tv Capital News Today CSPAN September 1, 2009 11:00pm-2:00am EDT
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i cannot read the last name -- he asks, if republicans oppose the public option in health care, what alternatives do you propose to ensure that all americans are cared for when it comes to the cost of their health care? >> the more thanoption is -- the public option is the center of health care for a host of reasons. the president has out lines, along with speaker pelosi and majority leader reid, what that should look like in terms of the opportunity for you, the individual, should you so decide to take the public option. you can opt into whatever government-run health care program, whether insurance based or care provided, if you want
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this country that do not have health care. it's 47 million people. >> 20,000 dead agreed. >> i agree. [unintelligible] >> she cannot afford to pay her. >> let me begin to tell you -- [unintelligible] >> we're going ask that you honor the procedure that we use here. everyone got a number -- an opportunity to submit their questions. we will be respectful to the chairman. >> thank you. again, look, i understand that
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there is a difference of opinion. and the stakes are high, but this part of the discussion. if you talk in your not prepared to listen, you do not learn. -- if you talk and you are not prepared to listen, you do not learn. they did understand that fundamentally i agree. everyone in the country needs hair -- needs health care. everybody in the country should not be left by the roadside. you have a personal summary -- story, but said allied. and i do not need to shout at you. but what you need to understand is -- [applause] what you need to understand, and this is a lecture for all of you, if you're going to engage
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in get serious -- and its areas, you can shout and get people to ignore you, or you can engage in get people to learn from you. because you present something that they may not know, they may not appreciate, they may never end -- they may have never heard before. when people go to town halls and go out to the community, and they are like this, it makes for great tv. you will probably make it tonight, enjoy it. [applause] but, but, you have not -- you have not -- u.s. not furthered the debate. -- you have not further debate. and that is what institutions of higher learning are about, furthering the debate, engaging in ideas.
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i need disagree with you all day long but i respect your ability to stand up and indeed to me and teach me -- engage me and teach me something i may not know. so with that in mind, let's answer the question. and the answer is very simply this -- the problem that the republican leadership has with the public option, number one, it is not very clearly defined exactly what it will look like and what it means. put on the table and -- exactly what his public option means. no. 2, a problem with the public option is that for small business owners, think about it this way, and i've had this conversation with a major company in this country that said very clearly yet there is a public option, what what i carry the cost of providing health care to my 30,000 employees? if the government is presenting
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an option which they can get from them? i do not have to carry back costs. it is cheaper for me that paid 8.5% penalty and have to carry the health care costs for 30,000 people. the same is true for small employers of 300 or three. the concern that you put in a language, the trigger that will prevent [unintelligible] from dumping people into a system, if you have created a back door -- you had created a back door for a single payer system, because they are not when it carried at cost. you would not carry that cost, would you? if you had the difference
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between what you pay, which are employees pay for your health care in your company, and what you pay as the employer, that difference, the government says, we now have that. would you pay it? would you pay $100,000 additional to your bottom line? would you pay $100 million additional to your bottom line? that is part of the debate. and we can discuss the intricacies in the back and forth from that, but that as part of the debate. getting clarification coming understanding the personal stories in bought, but recognizing that those personal stories can be impacted in a negative way as well. it is not just about getting universal health care. it is not what it looks like, what it does, and what choices you will or will not have if the government -- if you call an
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insurance company and ask them a plan? imagine now this is the federal government and the bureaucracies that they have set up. so that is one aspect of it. the other aspect, we do not know who pays. the pace? are you going to pay? how much, how much you willing to pay? are you going to pay? you do not have a choice. that is the other part of this equation. how much -- who pays? and that is an aspect that we have to debate as well. it is not a neutral system. nothing but government has ever done is deficit neutral. do not believe that life. name me one program that the federal government has run that has been deficit neutral.
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how much is government and-run that is in debt? even the president himself as a particular problem. so don't believe that anything this government does, not just barack obama the administration, and george bush's administration, jimmy carter's administration, do not believe anything the government ever does is deficit neutral. why? because in year to, when members of congress had been visited by the special interests, and by those who have something else at stake, they change the parameters. they changed the rules. they add a little something here, they add a little something there, and all of the sudden, you're spending money on a program that you were told was deficit neutral.
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unless you put the check in place in the legislation to actually locked at hand, it is not going to happen. yes? >> at this will be our last question. terrance williams asks, with the current state of the economy, business, and the battles in legislation going on in capitol hill, the you think we as young college students -- do you think we as young college tennis will inherit this political climate and should we be optimistic about our future? [inaudible] [laughter] it is not easy. it is not pretty. i have always been a glass half
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full person. despite the difficulties in troubles, whether health care or the environment, whether on energy, whatever the issue says, i believe at the end of the day that you americans are going to make the difference. it is on. hear me? i've got a big mouth. you're going to make that difference. and that you have a chance to engage on the debate in a way that helps shape the outcome. and so regardless of the dire predictions of inflation and this and that, whatever, you have a chance to help engage in a way that changes the outcome, if you want to. you have an opportunity, and that is why i wanted to come here, to shape this debate on health care or anything else, if you want to. and not just react.
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take a man and layout of a different perspective. -- take command and layout a different perspective. someone is appointed disagree with you. in happens. but others may disagree with you -- may agree with you and work with you. however it comes about, you have an opportunity to make a difference. i did not believe that, i would not be standing here. i would not have been a tenet governor -- a lieutenant governor or had my own business. i would not have gone to johns hopkins. i would not on the georgetown law school. -- i would not have gone to tours to moscow. if someone had told me that the class was half empty. i think the future is bright because you are going to be a part of it, because you all have something to say about it, and you all have something to bring to the table to me, my kids, and this country.
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that is what last year was about. that is why you engage the way that you did. yes, i would love to have you voted for john mccain and the republican party, but we did not earn your budget. we did not earn your support. we did not earned your trust in our leadership. and now we have to. , for the benefit of the country. that is how empowered you are. that is how much you change this debate, the nature and the course of politics in this country already. and if you do not take anything away from this moment, take that, but the glass is half full because you know tomorrow is going to be better, regardless of what anyone else says. i am proud to be here at howard university because, like a lot of places in this country, and you do not get the recognition, you do not get the kudos, you don't get the glamour, you don't
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get the bank of televisions and cameras coming up here and seeing exactly how you learn and how you change and how you make a difference. when they are cutting funding to h pc use, when they're cutting funds for opportunity scholarships, cutting the very dollars that will it will take -- that it will take for you to matriculate through this institution, you persevere, you find a way, you make it work. because it is important for you to be a part of this political landscape, of this economic landscape, of this american landscape. and do not let anyone, democrat or republican, tell you otherwise. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]
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>> denied on c-span, we continue our look at the u.s. health care system from the perspective of a northern virginia hospital. that is next. after that, remarks from president obama on the h1n1 virus. later, a look at the politics and issues affecting western states. on tomorrow morning's washington journal, we will talk about the security situation in afghanistan with jeremy shapiro, a former adviser to general mcchrystal. after that, an update on the h1n1 vaccine, with dr. georges benjamin. we will continue our look at the nation's health-care system from the va hospital center and
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arlington virginia. we are joined by emergency medicine chairman dr. john sver ha, and dr. steven zeimmer. we'll also talk to the cheap what -- chief nursing officer. "washington journal" began 7:00 a.m. each morning with your calls. and later, a discussion on improving school performance. live coverage from the aspen institute's starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >> and we continue our series on health care from the va hospital centers in arlington, va., about 10 miles northeast of the u.s. capitol. capitol. it is a 350-bed medical center which revenues 288 million a year. today, we will look at the health care costs with the chief
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financial officer and online medical records with the chief information officer. here from our set in the emergency room at arlington -- virginia hospital center is robin norman, the chief financial officer. ms. norman, what is your job and how would you describe it? >> i'm a member of the executive team here at the hospital. guest: my specific focus is finance in the hospital. that is the same as any other corporation. worrying about borrowing funds if we need to borrow. day-to-day finances of the hospital, which includes collecting funds for billing. also includes pay. we have substantial payroll, supplies that we purchase. all of those normal accounting and finance functions you have in any corporation. with all of the complexity of health care. host: how do you remember the coast of things here at the -- the cost of things here at the
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hospital? guest: it is easy and it is not. with cost at the hospital, we're not making wiggets. not a -- widget. i expect every widget to cost so much. how much supplies, which specific supplies needed for that patient. allocate the overhead as in any cost accounting system in other organizations. so we're able to determine, down to the patient level, the cost for each service that we provide. >> prior to a patient coming into the hospital? >> no, not prior. i think one thing that is very different about us and manufacturing is, you know, if i were the cfo of a widget company, i would expect each widget x to cost about the same to me. if it wasn't costing the same, i would be unhappy with our operations people as to what is going on, where is the
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variability coming from, why isn't the process working. in a hospital, we don't make widgets we treat people. when you treat people, there wide variability in cost. certain things you want to do as routinely as you can, you know, still, you came here, you had a hernia repair and i came here, we're different individuals. i might have blood pressure problems, you might have a different problem. neither one of us may have any problems. coming in, before you walk in the door, we don't know that. my guess is we may not know every underlying condition that could effect that surgery even if we're knowledgeable of our own medical history. host: behind you are a lot of different supplies, it looks like syringes and tapes and everything necessary in an emergency room. do you know the set cost of those things? guest: we know the individual cost of the items.
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for each emergency, each person that walks in our emergency room, they will be different items. we track those. we don't track every small band-aid. any supply that has a more substantial cost we track by patient. we put a charge through for it, primarily for knowing how much resource we used on that patient and as a way to help us determine the cost. host: put the numbers up on the screen. we divided them differently for the series. we divided by insured, uninsured and health care professionals. we have the cfo of the virginia hospital center with us to talk about health care costs and reimbursements. here are the numbers ... host: dial in. we will take the calls in a moment. robin norman, is there a set
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cost if somebody walks into the emergency room? guest: there is an initial charge. we see everything from head falls to coming to the emergency room for that, all the way through extremely sick patients with serious medical patients. host: what is the base charge? guest: i don't know all of the charges. the initial visit which is an admission, it is wrapped into that number. even the emergency room portion of it can be over a thousand dollars. there is such a heavy overhead, we're prepared for the worst. for the sickest patient, for the disaster patient. but we also do treat people with
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lesserilness. host: let's talk about reimbursements now. where does the $288 million a year come from? >> the vast majority comes from either the government or insurance companies that we bill on behalf of the patients who come to see us. we do have some fund-raising activities here in the organization, but they bring us a little less than 1% -- toç offset the funds. host: when you say "the government," medicare, medicaid? guest: yes. host: yesterday, they talked about losing money on every one of the medicare patients? guest: that is right. we pay less than what it costs to provide the service. host: how do you make up the revenue? guest: we have no say in what we are paid from medicare, medicaid.
