these fixes are being considered because the american people overwhelmingly opposed that legislation. unfortunately, that the bill does nothing to fix the problem that this bill, the reconciliation bill does nothing to fix the problem that prompted this opposition. nothing in the bill that we are going to be considering will prevent half a trillion dollars from being cut from the medicare program to create a brand new environment program for the uninsured. more money than the provisions in the senate bill. one out of every four medicare beneficiaries are already enrolled in medicare advantage plans, and every one of them will see their benefits reduced. if this bill is passed, the care of medicare beneficiaries across the country will still be put at risk because of the unsustainable payment cuts to hospitals and nursing homes. the president's own chief medicare actuary said these

costs could jeopardize medicare's beneficiaries' access to care. he said that as a result of these cuts, roughly 20% of all hospitals and nursing homes in the country would become unprofitable, which, of course, could lead them to end their participation in the medicare program. it's either end it or go broke. if you can't go to a hospital or get a doctor to treat you, you don't have health care. but this bill does nothing to fix the medicare payment cuts in the senate health reform bill from christmas eve. this bill will still cause health insurance premiums to increase. the congressional budget office said the senate bill would increase premiums by 10% to 13% for individuals. they said that 10% to 13% increase is above what would increase is above what would that 10 to 13% increase is above what would happen if we did absolutely nothing.

yes, escalating health care costs are a problem but this bill passed by the house last night with these supposed fixes that are in here, will increase premiums 10 to 13% for individuals over what would have been done if nothing would have happened. it doesn't sound like a solution to me. there are solutions out there. the bill also contains provisions that will increase premiums for 85% of americans who already have health insurance. this bill does nothing to stop health care costs from increasing our national debt or go the cbo estimates, estimates of the bill are required to ignore the issue of medicare payments to physicians. let's see, how many times have we ignored the medicare payments to physicians? that is right, never. how do we fix it? we need to come up with 300 ilya and more dollars.

we had a chance to do that through the bill, keeping medicare money from medicare but no, we took the medicare money and decided to put that into new programs. new programs for the uninsured. doubt there are solutions out there for making sure the uninsured are covered and it didn't have to come out of medicare. so the cbo estimates the bills are required to ignore the issue of medicare payments to physicians. the bill also does nothing to fix the scheduled medicare payments to the other health providers. does the majority really believe the medicare payments to doctors would be cut 21% later this year? not its if history keeps itself up but let me tell you that $132 billion is supposed to reduce the deficit in the first 10 years in the senate passed bill. that is ignoring the need for 300 billion to fix the doctors. if we fix the doctors, we are

170 for billion in the hole. you know the president did not envision china and secretary did not visit china to see the great wall. they were told to come over there by china so they could explain how we are ever going to pay for our bonds. last month they dropped it by 38 billion in our bonds and i noticed today that we have this clamor that we want them to adjust their wand, the value of their money compared to our money. they say you have got to be kidding me. we own you. they didn't saving quite those words but that is what they meant. in addition to assuming massive reductions in medicare payments to doctors for health care reform bill also relies on budget gimmicks and other unsustainable payment cuts to allow its sponsors to argue that it will not increase the deficit as ruth marcus wrote recently in "the washington post" claims that the bill will reduce the deficit are premature at best and dissolution not worse. rather than creating this new

entitlement we should be using the savings from medicare to pay to fix medicare's problems. these payments issues are not going away. and this or future congress is going to have to pay for them or increase the debt. and we have maxed out our credit cards already. people coming in and this is the season for it, they come in and ask for increases in the programs they are to have or they ask for new programs in the funding to go with that program because of course the federal government is known as the great bank in washington and they know we just print money. they didn't know there would be a limit to how much we print money. i would suggest those people save their travel money and use it in their program because we are going to have to tell people that not only is the money not there to expand programs and add new programs. we are going to actually have to cut programs. we are going to have to cut programs to stay solvent. they are looking at changing our bond rating. that means it would a less

favorable for people to buy u.s. bonds. now the reconciliation bill before us also raises taxes by $569 billion. if you can believe it, that is 50 billion more in new taxes than the original senate passed bill so the fix it though we have in front of us or will shortly will put even more pressure on small business owners and entrepreneurs who could help lead our nation's economic recovery. this bill also does nothing to stop the billions of dollars in new job-killing tax is created by the senate health reform bill. unfortunately the policies in this bill will only make the situation work-- worse for workers and for businesses across america. this bill will increase to $52 billion the new taxes imposed on employers which will eliminate millions of american jobs and reduce wages for millions of other american workers. the nation's unemployment rate is nine and 7/10%. millions of americans have lost

their jobs and millions more go to work every day worrying about keeping the job they have. businesses of all sizes are sure going to keep their doors open and are winding it harder and harder to make ends meet. mr. president we have shed more than 3.5 million jobs since january of last year and the average workweek is now down to 33 hours for the american worker get the bill before us today will actually make that situation worse. the congressional budget office has told us the new job-killing tax is in the senate bill will lower wages across this country. rather than addressing the issue and enacting reforms that would lower health insurance costs, the majority's health care bill instead increases the taxes of these businesses will have to pay which takes money away from hiring new workers. when i am home in wyoming which is nearly every week and my constituents asked me what this health care reform mean to me? unfortunately i have to tell them that when the senate bill becomes law their jobs in their

paychecks will be in danger. i also found it ironic that on that very day president obama signed a so-called jobs bill speaker pelosi released a reconciliation bill that contains $52 billion in job-killing tax is. mr. president these problems are the real reasons the american people oppose the senate health reform bill. unfortunately the bill that will be before us fails to address any of the fundamental problems with that though. if the legislation we are about to debate is enacted taxes will still be raised by $569 billion. 525 billion will still be cut from the medicare program. wages will still be reduced and jobs eliminated for millions of americans. health insurance premiums will still be driven up. driven up more than if we did nothing at all. and 23 million people will still be left without insurance coverage. we need to do better than that

and i believe we can. while most of the discussion today will focus on health care we must not forget that the reconciliation bill drastically alters decades of education and labor policy. specifically i am speaking about eliminating the 45-year-old family friendly bank loans for education program. called ffel. we'd like to put initials on them when it has anything to do with the government. this is the one that works through the banks. it was successfully helped millions of americans realize the dream of a college education and they shift to a washington run direct loan program. that radical change is happening without a single senate hearing or a single markup in the health education labor and pensions committee where i serve as the ranking member, or any other committee. the administration and the majority have been promising student since the beginning of this congress that their pell grants would the increased

dramatically so that college would be affordable. even with this bill, this promise rings hollow. what does the transfer of $36 billion in the pell grant program really get for students? yes, 36 billion. first it kicks the can down the road by only partially filling the unmet obligation for this year, which was promised in the so-called stimulus bill. the remainder, only modestly increases the maximum pell grant award by $50 a year. how much do you think tuition has gone up? the senator from tennessee explained that every time that we add medicaid people, that cost the states and the only place the states have to cut is in colleges and if the college tuition is cut the board for the college has to raise the tuition. i have the chart out here one of

these times that will show the differences between how fast college tuition is rising compared to health care costs, compared to the cost of living index. it is stunning. so we are just going to kick the can down the road and only increase the minimum, the maximum pell grants by $50 a year. in exchange, students are forced into the one-size-fits-all, government run direct loan program while congress continues to do nothing about the real problem which is the runaway cost of college education. schools have had the choice of switching to the direct loan program for nearly 20 years but most, just over 4000 as of march 1, have chosen to remain in the family friendly bank loan program for education. why? because the family-friendly program provides services that meet individual student needs far better than the cookie-cutter approach of a government run direct loan program. got enough things the government

is running. more this last year. this rationing in dramatic shift puts at risk the availability of guaranteed loans for thousands of students this fall. under the terms of this bill all 4000 plus institutions of higher institution now in family friendly bank loans for the education program will be required to participate in the bureaucratic direct loan program as of july 1, 2010. just a few months away. less than four months from today. i do not believe the schools or the u.s. department of education have the time or capacity to successfully meet that deadline and the experts at the department seemed to agree. according to a 2010 department of education procurement document schools need between four and six months to successfully switch to the direct loan program. as a result many schools will not have in place what it takes to get needed aid to students this fall. yes it is true reconciliation

has been used to affect student loans in the past however in those instances it was used to level the playing field between the two loan programs and provide rater access by students to the loans. this bill is nothing more than a government takeover that will turn the department of education into the largest bank in the nation. probably not under the financial reform requirements either an transfer billions of dollars from middle-class students and taxpayers to paper on the modest expansion of the pell grant program which does nothing to lower the cost of college education. i will propose amendments that address out-of-control college costs that give schools time to thoughtfully switch to the direct loan program, that make transparent the actual cost of the direct loan program is funded authorized and proven access and competition program and then put real money toward debt reduction. the majority will tell you that what you are doing, what they are doing is being done at no cost to the taxpayer.

do you think america believes that? i asked the accountant in the senate disagree with this assertion. the family-friendly program provides lenders through private unders, provide the capital necessary for funding billions of dollars of student loans each year. with the direct loan program the treasury will provide all the capitol for these loans which amounts to nearly 100 early in dollars a year. where does the money come from? it comes from increasing the public debt and the american taxpayers many of whom do not have a college education should ring the financial burden from those who directly benefit from a college education, raises concerns about it and again does nothing to address the larger problem of rapidly increasing cost of a college education. >> beyond 10 minutes. >> i would ask that the balance of my speech be included in the record along with a letter that explains what they reconciliation bill is going to do to be fun's.

>> without objection. >> i would ask unanimous consent to. >> without objection. >> i thanked the chair and yield the floor. >> health care legislation was the main topic at today's white house briefing where press secretary robert gibbs announced president obama will travel to iowa or state to promote the bill. this is a little less than an hour. >> okay, now what? [laughter] >> now we wait for everybody to take their seats.

[inaudible] >> the white house wanted this bill passed and now-- this pivoting of jobs still a plan and how long will you talk about health care now that it is past? >> let me take us a couple of different ways. one, the president has been working on the economic recovery every day that he has been in office. we know that the president in fact signed a bill just last week to provide tax credits for small businesses. that hire the unemployed and i think we will continue to talk about that going forward. we know there are aspects of small business lending, zero

capital gains for small business and to retrofit proposals the president has made that he now wants to see also go through congress. thursday that president will visit iowa city, where he outlined the grassroots health care reform plan in 2007 and have a chance to talk about what this legislation means for the small businesses that i was taught in about, for families with children who are labeled by insurance companies to suffer from a preexisting condition or to talk about what this means for seniors who will finally get help with covering their cost of their prescription drugs if they happen to fall into what is commonly known as the doughnut hole in medicare. >> is this going to be the one health care event he does outside of washington or will he be doing a series of events out light of washington? >> the president is a very busy

schedule coming up, a whole host of issues. i assume the president will talk about health care for a long time. but, the president has over the course of the past many weeks even as the legislative agenda has been focused on getting health care done, which we did last night, the president is also as you will see over the next couple of weeks working on a number of other issues that are at the forefront and will have an opportunity to talk about than. >> a lot of democrats which their votes politically dangerous boats were themselves frankly to support this bill. what kind of support are those democrats in the house going to be receiving from the white house? >> i think there is no doubt and i don't have a political schedule in front of me. i have no doubt we will be on the road extensively in the fall as it relates to health care reform and as it relates to helping those that supported health care last night and

supporting democrats even some that didn't. >> robert did you mean to announce when the bill signing his? >> it is likely to be sometime tomorrow. they are still working out some of the logistics. in terms of timing i would plan as of right now for a late morning bill signing, weather permitting, outside publicly on the south lawn. [inaudible] >> as of the last update i got, it would be logistically tough to go off campus but also if the weather doesn't inc. also might be logistically difficult. i think each and every member of the house and senate that supported health care reform will be invited. i expect many of them will attend. i also believe the president will have with him many of the

