and mission support. we reviewed at the conference spending practices and evaluated its policies, oversight, and reporting of related expenditures. specifically we assessed the total spent for facilitating conferences summer retreats, and other offsite events for 2005- 2007. for each component, we further analyzed budgets, funds spent, number, location, and employee attendance at these conferences. from that analysis, we selected five components, fema, science and technology, coast guard, border patrol. we analyzed 11 conferences is associated with those components to obtain a perspective on individual conference related activities. the 11 conference is included

the most expensive with region outside of the united states. we examined a fiscal year to thousand nine attendance -- fiscal year 2009 conference attended in hawaii. the department report of the spend $110 million on conference related activities. when compared to the annual budget of dhs, this was less than 1% of available funds each year. however, this represents millions of dollars were mannesmann vulnerabilities exists and outcomes needs -- are neither evaluated more measured. prior to october 2008 there were no formal dhs tanning policies and it was unclear who was responsible for developing and communicating these policies. although the department current planning document is supposed to

be a part in my policy it defers to components regarding their existing guidance. it is unclear for contract personnel. as a result, significant challenges show a problem with federal regulation. dhs does not have a department wide definition of what constitutes a conference. the distinction between conference, training, and a routine meeting can affect the requirements for an event, how it is funded, as well as who can attend. given the importance of conference is to help achieve and further the dhs mission, they should adopt and years of one department wide definition. the same should apply to training and meetings. having consistent terminology of and guidance would reduce confusion, improve recordkeeping, recording, and

reduce expenditures. dhs and its components maintain information related to conferences they sponsor in many different offices. conference planning data might reside in the program offices, the documentation supports and determine facilities might be maintained in the contract in. financial transaction data might be handled by counting. staff expenses could be tracked in human resources. travel costs and related documents might be handled within travel systems. there is no essential points within the dhs or the five components responsible for maintaining all documents or reporting on all cost elements related to conference spending. therefore, central coordination for tracking and reporting these expenditures should be established to minimize these differences. this will provide consistency of

policy and guidance, standardized definitions of conference related activities, consolidate costs, and report record -- and reconciliation within components. it the ages officials were unable to produce information on spending therefore direct reporting from the program offices and a review documentation must necessary. during a two during 2005-2007, they recall two components requesting information on conferences attended. amounts reported by the components to the c.f.o. were different than the amounts we obtained directly from the components for the same conferences. the discrepancies exist in the attendance counts. we reviewed the c.f.o.'s data and information we've directly

from the data from these 11 conferences. discourages existed in attendance totals and we were unable to validate the accuracy. -- discrepancies existed. dhs cannot effectively provide oversight and monitor policy compliance. we observe that the dhs components were planning and sponsoring conferences without any consistent approval or tracking processes. when combined with inconsistent crossed and numbers, they need to develop better management control to make sure that, bridges are funded and attended for only mission critical purposes and that costs are minimized the greatest extent possible. in assessing tracking and monitoring of conferences, dhs must use methods and systems to insure accountability and minimize costs across the department.

they have no efficient means of locating documents or information systems that could be queried to obtain details -- about conferences. >> thank you for having me here this morning. we encourage employee for dissipation. such events are an excellent means to communicate ideas and knowledge cree and there's a need to ensure attendance at these meetings is mission critical as is described. we appreciate the inspector general policy recommendations in conference spending and oversight and concur with the majority of the findings. however, in reviewing the data

the report is based on on-site activities for fiscal years 2005-2007. these findings validate the path we are on to ensure that dhs travel policies reflect a best practices and uniformly instituted throughout the department. in october to thousand eight we issued a department wide conference planning policy as part of the trouble handbook within the office of the chief financial officer. it delineates a policy regarding employee travel expenditures and conference planning. the handbook provides official travel policies and guidance to the edges employees throughout the department. the planet policy is based on current regulation and is consistent with federal travel regulations. in the march of 2009, dhs launched the efficiency review to trim costs and streamline operations it to manage resources across the department.

two of these initiatives deal with the subject of this hearing, travel expenses and conference planning including the as of government facilities for conferences. the intent is to ensure dhs operates in the most economical and efficient manner. every effort should be made to conduct meetings, conferences, and training is in the least costly methods to the government. dhs will ensure all travel is essential in carrying out its mission and will make every effort to use conference calls, local area of dense, web based communications to reduce costs. local area events. we want to ensure that compounds adhere to travel policies including making sure that all travel is mission critical and having the appropriate documentation. and also includes requiring these to be held within the

local commuting area of the majority of conference attendees. it requires that conference sites outside of the commuting area may not be selected unless it is critical for mission needs and the appropriate cost-benefit analysis has been done. in selecting conference sites, officials must consider government facilities and most documents use of a government facility is not appropriate. in november 2009, dhs established a conference and the events planning services working group that has never shipped around the department. their task with making sure we leverage our dhs resources both in terms of ensuring we have adequate knowledge and use of government facilities and spend

through strategic sourcing. we have had success in both reducing the cost of travel using web based conferencing and look forward to both refining our policy further and making sure the policies are carried out throughout the department. thank you. >> thank you. as you have heard, we have been called and have about four minutes left. we will suspend the hearing until after the votes and will reconvene 10 minutes after the last vote is held. i want to be respectful of your time and i understand you have a lot of pressures. we will -- we understand you have to leave to the summer later on. if you could stay for the one round of questions we would appreciate that. thank you so much. with that, we stand suspended.

