Now we have these reports saying 30 of everything we do may not be necessary in health care. When we step back, 30 of the medications we prescribe, the tests we order, the procedures this is something, i think, which is for the first time really being called out as a problem. Dysfunction in the u. S. Healthcare industry. Dr. Marty makary on what hospitals will not tell you, tonight it 10 00 at 10 00. The Supreme Court will look at what happened in 2008, and they will say that this precedent. And indiana had when we talk about the facts, they decided on the indiana case it was constitutional for them to establish i. D. States who have subsequently correct, they talked about indiana let me finish because you misrepresented what i said. The Supreme Court is the law of the land. When i hear these accusations that black people voter i. D. Laws disproportionately affect minorities it seems to me somehow we have something missing in our brain. To me, if white americans can go throughto voting all the processes to follow the laws, what are you telling black people . That somehow they are not good enough . That is what bothers me about a lot of the rhetoric coming from democrats and the left, that we always have to make special you know, there has to be a specialness when we deal with minorities because they are too feeble mind it. We really need to make concessions for them because they cannot follow the rules like everybody else. When you treat people like victims, then i do not think they want to aspire. More with the editor and publisher of conservativeblackchick. Com on c spans q a. Business, political, and senior military leaders talked about alternative Energy Production and the countrys dependence on oil. Speakers included Gene Sperling, director of the White House International council, and republican senators. Hosted by securing americas future energy, this is about an hourandahalf. Good morning, everyone. Thank you all for coming. I especially want to thank the members of the Energy SecurityLeadership Council for being with us today. They have been a distinguished group of people working on this issue since 2006. We are nothing without their credibility as the great ceos, an entrepreneur, and military leaders of our time. I also want to give a special i want to give a special thanks to the staff at securing americas future energy. We stand on the shoulders and the time it takes to get these reports. The policy staff, james, leslie, the staff that puts these together, our political staff and the rest of the team at safe. Were seeing more production than we have ever seen before. The most production in the last couple of decades of year on year growth. Oil imports are falling. The demand for Oil Continues to decline based on fuel economy standards and other reasons. We still continue to have a problem. The report we are releasing today and the subtitle says it all. Harnessing American Resources and innovation. How do we leverage this abundance we have in the United States to our maximum benefit . Washington is talking about our fiscal crisis. The relationship of our oil needs to this crisis are close. It is unnecessary ingredients. Every recession in modern times has been preceded by oil price hike. We can cut all we want and raise revenue, we will never find a way to solve our fiscal troubles. How do we leverage this great abundance in the United States of for resources and our skills to help the country through these times and put us on a good footing for the next 50 or 100 years. I think this report is the beginning of a process of creating an effective and stable bipartisan consensus on Energy Policy. Everything is about the zero sum game in this town. We see oil security as a unifying vision where people do not have to compromise their core principles. The Environmental Community can see a reduction in the amount of carbon and an improvement in the environment as well as conservatives can see the idea of leaving it more resources at home and sending less of our wealth abroad. This is a way of doing something different, which is creating a consensus to get something done in the next congress. We are excited for the next congress and to work with all legislators to implement these recommendations and see them through to their felon. I would like to call fred smith, the chairman and founder of fedex. He really needs no introduction. But the truth is fedex and what it is done in our economy is groundbreaking. They are the clipper ships of the modern age. What they see in terms of the Economic Growth of our country, because they touch every industry, as well as providing the transportation to making our economy grow, i think he is wellsuited to discuss this issue. I thank him for being the co chair since 2006 and joining with general kelley and myself to do this. Thank you. Thank you. I became involved in the council out of selfinterest. Because of the Energy Intensity of fedex which operates almost 700 airplanes. I was recruited to this endeavor by air chairman, p. X. Kelley, who pointed out to me when i first came aboard this effort that after Nuclear Proliferation and terrorism, our dependence on imported petroleum was our largest Single National security issue. Hence but Business Executives like myself and the ceo of Southwest Airlines and other companies that use a lot of energy and retired fourstar military and naval officers who understand clearly this nexus of Economic Security and National Security. We have been involved in the middle