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the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid:. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session and the "help" committing discharged from any further consideration of nomination 13676, the a list of 201 nominees in the public

health service, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be in intervening being a or debate, no further motions be in order, any statements be printed in the record, president obama be immediately noaltified of the senate's action. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate consider the following nomination, calendar number 226, that the nomination be confirmed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be in intervening being a or debate, no further motions be in order to the motion, an any any statements related to this matter be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if e placed in the record, the president be notified of the senate's action and then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask that we provided to so con. res. 108. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h. con. res. 10, permitting the use of the rote thank you did a of the capitol as part of the commemoration of the days of remembrance of the victims of the wh holocaust. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. reid: i ask that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be in intervening action or debate, any statements related be praised in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask that we road to s. res. 404. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 404, recognizing the life and work of war correspondent colvin and other courageous journalists in war zones. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be in intervening action or debate, any further states be placed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent that we proceed to s. res. 405. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 405, authorizing the taking of a photograph in the chamber of the united states senate. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will troated matter.

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there be in intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i am told there are three bills at the desk due for a first reading. i would ask you have the clerk report all three. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles for the first time. the clerk: h.r. 5, an act to improve patient access to health care services and so forth. s. 2230, a bill to dries the deficit by imposing a minimum effective tax rate for high-income taxpayers. s. 2231, a bill to amend the federal credit union act and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i ask for a second reading on each of the three but to be my own request. officer sphe objection is heard. the bills will be read for the second time on the next lmgive day. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the

chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the adjournment of the record, the record remain open until 7:15 p.m. this evening for the submission of written colloquies. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, the senate adjourn until monday, march 26, at 2:00 p.m. follow be the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks, the senate be in a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m., with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. following morning business, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar number 337, the repeal big oil tax subsidies with the time until 5:30 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, further, that the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to s. 2204 be at

5:30 p.m. on monday and that if cloture not invoked, there be two minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to s. 1789. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: there will be two roll call votes on monday at about 5:30. the first vote will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to s. 2204. and if cloture not invoked, there will be a second cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the postal reform bill. if also to further business to come before about the the snarks i ask that the adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stand adjourned until senate stand adjourned until

>> when they put that force together to go to desert storm a cute one of those every youngsters or so when i had a personal responsibility for. i know general schwarzkopf thought the same way. we know they were going into a very dangerous conflict perhaps we wanted to give them every benefit that will allow them to come home safely. i am as distressed -- more distress. any member of this committee could be that there are veterans who are suffering illnesses that may have been the result of their service in the gulf. i do not know if those illnesses are a result of the service in the gulf or not, but i think we have to keep that as an operating hypothesis until we find out otherwise. we have to get to the bottom to find out what the source of their illnesses were. >> the genetic scientists have finally nailed down a rest day

for wind the epidemic started described tinderboxes and but odds. in most parts of the rotors not that much hav and yet in some places there's a time and it's incredibly destructive. so understanding that these categories exist allows you to think, okay, what are those actors to keep the virus moving and what do we do as a world to end it? >> yesterday fed chairman ben bernanke and treasury secretary tim geithner testified on capitol hill about the euros of debt crisis. we talked about the hearing and dropped economy with "washington post" economics reporter, neil irwin. this is 45 minutes. post i want to welcome to our

table, neil irwin come economics reporter with the washed imposter to talk about testimony yesterday about the treasury secretary and ben bernanke about the european debt crisis. neil, before we get talking, let me show one moment from yesterday were the treasury secretary was asked about the current economic situation in our country. >> our economy strand only getting stronger but of course he faced tough challenges here in the united states. among those challenges of horrors, unemployment is still very high, housing market still very weak. we still have a long way to go to repair the damage caused by her crisis. but we also face a challenging and uncertain global economic environment with the risks around air and adding to oil prices in europe facing a long and difficult process. europe accounts for about 18% of global gdp. as a major source of financing

for many emerging economies and accounts for 15% of u.s. experts of goods and services but a larger portion of the experts of many trading partners. when growth slows in europe it affects growth around the world. >> host: train to come help us read between the lines. >> guest: with the treasury secretary's paintings are little better. the euro crisis is used a lot since last fall. the u.s. economy shows some signs of picking up, but nothing they can really thump their chests and say happy times are here again. is still challenging economic environment. gas prices pinch americans wallets and those fundamentals are there. so he's trying to thread a needle and the two sides are in the one hand things are getting better. on the other hand we understand they are not as does much better of late. >> host: on the european debt crisis, what is to watch for next that could change the progress that has been made? >> guest: yeah, and things to think about in europe are come is there now the political will

to do the things the countries have promised they will do? to what we've seen over the last year is a bunch of promises to create these giant backsides to prevent any defaults in europe, you know, greece and the other countries in financial difficulty will cut their spending come into structural changes to the economy to become more competitive. now the question is can they carry out the things they promised to? is there the political will? you can imagine in this country suddenly government pensions and social security will be cut by 20%, 30%. you have a lot of unhappiness. the same is true increase and that is being asked to make changes on that which are very dramatic and shaping their public system. >> host: if they don't make the changes, what is the impact on global institutions like the imf? >> guest: you know, the truth is the global institutions, the other european countries in the central bank has played an important role does have

leverage and they have been essentially funding the greek government and to varying degrees, portugal and ireland, the question is did they back off and let the rigs rise in pressure build try and force the hand of greek politicians to do things they party agreed to do? it's a very tense situation in a very fragile situation. this is a country that its economy is in terrible shape. there's been an economic contraction and that is strange in the political system. so we will have some are holding grease and some of the other countries during painful changes as well. >> host: what does all this mean then for the u.s. taxpayer? >> guest: there's not much risk in terms of financial loss. not like we are shipping dollars over to europe that we will not get back. >> host: or to the imf? >> guest: we are the largest share of the imf. the federal reserve is extending

loans to the ecb, it is called a soft line. is $10 r&d euros back and unwind it three months later. so that is not a race meeting. that said, the risk for america if things really go wrong and the risk is that this thing that's lived in a pretty orderly direction the last four or five months goes the other way and suddenly u.s. companies doing business are in trouble, exporters are in trouble in the global financial market starts to implode again. >> host: secretary kaner told congress yesterday that the obama administration would not return to the members and ask for more money for the imf. what do you make of that? >> guest: part of that is the reality that to go win an election year to a republican house of representatives and say hey guys, we need more money for the international organization, but we need to support europeans. that would knock over terribly well. there is also the reality is things are going so far there is