>> the subcommittee will reconvene. i've been like this and that for the record the written testimony received from the national business travel association. hearing no objection it will be entered into the record. i will remind each member that

he or she will have five minutes to question the panel and i will recognize myself for five minutes. starting out with you, ms. duke. when department operations held its annual conference in d.c., instead of holding it at a government then you dhs hosted 650 employees at the mandarin oriental, a four-star luxury hotel. it was $100,000 per day for three days. was the cost comparison done that to justify such a cost? how was that chosen as the venue? what happens? >> in that particular case there was a cost comparison done and were quotes -- and there were quotes for several vendors. one concern is finding a venue for that many people. it is an annual training conference for that group of individuals.

since that conference we have looked that not only the actual cost but the appearance of cost and making sure dhs is the representing itself in a way that we are having even said that those types of establishments. >> in your opening comments you mentioned that you need to use the least costly. you could not have come down a couple of stars on that in terms of tax >> yes. -- in terms of -- >> yes. >> was there any criteria for screening to see how many people should attend? >> there are two types of conferences. one is where we're looking at minimizing the number of attendees agreed that was a training at that. -- that was a training events. they get training on the latest policies both federal and department.

it is important in that particular case for the employees that need the training to attend. >> we will return to this. mr. mann, in dhs is in charge of oversight of conference spending? >> it is so decentralized that individual agencies run their own management shops. we did not identify anyone in dhs that had center responsibility for managing conferences. >> who should have the responsibility given the chart of the department? >> the recommendations were sent to ms. duke's office and that is where the management oversight should be. >> do you agree? is that correct? >> i agree that we should have the oversight.

with the functional integration model, decentralized decisionmaking is appropriate. >> do you think the conference's have helped for the the missions of the agency? was their value added that? did we get the baying for our buck? -- did we get the bang? >> we did not have a good system to measure. they cannot measure the success or value that individuals have gotten for their conference attendance. given the variety of missions within that dhs, the need to exchange information, we do not question necessarily the number of carcasses were the purposes of them. we do believe they do add value to the department.

>> mr. mann, one of the dhs officials told the office of inspector general that there was no reason to try expenditures because there were no restrictions, is that true? are there no restrictions in place? no guidelines? if they do not track spending, how do we know it is even 110 million that was spent and it could have been more. >> you raise an interesting point which is one of the premises of the report. we are not certain. we believe it for these larger general's perspective and from a reasonable method of managing anything, we believe there should be some accountability and a tracking system. there needs to be at least the ability to compare costs to determine whether or not the department is, in fact, getting what it is paying for.

>> thank you. i yield five minutes 3 >> thank you, mr. chairman. -- i yield five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would imagine that when you were examining what happened during the visit 2005-2007 period of time that you must have had some real eye openers. you must have said it to yourself that this cannot be. the same transparency and accountability that we have asked of every agency in homeland security as well as the department itself does not exist in most of the agencies of homeland security. this is a systemic problem within the department. for there not to be any checks

or balances, what we have here is, mr. chairman, i would think we could conclude that there is bureaucracy upon bureaucracy. when there is bureaucracy there is no accountability. it does not matter whether we are talking about december 25th or budget stuff or what happened here. the figures that homeland security gave few about the expenditures of traveling during this time. the figures from mr. mann are quite different? >> that is correct. >> how can you have such discrepancies? we're not talking about a few thousand dollars but a huge gap. this is between what has been

recorded and what you found. briefly, why? >> it is our impression that the decentralization of what might occur in planning a conference, acquisition of facilities could occur or be managed by one portion of an entity. it is so separated that it does not necessarily mean that the costs are unjustified, but they are not consolidated to a point where the final cost and a conference could be assumed with relative assure the. information is scattered. it is not in one place. >> whose responsibility is it for putting these numbers altogether to have at least the assaad of an integrated system? -- to have at least the facade of an integrated system?

>> that is a good question. i am not certain. >> i think you are being frank. many go to the maze of chards, who would you say is responsible? >> within the last year we have identified what is called a component accountable official. there's one official within each component and there is the oversight of my office through the c.f.o. >> they do know what receipts and vouchers are necessary to prove the work product, correct or incorrect? >> that is correct. >> they did not know that before there was no one person assigned to each of these entities. is that correct? who is in charge of booking travel for the department. >> it is decentralized and there is not one central place where travel is booked. >> in other words, if any of those agencies previously could

have reached out to whomever for the procurement officer to try and get quotes? did they have one travel agency? >> for conference planning there is not one travel agency. for individual federal travel there is a mandatory source. >> this reminds me of another scam we came across four years ago, five years ago. remember shirley limousine? remember that? i remember it very well. a person who controlled that organization was a felon. that is not making a bad guy. we cannot figure out how we got the contract.

they are being -- there being such a huge discrepancy in the numbers here, mr. mann, am i using hyperbole to suggest that there might be something crooked going on here in certain instances? something, perhaps, indictable? something criminal? and my to far off on a limb? tell me and i will come back. -- am i too far off on a limb? >> i think they need better documentation. it does not necessarily mean the activities were criminal. >> it is harder to find because the documentation is not there. >> that is correct. >> if i was a criminal, no one accountable makes this a lot easier. >> it would be. >> i would hope -- and thank you for all of the work you do, ms. duke, clean up other people's

messes. i am sorry to hear that you're leaving. if they had any brains they would make you an offer. i am going to far. i hope that people will listen grade i know you are gaveling me. -- >> no, because your time is up 3 >> thank you for your service. -- your time is up. >> thank you for your service. >> i'm going to recognize the ranking member for five minutes. >> thank you. i appreciate it. can i answer my statement into the record? >> so ordered. >> they noted the difficulty they had because it was a manual

