handling the trifecta of debt limits, sequester, debt limit, sequester and what's -- the bush tax cuts in thing that you refer to of handling it and committing to it, and allowing some time to do a comprehensive tax reform proposal. but i think whoever's president, tax reform should be at the top of the national agenda. and i hope it will. >> to let me just drill on that. he wrote an article recently say nothing would be more important than reaffirming. and this also came up in some of

our discussion today, paul volcker talked about the need for tax reform and said he would like to see his even be older than tackling expenditure and lowering rates, which is kind of the grand bargain and seems what you have been mind. moving toward integrating personal taxes with corporate taxes, or moving toward a consumption tax. very mention of vat. i don't necessarily need you time your detailed plan but how ambitious would you be, how would you look at the revenue raising pursing the incentive trade-offs? you know, can you say a little bit more about the framework you would bring to this? >> i think we should be open to every possibility. i first whipped in 1985 that americans never had a value-added tax because conservatives think it's a money machine for government. and liberals think it's

regressive. and liberals decide the money machine for government, and conservatives decided it's okay because it was progressive. that fell right in 1985. you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same. i think we should be open to the possibilities. i guess i would want us to keep a pretty clear awareness on the four things that i said. i worry, i think we're going to need more revenue because i don't think we will cut entitlements by -- i just don't think it's going to happen. i think it would surprise us. i think the domestic discretionary efforts are laudable, but i think they were really bite in squeezed in

people don't anticipate something the surprises will be adverse and i don't think we'll get that much out of entitlements. endless we are lucky in a way that health care a just itself, which is not what i would expect but is not something that i would rule out. so we will need more revenue, and we're going to need -- look, and simple numbers, simple numbers, top 1% of the population used to get 10% of all the income. and now they get 20% of all income your and that works out to about $8000 per taxpaying unit in the bottom 90%. and it works out to about $800,000 per taxpaying unit in the top 1%. i would just suggest to you a simple criteria, while that's

happening, the relative tax burden on the top 1% shouldn't be going down. you can argue about whether, when you have a lot more inequality you should have a lot more redistribution or not, every symbol argument. people more progressive will be more oriented to having more redistribution. but it's very hard for me to understand why we should have that. and the least honest advocacy in a town where there's a lot of dishonest advocacy is the people who say, the top 1% are paying a higher fraction of taxes than they did before. therefore, the tax system has become more burdensome to the rich. neglecting the overwhelming reason why they're paying more than they did before -- >> they had twice as much income. >> on income inequality, you talked about that a lot and we mentioned coming in here. in addition, it would talk about it today, in addition to thinking about as we look at

reforming taxes, are there other things that policy can do that should be doing to deal with the various factors, globalization, technology change, and other things, that are causing it to get worse? >> there's a lot of this that is going to be very hard to change. look, if you think about the evolution of publishing industry from -- >> i prefer not to. [laughter] >> publishers, the book industry, not yours. publishers, wholesalers, distributors, and bookstores to barnes & noble and borders, to amazon shipping books through the mail, to amazon sending e-books, which there were more last month in book sales. think about the stages in that.

every stage got better to be a reader, you had more variety of lower costs. and basically got better to be stephen king. be an author, because it access to much better distribution, and what got it worse was to be like a regular schlund card caring around are working on a cash register or being a store manager. that's basically what happened. those kinds of forces are happening almost everywhere. and you can't change. and if he did try to change them, you would be taking us back from the world cutting-edge which is where we don't want to go. that's what a fair amount of it comes back to tax policy, but there are other things to be looking at. much more transparency in compensation is clearly a

helpful thing. where the government is in the business of confirming rent, more auctions and less give away, less responsiveness to political pressures. that's something that is, that is helpful. i do think we need to engage -- and this is a very difficult set of issues, and it is easy to this end into populist know nothingism in the area that i am about to mention. but, you know, with the citizens united decision, we decided somehow in america that corporations have the free speech rights of citizens. well, you know, goes back to the

