informed because of the internet and for example, there was an incident with a japanese fishing boat, and suddenly all of the bad feelings relate the to china's difficult history with japan were stirred up, and the leadership was under real pressure not to overreact, so in both countries, public opinion is going to play a major role, and we hope the leaderships of both sides perceive long term interests and don't get caught up in short term problems. >> okay. i see we have five minutes and 17 seconds, so let's have some questions from you all. right here. >> my question cuts across what was said and devil's advocate

briefly. i think there's a strong argument that the middle class is a potential agent for change in china both on the economic and political side, and that the as per ration is to have a chinese stream like middle class is, but is there a scenario in which the aspiration to achieve this is bad for the world in that we heard chinese per capita gdp is $4,000. let's say they reach the u.s. gdp, $47,000. per capita consumption is equal to the u.s., but isn't that a huge strain on resources and we've been to areas where the food is wasted. ..

you're absolutely right. it presents enormous challenges, but it doesn't just present challenges for china. it presents charges for western models of consumption. what is positive about what china is doing everything giant experiment if you like a low carbon growth, electric mobility, all the things in the

five-year plan, which if they were to work would be hugely beneficial in these respects. in china is doing it because it's sensible of the limits of the resource constraints that it faces now. but with a thrice we could all get to face because we'll be in competition to those resources. >> i think that certainly china should not be using the same model like the u.s. or european development because it's just imagining every chinese family owns a car. at the same time, we do need to be sensitive. you cannot have a car because it may be an electronic car. >> you cannot say -- you cannot have conditioning because beijing is in washington d.c. -- i think the worst thing is just a wee lecture them, but rather we should find a common ground, common challenge.

but i agree, it's a bold opportunity. but at the same time is just overwhelming. >> next question. >> thank you from china international. many panelists today talked about the next 10 years. so my question is in general, how critical is the next decade to china's growth? is it going to be the make or break decade? thank you. >> is this going to be a make or break decade in terms of china's economic growth? anyone have thoughts on not? it certainly seems to me, do not economists, that there's only one thing we know with absolute certainty about economics that goes in cycles. china has had 20 years like this. sooner or later the logic paying if it's going to run into some

cyclical pattern. >> well, it's not a pure economic issue. it probably largely will be a political issue. and i think that area that really is a paradox of the hope and the fear and certainly concern about this kind of new games in chinese policy and it's quite fascinating. and the self-promotion. at the same time, i show one more example that we can ask the question, what did he say people in common, taiwan, former president of taiwan, the current president of taiwan, that the presidential candidate. they are strong candidates for the next top four or top five.

know what's in common with these people? does anyone know? the answer is they all have law degrees. then being engineers. [laughter] at the same time, there is an argument that there is a tendency to consolidate the legal system. i think that it is a wonderful reason and of course we have so many jokes about lawyers and china. bill clinton when he visits china in 1998 come he argues we are lawyers, too many engineers, and that this is leadership. i do think the incentive is to consolidate political system. >> i see quadruples zeroes on the clock. so join me in thanking our four panelists. thank you all for coming.

[applause] >> before you leave, can you guys hear me? we have 10 minutes that may be the best 10 minutes of your entire day. if you can stay right here come you all are welcome to join seats over here. in the final 10 minutes, it this will clearly be something new. we do want to let you know that this is just the beginning of the conversation -- [inaudible] we want to thank our sponsors and partners. >> our live coverage is wrapping up. you can see other panels from the stay long forum in china and the schedule you on c-span two start and china 8:00 eastern and anytime at our website c-span.org. c-span's white house coverage continues tonight with remarks from president obama senior campaign strategist, david

axelrod. >> this is a confession in front of a large and very important influential audience. i have never embarked on a book about a subject that i knew all about.

>> last night the senate passed a short-term spending bill that would fund the government through november 18th. we will hear more about that from "washington journal." it's 45 minutes. >> ed o'keefe joins us from the was "washington post." you may have seen his work onl e the federal ip address or po eefe,port welcome. the senate makes a decision about the spending. guest:st: essentially they are dropping funding for emergencyem management agencies agency for the rest of fiscal 2011 which runs through friday and picked up with about $2.65 billion funding for fiscal 2012, basically starting over the weekend. this was the big disagreement that helped -- kept the house and senate passing the short- term spending bill for the first few weeks of fiscal 2012. congressional republicans wanted to offset new disaster spending

-- consistent with their call to cut spending, if you are going to create new spending. a house senate and democrats said, no, disaster spending has always been done no matter the cost, to get money quickly to disaster survivors and they generally of course take issue with the idea of cutting in order to spend. essentially over the weekend the federal emergency management agency discovered they had about $114 million left in what is called the disaster relief fund, the pot of money for presidentially declared disasters. individual assistance, public assistance, all of that is covered by this fund, as are some operational costs. the teams that go out on the field, some are paid for through this fund. part of the reason we now believe we are able to stay solvent through friday and continue providing relief is over the weekend they were able to recoup about $40 million in unused disaster spending. you ask yourself how they were able to get money back.

states and cities don't actually spend it all when they get it. they do return it. this happens pretty frequently. we just don't notice it because we are not sitting here all the time monitoring fema spending. that was part of the reason why they were able to say to congress, look, we were able -- enough to get as thursday, maybe friday. it depends whether there were major disasters this week and how many apply for assistance. there is no way of knowing but conceivably it looks like they will be able to get through the we just fine and picked up for fiscal 2012. host: what does this say specifically about the way fema funds the program? caller: it says they probably need more money. find me a government program that does not in this town. but the argument is a year where we already spend $7 billion in disaster is in the -- there has to be a serious discussion about providing more money to an agency designed to

get really fat faster. you can take whatever position you do on the way the weather is changing in this country, but there is no doubt this has been a severe weather year. a historic tornadoes and flooding and ice storms. you now have hurricane irene which caused a lot of destruction on the east coast. and every weather expert you talk to come every disaster expert says things are getting worse, and therefore more money will need to be spent. at a time states and cities do not have the money to spend themselves, the federal government will be needed. this is one of the basic areas where states and cities say we need federal assistance. it is when it comes to sound like this. host: ed o'keefe here to talk about disaster funding, as congress came up with a deal. you can ask him questions and do so -- but

on a to get a perspective on howcalls states and specifically 30 deals with the cities of disaster funding, join us on the phone,,s tomas leighton joins us for a fewof minutes.ia -- mayor leighton, first and foremost, what does the decision about the funding being found now, what does it mean for your city? >> guest: is great news. a city like wilkes-barre has been affected by the hurricane. we cannot pledge the money, so we need to rely in a federal state governments to help us get our residents back into their homes and businesses reopened in a timely manner. any delay on the federal orstat state government really affects the lives of our people andple. affects the ways of getting back to work in their real jobs. we've had some devastation and desperate deed is needed from n washington.ee

>> how much money has your city received in estimates as far as returned?unds are >> in essence, we have a $3 million in damage we have ab3 million in damage, some of the walls along the creeks collapsed and other infrastructure problems. we had to evacuate 20,000 people. and the surroundingere. it is a matter of helping each other get backthey will need thm washington. guest: i just wanted to clarify, you had disasters essentially

tied to of hurricane irene with the river flooding and then the remnants of what was tropical storm lee, right? >> that is correct. we got hit in a two-week period with irene and lee, just getting back to a normal way of life and then being hit with lee. guest:irene? >> yes. guest: how many roughly? give us aficials. now it is just what is being do at the federal government level in washington. >> host: how is the map them

to work with anyone ask for funds? >> guest: they've been very cordial. we've been dealing with fema and fema officials over my past 7.5 years as mayor. as their seventh national does that your. so we headed down to a science of what needs to be done, what is to be documented. so when fema officials come in the cities we know exactly what they are looking for. >> host: what is the turnaround between filing turna? paperwork and getting money>> back? >> guest: we are hoping 60 to 90 days if not sooner. >> host: practically what does that mean this is idiocy watch the damage being done? >> guest: what it means is we had to bring a prayer contactors as we do not have the personnel as is the other communities. c for these contractors expect to get paid money to stay on ourake to make surecials the funding is received in a timely manner. doe >> host: how does the city standiford get more rain and flooding >> the city is fine right now

with the exception of the areas that got flooded. 15 states that sustained serious flood damage. they are getting back to normal ways of life. a lecture city has been turned back on. they are getting their heating but theying checked. are still affected because of the lack of funding that has not been received from them yet. host: talk about the political process, especially the going ba so the elected officials that washington have to realize these people are devastated we are affected by the flood and they need to -- they need to realize that these are voters and i did

a walking tour with senator bob casey here on saturday and he was very receptive to concerns that he spoke to in the damaged areas. he knows the situation. he knows people need to get back homes.r >> host: give us a sense, washie mayor of washington or have a serious conversation about disaster aid, what could it do to make the process faster and here for you and the mayor who has to get money quickly? >> guest: again, note the concern $1,000 to repair the hot water heater, they did not 000 to they do not hit a $1500 electrical service that was damage. the individual cc are $300 they

$3 were shocked when i got a bill for $800 to $1200 depending on the teasing you put in.have t these people don't have the money and they need to get money in a timely manners that they can get back to normal way of living. when you see senior citizens and the ports just crying as their personal property is being taken out of their homes, it's a very touching experience. >> host: tomas leighton is the mayor of wilkes-barre, pennsylvania. time hope ed o'keefe, which you had to back? >> guest: he spent some time in the last few days talking to folks across the country who are in a sense been home to buy thie 447 million names with the projects and 42 states that had to be suspended essentially. they were all eligible for fema aid, put hurricane irene and the

need to move money around and the east coast states and puerto rico that were effective coming ansortsor projects in all sorts of state dating back to hurricane katrina and the florida hurricanes in 2004 and 2005. big road projects in north korea, rebuilding the fire linew in iowa and olive these different highway administrators say we feel for the people affect to buy a lean and laying out these other more recent disasters, buoyed by a lot of things to take t get finished when fema has to go intoricky emergency needs funding process, it becomes a very trickyat situation for the cities who have toha put contract or is on rojectsefer payments for road projects.it becomes a real headr these cities. host: we have a comment from twitter. guest: they do budget money. the white house said they will

need $4 million. -- $4 billion. we'll see if democrats push for more money. they will increase in fema's spending. host: another comment from twitter. guest: i believe they would. it would not look good if you're keeping money for no good reason. fema does a good job of making sure the money is spent properly. they had $40 million come back to them. they said this happens all the time. host: a phone call is available to you. the alliance will be on your screen -- the lines will be on your screen.