process. much of the requested data is several years old. is the department better able to track and produce data for more recent fiscal years? if not, what plans do you have to enhance your tracking process where you leverage the capabilities of task to approve better visibility? >> accountability is better now because we have one central person but it is still a manual system. we are looking at tasks to be part of the solution for automated financial control. additionally, we are moving to a standard classification system. what mr. mann says will not happen where things are accounted for in different ways within different compounds. >> the next question for you, madam secretary. spending related to travel and conferences, you touched on some of the outcomes in your testimony. could you elaborate on the

findings of the initiative and does the conference data provide to the inspector general's office include spending for congressional requested trips? >> know, this was just on conferences and did not include congressional requested trips. when the are doing in addition to the accounting is we are looking at the mission essential number of people that we send, what types of facilities we years, so it is really comprehensive. that is a huge part of conference spending. >> you knew the importance of conferences for staff and for the change of ideas. -- exchange of ideas. i know those conferences can also be valuable to the local economy. how can they determine where to

hold the conference is? >> under the new rule will look at where most of the attendees will be from and look for local sites. we require competition within the sides preferably where most of the attendees are located so we did not have the travel costs. we require these three proposals to fight a low-cost alternative. >> thank you for that information. >> is there a return aniline improve performance? >> currently we have satisfaction surveys but we do not have a systemic way to look at him -- increased productivity. >> won best practices from other federal agencies or departments could this department and led to strengthen its conference oversight? -- what's best practicies?

what's the coast guard has an annual conference based on when coast guard individuals rotate. for 2009, the commanding officer for this particular district who sponsored the conference recognized that there was no rotation among the coast guard officers and decided not to hold the annual conference because it was scheduled. the potentially saved hundred $13,000. -- a potentially saved $113,000. alternative certainly should be looked at. >> i understand your report was completed last november. have you been monitoring the instrumentation of your recommendations since that time? if so, please tell us the progress. >> there were 12 recommendations to the department. we were able to improve when immediately. the department is due to provide

us with its corrective action plan within the next couple of weeks. >> based on your review of the department of homeland security, would you recommend any changes to federal travel regulations that would promote greater efficiency? >> no, i think travel regulations are adequate for their purposes. >> thank you very much. no further questions. i yield back. i recognize the man from texas for five minutes. >> i think you for appearing. -- i thank you. i am sensitive when it comes to issues of this kind. one, they are hardworking employees who do not merit having a broad brush touch them. i would want to understand that this is not so pervasive that

all of the employees should be viewed in the negative light. ms. duke, which you comments of the record will reflect an opinion about this. >> when you look at conferences listed in the inspector general report, the predominance in the summary are clear on why they were needed. they were meeting with small businesses to do those types of things. what we have to do is be better about documenting and make sure we do the necessary events in a cost-effective way including travel costs, hotels, or using government facilities. in looking to the list of conferences, the employees that attended were mission critical and we have to handle the fiduciary side a little more completely and effectively. >> mr. mann, would you care to

comment? >> in cases where males might be provided as a part of a conference we determined there were some instances of where they were still getting per diem. it is our impression that there is nothing criminal, no criminal intent, but a basic unfamiliarity with the rules and regulations as it pertains to what can be doctored on their travel expense documents. .

>> we do have a list of selected conference activity, and as i look at this, i would just like for you to just give some indication as to whether or not these are legitimate conferences. there was a case where 150 employees attended a leadership conference that cost $28,900. was that a legitimate conference? >> this is a conference on st. simons island. you don't have that? let me do this, if i may. having been a trial lawyer, may i approach the witness?

[laughter] >> you may ask your questions, mr. greene. >> may i have this given to the witness? >> yes, that will be fine. >> i may have to interrupt, because i have only a minute and two seconds left. the first bullet, 150 employees, leadership conference -- was that a legitimate conference? >> to be perfectly honest, our scope did not involve determining if the legitimacy of the conference. we took what we were able to get from the department at face value. i know it is a terrible thing to assume that it was legitimate, but it would be my assumption

that it was a legitimate conference. >> i think when we looked through all these conferences, they were legitimate. i know that particular conference, in later years they did by technology rather than holding an in person conference on that particular one. >> matt ask one additional question? -- may i ask one additional question? we have this list. is there any conference on this list that is not a legitimate conference? >> i do not see any on the list that are not legitimate

conferences. we have to be a vision of the number of people we send at and where we have them. i believe they are all mission essential conferences as we describe it. >> ms. duke, the dhs reimburses employees for gala tickets for $8,000. where was that to and from, and what would make a ticket cost $8,000? >> there are cases of business class or first class travel, and that would be an international business class travel ticket that would be in that range. we have tightened up quite a bit our policies and our actual activity on business and first- class travel. >> does that include the luggage these and the lunchbox these and things like that? something that was troubling to me is that people were

reimbursed for free meals. what rate or they reimbursed for free meals? how did they submit a claim for a free meal? they knew the meal was free. was there some mischief here, someone trying to game the system in this respect? >> the issue is that an employee gets a per diem, so much per day. when the have a free meal, they are supposed to deduct that. it is a manual calculation. it looks as if it was not done. we have reinforced trading both of the travelers but also of the approving officials to look for that type of thing to make sure it is done properly. >> so these approving officials

were not consistent throughout the department? >> the supervisor or someone in the chain of command is usually the approving official, for brought the travel and a travel voucher. >> so there has not been consistency? >> correct, in terms of how closely they look at those. obviously there were some approving officials that did not notice that, so they were not looking at them closely enough. >> please tell me this is getting fixed. >> it is. >> i am not certain that all employees are aware of the travel regulations and what they are supposed to deduct. there could be employees they are very knowledgeable about the system and could be veering away to get a few extra dollars. we cannot discount that. i think it is a training issue more than one of individuals trying to capitalize on free meals. >> ms. duke, the news reports

