Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140529

That my mother would like. Read more of our conversation with Malcolm Gladwell from our book notes and q a programs in cspan sundays at 8 00. Public affairs books. Available for a fathers day gift at your Favorite Book seller. In february jill biden and former president george w. Bush spoke about helping veterans transition to civilian life. It was part of a summit at the george w. Bush institute that focused on the problems faced by veterans of wars in iraq and afghanistan, including unemployment and mental illness. This part of the event is an hour 1 2. Good morning. Thank you. [applause] good morning. And welcome to the bush center. Were thrilled youre here. Were here this morning of course to examine the unique need of our military Service Personnel and what we can do to more effectively help them during their transition from active duty and thank you all for being here. Before i go any further i would like to ask everyone in the audience who is currently serving or has served in the military to please stand so we can recognize and thank you, thank you for volunteering to wear our countrys uniform and to protect the freedoms that we cherish in america. Please stand. [applause] wow. Thanks also to the family members. Some of you have played the role of caretaker when your loved one came home injured from battle. Were grateful for your service and your sacrifice. So lets give the family members a round of applause as well. [applause] as we just saw in the opening video the Bush Institute through our military Service Initiative president bush supports all our nations servicemembers, especially those wounded in post9 11 military service. Its a big year for our military Service Initiative. Under the president s leadership were asking how we can best serve our veterans. So thank you, president bush, for your leadership. Looking around this room it is clear that we have a high powered whos who group assembled here today and were thrilled to have such participants on the panel. I know well all learn a lot. General pace, where are you, thank you for being here and our your leadership of our advisory committee. Dr. Biden, thank you for making the trip to warm, sunny texas. We look forward to hearing from you and thank you to colonel miguel howe for your leadership in this tremendous initiative. We thank you for continuing to service us serve us, colonel. The corporate and nonprofit partners that we have here today. Youve separate stepped up to the meet the needs of our servicemembers and their families. We and they are grateful. Thank you to the companies and citizens that fund these organization. They couldnt do it without you. Our two organizing principles at bush center are leadership and freedom. Were always in need of the first and at risk of losing the chance for the second. This audience certainly understands that better than anybody. Youre here because you are leaders and because you have a deeply held commitment to freedom. At the bush center each of our initiatives are designed to help identify and leaders in the United States and abroad as we work on many fronts. Our Education Initiative is providing innovative ways to train School Principles to lead their campuses and rethinking how best to educate students during particularly challenging years of middle school. Global Health Initiative saving lives of those in africa bringing Vital Health Care to those most in need. Our human freedom work hoses dissident visitors, most recently a chinese advocate a blind advocate for the farmers and disabled and a north korean political prison camp survivor. Youre Womens Initiative led by mrs. Bush, helps cultivate problems in egypt and tunisia and afghan womens project and partnership with first ladies around the world to help advance education, health and Economic Opportunity for women and children worldwide. And finally, of course, the reason were here today, the goal of our military Service Initiative, is to hon no are post9 11 veterans by empowering them to live productive, fulfilling lives when they leave military service. And now its my honor to introduce a man who is doing just that. Justin constantine. Lieutenant colonel Justin Constantine joined the United States marine corps after completing his second year of law school. While on active duty he served judge advocate specializing in criminal law. As a reservist in 2006 he was deployed to iraq and was hit by a sniper. After recovering from his injuries in 2007, he worked with the u. S. Department of justice, the Senate Veterans affairs committee, and the fbi. Not long ago he began his own business as inspirational speaker. Justin participated in our warrior open Golf Tournament last september. That is how we got to know him and you will recognize him from the video. Justin, thank you for your service and for being such a powerful example. Thank you for your leadership and for being here today. Justin. [applause] well, truly honor to be here on such an important day. As a Wounded Warrior and post9 11 veteran who made the transition to private sector during a tough economic time i think im a good representative of todays newest, grayest generation. Today were going to hear from a number of experts and policy leaders on issues all related to veteran transition. At end of the day a truly does make a village. And i hope you realize how complicate ad Successful Transition actually can be. And what Important Role each of you plays in it. After i was airlifted to a medical hospital in landstuhl, my wife stayed at fisher house and was treated like royalty there. A couple weeks later at icu hello 10 from the semiperfy fund came to visit me. A week after that. Wounded warrior project came to visit me. He left a tshirt on my bed which reminded me america cared about my recovery. As an outpatient i learned to play golf with gem estes and military Golf Association which is how i ended up here in september for the warrior open which was a truly incredible experience for everyone who was involved. I develop ad courage to open my own business after i talked to mike haney and attended entrepreneurship for boot camp at Syracuse University. Now as you heard im a inspirational speaker. I work with a lot of corporations including a handful of Blackstone Companies thanks to the likes of steve schwarzman, sandy and mark floyd. I continue to get my counseling for posttraumatic stress for example give an hour, provided free and muchneeded Mental Health care for post9 11 veterans and families all across the country. Im proud to be part of the chamber of commerces hiring our Heroes Initiative campaign devoting great resources to our all our transitioning servicemembers and Va Voc Rehab Program im pursuing a advanced law degree. The list of people and programs that helped me and in my transition goes on and on. Every veteran in that room has their own list. I hope that by showing you my quick snapshot demonstrates that america is now truly stepped up to the challenges of supporting todays vets in an unprecedented manner. When you look at me, i hope you see the millions of other post9 11 veterans and their families. Todays veterans dont need a hand it but a hand up and all of your coordinated efforts are part of our Successful Transition. Some of us are facing very tough obstacles right now. We all want to be productive members society. We all want to take care of our families just like each one of you and often when given opportunity we end up being leaders in our communities. The skills we bring to the workforce are unmatched. A especially are forged in the toughest Work Environment imaginable. President bush is obviously committed to the troops while he was in office and that hasnt changed since he left. I have seen his personal impact on a number of individual veterans and it is nothing short of inspiring. Todays issues need to be discussed because theyre good for all of america. Im incredibly proud to stand behind president bush and what he is doing today and now im equally proud to introduce you to the 43rd president of the United States, george w. Bush. [applause] thank you. Justin, thank you for those kind remarks. Youre a better speaker than you are a golfer. [laughter]. S laura and i are thrilled youre here. Were particularly thankful, dr. Jill biden came. Thanks so much for being here. It means a lot that youve come. I want to thank you what you and first lady do to help our vets. [applause] give margaret a shoutout, president of the bush center. She was a fabulous secretary of education. She is doing a great job here at the bush center. I thank you very much. I want to say hello pete pace, chairman of the joint chiefs when i was president , first marine ever to do so. [laughing] looks like the last marine ever to do so. [laughter] and miguel howe, awesome guy, he is running our military Service Initiative. Has a Fabulous Team and thank you, miguel for your work. I want to thank the sponsors and supporters. Requires money to run these deals. We thank you very much for your generosity. If you got a little more capacity to give we have got the capacity to receive. [laughter] proud to be here with military Service Organizations, our panelists particularly want to thank Martha Raddatz for leading the discussions. A lot of people ask me do i miss much about being president. The answer is really number i mean i miss people i served with. I miss air force one. [laughter]. I mean, in eight years they never lost my baggage. [laughter] i do miss saluting men and women who volunteered to defend our nation during war. Many are coming home and are preparing for new missions as civilians and i intend to salute these men and women for the rest of my life. Here at [applause] and through the military Service Initiative the Bush Institute is going to help. Were focused and well be relentless in serving our vets. Since 9 11 more than 2. 