stories that he has given lift to over the past course of the year to help demonstrate exactly why the president did what he did for so long and who this impacts the most. >> robert, to questions. one on health care and one on-- [inaudible] what is the white house reaction to the states that have threatened to sue over this legislation? is not something the president and the team are taking seriously? >> i heard nancy talk a little bit about this this morning on television i think. my sense is that a lot of big pieces of legislation are challenged in some ways. we have certainly had, you have seen the intent of some to do, to challenge this legislation on grounds we don't think would be very successful. >> you don't think their suits will be very successful? >> we don't. >> is there any kind of plan or

reaction to deal with that? >> i assume there will be many things we will deal with in the coming weeks, months and years ahead as health care reform is implemented, but i think that you know, some of the, some of the states and some of the players might end up being kind of curious but, again i think they are pretty long-standing precedent on the constitutionality of its. >> my second question is on google and china. if google does decide to pull out of china what effect would that have on on the u.s. chinese relations? >> let me not get ahead of something we will have a chance to discuss later on. look, i think you heard the president and nancy a. quite clearly, he and china, a policy and a belief that open

government and the ability to communicate among people without a censorship of government is tremendously important. so, it may be, as there are on some issues, that we in a mature diplomatic relationship have disagreements but i don't want to get ahead of something we haven't had a chance to discuss it. [inaudible] i don't know what the latest is this morning on that. >> on thursday you guys are going to iowa and the president is going to talk about health care reform and the senator was there and introduced his health care proposal. if you look at what he announced in 2007 and what his law or will be law as of tomorrow, there are a lot of similarities but there are also a lot of striking differences in terms of universal coverage, whether or

not every individual family premium will go down $2500. is this just what happens when ideals meet the pragmatic politics or why are there such differences between what the president proposed two years ago? >> j., obviously what you propose and what goes through the system sometimes change. i think the promise that the president laid out in may of 2007 and talked about even before, laying out a specific policy, was that we should not in a country like the united states of america have to have people deciding between keeping their house and keeping their health care. or, we shouldn't live in a country where people don't have

access to affordable health care. look, i think always in this, it always goes through the legislative process but i think what the president promised that day and what the president will sign tomorrow very much the promise of affordable, accessible health care that puts people back in charge of their health care rather than insurance companies. i think something that will have lasting benefit for tens of millions of americans for many years to come. >> is there going to be a follow-up legislation since the president has the goal of universal coverage in 2007 and the cds legislation will leave uninsured 23 million americans. is there going to be a follow-up event? >> i don't know if there have been many any discussions about that this morning. the coverage i think cbo said

somewhere between 94 and 95% of americans will have coverage, and obviously we will after the president signed this into law it to the important process of ensuring its efficient and speedy implementation. >> does the president feel, this obviously was a very long, hard fight and very bitter in a lot of ways. does the president feel any obligation as a man who campaigned on bridging the partisan divide, to reach out to republicans for future legislation, for improving the spirit in washington that is now been so poisoned by this very vicious debate at times? >> i don't know-- we will be able to look back and see whether it the debate itself poisoned the atmosphere.

i think that the president will do on financial reform, on campaign finance, on getting our economy moving again, all of the host of issues that immigration reform and energy that we have talked about still being on the docket. i think the president will continue to reach out to the democrats and republicans that want to make a positive effort on these issues. the president, you know, i am a little struck by the fact that everybody seems on one side to be talking about repeal today. so, i will let them answer why is mitch mcconnell put it, i am his profile in the new york times, the anecdote of him having a plan even before the president came to the congress with an economic recovery plan last january that he had a plan

to simply say no to each and everything the president will pose. i think that is a little bit about what elections are ultimately going to be about and i think if people want to campaign on taking tax cuts away from small businesses, taking assistance away from seniors getting prescription drugs and want to take away the mother knowing that their child can be discriminated against by an insurance company, if that is the platform that others want to run on, taking that away from families and small businesses then we will have a robust campaign on that. >> a follow-up. what is your reaction to some of the words that were thrown around just this last weekend, one republican member of congress shouting to john lewis having to n word shouted at him? what is your reaction first and how do you pick up the pieces of this debate for immigration?

>> we have talked about on any number of different debates what happens when people say things that have no, no place in a legislative audit led the gun-- alone anyplace in our public or quite frankly even private discourse. i don't know that i would want to explain to my six-year-old why i had said some of the things that were done or said this past week. i think the president believes regardless of the passion of your views, which people rightly hold in a country as great as this, that we ought to be able to have that debate without the type of language and actions that we have seen in some places over the week. >> to follow what jake was asking about, the speech in the

campaign about covering all americans regardless of whether there was any talk this morning about a second piece of legislation, generally how do you view this? is this the first byte of the apple? does the president hoped to complete this by the end of 2010? >> i appreciate you while constructing another mountain for us to climb. quite frankly, this afternoon i am just enjoying the view from where we are. >> on another subject, israel. the prime minister will meet with the president far. ahead of the meeting we are getting reports of the prime minister and i suggest mike makes sitting down for direct talks with palestinians, u.s. brokered. it sounds like we need to hear whether the u.s. is willing to ring the parties together. how quickly do you think the president will receive those concessions and will become in stocks? >> i think prime minister netanyahu is obviously here and will meet with some administration officials today and will meet privately with the

president, like he did last year , early tomorrow evening. our goal in any of this is to create an atmosphere of trust and open dialogue, to bring these two sides together so that they discussions can be substantive and moving towards comprehensive middle eastern peace. i think that is what we hope tomorrow is in his discussions with the prime minister and we will see what comes out of that or go. >> is the president prepared to start talks with the u.s.? >> the president looks forward to having a good conversation with prime minister netanyahu and we will see where we go from there. [inaudible] >> no coverage.

>> i think it is very legitimate to ask what is the next great mountain? >> it is legitimate to ask. i did not want to climb a separate mountain on this. i think what he learned about, i think what i'll of washington learned about him is that he is willing to make very tough decisions. >> why didn't he go with the government plan than? >> i didn't even get five words out, helen. [laughter] i think somebody who is willing to make very tough decisions and see that through. i think there were many opportunities where he could have turned back and they think, i think very much that what passed last night meant more to him than any election night could have.

because i think he understands the reason that he continued to push forward on something as important as health care reform is he understands just what it will mean, as i said earlier, for millions of americans for many years to come. just in the next, within this year, small businesses will begin to get tax credits to help pay for the coverage they provide their employees. seniors will get help in their prescription drug coverage and we will begin to close that doughnut hole that i talked about. maybe most importantly and all these immediate and assets, my mother won't have to sit in her kitchen on the phone with an insurance company worried sick that the decisions about her child's health care are not going to be made by a doctor, are not going to be made by her

or her family, but by an insurance company bureaucrat on the other end of the phone god knows where, determining that child had a preexisting condition. that is all going to change. and that is just what is going to happen over the course of the rest of 2010, so look, i think he wants, i think he knew what he wanted to accomplish and despite all, despite whatever, whatever he was told, he kept fighting for what he believed in. >> will that be his most-- from now on? he started out very slowly and not really pushing it. >> well, i would say perseverance paid off.

look, i think the president rightly looks at the scorekeeping that happens on any given or individual day and i doubt that, i doubt there is not anybody in here that at some point declared health care dead. may be multiple times. i think the pace the president had was to see the long view and to get this done. and i think that is what he did. as for the next mountains, we talked about some of them. there is no doubt that finishing the legislation that the president has offered, and ideas he has offered on getting our economy moving again, small business lending, zero capital gains for start up small businesses, the retrofitting initiatives to again create jobs there is the outstanding case of the loophole that the case

generated for citizens united. obviously financial reform, which senator dodd's committee will take up today. and i think we feel there is some momentum building for seeing that through as well as big issues like comprehensive energy and immigration legislation are obviously still left for the president to do. >> robert,-- [inaudible] >> i am sorry, say that again. [inaudible] >> i will say this and i think the executive order makes this clear. the president was, the president stated throughout this process that they health care reform should simply maintain the status quo.

he believes that the bill maintains the status quo and he thinks the executive order reiterates that strong belief. >> it is existing law. there is nothing particular about the executive order that changes that. >> again, the president quite frankly and many in congress on both sides of this believed as the president did that there should be a health care bill, that it shouldn't be billed out of issues and what the bill does and what the executive order does is underscore back the status quo is preserved. that was the whole.. >> so, tomorrow, will the resident have any new proposals to move the israeli-palestinian negotiations beyond where they are with the missile talks right now? are there any new ideas to push this forward?

>> again, we have a sense of what they discussed in the meeting after the meeting. i think the president has rightly focused on building the type of trust that is needed to get two parties back to the table to begin that dialogue. >> does he expect further apology for the treatment of the vice president? >> i think we have spoken clearly on that and i have no doubt that that will be a topic in the meeting. >> just to follow up, so there is no coverage, no public statement for the second time in a row that president met in the itu has visited. is this just a coincidence? >> i think over the course. >> is this the only world leader and now it is twice? >> you may have-- mark robert lee has better statistics. >> juan-carlos, we did not get a picture of them. [laughter] >> what do you have to say about that?

i think this is the fourth meeting if i am not mistaken prime minister netanyahu. >> the second straight visit to the white house. not a coincidence or is it a co-incidents? >> now, i think they will have a good discussion. >> why do you want to play down? >> isn't this a helpful thing? >> you seem to be in on a secret that the meetings will happen. >> why wouldn't they want to reassure the world? >> we said that a week ago. >> why don't they go public, the leader's? >> i can tell you they are not afraid. our bond with the israelis is strong. >> so, and ally comes and visits , no picture, no backslapping relations?

i mean, it does seem funny. it just seems odd. that you guys, this is an important ally and you say relations are great, so why not come out together to say that? >> this is how the coverage of the meeting is going to go. >> back to health care in the legal challenge question. what has your counsel's office said? why do you have this confidence, you save there is established law and established precedent. what is the established precedent? >> on the regulation of their safe commerce. >> how is the mandate. >> again, look, i am not a lawyer so we are both in a pool where we can't either see or touch the bottom. but, as i understand the articles that i have read the attorney general is going to sue because he thinks this violates that. i think that for many decades

the supreme court has recognized congress' authority under the commerce clause to regulate a today's relating to interstate commerce. >> this is essentially going to say, if you are an american citizen you have to have health insurance? >> again, i think they are challenging the constitutional basis of an individual responsibility requirement that the president and the team did not believe-- i mean, for instance utah is one of the states that is thinking about doing this. senator hatch and senator bennett have both been on legislation requiring some level of individual responsibility like this. senator bennett's health care bill with senator wyden has an

individual mandate so again, i won't get into why. >> to an advocacy question, not to the legal basis, they can abdicate legally too. that doesn't solve-- i am not making a judgment on their policy point. >> you can now senator hatch whether he thinks he regularly. >> your counsel says there is no legal basis. >> my advice from counsel is we will win these lawsuits. >> and the confidence on what is going to happen this week in the senate you got your 51 votes, you have them lined up. >> i will tell you what senator reid told the house caucus on saturday, that-- i didn't see that. [inaudible] >> senator reid, if he didn't have the commitment that he would have been we think he

does. >> word for word, what they passed. >> look, i think this senate will take this up at some point this week, begin the process and look, health care is going to become law tomorrow. i think that, i can't speak to all of the amendments or all of the shenanigans that will be tried on capitol hill over the course of the next many days but we are confident that this process is coming to an end. yes maam. >> back on abortion. there are some who believe that, given the difficulty of complying with the separation of funds and the rules that are laid out that a lot of insurance companies simply won't offer abortion coverage in exchange, what is the white house's view? >> i have not talked to nancy about whether or not that is a topic that they have wrestled with. obviously that is-- once the

president signs this into law there will be a host of implementation ideas and tasks that will begin working. >> and, on the broader question, the president entered office determined to sort of try to bridge the gap in the abortion wars and repeatedly has issued statements trying to bring the sides together and get it seems as though the abortion wars are as hot as they have ever been. >> i don't think that is true. i think if they were as hot as they have ever been we were talking about why this was an issue that wasn't central to the legislation but caused its demise. instead, we are here because groups worked together in order to ensure that have the health care bill would be a health care bill. >> the abortion debate has become less toxic? >> as it relates to health care, it is evidence that the issue is one that even those that

