post" died suddenly earlier today while walking near his los angeles home. he had stopped by into the brightwood, a nearby bar and restaurant in los angeles. there he struck up a conversation with arthur sando, a marketing executive who he didn't know but arthur sando said that he and andrew breitbart struck up a conversation talking about hbo's bill maher program and politics andrew breitbart who is a conservative pundit and blogger, he appeared at the cpac conference this past month here in washington, d.c. and on the floor of the house earlier today, congressman louis gohmert, a republican from texas paying tribute to andrew breitbart. >> but i can't help but think his devotion to truth, to preserving liberty, will have inspired so many who will pick up that banner and potentially as was the case with john convincy adams and abraham lincoln do far more than adams himself could have done and in

this day, in the years to come, do more than andrew could have done by himself. >> though andrew did great service to himself, his family and his nation, it's my prayer that his greatest contribution to this, the greatest nation with the greatest freedoms in the history of the world will not be those specific but amazing accomplishments he achieved but that his greatest accomplishment will be the inspiration he was and is to so many who saw his devotion, saw his commitment, saw his goals and will just as did john quincy adams and accomplished more through those he inspired than those he could ever have accomplished individually. at a time like this, there there is sometimes a temptation to blame god and ask why did god take such an individual so soon?

i directed comments to our creator should instead be thank you, dear god, for the gift of andrew breitbart. we wish we could he have kept him longer. but thank you for this marvelous gift. >> the comments of congressman gohmert of texas on the floor of the house of representatives. the l.a. times writing about the death of breitbart describing him as a polarizing website publisher who once helped edit the drudge report, found his way to tea party in recent years, exposed the story of the sext e sextulely explicit tweets of anthony weiner, suddenly collapsing near his home earlier today. he was 43 years old. this is washington today on c-span radio.

>> and some other news today on wall street, the dow was up 28, closing at 12,980. nasdaq was up 22 and s&p was up 8. maryland's governor has signed a measure legalizing gay marriage. joining seven other states and the district of columbia. governor martin o'malley, a democrat signed the bill today a week after its final passage in the legislature. the law is scheduled to take effect in 2013. however, opponents are expected to petition the laut to a referendum on the november ballot. president obama has called the governors of six states recovering from those devastating tornadoes and said he was ready to assist with their needs. the white house says the president called the governors of missouri, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, and tennessee. he placed the calls, the president placed the calls while driving from nashua new hampshire top the airport in manchester. he landed in new york where he's attending four fund-raisers.

on capitol hill, testimonies of congressional lawmakers who took part in the civil rights movement are going to be preserved under a resolution passed by the house today. it passed unanimously. the measure instructs the office of the house historian to compile the stories of current and former members who were involved in civil rights events and activities of the 1960s. it will also call for documentation of the experiences of members who took part in the protest marches in alabama from selma montgomery in 1956. the most well-known lawmaker to play a role in those marches is congressman john lewis, democrat from georgia. he was a leader of the march between the two cities, has been known as bloody sunday, march 7th, 1965. since 1998, lewis has led a congressional delegation back to selma and other landmarks each year and the pilgrimage this year begins on friday. and finally, the chair of the house armed services committee intent on prohibiting private security contractors and afghans from guarding u.s. bases in

afghanistan. that is just one bit of news from congressman buck mckeon is, republican of california, in an interview taped for c-span's newsmakers program. the half an hour program airs sundays at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern time. back in a minute with more "washington today"? >> if you had said in 2006 that the world would be begging for the united states to use force again in the middle east within three and a half years, everybody would have said you were crazy. >> brookings fellow robert kagan is not only an advising to the romney campaign but also serves on secretary of state's clinton's foreign policy board. >> what i've been writing for years is that there's a lot of continuity in american foreign policy, more than we expect, a lot of broad consensus. i think what you're seeing here is the kind of consensus that is exists com in the foreign policy community and probably there is a lot of overlap. >> more on the latest, the world

america made sunday night at 8:00 eastern. >> welcome back to "washington today." another day of testimony by the fed chairman ben bernanke. yesterday he testified before a house committee. and again today, he reiterated his concern that chronic long-term unemployment does threaten to reduce the nation's supply of skilled workers. ben bernanke also said he's woersds that more than 40% of america's unemployed, 5.5 million people have been out of work for more than six months. he said if that problem persists, more of the long-term unemployed will lose jobs skills and it will be tough for them t >> here's more from the testimony. tim johnson, democrat south dakota. >> u.s. consumers are deleveraging to reduce high debt levels. credit is still tight for u.s. companies and households.

