in comes these to the dual american soldiers. there were doctors. they said we are from camp -- the internment camp down the block, which is where the u.s. was holding prisoners at the time. they said we don't have a lot of work right now, and we would like to offer services to you. and i thought this is fantastic. at that moment, in comes this man carrying a little boy who had been shot. no one was say who shot him. i watched right there. they just put him down and saved his life. >> i appreciate that hopeful note. thank you for the work that human rights watch does. please join me in thanking him. [applause]

i will be performing at the comedy club tomorrow night. if anybody has anything you want to ask that we have not gotten to, please feel free to come up. that's not the supreme court has upheld a federal government permit to dump waste from an alaskan gold mine into a nearby lake heat, even though all the fish would be killed. the justices say if the appeals court wrongly blocked the permit on informal grounds. the army corps of engineers granted the permit in 2005. environmental groups challenged the permit, saying it violated the clean water act. also today, they made it easier for parents of special education students to be reimbursed for the cost of private schooling for their children. the court ruled today in favor of a teenage boy from oregon,

whose parents try to force their local school district to pay the $5,200 a month it cost to send their son to a private school. coming up this week on washington journal, senator john mccain talks about iraq, iran, afghanistan, and domestic issues. that is tomorrow morning at 80 stern. followed at 9 by bob schieffer. the original head of the homeland security department, tom ridge. that is live at 9 eastern here on c-span. but july 4th weekend in booktv, discovered an unfamiliar sight of our nation's first president, live from george washington's mount vernon state with an author, and the success of toward washington. join our 3 our conversation and in depth, on c-span and booktv.

>> barack obama announced today a step in changing the health care system. drug companies have pledged to spend $80 billion over the next decade to help reduce the cost of drugs for seniors, to pay for some of the president's health care plans. he is introduced by the new head of aarp. >> aarp is proud to stand with you, chairman max baucus, chairman dodd to announce the gap in medicare, the drug coverage gap known as the doughnut hole will be substantially filled for millions of middle income americans as part of health reform. i want to applaud chairman max baucus, senator dodd, who have been champions in this issue.

we are honored to stand with both of you. senator max baucus, with your strong leadership on the senate finance committee, with the creativity that led to the development of this very unique solution. we will also support the process and look forward to -- with optimism to the next up. the bottom line, without you chairman, we would not be here today. we offer you all of our thanks. when the president issued his call for all parties to come together to address the issues of health reform, a our peak, representing over 40 million members was proud to be one of the members to offer support. struggling americans who have looked for help in their pocketbooks just to stay healthy, to say that one of their single, largest, drivers of their health-care costs is

prescription drugs. today, americans do not whole, the gap in coverage, will have their brand name drugs costs cut in half. a 50% reduction in cost, a 50% reduction. to many americans into this coverage gap. they stop taking their medications. they simply cannot afford it. now they will have a new opportunity to lead a healthier life. every american who was burdened by this high cost of health care, or has inadequate access to health care, every business who is fighting for their life, fighting to be competitive and to stay competitive, and to save american jobs, they all know that health care reform cannot

wait. this is an early wintn for health care. aarp's work is not done, we must protect people who rely on medicare to further lower drug costs, to have guaranteed access coverage for all americans. together, we will complete the mission of comprehensive health- care reform. we would like to thank you, mr. president for your leadership on this issue. thank you. >> i have an opportunity to address the leader of the free world, our president, president barack obama. thank you. >> first of all, i want to thank

mary grand for the introduction, also aarp, the organization, for coming together on this critical issue this week. in my address to the ama, i talked about the urgency for health-care reform and what would be required to achieve it. one of the things to be required, i said everyone in our health-care will have to come together and do their part. in recent days, chairman max baucus, who has been doing an outstanding job leading the finance committee on this issue, as well as members of my administration, have been in discussions with the pharmaceutical industry to find a way to bring down the cost of pursuit -- pharmaceutical drugs. over the weekend, we reached an

understanding that will help close the notorious the doughnut hole in medicare part d. this is a significant breakthrough on the road to health reform, one that will make the difference in the lives of many older americans. many of you in the press are familiar with the issue. donato refers to eight gap in prescription drug coverage that makes it harder for millions of beneficiaries to pay for it -- before their medications they need. medicare covers up to $2,700 in yearly prescription costs, and then stops. the coverage starts back up when the coverage exceeds 6100. between these two numbers, folks are out of luck. this is placing a crushing burden on many older americans who live on fixed incomes.

