-- gov. mark sanford is our guest. we continue with your calls. karen is next on our board. thank you for your patience. >> hi, how're you, governor sanford? i just wanted to call because i really appreciate having the kind of support we have in our governor's office, especially when things come up like ireal id. .

spend and ending up exactly

where we are now, which is way in the hole based on the way we overspent. third quarter is economic development/jobs. there is a manufacturing concern there today. i was trying to get a virtual town hall meeting on what are =mz-/ ideas that y'all have to would make a difference? i am going to continue that process. we are going to continue that process with not 10, not 20, but two or three items with legistlative colleagues and with the chamber, nfib, realtors and different groups who we think could make a difference. at minimum, the security commission has to be there to something better connected. i think there is a growing appetite for that.

there that is a major piece of infrastructure. we have got to lock that down because the panama canal opens, we are well positioned from this part of america into frankly all the southeast. if we have it, good, if we don't, we are going to be in a problem spot. i would say we are still working on that. that is about we are working on yoits of outright recruiting. we will continue to work on that. but the bigger part of what has to happen is those mid-size businesses, what are we doing to improve their playing field

and that is what the forum is fore. >> governor mark sanford taking your telephone calls for the next 15 minutes. also listening in down in charleston on 94.3. good to have those folks down in the port city. i know people are very concerned from that aspect in jobs. let's continue with our calls. you are on with governor mark sanford. >> hi, how are you? >> i'm good. >> i have a question. my question is do you think if you resign, all the issues, problems and things that people are saying about you will just go/5-? i don't. because if i did, i would have resigned. if i thought that was the cure-all to all the problems ailing south carolina and would

be beneficial, solve unemployment or education, i would have resigned. but at the end of the day, i don't. i do think we need an advocate for restructuring. we have d.m.v. reform from 60 minutes down to 15 minutes. the -- we changed the d.o.t. since the early 1900's. we have gotten pieces of it and have been able to restructure within our own cap net agency. i would hope for the chance, working with people across the state and different like-minded house and senate members, to make this the year we make those three changes i just talked about. a lot of people have set well, i don't know. with the lottery, house members

said i am against the lottery, but it is such an important issue that it ought to be decided by the people of south carolina. if that is going enough for the lottery, it should be good enough for the construct of the government of south carolina. that is why i am still here. i think there is a real opportunity to get a couple of things done that i think are important to improving the lives of your kids, my kids and a lot of other folks across south carolina. >> we have gotten so many e-mails asking something similar to this. i haven't asked it, and i should, so let me throw it your way. a number of people asking in e-mails if you had to do it all over again, would you -- because the soul-mate thing and someone you cared for. would you do it all over again? >> if you have watched the last six years of my life -- we all

want do-overs. that is the nature of being human. i apologize, as i have so many times before. but i am human, and i make mistakes. but i also believe that god can his imper -- imperfect people to perform his will and that there are imperfect people performing in all walks of life whether in the body politic, or the world of business. we have to get up each day and not call it quits based on the mistakes we make in life. we all wish we could do do-overs, but that is not where i am. what i am trying to say is where are we right now, and where are the opportunities we have with regard to changing government for the better in south carolina, and what are some things we could do in bettering people's lifing with

the economy and jobs. what can we do to protect the taxpayer going forward? that is not where i am. that is what makes it particularly relevant, the amount of misinformation that is out there. the whole state plane thing has been called into question. wait a minute. the guy uses a state plane a full one third less than any previous governor, one half less than another governor. but that is not the whole story. the last administration had a jet. it had a management fee of $10,000 a month. if you look at that, just the use of the jet alone was more money than we spent on the entire state airplane in everything. just that alone. then add to that -- you know

how brutal i am on some of this stuff. we ended up taking steps that no governor has taken before. whenever we could, we would take a cessna and save taxpayers $60,000 for the plate. gloffers would have the plane relocated to owens field because it was a couple of minutes quicker. in the process.

>> either the story is going to be impeachment, the story is not going to be mark sanford resigning or what did he in argentina. the story is going to be going forward. are you going to pick a fight with mark sanford or not? >> i am not looking for a fight, but i am looking for the truth. you can't go out and say hey, you broke the law and have three people on a subcommittee doing something and not mention that. the selective outrage i have a problem with. >> mike, you are on with the

governor. >> governor sanford for joining us today. this

tackle that? >> you are there. you're in brazil. you're in that neck of the woods. i think it was completely true to say that the dominant trading partners with south carolina were -- with about a 50-year history had been europe, predominantly tied to germany with the bmw hub, and other firms, and that we had a very strong connection with southeast asia. it is for that reason we have had a european office, and we have had a japanese office going back to campbell times. we strengthened that by putting a beach head in shanghai. our point to the chinese was look, we don't have a problem. you have a problem. in that 30% of your exports are tied to basically exporting to the united states, about 3% of

ours is going your direction. and the epicenter of the protectionist movement is a state like south carolina. if you are not investing in a place like this, this problem is going to grow for you, and about we are trying to do that. so we opened up a beach head there in shanghai. and the other office that we opened up during this administration was an office in toronto based on the fact that we had david, who was the ambassador to canada. so i think it is completely straight forward to say you go to where your strengths are, but if you are in the neck of the woods and say hey is this something else we can pick up,? do you so. >> it is clearly -- >> i got that. >> there is another you will treer motive for what you are doing in argentina? >> if that is the case, then all thei

i should have gone to those places too. the fact is that i was in eastern europe earlier this year prospecting, trying to say is there something missing in poland that we don't have going that we ought to have going. people do it every day. when i was in the real estate business, i did it every day. i have been tov:ikñ lot of othe places that we don't have a lot of active leads, but we are out there seeing if there is something we are missing. >> we have a break, and we will be back with governor mark sanford.

>> i was dealing with two sets of appointments, one tied down to the coast. we are on airj@(. >> in terms of since june, how everything -- inspite of what

we say, everything you say is going to be dissected. >> it is what it is. >> with every guest there is time when the makes are on, and you have talked about the family. >> yes. >> i sympathize that everything you say right now is being dissected, fairly or unfairly. >> true. >> but still. just a couple more minutes. >> all right. >> time for a couple more calls with governor mark sanford. let's say hello to kathleen. thank you for calling. >> hello? >> go ahead, kathleen. >> hi, governor sanford. >> yes, ma'am. >> i am chief lou's wife. >> yes, ma'am. tell himmle hello for me.

>> thank you. i wanted to find out -- >> for callers who don't know. he is a duck hunting guide. >> what i am really concerned with, it seems like it is crumbling to me. and i am worried with the elections coming up next year.

>> i believe in those stories. and to think where this guy came from. look toe way he is presenting the ideas he believes in. i think he was a better candidate at the end of the story. i might disagree with his ideas. can you blame it on bush if you want. so i think at the end of the day, politics is about ideas, and they are bigger than human beings. the republican party is not me, and i am not the represent party. think about the times i have been on the show and called a libertarian. i don't think what happens in the next election cycle is based on what does or doesn't happen here. >> thank you for coming in. governor mark sanford. thanks for living to the afternoon drive with kevin.

>> my pleasure. >> i 0 don't northwest if it is your pleasure or not, but thank you forzssbq coming. aél pleasure hanging out with you. >> not you guys. >> can i get you to come over here and take a picture real quick? >> yes. let me sneak past you. >> right over here against this wall, please. >> thank you, sir. i know it is warm in here, so i appreciate it. >> in a few moments, an update on military operations in iraq. in a little more than a half hour, the head of the food and drug administration, marring receipt hamburg on food and drug policy. after that,[irí president obama speech to students around the country. later, more about the health care debate from democratic

leaders and republican senator charles grassley. >> on "washington journal" tomorrow, we will talk about the health carek:ñ debait with pete dupont from the national center for policy analysis, rich kihsch and "time" magazine white house correspondent, michael sheerer, and a look at the future of south carolina governor mark is sanford with kevin cohen from a radio station in columbia south carolina. >> president obama speaks to a joint session of congress about health care tomorrow night at 8:00 eastern. our coverage begins at 7:30 live on c-span, online at c-span.org and on c-span a radio. we will also take your calls after the speech and the republican response.

next, a briefing with the commander of forces in southern iraq. he speaks with reporters for a half hour on the security transition from u.s. to iraqi forces. >> good morning, and welcome. general nash, can you hear me ok? brian, i can hear you very well. >> thank you for joining us again, general. i think it was back in august when you last gave us an update. this is, for those of you who might have missed the earlier one, major richard nash, who is the commander of multiinitial division south. he is briefing you from iraq today. he is going to give you a brief update and overissue of what his forces are doing thrun

this. thank you for joining us, and let me turn it over to you. >> brian, again, thanks. good morning from iraq. i am major generic nash, and i command multinational division south and the 34th infantry division, also known as the red bulls. they are a national guard division based in st. paul, which is a suburb where we are located by the name of rose mount, minnesota. i pressure the to talk to you today about our operations here in southern iraq. the 34th infantry television is responsible for the commnd and control of the division south with division headquarters located just outside the city. we have three brigade sectors throughout the nine southern provinces in addition to an aviation brigade that provides support throughout our area of responsibility. our mission here in iraq is to build civil capacity and train and support our iraqi partners

in their mission to provide security for the iraqi people. since we spoke last month, the iraqi security forces have had tremendous success in establishing security throughout the nine provinces in southern iraq. i would like to highlight a good news story in two provinces and a productive mission that resulted in a significant capture of weapons and ammunition. during recent operations, the 10th iraqi army division captured dozens of zphroifl form penetrator plays, stick wie bombs, rock el propelled grenades, machine guns, arrive it is and thousands of small arms rounds. additionally over 100 rock either, artery rounds and others were captured in the south of the province. among the recently question confiscated items are rock

either railseghmy and gas masks the iraqi army is cementing its reputation as a catalyst for peace. most of these were exposed by tips from concerned citizens who refused to let criminals and terrorists erodeet2íñ secur and economic opportunity in their country. as we move forward together, the ongoing success of the iraqi police, the iraqi army and the department of border enforcement are indicative of the positive outcomes we have achieved together. and they are also a testament to the professionalism of the iraqi security force. so brian, thank you for the opportunity to their these successes with you. at this time i a look forward to your questions. >> very good. i am sure we have a few0 here. joe would like to start us off. >> good morning. i wonder if you can give us

more details about the captured munitions that the iraqi divisions have found lately in the south? do you know what is the source of these weapons, these rockets? >> joe, thanks. again, i would like to expand a little bit about the great effort by the 10th iraqi division. i must also mention in my opening comments that there was great participation from the adjoining division, the 14th division here. the 10th division command is commanded by major general habib. they worked closely together in an operation that was well-planned, well-coordinated and supported by our u.s. forces, the 41 a.d., colonel pete newell.