and fiscal policy has begun to tighten. as we consider economic growth in the near and long-term, should congress enact drastic spending cuts and balance the budget this year or would a plan to curb deficits and address structural issues over a longer time horizon make more sense economically? also, what sectors of our economy could provide sustainable growth over the long-term? >> mr. chairman, so first of all, as senator shelby correctly pointed out, the federal reserve doesn't make recommendations on specific fiscal policy decisions but in the broad context, let me make two points. the first is that as i've said a number of occasions including in front of this committee, the united states is on a unsustainable fiscal path looking out over the next couple of decades.

if we continue along that path eventually we will face a fiscal and financial crisis that will be very bad for growth and for stability. so therefore, whatever we do, it is very important that we be planning now for long-term improvement in our situation in terms of long-term fiscal sustainability. at the same time, i think it is important that we keep in mind that the recovery is not yet complete. unemployment remains high. the rate of growth is modest. and under current law, as you know, on january 1st of 2013, there will be a major shift in the fiscal position of the united states including the expiration of a number of tax cuts and other tax provisions together with the is he questionstration and other provisions that would together create a very sharp shift in the fiscal stance of the federal government. i think that we could an sheave

the very desirable long-run fiscal consolidation that we definitely need and we need to do soon but we can do that in a way that doesn't provide such a major shock to the recovery in the near term. and so, i'm sure that congress will be debating the details of this over the next year. and trying to taking into account both the need for protecting the recovery at the same time insuring that we do achieve fiscal sustainability in the long-term. on the second part of your question, mr. chairman, we are seeing manufacturing and industrial production in general have been leading the recovery. housing which normally does lead the recovery, of course, is lagging. but generally, it's an automobiles, of course, being one part of manufacturing. but generally, it's hard to predict of course, what sectors

will be most -- have the greatest growth in the longer term. you asked me earlier in the first question about potential growth. we don't see at this point that the very severe recession has permanently affected the growth potential of the u.s. economy. although of course, we continue to monitor productivity gains and the like, but one concern we do have, of course, is the fact that more than 40% of the unemployed have been unemployed for six months or more. those folks are either leaving the labor force or having their skills eroded, and although we haven't seen much sign of it yet, if that situation persists for much longer, then that will reduce the human capital that is part of our growth process going forward. >> just some of the testimony earlier in the day by the fed chairman ben bernanke on capitol hill before the senate banking committee with yesterday and today's testimony available on our website as is all of our programming. check it out at c-span.org and it's part of the video library.

if you go on top bill o'reilly's site on the fox news channel, his comments from tuesday aimed at ben cohen and jerry greenfield. that's right. ben & jerry, the ice cream guys as he calls them. and bill o'reilly critical of them for their attempts to raise nearly $2 million in order to give out grants to occupy protesters. bill o'reilly asking this question, so what is exactly is a grant? well, it's a salary says bill o'reilly. they're going to pay people to agitate all over the u.s. that is dangerous because we've seen in cities like oakland and new york people can get hurt but apparently they don't care. today, ben cohen joined us on c-span's "washington journal" with questions fres c-span host peter excellent. >> mr. cohen, in november, there was a gallup poll about occupy and its goals and there was some support for it, but people were confused about what its goals

were. do you think it's the movement as a whole has been clear in spelling out what its goals are? >> actually, yes. the movement is very clear that they want a world that works for the 99% instead of just for the 1%. and i think one of the reasons why there hasn't been a demand or a few demands is because what's needed is a total change in terms of outlook and perspective, but you know, along the way to that changing in outlook, occupy has supported this effort to get a constitutional amendment to get finally get money out of politics. to state that corporations are not people, they've been very

supportive and very active in terms of keeping people in their homes and ending the home foreclosure crisis and they've been very successful in getting banks to renegotiate mortgages and restructure them so that people can stay in their homes. so, you know, there's a whole bunch of things that are needed, you know, i mean, i would say that we need to, you know, reinstall the separation between banks and investment houses in terms of the glass/steagall act. but occupy is saying that it's not just one, two, three, or four things. i mean it's a whole bunch of things that need a change. >> what's your get the dough out campaign? >> it's about getting the dough out of politics. and about passing a

