest Rates and the economy. Watch live coverage from the Senate Banking committee at 2 30 eastern. Also here on cspan3. This weekend on the cspan networks, politics books, and American History. A road to the white house coverage features nearly all of the president ial candidates and begins friday night in iowa. At 8 00 eastern were in cedar rapids, iowa for the Democratic Party hall of fame dinner. Saturday weir live at the family leadership summit in ames, iowa. Sunday evening 6 30 eastern, interviews with Lindsey Graham and john kasich, who plans to announce his candidacy on monday. Saturday morning on cspan 2, live from new york city, the 17th annual harlem book fairs, with talks on African American economics and race and politics. Sunday night at 10 00, political commentator ann coulter says the greatest issue facing the u. S. Is immigration. And on American History tv on cspan3, saturday afternoon were live from the warren g. Harding symposium on modern first ladies. Speakers include author cynthia biddinger, ann dunlap and the executive director of the National First ladies library. And a little after 9 00, jake ersling shows how the u. S. Government used propaganda to persuade citizens to join the military, buy war bonds and keep national secrets. Get our complete schedule at cspan. Org. Next Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti talks about how mayors can address national issues. He talked about immigration spt minimum wage at an event hosted by the National Press club. Is she chair still . Hi, everybody. Hello. Especially you, mayor. Welcome to the National Press club. Im bob wiener and im the host of todays event, moderator and this is a news Makers Committee event and were happy to have you all here. Were especially happy to have today Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti who will discuss the nations broken immigration system and his plans to address Immigration Reform through his local auspices while Congress Remains in gridlock. He will also this year he launched the step forward l. A. Campaign which raised nearly 4 million to help 100,000 angelineos work legally by the time his first term ends. Mayor garcetti will also make the case for the 15 minimum wage that was recently adopted by the city of los angeles. The nations second largest city. On june 13th it was signed. The mayors plan called for incremental increases in the minimum wage over the next five years. Mayor garcetti will also highlight los angeless leadership in Water Conservation as california battles a historic drought. This is mayor garcettis first press club event since he was elected in 2013. Following 20 to 30 minutes of remarks, the mayor will take questions from the media and club members. The event will be in a News Conference format. We will moderate the questions and it will work pretty well and autumn kelly if youd raise your hand, our onsite coordinator, will play vana white and pass around the microphone, that way everybody can be on cspan, which is covering the entire event. With a back to basics agenda, mayor garcetti has focused on job creation. Since he took office, los angeles has added more than 85,000 new jobs and registered almost 60,000 new businesses, reducing the citiasy ascitys Unemployment Rate by 3. 2 . He was sworn in as the 42nd mayor of los angeles after being elected four times by his peers to serve as president of the city council from 2006 to 2012. From 2001 until taking office as mayor, he served as Council Member representing hollywood, echo park, silver lake and atwater village. He was one of the first major Public Officials to endorse barack obama for president. In full disclosure the Democratic Convention is where we met and put the mayor on the phone with his friend chuck levin who holds the national and los angeles record with his mother for Voter Registration anywhere in the country, you having registered 100,000 voters. Congratulations, chuck on that incredible performance. So the mayor earned his bachelors and masters from columbia university. He studied at oxford and the London School of economics, and later taught at the university of Southern California. He and his wife Amy Elaine Wakeland have a young daughter. Hes a lieutenant in the u. S. Navy reserve and avid jazz pianist and photographer. And is very much in shape and an advocate of physical fitness. I want to thank joann booze the National Press club staffer who makes sure news makers events happen. Crouching in the corner is the Service Winner of the year, noel st. John the photographer for the National Press club, who will be shooting. I mentioned autumn kelly. Is naomi where are you . The Communications Director for mayor garcetti and your whole team. Thank you very much for making this happen. Our team, chris anthony, where are you . Super clemson student had a piece on the front page of the Washington Times for us. And from clemson, sylvain staines, from the university of oklahoma, if youd raise your hand. And i want to introduce my wife dr. Patricia berg who suffered through all of this and actually kind of enjoys it. Can chuck has said that mayor garcetti is the smartest mayor in los angeles history and i want to say my wife is the smartest in the whole country. He runs the lab at George Washington Medical Center discovered a gene activated in 80 of women with breast cancer, had more cameras at her News Conference than when dick cheney was sick at George Washington Medical Center. So congratulations. So i think that covers everyone. Now mayor garcetti on immigration, minimum wage and the drought, and we are so proud to have you, and thank you for coming. Thank you so much bob. Thank you. Thank you so much, bob, and a very good morning, everybody. Thank you for coming out here. Its a little earlier for me on west coast time than for you, but its certainly a great joy to be here. I appreciate you coming here for my analysis of the historic ran u. S. Agreement and review of Donald Trumps golf courses. We have, i think, a very exciting moment, and i do appreciate everybody being here in the midst of a very busy newsweek. Because what i want to talk to you about is as important as anything in the headlines today. I would offer