this operation was named southern triangle, and it started approximately six weeks ago with an effort to intercept trafficking of lethal am mission, lethal weapons, mechanisms that would provide terrorists and criminals means to do harm to the rearks dash iraqis. this effort is going ongoing. they are deliberately going through the arid areas, the swamp areas. it is very difficult during the hottest part of the year here in iraq. these soldiers have done a great job, the iraqi divisions, the 10th and the 14th. as i mentioned, the cashes that they were able to find have

markings on them, and they come from a variety of places. some of the rockets have made in iran on those rockets, as well as some other countries. though certainly can be munitions that are left over from the previous war, the iranian-iraq war in the 80's. some of them are rather new, but they are marked with certain country markings, and those are the things that we try to exploit, look out, find out how new those weapons are, how new those munitions are, as we continue to exploit those networks that are doing harm here in southern iraq. >> again this is joe tabet. do you know who was controlling these munitions? is there any specific group you know you could name?

>> i think, joe, i would be safe in saying they are extremist groups. they were located in very remote areas, in vacant buildings, in the marsh areas themselves. some of them were already buried. to tie it back to a particular group would be very difficult again. but again, through the human intel that both the 10th iraqi division and the 14th iraqi division are able to do, they do a great job of exploitingksi information that they gather when they go out to the villages and the cities, and dealing with the sheiks in the tribal areas. they do a tremendous job in getting to the source of those. again, we have developed a good networkdmt of intelligence, and share that with our iraqi partners on a continuous basis.

they have full knowledge of how we bring that information together. we share with them. individuals, groups and cells are working those shoes, and we allow them to be in the lead, as they have been, and we partner with them. but they are in the lead, and they are prosecuting. they get warrants for arrest, and they go before a judge. the rule of law is well in place and embedded. and they are doing a great job. i have seen just magnificent improvement since we have been here taking over this area in may. >>+jcwñ general, you said the o munitions, aside from the rockets that were stamped made in iran have come from a variety of places. could you please be more specific, or tell us why you can't be? >> bill, again, if i talk about

names that were on there, i would be pointing physician, and we don't have information or intelligence that would pin point it back to a sick supplier. the bulk of what we see would have a stamp on a particular munition that would say iran. >> thank you. >> now i have to follow up and then ask my real question. on the iranian weapons, you have seen this for many years now. you understand the date stamps on the iranian weapons. what is the most recent manufacture of iranian weapons you have seen, and then i have a question i need to ask. >> i believe i will be able to  it.r i believe probably 07 was the latest stamping of a date on

munitions that i personally saw and have heard about. >> sir, what i really want to ask you about was the case against the four soldiers for alleged mistreatment of fellow soldiers and specifically the link to the suicide of a private first class. the military seems to make a direct link between the alleged mal treatment and the private's suicide death. what can you tell us about what it is you believe that these soldiers did to their fellow soldiers, and what happened to the private in the hours before he committed suicide? >> first of all, i would like to express my deepest thoughts, prayers, to the 7p0húáz

family during this difficult time. all of our soldiers have private willhelm in our thoughts. to follow zj> well, sir, let me follow÷li there.

the charge sheets that have been released indicate excessive physical exercise was ordered, corrective action was ordered. someone was forced to carry rocks in their backpack. can you give us any better indication of what these allegations are? and since you said you are still trying to determine the cause, the specific cause of wilhelm's death, and the family has been told it was suicide, do you have any reason to believe it was other than suicide? >> again, i am wading for the final report from the c.i.d. the private's # determination of his death. with regard to the charges, the charges of four individuals that you speak about that have been made public, they range anywhere from nine down to four

charges per individual, and they evolve around cruelty animal treatment, making false officiall+ú@ statements, and a charge of reckless endangerment. those are the type of charges that four of the individuals are currently facing. again, that is going to be 4h+93 under totaljrñ investigation. there will be a full investigation that -- there will be an article 32 hearing, if you will, to determine if there is enough evidence there to formally bring them to justice. >> way in the back? >> i just have one more follow up on the same issue. where are the four soldiers

any of them are court marshalled, will it be held in iraq or quathe -- kuwait, or will parents be brought over for any trial? >> those are good follow up questions. first of all, the soldiers in ñ, immediately after preliminary investigation was conducted at that particular base, were removed from that site, and they were -- by the brigade commander, and they were redirecteds7 for further assignment add his headquarters. so that is where those individuals are currently performing duties. we are in contact with the family, and we will keep them informed about the total process we are going through, the investigation. we will facilitate their wishes to the best of our capabilities, again keeping in

mind this is a combat zone, a war zone, and someone will have to decide about the availability of them coming to iraq. if this does become an issue that goes to a courtcdfo. my expectations are, united states i'm told differently, i'm expecting that the trial, if it becomes a trial for an individual or individuals, would be held here in iraq. >> i am with american forces press service. if we could go back to that operations in the southern triangle. i would just like to ask you, you worked with thezsixg 14th a 10th divisions. what sort of support didw you provide them, and could they have done the job even maybe taking longer without that support? >> jim, i think i can answer

that by the fact that we are continuing to partner. it becomes not only just an goat at the lethal aids, it continues to build confidence with us as partners, the u.s.a. forces and the iraqis, as part of their training. this is a major effort, two divisions coming together, to cordon and search around the areas that we have is pretty monumental. at this stage in the development of the iraqi security forces, this is something to be pretty proud of for the iraqis and the u.s. forces that have spent time traininging, mentoring and providing resources to the iraqi operation. we went with them, and we part mored with them. i say with them. we still have military training

teams out that train, advise and assist as they go through this, whether it is the conduct of the operation, the development of the operation order. i was personally present when major general habib and the governor -- he briefed us on the operation he was planning to do, laid out the maps, what he intended to do each and every day of the operation. we also provided them i.s.r. capabilities. we also provide for them mentioned earlier, intelligence sharing information covering the areas that we felt like were lines coming in across the border illegally. those are the types of things we continue to do every day. but again, this was such a large operation with two televisions, across two provincial boundaries, it was well planned and executed, and

there will be a phase two. >> as a quick follow up, how about logistical support, food, fuel, things like that? did you provide that for the iraqis? >> no, we did not not. they in their fledgling logistical capability, can refuel themselves, supply themselves, maintenance and transportation. so that was not in question in southern triangle. >> getting back to the investigation of this soldier's death, are anniversary looking to whether this could be a homicide? >> again, i could not determine what the c.i.d. is looking at. it is an independent operation, investigation. it is under investigation, and

i would expect that is going to conclude shortly. i could not predict a time line, but the c.i.d. is doing that independently, and i will have to take a look at the results of that. but they are totally in charge of that investigation. >> originally it was said this was a suicide. now i understand investigators are looking for a cause of death. can you rule out that this was a homicide? >> i will not rule out whether it was a suicide or a homicide. that is not in my purview. again, the cause of death will be determined through the c.i.d. investigation. >> your territory down there a year or so ago was fairly louless. the militia was running around, and fwangs. we have seen very little news out there.

you obviously have weapons still coming in. give us an overall view of your security situation? >> i will try and answer that the best i can based on what i think i heard you ask. you are right. back in the early part of 2008, the basra was pretty much under the control of the militias. prime minister maliki, as you are aware started out with an operation called the charge of the night here in basra, and it was pretty violent, taking individuals off the streets. there was pretty heavy fighting here in this city. it was not in control of the security forces. i mentioned an individual earlier, major general aziz who was commanding the 14th

division. he was part of the 11th division as a part of the prime minister's forces. he is in charge of a portion of the iraqi army along with another great iraqi army officer by the name of major general mohammed. he is in charge of the basra operations center, who also has control of the iraqi police. that center i was down to last night talking to them about future operations has taken control of bsara. i have spent time with the governor of basra, a newly elected official as of january. he is concerned about security. he is concerned about the economy, electricity, water, his citizens and the cleanliness of the city. i can tell you that the city of

basra has done a 18046 degree -- 180-degree turn. i invited over for dinner in honor of ralm dawn, a sunni, a a a she, and all these efforts are going on. e we are putting together coalitions here together with the religious leadership, talking about how to make things better. there are over 100 projects we are working on that are all focused on the citizens and making life better for them. from the atmospheric that i have seen and the polling that i see, it is clear that the citizens are not as concerned about security any longer in the city of basra or in the

province itself. they are concerned about jobs, and they are concerned about the economy, and they are concerned about their families. those are the things the governor is working on, and in support -- and the iraqi security forces in support of the governor are making great head way in that area. >> to kind of come back to that , can you give us kind of some sense of the amount of violence across your area of responsibility? and also kind of characterize what are your troops doing? >> let me answer it as sort of a two-part thing, what my troops are doing and the level of violence. we average a little over 1.3 attacks per day. that is throughout all nine provinces that i mentioned earlier in my opening statement.