not a need for more resources. the institution seem trivial to handle the situation. >> host: the first one is patty, republican and minneapolis. neil irwin at the "washington post." >> guest: good morning. earlier this week either monday or tuesday, your paper wrote a lengthy article regarding john boehner trying to negotiate with obama and that he gave him what he wanted and this is regarding the budget and obama refused at talked about obama's eric ends and competence in negotiating. and that boehner had agreed to raise taxes, basically making obama an offer he shouldn't have refused. i wonder if you could expound on that. and also cbo recently came out with a report about the actual new cost of obama carried that

is i think about 1.7 trillion. that is getting no press on c-span. could you talk about those quakes do you know what i'm talking about that article? >> guest: i didn't write that article. i did read it. my colleagues rotate. the piece ran in sunday's "washington post" and explained some of the inside story of the debt ceiling negotiations that have been last summer that led to ultimately been extended, but there were some moments were looked like there was close to being a grand bargain, a good deal on the strategy over time. you know, for my read of the article and my colleagues reporting, it is a little more complicated than the way the college describes. it was doubly the case that obama started to have cold feet about the deal on the table, but it's also pretty clear that boehner and eric cantor were not sure if they could pass a plan that included tax increases in the house of representatives.

anytime there's a negotiation that breaks down, the two sides have very different views of whose fault it was and what went wrong. i don't think you can put this entirely on one side. at the end of the day was boehner who walked away is my understanding. i should be careful because i don't cover the legislative side things very often but that is my read. i'm not sure about the cbo health care. >> host: this is a tweet from the viewer. both europe cannot have peaked in the free market they created. tariff? >> guest: i think that overstates it. the truth is we are still -- the united states is still the world's biggest economy and europe collectively as the second biggest and that may change eventually. china may eventually surpass us because they have a much bigger population. on a per capita basis it is not foreseeable that china surpasses the united states or europe in terms of economic output.

for high-grade services, for high-grade manufactured airplanes, the stuff that is really hard to make it so the case that the u.s. and europe are more efficient on it and most developing nations and you see that in our overall lead structure. now, whether tariffs are a good idea or not is disconnected to how we are competing and i think most economists would say that is actually going to impede the ability of us to find the things we're best at and even better than anybody else. >> host: a caller from canada, georgia. good morning. >> caller: hi, i've got a comment and a question. thanks for taking my call by the way. my comment is about c-span itself. it seems like 99% of your questions are about the future, what is going to happen in the future. so i would just encourage ceasing to analyze what has

happened in the past, get the public a little background and context about the issue instead of speculating about the future, which nobody knows. my question is could the guest expand on help bush allows the wto and china's most favored nation status in china was flooded with cash so they decided to invest in wall street. the investment wall street caused wall street to pay mortgage lenders bonuses to get the subprime loans are so wall street would have a way to sell to investors. so china is in wto status. most nations from the bush administration called all of this mess. this is not a european debt crisis. this is a greased debt crisis. can you give some background on the debt crisis? >> guest: i wouldn't agree with the entire framework laid out. there is an aspect of truth to

it, which is what happened in the 2000 was one term reported the global savings by. so china, a very nations for increasing savings. they're running trade surpluses and they had more money coming in than going out. they had to save the money somewhere. they had to invest somewhere. and somewhere in china and other places proportionally became u.s. securities. to that included u.s. treasury bonds, fannie mae and freddie mac, backed by mortgages and in some cases mortgage-backed securities. in fact, a lot of savings from around the world, including asia and europe as well that is finding its way into aaa rated dollar denominated securities. sadat is the ultimate source of the money ultimately funded subprime mortgages. is it purely a china story? it's bigger than china, the china certainly part of it.

it's also a german savings, wealthy individuals in the middle east. it's broader than just china. what happens if you have all this money chasing a small pool securities than that money comes when the subprime lending ultimately they can mortgages that were not good mortgages and that is really how we got into this mess. >> host: on the republican line, frank and marilyn. >> caller: yes, this question goes back to the guest. it has to go back to the economy and not ripples through the globe and i will particularly go to the drug situation worldwide. the city in north america and the cartel in the billions that are lost, that the economy that has affected their and affects

the recession because of the billions involved -- how do you look at that as an impact on the debt crisis, even into europe for just this situation that the weakness of the people that use recreational drugs and feels these things which lead to the war and economic disarray. i would just go back even to lincoln. for one game, you could mention some deliberately from foreword for five words with malice towards none and charity towards all, how do we go for those things as they affect the economy in the piece? >> i am not sure how much illegal drugs have to do with the europe crisis, the it's a

problem both sides of the atlantic could be mac democratic caller, go ahead. >> caller: yes, good morning. why are we still subsidizing the big corporations like general at church, oil companies and so-and-so? and our congressmen, paul ryan here -- how can i put it? trying to benefit seniors and all of that. and yet come he goes around giving tax breaks to the 1%. >> guest: >> host: to have a question? >> guest: the tax strategy or tax policy that is strongest and most innovative and competitive among philosophy and didn't say capital gains and investments

and dabble in turn incentivize job creation and businesses and entrepreneurship in the benefits everybody. the alternative theories if you do that which you really do is give a low taxes to the people at the most money and should noontide lower taxes are of higher taxes on high income for taxes on the low and mid income people and we will be better off. that essential ideological and economic policy debate between the two parties. it will certainly be plain none of the 2012 election. >> host: treasury secretary gagner and ben bernanke on capitol hill yesterday about the european debt crisis in the u.s. economy is our topic here this morning. you know, irwin, how much does it depend on the european economy? >> guest: on one side to direct linkages are very modest. our u.s. exports to europe are two, 3% of gdp.