to you its as important for the future of our country and for the cities of america as anything that were talking about in the president ial election and in the coming weeks. It is a very exciting time to be a mayor in americas cities. I am the mayor of the largest city and the largest state in the union, the second largeest city in america, i place that is arguably the western capital of the United States and one of the great global citizens of the world today. In many ways, i embody that city. I have an italian last name, im half mexican half jewish. Ive been referred to as a kosher burrito. Its confusing, but its what this country is about. We dont care where you came from, who you are, we dont judge you by the zip code youre born in. But the rhetoric of this nation we are a nation that really is about opportunity for all people around the world and around this country. Its an exciting moment for americas cities because if you rewind the clock, it hasnt always been that way. The last half century for americas cities have been tough ones. In the 60s, they were burning. In the 70s, threatened with bankruptcies. In the 80s more unrest. And the last techdecade, the most crippling recession of my lifetime. New york which was synonymous with muggings is now a place with abundant investment. Detroit, which saw its population cut more than in half is a place where we see manufacturing and investment coming back. And los angeles which was synonymous with the dissolution of our diversity is now seen as a model, a place that embodies in many ways what the world looks like today and what this country will look like tomorrow. And i think that were seeing an economic resurgence in this country that really is fueled by americas cities. Very different than the fight and the fright that americas cities represented over these past decades. In some ways this was most embodied when i came here to this city as the class of mayors, in town from pittsburgh, to seattle, to new york, los angeles, new mayors were elected in that year and the president and Vice President invited us to the white house to have a round table in the roosevelt room for almost two hours we went around democrat, republican man, woman black, brown white, gay, straight, from this country, who represented americas cities, and we have a lot of commonality on the issues that we talked about. The same ones that i want to talk to you about today. The three big is. Inequality lack of investment and integration around immigration. The president asked me to take off the comments. I said if this was the 60s or the 70s, mr. President , i think we all would be here coming as americas cities as they were burning too, asking washington to save americas cities. But given what we all see as americans right now, that washington feels broken, that theres inaction, i said the formula has been reversed, mr. President. Americas cities are here to save washington. I do think that innovation i do think that investment, i do think that policy work and the American Dream in many ways is best embodied and most alive in americas cities. Part of that is just part of the job description. We as mayors dont have the luxury of being able to decide which issues are partisan. I was elected two years ago as was mentioned by an interesting coalition where i did as well with republicans, independents and democrats alike. Maybe i was elected because i didnt have the support of both the chamber of commerce and organized labor, but allowed me to come in an independent way. Were elected not in partisan elections in los angeles and allowed a republican in a conservative part of my city to feel ownership of me as much as a liberal in a very progressive part of town. In some ways, its the formula that mayors, whether theyre elected in a partisan environment or not, must do. Were ceos, we have to fix immediate problems. We have to address ongoing concerns that people have and present a vision that will long last after us of infrastructure. Ribbon cuttings well never be at, but things that we start and launch and hopefully will be able to live as private citizens in our own towns. It transcends geography and ethnicity. We dont ask people what ethnicity they are if a water main breaks. We have to fix it. When someone calls 911, we go there. But los angeles, i inher theed a city and a City Government that was very old. I used to say that we had cuttingedge technology from the 1980s. We had systems that dated back to the 1920s and 30s. Progressive back then, but never updated since. We had systems that were outdated. We have a bureaucratic culture that was osified an overall lack of enthusiasm and accountability from our city employees. People at the bottom didnt feel empowered. People at the top didnt feem like they had to be very accountable. I reinterviewed all my general managers and said, i want you to start counting, measuring and sharing the goals and data we have in our city in the hickenlooper, omalley, Bloomberg Model of what the modern mayor is supposed to do. Were supposed to measure those things, set those goals and have people hold us accountable. Not run away from bad news, not cherry pick for the press hey i reduced crime by 1 , isnt that amazing . Its better than zero but own the bad news fix it, and share the good things that are happening together. And in los angeles my philosophy has been a very simple one, to get back to the basics. To do those things that people depend on government to do. To pave streets, to help businesses create jobs. To make sure that city hall works for you and not against you. To show up when were usually missing and to get out of the way when were an impediment and rebuild the public trust and breathe life back into american democracy from the local level back up. And why shouldnt people expect that from government . Nobody does, but why shouldnt they . Our customers get automatic twoday shipping, get uber on their smart phone, get groceries on their doorstep. Why shouldnt City Government be held to the same level of accountability . When i came in people had a need or wanted to volunteer to say, theres graffiti that needs painted or a couch that needs picking up we reduced to call time