disagree on, can find common ground to ensure that important policies by comprehensive health care reform move forward. the robert will the president signed the executive order tomorrow as well? >> i am told they can't sign that until he signs the law, so i don't know whether that is tomorrow or in the coming days. bill handed me a note that said likely because of weather we are going to be over at the department of the interior tomorrow and we will get you logistical information on that. [inaudible] >> i think largely because of space. >> to trip on thursday, is that a victory lap or is he trying to reach out to perhaps americans that are upset about the bill? >> look, i think marquis will take the opportunity to discuss the benefits that the law

provides millions of americans as a result of his signature. we could debate the polling and politics on this. i think, as we get away from the back and forth of a legislative floor debate and examine what is in the bill and how it affects families and small businesses and seniors and then we can talk about what is not in the bill, despite what some people have said. i think the president believes that more will see the benefits that he saw and making sure this legislation becomes law. >> doesn't he want to try to allay the fears or concerns of those who are opposed to the bill? >> i think he will walk in all that he does, walk people

through what he believes this legislation does and i think you have heard him say over the past many months to address specific instances about what people say the bill does that in fact it doesn't do, so i think you will continue to have an opportunity to do that and certainly-- he will do a lot of that tomorrow. he did some of that last night and will do even more of it in iowa city. >> did he have any comment at the vote yesterday for the bill that was entirely partisan but the vote against it was an tiredly bipartisan? >> not that i remember, anything specifically on that, mark. again, this is a president that has by any account, you could see that this is a process that took a little more than a year to complete partly because the process that the president and congress went through was the one in order to try to get

republican support. even when republicans said, even it is likely, even if it is likely i can support it, i like what is in the till i might not able to vote for it. i think that his work radically the times that apparently we live in. >> robert, since the briefing started google has now announced that it won't censor searches in china and is directing users to -- servers. can you talk about the u.s.? >> i know that, i know that there were some, i need to find out what discussions were had here this morning. i know there were some discussions over the weekend that something like this might come in. >> okay, and do you know what action the u.s. might take if china's government makes any move against google's operations? >> i don't know that i would get into a hypothetical on something

like that. i am happy to react what is happening. >> on on the talks of our night the president bna listen modes mode to try to understand the housing stuff last week or is he going to offer up some proposal, some sort of way forward? >> again, i am not under the impression the president is bringing new proposals forward. i think what we need to do is work to get and build the type of relationship tween these two parties that allows them to get to the table and trust each other enough to have conversations. i think that is what the president's intention has been quite honestly since the beginning of his administration in trying to get this done. >> will be announced specific request? >> i am not going to get into

what has been discussed with the secretary of the state or the vice president over the past week. >> how about a readouts? >> we will have one. >> robert a little bit of texture on yesterday. when was it that the president knew confidently that he have the votes, democratic leadership have their votes in the house. was at the resolution to the stupak resolution and can you take us a little bit to the roosevelt room for what i have to imagine was more than a mildly significant almond for him personally and those closest to him. >> i think that in terms of votes i think obviously they members that congressman stupak had that shared his concerns, once the executive order, once that all played out, that is the point at which we felt good that the legislation would exceed 216

votes. the president. >> did you doubt at that moment that you could get to to 16 without that arrangement? >> the president spent a lot of time talking to a lot of different members, discussing the benefits of what this legislation did in a lot of different combinations to get to to 16 so in terms of the roosevelt. >> could you have gotten there without stupak? >> i am not sure that that, at a certain.yesterday it became that way and i don't know what that does to other people's votes. i am not sure that that is altogether noble. in terms of the roosevelt room, he walked in, the vice president was there and many staffers were there. i think he very much wanted to--

he had come down from the residence and very much wanted to be, as we wanted to be with him, be with a group of people that have spent many years, some people far longer than coming here, working on the promise of health care reform for millions and millions of americans, so as you always do you anxiously watch and you wonder who the 24 people are that haven't voted with two and a half minutes left given the fact that it has been what everybody has been talking about for weeks. [laughter] and then obviously when we hit to 16, there was a lot of jubilation. the president went around the room, shaking hands and hugging and high-fiving. you know, as i said there were people that have worked on this issue longer than there has been an obama administration.

there are people that have been with the president for many years throughout the campaign, like myself. i think they felt enormously proud of him for that the type of perseverance i talked about earlier, not letting up and not giving up and making sure that we drove toward what he saw as the outcome rather than listening to all of the noise. [inaudible] >> i just remember it being a very happy and then again when he walked around the room we all have a chance to say stuff to him. [inaudible] no, she was not. >> speaking of iowa chars-- charles grassley said he would like to offer an amendment to require the president and all

senior staff and cabinet secretaries to live under the guidelines and the requirements of the health care bill. first of all do you stipulate that they did not and second of all do you consider that legislation? >> i would have to look at the amendment and ask nancy. i think someone offered an amendment at some point in the process to make members of congress, as the president has said, give the american people the same type of health care that members of congress have. obviously the president supported that. >> on another topic peter orszag put out another topic on a.c.o.r.n. funding. do you consider that a response to the federal court order? >> what kind of event is it in iowa, a speech or a town hall? >> it will be a speech. >> as president obama and prime

minister netanyahu resolve their differences and what is the president message to the palestinians after the israeli government called on-- they said they are not going to. it doesn't seem to get at the palestinian concerns at all and it seems now that this is dissolving but there is no real solution. >> again, i think the president is hopeful that we will in this meeting make progress and get, without getting into the intricacies of it, get these two parties back to not just back physically to talks, but to the type of relationship that is necessary for those talks to bear fruit. yes, sir. >> two more questions robert. first on the passage of the health care reform bill there there has been a lot of talk about the effect this is going to have on democrats in november republicans, i think karl rove said it was going to be devastating to democrats.

most of the reporters i have heard on tv since the last passage of the bill seemed to be conceding democrats are going to pay some price. is there any scenario whereby democrats could actually gain in november based on the momentum from this legislative event? >> look, i am not going to hazard a lot of guesses on what is going to happen eight months from now. eight months from, eight months from backwards from today i don't think many people thought today we would be talking about what we accomplished in those eight months, so i tend not to have a crystal ball. again, i think that, when the president signs this landmark legislation, the american people will in the next several months begin to feel through small business tax credits, through protections against children being declared or having declared that they have a

preexisting condition, seniors getting help with their prescription drugs, the types of things the president envision happening as a part of health care reform and i think that will be, i think that will be beneficial. of the president i think was pretty eloquent in saying this over the past couple weeks back, when asked what happens if this fails? what does that mean for you politically? the president was pretty clear and sank is far greater concern was what happens to all of those who are depending on us to change the status quo. and to do so in a way that helps them. so, i know there are a lot of folks that will want to prognosticate. i think the president strong belief is we make the decisions that you believe are right. you don't spend a lot of time looking at the polls are listening to the chatter and the good decisions in the good policy often tend to make for

good politics in the long-term. >> on the same question, there is also been some talk on the left about how any democratic senator could sponsor an amendment for the public option in the reconciliation package. if that happened with that the something the president would push for? >> i will leave it to the senate to decide what they want to do. >> let me go back to jacob's question about the offer on partisanship. the president endured months of negotiating-- negotiation in the senate while he tried to get republicans on board. he went to town halls and meeting set warehouse and ended up as they were republican votes. why isn't the lesson to visit a partisan ship is a fools? >> i think again that the strategy on the other side is regardless of what the president proposes to say no, then bipartisanship is going to be difficult. i think have seen people, people

have said today well, what this whole process means we are not going to work together with the other side for the rest of the year. i don't think that is a real change in their schedule because i haven't noticed there has been a whole lot of g., i know the economy is experiencing the worst downturn since the great depression. here are some ideas, let's help. i think that is, but again the american people will judge whether or not people are doing what they are doing because they are just continuing the type of games that the american people hate in this town, versus somebody who is trying to honestly make some progress. i think the president spent seven or so hours at the blair house incorporating, inc. in the legislation were more than 100

republican amendments. you would have to ask them what it would take to get their support, when as the president himself has said bipartisanship can't be none of my ideas and all of yours. inc. in the registration were republican ideas. people like bob dole and howard aker had proposals with very similar to what is proposed here. i have talked about the fact that this legislation looks an awful lot like what happened in massachusetts and i'm sure governor romney hates it every time i say that ergo the only difference really is that we address cost. massachusetts didn't do that and it took them a while to get to that curve, but what makes republicans that two or four or eight or 12 years ago would have proposed something very similar to this and now walk away from it? it is a good thing for them.

>> robert my question is about what the president takes from this. is he still willing to do the same for a year for example on financial? >> i don't think the president believes-- we have party been working a year on financial warm. we have passed the house. we are likely to pass in the committee of jurisdiction in the senate and i think the president believes that we are coming close to the two-year anniversary of the utter collapse of our financial system based on people gaming that system and they are not being in place strong rules to prevent that from happening. the president is not convinced that it is going to take another year to get those rules into place, and people are going to have to decide in the next few months particularly on financial reform whether you are going to put rules in place to prevent this from happening or whether you are going to work on the side of the very same actors that caused many of these types

of episodes, calamitous episodes to happen. yes, sir. ..

>> some of the other issues on the agenda. do you have the ranking of the most important things? >> i don't see any reason for me to begin ranking the priorities. estimate financial reform or energy? >> i think it's laid out that, well, on education i think the president has and secretary duncan have made amazing strides on reforming the education system. there is no doubt financial reform is something the president expects to sign before the end of this year. >> thank you, robert. you talked earlier about tone of the debate but for members of congress and people upside of the hall there was excessive rhetoric connie mack the republican said literally

freedom died today. if that is the response you get from the other side first, you know, what do you make of it and can you work with people like that in other areas? >> again all the president can do is try. all the president can do as talk to members about what is important going forward and getting the economy moving again is helping small businesses with tax credits and lending and things like that? i happen to believe there is overlapping commonality at least in the rhetoric of what president obama and someone of the republican side talk about. whether or not again they are willing to put aside senator mcconnell's plan to oppose everything and seek to be part of a government solution we will just have to see.

>> on a related front looking back what happened with the stimulus and the political debate that followed months afterwards, do you believe the white house has picked up any lessons on how to deal with the definition debate that will come out after the passage of this bill? >> again i think as is the case with a recovery plan i think there is no doubt as i said early on in my time here today the president will -- there's no doubt the president will continue to talk about what health care reform is for the american people. with the passage of this law means. and as i said i think people will also get a chance to see what some people have said the bill means. they will get to see that's not what has happened. and i think all of that will be beneficial for folks over the next many months.

