Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150114

In always good for the country as well. On the other side of the political spectrum, former Texas Governor rick perry is believed to be preparing for a run for president. How were your dealings with him as mayor of san antonio . Governor perry served, as folks may remember from 2001 until just recently. And i served on city council in san antonio from 2001 to 2005. Most of the time i interacted with governor was around Economic Development projects. And often times when mayors and governors interact on Economic Development, everyone is on the same page. You want to see investment in your local community. Senators are usually involved in sparking that investment. I have said publicly and privately that, with regard to Economic Development, former governor perry did make that a priority. So my relationship with him on those issues was cordial and good. When he supported san antonio. Obviously, i have much different views from him on a whole host of issues. And i believe in general that texas is getting it half right right now for the 21st century. But i wish him well in the future. In the same vein, how were and are your dealings with senator ted cruz . We had a good meeting when i was going through my confirmation process. Sat down in his office, talk about where a good spot to get texas barbecue is in d. C. [laughter] a place called hill country he said. He and i have different views as well. But what i am looking for as a newcomer to washington dc is where we can Work Together on policies. Whether it is on premium reduction or the work we do in Public Housing or any number of policies. I am here to get a job done, to create more opportunity for folks out there. If it is senator cruz that we can work with or senator cornyn who was kind enough to introduce me at my confirmation hearing, i am eager to do it. I am eager to work with people across the ideological spectrum in the service of creating opportunity for everyday americans, whether they come from texas or somewhere else. Could you comment on the president s outreach to cuba . As the president has said the policy we had in place with regard to cuba was in place for five decades and did not work. And so, the question now is, how do we go forward with a sensible policy of engagement that requires cuba to begin making a change of course . And i am satisfied the president has taken a sensible, prudent step in that direction. That is very meaningful for many americans. I know in the cubanamerican unity, this is a sort source of a lot of different views. But i believe that folks on different sides of that recognize that the goal is to ensure we continue to promote freedom and democracy. And the president has said he believes this the best and most effective way to do it. And many folks of different ideological backgrounds have said that they agree with that, this is a sensible policy. I look forward to progress on the. The penultimate question, before we had the last question, do you think republicans will get on board with immigration were warm, and did the president go far enough in his immigration proposals . The president made a prudent decision to take action. A first step to fix our broken immigration system. There are folks who have suggested that he did not go far enough. I disagree on that. The president has done what is within his authority, and he has been very reasonable about that. Doing something that is measured and at the same time does go further than any president has before to say that we are a nation of laws. We are also a nation of immigrants. And we are going to create a way to be both of those things. To help keep families together. We have folks that are acting responsibly united they, get them to the back of the line. It is also true that the congress has the opportunity to pass legislation. In congress disagrees with the president on his immigration action, they can pass a bill. In fact, americans out there are waiting for congress to pass comprehensive Immigration Reform. If it passed in a wide partisan way in the senate, the house of representatives should have brought comprehensive Immigration Reform to the war floor. They did not. Now it is up to the congress to do the responsible thing and pass comprehensive Immigration Reform. I believe, if and when they do, that will look a lot like what the president has laid out and the senate supported a year and a half ago. Something that is responsible and accomplishes both ensuring that we protect our borders but also that we do something about the 11 million folks who are already here. Because it is not realistic to think we are going to report 11 million people. Mr. Secretary, i would like to resent you with a Traditional National press club mug. Should you return on future occasions, you will complete the set. [laughter] i have not met your twin brother, but the questioner says, being a secretary means being overcommitted. That being the case, will you ever consider allowing your brother to serve as your body double . [laughter] i have to be honest that i will not consider that. My brother habitually introduces himself by saying i am a minute uglier than he is. I will skip that. [laughter] thank you, mr. Secretary. Thank you for being here. We are adjourned. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] next, president obama makes remarks before his meeting with congressional leaders. Then governor Chris Christie delivers his state of the state address. After that, senator rand paul at the conservative policy conference. President obama travels to iowa wednesday to speak about broadband access. We will join the president live at 3 40 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. After his first full year in office, Terry Mcauliffe delivers the state of the commonwealth address wednesday. We will be live from the capitol in richmond at 7 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the cspan networks. On cspan2 saturday night at 10 00, wall street journal editor Brent Stevens argues our competitors are taking advantage of the situation abroad created by the u. S. As it focuses on domestic concerns. Sunday night at 10 00, steve israel on his recent novel about a salesman and a topsecret surveillance program. On cspan3 saturday at 8 p. M. Eastern, Professor John turner on the early mormons and their attempt to create a new zion in the american west. Sunday afternoon at 4 00, the 1964 Academy Awardwinning film about forced desegregation of little rock, arkansas central high school. Let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Email us at www. Cspan. Org. Or send us a tweet. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on facebook. Follow us on twitter. President obama met with congressional leaders tuesday at the white house to discuss policy and issues for the coming year. He made a brief statement to the press before that meeting. Everybody all set . Good. I want to welcome the congressional leadership to the white house. Harry reid is absent. He is convalescing a little bit from the mishap at the gym. But he will be back strong next week. I want to thank the speaker and leader mcconnell as well as dick durbin for filling in for mr. Reid and nancy pelosi. First of all, some of these folks i have not seen. I have not had an opportunity to wish them a happy new year. To the speaker, i want to point out i said there are some things we would disagree on. As the College Football playoff is something we can agree on, i think it turned out pretty well. Particularly for ohio. [laughter] want to congratulate the buckeyes for their outstanding victory and commend oregon. Their quarterback is from my original home state of hawaii. I also want to talk to all this leadership about how we can keep the progress going. Particularly in our economy. The latest job report indicates that the recovery continues to move in a robust fashion. We have now created 58 straight months of privatesector job growth. About 11 million jobs created in the private sector. Unemployment rate is coming down faster than any time in several decades. We are now seeing the strongest job growth overall as well as in manufacturing since the 1990s. We are producing more energy than ever before. The deficit has been cut by two thirds. We are starting to see some movement in wages going up at a time when families are also enjoying lower gas prices. So we are in a position to make sure that 2015 is an Even Stronger year. And to our competitors, we are holding a much better card. The key is to make sure we are working as a team. Obviously, there are disagreements, but there are areas where we can agree. That is where we will be focused. To cite a few examples, i had the state of the union next week. Will be talking about cyber security. With the sony attack that took place, with the twitter account that was hacked by jihadist synthesizers yesterday, it goes to show how much work we need to do both public and private sector, to strengthen our cyber security, make sure Bank Accounts are say safe. I have talked to the speaker as well as Mitch Mcconnell about this, and i think we agree this is an area where we can work hard to get legislation done and make sure that we are much more effective in protecting the American People from these kinds of cyberattacks. I think there are going to be opportunities for us to Work Together on trade, opportunities for us to Work Together on simplifying access to making sure everyone is paying their fair share. There are going to be opportunities to streamline government more responsibly. On each of these issues, i am going to be listening to everybody around the stable. And i am hopeful that, in the spirit of cooperation and putting America First we will be able to look back and say we are that much better off than we were when we started the year. I just want to thank everybody for being here. And i am very much looking forward to not just this discussion, but some real collaboration over the course of the next several months. All right . Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Simon tim is a congressional reporter with politico and joins us to discuss the spending bill coming up in the house and the amendments as far as immigration is concerned. The house is scheduled to debate this policy. Wise this coming up now . It is coming up together right now because the funding for dhs runs out on february 27. It is only midjanuary. Republicans are working ahead of time to make sure Homeland Security is funded. That is because they want to attach controversial legislative language that basically ghut guts the president s actions on immigration. It is kind of the opening salvo to the debate over funding Homeland Security. Five amendments, one of them being offered by house republicans, including a pennsylvania congressman. He sent out his tweet about this amendment. He said most of his priorities in defunding amnesty will now get a houseboat this week, including daca. What would this amendment do specifically . It is interesting to see how the debate moved considerably to the right. The conversation originally began last week. It was looking at overwriting executive actions the president allows announced last november. It could affect up to 5 million people. But what he and other members of congress including those who wrote the legislation, want is to go over older executive actions, including daca. Those that were brought here illegally at a young age. They got a reprieve from deportation with permits from a 2012 program. Republicans want to override that. They want to overwrite a series of memos dating back to 2011 that kind of set the administrations priorities on immigration enforcement. What about the other amendments that will be offered . What are some of the details . The one thing offered by Marsha Blackburn of tennessee has a similar effect. That approaches daca directly saying they cannot accept or renew applications. Right now those under the program have a twoyear work permit. That effectively makes hundreds of thousands of young immigrants eligible for deportation again. You have other amendments, congressman desanto has one saying people accused of Domestic Violence are on a higher level for deportation. Couple of amendments from republicans saying it is the sense of the congress it is a symbolic resolution that you should not prioritized undocumented immigrants, people here illegally, over people who did it in a legal way. What about funding . Is there anything in the amendments that would affect the funding . When people say they are blocking the implementation, that is how they use it. To use the power of the purse thing. Congress, which basically direct how the federal government controls the money, that is what congress is trying to do. Their trying to block funding for the implementation. The problem is that a lot of these programs are what we call city funded. The latest executive actions that the president announced in november are going to be run by the night is they citizenship and immigration services, an agency under the hs dhs. It has been tricky trying to figure out how to defund and agency not funded by congress. The republicans think the light which they put together can be used to implement these actions. At the same time, president obama is sure to the to this. What about House Democrats . They have in holding news conferences talking about objections to these amendments. Any democrats supporting these amendments . I talked to a few lawmakers today. It seems unlikely. If there are a couple of House Democrats that peel off and vote with republicans on these immigration legislation, it is likely to be just a couple at most. A lot of very conservative House Democrats, who actually voted with republicans on a lot of these measures in the last congress, john barrow of georgia , they lost their reelection bids and are no longer in office. You can expect unanimous House Democrat oppositions on wednesday. You mentioned the potential to veto. What our president obamas thoughts on the underlying bill, the Homeland Security spending bill . Why is he opposed to it . Could it lead to a Government Shutdown on february 7 . The white house and the department of Homeland Security, secretary jeh johnson, based they expressed support for the bill about 9. 7 billion in funding for Homeland Security that runs through the rest of the fiscal year. Obviously, immigration is a big part of it, but it is a Diverse Agency that oversees operations regarding national security. They are finding different spending levels they have set for various agencies. Is really immigration amendments they are taking issue with. If those get attached to the underlying bill, it does not matter if they like the funding bill, everything will get vetoed. Thank you for your time. We will follow you on twitter. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me. The u. S. House returns wednesday at 9 00 a. M. For a final day of work for the legislative week. Members resume work on the Homeland Security Department Funding bill. The bill provides 39. 7 billion in discretionary funding for the department through the end of the fiscal year. Current funding expires on february 27. Members will debate amendments to the bill that woulds block the president s executive action on immigration. Than a vote on final passage. Also on the agenda, a bill to make changes to the dodd frank Financial Regulation shall. Members will vote on final passage of that legislation. President obama travels to cedar falls, iowa wednesday to speak about broadband access. We will join the president live at 3 40 pm eastern on cspan2. The cspan cities tour takes books tv and American History tv on the road, traveling to u. S. Cities to learn about history and literary life. We partner with comcast for a visit to wheeling, West Virginia. There are two volumes. The reason i thought it was important to collect these histories is that wheeling transformed into an Industrial City in the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century. It is kind of uncommon in West Virginia in that it true immigrants from various parts of europe here in search of jobs and opportunity. So that generation of immigrants is premuch on. I thought it was important to record their story, to get the memories of the immigrant generation and the ethnic neighborhoods they formed. It is an important part of our history. Most people tend to focus on the frontier history, the civil war history. Those are important but of equal importance in my mind is the industrial period in immigration in wheeling. Wheeling starts as an outpost on the frontier. That river was the western extent of the United States in the 1770s. The first project funded by the federal government for production was the National Road that extended from cumberland, maryland two wheeling, virginia. When it comes here to wheeling that will give this community, which about that time, is about 50 years old, the real spurt it needs for growth. Over the next 25 years, the population of wheeling will almost triple. Watch all of our events saturday at noon eastern on cspan2 and sunday afternoon on cspan3. During his annual state of the state address, Chris Christie spoke about new investments in his state and work with bipartisan groups to accomplish projects like the rebuilding of camden. He spoke from the statehouse in trenton. This is 45 minutes. [applause] thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, mr. Senate president , Lieutenant Governor guadagno, former governors members of the legislature honorable