framers, that citizenship comes with privileges and comes with obligations. and i think we have to think very hard about what we ask american corporations that benefit very substantially from being american corporations to do in america. as we think about the orientation of our commercial policies, we have to think about whether our object to focus is a point bob reischauer highlighted years ago, and he was early on, whether the focus of our concern is productive activities take place within the united states. and employed americans, or whether the focus of our concern corporations that are legally registered in the united states

that may be producing anywhere. and to think some greater focus back towards the interests of american workers and our commercial policies would be constructive. >> interesting. i'm going to ask one more question, and i think we have seven or eight more minutes. i suspect some of you would like to ask larry a question, too, and you were welcome to be walking up to the mics. we were talking about energy policy when we came in. would that be a big priority for you, if you're being called in to give a piece of your mind to the next president? what would you be doing? >> look, i think if you think about the large systems in our economy, there's a health care system. we pass comprehensive reform, see how it works, a lot of questions you can ask about it, but we had a big consideration that we did something. there's a financial system. we had a big consideration.

a disaster, in a big consideration, than we did something, and now we're in an implementation phase. there's education system. we have worked that system, and are striving to reform that system. i think the areas that are less touched by reform, and that need to be touched, our the energy system and the broad infrastructure system. by brought infrastructure, i embrace both public infrastructure, like highways, and infrastructure that is primer exploded by the private sector, like spectrum. i think those two systems, infrastructure and energy, are very much both in need of attention. i think energy is a classic area

where it needs to be both. yes, we need a greater commitment to renewables. yes, we need a greater commitment to the substantial natural gas resources that we have discovered. yes, we need a substantial commitment to energy efficiency. so we need more than we have traditionally the energy area, instead of doing what this town has intended to do, which is the intersection of policies that nobody hates too much. we need to do the union of policies that some set of people think would be terrific. and i think if we do that, we can make real progress, we can make some real progress on energy. and i think whoever is the next president, that's something that should be on the agenda.

>> i see people are standing up. let me start here and they will go over there. identify yourself. >> thank you. rob, aci investment. sector summers, you were there at a very tee time at harvard during the incubation of facebook. i wish of trees if you could just bring up a little bit as to sort of the hands-off lessons learned there but the success and what that translates some the thinking here today's program. >> since i get my for all sorts of things i did at harvard, which are actually nothing to do with, i'm sorely tempted to take credit. i'm sorely tempted to take credit for facebook, even though i've nothing to do with it or i guess i could call having nothing to do with it creating it and enabling and if i were. it wouldn't be the most shameless claim that was ever made. look, i think the fact that we

have enormously talented young people, we bring them together in hothouse environment, and we encourage them to create, do innovative things is one of the great strengths of this country. and every year when i was at harvard i gave some kind of speech to the graduating seniors. and the one piece of advice that was always in the speech was don't be fungible. don't make yourself fungible. do something where you've got some uniqueness. and i think that was good advice, and i think that can go to contribute to why the united states produces, you know. if you say no gates, larry page, sergey brin, mark zuckerberg, and then you look for a

non-united states name to add to that list, it feels plausible at all. steve jobs, you could add five more american names. if you try to think of the most plausible non-american name to add to that list, it's not easy. and that's really a great strengths for the country spend so mark zuckerberg was in the room when you give your don't be fungible speech, he definitely could claim credit i think. over your. >> stephen day, international ventures. i to question about defense budget. i think the correct figure is about $1.22 a year on a full cost basis. my question is, why is it so difficult to discuss searcy reducing the? we spend more than all other nations combined. it's a huge piece of the total expenditures of the budget. why is it difficult? why is this an area that is not

discussed? >> it is discussed. the current plans call for significant reductions in defense spending. and if you ask about the longer-term, you know, today we are running at three-point something percent of gdp in defense spending. through the 1950s and '60s, in the '50s we run in the ninth, 10% gdp range. in the '60s we run in the seventh, 8% of gdp range. so if you take a longer view we are very substantially reduce our commitment to defense. should it be reduced further? that's a judgment that i think should be made on national security grounds, i me, i may not be an expert on anything i don't claim to be an expert on national security grounds. if i do claim to be an expert on some other things. i guess i would ask you to think

