Valerie Jarrett: Well, so
now you see why we thought
we would start with stories.
So, Kimba, Sue Ellen, Judge
Pratt, thank you so much for
being willing to share
your stories with us.
(applause)
So, as I mentioned earlier,
we are honored to have our
country's Attorney General
here with us today.
I love saying that, Attorney
General Lynch, yes -
(applause)
-- or just Loretta, as I
like to call her, has been a
driving force behind
criminal justice reform,
together with many
members of her team.
In fact, could I have
everyone from the Justice
Department stand up for a
second so we can recognize you?
(applause)
She came with her peeps.
(laughter)
And this is a big day for
the Justice Department.
They have new announcements
that they made today, and so
to keep all of you current,
I thought I'd start by
asking the Attorney General
to give us a description of
what came out today.
Attorney General Lynch: Oh,
thank you so much, Valerie.
Thank you so much, everyone,
for being here, for working
on these issues, for caring
about these issues, and for
answering in advance the ask
to keep working on these
issues because so much of
what we've done over the
last eight years has been
inspired by your work, by
work done in the states,
by work done by community
groups to raise
attention to issues.
And so, I'm just
tremendously proud to work
with all of you and to have
been able to move this
important issue a little
bit further down the field.
We do have some exciting
things happening, and
they're exciting to me
because we've been working
on reentry issues
for some time now.
It's really been a focal
point of our criminal
justice reform work.
So, I'm excited because of
the actual announcements,
but I'm really excited
because these are changes
that we're making within how
we handle reentry within the
Bureau of Prisons that
will live on past this
administration, that are
going to become part of the
DNA of the Bureau of
Prisons, so that as we deal
with federal inmates in this
country, we have some major
changes going on.
So, there's three main
things we're doing within
BOP, and then a fourth one
that I think is hopefully
going to help another
important issue, which is
our women who are
incarcerated.
First and foremost, as we've
talked about education is
the key to successfully
coming back home.
For so many people, the
ability to get a job
depends, very often, on
things as simple as the
ability to read, and things
as simple as the ability to
actually get a license
or a certificate.
And it's things as
simple as getting a GED.
So, while we have always
worked within the Bureau of
Prisons to put forth
educational opportunities
and to have programs, we
are taking a comprehensive,
entire system look at
the Bureau of Prisons.
And through -- with the help
of outside experts and a
number of people at the
Department of Justice who
have worked very hard on
this, essentially, we will
be setting up -- what will,
in essence, be a school
district within the Bureau
of Prisons so that every
inmate entering federal
custody will receive an
educational assessment of
their needs and of their
issues, particularly of
learning disabilities, and
an educational program to
help them achieve their goals.
(applause)
Now, if you -- if you want
to do what a lot of people
do and reduce it to cost,
for every dollar we spend on
education in the prison
system, it can replace four
to five dollars we spend
just on incarceration alone.
That's been enough to get a
lot of support for issues
like this one and other
things we are working on.
The thing that we're really
focusing on -- not just the
financial cost, the hard
dollars and cents, but the
human cost of incarceration:
the collateral costs, the
cost to individuals, the
cost to families, the cost
to communities, the cost
to our culture of removing
people from being able
to participate in this
country's economy for a
number of years and sending
them back home still not
able to participate.
So, the educational
opportunities that we're
going to be providing,
whether it's a GED that's
needed, whether it's further
education, whether it's the
basics of learning how to
read and manage things,
which again, sends people on
this upward trajectory that
will -- and we've seen it
work -- that will not only
empower them but allows them
to be better parents, better
siblings, better family
members, and have a real
chance when they come home.
So, that's the first
thing we're working on.
The second thing, which may
sound like a small thing, is
we will be providing for
everyone who's leaving
federal prison, the ability
to obtain, if they don't
have it, a birth certificate
and government ID.
(applause)
We started talking about
this, actually, back in
the spring.
When we were doing reentry
week, we were trying to
highlight all the
things we were doing.
And I wrote a letter to all
the governors of -- in the
country, as well as the
Mayor of D.C., and asked
them to please set up a
program, if they didn't
already have one, to take
federal prison ID and
convert it into state ID
because one of the things
that we've seen is one of
the biggest stumbling blocks
to just reentering life
can be identification.
Who are you?
Who are you?
And who gets to
say who you are?
And everyone coming out of
prison should be able to
come back as a whole person,
not just a number that's
been assigned
some years before.
