have a tv, i have a computer, and i might have them in different places. i happen to work -- i have three different offices in new york, new jersey, and d.c. i have two homes that i have. so, but i want to be able to access all of my information anytime, any place and whatever screen i'd like. and we're moving to that world. so how does that happen? well, what happens is instead of having your information stored in your device like your pc at home or your information stored in the, in your mobile phone, instead you are storing that information on the cloud. so instead of just having your pictures on the pc, the pictures go on the cloud. then you can see your pictures on the tv screen, you can see your pictures on your mobile phone, you can see the pictures on the computer when you're in another city or at another office. so you can access your information from any place because the information is in the cloud, we call this cloud computing. those cloud, that cloud

computing could be in google's server, it could be in verizon's server, it could be in various places. i think i'm using the right technology or the right terminology here. and in essence what i was saying is that the power now is going to move away from the person who maybe has the wire to your house that you use or who has the cell phone tower that you may be using at the moment, and the power is going to be with the company that is storing that information for you. with whom you've entrusted, whom you've entrusted with your information. and that's changing dramatically the, in a sense, the shape of the industry as i see it. >> host: and finally, mr. tauke, this is a little out of your area, but i just wanted to see if we could get a read for you on verizon getting an iphone. [laughter] according to this article in the "wall street journal," recent article, there's a movement at apple to develop an iphone that uses verizon technology.

>> guest: i'm not permitted to make any news here today on that subject. [laughter] i would just observe that we believe we have the best network, best wireless network, and i think there's, you know, we get a lot of recognition for that. and i think there are a lot of people if they could have their favorite device on the best network would think this was a real winner. >> host: and one more very quick item from the newspaper, in a recent fcc ruling granting some wireless provisions to the company, to a company in the ruling the fcc said that you must check with us first before contracting with the largest or the second largest wireless company. what is that about? >> guest: well, we're trying to figure out what this is about actually. this is a merger between a satellite company and a venture capital company, the venture capital company agreeing to some conditions at the fcc.

but all -- these conditions now we find out which were, came out on friday, these conditions apply to us or have impact on us. just from a prosper spective this is kind of troubling because we had no access to the discussions going on at the fcc, there was no transparency, all these filings were confidential, so all of a sudden we find out these two entities agreed to provisions impacting us, and this doesn't seem like a fair process. the other factor that is a concern is what kind of precedent this sets if that is permitted to happen in this case. while this specific case may not be earth shattering in terms of the impact on the industry, the precedent could be fairly troubling down the road. so that's why we're taking a hard look at it, but we are still assessing. >> host: tom tauke of verizon, kim hart of "the hill," thank

you both. >> guest: thank you. >> "the communicators" also airs in prime time each monday height. if you missed any of this discussion with tom tauke of verizon communications on the future of broadband, you can catch this program again tonight at 8 p.m. eastern right here on c-span2.

>> all this month see the winners of c-span's student cam video documentary competition. middle and high school students from 45 states submitted videos on one of the country's greatest strengths or challenge the country's facing. watch the top-winning videos every morning on c-span at 6:50 eastern. and at 8:30 during "washington journal" meet the students who made them, and for a preview of all the winners, visit student cam.org. >> now a discussion on health care and the federal budget deficit. house majority leader steny hoyer, former comptroller david walker and others discuss how the new health care law may impact federal spending. from the university of maryland, this is about an hour and a half.

[inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. on behalf of the maryland school of public policy and the concord coalition, welcome. i'm mac destler, professor of public policy. late last fall i was visiting saul in his new living space on connecticut avenue. he pointed to where i was seated, and he said, steny was sitting right there in that chair, and he told me that if he possibly could, he would do the program. well, steny is a man of his word. steny is here. and saul himself came within a

week of being here. as he so badly wanted to be here. his passion and determination were key to making this event happen as they were key to a number of saul stern programs on public policy issues of the day. it reflected his deep civic engagement, and this event is now a tribute to saul stern. i ask that we share a short moment of silence in memy of saul stern's good and rich life. it is now my honor to pass the baton to my colleague and friend in boss, don kettle. [applause] >> thanks so much, mac. i'm don kettle, and i'm dean of