it is not massive. releasing over the last two years as the connections are more profound than it might have appeared. but we have seen is whenever your flares up whenever the crisis seems to be getting worse, the markets are gyrating and things seemed to be going out of control. it seems to show up in the u.s. data pretty quickly in terms of job creation everything else. we saw that in spring 2010 and in the summer 2011. and that is dangerous. it means the linkages have been through the financial system. so at the european markets are on the verge of collapse are gyrating wildly, that hurts business confidence, maybe employers don't want a higher if they're worried europe might collapse any day and that clearly has been something how black and part of the reason we seem better economic data and job creation is some of the risk of a of the fear has been put aside the mesa native europeans have figured their stuff out and i feel more comfortable adding

jobs. >> host: when it comes to the global market in gas and oil prices to a president obama going on the offense about a four-day tour right now to talk about what he was trying to do for gasoline prices. how much is u.s. prices dictated outside of the united states? >> guest: overwhelmingly so. the u.s. are major oil producer and humor, but it is a global market and there's a lot more oil coming from the middle east and elsewhere and from the united states. and u.s. sellers are free to ship their oil to china or wherever else the fact is that the economics favor. so reality is the price of oil in the global market. and the longer run that the u.s. does on supply-side matters. in the short run it doesn't. in the short run, how much economic growth in china and india? that pushes prices up. but happens in iran if there's

more political turbulence in the middle east, that could produce supplies, cut supply chains. those are things that determined the gas prices are over the next year. over the longer term is where efficiency and exploration matters and drilling more and becoming more efficient could make a bigger difference. >> host: saudi arabia seeks to call global oil markets. president obama may be traveling the country this week, but the oil market detention is to extend saudi arabia and protection plan. the oil minister insisted this week that oil markets are amply upright ready to this output. they asserted excessively high petroleum prices threaten the global economy and is down to the tuna breath prices hurting the exporters and consumers. how much of an impact as a headline like this make? and the move by saudi arabia? >> guest: there's an interesting dynamic here were

the oil producers i saudi arabia, their incentive is not to make oil prices high as they possibly could be. they were complicated set of incentives. prices get too high in and people invest heavily in energy efficient he and other forms of energy on the electrical side with wind and nuclear and other things. they want to make sure there's demand for their oil for many, many years entity that they have to not let prices get too high or be too volatile. so the studies have an interest now that in oil prices get too out of control. the question is how much capacity do they have any spare capacity in the system to try and produce more and therefore they need to, if the distractions that are threatening prices? >> guest: garriott twitters as will the europeans really be able to be more rise in the street? was the end result? >> guest: regardie seemed quite a few riots.

it's been not always peaceful. you know, the thing is that it's tough. anytime you make huge structural adjustments in how an economy works, there's going to be pain. these are easy decisions that would've been made years ago. some of these changes in european social welfare state is made under duress from the imf and the european commission as part of a bailout package rather than just being done by the court as a sign of how deeply intrinsic things are. greece is a kind of extreme example because they are doing such dramatic cuts, even in spain where they have the labor market that has a lot of regulations they really make it hard to employ people, hard to hire. the 20% unemployment but they try to do is liberalize the labor market so employers feel more comfortable and more flexible about being able to hire someone so that they can fire if it doesn't work out. so the labor market has evolved over many years and has a lot of

interest behind it. so the question is, as the outside pressures to make these changes from the other european countries supporting financially , is not strong enough to force these things from the national parliaments. so far it is. all that political minimum hold is a different question. >> host: james and richmond, virginia. >> caller: my question is, could you talk about your earlier statement that the economy is just a little better. i'm talking about the fall of 2008 but rely so many many jobs a month and look at where we are today. -- [inaudible] i feel things are significantly a lot better than where we were. i think in your report it was quite honest about where we were

three years ago at where we are now. >> host: okay, james. >> guest: is certainly true at the direction of things is far better than it was in late 2008, early 2009. there there were shaken by five, seven, 9%. so that was a period of very steep decline commission hundreds of thousands of jobs a month. those were dark days. the economy bottomed out in the summer of 2009 and since then it's been gradually creeping back to. so what we are growing at now as it looks like the first quarter growth will about 2% dividends in a week or two. 2% disagree. it is in climbing out of the hole therein. 2% is going back to the baseline normal rate of growth. that would be fined for full employment and at 5%, 6% unemployment and growing at 2% that would be fine. but we are not.

we are at a .3% unemployment. so the peace we are growing out is not fast enough to really put people back to work in massive numbers and is not fast enough to put us back on the trajectory run before 2007 before the recession started. so i absolutely agree we're in a much better spot than we were two years ago because we are not in the middle of the steep decline. but neither have we really clawed her way out or are we doing so at a pace that would get us back to normal anytime soon. >> host: dawn, democratic caller. >> caller: yeah, the cbo yesterday created ryan's budget plan and the austerity measures in europe he seems to want to take all of the pain of getting out of this on the backs of those who can least afford it. the elderly, the poor. how does he -- do you think since it's in europe, why does he think that less consumer ability to buy things is going

to work here when it didn't work there? why are they so adamant about not touching a higher-end taxes when it hasn't created any jobs in the last 10 years? why is it going to magically start now? that's all. >> i think you just live preview of an argument that the president and democrats were making this election year. you know, again, paul ryan's arguing would be by cutting taxes on the wealthy investment, on business and by cutting spending on social programs than having a leaner government would free up a much more conducive environment for growth. there's reason to think first about cutting spending to fast would be a drain on the economy. the question is whether the confidence and business are strong enough to make up for the short-term drain. this is the fundamental ideological movement of our

times than i think paul ryan's budget is just one step at a very long debate that will happen over the course of the year. >> host: which country should u.s. viewers be watching? patternmaking strides in the global mark. people talk about china. but what are some other countries to watch? >> guest: among the developing countries, this has been a marked the last decade for growth in a lot of emerging companies. what is happening as it is amazing how many places, literally billions of people on earth are entering the global middle class in some countries grow. indonesia is a huge country that has been very poor in the past and is kind of joining the global middle class. and you mentioned india is also enormous. you know, this is one of the great undercover stories of our time. you know, it's a wonderful story actually. that's the cost of higher fuel prices and higher demand for

things that kind of middle-class people want, but it also means a lot fewer people are living in dire poverty that was the case 10 years ago. >> host: durgincounty, new jersey, chris, republican. there you go. >> caller: neil, good morning. my question for you is, do you see portugal pull in another bailout and if so, what do you believe the full financial markets will be? >> guest: portugal is an interesting case. it's a small country and their finances mess. whether they have to go back to the imf and the european commission and not another package, i just don't know. you know, their problem is one of -- they are kind of the poor man in europe. they're one of the poorer countries. a good thing about portugal is because they are small their problems are manageable.