christopher dodd, an outstanding leader on a whole host of issues are of his career, and is helping to lead the health committee while senator kennedy is under going his treatment for his illness, chris will tell you that as we travel around the country, seniors are constantly coming up to us and saying how do we deal with this extraordinary burden? seniors would be only be taking half of their medication. they had no other choice. as part of the health care reform i expect congress to enact this year, medicare beneficiaries are suspending, all within this gap will receive a discount of at least 50% from the negotiated price their plan

pace. this is a reform that will make prescription drugs more affordable and restore a measure of fairness to medicare part a d. this is a reflection of the importance of this step, and has earned the support of aarp, which has been fighting for years to address this anomaly. aarp is committed as i am coming to achieving health-care reform by the end of this year. i am committed to continuing to work with aarp, to insure any reforms we pursue are carried out in a way to protect america's seniors know as well as anyone what is wrong with our health care system and why it is badly in need of reform. our goal is to prado -- reduce punishing inflation in health care costs while improving patient care. to do that we will have to work together.

pharmaceutical industry has committed to reduce its draw on the health-care system by $80 billion over the next 10 years as part of overall health care reform. real healthcare reform that reduces spiraling costs in health services and makes quality, health care affordable to all americans. drug and insurance companies stand to benefit when tens of millions more americans have coverage. we are asking them in exchange to make it essential concessions come to reform the system and help reduce costs. it is only fair. today marks a major step forward, but it will only be meaningful if we complete the journey. i want to commend the house for coming together last week to introduce the health care reform bill. it will protect seniors and has

received the support from the aarp. i will work closely with the relevant chairs from the house and the senate, and leaders like senator dodd senator max baucus, with members of both parties who are willing to commit themselves to this critical task. the families, our businesses and long term health demand weak work now. i think all those who made it possible. for those here in washington who have grown accustomed to the sky is falling prognoses, the certainty is that we cannot get this done. i have to repeat and revive an old saying we had in the campaign. yes, we can. we will get this done. thank you very much, everybody. >> is there anything you want to say about iran today? >> several committees are

meeting this week on capitol hill to review the president's health-care plan. each committee has oversight of a different section of the bill. tomorrow, house and senate health committees take a look. on wednesday, the house commerce committee will deal with tax conditions. the senate is meeting right now, and senators are continuing debate on a bill to create a commission to encourage former -- tourism in the u.s.. later this week, home security -- homeland security spending. live senate coverage on cspan2. the house is here on c-span. members return tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. eastern for speeches, and

noon for a legislative work. the cost of living adjustment and better disability pay, beginning wednesday federal spending for homeland security and interior departments, as well as environmental programs. also, a defense program policy. >> there is still time to get your copy of cspan22009 congressional directory, with information on house and senate members, the cabinet, supreme court justices and the nation's governors, plus district maps and how to contact caucuses and committees. for $60.95. on line or call us. >> people in iran taking to the streets in protest. here's what the state department had to say about this.

>> the sermon given by al teller, the comment. that setback -- it seemed extraordinarily stride and and hostile to the west. >> you all know our policy about engagement, and our policy about preventing iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. i really think that the focus has to be on what is going on in stock -- on inside iran. this is not about us or our bilateral relationship. this is about iranians. the iranians having their rights to express themselves and be respected.

their political will being respected. the president made a very strong statement, i thought, standing firmly behind those who want to have their views respected, want to be able to peaceably assemble, want to have access to the media. right now, our focus is on this very dramatic situation unfolding inside iran. >> this is unfolding in a country with which the obama administration over months now has been attempting to engage. i am asking whether the prospects for that is succeeding or not, is it improving or slipping away? >> again, this is very rapidly evolving. at this point, we are, like all

of you, following with great interest what is happening in iran. it is a rapidly evolving -- even situation. >> a very knowledgeable source told me that right now the obama administration is in the process of we calibrating its approach to the nuclear situation with iran. is that true? >> what i will say is that this issue of iran and its refusal to meet its obligation to the international community is a matter of great concern to us. again, right now, we want to see

this process worked out in a way that the will of the iranian people -- >> it sounds like the engagement is on hold. >> our focus is on what is going on right now. >> it sounds like you have basically two tracks going, one would be the nuclear engagement, which is separate from the election. is that right? >> right now, i am not sure which track you mean. the iranians have not responded to the invitation to join the p5 plus 1 talks. there is not much development going on. >> can you see this situation with the election having a

direct effect on how you do with -- >> this is a very dramatic situation going on in iran. by all indications, the authority there are very much focused on dramatic, internal situations. >> are you saying they will not do anything? >> i am not saying that. at the present time, the whole world is watching. all eyes are on the internal situation there. >> i think that is up to the italian hosts. you would have to ask them. we have said that if they would respond to our invitation, we would take it up. >> one more on iran.