about, before regarding the property as being quite an obvious, as you suggest, we are, when we sin 200,000 of these soldiers abroad, 40% of what we allocated to the iraq, first iraq war, were indeed not. we are stretched unsustainably fan. now, maybe we should maintain our defense posture. maybe it's obvious we still have two grand a defense posture, even when stationing 300,000 people abroad for a number of years any conflict situation would be untenable. maybe that's just outside the could ever happen again in the world and so it's appropriate for us to be where we are. but i would say that 100% obvious. that's why i would be, i would want to be very careful. national security is, you know, it's like fixing the brakes on your car. you know, good to save a little

money, but it's really very dangerous to already ghana my's. i think that's worth keeping in mind. >> i think we'll have to end on that note. larry, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. [applause] >> coming up at the end of the month of the supreme court will hear three days of oral arguments challenging the health care law.

>> they would wear garments made of homespun cloth. this homespun cloth would be much more rough textured, the much less fine than the kind of goods that they could import from great britain. but by wearing this homespun cloth, women were visibly and vividly and physically displaying their political sentiment. >> sunday night at night, george mason university professor rosemarie zagarri on the role of women during the revolutionary war, part of american history tv this weekend on c-span3. >> i was quite a radical as a young person and i was the one

that taught that to sing we shall overcome was really not a very, very effective way of gaining civil rights. and i think that i thought that more confrontation was needed. spent economic professor, columnist and substitute host for rush limbaugh, walter willliams on being a radical. >> i believe that a radical is any person who believes in personal liberty and individual freedom, and limited government. that makes you a radical. and i've always been a person he believed that people should not interfere with me. i should be able to do my own thing without, so long as i don't violate the rights of other people. >> sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. >> on thursday health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius unveiled the tips from former smokers campaign. that's a new federal campaign

against tobacco use. she was joined by the surgeon general and the director of the centers for disease control. from the museum in washington, this is 35 minutes to present some of the ad you're about to see are graphic and then maybe upsetting to some viewers. >> good afternoon, everyone, and thank you. i'm delighted to have the chance to share the stage with two of our great health leaders, in health and human services, dr. regina benjamin, surgeon general, and dr. tom frieden, who heads the centers fester i also want to personally thank the individuals who were here, some of them you will hear from, the former smokers, whose real-life story inspires this effort and outreach. we are here today to announce

the latest step this administration is taking in our fight against the number one cause of preventable death in america. the new ad campaign we are launching today will feature some of the most moving and attention-grabbing stories about smoking's devastating health and we expect it will lead more than half a million smokers to seek out the resources they need to quit. when we look back just a few decades to the days of smoking on airplanes and elevators, it can be easy to focus on how far we've come since then. it can be easy to be lulled into a sense of complacency and start to think of tobacco use as a problem that will go away on its own. but, unfortunately, we know better.

and the numbers tell a very different story. tobacco continues to kill 443,000 americans every year. and for every person who dies from smoking, at least two new young smokers take their place. in total, across this country, we have 4000 young americans under 18 smoking their first cigarette every day, recruited by a tobacco industry that spends more than $10 billion a year to sell its products as cool and fun. the ad campaign we're launching today will tell the real story of how tobacco use can change your life. the courageous individuals who have volunteered to be in this campaign have lost long's, legs, fingers, and the ability to speak as a result of smoking skull. stories like these are already familiar to the millions of

americans currently suffering from tobacco-related illnesses and their families and friends. but we hope these ads, based on successful campaigns in several states, will be a wakeup call for the smokers and potential smokers who are not yet aware of the enormous damage they may be doing to their health. the campaign will build on a broad agenda we've undertaken in the last three years to stop kids from starting to smoke and help the 70% of smokers who want to quit make that difficult leap. we've enacted historic anti-tobacco legislation that cracks down on the backdoor tactics tobacco companies use to market their products to kids and restricts the use of misleading terms like "light" or "mild." these reforms had been debated for years. now we are pleased to say they are the law of the land.

