on the bus starting at 9 a.m. eastern. >> testimony from cia director .ark -- director mike pompeo he will be joined by national intelligence director dan tell and national director mike rogers. they will be speaking before the senate intelligence committee c-span3.day at also tomorrow, mick mulvaney, director of the office of budget and management -- speaking live tuesdaynate on c-span. earlier today the national portrait gallery unveiled the official portraits of former president barack obama and former first lady michelle obama. the artists were honored for their work and made remarks described the process behind the portraits.

this is an hour. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome kim sajet, the director of the smithsonian's national portrait gallery. [applause] david skorton, the secretary of the smithsonian institution. [applause] ms. amy sherald, portrait artist. [cheers and applause] mr. kehinde wiley, portrait artist. [cheers and applause] mrs. michelle obama. [cheers and applause]

president barack obama. [cheers and applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podium kim sajet,

the director of the smithsonian national portrait gallery. >> good morning. it is my pleasure as director to welcome you to the national portrait gallery at the smithsonian institution. every commissioned portrait involves four people. the first person is the sitter, a person with a larger-than-life persona, who may be curious to see how his are her likeness will be captured in perpetuity. in a spirit of building anticipation, i bid a warm welcome to president barack obama and his wife, former first lady, michelle obama, who we honor today. [applause]

the second person is the artist who tries in the face of public scrutiny to stay true to his or her own artistic style and still transmit a sense of the internal spirit to internal audiences. in many ways, as much a reflection of themselves as an insight into their subject, the portrait artist must remain unique and, to quote a poet, realize a character. in the spirit of that bravery, i am thrilled to welcome kehinde wiley and amy sherald and to our collection. this museum at the pleasure of showing kehinde's work in 2008 as part of the hip-hop and contemporary portraiture exhibition. amy sherald was a celebrated in 2016 when she became the first woman to win our portrait

competition. they are taking the birth of portraiture traditions and adding a fresh layer by absorbing the influence of faction, music, hip-hop, pop-culture, and inventiveness. together, they are transmitting the energy of urban america into the contemplative spaces of high culture, and i, for one, am thrilled. the third person involved in making a commission is a patron, and as is tradition, we make an art match and then raise private funds to do the work. i am extraordinary grateful to all of those people across the country for whom we came for support and those who took the leadership roles, stephen spielberg and kate capshaw, judith kern, and others. finally, it is the fourth person

that is supposedly the most important, you, the viewer, and generations to come. at the end of the day, the sitters, the artists, and even the donors will sit here, but it is the audience that will remain. every portrait, no matter when it was created, is contemporary, because it is completed when someone has a personal encounter in their time. ultimately, these portraits will live to serve those millions of each of visitors looking for a mentor, some inspiration, and a sense of community. ironically, for this art museum, it is not what you look like that counts. it is what you do that matters. and through the skill of a talented artist providing a window into the life of a president and first lady, people learn history and their place in it, set the course of human events in context, find empathy

for others, and perhaps create a sense of connection that leads them feeling a little less alone. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podium the secretary of the smithsonian institution. [applause] >> good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on a very special day at the smithsonian. president obama, mrs. obama, vice president biden, amy, kehinde, kim, the provost, regions, commissioners, and distinguished guests, it is an honor and privilege to share this morning with you.

as you probably know, we have to publications to celebrate today. first, president and mrs. obama will unveil their official portraits. and second, today is abraham lincoln's birthday. what you may not know is that president lincoln once credited a portrait with getting him elected. a photograph by the great matthew brady taken before lincoln's famous speech at the cooper union in february 1860. for many americans in 1860, this was the only lincoln they knew. the brady image appeared on the cover of "harper's weekly," in newspapers across the country, and on buttons and leaflets throughout the campaign. today that photograph is on display here at the national portrait gallery. lincoln may have given brady too much credit. there were probably a few other

reasons he won the presidency. for example, i hear he was a pretty good speaker. but his comments reflected something that was true back then and remains true more than a century and a half later, presidential portraits have a particular power to capture the public's imagination, to move people to think about america's leaders and american society itself in new and unexpected ways. this is why the portrait gallery has been collecting presidential portraits for 50 years, and it is why we have expanded the collection to include our nation's first ladies. we are excited to continue both of those traditions today. i want to stop for a moment and ask you to join me in recognizing the ongoing innovations of the portrait gallery director and her