caller: i want to say hello. in response to what the republicans are doing, they made sure there is no job created by money funded toward any city suffering from a disaster. this is a example of what a stimulus package would do. it jobs would be created. they do not want anybody to see how jobs are stimulated or how congress gets started. these are corporate republicans. they're trying to make the economy standstill. if there is any money that is going to be spent, they want to make sure it is spent on stopping obama and making sure that unemployment stays high.

guest: it is obviously an emotional debate between democrats and republicans appear on the hill, discussing these differences. both sides have valid arguments. i think there was a real sense that they did not want a third fight in just six months the might have held up government operations. >host: brooklyn, new york. caller: my eyes were glued to the screen watching the people suffer. we did not get hit that hard in brooklyn. i am appalled at the republican party. this should have been reached two weeks ago. i hope the american people wake up and realize that it is mean- spirited. i will be voting for president

obama in november. i'm fed up with republicans. host: we have seen other -- have we seen other times when funding for fema has been a political issue? guest: you have interesting timing with the hurricane in august just as funding was running out. use it runs out in august and september when the fiscal year runs out. perhaps there will be -- i am also happy that irene the not cost too much damage in brooklyn. host: hurricane katrina comes in with $7.2 billion in 2005. guest: right.

overall this year they've spent over $7 billion combined with these tornadoes and floods and hurricanes. erector-setting year -- a record-setting year. this shows you the expense with which fema is dealing with, not just the 50 states but re puerto rico. their resources are stretched. lawmakers called to talk to constituents. they say fema has turned itself around from the disaster that was hurricane could trade up. there was much better response time. much better than what the mayors and governors need.

fema can put people and resources in the field ahead of the storm, which is what you saw with hurricane irene. they went to the immediate needs funding in order to anticipate the costs of irene and lee. host: any sense it will lead to a consensus? guest: we have seen democrats over the past few days and other senators and members of the house whose states and districts have been affected by the weather in recent years. the white house is saying give them at least $4 billion, which is double what congress wants to do. they have relied on the if you give them some now, we will get more later argument. host: sue on our independent line. caller: i wonder if all these

home owners in these disasters have the foresight to of homeowners insurance, which is supposed to take care of their personal home. and if the states and local governments have taxes where they do here in columbus to take care of the roads that are damaged. this to me is not a federal problem. it's a local problem. i had a fire. i had homeowner's insurance. it took care of my home. you watch what happens to the personal responsibility. guest: this is an argument that people make. individual assistance to those homeowners who need a federal aid. they are only, to fema after they have exhausted their own personal insurance accounts.

fema is not necessarily used in place of that. they have exhausted all other options. a fire insurance policy will cover all this. i believe that fema only gives it up to about $25,000 in individual assistance. it's not like somebody will get a few million dollars to reconstruct a home. this argument is one that ron paul is arguing about, saying states and cities should be responsible for. in the 1970 cost the states and cities came to the federal government and said we cannot do this on our own. this happened after katrina. more needs to be done. you have a good point, sue.

just because your house is damage, it does not mean the government will pay for ait. host: there was a study from george mason university. what differences are there between how much the administration request and how much they get? guest: i think it depends on the year. some republicans have ordered for thatd of last have asked for fiscal 2012. that is a good point. the white house went out and assumed that the money would come as necessary and there will not be an argument that you would have to cut somewhere else if you spend on fema.

we have to find other ways to cut. you have seen them pulled back and say, we will pay for this. we may not put up as big a fight on cutting elsewhere. host: republican line, cheryl. caller: when i heard about this arguing over fema, it occurred to me that i have paid my fema flood insurance that was due in august 27. on friday, i e-mailed my congressman and my state u.s. senator, mark rubio, and ask them who i can get my refund from. if they were going bankrupt, it seemed fraudulent they have taken my money that i needed to

pay my comcast bill so i could continue to communicate with them, since that is the only way you can get messages through. i wanted to know who should i sue? we pay for fema. we pay premiums. i pay three and seven $9 every august for flood insurance -- i $379 every august. i wanted to know who to get my money back from. guest: i think you called the right people. keep calling. host: raleigh, north carolina, democrat's line. caller: spending cuts -- george

bush -- george bush was present -- [unintelligible] nobody was talking about spending cuts than. people were hurting. you cannot control. try to block funds. maybe they should not get a paycheck. host: has funding from work changed drastically since katrina? guest: yes if only from the emergence of the tea party republicans who are pushing for this. it has refrained the spending overall, not just for fema.

host: houston, texas. caller: please let me make my point. my reality in houston -- we were 15 days without electricity in our neighborhood after katrina. we pay our fema and flood deal policy and we don't have to cash in on that. you fast forward -- from katrina until ike wasn't happen when somebody in the neighborhood on the committee to the homeowners' association, we had somebody the next block over that fema had paid all this time for these people to stay in a house, a rental house.

people were not even there. the lady that was supposed to be there was not even there. with a living boyfriend elsewhere and nobody ever reported that. i was beyond appalled. to me is not any of the fraud and abuse. our federal government not doing their due diligence and taking care of the monies that are being dispersed to them. guest: i think you're talking about katrina, rita, and id survivek vske survivors. fema is trying to get some of that money back.

they did not realize there were not supposed to apply for multiple rounds of pay. let's say the house was hit by both katrina and rita. they may have accidently applied twice thinking that because there were displaced by both storms there were eligible both times. in fact, there were only eligible once. fema has come back to them and said, you need to give us back that money. there was a disagreement about whether or not they were told that. they had to return the money. we don't hear about those things unless it has affected your neighbors. people taking relocation grants and not necessarily state more they were supposed to. those are the types of people that fema is trying to get money back from. judges have said the need a

better job explaining to disaster survivors. if you get hit by multiple storms, you only get paid once. host: there is a story this morning talking about tropical storm irene. could they apply for fema loans? guest: i don't think so. that decision was made by the mayor. he was criticized for this. but it made sense. it would be worth following up on. i think there may have to swallow hard. host: phil on our republican line. caller: i am appalled that the leaders have skipped over the budget process for years.

they get caught up into this bickering. i think they should all lose their jobs. i say reelect no one. a reasonrformance is why government should stay out of some services. thank you. guest: they have kept out of it. we appeared to have enough money to stay alive through thursday and friday was a big sigh of relief for lawmakers. host: why do not know that? guest: that is a good question. the agency said they would be able to get back $40 million. this was money that was it

needed. they don't mind giving up more than necessary. better to be over prepared then to of a katrina-style response to a storm. it behooves reporters to keep tabs on them and make sure they do go back and get the money. host: how much will they get? guest: 2.6 $5 billion -- $2.65 billion. host: is to talk about staggering the money -- is there talk about staggering money? guest: there will be snowstorms and ice storms of some kind in the fall and winter.

then it starts to pick up with hurricane season in june. they start spending a lot of that money over the summer. host: jacksonville, good morning. caller: where can citizens get information from fema about who is not eligible for fema assistance? if you owe any taxes, for instance, you're not eligible for fema assistance, no matter how great or else mall is. there are other areas that you would not qualify for food assistance -- no matter how great or small it is. they have your money, but you never are able to take a vantage

of assistance in a disaster. but you still pay off your taxes -- you're not able to take advantage of assistance. that means they discriminated against you because you overtaxes but there will not wash those taxes from you. they say, you still owe the taxes. you paid into the system but you don't get anything out. guest: you can go to fema.gov to find links for assistance. they have a pretty good life out of the different types of assistance that you might be eligible for. and it was homeowner a flood or not a flood. they have links to all the types of assistance you may be available for. the small businesses administration gives out money.

money is given to the states for road reconstruction. money is given to farmers that are affected. when you see these disaster sites, you see the fema people and the other people because there are three primary agencies they give out money after big disasters. host: what about people that are not eligible? guest: i'm not as familiar with the issue of taxes. and how laid out there to do it. host: lancaster, pennsylvania, nicholas. caller: republicans are trying to stop money from going to fema -- that's the wrong idea.

towns nearby were hit hard by the storms. we have to figure how we are born to pay for it. we can't keep giving different groups money. i don't think republicans want to stop giving them money. they want to know how we're going to pay for it. guest: that is true. caller: i think they want to know how we're going to pay for it. the government has to do the same thing. guest: you make a good point. most years you'll see republican lawmakers and some democrats stand up when fema funding has to get appropriated. they will say, i'm not voting for this because we're adding to the deficit. nobody -- that argument did not fly in previous years before you

read several lawmakers with the backing of fiscal conservatives that consisted you have to have a serious conversation about the way government pays for things. republicans have said that we need to talk about where we cut and how we responsibly spend the money. trichet was's affected by hurricane irene and also the earthquake. he said we will talk about how we balance the books in the process. he said, let me be clear, we will pay for disaster relief funding, but we should have a conversation about how the government will pay for this. you saw this delight of forger $47 million -- you saw this delay of $447 million. money needed to be spent on

rescues an opening shelters. they go to the most recent and worth the way back. -- and work their way back. how quickly the white house signs off on that and how quickly fema gets into the field to start doing assessments with the management officials. that is what you are seeing fema put people in offices and of a storm so that they can be there right away as soon as the situation is safe and getting a sense of what is needed. they will sit here in washington and say, we have all these projects in north dakota, for example, where they want to raise the grade of a bunch of rose because they have been washed out in the past. we want to spend x amount of

money to raise these roads. that is not immediate need. they will look at a list and spend money on the immediate stuff. host: panama city, florida. caller: i was flooded in 1995 and we have flood insurance and our regular insurance. we had everything taking care of. fema came around and asked if we needed anything. we did not. i am not in a flood zone now. does that money go to fema or is that another pot? guest: that is a good question. i believe it is another pot. don't necessarily quote me on that. you are wise to of flood insurance even if you're not in a flood plain.

you should be thinking about stuff especially if you live in a state like florida which is prone to all sorts of natural disasters and bad weather. gger. our guest is a bloc guest: everything from the postal service to fema this week and to federal retirees. this is like covering the auto industry in detroit. this is what we cover. we have hundreds of thousands of residents who collect a government paycheck. host: you have a story in the paper today that deals with stamps. guest: if it is not fema, is the postal service. they will start honoring living

legends. using the rules you have to be dead five years to apply to have a stamp in your honor. it is like being a catholic st aint. they are trying to gin up interest. people can submit their suggestions. they are asking people to mellon their suggestions or to use facebook and twitter -- they're asking people to mail in their suggestions. it could be bruce springsteen or president obama or president bush. host: jacksonville, florida. go ahead, please. thaner: fema is more

likely union run. i do not understand how the democrats are crying the republicans are the party of no and all they want to do is hold the government responsible for the money they are spending and to know where it is going. it is our money. they are giving it out. they should be able to hold the government responsible. it is ridiculous to think that they can say everytime that the republicans are a sayingno no, they want to know where the money is going. host: we will take one more call. barbara. caller: i feel fema should be

included in the budget. if the republicans do not feel that you should pay for everything on the front andend, then maybe they should consider closing loopholes in taxes. anybody who lives in florida cannot risk being considered -- we have hurricanes all the time. maybe they should look at some other sources of income. for example, tax lobbyists and not allowing businesses to consider contributions and business expenses. host: other sources of income. guest: to fund fema?

there are other ways to draw money to help pay for disasters. they emphasize homeowners and small businesses, if they have to have their plans -- they have to have their plans in place. if you can afford insurance, by ut it. of the "theeefe washington post." how often do you blog?