members of the Supreme Court, family and friends and citizens of the state of new jersey i come before you, as required by the state constitution, to report on the condition of our state. The state of our state continues to get better. New jersey is better off than it was last year at this time, and it is certainly far better off than it was just five years ago. While many first years of a second term show a hangover from the campaign and its partisanship, we have fought through that tradition and have real accomplishments to show for that action in 2014. In a year with plenty of politics from some overly partisan corners of this chamber, new jersey has made progress growing our economy, creating jobs, reforming our criminal justice system, and improving some of our most challenged cities like camden. Weve done it because a majority of us care more about our state and new jerseys middle class than we do about scoring partisan political points. Since last january, the total number of people employed in new jersey has grown by over 90,000, and the number of unemployed has dropped by nearly 30,000. We recorded our 5th Consecutive Year of private sector job growth, and the Unemployment Rate continues to steadily go down. We have attracted and retained companies from subaru usa to the philadelphia 76ers to sandoz. We have grown our economy and more people are working, supporting their families and knowing the power of going to work every day in new jersey today than one year ago. [applause] we have done this while holding the line on Government Spending and government employment. We also extended the successful cap on a key driver of property tax growth. And we passed real criminal Justice Reform in new jersey. This bipartisan reform of the bail system keeps violent offenders off the streets and gives nonviolent offenders who often sit in jail because they cant afford bail a chance to reclaim their lives. This is good for public safety. This is good for families. This is good for new jersey. [applause] now, despite this progress despite so much evidence of an improving new jersey, it has become fashionable in some quarters to run down our state. I get it thats politics. But lets be clear. Our growth in this past year has been part of a trend. A trend that began five years ago. It is easy to forget where we were and how far we have come. Five years ago, our Unemployment Rate was 9. 7 . Over 440,000 New Jerseyans were out of work. Today, the Unemployment Rate is 6. 4 . We have cut unemployment by over one third in the last 5 years. And we have created over 150,000 private sector jobs in new jersey in five short years. Five years ago, we faced massive consecutive budget deficits 2 billion for fiscal year 2010 and a projected 11 billion the next year, on a budget of only 29 billion. We fixed it by making hard choices, the way middle class families in new jersey have to do it in their homes. Today, we have balanced five budgets in a row. And we will balance a sixth this year. And we didnt do it the washington way, by raising taxes. We did it by cutting spending, shrinking government, and fundamentally reforming the way government operates. This administration believes today and has always believed that new jersey and america will be a better place for middle class families by shrinking the size of government. [applause] back then, state spending had grown by 56 in the years from 2001 to 2008. Today Discretionary Spending in our states budget is 2. 5 billion below its level in fiscal year 2008. [applause] back then, the size of government was out of control. Today, the number of State Government employees is 6,000 lower than it was five years ago. Is 8,500 lower than it was five years ago. [applause] back then, new jerseys highest in the nation property taxes had increased more than 70 in ten years. We averaged a 7 growth in property taxes per year. Today, we have had four years of less than 2 annual property tax growth. Now its because of the property tax cap we passed together in 2011 is working. This is a bipartisan achievement. [applause] we also came together this year to extend the reforms of interest arbitration awards. This act has continued to make property tax control possible. In these past five years, we have delivered needed tax relief to Small Businesses. The 2. 3 billion Small Business tax relief package that we continue to phase in is improving new jerseys Business Climate and making our state more competitive. That approach is explicit in the sweeping, bipartisan changes weve made to new jerseys economic incentive programs. I want to congratulate you we have streamlined these incentives. And we have better targeted them to areas of our state that need investment most. And the verdict is in and the early returns from the Economic Opportunity act show that it is working to attract and retain businesses. In total, our progrowth policies and streamlined Economic Development efforts have brought in over 12 billion of new public and private investment in new jersey in these last five years. The fact is that, the deeper they look, the more businesses like what they see. From forbes media to vf sportswear, from wenner bread to bayer health care, companies have chosen new jersey as a home for expansion. We have assets that many other states just cannot match. A highly educated work force, a world class transportation network, proximity to large markets, the shore. New jersey has so many attractions. We are americas number two state in biotechnology, number four in per capita income, number three in the use of solar power, and in the top ten in data centers. The results of this past years survey by the new Jersey Business Industry Association said it best. Overall, the bia said, our members believe the state is continuing to move in the right direction. Things are looking good for Small Business in 2015. Now, i know that many of you in this room believe that income tax increases are the way to go. So yes, sometimes we will simply have to disagree. I have vetoed four income tax increases passed by this body. And make no mistake i will veto any more income tax increases that come before me. [applause] and i will do it for one simple reason the higher our taxes are, the fewer people and businesses will come to new jersey and the more who will consider leaving. Raising taxes is the old trenton way, and it didnt work. Taxes were raised 115 times in the eight years before 2010. People and businesses in turn didnt support them and left our state. Between 2004 and 2008 the departure of wealth, investment, and income was staggering some 70 billion left the state. We have begun a new direction and we need to go further, not reverse course. Because despite all our progress, we have more to do. We have to open our ears and listen to our people. Open our eyes and see what is happening around us. New jersey just lost Mercedes Benz usa to the state of georgia. Mercedes, in new jersey since the early 1970s, is leaving for a very simple reason it costs less to do business in georgia than it does in new jersey. Dont take my word for it the leaders of mercedes said it themselves. Economic incentive laws help but lower taxes are better. We will not win the fight to keep and create good paying jobs for our middle class families in new jersey unless we lower taxes. Yet i cannot make this a reality alone. It is you, and only you, the state legislature, who can lower taxes further and make new jersey more prosperous for our middle class families and their children. I urge the Legislature Today to open your eyes and ears to the lessons of mercedes and to act now to lower taxes and prevent another such departure. [applause] we have also done much in the past five years to reform our education system. For the first time in 100 years, we came together to reform tenure, so that failing teachers can be removed from the classroom. For the first time, we brought the concept of performancebased pay to schools in our largest city, newark so that we can pay the best teachers more. Weve reformed and reenergized Public Education in camden under the leadership of paymon rouhanifard, a cooperative School Advisory board and a supportive mayor and council. We have expanded charter schools. And together we have enacted urban hope legislation to create renaissance schools in our highest risk districts. Finally, for four years in a row, weve provided a record amount in aid to our Public Schools over 11. 