indicate that in 2000, dhs spending on travel was second only to the department of defense. obviously, we all agree that we have need for led to limit travel if the conferences or valuable and that sort of thing -- we have need for legitimate travel. how can we be sure that we are getting the kind of value that we need, that there are not folks gaming the system, that we are not sending them to four- star hotels when to stars would do. >> one step it centralizing it under an accountable official, and secondly, the cultural change of really scrutinizing it. under the efficiency reduced, there has been a real cultural change to really look at travel,

the necessity and also the cost of it. we just have to continue that cultural change. >> so the time of dhs before the study was done, there was not the guidance, nothing in place that was built into the system at dhs for travel and conferences? >> there were a few policies out, but they were disjointed. the first time it was aggregated into one policy was in 2008 in the financial manual, and that was department wide. from your perspective, do you think dhs now is tracking properly and has three calibrated the way they need to do this? >> i would like to commend ms. duke and her staff and all those individuals we interacted with during this study for their cooperation.

we recognize that 2005-2007, the department was younger then, and with the mission being what it was, maybe not excusable, but certainly understandable about how the travel situation got to be the way it was. with the initiation of the 2008 guidance, we believe that dhs is on the right track to recovering in preventing future occurrences of the same sorts of things we have identified in our report. >> i will be interested in a couple of years to see how it has worked out. >> i understand from january 1 through september 30 leicester, the committee on homeland security spent $73,000 and travel related expenditures. this amounts, at the spending

exceeds the travel expenditures of all the other house committees except the appropriations committee. this past august, committee staffers travel to australia and thailand. while i am sure the renna -- while i am sure there were many benefits to this staff travel, we must ask the same questions we are asking the department. was this necessary and reasonable? i also find it ironic that at the same time the subcommittee was originally scheduled to hold this hearing, staff from the department was traveling with stuff from this committee to las vegas at a likely cost of tens of thousands of taxpayers' dollars. i don't doubt the value of the information of this trip, but i

wonder if we could find a more appropriate venue, maybe something closer to washington, dc. i have a question for secretary do. how will elements of the administration's recently released fiscal year 2011 budget request for the department of homeland security assist you in better regulating conference and travel expenses? >> the biggest is the budget request does have funding for us to collect the data that would give the right amount of visibility that is virtually impossible with the current system. that is probably the element of the budget that would help us. >> what mechanism does the department have to recoup improperly provided funding? >> in terms of if we improperly pay invoices, we do have an

auditing system for that and can recoup that way. for employees, when we are to travel vouchers, we do have the ability to have them repay, or we can garnish their wages if it is found that they were overpaid for a travel claim. >> i yield back, mr. chairman. >> back to the list. i would like to now move to the bottom of the list. there is an indication that some employees received the black belt three training. there is an amount listed. was the training legitimate training, and is that related to the jobs that they performed? >> that one i am not familiar with. i will have to get back for the record.

i do not know what that training is. >> i will tell you that my feelings are somewhat ambivalent as i go through the material, because if they are legitimate conferences were legitimate training is taking place, i do understand that we have to account for the dollars and cents that are spend. but on the other hand, i understand that legitimate conferences do not always take place in my state or at a place that is convenient for me, and so we sometimes find ourselves in places that ordinarily we might not travel to. but if it is for a legitimate reason, a legitimate conference with legitimate training, and is something that is needed and related to the job, i am a little bit concerned that i do

not create an atmosphere where persons will not be permitted to go to legitimate converses or legitimate training that would be job-related. i have a concern, so that is my concern as i listen to what is being said. there are some places that because of the glamour and the lights and the things that happened at night after training that probably some people might think are just that place is to be, but on the other hand, if it is a legitimate conference for legitimate training, and you legitimately are saving money by going there as opposed to someplace else where you got a good deal for the taxpayer, and i am talking about a good deal, then i am reluctant to be critical, if it

is all legitimate and for the benefit of the taxpayers ultimately, because someone has received some training. when we did this, i just want to be careful not to overreact. i think there is a genuine reason to react here, no question about it, legitimate reasons for reactions because of the disparity between the numbers that were submitted to congress and the actual numbers of dollars that were spent. i think those are legitimate reasons. on the other hand, i don't want us to get to a point where we do not get people to places where they can receive training that will benefit the taxpayers, and they not go for fear there will be some sort of reprisal,

becoming part of some list that will in some way damage or tarnish your image. i am not standing up for anything that was wrong, anything wrong that was done. i am a person who has seen enough in life to know that people sometimes will do things that are beneficial that other people do not always understand. so the reason i was giving you an opportunity to respond to these, because these kind of stand out. i thought that an explanation of what was going on would be beneficial to those employees who may be under some sort of scrutiny because of the actual conference that was attended. if you would, look into those that i have call to your attention, all of those on this page.

would you kindly respond to be in writing on these? i know you are caught off guard and not expecting this specific list, and that is understandable. i do not want you to be did meet in any way because she did not have the specific list. now that you have it, would you kindly respond in writing, and that way i will be able to give explanations as needed. if it is legitimate, and is to benefit the taxpayers, and the employee was there, and other things aside that have to be corrected, i will work with you on these things that are legitimate. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. green. i think it is important that we be able to track and account for what is spent. no one wants to see conference's

end. there is value in travel and in going to las vegas, as long as it is legitimate. we do not want to get ourselves in a position where people are looked at with a jaundiced eye because of doing this. i certainly hope that the person that said we do not have accountability in this because we have unlimited spending has been educated otherwise now and is doing business differently. the truth is, everyone of us behind this podium and at your seats are responsible for the taxpayers' dollars. i think it is fair to say that for the first seven years of dhs's existence, that