5 million americans have worned the uniformed. They faced down our enemies, they liberated millions and in so doing showed the true compassion of a great nation. They are the 1 of america who kept the 99 safe. And we owe them and their families a deep debt of gratitude. Our country can never really fully repay our vets but we ought to try. From our earliest days americans resolved as Abraham Lincoln put it, to care for him who shall borne the battle and for his widow and orphan. When the Continental Congress met in 1776 one of its first pieces of legislation created pensions for the veterans of revolutionary war. Since then our government has rightly made supporting our veterans a high priority. Private citizens have also played an Important Role in supporting our vets. Service organizations, to College President s who redesigned their curriculum for returning warriors, to employers who have taken a chance on a vet looking to learn a new trade. As world war ii generation demonstrates veterans, tend to take the skills and values they learn in the military and use them in new and constructive ways when they come home. Veterans have been some of the countrys most successful leaders. Many in Public Service, some in the oval office including an 18yearold kid who joined the military when he was 18, 41. Unfortunately [applause] unfortunately not every generation of veterans has enjoyed a warm welcome home. Baby boomers remember what im about to say. When americans in uniform returned from vietnam, many were shouted at and spit upon and they were called names and they were shunned. No matter what you may think about that war the treatment of our veterans then was shameful and wrong and it should never be repeated. Over the next five years more than a million americans will complete their military service. And like those before them they will face challenges as they readjust to civilian life. The bush center, we believe, that after everything they have done for us, we have a duty to help make their transition as successful as possible. We recognize that in helping our veterans we can unleash the potential of a generation of resourceful, determined and experienced leaders. And in so doing we will show the next generation of americans that military service is noble and worthwhile. And that when you sacrifice for your fellow citizens you will find strong support when you come home. Many organizations have taken up the cause. Bush centers partnered with military Service Organizations to honor and encourage veterans through sporting events. Barbara talked about the 100 Mountain Bike ride. Some of the riders are with us. Talked about the Golf Tournament you met. Arnold palmer at the warrior open. And those efforts are important but theyre really not enough. Theyre not transformative enough. And so a goal of the military Service Initiative is to help americans understand how they can support our veterans and empower them to succeed. Support for our troops since 9 11 has been overwhelming but until now we really havent asked important questions like who are these vets . And what do they need . And so together with the institute for veterans and military families at Syracuse University a fine university and a vital program. The Bush Institute completed one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted of post9 11 veterans. This spring were going to publish the complete results so others can use this information to inform and to enhance their work on behalf of veterans but heres a sneak preview. Of the 2. 5 million post9 11 veterans, more than two million served in afghanistan or iraq. The average veteran spent one out of every three years overseas. 17 of the vets are women. 82 of the post9 11 veterans said they would recommend military service to someone considering signing up. And when asked if they were were proud of their service, 94 said yes. Heres one of the more troubling statistics. 84 of the veterans say that the American Public has little awareness of the challenges facing them and tear families. Turns out most americans agree. 71 of the americans say they do not understand the problems facing our veterans. You might call this a civilianmilitary divide. One less son of our research the divide is exacerbated by Public Perceptions that the veteran is either a hero or to be pitied. Most veterans dont consider themselves heroes or victims. They see themselves as americans who took on a tough job and did it well. They dont want lavish celebrations or expressions of condolences. While it never hurts to say thank you, that is not really the point. What most veterans want is to have their service understood and appreciated for what it is, a formative experience in their lives and a source of skills and values that prepare them to succeed in civilian life. In short, our veterans have defended the American People and now they want to experience the american dream. Our study also shows that post9 11 veterans face even higher rates of unemployment than their civilian counterparts, and this is their top concern. Problems especially intense for younger veterans. Veterans with combat experience, veterans with disabilities, minorities and women. Sadly the cost of unemployment are not only financial. Studies show that veterans without a steady job are more susceptible to other problems like depression and addiction and homelessness and suicide. So another goal of the military Service Initiative is to then more veterans put their skills to work in rewarding civilian jobs. From our research we know one problem is that veterans and employers both have a hard time translating military experience. That is not surprising. I mean you dont see many job postings say, wanted, experienced hunting insurgents and tariffs, willing to risk life for coworkers. Or what is a veteran supposed to put down . My last office was a humvee. Our study will help employers understand what veterans have to offer and tailor their recruitment hiring efforts. Well send a broader message. Hiring veterans is not only right thing to do, its a smart thing to do. Ive employed a lot of people during my career. I learn you can always teach skills. But what matters most in an employee are qualities like character and values. Work ethic and responsibility. And that is what our veterans bring. When a resume says United States military, that means you can count on the applicant to be loyal. Got good leadership, Team Work Skills and discipline. To an employer, that should mean a lot. Across our country businesses are making wise choices to hire veterans. Many companies started programs to seek out and hire veterans and military spouses and were proud here at the bush center to welcome some of the most innovative companies. 7eleven and bank of america, jcpenney, jpmorgan chase, prudentialing walmart, blackstone and la quinta. There is a long way to go before the employment gap is closed. Part of our initiative were going to learn from these companies efforts. We will share best practices and use our platform to spot like programs that work. Well help more employers understand how they can improve their businesses by placing veterans and military spouses in meaningful careers. And now im growing to point the spotlight. In our audience today is ginger collins. I dont know where ginger is. Are you here, ginger . There you go. Thank you for coming. So heres the thing about ginger. She started work at la quinta inns and suites as manager of the front desk in savannah, georgia. She is married to a guy named curtis. He received orders for his third deployment. Leaves. She moves to irving, texas. Good choice. [laughter]. La quinta helped her. When they couldnt find her a management job, they put her on the front desk near her home, but what was important they paid her as if she was a manager. She worked hard the. Earned promotions. The army moved curtis again. This time san antonio. She is now general manager at la quinta inns and suites in san antonio, texas. In short showing flexibility and care for military vets and spouses la quinta retained loyal and experienced manager and showed great patriotism for america. We thank la quinta and were glad youre here, junior. [applause] some veterans are ready to enter the workforce immediately. Others need to update their skills, especially true for younger veterans who entered the military right after high school or a short stint in college. The bush center we believe it is never too late to learn a new skill. Just ask laura. The problem years ago she didnt think she was marrying an oil painter. [laughter]. Our country has a proud tradition of welcoming veterans back to school beginning with the g. I. Bill in 1944. As president i was pleased to sign the law, into law the post9 11 g. I. Bill. Our Research Shows that while many veterans are using their g. I. Bill benefits to advance their education, too many are having a tough time making it to graduation. Some schools are dropout rate for veterans exceeds 50 . Unlike Many Americans struggling to make it through college, the problem here is not money. The problem is fitting in. Veterans account for about 3 of the Higher Education population and many report feeling isolated from their classmates and or professors. There is some great institutions doing good work and in attracting veterans and making them feel at home. Smu is one. Syracuse, third shoutout for syracuse in a brief period of time. Doing great work. And of course there is texas tech. By the way i lost one political race in my life and that was to the chancellor of texas tech ken hance. Are you here brother . Too bad youre not here because you would have gotten good accolades for whipping me. Most schools have really not done enough to make their campuses welcoming and accommodating. Major universities, love to tout diverse student body and that is important but it is hard to imagine a more valuable contradiction to Campus Diversity than a group of people who chose to spend their Early Careers risking their lives for their country. So the military Service Initiative will work with leaders in Higher Education to promote innovative programs that recruit, retain and graduate veterans. Pleased to introduce to you a veteran that went back back to school, john rafter riff. He helped lead the charge to liberate baghdad in 2003. When he came home he used his g. I. Bill benefits to get a degree in accounting. He took a job that didnt work. Got to be hard to go from liberating baghdad to being an accountant. So he went to Syracuse University. Entrepreneurship boot camp for veterans with disabilities. Its a program that helped the colonel and helped a lot of others. Using the skills he learned along with his accounting degree, john founded patriot contractors in waxahatchee, texas. Inc. Magazine rated johns business as one of the Fastest Growing private companies in america. John is not only providing for his family but some of his fellow employees providing for fellow vets. John, where are you . Are you here . John, welcome. Glad youre here. [applause] this is an important story of how university committed to veterans can facilitate and meaningful and productive transition to civilian life. But a Story Highlights another challenge facing veterans today. When he return trod iraq john was diagnosed with a condition known as ptsd, posttramatic stress disorder. A problem with posttramatic stress is not the condition itself. The problem is the stigma surrounding the condition. Partly because it is mislabeled as a disorder and partly because many people arent aware of treatment options. Some veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress are reluctant to seek help. As a result of public misunderstanding employers sometimes cite it as a reason for not hiring vets. So one of the missions ever the military Service Initiative to help end the false stigma surrounding posttraumatic stress and help veterans get the treatment they need. As most Doctors Today will tell you, posttraumatic stress is not a disorder. Posttraumatic stress, or pts is an injury that can result from the experience of war. And like other injuries, pts is treatable. Military and medical communities have made Great Strides developing effective ways to reduce and overcome pts. Like depression. Pts can be controlled through medication and therapy and other treatment. But like most serious injuries it rarely goes away on its own. Those affected must get help. Were going to use our platform to make clear that veterans receiving treatment for posttraumatic stress are not damaged goods. They are not mentally shattered. They are people who got hurt defending our country and are now overcoming wounds. Employers would not hess thats to hire an employee getting treated for a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure. And they should not hesitate to hire veterans getting treated for posttraumatic stress. [applause] one of the leaders in this area is retired general pete shirelli on our Advisory Council and with is today. Pete made it his mission to spread the science around pts and help veterans can receive. Petes one mind and alices own center for brain health to address challenges caused by trauma trick brain injury and other wound of war. By helping connect wounded veterans with the care