we've also passing health care law that's making it easier for people to get counseling to help them quit smoking. and we made a key change so that medicare now covers this treatment before people get sick, instead of forcing them to wait until symptoms start showing up. we're also supporting state-based quit lines, and backing proven local anti-tobacco efforts, that can eventually become models for the rest of the country. and there are signs that momentum is building around the country. for the first time, we now have comprehensive smoke-free laws in more than half of states. as we pursue these efforts, we're also conscious of the enormous burden tobacco use puts on our economy: almost $200 billion a year. any step we can take to reduce tobacco use even a small amount is likely to have a huge payoff in reduced health care costs and higher productivity.

in fact, we estimate that this campaign will save $170 million over the next three years. as last week's surgeon general's report made clear, if we want to accelerate falling tobacco rates, we need to take an all-of-the-above approach that reaches everyone from the 12-year-old thinking of testing 75-year-old lifetime smoker who could still reap huge health benefits from quitting. that's what we've been doing, and this campaign is a key addition to those efforts. again, thank you for and with us today for this important announcement. and our flight to turn over the podium to surgeon general regina benjamin. regina. [applause] >> good afternoon. in a very special thank you to secretary sebelius for his exceptional leadership in this

critical issue and as a public health issue. she really regrets to have to leave for another commitment because she's really been very involved in this initiative on the beginning. unit, being here today is personal to me. as many of you, it's also personal to you. as i mentioned when i took this position, my mother died of lung cancer from smoking. when she was young she started smoking because she was a girl, she wasn't allowed to smoke like her twin brother was, and she said as soon as she got to be old enough she would, and she started smoking as a teenager. and it took her life. and i then watched my uncle, her twin brother, a world war ii prisoner of war survivor, sit tied to an oxygen tank struggling for each breath because of smoking-related emphysema, until just a few months ago when his lungs simply

gave out. i don't want anyone else to have to suffer the loss of a loved one due to a preventable condition, such as those caused by tobacco use. over the past two years, i've had the privilege of releasing to surgeon general's reports on tobacco. the first one, which has become known as the heartstopper report, because it says, it shows one cigarette can cause a heart attack. in the science of how tobacco smoke damages almost every organ in your body. in a second report was the one that was released just a week ago focused on youth and young adults. the stories you're going to hear today will convey the messages from those to surgeon general's report, in very dramatic and very real ways. i want to tell you a little bit about the science and what, from the doctor's standpoint.

you know, tobacco smoke is a toxic mix of more than 7000 chemicals and compounds. in healing these chemicals in tobacco smoke causes immediate and long-term damage which can lead to disease and to death. damage from tobacco smoke is immediate. the chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs very quickly every time you inhale. your blood then carries the toxins to every organ in your body. exposure to tobacco smoke quickly damages the blood vessels throughout the body, making blood more likely to clot. the chemicals in the tobacco smoke damages the delicate linings of the lungs and causes premature and permanent damage. that reduces the ability of the lungs to inhale air efficiently, and leads to what we called copd, or chronic obstructive lung disease, which includes emphysema.

also, many americans have some degree of coronary artery disease and they don't even know they have it because they haven't experienced any symptoms. but people with heart disease are at risk from secondhand smoke exposure. even a brief exposure to tobacco smoke leads to changes in the blood vessel function and blood clotting, which could trigger a heart attack. chemicals from tobacco smoke causes inflammation and cell damage and can weaken your immune system. and the chemicals and the toxins in tobacco smoke damages your dna, which can lead to cancer. smoking can weaken your body's ability to fight cancer. also, smoking makes it harder for diabetics have a good their blood sugar. that's why smokers with diabetes have a high risk of kidney disease, peripheral artery disease and nerve damage resulting in applications and poor vision, and even blindness.