magnificent colleagues who are continually reimagining ways in which the portrait gallery can inform and inspire the american public and beyond. kim, congratulations. [applause] if you think that just a little bit, you may remember another image that drew national attention a couple of years ago. it captured a tender moment at the opening of the national museum of african american history and culture. former president george w. bush was embracing, or rather, being embraced by first lady michelle obama. one headline called it "the hug felt around the country." i can only speculate as to what exactly made that image so moving to so many people, but when i look at that picture today, i can see clearly some of

the many qualities that millions of americans have admired and continued to admire and michelle obama for over a decade. her warms, her kindness, her ability to connect in real and meaningful ways with virtually everyone she encounters. as the first african-american woman to serve as first lady, michelle obama blazed the trail for women and girls of color, inspired countless women and men and children across the united states and around the world. during her eight years in the white house, she was a tireless advocate for causes that transcend partisan politics, fighting to end childhood obesity, encouraging young people to pursue a higher education, supporting our service members and their families, and working to ensure the girls around the world can

and will go to school. even more impressive, she did all of this while raising two remarkable daughters and did it always with good humor and grace. [applause] dear to my heart, mrs. obama also continues to be a devoted champion of the arts, and we need the arts so much in every day in our lives. as first lady, she helped give african-american artists a greater presence on the walls of the white house, a commitment of her selection of amy sherald to paint her portrait reflects and one that we had the smithsonian here are so proud to share. now it is my honor and privilege to invite mrs. obama and amy sherald to unveil the portrait. [applause]

[applause] [cheers and applause]

mrs. obama: good morning, everyone. let's just start by saying wow again. let's just take a minute. it is amazing. wow. how are you all doing? it is a pleasure and an honor to be here in this beautiful museum today. let me first think the secretary and kim sajet for their remarks and outstanding leadership and everything they have done to support us, to support the arts over these many years. i also want to recognize all of our dear friends and colleagues and our team members and family who are here with us today, too many to mention. joe, and i know jill is in traffic, thank you. thank you for being here.

we love you. hi, mom. what is going on? what do you think? it is pretty nice, isn't it? i see so many people that i can thank, people who have been with us on this journey. we love you all. thank you for taking the time. i have to tell you that as i stand here today with all of you and look at this amazing portrait that will hang among so many iconic figures, i am a little overwhelmed, to say the least. i have so many thoughts and feelings rolling around inside of me now. i am humbled, honored, proud,

but most of all, i am so incredibly grateful to all of the people who came before me in this journey, the folks who built the foundation upon which i stand. as you may have guessed, i do not think there is anybody in my family who has ever had a portrait done, let alone a portrait that will be hanging in the national gallery, at least as far as i know, mom. but all those folks who helped me be here today, they are with us physically, and there with us in spirit. i am thinking about my grandparents, rebecca and pernell shields, southside, as he is known now throughout the nation. they were all intelligent, highly capable men and women. they had the kind of talent and work ethic that usually destined people for greatness, but their dreams and aspirations were limited because of the color of their skin. i am thinking about my dad,

frazier robinson, iii, a man is sacrificed everything to give me and my brother every opportunity that he never dreamed for himself. of course, i think about my mommy, marian robinson, who is sitting in the front row supporting us, like she has always done, always putting herself last on her list so that she could give me and craig and our children everything that makes today possible. i am also thinking about all of the young people, particularly girls and girls of color, who in years ahead will come to this place, and they will look up and will see an image of someone who looks like them hanging on the wall of this great american institution. yeah. [applause] mrs. obama: and i know the kind

of impact that will have on their lives, because i was one of those girls. and when i think about those future generations and generations after, i think, again, wow, wow, what an incredible journey we are on together in this country. we have come so far. yes, as we see today, we still have a lot more work to do, but we have every reason to be hopeful and proud. and i am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to stand alongside my husband and play a very small part in that history and in that future. but i am even more proud of the extraordinary woman and artist who made this portrait possible. amy sherald. [cheers and applause] mrs. obama: not yet.