>> is the white house ready for the implementation challenge that will come after the president's signature? there's a number of positions and hhs for example better still vacant that will have a big role. >> look, i know that senior staff here this morning in the morning meeting as well as the meeting with the president discussed beginning in earnest that process and what goes along with it. undoubtedly a big challenge. but i think many of the same group of people that helped get through congress what many people felt was unattainable will begin the challenge of the implementing what will be the law on tuesday. >> robert, there was a kind of circus atmosphere in the house

chamber yesterday in addition to the sort of stupak issue. there were flyers place and one incident there was an outburst in the gallery and some members on the republican side seemed to encourage that outburst. do you think the gop leadership is doing enough to rein in its own members and still a sense of decorum about the house? >> i didn't -- i was in and out of a lot of things yesterday. i didn't see each and every instance. i have said here and i think many have said that we have to be respectful of each other despite the differences that we may have in our opinions and to conduct ourselves in a way that demonstrates that respect. i think that goes for anybody in public life on both sides of the nile even as we are debating

something that is inflamed passions like health care reform certainly has. >> do you think it says something about the party and where they are of the moment that you are seeing this kind of behavior? >> again negative against this being frustrated about the process there were avenues with which to become active in the legislative problem-solving part of the process that not many wish they would have taken up. >> are the insurance company's going to be expected to comply with the measures into law from the moment the president signs them? in other words you talked about kids and pre-existing conditions. will people notice that immediately on day one and talking to their insurance companies don't have to be regulations? aren't we talking about many months before that action goes into affect or do you expect

them to apply in the spirit from day one? >> let me ask that is a good policy question for me to ask nancy. the legislation on the three things i discussed phase is that in over the course of the remaining part of this year. the spirit of the law is something i have not talked to her about it is a question worth asking. george. >> president clinton said on saturday night that he was making calls to the democratic members in the house and then took a call from president obama about 715. can you talk about the role he played in what you asked him to do? >> will, obviously president clinton has relationship with many members of congress on the democratic side going back to his time here and we need use of his offering to do whatever he could to help pass this

legislation. he asked for calls. obviously rahm emanuel knows who president clinton knows well and we handed him members to reach out to and i think in the end he was successful in helping us get some of those votes. i would say this to prior to coming out here, i was a meeting in the situation room where secretary clinton was and she was very happy to see what happened yesterday and when the president came in walked over and they gave him a big hug for had been accomplished. thanks, guys. [inaudible conversations] attorneys general for nearly a dozen states will challenge the constitutionality of the just passed health care bill.

we talked about that issue with the law professor on the washington journal. this is about a half-hour. >> host: joining us from charlottesville virginia is timothy of the washington and lee university school a professor there and is here to talk about the constitutionality of state challenges to health care. good morning and welcome. >> good morning. thank you. >> what is it that you see that is going to need to be challenged constitutionally regarding health care and the insurance causes that were passed last night? >> i don't think anything needs to be challenged constitutionally, and in fact i don't think there are any real valid constitutional challenges to this real legislation. i think congress is acting within its constitutional power granted by article 1 of the constitution in enacting this legislation as i think the

listeners know your viewers know there are a number of states now about 36 considering legislation the would challenge the constitutionality of a single party of this legislation. two of the states, idaho and virginia have not enacted such legislation in arizona has put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to challenge the arizona constitutional amendment is a little different. but under the constitution as it has been interpreted by the supreme court, and that is our constitution. everybody has their own idea what the constitution says or should say. but constitutional law is made by the supreme court which is the final arbiter, and as that has been made by the supreme court of the last 70, 80 years i don't see any serious constitutional problems with this legislation and congress didn't either. >> host: about the legislation passed in virginia? what is it they're trying to do their?

>> well, if you'll give me just a moment to explain, the way in which this legislation works is that as a true body has heard it gets rid of the underwriting based on health status, it gets rid of pre-existing conditions clauses and says you can't charge somebody more were refused an insurance just because they are not healthy as compared to people who are healthy and in any one here you've got about 5% of the population consuming about 50% of health care expenses and about 60% responsible for 1% of health care expenses so if an insurance pool is going to work in the way insurance pools work now is you have to have some healthy people with the on healthy and what insurers do now is they keep the really on healthy people love or charge them very high premiums. with the health reform legislation it says they can't do that anymore. and so they are really going to be dependent upon having lots of

healthy people in the market so everything will even out. one thing the legislation does is it says if you can afford health insurance you should buy it. i refer to this as the slackers provision because what it says is everybody is responsible for insuring themselves just like if you drive a car door responsible for getting car insurance and if we have some slacker's out there who refuse to buy health insurance this tells them you either buy health insurance or you're going to have to pay an extra tax. it's not a terribly onerous task. once it is fully phased in it will be about $700 a year or 2.5% of your income. it doesn't apply to anybody whose income is below the filing limit which i think is about 12,000 for individuals and 16,000 for couples. it doesn't apply to people who have religious objections. there are no criminal policies for not paying the tax. that is expressly in the mall but what it says is the

responsible citizen, get health insurance. gold ended in the hospital costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and expecting your fellow citizens to pay for it. well, with the virginia law says as nobody can make our citizens by health insurance. and they can say that if they want to but under the supremacy clause, a state cannot tell the federal government what to do. the federal government -- federal law is the supreme support of the land as long as the congress is acting within its constitutionally granted power and it is here. >> host: how does the commerce clause plea in to these challenges? >> well, the commerce clause says that the congress has the authority to regulate commerce among the states. and since the 1930's that power has been interpreted for a broadly in the 1930's there was a case where a fellow was just planting wheat for his own

consumption and congress passed a law regulating agricultural production in the supreme court said you plant wheat for your own use but you might sell some of it and you won't be buying as much and commerce all sort of flows together and that's part of regulating interstate commerce. more recently, a few years ago not long ago a man was arrested for a growing medical marijuana plants on his windowsill and the supreme court said that under the controlled substance act federal law that was illegal and once again even now more than ever commerce is all of the peace and growing medical marijuana on your windowsill, marijuana is a huge business who knows where the marijuana will end up and in the most recent case involving the commerce clause was the partial birth abortion case, gonzalez versus carhart in which the supreme

court said congress under its commerce power can regulate medical practice. it can tell doctors what they can do inside of their surgeries. so basically, the law is that if there is any kind of economic activity involved congress does that have our power to regulate and of course congress does. we've lots of federal law regulating all sorts of economic activity. the decision when to buy insurance, do i buy it now while i am healthy or when i'm an ambulance on the way to the hospital is an economic decision and congress clearly has the power to regulate it and once the congress has the power to do something under the supremacy clause its laws are supreme to allow all of the states and the tenth amendment only provides that states retain power that are not granted to congress. >> host: timothy is a professor of law and the washington and lee school of university rather, school fall and is here to talk about the

constitutionality of state challenges to health care. our first call on the topic comes from jacksonville. >> caller: thank you for taking my call, washington journal. i'm a 20-year-old full-time college student from jacksonville florida and work hard to get my bills paid everyday but it the end of the day i still find a way to make money and save money in my bank account and get health care in the private industry and less light was i guess a new mark in history where we are now closer than ever to meet not as americans but the government this health care bill isn't something new. it's been pushed by the democratic party for over 50 years and to the health care isn't a right, it is a result of making good investments of hard work in this country and the work life, liberty and pursuit of happiness said it's not a right of happiness is a privilege and to me i feel the government has robbed us once again. thank you for taking my call.

>> professor? >> guest: yeah, well in the first place life liberty and pursuit of happiness isn't in the constitution. it's in the declaration of independence. the constitution does protect liberty interest. it does protect fundamental interest. but with the supreme court has often said is that when economic activity is involved, economic or social activity, was needed merely show that it's small has a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental interest for them to be constitutional. let me point something out because a lot of people don't know what is in the law other than what they've heard on fox news, and they should really take a look at this. this is a law that is based on basic republican principles. it's based on ideas that have been out there for 40 years that have been primarily pushed by

republicans. historic we democrats have called for a public health insurance system. that's not what this creates. what this does is provide subsidies so that people can go into the private health insurance system. it organizes private insurance markets through something called managed competition to try to make insurance compete with each other and it provides tax credits to people so that they can go into the market and purchase private health insurance. and it's basically a private insurance based system. there's nothing in this bill in the insurance provisions of this bill the changes the delivery system. it simply is a system to better regulate and meet private insurance and make it more accessible to people. so i think if republicans would really read this bill instead of listening to all of the misrepresentations donner said about it, they would find this bill pretty comfortable with their historic principles. >> next up roy on the line for

independents out of oxford georgia. go ahead. >> i have an interesting question in terms of a law professor looking at the best arguments against the bill and particularly in light of the rehnquist court's bringing attack the idea of comedy restricting what the government can do to states and also the current courts willingness to overturn president so in that light what would be the best or most likely way that this would be frowned on constitutional? >> guest: well, i think that the one part of the will subject to a challenge that isn't frivolous is the individual mandate that people purchase insurance and the argument made there is congress never before required someone to buy a product in the private market and you're absolutely right we

have an activist court right now. we have a court that has shown itself willing to overturn longstanding precedent to reach political goals that it finds attractive and that of course makes one a little nervous. on the other hand, the cure also absolutely right that justice rehnquist and also to a lesser extent justice o'connor really emphasized states' rights in a way that the court hasn't for a long time. neither of them are on the court any more. and the precedent, there were a couple of cases -- one in the 1990's and one in around 2,000 which the court said that, chris's power isn't limitless when it gets beyond economic activity it is beyond the commerce clause. but those were five through code for decisions written by justice rehnquist. he is no longer on the court and i have not seen the same kind of

interest in protecting states' rights and the current court that was there when justice rehnquist was on the court. but even then, some people who are supporting states' rights in this area point to a handful of decisions in recent years when the courts have made some noise about we need to be more differential to the states. but in each of those cases what was involved was interpretation of the statute or interpretation of a court decision. not with their federal statutes themselves are the supreme law of the land. and whenever the court has addressed that question as a federal supreme court of the land it has always had a cities. >> host: next up is -- >> guest: it's a good question though. >> host: next up, lorain ohio on the line for democrats. >> caller: >> host: hello? >> caller: i'm calling in

regards -- >> host: turn down your television and will work a lot better. are you still with us? >> caller: yes, i am. >> host: go ahead with your question, please. >> caller: i'm calling in regard to the fact that first i want to applaud the democrats for getting this passed. it's definitely needed. but i want to know, do you still know if there is going to be anything in the constitution with regard to this small that they are going to figure out a way to try not to push it through. >> guest: well, the senate bill has now passed the house, and once the president signs it, and of course he will, it will be -- it will be the law. it will be the supreme law of the land. the only thing that remains to be done is to pass a reconciliation bill which is a fairly short bill that makes

some changes in the outlays and revenues under the bill, makes the subsidies of little it for generous, actually makes the individual mandate a little bit less onerous and raise some revenue and as a few other things. so it is in the long now. as to whether it will be challenged or not i am almost certain it will be. there's some conservative legal advocacy organizations gearing up to challenge. some of the states may try to challenge it. first, under established small, states in themselves do not have the right to challenge the constitutionality of a federal law. that is quite clear. the supreme court has held that they don't. individuals who are adversely affected by the law can bring an action challenging it. so for the sample of somebody decides know i would rather let everybody else pay for my health care i'm not going to lie health

insurance and they are assessed a penalty by the irs, they don't pay it, they can go to court to challenge the is as bad as the penalty and raise the constitutional issues. however, the individual mandate does not go into effect until 2014, and so until that point nobody is going to be adversely affected by this law so any constitutional children should sort at least four years down the road from now and i expect that we will see them, in the challenges brought before them i would expect will be dismissed because they are not ripe yet and probably also because the people who would attempt to bring them will not have any standing. they won't have a right to be in court to challenge the law. but i expect we will have challenges. massachusetts has an individual mandate. it was challenged earlier this month, the appellate court threw the case and said it was a frivolous case. >> host: professor, in this

item from cnn donner, with the headline "idaho challenges national health care proposals more states may follow," the right the florida attorney general bill mccollum, republican, on tuesday sent a letter to 49 other states attorneys general asking them to join him in court preparing a legal challenge the constitutionality of federal individual mandate provision the merger is immediately upon the legislation becoming law. to say that there would be -- it would have to be individuals that would take this to the supreme court. and yet the florida attorney general is sending out the word to other attorneys general that the are circling the wagons and getting ready for a fight. >> guest: anybody can finally lawsuit. it doesn't cost much to file a lawsuit and if you are a state attorney general you can have the state pay for the lawsuit. not sure that is a good expenditure of state funds. but again, and as the earlier

caller said we've got a supreme court now that has been opened to looking at earlier precedent and reversing them if it doesn't like it. but the state doesn't have standing. under article 3 of the constitution you have to be able to show some kind of factual injury to bring a lawsuit and since number-one the law isn't in effect it and number to it doesn't affect the state's i can't imagine how they are going to show standing. of course it is politically smart to say you're going to do this and i sure this is a political act but it's not something that is going anywhere legally and let me just make that point. i think all of these are political statements and i would remind people loved during the 1950's and 60's here in virginia we had a campaign of massive resistance against school desegregation and the state if

virginia passed all kind of laws to try to stop the schools in virginia from being desegregated which were eventually struck down by the federal courts and i think today virginians are kind of embarrassed they did that and i see that is basically this kind of campaign, the states trying to say we don't like the federal law and we are not going to comply. our citizens don't have to comply. i should say in fairness that another campaign that's been waged is the medical marijuana campaign where a number of states have legalized medical marijuana despite the federal law that meet the legal. there's some evidence they are gaining headway in federal government is not so aggressive in prosecuting those cases as it used to be. so sometimes state resistance to federal law succeeds. the real-life dewaal a couple of years ago if he would be another a example of that. but i think in this case because the individual mandate is so in

truckle to making private insurance markets work i really don't think the federal government is going to back down lightly on this one. >> host: mary lou of maple shade new jersey on the line for republicans, you are on the washington journal with the professor. >> caller: good morning, to you. >> guest: good morning. >> caller: i want to make two quick points and will take my comments off the air. first point, i don't understand why all these people across the country who obviously have legal profession's he would even take the time and make the effort to challenge this issue the didn't feel they have all tried ground for. the second point i want to make is i think a lot of people are concerned about their assets, and if they don't comply that the federal government is going to take their money. i want to say something that people could do if they are very concerned about this and get your comment on this. those of you lucky enough to be working, you know when you get a

job they do ask you to declare whether or not you want taxes withheld from your pay. those of you that declared you want them with harold change your tax status to not withholding that we increased the federal government will be able to get their hands on your money immediately. the other issue, too, is if you want, go to your bank, get as much money out as you can to protect your assets and would never be possible. i don't know what they could really do if a large number of people flat out right refused to comply with this mandate to buy insurance. thank you for c-span2 we will take my answer of the air. >> host: professor? >> guest: okay, with respect to your first question, again, i think these are political statements and not legal statements, and attorneys general and legislatures, many of them are lawyers, attorneys general's obviously are. but they are also politicians.

