the program will start in one minute. please take your seats. >> ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. at this time, please welcome

chairman trey gowdy. [ applause ] >> thank you. paul ryan has been the speaker of the house, a vice presidential candidate, chairman of the budget committee, and the cham impl chairman of the ways and means committee. he's the smartest kid in the room, whether it's tax, budget, health care, entitlement reform. but those are not the things that i will remember most or remember most dearly about him. paul was my favorite member of congress before i ever got to congress. when i was trying to make the transition from a courtroom to a congressional candidate, i would read his road maps to recovery. hi would read his speeches.

i would watch his interviews. he was smart. he was persuasive. he was contrasting, but not in an overtly confrontational way. he didn't need note cards during a debate. he didn't need staff to whis. per the answer in his ear. he was, to me, as a candidate for congress exactly what our party and our country needed, which was a smart, persuasive, c contrasting person who understood and knew the issues. so when i got to congress in 2011, i made it my mission i was going to meet paul ryan. so after orientation and we're sworn in, ien wept by his off e office. no appointment. just showed up. sat by his receptionist and said i'm not going to leave until i get to meet paul ryan.

if you're thinking about running for congress, don't do that. so we came out and the first thing i said was mr. ryan, i would like your autograph. and he was awkward and shocked and embarrassed. if you were thinking about being a member of congress, don't ask a colleague for his or her autograph. but he gave it to me and took me in the office and said, lock, we're peers. we're colleagues. we're equals. we don't ask each other for autographs. let me tell you what else you don't do. you don't ask your colleagues to call your tea party groups mad at you with because you continue to vote for continuing resolutions. and i didn't ask. he volunteered.

i was catching a lot of grief back home. and i said i'll call them. give me their numbers. i'll call them. and the chairman of the budget committee called other people's problems and he said this is not ideological, it's strategic. and to paul, it is never personal. it is always policy. from then on, i saw paul most often in the gym. how you lift weight for eight years and have such little muscles is amazing to me. but if you think about it he's

worked out and done cardio and he's -- if you're looking for paul ryan in the mornings, you'll find him in the gym leading republicans and democrats in a workout. and one morning in 2012 i stopped him and i said, paul, do you think you'd ever consider running for speaker of the house. do you ever think you'd be our speaker of the house. he put his hands on my shoulders and said, trey i love you guys, but i don't love you enough to be the speaker. he was right. 2012 had something else in store for him. mitt romney picked one of us. a house guy, an ideas guy to be his vice presidential candidate. it will be a heartbeat away from the leader of the free world could change people. it could.

but for those of you who remember paul's trip back to capitol hill during his candidacy, he had not changed one bit. same policy centric, modest, doesn't want to be the center of attention guy that he always was. the election didn't go his way. so he suffered disappointment on a national scale. and i can change people too. but it didn't. he came back to the house of representatives. he was the chairman of the budget committee. he was going to be the chairman of the ways and means committee. then he got that and that was his dream job. ways and means chairman paul ryan. and then boehner left. and then kevin withdrew.

and we were a wreck. to the outside world, we needed a speaker. to those of us in the conference, we needed a lot more than that. beneeded someone who was unifying. we needed someone who could bridge the different factions that had arisen in our conference. we needed a first ballot candidate. and we found him. the challenge was convincing that person to run for speaker. most people think the speaker of the house is being second in line to the president and with the incredibly difficult job of staying awake during the state of the union. to the members, being the speaker is is much more than that. speaker is the leader. it's where you take your problems. it is where you take your incredibly good ideas if only

your colleagues were wise enough to see your genius. the speaker referees fights. he shoulders the blame and deflects the praise. he explains the inexplicable to the national media. he travels nonstop. to help colleagues, some of whom have incredibly short memories. being the speaker is hard, which is why so few people run for it and even fewer yet are qualified. and i know the phrase reluctant politician seems oxymoronic. i dpet the joke, except sometimes it's true. sometimes there's someone like a paul ryan, and i can tell you without fear of contradiction, paul ryan did not want to be the speak r of the house. he supported kevin mccarthy with every ounce of his fire r. we needed someone unit fieing and we needed somebodydown

verbally respected. et with needed someone sack official enough to give up us his droem job for no one's treatment job. paul has too much grace and class to say this, but i do not. i wonder sometimes if we did him a favor. when we drafted him to be our speaker. he's a policy. guy. always has been. he's not a bare knuckles political fighter. his bias is towards fairness, his bias is towards working with people. i wonder sometimes if we did him a favor. paul, i will tell you this. you may not have loved us enough to be the speaker of the house, but i'm glad you love the

country enough to be the speaker of the house. [ applause ] my sadness is is not that you are leaving. my sadness is i don't know how many paul ryans there are behind you and how many young men and women like you would choose to enter the current political environment. so you were right when we met eight years ago. we are colleagues. we became friends. but paul, you are wrong about one thing. we are not equals. you don't have an equal. people like you don't come along very often.