9 billion in the current fiscal year. But on this, we cannot and should not rest. More School Reform is needed. And a great first step would be to pass the opportunity scholarship act, to give parents a choice of a school that meets their childs needs. [applause] lets give families an alternative to chronically failing neighborhood schools. Lets keep driving for better outcomes. Lets give parents and students more choice. At its heart, education is about realizing the potential of every individual. In these past two years, youve joined me in applying this principle to those who face special challenges in life including the disease of drug addiction. In this last year, we expanded the mandatory Drug Court Program you helped me enact into four new counties, building on those in which courts were established immediately after the laws enactment in 2013. I have a simple view of this. Drug addiction is a disease. It can happen to anyone, from any station in life. And it can be treated. [applause] crying at the needless funerals of our childrens and our friends is not enough. Every life is an individual gift from god no matter what condition we find it in. No life is disposable at any stage. We have an obligation to help people reclaim their lives. And if we have the tools to help those with this disease to save their own lives, we should use them. Requiring mandatory treatment instead of prison for nonviolent drug offenders is only one step but an important one. Treatment is the path to saving lives, and for as long as i am governor of new jersey treatment will be mandatory in our system and i will not yield. [applause] i am proud that in these last two years weve also launched a program to integrate Employment Services with treatment, so that we can help those with drug addiction not only get clean but get back to work. I am proud that together we enacted an overdose protection law to provide Legal Protection to people and especially to Health Care Professionals who are trying to help. In the time we have instituted our new program in new jersey alone we have saved over 700 lives. That is good work. [applause] i am proud that we are trying to help nonviolent offenders get access to college through the njstep program. And today, i would like to announce our next steps in helping those battling the disease of drug addiction by improving the way we deliver these services. Right now there are numerous federal, state, and county government programs, providers and nonprofit partners, who fund and deliver some form of adult addiction services. How to access those services can be difficult and overwhelming when confronted with the unintended bureaucracy of options. Contacting multiple agencies and trying to identify the right treatment is challenging enough, but even more so for individuals in crisis. If we are able to make it easier for individuals battling addiction and their loved ones to access the right services at the right time, we can save lives. This year, our administration will launch the first phase of a reform effort to make all of these Services Available from a single point of entry. There is no wrong door in this approach. Those faced with addiction will be able to make one phone call to Access Available Services and resources anywhere in the state. Just one phone call to provide real time information, assess available treatment options, and connect them to the help they need right then and there. This is how Good Government is supposed to work. By coordinating all of our programs and services across State Government that are designed to help those dealing with addiction allows us to maximize our resources, ensure dollars are not going to waste and get realtime information from our partners across the state. Just one phone call to connect with someone who can walk an individual through the options that best work for their recovery process. Its the smart way to make sure we dont have people stuck in a system utilizing services that dont actually work for them. Once this reform is underway, we will extend this same concept to those adults with mental illness. Planning for this has already begun. This coordinated approach builds on our commitment to rethink how Government Services are delivered so that we are being smarter, more efficient, and more targeted. Going back to 2010, we put in place a model to Better Connect populations most in need of assistance with the kind of care they actually need whether seniors, people with disabilities, or adults with Substance Abuse or mental illness. We reformed the states Medicaid Program and created an innovative system that gives Senior Citizens and people with disabilities easier access to care and greater choice. Our whole emphasis has been to deliver the right level of service to the right person, in the right place. As a result, weve increased and improved the options of assistance and care provided in a home setting and in the community, while reducing our reliance on more traditional institutional care, whether in Nursing Homes or developmental centers. This approach has worked under medicaid, improving services and holding down costs for seniors those with developmental disabilities, and for all eligible citizens and families. Under my administration, new jerseys medicaid spending growth on these groups has trailed the National Average and has been cited as the Second Lowest in the region. That is what real innovation and reform can do. That is the way government is supposed to work. [applause] we are also taking this model directly to our communities. Last fall we created the facing Addiction Task force, a 12member team chaired by pastor joe carter of newarks New Hope Baptist Church and cochaired by former governor Jim Mcgreevey to fight drug addiction by ending the stigma and focusing on treatment and prevention. I thank them for their willingness to step up and lead this fight. They have come forward with a onestop model for connecting comprehensive services to exoffenders battling addiction as they leave incarceration or drug court and reenter society. This is just smart government. By helping an individual connect the dots from treatment to temporary housing to employment and training services, we are helping them lay their own foundation for a successful reentry into society. In newark, paterson, atlantic city, toms river, trenton, and jersey city, a single physical location will be run by a Nonprofit Organization in coordination with our administration, local officials, and community partners. By directly connecting those who have suffered from addiction to the services they need at a most critical juncture, we are helping them avoid a cycle of dependency by transitioning them from Government Services to the workplace. This doesnt just reduce Longterm Service costs to the state, but is the best way to ensure they become hopeful happy, and productive members of our society. We should want that for every one of our citizens. We are going to fight to make it happen. [applause] now, of all the long term challenges we face, one of the largest and most immediate is our obligation to provide pension and Health Benefits for state and local employees. This is not just a new jersey problem. This is a national problem. States across the country are struggling to fund critical programs because pension and health costs are eating up taxpayer dollars. We first took the lead to try and solve this problem in 2011 when a republican governor and a Democratic Legislature came together to go up against the entrenched special interests. It was hard. It was loud. It was the right thing to do. Together we defied the conventional wisdom and enacted historic reforms that reduce the cost to taxpayers by over 120 billion over the next three decades. This was a huge first step. Today, the health of the Pension System is stronger than it was five years ago. In fact, gains have totaled over 35 billion which is way above projections thanks to our sound management and smart investment strategy. But the fact is that while we have been making up ground, the pension fund is underfunded because of poor decisions by governors and legislatures of both parties, over decades, not years. These sins of the past have made the system unaffordable. But we do not have the luxury to ignore this problem. We know this because even as our administration has contributed more money to the system than any in history, it is not enough. The Pension Funds problem is a longterm one. And it is related to every other program in State Government. Right now the 90 billion unfunded liability for pensions and Health Benefits is three times the size of the annual state budget. Think of this way in order to close the current shortfall in just the Pension System alone every family in new jersey would have to write a check for 12,000. That is the nature of longterm entitlements which grow faster than the economy, and in that regard our problem here in new jersey is not that different from washingtons entitlement problem. For all of these reasons, last summer i appointed a Bipartisan Commission of experts a pension and Health Benefits task force to make recommendations for tackling