>> richard cohen, staff writer congressional quarterly has been covering that today. what the impasse between senate democrats and republicans on disaster aid and spending offsets? >> icicle you think it was the deadline. by congress and the house kamas will discuss come in the house still needs back, but without sugar ashes by congress the government would run out of money this coming friday and it was time to make a deal and the senate leaders, bipartisan leaders, senator harry reid from the democrats, mitch mcconnell minority leader for the republicans reached an agreement to continue funding for the government for another seven weeks and then the senate quickly approved it last night

and now it will go to the house, which is due to approve it out there may be some complications in the next two days. >> said the house will come in and approve the short-term measure. when will that happen and when will they get to the long-term measure quite >> we are talking about separate bills. they are four days from october 1st which is the start of the fiscal year. the second know will extend for another seven weeks until november 18. in theory, the house could pass the seven week go and the four-day bill would become a moot point. but the plan is that the house will take a four-day bill when it meets this thursday in what had been scheduled to be a pro forma session. it will remain calm in theory, a

pro forma session and that the four-day continuing resolution to keep the government operating for four days, that does expect it to passed by unanimous consent, meaning there will be no objection. there will be perhaps brief statements, but there certainly will not be roll call votes. and we should point out though that when a bill comes up by unanimous consent, as is the plan for the four-day bill this thursday, under those circumstances can any member of the house, any one member among the 435 can object that would be the yen. the bill would not be able to be taken up that day, in which case since the government is about out of money, the house leaders, republican leaders would have to come up with a new plan. probably the house would come into session friday or over the weekend to make sure to pass this four-day bill and keep the government operating.

so while there is an expectation about this will be taken care of quickly come expediently on thursday, there's no guarantee. >> and fema won't run out of money? >> the sending the four-day cr is passed, there will be money for fema and subsequently the seven week to log additional money and the rest of the federal government. >> what is this whole exercise in debate over the continuing resolution say about congress' ability to come to an agreement on $1.2 trillion in cuts by the debt reduction committee by the end of the year? >> i think we've been reminded that nothing is easy in this congress. we have come as you and your viewers know we have a democratic controlled senate, republican controlled house. each of them asserts its prerogatives. obviously we have a democratic president at the white house who has his own interests and the republicans were elected last

year. they took control of the house, wanted to make change and they take every opportunity to deliver -- try to deliver on their promises and the democrats often attack and we've seen this debate including the many for fema for disaster assistance, that it's often a problem to move anything, so therefore the $1.2 trillion deficit reduction bill is not going to be tough. >> richard cohen covering congress and spending debate for congressional quarterly. read his work at cq.com. thank you for the day. >> thank you. >> and the house comes back in on thursday for a pro forma session, which typically means no legislative work.

>> new jersey governor chris christie continues a three state tour today. the national journal writes that he is still denying interest in seeking the presidency is influential donors to refuse to take no for an answer.

tonight, christie speaks at the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, california after speaking at a fundraiser in missouri for a congressional candidate, and wagner. on thursday, the governor heads to louisiana. we'll have the governor christie speech live tonight from california at nine eastern around c-span. >> he founded several labor unions and represented the socialist party of america's candidate for president running five times. the last time from prison. eugene debs lost, but he changed political history. he's one of the 14 men featured c-span's new series, contenders in terre haute indiana. friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, watch some of our other videos that another special website for the series c-span.org/the contenders.

>> translator: your xo answer is here with the presence of the general assembly. >> translator: presiding over the 65th session of the general assembly. all thanks also go to mr. ban

ki-moon on his reelection as secretary general of the united nations. we express thanks and appreciation to him and the general has sense retired staff efforts over the past year, and in particular, his follow-up of the situation in our country. ladies and gentlemen, we wish to congratulate the people of the republic of south sudan on the exsession of that republic of the united nations. we wish also to congratulate the transitional counsel in libya for their counsel among us and the representation of the libyan people. my country has be witnessing this since last january, a key

political crisis. the political opposition that has been one the plain establishments in yemen since 1990 decided to relinquish all commanding nominators and reducted the principle offered on census refusing to implement the agreements we reached since 2006. following its failure in elections since these parties and democratic means will not allow them to seize power; therefore, it recalls to maneuvers including violence. that threatens the outbreak of

civil war and devastating complex in yemen that may undermind all the achievements made by our yes , yemeni people in the modern era and the struggle to maintain a democratic political system and the production of its national identity, social fabric, and its unique human fabric and the system that we succeeded to build. in the beginning of the 1990s, the national movement in yemen accomplished great achievements by establishing a unified state in yemen based on democratic foundations coupled with civil

institutions promoting the human -- promoting human rights. however, those who made narrow, individual, and partisan interests prevail did not approve this historic achievement, and therefore they tried to start a motion using the errors made in yemen at the beginning of the establishment of their unified estates. in addition to the challenges of the development, the em bridled population grows their prevalence of poverty, the poverty of human resources, the increase in drought, and the certification, and the possibility of water resources and all resources which were the main source of income?

all these factors made it difficult to find employment for thousands of university graduates; however, the all the power and rather opposition powers used at the title wave of -- tidal wave of change witnessed in these countries in order to prevent yemen to achieve democratic election. however, we have accepted the demands of youth, and we started dialogue with them in order to respond to their requests.

they have tens of thousands of jobs in order to gain employment, but the opposition parties used and misused the officials in power and some of the elements conducted sob versive actions to sabotage on the movement of the youth. it's rejected the resolve of the democratic elections that was conducted under international supervision by the european union and the democratic national institute, and several international organizations which suggested to the fact that the elections were fair, democratic, and transparent.

we have to meet the request of the youth and their legitimate commands to build a better future for us and for prosperity . the possibility that is hindered by the limited resources of my country and the prevalence of poverty and unemployment in addition to terrorism as well as the global financial crisis. our government kept calling on our development partners to provide financial and economic support in order to achieve comprehensive development in yemen that will guarantee security stability in our

country. the main reason for the upheaval is that taking place in yes , yemen is that this seduction of the opposition and refusal to endorse at the election that took place in 2006 were our people entrusted the president of the republic and chose him as our president. this has led to the crisis that we are witnessing nowadays in the economic, development, security, and political levels. despite the opposition, the president of the republic overred compromise in order to reconcile between the opposition and the governments. this has led to the postponement

of the parliamentary election for two years; however, the efforts of our president continues through his initiatives before parliament and the national congress where he assured that he had no intention to run for presidential elections, and he accepts the modification of constitution and the election law. in addition, to the whole package of reform. our country has incurred heavy losses estimated at more than $2 billion as a result of the chaos caused by the opposition parties which tried to cut throat, exploit oil, and cut electricity

lines, and many of our cities, especially in our capitol. however, the government continued to abide by the peaceful solution and continued to call on the opposition to sit with the people and start dialogue. we are confident in yemen that the division being witnessed of late will only be overcome by the return to the legality of constitution, and by providing remedy to the shortcomings. the government overred a new -- the government offered a new

opportunity for dialogue. my country adheres to the initiative by the gcc as a foundation for the political crisis, especially that exsen sigh decided to have the president conduct all of the powers to initiate the gulf initiative and to achieve in order to guarantee a small and democratic transition of power. this is done without violation

to the constitution or democratic principles. this is why we see yemen will provide a yemen for change where all parties will be winners. they will have the means to overcome crisis. the president after his return on ambiguous terms he adhered to the gcc initiative and committed to it. he called on all parties to initiate dialogue and to reach compromise to implement it. my country continues to make

every effort in order to fight al-qaeda and its terrorist agents in our country despite the limited resources of our gofort. what we need at the international level is a comprehensive global strategy in order to build national capacities so as to fight extremism and terrorist ideology, a strategy that does not bring cause to military might, but is based on social, political, backgrounds and strives to achieve international justice. the republic of yemen attaches primary importance to human rights which are the main

pillars of the united nations ensues the return of the unity to yemen in 1990. my country has made great strides in this field. we have established a ministry on human rights, and yemen has been party to many international instruments on human rights. we provide periodic reports on our implementation of these instruments. we have also provided and offered our national report within the comprehensive review to the human rights council, and in this connection, the review conducted by the counsel and

geneva in new york where we actively participated. ultimately, in the political crisis, there have been many violations of human rights by all parties. the government, nevertheless, shows preparedness to conduct independent national investigations and to bring perpetrators to justice. the government opened our doors wide open before the finding mission sent by the human rights council. in response to an invitation by our government, the sacrificing mission visited yemen in july and presented its report to the council on the 19th of september this year.