and they are making political statements. they are making the political statement we are republicans and we don't like health care reform. i don't think that this is necessarily that they are applying and their legal expertise with the london law school but rather they are making a political statement. as far as protecting your assets against this i guess the first question i would ask is why would anybody go through all that trouble to make sure they are uninsured? if you end up in the hospital, you have an auto accident on the way home, and the hospital you can run up a bill of several hundred thousand dollars very quickly. okay. if you are a millionaire, if you're a multi millionaire need your okay. but most people are not so if you run up a bill like that wouldn't happen? you're going to go bankrupt. who's calling to pay the bill? the taxpayer is going to pay the

bill. the hospital's going to have to swallow the bill. the doctors are going to have to swallow the bill. what is wrong with lobbying insurance? and so, as i said, i think it should be called the slacker provision because the people who are not buying health insurance are people who are being irresponsible. if they can afford it and once again if you can't afford it number one of your poor enough you want to buy it at all if you are below the finally let. and number two, if you are above the ceiling limit but below 400% of the poverty level there are generous subsidies in this legislation to help you pay for health insurance. you can also want to medicate if your income is low enough so nobody has an excuse for being uninsured in this country. the statute -- that me just say one last thing. finally, the statute does say the irs shall fly you know liens or levees to collect money under this provision. so, if it really, really matters to you to be uninsured you can

do it and they are not going to come after the bank account. >> host: would you say to the people who say that the requirement for everybody to be in short or to buy insurance runs in the face of the tenth amendment? >> guest: the tenth amendment has nothing to do with that. the tenth amendment is an amendment that says any powers that are not granted to the federal the bride is reserved to the states and the tenth amendment of course is the authority under which the states are passing this legislation but what congress has concluded and i think properly based on the longstanding supreme court precedent is this is within the power of congress and to have to read the sentiment that with this premise equals. of the supremacy clause says if congress is acting within its authority it is the supreme law of the land and states cannot stay in the week you saw the tenth amendment has nothing to do with this.

richard yy for independence you were on with professor timothy joost. >> caller: good morning. i used to sell his and -- pension plans. if i try to sell one the irs would just laugh me out of town and say you can't do that that is assuming the income of a corporation is going to keep growing like social security taxes and we don't have a thing to worry about. now it's not growing and we do have a problem. i think telling insurance companies they can no longer underwrite the risks that adverse selection will be in group insurance you know what adverse selection is, i am sure you do. and it just isn't going to fly

to the private insurers will go out of business and then the government can take over and washington will take over. if he walked on the street and see squirrels and look up and say hi people run around to the other side of the street. >> host: professor joost, go ahead. >> call >> guest: you are pointing to precisely the reason why the individual mandate is so important. ifill lal said private insurers cannot underbite based on health status they have to take everybody who walks in the door and we didn't have an individual mandate, people who were healthy, young people could just say i am healthy and john and cui to live forever i'm not going to buy insurance and they are hit by a car in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and called their insurance agent and is a quick, get me a policy and i don't have to worry about pretense this

thing to the eckert -- three existing conditions where is that we do that? of course private insurance companies will go out of business. on the other hand, this lot is expected to get 20 million more people into the private health insurance market and they are going to be young and healthy people who can afford to pay for health insurance. many of them are going to get subsidies, premium tax credit subsidies come across sharing subsidies and and i expect the private insurance industry is going to do very well off with this. and i might say that, you know, we've got social security but as far as i can see we still have a private pension business. i've got a lot of money in my private pension plans and it didn't just drive the private sector out of business when we got social security. >> host: professor timothy jost, thank you very much for being on the wall street --

washington journal.

♪ mr. speaker a message from the president of the united states. stack mr. speaker and directed by the president of the united states to the house of representatives and message -- ♪ the federal communications commission plans to expand access to high-speed internet, known as broadband. tabare hundred million households. it's part of a $787 billion economic stimulus package that passed last february. from the fcc headquarters in washington, commissioners and staff outlined their plan. this is about two hours. [inaudible conversations]

>> good morning on this big day. welcome to the march, 2010 meeting of the fcc. our own version of march madness. [laughter] today's subject is the national broadband plan. for the record the plan does not include tools to help you fill out your brackett. and that's it for the -- that's it for that. i know everyone is eager to get to the plan so let's do it without further ado madame secretary which please introduce the agenda for this morning. >> thank you, mr. tran. good morning to you and commissioners read today's agenda includes one panel presentation and one item for your consideration. first, you'll hear a presentation of the national broadband plan. next you will consider a joint statement on broadband. this is your agenda for today. the first item will be a presentation of a national broadband plan for our future.

>> thank you. we are very fortunate to be joined by blair levin and members of his incredible team who will talk of course of the national broadband plan. by way of introduction, a few words about the road to get here. the extraordinary process leading to this national broadband strategy has been unprecedented, unprecedented in its openness and transparency, unprecedented in its breadth and depth of participation, unprecedented in its professionalism, and unprecedented in its analytical rigor. the process involves the fcc's comprehensive series of staff little workshops with 36 meetings attracting over 2500 participants in vroom and online. if the 31 public notices issued with the most ever for a single proceeding generating over 23,000 comments totaling more

than 74,000 pages. there were also multiple commission level field hearings outside of washington and around the country engaging with businesses, entrepreneurs, academics and citizens in an ongoing interactive and productive process for the last many months. more first involves the broadband team use of media tools. this included the fcc's first blog which attracted more than half a million page views and generated 1200 comments of which were entered into the official record. americans shared over 680 specific concrete ideas and comments on idea scale and interact with the team over twitter and facebook all firsts. thanks to the engagement driven by the broadband and new media teams, the fcc has over 330,000 followers on twitter, more than its true, william shatner. yes, we are boldly going.

[laughter] many of the ideas voted on by friday a scale community made the final plan as to that course ideas and facts and data supplied in connection work workshop and interactive process as well as idea for my colleagues and their staff to read i am also pleased by the excellent and productive level of cooperation between the fcc, other federal agencies and congress. i couldn't be prouder of the broadband team that drove the process and pulled a plan together. as part of an agency wide process that in listed the talent and expertise of every single bureau and office at the fcc. the broadband team includes dedicated and plant professionals from a broad array of disciplines, engineers and economists, entrepreneurs, scholars, analysts, lawyers as well as leaders from nonprofits, medicine, education, government coming together as public servants to tackle important issues focused on what's right for the country.

i will turn leader to the well-deserved thank you's to player and the team. for now before i ask him and the team to begin, i want to thank my colleagues on the commission and the staff who've been engaged many months in this process. in hearings, workshops, meetings and briefings, providing valuable input on priorities and a specific topics throughout the process giving important speeches including on digital inclusion, disabilities and spectrum and providing three helpful suggestions on drafts of the plan. i look forward to continuing this partnership as we begin specific proceedings to address the issues raised by the plan and finally a special thank you to commissioner copps for his work as the acting chairman to get this vital project off the ground. commissioner copps recognized the urgency of this tasked. without his early strong

leadership, we simply would not be here today so i'm personally grateful for your early work and i appreciate it. with that, blair i turn it over to you and your team. >> thank you, mr. chairman and commissioners. and let me just echo what you said about commissioner copps who so graciously started this process and invited me and all of us to this. in every era america must confront the challenge of connecting the nation of new above all else this plan is a call to action to meet that challenge for this year. if we needed we will have networks, devices and applications that create new solutions to seemingly intractable problems. if successful, we will transform our country and as america does when it transforms itself, transform the world. though that is a bold claim it is consistent with meeting the challenge congress gave.

the congressional mandate was unique in this institution or perhaps any institution of the federal government. congress was visionary in asking for a holistic plan that asks us not just to consider how we can act but also what we do with the connections to get congress understood broadband is a profound enabling technology whose impact will ripple throughout every aspect of our economy and society. conagra's asked us to assure presence of a platform for innovation that connects every american and brings an information revolution to every sector of our economy much as electricity transformed the american economy in the elite 27th century broadband access will drive increased productivity and innovation across many industries while enabling the creation of new ones. the electric grid changed our lives by allowing us to use energy and new ways and similarly broadband internet will transform the ways we disseminate, aggregate and

access information and knowledge. we have done a number of presentations before, some of which were very long. this time will be brief. the plan is now online. i should note it is not an interactive version and an interactive version will be on line within a few days. many of the key recommendations in the plan have already been discussed by you all and in the public and we are not going to review those all today. in many ways this document which we are very proud of does speak for itself and we look forward to people reading it and reviewing it. but to discuss briefly how this plan will help our country to get fat of the opportunities that congress saw i would like to turn to my colleague dr. carlos speed team. >> i would like to make two points of this amazing plan. first is about the ecosystem.

most people may have thought that an fcc driven broadband plan would focus solely on the networks. but i don't think you have to come from silicon valley like i do and i'm sure my accent gives it away. [laughter] it is a silly accent if you live there you understand. to remember so we don't have to be from there to know that the internet became the platform it is today mosaic came into existence and then netscape and you can observe today that the iphone and other phones are changing the way people use broadband, so a real broadband plan, a broadband strategy has to consider network devices and applications. it has to consider the ecosystem and the plan was designed to ensure that the government creates and uses the levers it has at its disposal to create consumer choice and prieta burton b. for private investment

to drive a better ecosystem. my second and last point is about the plan's impact. if we implement this plan we will hopefully accelerate multiple positive transformations may be revolutions. blair mentioned electricity. it changed the way we live and work and in the same way it is the 20th century the print in the press did in the 15th and 16th century by changing the way they acknowledge was captured, disseminated and acquired it created revolutions that no one could foresee at the time. i'm sure even the white cannot prove and it's not in the record that in the 16th century many people said i've seen things like books before but they share in light mint and the revolution. they all shared the nation's state and they changed the world. in the same way today broadband will change our knowledge is

required, created, shared and disseminated and change the world. it revolutionized the world, and this tries to accelerate that. i'm very happy for the opportunity to have per dissipated. i want to thank you for that and i think now the hard work starts. it is the work of implementing the recommendations and making sure that america has the best broadband infrastructure in the world, the best applications, the best devices to drive productivity and increase standard of living. thank you. >> would now like to ask eric to make a few comments. >> like many executives i see great interest when i hear conagra's decided to make an investment in broadband. i spent my career helping companies and local governments use broadband to run the operations better and thought that was a very wise investment for the country to consider.