land-wise it is probably the size of wisconsin ñ ographically.29 primarily on shia. keep that in mind. we probably have close to 10.5 million people in those nine provinces. so we are averaging a little over 1.3 attacks per day. this is less than in baghdad, in the area of mosul, but slightly more than the anbar province. since june the attacks generally have dropped slight hi in our area. the number ofism e.d. a-- i.e.d. attacks have gone down. now, having said that, indirect

fire attacks on bases have increased slightly since june 30, since we have complied rith the security agareement. but in general, the attacks against the coalition forces on the roads doing their missions, partnering with the iraqi security force, going out to advise and assist, to be part of their operations, has gone down slightly. now talking about our soldiers, what are they doing? they are engaged each and every day like they have been. it is now like we are commuting to work, wrs before we were out and about. not so much in the south because we were not really embedded in the major cities that were part of the stewart agreement, but we continued to partner with our iraqi counterparts, whether it is the

border enforcement officials, at the ports of entry. we have a large port peer -- port here, large vessels coming in, oil going out. we are engage town there on a continuous basis. we have worked with the iraqi army and continued to train them to professionalize their n.c.o. corps and their officers corps. that training is still being asked for by the iraqis. it sentence that once we came out of the working cities program that they forgot about us. they will escort us on the route to wherever the training site may be or whatever range we may assist with them. we are probably more partnered with them in terms of they are with us from the time we leave our bases until we return that evening, or if we remain overnight, working with them. some of the bases are

co-located with the iraqis. others are separating, and others are within 200 or 300 meters of our bases. so the partnership is there from morning to night. that relationship has not stopped. engaged doing the great work that they have since at least i have been here in may, and that partnership is getting greater and greater because the success rate here in the south is getting better and better each and every day. >> two quick clarifications. you said attacks 13 per day, down from what when but got there in may? you said attacks were up in one category? i just didn't catch it. >> sure. i will clarify that the attacks were indirect fire attacks, rocket attacks if you will. that is why we are adamant about finding those. fire at our bases has increased

slightly since june 30. we are a fixed location. after this amount of time, they become -- they change their techniques, tactics and procedures, and they are able to acquire us about you will with imdiscriminate rocket firing on home made rails, washing machine timers to set the ignition on these rockets. they aim them toward a base or an iraqi infrastructure if you will and just shoot them off. and by the time we are able to respond, which is within minutes because we can track the rounds, those terrorists or criminals have vacated because they have set a 30-minute timer. the iraqis, both the army, police and border enforcement are there before we are because

they are out and patroling. they set these systems up and leave, that is, criminals and terrorists. but once they fire these weapons systems, the iraqis respond immediately. then we look at the site, explode them, find out anything they are doing differently, and we try always to get ahead of their thinking cycle and to upset those networks.lf$ we also have seen where those rocket attacks have landed and impacted in residential areas, and certainly we exploit that, and the local zips are angry. that is why they are using our tip line, and that is why they are calling in suspicious activity, and are reporting more and more, more than i have seen since may. but that has increased, the

rocket attacks, on our paces. >> the 1.3 now per day versus when you got there before, how can we compare it? >> it is probably at least a third or a fourth less than when we arrived. it was just on the deep line for a period of time before that. the 10th mountain division that we replaced, and here in the b amp sra area, the british were here before that, and they all were working on these issues to minimize the attacks. it has been on a steady decline against our forces. >> we have reached the end of our time, but if i could indulge and see if you can take one more from abc news who have been waiting patiently in the

back. >> the fourth brigade of the 1st a.d. is the first advisory brigade. how would you compare their operation with the other brigades under your command? what is different about their operations? >> i'm glad you asked that. i think you asked about the advise and assist brigade, which is the 4th brigade, 1st armored division, commanded by pete nule --3t1, partnered with them. it is still a brigade combat team, but their mission has changed as they have come in and taken over operations locally. they look at their missioning in terms of how they deal with

the p.r.t.'s, theí cz provincia reconstruction teams, and how do we deal with the enforcement of the borders, which is not normally a b.c.t. per se mission task. so we spend time traininging with our border enforcement people in the states. it is not necessarily just the border we share with iran, kuwait or saudi arabia, they look at how we partner with them, how do we add capabilities out there, how do we train the border enforcement officials that are at the points of entry both for personnel as well as traffic of goods? as you know, there is a great deal of tradel"ncñ that goes on between iraq and iran, and a lot of agricultural goods come in from those locations as well

as building materials. how do you hook at searching those types of vehicles? how do you process people through? how do you look for criminals and terrorists coming through? those are lessons they can learn from the united states outside of going to afn:5r trai center. it is really a proof of principal that the colonel is cutting new ground on. recently you may be aware that he briefed the second of defense on his visit here with regards to what he has done in the first@(÷ 100 days, and it h been pretty spectacular. the impact that his b.c.t. has done now with the a.a.b. concept, partnering out with, as i said the governors, looking at issues that they can request and ask for that he and his forces can respond to through the economic areas,

assistance in governs governance. we support them herevmú'ç in th south. it is a focus for pete also as he goes around and discusseses issues, rule of law, agricultural issues, other factors and expertise that come to adding businesses to provinces, to increase again the capability for training reaks so there is a pool for opportunities for business. all caveated by the fact that we providedw"wç security for t types of things to flourish. >> general, i want to thank you for the good discussion that we have had here and for taking the time to give us your perspective. before i bring it to a close, let me throw it bañhh to you in case you have any final

thoughts? >> great. thanks. i certainly appreciate the opportunity to talk with you again on our ongoing positive relationship we have had with our iraqi partners. going forward, we will continue to provide training and support for our iraqi forces that are non-sectarian. we will move forward with our part of the strategy to remove all american combat forces from iraq by next august and to fulfill our commitment to remove all american troops from of the sonche nation of iraq by 2013. i am impressed by the work of all the soldiers of multinational division south. they strive daily to insure iraq's security and improve the quality of life for this

emerging democracy. our deepest gratitude gouts out to friends, families, loved ones of these professionals. our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who have given the last full measure. both americans and iraqis can be proud of the fine job their sons and daughters are doing. i have complete confidence that working together, we can overcome any obstacles as we move forward by, with and beside our iraqi partners. thank you. >> general, thank you, and we look forward to having you back in this forum in a few more weeks. >> we are looking forward to the same opportunity. thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] of the food and drug administration, margaret

hamburg on policy. in about 45 minutes, president obama's speech to students around the country. after that, more about the health care debate from democratic leaders and republican senator charles grassley. >> on "washington journal" this morning, we will talk about the health care debate with pete dupont, richard kirsch, and "time" magazine white house correspondent michael scherer. plus a look at the future of south carolina governor mark ç kevin cohen f columbia, sak. "washington journal" is on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> president obama speaks to a joint session of congress about health care tonight at 8:00 eastern. our coverage begins at 7:30 c-span.org and on c-span radio.

we will talk your calls after the speech and the represent response. >> the head of the food and drug administration spoke on food policy tuesdayñ3d h at a f hosted by the consumer federation of america. this is about 45 minutes.

plausplaus >> good morning, wakefield. if we could have it quiet,

please. i know you've been waiting for a while, thank fs your patience. wakefield high was one of the wakefield high was one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ r

placement courses, i'm hoping he'll go to college this fall with a couple of college credits in his back pocket. his senior class project will examine what arlington county offers its youth, the jobs, leadership opportunities, and volunteer opportunities. timothy has taken full advantage of many of those opportunities. he has been volunteer of the year for the arlington county parks and recreation department. he's won the annual martin luther king jr. essay contest. he's a member of the arlington teens network board. it's my pleasure to introduce to you a remarkable student, athlete, and leader timothy spicer.

>> thank you, arne duncan. good morning. i would like to extend a warm welcome to president barack obama, secretary of education, arne duncan, white house staff, school board members, county board members, superintendent dr. patrick murphy, senior staff, principal doris jackson, wakefield faculty and of course my fellow classmates. [applause] i am honored to have been chosen to speak before my classmates as well as the students across america today. over this past three year, i have taken advantage of every academic, extracurricular and community opportunity that's been presented to me. as i reflect -- being reassigned to my -- to another class wasn't an option, i was determined to excel. therefore i managed to succeed

in advanced placement class by maintaining focus as well as by using a setback as a focus. i want you to know that excellent educational opportunities may be hanned to us, but as students we must take responsibility for our future. we may be taught but we must take ownership of our learning. as senior class president, i encourage all freshman to -- freshmen to take advantage of the opportunities wakefield high school has to offer. i would not be standing here before you to introduce the president of the united states if i had not been here at wakefield high school in arlington, virginia, pursuing my education. just as we're fortunate to have president obama come here to speak to us, we are current that after he leaves, we'll continue to have the support wakefield gives to all of us. at this time, it is with great honor and pride that i ask everyone to stand, to welcome

the -- [applause] to welcome the man that proves, yes, we can. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in wblinging the president of the united states of america, barack obama. [hail to the chief plays] [applause] >> hello, everybody! thank you. thank you. thank you, everybody. everybody go ahead and have a seat. how is everybody doing today? [applause] how about tim spicer! i am here with students at