the twin problems of pension and Health Benefit costs. I asked them to think outside the box, and they are hard at work. I thank the members of the Commission Led by tom healy a former assistant secretary of the u. S. Treasury on their efforts and willingness to tackle this pressing issue. A longterm solution and Sustainable Future for our pension and Health Benefit plans are difficult but worthy things to achieve. We took a historic first step in 2011. Lets make 2015 the year we finish the job. [applause] now coming out of the last recession, america remains a country ill at ease. Americas economy is growing but it is not growing enough. New jerseys economy is growing but it is not growing enough. Last weeks jobs report was good, but real wages declined. The economy is simply not as strong as it could be, or as it should be. We are a nation beset by anxiety. It is understandable. Economic growth is low by postwar recovery standards. Americas leadership in the world is called into question because of a pattern of indecision and inconsistency. During this time of uncertainty it seems our leaders in washington would rather stoke division for their own political gain. And this culture of divisiveness and distrust has seeped into our communities and our neighborhoods. As i traveled the country over the last year, this anxiety was the most palpable emotion i saw and felt. I saw it on the streets of chicago and felt it in the suburbs of maryland. I heard it from farmers in kansas and from teachers in colorado. I felt it from veterans in maine and from workers in arkansas. But the wisest words came from an 82 year old woman in florida. She grabbed my hand and asked me a simple, but powerful question, i am 82 years old and i havoce a question for you what has happened to our country . We used to control events. Now events control us. Right here, in this great state, we have the tools to get back on track. We know that, time and again Economic Growth has delivered the most good for the most people. And we know that the policies of lower taxes and less intrusive government have created higher Economic Growth and better paying jobs for our middle class. We know that a commitment to education at every level is another key to a better tomorrow. We just have to have the courage to fix those schools we know arent working and to empower principals, teachers, parents, and students to reach for the sky, and the wisdom to invest in the schools, colleges, and universities that can take us there. We know that our ability to make these investments in education infrastructure, our cities and our communities is dependent on our willingness to control the smothering costs of entitlements. We know these things as a people, yet too often in the past our leaders have failed to act on them and the result is a sense of drift. Let me be clear. We need to address this anxiety head on. We need to renew the spirit and the hopes of our state, our country and our people. A renewal of our commitment to the hardworking families who are the backbone of our state. A renewal of our commitment to the simple belief that our people deserve better than a bloated National Government that imposes costs on our states which suffocate our people. A renewal of our commitment to the ideal and the hard work to make it happen that new jerseys best days can lie ahead. That we dont have to accept anything less. A renewal of our commitment to the belief that new jersey and its people deserve better from us, those they have chosen to lead. We need a new jersey renewal and an american renewal. I renew my commitment to new jersey today to make the lives of our citizens more prosperous, more healthy, better educated and truly optimistic. So that when we stand here in one year, our today will be better than our yesterdays and our tomorrow will be filled with real opportunity. We may argue from time to time over the best means to get things done. Thats the nature of public debate and i will always be willing to engage in it with you. But our goal, together, should be to make sure that new jersey remains one place where a better life is possible for us, for our children, and for their children through determination, hard work, and a commitment to the greater good. There is no better example of what we can achieve if we put aside party and pettiness than the results we are seeing in camden. [applause] i am honored to be joined here by three leaders who helped to make this happen. These are the leaders who are getting the jobs done in camden. [applause] think about camden. A city devoid of hope five years ago, a city riddled with Violent Crime five years ago, a city beset by a corrupt and ineffective government five years ago, a School System that failed camdens families almost every day just five short years ago. Then an outstanding leader stepped forward for mayor. A county government stepped in to lead boldly. And i asked all of you to support a new vision for camden. Did we just throw money at the problem as has been done before . No. We demanded partnership and accountability and we are getting results. Through the Economic Opportunity act of 2013 a city that has suffered from divestment for decades is now seeing a new tomorrow. 600 Million Dollars of private investment in camden in the last year alone. In a city suffering from epidemic crime, we acted boldly. We terminated the City Police Department and, partnering with the county, put a new Metro Division on the streets with 400 officers for the same price we were paying for 260. The results . Murder down 51 . [applause] firearm assaults down by 1 3. All Violent Crime down 22 . It is not just numbers. Police are working with neighborhood groups to bring calm and peace across the city. In camden schools, we partnered with the local groups to bring new leadership to the schools and a renewed accountability to the classroom. The urban hope act has expanded opportunity and new schools are being built once again in camden in a publicprivate partnership. Hope and optimism are up fear of failure is down. In camdens downtown, a new medical school and new investment by Rutgers University is helping to bring bright new citizens to camdens neighborhoods. No one could have believed it was possible five years ago. Today, it is happening because we put action and results ahead of politics, partisanship and a shared failed history. I am a republican. She is a democrat. It has not mattered for one minute. I make this offer to every major city mayor in new jersey. If you are willing to put down the sort of partisan politics, i will extend my hand and partnership, and we will rebuild your city. [applause] january 13, 2015. The beginning of a new year. A new time. So this year, let us recommit to action to creating the conditions for growth, to preparing our children for a better future, to addressing our longterm problems, and to valuing every life. No matter what condition we find it in. No matter what state of life it is that what stage of life it is at. That is our job as public servants. And that should be our common agenda for the year ahead. I believe in a new jersey renewal which can help lead to an american renewal both in every individual home and in homes around the world. I pray today that you will join me in that renewal as so many of you in this chamber and in this state have done before over the last five years. I am proud to be your governor and i will never stop fighting for our new jersey renewal. Thank you. God bless you, and god bless the great state of new jersey. [applause] police are for the benediction to be delivered. Next, senator rand paul. Then, the state of the Mortgage Market. That is followed by leon castro on challenges to home ownership. On the next washington journal, scott perry a member of the Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committee, on the dhs funding bill in the amendments to block president obamas a order obamas order. Then a former combat marine discusses immigration in Veterans Health care. Washington journal is life every day on cspan. Join the conversation with your calls and comments. Coming up, the National Coalition on Health Care Discussion on the physician payment sunshine act a requirement that Drug Companies disclose payments and gifts to doctors. You can see it live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3. Then, tom donahue gives his annual state of the American Economy address, live on cspan 2. Here are some of our featured programs for this weekend on the cspan network. On cspan 2 on book tv, Bret Stephens focuses on his domestic concerns. Senate at 10 00, steve israel on his recent novel. On American History tv on cspan 3 George Mason University Professor John turner on the early mormons in their attempt to create a new zion in the american last during the 1830s. Sunday afternoon at 4 00 on real america, 1964 Academy Awardwinning film about the forced desegregation of little rock, arkansas. Find our complete Television Schedule and cspan. Org. Let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Call us or email us. Or send us a tweet. Join cspan conversation. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. Senator rand paul of kentucky spoke about judicial restraint versus activism and the need to protect individual liberty. His remarks came at the Heritage Foundation conservative policy summit in washington. This is 25 minutes. Good morning. We have had a couple good days. Thank you. I know some of you have been here double time. A lot of media interest in the subjects we have covered. I think the country is learning that conservatives have some great ideas. That is the whole point of what we are doing. I am excited to introduce our next speaker who is just as comfortable on the cover of a magazine as he is filibustering the senate. When he was running for office, in washington establishment was afraid that if he got here, he would cause trouble. Their fears have been wellfounded. I am very proud that i supported him when it wasnt cool. I was told i was stupid and he couldnt get elected. I am grateful that he has proved all the critics wrong. Rand paul, i think, has been a fresh face on the political scene, and i think very important to the conservative movement. I have set a number of times that the only majority for americans is a journey that comes from welding a lot of the libertarian ideals with conservative ideas. I believe that the libertarian concepts of individualism selfreliance, free markets are certainly consistent with the foundation of conservative thought. If we can well with those libertarian foundations they conservative values that build a Strong Society and the guarantees of a Strong Defense we will have the majority of americans who understand how do we build a stronger country in a Brighter Future and more opportunity for every american. Rand paul represents that in many ways and he has shown as he goes around the country that folks who are not traditionally interested in politics are interested in a lot of the things that he says and talks about, which is very important to our movement. He has attracted millennials, spoken on college campuses, he has shown that our ideas are persuasive when presented in a persuasive way. We are honored and excited to have senator rand paul here on the Heritage Foundation. He has been here many times speaking on a number of issues. Today he is here to stir you up in just a little bit more than he has before. Please welcome senator rand paul. [applause] thank you. Thanks jim. Youre doing a great job. Online we have 25,000 people watching. I asked jim as this was off the record and i could say anything he said, nobody will be here. You hear a lot of speeches and everyone will give you lots of speeches i would like to make it a little more interactive so we will pull the crowd. Media and cameramen may participate. I want to know who in the crowd thinks that judicial restraint is a great philosophy versus judicial activism . Who in the crowd thinks your legal philosophy would be judicial restraint . This is going to be a tough sell. How many think judicial activism is the way to go and that is what we should have as an activist core . Nobody. This is really going to be a tough sell. Does anybody know why Justice Roberts did not strike down obamacare . Judicial restraint. I guess everybody here is for obamacare, thinks the court should stay out of obamacare. The majority wanted it. That is what roberts said. He said we should not get in the way of the majority. You know that comes from . Oliver wendell holmes, the great progressive. His defense in the longer case the lautner case. He said the court has no business getting in the way of what the majority wills. If you are for judicial restraint, what happens when the legislature does bad things . What happens when the legislature says, we are going to pass jim crow laws . Should we have an activist word that comes in . It goes back we have the first and only slide. Where is it going to be . I cant see it that will not help me. We have a timeline. We start in 1905 and go through obamacare. The question is, in each of these cases, what should conservatives before . Restraint or activism . We go back to lautner, when state legislatures were becoming more progressive and restricting the liberty of contract. What happened is you had an activist court that ruled 54 and said states cant interfere with the right to contract. The question is are you for activism or restraint with regard to State Governments interfering with the liberty to contract . We move on the little bit later and get into the new deal. This time it is the federal government. They are passing all kinds of laws, assuming new powers that werent in the constitution. You once again have an activist court in the beginning, until fdr got his way. An activist conservative court who overturned federal laws until a majority of fdr appointees who say, oh no, judicial restraint is the way to go. Then you move on a little bit longer and as you come out of the depression, you go into the time where brown versus board of education, institutionalized segregation. What is the position of judicial restraint . Let the states do whatever they want. Is that the conservative position . I frankly think it is not. I think the states do wrong that we should overturn it. But there is a role for the Supreme Court for to meet out justice. To mete out justice. It gives the federal government a role in saying the state cant do things. There is a book called the conscience of the constitution. It talks about, if we were to say, we believe in states right no role for the federal government could you be in favor of what john calhoun said . He supported slavery and a tyranny of State Government. He thought State Government could do anything you wanted. Is that the liberty position . A conservative, limited government position . That there is no role, nationally, to say if they government cant do things . I am not a judicial restraint guy. I am a judicial activist when it comes to lautner, the new deal, and when it comes to brown. I think the federal government was right to overturn separate but equal. Plessy versus ferguson was a mistake. It is judicial restraint. Then we go to the next when we talk about activism versus restraint, griswold. Why do we even have this discussion . Does it have anything to do with politics or Current Events . Does anyone river George Stephanopoulos asked question in the debate . What do you think about griswold . A lot of people didnt know what griswold was. It had to do with birth control. State government said you cant sell birthcontrol to women. If you are states rights handsoff. But the states do what they want. Four you might say, individuals have rights and states cant tread upon individual rights. That you might say, maybe i am for griswold, for overturning the state law that says you cant have birth control. Are you an activist or restraint . Griswold led to roe. Are you for roe also . In roe, you have a competition of rights between a mother and a child. It is more than if you are restricting liberty. You have to individuals involved. I dont think it is as were clear it is as clear cut. We go all the way up to obamacare. Whether you believe it or not Justice Robert sleigh down the gauntlet and said judicial restraint is why the majority. Can do what they want not only did he say that, he said that if there are two arguments, to equal arguments to whether it is constitutional or unconstitutional we just have to accept that the presumption is of constitutionality. This gives this gets back to the idea of restraint. If we presume the majority is correct, we presume that laws are constitutional until we can prove otherwise. There is a school of thought that thinks differently. Randy barnett writes about this, about the presumption of liberty, then maybe we should start out with the presumption of liberty. Maybe we should be presumed innocent until found guilty, presumed to be free until we are restricted. [applause] yes, one convert my point is not to try to convert you from judicial restraint to activism, but think about it. I think it is not as simple as we make it sound. We say we dont want judges writing lots. I dont want the writing was either but i want them to protect my freedom. I want them to take an activist role in defense of liberty to presume liberty and put the burden on the government to prove constitutionality. I think this is important into became very important in the case with regards to obamacare. Justice roberts said that it is not his role to replace the majority