Includes a discussion about Economic Growth in the workforce with senator jeff merkley of oregon. Please welcome to the stage [applause] good morning, everyone. I am the president of the center for American Progress and i am thrilled to welcome you to the 2017 ideas conference. We are thrilled to have people from all over the country here for our third conference. I think many of you know i am user so active twitter i encourage you to eat of tweet about todays event. The center for American Progress is dedicated to improving the lives of americans. As you can tell from todays agenda, we strive to progress values on every possible front. We have an incredible lineup of speakers who will talk about a broad range of issues facing our country, from making the economy work for everyone to protecting our national security, fighting the threat of climate change, safeguarding our civil rights. More people are taking Political Action than that any point in my lifetime. When we celebrate that Po