And it also impacts the
ability not just for
transportation but even to
enter into a building to
apply for a job, to get a
job, to get a student loan.
It's one of the things that
people who haven't been
through that experience I
think take for granted the most.
And if you don't have that
-- if you've been stripped
of your identification
literally, as an inmate, and
then don't have a chance to
regain it when you come out,
it can be a huge
stumbling block.
So, we will be
covering those costs.
Some states already do
accept our ID and we commend
those that do.
Many others responded to our
letter and they're working
on programs also.
But this particular program
will make sure that every
federal inmate does
come out with ID.
The third thing that we're
working on, as you know,
there's a bridge from
prison back home.
Typically, they're
called halfway houses.
The official name is
residential reentry centers.
And a lot of people don't
know these are run by
private companies.
We've done a study of the
ones that are affiliated
with the Bureau of Prisons
to see how are they carrying
out the mandate to be the
bridge from the institution
itself back into
the community.
And while some of the m are
working very hard and are,
in fact, doing a good job,
it has not been up to what
we want.
And so, we've taken the
time, we've engaged
consultants, and we are now,
as of today, setting forth
new standards that all of
the halfway houses have to
meet; not just standards for
the buildings but standards
for the services that
they provide, the reentry
services, the quality of
people who are going to be
providing important services
to people who are dependent
on them for that time being.
So those are three very
important things that we're
focusing on.
The Deputy AG Sally Yates
will be here later.
She and her team have worked
really hard on this and
she's going to be
talking about that.
The other thing that I want
to announce is something
that has been in the works
for about three years.
And you may want -- you may
ask why am I excited to
announce that FCI Danbury
is reopening, that we're
reopening a federal prison?
I'm excited because it's
one of the few women's
correctional facilities that
we have, and it had to close
for renovations
several years ago.
And for federal prisoners
-- for women who are
incarcerated in the
Northeast, it meant that
they could no longer stay in
that area and they had to be
incarcerated outside of the
Northeast area, either in
West Virginia
or Points West.
And as we know, when you
incarcerate a woman, you
actually really
incarcerate a family.
And as we heard talk about
-- and thank you, Kimba, for
sharing that story -- you
know, you had to think about
what does it mean to be a
mother when you can't see
your child or when you
can't hold your child?
So, we are reopening FCI
Danbury and at the same time
making sure that Danbury's
equipped with some of the
things that we are rolling
out throughout the entire
Bureau of Prisons, which
is intensive mental health
treatment for inmates
who require that.
Because again, it is true,
our prisons -- not at the
federal level -- not just
federally, but the at the
state and local level, are
the largest housers of --
largest housing facilities
of people with mental
illness in this country.
And I will tell you, when I
travel the country and talk
to law enforcement, sheriffs
in particular will say this
to me.
And they'll say, "We know
that's who we're housing,
and we could use help with
that." So, at the federal
level particularly, for
women who have not had
access to that treatment,
Danbury will offer that.
It will also offer a
residential drug treatment
program known as RDAP to
deal with some -- one of the
main reasons why so many
women fall into the system
in the first place, which is
through addiction issues.
So, we're tremendously
excited to be able to roll
these out.
This will continue long
after I'm out of this chair
and someone else is there,
as will the commitment to
people like you who've
been in the field, who've
inspired us -- who've
inspired us and given us
examples of what works and
what's been effective in not
only reducing the numbers of
people who are incarcerated
in the first place but also
making sure that there
really is a
bridge back home.
So, thank you for letting
me make these announcements
today, Valerie.
(applause)
Valerie Jarrett: Good news.
So, Loretta, one of the
areas that we, together with
many folks in this room,
have been working on for a
long time is criminal
justice reform legislation
at the federal level.
And notwithstanding the
bipartisan support both
within Congress and both
houses and outside with
their stakeholders, we've
been unable to get a bill on
the President's desk.
But you -- and through the
Justice Department, have
taken several steps
on sentencing.
So, I was hoping you could
talk about what you've been
able to do through your
executive authority to
reform the way that we are
sentencing people right now.
Attorney General
Lynch: Thank you.
We're actually tremendously
proud of the work that's
been done.
Under my predecessor, AG
Eric Holder, back in 2013 we
unrolled the Smart on
Crime reform, and it was a
different way of looking at
how we charge and sentence
federal prisoners,
particularly the low-level,
nonviolent drug offenders.