well. Majority will. Some have said that we just need a better majority. The question has to, if you dont have a better majority. Does the court have a role in overturning something in individual rights are at stake . I think they do. Ultimately, ideas are important. Ideas are sometimes more important than strong armies. Ideas are the presupposition that precede all this and empower all of us. It is important to decide and examine ourselves. Another constitutional question we have is on the separation of powers. This is an equally important question. There is a professor who recently said there is an equilibrium that is supposed to be there between the different powers. We are having a collapse in the separation of powers. Our Founding Fathers talked about there being an ambition, we would sit one ambition pit one ambition against the other. The hope things are so partisan if it is a republican president usurping power republicans will support him. Congress would object to having its power taken by the executive branch. Those ambitions would push us forward to more of an equilibrium. It is not just on immigration that the president has usurped the power that is not there. It is also in obamacare amending the rules. It is also on the power of war. The power of declare war was without question given to the legislature. We have been at war for five months. Before christmas, i decided i would declare war and i decided i would declare war on a water bill and people were, like, why is he trying to declare war on a water bill . It is my only avenue for having any power around here. They have been working on this water bill for six years. Sometimes they get pretty annoyed. I amended it with the declaration of war for isis. They are a threat to our embassy in baghdad, our consulate it has been they are a threat to america. This should not happen with the president alone. These debates have to go on. What is more important than belonging to one Political Party or another is the ideas of the constitution and how the goal of the constitution, trying to not let too much power gravitate to one body or one person. In the future, as long as i am here, that will be my overriding goal, to limit power, to keep too much power from gravitating to one person or body. This is above and beyond all partisan politics. Thank you very much. [applause] i would ask we both have microphones here. Lets take some questions. [inaudible] the way i would look at it, and i say this often because it bears repeating. I think there is a long war going on. It is sunni versus shia, but it is also within the islamic faith. What i call civilized islam and barbaric islam. Some conservatives like to criticize the president , why is he being so nice to islam . If you want to meet with a broad brush that everybody in islam is an enemy of the United States i do not think that is true. The vast majority of islam is peaceloving and civilized, but it is five or 10 of islam, that is a lot of people. There is also a long war between a barbaric form of islam against mainstream islam and against the west. We have to defend ourselves. Printing cartoons should not engender people murdering. France has to defend themselves. We also have to defend our Diplomatic Missions around the world. I put a lot of blame at the feet of Hillary Clinton for not defending the embassy or the consulate in benghazi. I think she did a terrible job. [applause] and i think it is inexcusable when you are asked for security that that you not provided. The same goes for baghdad. I do not want to be in the middle of a long more because i do not think there is an answer at the same time, we cannot leave our embassies unprotected. We either come home completely and bring everything home or we defend our embassies. At this point, we defend our interest. That is not mean we have to be involved in every war and skirmish. If there is any one true thing that is irrefutable, every time we have gotten involved to topple a secular dictator, it has been replaced with chaos and the rise of radical islam. That would be the war in libya the republican war in iraq. There are more problems with the rise of iran as a problem because there is no counterbalance in iraq anymore. Some of these problems arent solvable. We should defend our country and our people. Senator paul makes a good distinction. There is a civilized, more religious islam. Making that distinction is very important in solving the problem itself. I agree with your definition [indiscernible] to your point about separation of powers and the intention of the Founding Fathers, how do we get that into an everyman definition because it does transcend partisan politics. Some people do not understand that. Bureaucracy works for the president. Weve abdicated our role as congress. People say obamacare was 2000 pages. The regulations are 20,000 pages. So much of it is being done without her knowledge. There is a debate over defunding the immigration in the executive order. I am for that and about 1000 other things in every bill. You are trying to tie the hands of the president , people say. That is our job. I do not care if it is a republican president. The power of the purse, those are instructions. The matter which as a consequence, they do many things we did not intend. Regulations that are written very expensive, they ought to come back. Jim was the lead sponsor of something when he was in the senate. Any regulation written by a bureaucrat that is very expensive has to come back and be voted on. That would go a long way towards reasserting authority and the balance of powers. I thought your father is one of the founders of the libertarian party. One of the main thrusts that you are against regulations. Are you for regulations in a constitutional way rather than more red tape . Absolutely. I will give you an example. We passed a law that the clean water act says no one can discharge pollutants. I think if you have a company and you have been seen and dumping it in the ohio river you should be punished. That is a federal government regulation. However, that was passed in the 1970s. Discharging pollutants over time, they have defined dirt as a pollutant and your backyard as a stream. We spend 100 million policing private property. We are forgotten about this stuff were supposed to be doing, which is the ohio river and the oceans and the great lakes. There is a role in government and communal property, but we have gone way too far. Kim lucas put clean dirt on his own land to raise the elevation to sell lots in mississippi. He has been in prison for 10 years. He is still in prison for putting clean dirt on his own land. Whoever put him in jail really ought to be in jail. [inaudible] they were making a libertarian case against the epa. The you agree with that do you agree with that . I have mixed feelings. You are talking about the Authority Given for the trade agreements. Trade promotion authority. There is an argument to be made on the separation of powers that by giving this authority for the president , you take power that should be congresses. There is another argument that this is really a treaty. I am also a big believer in free trade. Freetrade is a good thing. There have been libertarians or libertarian conservatives who voted against some of the trade deals. I think it is a valid point. I have voted for the trade deals because, like a lot of things in washington, i have weighed the good and the bad and the good of trade has caused me to vote for things i think are not perfect. The perfect way is to lessen our trade barriers. Unfortunately, what we have been offered is not exactly that. Trade helps the poorest among us. The average person who shops in a walmart type store, saves about 800 or 900 the year because of free trade. Lets thank senator rand paul. Congressional reporter with politico and she joins us to talk about the Homeland Security spending bill and the amendments as far as immigration is concerned. The Homeland Security agency is funded. They want to attack this legislative language that guts the president s executive actions on immigration. It is impossible to get 60 votes in the senate. The opening salvo to the debate over funding the Homeland Security agency. One of them being offered by house republicans. He sent out a tweet about the amendment. Most important priorities in defunding obama executive amnesty will now get a house vote this week. It is interesting to see how the debate moved to the right. The conversation began last week looking at overriding the executive actions of the president. Those actions are very sweeping and it can affect 5 million people. What members of congress wanted to do was to attack older executive actions including deferred action for childhood arrivals, the dreamers brought your legally at a young age. They