the most interesting part of the act for me was the part on the national purposes as someone who's worked a lot of different industries i was puzzled why he would go in one industry like banking and see broadband everywhere and another industry like health care and think there is a lot more that we could do. i thought the act very well recognized while connectivity is important much of the value comes down to how we actually use this technology. when i had the chance to play a part in this team much of my decision to move from chicago was based on my interest in the national purpose. the team presented these to you at the last commission meeting but it's worth highlighting a couple reasons why these are so important. first plan shows the opportunity for the health care system to read broadband can reduce the cost of care by billions and allow doctors to reach more patients to deliver high-quality care. right now the healthcare system is very expensive and adoption of the health of i.t. labs. we can't afford to put it for the cost of the system in a

locker and broadband would be an important and a vlore to ensure the system works the best it can. the program has long supported connectivity to the nation's schools while the program has been a great success with broadband reaching 97% of schools the plan does recommend several actions to update the program and ensure we do our part to drive more digital and education content. our students need access to broadband but also better content to enrich the education. in addition to electronics to did eckert will help teachers and other ministers track progress and prepare lessons in the most efficient way. broadband can also bring opportunity. my own city of chicago saw its libraries overrun by patrons as the economic downturn to cold. the library basically turned into an employment office with lines of citizens waiting for computers so they could search for jobs and post reza may online. the plan considers many ways broadband can help create opportunity for all americans as we can train the work force better and easier to find a job.

the broadband plan eckert itself has shown how broadband can improve government and civic engagement, broadband and the other sec new media properties have brought the public into this room. right now the essence of the plan is being twisted to draw attention to the content as we deliver to all of you. the printed version will be taken to congress this afternoon and tomorrow and the diversion can be downloaded across america and seconds. the plan also recognizes broadband can get easier to obtain information about the government it can disrupt media that have long played a vital role commissioner copps has rightly pointed out this issue along the way it we can look for to the additional work the commission is right to you on the topic. it will build of what we have done in the plan. public safety may benefit the most for broadband. the plan recommends a network that will bring capabilities of broadband to the tough operational problems first responders encountered while public safety needs are different when they really need

a network they really need the network and the plan outlines a range of activities to make sure the first responders have the tools to do their jobs. kristen and her team did a marvelous job on this section of the plan and was a pleasure to work with all of them in addition to kristen, bryan david led the of that one might and which inform the section of the plan and important ways and i should think of the fcc rookies and veterans who worked on the plan everyone made a great contribution and the plan is better for all of your efforts. i also have to specifically mention the writer's room without you we would have no plan and i would like to thank my wife in the audience who put our life in chicago and paused to come here for this adventure. we should mention this is america's plan. the country should consider these ideas make decisions and move forward dee dee will describe where we go from here. with that.

>> how we get there this agency thanks to the work of you, the commissioner as well as the talent to staff and the bureau and the heart of the team sitting behind us that have been countless hours and to not only plan that also thinking of the implementation of that plan we have already begun to see progress. several items were presented and adopted a previous commission meetings related to the plan first of the tower citing declaratory ruling adopted in november, 2009 where the commission cleared the way for broadband deployment establishing time lines that will streamline review of tower citing applications by state and local governments. this action will accelerate the deployment of the next-generation wireless networks while respecting the legitimate concerns of local authorities and preserving local control over zoning and land use policies. secondly the community use

weaver order in npr and which last month the commission adopted in its order to enable after the community use of broadband connections in schools funded by the program expands access to broadbent and allows efficient use of resources funded by the program so that all, excuse mccaul without increasing the size of the universal service fund. schools now have the option to permit the general public to use the internet connections whenever school was not in session this allows adults to take the digital literacy courses and employed workers to seek online job search tools and citizens interested in using the internet based government services to benefit. and the rule healthcare order in extension where the water line competition bureau as recently extended a key deadline for pilot participants in the of rural health pilot program with a new deadline being june 30 of which would help to ensure the

pilot projects and provide additional time for building out of networks that will benefit the ehealth over the entire country. as you know consumer tools have been recently launched including last week the fcc launching the beta version of a new set of consumer tools on the fcc.gov and broadband.gov sites that would allow the data gathering of both fixed and mobile broadband connections around america. already in the first five days since the launch the public has run almost 300,000 tests using the commission six tools. this is enabling the commission to create new data that will be fed into the national broadband map being created in partnership with the ntia and is due next agree. second, tomorrow the fcc will launch a release of its spectrum negative board again on the web sites and will feature user-friendly access to information regarding spectrum fans and licenses including those that may be suitable for

wireless broadband deployment. the public can use the spectrum negative board to search for the spectrum licenses, produce maps and export rall data. and we are looking forward to receiving public input how we can improve and augmented negative board in future releases which we see as an unprecedented. in addition with respect to agency proceedings to come we will be over the next few weeks releasing a schedule of proceedings the next 12 to 18 months to begin implementation. more than half of the plans roughly 200 recommendations are directed at the fcc. the plan's recommendations will cover proceedings that are actually to cover proceedings of over 40 action as well as count roughly half are focused on promoting competition and consumer dalia through broadband network devices and application

policy changes infrastructure policy changes and a lot of volume of 500 megahertz of spectrum. another quarter focused on the critical task of universalizing broadband service for all americans through the compensation reform the majority focused on how the fcc can promote public safety and protect critical infrastructure. finally there are several recommendations that were focused on other important issues such as people with disabilities in tribal land. in addition the mandate for the broadband plan extended beyond the purview of the fcc as you all know to be getting a comprehensive plan for the country that advances national purposes across a number of sectors required input from across the federal government and beyond. to develop recommendations through the plan the particularly in the national purpose section that eric mentioned we worked in consultation and partnership with more than two dozen agencies and offices as well as consulted with sector experts,

leading companies, entrepreneurs investors and others. the recommendations directed to other agencies or simply that, they are recommendations. we hope that the executive branch will convene a multidisciplinary counsel to pursue the recommendations set back progress. we also recommend the fcc serve as a resource to those agencies throughout the process as they increasingly integrated broadband into their work. their engagement in the planning process has been extremely helpful and allowed us to build upon work already underway and explore new practical opportunities to integrate broadband into their work. finally, we wanted to point out, because there's been a lot of questions about congressional action and budget in pact we have kept the request to congress limited and focused to address key points by competition and public safety. we believe our plan as proposed is revenue neutral. the transformation of usf to broadband will require no new

funding and the freeing up of frequencies proposed by the plan are expected by analysts to generate billions from the spectrum auctions. this will more than cover the plan's recommendations relating to the funding that fall under three buckets, public safety, adoption efforts and an optional funding request to accelerate the connect america fun the deployment of broadband. i know i speak for the entire team by saying that we have all enjoyed working with the commissioners and you're talented staff. the bureau and office chief and their teams are very hard working and we appreciate the time they have invested in this process and we all know that this is the beginning and we look forward to the next day. thanks. ..

>> i do want to say a word about my colleagues who is a great intellectual sparring partner not just for me but of remember. the nation should be grateful among every thing

he does carlos correctly pointed out this is no flaws to call the article in july that said you and i mr. chairman already knew totally what was in a plan by year sure you ever thought we had hot, dicarlo kicked out. [laughter] of the measure with the intellectual with a hell and of final plan she shaped guided and improve the project that could only be known to a few that should be eternally grateful and i might note to mr. chairman that you understand how difficult it is for me to say this bed after working with the be i am convinced and third is the best law school in the country. [laughter] above all those who truly ran the process today the "wall street journal" has a

headline broadband plan faces many hirsute -- turtles but that is nothing to what we have already faced no job is too big nor too small to lead the of legendary writers of the profit with the finest example of leadership and professionalism that is my pleasure without peer president my gratitude is down less. a final thought on the plan, this is my eighth appearance in nine months in this room and my last breath i have sat with each of you have a dozen times privately in your office we discuss the recommendations which like my children are all fantastic. [laughter] or at least of the children of lake woebegone all above-average track of my final thought is not that you adopt all without change but the opposite like the

internet is self the plan should change. implementation requires a long-term commitment to adjust and improved mcorp -- performance or i know i speak for all of a nice day we welcome any with the process broke but the vibration is no excuse but now the important point* is to act. one of the great lessons in my life was taught to me decades ago who said crises are brought about by the failure to work. this plan is an attempt to prevent crises by doing the work. we know there is a crisis coming with universal service. we know the carrier compensation system is not sustainable. we know we will face a spectrum crunch. the visual exclusion is growing leading to a crisis of many friends and america is behind the world to use the power of broadband to solve a critical national

problems and if we don't it will cause all kinds of crisis throughout the country. the plan will be judged by what comes of it and the actions you take modjeska the ideas we have. back in september would regain an interim update commissioner mcdowell said while we did well in the midterm only the final exam accounts. based on preliminary reactions from stakeholders i think we more than past but today your exam begins. history will judge us all by jellyfish demand effectively you address the plans of this tackles in history will judge us not buy our slogans but by our solutions. you have a plan now is the time to act for i have enjoyed working with all of view and grateful for the opportunity to serve. >> thank you too each of you. of more to say but first let's move to comments from the bench. commissioner? >> at long last year we are

and here we go. cents walking through the door of this building as a newly minted commissioner in 2001 i have called for and hope for and a dream about this, in national plan to insure every american has high-speed and opportunity creating affordable broadband. for too many years government was asleep at the switch and as your country and mine drop down broad band penetration during the countries and it took a long time for good news to come but come it has. the american recovery and reinvestment act the president called on the fcc to develop a national broadband plan and it has been done. but with the fifth share in leadership of the chairman john schakowsky and also an impressive team of old and new fcc faces along with

mr. levin remarkable ability and grace under pressure we finally have a clear objective and a considered strategy aimed at ensuring everyone in this country has a cool opportunity in the new digital age no matter how they are or where they live or their personal circumstances the process to develop as bed more open and transparent than any i have ever encountered in this commission the broadband team cast a wide bid to make it inclusive with traditional and non-traditional stakeholders that deserve to be heard especial emphasis on those that do not have a corporate lobbyist working for them in washington. after all should and a broadband policy be above a policy of and by the american people? the plan is premised on the understanding high-value brad -- broadband technology and intersects with every great challenge confronting

our nation today jobs and business growth coming education, a climate change change, international competitiveness and health care and overcoming disabilities, opening doors of equal opportunity, news and information, a democratic dialogue to mention the obvious. there is no solution for any of these it does that have a broadband component to it. so many plants that are covered like reforming universal service fund and identified additional licensing and licensed special mandible made a interpol network we can i until the end to the merits of each of them here or any semblance of justice but i do want to highlight a few. for most is digital inclusion. every citizen must have access to this technology in order to participate fully in 21st century life. this is not something that

would be nice but it is everyone's right and i think as a similar right to have this type of access because access denied is opportunity denied. america can no longer tolerate having digital defies between the haves and have-nots and those living in big cities 30 able-bodied sam persons with disabilities there is a huge and potentially debilitating irony here deliberating and technology that can make some money things better could end if we don't do the job thoroughly and do it right by creating a wider divided this country going forward than we have had in the past. digital technology should close the divides and now white of them that is what puts such urgency to move forward to implement the plan. broadband must leave no american behind.