i have got more to say about you, girl. barack and i had the privilege of considering a number of outstanding portraitists, and i want to thank bill allman, thelma golden, michael smith, our team. we love you guys. i know you are out there. they guided us every step of the way. oh, there you are. of course i can see you guys. thank you. they guided us through every step of the way through this process. we never could have done this without you, because you not only know your craft and all these folks but you know as intimately and knew what we were looking for and what we wanted to say. so thank you to the dynamic trio. with their help, we narrowed down the field to a few key

artists who barack and i then interviewed. each of these artists had to walk into the oval office -- yikes -- and i almost wanted to start off each conversation by apologizing for putting them through this process. i mean, just to get this job, they had to come to the white house, to the oval office, and get grilled by the president and first lady. i am sorry. i am so sorry. [laughter] mrs. obama: it was not lost on us how unnerving this experience was for each and every one of them. and when amy came in and it was her turn, have to admit that i was intrigued. i was intrigued before she walked into the room. i had seen her work and was blown away by the boldness of her colors and the uniqueness of a subject matters. so i was wondering, who is this

woman, and she is so cute, too. [laughter] mrs. obama: and then she walked in, and she was sly and poised, and i just wanted to stare at her for a minute. she had this lightness and freshness of personality. she was hip and cool in that totally expected/unexpected kind of way. within the first few sentences of our conversation, i knew she was the one for me. maybe it was the moment she came in and looked at barack and said, mr. president, i am really excited to be here. i know i am considered for both portraits, but she said, mrs. obama -- she physically turned to me, and she said, i am really hoping that you and i can work together. [laughs] [applause] mrs. obama: and after that, she and i, we started talking, and barack kind of faded into the woodwork. there was an instant connection,

that kind of sister girl connection, that i had with this woman, and that was true through the process, which is a good thing. because when someone is doing her portrait, they spend hours staring at you. yikes. it is very intimate, the experience, so you really have to trust the person and feel comfortable enough to let yourself go. and amy made that possible for me. we had that connection. so today, i want to thank amy for being willing to put herself through this process, especially after it was leaked -- i felt for you, girl -- you know, to have to do that -- to paint a portrait of michelle and barack obama is like cooking thanksgiving dinner for strangers. everybody has an idea of what thanksgiving dinner is supposed to taste like. the dressing that you love is the addressing you love. you do not want other stuff in

it. [laughter] mrs. obama: and that is what it is like. people know what they feel and think in how they see us, so amy had to interpret that and do it under the spotlight. so i can only imagine that it has been a little stressful for her, but she has handled it all with remarkable poise and grace, which i think tells you a lot about who she is. she is obviously a woman of extraordinary talents, and it is thrilling to see her getting the recognition she deserves with all of the rewards and calls from museums and buyers lining up to purchase her work. even more important, amy is a woman of extraordinary character and strength. her path has been strewn with obstacles, medical issues, and she has made tremendous sacrifices for the people she loves. she has endured the heartbreak of losing some of those that she loves, and all through it, she kept going.

she stayed faithful to her gifts to she refused to give up on what she had to offer to the world. as a result, she is well on her way to distinguishing itself as one of the great artists of her generation. it was a total joy -- [applause] mrs. obama: it was a total joy to work with you, amy. i am so pleased and honored and proud of you. so it is my honor to introduce amy to all of you today, the woman who created this beautiful portrait, amy sherald. [cheers and applause]

amy: good morning. thanks for being here so early. mrs. obama, i want to begin by saying thank you. thank you for seeing my vision, and thank you for being a part of my vision. i paint american people, and i tell american stories through the paintings i create. i find my models. i styled them and photograph them. i then use that photograph as a reference. my approach to portraiture is conceptual. once my paintings are complete, the model no longer lives in that painting is themselves. i see something bigger, more symbolic, an archetype. so approaching the commission with you as the subject is deeply connected to what i hold as as my truth. this portrait has the same symbolism. the dress was designed by milly. it has an abstract pattern that

reminded me of a dutch artist's geometric painting. the design also resembles inspired masterpieces made by the women of a small remote black community in alabama. they use geometry to transform clothing and fabric remnants turned into masterpieces. a photographer and historian wrote, you have engaged the imagination of a new generation of writers and artists as we chronicle the commanding role you played in american culture. mrs. obama, you are omnipresent in that way. you exist in our minds and our hearts because we can see ourselves in you.

what you read it -- what your present is ideal. integrity, competence, compassion. and the paintings i create a spire to express these attributes, a message of humanity. i would like to think they hold the same possibilities to be read university -- universally. this experience has humbled, honored, and informed me in ways that will stay with me forever. thank you again for bringing light and clarity to my journey as a painter of american stories. i consider today to be a defining milestone in my work.

i just want to say a quick thank you to my mom for supporting me all the way through. >> thank you mrs. obama, thank you amy. know you arema, i aware that your wife is a tough act to follow. i hope you are more prepared than i am. to believe that 11 peers have passed since barack obama launched his presidential campaign in abraham lohan -- abraham lakin's hometown of springfield illinois.