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we have a negotiation ability with our insurance companies. we break even or have a small margin. host: the insurance companies are aware they're being overcharged in a sense? guest: yes, absolutely. they understand how it works. i have been in this business for 30 year, not always at this level. there was a time when medicare paid the full cost. host: no matter what it was? guest: that wasn't effective or efficient from the government's perspective. they changed methodology. the intent was to pay costs until it was a reduced cost. that worked. there was a time when we got paid cost. the last decade, it hasn't been like that. host: so when the government is setting the cost and the rate reimbursement, do you follow the group that sets that closely,
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during their deliberation? guest: honestly, no. there is little i can do about it. i focus here at virginia hospital, to make us the most effective place we can be. since a have little say in that, basically, when it comes out, i pay attention for the next year's budget. but typically, we have zero to small increases every year. my costs go up more than that because i can't retain nurses and good stuff. we have a great staff here. they're well-trained, highly skilled. you know, they need to be paid appropriately. and if i don't keep up with that and keep up with the market, and the payment increases we get from medicare over certainly the past several years haven't allowed me to do that, then what i have to do again is go back to insurance companies and get more. host: before we go to calls, as a health care professional, you say you aren't able to affect
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the rate reimbursement charges. can you lobby your congressman or hhs or do anything along those lines?t( guest: i don't mean to say i ignore all that. a true variety of mechanisms including the state hospital association we belong to, we can and will do that. we discuss that we lobby and certainly a lot of minds that are on that piece of it, to help represent us. host: robin norman the chief financial officer here at the virginia hospital center. theç first call comes from pau at palmetto, florida, on the caller: i had spinal surgery done in 1997. i was in hospital for approximately 36 hours. i fell in 10 years later -- ito
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in 10 years later, and i have surgery in which i spent 4.5 hours in outpatient, most of the time and recovery, and the bills were pretty much the same, within $1,500 of each other. i am curious how health care can justify that? and i know that dr. did not want tell us how much money he made, but how can you say that we can continue this kind of increase in the cost at and keep it sustainable? guest: i think two things. first it was 10 years apart. if you think about salaries, even a reasonable increase of 4% each year, that alone would raise the cost. but a more important point is in
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the majority of the costs of the surgery, it is approximately -- the surgery itself as were the cost is, not in the state that happens afterwards, when you are recovering. yes, you are getting important tears from nurses, but most of what happens in the surgery happens in the operating room. i do not know the details in your situation, but it is entirely possible that there was implants and odd, especially your first surgery. those can be extremely expensive. our implant costs can be as high as $20,000 simply to buy what is going to go in. that adds dramatically to the cost, a post other surgeries were there may not be an implanted a length of time in need o.r. has a lot to do with it. -- the length of the tiny or -- the length of time in the o.r.
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caller: hello, miss norman. hi. host: go ahead with your question. caller: i agree with the last caller that the cost are ridiculous. let me give you the perspective of someone who is in short -- uninsured. i have a buddy who live -- a bill i have not seen in a while. we were in a walgreen's, and he looked a little difference. he said that he had brain cancer. to make it brief, get to the point, ok, this man, a good friend of mine, has incurred bills that are almost $500,000, and the crazy thing is that, i guess what he had to get? he had to get on medicaid,
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because basically he was a dead duck. i do not want to sound insensitive, but we had senator ted kennedy pass away from brain cancer. to me, i think brain cancer is like, it is a deadly game of roulette. host: at work, if you could focus on what's your question is for robyn norman. caller: i myself was in a car accident with somebody else. and i tore up quadricep muscle in might be -- in my knee. i had to wait almost nine months to see a professional. i am saying is something has to be done. my question is, why do people who do not have insurance have to pay anywhere from two to three times more than the average person who has insurance?
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and i know that this is true because a friend of mine and myself went to a hospital at the same time. he had insurance and i did not. we cross reference the bill. her bill was cheaper than mine. host: thank you, edward. how would you respond to that call? guest: in a couple of ways. but the most part, we provide this gone as to what they have to pay, and secondarily, the vast majority of people, especially when they have a serious condition light brand cantor, cannot ever pay the bill. it does not happen. they just cannot. if we know that and understand that, and while we try to work with them, we would typically go for medicaid if that is possible. we would look -- we would look for some source of payment, medicaid be in the most common. and then they are off the hook
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in they don't have anything else to pay and they do get the care. but we would not do anything different with that patient, even if they never can pay as. and that is what happens. and that is the way that it works, which is another thing that the insurance companies to subsidize. -- two in setup -- do subsidized. i cannot speak for every place, but here we provided discount that as close to what we would get paid from some of our insurance companies. >> which we determined earlier is overcharged. guest: correct. it is more than what medicare would pay as and certainly more than medicaid would pay as. but for most people that aren't shared -- that are uninsured, we take huge losses. it is overwhelming. you can pay five and a thousand
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dollars in a hospital bill. -- you cannot pay $500,000 in a hospital bill. charges were on the bill, but they didn't get 250,000 from medicaid in that situation. 0gnqe÷ñçd that is all we're trying to do is a non-profit. host: about $30 million is paid in london reimbursed medical costs every year. that is mostly from uninsured people? guest: correct. host: anyone who walks in and ask to be treated. is that state law or federal law? i will guest: the that that is federal law. host: houston, go ahead. caller: i have managed large insurance programs for large employee benefits.
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but certainly medical. one of the things that i have found is very disturbing and not well known, is that hospitals very often charge for every piece of equipment tin any bill sent it in a patient -- to the patient, in an emergency situation, what every maybe, and in some cases the machinery is brought in. therefore i charge is on the bill. -- therefore the charges on the bill. this machinery and technical machinery may or may not be used on the person. to make a specific example, which has to do with childbirth, there are doctors and patients, as a matter of fact, the countermand and said they do not want a monitor to be used.
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but the year's psyllium off 15% of the bill where of fetal monitor the would be charged, even though countermanded by the doctor or the patient. my question is, why does the hospital believe that they can charge for services on rendered, which are extremely difficult and almost impossible for the insurance company to prove that they were not used? guest: we do not make it a practice to charge for things that are not used for patients. charging mechanisms are extremely complicated and complex. as you can imagine, you look at the equipment in this room and come are mistakes made? yes, and i will not said that they are not. when pointed out, we correct them. we do not make that practice at the va hospital center. but since you brought up insurance companies, i would, in all a bit about some of the things from the hospital
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perspective in working with insurance companies. and i will do it in this way. i am going to pretend for a minute that i own a painting company. you walk into my shop and you say, i want my house painted. when you do that, and i have x insurance for house payment. you need to do that. well, let's say this particular day, i am the owner and decided to take a day off. i have a clerk there and a clerk for gets and makes a mistake and does not do all of the bells, whistles, and who is that we do to get paid, by calling ahead of time, putting something in the computer, a different requirements for every insurance company that we deal with. even though your insurance -- you are insured and i go out and paint the house, and i have rendered the care, we may not get paid for it or fully paid out that because of something called a technical denial, and
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administrative denial. certainly won message i would like to get out is one way that we can save money in health care to refuse -- is to reduce the administrative burden that goes on. there are a number of people that work here that do nothing -- charity care, great example. i have paid a couple of people full time to help people either get medicaid or if they qualify for charity, which means that they are under to under% of poverty level in our situation, -- they are under 200% of poverty level and our situation, it will come out as a bad debt. either way, i do not get paid but there is work that we have to go through. foreign service companies to get paid on the front end and on the back in, there are multiple people that do nothing but work on that. administrative simplification
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and insurance company reform, that would help reduce that, it is a great way to get costs out of the health-care system. >> why is it that there are so many levels of bureaucracy that you have to deal with? guest: i could make a cynical statement. because insurance companies want to save money, too, so they find ways to do it. i can make less cynical statement and say that they have legitimate reasons to need to know what was done on a patient, so that they can pay a properly. as the gentleman who called said, yet they are trying to go for it -- bill for things that did not exist for that patient, and that is not right. on the other hand, most of how we are paid is not particularly based on the charges. it is based on what their disease process was and what the case rate, like medicare pays the sec case rate. we're paid at case rate to take
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care of that mama while she takes care of that -- what she has the baby. >> with many cases, fee-for- service has really gone off to the side, is that fair statement? guest: less than 5% of basic charges depend on how we get paid. host: if you could wave a magic wand, would you change it back to fee-for-service? guest: it would be easier to relate to how we actually provide care. and if we got right in charge of everything appropriately, which we do the vast majority of the time, then that would make a lot more sense in terms of it. but it is not what it has evolved to at all. host: would you rather deal with medicare or blue cross blue shield? guest: i get paid better for lacrosse blue shield. but we could not survive as a hospital without either one. host: the next call comes from
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laredo, texas on all our in short line. -- on our insured line. caller: which is said is very correct. i am on medicare and am on the dhs system. they take my $96.46 every month. my point is, i went to a town hall meeting and addressed the fact that we need health care reform or do we need to put some controls on the insurance industry? they seem to be out at cat. looking at c-span yesterday, one of the doctors had a wife that was a doctor and the insurance companies in getting some money from him for liability insurance, and they get money from the senior citizens in the state of medicare, then have to get a supplemental insurance. that costs another -- $300
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extra, even if you get a cheap one. out here in texas, i went through six different insurance companies with the spectrum from $800 to $7,100 as an example. for some senior citizens, only getting $700, social security, that is almost half of their social security benefits paid off in insurance. at the other end of it, when u.s. administrator -- when you as a administrator send the bill to medicare or something, as an example in my own case, i had a doctor that sent a bill for $155 and medicare reimbursed him $85. someone is taking a hit, and veterans' insurance cost me
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almost $200 a year at that time. there are only paying 85, so i am getting ripped. but dr. obviously there ripped. host: emily that there? robin norman, anything but i call? guest: i agree, that is exactly what is happening. those changes are important. host: dug from florida, on the uninsured line. caller: my question is, last year my wife was insured and she had an operation that cost $62,000. she had to pay $400 for two not stay in the hospital. the insurance company paid little under $1,000. what percentage of that went to the hospital for the operation?
