cannot have fairness and policy unless we have fairness in the politics outside and for them to have this undue weight which is if they had the money and they had the freedom of expression, they do, then let's give the american people their right to know, and so the reason it's so damaging to a democracy is that it not only undermines one person, the voice of the many and it also suffocates any vitality of ideas in the congre congress, if youio own it you'll get the tax breaks and the $100 million and $400 million into campaigns are offset by the tax cuts you will get and at the same time diminish the public role and the public-private partnership that exists in our country. so there's a special interest and there's ideological

orthodoxy here served by big money suffocating the system, suppressing the vote, poise ong the debate. we think nothing less is at stake in this election than our democracy and we think that there is a path to at least legitimizing what they're saying by having them admit that they are identified with that. >> if i could just respectfully, how much of this really is about the fact that republicans are out raising the money? >> they're raising far more than you are. >> what democrats have been on record for a long time wanting to reform the system passed a bill long ago as president obama senior which vetoed for citizen financing of campaigns. you know what has come in between there ken feingold and

that, but even if we could outraise them, everybody should disclose. this isn't, you know, it has nothing to do with that. and stunning that the supreme court would take such an undermining of democracy approach to how we go forward. i completely disagree with what they did, but everybody should disclose, and i think we should, and that's why i say amend the constitution to do away with that and perform the system so we have citizen participation and i'd like to end a pack to end all packs and the big pack and the big secret packs like that. the pack to end all packs. so this is something that is again, fundamental to the democracy and you can't have big money on any side on making that determination. this gives us an opportunity, though, because it is so apparent when people say i'm going to put up $400 million.

what is it that they want and the tax breaks and they want government. and we don't want a government bigger than what we need to have public-private partnerships and this is a subject that many of us have spent our lives in politics on, increasing the voice of the many and our country. i promised to go to the farm bill at some point. [ inaudible ] >> the committee this morning -- >> yes. >> what do you think of what is passed and what would you like to see done? >> because it did pass in the early hours of the morning, i haven't seen the whole bill yet, but what i do know of it is that i would have voted with those democrats and the committee voted against it. however, i hope that the bill, and whatever comes next comes

closer to the senate bill. i think the cuts in nutrition are unacceptable to the extent that they are in that bill and we hope that there would be more partisan on something that looks like the bill. >> and i hope we do get a farm bill. i don't think it will come to the house floor to be voted upon. do you know? >> no. >> i asked somebody who should be in the position to know and he said he didn't know either. so i guess we'll all see. yes, sir? >> they're asking about an abc report about the olympic outfits for the opening ceremonies. made in america has been the central focus and yourself, too, and these uniforms are made in china. doesn't that strike you as unfair? >> yes.

yes. i think we take great pride in our olympic athletes and i've watched as many of the trials as possible and i can't wait to stay up to watch as much as possible. they work so hard and they represent the very best and they're excellent and it is all so beautiful and we should have the uniforms made in america. >> there has been frustration -- an increasing frustration over the absence of congressman jackson. >> really? an increasing frustration? >> they put out a statement saying he's suffering from a mood disorder. do you think that's sufficient explanation to his colleagues to explain his absence, his long-term absence and to his constituents. >> let's talk about the long-term absence. how many legislative days have we been in since congressman -- >> 12 days? >> okay. so, if you're going by the calendar you can't really do

that around here because we meet very infrequently and not for very much time or to any good product at the same time, but let me say, as i said yesterday about congressman jackson. our prayers and thoughts are with him and with his family. we wish him the comfort he needs to get well. i said at the time that he knew they had a handle on what the evaluation was, that they would make it known and they have. i don't know any members who have said anything to you, but no one has said anything to me about it. >> have you spoken to his family or anyone? >> not since his statement, no, but i think that that statement show should enable him to have the care and time he needs to get well and his con stitch wct

wents to know and now we know. >> the election is being cast as a referendum at least on tax policy and where we go. if republicans were to win, would democrats drop the reductions to extending the top marginal aspects? >> the tax rates that would increase the administration and did not create jobs and got us into the fix that we are in now? no. it's just not fair. mr. van holland, in addition to his many other accomplishments and responsibilities also has served on the ways and means committee and perhaps he'd like to speak to that. >> the only thing i would add to that are the consequences of saying the folks at the very high end of the income scale don't have to contribute more to reducing the deficit which the republican colleagues have said repeatedly we need to do. if you don't ask the folks at the very top to contribute more

to reducing the deficit, it means you lack everybody else. giving them another round of tax breaks comes at the expense at the rest of america. it comes at the expense of important investments that are necessary to make our economy grow. so that's why this is such an important issue. if you're serious about long-term, fiscal discipline, then you have to make choices as to how to achieve that. and if you don't ask the folks at the very top to contribute more, simply go back to what they were doing during the clinton years then you're asking the rest of the country to pay the bill. and i remind you that going back to the clinton rates for these folks would be a very good thing for the country. just to remind, when president obama and george w. bush took office and the unemployment rate was 4.2% and when he left it was