they need we hope to eliminate pts as barrier to employment and empower our vets to reach their full potential. One veteran doing this is guy named dave smith. I got to know dave up near amarillo when we road the 100 race in the canyon. He was originally in iraq and served in marine corps. Team leader during two emdeployments in iraq. He took part in heavy fighting. Saw his friends suffering from wound and death. When he came home he experienced severe posttraumatic stress. He had nightmares, had trouble maintaining relationships. This is a guy stands up in front of a a am mill low cowboys telling his story. He said one night he came home drunk and he pulled out a shotgun and looked right down the barrel. Fortunately he put the gun into another room, locked the closet. Went and got therapy and last week he graduated from ucal berkeley with honors. Interned on the new york stock exchange. I dont know why he did that. He, he volunteered with team rubicon to deliver disaster relief. We invited him to join us today but he is in swaziland. The guy from looking down a shotgun to traveling around 11 countries in 11 months to build bible schools, teach english, math, science, worked in the fields and digging water wells. He is an inspiration to our vets and he should be to our fellow americans. He is living proof that pts does not have to be an obstacle to a successful life. Daves story also highlights one of the more uplifting aspects of veterans returning home. Many of those who have served in uniform have devoted themselves to helping other vets and many not worn the uniform are equally as passionate. According to our initial research more than 46,000 organizations have a mission at least partly related to serving veterans. Thats a huge number and it is a great testament to our countrys strong support for veterans but it can be overwhelming for newlyreturned veterans looking for help. And while these organizations have good intentions, i suspect some deliver better results than others. So the Bush Institute is undertaking a project to help measure their effectiveness. Were going to look at data like numbers of veterans served and quality and consistency of outcomes produced. And to help refine our analysis well conduct case studies on some of the leading, most effective organizations. Our goal really isnt to pit one group of ngos against another. Our goal is to prove effectiveness. Our goal is to help our vets. And so were going to share measures of effectiveness and to create a road map and an Assessment Tool that all organizations can use to hold themselves to higher standards, to be able to match good intentions with good results and well lay out this tool next fall at our next military Service Initiative summit. In sum, the goal of the military Service Initiative is to empower veterans, to make a smooth and Successful Transition to successful life. Well do that by spreading information to reduce the civil, civilian military divide. By breaking down barriers, and opening new opportunities for employment and by helping Service Organizations deliver better results for our vets. There is no doubt in my mind this generation of veterans is just as good as any group of veterans before. There is no doubt in my mind it will be the leaders in the years to come for our nation. And there is no doubt in my mind as a result of their leadership, america will continue to be the greatest country on the face of the earth. Thank you for coming. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome colonel miguel howe, United States army retired. Director of the military Service Initiative at the george w. Bush institute. [applause] well, good morning. President bush has charged us to empower veterans to make a smooth and Successful Transition to civilian life and while some veterans and military families reintegrate seamlessly, others feel disconnected or isolated from the very people they served while in uniform. And many post9 11 veterans and military families return home to face transition challenge, that include employment, education, housing, health and wellness, family or unique womens veterans issues. So the george w. Bush institute seeks to bridge these gaps by uniting and empowering the work of communities, nonprofits, businesses, academia, philanthropy and individual citizens. Empowering with president ial leadership, convening power and leading research and v. Sources. Resources. So our work is grounded in the research the president mentioned. This year our work will include those new resources. Full Research Study that will, in the spring that will cover the experiences, concerns and needs of the post9 11 veteran and military families. We will perform that analysis on specific issues related to jobs for post9 11 veterans to identify those specific barriers that keep veterans from getting jobs and identify how we close the post9 11 employment gap and start those meaningful civilian careers. Well create and release that tool this fall that will allow veteran and military serving nonprofits to assess their effectiveness and funders align their resources to those organizations that are having impact and to provide information for veterans to help them assess which organizations to turn to for assistance. Our Research Also informs todays summit, empowering our nations warriors. A convening of distinguished leaders from across the private, nonprofit and public sectors, at the national, and local level, on the stage, in the audience, and those watching online. Coming together to examine how americans can more effectively support our transitioning warriors and their military families. And so our agenda includes a conversation, serving those who serve america with two Prominent National leaders, a distinguished vet rand a distinguished Business Leader who rose to the top of their professions and represent those who need Human Capital to flourish in a profession already leveraged that talent to insure our freedom and security. After a short break well hear from two distinguished panels. The first will address transition and reintegration issues for this generation of veterans and military families and address conditions how the private and Nonprofit Sector can help. Our second panel will address the how private and Nonprofit Sectors can address transitionings warriors and families from the perspective of the businesses, communities, nonprofits, education and philanthropy. Were extremely grateful our conversations and panels will be moderated by a very distinguished journalist, recognized expert with direct experience in the war zone and here at home with our warriors and their families, abc Senior Foreign Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz and will include a forum of questions from the audience. As we heard from president bush our government rightly made supporting our veterans a top priority. The department of defense, the department of veterans after first, department of labor and others all of whom are represented in this room today make herculean efforts to support this population. And the commitment of our government is also embodied in the leadership and work of joining forces out of the white house. As second lady, dr. Jill biden works to bring attention to the sacrifices made by our military families. She is a military mom and so dr. Biden also understands firsthand how difficult it can be to have a loved one deployed overseas. Her childrens book, dont forget, god bless our troops, speaks directly to military family issues. Through their joining forces initiative, First Lady Michelle Obama an dr. Jill biden have issued a National Challenge to all americans, to take action and find ways to support and engage our military families in their own communities. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the second lady of the United States, dr. Jill biden. [applause] s. Good morning, everyone. Its wonderful to be here in dallas. And its my first time visiting this institute and its truly beautiful. Thank you, colonel howe, for that, for the kind introduction and for all that you do for military families. Our servicemen and women and most importantly for your service to our country. President and mrs. Bush, thank you for your leadership in the vital discussion about how we can best empower our nations post9 11 veterans as a military mom. Oh, post9 11 veterans. As a military mom, that is something that is so close to my heart and you can probably tell im a military mom because of my camo cast. Although you might not have seen it because it is cam moe. Camo. General pace, thank you for being here. One of the best parts of my role as second lady is spending time with so many veterans and military families. As i traveled across the country and the world i am always inspired by the strength and the resilience of our military families. While the troops serving our nation may be the, may be only 1 of our population as the president said, we want to make sure that 99 of americans are supporting them. Our military families have done so much for our country and each of us can do something in return. Thats why nearly three years ago First Lady Michelle Obama and i created joining forces, to encourage all americans to support and honor our military families. Since that time america has stepped up in the work places, our schools and our communities. And what we have seen has been truly inspiring. Businesses are making it a priority to hire veterans and their spouses. Like the president said, from mcdonalds where more than 50,000 veterans have been hired since launching joining forces, to citibank, to at t, companies are answering our nations call. Just last week the first lady announced that more than 100 companies in the Construction Industry have committed to hiring more than 100,000 of americas veterans over the next five years into highpaying, longterm careers. Companies big and small are stepping up, not just because it is the patriotic thing to do but because it is the smart thing to do. They know that our servicemen and women are some of the highestskilled, hardhe have working employees hardest working employees they will ever have. Our educators are stepping up to help our military kids. There are military children in every School District in our country. Often, teachers, counselors, other students, really have no idea that these children have a parent who is serving in the military. That is why efforts Like Operation educate the educators are so important. It is joining forces commitment, signed by more than 100 colleges of education, to train future teachers on the unique needs of military kids in schools. On average, and im sure most of you know this, military children attend six to nine Different School systems. Through each transition, they have to leave their friend, adjust to a new school, and once again, try out for a new sports team. So thats why raising awareness about the interstate compact for military children is so important. The compact helps ease some of the many challenges military children faced when transferring schools due to a parents reassign mane. Including simple actions that make sure that parents have access to copy of the students records or giving children a month from the time of enrollment to get immunizations that they need. This is also about making sure our veterans who return to Campus Communities like mine succeed. More than one Million People have been able to use the post9 11 gi benefits to further their education. As an educator its so important to me that we provide the tools and resources our servicemembers and their families need