by 82 , because i wanted that call picked up quickly, led to a second and a third interaction. Weve seen 85000plus jobs, the most weve seen in pace in a decade. Unemployment cut by more than 3 . Cut our citys business tax, and seen the citys bond rating go from good to great. Weve focused on Core Industries like hollywood, to bring jobs back to California Manufacturing in the aerospace industry, looked at new emergent industries from green jobs to tech. A lot of people dont know that los angeles is now the digital tech jobs capital of the country, more than even in the heart of silicon valley, more than in washington, more than in new york, more than boston. Weve seen a Huge Investment in infrastructure. We havent waited for washington. We havent brought an empty hat to washington thats if youve flown into lax, you know it needs redone. A Million Dollars a day spent in the port of los angeles where 1 out of 50 american jobs can be traced to the ports on los angeles and long beach. 43 of our nations goods come from the sea into that port. Its critical for americas success. Whether its hollywood, which is our calling card to the world, whether its international trade, it isnt just a Great American city, its a gateway for this country, both in and out of this country, for our products and for our economy. Weve seen a record amount of streets be paved in my city. Back to basics of fixing every single sidewalk. But we havent just done old analog things, weve done new digital things. The journalists can hold us accountable because they like me can go to a dashboard like i have on my smartphone and look at where the Building Permits are in the city by geography or the response times for 911 broken down by how long it takes us to transfer that call, how long it takes for a fire truck to roll out, and how long that travel time is, so that we can have accountability together. And we went from unranked to number one in the country. So were seeing a lot of positive momentum coming out of americas second city. We also most importantly are addressing the issue of inequality. If i averaged our citias prosperity, i could say l. A. s doing amazing, more foreign investment, record amount of real estate investment, but we have to look for pockets where i can say that los angeles is the safest of the five big cities in america, but if youre in an area of high crime, who cares . I can say unemployment is down, but if you dont have a job you dont feel that. So we look to those places and those neighborhoods and those households where inequality has been felt so sharply, something thats not unique to los angeles and not even unique to america anymore. But in a new economy, try to figure out creative ways to boost investment and raise wages, which is why im so proud were the largest city to have raise at the minimum wage a path way to 15 an hour, lifting people out of poverty and including their family members over a Million People. We have a shot to put that money back on main street its going to be spent, making sure that people can return to that american idea that if you work hard, you should be rewarded. On inequality we havent just looked at minimum wage though. Were looking at the housing crisis. Building more than 100,000 new units of housing, a quarter of which are already under way in the pipeline. Were targeting homelessness accepting the white house challenge to end veterans homelessness. Were housing more in our city than all the other cities that took that pledge, over 240 vets a month. Weve doubled the number of summer youth jobs for youth who are caught in communities, to make sure they have one, two or three years of jobs that connect them to that employers that love the hires theyre making and also make sure theyre not stuck in a rut of poverty generation after generation. Were tracking, because were selected as a promise zone many sixth and seventh graders, and showering them with all of the resources that they and their families need to escape poverty to graduate, to go to college and to get good jobs. And the reflection of inequality so much of the National Debate whether its policing and the gulf between Many Police Departments and community, which in many ways is a reflection of ineemtquality. In los angeles the first big city to put cameras on every officer, long before staten island. We were testing that months before i was in office. A new relationshipbased policing division to look at the ways we can strengthen that. And because of the pain we went through in the 90s with rodney king and other thing, we have independent investigations, an inspector general, a faith in resilience that doesnt make us immune from that conversation, but helps us address those feelings of inequality too. So i said that in los angeles, were getting back to the basics. But theres one thing of those three is, of investment, in equality and integration. And thats our immigrants. Los angeles is an amazing community. Its the most diverse collection not just of people in america, not just people in the world, but i would offer to you and this has been researched that los angeles is the most diverse city in human history. We have in los angeles, over 224 languages and dialects spoken. We have people from more than 115 countries of origin. One of my favorite statistics los angeles has 39 countries where the largest population outside of that home country resides in l. A. Sos it the largest collection of armenians outside of armenians, et cetera, the list goes on. People of mexican descent mexico city is number one, l. A. Is number two, and you return to mexico for number three. If you rewind the clock again and go back 25 years ago as los angeles was burning in the unrest in the wake of the rodney king verdict, people and the National Media talked about a race war and race riots. They wondered whether African Americans and latinos and koreans would ever get along, and it was seen as a weakness our diversity. Cut forward to last year in november, i was traveling in seoul, korea and the mayor said, how do we get to be more like los angeles . We need more diversity like what you have. There was a recognition that a declining population in korea, a lack of diversity was