tobacco smoke is addicting. cigarettes are designed for addiction. nicotine is a key chemical compound the causes that powerful addicting ethics of cigarettes the other ingredients and design features make an even more attractive and more addictive than ever before. product designs such as filtered ventilation, flavoring agents, and added chemical ingredients make nicotine easier to absorb and can deliver more quickly into the brain. this increases the addictive kick and the pleasure that smokers feel. and adolescence bodies are more sensitive to nicotine, and adolescence are more easily addicted than adults. this helps explain what everyday 1000 teenagers become smokers, daily. and as you've heard, every day more than 1200 americans die from smoking. and each one of those people who died are being replaced by two young smokers.

in almost 90% of those replacement smokers smoked the first cigarette before they were age 18. fortunately, less people smoke today than in the past. with a whole lot of effort, our nation has reduce tobacco use by half since the first surgeon general's report in 1964. however, since 2003, our progress has stalled. it has stayed the same since 2003. one in five adults in the united states continues to smoke. and 3.6 million adolescence smoke. tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the united states. but the good news is that we know what to do. if you or your loved one smokes, please quit. as a family physician, i tell my patients, which is now 300 million americans, that quitting get your body a chance to heal the damage caused by

smoking. quitting at any age and at anytime is beneficial. when smokers quit, the risk of a heart attack drops sharply after just one year. stroke risk in fall to about the same as non-smokers, two to five years. and the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and bladder are cut in half in five years. and the risk of dying from lung cancer drops in about half in 10 years. so it's never too late to quit, but the sooner you do the better. as a nation we know what works. when we increased the price of tobacco, smoking rates decline. when we enact smoke-free policies and reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, we prompt quitters to quit and smokers to quit, change the social norms, support healthy decisions and reduce heart attack. and when we educate the public with aggressive media campaigns, we informed them of the risk and

encourage tobacco users to quit and prevent you from starting. so today we are going to do just that. educate the public with an aggressive media campaign. then i'm going to ask dr. tom frieden, the director of the centers for disease control and prevention, to come and tell us about the cdc's tip from smokers, from former smokers campaign. dr. frieden? [applause] thank you very much, surgeon general benjamin. thanks also to the department of health and human services, and secretary kathleen sebelius have been real leaders, effectively pushing tobacco control onto the agenda and moving us forward through the fda and to many other means to reduce tobacco use in the u.s. i'm here as a director of centers for disease control and prevention, the nation prevention agency. i'm also here as a doctor, and

when i think about smoking, i think of the patients i have cared for with emphysema, gasping for every breath. the patients i cared for who didn't live to see their children graduate from high school, college. patients i have cared for who had strokes or heart attacks and been unable to go back to the life they were previously leading. and the people who develop cancer, and died from it, or had to go through painful and difficult treatment. that's the real story of smoking, and that's why we are at the newseum, because this is the reality. this is the news. this is what smoking brings to people's lives. nearly 90% of smokers begin smoking at a young age of wonder under the age of 18. and smokers may commonly think that they're just going to die a few years younger. and while it's true, that smokers die younger, it's also

true that they live sicker. big tobacco had spent more than $100 billion on marketing and promotion in recent years to convey that healthy image that secretary sebelius spoke of. but now, thanks to these courageous ex-smokers, we can bring the realities of smoking for smokers and non-smokers across the country. the ads that you'll be seeing later are not easy to watch. as physicians, it's not easy to care for patients dealing with very difficult medical conditions. as individuals, it's even harder to live with these conditions, day in and day out. and yet, the smokers who will come for to tell their stories are living vibrant, healthy, affirming lives, nothing other smokers to quit. ads like these work. research by the institute of

medicine, national cancer institute, the committee guy, reviews an and a scientific literature are unanimous. hard-hitting ads convinced smokers to quit and reduce the likelihood that kids will start smoking. i will confess that about eight years ago when i was running the health department, i wasn't convinced that ads like this worked. so we decided to do essentially a test, and we ran hard-hitting ads for one year, and systematically monitored the impact. and, in fact, was dramatic. we saw a substantial decline in smoking, especially in the communities where the highest rates of advertising were, and the models and people who came forward, whatever we showed the ad the most, people stop smoking within the greatest number. it was a dose response relationship.