constitutional amendment that will do that. and you know, i think, i mean, i haven't been able to find anybody on either side of the aisle who is saying that you know, we should keep the current system whereby -- which is essentially legal bribery. so i think there's tremendous support for it throughout the country. and i think that we need to start holding politicians' feet to the fire. you know, in vermont, i believe there's a -- there's been a resolution that's either passed or proposed to pass that is constitutional amendment. i think we ought to be occupying our politicians' offices until they vote for that constitutional amendment. >> ben cohen who is the co-founder of ben & jerry's ice cream joining us from new york this morning. his efforts for the occupy wall street movement, that interview

on our website at c-span.org. news from syria tonight after a punishing month-long military siege, syrians' rebels making what they call a tactical retreat today in homs, syria, saying they are running low on weapons and the humanitarian conditions were unbearable. within hours of the withdrawal, president assad granting permission for the international committee of the red cross to enter the neighborhood which had become a symbol of the resistance. human rights workers have been appealing for access for weeks to deliver some of the bake needs of food and water and medicine and to help evacuate the wounded in the area that have been attacked by the government since early february. the red cross receiving the green light to the move into the area. that is happening tonight. well, the ongoing situation in syria the subject of a hearing today and questions every senator ben cardin, a democrat from maryland to jeffrey feltman, the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs.

this part of the hearing on what the u.s. is doing and needs to do in syria. >> the secretary feldman, i think we all agree that there will be a tipping point that assad regime will not survive. the challenge though is that until that happens, the humanitarian disasters will only get worse. so how many people are going to lose their lives or their lives will be changed forever until that tipping point is reached is a matter of grave interest to all of us. you point out that there's a growing unity in the region. in the arab world. which would i think point out that our options may be stronger than we think. we may have more opportunities to try to save lives. i'm very mindful of senator lugar's cautionary notes and we all share that. but i guess my point is, what can we do, what can the united states do in leadership to

minimize it the sufferings that are taking place and will take place until the assad regime is removed? what can we do working with our international partners to provide the best opportunity for the safety of the civilian population in syria during this period of time? >> senator, thank you. this is a question we're talking about all the time is what can we do either ourselves as americans and but more importantly, what can be we do together with our partners in the region and beyond. and what we can do together question i think is the more important one. particularly because frankly, our influence in syria is much less than the influence of some of our neighbors. our economic ties with syria before all this started were extremely limited compared to the economic ties between syria and europe, syria and turkey, syria and the arab world.

and there is an international consensus that came out of tunis that we all need to be doing more on the humanitarian side. working with workers that can get things into vulnerable populations inside of syria, working with the neighbors hosting people ho have fled syria. there's international con sense from the region, from the world. that's an important short-term goal is getting things in, making sure warehouses are stocked, supplies are prepositioned. there's consensus as well for increasing the pressure on assad through a variety of means. we've talked a lot about the sanctions already but there's a always look at more sanctions that can be done particularly from those countries, as i said, an that have had stronger economic ties in order to deprive the regime of its income. there is a consensus that we all need to be working with the syrian opposition in all of its forms. in tunis, there was recognition that the syrian national council

is a legitimate representative of the voices of the syrian opposition. and we're working with that. but i think that your question we'll hints at something beyond that. and i think for more aggressive action, we would need to have a larger international consensus than currently exists. one thing that we are definitely working on going back to senator menendez's question is to see what role the security council can play. it's past time for the security council to be playing a role. that too was a consensus that came out of tunis is that people and countries and institutions represented there want to see an end to the blockage by russia and china of the security council taking action. >> you're right. i was trying to probe as to what more we could do. i agree with you, you need international unity, the security council is where we

normally start that. it's not the exclusive area. it's not the dermatotive area but it's certainly one in which would give us a a stronger footing having the arab league is clearly important. i would hope that we would work together exploring options to be more aggressive where we can effectively in unity with the international community. >> some testimony earlier in the day. jeffery feltman taking questions from senator ben cardin from maryland. the headlines here is the government is saying that the army is now in control of the rebel outpost and the assistance led by the red cross moving into the area tonight and tomorrow to help the people in homs. continued calls for president assad to step down. you are listening to "washington today."