making them uncompetitive and that los angeles was suddenly seen as the model. It was a remarkable turnaround in just over two decades to what the narrative was about los angeles and even about america back then. So this diversity which, you know, i love the expression people say you can see the face of the world on the streets of l. A. As a side note, ive always found the opposite to be true too. Im a fourth generation angelineo, growing up and embodying that diversity, i could be on the streets of cairo, tel aviv mumbai, or mexico city, and feel at home because it looked like the face of los angeles. For us to compete as americans and its always been our great strength, even when our diversity didnt look as diverse as it does today whether it was pure tans and quakers, this is the place that has always been a country of chances where the boldest people cross rivers and oceans to come here. So i want to reserve the bulk of my remaining time to speak to you about what we must do to make sure that integration continues here in america. Its the primary driver, i believe, of our success and will be in the future. Let he give you one other example. Riots games, anybody heard of that . Play league of legends . Its a video game online multi player roleplaying game, that is responsible for 3 of the Global Internet time spent by all human beings, so maybe the reduction of 2 of our Global Productivity but this company didnt exist five years ago and we moved them into the city of los angeles recently, part of our reducing taxes helping people with white glove service. And often people say the old playbook for mayors is get a fortune 500 companies. They often has a couple hundred employees. This company didnt exist and we helped bring them into los angeles. I asked one of the cofounders, i said why are you in l. A. . I graduated from the university of Southern California and los angeles has great universities. We have many engineers but they louised to leave. Were retaining more of them because of whats happening in our sector. Two, i need a jumping off point to go to the world because our customers are in every country. Lax is now the number one airport in the world. Were ranked number five in overall traffic, but the four above us are hubs and its people flying through that are above us. But if you get on or step off a plane, were the Busiest Airport in the world. The number one air traffic corridor in the world, which is the east coast of the United States to london will be displaced the west coast to china as the most important hub. I was a boy in 1983 there were 44 fights a week 91 stop to china now each week. He said we need a jumping off point and l. A. Is perfect. But the last thing he said, we need a diverse population. I need engineers and salesmen and women who speak every language of the world, and theres no place like los angeles. This was easy. It was a nobrainer. So when we look at that as just a piece of what america can be, we need to reembrace our diversity as a strength of this nation, something we have to figure out a path way of integration that will be the core of who we are. I want to be clear. Wa i offer today is not some sort of brave, new policy area. Or uncharted territory. This is a return to who we are as americans, to a core value. In some ways, a very conservative return to what we are about, and what we need to be about. The investment in our people the eradication of inequality and lastly the integration of our immigrant communities. This has always been our formula for success. And it must be once again. So first and foremost, we need comprehensive Immigration Reform. Youll hear it a million times but it bears repeating again. Washington is failing us. I feel that as a mayor. My fellow mayors feel that and i believe americans feel that. Even as the rhetoric has shifted in a positive ways and i want to thank those in both parties who are saying the right thing. I came here a couple trips ago, met with tom donahue and richard trem ka at the flcaio, both of them mentioned it as one of the top issues for them. How often do we get that coalition together . Not very often. When i met with Republican Leadership on the house with Speaker Boehner with majority leader mccarthy they both talked about how important integration was. In many ways this reminds me of the shift in Marriage Equality. There was a day the rhetoric shifted and people talked about how we can achieve a measure of equality. There might have been disagreements is it civil unions, is it marriage but there was a shift that happened. And it is happening so thats a positive thing. But at the same time, as the rhetoric has shifted we havent seen any actions come along with it. And this bipartisan rhetoric, i think, is something that has transcended at the city level. We as mayors and cities are now leading because we must. We have to fill this vacuum. Its a practical necessity for our Communities Just as much as fixing that water break of a water main, filling a pothole. Its a problem that demands solving. There are nine million legal permanent residents in america. An estimating 11 million undocumented residents in america. Of which theres 1. 2 million dreamers, Young Americans who really only know the United States of america, folks who remind me of my own grandfather who came here without documentation, im sure in the day, across a border. He fled a war when his father was assassinated in the mexican revolution and my great grandmother carried him in her arms across the border to texas and then to los angeles. And here in los angeles, or there in los angeles, he was given an opportunity. He was not drafted for world war ii because he wasnt a citizen, but he volunteered and fought as a sergeant in the United States army in the Pacific Theater and earned his citizenship. Came back, learned a trade, became a barber, and now as his grandson, im the mayor of los angeles. The integration of his story is like the stories that we hear every single day in los angeles. Folks who have graduated from ucla, who have gotten their masters in architecture, but who are working under the table in less than minimum wage jobs. Who the moment they went through daca in this first