in order to succeed on campus. But just as importantly, we all need to tell the story what they bring to the classroom. I have seen it in my own classroom. Veterans bring the same determination and focus to their studies than, that they did, that they brought to serving our country. As, and i have seen, when i have met with student veterans during my visits to campuses over the past few months, we need to highlight working for our servicemembers on campus and make sure all schools understand the tremendous value that veterans bring to the classroom. Also our nations doctors, nurses, and social workers have stepped up to make sure that they are prepared to meet the unique needs of our returning servicemen and women. Organizations representing nursing colleges, medical schools, and Family Physicians have all pledged their support to enhance the preparation of our nations medical providers to support veterans and their families. While these efforts i have mentioned arent always in the headlines, they are offering support in real and meaningful ways. Our family experienced this firsthand when my son beau deployed to iraq for a year. That year was very tough and i certainly dont need to tell anybody in this audience what that feels like. It was tough for me and joe but it was especially tough on his wife hallie and their two small children. I learned how much it means when members after Community Reach out to support a family with loved ones overseas. Sometimes it is the littlest things that matter most, like a neighbor shoveling your driveway, a friend dropping off a warm meal or your church putting your name in the bulletin and, members of the church praying for your family. Thats what joining forces is all about. Commitments that might reach thousands of veterans to single acts of kindness, to make all the difference to a military family. As we continue to wind down these wars and more and more of our troops return home, many have served multiple deployments. Im sure many of you have, dealing with wound, both seen and unseen. We have and will continue to have much more work to do in the years to come. In my role as second lady there are so many stories that stand out, but theres one in particular that really i will never forget. In 2010, my husband joe and i visited iraq. We were visiting the troops on the 4th of july. And while we were there, a general told me a story that really, i will never forget. He told me that the story of his 6yearold daughter who was attending a christmas play and, one of her classmates burst into tears and the teacher ran over and said whats the matter, whats the matter . They were playing ave maria. She said, that is the song that they played at my daddys funeral. He decided fighting in iraq. Her teacher was unaware that she was a military child. So of course you know, that story is heartbreaking to anyone who hears it. It was also the moment for me as a teacher that crystallized what i knew that we had to do to insure a greater understanding a of the military child experience. The mourning morning after i heard that story i talked to my staff about how we had to find a, what we had to do, we had to find a way to raise awareness both inside and outside of the classroom about what military children experience. Shortly after we returned home from iraq, we began to work on what is known as, operation educate the educators. Which as i mentioned earlier is the commitment made by teaching colleges to prepare future teachers. That type of effort is exactly what we were trying to do across every pillar of joining forces. Because as more and more americans have a real understanding of what it means to serve, the more that they are ready to step up and do their part. We are also doing our best to reach out to military children and also to the many caregivers who give so much love and support to our Wounded Soldiers. Advances in our care for our Wounded Warriors have significantly impacted this generation returning home. In one of the books i teach in my classroom, it is called better. He describes how there has been such a tremendous remarkable drop in the number of deaths of Wounded Soldiers. Now there are entire surgical teams who travel in humvees and i quote him, directly behind the troops, right out on to the battlefield. There immediate trauma care is given before Wounded Soldiers make the long trip to landstuhl, germany or facilities like walter reed or Brooke Army Medical center. These advances in care also mean we have a new challenge. That means how the best help recovering warriors over a lifetime. This also means we are seeing a new type of caregiver, young spouse, siblings and parents, caring for their loved ones. Which brings me to the story of two brothers, kyle and bret pledski of rockford, michigan. Kyle an, an Army Specialist was injured during his first deployment to afghanistan, sustaining multiple pelvis fractures, ankle injury and nerve damage to most of his right leg. When kyle first came to the white house in 2013, weigh was in a wheelchair. When he came to our home, the Vice President s residence a few months later, he was walking. Kyle will tell you that much of his progress is due to the fact that his older brother bret was able to help serve as his caregiver. And bret will tell you that the reason he was able to help his brother kyle was because of the vas caregiver rule which was signed by president obama in 2011. The va caregiver rule provides training, counseling, Supportive Services and a living stip pend to post9 11 caregivers. Because the va caregiverss rule brets employer kept his job open so bret could fulfill this Important Role for his brother. Bret is back in chicago at his job and kyle is doing great. And they both credit the caregiver rule as critical to kyles recovery. That example gives us the entire picture. Government doing its part, business doing its part, and one person doing his or her part. Thats what this is all about. Americans stepping up to do their part. There is no greater priority that we as a country have than to fill what my husband joe calls, our nations most sacred obligation, serving our returning troops and their families as well as they have served us. So for Wounded Warriors and their caregivers like kyle and bret, for the returning servicemen and women trying to complete their college education, or embark on a new career, and most of all, for the families of those like the sixyearold girl i told you about whose loved ones are never coming home, there is so much that we can do as a country, as americans, to support them. Thats why all of you are here today. Thank you for participating in this important decision and for continuing to drive the conversation forward into real, meaningful action on behalf of our servicemen and women, our veterans, and our families. Thank you, may god bless our troops and their families. Thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Martha Raddatz, chief Global Affairs correspondent, abc news. [applause] general peter pace, United States marine corps retired. [applause] and stephen schwarzman, chairman, ceo and cofounder of blackstone. [applause] hello, everyone. I am so proud to be here. I know im announced as a reporter but when the subject is our veterans i am not objective about service and sacrifice. So, i am very pleased to be here but i do want to pick apart president bushs speech. I think he buried the lead, okay . Did you notice he dropped the d from ptsd . Thank you, president bush. [applause] and that is a really great, great, great, first step to have a former president say its not a disorder. That helps remove the stigma. Im very honored to be with these two gentlemen today, and i want you to just look here. They are representative of what can be done, what can be done to employ our veterans, to help them make that transition. We have supply, and we have demand. Steve schwarzman employs one Million People in blackstone. Peter pace, as former chairman of the joint chiefs, 2. 5 million returning veterans already and a million more to come and i want to start with you, general pace. Who are these veterans . What do they have to offer . Martha, thanks very much. First of all, thank you to you and steve for being here today. Mr. President and mrs. Bush and everyone here at the institute. This is terrific, thank you. Dr. Biden, god bless you for what youre doing at a national level. All of you here in the audience, i know many, many of you, and i know each of you here of course you love your fellow countrymen serving the country right now and thank you for being here. So who are these veterans were trying to empower . First of all, theyre patriots. Every single one of them has enlisted, or enlisted multiple times since 9 11. They know, and they knew, what they were volunteering to do. They were volunteering to enter the armed forces of the United States while the nation was at war. And they fully knew and expected that they would be deployed to war. Theyre incredible patriots. They also know how to grow where theyre planted. Meaning they have their own personal desires but these are men and women who subordinate themselves to what the organization needs. Whatever you ask them to do, they will do to the best of their ability. Theyre decisionmakers. You know, the admirals and generals plan the battles but the lieutenants and the captains, the lance corporals, corporals and sergeants, they are the one who is make the decisions on the fly, that take the commanders intent and turn it into victory. You understand how they can translate into todays business environment. They have a great moral compass. You dont go into the ugliness of war and come out of the other side without having taken a measure of yourself. And these men and women know where their left and right limits are so to speak with regard to their own moral compass and what they will do in the military and what they will do in business. They are certainly courageous. Clearly the valor kind of courageous. But equally important and especially as they transition is the courage to speak their mind, to know who they are, to question authority when it should be questioned and to help the leaders understand how best to lead, in the direction in which they should lead. They are very, very comfortable with uncertainty. That is what battle is about. They are men and women of incredible integrity. Someone once said, if you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you dont have integrity, nothing else matters. These men and women have integrity. They are Team Builders, they are team players and they are Team Builders and they are leaders of the first order. And, they know how to take care of their people. I dont care whether youre in business or in military service. All of us want to work for a caring leader. That is what these young men and women are. They are caring leaders. And it leads them to what i would call three imperatives for our nation. Imperative number one is the moral and social imperative. Yes, we have a discussion about 1 defending the 99 , but more important i think for where were going and for their future is how they fit into the social structure of the United States. They are the next best generation. They are the leaders of the future. They are the entrepreneurs. They are the ceos. They are the men and women who are our grandchildren and great grand children are going to look to for leadership, who will take this country on the path the president described which is to remain the best nation on the planet. That empowers our best and brightest to volunteer for military