We did have a lot of major media that came into this event and this room has been bursting through the seams. When you go back to the newsroom please insist your editors like you do their job. [applause] thank you for coming we have a special treat for you. Those red tickets, those are for a complimentary beverage that are served over at the bar. Appear they should have been here, seek them out and talk to them. The important part of the conference is about to begin and we want to remind you the audio of all of these presentations will be available on that website. Thank you so much for coming. [applause] one more thing i would like to thank the washington report publisher whos been sitting here and his whole generation of leaders, ralph nader who is here come the Harriet Fulbright and others in this room and the many students that came to. Audience members, exhibitors and advertisers we couldnt have had this without your help. Thank you. Enjoy your drinks. [inaudible conversations] [i
First, strengthen competition, and advance innovation. At the top of that list is the agencys vote last month that will make it easier for consumers to buy a settop box or an app from someone other than their cable company. Is Technology Neutral proposal means that any company will be able to manufacture a settop box or design an app and sell it to consumers. Should a consumer wish to continue renting their settop box from their paytv provider, they can. No one is going to take it away from them. I dont know if theres that much of a love affair with a settop box i that if they wantt they can keep it. Very importantly the fccs proposal is an opportunity to enhance access to independent and minority programming giving consumers the ability to choose between settop boxes or apps with improved search functionality and user interfaces. Nearly 50 years ago the fcc took action to give Consumers Choice as to whether they wanted to rent their landline telephone from ma bell. Consumers not only
Not that still makes sense in todays market. They are putting together that work plan. Will be more than happy when that process is completed to obviously provide you Additional Information on precisely what were thinking. The key here is to make sure that the Playing Field is level between those who are owners and those who are producers to make sure theres not an unfair advantage in the relationship and to make sure in difficult times that those who have invested a lot of hard earned resource and time are treated fairly if a contract is terminated order for some reason a contract is modified. We have had examples where folks have been dealt a very serious and difficult blow in tight circumstances. The Avian Influenza situation was important. Particularly those who lost birds. We found not all the payments were going to the producers who were economically suffering as well. We want to make sure its a fair and equitable relationship. Thats the purpose of the review of the rules. What d
A reminder, well have live coverage of mrs. Reagans funeral from the president ial library in simi valley friday at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. White house spokesman josh earnest took reporters questions about the Supreme Court vacancy, last nights president ial primary and this is a one hour portion of todays briefing. Good afternoon, everybody. I do not have anything off the top so we can go straight to questions. Darlene, would you like to start . Do you have anything to add to your reports that u. S. Special forces are questioning the head of the Islamic State units trying to develop Nuclear Weapons . Unfortunately, i do not. Ive seen those reports. At this point im still constrained im still constrained by some Operational Security concerns from answering them. You do know there are u. S. Military forces that are on the ground in iraq that are part of these forces that are dedicated to carrying out raids, collecting intelligence and where possible getting access to high value targets, but
Poverty, lack of basic infrastructure like housing, Public Safety deficiencies among other things. The Unemployment Rate there is totally on acceptable it is near 50 , and an equally large percentage of the population is below the poverty level, and they have made steady progress on Economic Development in recent years, but they really need a boost. As part of the president s efforts, this promise own will help the Navajo Nation tackle the issues outlined in their application, which i have talked a little bit about here. I simply urge you to give consideration to the requests. I know there are many communities in need, but few face the extremely difficult conditions we see on the Navajo Nation. Sec. Vilsack that is one of the reasons we include that area and our strike zone initiative, but you are right, the strikes on would extend that approach to the federal agencies, so i appreciate the comments, senator. Sen. Udall could you tell me a little bit about the strikeforce effort . Sec.