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i will listen to my answer on the television. host: thank you, doug. guest: how to say roughly 20% to 30% went to cover the uninsured and the shortfall that we get from government programs. host: what percentage of people walk in here without insurance? guest: probably 5% or 6%. host: is that low nationwide? guest: is. it is expensive to live in arlington county, and must have good jobs and good insurance. that is why. but we certainly do take all callers. host: from cecil, ohio, angela, a medical professional. caller: i work at a local cannell hospital and i have an associate's degree. i am looking to go for a bachelor's degree in nursing to be able to expand my medical
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career. i was wondering if health care reform goes through with this public option would it help to pay for nursing and medical professionals and doctors, are we we tend to make less, even though women have bachelor's and master's and agrees such as nurse practitioners? what would that do to the registered nurses and also that doctors? guest: market forces are still going to control that. the more education that to obtain, the more that you will be paid. we're going to need nurses. we're going to need decisions -- the sessions -- physicians. personally i think education is always a smart career move and i would do that. host: robin norman, which job be
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different if you are working for a for-profit hospital? guest: i might get paid a little different -- a little better. but that does not trouble me, because i am -- i enjoy working with this organization that is so much good. host: which recall be up for profit? guest: the focus would be on the bottom line so heavily. we would go out of business. and it is my role as the chief financial officer to be the business person. i certainly have to focus on cost and a lot of the things that my peers in the for-profit world would. the difference is simply, we're trying to make all little margin so that we have enough to continue to invest in technology as opposed to answering to shareholders and having to make a profit that returns to them. i think that would definitely change the focus. host: and other revenue streams
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at a hospital -- we talked about doctors on staff, leasing and renting offices here. is that a revenue stream that you have here in a hospital? how significant is it? guest: it is not terribly significant. it is probably less than 0.5% of our revenue. most of that come from pitching care revenues. host: robin norman is the senior vice president with the virginia center. as we continue our series looking at health care through the eyes of the hospital, up next, we will talk with the chief information officer and our focus will be on online medical records, electronic records, privacy. we've heard a lot about this on the national level for years in the debate. we will find where vladimir putva medical center thinks abot
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it. we have talked to some doctors here at the hospital. this is what they are hearing from their patients about health care reform. >> in the past three weeks, i've had patients ask have their imaging studies moved up. for example, we have set timetables were patients will need and mammogram or an mri. in the past three weeks, some studies needed to be done in january and a asked have been done in december, because they think that will be able to be precluded from having that done. there is a lot of anxiety. breast cancer patients have anxiety anyway. but there is more anxiety related to, will they be able to have the care that they need to maintain their health, now that they have gone through the chemotherapy and surgery, so it is really an acute, palpable feeling in the office. they want to talk about it all
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the time. and i cannot blame them. >> it certainly comes up a lot. i have a lot of people who work on the hill that are consultants, lobbyists, etc., so we can get into a more professional conversation about it. lately in the last month, i am getting a lot more questions about swine flu. the anxiety over the pandemic and how it will impact and when are they going to have the shots and new is going to get it is sort up for most. but there is a lot of curiosity. obviously health care reform is at this point, so nebulous and so much in the air and there is so much rhetoric that it is hard for people to get a handle on it and really know. it causes a huge amount of anxiety. i do not think that we even have a clue what will come out of the hill. host: as we continue our conversation here in arlington, va., 10 miles northeast of the
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u.s. capitol, we are joined by david crutchfield. the turnover of wing of the emergency room to us. i hope we are not holding up people who really need help out there. we're here to talk about online health care records, medical privacy, things like that. what is your job here at the hospital? >> i am chief information officer and vice president. i handle all information services and that its strategic planning in conjunction with the hospital's. we select information systems, and implement the systems, and support them after the fact. we initiated an electronic records project back in 2005. we searched for a system and included about 200 folks across all hospital, various clinical departments, doctors and the
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surge, and we chose our system at that time. since that time, for the last couple of years, we have really been involved in process redesign. that is really looking at all our patient care processes, all of our business processes, breaking them down and comparing to industry best practices, if you will. streamlining those in getting ready for the implementation. we have been pretty busy. host: if someone walks in here at the emergency room, they still have at the la information on a clipboard. why? guest: a good question. largely because information simply does not flow from one organization or facility to another. if that patient has been encountered here before, we have a considerable amount of information in the clinical repository on the patient would can be brought forward and becomes more of a verification
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process at that time. but what we're trying to get to is a situation where no matter where a patient encounters that information from their most recent visits, wherever they work, they are available to that provider organization. it is a pretty good hall from where we are to date to reach that point. >> it is support that idea of someone having a visa card or mastercard, it go anywhere in the world, basically, swiped it and off you go? >> it is a wonderful concept. whether it is a smart card approach or whether information flow is actually from one facility to another through summit data standards, if you will, which is the approach that is being taken now, there are several different ways of doing it. but the government approach is to utilize health information
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exchanges to collect information in standard formats for various facilities, and be able to pass that information to the next facility, based on obtaining permission from that patient. host: do you support that? guest: absolutely. host: to medicare patients had a smart card of any kind? guest: they do not, but they have identifiable information that would allow us, if they had been here very for, to be very quickly located in the system and to move along. host: only if they had been here but not in george washington or georgetown hospital in the district. guest: that is correct. host: we're talking about online medical records, medical privacy. if you have a question specifically about that issue. go ahead and dial in. it is/in short, uninsured, and
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medical professionals. if you called any c-span program in the last 30 days, please hold lot so that others can get in. what about the privacy issues when it comes to on-line medical records? guest: you have to respect the patient's right to privacy. obviously there are very strict rules and regulations in the hipa security and privacy rules? it was past several years back. it includes various safeguards, administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to secure patient information such that only those two who have been authorized to access that information can access it. some privacy is extremely
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important. we have always protect the patient privacy. the patient has to provide consent an authorization to access their information. that will continue to be a challenge, particularly as information moves between these facilities, as we talked about earlier. host: his hipaa -- is hipaa a good thing in your view? guest: is. there are folks out there who would try to break in and acquire patient records for various reasons. it is very important that all precautions are taken to secure the data. host: what patients -- why would people want to break into the records? guest: there can be important the ip information or other information that can be helpful.
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the credit-card situations where they want to go and collect as much information as they can and worry about what to do with it at a later time. there are all sorts of reasons why you do not want to lose control of your patient data. and it is the patient identifiable component. you want to protect patients identifiable data. you can use data in aggregate and so forth for reporting without any sort of consensus. but protected helped information, that is the key. host: my doctor happens to be at this hospital and carries a laptop. he plugged it in from port to port, instead of paperwork. is that getting common? guest: it is. i have a device with me here that is an example of what are conditions would be using.
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-- our clinicians would be using. the doctor can access the, the nurse can access it, and that goal is to involve a patient in the family more in the care process. so the more activity happening at the point of care to collect documentation, to end all the family, and also to use it for medication administration -- that is very important to have a device at the point of care. guest: what is the device to? can you give a quick demonstration? guest: this device is multi functional and one of the main sanctions is medication administration. we will deliver medications to the bedside and they will come when a rain that is similar to this. the medications are bar coded at a dosage level.
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they are packaged by a pharmacy row by it. they come to the patient room. at that time the nurses administer the medication, there is a scanner on the side that allows the nurse to scan the medication, to scan the patient, and pull up the original order and confirm that all of the five right things are there. medication administration in a closed loop kind of system, where doctors are placing the orders and medication administration is happening at the bedside, it almost virtually eliminates the chance for medication errors, which is a big problem in hospitals today. host: let's see what our viewers want to say to you. this comes from dumfries, va. caller: two question's really
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quick. my first question is, i have private insurance and would my records from the private insurance go with me if i went to the public option? and the private insurance is what keeps the hospital's going and able to have the sophisticated instruments. instead a less invasive stuff, you may saw their foot off. guest: the information on the first question is the information safe within the organizations. generally the answer to that question is yes. your information is very safe. as i said earlier, hospitals and other health-care providers have been working for a number of
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years to put in various securities and safeguards to protect the information. quite honestly, it is probably as safe in a health care organization as it is anywhere. host: the next call comes from california. caller: 90, c-span. i understand that when a patient is admitted to a hospital, they sign a release for insurance companies to be able to go through all of the medical records under the umbrella of cost verification. i am wondering what all the talk about health care chains, and what hospitals are dealing with, will they now have access to a person's entire life medical history? i worry about that in case someone went through in your younger years, as part of depression or something, with that still be on your records 30 or 40 years later, when
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considering cost and denial of care? i will hang up and listen to my answer. host: thank you, roseanne. guest: the concern there is fallon. -- is a valid. but organizations only maintain data for a certain period of time. there are 25 years or so of data now that his cat. -- that is kept. until we get to the point where it is freely flowing around, you could be more concerned -- you might be more concerned about it and you should be. but as a patient, it would be important to read the print and the consent forms, look at that very carefully. if you have issues with that, bring those issues up with the facility that you are working with. make sure that you feel adequately protected in terms of
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the permissions that you are granting at that time period. . near future? guest: the near future, no. i wish the answer was çyes. we have made progress inç term of interoperate act. there is a push to create interoperability through the stimulus funding for emrçw3xd products. will help. there is a level of infrastructure investment, if you will,xd that is,ç right no simply not enough money to create the health information exchanges that is needed to be to create these exchanges that is needed to be the intermediary between these.
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>> have you initiated this? >> we have planned to. virginia hospital center made the decision to make these investment in electronic records because it was the right thing to do fortunately, this high tech funding option came along and we do planen on applying for those funds and based on where we are in our project, we're well ahead of the game and should be extremely well positioned to get our share. host: so at the same time, you are going to pay for it yourself, but now possibly some federal funds could go into play there. guest: absolutely. a lot of folks ask the question, is it enough to pay for it? no. it's more than a drop in the !ucket for sure. but it does not cover the full cost of implementing the system.
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host: are there strings attached when you get federal money? guest: the strings are defined in the way the government is defining meaningful use. you need to demonstrate meaningful use of health record technology in order to get the money. so as it is now, that meaningful use criteria is fairly well defined as of the end of the summer. there are pretty clear metrics on how that money can be earned over the next few years, so that is fairly well defined and as i said, we believe we are well ahead of the curve, fortunately and we don't have to play catch-up to earn our share. host: our first caller. you are on.
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caller: i'm an unemployed senior tax administrationor. i installed tax systems for health care throughout the central u.s. north central u.s. and a lot of nonprofit organizations -- i didn't hear you speak of anything to the c-span audience of how important and how powerful it is. host: what is that? >> ar dive and communication system. that's where you're implementing both the hits and risks, possibility information system and reality information system with this system, so when the individual comes into the hospital, boom, the ewelcome -- the electronic medical records pass through. there are a ton of packages out
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there. host: thank you, steve. let's get an answer. david crutchfield. guest: picture ar diving communication systems are medical imaging systems. we invested in those a number of years ago here. we're well down the path and very mature in that product set, fortunately. and that is obviously digital images, being able to bring those into the electronic medical record to form the complete picture if you will, of a patient's situation is critical and fortunately, it's already in place here, very solid radiology information systems, integrated with pacs, now we are in a position to be able to leverage that to pull in a large percentage of our medical images directly from there to the e.m.r. solution. >> could you define that again?
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>> it's picture ar diving and communication system. it's essentially all your x-ray films if you will and other digital images taken through m.r.i.'s, c.t.'s, whatever, actually a digital image of that is stored, versus films and the old way we used to handle images. it's very high resolution digital images that are stored, in obviously very large storage systems. >> you might detect a slight southern accent with mr. crutchfield, earned his bachelor's and masters in alabama. is that your home? >> yes. >> and you worked as an accountant at ernst & young? >> not an accountant. a consultant. i spent -- i've been in health care consulting for all my career. i spent a few years witherness.