AG Holder, like myself, had
been a prosecutor a long
time, had been involved in
working in this field in the
1990s when we began to see
the prison population swell
because of the war on drugs.
And we also saw that prison
population swell because of
the high mandatory minimums
being applied across the
board, unilaterally, without
really -- a real regard for
why they were even crafted
in the first place, which
was to go after the
kingpins, the large-scale
dealers, the huge
traffickers.
It turned out that they're
not the easiest people to catch.
It's easier to catch the
low-level people who are
moving things from Point A
to Point B for someone else
or who are hiding money or
holding things for someone else.
And if, in fact, you do that
and that's the only person
you have in your net, that
person takes the whole weight.
And so, there are people
still incarcerated who are
doing someone else's
time, in that sense.
That was the phrase that
people used, which was you
weren't the kingpin, but you
were on the hook for the
entire weight of it
And so, we began to look
at whether that was
really working.
And we saw, again, because
it's not just a financial
cost but the human cost of
that, and comparing it to
how we sentenced for other
crimes, also, that it was
not the most effective
use of our resources.
It also was a huge financial
drain on our system, a
system that needed more
resources for community
policing, for example, for
mental health treatment, for
example, and services that
we need to provide to people
across the whole spectrum of
the criminal justice system.
And so, AG Holder empowered
prosecutors to look at --
look at the entire case and
look at the whole person.
And to, in fact, charge
and ask for sentences that
focused more on that
person's own culpability and
to eschew the harsh
mandatory minimums unless we
were really dealing with the
trafficker, the kingpin, the
person who deserved it.
And as many of you know, it
got a lot of attention and
it was somewhat
controversial at the time.
And people -- long-time law
enforcement partners of ours
committed to public safety,
committed to making sure the
system worked, had concerns.
Are you still going to be
able to keep people safe?
Are you still going to
be able to hold
people accountable?
Will people still cooperate?
And what we've seen is that
we have -- we have, in fact,
reduced the use of mandatory
minimums significantly.
People still cooperate
with us and achieve those
benefits and hopefully
get reductions there.
We have been able to
maintain levels of safety in
terms of dealing with
narcotics cases.
And we're focusing now on
those serious offenders.
And while the number of
cases may have gone down
somewhat, the sentences have
gone up because they're
being focused on fewer
people who are more
deserving of them.
And it's tied in with
everything we've been doing
with the Clemency Project
that you mentioned also.
In conjunction with the
changes in sentencing that
the Sentencing Commission
made as to how we sentence
narcotics cases, we began to
look at those cases to say,
"If they came before us
today, how would they
be treated?"
You know, if they fall into
certain categories of the
low-level nonviolent
offender and they've already
done certainly around 10
years, which many people
have by now, would they --
would they be in the same
situation today?
And the answer for so many
people is a resounding no.
And that's led to the review
and led to the suggestions
and recommendations to the
President that we were so
tremendously grateful he's
been able to review and
also grant.
Valerie Jarrett:
Great, great.
So, we've been talking about
the -- what you've been
doing for sentencing reform
in the courtroom, and we've
also talked about the
cellblock and after.
But obviously, the work that
came out of the 21st Century
Task Force on Policing, the
implementation of that, your
office is really principally
responsible for that.
So, perhaps, you could
quickly take a couple of
minutes and describe to us
the progress we've made
since that report
was issued.
Attorney General Lynch: You
know, that report was one
where -- I thought one of
the best parts about the
task force was that it
wasn't just focused on law
enforcement participation.
It was very important that,
obviously, we have
law enforcement.
But, a number of people in
this room worked on
the task force.
We had community leaders, we
had educators, we had people
who had seen the system from
every possible angle and
were able to sit down and
all lend their voices to
what does 21st century
policing really look like?
Particularly at a time where
now -- where I think we all
have to agree that the
relationship, particularly
the lack of trust, between
law enforcement and the
communities that we serve
has led to some major
problems within our
communities, within our
criminal justice system,
and just in people's
relationship with the
government writ large, not
just police but
government writ large.
And so, dealing with that,
looking at some of the root
causes of it, I think, was
one of the main benefits of
the task force.
And so I was tremendously
proud to be able to actually
travel the country and focus
on police departments that
were doing well with
particular pillars or
particular foundations
of that report.
And I'll just -- I'm -- in
the interest of time, I'm
just going to talk about
two of them really briefly
because there were so many.
It talked about building
trust, also training, using
social media, all because
the overarching view is
transparency and
accountability.