wakefield high school in arlington, virginia, and we've got students tuning in from all across america, from kindergarten through 12th grade. i'm just so glad that all could join us today. i want to thank wakefield for being such an outstanding host. give yourselfs a big round of applause. [applause] i know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. for those of you in kindergarten or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, it's understandable if you're a little nervous. i imagine there's some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good out there with just one more year to go. no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could have stayed in bed a

little longer this morning. i know that feeling. when i was young, my family lived overseas. i lived in indonesia for a few years. my mother didn't have the money to send me where the american kids went to school. but she thought it was important for me to keep up with an american education. she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, monday through friday, but because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning. now as you might imagine, i wasn't too happy about getting up that early. a lot of times i'd fall asleep there at the kitchen table. but whenever i would complain, my mother would give me one of those looks and say, this is no picnic for me either, buster. i know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. i'm here too -- i'm here today because i have something important to discuss with you. i'm here because i want to talk

with you about your education an what's expected of all of you in this new school year. i've given a lot of speeches about education. i've talked about responsibility a lot. i talked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you to learn. i talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track and get your homework done and don't spend every waking hour in front of the tv or with the xbox. aye talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards and forthing teachers and principals and turning around schools that aren't working, where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve. but at the end of the day we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parent, the best schools in the world and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter, unless all of you

fulfill your responsibilities. unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults, and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. that's what i want to focus on today. the responsibility each of you has for your education. i want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. every single one of you has something you're good at. every single one of you has something to offer. you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. that's the opportunity an education can provide. maybe you could be a great writer. maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper, but you might not know it until you write that english paper, that english class paper that's assigned to you. maybe you could be an innovator

or inventor, maybe good enough to come up with the next iphone or new medicine or vaccine, but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. maybe you could be a mayor. or a senator, or a supreme court justice. but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team. no matter what you want to do with your life irk guarantee you'll need an education to do it. you want to be a doctor or a teacher or a police officer, you want to be a nurse or architect, a lawyer or member of the military, you're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. you cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. you've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it. this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. what you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country.

the future of america depends on you. what you're learning in school today will determine we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. you'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learned in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and aids and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. you'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gained in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness and to make our nation more fair and more free. you need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in classes to create new companies to boost our economy. we need every single one of you to develop your talent, skills, and intellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. if you don't do that, if you quit on school, you're not just

quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country. i know it's not always easy to do well in school. i know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork. i get it. i know what it's like. my father left my family when i was 2 years old. i was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things other kids had. there were times when i missed having a father in my life. there were times when i was lonely and felt like i didn't fit in. i wasn't always as focused as i should have been on school. i did some things i'm not proud of. i got in more trouble than i should have. my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. but i was lucky. i got a loot of second chances. i had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. my wife, our first lady,

michelle obama, she has a similar story. neither of her parents had gone to college. they didn't have a lot of money. but they worked hard and she worked hard so that she could go to the best schools in this country. some of you may not have those advantages. maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support you need. maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there's not enough money to go around. maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right. but at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life, what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home, none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. that's no excuse for talking back to your teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school. there's no excuse for not trying.

where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. no one has written your destiny for you. here in america, you write your own destiny, you make your own future. that's what young people like you are doing every day, all across america. young people like jasmine perets from roma, texas. she didn't speak english when she first started school, neither of her parents went to college. she worked hard, got good grades, and got a scholarship to brown university, is now in graduate school studying public health, on her way to becoming dr. jasmine perets. i'm thinking about andony schultz from california who fought brain cancer since he was 3. he had to endure all sorts of treatments and surgery, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer, hundreds of extra hours to do his

schoolwork. but he never fell behind. he is headed to college this fall. then there's chantelle, from my hometown of illinois. even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs and she's on track to graduate from high school with honors and go to college. they aren't any different from any of you. they faced challenges in their lives just like you do. in some cases, they've got it a lot worse off than many of you. but they refused to give up. they chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. i expect all of you to do the same. that's why today i'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education and do everything you can to meet them.

your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework. paying attention in class. or spending some time each day or spending some time each day reading a book.@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @

be any of those things. the truth is, being successful is hard. you won't love every subject you study. you won't click with every teacher that you have. not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. and you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try. that's ok. some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who have had the most failures. j.k. rowlings, who wrote harry potter, her first harry potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published.

michael jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. but he once said, i have failed over and over and other again in my life, and that's why i succeed. suppose people -- these people succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failure december fine you, you have to let your failures teach you. you have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. so if you get into trouble that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker. it means you need to try harder to act right. if you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid. it just means you need to spend more time studying. no one's born being good at all things. you become good at things through hard work. you're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. you don't hit every note the

first time you sing a song. you've got to practice. the same principal -- principle alives to your -- applies to your schoolwork. you might have to reed something a few tame d -- read something a few times before you understand it. you have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in. don't be afraid to ask questions. don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. i do that every day. that's not a siphon weakness, it's a sign of strength. it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something and that allows you to learn something new. find an adult you trust a parent, grandparent or teacher, a coach or counselor, and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged and you feel like other people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself. because when you give up on

yourself, you give up on your country. the story of america isn't about people who quit when things got tough. it's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country to do anything less than their best. the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation. young people. students who sat where you spit 75 years ago who over-- where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a depression, won a world war, overoppression and -- overcame oppression. students who sat where your sit 20 years ago and developed twitter and facebook. what problems are you going to solve? what discoveries will you make? what will a president who come

here's in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what you did for this country. your families, your teachers and i, are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. i'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment, and computers you need to learn. but you've got to do your part too. i expect all of you to get serious this year. i expect you to put your best effort into into everything you do. i expect great things from each of you. so don't let us down. don't let your family down or your country down, most of all don't let yourself down. make us all proud. thank you very much, everybody. god bless you, god bless america. thank you. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> how are you? hey, guys. ringconnect 12

we were going to have until the timber 15, maybe longer than that to continue our discussions. maybe not much, just a couple of telephone conferences we had. otherwise, not much to into staff had been going on. the president's -- the president speed it up with his speech. senator baucus feels like the finance committee could announce

something on friday and he could attempting to gather for consideration. we are meeting at 2:30 this afternoon to see if that can be a bipartisan proposal or not. bipartisan would be the six of us agree to something, but of course, bipartisanship is not three republicans and, let's say, 58 democrats. we need a broad correlation of people who will be supporting it. i do not say that because it is a need in itself, a broad coalition, and there are some things that could be cited with republicans and democrats, that we are talking about restructuring 1/6 of the economy and health care. senator baucus and i have been talking this year that we ought to do that with 75, 80 votes, not just 60. host: let's take a listen to

the, that president obama made yesterday. >> i have a comment for everyone who is saying we are going to pull the plug on grandmother, we are going to pay for illegal immigrants. i have a question for all those folks what are you going to do? what is your answer? what is your solution? and you know what? they do not have one. their answer is to do nothing. >> this is an easy answer because for a long period of time there has been four, five republican plans -- than there were three republicans working with three democrats, hopefully

a bipartisan plan. there is another bipartisan plan so presidents -- republican would be on record of supporting plan. it has some controversial things in it, but it is evenly balanced. it is the only version on the table, unless our version comes out this way, that is deficit neutral, and also reduces inflation in health care. those two things not adding to the deficit and reducing health care inflation are the two most immediate goals that any plan should have. whereas the president is talking about what is coming from his party, because they are partisan, coming from christopher dodd's committee -- the cbo says that they add to the deficit and does not do anything about health care

inflation. so what is the point of doing anything? if you want to get what is happening at our town hall meetings, democracy at work, people are scared to death about the deficit. that is not just about health care, it is just the straw that broke the camel's back. it is really the stimulus not working. the federal government shoveling out money and nationalizing and general motors. a budget that tripled the national debt. and then you hear about $1 trillion health care bill coming from the house committee, and you know, they come out in droves of the town hall meetings because they are fearful that we are not going to leave the country in good shape for the next generation. host: the situation of so-called

pulling the plug on grandmother has got a lot of attention. do you think that is adding to the fear in the country? is it being correctly used? guest: there are other people higher up in the hierarchy that used that, and it was wrong. if it was wrong for him, it was wrong for me. if you listened to my statement, you would think that i was giving a speech, and blaming the whole issue. then some newspaper said something about sarah palin. sarah palin said that, presumably, before i said it, about that the panels. so i was in a town hall meeting in iowa and a person stands up -- like you could stand up now, and get a copy of the house bill

from the internet. what it says is well intentioned. host: you are talking about end of life counseling. guest: yes, i do not agree with how they are doing it, but it was nothing new for me to say i do not want the government involved. i want the families involved. i answered it that way. if you connect several doffed, you have a concern about -- dots, you had a concern about saving money, concern over a government-on health care plan, and then you have the veterans administration putting of a book saying that everyone needs to do with the end of life issues who is in that situation. put all of that together, and frankly, between government running everything and paying a

doctor to give that advice, everyone figures that the government will be in the middle of the end of life issues, as they are in england, for example. host: next phone call from georgia. caller: i work in health care and i have heard people say that we do not get health care -- we do not turn anyone away at my hospital, whether you have insurance or not. how come we need to have government to run it? why not have legislation that makes insurance companies responsible for covering the uninsured. i have been told that my premiums are high as they are because they go to cover the uninsured, to offset that. i do not always want to turn to the government. insurance companies are making a lot of money.