you said you're watching with great interest. can you be a little bit more specific on how the secretary is watching this? a lot of the dramatic stuff, is real-time coming over tv reporting and on twitter. also, there is a case of the young woman who died? is the secretary aware of that? is she making any comments about the role of women in this? >> as i said before, dennis -- is playing an important role in briefing that secretary. it is been frankly very difficult, as it is for all of you to get good, hard, confirmable information about what is going on because of the inability of the media and

representatives of organizations to cover the situation. it has been dangerous on the streets. some foreign diplomats have had difficulty as well. she is following the situation with great concern. these are very dramatic and very distressing images that we see. most distressing of all, the image of this young woman covered in blood. th>> do you think it is a proper to have iran and come to these july 4th parties under these

circumstances? is there any thought being given to rescinding invitations? that there is no talk to rescinding invitations. these are iranian diplomats. we have made a strategic decision to engage on a number of fronts with iran. we tried many years of isolation, and we are pursuing a different path now. >> the president keeps saying that it is important for the u.s. to not be seen as trying to influence elections one way or the other. but the iranian government has begun blaming the u.s. and the british, who were meddling, making social networking tools available. just saying that they stand with

the people. this morning, we heard the -- essentially asking president obama and the state department to say more. is this narrow path the u.s. is treading going to be the path and if so why? >> what you are seeing in iran what we saw on friday is what you have been seeing all along. they are using the u.s. as a foil, a way to justify the policies or gains, public support. we don't want to get into a polemic necessarily on this. what you saw over the weekend,

you saw a very strong statement by the president, setting out these fundamental principles that the country was founded on. these are the kind of principles that we are going to stand up for, wherever we see them being violated. >> if the iranian government is going to accuse the u.s. of meddling, why wouldn't there be a willingness to say more or do more on the u.s.'s part? >> i think that we have already done a lot. because of the reasons i laid out before, i don't necessarily think we need to get into a

washington/pteron polan pteront. i don't think it is necessarily productive. the u.s. does not need to be out in the front on this. >> there is no policy for engagement, direct bilateral negotiations, there isn't a single element in our policy towards iran that the events of the last 10 days has caused us to rethink? >> no. again, this is a rapidly

developing situation. i think we have come out very strongly condemning acts of violence, calling for the iranians to open up their society, to allow these iranian protesters to be able to express their views, to be able to assemble peacefully. these are all very strong statements. >> on the broad level, engagement with iran, approached with the nuclear issue on a broad level, these things are undisturbed by the events of the last few days. correct? >> right now, we are not really focused on the bilateral relations so much. we are focused on what is going on inside iran. the, how focus is the government on what appears to be the growing schism among people -- members of the theocracy in

iran? >> we are monitoring all of these situations closely. we are monitoring how the iranian people are being treated by their own government, we are monitoring the way the situation is unfolding. i will leave it at that. >> usage needed to coordinate approaches with allies. we have not seen any joint statements or any high level meetings on the matter. how are you coordinating with allies? >> the secretary has called some of her colleagues today. we will have more opportunities to talk on these meetings coming up. as far as joint statements are concerned, i think we are talking more about, approaches then a joint statements. >> now to the national press

club for marks by iran's former crown prince. today he discuss the political unrest in his native country and what people are telling him. it is a little over one hour. and then othem a good morning, d gentleman. thank you for coming. welcome to the national press club. my name is peter hickman, i am a former foreign service officer, now a free-lance writer and editor actor. . before announcing our speaker, there will be a sound file made

of speakers from all of them come available to members of the web site and you can purchase a copy from the broadcast center of this club. please turn off any cell phone, blackberries, i papods. if you have not already done so as to leave, please add your name to the sign in shape. there is material outside related to this newsmaker. that newsmaker is the former crown prince of iran, the st. -- the son of the late shah of iran. mr. pahlavi,