the government of yemen during its presidency of the group of china continued to actively work in in order to achieve consensus and unity within the group which led to consensus on many a issue of interest to that group. namely, the agreement on the climate change agreement and the final agreement on the outcome. agreements with reforms on united nations and in this election we wish every access to the republic of argentina as it provides over the group, and we

wish also to have access to the republic of algeria who will preside over the group in the years 2012. the israeli arab conflict is the main reason for the lack of security and stability in our region, an objective and understanding of the conflict clearly shows that the israeli and policies ensued by the government of israel to establish settlements and its rejux of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the palestinian people and refusal to abide by national legality is a refusal also of the peace

initiative. we call upon the peace sponsor, namely the united states of america to continue its efforts in order to achieve universal recognition in the state of palestine and to join the united nations as a member of this organization including i wish to renew my thanks to the secretary general for his efforts in following the crisis in yes , ma'am mep, and i'd like to thank the -- all the united nation agencies for their efforts. i thank you for your kind attention. >> pakistan's foreign minister also spoke today at the u.n. talking about promoting peace and security in the middle east for 25 minutes. >> mr. president, complen --

exllencies, ladies and gentlemen, i begin in the name of god, the most, and i come here to talk about the people of pakistan before you. as you may know, the prim minister of afghanistan was due to visit new york and address the house. unfortunately, the prime minister could not come because of the humanitarian disaster caused by the floods in pakistan. once again, i feel privileged to be able to deliver the remarks of the prime minister to the general assembly. i bring to you, mr. president, and all the nations of the world assembled here, salam, peace, and the greatings and good wishes of the people of afghanistan. we are delighted, mr. president, to be able to address the general assembly under your leadership. this is an important session of the general assembly. the state of qatar is a truly deserving and equal country for

this occasion. the pakistani people have intimate brotherly relations with your great country, and i speak for my people in welcoming your president. your election to the high office is a view of your outstanding qualities to the esteem countries. why are we here, mr. president? other than the lure of new york city, why have we converged at the united nations general assembly? pakistan is here because it believes in multilateralism. each september, we return to this great city and this grand scheme so we can reaffirm the presence pls and values of multilateralism. it is and has been one of the abiding central points of our central policy. we are committed to the deal of the united nations. to us, the ideal is very simple. we can do more together than we

can apart. we can solve complex problems by consensus rather than by yiewn unilateralism. multilateral cooperations deals with global challenges, old and new in our independent world. as we grow more than and more dependent on each other, the space for unilateralism and unidimensional question is strengths. those skeptical of the future of multilateralism are living in the past. our future, collective future, is bright, and it's the nations in multilateralism that safeguard this future. mr. president, pakistan believes in the promise of the united nations over the scorch of war. the world governed by rules and norms of civility of decency and good will creating a better future for the peoples of the

world. promised on the respect of the principles of the united nations, we must ensure the unite the the nations is the best representation of the aspirations of our peoples. mr. president, we must do better. there's far too much distance between these as pir rations and -- aspirations and dark realities of our time. we are constantly struggling with difficult choices and cycles, with values and die deals, and there's conflicts, discord, and death. calamities spread to millions and expose all of the unacceptable levels of poverty and often provision. we face these challenges in every country. we cannot afford to face them alone. the importance of togetherness and of our collective commitment to the principles and values

cannot be overstated. togetherness or multilateralism, of course, does not mean conformity. it does not mean falling in line. up stead, it means harmony, tolerance, respect for diversity, and a pragmatic realization that no system, no single perception, no single prescription, no run path works for all. each society, every culture offers one apart from the mankind. preconceived assumptions p one or the other must not be allowed to con tam enate the -- contaminate the spirit of the united nations. pakistan's old traditions says there can be no progress where the mind is divorced from the heart. faith in the united nations is a manifestation of the best rational tradition, and the most cherished traditions of idealism and believing in something.

we believe in the u.n.. the spirit of the united nations must permeate all of our endeavors. the people of the world agreed that when the true age of the united nations, we must reassert our promise to deliver it better. mr. president, i would like to complement ban ki-moon in the vast reservoir of good will and member states in addressing the wide area of challenges. on behalf of the people of pakistan, i wish to convey a grateful thanks to the secretary general and international community for their support and solidarity expressed generously in the wake of the devastating floods last year. again, this year, heavy rains caused widespread flooding. millions affected. around 4.5 million people rendered homeless. human and economic losses as well as the pressing pressure of

relief of international assistance. we, again, thank you for your support and solidarity. the pakistani people continue to consistently demonstrate their reservoir of courage, perseverance, and generosity. we shall overcome this misfortune through the same resilience our people have been blessed with. mr. president, at this session of the general assembly, pakistan is seeking election on the seat of a security counsel. with your support, i wish to assure you we would just charge our responsibilities with utmost dedication to the high ideals and principles of the united nations. pakistan attaches the highest importance to promoting the rules of peace, of security, and stability in the world. in our own region, we have releapt leslie endeavored to what's creating an environment of shared prosperity and of

shared peace, but democratic, progressive, and prosperous pakistan is embedded in a secure region is the frame work of the foreign policy and would yield enormous benefits to not only the peoples of the region, but that of the world. we have reached out to our immediate neighbors with a sincere desire to join hands in bringing about doable peace and development by a win-win approach. situated as we are on the cross roads of central, south, and west asia, we realize the e enormous opportunities that pursue from pursuing the diligence, the region of common development and cooperation. i'm happy to know that both pakistan and india are now engaged in this dialogue process. a dialogue process that we hope will be uninterrupted and uninterrupt l. we certain intend to make this engagement fruitful and on the

promise of a mutually rewarding enterprise enabling us to have the commonties that exist. we look forward to resolving all outstanding issues, including the dispute that's the oldest on the agenda of the united nations and subject of several security counsel resolutions. a peaceful resolution that has aspirations is indispensable for durable stability. as is a need for safeguarding their human rights. the reality of a nuclearized south asia imposes on both pakistan and on india, to honor its responsibility to work together to restore mutual confidence and enhancing strategic state. we look forward to moving in this direction in the dialogue process. pakistan is also firmly committed to promoting stability and peace.

we expect and support the efforts under the leadership of president karzai for peace. we strongly condemn the terror attacks in kabul in which precious lives were lost. we express sympathy with brothers and sisters on the trammingic assassination of the professor, former president and chairman of the counsel. such attacks will never succeed with brothers and sisters from realizing the goal of reconciliation and of peace. pakistan fully supports an afghan led and owned inclusive process of reconciliation and peace in afghanistan. we want to see them as a united, independent, and sovereign state. we ask all concerned to join the reconciliation process and call for a deescalation.

it's full of challenges. complexity and ground dynamics need to be amized objectively and carefully. clarity and strategic coherence among afghanistan, pakistan, and the united states is utmost importance. it's here we attach importance to the bilateral core group and attach importance to the pakistan joint commission for peace and reconciliation. it's only by starting a clear road map we will be able to bring about necessary operational policy coordination to achieve our shared goals and objectives. given the volatility of the situation, it's perhaps understandable there's a high level of anxiety and emotions, but we must not lose sight of the goals. we must work closely and as responsible partners together in

a cooperative manner and not rush to judgment or questioning each other's intentions. the cooperative endeavor in full solidarity with the cooperation of people pakistan is the only way to ensure peace, prosperity, and security in the region. we are will be to do our best with the other governments and the united states to acquit itself of this high responsibility as this defining moment in one of the most important struggles of our times. mr. president, pakistan has ordered to uphold the rights of the people including a right to independent homeland. i would like to reaform our position here. the president made a historic and meme -- memorable gift for his people. we stand by our brothers and sisters and agree this is not sustainable anymore. we support the quest of

palestine for membership in the united nations. we have witnessed important developments. pakistan believes aspirations of the people must be accommodated peacefully and without interference in a manner consistent with the prince pls of ser rennety and -- serenity and integrity. very few countries have been rav eveninged by the monster of terrorism as brutally as pakistan has. we are keenly aware about the threat terrorism of pakistan. to pakistan's neighbors and the rest of the world. 30,000 innocent pakistanis have been killed, men, women, and children. the radiant armed forces defended pakistan at the highest cost. our troops have -- our troops have laid down 6,532 martyrs,

1,119 suffered injured, and it's not stopping there. we have seen 3,629 officer, police, and military personnel embrace jihad. 10 #,720 of these men and women of the military services have been injured since 2002. the grieving mothers, daughters, sisters because of the brave men and women are constant reminder of the need to be individual lent and to fight the menace of terrorism. the terrorists most popular leaders was killed in 2007. they lost sons, brothers, and fathers at the hands of terrorists. they are filled with harm, and we can want enter churches, shopping center, or mosques without being frisked. there's attacks on spiritual

leaders, minorities, and the idea of pakistan. if i cut our sacrifices and suffering, i would keep you here until next september. we do not take it lightly and we do not afford to take it lightly and sufferedded far too much at its hand. mr. president, our nation is united in its determination to eliminate this sector of terrorism from its soil, from o region, and from the world. it is important to enhance international cooperation to totally o get rid of it. our resolve is inspired by the legend philosopher of whom pakistan owes a debt of gratitude. he said -- [speaking in arabic]

i translate. the eagle does not fall from its soaring height. if you fear, you do not have adversity. we don't fear adversity. we will not allow space and we must all pledge that our respective territories will not be allowed to be used against others by terrorists. the organizing, financing, arming, supporting, and abetting terrorist needs to be addressed seriously and effectively. notable success against al-qaeda and affiliates is worked on in number of years. bombings and the intelligence and security agencies that interdicted a large number of al-qaeda operators. recently, the chief operator of al-qaeda was arrested in a joint isi and cia operation. we must demonstrate complete

unity in ranks, build greater trust, and more importantly, bring about the requisite operation and coordination in combating this menace, otherwise, i'm afraid that the terrorists are the only ones who are going to win. eliminates terrorism is in our national interest. we believe that our success is critical to regional and global peace and security. despite limited capacity and constraints, we have done all we can for the sake of realizing the bright future for our people and the people of the region. we advocated and worked to have economic integration. we believe without prioritizing development and creating win-win scenarios with joint ventures, connectivity, joint structure, we cannot succeed in changing the picture. we need to give hope and provide

a silver lining to those who have not seen peace for three generations and have only taken guns and terrorism as the means of life. pakistan's commitment to eliminating terror is irrevocable. we believe this warrants a comprehensive approach not only to deal with violence, but also its root causes. this requires enhancing international cooperation in multiple domains. pakistan reached out to all countries of the world to establish arrangements ranging from intelligence cooperation, mutual assistance, criminal matters, as well as joint operations wherever required. we believe that this is a global issue and needs to be addressed effectively. mr. president, we support to strengthen the united nations, however, it's not safe to follow something with the potential to

unravel the essential pillars of the inn. it must be worked in a manner to reenforce the confidence of the peoples of the world of this body and enhance effectiveness. the reforms must enjoy full consensus of the international community and accord with the fundamental principle of sench equality. i remain committed to the region of pakistan's martyred leaders who reminded us time and again that selective morality by definition is immoral and fundamental human values alone must guide our actions. pakistan attaches high importance to u.n. peace keeping functions and mainer to the u.n. peace keeping. pakistan is among the top u.n. peace keeping critters for -- contributors for many, many years. we have over 10,000 troops. we also attach importance to the united nations work in the field

of disarmerment and proliferation. our collective endeavors in these fields will best be effective if we can enhance security for all and pursue approaches that are not selective or discriminatory. our work must be premised on principles. mr. president, we applaud the work of the united nations in multiple domains. the specialized organizations, body, and institutions are examples of accomplishing shared goals and cooperation. pakistan played a leadership role in conceiving and violating the u.n.'s agenda, and this is potentially vital informant to global development and to aid effectiveness. despite the declaration and reaffirmation, we have a long way to go. the pilot exercise in pakistan struggled to achieve the lofty goals set out for itself, but we continue to invest hope in its

event success. the most important kind of harmization is that between hearts between the nations, and we promote harmony and tolerance among and between societies, between cultures and faiths and nations. we know the price to be paid when those values are breach. having lost the governor of our most populated province and minority affairs to an act of violence perpetrated by extremists. for us, the process of harmony and tolerance begins at home, and we take it very seriously. we are committed and our resolve is strong. at international levels, we are confident that the u.n. provides the best global forum that is fully equipped to enhance understanding and good will between all members of the international community. respect for beliefs, cultures, and traditions are the hallmark of civilized conduct.