now, the fact is that the tobacco industry continues to do aggressive marketing and promotion. the tobacco industry has spent more on january 1 and 2nd of this year and we at the cdc will spend in the entire year on this campaign. so this is going up against great odds, but i'm very confident that we will prevail. because the truth does prevail, and the truth is what these ex-smokers are showing to america. ads only work if they are done right, and the evidence is clear that hard-hitting ads work. these will pay for themselves and reduce medical costs in just a few years, we think, but even more importantly it will help 50,000 smokers to quit, we project, and save thousands of lives. these are inspiring, courageous people, many here today who are willing to share their stories.

so i'd like to have the honor of introducing three of the former smokers who will come up, one by one, tell us their stories. first is brandon carmichael from north dakota. brandon is 31 years old. he has burgers disease. he was diagnosed at age 18. and while the amputations he has undergone from burgers disease are very specific from smoking are very common. and a wide range of people. second, roosevelt smith from virginia, hh one was at a heart attack and heart surgery. he was 45 when he was diagnosed. and third, terrie hall from north carolina, 45, has cancer, diagnosed at the age 40. we will hear presentations from these three individuals, and then i believe we will show all of the ads. so first, brandon.

[applause] >> thank you. thank you again providing here to speak today. i'm brandon from north dakota i started smoking when i 16 years old. pressure drove me to pick up that first cigarette. just three years later at the age of 18, i was diagnosed with buerger's disease, eye disease that affects younger middle-aged smokers between the age of 20-40. it causes inflammation, clouding of the arteries and veins result in reduced circulation. because of that diagnosis i suffered extreme pain, multiple source, and even gangrene. by the time i was 19, i had lost my left leg, i'd lost my right leg at the age of 23. and because of my poor circulation, of the my index

fingers are now shorter than the rest of my fingers. off and on throughout this ordeal i continued to smoke. at the age of 27, i was finally able to quit. the use of nicotine replacement -- replacement therapy helping in this process but by home health care nurse gave me the willpower and strength to finally quit successfully. that nurse is now my wife. not everyone will have a guardian angel that i consider my wife to be in helping the through this process. for those people still struggling to quit, i urge you to get the help that is available. there are tools and resources out there that can help. if there's anything else to learn from my story, it's that smoking has consequences you may not even be aware of. you just don't know what the consequences of that next cigarette will be. thank you. [applause]

>> who roosevelt smith. >> hello. i'm roosevelt from virginia. i became a daily smoker at 17 when i enlisted in the navy for the next 28 years i was a pack a day smoker. i've had five heart attacks, received two stents, and had one open heart surgery. where they performed six different bypasses. despite all this, i still continued to smoke. addiction is that strong. i lost my ability to work my trade as a commercial plumber. i could no longer perform the task that was needed.

not being able to work created financial hardship for my family and myself. something that impacts me to this day. i have five children. after my heart attacks i could no longer physically -- do physical activities with my children. three years ago i finally quit. my heart physically hurt from the years of smoking. but my mood came from the heart. i did not want to inflict further pain on my family. i wanted to do all i could do to ensure that i would be around for my children to grow up. do not think cigarettes can't hurt you. they will. if you want to quit, your family and friends would be glad to help you. your loved ones will thank you, and i know mine did. thank you. [applause]

>> terrie hall from north carolina. >> and good afternoon. i'm terrie from north carolina. i want to thank you for allowing the to tell my story. i started smoking at the age of 17. i smoked for 23 years. at the peak of my addiction i was up to two packs a day. at the age of 40, i was diagnosed with lennox cancer. and now i have a hole in my neck. i have had cancer 11 times. seven since my larynx started.