east in the past quartercentury and three shooting wars and a great tragedy for our country were the young lives lost and the treasury expanded and the Foreign Relations issued that it has engendered. All roads lead back to this dependence on imported petroleum. In 2005, we were importing about 60 of our daily petroleum needs. We had about 20 Million Barrels a day usage in this country. Today were down to about 40 in terms of our Petroleum Usage per day being imported. We are still spending about 60 billion a month to import that petroleum. This problem has been going on since 1973. Every single Economic Contraction this country has had including the financial meltdown in 2008 was precipitated by runup in oil prices. The marginal barrel of production is controlled by the opec cartel, meets twice a year to establish quotas in order to keep prices at an acceptable level for the opec exporters. The National Oil Companies of opec and other countries around the world hold the vast majority of oil reserves. They produced only about 40 of the World Petroleum every day. Thiss a chart that shows graphically. If there is ever an example of a market that is not free, it is that. Nobody acts in that matter in a purely freemarket. If opec were doing what it does abroad in this country, it would be a crime and in violation of our antitrust laws. The prescription that the council, but several years ago which was very impact will in the Energy Security independence act of 2007, was it, was based on our port of 2007, which said that the United States should maximize its oil and Gas Production, that it should significantly reduce consumption and improve conservation, which led to the direct support for the reinstitution of fuel efficiency standards, which has not been done for 20 years. And to develop to the extent it was liable a biofuel substitute for petroleum. This new report we are releasing today continues these themes with a couple of important caveat. The fantastic revolution that is taking place since our original report and are intermittent reports by the so called fracking revolution for oil and gas. The significant improvement in National Efficiency that has been brought about by technology and the new fuel efficiency standards that were enacted by the Bush Administration and were increased by the obama administration. The report is not political in any way shape or form. It endorses things that are supported by the right in some cases and that are supported by people on the left. You cannot just take the parts that you like. You have to take the holistic approach, to maximize u. S. Production and to reduce consumption partly by diversifying our transportation sector away from petroleum. The last thing i will say is that Petroleum Use in transportation is the pivot point of this entire problem. 70 of our use of petroleum in this country is for transportation. Transportation is fueled about 93 of the time by petroleum. If you want to reduce the United States dependence on imported petroleum and the related geopolitical issues, particularly in an issue when rising demand is creating a potential conflict for these resources, then you have to recognize transportation has to be diversified away from petroleum or the prices are set on the world market. Canada and norway have been Net Petroleum exporters but they pay the same market price for a gallon of gasoline as we do. So you must diversify and that includes light duty trucks and the adoption of natural gas in its liquified or compressed form for heavyduty vehicles like refuse trucks. If the recommendations are adopted, the United States has the potential to reduce our dependence on imported petroleum and thereby our National Reduce our National Security risk to improve our balance of payments and about half remains petroleum. And to increase our gdp by the maximization of these activities in the United States rather than exporting our dollars abroad. Thank you very much. Think we can sit down now. Thank you. Give us a moment to take care seats. [applause] our Panel Discussion is about to begin featuring senator Lamar Alexander and our moderator. Can you hear me now . Good morning, everyone. Im in lazy moderator. Want to talk about this report, talk about the future of energy in this country and the future of transportation. I want to make sure you know to please jump in. I dont want to ask a question and ask another question. Do we all agree . Wonderful. Let me start with fred. We have heard about this new found or renewed abundance for energy. I have heard people this week, saudi america. We have all this energy. How do we leverage it and harness it . It is important to take the hyperbole of comments like america being the new saudi arabia of energy and put it in perspective. 18. 7 burning about billions of liquid fuels today. We produce after an incredible increase of Domestic Production about 6. 5 billion barrels of oil per day. When you take biofuels and the natural gas liquids, it is about 9 Million Barrels per day. We are still importing an enormous amount of petroleum. The first thing about our recommendation is to maximize u. S. Oil and Gas Production everywhere, in alaska, offshore, it is coast, west coast, gulf coast, in new york, pennsylvania, in the eagle ford areas. That has enormous implications in terms of gdp growth. Because of the enormity of the issue, you have to continue to reduce demand. What role should the government play in the future your business is in transportation, too we are mired in conversations about the fiscal cliff. We are talking about longterm infrastructure, a Long Term Energy plan. This is the perfect opportunity for the government to Work Together to achieve a common goal. There is plenty of times when our interest might not call last with the interest of either of the parties. This is the opportunity we have never had before. You could have consumer, business, and the governments all working together to take advantage of this huge resource. For us, it makes so much sense because it makes business sense. We get about 1. 