we are particularly concerned that the campaigns continue to stigmatize islam and muslim. islam is a religion of peace. it's important that the international community celebrate our common humanity and unity adiversity. mr. president, the systemic fort lines in the global economic landscape have surfaced lately. the debt and financial crisis adds another worrying dimension to the existing developing countries and the need to promote holistic development and economic growth. this requires revisiting the fundamentals and readiness to address underlying issues. mr. president, as a democratic country, committed firmly to the ideals, values, and principles of the united nations, pakistan will continue to do its best for the cause of global peace and prosperity. under the leadership of president and prime minister,

the pakistani nation is moving ahead confident of itself and of its enormous capabilities. as a vibrant democracy, we are in the process of accomplishing a historic societal transformation. the challenges of the our people dealt with in power and borders. we remain democratic. we will defeat those who seek to terrorize us. we will empower women. protect the weak and vulnerable in our midst, especially the minorities. we'll stand up for the weak. we support the human rights. we will speak in the support of palestinians, protect our children, teach our children, and face any and all challenges with determination and with faith. most of all, we will be a peaceful and prosperous society. this will be -- there will be challenges, but in shallah, we will overcome each one of them. mr. president, we do not

anticipate doing any of these things along. with our neighbors and friends, we'll do all of this in the spirit of togetherness in the spirit of harmony and forge ahead to fight the darkness of our times in the spirit that helped build this great institution. that spirit, a spirit that speaks to the very heart of pakistani identity is the spirit of the u.n.. let us join hands in marching forward for the good of the peoples of our countries and for the good of the world. mr. president, with your permission, i'll conclude my statement with the words of pakistan's founding father. it's the expression of pakistan foreign policy. in february 1948 stated, and i quote, "our foreign policy is one of friendliness and good will towards the nations of the world. we do not cherish aggressive

designs against any country or nation. we believe in the principle of honesty and fair play and national and international dealings, and are prepared to make our utmost contribution to the promotion of peace and prosperity among the nations of the world. pakistan will never be found lacking in extending its material land support to the suppressed peoples of the world and upholding the principles of the united nations charter." with this, mr. president, i thank you for your attention. [applause] >> the u.n. also heard from north korea's foreign affairs vice minister on relations between north and south korea. this is 15 minutes. >> translator: mr. president, first of all, i want to congratulate you on your

election of president of the 66th session of the united nations general assembly. i'm confident that your able chairmanship will lead this session to success. my congratulations also go to the republic of south sudan on its admission into the united nations. mr. president, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the u.n. membership of the democratic people's republic of carerra. -- korea. joined the u.n. proceeding from the desire to defend world peace and achieve common prosperity of man kind together with all unit the nations members. we have since remained faithful to the purposes and principles of the united nations charger as its pledged. however, in the present international relations, the logic of power and high handed policies has become all the more

undisguised. dating the principle of sovereign equality against the efforts and desires of the u.n. member states. a few countries are involved in interference and affairs against the use of force with an attempt of the pretext of protecting civilians and defending peace. they misused the process and undermind by the arbitrary and high handed agents of major powers. this requires u.n. member states to reaffirm the principle of defending peace and sovereign equality as in the united nations tractor, and to speed up the process of the united nation reform including the general assembly. a long time ago, the u.n. general assembly adopted resolutions with the u.s.

command in south korea and putting an end to the blockade against cuba. that has not been implemented so far. this just highlights the need of the general assembly. to enhance the authority of the united nations general assembly, it's necessary to urgently pot in place mechanisms whereby the resolutions related to peace and security like those on the use of sanctions and force -- another area where the logic of power is manifested ever more clearly in international relations is the third committee of the united nations general assembly and the united nations human rights counsel. though it's said reform is intended to put an end to polarization and double standards in dealing with human rights issues, there's still remaining the reality whereby specific countries are selected

for discussion on their human right situations where as major human right violaters are passed over in silence all in accord of the west and criteria of western values. it is our view that the reform process of the human rights body should be intensified so as to enhance the system to ensure freedoms on the rights of peoples of all countries respecting their diverse history and culture, ideas, and systems. meanwhile, progress has been made in the field of sustainable development. one of the three goals set by the u.n. over the last two decades following the real declaration on development; however, we still face tremendous challenges. we considered the u.n. conference on sustain the development to be held in 2012 should take steps for the peaceful environment for development, establishment of fair, intesh national, and economic trade relations, remove

of movable of sanctions, technology, and increase assistance to developing countries. it's the right of the people to end the israeli occupation and create an independent state of their own. it is also an obligation of the internarnl community to admit palestine as a fully flenched united nations member state. the dprk recognized palestine as a state in 1998, and we support the mission and express conviction that the aspiration of the palestinian people will be translated into reality. mr. president, now in the dprk, the general march under the

great leadership is in full swing. the dprk government is focusing all of the resources on economic development with the main emphasis on significantly improving the people's livelihood. it's achieving on remarkable success, the economic development of the dprk makes a meaningful contribution to the effortings of the international community to bring about regional development and attain the united nations development goals. in this context, stable and peaceful environment is a vital prerequisite for the dprk and its people today in their struggle for economic developments. we regret, however, that the korean peninsula does not enjoy lasting and stable peace mechanisms. the national division imposed by outside forces and the fragile

without war or peace now existed for half a century. this is the stark reality of the korean peninsula despite the anonymous aspirations and desires of all the people at home and abroad who strive for peace and stability, the arms build up on nuclear war exerses continue to be staged one after another against the dprk in and around the peninsula. due to this factor, there's a constant recurring of dangerous situations on the korean peninsula driven to the bring of war. the pervading situations not only poses a great threat to the sovereignty and security of the republic, but also obstructs the efforts of our peaceful development. if it had not been for the politics unfolded by the great leader of our people, general ill, and the peninsula wf been

turned into a theater of war scores of times already and our maysful economic development unimaginable. the dprk government remains consistent in its stance to secure peace and stability and move towards the peninsula through dialogue and negotiations. the present circumstances of the korean peps la require all parties of concerns to seize the opportunity for dialogue and take courageous decisions to agent -- act boldly and solving the fundamental issues. the continued existence of tension in the korea peninsula is atrittble to the dprk and the united states giving rise to mistrust and confrontation. as long as stability exists with the u.s. and the agreement lfling on each other, mistrust and confrontation will not dispate and the denuclearization

of the peninsula will be possible. it was with this in mind that the dprk proposed last year to hold talks for replacing the arm agreement with a peace agreement. the signing of a peace agreement as part of the implementation of resolution 3390 of the general assembly in 1975 is the most effective confidence building measure for removing between the dprk and the u.s. and will further serve as a driving force for ensuring the denuclearization of the korean peninsula. the denuclearization of the entire korean peninsula was the last instruction given by the great leader of the korean people. the denuclearization of the korean peninsula specified in the september 19th joint statement of 2005 is intended to

turn the whole korean peninsula into a nuclear free zone involving the complete removal in a fair manner of the actual nuclear threat of the korean peninsula from the outside. the korean peninsula originated from the hostile policy and nuclear war threats of the u.s. against the dprk. this being the case, the u.s. is the main party that is responsible for and capable of removing the root cause of the problem. the nuclear issue would never have been raised at all from deploying the threatings with threatening on nuclear arms. under the present circumstances where they started the cross roads of relaxation of tensions, the u.s. should move towards dialogue proceeding from long

term strategic visions. the dprk in the future too makes efforts to establish a durable peace mechanism and will continue to cooperate with all parties concerned for resumption of the six party talks. mr. president, korean relations developing favorably since the publication of the june 15th joint declaration. however, it is extremely unfortunate that the north-south relations have now been ag grated to the worst state ever with the widespread atmosphere of warmongering against the fellow countrymen with the presence south korean authority. there's a serious problem behind this. the issue of fundamental contradictions and antagonisms. different ideas on systems exist now in the north and south of

carerra. given this reality, the choice of unification methods is itself a vital issue to lead toupification or national disaster. the north and south korea through the june 15th joint declaration of 2000 realizes there's commonground with the north and the proposal by the south and agreed this agreement there's support on what was welcomed by our fellow countrymen and the international community. the present authorities on the june 15th declaration with the agreed reunification method and came up with what they call the precomposing the collapse of the other party putting them in a touch and go confrontation increasing danger of war with each passing day. in view of the pervading reality on the korean peninsula, the

unification through absorption method is a road to war where the formula method is a way to peace. it's realistic based on coexistence and the best possible method to prevent war. it's also a reasonable proposal for unification which is in cord of the neighboring countries than the neutrality of the unified state. if the present south korean authorities want to see relaxations and improvements on relations, abandon their attitudes towards peace and switch over to a policy of respecting and fully implementing the june 15th joint declaration on ct 4th drk october 4th agreement greed by the north and south. this further strengthens and develops friendly relations with

all united nation member states in accordance with foreign policy principles of independence, peace, and friendship and will do the best to defend pages and security in the korean peninsula and rest of the world and to promote joint development on the common prosperity of all human kind. thank you. [applause]

>> this is a confession if front of a large and very important audience. i have never embarked on a book about a subject that i knew all about. >> more than 100 authors and booktv returned to the national mall for the book festival. ..