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>> how did you get into health care? >> i wound up in health care by mistake, as some of us do. i was in the graduate school and there was an opportunity for a programmer in a hospital and i took that opportunity and as i got my master's degree and learned more about health care i quickly discovered it's where i wanted to be. there was enormous opportunity and a lot of people that work in health care, as you know, like health care because they have a chance to make a difference in people's lives and that was very appealing to me as well. >> there's a lot of cases where people accidentally fall into health care we learned this from jim cole yesterday. some other folks have talked about how they fell accidentally into health care. is that a good thing? >> you know, i guess so. folks choose health care as well, you know. there are certainly nurses that,
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you know, entered the field because they're very -- they really want to make a difference, too. so they choose health care. who stumble into it. but it certainly has an appeal to lots of people for the reason that i mentioned. >> and sheila from new york on our insured line. you're on with david crutchfield, chief information officer, virginia hospital center. caller: hi, i was wondering a couple of things. one, would it be helpful to eliminate social security numbers as identification in hospital and doctors' offices in order to eliminate motivation for stealing records and two, would it be helpful to have some sort of tags on the medical records that would not be identified according to individuals in order to do
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research for various diagnoses, etc. guest: very good question. from the standpoint of sbs numbers, many institutions have already taken, and we are as well, the step of eliminating the social security number as a major identifier and you know, we're moving in the direction of patient -- unique patient identifiers, just as we have national provider identifiers, at some point in time, we will move, as we move more toward a national system, we'll have national patient identifiers that is a unique number for identifying a patient, but does not involve the social security number. >> who haáhp((qáj to somebody's medical creners who has been here at the virginia medical center? >> who has access? pest people the patient authorized. obviously, the physicians who
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care for the patient, the admitting physicians and consulting physicians and essentially those who have been authorized by the patient. in addition, obviously the folks who provide care to a patient have to have certain access. with the hipaa security and privacy rules say is that the information that's available to any individual in the organization cannot be anything more than that person needs in order to do their job. so that is essentially the way that the security is handled and it's largely handled at a data level. in a very comp he rens -- comprehensive security mechanism within the application system. >> who is the -- who at the insurance company? who would have access there? >> insurance companies have the ability to access certain records and certain information
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to verify the billing and correct billing and that sort of thing, so again, it is a business partner type of relationship with many of these organizations where, the business partner arrangements and roles and responsibilities of those partners are clearly defined in that business partner agreement. so those are -- those connections are provided through that type of mechanism. host: what about when it comes to the federal government, if you're a medicare or medicaid patient? guest: if you're a medicare or medicaid patient, certainly any type of patient, you have the right to get act segs to information in your medical records. today, as part of the movement to the next step, and some of the things that the federal government is trying to do, for example, through meaningful use, is to provide electronic xersonal health records.
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so if you encounter at the hospital what is going to be required is, which some folks can do today and others can't, is you should be able to walk down to medical records and ask them for an electronic version of your patient health record and they are going ÷o need to be in a position to provide that to you. host: time for a couple more calls, hope from kansas city, kansas, from our medical professional line, you're on with david crutchfield. >> thank you, it's arkansas city, kansas, it's a little bitity town. i agree with you that we need the erecords. i think it will go a long way toward helping the cost because for one, you save trees. but the fact that you can go to
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one specialist and have certain tests done but he says you need to go to another one and they -- then you have to wait for that specialist to get all the records he's done to the other one before you can see him, when if you could have a digital version, you could go from doctor a to doctor b, whether he lived in one state or a little town in timbuktu. >> hope, two questions for you. what do you do in the medical profession? and two, do you worry about privacy issues with the e-records? >> i'm a c.n.a. and a certified home health aide and the paper work that i do is astronomical. i do about eight patients a day of between five and six days a week and i do a lot on the internet and i do -- i do have some concern over the privacy act, but when it comes to cost
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and the social security numbers, i do agree really shouldn't be on the -- on anything, but if you have a certain i.d. number, then that kind of eliminates exactly -- buse there's lots of people with the same name but that kind of eliminates some of the privacy issues there. i think. host: thank you. david crutchfield? guest: i think your point is a very good one. it is a terribly inefficient process. i don't think you would find many folks arguing with that. and the fact that it needs to be fixed. we are, as i said earlier, i think as an industry, well on our way toward getting to a point where we can move information between facilities, but it is terribly difficult and complex.
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as an example, there are standards that have evolved that will now allow us to move information between certified electronic records systems, this is a huge step in the right direction and vendors, as they begin to work on this, to help their clients meet meaningful use, are finding that it is -- there is a level of complexity beneath the general frame wrk for communicating data that is awfully challenging. for example, terminology can be difficult from one organization to another. what for a lab result might mean a normal range within one organization may not be in a normal range for another. so there are many different challenges at the data level. while it would be really nice to pull over discreet data from one organization to another and drop that into a record, the challenges are very significant and so the more standardization
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in terminology, nomenclature, what have you, that we can move toward and the faster we can move in that direction, that obviously -- those tan stards -- standards, as well as the data communication and interoperability standards will all contribute to improving our ability for information to flow. host: do you also -- are you also responsible for the technology interface with the insurance companies and medicare for billing purposes? is that part of your job? >> yes, anything that deals -- guest: yes, anything that deals with the information systems, interfaces between all the systems, is within my responsibility and it has, for many years, for folks like myself and others in i.t., been an enormous challenge to ÷+ interface the many systems. we have over 80 application systems that are separate systems in this hospital and over 200 servers in our data
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center. it is an enormous challenge to utilize the standards that are available and have been available for the last few years to tie all the data together. so many of us in i.t., certainly look forward to a day when standards evolve to the next level and communication between systems becomes a lot easier. host: we learned last week from the former head of centers for medicare and medicaid that there are about 10,000-plus, we learned this from a viewer, actually, there are about 10,000-plus codes you can use for medicare patients. does that add to the complexity of the technology? >> well -- guest: well, it certainly does. that level of -- the level of coding as an example on the d.r.g. front, today there are roughly 17,000 codes, ok.
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there is something coming right around the corner for us called itd-10, the new coding system. it will have over 155,000 codes. so the level of complexity in the coding component is about to increase exponentially. what you have is through things like icd-10 and the meaningful use requirements and new reportint and quality requirements and joint commission and all the hoop, you will that hospitals and other providers have to leap through, it's becoming very, very difficult to be as successful as you want to be in all of those without information technology. you really need the i.t.p.'s to provide the reporting, the quality data and provide the metrics and allow you to stay on task. host: what does icd-10 stand
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for? guest: that's a good question. i've been using it like that for years. code d.r.g.'s, i forget. host: who came up with the system? guest: medicare originally so it is certainly, like many -- much of the everything else, continues to evolve and certainly get more complex with each -- each step. and of course the folks who are sitting around looking at things like the codes have very good reasons, i know, for wanting to make the changes they make. but it certainly presents a lot of challenges from a technical standpoint. host: if medicare/medicaid comes up with a new procedure regulation, do they provide new software technology at all or do they just give the procedure and you have to develop the software? guest: regulations are developed
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and become available, and for most of us in hospital, we don't develop our own software we rely on venn tores -- vendors to do that for us system of vendors then have the responsibility, and this is included in your support fees, huge support fee, i might add, that you pay. those vendors are responsible for getting those kinds of regulation, regulatory changes made to the software, make those updates available to you in a timely manner and so if you're in a development mode as an organization, obviously that is -- that would be an enormous challenge. host: what's your budget a year? guest: bar don me? host: your budget. guest: our budget is, every year, operating budget, roughly $12 million, i believe. capital budget in total is about $12 million. this is going to be an expensive year for us because we are
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bringing a lot of this stuff live this year. the -- taking the computers to the bedside, which we think is critical. it all costs money. so it is expensive, but we believe the payoff is in the improved quality of care, certainly creating an environment that's very safe for our patients, eliminating medication errors and we think it's worth it. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> up next on c-span, remarks from president obama on the swine flu, also known as the h1n1 virus. after that a look at the politics and issues affecting western states. later, republican national committee chairman michael steele at howard university.
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next, president obama talks about h1n1 swine flu preparedness. he met with advisors before giving prepared remark -- brief remarks in the white house rose garden. >> good afternoon, everybody. before i say a few words about the meeting we just had, i'd like to mention some good news that came out today about our economy. for the first time in 18 months, our manufacturing sector has expanded. manufacturing output is the highest it's been in over two years. this means greater production of transportation equipment like cars and electronic equipment like computers and appliances. it means these companies are starting to invest more and produce more and it is a sign that we're on the path to economic recovery. there's no doubt that we have a long way to go.
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and i and the other members of this administration will not let up until those american whors looking for jobs can find -- americans who are looking for jobs can find them. this is a sign that we're headed in the right direction and the steps we've take ton bring our economy back from the brink are working. we just had a meeting about the ongoing efforts to prepare this country for the h1n1 flu virus this fall. i want to thank john brennan, our c.d.c. deprector john free dan, and secretaries sew se bealeus, in a poll tan yow and others for all the work they've been doing to get us raddy. as i said when we saw the first cases in the spring, i don't want anyone to be alarmed, but i want everybody to be prepared. we know we get a second, larger wave of flu viruses in the fall so response plans have been put in place across the government.
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our plans are based on the best scientific information available and as the situation changes, we'll continue to update the public. we're also making steady progress on developing a safe and effective h1n1 flu vaccine. we expect a flu shot program will begin soon. this program will be completely voluntary but it will be strongly recommended. for all that we do in the federal government, however, every american has a role to play in responding to this virus. we need state and local governments on the front lines to make anti-viral medications and vaccines available and be ready to take whatever steps are necessary to support the health care system. we need hospitals -- hospitals and health care providers to continue providing -- preparing for an increased patient load and take steps to protect health care workers. we need families and businesses to ensure they have plans in place if a family member, a child, or a co-worker contracts the flu and needs to stay home.
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most importantly, we need everyone to get informed about individual risk factors and we need everyone to take the common sense steps we know can make a difference. stay home, if you're sick. wash your hands frequently. cover your sneezes with your sleeve, not your hand. and take all the necessary precautions to stay healthy. i know it sounds simple, but it's important and it works. finally, for people who want to learn more about this virus, please go to www.flu.gov or talk to your doctor. i want to commend every member of our team. i think we've done an extraordinary job in preparing for this flu outbreak. we anticipate that there will be some issues coming up over the next several months. the way it's moving is still
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somewhat unpredictable. but what i'm absolutely confident about is that our team "tp' extraordinary job in preparing for whatever may happen. so we appreciate all of you for being here. and i want to publicly, again, thank you for all your extraordinarily hard work. >> [inaudible] >> next, issues and politics of western states are discussed at a forum organized by the group project new west. senate majority leader h-v
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reid, new mexico senator jeff bingham and others speak at this conference. this is an hour. >> our resources exploited, our quality of life, threatened. and our schools neglected. these were the faces of the old west. and this was their message. and for a time, they called the shots in the west. then, it grew brighter. change was on the horizon, fueled by new pioneer, new leaders who emerged with the changing times. dynamic new governors, like bill richardson of new mexico, janet napolitano of of nevada. thenñit continued with the election of colorado's own ken salazar to the senate.
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a new majority taking control of the colorado state house and senate. by 2006, with the election of two new dynamic leaders, governor bill ritter of colorado, and senator john tester of montana, the west had paved the way for one of its favorite sons to become the new majority leader of the united states senate. harry reid of searchlight, nevada. and new mexico's senior senator jeff bingaman to chair the committee on natural resources and max bacchus of montana as chair of the powerful finance committee. then again in 2008, bold change rolled forward, unstoppable. with tom udall of new mexico and mark udall of colorado joining and a new president, barack obama. >> hello, las vegas.