u.s. pro democracy flying out of egypt today after authorities lifted a travel ban. a move that is likely, for the moment, to diffuse relations with washington and cairo. the situation did lead to egypt losing potentially about $1.3 billion in military assistance. egyptian authorities had accused the campaigners, including ray lahood of receiving foreign funding and preventing them from leaving the country. that was a briefing today with victoria nuland. >> i'm wondering what you have to say about this? does it mean for anything for the aid? does it mean anything for u.s./egyptian relations? >> well, as matt has noted, we are very pleased that the

egyptian courts have now lifted the travel ban on our ngo employees. the u.s. government has provided a plane to facilitate their departure and they have left the country. they are currently en route home. with regard to u.s./egyptian relation, as you know, we had been concerned that this incident could have a severe impact on all of the things that we want to do together going forward. i would say that with regard to the ngo issue in general, that the departure of our people doesn't resolve the legal case or the larger issues concerning the ngos. we remain deeply concerned about the prosecution of ngos in egypt and the ultimate outcome of the legal process. we will keep working with the egyptian government on these issues. >> okay. you said you had been concerned that this incident could have a

severe impact. is it now -- are you saying it is no longer an issue or this specific case of these seven americans is no longer an issue, but the larger under lying problem with the ngos is still a severe concern and still could have a severe impact? >> the larger underlying issue of the role that ngos play in egypt's transitioning democracy is still an issue of concern to us. it is not only an issue with regard to americans and other internationals, it is an issue with regard to the egyptians who remain charged and the ngos that have been unable to register and are owned. we will continue to try to work through the issues with the egyptian government. as you know, at some point in the spring, under u.s. legislation, the vehicle will have to make some certification

decisions with regard to the continuing positive development of egyptian democracy that goes to the election process that is ongoing. it goes to all of the democratic issues. >> so this alone today isn't enough to certify? >> i'm not going to speak to how the decisions will be made when the time comes. simply to say that we continue to want to see the ngo situation settled in a manner that allows all ngos, our own, european and other international ngos and others to be registered. we think that is part in parcel. >> are you not concerned about that? >> obviously, we are concerned about that. >> and are the seven going to return to face the charges? >> well, that will be an issue that each one of them will have

to make their own decision about. >> of course, many expect them not to return to egypt. victoria nuland speaking early in the day. she indicated that the americans, including the son of transportation secretary ray lahood working for the ngos for non-government organizations. joined on the flight is a norwegian and german worker. they were accused of funding unpopular unrest in the country. this is "washington today" on c-span radio. normally we don't focus on the weather in washington d.c., but today, temperatures in the mid-60s. of course, all eyes on the tidal basin and the cherry blossoms. rob defao is speaking at the

nunu newseum. >> good morning. 100 years. a lot has happened in 100 years. a lot of people ask me what it means to me. i took a few minutes to reflect on that. who would have thought 1912 would have happened. a gift of friendship would have endured pearl harbor and hiroshima and we are still enduring that friendship today. i didn't understand the significance of the gift of friendship when i took this job 20 years ago. i do get it now. i really do. i appreciate that you entrusted me to care for the trees the last 20 years. in any event, the park service traditionally comes here to tell you when the trees are going to bloom. normally that is because they

put the bloom date around average date of blooming which is the 4th. there is no reason for me to be here this year. whoever picked the dates, picked them so they coincide with the earliest blooming date on record and latest blooming date on record. it's a no-brainer that the cherries will bloom during the festival this year. the question is when? there has been a lot of speculation about the warm weather and that speculation is correct. i read this morning there are some people praying for cold air to hold the blossoms back. i don't think you have to do that. basically, i told you every year we look at five stages. we monitor and we tell you what we know. what i think i know at this point is they will be early. having said that, my forecast

this year for when we reach peak bloom, that is 70% of blossoms open, is between march 24th and march 31st. keep in mind, the blooming period can start a few days before that and last as long as 10 to 14 days. we are looking at the blooming to start the 22nd of march and go out. they lasted 17 days in 2008, but they lasted ten days in 2010. so, nature is not always cooperative. myself and others will monitor the buds and providing updates as appropriate. >> the comments at the newseum. first lady michelle obama serving as the chair of the festival this year. some background. the first batch of cherry blossom trees arrived in 1910. there were 2,000 of them.

they all died. so in 1912, the first lady planted the first two trees. that is why this year marks the centennial of the current trees along the tidal basin. the mayor of washington d.c. is expecting an influx of tourism dollars. if the weather holds, the cherry blossoms well be at full peak late they are month. tomorrow morning on "the washington journal." we will continue the conversation. we will have the author of "the greatest hoax." and a round table discussion on this issue. the size and scope of state and local government and how it has chanin