in 2001. you know, you think this only happens to other people. well, i and the other people. when i was growing up, there was no education in the kellogg about tobacco. what the cdc is doing today through this campaign, it's many us into a positive direction. i'm grateful for the opportunity to share my story. hopefully that will keep others from making the choice that so impacted my health and my life. thank you. [applause] >> buerger's disease, a vascular disease brought on by smoking spent my fingers started to go

piece by piece. >> first it was my left leg. after my left leg, it was my rightly. and so now i'm a double amputee, all from smoking. >> mica to everyone is, don't believe that this can't happen to you, because it can. >> you can quit. for free help call 1-800 quit now. spent my name is roosevelt the always thought that cigarette smoking just messed up your lungs but i never thought that at only 45 would give me a heart attack. i never thought it would stop me from playing basketball with my kids are kind of thought it would give me a scar like this. and i never thought it would change my life forever. spent my tip is do your part of favor and quit now. >> you can quit. for free help visit smoke-free.gov. >> i am married.

[inaudible] >> you can quit. for free help call 1-800-quit-now. >> it began with my big toe. that was my first amputation that i had spent buerger's disease, it's a flash of disease brought on by smoking. >> my fingers started to go piece by piece. >> first it was my left leg. after my left leg it was my right leg. so now i am a double amputee, all from smoking spent my tip to everyone is, don't believe that this can't happen to you because it can. >> you can quit. for free help call 1-800-quit-now. >> my name is roosevelt. i always thought cigarette smoking didn't mess up your lungs but i never thought that

at only 45 would give me a heart attack. i never thought it would stop me from playing basketball with my kids. never thought it would give me a scar like this. and i never thought it would change my life forever. >> my tip is, do your part of favor and quit now. -- do your heart of favor, and quit now. >> let's get huge round of applause to the brave young men and women who told their story. [applause] >> many of them are here with us today. this is the reality. and what's at stake is today and every day that is here, 1200 americans will be killed by tobacco. and for every person who dies there are 20 more you are living

with the disease, disability or disfigurement from tobacco. americans, whether you smoke or not, are paying the costs of smoking. not only in human lives, productivity that we're losing in the commuters, but in $200 million a year, $200 billion a year, excuse me, and health and productivity costs. starting today, americans will see the reality of smoking as doctors and family members, patients and loved ones see it. there's good news. most americans who ever smoked have already quit. we are making progress. and most americans who smoke today want to quit, more than two-thirds want to quit. and most tried to quit every year. ads like these and support

services greatly increase the likelihood that they will succeed to becoming tobacco free. if you smoke, quitting is the most single most important thing you can do to improve her health. and it will also protect the people around you. children whose parents smoke are twice as likely to smoke themselves. and virtually all children who live with a smoker have detectable levels of smoking toxins in their bodies, even if people don't smoke in their homes. if you smoke, quit. if someone you love smokes, help them quit. most smokers quit on their own, using quit lines, medication and counseling, can double or more than double their chances of succeeding. so again, if you smoke, quit now. and if you want help, you can call the national toll-free quit line at 1-800-quit-now, or visit

smokefree.gov. i want to again thank the department of health and human services, secretary sebelius, surgeon general regina benjamin, and most of all the courageous men and women who came forward to share their stories with america, to protect and help other americans get free of tobacco. we can now i think take a few questions. [inaudible] >> for both you, please. i wanted to ask you about the stage. you took a major step level of the federal level. the states may not be. the 25 million they are getting from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, only 2% is going to antismoking. is that enough? should the states be doing more? >> the centers for disease control and prevention publishes guidelines for what states

should spent on tobacco control in order to reduce the use of tobacco. no state reaches the recommended level for funding, and some of them are at single digits in terms of their portion of the funds that they dedicate to tobacco control. there are some people have said well, the recent smoking isn't going down so much is we've reached some kind of irreducible minimum. that's simply wrong. the states that continue to invest in tobacco control have seen a continued steady decline in tobacco use rates. california, for example, is down to about 12% tobacco use rates and some communities in california are down to single digits. so more progress is possible. a national campaign does not replace state and local efforts. it supplements it. one of the things we do at cdc is to host a media resource center for anti-tobacco ads. these ads and others are there so that states and local jurisdictions can choose with their own resources to extend that and run to more.