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>> new leaders, a new challenge and a new way of doing business. preserving our western heritage, ensuring our government meets the new challenges of today and tomorrow. a new vision for the west. pragmatism. inclusion. conservation. energy independence. and protecting our quality of life. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new west. >> good morning. i'm governor bill ritter, i'm delighted to be here this morning to kick off the project new west summit to welcome all of you to colorado, the home of the thriving new energy economy. it's appropriate that this summit, the first of its kind is being held here at the colorado history museum. throughout our history, the
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interrelation of our land, our water, and our people have created an epic and value -- an ethic and value that defined the west. this will only become more important as we navigate unprecedented political and economic realignment across our state. it will be important to continue to use this ethic and these values as a compass, guiding our collective actions as we move the new west forward. i'm proud of the role that colorado has been able to play since i've been governor. we've become a leader in what we first called the new energy economy, creating clean energy jobs by implementing innovative policies that encourage a sustainable approach to the production and consumption of energy. it's truly an energy ecosystem. our universities and research institutions are among the best
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in the world. they're working shoulder to shoulder with colorado companies to advance technologies that will allow us to meet the energy demansdz of the future. we've attracted millions of dollars of investment through public-private partnerships. most importantly, we've done all this while balancing development with protection, with preservation, and conservation. ensuring that the preservation of the western landscape and western values for generations to come. the choice of denver for the democratic convention last year and more recently the signing of the recovery act was made in recognition of the great strides made by leaders of the new west. founders of project new west were really ahead of the curve in recognizing the potential for realignment in the mountain west they saw the value in methodically analyñing the driving force behind these shifts and developing strategies to meld policies and politics
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and address the concern of westerners. today at this summit, we begin to increase the understanding of our hour unique policy challenges, water conservation, energy production, sustainable growth, how those define western policy but also political landscape. by achieving greater clarity and assessing the policy challenges together, we will continue moving the new energy economy forward while honoring what makes the west special. i want to note the incredible turnout of western leaders who are participating in this summit. it's a testament not only to the important role the west plays in american policy and in politics, but also to those individuals' commitment to make sure that the voice of the people of the west is heard. watching the opening video, i'm
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honored to call the leads of the new west y colleagues. it's an honor to call an unsurpassed leader of the new west landscape. he's a united states senator from new mexico, jeff bingaman. give him a big hand and a big welcome. [applause] >> governor ritter starts off wit and it's terrific to be in his state and your state and to see the enthusiasm that's obviously present for even additional progress to see the new west move ahead and evolve in ways that make sense for the people of the west. it is a particular honor for me to be here with senator harry reid. harry reid is the leader of the u.s. senate and he's the person
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that gets things done. we -- the rest of us give speeches about how we want to see things done and what we support and what we don't support but when it comes to lining up the votes to get issues across the finish line so the president has a bill on his desk to sign, harry reid is the person who takes that responsibility and does it so well. but we've seen a tremendous change in the makeup of the u.s. senate, particularly in the rocky mountain region. you're all well aware of that the video described it well. but starting up around canada, with montana, you've got max bacchus there and now john tester as well. that's a great step forward. he's a tremendous addition to the u.s. senate. here in colorado, you folks have made tremendous strides. mar udall, of course, michael bennett, those individuals are distinguishing themselves with the excellent representation that bring for this part of the
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country. in new mexico, i've been joined just this year by tom udall, tom is doing a tremendous job, of course, and is a champion for all the issues that matter to democrats and to the new west. there has been an enormous influx or investment in the issues and the energy projects that matter so much to us in transitioning our economy to a low carbon economy. that's part of the recovery act and i'm proud of what we've been able to do there. the public lands bill, which we were able to pass under this president's leadership and under senator reid's leadership there in the senate, sets aside another two million acres of wilderness, an important step forward. we have a lot left tz do this year. we have enezgy legislation pending in the senate, of course there's been energy legislation
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already passed through the house, that's another item to do -- another to-do item that needs to be done. of course health care reform which is a top priority, not just for the west but for the entire nation. ken salazar is -- has been such a tremendous leader as the secretary of interior, i can tell you it was a tremendous loss when he went off our energy committee and went to the department of interior. it was a loss to those of us on the energy committee. but a great gain for the country we have a lot to celebrate. we have a lot to look forward to. this is an exciting time for all of us who are looking to move the west forward in important ways. let me at this point introduce our next speaker, who is lieutenant governor of new mexico, diane denish. she's distinguished herself over many years as a leader in our stateñ she has strong support
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throughout new mexico. she headed our democratic party before pá. and she has the respect of virtually everybody, democrat and republican, in our state for the public service she's provided. diane is now running for governor of our state. she's well positioned to be the next governor of our state. and with that, let me introduce our lieutenant governor, diane denish. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. thank you, senaáor bingaman for that introduction and the hard work you're doing for the west and the country, we appreciate it. last night at a reception, when i talk about the west to people, i -- to people, i ask them to think not just about the open landscape but the open landscape of our imagination, of our entrepreneurship of the spirit of the new west and how these
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two come together is what i believe creates that unique political landscape. fish the west. one that is changing and strengthening the democratic party in the west and across the country. in a lot of ways, the new west is just the old west understood. the principles of the old west, like so many people here, i grew up in a small town in the west, in southeastern new mexico. there were just a few things in the small town that i know many of you can identify with. the thing with the place like a small town is this. people know what you promise, they know if you deliver, and by golly you can't hide in a crowd. people know whether you're doing what you said you were going to do and these are the principles our democratic leaders across the west are bringing to bear. and we're proud of them.
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whether it's making our state safer or delivering on the promises of every state in the west, whether it's making sure that nobody falls through the cracks, but being responsible and making sure our taxpayer dollars are spent accountably, and whether it's paying attention to our principles, even during these very tough economic times, i believe we're delivering, we're doing the job. i dare say in the west, we're leading the way. new mexico is leading the way, and our voters have responded. there's a fun fact about new mexico that some of you probably don't know, but we vote for the winner in the presidential election more than almost anybody. whether it's one half of one point like it was in 2000 or whether it's 15 points like it was in 2008, we are the swing
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state's swing state. we're the bellwether's bellwether in new mexico. we're proud of that but if you listen to some of those national commentators, they don't really know too much about that they say, oh, there's little weird quirky state down there in the southwest with a whole bunch of hispanics in that state, they can't possibly be representative of anything that's really happening in america, could they? right. what could a widely diverse state with native americans, hispanics and all kinds of cultures all coming together with an economy focused on energy teach anybody in america? about economic times or electoral trends. four years ago, new mexico had a republican senator two republican congresspeople and
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was carried by george bush. on the day after elections, in 2008, we had two democratic senators, no republican congresspeople and barack obama led the ticket and carried new mexico by 15 percentage points. we must be doing something right out here in the west, and that's the reason we're so excited about project new west because they are telling us the lessons we need to remember about 2008. we know more young people registered, more hispanics than ever registered, more first-time voters than ever register. many of those, women, who had never, ever voted before. we're depending on project new west to make certain that those voters continue to be engaged in the year 2010 and beyond. not just because we want them to be voters and be engaged, but
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they bring success to the west. so the research of project new west is vital to everything we're doing. but there are a few lessons i think we need to remember and we'll be hearing more about some of these later from t. boone pickens, but the new energy west is coming, if it's not already here. this is the new energy west. new mexico is the leader along with some of you in wind and solar, we're also doing the newest research on biomass and biodiesel, we're getting the best and highest use out of our traditional sources of energy, oil and gas. the new west is so vital to america's energy economy and our energy future. that's why we're lucky to have senator dingman as head of the energy and natural resources committee. western states were founded in the more small d democratic
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time. voters want us to honor that. i believe we're doing that here in the west. they want us to listen more. they want us to be around. they want us to be in their communities. and they want us to do our business out in the open. and in new mexico, we have a new transparency agenda that's leading the way on that. but there's another phrase that's a little overused, but i think it's important in the west. and that's what we call a way of life. new mexicans know that conservation is not some eastern, liberal scheme that just came around. it's how we protect what's important to new mexico. and to the west. whether it's a family's ability to go out and hunt and fish, or if it's making sure that our communities are safe and protecting that quality of life. in the west the most important
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thing we do is we understand the balance because that is what the western leaders are doing. they're creating a balance. balancing the needs of conservation with resource yution for energy and recreation and at the same time being innovative and finding what the new energy sources are. we preserve pristine open spaces in new mexico, at the same time recreated the qu -- cuevera coalition, ranchers and others coming together to fost aeropublic-private land stewardship program in new mexico. in the west we create that balance by doing one thing -- we bring people to the table. the ranchers, the environmentalist the preservationists, the government agency the public-private partnerships that really, really work.
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whoever the stake holders are in find the important things, and that's the solutioñ for the common good. the west is the land of possibilities. and there's no better example of possibilities than the man i'm about to introduce, one of the youngest and brightest stars in new mexico. i'm proud to have been on the ticket with hector valdera, in who in 2006, at the age of 33, became new mexico's state auditor and the youngest statewide hispanic elected official in america. as state auditor, hector has been a key pa)t of an effort that's near and dear to both our hearts, making sure new mexico does business in a way that's more transparent. he's gone to battle against waste, fraud, financial abuse. from wagon mountain, new mexico -- wagon mound, new mexico,
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population 310, providing hector has a story to tell. please help me welcome new mexico state auditor, hector baldera. [applause] >> good morning. we've got to get excited. is this the west? good morning, ladies and gentlqsq', i'm hector baledra, from the populated metropolis of wagon mound, new mexico. i'm excited. for the first time in many years irk can see the profound changes going on in the new west. it was just in my lifetime at one point where latinos weren't counted in the census. it was just in my son's lifetime
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who has now turned 12 years old, in which we have doubled the voting population of latinos in this country. it's in my lifetime and my son's lifetime at which we have just experienced, not just barack obama texting my son in mile high stadium, but we experienced the most diverse election in american history. what does that mean when we're trying to convince latinos they can be part of the american dream? the most populous, second most populous group in the nation, the fastest growing minority group in the country, what are we saying to our community of latinos that they can be part of the american dream? or that if they make the most diverse election in history possible, that for the first time in our experience we can be proud of a supreme court justice sotomayor.
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[applause] these are exciting times. these are exciting times because we are understanding that the west will determine and define the american dream. and what the subcontract for that great american story is, is that latinos in california, corel, new mexico, texas, will also be at the forefront of those dynamic changes. i am just a small reflection of a great dynamic hispanic community. one that can say, yes, we can elect young hispanic leaders. but as board member of the national association of latino elected official, we have doubled from s,000 to 6,000 national, local, and statewide leaders in this country and we are ready to join project new west in this great analysis, this great discussion this great discourse of truly defining the
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american dream for the american west. thank you very much. now i get to transition over to someone who i would first describe where i'm from as introducing a man from the county of rabbits, i'm from northern new mexico. and in the west, besides experiencing great transformation, we also have great roots. in 1946, my grandfather was award the bronze star medal of honor, someone who had been raised in northern new mexico. as i grew up, i kept my eye on what i was hearing were these salazar brothers making history for the hispanic community. as i followed their career, i also learned more about them, that they served as great patriots, they had strong roots in southern colorado, which we still consider northern new mexico, by the way. but a role model and a gold
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standard leader in american politics. i'd like to introduce to you someone who is dear to my heart and making profound changes in the american west, let's give a warm welcome to congressman salazar. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. let me just take a quick and brief moment to introduce someone who is a great friend of mine who hails from the great state of arizona, chairman of parks in the natural resources committee, mr. raul grijalva. congressman grijalva, would you please stand up? [applause] my, my. remember 2003? 2003 when i announced i was running for congress for colorado's third congressional
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district. i remember traveling around the state and we were starting to organize the counties and we met in mesa county, grand junction, colorado. i was looking for a few democrats. well, i encountered three. so we decided to start organizes the -- organizing the democrats of mesa county so we got together and we met in this secluded farmhouse with curtains drawn and tried to figure out the strategy of which way we were going to move forward. shortly thereafter, as we started walking the streets, i'd run into somebody who said, you know what? i'm a democrat. incredible. today, we have tripled, quadrupled the registration of
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democrats in mesa county. i'm very, very proud of what's happening in mesa county. i'm truly proud of what happened in 2004, when both senator we were two of the very few pickups that democrats had. the only two from the west, i believe. it was in the house of representatives, it was myself and colorado's third congressional district, and melissa bean were the only two democratic pick-ups in the 2004 elections. i am truly honored to be able to -- today to introduce someone who has been a champion for the west, someone who is one of the most wonderful human beings i have ever met in my entire life. but you have to understand him, and to understand harry reid, you must look to small mining
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town of searchlight, nevada. searchlight is where harry reid watched his father work as a hard rock miner. it is where he attended a school with one teacher for eight grades. this is where he learned nevada's values of hard work, opportunity, and independence. today, harry reid is a majority leader in the u.s. senate. a man who commands the respect of colleagues from both parties. and a powerful advocate for nevada's middle class families. every day, senator reid put the leadership position to work to deliver meaningful results to nevadans. but he still lives in searchlight, nevada. and he is still guided by the lessons and values that he learned there. the las vegas sun newspaper summarized reid's story by
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saying that he has gone from underdog to senate, to the senate's top dog. senator reid is leading the way on solutions to keep nevadans in their homes and to end the foreclosure crisis, which is weakening their state's economy. he is a leader on reducing the cost of health care while increase the number of nevadans who have medical insurance. he has worked to create thousands of good-paying nevada jobs by making the state a leader in renewable energy. reid has brought hundreds of millions of dollars to make nevada safer. the money puts more police on the street and assures nevada's military bases have everything they need and is being used to build the long overdue southern nevada veterans hospital. as an avid sportsman, reid is a long-time champion of matters outdoors. he created nevada's only
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national park. he created lake tahoe summit, which brings leaders of ll political stripes together to preserve lake ta low's clairetism he is also working to developing solar, wind, and geothermal institutes. take it from me. in the discussion here about the new west, it includes harry reid. has been to this salazar, not only a mentor but a father figure. and so today, ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome the man, the myth, the legend, senator harry reid.