But in the area of training,
I was able to visit some
police departments that
are doing some really
ground-breaking work in
de-escalation training and
looking at how do
we police today?
When you interact with a
civilian, you know, how do
you look at that civilian?
What are the circumstances
that make you react one way
or another?
And how do you keep from
going down the traditional
path of confrontation that
we have seen have
tragic results?
I mean, we're
talking loss of life.
How do we get away from that
model into one where we
reduce the tensions and
everyone gets to walk away
and go home safely?
And so, I've seen police
departments throw themselves
into this, and I've seen
police departments do work
and I've been actually
tremendously pleased to see
law enforcement speaking out
about this issue at times,
talking about some of the
cases that we have seen
where they also feel things
could have been handled
very, very differently.
That's a tremendous benefit
of that, to get that
discussion out there.
And also, talking about,
you know, the use of social
media, which sounds more
like, you know, how do you
tweet and all this.
But when you talk
about transparency and
accountability, using the
tools that we have to tell
the stories that we have has
been vital to opening up
this conversation.
The viral videos of police
misconduct and people losing
their lives have led to a
discussion that has been
so vital.
Using those same tools to
open up for the community so
the community can see how
law enforcement operates.
How are they trained?
You know, what is a day
at the academy like?
What is a day
on patrol like?
Why are they responding
to a particular area here?
And the community can
then be involved in that.
They can come down and
watch training or join or
participate in it.
They can help shape it.
I've seen that
happen as well.
So, that kind of
transparency leads to
greater community
involvement and how we
police because this
is interactive.
This is not just one
department saying, "This is
how I'm going to handle this
community." The community
has to be involved in
determining what kind of
police department you have.
You have to tell them what
the issues are, and you also
have to tell them how you
want to be treated and
insist on that.
And all the tools the 21st
Century Task Force has given
us have enabled
that to happen.
I've seen communities make
some wonderful strides along
those areas.
Valerie Jarrett: Great.
Thank you.
So now I think we're going
to open it up for
some questions.
And if you would just raise
your hand, our teams will
come over and get the
microphone as close to you
as possible.
They're not going to let go
of the microphone because we
know what happens when we
do that in the interest of time.
Sujatha Baliga: Sure.
Hi, my name is Sujatha
Baliga, and I work with the
Restorative Justice
Project at Impact Justice.
And in my restorative
justice work, we're really
moving towards more
pre-booking and pre-charge
diversion in trying to help
local police departments and
prosecutors work
in that context.
It feels particularly
important, given the
potential change in culture,
climate practices, to be
thinking on the local level.
That's definitely the buzz
I've been hearing amongst my
colleagues today.
And so, from that side, now
what we're seeing at the
local level is some really
impressive data, both in
terms of recidivism
reduction and victim
satisfaction with these
pre-booking and
pre-charge models.
And so, I'm wondering as
we're moving forward what it
is that can be done at the
federal level in terms of
incentivizing, both
culturally and otherwise,
prosecutors, law
enforcement, et cetera, to
work in the
pre-booking/pre-charge
diversion context in
restorative justice and in
other things that are seen
to be effective in areas
like victim satisfaction,
community involvement,
recidivism
reduction, et cetera.
Attorney General Lynch: You
know, one of the things that
we've seen that's been very
effective at the federal
level are sort of diversion
courts, like you mentioned,
either drug courts have
been very effective.
They've often been sort
of ad hoc, and different
federal judges will have
different programs for that.
We have been trying to use
some of the budget savings
from, again, reducing the
cost of incarceration to
also fund programs and
grants that help communities
have standardized methods
of having things like drug
courts and diversion
programs because they're
very, very -- as you -- I'm
sure you know, they're very
labor-intensive.
And so, if we can share best
practices, if we can share
the practices that work with
more and more prosecutors
and judges, we can, in fact,
leverage that and expand
that model.
So, that is one thing
that we are working on.
And that also comes from a
lot of local involvement.
So, drug courts are one
of the most visible ones.
The other ones that we're
working on expanding are
veteran's courts.
You know, what we are seeing
a lot of when you look at
how trauma affects
individuals, we're looking
at a lot of individuals
coming into the criminal
justice system who are
veterans who are suffering
from PTSD and other related
traumas and whose behavior
reads criminal but it is
based in trauma and illness.
And so, we've gotten a lot
of support for that, as well.