the school public policy here at the university of maryland, and i want to welcome all of you to this discussion about something that is as important to america's future as anything we can imagine. this fiscal solutions tour is part of a dramatic change in the debate over the deficit and the national debt. we are now talking not only about what the problems are which are increasingly clear, but beginning to devise a road map for the future and the solutions. there's nothing, i think, that would have pleased saul stern more than to see this enormous crowd together to think about not only what it is that we have as we face problems, but also the kinds of solutions that we can imagine to be able to engage not only individual citizens, but with some of country's best experts and to establish the kind of dialogue that creates that link between those of us here in the university community and the broader policy world as well. we're in a situation now unlike any that we faced

not only with a deficit that's rising, but also a new health care reform bill that's passed which leaves so many questions unanswered, a new deficit reduction panel that's been created where everybody agrees on the problems but where the solutions are anything but clear, and where our goal now is to try to begin plotting the road map for the future. that is our enterprise here today, and we're excited that all of you are part of this. we'll have a question and answer session at the end, so as our speakers speak, we invite you to think about what it is you want to ask them and how we can create the best kind of engagement on these issues that will define not only our future, but that of the nation as well. it's my great privilege now to introduce the university's president, dan mote, who's always been a strong enthusiast and advocate of programs that bring together experts here on campus and toinspew our students -- inspire our students to imagine their own futures. with the capital just minutes away from us here on our campus,

it's easy for students to be able to translate their ideas, their research and, most importantly, action into the pursuit of impact. so it's my great pleasure to introduce our president, dan mote. [applause] there are >> thank you very much, don, and i very much appreciate this opportunity to welcome you to this forum. this is really a very impressive opportunity for the university and for me personally. the, don, of course, is in his first year as dean of the school public policy and, of course, government management is one of his themes, and he's, as you can tell from his presentation, has taken this job on by storm. but don, of course, has had a lot of help from his friends and the alumni of the university, and, of course, as we all know, saul stern has given us wise counsel and has been a truly

splendid man even to me. he's the kind of person you always wanted to talk to. when he came, he just drew people to him because as he got you to do what he wanted you to do, you felt really good about it all at the same time. [laughter] and, of course, nearly 95 years, what a splendid life he has. it's truly remarkable. but the saul stern professorship of civic engagement really sponsors the lecture series which draws policy experts to the campus and those whose careers and thoughts inspire our students and our faculty alike to leadership roles. congressman hoyer, steny hoierer -- hoyer, of course, always speaks about his inspiration to public service through just such a contact on this campus. facilitating interactions between our university community and scholars and leaders and public policy experts in the region essentially is a focus of the public policy school. we are really very fortunate to have, that saul stern brought

this vision to us. i also want to tha very sincerely the concord coalition, very well known and famous organization, and this fiscal solutions tour really is a collaboration between the saul stern professor, mac destler, and the concord coalition. so the coalition really attracts remarkably bright scholars and policymakers from diverse fields, and i'd like to thank all of them and everyone for co-sponsoring this program today. the bipartisan basis for the coalition is important for identifying the tractable among the many possible solutions to various problems. and finally, i'd like to mention that the school public policy has been focusing, of course, on these issues of economic policy for a very long time with very well known names in the school. alan shik held a scholar on budgeting, don kettl himself,

among others. also tracy gordon who may be here today, i'm not sure, explores public finance and management at the state level. so, and, of course, no one is more engaged in issues of fiscal policy than maryland's own majority leader, steny hoyer, who is in his 15th term representing maryland's fifth congressional district. as an alumnus and long-time supporter of the school, the university of maryland in general and higher education in maryland and throughout the nation, we are, indeed, fortunate to have the majority leader hoyer in such a prominent position of national leadership. his dedication to the university and fess call responsibility really are -- fiscal responsibility really are his hallmarks, and for that we all have a great debt to him, and we thank him for coming today, and we wish this whole conference a very interesting and fruitful discussion on this most important topic. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you very much, mr. president. i'm pleased to be here always on the campus of college park where i spent such a long period of time getting out of here. [laughter] but i was one of -- that was one of the highlights of my life. i tell people that marrying my wife was the only thing that surpassed my going to the university of maryland in terms of making an impact on my life, and i'm always pleased to be here and pleased to be here with dan mote. pleased to be here with all of you. and i'm certainly pleased to be here with steven and margaret. saul stern came into my life 46 years ago. i was poor. [laughter] okay, i'm a politician. we lie, you understand that. [laughter] and saul stern worked for u.s. senator daniel brewster. a couple of summers later, steve