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is -- she just turned 3. my son and daughter-in-law have given them responsibilities. they have to take out the trash, help with the dishes, pick up the toys, and each week they get a little reward for doing that. they get so much for doing their chores. well, elia, who just turned 6, hasn't been doing it. for several weeks she refused my son sat down and talked to her and said, el la, what's wrong with you? why aren't you doing your chores? why aren't you doing what you're supposed to? she said, dad, i don't need the money. not bad, huh? john, thank you very much for that introduction.
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the story of america is the story of the american west. as america has grown and grown, so has the west. as america has changed, the west has evolved just as dramatically. lands that were once frontier are now cities on the frontlines. technology and industry, where land was once dominated by homestead is now dotted by energy efficient homes. the old west has given way to the new west. one thing has not changed. forward-thinking americans are still coming west. we live and work in the fastest growing region of the country. partly coincidental, but more and more of these forward-thinking americans are progressive politically. it's no coincidence that in recent years the growth of the west, the growth of the democratic party and the growth of the democratic majorities in
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congress have happened simultaneously. america still associates the west with opportunity and adventure. america knows the west for its independence and really for its common sense. lately we've been fortunate to see these traits in more of our leaders. the good people of colorado sent two democrats to represent them in the senate. so have the new mexicoians and the montanans. the same is true for the voters of washington, california, oregon, hawaii, even alaska now has a democratic senator. and it's critical for the future of our region and our country that the chairman of the senate energy and environment committee, jeff bingaman, and the chairman of the environment and public works committee, barbara boxer, come from the west. we should all be proud that -- all be proud that colorado, montana, new mexico, and wyoming each have elected democrats to
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be their governor. you couldn't say that just a short time ago. certainly you couldn't at the beginning of this decade. democrats also have the governorships in oregon and washington. and back in washington, president obama knew what he was doing when he drew nearly half his cabinet from the west. who could better tackle our broken immigration system as secretary of homeland security than janet napolitano who served so abeably as governor of -- abeably as governor of new mexico? who better than nobel prize winner steve chu who came from berkeley, california to lead as secretary of energy? .
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as john indicated, there really is a lot of their -- a love affair between us and the salazars. we are friends. i know that he misses missing the people of colorado. but i know that he understands patriotism. when he was called upon by the president of the united states to do what he was asked to do,
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this is what the salazars are all about. i miss him on a daily basis in the senate. i am glad he is where he is. and frankly there is a part of him that says i can wear my cowboy hat now any time of 12. -- anytime i want to. [laughter] can salazar's truly a son of the american west. the salazars settled in new mexico for centuries ago -- four centuries ago. they claim some of the area's first water rights. they grew up farming, the salazar boys, and the same colorado land his ancestors had farmed and ranched for centuries. and this is real role american land. i remember vividly growing up in
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searchlight. i did not have a television or telephone, but the salazars did not even have electricity until 1982. our nation is fortunate that have such dedicated leaders at the helm as the work to get our country back on track. as you know, it was not always this way. we are surely at the vanguard of a new age. in washington, they pick nevada to become the nuclear dumping ground. despite hazards of this terribly deadly product, it went forward. it went forward without any concern about being carried through the city of denver. and when we came here, to denver many years ago, and the city council of denver passed resolutions saying they did not want it coming through coming
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colorado or denver. the yucca mountain project was on track for many years. as the entire west became more powerful, with the leadership of president barack obama, we have better equipped to defeat this dangerous idea and i am happy to say that on a " play it is now dead. -- unequivocally it is now dead. [applause] most everyone of you were here that unforgettable might, in this great city in a football stadium, when barack obama accepted our party's nomination. denver was the perfect host for last year's democratic national convention. the city and our party shined brightly on the national stage and it was a milestone continuing to rise. in 2008 for the first time, nev. determined that our president would not be elected by the
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people of iowa and new hampshire. no, on that day on january 19, 2008, at our caucuses in nevada we've registered record numbers of democrats and began to change the electoral map not only of nevada but of the entire west. they have been forced to understand and address critical issues like public land management. nevada is 87% owned by the federal government. certain people need to understand that that want to be president. they want leaders like people in this room, people who will fight for western five years, it will preserve the outdoors, who will protect our right and our ability to hunt and fish, and they knew that the road to the west wing goes through the american west. the last time i saw barack obama before he was our
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president-elect was the saturday before election day in las vegas, nev. at coronado high school. it was in the final hours of that remarkable campaign which changed america. but on that day, i found most remarkable that it was our nominees 20th trip to nevada. since he began his improbable journey to the white house, it has paid out. nevada, new mexico, colorado flipped from red to blue. the leadership of the west and its people deserve a lot of credit. we rise to the challenges that we inherited and recorded the most significant amount of accomplishment since this first six months of the roosevelt administration. we are proud of the efforts to protect our environment, depend accountability, promote equality, and insure proper spirit western democrats have enjoyed stunning successes. last year was clearly our
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greatest victory. but it is no time to rest on our longer -- on our laurels. we need this spring than western democrats, build a deeper bench of canada's, and bring this to the western states even more so prospectors, visionaries, and entreprenuers led americans to the west. now the west is leading america. two portraits hanging over the desk in my capitol hill office. on one side is a painting of an jackson, the first president from the american west, and by no means perfect, but who helped shape america's democratic party. on the other side hangs a portrait of the most famous picture ever painted of a man by the name of samuel clemens who came to nevada and became mark twain. mark twain worked as a minor and reporter in nevada, and kind of a bum. as a writer in california and
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nevada, he helped to tell the story of the west. as well, if not better, than any americans. i look at these two pictures every day and i think about them. but today i looked out and see the next leaders of the west. you are the new pioneers, the new frontiersman's of our new america. thank you for all the to do. thank you for leading the age- old call that we know so well, go west, young man, go west and grow with the country. yesterday, i was in albuquerque, new mexico. i spent the most pleasurable 45 minutes that i have had in a long time -- it was a really wonderful. i spent 45 minutes with the last surviving member of the kennedy cabinet. almost 90 years old, stewart udall cannot hear very well but
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he talks good. and we had as it. we had a visit that was so much fun. it was better than any movie that i could go to, to listen to this wonderful -- my only regret is that i did not have more than 45 minutes. but i'm going to talk to him on the telephone in the near future to finish some of the stories he started. one of the rising western democrats is a junior senator from new mexico, a man by the name of tom udall. in the short time tom, the son of stewart udall, has been in the united states senate, he has impressed everyone here has worked with him. 10 years as a new mexico's attorney general, in years as a congressman of the united states, and one of the accomplishments that i have -- i held as much as i could, i controlled, i threatened, i begged that he would run for the senate. and he did.
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and what a superstar he is. he has done things that i would expect him to to, he has a great a lineage coming from that great udall clan, his uncle moe who i served with in the house of representatives. but suffice it to say that not only have i found him to be a terrific senator, a great leader, and a terrific friend. let me introduce to you senator tom udall. [applause] >> harry, thank you for those very kind words about my father. i know that he really loved -- my dad really love your visit. they both share these western
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values and were both born in very small western towns. many of you may not have heard them. gary mentioned searchlight, nev., my dad in st. john's, arizona. thank you, harry, and another at my dad really love to that. what harry reid and jeff bingaman, they are so modest. they did not mention the one thing that you should really know that we did on conservation. in this new administration, at the very beginning, call the public lands bill, 2 million acres of new wilderness, addition to wildlife and scenic rivers, additions to the national conservation system, on and on, a terrific bill. and just laid the groundwork on the senate over couple of years. perry worked very closely with him. and that is the kind of thing -- harry reid worked with him closely and that is the kind of
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things that democrats are going to produce for the west. and we all know, we heard earlier today about how we're going to be about a clean energy future and focus on jobs. we have a wonderful opportunity here, because we have an abundance of these renewable resources. seller, wind, biomass, geothermal -- solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, we can supply the energy for the entire rest of the country and we are going to do that. and that is a part of our future. but why is it important to do it? just one little story that i think that has captured me, talking to scientist. if we continue business as usual, carbon dioxide emissions, we're going have twice as high a temperature in the west as anyplace else. so he is going to be twice as
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help -- as hot. what does that do? if you look at the computer models, it is the equivalent of my home state of putting a mouse on merit -- and in mexico, you know how you drag things on a computer screen, pulling mexico -- pulling new mexico down 300 miles to the south. if you had been down that are coming your down in chihuahua, mexico. they do not have any mountains down there that are covered with forests. the impact would be dramatic. we would see the disappearance of snow and those lovely alpine meadows that we have in northern new mexico, those would disappear. you see dramatic changes in agriculture. those of the kinds of things that we do not want to see change, and if that happened, it would be the end of a way of life, and i think that is true for what global warming will do
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to many of our western states. so we're here to stand up, are we not, and make sure that that does not happen, and make sure -- [applause] that the west and its values in its beauty are protected. now he is my distinct honor to introduce to you all wonderful, charming, a woman by the name of gen -- jill hanauer. jill, several years back, this great gathering was started at her kitchen table. she has a wonderful story. she grew up on a blueberry farm in michigan, and i said, blueberry farm in michigan? how did you get an attraction to the west? she said, as a kid we would get into the car and drive west to ski. this was before skiing was a big thing and before it was cool. as soon as she hit the west, she saw the landscape, she saw the
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militants, she fell in love with it. she said, and she felt as a child, i am going to live in the west and raise my family here. per two children are with her here today. and she has done that. and what she has tried to do with project new west is to make sure we protect the values of the west. and i asked her in introducing, what can i say about you? she said that this is not about her. this is about vote west and the values of the west. make sure and emphasize that this is not about gender -- jill hanauer. but it really is in a way. please welcome jill hanauer. [applause] >> hi, everybody. senator udall, that is embarrassing but funny. he was trying to get me to tell my story. i thank you so much for those
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kind words. the leadership and the fact that you were blue seas -- blue jeans it shows that type of leadership you bring to washington every week. i want a thing for your daughter, amanda cooper, who is part of the project new west team. she has a lot of forces and -- horses, and comes to denver to work with us. i when i think all of you who have spoken, all of you in the audience, we are making history today. it's not all the senators here by having state legislative leaders, county commissioners, neighbors, auditors, candidates for office, so many different elected officials that are meeting each other for the first time -- thank you so much for being here. we're making history today because of that. never has there been a gathering of one region of the country coming together to learn about what has happened at about this realignment in real time.