we also have to give thanks to some of the stations that will be running these ads free, in addition to the paid ads we spent to get at least one for every $3 we spent and donated ads. next question. i've been joined by doctor tim mcafee was the direct of the office of smoking and health at centers for disease control and prevention. >> did we answer all of the questions? were we that clear? >> i just want to -- [inaudible] >> we understand that the states are inconsiderable, under considerable pressure fiscally. at the same time we know that tobacco controllers is a goodbye. is a good return on investment in terms of driving down costs. so any states that want to see fewer people dying and lower medicaid costs should be served to consider increasing their investment in tobacco control. >> i would just add that the

purpose of the surgeon general's report is to give good science and evidence and facts out so that policymakers, communities, individuals can make good decisions and they can make good policy decisions. and our hope is that the states would try to reach good decisions, and we also encourage them to look at the cdc levels of funding. but it's left up to the states. our role is to give them information so they can make those good decisions. >> thank you. next question. >> are you going to be able to run some of these ads in spanish, and in spanish television stations and radio? >> yes. one of the ads is in spanish. and as we do further ads we will continue to work on providing these were different communities within the u.s. one of the ads that we didn't show was on secondhand smoke, and that is in both interest and spanish, and we have the person

who taped that add here with us, showing basically that anytime people smoke around someone with asthma, they're much more likely to have an asthmatic attack and end up in the emergency department, or even hospitalized. asthma is more common in hispanic communities and so that's the ad we targeted to that community. [inaudible] >> have you thought about how we the public health, how we and the public health community can help? because odyssey they are very important to do and it's possible the tobacco industry will react similar in the ways they've acted in the late '80s to cigarettes. >> we will see what the tobacco industry does. our focus is bringing the reality to the lives of americans who smoke, in order to save lives. i think we can't expect that some people will say, why are

you spending money on something like this, when we have such severe fiscal pressures. and yet again, tobacco control is a best buy. the amount we're spending is less than two days at the advertising budget tobacco industry for a whole year. and yet we think we'll have a major impact. and where ads like this have been run we've seen a steady decrease in smoking. so not only do we think they pay for themselves economically, but more important and most important they save lives. and that ultimately. >> doctor, with these ads be made a failed to armed forces network? >> a great question. i will follow-up on the suggestion. >> i would just add, certainly as was mentioned, all of these ads are being placed in the cdc's media resource center.

so from that perspective they will most assuredly be made available. and we would love the opportunity to make sure that these are seeing, both by people in the armed services as well as our veterans. >> i will comment, that is part of the affordable care act there's a national prevention strategy for the first time. 17 u.s. agencies have joined together to focus on prevention, including tobacco control, and there's been a real embrace of that within the armed forces, which is focused on fitness, whether it is smoke-free environments or ensuring healthy foods, or our forces. so it's a good partnership and we will follow up. other questions? all right. well, want to thank everyone. let's have another round of applause for the people who came forward.

[applause] >> in the past there's been interest of the media in anything some of the people, and we will make that available. we also will be working with some of the local media outlets from areas where people who came forward live, to encourage additional coverage. we know that every bit of coverage about tobacco use that shows tobacco kills, saves lives. so thank you all very much. [applause] >> [inaudible conversations]

>> [inaudible conversations] >> on newsmaker this week, virginia's attorney general discussing the importance of the 2012 presidential race. >> this president, his administration, are the biggest lawbreakers to run the federal government in our lifetimes. they are trampling the states.

they're suffocating economic opportunity the way their functioning. and i don't think any of the nominees are going to do anything but reverse that trend at least. at least you need to play by the rules. the rules being the law and the constitution. >> you can see the entire interview with virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli on newsmakers, sunday morning at 10 eastern and sunday afternoon at six, on c-span. it's also available online at c-span.org. >> i was quite a radical as a young person. i was the one that thought that though we shall sing we shall overcome was when not a very, very effective way of gaining civil rights but i think i thought that more confrontation was needed. >> economics professor, columnist and substitute host for rush limbaugh, walter williams, on being a radical. >> i believe that a radical is any person who believes in personal libey