i know that i have used very little of my interest but i pay my premiums every month. that is my concern. our government is broke, why do we want to put more debt on it? guest: several things you say is accurate. -- are accurate. you are right, the emergency rooms provide coverage for everyone, and it is a very expensive form of medicine. that brings us around to the fact that we do not want the government to run it -- i should say, i do not want the government to run it, and that is why i am against the public option. there are other possibilities out there, like one congresswoman saying we needed a

public option for those of us who wanted to go to canadian- style single payer. that is why i am against single payer because i do not want the government to nationalize health insurance. you need to continue to talk the way that you have because there are a lot of people in congress who do want the government to run it. i am working to prevent that. what we do to solve the problem of expensive health care through the emergency room is to move the people who do not have insurance, with some help, through a tax credit, into a private insurance. so they have a choice. whereas, if you are under a government-run system, you have no choice. guest: let's talk about some

alternatives to -- host: let's talk about some alternatives. in a public option exchange -- there is a public option exchange. guest: i think senator snowe is, everything. so i cannot support the trigger. in response to co-ops, yes. if they are like the other co- ops that we have run in the

country for 150 years, governed by the consumer, and all the benefits flow to the consumer -- in the case of health insurance cooperatives, they would be regulated by the state's, the same way any insurance company is regulated. then i think that is a reasonable alternatives. i do not think it is absolutely necessary, but is a political issue you are trying to deal with. the reason i say it is not necessary -- there are two principles that would put an end to our tent to get a bipartisan plan. you do away with the discrimination of pre-existing conditions. you make premiums affordable for everyone. you do not have caps on what can be paid out.

then the other one is affordability. so we have tax credits for people who cannot afford it. if you want everyone covered -- and that means 96% of the people. someone is going to play the game. the bottom line is, why you need a public option if we are already covering everyone? host: barbara on the democrat line from washington. caller: good morning. how is everyone? thank you for c-span. i just do not understand why people are against helping all americans. my son had three heart surgery's before he does two years old. i had to quit my job to take

care of him. we could only afford to put him on cobra, which was $356 a month, back in 1988. then use the rest of our money to pay the bills. that came to about $10,000. all of our savings. we have never caught up. we have been struggling ever since. guest: well, i think what our bipartisan plan would do is, first of all, if you are denied insurance because of your boys pre-existing condition, we would do away with that. you have low premiums and high premiums, sometimes 30 times difference. we would make those premiums more affordable for everyone. in the case where you had so many surgeries, maybe you have a

cap that the insurance company has that they will pay for one person. we would do away with that as well. copays can mount up to a lot. there could be a limit on that. but we are trying to do it is reform health insurance, but at the same time, we are not just trying to say health insurance companies have to absorb this by increasing everyone's premiums when you have so many millions of people who are giving tax credits to be injured. obviously, there will be more people under the umbrella and you will spread the risk of two people who are not under the plan today, and we on to do that in a private sector way. buying health insurance of their

choice because there will be in exchange to go to to get all of the programs available and compare prices, a consumer- friendly sort of exchange. reforming the private insurance companies. then in the case of you, you had to quit your job. there would be some help through the tax credit. host: we have had very on the independent line. calling from new mexico. caller: i find this to be extremely complicated, just like your answer to that particular persons question. it is also complicated. the democratic and republican plan. personally, i do not like the health-care system at all and want to choose the way i want it. i would not go to the emergency

room because the cost is so high. i voted for obama because he said he did not want to mandate the system and now it seems the republicans and democrats want to go into a mandated system. first of all, i feel like the health-care system itself is broken, not the insurance for it. guest: well, there is a lot about what you say, no doubt. some of the things that you say are complicated are also controversial, and you mention them all. what you said at the end, the health care system is broken, not health insurance -- a lot of the thing that the legislation does that does not get much attention because it is not so controversial is meant to help the health-care system. for instance, reimbursement of

doctors under medicare based on quality, rather than quantity. every time he sees you, he gets paid. this is an effort toward a six system, as opposed to a health system. we want the business on preventive medicine, reimbursing doctors based on quality instead of quantity -- let's say pay for performance. we do not pay attention to the five malady that eat up 75% of the health care dollars. for instance, diabetes. we want coordinated care systems to monitor them. we have had several people testified from mayo, hospitals

in pennsylvania, organizations that do coordinated care. we have a group in cedar rapids, iowa that does that. you've enhanced coverage can save money. these all all efforts to do what you say, to change a health care system that is broken, not the health insurance business. although we are going to make some changes in insurance, as i said before. host: you have made some predictions about a scaled-back version of the health care bill. what would that look like, and would initiate from your committee? guest: the document senator baucus put out would not fall into the category. it is about $900 billion. i was hoping for something in that $700 billion range would

work. we are going to talk about these things this afternoon, so i do not draw any lines in the sand. the reason i came out with something around $700 billion, it seemed that we have offset that were fairly easy to arrive. we do not want to add to the deficit. another thing is, i think i have heard some of my colleagues responding to democracy at work, these town hall meetings. i had a 17 of them in my state, 12 in just the last week. for instance, i get a message from those meetings, the deliberate, slowdown. how can you spend $1 trillion when you have all of this deficit?

people do not realize that a lot of that money is saving money within health care through some of these reforms we are talking about. this is not $1 trillion in new money, but that is not the way that it comes out in the press. so everyone thinks it is trillions upon trillions. where rent my goal and senator baucus'goal is not to add to the deficit. host: next phone call from jonathan. co ahead. caller: thank god for c-span. how long have you been a member of the congress? guest: this is my fifth term. caller: so 30 years, correct? and when was the last time you had to decide whether you were

going to buy food or health care for your children? your salary is about eight times with the average american banks. to be honest, you live in a bubble and does not realize what the average american goes through. guest: you asked me in the last time. 1961 through 1970 when i was a member of the international association of machinists. i was a furnace maker in iowa and i spent 10 years putting screw holes in furness registers. in that time i have to worry about whether i was going to buy food or other things. that was two jobs that i had at that time. host: did you struggle with health care, insurance at that time? guest: i was like a lot of early 20, 30-year old people.

i never thought i was going to get sick and i did not need insurance. he'd been no my company had a plan for us to join, i think i was not covered for about seven years out of the 10 years that i was there. if you are working where they have health insurance, and you or 20, 30 years old, and you never think you are going to get sick, maybe that is true. but if you have the chance to get injured, you should do so. about 30 million people out of the 50 million who do not have insurance fall into that category. host: we have david on the democrats' line. georgia. caller: senator grassley, when are you republicans going to care as much for the citizens as you do for big business?

insurance companies -- many people are going broke that have insurance. 700,000 bankruptcy's a year are from people who have insurance. the insurance companies will not pay. i have a little sister who is in debt $27,000 and as united healthcare. guest: those are all good questions. first of all, i would advise anyone in the state of iowa that as having trouble paying two things. one, congressional offices do not have control over private insurance companies but if you could get your congressman to write a little for you, if you are entitled to something from your company, and you are not getting it, you ought to try that. we also have to the insurance commissioners in the state that

are supposed to be there for people who are not being delivered the promises of insurance, whether it is life insurance, casualty insurance, or health insurance. the most difficult thing to answer is the political question you brought up. when a republican going to be concerned about this? i am a republican, what do you think i am doing working with senator baucus to come up with a bipartisan plan to solve all of these problems? we have discussed all of these problems with other colors so i will not go into them. as i said on cnn this morning, if they would report on things, bipartisan and partisan plans, there are republican plans. since they are in the minority, four plans from republican members are not getting any publicity. cnn promised me they would start

talking about them. i was on there this morning, so i know i can say that. john roberts told me so. there is another bipartisan plan that is very thorough and thought out. where you get the impression, where you are from, that congressional members are not concerned about helping people who are not injured, i do not know where you are coming from. there are plenty of plans available. somehow, the press, being bent toward the liberal side, only wants to give attention to the democrats' plans. that is why i@@@@@@@@ hn%ãah ã#

death. doesn't that put it in the national defense arena? thank you. guest: this came from a town hall meeting. people would say, there is one thing the federal government has to do because only the government can do it, national defence. because no other level of government can do it, and it is a constitutional responsibility of the government. some of the same people brought up, we're in the constitution

does it say that the government should be dealing in health care? so there is a real difference of opinion of their, to the person from virginia, about whether or not the federal government should be doing this. host: steve on the republican line from maryland. caller: senator grassley. i have been involved with medicare as an insurance broker for over three years. years ago the federal government had unified all of the medicare supplements, so plan a is planned a, wherever you purchased it. why can't we leave the public option out and allow congress to mandate several plans that all insurance companies throughout the country must carry.

then by allowing to purchase across state lines will simply lower the cost. the reason is, if everyone can purchase, let's say, plan b of a program designed by congress and the insurance companies, and all the benefits are equal, the only thing the people will have to look at is the cost of the policy. guest: these are very good digestion that you gave to us. the only one that is controversial to do with, and i support when you say about telling across state lines, but there is a partisan difference on that. on the other things that you mentioned, there is not a partisan difference. the extent to which we set up exchanges, consumer-friendly exchanges, where every plan is

on the exchange, so people can exchange plans would what costs -- we are less-restrictive than you suggested what we did on medicare 20 years ago. we do have four different options but each one is not restricted entirely by the government what can be in it. we do not want to be that restrictive, as we were and supplemental insurance. within these four values, different plans have different approaches to meet the needs of different consumers in america. we have 177 people -- million people in america who have insurance through the private sector.

those 177 million people have 177 million different needs, so we do not want to be too strict. but actuarial value need to be met at four levels. host: next phone call from new jersey, democratic line. caller: i have a couple of questions. a minute ago you said it was 1971 the last time you have to worry about providing food for your family. callerguest: let me explain whyd that. prior to that i was making $50. then i was elected to congress and i doubled my income. caller: cerf, since that time, health insurance premiums have gone up about 400%.

the manufacturing base had been decimated since that time. the world has changed since then. while it is relevant to you, it is not relevant to most americans traveling today. secondly, i have seen this in your town hall meetings. you continue to castigate canada and other countries with single payer. well, canada is number six in life expectancy. japan, where i live for six years, as the second best left fantasy. -- has the second-best life expectancy. they are also driving down costs. guest: well, go to england, where people who do not live as long if they have cancer. canada, where you have to wait three months to have an mri. why do so many people come

across the border to get an mri? why do you have to wait in line to have hip and knee replacement? government-run plant have certain amounts of dollars they will spend on health care. when that does not go far enough, they will raise it. what we are trying to do here for the 50 million people who do not have health insurance is to give them a choice, by putting them in private insurance plans. that is why we do not want a public option. every expert says tens of millions of people -- the lowest level i have seen is 83, the highest, 120 -- will be pushed out of their health care plan into a government plan. when you do that, sooner or

later everyone premiums will go up, people will opt-out, and then you will have what the congressman from illinois said, to a group wanted canadian-style single payer -- we need a public option first because the american people will not go from here to but they have in canada immediately. there needs to be an interim. i do not think the government

.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> this is dangerous. >> did over there. -- get over there. [laughter] >> we will sit over there. [inaudible] [unintelligible] >> here we go. this is the official --

here we go. this is great, here. [unintelligible] >> [unintelligible] >> that is good. alright. here you go. that is great. >> smile, mom. nice smile. good. >> you need to scoot that way a

little more. little more. you guys [inaudible] >> just get used to that.