if they need more help, the imf can afford that. the real thing to worry about if spain and italy which are far larger economies. if they run into trouble, then it becomes a very difficult problem for the world community to deal with because they are much bigger countries. portugal has been doing a bunch of reforms. they are not very popular domestically and portugal, but their government so far has been pretty consistent in moving forward in living up to the terms of its package. >> host: people talk about greece, ireland, spain. what are the hopes of those economies? >> guest: the exact nature of the problem in each of these countries has been different. greece is spending way beyond its means. big huge budget deficits. they were lying and misleading about the scales of the budget deficits and accumulated debt. greece is its own problem. it is by far the worst financial problem in europe. i landsat actually quite good

problems into the crisis. it has an efficient economy, labor markets to work well. it however had way too much landing on real estate, banks the risk of going under. suddenly the government, in both countries are on the hook for liabilities of the banking system that is way too big and was really exposed. they are plodding along and those underlying shrinks and the economy probably bode well for the future. ..

without running our economy and keeping growth on track? the entire industrialized world is rapping with the same questions. the policy is different in each country and prayers given each country but those basic questions are what everybody is dealing with at the same time. >> host: this is from ap wire this morning. the number of people seeking unemployment and the job market has strengthened. the labor department says weekly applications dropped 5000 for seasonally adjusted 48,000. your reaction? >> guest: this has been a real area of progress for a few

months now. every week the labor department puts out these numbers on how many people last week filed a claims for unemployment insurance benefits and it's a real-time indicator of how many people are losing their jobs or are being laid off or are out of work and the fact that it sounds like the lowest number we have had in years. >> host: a four year low. >> guest: the lowest in a while and that is a good sign. there's a weird thing happening in the labor market right now. the number of people being fired is down quite a lot. white house and picked up quite enough yet is hires so one-sided spires and the other side is hires. fires are down and that is good but hires aren't up enough. >> host: which side tells us what is going on with the long-term unemployed? >> guest: you know what we really want to see is hires. it is great that people are not losing their jobs but what is happening as employers are no longer slashing jobs and that is a good sign, but at the same

time they are only now starting to say give no what there is not enough demand for my products. i'm going to bring people back on and i'm going to add another shift and i'm going to add hours and bring another five people onto my shift. that is starting to happen. it has happened more in the last few months but still not happening in the kind of massive numbers that would really put the long-term unemployed back to work. >> host: tweet from jim hines. that what percentage must gdp grow in order to achieve full employment and in the second question. let's go to the first one. >> guest: here is how the math works. the u.s. economy is constantly adding, the labor force is consulate growing. there is immigration young people graduating from high school and college joining the workforce so there is an always growing labor force and people are becoming more productive so productivity is almost always rising. that means we are capable as a country of making more stuff year after year. most people think that number something like 2.5% and how much

our capacity to make stuff grows every year. what that means is we need to grow at least that rate, it two to 2.5% just to stay neutral or to keep people employed and not have a rising unemployment. so right now we are at 8% unemployment and to bring that down we would need to grow faster than that, three or 4% would be great. the unemployment rate would come down and once we are down to five or 6% you can go back to two or 2.5% gdp and we will be fine. >> host: oklahoma, bill, democratic caller. >> caller: hello, good morning. i had a question about the united nations agenda 21 and anybody who doesn't know about united nations agenda 21 they really need to look it up on line. but how do you see the united nations agenda 21, how do you see it affecting all of america's economy right now,

because the republican national committee has passed a unanimous resolution stating that they recognize it is real and that they are against it. how do you see nationwide, how do you see us stopping the u.n. agenda 21 effort here in america? >> host: are are you up-to-date on that? >> guest: i am not. >> host: burlington wisconsin, david, independent caller. >> caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. paul ryan, just caught a got a call from james bill about paul ryan's budget and how to fix the u.s. economy. at the listening sessions here in the first district of wisconsin, they use those listening sessions to ram home the fear that our economy might

take a nosedive like the european economy has done, but i asked paul ryan, is in germany doing quite well? and he just ignored my question and blew it off and went directly to -- and that is where our primary focus should the. not to instill fear by germany's go doing quite well. germany's doing quite well because their government is patterned after our government after we succeeded in world war ii at least on the this side of the western wall. >> host: can you respond to that? is germany doing well and what about them patterning their system after ours? >> guest: the german economy is doing pretty well. a number of the netherlands, austria and those countries are doing pretty well, sweden and denmark. there is a tendency to try and say okay, having a large social welfare state like most european

countries to me to have high deficits. the truth is that can happen but it can also be the case that you have a large social welfare state coupled with fiscal responsibility and that is what they have in germany. they have socialized health care and they have a lot of things that americans may not want but they are able to do that in the context of central stability and not letting deficits get out of control. i think it completes the issue and the united states is not greece. greece is he not really in terms of how the government is run the decisions they're making in the choices they were making before the crisis, they are on a different scale than anything we have done with our deficit. >> host: a tweet, would raising taxes on job creators with high demand for their products cause them to stop hiring and stop producing? what do you hear from your business sources? >> guest: tax policy definitely affects decisions. i've talk to executives over the years who have decided my going

to open this new factory in the united states in michigan or in germany? if our corporate tax rate is higher than over there that is one more reason are one reason not to come here and not create jobs here. are for tax policy absolutely matters. it is something that constituencies are weighing. the thing is, look, figuring out what our priorities are as a society and what our tax policy is going to be as a result, that is what elections are for. >> host: from taxes lend on our republican line, you're up next. >> caller: yes, mr. irwin, i would like to know, i'm sorry. i am not sure if you can hear me. >> host: we can hear you.

go ahead with your question. >> caller: i was wondering why is it always social programs that are not only in our country and in other countries, politicians always go to weed out the braun. the poor people are ripping off everybody and the politicians balance their campaigns in other countries, not in our country. there is no economic recovery where i live. people are not getting put back to work. everybody in the united states pays taxes. at least $20 on that cell phone bill goes to pay taxes. >> host: neil irwin?

>> guest: why our policies focusing on social programs when they're looking to/deficits? because that is where the money is. there some ideological aspects involved as well and different parties and people have different priorities of what they want to cut but at my colleague ezra kline has said if you look at u.s. government and what it spends its money on it's basically a retirement insurance organization that hasn't got a military attach to it. if you look at where the big money is in the u.s. budget and social security, medicare, medicaid and that military. adding interest onto the dead and that covers most of what the u.s. government spends money on. everything else is crammed into a smaller piece of the pie chart so if you are looking at, right now we have a deficit in the neighborhood of over a trillion dollars, $1.5 trillion. if you have to reduce that over time and you are trying to make meaningful reductions, cutting little things here and there

isn't going to do it. you have to go where the money is being spent and that happens to be social welfare problem -- programs along with the military. >> host: michael raeburn speaks on twitter with his tweet, do you think a cut in military spending could help our economy? >> guest: well this gets back to the short run. will be cut too fast whether military or anything else they can reduce economic growth. if you cut too fast, cutting money out of the economy that is money being spent on tanks and airplanes and people who build those tanks and airplanes might lose their jobs. in the longer-run as we try to figure out a way to chart a path toward a more sustainable fiscal path, most people say the military will have to be part of that because again it's one of the big areas where money is being spent so this is a tricky balance of trying to get the deficit under control but on the right timing and in a careful way that doesn't undermine our recovery and stop us from gaining jobs.