This is something that every
-- I will tell you, every
federal prosecutor's office
has been involved in
diversion programs
over the years.
We are trying to make sure
that it is across the board
and that we have
standardized ways of looking
at that as well.
And so, you will see that
continue, I think, because
that has -- it's been proven
to be very, very effective
in helping people recover
from either an addiction or
a traumatic situation.
It can lead to sentencing
reductions, again, reducing
the costs of incarceration,
both physical and personal,
and getting better
outcomes for us all.
I would say that what's so
important, though, is to
find those programs that are
successful now and, number
one, support them, and bring
attention to them because I
think the work that we're
going to be doing in years
to come is going to be
focused on these local
programs that
have done well.
But also, the federal ones,
but these individualized
programs that have done well
and convincing more judges
to adopt them also.
Valerie Jarrett: Thank you.
Another question?
She did that very politely.
Juan Cartagena: That's fine.
That's fine.
I really tried.
Attorney General Lynch: She
said she wasn't going to
give you the --
Valerie Jarrett:
You can't let go.
Juan Cartagena: Juan
Cartagena, LatinoJustice
PRLDEF in New York City.
Attorney General Lynch, we
applauded seriously the move
by the Attorney General and
Bureau of Prisons to cut off
the contract with private
entities that fund prisons
in the country.
Could you please tell
the status of that now?
What can we do to help,
make sure that's a reality?
And also, what could we do
to get DHS to take it
all seriously?
Attorney General Lynch: So
well, thank you for
that question.
I'd be -- we were looking at
the -- at the private prison
issue for quite some time.
Certainly, we had been
concerned about conditions
in the prisons that were
being run for profit and by
private companies, and we
were able to have some
reviews done that provided
us with hard information
that they were not living up
to the standards of safety
and efficacy that we -- that
we had in our other Bureau
of Prisons facilities, and
that we should demand in
every facility.
And this is the safety of
inmates and officers alike.
You know, we tend to forget,
but everyone's living in
that prison all together.
So, for us, we were able to
set up a policy that called
for a review of them all.
And because contracts come
due at different times, as
you know, in the whole
procurement process, we will
phase them out beginning
with those that are -- that
are ending sooner
rather than later.
I know that there is concern
as to whether or not that
policy will be reversed,
but that policy was also
motivated and made possible
by the fact that we have
been able to reduce the
federal prison population.
And we're still overcrowded.
You know, we still have
too many people for the
facilities that we have, but
that number of overcrowded
-- the amount of
overcrowding has really come
down and is projected to
continue to drop, even as we
continue to live up to our
important public
safety obligations.
So, we feel that the
financial issues will be a
huge incentive to continuing
to phase out the private
prisons, particularly those
that did not have adequate
safety records, where they
had safety records that were
well below our standards.
It's very hard to justify
spending money on an
institution that was
not living up to those
standards, particularly when
you no longer need
those beds.
Now, I know we've all seen
reports that DHS may move to
using some of those
facilities for their uses
also, either as detention
centers prior to
adjudication or prior
to actual deportation.
And so I think that that's
really going to depend a lot
on where immigration policy
goes; and that, you know,
unfortunately, I'm not able
to predict, but I know that
people are looking at a lot
of different factors there.
And what I would say,
though, is that even if DHS
were to enter into a
contract with that, the
issue is, again, how do you
enforce the safety standards
and the quality of life
standards that are so
important for
correctional facilities?
And that's where the focus
will have to be, making sure
that if those facilities are
being utilized, that there
is some kind of review
process there to make sure
that they meet those
standards because -- and we
talk about it in, obviously,
its clinical terms, about
standards and safety.
It's human life.
It really is human life that
we are responsible for while
people are in our
custody and in our care.
Male Speaker: Sorry for one
last question, Valerie.
Valerie Jarrett: Yep.
Rashad Robinson: Hi, I'm
Rashad Robinson with Color
of Change.
Attorney General
Lynch: Rashad.
Rashad Robinson: Good
to see you again.
So, I appreciate the
opening for sort of points.
And particularly on the
first three, I'd be
interested if you could say
more to the room about sort
of the confidence in knowing
that they will move forward
beyond the life of this
administration, both in
terms of funding
and enforcement.
And I say that because we're
in a room full of advocates
and funders who have moved
us to this place because of
vigilance, organizing and
activism, and the road ahead
is going to need
all of that.