responsibility among some was not taken very seriously. we are going to change that. this committee and you and i are going to change that. the taxpayers need to know that especially in times like this, the moneys they are spending to keep this government running are being spent well and wisely and to keep us safe. i appreciate you both coming year. i imagine there'll be lots of other questions generated by this line of questioning and your answers. if so, i would certainly appreciate written responses in a very timely fashion. thank you both for coming. i appreciate it. the subcommittee stands adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> the national tea parties first convention is underway in asheville. tonight, fox news contributor -- the convention is underway in nashville. tomorrow, a panel on the future of the tea party with bloggers and local organizers begins live at 11:15 a.m. eastern. more scheduling information in just a moment. this past thursday, we spoke with tonya ash of orlando, florida, who is attending the convention to seek former alaska governor sarah palin speak. >> what is that you are holding? >> i am holding a picture of our next president of the united states, i hope. >> is that the primary reason

you came to this convention? what are the signatures on the back? >> these are all the people who love sarah. they all stand behind her. they are from everywhere, all the different states. exported to collect these? >> some are from different t parties -- where did you collect these. >> i would like to learn a little more about networking, meeting other conservatives that are trying to get our country back on the right path. >> a reminder that all this weekend, we bring you live coverage of the first national tea party convention from nashville. saturday night, remarks from sarah palin. she will be giving the keynote address and after the speech will take your phone calls and comments. it begins saturday live at 9

eastern. >> i tried to be entertaining, informative, and relative, in a way that offers solutions. >> bother of 30 books, thom hartman is our guest on "q&a". >> we have redesigned our website to make it more useful for teachers. you can find the most watched videos list, organized by subject and topics, the latest and education news, plus the chance to connect with other c- span classroom teachers. it is all free. >> next, a discussion on the impact of president obama's budget on the future of nasa. from this morning's "washington journal," this is 40 minutes.

>> "washington journal" continues. >> frank morring is here to talk about the budget of nasa. let's start with president obama's proposed budget on monday for nasa, what was in it? guest: to start it had $18.7 billion for fiscal 2011, that's a 5% increase over the current fiscal year. beyond that it was a huge change in direction for the agency. since the columbia accident that was ironically seven years to the day that the budget came out this week. nasa has been working on a plan called the vision for space exploration that would go back to the moon and on mars. and it involved building new rockets to replace the space shuttle.

and a lot of development of new space vehicles. that was all eliminated, terminated in favor of a new approach that would rely on commercial launch to lower orbit initially to the international space station. and with the money freed up from that, nasa would develop the kind of advanced technologies to go not only to the moon, but to a lot of places. including asteroids and eventually mars as well. host: would those technologies be unmanned? guest: no the idea would to be eventually to go with humans, it would be a technology effort than a focused-man raided effort. and the budget contains about $6 billion over the five-year

run out which is how they do it here, for supporting the development of a space light industry. and that is certainly significant money. and it's being sold as a change from the government in-house space operations to something more like the airlines. host: james cameron that our viewers know of the director/writer of movie "avatar" has an opinion piece serving on the nasa council from 2003-05, and writes that last year president obama instructed the report and after months of study, the release bite panel was gloomy, to put

humans back on the moon by 20 twen could not possibliy succeed within that time frame. and he talks about a commercial flight and that private industry taking over. when the shuttle is retired after three decades of service they will depend on russian solivoids but under the new nasa plan they will take this capability over in the few years and more quickly than the industry would have and at a competitive price. what is he getting at here, the competitive price. guest: the numbers are reported lower, lower than $50 million a

seat. i can't remember but it was in the 20-30 million range who elon must is building a cargo and he was quoting a figure, somewhere between 20-30 billion, it's less. the vehicle is not ready yet. it's being set up for a first launch at cape canaveral now and it's not human-raided. it's basically a cargo vehicle. host: before we get to the phone calls on nasa's future. what is the impact of jobs in these areas where there is manned space flight activities going on. guest: i checked these figures, there are about 11,500 people working on the constellation program. and that's the nasa program terminated in this budget.

they are located in texas, florida, alabama, utah, california, louisiana, arizona, kentucky and iowa. most heavily in texas, alabama and florida. those civil servants will be ok. and the budget proposed to terminate the constellation program and satisfied contractual agreements for termination. the contractor jobs won't go away initially. those are at most risk, nasa says they will do what they can and the space shuttle will probably stop flying this year. host: and that the program will

offset the loss from florida. what is the reaction from capitol hill of these space programs and their districts? guest: so far i have not heard anyone lineup behind this idea, i have heard negative from congress of those areas changed by the imperil. and that is only for the space shuttle, and nasa was trying to work people out of the shuttle program into the constellation and will have to re-do that as well. host: first caller, on the independent line. caller: good morning, greta, i would like to say i heard on the news in the past weeks about russia and start to investigate a way to deflect the asteroid coming toward

earth. i don't know about asteroid physics but they have to do something by 2013 to do something because it will be near earth by 2035. i would like to thank the russians for their advance thought about doing this. i know about a couple of years ago you had someone on from nasa talking about it. but it's really sad that nasa has to be held back in such a way they can't do things. sure russia is a different government and have a different way of doing things. i applaud them for their forethought, not that our scientists don't know about it but don't have the money. host: thank you, randy on the independent line. caller: good morning, my question is this, recently i heard on the news that nasa has been directed by this administration to turn its

attention and resources to the global warming issues. has that taken away from space programs? and other military programs? host: frank morring. guest: i wouldn't say its taken away from them. there is extra money in the budget for the earth climate studies. nasa lost the study to map the carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and nasa recouped funds for that program. the budget doesn't really, most of the money in the budget is going for technology development for exploration. there is a pretty clear plan about what nasa can do to develop scientific data to guide decision makers in