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we're not looking back in 20 years and reading about it in the history votes. we're going to learn about it today. i want to thank all of you who are here. i wish there were 600, 400 people here today representing 16 states. and this is the face of the new west as we into the new decade, we are young and old, we are religiously diverse, we are ethnically diverse, we're socio- economic lead to a first, we are ranchers and farmers and conservationists, mr. speaker, labour or about -- labor organizers, the owners, those who care and love this region. our goal is that when you leave on friday, and you go back to your communities and your spate -- and your states with tools and new collaborations. and you get energized and bring that energy as you start organizing, communicating, mobilizing as we move into the
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new decade, elevating the issues that we care so much about and continuing to elevate our leaders and the national dialogue about the direction of our nation. and that is what we are doing today. let me tell you this briefly about project new west. we were lost in 2007 yet our kitchen table with a lot out volunteers and staff, people who gave us -- stay at home moms that i -- my kids go to school with. it was a labor of love, while many, organic, and came from the ground up. we believe the west offers democrats and progressives the best opportunity for growth in the nation. and so again with all of those activists, we have some of the nation's top strategists and join together in this conversation at our kitchen table and in our rooms at denver, colorado to help project new west. but the effort of all of us here
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on not only continue to grow unless we understand who is the western voter. what are our priorities? had you message and talk about those issues is and reach different demographics throughout the west? that is exactly what we do. but there is a fundamental reason why this realignment has occurred and it is not a red to blue realignment. that is far too simple and it does not represent the western border. they do not make policy decisions or political decisions with partisan lands. no, they are looking for leaders that are off the inning. they are looking for leaders who are making pragmatic decisions that will affect their lives. and that is what these western leaders represent today. i want to thank you all for being here and i want to introduce somebody who every day in bodies that pragmatic, independent, authentic western leadership. they are really respected in
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known throughout the state of colorado. and that as our own mayor, john hickenlooper. [applause] >> thanks, jill, and congratulations on putting together such a remarkable event. my job is to finish up and welcome everybody. we offer you're welcomes at the end of the introductory session. and just some little bit what has been said. there is a different way of thinking about things in the west, a different way of doing things. when we first applied the location -- to be the location of the democratic national convention, people said that we were too small. they don't have enough firefighters or the capacity to put on a world-class convention. but what we did have, and i think that this is pervasive throughout the west, we have the
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capacity to come together. and we brought firefighters and police officers from wyoming and from southern colorado. we had over 107 different agencies a first responders of one sort or another that came together and work to make that convention such a success. we had of her 15,000 volunteers that came forward and said, how can we make this the greatest invention in history? how could we make is the greenest convention in history? we're committed to that level of collaboration and the things that they can work so powerfully, the notion of transparency, making decisions in government to open the process and let people understand why we make the decisions that we do, and then we will hold ourselves accountable. when we make mistakes, we will admit then and explain how we're going to rectify them. and that attitude toward good
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government, toward making sure that we use evidence based solutions to find innovative answers to the challenges that face us, have a lot to do with why the west is different from the rest of the country and not caught up with the old partisan battles, but also why we have been more successful. i think that is what the project new west summit is all about. not so much about the democratic or republican party but a new way of thinking, of delivering what the public has every right to expect, good government. but thinking of different types of people that should be in leadership. our new u.s. senator, and he could not be here today, but i am not sure the last time we had a former big city school superintendent in the senate. i can guarantee that he will add tremendous value while he is there. i want to thank the project new
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west summit for being here, for recognizing and distilling that essence of what the west brings, the direction of what our country needs to be. we're glad to have the additional tax revenue. like most of you from the other parts of the western united states, our coffers are severely depleted. i would like to invest -- and by all party chairs and the elected officials to come up for photograph. start coming on up. i do want to finish up and tell one and it does. so come on up. in used a talking over a little program -- a motion. -- i am used to talking over locomotion. as we think about mobility and congestion, and we need to find regional areas. sustainability in public education. when i first was running for mayor, and i had never run for
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student council, let alone a big city mayor. my staff often thought it was impossible -- an impossible effort. i would refer them to the story from the speaking professor at the university of wyoming, of using the agony and ecstasy, the worst of times in the best of times. were to gain power by their proximity. what does the opposite of despair? and what a first dissent, joined. -- and one of her students said joy. what is the opposite of woe? and one of her students said getty up -- giddy up. and that is the opposite of a woe, to say a giddy up. [applause]
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>> on tomorrow morning's "washington journal," we will talk about the security situation in afghanistan with jeremy shapiro. after that, update on the h1n1 virus and vaccine and with doctors george's been a friend -- dr georges benjamin. later, we will continue our look at the nation's health-care system from the virginia hospital center. we're joined by emergency medals -- the emergency medicine chairman and a director of respiratory care and the i see you at a hospital. we'll also talk to the chief nursing officer. "washington journal" begins each morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern with your calls. and later in the morning, a discussion on efforts to end prove public school performance. we will hear suggestions for changing the no child left behind at. live coverage from the aspen institute starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern.
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>> now a town hall meeting with republican national committee chairman michael steele. this event took place at howard university in washington, d.c., one of the country's historically black universities. >> i'm the vice chairman of the howard university republicans. >> i am the president of the democrats. >> we would like to thank you to the town hall meeting this evening. first and foremost, i would personally like to congratulate chairman steele on being the first african-american to lead the revolt -- the republican party. [applause] i am truly honored to participate in this historic event. tonight gives us the opportunity to come together as a community regarding political affiliations.
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although we may not share the same views are agree on certain issues, we will like that constructive and civil discussion tonight where everyone is treated with the utmost respect. >> for the question and answer portion, questions were already submitted. however upon entrance, if you were given of like sheet of paper were you were able to write down your question. if you are finished writing, please raise the paper in the air and someone will collected. thank you. now we like detained -- like to turn the chair over to the mistress of ceremonies. >> it good evening, howard. how are you? we are so excited to be here, and you have received thus with a very warm welcome. chairman steele is very excited
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about doing a freedom to work here at this historic institution. i like to say another thanks to both catherine and i am not for the warm welcome. we appreciate that. -- both catherine and emma for the warm welcome. you have a lot of distinguished participants here today, in terms of the fact of it. we want to make a couple of acknowledgments before we get started. president, we want to thank you for allowing us to come your great institution, and other school officials. mr. jackson, mrs. reese, very gracious to us outside, mrs. edwards, and we do not want to leave out the person who is leaving bridget -- to as risen
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to leadership here as president of howard university student body. let's give all of them a round of applause. on the stage, we have three students to " interact and dialogue with chairman steele, and i want to acknowledge them. brandie cooper, thank you for your leadership and hosting us and working diligently to pull all this together, you have done a great job. taylor, thank you so much, and skyla johnson, thank you. what we want to do is get on the road. we have headquarters here in washington, d.c., but this chairman likes to get out into the community, all around the country, and that is one of the reasons that we're so honored to be here today. in doing so, one of the top
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priorities is to be able to talk to young people. he loves to interact with your intellect and to begin to engage you in the dialogue. student participation is a very important activity in our country, in terms of how we were founded. and as african-americans, it is a privilege we have not always had. it is especially important to take opportunity to do that. so as we bring chairman steele forward, we want you to know that he is here because he was the dialogue with you. he was to be able to hear your thoughts and the things that you are thinking and be able to share perspectives with you as you are matriculating through the state university. chairman steele has been a trailblazer on many fronts. the political scene is one where he has definitely made great inroad.
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as lieutenant governor of maryland, he ran a very very tight campaign for the senate in maryland as well, and has been very involved in politics and the political -- in the republican party at maryland at the county and state level. today he stands here before you as the first african-american to serve as the actual chairman of the republican national committee. i call him the man of steele, because the steps he has taken as required one to have had very stern and steady course. and as you can imagine, the different leaders did you ever read about, [unintelligible] i want to turn it over to chairman steele and tell you that you have a great opportunity to dialogue with the phenomenal later, a man of great wisdom, a man of great
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compassion, and so i welcome you to rise your to your feet and welcome him to the podium. [applause] >> thank you all very much. what is up, howard? how's it going? it's absolutely wonderful to be back here on campus. i've had time to spend on this campus is the county chairman for prince george's county, md. where i serve for six years as the party chairman in prince george's, which lot of people were surprised that there was a republican party in prince george's county, but there is. i served as the state chairman and had the privilege to come here to dialogue with students and work with students here on a number of issues. and also now as the national
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chairman, i have come back, but even before then as the lieutenant governor of maryland, adding the opportunity to come here to this campus. what this special is meat is because this is home. i grew up literally about tw miles up george avenue. i grew up on eighth street, part of the eighth street crew, and we can talk about that later. my sister gave us that name. it was just the two bus. [laughter] but we were wroth. -- we were wroth. cdc is my home. -- we worm rouere rough. but d.c. is my home. i can remember when my mother, when i tell my mother after a long discussion, she said, go out and find what you wanted it, baby.
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it will work out. i told her, mom, right before the 1976 election, i was going to register as a republican. she said, lord, baby, why did you do that? that is the story of my political career. lord, baby, why are you a republican? this conversation is not just about that, not just being a republican or democrat. it is about being engaged in one of the most exciting times of your life at one of the most exciting times in the history of our country. before i get into that and engage the people here and here, i do want did send out a welcome to our national committeewoman hear from the district of columbia, the former chairman of the party here, that see, who is our national committeewoman. we want that bankers so much for being here.