And so, I -- if you could
say more about not just
those three sort of
announcements but sort of
the vigilance, the
organizing, the activism,
the work that's going to be
required of this room and
for the folks that we're
connected with in order to
keep in place the things
that we have achieved.
Attorney General Lynch:
Well, with respect to -- I
thank you for that, Rashad.
And I think you've really
touched upon the key issue
for this convening and
conversations like it.
You know, we're -- as I
said, we're very proud of
these initiatives because
they will live on after us
because the structure has
already been set in place.
And in many instances, we've
begun that work, and so the
Bureau of Prisons
is on that path.
And so, we're confident
that the Bureau of Prisons
leadership will continue
these initiatives because
they're effective
initiatives.
You know, educational
programs also improve safety
in correctional institutions
for the inmates and for the
correctional officers.
That's in everyone's
interest.
They do reduce recidivism.
That's in everyone's
interest.
The ID issue is one, also,
that has been proven to be
such an effective
issue for people.
So, we don't see any strong
policy desire to change
them, but we do think people
have to be vigilant and make
sure that, in fact,
they do continue.
But the Bureau of Prisons
leadership has worked very
hard on this also, and so
they've set these programs up.
But there's so many other
things, as well, that we
talk about by way of policy,
and someone could have a
different view on things
that are important or not.
You know, I tend to think
that we're on, frankly, the
right course in so many
of these important areas.
But as I said before, a
lot of the impetus for the
changes that we've made, the
ones that I've mentioned and
so many others, have come
from outside of this city.
Look, Washington
is a great city.
It's a beautiful place.
A lot gets done here.
But, it is not the incubator
of every great idea.
It just -- it just isn't.
I mean -
(applause)
-- we have been so
tremendously fortunate to
have an administration, to
have staff, and to have a
President who has picked up
these issues and made them
his own.
But we didn't always have
that, you know, and everyone
in this room works for
people and works with people
who know what it's like
not to have that kind of
presence and support in this
-- you know, the greatest
House in this country.
But they also know how to
make their voices heard when
that's not the case because
that's what they used to do.
That's how we got
things done before.
And now, I think people
have seen how we implement
policy, how we make change,
and I urge all of you to
hold on to those lessons.
Hold on to those
lessons and use them.
Hold on to the
accountability
that you've seen.
You know, federal agencies
have to give reports on
certain types of activities.
You know, people now know
how to look at those things
and see what's being done.
You know how to raise things
to the attention of people
who make decisions here.
And don't discount that your
voice, you know, won't be
heard, either, on some of
the important issues of the day.
As Valerie noted, the issue
of sentencing reform and the
issue of people noticing,
not just the fundamental
unfairness in so many
aspects of our criminal
justice system, but the toll
it's taking both financial
and human, was one that
captured bipartisan support.
People that were unlikely
allies came to the table and
said, "We have to do
something about this." And I
guess I'm still optimistic
enough to think that they
did that because they saw
the issue, not just because
of who was here in
the White House.
And so, go to those same
people again and keep that
debate going.
Keep those issues on the
table because people have
noticed this.
And once people see
something and notice it, it
does not have to go away.
Valerie Jarrett: I think
Loretta makes a very good
point; and I feel your level
of anxiety and I know that
that anxiety is kind of the
elephant in the room here today.
But I think that momentum --
I mean, we've been fortunate
to have a President who
started as a community
organizer, so he appreciates
the fact that it's important
to bring everyone in and
work on these issues together.
And I often joke that when
people are protesting out in
front of the White House,
that I want to say, "Just
push the door.
It's actually open.
You can -- you can come
on in and talk to us."
And we know that's not
always going to be the case,
but I think that our
government will only be as
strong as we make it, and
that applies not just at the
federal level, but at
the state and local.
And keep in mind the vast
majority of people who are
incarcerated today are at
the state and local level.
And it is on the ground
where so much important work
is happening right now,
state by state; and that
work enjoys, as Loretta
said, bipartisan support not
just among elected
officials, but in the
business community, the
faith community, people who
are fiscally prudent,
people who understand the
importance of society, being
our society, being one that
is humane.
And so you all have huge
power and agency to use your
expertise, your voices, your
passion to continue this
work forward.
And you do right by the
work that we have all
collectively done together
to continue with that same
level of dedication.
And as Loretta, again, said,
it does not -- should not
depend on one person who
occupies this office.
It should depend
on all of you.
Thank you very much.
Please thank Loretta Lynch
for being with us today.
(applause)