>> i thought -- great. ok, great. >> look right here, and smile. ok. [laughter] >> your brother? >> my brother. >> we are going to do this. that is the lawyer approach. [laughter] >> ok, ok. alright. >> great, down here.

i don't want to hide you, justice. maybe you can step forward a bit more. >> i just love [unintelligible] [laughter] >> [unintelligible] >> you have to just stand and watch/ on the side? -- stand and watch on the side? -- stand and watch on the side?

my brother? >> tracy, you will be here. [inaudible]

>> guestyou are trying very har. >> the curse of being tall is being in back. >> perfect, right here. get it right here. there we go. ok. it is good. a couple more. >> i think we will do brother and sister. >> right here? [laughter] [unintelligible] >> the same picture -- it is from 10 years ago. >> we can always take the photo.

alright. [unintelligible] >> look right here. >> i have a few -- >> we will get tracy in this. >> thank you. >> back and forth. don't tell me your shoes hurt. >> you are in the middle. >> here we go. great. >> you will be the end.

>> you are in the middle here, you are upstairs. >> a couple more. great. >> your mother and your brother, together. [unintelligible] >> for five years. >> you must have a million, two million? >> i am learning. i am a bad -- >> you can step forward a little bit. good, ok. look right here. what a shot. good, great.

>> you guys have done great. there is no need -- >> i don't know where i go next. >> i think we are done. >> when we were here last time, you talked about a cd. i can get you anything. >> that will never happen. [laughter] >> you don't understand. i have to reach this. >> you get the picture, don't you? >> [speaking spanis[unintelligi]

>> they won't be in the room. >> we will take you downstairs. [unintelligible] [applause] [no audio]

[inaudible]

>> microphone, microphone. microphone, bring it back. [inaudible] [unintelligible] [speaking spanish] [inaudible] >> we are over here.

>> tell me when you cut him off. >> never enough. >> here they come. [inaudible] >> right here. right over here.

there we go. right over here. >> they are taking inventory. >> that is right. [laughter] >> that's a photoshop. make it -- [laughter] >> very funny. [laughter] >> alright. >> bye guys. >> bye-bye.

[inaudible]

>> the supreme court has a rare special hearing today, listening to a campaign finance case. this is the first appearance of sonia sotomayor. here is clarence thomas on adding a new justice. >> you are bringing in a family member. and it changes the family. it is different today than what it was when i first got here. i have to admit, you grow fond of the court that you spend a long time on. there was chief justice rehnquist and o'connor, and you get comfortable and then it changes. now it is changing again.

so, the institution of the 9 is different. your reaction is different. people learn, the chemistry is different. >> hear from others during supreme court week starting october 4. >> the supreme court hears oral argument in citizens united vs. federal electrions commission, if laws banning corporations from supporting candidates should be overturned. this is on c-span 3, c-span.org and c-span radio. >> in a few moments, cdc

briefing on the h1n1 swine flu and availability of vaccines, then gov. mark sanford talks about his political future. then harry reid and nancy pelosi on health care. they met with obama at the white house. >> on "washington journal" we will talk about health care with pete du pont, richard kirsch, and michael scherer, then a look at mark sanford with keven

cohen. this is live each day at 7:00am eastern. >> president obama speaks about health care at 8:00 to a joint session of congress. our coverage begins on c-span radio. we will take your calls after the speech and republican response. next, the center for disease control briefing on the h1n1 flu. this is over half an hour. >> we will have more on the anti-viral medicines, this is on the website and www.f lu.gov. summer. it is starting to cause increased dice in the fall. we are seeing increases in the

southeastern states in particular. those are states that began school a bit earlier than other parts of the country. and it is not really that surprising we are seeing this uptick in cases in several southeastern states. in particular, we have widespread disease in georgia, alabama, mississippi, florida. among the southeastern states. we are aware of 24 schools that dismiss students on friday because of influenza and more than 20 -- about 25s that were dismissed because of this flu. so it is still around. it is causing increased disease and it is time to pay attention. we do expect there to be a lot of various yeah built with influenza this fall. we have a few states affected now and we need to wait and see what happens elsewhere but there's a lot each of us can do to prepare and be ready when the influenza appears in our -- our own communities. we saw a lot of variability last

spring. we do know that the virus is unchanged from when we saw in the spring and what circulated in the southern hemisphere and here's good news because it means the vaccines we are working on right now should be very good matches with the h1n1 virus circulating. so that's good news. there hasn't been major change in the virus, 2009 h1n1 virus. we are changing some of the ways that states report to us influenza. we will be asking states now to report hospitalization information and deaths to us. those reports will be available week we will start the flu season again. you will see the spring and summer data on the website but going forward we are looking onward. i want to talk briefly about any viral guidance. it is important to remember that

any viral medicines are a critical cart of our tool kit in countering influenza, 2009 h1n1 influenza virus, and seasonal flu strains. important for to you know most peel won't know what type of flu they have because test sing not r new anti-viral guidance wers. really addresses the clinical symptoms of influenza-like illness and suspect influenza without having to differentiate with exactly which strain a person has. a key point of the anti-viral guidance is hospitalized patients who are suspected to have influenza need prompt treatment with anti-viral medicines and we think that can be a very important way to reduce the severity of illness and help those patients out. we don't want people to wait -- providing to wait until the test results are available but it is important to start the anti-virals in hospital patients when you expect influenza. treatment is also generally

recommended for people with chronic conditions that increase their chances of having a severe time with influenza. very young and very old, people with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women in general ought to be treated with anti-virals when they have an influenza-like illness. the guidance also provides an option for a watchful waiting approach to preventative use of anti-viral medicine when high-risk people have been in contact, close contact, with someone with influenza instead of just definitely starting anti-viral medicines give providers an option to do what we call watchful waiting. and wait and see whether fever develops and when fever develops or respiratory symptoms develop to begin the anti-virals then. in guide nance general, for people with influenza-like illness at risk for complications we strongly recommend prompt treatment. and so the guidance goes through

many steps clinicses and patients can take to reduce the time between when influenza illness begins and when anti viral medicines are taken. we think that that -- that window is very important and trying to keep it short is going to be helpful. so we want patients to know the warning signs of influenza where symptoms -- severe presentation is occur, difficulty breathing. in a child, bluish color of the skin. difficulty taking -- feeding. vomiting just doesn't stop. or difficulty waking in the child. those are some of the warning signs influenza-like illnesses are severe and treatment is necessary promptly. a very important feature of our guidance is clinical judgment is still important. this isn't something where we can take clinical judgment out of the equation. every patient is different. we want clinicians to have that opportunity to customize care

for each patient. and so whether a person is able to be season in the doctor's office or needs to call for assistance we want people to know that clinical judgment is still important. a key point from our guid is that most children, adolescents and adults who have influenza-like illness do not need anti-viral medicine. in fact, if all of those people take anti viral medicine things may actually get worse. we have seen anti-viral resistance already with the 2009 h1n1 strain. and we are optimistic that this won't take off but so far, a critical feature is to use these anti viral carefully so that they can have benefit and not lead to problems. so the majority of ad lessents and adults and most children won't need anti-viral development in the influenza and can be cared for with mom's chicken soup at home, rest, and

lots of fluids. people who have complications like pregnancy, asthma, chronic heart disease, chronic lung disease, the very old and very young if they develop influenza-like illness, it is important they consult with the health care provider because the medicines may be very important for them. just to wrap up, it is really important to recognize that anti-virals are one important part of our arsenal against influenza but there are other things that can also help. we constantly need to keep an eye on the situation, con to understand the patterns of anti-viral resistance and patterns of influenza strains circulating. we want to use the anti-virals we have as effectively as possible so they will help with mitigating the challenges of influenza this year. our goal is really to strike a balance in thousand they are used to benefit people and not to lead to resistance or

shortages. we can't control exactly what happens withinfluenza. we wish we could predict and we with your we could control the course of this outbreak but it is important to say that there is a lot we are doing, that we are working with schools and with communities, with public health officials to mitigate the challenges of influenza and be as ready as possible. vaccines are being developed. it can be one way we prevent seasonal flu strains and suffering. but while we are waiting for the h1n1 vaccine to be available those other steps of prevention are still important. hand washing and staying home when you are sick, covering your cough, or cold. and making sure that you don't spread the infection that you have. so i think at this point i would like to answer questions that may be available about the anti-viral guidance or general situation so we can start in the room here.