round of deferred action were able to go to work at that architecture firm, help america, buy their father their first car and save up for a home, it strengthened the economy the social fabric, and at the end, this country itself. We need to figure out a way to get people like that on a path to citizenship. We need to figure out a way not to just give them a legal stal us, but to engage them involve them, hire them and make sure theyre part of the core of this country. Now, cities have played this role historically. Think about new york in the turn of the 19th to 20th century. As people streamed off of boats from places like italy and ireland, and greece. The cities set up these citizenship Integration Centers where they would teach people fwrish english, where they would train them on what it meant to take part in local government, help them enroll in public schools. Thats a reason why i reestablished something i had as a Council Member, an office of immigrant affairs in the city of los angeles. We now know about 12 of these that mayors have launched or oversee around the United States. Its not an issue area, its a value were putting throughout government. Its not like this is the area that we deal with immigrants, for me to be successful with rek and parks policy weigh have to talk to immigrants. For our libraries too do well, immigrant immigration has to be a part of what we do. Were pushing forward a different way of looking at how we serve the people who are residents of los angeles. The cities for Citizenship Initiative is something i started with the big three mayors, with mayor emmanuel and de blasio where we started an initiative that looked at trying to integrate those folks who are legal permanent residents and get them to become citizens. The first group they mentioned, the nine Million People, that no matter what happens in the midst of the fights over daca and executive action, we have knowaan obligation to try to help become citizens in the United States. Its a recognition that the best way to strengthen our city is to strengthen all cities. Its a collaboration of 18 cities now not just three, we pledge naturalization resources share best practices. We were recently honored by the white house for the National Medal for libraries, because we turned our libraries into citizenship centers. We have in every Single Branch library, both librarians who are trained on Information Available to help folks come to their local library and get to the path way to legal status and to citizenship. Thats been tremendous. Theres 150plus libraries who applied for this medal. Were one of five in the country who won it. Honored also for helping people with the Affordable Care act. Libraries have always been a place for information, no reason they cant find jobs health care and citizenship as well. Second, weve launched a campaign called step forward l. A. , which aims to engage 750,000 legal permanent residents in l. A. And as i mentioned, the centerpiece of this is is theship corners and our libraries. But weve linked 10000 angelineos to either legal status and or citizenship and the best part, its free. Were exporting it now to atlanta, to boston we hope the model continues to go across the country. Then finally the Third Initiative is cities united for immigration action, now more than 70 cities that have gotten involved in hard action between texas versus the United States. Its simply disheartening. The executive action was a small step forward, i dont want to overstate it but an important one. It was incremental, but it reminded me of civil unions during the Marriage Equality debate, something we thought would get momentum, not the promise land, but an important step forward. But even that was met by intolerance and hostility. And that hostility is something that i think is unamerican. Not only because of my own family experience, but because los angeles is the epicenter of Immigration Reform. The county has 500,000 residents that are eligible for relief. The city has 220,000 of those. Let me be clear, its not just im not trying to preach from an ethical issue. This is a practical issue. Citizenship increases someones earnings 8 to 11 . We have increased if we got folks through executive action, the earnings of this country by 124 billion. A 230 billion increase in our gdp. Tell me what other program can do that with a stroke of a pen. In my city, it was 3 billion that were leaving on the table for the economy. Like miss lopez the woman from ucla that i mentioned a moment ago. And it increases the income of nonimmigrants. For those of us who are legal citizens, we would see our income go up as well, but courts stepped in and put a stop to that. One of the reasons im advocated on behalf of the president s executive action, we brought 70 mayors together for this action, to file a brief. We launched online action that was signed by ram emanuel the mayor of atlanta, among others, and a majority of americans 62 support a path way to citizenship. We can agree to disagree on how, but lets keep that core value, that we need to do that. Opposition to reform is in decline. In 2024, well look back at todays republican primaries shocked that immigration was so hotly contested. Just as we look back and wonder how Marriage Equality was taboo to both parties. And the pace with which that happened. And i want to add to a list of folks, if we look at these historic moments in American History. Seneca falls in the 1840s and selma, alabama in 1965, dlaneo california, that same year with farm workers, massachusetts, 2004 when Marriage Equality started to move forward. I would add to that list, los angeles, 2015. It is the place and the date where its ground zero for this issue. Its a movement that looks to differing ideas to spawn new solutions, but it returns to very old american values. Its a movement that calls on our politics to be a means of change, not a tool to halt progress. Its a movement that manifests the sweeping advancement by harnessing the power of our cities to integrate our immigrants. Use us, use the cities as engineers not just of economic prosperity, but of american integration. At the same time figure out how we can erase and eradicate