the u.s. naval institute and the military officers association held a fifth annual

forum on providing programs and services to severely injured service members. this news program focused on reintegrating returning veterans into civilian life and issues at the workplace and at home. this portion is 45 minutes. >> it's a great privilege now to introduce the first speaker for the day. he's a graduate of the united states military academy and has served in numerous positions and responsibilities as detailed in your program culminating the operations officer for an armored battalion task force during operation iraqi freedom where he earned his combat action badge and a bronze star. he's earned recognition at numerous schools to include the george c. marshall award as the top graduate at the u.s. army command and general staff. he has a doctorate from oxford university as a rhodes scholar and his top national security studies at west point and in

georgetown university security program. he's also served as military assistant to two deputy secretary of defense and he still has a full head of hair after that duty. [laughter] he's published numerous books, articles and has been featured in newspaper, radio, television programs. he's giving to other talks today and has two other tv shows, so if you see him later in the day you know sheeran his page today. my pleasure to welcome dr. john nagl. islamic thank you very much for your dedication to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and all those who love them, those who are now serving and those who have served. this last decade of warfare has been truly a revolution for the united states military. we have adapted to a very old for fair for which we are not prepared. we've developed new tools to

defeat terrorists and most of all, we have seen a truly extraordinary determination and courage from the new great generation. i think the new greatest generation of young americans who for the first time since the revolutionary war fought and extended campaign purely as volunteers. truly an extraordinarily accomplishment. as the war begins to wind down and this country begins to pay the bills accumulated, we must ensure those who are boring the burden of the war are not forgotten. we must ensure the nation remembers and cares for the veterans and their families as they have earned and as they deserve. i'm going to go back in time a little bit and talk about how we got to where we are and where i think we are and where we need to go from here and i'm going to start in the years following the collapse of the soviet union did a victory over saddam hussein's iraq and desert storm. when i was part of an army that took the fourth largest army in

the world and turned into the second largest army in iraq in the period of about 100 hours. after that war we focused on improving our capability to fight a conventional war against conventional enemies have even though there were few to be found. when the attacks of september 11th struck three of the four targets, america rightly attacked and afghan government that shielded al qaeda toppling the taliban and an ill-fated campaigns that rely upon special forces soldiers some riding horseback calling in the support of the world's most powerful air force. unfortunately, this innovative campaign failed to capture osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda who escapes into pakistan. tragically, it also failed to provide stability to the shattered country that was reeling after a generation of war. the taliban regained strength across the border in pakistan and soon began returning to afghanistan as guerrillas but america was focused elsewhere. the invasion of iraq in march in

2003 was a replay of the afghan campaign on a much larger scale. again, a tremendously successful initial invasion was not enough to build a better piece in the aftermath of the war. in iraq american decisions could disband the iraqi members prevent members of that party from serving in government and postpone local world and a lot of fuel to the nascent insurgency that burst into flame during the hot summer of 2003. my u.s. army unit was preparing for conventional combat against another armored force and we suddenly received orders to deploy to iraq. we arrived in a town in our anbar province. iraq's wild west that was populated almost exclusively by those who hated the shia dominated government that had assumed power in the wake of saddam's departure. the town's police chief was assassinated the david we arrived, the second fall on the sixth month invasion.

we struggled to build a force to protect the people and develop local government in order to translate the needs of the people a hand into words we could understand and programs we could fund coming and we fought bitterly against enemies we could really identify. our town was in a great neighborhood situation between the provincial capital and insurgent hotbed of ramadi and the city of fallujah where the private security contractors to gave a wrong turn to their deaths in the spring of 2004. the american reaction to the killing was swift, powerful and sadly poorly informed spurring the national uprising unified to this shia against us for a short time. there were blown from supply convoys and bush and many units went on half rations as all that we had worked to build to that point went up in flames. in my experience a was a suitable metaphor for the next two years of the war in iraq and the district of the golden mosque in february to doesn't six was the final straw as the

insurgency metastasized into a full-scale civil war. in november, 2006, president bush replaced with the secretary defense and commander in iraq and then he thought it was hopeless. the new commander army general david petraeus had been preparing for this day. he implemented counterinsurgency doctrine that focused on understanding and protecting the population, taking advantage of an army and marine corps that learned painful lessons about what worked and what didn't during the previous tour in iraq. the results were dramatic. violence dropped rapidly with progress exhilarated by the decision of sunnis to join american forces in what became known as the awakening. by the summer of 2008 it was clear to those on the ground something fundamentally changed. the timing is fortuitous as the situation in america's other war was living rapidly in the wrong direction. president obama aaa u.s. forces

committed to afghanistan during the first year in office and intense fighting swiftly resulted in soldiers and marines come struggled to implement the clear cold and build counter insurgency doctrine that had been tested in iraq. america poured resources into building and training and afghan army and police force in efforts hampered more by the recruits and ability to read than by their own willingness to fight. american troops already serving as aid workers and local political let pfizer's found themselves teachers in the campaign against afghan illiteracy as well as fighters against an elusive taliban enemy. americans were helped by an improved intelligence system that had evolved through one designed to understand the other tank armies to one that worked hard to understand local tribal power structures and political relationships and by the new weapon of war that put taliban leaders at risk wherever they were armed drones. these unmanned aircraft provided

phenomenal loader times and intelligence on enemy operations and precise fire power that did damage to taliban chains of command. the drones were part of the intelligence apparatus locating osama bin laden in pakistan in 2011. it was, however, special forces operators who used the intelligence they and other sources provided to kill him marking a critical date in the now decade-long war against al qaeda. as an impressive as all of these accomplishments are, the learning army and marine corps, and air force that increasingly relies upon the unmanned aircraft to rule the skies and navy seals and other special operations forces to conduct literally dozens of operations every night to read to me the most remarkable fact of the past decade of the war is that every soldier, sailor, airman and marine who served has been a volunteer. when america created the all volunteer force of the end of the viet nam, it could not have

imagined that within a generation of volunteers would fight for ten years and to protect it a regular force and with no signs of flagging. recruiting retention remains strong. with all services regularly meeting their goals for volunteers to fight for the nation in her hour of need. we have asked a great deal of these volunteers. many served multiple combat tours putting a strain on their families and on their own mental well-being. suicide among military veterans now exceeds the rate among the same age population as a whole and the veterans of the current war are now unemployed and succeeding those of the general population. we have a solemn obligation to the veterans who volunteered to put themselves in harm's way and to their families which also carry the scars of a decade of war. while many are strong growth for the trials to have endured, all of them have been forever changed.

many with visible wounds, more which damaged invisible to the naked eye but no less traumatic for being on seen. as we draw down our forces in iraq and afghanistan, handing over controls to increasingly capable local governments and security forces, and as we continue to pursue a damaged but still dangerous al qaeda to the ends of the earth, we must hold in our hearts those that have paid a heavy price so that the rest of us can live in freedom. they form the cost of the war and we can never adequately repay them, but we can and we must draw on our power to ease their burdens and thank them for their service in this time of war. your efforts today are an important part of that, and i am immensely pleased and proud to have been able to thank you for the work that you are doing on the behalf of our veterans and their families. thank you very much. [applause]

>> dr. nagl come thank you very much for your outstanding remarks and i would like to present to the naval institute press book the captain who burned the ships by gordon s. brown. >> thank you. it's harder to do now. [laughter] >> adis. [applause] thanks again, dr. nagl. my counterpart, who you will meet, admiral peter daly at the naval institute, the ceo, is giving me the privilege of also introducing the second keynote speaker for this morning. so it's my honor to introduce the honorable mrs. terrie suit. mrs. suit was appointed by governor bob macdonald to the position of assistant governor for commonwealth prepared mess in january of 2011. subsequently, she was appointed as a secretary for veterans

affairs and homeland security, where she works to make virginia the most federal and friendly states in the union. as part of her responsibility, she works with local, state and federal officials to develop a seamless coordinated security and preparedness strategy and implementation plan. prior to her appointment by the governor, she served as a member of the house of delegates, worked on business development and government affairs director for the law firm of williams and numerous positions of responsibility. she has received numerous awards from several organizations, most recently in 2010 she was selected as one of the virginia lawyers weekly influential women of virginia and she certainly is that. recognizing her outstanding efforts in all fields including law, business, health care, education and the arts. please come join me in welcoming the honorable mrs. terrie suit. [applause]

>> thank you. thank you. well, what a great gathering. thank you, admiral for the warm introduction. i appreciate that. great to be here this morning representing governor mcdonald with so many accomplished and distinguished leaders of this military and civilian community. i understand that you're going to have some members of congress here today as well as representatives from the white house and health care practitioners and of course our outstanding men and women of the united states armed forces, whose to the kitchen to their country provides the motivation to be here today. helping those wounded four years who sacrificed so much and do every single day today along with their families. it is truly an honor to be with you and i think you for your service. governor mcdonald has made a public commitment to make virginia of the most veteran and military friendly state in the

nation, and his commitment comes from years of personal experience as a military child, an army officer and a military data with a daughter who was a platoon leader in iraq and combat. i had the honor to serve by the governor in his previous life as a member of the virginia house of delegates and now as a member of his cabinet, focused on fees really incredibly important issues to us and to you. it's an absolute privilege to work with the boss who shares my passion for the military, the governor often quotes the nation's first commander in chief when talking about the importance of caring for the nation's four years and i assure you all have heard before when general washington than president washington said the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war no matter how justified shelby directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by the nation. so we'd always great to start my

day here in the nation's capital, washington, d.c. reminds us all of what our country stands for and the principles by which we live. i grew about an army brat living on the bases all over the great country and overseas and from time to time living in the civilian community that didn't quite understand what military families were all about. my father, who retired as a white bird in the united states army reservist taught me at an early age never take for granted the freedoms of america. with that in mind i can think of no better way to keep ourselves from becoming complacent than to give our absolute best effort to those who put their lives in harm's way each and every day to keep the nation free. as a navy wife, i have had a profound appreciation for the ups and downs that family members live with when there service member is deployed.