and when they do, they don't come with your humility. when our founding fathers decided to engage in this experiment, this intersection of virtue, knowledge and freedom, it's people like you that they had in mind. and if i had one draft choice, if we were starting this experiment to lasso human nature through government, if i had one pick, as a modern day founding father or mother, it would be you, paul. of all the people i know in politics, it would be you. so you leave as you began, my favorite member of congress. but i'm not alone. on behalf of a grateful congress and grateful country, thank you for your service and the

humility cwith which you have discharged it. ladies and gentlemen, the speaker of the house paul d. ryan. [ applause ] p[ applause ] >> thank you, everybody. please, please, thank you, trey. thank you for being a great colleague and even better friend and most importantly thank you for combing your hair dtoday, trey. this version is a good one. thank you. everybody is laughing because you know exactly what i'm talking about. i see all my friends and

colleagues here. i want to thank you all for joining me here today. i want to thank our librarian of congress dr. hayden for having us here in this beautiful hall. thank you very much. i remember meeting your mom here on this stage not too long ago. any time i come here, i can't help but think back to this pivotal time in my life. it was a summer of 2012. i was about to speak at a local chamber of commerce group when i got this phone call in the reading room, which many of us go to. the phone call was from beth meyers from the romney campaign. and at this point, i knew that i was being vetted for vice president, but i hadn't heard anything. i didn't know how serious this was. so beth starts to walk me through how i would need to fly to boston innothing knee toe.

and it just starts occurring to me that my life, my family's life is about to change dramatically. and that call was right outside that door there. we hang up, i go up to the reading room and give that speech. then i realize i have to go vote on the floor. it was the last votes before the august recess. so at this moment when i want to be alone with amy thought, i walked into a swarm of reporters. it's one of those inflection points. you just remember at certain cross roads in your life. this building, that moment, it reminds me right now that your plan, your direction can change in an instant. i have had a numb of inimprobable terms in my life. but before i go, i am grateful

to have the chance to share a few thoughts and to say good-bye. i'm grateful to say good-bye to you. to this job, and to this incredible institution et we call the house of representatives. a long time ago, i came here to capitol hill as an intern for one semester in college. the plan was pretty simple. one semester here in washington, learn something, that's it. since then, i have been surrounded by some incredible people. the mentors who helped set me on the right path, jack kemp, bob woodson. the giant who is guide d me in the things i you wanted to pursue, the people of southern wisconsin who gave me the chance to work for them. the staff who always made me better. the president and the vice

president for being my partners in government. the colleagues who became lifelong friends. and of course, my family. this whole thing started as a family affair. my mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, they ran my first campaign. my mom was my scheduler and so no one would turn down your mom when she asks you to speak to their group. it was a great setsup. but it ends with family too. i would not have been able to serve as speaker were it not for the sacrifices that my family made. being a husband and a dad is everything to me. so we have come a long way together in this improbable journey. so from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you all. [ applause ]

over the years, i have always thought about this. i have been thinking whether my dad would be proud of me. would he be proud of what i did? i lost him at a young age before he had a chance to shape my path in life. i don't know what he thought i would make of my life. but this was certainly not my plan. not even close. all i keep thinking is every time i go back to this is what a country. what a country. we're an unassuming upbringing gets the chance to be a part of all of this. what a country. you can pursue whatever your passion is wherever it takehouse. that's the american idea. the the condition of your birth

isn't your destiny. it's part of your journey. it's all laid out there in the first words of the constitution. before first principles even. a first mission. to achieve a more perfect union. we are conditioned to recognize we are imperfect, but we are called to do better. so we revere these beautiful founding principles, liberty, free enterprise, consent to the governed and then we go to work to apply them to the problems of the day. we build up the resilience, t ain't bodies that will protect us. that's how we advance the american idea. that's how we build a more confident america. as trey said, as all my colleagues here know i never wanted to become speaker. i was just a policy guy. but what i realize now is you