>> i had a couple of questions. we are getting reports that parents are having a very difficult time finding anti-viral medications at their local pharmacy. do you anticipate that will be an issue? also, you said several times if you are in the high-risk group, use these drugs promptly. can you reiterate why it is necessary in the first 48 hours to get the best benefit from these drugs? >> right. for people that do need anti-viral medicines, timing is important. being -- beginning treatment within the first 48 hours of symptoms can really help with the outcome. people can do better with the influenza illness. the issue availability of the anti-viral is very important. we are monitoring this at a national level and working with the commercial sector to understand the supply chains and working with the public health community to use the resources we have, anti-viral strategic national stockpile in the states, stockpiles of anti-virals to address the spot shortages.

we think the supply of anti-virals in the system is adequate for any viral used for treatment. it is very important that people know most children, ad lessents and adult was influenza-like illness don't need the medicine. it is people with risk conditions where the illness may get worse or people with severe presentations like those hospitalized or who have signs of lower respiratory infection or other severe warning signs that need anti-virals. we think by working together with the private and public sector we can have a good supply available where you need and it we want the public to know most people won't need anti-viral medicines goat through the influenza this year. let's take a question from the phones. >> star one if you would like to ask a question from the phone. the first question is from helen. please state your affiliation. >> caller: hi. i'm with the canadian press. thank you for taking my

question. if i could ask a couple. first would be -- i'm i am not clear what is know about this and what is different about the guidance that you have issued previously? >> there are some things that are not new. the people that need anti-viral medication are the same that we recommended in may, with the underlying conditions and the presentations, and the drugs that we are recommending are not new drugs. this is the first-line treatment and that is what we issued in the month of may. they are talking about the importance of treatment for those that are recommended to receive medication. and they go into more detail about how to shorten this time, not just raising the position in the office but also there is a

discussion of the warning signs are -- what the warning signs are, and the advice about this that -- how to set up your office to make certain that telephone access is available to the people who really deserve to get the medicine quickly. this may involve considering providing prescriptions to people with the underlying conditions that leave them open to a worse time, so they may not be able to call you and talk things over. they'll be able to fill this prescription. ent. the other big change is that in our may guidance we talked about circumstances where preventative use of anti-virals may be appropriate. this was generally when a person who had a risk factor to suggesting a harder time with influenza, close contact with someone with the virus, we recommended it be considered. in the new guidance we add an option that in those same

circumstances instead of preventative use of anti-virals, providers might want to consider watchful waiting. where they don't necessarily begin preventative anti-virals but instead wait to see whether on fever develops or respiratory symptoms occur because most of those people expose reasonable doubt not going to get influenza. so the watchful waiting was a new addition to. the third point i want to stress is new guidance takes advantage of the whole experience of the spring, whole experience of the southern hemisphere and the circulation of influenza viruses both the 2009 h1n1 and seasonal ones and we were able to make general recommendations for influenza not specific to h1n1 but the influenza that might be any different type and really say that these medicines are the first line regardless. as you know, helen, we have had a lot of h1n1 seasonal strains the past year that we are re --

resistant. we are not seeing those strains in the southern hemisphere here. so that fear of the resistance that influences our guide answer last year we didn't have to incorporate into the new guidance. those are p principle updates. did you have a followup question? >> i did. relates to tissue you raised a few minutes ago to maybe doing some advanced work. could you flush that out a bit? are you talt people -- pregnant women, for instance, people with having essentially a script in waiting and all they have to do is phone the doctor and say look, i have these symptoms the doctor says yeah. it is time to start -- get a drug and that's activated in some way? >> yes, that's right. one of the exam -- one example where a prompter of anti-viral medicines might be possible. you know, empeople with chronic conditions and certainly pregnant women see their health care provider frequently and so we think some of those regular appointments it is reasonable to have a conversation about what

to do if flu symptoms occur and that many providers may want to discuss with their patients the idea of providing a prescription that upon a phone consultation mitt be filled. this is going to vary by practice and individual patient and by state because there are different laws about prescriptions and how they work in different states. we think it is important for the risk groups -- patients to be counselled about the signs and symptoms to be watching for and providers to think through how they can really reach their patients quickly during a busy season in the months ahead. so certainly for pregnant women and people with asthma and for severe pulmonary disies and heart disease, liver disease, neurologic disease, we were hearing about last week with the tragic pediatric death, in these patient populations, a conversation between the provider and caregiver or patient will be very helpful in sort of setting the stage important what to expect going forward. there are lots of ways that things will vary by practice and by state and by patient

population. but we do feel that prompt treatment is important and that the doctors' office may get relatively busy and may be reasonable in some circumstances for a phone conversation to be sufficient for prescription to be filled. next question from the phone? >> the next question is from betsy. please state your affiliation. >> caller: "wall street journal." thanks. i had a question about the general situation. i wondered if you could talk about how much of an increase we are seeing in cases compared to your expectations or scenarios you may have laid out. we have seen -- all seen lots of reports of cases, particularly on college campuses, washington state university has over 2,000 cases of flu-like symptoms. i wondered if in looking at the scenario you laid out and expectations you, you know, predictions you may have made, over the summer, is this

fulfilling any worst-case scenarios or any fears you may have about having widespread illness or peak of infection before the vaccine is ready as the test report suggested could happen? thanks. >> thank you, betsy. the observations that we are making about disease occurrence are very consistent with what we were expecting. based on what we learned from the spring, based on the southern hemisphere experience and based on what we know about influenza we did expect that increased influenza would start to be evident earlier than usual and it might be most evident in school-aged or young adult populations because that's where we really saw a lot of disease in the spring and southern hemisphere. so these reports about outbreaks in colleges and reports about the increases in some of the southeastern states are quite consistent with what we were expecting. the good news is that the spectrum of illness doesn't seem to have changed, this range where most people have illness

that gets better with home care for a few days. some people need to be hospitalized and tragically some people die. but what i can say is that while this is within the range of what we are expecting we really don't know what the trajectory will be. we know that some colleges have already seen yup particulars but the majority of colleges haven't. some states are seeing an increase but it is not at a level we would think of as peak at all. and that we have a big country. there are many communities that have not seen that much flu yet this year. our principle prediction now is that it is going to be a busy and long season and we need to be prepared for the next several months and also the spring. the good news is that we have been working hard with across government and private sector to ready the schools and universities and businesses and child care centers and so forth to have time for planning. some of the schools and universities that have had these outbreaks appear to have been well prepared to be able to address the challenges they have

and we really congratulate them for that. next question from the phone. >> next question is from mayor yam. please state your affiliation. >> caller: hi. medical news. thank you for taking my questions. i have two. number one, about the cases that we have. you mentioned the 225,000 reported so far. betsy mentioned 2,000 in washington state. are these actually all h1n1 cases? are these more people showing up because they are feeling ill and there's just a higher uptick of people going to healthcenters? >> thanks. you know, in a typical year, we don't do test with everyone with influenza-like illness. we don't expect the vast majority of people with influenza-like illness to have a diagnostic test that tells them whether it is flu or not and if it is flu, whether it is h1n1.

the important to say that the intervention, the anti-viral medicines for the high-risk people or staying home and staying away from others with a little bit of tlc and fluids will be important whatever type of influenza it is. and so that the testing is not so important right now. i don't know what number of the college students that have been reported to have influenza in the past couple of weeks clearly have the 2009 h1n1 virus. but what i can tell is we are doing surveillance now, syst systematically test something people that have the illness or who are hospitalized. virtually all the influenza circulating now in the united states is the 2009 h1n1 strain. now that is not going to persist for the whole fall and spring. that's the case right now. it is something that we will be monitoring. but right now if a person has influenza-like imnesses the

chances are good the 2009 houston vistrain of the virus. next question from the phone. okay. let's do next question from the room. >> the next question is from mike the state your affiliation. >> caller: from the associated press. thank you for taking the question. actually, two. first, doctor, you said earlier, let's see, 24 schools dismissed students on friday, 25,000 students. were those -- were you talking about colleges or other types of schools and what states are they in? then i have a second question. >> right. the -- the -- 25,000 students is from the schools, not universities or colleges but schools. the department of education is working with cdc on surveillance for schools and for school dismissals. so that's the source of that data.