setting policy on climate change issues. as far as the military is concerned, a lot of technology that nasa uses to study the earth climate is dual use. just like a weather satellite doesn't know if it's military or civilian. some sensors are the same kind of things that the military would use. host: raleigh, north carolina, good morning. caller: good morning, with the economic problems we are in these days with record unemployment and more people carcerated. do you think it would be a viable option to shut the space program down for months and funnel that money into the economy and community and back to the people? guest: no, i don't. the money spend on the space program is spent on earth, on

jobs and education and scientific research. and it's also a driver for our economy, the kind of technology that will be developed in the budget as has been the case in the past, drive commercial industry that creates jobs. and the commercial launch industry that the budget hopes to set up will also create jobs. it's sort of a cliche that the money spent here on space affects those. host: next caller, good morning. caller: it seems that nasa had its greatest success when not

lost focus. in the future does it look more broad with the global warming and maybe education and things that are not of the core mission of space? guest: that's an interesting question. the columbia accident investigation board that was set up after columbia crashed in 2003, highlighted a lack of focus on the space program prior to that accident. i expect this to be a point of contention in the coming debate on this policy. nasa has been always stretched too thin even in the days of a-pola. -- apollo. and when lockheed martin reviewed the space program, what

they recommended was $3 billion more just for constellation, that's not there. so a focus, it's a good question and you will hear a lot more about that this year. host: jacksonville, florida, john. caller: yes, one thing i am interested in, jupiter has been hit several times in the latest years that would destroyed humanity had it hit earth. i think it's necessary to get out in space and beyond our own solar system. there are a lot of things that can be done. and wish more would be done, perhaps money spent on other things. maybe some of these earmarked things that really may not help anyone. maybe should be used to create

exploration in space. guest: the events that you talk about have happened on earth. there is geological evidence that earth has been hit by large space objects. there is a new space camera that can detect near-earth objects by their energy. and they expect to find hundreds of these things we have never seen before. it's a real threat but it's like dodging a bullet you can't see. we don't know where these things are. if you are talking about moving off the planet, we are a long way from that. but certainly there are things that the space program is doing to quantify if any space rocks are out there. host: we have a blog, could

there be a bigger waste of money going back to the moon, monitoring global warming trends. guest: we went to the moon the first time is a geopolitical statement in the cold war, our technology was better than the soviet technology. it's a little different this time. if you look at the international space station it's the opposite of that. it's a real international relations exercise. we are up there with the russians. after columbia crashed we couldn't get there without the russians, we flew with them until the shuttle was restarted. yes, there is plenty wastes of money that could go into space. i leave it to the caller to

think of other things we spend our money. host: caller, chuck from texas. caller: good morning, i have been a part of nasa my whole life. in college i created an organization known as promotion of activities for nasa, known as spam. oddly enough. i don't know where to begin, i still give presentations from time to time, and i am a little afraid of what to tell kids. i am kind of an a child of apollo, i grew up in the shadow of apollo and it inspired us to go into math and science. and now what do i tell them? if you want to be an astronaut, you kind of can't.

and the reason we go to the moon is to learn how to adapt to these environments and trying to get ready to use inpseudoresearch, the mining for the oxygen and hydrogen, and to get ready for those systems only three days from earth. the space is laid out like a lesson plan. you go to orbit and then to the moon and then the big ships, who knows when. you should have an orbiting space station around the moon and then to mars and out from there. but over and over again nasa has been stuck in redesign cycles in perpetuity. is it to the point 40 years of these redesigns isn't it time to maybe say, look the united

states government is unwilling and unable to do anything beyond low-earth orbit? guest: those are all good points. when i started covering the space program 20 years ago, people talked about the need to have a space program that would last longer than a presidential term. and my experience is that's true. here we are at the beginning of another presidential term and changing directions again. i have written about a lot of paper rockets in my time or rocket -- rockets that almost got off the ground. i know that the people at nasa working on constellation earth are frustrated. they have done one test flight of their new rocket called aries. it was a low fidelity but

full-scale mock-up of what they were developing. they spent five years and about $9 billion work on it. and now we are back to square 1. that's not to say that the commercial approach won't work. i am skeptical that it will work as quickly as the advocates say it will. it's hard to do what they are saying it will do. host: is $9 billion the total on that one rocket? guest: $9 billion is total figure and that mostly includes the rocket. and they were doing advance work on the second rocket, they needed a heavy rocket like the saturn 5, those were things getting started at a low level. but most money was on the new

rocket and capsule. host: from fort myers, chris. caller: good morning, i know there is a lot going on in nasa and i was curious how much research goes into researching ufo's? guest: not very much, i would think. there was -- i will tell you a story. there was a formation on mars called the face on mars. and a lot of people thought it had been built by a civilization. and research proved it was a trick of the light. and at a laboratory it was in an area of mars called sadoania. and in the jet propulsion lab there is a mar's surface where they test rovers and there is a

sign saying soedian park and it's a joke. host: joe, on the independent line, maryland. caller: good morning, i have never heard of directv or radio shack or verizon sending satellites into orbit, and nasa is the only entite. -- entity. and what is your thoughts of the research money and then turn around and sell services after the companies sell it back to us after we pay for the research and maintenance and development. guest: actually i think that's

what nasa is supposed to do and what the advocates of this new space policy would say as well. nasa is enable to do advanced research that doesn't pay-off in the bottom line. there is an awful lot of space technology that we take granted, that is weather satellites, and the technology part was developed by the government because no private company could afford to do so. but the investment in the spacecraft and we already have a very large industry that launches extremely complex commercial satellites, and they are very valuable. the rockets that launch them are necessarily reliable. the question that is coming up is whether the government can make a transition to doing the

same thing with human beings, which of course are much more viable than even the most expensive satellite. this person tweets, can the private sector grow from nasa and are we privy to their data? guest: yes, when nasa does a scientific program, we have the rights and those are available. a lot -- well, all of the technology that nasa does is open to commercial development. and these commercial entities that are starting to work on their own spacecraft and take humans to low-earth orbit are using technology that was

developed by nasa. host: who are some of these companies that may weigh into this industry? guest: that's a good question, nasa got some stimulus package money, that's appropriated and gave $18 million to boeing that is working on a rocket. and $20 million to a company in sierra, nevada. that's two new vehicles and that's small potatoes for building a spacecraft. but the ticket is that boeing and sierra, nevada will use private companies as well. and spacemek is pretty far on getting a rocket up able to carry humans to the space station.