african-american, disabled american, our rural and inner-city american must also include the original american. of the native american. i have seen firsthand the unacceptable state of communication in much indian country in so many places where they live poverty and doors, unemployment is at levels no society should tolerate and basic public safety falls short of what people have a right to expect. severe communication facilities are still strangers to most indian country. even telephone service that we take for granted is at shockingly low levels of penetration below 70% her we don't even begin to have reliable data on the status of the internet subscribers because nobody has bothered to collect it. that is why i encourage the broadband team to find a plan that works for indian country i am pleased they heard me but more importantly they heard from the people living on the

tribal lands. implementation of the plan's recommendations made federal tribal the and initiative and task force and tribal affairs, data gathering, universal service reforms among others would give native american communities the visibility they deserve day in and day out and will build on the trust relationship the bill did so much to promote u.s. chairman of the fcc proposed other important focus is ensuring accessibility for persons with disabilities. i have had a wonderful experience dealing with people with disabilities beginning with my very first speech as commissioner. and for me to begin to understand the challenges they most are likely to overcome every day. they have so much talent and

skill and dedication and a genuine desire and all they ask is an equal shot at being productive members of society. we cannot countenance there further exclusion friday broadband hearing i chaired to solicit employ it we saw a new technology can change lives and great opportunities for people who want to be in need to be full participating mainstream citizens. we made progress, no question but there is still so much to do, implementation of the recommendations, there broadband accessibility working group and innovation forum among others will help ensure that communications services equipment and content are accessible to persons with disabilities sam last week the commission demonstrated a renewed commitment to address accessibility for all by ms. strauss a long term advocate for and champion to lead the of commission

implementation of the accessibility components of the plan and i congratulate the chairman and i am grateful for karen to take on this very important job. inclusion of all americans is important given the critical role broad band will play with our civic dialogue to stimulate civil engaged in our democracy. we're late to understand the implications of broadband as we migrate the national conversation to the internet. america's future town square will be paved with broadband praxair should be accessible to all and reflect the voices of our diverse country. sustaining democracy by informing communities in did digital age goes in my humble opinion to the core of what we're trying to achieve and we must achieve as we implement the plan. with high-speed internet those were connected how the world that their fingertips for a unconnected the world is beyond reach we already

see a blossoming experimental culture and devolving new platforms platforms, four -- smart phones and rican community was someone on the other side of the world as easily with the next-door neighbor. but an increase of technology does not by itself guarantee a more informed citizenry. a 2009 study indicates as a country we consume in excess of one point* 3 trillion hours per year be at the production and distribution of a central news and information content has never been in more than doubt. hyper speculation of consolidation and wreaks havoc began early with media and the destruction was compounded by the almost complete it dismantle of the oversight of the broadcasts stations decimating news, news rooms and news media. a new research center report shows a 50% decline in reporting and editing

capacity since the 1980's and a 30% drop of newspapers since 2000. the pink slips that have replaced pay stubs for so many journalist and the bell operating state of watchdog journalism have left us it to be frank come on a starvation diet when it comes to nursing the democratic dialogue. the serving of daily american reformation as 500 calories short of a healthy meal. story should go on facts not on opinion but neither the media is a delivering the nourishment we need. we'll have a society with that shattered but not enough of the protein. terabytes of opinion but an empty cup of investigative journalism to tell us what is going on and information about celebrities and whether but a famine of local and national and international news. does not just about the

future but the president. it is a two-pronged challenge to ensure the internet of the future can support the information infrastructure which democracy requires a for the years immediately ahead stemming the decline of media german states journalism has the bulk of our inflation will reader to me is to see the same arms arms, president day media on the new media age for i am pleased that the national broadband plan recognizes the need to come to terms with the news and information applications for the digital transmission and please the commission has launched eight separate but inherently related examination focusing on the future of needs of communities in the digital age part without steady focus it would ignore the core implications of the broadband infrastructure or public policy needs to be provocative and technology in and of itself is neutral

that can do great harm and great good. what determines the outcome is what we make of it. in closing there is so much to eat up by the plan the public safety's who after is having data and analysis far better than what the commission had available the research and development is long overdue something that the statute and strikes us to consider which has gone largely ignored for the past several years much to the nation's competitive data. what i see throughout this document to digital literacy for the long and all of us us, if broadband is to become the platform and venue for most communications who cannot supply the training and education that people need to use it and control it? each of us would have some variations on the plan that has been prepared. of course, implementation will entail many difficult decisions.

it involves spectrum for example, i was conscious of the fact the airwaves belong to the american people when the stewards of this precious resource should be serving the public interest. of the allocations find their right here. in matters involving competitions and the ecosystem we have to be village and to ensure that the strategy is actually work. lack of competition could conceivably require actions go on what is discussed brighten need to remind people that competition is not the defining hallmark of the telecommunications sector but is up the core of our statutes and in competition and elsewhere should refi lack the tools we need to affect public-interest oversight of the broadband network we may have to evoke other authority is already invested by the commission or should we lack authority we may need we might have to

requested for we're dealing with a broad band confirmation ecosystem where many parts come together to for me complex synergistic an independent poll. if we lack the oversight tools to treat it that way to treat is systematically we do the ecosystem and justice and may do serious harm. rebuffs decisions and difficult decision making a way to us time is not the friend of a nation that has so much work on an unattended the high returns by the chairman's determination to move quickly to put this plan to work for the american people. it is not a static plan that would require adjustment and flexibility but this is one of the strength, not a weakness parker taken so it appoints a compass and sets us on the right path so america's living in the four countered -- corners of this great country can reap the benefits of broadband.

lots of new and novel questions came to the four and this proceeding fewer answers to questions but at its core the basic challenge we confront it is in neither new nor novel but to build the infrastructure in order to create opportunity for each of us. previous generations have faced the very same challenge into the great benefit of our nation they found ways it to get the job done and they did a by a combining strengths and resources to grow the infrastructure whether canals and bridges rhodes highways electric power, basic telecommunications, this generation challenges to build the infrastructure of the digital age and presenting this plan today, chairman genachowski of blocks the path totally in keeping how the generations came before us built this country and at last we begin to walk the

broadband walk. thank you. >> thank you. commissioner? >> thank you, mr. chairman. first to the many hard-working members of the broadband team who have spent countless hours away from your loved ones ones, absorbing terabytes of information over these many months, if you remember nothing else i say today, please remember these few words. thank you for your efforts you have floated ideas and taken some arrows. your blood and sweat toil and tears and more often than not at least laughter with me are appreciated. your commitment comment energy, and sense of mission have not gone unnoticed. while you have had to give up your personal lives including holidays with

their families, i imagine this st. patrick's day will be one to remember. [laughter] even if you are not the irish. [laughter] i say this to all of you. [laughter] second, we should be mindful blair and his team representing this team plan to congress during a tumultuous time and i am not referring to the debate over health care legislation. i am talking of course, about march madness. [laughter] it should be obvious to policy-makers everywhere the n.c.a.a. basketball turn m&a broadband enjoy a symbiotic relationship. to have definitive proof of innovation at the edge of networks one needs to look no further than the statistics emanating from

march madness on demand or mmod for those who suffer from mmod. it recorded 7.5 million unique visitors that was a 50% increase over 2008 furthermore all my years consumed 8.6 million hours of video and audio in 2009. that is a 75% increase over 2008. if this trend continues, march madness could be zero holy grail of killer applications to celebrate in new ubiquity by 2020. increasing demand for watching war to madness online cannot help us meet all purposes specifically economic development for all the n.c.a.a. tournament is heralded by many as one of the greatest human creations

come as some have trumpeted a recent innovation to surpass its prowess to improve the human condition. yes. and reset press release revealed that the button that was over 2.7 million times press during the tournament hides a live video action on the screen and silences the audio replacing it with a businesslike image" end quote. this may not be great for workplace productivity but could embody a market driven solution is important for everyone to understand the plan offered up today four review represents hmn this amounts of hard work however did not care with that the force and effect of law. in other words, the plan itself contains no rules.

not having a vote has given the team the flexibility to make recommendations freely. rule-making and public comments come a subsequent debates and votes on proposed rules still fly over the horizon. and short it marks the beginning of a long process not the end of one. the past several years america has made great strides in the adoption of broadband services. 2003 only 15% of american adults that access at home today the number is well over two-thirds. some form of broadband is available to roughly 95 percent of americans. out of 140 million american households, only 7 million black access to broadband.

seven years only 180,000 homes have access to fiber based broadband but lester the numbers by october 70 million households. additionally america has experienced phenomenal growth in wireless broadband adoption local broadband was virtually unheard of in 2002 by the end of last year though an estimated 100 million americans subscriber to wireless broadband technology. america is home to more wireless companies than any other country in the world and more than half of all americans have the choice of five wireless providers. we lead the world of 3g buildout and adoption and not only has investment and innovation been dynamic in the telecom core of the internet environment, the economic activity to the edge has been nothing short.

for instance, last year americans to lead the world by downloading over 837 million applications on the mobile devices. not only does the west have a one-third of the market share but the american mobile application market has developed an astonishing nine fold increase in just two years. as impressive as that statistic is it will seem small two years from now. hundreds of thousands of mobile applications pouring into the market while countless more on the way from thousands of developers for years to come. as a direct result of adopting policies to ensure the internet would be regulated with a light touch the internet environment is growing and evolving faster than any individual company or government can measure. today that it operates in

the open and free market place where innovation and investment are thriving. it in fact, some estimates private sector investment exceeded $60 billion last year alone. as the commission and congressmen to consider the ideas offered by the broadband initiative we should make sure first and foremost, we do no harm. for instance cable modems services alone are available to 92% of american households. near the by upgrading with the 3.o system which is expected to happen over the next two years and you rate over 100 million american healthy having access to speed of 100 mb. unless the government provides disincentives the planned goal of reaching 100 million households should be obtained will be

for 20/20 if, if, will allow current trends to continue in the unfettered manner. i look forward to review of my colleagues to adopt policies that allow investment, innovation, kempe at -- competition to continue to flourish. has made afford i agree some aspects of the plan deserve further investigation. for example, although the plan places a great emphasis on long term specter made i am hopeful we can also consider ideas that call for more e efficient use of the spectrum. these include more robust the appointment antenna systems and improve development and testing and rollout of creative technologies such as radio and enhanced consideration of more consumer education on the use of the cell's becker each of these options already available in the

marketplace with capacity and coverage are especially important for data and full-time media end transmissions. i have said for quite some time we should accelerate our efforts to create a more specific framework for all allowing unlicensed use of the television white space and also interested in using some portion of the spectrum to provide wireless area and the rural areas. myspace started with their chairman and real long overdue to make it a reality for all consumers. similarly we should explore era 30 under section 336 to provide television broadcasters the incentive to lease the spectrum of focusing on the statutory and a voluntary mechanism for it leasing parts of to explore services than more

course being laid. we should bring inspection that is lying fallow to auction as quickly as possible. a agree with the plan's recommendation that government should strive to leave in relinquishing spectrum it does not use efficient made or sometimes at all. improve interagency coordination is vital. reform of the universal service fund and enter carrier compensation mechanism is embarrassing we overdo progress a commission , he came very close to codify consensus on reform in of late 2008 but unfortunately the seed to -- voting blocs prevented us from consummating the agreement's progress hope we can rekindle the same constructive and bipartisan spirit which existed at that time and any future proceedings.

since 2007 have said any reform must accomplish five basic objectives. the commission must number one, contained a growth of the fund. number two, brought in the base of contributors. number three, reduce, reuse, the contribution point*. by the way the contribution factor has come from the 5.5% during the first quarter of 1988 through currently a level of 15 point* 3% which is an all-time high. this not all me bird is but the funds of bite availability are in question for a number for to ensure competitive neutrality and a number five we should continue to eliminate waste fraud and abuse of the system further should be

accomplished before, before embarking on any effort to alter the distribution system for cryer sure the plan contains many ideas that i can support in further study will reveal such proposals of the day's two, but i would be remiss if some did not give me concern. first and opens to classifying broadband services and under title two of the communications act of 1934 performed the broadband has flourished in the absence of such regulation for not only do i doubt declassification would survive an appeal i don't see how hosting a regulatory framework devised to the 19th century would help a 21st century marketplace continue to thrive. we will have plenty of time to engage in this debate.