don't really become speaker. at least i don't see it that way. i don't see power as something you take for yourself. it's not a prize to claim or trophy to raise. you accept a temporary trust to be a steward of the gletest legislative body in the world. it's an awesome thing. again, just recently, the people have spoken. soon the house will become the care of a new majority in what i know will be a spirited republican minority. i wish the next leaders well. but it is precisely because this is so momentary it's because you're here for just a small part of history that you're inspired to do big things. and on this score, we have achieved a great deal. we have much to be proud of. three years ago, when we last gathered in this hall, we began a great journey to set our

nation on a better path. to move our economy from stagnation to growth, to restore military might, and we have kept our promises. this house is the most productive we have had in at least a generation. to date we have passed 1,175 bills. more than half of them with bipartisan support. and because it is my duty as speaker, merely to say this, 750 bills are are still stuck in the united states senate. but the rest of them made it into law and that's an enormous achievement. we have taken on some of the biggest challenges of our time. and we have made a great and lasting difference in the trajectory of this country. we began rebuilding our military and national defense. we enacted tough sanctions on some of our biggest foes.

we have something so many of us have been talking about for so long. regulatory reform to help small businesses. a long expansion of domestic energy production to be followed by america's new energy dominance. to stem the type of opioid addiction, the most significant effort against a sung the drug crisis in congressional history. criminal justice reform to give more people a chance at redemption, making its way through. we're doing this until the end opt. a crackdown on human trafficking that's yielding results and saving lives. a va with real accountable. and better care for our veterans. and after years of doubt, years of the cynics say iing it could not be done, we achieved the first major overhaul of our tax code in 31 years. [ applause ]

we went from the worst tax code to one of the most competitive. it's something i worked on my entire adult life. and something that will help improve the lives of people for a long time to come. it's one of the illusive generational reforms. it's why we do this. certainly one congress cannot solve all that ails us. not every outcome has been perfect. but that's our great system at work. and i'm proud of what we can achieve together to make this a stronger and more prosperous country. jack kemp once said that it the central task of any political party is to offer people superior ideas of government. i see it as even more than a

task or an only gigs. i see it as labor of love. yes, you can make a career out of criticism. many people do. i don't begrudge them that. but well done is always a better pursuit than well said. in this business you catch slings and arrows. it's a price i have been happy to pay. because nothing is as fulfilling as an idea that will make a dimps in people's lives and seeing it through from start to finish. to me that's the ultimate proving ground of politics. it's the great manifestation of this experiment in self-government. and i got to tell you the more you get into it, when you choose to truly engage in the process rather than endure it, the more you come to see that even our most complex problems are solvable. i got to say.

i leave here as convinced i was at the start that we face no challenge that can be overcome by putting pen to paper on good, sound policy. by address iing head on the problems of the day. the state of politics is another question. frankly, that's one i don't have an answer for. we have a good sense of what our politics should look like. a great clash of ideas. a civil passion and discourse through which we debate and resolve our differences. a system of government that doesn't just allow for that. our system depends on that. one side may win, one side may lose, we dust ourselves off and start anew nknowing each one fought in pursuit of their honest ideals. but today too often genuine disagreement quickly gives way to intense distrust.

we spend far more time trying to convict one another than trying to develop our own convictions. being against someone has more currency than being for anything. and each of us, each of us has found ourselves operating on the wrong side of this equation from time to time. all of this gets amplified by technology. with an incentive structure that preys on people's fears, outrage has become a brand. as with anything that gettings marketed, it gets scaled up. it becomes more industrialized, more cold, more unfeeling. and that's the thing. for all the noise, there's actually less passion, less energy. we default o to denunciations. it's just emotional fed through a trough of outrage. it's exhausting.

and it discourages good people from public service. i mean the symptoms of it are in our face all the time. and we have to recognize that its roots run deep into our culture, deep into our society today. and all of this pulls on the threads of our common humanity in what could be our unraveling, but nothing says it has to be this way. we all struggle. we are all fighting some bat until our lives. so why do we inskis on fugting one another so bitterly? this kind of politics starts from a place of outrage and s k seeks to tear us down from there. so key question, how do we get back to aspiration and inclusion. where we start with humility and seek to build on that. i don't know the answer to that.

what i offered today instead is something to keep in mind as we all try to navigate through this moment. our culture is meant to be shaped not by our political institutions, but by the institutions of civil society of our community. these are the place where is we come together with people of different backgrounds, churches, charities, pta meetings, it's where we build up our social capital that keeps us rooted to where we live and how we live with one another. rediscovering that human connection is one lane on the road back to aspiration and inclusion as the guiding influences of public life. as i said, the drivers of our broken politics are more obvious than the solutions. and so this is a challenge i hope to spend more time wrestling with in my next chapter. i say as i look ahead to the future, this much i know.