>> host: connie is watching us. go ahead connie. >> caller: good morning. what i wanted to say is, history tells us that the way we got out of depression before was by building things like our infrastructure. if we would have passed the bill to build our infrastructure, we could pay off our debts quicker then cutting social programs. we can't cut them out. but if we put people back to work building our roads and bridges and schools, we could pay our debt off much quicker. >> host: on that point, neal. >> guest: i think a lot of economists would agree with you. we have very low interest rates right now and the u.s. government can borrow money for 2% for 10 years which is remarkably low. it is risen a bit in the past couple of weeks but interest rates are low. we have a lot of infrastructure, part from building new roads and bridges and things like that

there is the upkeep and the required maintenance and we have been deferring because money has been tight. raw materials, unemployed construction workers who definitely want a job and you can hire them cheaper than you would in a stronger economy. a lot of the comments would say these last few years we should've been doing a national reinvestment in our infrastructure and getting our roads in good shape and borrowing money to do it. it's one thing to borrow money for those thing to have a long-term payoff. that is a smarter thing than borrowing money for future consumption's. it's one thing to buy the -- borrow money to buy a house because her house last along a long time and another thing to buy the grocery bill. so far it's a missed opportunity and something that is not in the bipartisan ability to come around to investing on a large scale on a per structure. i think it's very possible in the years ahead we will look back at 2008 to the 2012 period is a missed opportunity to invest in that area. >> host: annapolis, an independent there.

you are the last phonecall for neil irwin. >> caller: i have a question for you sir. i travel around the states a lot in every time i have been in every single newspaper or a seed has help wanted ads in the. my point is, there are so few jobs why are there so many help wanted ads everywhere i go and why is unemployment dropping fast? that is my question. >> guest: there are some mismatches. in some cases the skills that people have are not matches for the jobs that are available. part of it is a structural readjustment of getting people prepared and trained and ready for the jobs of the 21st century and not the jobs they had in the past. heart of it is, there is always a turn in the labor market so in the darkest days of the recession there were still jobs. there is always kind of a matching time period are going think it is true we are starting to see more of those help wanted ads in science and all the indicators including today's claims numbers point to a labor market that is starting to get a

little tighter. there is still a lot of unemployed but i think we will hear more and more of those stories that employers are ready to hire and it's a matter finding the right people. >> host: coming up here for a last show we will ask our viewers take on president obama's energy strategy. on gas prices, what should people be watching for? >> guest: look, the energy prices, i know everybody worries. what's the difference between the price of gas and how does the of the effect the outcome of election? is a very frustrating thing for people at the white house who say in the short-term they have virtually no leverage to adjust it. there are strategic petroleum reserves and that is really for emergencies and not for just an election year. the push of administration happens in 2000 when there was a run-up which probably hurt john mccain's popularity. you know the truth is, oil is

determined by supply and demand. on the supply of side is their war in iran and instability in the middle east that could drive prices up? the -- does china come india and europe, to those economy stay on track and keep needing more oil? that would increase the demand side and increase prices. the thing that would drive prices down would be for the demand to soften. >> host: and speculators. >> guest: various financial speculation and energy. overtime, if people are speculating beyond fundamentals, eventually speculators are going to lose money. in the short run financial speculation can drive up the price of oil in ways that don't make sense given the fundamental supply and demand that will catch up eventually and over the longer term it is hard to see how that is the issue. >> host: coming up we'll turn

our attention to president obama's energy strategy. neil irwin thank you very much for being here. ????????? house minority leader nancy pelosi and other house democratic leaders spoke today about the affordable care act on the second anniversary of president obama's health care law. we hear personal stories from some who were directly affected by the legislation. this is 45 minutes.

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon everyone. thank you for being with us today. as you know, two years ago the congress of the united states made history. after 100 years of trying, finally health care for all americans as a right for all, not just a privileged for a few. this has honored the vows of our

founders and healthier liberties and freedom to pursue our own happiness. today we have people with us do have already benefited or will benefit from the health care bill. i'm pleased to be here with my colleagues, democratic whip steny hoyer, assistant leader jim clyburn and we will join together in presenting our guests do you and a special -- is that it? calling you from the audience, your grandson. that is what it is all about. i would like to thank our friend bob meeks, brian england, felicia williams, elizabeth bartenstein and carmella -- carman morales for being with us. imagine, and this is not hard to do, being a parent who has a child with a preexisting medical

condition, driving medical bills through the roof and forcing decisions between paying the mortgage mortgage in the next doctors appointment. imagine being a college senior getting ready for graduation, looking forward to a successful career but you cannot accept your job because they don't offer health insurance. imagine being a senior who relies on medicare and health and economic security but the rising cost each year for preventative care and prescription drugs. a woman charged higher premiums in a billion dollars higher premiums for the same coverage. or being lost in a dead-end job unable to pursue your professional passion for fear of losing your insurance. for too long these examples are not simply a matter of imagination. they are a matter of reality based on millions of americans.

but that all changed for the better with health insurance reform and the affordable care act. we made history in passing the bill for congress. we made progress for the american people. imagine republicans wanting to turn back the clock and take away this progress from the american people, and they will be voting next week to do so over and over again. they keep bringing it up one way or another to unravel it. in their budget they will be voting on this, to too and they medicare guarantee, making seniors pay more for benefits. already we are seeing enormous benefits. 86 million americans have received key preventive health benefits under the new law. for the first time in american history millions of american women have accessed or that of health care. today no child in america is denied health coverage because of a preexisting medical

condition. and more than 5 million seniors have saved over $3.2 billion in prescription drug benefits. imagine 86 million americans have already benefited from this and the full bill has yet to go into effect. i'm now pleased to introduce my colleague on this issue in the congress in the fight for affordable health care health care to improve the care and to increase the access and to lower the cost of health careiguished, mr. hoyer of maryland. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very much. we usually have our caucus meetings and with meetings in this room and what a wonderful, wonderfully diverse wonderful crowd we have here of working americans, senior americans, a very young american.