income inequality and get america back to our basics. As i mentioned, in many ways my story is the american story. Were a country full of people who make mistake, who takes risks, who cross rivers who cross oceans, who might hit bumps on the road, but who are the bravest, most innovative, most hardest working people on the face of the earth. Were an imperfect country, but as often is said we are the least bad, which makes us the best. And we embrace those things, admit our imperfections on the road to becoming a more perfect union. This is one of those moments where we dig into our hearts we look at our heads, we do a gut check, and we realize that we are a country that does believe there should be some measure of equality, that we should invest in our infrastructure, both human and physical. At the end of the day that the american story is the story of the integration of a diverse population and americas cities are leading the way. Thank you so much. [ applause ] all right. Im happy to talk about the drought, which i know i didnt mention. Im just going to enjoy this water in the meantime. There you go. Let me just lead this off, because its a challenge, this immigration issue, when you have donald trump and others using the kind of rhetoric they do and you said that that would be its embarrassing. What do you do about that . Because, what do you do about the nativist chord that he struck that has now put him at the top of the republican field in the latest polls . And when you talk about boehner and mccarthy and they tell you they agree with you on integration, its important, except that theyre blocking the bill that the senate has passed and is languishing in the house, so how do you get past if you have any great idea on this how do you get past the gridlock that we are at in the congress now . Well, a couple things. One is when somebody polls at 15 of and this could be said about democrats too, a party which is a minority of americans, democrats are as well. But you do the statistics, youre talking about 6 or 7 of americans who are saying absolutely. Thats always been a part of American History. We have nativist chords throughout the knownothings, weve had many parties throughout the years and individuals who have said that, but that doesnt mean it represents america. Certainly been more than 50 of the talk on the news these days but its not necessarily 50 of the perspectives of americans. So i return to the everyday polling thats done consistently, that shows a constant evolution and i would also say that not as a word of warning, but just a statement of fact, in 1994 it was interesting during the Gubernatorial Race between Kathleen Brown and pete wilson. Pete wilson began that campaign and they looked at the top ten concerns of californians. Death penalty and immigration were nine and ten. By the end of it, they were number one and two. What he found that even though it was ninth and tenth in importance, people were aligned against illegal immigration, and as he pumped it up it became number one. He won that race. I dont think that was a punishment, i just think people felt it was out of line with their values who we are. Its like again, Marriage Equality, when it was gay people who folks didnt know, that was one thing when it was your brother, your sister, your coworker, your neighbor, its another thing. I think the same thing is happening with immigration. It isnt just this caricature of folks who broke the law, come in here, doing terrible things but its that young woman who is here at 5 years old and graduates with honors from a great university, whose potential were holding back not just for her which is the right thing to do but the right thing for the nation. How do we break the gridlock in washington . We try to start modeling those things at the local level and build that movement up. As governors sued the president on his executive action the reason the mayors did, some of us are mayors of cities with a population leargeer than the states that were suing against the governor. So its important to remind people that americans arent of a singular mind on this and if you look at the polling, a majority of them want to see that. And even in the republican party, people like john kasich, who is saying we have to figure out a way to deal with the problem. I respect you if you have a different perspective on immigration with me but offer something constructive to deal with folks who are here, because theyre not going away. Dont leave money on the table for our economy, dont leave Human Potential untapped. So its an opportunity to engage with congressional leaders. I hope the timing will be sooner rather than later. They talk about that but we can add the support and the pressure from the cities and thats the main part of my message today. And the other part is you apparently and are you willing to make that mantel are leading a National Effort to get cities to do their own thing with your libraries program, with your education program, with your jobs enhancement with your Citizens Program . Youre leading a National Movement to have the cities end run the congress if they remain grid locked, is that true . Absolutely. I would say, dont see the power you have before you try to exercise it. And i respect the constitution its an amazing document and the power for federal immigration policy is with the federal government, but that doesnt mean were powerless at the local level to do anything for and with immigrants. The immigration, regardless of legal status is something we can continue to work on. We all have something to gain from that. The more integrated people are, the more we gain. It is a very straight, linear formula. You mentioned the drought. So what are you going to do when california goes try in two years . Well, you know, people ask me all the time where im stressed out about the drought. Im truly not. Im very focused on it but im not stressed. We actually have plenty of water. I know that shocks people to hear. In los angeles, weve added a Million People in the last 45 years to our population and we consumed not one more drop of water collectively than we did 45 years ago. How did we do that . We changed our faucets, our