tom retired from 2007 but you can never really you retire once you have been a part of a close-knit community. the obligation to advocate for those who continue to serve is overwhelming, and it is a family commitment to rid of one thing i have always found heartening about our modern-day military is the universal inclusion of the surface family both during active duty and in retirement. the people of the great nation have come a long way in their appreciation of military service members and their families and veterans. it wasn't always that way. there was a time when those who disagreed with our country's policies took the disagreement out on our service members and i experienced those days through the eyes of a child, not understanding the anger directed at my father, who i was so proud of when he returned from vietnam. and in those darker days coming

to were the voices advocating for service members who could not politically advocate for themselves. and some of you experience of those days firsthand and you were motivated to get involved to make a difference because of that experience. you got involved in order to change the way our military members and veterans were treated and you did change things. as a wi-fi supported my husband through multiple conflicts, the gulf war, he, kosovo. america was supportive but not completely ignited. i still felt our voices were somewhat muted. in 1999i ran for office as a navy wife, never has a field life. that was important in our community. you never exploited being a part of that special operations group. so publicly it was just a navy wife, which is fantastic to be a

navy wife, and i want a seat in the virginia legislature my mentor was our current governor bob macdonald. i was really motivated to make a difference and to be an active voice for military family members and you know what, moa was by my side as a partner in so many initiatives that we were able to muscle through together here in virginia, well, across the river in virginia. we are very close. you can see us. we made headway but it was a tough fight to get legislation passed to help with issues like school transfer, car registration, professional licensing for spouses and tuition cost. there was still the view of the military family as transient. i heard that word so often. transient. they are not local voters. they are not permanent members of our community. then in 2001, everything

changed. america woke up and service members were given the hero's recognition that they had always deserved. our policy makers will gup as well coming in as my husband deployed to afghanistan in 2005, i deployed to the state capital. it took a tragedy to finally get legislation like in-state tuition rates for military families past it and you know we've always been careful not to exploit tragedy's but sometimes it's a little easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. and when we finally got the bill through the virginia state legislature to give that in-state tuition, it took some effort and it took some real-life experience, and when one of those members on that committee said to me once again they don't pay taxes and virginia, and i reflected on the loss of 11 seals whose helicopter had been hit by an rpg and waiting for four days to know if my husband was alive, i

looked at that member and said they paid the ultimate tax. for crying out loud, give these children in state tuition. [applause] from there it became a pretty easy ride to get a lot of those great pieces of legislation passed. not only did we get in-state tuition for the kids but we got it for the active duty and this past year we got in-state tuition cost for every single veteran that wants to come to virginia. [applause] seóul over the past ten years america has embraced our service members and policy members have recognized the importance of doing more for those who sacrificed so much to protect the nation's freedom we are a popular cause which makes the job for moa perhaps a little easier at least for the service began, the softer balls.

but what about the future? that will change. make no mistake. get all you can while it is good because tough fights are ahead as above wars drawdown and as america becomes desensitized to the plight of our military families and veterans, the fight will be much, much harder. the benefits we of gained will become easy targets for the cuts and reductions. as the american voters move onto other issues moa must carry the banner for the military service members and families issues and veterans' issues. remember, they cannot advocate politically for themselves when they are on active duty. you are the voice. you speak for those who pay the ultimate price to protect the political freedom of america and yet are not positioned to speak out politically for themselves. as the rank of the disabled veterans grow, the financial burden to keep america's commitment will grow. as the retired ranks grow the financial burden of keeping the

promise of health care will grow and policy makers will look for ways to contain that cost. you are the voice that will fight to make sure the popular promises made during the wartime are kept during times of peace and complacency. so today, your focus on the wounded four years. let's talk about that a little bit. unfortunately for many families, the warrior comes from scarred from the battle or traumatized by what they have encountered in theater. still others are wounded in training or by accident which happen every day in the military life as we prepare for the war and one of our main goals must be on the relaunching villages and finding ways to bring a sense of normalcy back to people who find themselves in the toughest situation as a result of the military service so i was asked to share a few things about the way that the commonwealth of virginia is pursuing these laudable goals and that pursued always starts

with listening to the advocates. in virginia we have a unique organization called the joint leadership council of service organizations together they bind their voice and they speak jointly. moa is a tremendous leader in this veteran service organization leadership council. they come together and form an agenda of each year and then jointly 23 members now there are more organizations out there they go to the virginia hills and advocate for these issues. they are critical when we did the fight for the in-state tuition. moa's tom judge pooler of the terse such as sam wilder, jack calpers, i'm not sure if any of them are here today that they've succeeded in helping to shape the veterans of voices and to an extremely effective organization and legislative record has been very in president virginia. through their efforts some of the legislation we have passed for things such as allowing

localities to form special let faizal councils to the judicial system so that the judicial system has reached back to the devotee to try to understand veterans' issues when a veteran is in court. ptsd, behavioral issues, things that might be connected to substance abuse that resulted through those acquired through their service. these are things we need the court system to have a better understanding of and we've been able to pass legislation to form the council's trade legislation that provided the tuition rates we talked about that. legislation this year that changed the entire constitution and as allowing for the real-estate tax exemption for those who are 100% permanently and totally disabled deutsch of the service connected disability. [applause] and of course, moa was key to getting past the virginia wounded warrior program.

i'm going to talk about that in just a minute. some of the highlights of the package that's going to be coming before the governor and the general assembly, the state issued of veterans identification card, one of the things we've learned. our homeless veterans can't even get into a center to get care because they don't have idp to can't get to a federal center without an id card as you by an entity we are working on that issue in virginia. the sales tax exemption for the service organizations we would like to see that it passed. increased access to information about the unclaimed cremated remains of the veterans. we want a list of the unclaimed remains so that we can run against our list and make sure everyone of those veterans is buried and honored in a virginia veterans cemetery and proposals to address homelessness. that problem is only going to grow. as you can see it's been very successful in a very aggressive

so let's talk about the wounded warrior program of the most important legislative programmatic achievements in virginia has been this program and as i mentioned moa was key to the programs birth. in 2008, their colonel led the effort to champion the legislation which created the program and the program of cooperation with the department peter hafed development services and the department of rehabilitative services monitors and coordinates behavioral health and rehab services as well as providing support to an integrated a comprehensive system of public and private partnerships. the goal is to program the services for the virginia veterans and members of the virginia national guard and reserve and families affected by the stress related conditions of a traumatic brain injuries resulting from military service. this is all done under the leadership of the great navy captain retired catherine willson operates across the

commonwealth and kathryn is here today. stand up. where are you? kathy does a phenomenal job for us. [applause] kathy has an approximately $2 million a year budget that came out of the general fund in virginia which is incredible in and of itself. i cannot tell you how incredible it is to get the funds out of a budget. the wounded warrior budget as published five regional programs with regional coordinators most films are veterans are veteran family members and at the local level they are assisted by federal and resources specialists, family resource specialists and commissions. and they work with a consortium of local mental health abuse providers of representatives of the v.a. hospitals in the region, of the vet centers and community-based outpatient clinics. brain injury service specialists, veteran service organizations and any of their private or public organization they can identify the will to outreach to veterans and their family they also assist in va service enrollment if needed and shuffling people over to the

claims officers and virginia. we have state paid claims officers that assist with the disability filings providing individual counseling and family counseling, pure support, and engaged in community activities. since the first year of operation, it's only been a couple of years, the number of the veterans served has tripled and you know as our veterans come off of the role it is going to grow more. in the last fiscal year the staff presented educational program to over 20,000 people in virginia. they also visited the commonwealth bases to educate the family members about the available community services speaking with over 6500 people in the briefings just last year. the program has been very successful partnering with state agencies to obtain federal grants which in turn provide for robust training programs expansions into the rural areas very hard to serve areas and specific training capabilities for the criminal justice system. in the fall of 2010 they

sponsored over three, i'm sorry, for three hour workshops covering the assessment and treatment of the post-traumatic stress disorder. presented to the workshop provided in that research and science on the origins of ptsd common symptoms and the latest evidence based practices that they are being treated. they have had numerous national resources which have cited them and their commissions for use in the practices of all which feeds into the goal of providing better health for the warriors and in the spring of this year they partnered with the department, virginia department of behavioral health and departmental servers services to provide seven summits across the commonwealth addressing the issues of suicide intervention and prevention to beat each summit included a presentation by the programs regional coordinators outlining services available from the regional consortium as less of a side prevention resources of the virginia and other partners.

one thing calfee has taught me is there are a lot of resources of their that people don't know about and the big goal of the wounded warrior programs in virginia is to bring people to those existing resources not to create them again but to put them in touch with what resources exist and make sure they are getting help where we have held for them to read in order to improve access to the services this year the on field a statewide public information campaign entitled we are virginia veterans. and they launched their website. www we to an nagl. they display boards and they produce a variety of forms including national and state conferences, yellow ribbon reintegration evens, golf tournaments and many other events comes as you can tell, we are pretty proud of the wounded warrior programs. it's on its way to becoming a national model.

we have a lot more work to do and it is going to take more resources, and just like the fight at the national level, at the state level we are going to have to continue championing the cause even as the cause starts going down a few notches in popularity as other issues rise as the more popular issues to assure. so in closing, what i would like to tell you as events like today's conference give us all a chance to reflect and highlight the great achievements being made throughout the nation and of suss to learn what others are doing and what we can duplicate and at bat to use in our own communities and i am extremely encouraged by the progress being made and the hope that next year we will be back to talk about even more outstanding work that's being done to get no measure of gratitude could ever be enough to show our thanks and appreciation for what our service members and veterans have done for us and our nation and we have to keep advocating for the service members.

the fight will only get harder as the population of the veterans increases and you are that place for that community, for this community, for our community. you are the men and women who make a difference and into the lives of those who have served. you are the ones making sure that our young people will continue to serve in the nation's military because they precede that those who served before them have been treated well and have been appreciated by this nation. so please, keep doing what you do, such a phenomenal job that. keep looking out for our military and their families and our veterans because they need you. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, secretary suit, for those terrific remarks. and thank you for your passionate and often took leadership and a vet of your

great team headed by calfee. just a fabulous job. and we all know we are here today because we need to continue to raise the bar and to support the entire military family and particularly the wounded warriors and their families. so we are very grateful for your leadership, very grateful for helping us kick this off with terrific remarks coming in on behalf of the u.s. naval institute we would like to present you with the addition of the military advantage. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> okay. we are right on schedule so what we would like to do now is before we bring a first dynamic panel, take a 20 minute break. i'd like everybody to be back here at 20 until ten. [inaudible conversations]

>> i know how hard the challenge is. we had the wind at our back in 2008. president obama knott 53% of the vote that means 47% of americans voted against him. we don't have our wind at our back in this election. we have the wind in our face because the american people have the wind in their faces to the and so this is going to be a titanic struggle. but i firmly believe that we are on the right side of the struggle. >> more from his remarks of the new hampshire institute of politics tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. to hear from new jersey governor christie speaking at the ronald reagan library. the associated press writes that

in the speech governor christie with learns america's promise is being managed from within as a troubled u.s. economy, shaking leadership and political gridlock diminish the nation's ability to solve its problems. our coverage of that speech will be live at 9:00 eastern on c-span.