service s. And the last imperative is this of global competitiveness. And since im sitting next to an expert on global competitiveness, im going to stop and let him take it. [laughter] youve done rather well with that. You, i know, set a goal at blackstone to hire 50,000 veterans. Tell us your experience how thats going and what you have seen in these veterans including that transition and whether theres a difficulty in that transition. Well, this is an interesting program. I was at the white house when jill and michelle were talking, and ive never seen two husbands fall in line faster. [laughter] it was a terrific introduction of the forces initiative and, you know, the passion that youve heard from her and from mrs. Obama and, actually, from the president and the Vice President. Its really sincere, its really important, and my hats off to it. Id also like to say before i answer your question, id like to congratulate president bush. You know, weve known each other for 47 years even though we look like were in our 30s [laughter] or at least vaguely feel that way, and its terrific to see him with such a command presence and talking about such important things in a great way and be here with laura as well. Really a wonderful, wonderful facility doing great things. In the hiring of veterans, this is an interesting thing, and and we would not have gotten involved with this program without the white house initiative. Because, you know, we like leading our own normal lives. And i was at a business round table meeting which is a group of the largest corporations in the country, and the first lady came by and, basically, laid out the problem that you have really high unemployment for this group of people and that you are having 20 suicides a day. And i was sitting there just sort of listening to this saying what in the world is this . Whats going on here . And, you know, she asked like any good salesperson, i mean, president bush was doing it, jill was doing it, you know . Can you people help us . And wed like to get commitments there you to hire veterans. And i remember leaving the meeting, there were other speakers at the meeting, and i flew back to new york, and i was sitting in my car doing my normal reading. I got to my apartment, i didnt go up because i was just sort of making pretend i was going to be relaxed when i got at home. And i kept thinking about this, and usually in the Business World we do things with cooperation, not just one person rule. And this one i decided to change the Decision Making process. And i was sitting in my car, and im not very good technologically, so i dictate things to some machine in my office, and they then send it around as an email. I said, you know what . I dictated a note to the first lady, and i said, you know what . Were going to you know, we have a lot of people that work for us. I think just doing some numbers in my head we could easily hire 50,000 people, so why shouldnt we do it . And i just sent the thing off. The next day i came to work and i told my partners, congratulations, were going to be hiring 50,000 vets. [laughter] you know, they sort of looked at me. And, you know, i could see that look that says why are we doing this . And i, without the question actually being asked, i said, look, this is the moral thing to do. I mean, these are people who go and do ahaze things for the Amazing Things for the cup. For the country. Think about it, why shouldnt they be able to get jobs . As the president said, look at their qualifications. One of my friends was a sniper in vietnam and he was talking about to me about what it was like coming back. He said, steve, i dont want to kill people full time. Thats not what i do, i just did it because i was in the military, climbed up trees and shot bad guys. I dont want to be in s. W. A. T. Teams, i want to be just reentering society. I said, look, were just going to do it. And i got sandy ogg sandy, put your hand up sandys the head of our Human Resources group. Were not quite as accomplished to this, when we committed, we had 740,000 politics. Not a minute. Even 740 employees. Even in politics, we cant round that up. We just do that in tv. We sort of looked at it and said, okay, how do we organize ourselves . Because we have roughly 87 companies comprising this large group of 120 billion in sales. So what we did was we used the white house people. By the way, they are terrifically well organized. I mean, do not underestimate the people at dod, the people at department of labor, you know, theyve got a terrific person running this out of the white house. This is, like, really a real deal, okay . And so we sort of plugged into that and got our companies all together. And we had the military people and the dol people come up and, basically, talk to all the heads of our companies and say, okay, this is what were doing, and, you know, heres goals for even of our for each of our companies. Now, what we learned is that theres, like, real friction here, right . Because think about it, you get demobilized, youre just at some random fort, and they let you out, right . Thats not necessarily what the jobs are, right, in these particular areas. And the people are not trained for, you know, i would call it i guess i should say in this forum the civilian world and so first thing we encountered is what we do here, how we increase the probability of success. So what we said to the forces that be is, look, weve got to have access to these people before they get dumped out into the real world, the commercial world. Finish and so now its really, this is why i say this group of people whos working on this are really terrific. They basically have given us access to military people a year before theyre demobilized. That is, like, amazingly good, because you can help train them and match them. And now weve gone back to the government, and weve said, look, why dont we use the g. I. Bill to get, in effect, onthejob Apprenticeship Training to help these people even more. Because when you come into a company and your skills are generalized, unless, you know, they happen to be specific, how do you know what the right fit is for anybody . I mean, theyre just like humans. They may be smart, they maybe have all the characteristics, but that doesnt mean theyre going to fit. So what you need is some kind of internal rotation to see where that person works best. And thats something that were working on. So what weve gotten, just to address your point finely, is we committed to 50,000 over five years. We, in the first nine months the commitments, by the way, are very specific. Theyre supposed to start january 1 of this year. We started as soon as we, you know, sent the letter. And weve hired 10,000 people in nine months. And so now our commitment starts. So were almost a year ahead of time. And, you know, weve got three Dallas Companies that we own who are here today, michaels stores, la quinta, exeter, and then we brought in a Little Washington reinforcements from hilton, and, you know, thats half of our 50,000 commitment, just those four companies. And i can tell you that the companies themselves are really enjoying this. Its helping to change culture, its bringing in people who are really terrific. Lets talk about the companies. I want to open it up to questions in just a minute, but if you would both briefly, before we talk about that, what the issues are that we have to solve from your point of view on the transition, from your point of view for the companies that arent doing this, for the people we want to reach out to and say, hire these veterans. If youd start, general pace. I think the biggest problem for everybody is in one side of this wall youve got millions of veterans who want jobs. On the other side, you have Great Companies that want to hire them. But understandably because of the privacy laws of the nation, we cannot share databases from the military side to the corporate side. And vice versa. Now, some of thats starting to change, but a major, positive event would be able respecting the soldiers and say, oh, its privacy, but able for those who elect to, to have their names furnished to american corporations someone like that want to hire them so that we can do this. Youve got three million, i think the number is three million jobs in the United States right now that are vacant. But what those jobs are, where they are, and individuals who are capable and have the capacity and want to fill them, theres no connective tissue there. And if we can find a way to deal with that nationally to allow for maintains privacy but sharing information that the veteran desires to share, i think we can go a long way toward making it so that steve can handle not 50,000, but 100,000 over time of folks who are going to do great for his business. Again, this is not about veterans who are victims, this is not about veterans who are charity i cases. This is about veterans who are national resources. If you want to be selfirk about it selfish about it as a businessman, why wouldnt you want to hire these kind of folks . Steve, biggest obstacle to you . I think some of this is just sort of sensitivity to, you know, how do you do the match. I dont know why, frankly, i think dr. Biden read out i think it was Something Like 12 companies who happened to be bigger, and then you got the Construction Companies that looked like they were hiring a thousand people over a fiveyear period. Theres no reason why, frankly, every company of significant size in the country isnt doing this. I dont know why theyre not doing this. And if they were, you know, the people who run these companies, you know, contrary to what you may read or hear in the press are actually pretty nice people. And theyre well intentioned. And i think a little doortodoor sales wouldnt be a bad thing. If you can get in and talk with these people, theyll help you. Theres actually no net cost of doing this other than a little inconvenience of focusing on something. Because you hiring people who are really good. And so i think absent the technical stuff i was talking about, the mismatches and people in wrong locations and how do you get people who are let out in one state to get to where the jobs, you know, really are which means another thing, i think we just need more teem stepping up people stepping up. And i think and talking about it, and a dialogue like were having today. Thats why this really makes a difference. If were just talking to ourselves, you know, its interesting. And, you know, important. But youve really got to be talking to the people who arent in the church, right . We are here. I do want to open it up for questions. We have about ten minutes for questions. If you will wait for the microphone, raise your hand first and then state your name and your affiliation if you would, please. Woman right here. Want to wait for the microphone. Unless you have a really how old voice. Im loud. Im pretty loud, so okay [laughter] my name is [inaudible] im not only a veteran, im an army widow. Im part owner and principal partner for a company that is moving their manufacturing from Mainland China back to the United States. We [applause] thank you very much. Its the right thing to do. We manufacture golf products, and when everything is said and done, there are going to be very few golf products made in the usa. But what we have found is very valuable is we go to the recruiters. I know every one of my local recruiters in the houston area. Ive gone to recruiting command, and ive asked them to ask their recruiters to let me know when they know people are etsing. My biggest thing that i think is a gap as an employer and as a veteran is that these young men and women need to continue to feel good about the fact that theyve made the decision to get out, because theyre very worried about what their future brings. Thats a lets have general pace talk about that. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks for what youre doing, number two, you hit on a very important fact which is there is uncertainty for the military families that are transitioning. They are proud of their service, theyve made the decision to return to the corporate life, the civilian life, but theyre nervous. Especially a young guy or gal who started out, maybe went to high school and enlisted or ther went to college and went into a commission service. But, you know, theyre their mid to late 20s, and they have served the nation incredibly well. They have all those skills, but theyve never had the experience in civilian life, in corporate life, in corporate america. It makes you nervous. Listen, i was nervous about that at age 62 when i trysted. [laughter] probably her nervous, come on. So i get that. But i really applaud what youre doing. I wouldnt it be great, though, if pfc pace is coming out and he could say to the institution, look, im going to leave next year, six months from now. I want to go back to teaneck, new jersey, wherever, and im interested in these things. And if that could be put into a database where then the corporate world can go into that and say, okay, were looking for x number of people in new jersey to do these kinds of things. You see where im going. If we could just break down that one major barrier between this enormous supply of very talented people and the these on the part of the nation for talented people so we could get it linked together much more efficiently. That transition really starts early. You really have to start that transition much earlier, it sounds like. Another question . Over there . And i think we will wait for the mic there so you dont have to shout. Thank you. My names jim, im with the navy league. As a veteran and then a worker, manager in the Defense Industry, my observation is that even though the Defense Industry very much wanted to hire veterans and we had veteransskills type jobs, we had other jobs. And my biggest problem as a manager there or as a Division Director was convincing my hr that, in fact, they recognize the skills of people coming in. And, of course, when you go out and do an advertisement and youre in a corporation, hr is the people who control the entry. So my question is how do we educate our hr people to recognize the skills that veterans bring and the underlying capabilities they have . I think they are not in this church. I believe that they are somewhere else. Thank you. By i the way, i want to con watch the late the lady congratulate the lady who spoke previously. If i had a voice like yours, god knows what would have happened. [laughter] maybe you would have had a million jobs, okay . You didnt need that mic. I think with the hr question, hr departments work for companies, and they have a ceo. And they actually want to please the ceo. This may surprise you. [laughter] and so they basically do what theyre told within, you know, the limits of human beings following orders who arent in the military. And you can, you have to do this from the top. This is not a bubbleupper. And the ceo of the company has got to say this is a priority, this is what were doing, this is why we think its a good thing. You can loop in with the white house. I know it sounds like a remote, big place. Its a small place, and its focused. And you can have somebody come out and talk. You have to have a meeting. Somebodys got to be selling somebody on this concept. And you cant just do it yourself. It has to be from the top, with the coordination. And then you can use other companies as references. What we do is we set up within our little orbit, you know, the hr people knowing the hr people, we have meetings just sort of generally by function among our 80 companies. We have one meeting for ceos, we have one meeting for this is not all at the same time during the year for hr people, we have one for general counsels, you know . Where have we come to in america . That you need a separate meeting for general counsels . [laughter] and that, you know, this is like a subject at that meeting. And if you organize that way, it will happen for you. If youre just a freefloating molecule trying to make it happen, its just too hard. So there is a support system that the white house has put in place. And if you see sandy later, a tall guy with white hair those of us are envious as we have less hair that, you know, he can tell you how were doing it and were looping in. It really works. It really works. But you have to be part of the system. Okay, one more question. I oh, sure. You see that clock too. I see that clock. I live by that clock. This forum can really have a major impact. It is the intent of not only this conference, but the one in the fall and the ones that are going to follow to share best ideas and capture them and publish them so that over time preferably just using your example, wed have a manual, perhaps, that is aimed at hr personnel and what it is about military people that the leader can say what i want done, but the folks who have to make it happen have some resource to go to, and thats what the, this Si Initiative can the nSi Initiative can really help with, i think. Right there. Thank you. Hi, im Cynthia Gellman with the henry m. Jackson foundation for the advancement of military medicine. Youve spoken about the need to be able to break down the barriers to be able to connect the data from the dod to the va to the civilian side. And, sir, you mentioned that youre actually able to get in a year prior to separation. Im wondering how did you do that, and what do we need to do to break those barriers down . Great question. How did you do that . How did we do it . Sandy, can you get a microphone for sandy . I stop talking generally and you actually learn something . So do you have a mona we can use a microphone that we can use in the front . Yeah. I think exactly what steve said about the different parts of the government. I mean we had the conversation with the dod, we expressed the need, and they were on it. Its done. Anyone has access to it. And anything were doing, were doing on behalf of everyone. Were not doing things just on behalf of blackstone. Sandy, do you theyre going to hire him for the budget. Sandy, can you give the name of the person that theyd coordinate with at the white house . Or at dod or dol . Well, i mean, rich morales is here from the white house, and hes running the program on behalf of the first lady. Rich, why dont you stand up so people can see you [laughter] [applause] all further questions go right to rich morales, yes. All right. The reason why its important for him to stand up, i dont know why he doesnt like the visibility. But, you know, hes the coordination point. And hell get this stuff done. Really. I mean, the lure is that government the lore is that government isnt efficient, and im not going to take a position on that publicly. [laughter] but i would say, i would say in this area theyre terrific. And you should really use them. What id also say, as long as im sort of free forming up here which is, i guess, what youre allowed to do in these things is to make this sale to companies that can hire a lot of veterans. Its got to come from authority figures, its got to come from the top as well. It would be hard for me to imagine if president bush visited some friends and talked that this was like because its clearly a major priority here. Because it should be. And talk to them and said, hey, you know, id like you to just meet with the people in this program. And, you know, sort of see what you can do. Its not pressure, its just laying it out. I think a good salesman. Hes gotten a lot of votes in his life. [laughter] and hes totally persuasive, right . And he could do that. And the same way that the bidens and the obamas if they actually met with people as they have with People Like Us in a large group. If you do it in a Smaller Group when youre going to just some place for a political event and go off and see one or two people and just lay your case out for 15 minutes. I think the chance youll make that sale is 50 . And every one of these big companies, they can do 50,000. And you start, you know, figuring out if you can make, you know, 20 of those successful, you have got a Million People hired. I mean, its really pretty amazing. And there is the capability whether its in the front row or others of us in the General Community be to be able to help do that. So im quite optimistic about doing this. Just, general pace, just a final quick thought, and then were going to take a break. Oh, thank you. So the men and women in this audience who are military members or family members, and especially to those of you watching on the broadcast, thank you for your service to the nation. You have done us proud, and youve kept us safe and free. I would say to you as you look at transition and you look at the uncertainty, embrace this like you would any other mission. Take responsibility for the transition, your responsibility, you and your familys to transition your life to the life you want it to be. And understand that there are many, Many Organizations that are ready, willing and able to help you. And to those organizations who are here in the room, this is about being globally competitive. Its about using all the resources of the United States to remain the best nation on the planet to live and work. And we have in a 2. 5 million post9 11 veterans who have already transitioned and then the one million that are about to transition over the next five years, we have an Incredible National resource that we should empower and take advantage of for our good and their good. Thanks. Thanks very much. Well be back. [applause] thank you. One of the stories that i, that resonated with me was the moment when theyre dithering about whether or not they need to inject seawater into unit one. And its a matter of the clock is ticking, and theyre just about down to the wire. And yushida, thats how you pronounce his name, the plant superintendent, who in the end knows its desperate. Thigh node to they need to get water in there very quickly. And meanwhile, everybody wants a say. And the tepco officials and japanese government officials are all just kind of hemming and hawing, and yushida gets an order from one of his supervisors at tepco that the government hasnt signed off on this yet, hes got to hold off. Well, hes already started. Uhhuh. And so he basically calls one of his staff people over and says, okay, im going to give an order, but ignore it. And, so he very loudly proclaims so everybody in tokyo can hear, you know, halt the seawater injection. When, in fact, they didnt. Uhhuh. And that was, to me, that was a Human Element in that story in which in japan where ignoring the rules and kind of acting on your own is not rewarded, here was a moment where a guy knew that if he didnt act, things would go even worse than they were going. More about the tsunami and resulting meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear power plant saturday night at 10 eastern on after words, part of booktv this weekend on cspan2. Cspan2, providing live coverage of the u. S. Senate floor proceedings and key Public Policy events. And every weekend, booktv. Now for 15 years the only Television Network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2, created