appliances, we got smarter about our landscaping. Theres so much water still wasted, even in a place like california, that if we are smarter about our water we can do better. So what are we doing in los angeles . Well we have already, i set a goal of reducing our water usage just in the city by 20 . And we are hitting that goal a year early because what we did, we incentivized 50 of our usage, which was landscaping. We told them wed pay them to change their grass out to nice beautiful, droughttolerant plants. If you use your lawn, i say keep it, but 90 of grass never gets walked on anywhere. Thats reduced our water output. Ive set the boldest goal of any mayor whoever was mayor during the mulholland years if you watched chinatown the incredible engineering that was done to bring every drop of water from north of los angeles we set a goal by 2035 to have 50 of our water produced locally or obtained locally, by putting back water into our wells, by recycling water, by reusing water and by conserving water. And the last data ill give you, 60 of the water we use every day, or the equivalent of we treat to an almost drinkable standard and then we wash it out to the ocean. Imagine if we were piping that back in. We can look to israel australia, and were implementing those sorts of policies on a Massive Public awareness campaign. Steve carell other celebrities are engaged in this character we started called the drop. Hes angry with you because youre taking a shower thats too long. I know there are larger state issues, the Agricultural Sector drip irrigation, et cetera but well have plenty of water in los angeles, and im confident well be able to meet the challenge. And and i guess my last question the city of los angeles and you just signed it raised in phases the minimum wage to 15 an hour. That will help end inequality but what is your counter and make the case that it isnt going to cost jobs . Well, its interesting. We passed that in the county of los angeles, which encompasses ten Million People in the area where theres no city incorporated, they essentially are the city. So the unincorporated areas of l. A. Are a Million People. Were debating that right now as well. I believe theyll pass a minimum wage thats similar to ours. But they did a study and they were asked to poll a thousand businesses and the minimum wage and the impact and i was even blown away. Because i know it will have a positive impact weve seen the studies and the work in the past. But of the thousand businesses, zero of them said they would pack up and leave if the minimum wage was raised. Asked what they would do of course there are certain things that are accommodated, some would have to raise prices, some would have a few less employees but 10 to 12 were saying negative impact, not even negative, but they would do those things. 2 3 of businesses said it was likely they would save money by reducing the cost of employee turnover. In fast food, the turnover is 150 a year. Its expensive to train people when they have sick days when they cant live off their wages. A lot of companies are seeing this. There was a piece, i think it was in the wall street journal that said more and more companies have seen that its good for their bottom line to pay more. Theyre just recognizing the old henry ford kind of thing if you create customers, its a good thing. So it was one thing for politicians to say trust us its going to be okay, but when businesses businesses said they did not expect to reduce staff, to reduce hours 2 said it was likely or machines, 2 said it was likely, zero percent said it was very likely. 45 of employers expect staff to take on additional duties and raise prices well feel that. But like i said, when a billion dollars is put in the pocket of low income angelinos, the same can be said about americans. They dont put that into savings. Theyve been choosing between the phone bill and buying those shoes for their kids for school, youll see that money hit main street in a big way and i think that will help. Questions . Right there. Identify yourself and then ask a question. Then the mike, make sure that the switch part of the mike faces out. Thats how you get the best volume. All right. Okay. Hi. Welcome to washington. Thank you. Im eric morris with the wall street journal. On the minimum wage, and you mentioned that you dont have overly close ties either unions or chambers and those types of places. With the Hotel Workers minimum wage law from last year, that included a carve out for like a bargaining agreement, a citywide law does not explain to us if those votes are important and if you are serving as a model for others to follow, should those cities look at having such carveouts in their loss . Foifrt of all, i do have close eyes i just didnt get that endorsement. Republican business men like rica reduce sew who is one of our biggest Shopping Mall owners who would probably be hardest hit by a minimum wage, people like eli brode were very supportive, even sometimes pushing to go faster. So in terms of a carve out, i dont support that. I think i understand the logic of it, but i think a minimum wage should be a minimum wage. There should be nobody who earns underneath that. And i understand how it can be an organizing tool actually. Sign that, even though that was a part of it. But i think in general, for the average person this isnt about just organized labor. Most people are not part of a union, you know . Most arent and minimum wage workers never are. What can we do to make sure thats raised up for everybody . Thats the pathway were taking for los angeles. I think its been overblown, its a small issue and we will hit a slow single digit percent of workers and im interested in hitting the most people in the most aggressive way we can. In which 50 years my wonderful almost hispanic town of Santa Barbara and i was an intern at the l. A. X. Archt in the 70s with the newest airport that might have a accepts of change. Well get it back. Well get it back. Hope so. Would have been covering immigration, two books about it, actually. I have two questions. When is its popular to say that congress is gridlocked over Immigration Reform but really the big issue is between comprehensive