got a reprieve from deportation. Republicans want to override that. They want to override a series of memos dating as far back as 2011 that sets the administrations authorities on immigration enforcement. What about the other four amendments . The one thing offered by congressman Marsha Blackburn that one approaches daca directly. They cannot take any new applications. The dreamers who are under the program have a twoyear work permit. That makes hundreds of thousands of young immigrants available for deportation. You have a couple of amendments saying immigrants accused of Domestic Violence or six offenses are on a higher level for deportation. It is the sense of a symbolic resolution what about funding . Anything that would affect the funding . When people say they are blocking the implementation, they use the socalled power of the purse. Congress, which directs how the federal government controls the money, that is what congress is trying to do. The problem with that, daca as well as a similar program, they will be run by the United States citizenship immigration services. That agency is entirely c they do not get money from congress. Republicans think the language they put together when they are saying, no money, can be used to implement these actions. At the same time, president obama is sure to veto this. What about House Democrats . They have been holding news conferences talking about their objections to these amendments. I talked to a few lawmakers today. Very unlikely. If there are a couple of House Democrats that do peel off and vote with republicans, it is likely to be a couple at most. A lot of very conservative House Democrats who voted with republicans in the last congress are thinking about they lost their reelection bids. They are no longer in office. You can expected to be completely unanimous House Democrat opposition. You mentioned the potential of a veto. What are his thoughts on the underlying bill, the Homeland Security spending bill . Could this lead to a Government Shutdown . It is pretty interesting. The white house as well as the department of Homeland Security, secretary jeh johnson 39. 7 billion in funding for the Homeland Security department. It funds immigration, but it is a very Diverse Agency which oversees so many operations. They are finding the spending levels they have set for the various agencies. Issues if those get attached to the underlying bill, it does not matter if they like the funding bill. Thank you for your time. We will be following you on twitter. Do i for having me. Thank you for having me. The u. S. House returns wednesday at 9 00 for a final day of work for the legislative week. Members resume work on the Homeland Security Department Funding bill. The bill provides 39. 7 billion in discretionary funding for the department for the end of the fiscal year. The current funding expires on february 27. Members will debate amendments to the bill that would block the president s executive action on immigration. Also on the agenda, a bill to make changes to the dodd frank Financial Regulations bill. Members will vote on final passage on that legislation. On the next washington journal, scott perry of pennsylvania, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee, on the dhs funding bill and the amendments to block president obamas immigration order. Ruben gallego and member of the Armed Services Committee Discusses immigration and Veterans Health care. Washington journal is live every morning at sea 00 at 7 00 eastern. After his first full year in office, Terry Mcauliffe delivers the state of the commonwealth address on wednesday. We will be live from the state capital in richmond. There are some of our featured programs for this weekend. On cspan 2, saturday night at 10 00, wall street journal editor Bret Stephens. Sunday night at 10 00, steve israel on his recent novel about a salesman and a topsecret government surveillance program. Saturday 8 00 on cspan 3 George Mason University professor joan turner on the early mormons in their attempt to create a new zion in the american west. Sunday afternoon at 4 00, the 1964 Academy Awardwinning film about the forced desegregation of little rock, arkansas. Find our complete Television Schedule at cspan. Org. Let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Call us, email us, or send us a tweet. Join the cspan and conversation. Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. President obama is expected to announce a new Homeownership Initiative during his state of the union address. Richard cordray spoke at the Brookings Institution about the state of the Home Mortgage market. This is 45 minutes. To the government studies program here at brookings. I want to welcome the many dignitaries and colleagues as well as those of you who are watching on our brookings government studies live stream on cspan and those following the event on twitter. One of the toughest challenges that we research and government studies is setting up a new federal agency. Director cordray has led his great team in mastering that challenge in the three years since he took the helm of the cfp be cfpb. Forthe success is no surprise because of his previous experience dealing with Consumer Finance issues in an exceptionally diverse government career. The director served ohio as a state representative, county treasurer, ohios firstever solicitor general, state treasurer, and the attorney general before becoming enforcement director of the cfp b in january of 2011. Myself, having worked in the white house on the administrations proposal for doddfrank, it including the cfpb, i can say the new agency has done all we have hoped for. The agency is being led by a fivetime jeopardy champion. When they asked rich how he would use his jeopardy winnings back in the 1980s, he said he would pay off his Student Loans and other obligations. He has firsthand experiences with the Consumer Finance issues his agency addresses. I am pleased to welcome director cordray today for the announcement of a new cfpb initiative concerning the most important Consumer Finance issue Home Mortgages. The work that he and the cfpb are doing is an example how the government can do more. I give you director richard cordray. Thank you, mr. Ambassador. Norm is a friend. I have had deep admiration for his public service. His previous work with ethics foundational work for this administration. Before that, as he indicated, he is an expert in Consumer Finance. He also has keen insight. My family visited him at the u. S. Embassy in prague and after a few days, he summed up the visit by telling me i was now his least favorite cordray. It took me a while to reconcile myself to that comment. Thank you for having me today and i bring you best wishes for the new year. I can also offer sage counsel who once advised about the new year. Bring out the old, ring in the new, but dont get caught in between. Every january has marked a significant personal development. Three years ago, president obama named me the first director. Two years ago, we finalized our first set of new rules to improve the Mortgage Market. Last year, after id been confirmed as director, those rules would into effect across the country. They sure we are continuing that ongoing this year, we are continuing that ongoing work. The American Mortgage market remains the largest market in the world. In the runup to the financial crisis, it was our Mortgage Market that was deeply damaged by reckless lending. The damage caused the broader economy to crash. As directed by congress, our ability was to designed was designed that lenders only offer mortgages consumers can afford. Enabling of protecting responsible lending that is more sustainable. Since the time our mortgage rules were implemented one year ago, we have not seen dramatic changes. I recall seeing some rash predictions, such as the price of mortgages would double and the volume could be halved. Lenders had retreated from the worst sorts of lending such as ninja loans loans because they could be made to people with no income, no jobs, and no assets. Loans would negative made to borrowers who could not afford even the interest accruing on the mortgage. Our rules put further measures in place to make sure that irresponsible lending would never be allowed to reappear. At the same time however we did not anticipate that our rules would affect a Broader Market in an intense fashion. The loans would be protected under the new rules area rules. Another special provision ensures that thousands of small creditors can continue to do the kind of responsible lending theyve always done to serve their markets across this country. In these ways we protected deelements of the Mortgage Market, even as we installed new guardrails to prevent irresponsible lending. The Mortgage Market continuing