almost double that and the tax cuts at the high end were not helpful in terms of deficit reduction and job creation. thank you all very much. coming up later today here on c-span3, senate confirmation hearing for a postal service nominee. president obama has nominated stephen crawford to serve on the postal board of governors. he's a public policy professor at george washington university. that hearing gets under way at 2:30 p.m. eastern and we have it live here on c-span3. this weekend governors from across the country meet in williamsburg, virginia, for the national meeting of the governors association and it begins at 10:30 eastern with the discussion on medicaid with iowa governor terry branstat and

illinois governor pat quinn and at 2:30 in the afternoon saturday maryland governor martin o'malley and wyoming governor matthew meade part of the roundtable on issues. the annual meeting live this weekend on c-span. hitler by then had the plan. when you realize that these armies or remnants of armies were not coming to his aid, but were trying to escape really to the west that's when he collapsed when he realized it would come to an end and it was a question of suicide. >> historian anthony beevor from adolf hitler's rise to power to his dark, chaotic final days. >> his main objective was not to be captured alive by the russians and he was afraid of being paraded in a cage and being spat at and ridiculed. he was determined to die and edward was determined to die with him. more with anthony beevor sunday

at 8:00 on c-span's "q & a." the naacp is holding its annual conference in houston. yesterday mitt romney addressed the gathering and today vice president spoke to the group. mr. biden was introduced by a naacp board of directors. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ naacp delegates!

it is my great honor to introduce to you a friend of the naacp. at the age of 29, he became one of the youngest people ever elected to the united states senate. our speaker commuted from washington to willmingham, delawa delaware, by train every day and he was re-elected to the senate six times. as a senator from delaware for 36 years, he has established himself as a leader of some of our nation's most important domestic and international challenges. now, serving as the 47th vice

president of the united states, joe biden continues to provide leadership on important issues facing our nation. of relevant interest to this audience, joe biden was a standout high school athlete who participated to an anti-segregation sit-in at a maryland theater. he is married to dr. jill biden and they have three children and five grandchildren. naacp delegates, again, join me in providing a warm, naacp family welcome to the vice president of the united states of america joseph r. biden!

>> hello! please, thank you very much! you know what they say flattery is all right as long as you don't inhale. you keep this up i'll start inhaling. it's good to be home. it's good to be home. it's good to be back. ladies and gentlemen, madam chair, as we used to say in the senate you excuse the point of personal privilege. where's delaware? hey, delaware, i want you to know something, ladies and gentlemen, i'm a lifetime member of the naacp, and there's an old expression. you go home with those that

brung you to the dance. they brung me to the united states. i'm a united states senator and vice president of the united states for one reason, because i was educated. i was educated by louis l. redding and i was educated by reverend maurice moyer. i was educated by lent mitchell and hicks anderson and i went through the battle with mouse. mousey, are you out there? hey, mouse, how are you doing, man? mouse and i go back a long way to the days when i was a public defender. each before that. to the days i was the only white employee on the east side, remember, mouse? and by the way, mouse got my back a bunch of times. in any rate, it is so, so good to be with you all. i want to thank you all for your leadership and your friendship and again, to be personal, for your loyalty.

it is not an exaggeration. were it not for the leadership of the naacp, for the men and women who educated me when we'd sit over in reverend wright's churches as we were talking about desegregating the queen movie theater, remember, mouse, those days? i learned so much. i learned so much, and i owe so much, but ladies and gentlemen, this is as much as i enjoy it, this is not about me. this is about another office. this is about the presidency. this is about -- more than any other office in the land. the presidency is about

character. the character of your convictions. whether you put country above politics. from the very moment nah barack obama took his hand off that bible on that cold, january day in the mall he's done just that. he has put country first. when the economy was about to go over the cliff i watched him make some of the toughest decisions any president has had to make since franklin del nor roosevelt. it wasn't a popular decision, but it wasn't a central decision and he was right. we needed a national financial system to function and credit the flow again. he stepped up and rescued the automobile industry. it was not popular. it was not popular. , but it was critical and he was right saving 1 million jobs and

general motors leads the world again and chrysler is the fastest growing company in america. this is the man who made the call to go after osama bin laden. it was a bold -- it was a bold decision with profound risks for our warriors as well as our presidency and he made it and he made that decision on his own. bin laden is dead and america is more secure because of this man's decision. he passed affordable care act that started with teddy roosevelt. it required him early on to use almost all of his political capital. he prevailed where no president had done before.