and another company that can deliver cargo and may be able to deliver humans. there are rockets that are rated for humans, atlanta 5 and delta 4, there isn't a lot of detail in the budget. i was struck this week how little the nasa managers know how they will do this new approach. that's what nasa will do this spring, trying to figure out a new program and sell it at the same time on capitol hill. host: long creek, on the independent line. caller: morning, greta. i love c-span. this is really wrong, nasa should be scrapped. there is no purpose for it. we have gone to the moon, there is nothing that has changed about the moon. this is morally wrong for our

country to spend $19 billion a year when we have a homeless problem and unemployment rate, this guy is a cheerleader for nasa, there is nothing new to learn about the moon. host: frank morring, how do consumers feel the impact of nasa? how is it individualize? ? guest: you could say i am a cheerleader for nasa and space exploration. i think there is a lot to learn about the moon. in the past years i have been to india and china that are both spending a lot of money to develop a space program. and not because they really want to go to the moon, because they want to encourage their young people to study science

and math, which in this day is the drivers of the economy. space exploration is not about the moon, although there is fascinating science out there. we are expecting a snow storm in washington, we know that because of the weather satellites. people that are watching us on tv is watching through a satellite. the money is not spent in space but on the earth. host: good morning, democratic line. caller: how are you, my question is that a few years back on the discovery channel, i saw that a vehicle was able to use high energy lasers and vaporize oxygen. i saw the working model of it. i saw the demonstration. and i wonder why nasa is not

pursuing different avenues for space vehicles and why so maried to the other vehicles. i saw that vehicle operate and it used oxygen to provide its lift. can you tell me about that? guest: i saw those demonstrations too and they were fascinating. and the new budget includes $500 million a year over the next five years to do that kind of research, advanced propulsion research you are talking about. it's not just limited to that approach. as of with this week they have not identified the technologies, and it's not just for getting off the ground, and propulsion into space that

could cut back the travel time using chemical fuels to a matter of a couple of months. i have heard the figure of 39 days to get to mars. host: trinity from kentucky, you are on the air. caller: yes, ma'am, i appreciate you having me on. and i appreciate nasa and hope they don't cut their funding and we should explore the ocean more. i have a question about propulsion technology and if you have heard of ionic wind? host: have you? guest: i haven't heard of ionic wind. there is solar wind, the particles pushed out from the sun and people can catch sails to catch that wind. there is ion propulsion, that's

electronic that's low thrust and runs for a long time. you get the effect of a slow but steady acceleration over a long period that gets you up to high speeds. that's how get to mars in 39 days. host: douglas from georgia. caller: good morning i would like to make a comment to c-span of its choice of newspapers discussed in the mornings. there is not only newspapers but the internet and a whole range of data. we sometimes think that the newspapers in washington, d.c. is skewed. please put up a range of newspapers so we have a broader spectrum. host: matthew, we try to provide what we see on the web. when we read newspapers here,

it's not endorsement of one newspaper over the other or an endorsement of newspapers. but to let you know what people in washington are reading. give us your thoughts on the future of nasa. caller: right, with the gentleman you have with you, i would like to say i don't think that nasa is returning to come to american citizen the truth. and the reason i say that, because the technology that's developed on the taxpayers money, that nasa uses. and then it doesn't come directly back to the consumers, it goes through the corporations that use this technology. guest: i don't know if i can ask a question. host: i am sorry, he's not on the line. guest: if the caller has a cell phone in his pocket. that's working on space technology.

the timing signals to make sure that the cell phones work at once are based on spacecraft, global positioning. you are watching television, and something you see on television today will come from a satellite. there is a lot used from space but it's transparent as we are used to it through the years. host: sheila, good morning. caller: i agree with the gentleman that it's morally wrong when we have financial problems in this country. i understand the answer about our technology coming from exploration in outer space. i assume that's coming from the satellites we have in outer space. but what does that have to do going to the moon and other planets?

we bombed the moon months ago and discovered that the moon had water. what are we planning to do, going to the moon and steal water? guest: the bombing the moon attempt was to find out if there was water on the moon. and they found out it was. it's scientific information and the engineering that went into that mission is useful. it could be a resource that people could use on the moon. i repeat that the point of it is not the moon. the point is the technology and the drive to the economy that comes from the scientific knowledge that we gain. i certainly don't like to see homeless people. and i know we have a huge homeless problem in this country. i don't think cutting funding for space programs is the way

to solve the homeless problem. host: allen from maryland. caller: good morning greta and frank. frank, keep up the good work, god bless you, and know that the help is on the way, calvary will arrive. in america the capability to organize a space mission is the same quality to provide a relief effort to haiti and a disaster situation. i want your c-span audience to consider, if you eliminate the space program in any way, you could kiss civilization good-bye. host: let's here from republican, carl. caller: good morning, i think it's disgraceful and a shame that obama administration has set aside the exploration of

the moon and mars beyond and allow india and russia and another nation to plant a flag on these civilizations. and the united states to continue to go down the hill. and i disagree with the gentleman with the ufo's because there are too many unexplained situations to explain away and to say that they don't exist. host: you have thoughts? guest: no, i think there are better ways to spend money than ufo's. host: what happens next with the budget? guest: it goes to capitol hill, both houses will have hearings on the proposal. hopefully there will be more detail than we have so far. this is a budget request.