[laughter] whose name is lucas. is very proud grandfather is standing here. i happen to be a great grandfather. >> that is not an adjective. [laughter] he is that too. it is generational. [laughter] >> as i was saying. since it was signed into law two years ago, we celebrate its signing. health reform has made possible for over 32 million seniors on medicare to access free preventive services. people need to understand the consequences of what this bill is doing for america and americans. it has written to reduce the cost of prescription drugs under medicare part d and it will

eliminate the doughnut hole on the end of this decade. the cost containment provisions in the affordable care act are already slowing the growth of medicare spending. with many beneficiaries, premiums and deductibles already going down or growing at the lowest rates in years. republicans on the other hand want to end medicare guarantee, in turn medicare into a voucher program that would ask seniors to pay more than $6000 a year out-of-pocket. americans who are aged 54 would have to save an additional, listen to this, an additional $182,000 just to cover their health care costs in retirement. the doughnut hole would reopen if we repealed the health care bill swallowing an additional

$44 billion in extra drug costs for seniors. these are the kinds of figures we are talking about. some of you like me in this room are seniors and you understand the consequences of that increase. you are now going to hear from an american, who was falling into the doughnut hole every year. i want to thank you for being here. thanks to the affordable care act, his medicare prescription drug costs are much lower and as i said the doughnut hole is closing, so i want to welcome bob meeks here and we want to hear from somebody who has real experience, real knowledge and real conviction. [applause] >> good afternoon. my name is bob meeks and i am 75 years old.

as one of my grandsons pointed out, papa that is three-quarters of a century. [laughter] he didn't have to say that. i live in florida

for a meal and the waiter brings your plate and d.. [laughter] i am not in the best of health. i must take seven daily medications and nearly all are brand names. i suffer from copd, severe arthritis and high blood pressure. the affordable care act i would fall in the doughnut hole every year around may. my prescriptions were cost me $1200 a month and i have to pay at all. thanks to the affordable care act i received a 250-dollar check in 2010. that helped. and in 2011 and monthly drug costs of 1200 a month went to between $60,800 a month depending on my health while i was in the doughnut hole.

this has been a huge help for me and my wife. i know many seniors are confused and skeptical about the new law, but here is what i would say to my fellow seniors and everyone here on capitol hill. the affordable care act is good. it works. it is saving seniors lots of money. don't be fooled by politicians and their friends who try to scare you. to the members of congress here today, thank you for helping me and millions of other seniors and please, i implore you, don't give up the fight. i am living proof the affordable care act works. a little side note for those in d.c. that opposed the aca. don't remove it, improve it. thank you.

[applause] >> very good bob and i think hopefully to the folks in d.c. and ipers india mean more particularly on this hill, take your advice. improved, don't remove it. i want to thank you for that contribution, and a real experience, not just somebody debating on the floor of the house of representatives saying don't do this and don't do that. bob is an example of exactly what it does and it makes a difference. passing the affordable care act was especially important at a time when our economy has forced many families and small businesses to make difficult choices about spending. so many americans have had that happen to them. that is why one of the key parts of the affordable care act is about wringing costs down for small businesses so they can

afford insurance for themselves and for those who work with them. 360,000 small businesses have already claimed part of the $40 billion in tax credits created by the affordable care act to help them provide affordable coverage for over 2 million workers. talk about the positive effects of health reform is having on small businesses, he and his wife, let me invite lucas' grandfather, brian england, up to the podium. [applause] >> come right up to the podium. >> tell it like it is, lucas. [laughter] >> thank you for the opportunity to come here today and as you can see we are family.

this is lucas. he is going to be two cups in. we are committed to providing health insurance to our employees but over the past few years it has become a real struggle. we have been accustomed to rates going up anywhere from 10 to 20% and has been very difficult to the bind different ways to deal with that. we have got a great agent who works hard to give us different options but still it ends up that we have to pay the bill. then, we renew our insurance so we start thinking about this in may. standing up here is really a nerve-racking. that is what it was like this year because we heard previous years that rates would go up 20%, 30% in all sorts of scary things are going to happen so when my wife jennifer and i sat down with the agent we were pretty nervous about it because we say seventh -- pay 17,000 a year for health care insurance.

that is the same amount so that is a lot of money and where is it going to come from? we sat down and we were in total disbelief when he said it was going to go down 60%. 6% down so we made no major changes, the same insurance company, everything was the same and it was going down. this was just unbelievable news. on top of this, there was going to be a new package in our insurance that allowed for our older employees on that plan to get preventive care with no co-pay so that was a real boon. the first thing i asked was why. [laughter] rh and explained agent explained it was the medical loss ratio. that sounded like chinese to me and i didn't know what that was about. in any case i did research it

and 80% of my premiums are actually going to go to medical care. that is what is about so our rates went down. as a small-business small business owner i am committed to providing a good value to our customers and it's only fair that insurance companies provide us with that value. you can see how nervous i am, right? >> are doing fine. >> thank you very much. so something is being done about the health care and i want to tank alito -- leader pelosi very much for what you have done. i have seen what happened so i really appreciate you doing this. i know it has not been easy but the health care is working for my business and it works in our community because we are with the local health improvement part. is working for individuals and it's right for the future generation. it passes this technician's

inspection test with flying colors. thank you very much. [applause] >> i am jim clyburn and i represent south carolina's sixth congressional district. too often in this town, the conversation gets bogged down into process. the thorny policies and political calculations. you have heard the terms, bending the cost curve, motions to proceed, who wins, who loses? all of them really miss the point of this landmark legislation. it is not about this town. it's about real people, and their families and their health care. it's about saving lives, saving

money and saving medicare. i am pleased to be here today with two people, to real people with some very powerful stories. the first one i am going to introduce, i can't really identify with as a grandfather of a preemie, who came here 90 days before we expected him, who weighed three pounds and four ounces, had three operations before he turned 20 pounds. so i can relate to fully show willems' story. felicia is from raleigh north carolina and she is going to tell you about her son, ethan. [applause] >> good afternoon.