stern who was a mere child at that point in time did an internship, and that's when i got to meet him. and i met his dad at the same time who was even then very active in the public policy. and an influence in public policy, a leader not only in the democratic party, but much more broadly than that, a leader in our community on so many different issues. it is not, this program is not about celebrating the life of saul stern, but if any life can be celebrated joyfully and thankfully, it is the life of saul stern who did so much for so many so frequently. and steve and margaret, we're pleased you're here to represent your dad and your father-in-law, and we were all blessed to be a part of his life. thank you very much. i want to say how pleased i am to be here as well with dr. destler who was our provost

and who did such an extraordinary job and who is just a wonderful representative of the university of maryland. weren't you the provost? what? >> [inaudible] >> bill. >> bill, what'd i say, max? bill destler, dr. deathser, professor destler, i want to thank him for his leadership. he has made us so extraordinarily proud of not only his prowess on the basketball court, but even more importantly, his prowess academically that showed the university of maryland to be an outstanding educational institution as well as a top-tier athletic program. tom, thank you for your continuing fidelity to the university of maryland and to higher education. and i also want to say how pleased i am to be here with ambassador schwab, susan schwab, who has done such -- headed up this school, then went to the

administration, and she and i worked very closely together on behalf of a better trading relationship with the rest of the world to opening up trade, to making sure as president obama is saying if we're going to grow our economy, one way we'll grow it is by trade. and i want to thank her for her leadership. i'm also honored to be here with my friend, david walker and bob bixby and bill novelli, all of whom i've worked closely with through the years on various different aspects of the subjects we're going to discuss today. and now i haven't worked as closely with mr. biggs who just got in, andrew, but maybe we'll do that in the future. don kettl, thank you for your leadership. this is not a town meeting. if it were a town meeting, every seat here would be filled. indeed, when i held a town meeting on health care, there were 1500 people in the

auditorium. and the subject we were discussing was not as important as the subject we're discussing today. it was not, perhaps, as consequential certainly in the long term as the subject we discuss today. and i want to congratulate those with this spire effort to educate -- entire effort to educate our public and to look for solutions. it's easy to lament reality what is, it's difficult to say what should be and how are we going to get there. we're here to discuss what i believe is america's single most pressing challenge, putting our fiscal house in order. america's accumulation of debt is a common danger, and it's one that ought to engage the best efforts of liberals and conservatives alike. because while all of us here have our own view on the proper role of government, the facts do not have an ideology.

the course we are on leads to debt that exceeds the value of our entire economy. to a government that does nothing but pay for entitlement and pay interest to our creditors and an end to american leadership in the world. in their book on financial crisis, carmen reinhart and kenneth tell us that public debt exceeding 90% of gdp is often a tipping point into a wrenching crisis, a point we are on pace to reach too soon. we only have to look at greece to see where the path we are on leads. we're here because we are committed to changing that course. getting america out of debt isn't the work of one president or one congress or one bill or perhaps in this case one decade. but i believe our work in congress must be about breaking a long pattern of fiscal irresponsibility and easy decisions.

and putting america back on a more sustainable course. we've just passed, as all of us know, a health reform bill which some believe -- not without cause -- to be antithetical to the goal that i have just expressed. however, the nonpartisan congressional budget office tells us that the reform bill reduces the deficit over the first decade. it is projected to save us $143 billion and some $1 trillion in the decade after that. those savings, however, as david walker correctly points out in part are contingent on congress keeping its pledge and taking hard votes to control health care cos in the years -- costs in the years ahead. the congress does not have a good track record on that objective. doing so will take courage, the willingness to value our nation's fiscal future over the political pressures of the moment.

it will be essential for the congress to show that courage, and it will be incumbent on the american people to demand that courage. that is why i lament the fact that every seat here is not filled, and, david, i hope in your sessions to come around the country that the seats will be filled and that americans will come as you hope, as pete peterson hopes, as concord coalition hopes the public does, in fact, understand, and the aei, for that matter. we're all of one mind on this issue. i understand there is no fiscal slight of hand or silver bullet to eliminate waste and inefficiency in our health care system. i know that no expert can tell us definitively the best steps to cut costs, but i do know that american health care is the most expensive per capita in the world and that we don't have

better health to show for it. in so doing, nothing on costs in the health care system was not an option. the bill we passed was the end of a long struggle to cover all americans but is only the beginning of the struggle to control health care costs, the single greatest driver of our deficit. i believe this administration and this congress must be committed to the work both now and in the future to returning of our nation to fiscal balance. that is both an intellectual imperative and, in my opinion, a moral imperative. president obama has proposed a budget that would cut our deficit in half by 2013. that's the plan. the budget projections, however, are a daunting and foreboding message of how difficult that will be to attain. the president's budget includes a proposed freeze on nonsecurity