and piecemeal. Right. As you poing pointed out, there were many, many issues that republicans agreed with including many want to legalize so are you you talk about comprehensive Immigration Reform. Why does it have to be comprehensive . Why cant it be piecemeal . And the other thing i want you to remark about is sanctuary cities, the issue was brought up yesterday in a hearing that with much exasperation, why do we even have immigration laws if the cities are going to say no, we dont believe in that. Well, thank you. First question ill take whatever piecemeal i can get. So im not opposed to piecemeal. If somebody said levi for tomorrow, id absolutely push for that. The reason i push for comprehensive, im right now trying to end homelessness amongst homeless veterans. Thats why im focused on. I think comprehensive Immigration Reform doesnt leave anybody behind. We need high school workers, we need dreamers. And anybody who is here is not leaving, so i think we need to solve the problem one way or another. Second sanctuary cities, the term has morphed. Sanctuary cities, a lot of cities have been thrown in that technically arent sanctuary cities cities like San Francisco, who during the civil war in central america, whether or not when the United States wasnt letting in certain folks were fleeing the violence and saying, well okay, were a sanctuary city thats what the sanctuary is about. Now this has morphed into this thing like sanctuary for criminals which is not historically accurate. Its kind of a perverting of the word. In los angeles, as i stated recently, we do cooperate and kword nais nice with i. C. E. All the time and any locality should. When we find a violent criminal and we check the immigration status, if deportation can be a part of it that happens all the time and it should happen. But what we demand is there should be a judicial order if we have somebody not at that level and i. C. E. Wants to have a detainer. We wanted to make sure theres a judge who says, you know theres something there. To me that is about establishing trust making sure that of that 550,000 people i said that people who are just like most americans who are citizens are lawabiding participate in the Public Safety of our city. Dont think that a local Law Enforcement official on a traffic stop is going to say, by the way, can i see your immigration papers . By the way, if we were doing that id have to stop solving murders, rapes, like i couldnt do my core job. Bill irwin with the National Association of beverage importers. This past year, we experienced a debilitating west coast port yes. Slowdown. Many companies lost their entire Holiday Season because they couldnt ship at the west coast ports. Yes. What do you recommend to east coast mayors who are going to experience this in a year or so . Same can get kind of contract negotiations. And, you know, i got very involved in that. I asked the federal government, the white house to bring in federal mediation which they did. At the end they closed the deal when the secretary of labor and secretary of commerce were in San Francisco and i was pleased that we were able to solve that sort of strike. I got ceos of you know the gap, i was here afterwards talking to all the big importers and exporters and every Industry Association telling them the positive news of what were trying to do to modernize and to not just the physical infrastructure but also the negotiations. But i think the east coast is different than the west coast a little bit partially because some of the folks who work in the unions here are more afill crated with the actual companies. Theres a different model. So its traditionally been a little more harmonious, but that doesnt mean that there cant be strikes and unrest. What i would say to everybody what got us through the logjam is this isnt just the union and an administrative issue. When we look at that one out of 50 jobs that depend on the ports in l. A. Long beach whether it was a small retailer who couldnt get their gifts in from asia or whether it was a huge retailer like the home depot or gap, the impact that it had was debilitating on the american economy. So first i would tell the mayor to elevate this up, youre dealing with the teamsters and the Sanitation Department who might be striking. This is a real american issue. Second i would do what were doing for this next round, which is get there early and establish early on that were not going to back this up to the 11th hour and get an agreement early on that there cant be any work slowdowns. At one point, we had bananas spoiling, and i can guarantee you this next round for the west coast is going to start very early. Were going to make sure to bring in the big guys and gals, the ceos of the multi nationals and not just the reps. Were friends with both sides, but the end actually had when i said america right now, is looking at efficiencies. Who is looking at us that way . I said i think youve been so much in your organization, apart and it impacts the entire United States. Okay. So you want to get priority now to the media who have questions. If youre with the media outlet raise your hands. L. A. County doesnt come up with a minimum wage thats close to or matching the citys, is that going to be disruptive for the metro area economy . Because there would sllly be a twotier wage system in the area. I think it will be but not the way people think it will happen. If you have a higher minimum wage, i would say you create poverty pockets. If you have a lower minimum wage across the board were, the best workers come into the city of element a. The best trained workers comes into the city of l. A. So our businesses will continue to benefit from that. And we looked at some good Empirical Data on this. Like restaurants, county next to county, the ones who raised the minimum wage and thought, well, those restaurants must be going out of business, etcetera. That didnt happen. And maybe it was a poor area or a rich city like San Francisco we saw the opposite effect. So i tell other cities, dont do this because im asking a fair from you to make sure it doesnt hurt us, but do it for yourself. Because workers can cross city boarders. And in the city of