[cheering] >> earlier today president obama urged congress to pass a jobs bill so he can sign the legislation into law. his remarks, a brimley and high school in denver colorado. this is a half-hour. [applause] [cheering]

[cheering] [applause] >> hello, denver! [cheering] >> what a beautiful day. thank you so much. how's it going! [cheering] i hear that you have a pretty good ball team. that's the story that i've heard. [cheering] well, listen, there are a couple people here i want to acknowledge who are just outstanding public servants. first of all, a hometown hero who is now one of the best secretaries of the interior that we have ever had, ken salazar. [cheers and applause] one of the best governors in the country, john hickenlooper. [applause]

two a standing centers, mark udall -- [cheers and applause] and michael benet. [applause] congresswoman diana degette, congressman ed perlmutter. [cheers and applause] you're own home town mayor michael hancock. [cheers and applause] and former friend -- current friend, former mayor -- [laughter] -- and one of the finest public servants in colorado history. [cheers and applause] so it is good to be back in colorado, especially on a gorgeous day like this. [cheers and applause] it's always like this in late september, isn't it? absolutely. it is an honor to be here at

lincoln high school. [cheers and applause] and i want to get a special thank you to a million for that wonderful introduction. [cheers and applause] i was just talking to emelia, she is a senior this year and she is planning to go to college and planning to be a doctor, and i'm absolutely certain she is going to succeed in everything that she does. and she's an example, a great example of how smarter courses and better technology can help guarantee our kids the foundation that they need to graduate and compete in this new global economy. so, we couldn't be prouder of emelia and we couldn't be prouder of all the students here at lincoln. [cheers and applause] now i came here today to talk about the economy. i came here to talk about how we can get to a place where we are

creating good middle class jobs again. [applause] jobs that pay well and jobs that offer securities. we have a lot to do to make sure that everyone in this country gets a fair shake and a fair shot and a chance to get ahead and that is the number one thing i think about each and every day. your lives, your opportunities. that should be the number one thing that every public servant in washington is thinking about. there is so much that we could accomplish together if washington can finally start acting on behalf of people. [applause] we've got to get that city to stop worrying so much about their jobs and their careers and start worrying about your jobs and your careers. [applause] that's why i sent congress, the american jobs act.

now, i know it's kind of thick but it boils down to putting people back to work and putting more money in the pockets of working americans. [cheers and applause] every single thing in the american jobs that is the kind of proposal for democrats and republicans in the past. everything in it will be paid for. it's been two weeks since i sent it to congress and now i want it back. i want it back and start putting people back to work. [cheering] i've already got the pen ready yet lined up on my desk ready to sign the bill. and every one of you can help make it happen by sending a message to congress, a simple message to pass the jobs bill.

[cheers and applause] look, passed this jobs bill right here in colorado. thousands of construction workers will have a job again. [cheers and applause] one of the most common sense ideas out there. all over the country there are roads and bridges and schools just like lincoln the torian in need of repair. one of the reasons we came here is that this is the fastest growing school and one of the fastest growing school district in colorado. [cheers and applause] so lincoln has been adding new ap courses and language courses and the wonderful principal and administrators here have been making sure the teachers here have been making sure kids have upgraded computers and learning software that's necessary to prepare all of your students for

the jobs in the economy of the future. but you know what? things like science labs take money to upgrade. the science labs here at lincoln high were built decades ago. back in the 60's. i don't know if you have noticed but science and technology has changed since the 1960's. the world has changed a little bit since the 1960's. so we need to do everything we can to prepare our kids to compete. we need to do everything we can to make sure our students can compete with any student anywhere in the world. and every child deserves a great school and we can give it to them. [applause] we can rebuild our schools for the 21st century with faster internet and smarter cutting edge technology and that won't

just create a better learning environment for students it will create good jobs for local construction workers in denver and all across colorado and all across the country. there are schools all throughout colorado in need of renovation but it's not just from the state i cannot to a bridge that connected ohio to kentucky renovation, roads need renovation, we need to lay broadband lines in rural areas and construction projects like these across the country just waiting to get started and there are millions of unemployed construction workers ready to do the job. so my question to congress is what on earth are you waiting for? let's get to work. [cheers and applause] let's get to work. let's get to work. why should average the two children to be allowed to study an outdated the schools. how does that give them the sense that education is important?

we should build them the best schools. that's what i want for my kids and what you want for your kids. that's what i want for every kid in america. why should we let china build the newest airports, the fastest railroads? we should build them right here in america, right here in denver, right here in colorado. [applause] there is work to be done so tell congress passed this jobs bill right away. let's pass the jobs bill and put teachers back in the classroom where they belong. [cheers and applause] you know, places like that where we are adding teachers in droves to prepare their kids for the global economy. we are laying off our teachers left and right all across the country budget cuts are forcing the superintendent's to make choices they don't want to make.

the last thing a governor like john hickenlooper wants to do is to lose teachers. it's on a fair to our kids and it undermines our future and it has to stop. you tell congress passed the americans job act and there will be funding to save jobs of thousands of colorado teachers and cops and firefighters. it's the right thing to do. pass the bill. [applause] if congress passes this jobs bill, companies will get a tax credits for hiring american veterans. think about it. these men and women lead their careers, they leave their families, they are protecting us and our freedom and the last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come

home. that's why congress needs to pass this bill to make it easier for businesses to hire our veterans and use the skills that they develop protecting us. pass this bill and it will have hundreds of thousands of young people find summer jobs next year to help them build skills. it provides the 4,000-dollar tax credit for companies that hire anybody that spent more than six months looking for a job. it extends unemployment insurance but also says if you are collecting benefits he will get connected to a temporary work as a way to build your skills while you are looking for a permanent job. congress needs to pass this bill. congress needs to pass this bill so we can help the people who create most of the new jobs in this country. america's small-business loans. it's all terrific that corporate profits have come over and back but small companies haven't come back. let's give them a boost. pass the bill and every

small-business owner in america gets a tax cut. [cheers and applause] if they hire new employees or raise their employees' salaries they get another tax cut. you know, there are republicans in congress who like to talk about being the friends of america's job creators. well if you actually caribou americans jobs, you should help american job creators with a tax cut by passing this bill. right away. [cheers and applause] and finally if we get congress to pass this bill the typical working family in colorado will get more than $1,700 in tax cuts next year. 1700 that would have been taken out of your paycheck now goes back in your pocket. [applause] if congress doesn't act, if congress fails to pass this bill middle class families will get

hit with a tax increase of the worst possible time. be can't let that happen. republicans say there is a party of tax cuts. let them prove it. tell them to fight just as hard for tax cuts for working americans as they fight for the wealthiest americans. tell them to pass this jobs bill right now. [cheers and applause] let me summarize the americans job act will leave a job for construction workers, teachers, for veterans, jobs for young people, jobs for the unemployed. it will provide tax relief for every worker and small business in america. and by the way, it will not add to the deficit. it will be paid for. last week i laid out a plan that would not only pay for the jobs bill but would begin to actually reduce the debt over time to be it's a plan that says if we want to create jobs and close the deficit, then we've got to not

only make some of the cuts we've made tough cuts with the help of mark and michael we were able to get done. but we have also got to ask the wealthiest americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share. [applause] looked look, we need to reform our tax code based on the simple principle. middle class families should pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires -- shouldn't pay higher tax payers the millionaires and billionaires. a teacher or nurse or construction worker making $50,000 a year shouldn't pay higher tax rates than somebody making 50 million. that is just common sense. [applause] and keep in mind, i'm not saying that because we should be punishing success. this is the land of opportunity. what's great about this country

is that any of these young people here, if they've got a good idea, if they go out there and they are willing to work hard they can start a business, they can create a value, great products and services and make billions and billions, that's great. that is what america is all about. anybody can make it if they try. but what is also a quintessentially american idea is that those of us who have done well should pay a fair share to contribute for the upkeep of the nation that is made our success possible because nobody did well on their own. a teacher somewhere helped to give you the tools to succeed. [applause] firefighters and police officers protecting your property. you are moving your goods and products and services on the roads that somebody built. that's how we all do well

together. we got here because somebody else invested in assets. and we have to make this generation of students go on scholarships like i did. we've got to make sure we keep investing in the the kind of government research that helps to create the internet, which countless private sector companies then use to create tens of millions of jobs and you know what, i'm positive i talked to both wealthy americans agree with this. of course the republicans in congress call this class warfare. you'll know what? is asking a millionaire to pay the same tax rate as a plumber makes me class warrior, a warrior for the working class, i will accept that. i will wear that as a badge of honor. [cheers and applause] the only warfare i see is the battle waged against middle class families in this country for a decade now.

all some of the, colorado -- this comes down to choices and priorities. if we want to pay for this jobs plan, put people back to work, close the deficit, invest in our future, then the money has to come from somewhere. so my question is would you rather keep tax loopholes for all companies? [booing] forty-one construction workers to have a job rebuilding of schools and roads and bridges? [cheers and applause] would you rather keep tax breaks for billionaires' that they don't need or would you rather put teachers back to work and help small businesses and cut taxes and reduce our deficit? [applause] it's time to build an economy that creates good middle class jobs in this country. it's time to build an economy that honors the value and hard work and responsibility. it's time to build an economy that lasts. in denver that starts malcolm

and i need your help to make that happen. [applause] i just want you -- just remember republicans and democrats in the past have supported every kind of proposal that is in here. there is no reason -- we need to tell them that it's time to support these proposals right now. you know, there are some republicans in washington who said that some of this might have to wait until the next election. [booing] maybe we should just stretch this out rather than work together right now. some even said that if they agree with of the proposal in the american jobs that they still shouldn't pass it because it might give me a win. think about that? give me win? give me a break. that's why folks are fed up with washington. [cheers and applause] the folks in washington don't

get it. this isn't about giving me a win to read this is about giving democrats and republicans a chance to do something for the american people. [cheers and applause] it's about giving people who are hurting a win. that's what this is about. it's about giving small business owners in win and entrepreneurs a win and students and working families in win. giving all of us a win. [applause] the next election is nearly 14 months away. the american people don't have the luxury of waiting that long. folks here in colorado for a living paycheck to paycheck. week to week. they need action and they need it now. for some and asking all of you i need you to lift up your voices, not just here in denver but anybody watching, anybody listening, anybody following online. i need you to call, e-mail, tweet, fax, visit your congressperson unless they are

the congressperson here because they are already on board, tell them you are tired of gridlock, you are tired of the game. tell them the time for action is now. tell them you want to create jobs now. tell them to pass the bill. [cheers and applause] if you want construction workers on the job, pass the bill. if you want teachers back in the classroom, pass the bill. if you want a tax cut for small business owners, pass the bill. if you want to help our veterans share the opportunity that they've defended, pass the bill. it is time to act. we are not eight people to sit back and wait for things to happen. we make things happen. we are americans. we are tougher than the times that we live in and we are better than the politics that we have seen out of washington. we write our own destiny. it is in our power to do so once more so let's meet this moment and get to work and show the

world once again why the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. go lincoln. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] [inaudible conversations]

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