discretionary spending, a powerful sign that congress must tighten its belt. but, frankly, a mere pittance in the effort to attain balance. in addition, the president signed a bill to reform weapons acquisition and help control the $296 billion in defense cost overruns identified by the government accountability office. we have also reinstated the crucial pay as you go law that forces congress to find a dollar's of savings for every dollar it spends. under president clinton pay-go helped turn deep deficits into a record surplus. let me quickly add the chip was the major reason we turned deficits into surplus. the growth in the economy. it was the rapid expansion of the economy that helped to produce the unprecedented balanced budget whether it comes to cutting taxes or increasing medicare benefits, pay-go is

valuable because it removes from the table the easily, the easy, usually unspoken solution. and that is, of course, to pass the costs along to our children. i was proud to sponsor the pay-go law not because it gets us out of our deep fiscal hole, but because it stops us from digging any deeper theoretically. david, again, is right -- theoretically -- because it can be waived, we can change the law. hopefully, we will not. certainly, we must not. all of these steps are important to helping control the damage to our budget and our future. but they are together a small part of the solution. that's why president obama created a bipartisan fiscal commission to tackle the most pressing long-term challenges. i've long been an advocate for a fiscal commission. in fact, i was the only leader of either party that testified on behalf of the creation of the

commission before senator conrad and senator gray. i'm glad to see that two proven budget balancers have been appointed as co-chairs. former clinton white house chief of staff bowles and former republican senator alan simpson. congress must act on the commission proposals at the end of the year, and when i say must act, we did not pass statutory commission. i was for a statutory commission, we did not pass it. president obama did what he could do in the face of that failure to set up a commission, ask both majority leader reid and speaker pelosi and myself -- i schedule legislation -- have pledged that we will put on the floor between december 1st and december 31st the results of the commission. now, the results of the commission are not guaranteed. as you probably know, you need

14 out of 18 votes on the commission to make a recommendation. that's an extraordinarily high bar. whether it can be reached given the membership of the commission is problematic. now, as you'll recall, the greenspan commission had great difficulty in 1982 in reaching a conclusion as well. in fact, it was jim baker in the white house that finally got a conclusion reached so that we could address social security. to get to that point, both republicans and democrats -- that point being where we have a recommendation to put on the floor of the house and senate -- both republicans and democrats have to come to the table without preconditions. we can't rule out any solution. on the revenue or the spending side. we can't give in to the temptation to turn this defining challenge into the summit of demagogue -- subject of demagoguery or attack ads. quite frankly, i was disappointed that leader boehner

made the suggestion prior to the election. frankly, if it does so or did so, it would simply become the object of politics in september and october, and every member would be asked to sign a pledge that we will not cut this, we will not cut that, we won't raise this tax, we won't do anything. and too many of us would have signed such a pledge. inevitably, we'll have to look at both cuts and revenues, neither politically popular, to begin a realistic reduction of the of gargantuan debt that confronts us. on the side of into entitlement spending, our options might be pegging retirement years to life span, we might also make social security and medicare benefits more progressive while strengthening the low-income safety net. a number of my colleagues don't like that when i say that, but the fact of the matter is those who are doing very well cannot expect to get what the very needy need. on the side of revenues, i think

president obama was correct in refusing to take any option off the commission's table. a useful model for the new commission is the work of president reagan and speaker o'neill in 1986 and as well their work to preserve social security in 1983 which i've already referenced. those are some of the challenges and options for the bipartisan commission to wrestle with, but my last word of advice is for every one of us, and particularly the young people in this audience, this means more to you than it does to me. it means a lot to me, but to you it is crushing your generation with debt. and if we are not careful, if you have your iraq and afghanistan or your h1n1 or your katrina, you will have no resources with which to respond. and your generation needs to be energized to demand my generation and those younger

than i serving in the congress of the united states that we act with courage and morality on your behalf and on behalf of the strength and health of our country. my last word, as i said, is about these issues. they're only the commission's work. they are work of every one of us. getting out of debt is looking reality in the face. it's about sacrifices and hard choices. america needs a fiscal wake-up because our choice isn't between painful and painless. as steven pearl stein wrote in yesterday's washington post and i quote, whether we will begin to make these adjustments voluntarily, gradually and fairly or wait until they are imposed on us harshly and unfairly during the inevitable crisis that follows, so much ink is spilled on the question of fiscal responsibility. i leave you with the q