america again faced challenges that could be described in quite similar terms. crisis, warsonomic , rapid and afghanistan technological progress and a rising uncertainty that came with that progress. during a period of such profound change and the world president obama provide the steady leadership americans were seeking. he was a voice of comfort in times of grief.

a voice of confidence at all times. resilience ofthe the american people and the promise of a better future for all. in one important sense president obama's historic election was a departure for america's past. he also embodied the ideals that i identified -- identified the other presidents portrayed in these halls. lincoln's secular faith in our national union, kennedy's commitment to public service, reagan's optimism that america's best days are still to come. for these reasons and more barack obama was a very consequential president. the subject of admiration and study and fascination. when future generations look

believe that his portrait will give him a unique window in a way only presidential portraits can. momentw into the man and when he led with such distinction. prayer -- ine in inviting president barack obama and -- to unveil the portrait. [applause] [applause]

president obama: good morning, everybody. it is wonderful to see all of you. not bad. that's pretty sharp. it is my great honor to be here. thank the secretary and kim for your outstanding leadership, a couple of the crown jewels of american life

and your extraordinary stewardship. i want thank everybody who was here. -- who is here. michelle and i are so grateful for the friends and family and former staff and current staff who have taken the time to be here and honor us in this way and soak in the extraordinary art we are seeing here. it means so much to us and i hope you are aware of that. we miss you guys. we miss you guys and we miss the way those who worked with us on this incredible journey carried

yourselves and work so hard to make this country a better place . i want to thank you for so spectacularly capturing the grace and beauty and intelligence and charm and hotness. of the woman that i love. special shout out to my man joe biden. and even more special shout out to my mother-in-law, who, in to providing the , also has been

rock andxtraordinary foundation stone for our family. we are so grateful for her. we love her so much. like michelle, i haven't ever had a portrait done of myself. i didn't sit for it. my family tree, as far as i can tell, had a portrait .one i do have my high school your book picture. which is no great shakes.

when i heard this was part of the tradition, i didn't quite know what to do. we were lucky to have some extraordinary friends and people who gave uste taste and helped us to consider a whole range of artists. we had an immediate connection with the two artists sitting here today. i think it's fair to say we wayed maybe not in the same , this whole sister girl thing. we shook hands, we had a nice

conversation. she and i made different sartorial decisions. but what we did find was we had certain things in common. both of us had american mothers who raised us with extraordinary love and support. both of us had fathers who are absent from our lives. in some ways our journeys involved searching for them and figuring out what that meant. i ended up writing about that journaling -- that journey and channeling it into the work i did. journey that her reflected some of those feelings -- i'm sure that his journey reflect a some of those feelings in his art.

the feeling i felt when i saw his portraits was the degree in which the challenge our conventional views of power and privilege, and the way he would take extraordinary care and vision inand recognizing the beauty and the people whoignity of are so often visible in our lives and put them on a grand stage in a grand scale. and force us to look and see them in ways that so often they will not. people michelle referred to, people who helped to build this country, who helped to build this cabinet. day, ouro, to this

making sure the place is clean at night and serving food. and doing all the other stuff that makes this country work. up and gaved them them a platform. and said they belonged at the center of american life. that was something that moved me deeply, because in my small way that is part of what i believe politics should be about. not simply celebrating the but-end the mighty expecting that the country unfolds from the top down but rather it comes from the bottom up. wholies all across america

are working hard and doing their and passing on the wisdom and resilience and stories to their children in hopes that their lives will be a little bit better. i was extraordinarily excited about working with ken day. and let's face it, relative to amy he was working at a disadvantage. his subject was less becoming. not as fly. i want to say that it was -- although michelle used to joke,

i'm not somebody who is a great subject. at myimpatient, i look watch, i think this must be done, one of those pictures must have worked. it's pretty torturous trying to take a picture of me, much less payday portrait. i will say working with him was a great chore. he and his team made it easy. in the tradition of a lot of great artists, he actually cared to hear how i thought about it. before doing exactly what he intended to do. [laughter] there were a number of issues we tried to negotiate. i tried to negotiate less gray

hair. and his artistic integrity would not allow him to do it i asked. , try to negotiate smaller ears struck out on that as well. maybe the one area where there as isome concessions was art normallyis takes ordinary people and elevates them. he puts them these fairly elaborate settings. so his initial impulse may be in me andk was to elevate withe in these settings scepters and drones and schiffer robes.

