Good morning, everyone.
You don't have to stand for me.
For those of you who don't know me, my name
is Ellen Herbst and I have the great honor
to introduce our new Secretary of Commerce
this morning.
But before I start, I want to acknowledge
someone else who has joined us.
Mrs. Ross is in the audience with us today.
Let's give her a warm round of applause.
We all know that it takes a family to do this
job, so we appreciate you sharing Mr. Ross
with all of us.
Thank you.
Mr. Ross, Secretary Ross, was sworn in by
the Vice President yesterday as the 39th Secretary
of Commerce.
He is a graduate of Yale University and of
the Harvard Business School with distinction.
Now here's a fun Commerce fact.
While a student at Harvard, he worked part-time
for the Census Bureau as an enumerator.
And this is a first for a Secretary of Commerce,
and Census is one of the first bureau briefings
up today.
So good luck Census.
Mr. Ross has an enormous amount of experience
to do this job.
He is the former Chairman and Chief Strategy
Officer at WL Ross & Co. LLC, and has over
55 years of investment banking and private
equity experience.
He has restructured over $400 billion dollars
of assets in a list of industries that is
too long to enumerate, but I'll give you a
couple of examples, starting with the letter
"A." Airlines, apparels, auto parts, on to
banking--I'll skip some of the letters of
the alphabet, of the industries he has had
experience in--but homebuilding, marine transportation,
car manufacturing, real estate, restaurants,
shipyards, and trucking industry.
And I can go on.
He has also been the chairman or lead director
of more than 100 companies operating in more
than 20 different countries, so he certainly
has the requisite international experience
for a Secretary of Commerce.
Secretary Ross was named by Bloomberg Markets
as one of the "50 Most Influential People
in Global Finance."
He is the only person elected to both the
Private Equity Hall of Fame and the Turnaround
Management Hall of Fame.
He previously served as Privatization Advisor
to New York City Mayor Giuliani, and was appointed
by President Bill Clinton to the board of
the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund.
The President of South Korea awarded Mr. Ross
a medal for helping South Korea during its
financial crisis, and in November 2014 the
Emperor of Japan awarded him the Order of
the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star.
He is also--and I don't know where he finds
the time--he is also a noted philanthropist.
He has recently served as the chairman of
the Japan Society, as the trustee of the Brookings
Institution, chairman of the Economic Studies
Council, the International Board of the Museum
of Decorative Arts in Paris, the Blenheim
Foundation, the Magritte Museum in Brussels,
and the Palm Beach Civic Association.
He was also an advisory board member of the
Yale University School of Management.
So, we believe he also has the requisite energy
to lead this vast and diverse department.
Will you please join me in welcoming our new
Secretary, Secretary Ross.
It’s nice to have such a stirring eulogy
while you’re still alive to enjoy it.
Thank you, Ellen, for that kind introduction.
And thank all of you for joining me today
for the beginning of what will be a period
of revival across our country and a special
renaissance for the Department of Commerce.
Let me first introduce my lovely wife Hilary.
She has been incredibly supportive during
the whole confirmation process that took some
several months – seemed like a couple hundred
years.
I am the only Commerce Secretary ever to have
been an enumerator before.
And in fact before I became an enumerator,
while working my way through school, I didn’t
know what one was.
But now I do.
So I am particularly honored to have been
given the opportunity to serve along-side
all of you as we work to make America more
competitive and to improve the lives of working
men and women across this country.
Wasn’t that a great speech from the President
last night?
I thought it was one of the most inspiring
speeches I’ve ever heard, and I think it
augers well for the new administration.
President Trump laid down a challenge we must
all meet: to dream big, to renew the American
spirit that made this country great, and to
pursue a bold agenda that will create opportunity
across America.
I have known President Trump for many years,
and I have seen first-hand his deep love for
this country.
Under his leadership, we are going to implement
policies that finally put American workers
first – a simple idea that has taken a back
seat for far too long.
To that end, President Trump has already given
us at the Department more responsibility than
ever before.
If we perform well both at our normal tasks
and at our new assignments, I have no doubt
that our scope will continue to expand.
To start, we will be more involved with rebalancing
a trade system that has gutted American manufacturing
and left families across America without work
and without hope.
The President has announced that we will play
a major role in renegotiating bad trade deals
like NAFTA as the Administration seeks to
institute a system of both free and fair trade
that protects American workers and American
companies.
Since the signing of NAFTA, America has lost
more than a quarter of its manufacturing jobs
and we have run up a trade deficit in goods,
globally, that reached 800 billion dollars
last year.
But under President Trump’s leadership,
we will work to realize the imperative put
forth by Benjamin Franklin that is enshrined
on the side of this particular building.
The inscription reads, quote, “commerce
among nations must be fair and equitable.”
Those are wise words for the 21st century.
President Trump has also said that we will
play a key role in his historic effort to
relieve the crushing burden of regulation
that has shifted American economic growth
overseas and made us uncompetitive on the
world stage.
For every new regulation the government creates,
we will eliminate two old ones.
Charged with being the voice of American business,
our Department has the important task of identifying
where the burdens on our economy are too great
and where our innovators need more latitude
in order to unleash their ingenuity.
As impactful as these efforts will be for
working families across America, there are
many more crucial functions that our Department
performs.
Our team of 47,000 devoted staff members cannot
neglect the challenges of:
changed methodology for the 2020 Census;
launching more satellites for NOAA;
getting FirstNet universally accepted;
finding and auctioning more spectrum;
enforcing trade agreements;
obtaining maximum sustainable yield for our
fisheries;
improving the timeliness, accuracy, breadth
and depth of our data output;
providing the expertise and capital necessary
to spur growth and innovation in communities
across America;
setting standards for our increasingly technical
society; and
protecting intellectual property rights.
We must build upon the hard work many of you
have done in support of Privacy Shield, and,
as we move from Black History Month into Women’s
History Month, we must amplify our impact
in underserved communities.
One of the first steps in supporting these
efforts will be securing adequate appropriations
from the Congress.
In a period of budgetary constraint, that
will be a major challenge.
With that in mind, I was very impressed by
the way Ellen has performed as Acting Secretary,
and I think we should give her a big hand
for stepping into the breach.
I especially strongly support her initiative
to improve the quality and value of our H.R.
functions.
We must accelerate this process and set an
example for other departments to follow.
Commerce is already regarded as one of the
best places at which to work in the entire
federal government.
My goal is to overcome NASA as the very best
employer.
But that doesn't mean we won't also strive
for greater operational efficiency.
We must and, with your help and your commitment
to excellence, we will.
A few rules of the road are essential.
First, there will be no tolerance for any
kind of prejudice or inappropriate behavior
of any sort – None!
Second, material in preparation for meetings
must be concise.
A few pages that are substantive will get
you much farther with me than thick binders
with lots of repetition, pretty blue pages,
and fluff.
Third, if a problem is developing, we will
work together to solve it ourselves.
I can take bad news if I learn about it from
inside our Department and I will stand alongside
all of you as we confront whatever challenges
may arise.
Similarly, I will be quite open to dissent
at meetings, but once the decision has been
made, we must act with unanimity, both internally
and externally.
As John Hancock famously said, “We must
hang together because, if we do not, we shall
surely all be hanged separately.”
Finally, I expect people will be on time for
meetings.
All of us are too busy to waste time on late
comers.
Of course, the Senate has kept us all waiting
these last few weeks for my confirmation,
so now let’s all get to work!
Thank you very much.