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-- we want to thank her so much for being here. and tony parker, our national committeeman. the party here in d.c. has been one of its and starts in trying to get going -- fits and starts in trying to get going, dealing with the different changes in the city. but it has been persistent in its efforts to engage, and certainly bad seed has tried to find ways in which we can ingate -- betsy has tried to find ways in which we can engage the entire city, from uptown to downtown, so i appreciate your being here. and certainly to the president, it was a real honor to meet him and congratulate him on his one- year service so far to this institution, and i am really grateful to be here with all of you. where to begin? what to talk about? ipod two microphone so i do not
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need this one. -- i have got to microphones so i do not need this one. where to begin? hi, how're you. you are reporter? ok. [laughter] i'm just joking. the times that we're living in right now, if you have not figured it out yet, it is all about you. president obama recognized it, a lot of folks are beginning to see it, and the question and the opportunity that we have to talk about is not just the particular issue, but what it means. and what are you going to do when you walk out of this institution in four years or next spring? how are you going to engage in the marketplace of ideas? what is going to be your legacy
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of creating a pathway for the next generation, particularly when you think about the brave men and women who walk through this institution and stood on those steps at douglass hall? and the question is a very important one, because you are watching the nation go through that pain is in the pangs and the excitement and the frustration of change. not just the kind that you heard about in the campaign, but that which comes from a people and merging into something else, into doing something different. economy is shifting back and forth, and where opportunities which were once plentiful are now limited, resources that were plentiful are now limited, where ideas are going to be the springboard for your generation. as a young man growing up in this city, it is important for you understand and appreciate
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how i got here. my mother was a sharecropper's daughter with a fifth grade education. she grew up in south carolina. my father was an alcoholic. he was not a nice man. he died at 36, leaving us alone in western d.c.. all the statistics say that michael steele should have a different path. and that i should not be here. and those of you who have similar like circumstances should not be here as well. but the difference comes down to what you decide to do and what others who are part of your life decide to do for you. my mother invested in education even though she had limited access to it, and put me on a path that all the male lead to
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my becoming the first african- american to be elected statewide in the state of maryland as lieutenant governor. defying the odds. and then running for this job and having to work to get it, defying the odds. and so is she prepared your first year or your last year at this institution, the question is, how are you going to prepare yourself to defy the odds? how are you going to take the next out into an economy where there are no jobs, and into an economy where you have got to make choices on health care, or you have to make choices about whether or not you will start a business, and how are you going to engage with each other and with the broader community? a lot people thought that i would come up into this institution and try to convert you all to become a republican. that is a bonehead idea. because that is not how i got
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here. i got here because i was allowed to be the one thing in use the one thing that mattered the most common use my mind and decide where i wanted to be and where i wanted to go. that is why i am here. this dialogue, this opportunity is to engage, because republicans do not do this. republicans do not do this. we do not comment into the neighborhood, the community, and actually engage like this. when i became chairman, i made it very clear that this chairmanship, this leadership would not stay stuck on capitol hill on first street. and not get engaged with the community. not talk to people, not take the hits that people want to deliver, not share the ideas, not talk about the future of our country or the future of this generation, so if you want to know why i am here, that is why
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i am here. having grown up two miles are set down the street, it is important to be here, to show that from eighth street nw to this moment, it happen. it can happen. and you now poised to make it happen for yourself and your community back home or somewhere else as you leave this institution and as you prepared to go out there and change the world. that was the message to president obama, that is my message today, it is consistent. you ever think -- if you ever think that you would have to african-american men sitting atop the political class structure on top of this country, one democrat, one republican, both with competing views on government, both with competing views and ideas, both a reflection of the african- american community, how powerful
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is that? what a legacy to be a part of. it is not about us individually but about all legacy that it has taken for us to get to 1600 pennsylvania avenue and here at howard university. i remember having a conversation with a friend of mine a few months ago who was complaining about the fact that things were not going quite the way he thought they should be going. and he said, you know, the man is like, he is beating us down and not giving us. the man this and a man that. and i said, but we are the man now. we are at that point where we had been in power for the vote, yes, but also through that legacy to make decisions to move the nation. it is going to change the course of the country.
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and so what i like to talk about this evening is what does that look like for you? what does that feel like for you? what do you want it to be? t want to really fall into the stereo tape or do you want to do something like my monty python says, something completely different? because that is what we have the chance to do. i asked three of your colleagues to set up pee-- to sit up here. with that vw represented in the house tonight. we get students from across the city, it is a cross section. democrat, republican black, white, all of this, but we have a chance that something and say something. hopefully it will feed the mind
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and give us a fresh perspective on some things. i never approached this opportunity as a chance to convince you or you or anyone else to do what i do, believe what i believe, think like me, that is not what this is about. but appreciating that there is a diversity of opinion and thought out there, some of which you may be surprised to find that you agree with, and others who would say that there is no way in heck that i could follow that. that is not where i met. that is fine. but to engage in the battle of ideas so that we can all move this country forward is what last year's election was about. but first-time this generation -- for the first time this generation to cold, engaged, and spoke. and now as the issues come flowing out across the country, do not stop speaking. do not stop sharing your ideas and engaging the elected leadership of this country.
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whether political like yourself, or government officials let the president and congressmen and senators that represent you hear in at home. so what is your expectation? when you graduate? anybody want to take a quick stab at that? i would be interested -- it is important but we have got a lot of people. we got cnn and c-span and fox, this is good. i want america to hear -- have we got howard cd? cbs? showtime? [laughter] hilltop. we want folks to hear a little bit about what our college students are thinking as they begin to think about the next debt. any thoughts?
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-- about the next step. >> good evening, my name is skyla -- [microphone feedback] excuse me. i'm a political science minor and my expectations after college, in the next year probably, is to become a u.s. economist and bring bilateral relations between the united states and china. to have a job, actually. [laughter] i am not done. so you want to bring -- you want to improve the broad lateral relations between china and the united states. and looking at that from an economic standpoint, because china is going to be one of the big dogs on the block -- is one of the big blocks -- big dogs on the block economically in this country.
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at is that coming about for you? how do you see you the figures of taking those steps beyond howard university? graduate school, going right in the service? what are the options and the opportunities that you see? >> hopefully i will attend school at georgetown and their law school, or stanford university in california, and taken the knowledge of law and finances to be a but it bring that back to our community but throughout the united states, to become the voice of not the african and community -- not only the african-american community but my generation, that that influence not only america but also the world in respect to china. >> excellent. anybody else? >> i am a junior at george washington university, studying
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history and political science. i hope it got a law school and pursuit of -- i have to go law school. >> more law, business law. doing a law firm or something else, starting around? dollars contract laws, writing contras and things like that. >> excellent. how about you? dollars-brandon cooper, and i am a major in political science. after i graduate from howard, i plan on attending law school. a couple -- a couple more years and skill in getting into politics. i want to get back to the community. >> get back to the community. what do you want to give back? >> i think i can move more mountains with mind power.
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>> the opportunity to be an example of how we continue that legacy that started a long time ago of creating a path with opportunity. >> exactly. >> which you do that, what do you do with the road blocks that are in the way? what you do with the lack of a job opportunity or the lack of your ability to create a job by starting your own business? how do you deal with the frustrations and challenges that will come potentially when the global marketplace is changing so rapidly? how do you see yourself as a young man stepping into that, making a difference in trying to push against that kind of pressure? >> taking example from you and others, not giving up. push your way forward. i think people in elected office are very important because they
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have influence to affect our lives. >> does anybody else here have an expectation? yes, ma'am. [inaudible] once you leave these hallowed halls, what is your expectation? dollars i'm a junior political science major -- >> i'm a junior political science major. i was like to become a senator from the great state of maryland. [applause] >> that would be a democratic senator, right? >> yes, definitely a democratic senator. >> and that is it a point. what do you think happens when
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you are on that pathway toward becoming the next u.s. senator from maryland, i am a resident of the state of maryland in a republican, and you may say some things that i agree with, but a lot of views that i am suspect about. right? that is the mindset in politics. you win, right? you are standing up there in the senate chamber with your hand on the bible and your hand in the air swearing the oath of office. what should by -- what should my expectation be of your leadership chris mark >> i bipartisan and not about a party. it is about people. i want to go into politics to be a public servant. that has got lost, being a
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public servant and serving all individuals. >> you are an elected official. ok, here we are in the middle of a national debate on health care. ok? and it is a very good and important debate, regardless of where you are on the spectrum. you represent me in mind and not a lot of other folks in the state of maryland -- me and mine and a lot of other folks in the state of maryland. where do you think the line is drawn between what you believe personally as a u.s. senator and what you should do as my elected representative? >> i believe that my believes should guide me but i should take into consideration my constituency because they're the ones that gave me my job. they said understand my belief and i will take their input.
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>> mix it up. >> and from there i would come from a resolution. >> can you share that with people who are around the country have lost sight of that principle, that whether you are republican or democrat, if you have the mantle of responsibility as an elected official representing the people in this room and across this country, you have to first respect the people that put you there, and then you have to be able to negotiate literally sometimes your personal views with the reality on the ground, that maybe in the state or district that you are from, that general collective view on issues that you are here and a rubber there, and you have to navigate and work your way through so that you come to a position where the people in your district or your state respect the fact that while they
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may disagree with you, and that what they eat -- why you may cast of but that they disagree with, but you're going to be true to yourself and to them and carry for in a way that they can look at you and say, ok, i understand. one of the challenges that you are going have in your leadership, whether political, whether in business, no matter what -- is being able to understand where that line is and doing what you need to do, to bring everybody together on a consensus. the debate that we're having on health care is a liking the approach toward bipartisanship. in washington, bipartisanship is if you get something, that means that i have lost something. unless i did not mean to give that something up, how could it be bipartisan?
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it's consensus where both sides realize that what is at stake is not my reelection, it is not my personal interest, it is the people who sent me to the nation's capital or to my state capital, and the expectations they have that i am going to represent them ultimately in this fight. and that i am going to work toward some level of consensus on this issue. and that is a challenge. because what you see now and why the young people in this country every acted the way they have been the americans have reacted the way that they have, because they have moved past this battle. they want to see leadership actually engaged. and all lot of frustration that people in washington have by now is that there is still this tension between democrats and republicans. and i will tell you, i nonpartisan guy, as partisan as the next -- i am a partisan
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fight, as partisan as the next guy, i love beating them up and the love meeting yet. but when you talk about something that will impact you and your children in your children's children, that changes the dynamic. and the question becomes, how do you engage in a way that as young people you can begin to insert yourself into the discussion and not get caught up in the back and forth? what is at stake here is a nation at that, a nation -- at in debt, a nascent -- a nation lurching toward a new definition of the role of government, and you are a very important part of it. you can be partisan ends say that you should do that, and that is great. but then ask yourself, are you
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living the needle and taking this to wear she is talking about, and her leadership -- and her leadership, her goal is to work towards some consensus so that she can at least achieve ultimately what the people are going to give up. somebody is going have to give up something to get something. and that is part of the discussion that we are now engaged in across the country. and i do not know how it is going to turn out. do you know? >> but i know what will turn out good. i know it well. >> i hope so. who else has an expectation. yes, sir? great, thanks. how're you doing? what is your name? very nice to meet you. >> i am from memphis, tennessee. after graduating from howard university, i plan on going to
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law school. i'm undecided on what i wanted to. >> georgetown. off the top of my head. >> the sky is my limit after that. but my main goal is most likely public service, that will impact people most on the local level. and to instill an idea in them that you can make ait, and cannt fail, and hopefully help whoever you say. >> what is important about that is something that thurgood marshall said, and that was, we all have the ability to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, but every once in awhile you need to bend down and help somebody else. and part of the legacy of the african-american community in
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particular has been that, reaching back and pushing forward. you will find, ladies and gentlemen, as you matriculate through this institution and start walking through the various doors that you have outlined for yourself, that she will run into two kinds of people. it will be the first one that will stand in the door and say, what you want? i do not know you. who do you know? what do you want to do? the idea what to do it? i will think about it. i will get back to you. the next person you were going to run into is the person who will stand there with the flat in the door and try to assure you through and push in as many people as they can to empower your generation. and the question becomes, and we talk about the issues that we talked about
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