our complex problems are absolutely solvable. our problems are solvable if our politics will allow it. there are three big ones in particular that i think we can tackle in the years ahead as a country. they are challenges that have vexed this country for years. i recognize so much more work needs to be done. if we get them right, we can be certain that this will be another great sent ri for our country. you all know that finding solutions to help people lift themselves out of poverty is a personal mission for me and many others. i think we have made a real progress in a relatively short time. four years ago, when our nation marked the 50th anniversary on the war on poverty, we exposed

some hard truths. for all the billions spent, all the programs created, we barely moved the needle. but we have begun to break this model. new opportunity zones part of tax reform will bring nor investment into distressed communities. more private capital toward community leaders solving big problems. whether it's helping the homeless or reducing recidivism. job training programs and case management approach are things that it will help more people move from welfare to work. this is what i find to be so dynamic about free enterprise. it is not just about creating jobs. it's about restore iing the meag of a job. the meaning of work. it's not just about getting people off of the side loins. it's about helping get people on the path of life. i believe that solving our poverty challenges once and for

all will require not just a great undertaking, but a great rethinking of how we help the most vulnerable among us. it begins with realizing the best results come from within communities. solutions are tailored and targeted for people's needs. this battle will be won eye to eye and thank you for showing me that. we have great advocates for welfare reform. i challenge my party here. do not let this issue drift from your conscientious. every life matters. every person deserves a chance to succeed. let's keep advancing ideas to live lives of self-determination. this is great work and we can achieve this. i believe that we can be the generation that saves our entitlement programs.

frankly, we need to be. and i acknowledge plainly that my ambitions for entitlement reforms have outpaced the political reality and i consider this our greatest unfinished business. we all know what needs to be done. strong economic growth, which we have, and entitlement reform to address the long-term drivers of our debt. our revenue is about to return to its 50-year average. what continues to plague us is a mandatory spending system deeply out of balance and unsustaina e unsustainable. this was the case when i came here 25 years ago. it's the case today. not too long ago, few were willing to recognize the scope of this problem let alone engage in solutions. our government wasn't even inclined to examine long-term fiscal picture. it didn't even work that way. we had to go about changing the

debate before we could begin o to try to change people's minds. i'm proud that every year i was budget chairman we passed in the house a road map to balancing the budget and paying off the debt and that tom price did the same as well. and this congress, we came within one vote of real health care sboit thement reform. federal health care spending remains the principle driver of entitlement spending. our bill would have reformed two of the major health care problems to make them sustainable and to maeet the health care needs of our country. so we have come a long way. we are closer than people realize. and ultimately, solving this problem will require a greater degree of political will than exists today and i regret that. but when the time comes to do this and it will because it

must, the path ahead will be based upon the framework that we have laid out to solve this problem. we can get there. we really can tackle this problem before it tackles us. here's the third challenge that i think we will have to address as a country. we have to fix our broken immigration system. right now, we are, again, locked in another short-term battle over one aspect of this issue. no matter what the outcome is in the coming days, the larger problem will remain. the system will be in neither of serious reform and no less than our full potential as a nation here is at stake. but the right mix of policy solutions is there. border security and enforcement, for starters, but a m modernization of our system. anyone that wants to be a part of our american first base risk can contribute. that includes the dreamers,

those who came here through no fault of their own and the undocumented population. in order to fix the system, you have to reset the system. to enforce the law, you have to get people right with the law. again, we came closer in this congress than people realize. and next year, the supreme court will make a ruling and then b h both. parties can and should go back to the table. getting this right is an economic and moral imperative. and it would go a long way toward taking some of the venom out of our discourse. if we do these three things, make progress on poverty, fix our immigration system, and confront this debt crisis, we can make this another great sent ri for our country. i recognize that these challenges are ones we haven't made much progress on in recent years. but i got to tell you i'm

confident we still have it in us to solve them. a good friend of mine recently commented to me that amid-the fren sit zy of politics today, s more faith in our system than ever before. in our system, really bad ideas get killed. and good ideas just take time. our problems are solvable if our politics will allow it. i know it. i have seen it. in a confident america, we don't shrug our shoulders ask pass the buck. we roll up our sleeves and we get on with our work. a confident america leads the world too. not with bluster, but with steady, principled action. remember, history really does have a way of repeating itself. the democratic capitalist model faces a generation defining moment and test.