he was right. he was right. he cut $100 billion. $100 billion from the federal debt over the next ten years, providing access, and affordable health care to 30 million americans who never have had insurance. this is a man. this is a president who has the character of his convictions and almost never, since he's taken office during this entire time did the republican congress reach across the aisle to help. on the recovery act, which kept sliding further into the

depression, only three republican senators and not one house member voted for it. on the affordable care act, no republican in the senate and no one on the house for the final vote and it wasn't just the big signature issues and it was not the easy, obvious things when we got no cooperation, extending the payroll tax, only seven republicans initially voted for it. lilly leadbetter, equal pay. three republicans voted for it in the house. when we attempted to raise the debt limit to maintain the full faith and credit of the united states and not a single republican met the responsibility of meeting that requirement. resulting in negotiation which brought us to the brink of disaster causing america's credit rating to be lowered for

the first time, but it wasn't until later. folks, it wasn't until later that we learned this was a plan. obstructionism was a plan from the outset. according to the recent book, by the respected author robert draper, he stated in a meeting the night of inauguration and according to draper and republican leaders with kevin mckarthy and they gathered and mccarthy in the book is reported to have said if you act like you're a minority, you're going to stay a minority. we've got to challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign. newt gingrich who was also there said and he was prophetic, you will remember this as the day the seas of 2012 were sewn.

well, there were seeds of obstruction. later, mitch mcconnell just said it out loud in talking about lessons he learned from history, he said, quote, the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a one-term president. not to get us out of this recession, not to promote jobs, not to do the things that needed to be done, but make barack obama a one-term president. and, folks, the discipline is amazing. they have never let up, but neither has my guy. neither has president barack obama. he has not given up!

he continues. he continues to be driven by the character of his convictions, and, folks, in the end that's what the presidency is all about. your character. your convictions, and one more important thing, it's about your vision for the future of america and here, here are the candidates to get together that have fundamentally different visions for this country. by the way, i think mitt romney's a fine family man. i believe he is driven by what he believes, but the differences are so basic about how we view the future of america. let me give you just a few examples. in education, we see education as central to the vision of how to assure america's ascendancy

throughout the 21st century. we see education as the single most important criteria for minority children and we see education. we see a future where once again, america has the highest percentage of college graduates in the world, a future where school graduation rates in high school are not a matter of what neighborhood you come from and what background of your parents and your economic circumstances are, a future where everyone has access to education out of high school because six out of ten jobs, six out of the ten jobs in the coming decades are going to require more than a high school diploma. a future where everyone can find a decent job, where quality, early education is available to our children, increasing exponentially the chances they'll see in school.

where class sizes are small where kids can get the personalized attention they need. where we demand more of our teachers and we treat them like they are professionals. high standards and pay equal to other professions. look, education doesn't play a central role in the romney republican vision of the future of america. it's on the backburner and not a priority. he just looked at the budget for the future. massive cuts in early education. the one thing educators agree on is the central most important initiative to deal right up front -- right up front with the achievement gap. elimination, and the tax credit for families and the cuts in pell grant scholarships of

children of low income families and cuts in title one funding for lowest performing school and the cut of $2.7 billion. cuts in special education funding. in my view, backing away from the proposition we've held for years and years that children should be educated to the degree they're educatable. cuts by $2.2 billion, cuts in job training. just listen to what they say, what he says. he says the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps. tell that to all those private schools. tell that to all those parents and the renewable energy and to an increasingly large share.

an america that is energy independent. we see a nation that breathes cleaner air where our cities are not polluted, whereas ma doesn't claim the lives of african-american children four times as great as it does all other children because of the environment in which they live. romney sees a different energy future where renewable energy wins solar biofuels and they're not a priority where romney's allies and the congress oppose any incentives to invest in clean energy, but insist on retaining a $4 billion a year tax cut for the oil industry and a tax cut even they acknowledge they don't need. women's rights. we see an america where no woman pays more for healthcare than any man in america. where working women have access to quality, affordable child care, where women receive equal

pay for equal work. we see a future where the barriers where they participate for technology, science, engineering and the field and where the violence against women is the proudest achievement of my leave -- where the government doesn't make choices for women, where every woman has unfettered access to contraception and family planning if she desires it. in short, we see an america where our daughters have every -- and i mean every opportunity our sons have. governor romney and allies for the congress see a different future for women in america. the government isn't sure what his position is on the violence against women act.

he's not sure whether or not lilly leadbetter law of the past is good, but he is certain of what his position is on roe v. wade, overturn it. planned parenthood, get rid of it. he's certain that any employer, any employer should be able to decide whether or not to make contraception available in their healthcare plans. where working women have access to quality child care, where social policy that is a throwback to the '50s and innovation and medical research, we see an america where hiv is a thing of the past, where infant mortality is drastically reduced. that's why we continue to invest in basic research in the national science foundation and the national institutes of health and the research university and romney sees a very different future where he cuts funding for the nih and the national science foundation. health care.