like you said my name is felicia willems and my son ethan was up here with me a moment ago. i want to especially tank a leader pelosi for giving me the opportunity to come out today and share our story with you and let you know how the affordable care act has helped our family. and 2006 my husband and i were very excited parents to be. he was a law student and i was a manager for major department store. we were newlyweds. we have just bought our first home and we felt like we were prepared to start a family. i was going to continue working while my husband continued law school, but all our plans changed when our son was born. ethan was born with a vascular tumor that required chemotherapy. at just six weeks old, he was put on oral steroids and tylenol with codeine. because he was so small, doctors had to do surgery to insert an external port into is hard to

administer the chemo. the port had to be monitored constantly to avoid infection. ethan had three surgeries and multiple rounds of chemotherapy before he was 1-year-old. even needed round-the-clock care and i had no other choice other than to put my job so i could provide that care. and when i quit my job we lost our health insurance. we were incredibly fortunate that ethan qualified for medicaid. without it he most likely would have lost his legs and possibly his life. not having employer-based health insurance proves to be quite expensive. we have no income, and now we have a sick child while balancing a mortgage, monthly bills and expensive insurance premiums because of my own personal health issues. thankfully ethan's began to heal around the time he turned one and we spent the next you're catching a him up to a normal

level of development. my husband and i managed to hold our heads above water financially for two and a half years. we lived frugally, stretching the savings we had as much as possible and taking out student loans but in the end we still had to sell our home and move moved in with his family. ethan's third year was fantastic. he graduated from all of his therapies and started preschool. he was not just walking now but running, jumping and hopping, with no pain whatsoever. in his fourth year the affordable care act was signed into law. even though ethan had proven, had overcome his illness and had proven more than most people will ever have to do, that he is strong and will fight to be healthy. without the affordable care act, he would face a lifetime of struggling to get health insurance because of his medical history. the affordable care act ensured

lemon tang or denying benefits or coverage for children because of a preexisting condition. in october of 2010, ethan's oncologist gave him a clean bill of health for the first time in his entire life. and now that insurance companies can no longer considered a preexisting condition a factor we have been able to officially close that chapter in our lives. our families health care struggle may be over but there are millions of other families out there who are dealing with serious medical problems and still need help. we cannot pull the rug out from under these families who are finally beginning to feel some relief as the result of the affordable care act. members know how important is for families to get and maintain affordable health insurance. that is why we work so hard to get the law passed and why we will keep fighting to keep it from being repealed or reversed. we worked hard to move our country forward on health care and we are not going back to the

days when health insurers could deny coverage to our children because of a preexisting condition or drop us when we get sick. we will keep fighting for quality affordable health care. to ensure that we are not just a country who pays lip service to family values but who truly value families and understand the struggles we face. [applause] >> thank you very much felecia. in the middle of the health care debate, i found myself doing a radio talk show that allowed collins. a gentleman called in and began to castigate me and president obama and the law that the democrats were pushing. he said that he had his

insurance. he liked his insurance and he didn't want anybody fooling with it. a few moments later a lady called and and she said, congressman i don't have insurance but i would like to say something to that gentleman who called in a few moments ago. maybe he -- because he is never has never tried to use it. i don't like what i had until i had to use it. she told the story of contracting cancer, breast cancer at 48 years old after being on her insurance and on a second visit she got a notice from her insurance company saying she was being dropped. i am going to introduce now, elizabeth arden stained. she will tell you her story of

why her health, her family's health is so important to leave the decisions of two feet -- [applause] >> good afternoon everyone. my name is elizabeth arden stained and i've -- bartenstein and i want to thank leader pelosi and congressman clyburn for the opportunity to tell my story today. i know how important is to have the opportunity to join my parents health insurance plans. in october of 2009, i had just moved back to my hometown richmond virginia for a job at a small nonprofit. i didn't qualify yet to be covered by my new employer and i couldn't join my parents plan in the interim because i was too old. my parents wanted to help but there was little they could do. my mom works for a church and my dad had lost his job during the

recession. and then the impossible happened. i had a horrible accident at my apartment involving my guest 04 i received second and third degree burns on my chest, arms and hands. with the help of a neighbor i was able to walk next door. luckily there was a hospital within walking distance. and she sent me to the hospital. after being admitted, they decided to transfer me to the burn unit downtown because my burns were so severe. i was cap their overnight and my family and i were more scared about what was to come. we all understood how expensive just one night in a hospital can be. so as scary as this was to me and my family, that pain truly after that was the bills.

there were lots of them. by the time it was said and done it was tens of thousands of dollars for one night stay in the hospital and i was completely -- not only will live forever remember that fateful morning but i'm still paying off for medical debt and likely will be for many years to come. i have definitely made health coverage a top priority ever since and after leaving the first nonprofit jobs i obtain individual coverage until i was insured at my next job. however the insurance i had a new job was inadequate. so in the meantime, with a new health care reform, since the law was enacted i was able to add to my mother's plan, which we did as a backup but it turned out that was an unnecessary backup because now i'm in an interim job that does not offer health care insurance. and i don't have to worry about what that means for my health. and i would like to thank leader

pelosi for her tremendous leadership on this issue and i would like to thank the voice to the challenge challenges of our generation faces and obtaining quality affordable health care. i was the affordable health care act have been passed sinner but i'm glad it's now the loveland. i don't have to worry any more than an unexpected accident could leave me owing medical bills for years to come. and now i don't have to worry about insurance coverage when making a career move. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much bob meeks, brian england, felecia willems, elizabeth barton's dine and i have the privilege of introducing carmen morales. >> this is pretty exciting for me because the issue of health

still affects women is something quite remarkable because up until the passage of this bill, being a woman was considered having a preexisting medical condition, no more. in recent weeks as we all know the issue of women's health has taken center stage and the affordable care act has put women at the center, ensuring that women are in charge of their own health decisions and providing access to lifesaving preventive care. consider just a few benefits for women in the affordable care act. it bans insurance companies from dropping women when they get sick or when they become pregnant. it dance insurance companies from obtaining a preauthorization or referral for access to ob/gyn care. beginning this summer, beginning this summer it ensures free comprehensive women's preventive care services including

contraception in the plans. [applause] it bans the common practice of gender rating charging women substantially higher premiums than men for the same coverage beginning in 2014. as i said earlier, it ensures that being a woman is no longer preexisting medical condition. i'm now pleased to introduce carmen morales who will share her story about the personal benefits of health care reform for her. thank you, carmen. [applause] >> good afternoon. and would like to thank leader pelosi, with hoyer and assistant leader clyburn for this opportunity. on the second anniversary of the affordable care act. i am a nurse practitioner and a

certified educator in bakersfield california at a public hospital. let me tell you about how the affordable care act is making an impact in my community. recently we had a 25-year-old previously uninsured but now covered through her mother's insurance plan come to us because she found a suspicious lump. 25 years old is awfully young to be finding these kinds of things but as it turned out she had a very strong family history of breast cancer. she was able to get the necessary tests and treatment and as it turned out, it was cancerous. we got her into surgery quickly and we were able to remove the lump and thankfully, we got it all. her access to our clinic probably saved her life.