second it implies the commission should mandate the unbundling of fiber and other network elements that have been deployed since the agency deregulated some of the components per as a result, fiber deployment has spiked in recent years. rather than reverse course, the commission should ensure any future actions will not create regulatory uncertainty and litigation risk that could care wait -- scare away capital investment. third, the plan refers to the elephant in their room preceding that shuttering the plan since last fall the neutrality proceeding although it does not take a position, and i give it credit for that i take this opportunity to reiterate my serious concerns regarding this journey to begin with. additionally i question the recommendation that appears

to ask congress to fund the new communications venture that unlike current funding for public broadcasting would cover new platforms beyond fcc license holders. i could not in good conscience endorsed federal spending for this sort of their ideas when the governor is spending record to stick on monumental levels of debt made while they are cutting the budget an attempt to restore responsibility. i 8m afraid it gave new life with that would lead to preemption on the internet. that could be beneficial but only if it results in more freedom for pro furthermore although the recommendation that congress amend the fair use provision of the

copyright act has a subjective but it's come it is still not clear how far it to sweep. >> digital issues are highly complex and policies that support strong enforcement of property rights will encourage the creation of more compelling content that could help spur broadband adoption program look forward to learning more of the concept behind this recommendation. when it comes to discussions regarding the set top boxes i a urge the commission to move gender the technologically mandates almost never results and robust and ovation. in fact, history shows such mandates more often than not, are counterproductive. it is my hope that if the commission is to act and all in this area they start with a notice of inquiry to

explore whether any further action is necessary. after the commission's workshop i talked to the broadband sector last october and was hopeful it would contain a chapter to make recommendations on the ideas regarding tax incentives to use for adoption of helping to elevate that discussion could lead to new ideas to further our goal of greater broadband ubiquity. today's plan is the product of countless hours by the undaunted in broadband plan team. now is the team to debate in a positive manner. all the way may have figured out our up coming journey we can figure out the primary

destination the country that offers faster broadband access to more americans at affordable prices. and and now it is time to get to work on this important endeavor. mr. chairman, i also want to take this opportunity to think you're senior legal adviser for his continued generosity, graciousness and leadership. it goes without saying i look forward to working with you, all of my colleagues and the entire sick team and our effort to achieve our common goals. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. at the outset i want to express my gratitude to the entire team and the bureaus and offices for completing this mammoth task. 442 long we have lacked a comprehensive vision for universal broadband it deployment and for how we could create an environment

when all americans could seize the tremendous opportunity afforded by broadband you have met the challenge by delivering such a position and i commend you on your extraordinary efforts to get us there. while each member of the team deserves credit for their role in putting together the plan, i want to think in particular brian david, a doctor or again, the adoption and u.s. team, ms. gillette who labored over reversal service and neck from the energy team who was not here but who was always working. each of you spent countless hours with me and my staff over the last seven months your patience and thoroughness undoubtedly produce the superior plan and i thank you for your service from 12 address what is at stake for the commission going forward progress the commissioner noted now that we actually have eight national

broadband plan the work is just beginning. lays out a strong road map and is now our responsibility to put those words into action. well there are many positives for research and today there is clearly room for improvement. just consider the almost nine years since the tragic events of september 11, 2001, we're no closer to read and enter operable safety net worth. nearly one-third of americans, 93 million americans have not adopted broadband negative khomeini they cannot easily apply for jobs offer by fortune five accompanies the take advantage of a small business opportunity available on the internet. apparent lack of competition in the broadband ecosystem with consumers of the cross hairs giving a handful of providers the power to raise

rates on those who can least afford it at will part of the plan is being unveiled at a crossroads down one path we could fall prey to the familiar bureaucratic tendency to grind in things to a halt and search for reasons to say no and fail to take any meaningful action. but down another path we can tackle the challenge before us with competition to encourage investment or toward universal access and digital literacy and able to offer first responders to defend our country for the moments that call for emergency communication. let there be no doubt the only responsible option is a pass to must not succumb to the special interest or the failure blanket assertions that all government involvement is suspect now is the time to be bold and seize the moment before us.

the plan before of us is impressive and the results of an unprecedented openness and transparency well there are a number of exciting ideas and the plan such as making broadband transparent and creating the tribal initiative and undertaking set top box reform rabbi to touch in several areas in particular which i believe necessitate immediate action in. last week at this digital inclusion seven i spoke of some length about the importance of broadband adoption rican applied to every single corner of this country but if we don't have universal adoption that the point* it will be in vain. moreover, if reset back and do nothing will be supporting the development of a long-lasting underclass that does not have access to the most basic needs, a

government programs, job applications and essentials health care and solutions. of one is making broadband affordable there is no question never some americans because it puts technology out of reach this is where it must play the interco told the planned three stage process for universal service within 10 years is a visionary prayer as i have stated action by the fcc on this is long overdue. universal service fund is a primary vehicle by which we can deliver on a promise of affordable broadband service and comparable fees for americans no matter where their bid for how much money they make. of the plan is absolutely correct we must assess and adjust every aspect of the

current support method is as well as carrier compensation systems and must consider all the costs incurred to provide broadband as well as the revenues derived from the broadband networks and adjust our support mechanisms accordingly. we also need to expand contributions of the system is reformed to directly support broadband service as it should be, it is time to ask ourselves whether it includes revenue from broadband service as well and to be targeted to those areas on a technology neutral basis or broadband appointment and service would not be economical. the plan also makes great headway with one of the most important and complex issues of our time, public safety and homeland security and provides concrete steps for nationwide public safety and

ones that will provide functionality for interoperability for the community. the recommendation with emergency response center and congressional funding for the network in particular addressed to of the most fundamental building blocks necessary to make this network a reality. we can no longer day lay and risk the lives and safety of all americans. many efforts are the security of the of the structure that supports the growing cyber economy their recommendations for a road map, certification program, reporting and evaluatioevaluatio n of the resiliency of the networks will help consumers have the information they need to make sure they can secure their information and also help has the information we need to help secure our digital borders for i applaud the commitment to find innovative ways in which we can make more

spectrum available over the next decade. the demand for spectrum are and will continue to be, a great. at a high level we must set meaningful long-term goals that include licensed and unlicensed spectrum it is important to 10 year goal is brought in scope encompassing life unlicensed as well as the mobile structure but with respect currently occupied by television broadcasters i want to note a few words of caution while the plan acknowledges current public-interest mandate at of a broadcast spectrum it does not contain a rigorous analysis of the practical implications of the proposed actions of the public interest. this is a serious concern given that broadcast spectrum is a loan spectrum to the nation's public

interest. likewise the plan does not studied the impact a spectrum sell-off have from women and minority broadcast stations it is no mystery how they are represented and a plan that will necessitate that by many owners is untenable leave me to the country a disservice if actions rely on over the air television with the major networks at the expense of smaller stations serving beach -- pin niche audiences but fortunately the commission is in the process of to increase that can inform our treatment of the broadcast spectrum. first it is in the throes of the media ownership review to which we examine the state of television and radio markets. it steady is it that

promotes competition and diversity in the broadcast marketplace. it will yield a good luck as the degree to which broadcasters are currently serving the public interest. second it recently undertook the inquiry and media it information needs this process hopefully will help us get to the central questions that may shed light on contracting for broadcast spectrum. for example, what will the effect of moving this spectrum be with the delivery of local news and information? i'm concerned rows sacrificing the essential service to communities in favor of new ones that have nothing to do about ensuring we have meaningful access to news and information critical to our daily lives. it is unclear whether that internet can replace the trusted sources. i do so for the plant's efforts in so far as they

recognize the broadcast spectrum is now being used efficiently across the board and of broadcasters and i using the specter rehab given them for free than it should be put to different use. broadcasters must be partners in this endeavor per car look forward to all the parties to develop a long-term solution that makes sense in light of the concerns we have expressed today. finally all like to say a word about what is the greatest single driver of a meaningful approach to a national broadband plan and that is competition. it is the best method to ensure better prices and services for consumers and the ultimate investment. free are serious about connecting america and leading the world technologically and economically and an end insurer no matter the level or geographic and location

have specific access to services. >> than you should've been worried. veba stand ready to iraq where they are backing and to protect to consumers and put meaningful competition into the marketplace for only then will they benefit from affordable prices, high-quality service and innovative applications and services that improve the quality of their life. thank you to the chairman, his staff, the commission's staff and the folks from cspan.org/communicators that worked tirelessly to come up with a comprehensive plan provoked ford to being actively engaged and in all of the commission proceeding said emanate from the planned and bed dialogue and debate that would ensue. what an incredible day.

thank you. >> thank you commissioner clyburn. >> our like to add my heartfelt thanks to the entire team of cspan.org/communicators as well to your spouse's and families. i hope your turn and public service has inspired do the way you have less. having overseen what a network to a nation that was reported on some scale was about the broadband policy i know the difficulty that you faced in collecting and analyzing the state of for to have accomplished a tremendous amount in your time here and the way you have got about your task to incorporate fostering that would become the standard procedure my thanks go to the carrier fcc staff that made this more coherent and

relevant and for awhile there are places i would make different recommendations nothing that i might say it would diminish my recognition and gratitude to each of you. thank you all very much for your hard and dedicated work. turning to the issues that he added think it is important to knowledge a separate task we are here to accomplish first to receive the national broadband plan and to support a joint statement on the importance of broadband it to our nation and in so doing we initiative process to increase availability and adoption of it broadband across the country. i expect reference to have broadband development will be central to the worker for years to come. i looked as we address these issues. it is a particularly important they focus on key

aspects that weren't requiring prompt government attention the comprehensive spectrum plan. long overdue universal service reform, the deployment of the interoperable broadband network for public safety and other challenges. the record of the plan demonstrates that widespread vulnerability from a variety of platforms has become a reality for most americans. 95% from a 290 million people have terrestrial broadband access to it that in a country as the verse as rs. >> appliance over 80 percent of households have access to more than one broadband provider over four megabits her third tens of millions more have access to competing providers. with respect to adoption 10 years ago only 6.8 million

reckons have addressed the broadband services about two-thirds of to subscribe to a $40 per month and both the clinton and bush should ministrations we have gone from a narrow band dialect world to multi platform by crafting a regulatory framework that promotes the requirements. we have worked constructively in a bipartisan fashion to eliminate barriers to infrastructure investment and broad and deployment. private industry from every communication platform has responded to the consistent framework with substantial investment and the deployment to the great benefit of consumers. to reach the milan rest of america and more widespread

adoption broadband plan has a full agenda for 2010 and beyond progress i have said since i have arrived here one area for a quick attention is policy as they begin to be deployed the promise of additional intermodal competition and more innovative usage are right around the corner however the success of the state of the are mobile broadband defense our ability to align spectrum policies quickly with consumers with changing and industry and other nations have begun the process with the digital dividend incite europe speaks to make more than 200 mb available and germany is on the verge of auctioning off additional spectrum of four prime bans it in asia and japan is reportedly will make spectrum blocks making

available for jeter when it. the u.s. must act similarly to the foundation, a machine to new machine communication and global health and 80 meaningful alternative for chrysler's the team to identify the need for a more comprehensive long-term approach to special management. the united states needs a plan that has proven flexible market-oriented policies to facilitate. wireless innovation and competition progress to move forward our policy i hope our having a facility being use of spectrum and in order to do to meet the future demands and encouraging and investment in wireless networks and technologies' firm live believe the broadband plan point* in the right tradition and we need

a data base that will lower transaction costs for secondary transactions and i am looking forward to working with the dashboard. of the plan also looks to repurchase to keep pace with the evolution of mobile broadband technologies well we look for additional spectrum for reallocation to continue to insure the success. we should do this in the context of a more holistic approach to take into consideration most federal and non federal spectrum as well as homogenization. decades-old the specific and technology specific allocations of splinter the spectrum and threatened the but pace of innovation but we should not stop updating we should support enabling more innovative use including access with a smart to antennas and more efficient receivers for as

we proceed we must take care to ensure we treat existing license fees negatively and provide assistance and new license holders with as much latitude as possible to design and deploy state of the nouri efficient networks to develop service offerings to appeal to consumers and i'd oppose any efforts to dictate plans are offerings through regulatory mandate of our allocations are service rules. spectrum policy is not just about competition but also about adoption the key findings indicate that mobile broadband has become the enter point* for many minority and underrepresented committees and maybe a workable solution for internet access in remote areas of afford too closely working with the chairman and my fellow commissioners to invite other parts of the government including congress and stakeholders to join forces in a

collaborative effort to remain a global leader with broadband. also supports the team's effort to move forward with a more comprehensive universal service fund and compensation reform targeted and back and unnecessary to evolve our support mechanism into an era in which all americans have the opportunity to benefit from broadband and we must transition in a way to have an explicit support mechanism to ensure accountability and adequate funding in areas where market forces are not sufficient to drive broadband services for consumers. mobile broadband. [laughter] but we must also be mindful the $9 billion fund is not without limits. consumers pay for this universal service factor let the next quarter will be the largest ever 15 point*