by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Were live on capitol hill this morning where Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson is testifying before the house Judiciary Committee. The secretary is expected to get asked about a number of issues including counterterrorism, Border Security and immigration, including the administrations policies on deportation. Live coverage here on cspan2 as we wait for the chairman, Bob Goodlatte of virginia, to arrive. [inaudible conversations]m8 4bho [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] the Judiciary Committee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare rest recesses at any time. We welcome everyone to the oversight hearing, and i will begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. I want to extend our welcome to secretary johnson for testifying before us today for the first time. The Obama Administration has taken unprecedented and, most likely, unconstitutional steps in order to shut down the enforcement of our immigration laws for millions of unlawful and criminal aliens not considered high enough, quote, priorities, end quote. The dhs does this under the guise of prosecutorial discretion. The beneficiaries include many thousands of aliens who have been arrested by state and local Law Enforcement who are convicted criminals who have been put in removal proceedings and who dhs simply has let back onto our streets. In addition to simply not pursuing remove bl aliens, the dhs has granted, has been granting hundreds of thousands of them administrative legalization and work authorization. The department of Homeland Security does this under many guises, invoking doctrines we soar thetic names such as deferred action and parole in place. The net effect of these policies has been described by former i. C. E. Acting director john sandwig, quote, if you are a run of the mill immigrant here illegally, your odds of getting decan ported are close deported are close to zero, end quote. I. C. E. Has been claiming to have removed record numbers of unlawful or criminal aliens from the United States. Of course, to the extent these numbers are valid, they would have simply reflected the vast increase in enforcement resources proked by congress in recent provided by congress in recent years. I. C. E. s budget has increased from 3 billion in 2005 to 5. 8 billion in 2013. However, i. C. E. s removal numbers simply rely on smoke and mirrors. In fact, almost twothirds of the removals claimed by i. C. E. In 2013 involved aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol along the border or intercepted by inspectors at ports of entry. When we look at the number of true i. C. E. Removals of aliens residing in the United States, we see that they have fallen 43 from 2008 to 2013. Even president obama has admitted that i. C. E. s record removals are deceptive. Removals are down so dramatically because the Obama Administration is twisting the concept of prosecutorial discretion beyond all constitutional reck recognition, all in an unprecedented effort to create immigration ebb forcementfree zones. Despite the administrations message to prioritize removal of serious criminal aliens, dhs is releasing thousands of such aliens onto our streets. The Judiciary Committee discovered through subpoena that between october 2008 and july 2011 the department of Homeland Security declined to seek removal for almost 160,000 aliens who had been arrested by state and local Law Enforcement officers. After these aliens were then released into our communities, about 17 were rearrested on criminal charges within only three years time. The crimes charged include nearly 8,500 duis, over 6,000 drug violations and more than 4,000 major criminal offenses including murder, assault, battery, rape and kidnapping. In one of the most horrific cases, an unlawful alien dhs decided not to pursue after being arrested for attempted grand theft, was later arrested on suspicion of killing a man, chasing those who had robbed his 68yearold grandfather. These crimes never would have been committed had dhs pursued these alien for removal. Unfortunately, one of this has shamed the dhs into changing its irresponsible practices. The center for Immigration Studies recently obtained, excuse me, i. C. E. Documents revealing that in 2013 i. C. E. Declined to pursue removal thousands of times against convicted criminals it had encountered. And i. C. E. Also discovered that in 2013 i. C. E. Released from detention over 36,000 convicted criminal aliens that it had actually put in removal proceedings. I have asked dhs for identifying information on these released criminal aliens so that we may determine what new crimes they have gone on to commit. I hope and expect that secretary johnson will fully cooperate in providing this Vital Information to the chief and the more than people. To the committee and the American People. The end result of dhs practices is that the American People have lost all confidence in this administrations willingness to enforce our current immigration laws or use any enhanced enforcement tools that congress may give it. This, in turn, has made it exceedingly difficult for congress to fix our broken immigration system. Unfortunately, we can only expect dhs efforts to evade its immigration Law Enforcement responsibilities to escalate. President obama has asked secretary johnson to perform an inventory of the departments current enforcement practices to see how it can conduct them more humanely. These are simply code words for further ratcheting down enforcement of our immigration laws. We do not though yet how far secretary johnson will go. Persons within and without the administration have pressured him to no longer seek to remove previouslydeported aliens who have illegally reentered the United States or aliens who have absconded from their removal proceedings and become fumingtives. Some have demanded that dhs grant administrative legalization to parents who endanger their childrens lives by bringing them here illegally in perilous journeys. Others have gone so far as to demand administrative legalization for the entire universe of millions of unlawful ail yeps who would receive a special pathway to citizenship under the senates massive comprehensive immigration bill. Secretary johnson is not responsible for the dangerous and irresponsible decisions made by dhs before he was sworn in last december. We can only hope that he will bring back a level of adult responsibility to the enforcement of our immigration laws. But his recent comments that he is considering scaling back one of the dhs most successful programs to identify and remove dangerous aliens secure commitments caused me grave concern for the future of immigration enforcement. I look forward to the testimony of secretary johnson today. Its now my pleasure to recognize the Ranking Member of the committee, the gentleman from michigan, mr. Conyers, for his opening statement. Thank you, chairman goodlatte and members of the committee. We all join in welcoming you, ec tear johnson sec tear johnson, to the house Judiciary Committee. As secretary and long before you had a distinguished career both in Public Service and in the private sector. But the thing that a i like most about that i like most about it is that youre a Morehouse College graduate, and that has a special resonance for many in the congress and in our communities. Before your appointment to the department of Homeland Security, secretary johnson served as general counsel of the department of defense where he oversaw many Critical Reforms including ending the discriminatory policy dont ask, dont tell. Given this background, i in this think of no person i can think of no person better equipped to lead the department of Homeland Security and carry out the president s directive to review our immigration policies to insure that were carrying them out in the most humane way possible. Yesterday the president of the United States announced a delay to this review to provide my house colleagues the room they need to pass legislative reforms. Whether through the senate bill or several house bills. And i am committed to work with him to achieve needed reforms of our system. Most of us agree that the system is broken and that only congress can permanently fix it. So the secretarys testimony and opinions here today will be very important to us all. We should get started on that process right away, before the window for reform closes. Every day that passes without a vote in the house is a day that thousands of families are torn or apart are torn apart, that businesses are deprived of Critical Skills and that brilliant entrepreneurs and investors are forced to take their resources and talents elsewhere. Every day that passes is also a day in which we fail to jumpstart our own economy. The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the house and Senate Immigration reform bills, s. 744 and h. R. 15, would decrease the budget deficit by 900 billion over a 20year period. So i stand committed to work with my colleagues for legislative reform. But if my colleagues wont act to fix a system that most agree needs it badly, then i if pulley support the president then i fully support the president doing what he can under the current law to improve that system. I agree with the president s call to make our immigration system reflect american values. People who commit serious crimes impose a danger and pose a danger to the public should be our highest priorities for removal. Those with strong ties to this country, the spouses of citizens and permanent residents, the parents of citizens and dreamers, and those who have worked productively in the United States for many years should not be. We know the administration has the authority to set enforcement priorities. And it also has the authority to set detailed guidelines to insure that those priorities are carried out by deportation offices, trial attorneys and other enforcement personnel. This authority has been specifically recognized by my colleagues on both sides of the aisle of this committee, including a letter sent by current members to the Clinton Administration urging it to issue guidelines on prosecutorial discretion. So far weve heard hardly more than excuses for not doing Immigration Reform. The senate bill has too many pages. The house wants to take its time and do reform step by the step. We must secure the border before we can discuss anything else. Well, i think the newest excuse for not working to reform the system is that the republicans cannot trust the president to enforce the law. Put aside the fact that this administration has set records with respect to enforcement spending, detentions, prosecutions and removals but cant trust the president excuse strikes melu5, li1 as an extrd complaint from a legislative body. Whats the point of passing any bill if we have that kind of an impasse . How many other issues of National Importance do my colleagues think congress should ignore until they have someone else that they might prefer in the white house . Its time to cut out the excuses and get to work doing the peoples business. Americans agree the systems broke, and they strongly support comprehensive Immigration Reform. And so its our duty to stop passing the buck and get to work. Mr. Chairman, i thank you for the time, and i yield back. Thank you, mr. Conyers. And without objection, all other members Opening Statements will be made a part of the record. We thank our only witness, the secretary, for joining us today. Secretary johnson, if you would, please, rise, ill begin by swearing you in. Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . I do. Thank you. Let the record reflect that the secretary responded in the affirmative, and its now my pleasure to introduce him. Jeh Charles Johnson was sworn in on december 23, 2013, as the fourth secretary of Homeland Security. Prior to joining dhs, secretary johnson served as general counsel for the department of defense where he was part of the Senior Management team and led the more than 10,000 military and civilian lawyers across the department. Secretary johnson was general counsel of the department of the air force from 19982001, and he served as an assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york from 19891991. In private law practice, secretary johnson was a partner with the new york citybased law firm of paul, weiss, rivkin, wharton and garrison. Secretary johnson graduated from Morehouse College in 1979 and received his law degree from Columbia Law School in 1982. The secretary reminded me this morning that he has a connection to this committee as well that many members will find of interest. In the early 1990s, he worked briefly for thenhouse republican Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, ham fish of new york. It was actually the 1970s, congressman. Well i dont want to date myself. Oh, way before my time. [laughter] so i thank you for that information as well as the information that many members of the committee may find of interest that there are 10,000 military and civilian lawyers in the department of defense. Whether thats a good thing or a bad thing, well leave for a future discussion. In any event, we look forward to your testimony. Your written statement will be entered into the record in its entirety, and we ask that you summarize your testimony within five minutes. To help you stay within that time, when the light switches from green to yellow, youll have one minute to conclude your testimony, and we welcome you to the committee. Thank you, chairman. You do have my prepared written statement. Let me just summarize a couple of things within my five minutes. First, thank you for inviting me. I look toward to our discussion forward to our discussion this morning and this afternoon. I begin by pointing out that as the leader of the department of Homeland Security, i recognize that our most valuable asset is our men and women, and i have pledged numerous times to support them in good times and in bad times. My first full week on the job i went to south texas to attend the funeral of cvp officer Daryl Winehouse who died this the line of duty in south texas. Yesterday we lost another one, Border Patrol agent alexander gianini, age 24, who died in the line of duty in what appeared to be a onecar accident in arizona. And im sure that the members of this committee join me in mourning his loss and expressing con doll lendses to his family condolences to his family. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. As i mentioned, i know a number of members of in this committee from other contexts, from the House Armed Services committee, from private life, and its good to see you. Let me begin by saying that in my judgment, counterterrorism must remain and should continue to remain the cornerstone of the mission of the department of Homeland Security. As the president mentioned yesterday at west point, core alqaeda has been largely decimated, but in the last several years weve seen the rise of alqaeda affiliates, alqaeda adherents and other alqaedalike organizations around the world. We have to be vigilant in regard to those organizations. Were concerned, im concerned about the socalled lone wolf who would attack us in this country, domesticbased, independent actors who commit or attempt to commit terrorist acts as evidenced last year by the Boston Marathon bombing. We in the department of Homeland Security need to be vigilant against all these potential threats, and i believe we are. I believe it is also particularly important given the decentralized and diffuse nape of the nature of the terrorist threat that the homeland faces, that we spend a lot of time and effort working closely with state and local Law Enforcement, frist Responders First responders through training, through working together and jttfs and so forth, preparedness grants. We have an initiative that i am personally involved in and particularly interested in, countering violent extremism at home through engagements in local communities. I believe it is important where possible that we push out our Homeland Security beyond our borders where we can do to consistent with agreements with other governments. I believe it is important that we establish in as many places as feasible preclearance capabilities in overseas airports that are last points of departure. In terms of Border Security, weve devoted an unprecedented amount of resources thanks to the support of this congress. To that effort, over the last number of years ap rehencings finish apprehensions have gone down, but we have seen a rise recently in apprehensions, particularly in the Rio Grande Valley sector in south texas. Were seeing a rise that we have to address and we must address, and im developing a plan to address. In particular with regard to illegal migration by those other than mexicans coming from Central America and unaccompanied children. The problem of unaccompanied children is one that i am very familiar with having personally visited mcallen station, texas, several weekends ago to see the problem myself. Aye directed a number of ive directed a number of actions in response to that situation which id be happy to discuss further with members of the committee. Were developing a Campaign Plan for the southwest border which represents a wholeofdhs approach. You are correct, chairman, that i am engaged in a review of reforms to our enforcement priorities, and the president has asked me to wait for reasons that i agree before announcing those reforms to give the house of representatives the opportunity in this summer to act this summer to act on comprehensive Immigration Reform. It is something that i very much support and believe in for a number of reasons including added Border Security, mandatory everify, enhanced criminal penalties for those who would hire undocumented as well as the earned path to citizenship. And both the president and i urge the house of representatives to act. Were doing a number of other things which id be happy to discuss in more detail in the department to enhance morale, to enhance our process for budget deliberations and our acquisition process, and we are making great progress in filling the numerous seniorlevel vacancies, including myself. Since december the senate has confirmed seven appointments for Senior Leadership positions in dhs. I believe its critical to the morale and good work of the agency that we have a new energy, new leadership in the department, and were making Good Progress there. Thank you, chairman, and i look forward to your questions. Thank you, secretary johnson. Well now proceed under the five minute rule with questions, and ill begin by recognizing myself. Secretary johnson, i appreciate the president s recognition of the importance of doing Immigration Reform. I and, i think, most members of congress believe we need to do Immigration Reform as well. But it needs to be recognized by the president and by you and others in the administration that when the president says that hes going to set a time limit and then consider taking actions himself which many of us read to be the president genre meeting i have a pen and a cell phone, and if you dont act, i will, that that makes doing Immigration Reform harder, not easier. Because those who may like what the president decides to do administratively have less reason to negotiate the hard decisions to be made about how to enforce our immigration laws in the future. And those who do not agree with the president s position on Immigration Reform say why should we negotiate if we cant the president to enforce the laws as they exist . So i just expressed to you my ongoing concern that the president is being helpful to the process when he works with the congress and suggests that he want withs to accomplish Immigration Reform he wants to accomplish Immigration Reform, but he hurts the efforts when he says if you dont do it, and the suggestion is further if you dont do it my way, ill act unilaterally when many of us believe the United States constitution does not give him the authority to do that. But let me turn my questions to another subject, and that is there are now 858,779 nondetained aliens with final orders of removal who have not been removed. The vast majority of these aliens have simply ab continued and become absconded and become fugitives in the u. S. Is it, it is, to me, Crystal Clear is it to you . That if we do not detain aliens in removal proceedings, many will simply become fugitive asks not be required to leave the country . Chairman, you are correct that there are a large number of undocumented in the country who are fugitives who have absconded after final orders of removal. Ive looked at the same numbers. One of the things that let me get into the details here. Its recently been revealed that in 2013 dhs released from detention over 36,000 criminal aliens in removal proceedings or after they had been ordered removed. Aliens with convictions ranging from homicide to Sexual Assault to kidnapping to aggravated assault to drunk driving. Dhs stated in response that many of these aliens were released as a discretionary matter after career Law Enforcement officers made a judgment regarding the priority of holding the individual given i. C. E. s resources and prioritizing for National Security reasons. Isnt it true that i. C. E. Attorneys decide whether to offer bond and set the amount of the bond . So isnt it also true that the dhs could have detained most of these criminal aliens but simply chose not to . Chairman, i myself would like a deeper understanding of this issue. I have your letter on the subject. We responded yesterday, i dont know whether youve received the response yet, sir. But my understanding so far is that a number of those released in fy13 were as the result of an order there an immigration judge from an immigration judge or by an immigration officer acting pursuant to, consistent with Supreme Court precedent and other law. Certainly, theres an amount of judgment that goes into that, so if someones released, theyre released pursuant to conditions that are intended to guarantee their return. But i look at the same list youve seen, and ive seen some pretty serious criminal convictions on those, on that list including homicide and other things. And so i want a deeper understanding of this issue myself to make sure that were doing everything we should be doing to insure Public Safety in this process. And you note the homicides. For example, it was stated by the department that mandatory releases because of Court Decisions account for 72 of those homicides. And, obviously, the Congress Needs to address that. Some of those mandatory releases were because of being held for a length of time the courts if felt were inappropriate, and we need to make sure that is addressed so that they are removed from the United States after they have served their sentences for homicide. But that still leaves 28 of the murderers, a substantial number of people, who the dhs simply voluntarily release. So i hope that you will look into what is happening there and try to help us understand how this can be fixed