because we caught it early, we were able to avoid a disfiguring and costly surgery. now, she will be able to have follow up care to make sure that it doesn't return or come to another part of her body. she will be able to seek the necessary testing she needs for her other family members, her children, her daughters and she will be able to take care of her family. i am going to continue to advocate for the affordable care act because i have seen how it works, how it saves lives. i want my patients to remain healthy and i want them to be able to lead productive lives. right now in bakersfield there is a team of nurses who are out on the floor educating patients about the affordable care act. and i'm asking you to please make sure that this work does not and. it is so important. thank you.

[applause] >> a very special guest and i'm going to yield for a moment. >> we just heard stories from all across the country to tell us how the affordable care act has helped them in their own families lives. and it also includes our story. [laughter] moms can't be rattled. thank you very much. [applause]

[inaudible] thank you very much. thank you all very much. as you hear some of the stories, this is liberation. this is what our founders had in mind. ever expanding opportunity for people who want to be a photographer or a writer or a physician, whatever, an artist. you want to be self-employed and you want to start a business. if you want to change jobs, you no longer are prohibited from doing that because you can't have access to health care. especially because you do not want to put your family at risk. how many people in america do you think have it preexisting medical condition. they may have been sick when they were little or they had cancer and now are cancer free and isn't that a celebration? but you always carry a

preexisting condition antidiscrimination with you until now. until now. and we cannot let that roll back. that affects tens of millions of americans directly and their families as well, so our whole country. with that we will take a few questions hopefully on this subject. >> what was your reaction to the gop budget in addition to not only repealing the affordable health care act but also lowering the levels from the bca and cutting funding as well? >> the gentleman's question is about the budget in general and it does have an impact on our conversation here in terms of health care. right from the start the republicans have tried to make an assault on the affordable

care act. it's hard to understand why they would be against ending preexisting conditions from keeping people from getting health insurance and women from getting preventive care and children from having the access to the care they need. for whatever reason, they do and bless their hearts, they act upon what they believe. they do not believe in this bill and they are trying to roll it back to not let that happen. at the same time in their distorted priorities in their budget, i am a little hyped up about this today because this bill is in the process of getting written before it comes to the floor. of they pass their bill and we will have an alternative i hope but the fact is that in the bill they break the guarantee, the medicare guarantee for seniors. that means seniors pay more, over $6000 more.

over $6000 more. and all the money you would have to save in advance. what could they possibly be thinking? i will tell you what i think they are thinking and i don't question their motivation. they don't believe in medicare and bless their hearts again, they are believe is that medicare can wither on the vine. this budget is a step in the direction of medicare withering on the vine. and so we have a situation where they put forth a budget which doesn't honor their own agreement in terms of what the amount that budget should be. it breaks the medicare guarantee with seniors, raises costs and cuts jobs and is simply not a statement of our national values that a budget should be and i want to go to leader hoyer and

leader clyburn. >> one thing i do want to add is there was bipartisan opposition to a budget that came out of the budget committee. it was a totally partisan bill in terms of passage but it was a bipartisan opposition to that will and in fact will make the debt and deficit and economy worse and move in exactly the wrong direction as well as undermining the guarantee that people have with medicare and social security and other programs will be there for them when they need them. >> can you address for a moment -- speier collies have been spending the last few days marking the second anniversary of health care but president obama has not. is the person with the bullied all but in the country should

president obama be using it to talk about health care this week? >> i think the president has been absolutely great on health care. without the president we would not have this bill. [applause] we would not have this bill. every day, every day with the passage of the bill the administration has moved in a very positive direction to implement to stay on schedule. the many benefits that people are enjoying now are put forth. the secretary of hhs and the people in the administration are taking the message forward in the country and without the president, no bill. the day after the bill was passed the president called and said last night or health care bill was passed in the house and i was happier than i was the day that i was elected president of the united states. [. isn't that beautiful? [applause]

i was happy too mr. president but not as happy as when you were elected president of the united states. if you were not elected president of the united states we would not be passing this historic ross says for the american people. yes? >> with the case coming forward with the supreme court next week, do you have anxiety about what may happen next week and if the court rules against the mandate and what we are talking about here? >> i am thinking a much more positive thing than you just post what i guess that's a fair question and again if my colleagues have anything to say about the case next week. we knew what we were doing when we pass this bill and this ironclad constitution. what happens in the court is another matter. but we believe that we are in pretty good shape going into the court.

it's interesting though because our republican colleagues and this is maybe more in the subject and you want to know but they have been opponents, they have been opponents of judicial review. they have said that the congress, when the congress acts and the president signs the bill, that is the law of the land and they oppose judicial review may need the courts can review the constitutionality of the law. in fact they even said them mulberry versus madison which established the principle at the beginning of her country was wrongly decided. that was done. so opposed are they to opposing their friends and the insurance industry to whom they are handmaiden, that they had even broken with their opposition judicial review to take this important of which mean so much to the american people, to the court. but i have faith in the court and i have faith in the bill and

we will see what happens next week. we will not know next week but i know all of america will be watching to see the proceedings. at least every american who has a child with a preexisting condition, family history that can be so described, and a woman who concerned about her health and the health of her family, any senior who is concerned about medicare and what that guarantee means to a person's health and economic security. anybody who cares about innovation in our country for a new kind of health care that health care that is not just about the health care in america but the good health of america, that prevention and that in a vision to to customize personalize care. anyone who cares about lowering costs, expanding opportunities and access and improving the quality of health care.

that sounds like it includes a lot of people, at least people who are aware of what is in the bill. so i hope that all of you will help us make people more aware of what is in the bill because it really honors the greatness of our country. senator kennedy, toward the end of his life said this is the great unfinished business of america, that all people should have access to quality affordable health care. it's a right for all americans and not just had privilege for a very few. in that spirit, we are proud of the work that was done. it was a compromise. it was not the bill that i would have written but it is a bill that will make a big difference and is making a big difference, so i pray that the courts will make the right decision. they have been