the states that -- i think -- i may not actually have with me -- i do. okay. the states where school students had been dismissed include georgia and indiana rs and missouri and tennessee. i think, though, these may not be complete. this is the information available as of friday. and really, this is just -- situational awareness that helps us put in perspective the impact the virus is having right now. as we have been saying we don't expect school dismissals to be the main way that we handle influenza. there are many other things that can be done for influenza illness in the school population. it is one marker for us that local groups are having challenges with the virus and these are steps they are taking. recall also that we had a lot more school students dismissed in the spring than numbers today. the university data that one of the reporters mentioned is through the american college health association which is set up a nice surveillance system of a number of universities and colleges and providing that information to the media and we

are really delighted that they are doing that. next question from the room, i think. >> fox 5. can i wait? >> absolutely. see if there is another question from the phone next. okay. >> next question from the phones is from alice parks. please state your affiliation. >> caller: hi. "time" magazine. i wanted to pick up on something, doctor, you mentioned which was the fact that right now the most common form of influenza is the houston. anti-virals are really -- if we mo the anti-virals are -- seasonal influenza, sorry, is now resist sis tent to tamiflu, if important people that are hospitalized or showing these severe symptoms, would those people be recommended to get some kind of testing? or how would you know that they

have as the season goes on, that, you know, you won't be seeing more of that seasonal resistant flu versus the novelty houston? >> we do recommend testing for hospitalized patients but recommend treatment before the testing results are available. because early treatment is important. important to say that many seasonal influenza viruses are susceptible to tamiflu. it is just the seasonal houston viruses that were circulating the past few yearses that developed the tamiflu resistance. between vice president been seeing the seasonal h1n1 viruses. we don't know if they will be during the fall and winter. a key message for clinicians now is we believe that the tamiflu or relen zsa will be great first-line treatment. we do think diagnostic testing for hospitalized patients is helpful and we recommend that. but we think that for the

seasonal bs -- sorry. 2s and the 2009 h1n1 tamiflu and rel relenza would be fine. >> i remember. if you think that you have the flu this summer, if you are certain you have the flu this spring or summer, do you have any cross-protection? are you okay going into the do you need the vaccination when this becomes available? >> this is a common question that we have and this is very important, and i wished i had a better answer. if you are in the recommended group, you still need this going forward, and if you in the recommended group you need the seasonal flu vaccination. most of the illness that is circulating does not give a diagnostic test. i do not know exactly what this

was. we had a lot of attention, they saw a lot of other respiratory viruses, we did not know if this was actually influenza. we saw that this was the only influenza virus, but this is true that this is not the only respiratory virus that is circulating. the major thing for people is that we do think that you will meet the vaccination if you why in one of these groups, and to remind it that we are recommending this vaccination when this becomes available for the health care workers, and the emergency medical service personnel and pregnant women, parents and other close contacts of people under six months of age, and all who are under six months and 24 years of age. 64 who have chronic medical conditions that increase the risk of a bad outcome from

influenza. that's a lot of people and we know that many people did have a respiratory illness this summer but we still have those -- think those people should go ahead and seek the influenza vaccine. >> do you have any evidence they have some cross-protection or maybe if they get sick in geneva worse time of it? less severe time of it. >> we don't have information about that right now. so i think that it is -- it is a big challenge. but we think that the vast majority of the country has not yet had h1n1 disease and the vast majority of people are at risk for seasonal influenza viruses as well. our vaccination recommendations are based on those principles. >> next question from david brown. please state your affiliation. >> caller: yes. i'm with "the washington post." thanks for doing this. ing doctor, could you say a little something about where current shortages of the

anti-virals are? and how the -- what cdc is going to do should they develop, given the importance of immediate treatment, how you are going to get anti-virals to a region? last spring, you know, in the washington area, it was completely sold out. some pharmacy has 100 prescriptions waiting to be filled. the disease hadn't spread very much. >> our strategy for dealing with an thank you viral supply issues and spot shortages issues has two prongs. one about demand and one is about supply. the demand side of the story is to really promote appropriate use of anti-virals. they can be lifesaving for treatment of people hospitalized or people who had underlying conditions that increased the risk of a bad complication from flu. and really are not necessary in the vast majority of children, ad lessents and adults, that

have the influenza illness and don't have a bad presentation or one of the risk conditions. addressing supply with both the commercial sector and to understand where products are and how quickly they can be restocked in pharmacies and public sector with the strategic national stockpile asset to get anti-viral medicine to where they are needed. so in many of the health departments, we are learning the lessons from the springs, best practices some of the states have in making sure their anti-viral stockpiles were out there in their farm sighs, grocery stores, or accessible to local health departments so that when there weren't assets in the commercial sector, the public sector assets were acceptable. i think that this is a question both supply and demand and a critical issue is to just remind people that the vast majority ofs that have an influenza-like illness don't need the anti-viral medicine. next question from the phone. >> shannon.

please state your affiliation. >> caller: hi. i'm with bloomberg news. i have two questions. one was why is it that you are seeing ain't increase in the south? i know you said some schools go back earlier there than elsewhere. i wonder if there's anything else having to do with climate that may also explain that. may other question was about the anti-resistance and if you could explain more of where you are seeing that. and you know, number of cases or areas that you have seen that in. >> right. the reason for the early increase in disease in the southeastern united states isn't known. we have two possibilities. one possibility that we are exploring is that schools reopened a bit earlier in southern states than they did in the northern part of the country. and perhaps that gave more of a chance for things to occur in earlier disease. another possibility is that the southeastern states were not that heavily hit in the spring and so they may just be getting

their spring wave right now as opposed to new york city or chicago or seattle that saw a o disleast spring. it could be either of those or both of those or something else. your other question was about anti-viral medicines like trying to remember. could you remind me -- >> yeah. you said you saw -- >> resistance, right. so far there has been a handful of anti-viral resistance around the world really caused by the 2009 h1n1 strain. the vast majority of the resy tent occurrences have been in people that were on anti-virals at the time. for preventative reasons. and so far this hasn't been widespread and we continue to look and it is important for people to know it might become widespread. one of the reasons we are look sing that we have that fear. but so far it is just a handful. i don't have data on the specific resistance today. maybe we will have that for a future call.

i think i have time for two more questions, if there are any left on the phone. >> the neck question from the phone is from diane. please state your affiliation. >> caller: i'm with "paris" magazine. you pointed out that most children don't need anti-viral treatment and will do fine at home. i'm wondering if you could give some more specific guidance about when parents should call the pediatrician if their child has symptoms very flu-like, do they only need to call if their child falls into a risk category or has one of the symptoms of a more severe infection? otherwise should they just treat their child at home on their own or is it worth a call to check in with the pediatrician? >> you know, every family is different. and each provider may have a different preference. let me tell you warning signs parents need to know about so that they can be on the alert with their children and their

children's health. warning signs in children include fast breathing or trouble breeding, bluish skin color. not drinking enough fluids. and not waking up or not interacting in their normal way. being so irritable that the child doesn't want to be held. and flu-like symptoms getting better and then getting worse. that can be a warning sign for a second infection on top of the flu. those are key warning signs that parents should be aware of. we also think that the youngest children, children under 2, are at risk for influenza complications and it may be harder to spot those warning signs in the youngest kids and so consulting with a provider in the youngest kids is important. children over 5 do pretty well with influenza-like illness. children 2 to 5 are in between. we think that clinical judgment is still important and parental judgment is important. those warning signs are clues that parents should be on the

alert and keep an eye out for them. >> one more quick question. if a child had flu-limb symptoms in the spring, a flu test that showed it was influenza a, is that -- a sign that they would not need the h1n1 vaccine? or do they -- should they still go ahead and have it? >> you know, our recommendation at this point is that they go ahead with the influenza vaccine -- h1n1 vaccine this spring. so the -- rapid tests are not perfect either positives or negatives and we do actually recommend that. i think we have time for one last question on the phone. >> next question is from tom. state your affiliation. >> caller: i am with kcbs public radio in san diego. i have a question about something that you touched on -- vaccines. i think you said at the beginning that because h1n1 has been quite stable, the vaccine will be a good match.

can you expand on that a little bit? how sure can you be, can we be, that the vaccine will hit it right between the eyes? >> the influenza viruses that have been tested as recently as a couple of weeks ago are extremely close matches essentially the same as the viruses that were -- used to prepare the vaccine. that doesn't mean a couple of months from now or a couple of weeks from now the virus won't change. that's really one of the frustrating things about influenza. it can change. based on everything we know today, we are expecting a really good match between the h1n1 vaccine and the strains circulating. and that is very good news because the better the match, the higher the efficacy of the vaccine. so thanks, everyone, for participating and we will be back soon. thank you for participating and we will be back soon. thank you.

>> in a few moments, mark sanford takes questions from constituents. he was on a radio program yesterday afternoon. then harry reid and nancy pelosi will talk about the debate on health care. they met with president obama at the white house. "washington journal" is live with the future of gov. sanford. and there will be bills that are considered noncontroversial in the house. >> obama will speak to a joint session of congress about health care. our coverage begins at 7:30 on c-span, c-span.org and c-span

radio. we will take your phone calls after his speech in the republican response. >> as the debate continues, the health care hub is a major resource. follow the latest and watched the theevents including town -- watch the latest events including town hall videos. and there is more at c-span.org /health care. mark sanford was taking phone calls on the economy and his political future. some have been calling to him -- for him to resign after he admitted to an extramarital affair. we are glad to have you

listening all over the palmetto state. the governor is in the studio with us. if you have a question, you can reach us [unintelligible] would look forward to taking as many phone calls as we can over the course of the hour. and we will talk as much as we can with the governor. we appreciate you coming here, and it is good to have you back in the studio again. we will get to the phone calls as i promised, and we will have a chance to talk with them as much as possible. but the piling on is continuing, today they are calling for the resignation and do you think that this is his way of saying, i have the numbers for impeachment son now i will say this? what is the story? >> you cannot judge the intention of another person. he will do what he will do and i have to say that there was

something very rational, but this work the way through, because we have a group that will be looking at this and let's let them do what they think or do not think, and then we will change this accordingly. this is premature because as i have said repeatedly, let's throw the obvious that is out there, i had a moral failure. we spoke about this. they will talk on about this and then they will talk more about this. i will apologize again and again. and you get to the time were you can go back, and you can reprimand and what not, acknowledging on this front, but it is not where we fall down in our lives. the question is how will we get back up. the question is, where do we go from here? they were talking today about

how we have a real opportunity. you are doing this and we are doing that and we cannot have the victory. we can look at this issue and see if we are going to make changes, moving away from the model that shows how we operate as a government, can we make the changes as we go to economic development? i think that this is very important. if you want to get into the other things, i cannot apologize more than i already have, and if you go to the bottom line of where this administration has been on the business class and the airplanes, we have a very good record. i would love to explore that with you during the hour. this is a strong record in watching out for the taxpayer interest. >> we are speaking