mounting me on horses. and i had to explain i have enough political problems without you make any look like napoleon. we have to bring it down just a touch. and that's what he did. it's hard to obviously judge something that is a portrait of you. unequivocally is that i am in all of his gifts and what he and amy have given to this country and to the world .

forre both very grateful this brief moment. >> have you explain that a lot of that is simply not true? [laughter] what is true is this is an insane situation, to stand on the stage and look out on this crowd, to have this level of adrenaline flowing through my blood tells me something special is going on.

my whole life is driven by chance, not just the work i have been known for but complete strangers on the streets. trying to find people who have a sense of grace, a genus sequoia that you feel will translate on a painting, on a museum wall. it's something you know when you see it, you don't know quite what it is. people are minding their own business tried to get to work, and i will to have them on the shoulder and say do you mind if i paint you? most people say no. the streets to get thele to recognize what gravity of art is. my job is to slowly take these moments of chance and try to weave them into something that

means something in the language of our history. these museums are dedicated to what we as a society hold most dear. their jobs are to be the guardians of culture, this is what we people stand for. growing up as a kid in south-central los angeles, going to a museum and a leg, there weren't too many people that looked like me on these museum walls. as i try to create my own type do with it has to correcting some of that. try to find places where people who do look like me feel have the ability to express their state of grace on the grand narrative scale of that obsession with has gotten me here.

president, found something in what i do, what my purpose has been as a creator, as a painter, as a thinker. able to project out to the world .his desire to see something it's a hairy stick, you are nudging things into being. this is who we, as a society, decide to celebrate. this is our ability to say i matter, i was here. ability to be the first african-american painter to first african-american president of the united states is absolutely overwhelming.

it doesn't get any better than that. i was humbled by this was alson, but i inspired by barack obama's personal story. single have that echo of parent african fathers, that sense of twinning. there is this echo of he and i in this narrative. and amazingly handsome man, there are also botanicals going on there. there is a chrysanthemum,

flowers that point toward kenya flowers that point toward hawaii in a symbolic way what i'm doing is trying his path on earth through those plants that weave their way. they are trying to announce themselves on the journey, who gets to be the star of the show, the story of -- it's all chanced ribbon. i thank you for giving me a chance and giving this nation a chance to experience your splendor on a global scale. [applause]

>> if you got it dead on. in this zone and talk not recognizing the real force of the light. my mother, can you please stand? i can say.thing this is really where it all starts. we didn't have much, but she and theway to get paint

ability to -- i will shut up and breath. the ability to be able to bigger thanthing that piece in l.a. that we were living in. it.saw you did it. thank you. [applause] >> congress founded the national portrait daltry collect and display the portraits of those who made a significant contribution to mark's history and culture. this year marks our 50th anniversary and secretary mentioned, today, february 12th, my president clinton's 20th birthday.

waned to thank all of the smithsonians and the especially the national portrait gallery's making today so special with appreciation to the chief curatorsrandon and dorothy who commissioned. [applause] sin sr. lie hope that all of you here today agree the hasrait gallery extraordinary mission. we hope that you continue to support our work starting with posting on social my npd.ing the hashtag hold back when you see awe

struck phase. now i invite president and portraita over to the for two photographs. the first in front of the papings with the artists than with all of those on the stage. >> where do you want us? >> in front of the pictures, yeah. >> thank you.

>> so in closing, i waned to leave you with some of president condition's words to remind us what we do in life, no matter who we are, counts. every effect that the president must have a cause, the past is the cause of the present and the present will be the cause of the future. all of these are linked in the stretching from the finite to the in if i knit. thank you. for being with us this morning. [applause]

>> congress is in session this week. gaveled in the wherein afternoon to focus on border security in daca. mcconnell plans to intro cause bill i would aularian as long as they receive 60 votes. a vote to begin former debate is 5:30 eastern and debate and vote expected to continue all week. livean follow the senate on c-span2. and the house returns tomorrow for a three-day workweek before president's day recess.

on the again, mash sure on investigation and recovery u.s. personnel that are missing in action. also, expected, sanctions a number ofs and financial bills dealing with mortgage and arquette trading can watch the house lib on c-span. next, president trump hosting a meet with state and local discuss the in furyk proposal the white house sprend the plan to congress. includes new investments in rur a america ap streamlining the process for new projects. this is an hour. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. [applause]