65 a quilt when natural gas. From the Government Point of view, everybody is talking about jobs and the fiscal cliff. Everyone talks about taxes and what is going to happen with the fiscal cliff. There has been 1500 gone to increase oil prices. You can get them that tax cut today if you invested in our report. Everybody talks about entitlements. High Oil Prices Make the Social Security trust insolvent five years sooner than they would if he did not have high oil prices. America needs jobs and growth. Following the recommendations in our report will lead to both of those. It would be good for american business. I will start with senator alexander. Tell me about Energy Policy and where it fits in with the fiscal cliff. What we will spend money on and how we were tightened our belts. The major place it fits is the right policy would create an environment which would produce a lot more revenue. That would help to reduce the debt. The federal government doesnt spend much money on energy. Energy research is about 6 billion a year. I would like to see it doubled. This report is a blueprint for independence and i think it is the right blueprint. We are not in a position to be held hostage by anybody. It also focuses on find more and use less. What we can do in the federal government is i think invest in research and getting a 500mile battery for electric cars and Getting Solar Energy that is 1 kilowatt installed and finding a way to capture carbon from coal plants that can be turned into fuel that is commercially sold. We should look at the model of unconventional gas in terms of how our system and federal research and our system of private properties have produced a situation where we have a massive advantage over europe and asia in terms of our natural gas. It creates a better economy and that reduces the debt. There is a headline predicting we will be producing more oil than saudi arabia beginning in 2020. This is something almost on imagined 10 years ago. What is the role of the federal government . To do things that encouraged the results. You can solve this fiscal problem if you grow our role to position relative to everybody elses. A big problem is the percentage of Government Spending is more than its should be related to total gdp. If there is an easier for millet in the history of economics that more American Energy equals more american jobs, i dont know what it is. It is all the jobs you have if you of a reliable supply of energy. The front page of the the wall street journal indicates a difficulty of connecting this cheap product we have in natural gas. We thought we would run out naturalgas as a country. Connecting this cheap product with a more expensive market and getting it overseas. If we could become energy self sufficient, that does not mean we would not buy on the world market, but if we could meet our needs in the north american markets, almost all of that money comes back to us. We have no better trading partner than canada. Nafta has increased the trading capacity of mexico. It has gone somewhere from the 40 range and a growing and, catching up with canada. When you buy energy in north america, they give you the money back. That was a lot to solve the problems. If you make your position better as a nation, suddenly, your numbers begin to where they need to be relative to the rest of the economy. You said this is one of the most important issues facing america. Why do you think it is such an important issue . Transportation and the availability, the means to get there, what we do with it, it is without a question in my mind, being a marine and an infantry officer, it is the most important problem facing the United States for several reasons. First, i do not believe that the American Public truly understands the transportation problem in the availability of the resources to solve the problem. I think we need an Education Program by learned scholars, such as those in this audience to help us in getting this word out to america. I think it is essential because it is coming on very fast. There are things that are happening that we take for granted. As an example, we take for granted the fact that we can move thousands and thousands of marines, sailors, soldiers and have the equipment without any burden to carry economy, not true. The truth of the matter is is a tremendous burden to our economy to have a nationalsecurity policy that defends the country that we love so much. Without having the ability and willingness to get out and give the American Public forums such as this in helping giving us answers to some of the very difficult questions that they ask, i want to take this opportunity to think robby for what he does. I met him some years ago when he found my office in an office building. He came in and we had a chat and i said, my goodness, this fellow knows what he is talking about and he has never disappointed me whatsoever. What we need to do is explain to the American Pu