much of our day-to-day is focused on focused from regimes and radical extremism. that said, i strongly urge leaders in both parties to devote more time and energy to the direct challenge that china poses to the west. china offers an alternative in the form of an authoritarian model with a veneer of 21st century capitalism. in the sense i got from when i have been traveling overseas as speaker is that allies wonder whether we're still in the game here or not. when we show that our way of doing things still has juice, we can do the most good for the most people, liberty gains ground. when we get complacent, we risk seeing more countries go in the direction of the autocrats. a confident america stands up to its challengers by committing to the pillars of international relations by leading.

in addition to rebuild iing our military and giving our intelligence community the tools it needs, this congress has worked to strengthen our security cooperation with our allies. particularly through nato. good security cooperation goes hand in hand with strong economic ties. that's why we need to continue to pursue good, free trade agreements that open up new markets to american made products. there's a lot of effort that needs to continue. we don't want our competitors writing the rules of the road and shutting us out. and a confident america exercises clear moral leadership. we need to continue to work together to promote things like global health initiative, fight human trafficking, and be a voice for the voiceless. our economy is strong. our military might is second to none. and clear american leadership in the world makes the most of both of those things. so for each of the challenges

this i have discussed here today, there are people of good will in both parties who are ready and willing to take action. everyone does not need to agree on everything. everyone doesn't need to disagree on everything either. all you need is enough people of good faith willing to take up an idea. that's a good start. so what comes next? we're going to have a lot of new faces around congress next year. i hear a lot of good things about this guy from utah. so here's my advice to members new and members old. this place is full of wonders and opportunity. but do your best to stay grounded. the way i think of it it's either you change things or thaings change you. you have to keep your sense of self. work hard around here at staying who you are.

insist on it. it's what i have been praying about literally every morning since i first came here. to keep my sense of self. i knew when i took this job i knew when i became speaker i would become a polarizing figure. it comes with the territory. but the one thing i leave most proud of is that i like to think i'm the same person now that i was when i arrived. still never forget that excitement that brought you here. remember how awe struck you felt the first time you stepped on the house floor. keep that feeling. especially when the so-called experts say you need to tack this way or that way. hone your abilities to advance ideas. sut down with people who know more about something than you do. listen, keep at it, invest in the process. you're going to hit road blocks, that's okay. give yourself some grace. timing is everything. so you have to get it right. you have to be prepared. you may not get too many shots at it, so you have to be ready

when the moment for action demands action. and focus on good relationships with your colleagues. get to know people on the other side of the aisle. get to know the human side of serving with people. build personal relationships so that it's not just transactions. you want real relationships. having real relationships, that will help you overcome pitfalls and build trust. i see a lot of real relationships right here in front of me. and most of all when you give your word, you have to keep your word. it's really important. give your word only, though, if you can keep it. keep a balanced temperament. a sense of gratitude. which brings me to this. to everything there is a season and for me this season of service is coming to a close. i have had the chance to do something that i love so much for so long.

to do my small part to advance the american idea. and i leave as i came here. an optimist to the core. i wouldn't have it any other way. nothing is impossible if you're willing to go out and fight for it. if nothing else, i simple isly ask you to remember one thing. we are each part of a larger story. a greater cause. and what we have here is a miracle. it really is. and this miracle has made us the most free and the most prosperous nation on earth ever. cherish that. marvel at that. always dream big. always for just as remarkable for what we have achieved is what we have the capacity to do still. so here's to the people. here's to the people's house. here's to possibilities.

thank you for everything. god bless america. thank you. [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ]

veterans affairs secretary robert wilkie will testify before the senate veterans affairs committee, live coverage starts at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 3. >> the house rules committee will meet to consider legislation to consider certain tax breaks that have expired and tax relief for people hit by disasters and repeals of certain health care-related taxes. the rules committee will decide what amendments can be offered during floor debate. live coverage starts at 5:00 p.m. eastern, here on c-span 3. you can also watch online at c-span.org or list within the free c-span radio app. tonight, american history tv in prime time, where we will look at programs on political history, with a discussion on

the concept of populism. and its role in the history of american politics. the first event is called the promise and perils of populism. history tv in prime time starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern. joining us is lauren cameron, of u.s. news and world report. she an education reporter here to talk about those findings that were done by the trump administration task force on school safety. good morning. >> good morning. >> walk us through what brought us even to the point of this report. what led up to it? >> so there was a school safety commission formed by the white house after the mass shooting at parkland, in parkland, florida, at marjory stoneman douglas high school, and this was serge ry an effort -- essentially an effort by the white house, to take a quote-unquote holistic view at all of the school safety measures, and security initiatives that schools should be looking at, to prevent some of these tragedies in the future. >> at the head of that will be

the education secretary betsy devos. could you describe how, at least going into it, what was her hope or at least what did she set out to do? >> she really didn't make too many commitments to be honest, in terms of setting guidelines and setting what she would and wouldn't look at. she specifically said she was open to taking a look at everything. and in the report, they actually did. i mean it is 177-page report, and makes nearly 100 recommendations. you know, there's often the debate about whether this report should have touched on firearms specifically, gun laws specifically. it does not necessarily go there. but it does take more of a holistic view on things like mental health, how schools should beef up security in terms of maybe installing bullet-proof windows, and provides better perimeter security. it goes into a whole host of different recommendations for school districts. >> what was the justification for not specifically looking at

gun issues? >> well, i mean this is a very political debate, of course, and they said they wanted to focus specifically on school measures. of course, this got a lot of pushback, and it has been getting a lot of pushback, but basically what they did is they travelled around the country for the better part of a year. they visited 47 states. held hearing and listening sessions. talking to teachers and educators, superintendents, school safety experts, everyone who might have a say in providing some additional information on how schools should better secure themselves. and these were the findings. >> and we will look at some specifics of the findings as we go on with our guest. if you want to ask her questions, for educators out there 202-784-8000. if you're an administrator, it is 202-784-8001 and all others

282-784-8002. here is the education secretary betsy devos talking about the release of the report. >> the report has a holistic view of school safety based on the insights and expertise of many individuals. our recommendations can assist states and local communities. ultimately, governors and state legislators should work with school leaders, teachers, parents, and students to address their own unique challenges and develop their own specific solutions. how schools and communities consider these recommendations will vary. their approach should start by fostering a positive climate and a culture of connectedness. this report highlights social and emotional learning, and a number of other recommendations that possible make, policy makers should explore. but let's remember, local problems need local solutions. ultimately, the recommendations do not, and cannot supplant the

incompable role that families play. >> it is important to remember that these 100 recommendations are just that. they're recommendations. these are not requirements that school districts need to put in place. these are 100 different recommendations that the administration would like school districts to consider in concert with state legislators, governors, as you heard, the secretary say, every decision that a school makes is going to be coming from their local unique perspective. not every recommendation is going to work for every school district. and so that's really important to keep in mind. >> you talked about what the report said about gun vols. it also spent a lot of time talking about discipline in general in school. why and what was found? >> yes, so this really wasn't a surprise. the report includes a

recommendation to repeal an obama era guideline. now this guideline was issued in 2014 jointly by the department of education and the department of justice, and it's really aimed at stemming the school to prison pipeline. we can debate and people do debate the merits and the reasoning behind an actual guideline specifically, but what is not debatable is that there is an incredible disparity in school discipline. the department of education's own office of civil rights has found that black boys, for example, are expelled three times, or three times more likely to be expelled than white boys. black girls are six times more likely to be expelled than white girls. and each just this past april, the government accountability office found that while black students make up about 15% of all public school students, they account for 39% of all students who are expelled. so this is an issue. and the 2014 guidance that this

report recommends repealing, basically puts school districts on notice, and said, if you have policies in place that result in disparate disciplining meaning your students of color, or any students of a group is disciplined at a higher rate than others, we're going to look into this and we will investigate you. that sort of had a windfall effect. school districts sort of turned a little bit more to this justice approach of trying to discipline students. there's been a lot of debate about whether this should have been put in place. but essentially, it has dropped suspension rates for students of color in some areas that embrace this. but it is important to note that not all school districts changed. and so this specific guidance

secretary of education has long called for, needs to be taken a look at this specific discipline disparities. >> education -- >> we will go live now to capitol hill, as veterans affairs secretary robert wilkie is testifying this afternoon, before both the house and the senate veterans affairs committees. he will be talking about the agency's mission. he will be fielding questions about the v.a.'s implementation of the mission act, expanding private medical care for veterans. the law went into effect over the summer. this is live coverage on c-span 3.

. the committee will come to order. before we begin, i would like to ask unanimous consent that congressman sublon will be able to sit and participate in today's hearings. hearing no objection, so ordered. welcome. and thank you all for joining us today for the joint hearing of the house and senate committees on veterans affairs. this afternoon, we will discuss implementation of the john s. mccain, daniel kay akoka and the samuel r. johnson department of veterans affairs maintaining internal systems and