congress has to authorize the money and appropriate it. it's a lot of money, it's $100 billion over the next five years. the budget starts at 18.7 and goes up to $20 billion by the end of the run-out. host: what is the reality that congress will cancel this program? guest: now the reality is the people of congress in those states where the constellation program is centered, will fight hart -- hard to keep that money coming into their districts and states. and people with other interests like the homeless may fight as equally hard to divert some funds to their programs. it's the classic congressional battle. host: one more comment from a view or twitter, i am for space program but if you privatize

it, then private sectors should pay for all of it. will the private sector have to put in money on this effort? guest: yes they will, the budget will extend the international space station funding for five years, and that's the market for this commercial space industry. and the idea is that nasa would sort of be the main customer but the private sector would pay for most development. >> for educators, c-span arbors the new c-span classroom.org. we have redesigned the website to make it more useful, with the most current and timely c-span videos for use in your classroom.

the latest in education news, plus the chance to connect with other c-span classroom teachers, and it is all free. . . >> president obama is in maryland today meeting with small-business owners.

the president discussed job creation in small business initiative, including a proposal to extend the lending programs to 9.7% last month from this is about 10 minutes -- from 10%. this is about a minute. >> i appreciate the warm welcome. thank you so much. this is not apply to the head of the small business administration for she is here today. she has focused like a blazer on helping small businesses not only survive, but to thrive at midst of the economic storm of

the past two years. we are also joined here by eight ruth, who is the owner and chef at pizzeria. i'm a little upset. she did not bring samples. reddy has testified that the peak that is outstanding. she has restaurant in washington. these folks know, as every living soul in america does, that these have been a rough couple of years for our economy. the downturn ripped through our economy, costing more than 8 million jobs and trucking businesses large and small. that is why we took some very tough steps in some cases, unpopular steps.

today we have received additional news suggesting that we are climbing out of the hue told that we found ourselves some. last january, the month i took office, almost 800,000 americans lost their jobs. today we learned the job losses for this january were 20,000. the and implement rate dropped below 10% for the first time -- the unemployment rate dropped below 10 adjourn for the first time since the summit. these numbers while positive arica's for hope but not celebration. -- are a cause for hope but not celebration. to many of our friends and family are out of work. we cannot be satisfied with another 20,000 have joined the ranks.

these numbers will continue to fluctuate four months to come. these are welcome signs of progress. even as the take additional steps, we know there a limit to what government can do to create jobs but the the true engine of job creation will always be businesses. what government can do is feel that engine. they can expand and hire more workers. that is exactly what this administration intends to do and what we have been doing. we are starting with small businesses. that is where most of the new jobs do. over the past 15 years, small

businesses have created roughly 65% of new jobs in america. these are companies formed around kitchen tables and family meetings. they are formed when an entrepreneur takes a chance on a train. formed when a worker decides it is time she became mayor own boss. it is worth remembering that a small business becomes a big business and then changes the world. that is why last week that proposed a new small business tax credit, $5,000 for every new employee you hire this year. a couple of these folks here say the interested not use a tax credit. this week, i propose a new small-business lending fund that would take $30 billion of the fund originally used to rescue the banks on wall street and use it to provide lending capital on main street. i know have capital one bank in here.

it has been a lender to oasis. we appreciate the good work you have done. under karen mills come if they have increased loan guarantees in reduced fees. it has increased lending by 86%. we have called for legislation to increase its to allow us to guarantee loans of up to 5 million compared to $2 million now. i am taking yet another step today. i am proposing legislation that allows firms to refinance their commercial real-estate loans under the sba. 'right now, even companies with great credit histories are facing challenges at water historically low rate. many businesses that would

otherwise survive this downturn are at risk of defaulting. that will lead to even lower property values and less lending, not to mention lost jobs. i am also proposing that we increase the limits for loans credit and capital. i know it will benefit countless others. the truth is the economy can be growing like gangbusters for years on end, but it is still not easy to run a small business. it is not easy to stay ahead of your competitors and keep costs down and do right by your employees. you have to constantly innovate and adapt. ruth reminds me it is not easy keeping up with health care costs. she was very anxious to see health reform passed. in this lasting recession, a

hard job has been that much harder. for much of last year, people were not buying and customers were not calling. thanks for not lending. even in the face of these obstacles, even in these tough times, all across the country, there are people like rick and janet and ruth and will who have not given up. you guys like of everyday and find a way to navigate these troubled waters to but the your obligations to your families and your employees. in that determination, you embody what is best in america. if you keep making america stronger. next week, congress will start debating many of the dutch proposals i have outlined today. many proposals benefit small businesses. many proposals to spur hiring. there are additional ideas from either party and i'm happy to consider them as well. what i hope, what i strongly

urge, is that the board quickly and together to get this done. america's small businesses are counting on us. thank you very much. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> a hearing now on the unemployment numbers for january. the national unemployment rate fell 3/10 of one term last month. we will hear more on that report from key call. -- keith hall. it is about an hour.

>> my colleagues have asked to have their statements place in the record. we may have of this coming on the democratic side. many people have left because of the snow warning. first of all, what a difference a year makes. today's report from the bureau of labor statistics provide further evidence that the labor market has stabilized and that we have turned a corner. the economy is no longer hemorrhaging jobs. the unemployment dropped to 9.7% and employment with virtually unchanged dropped by 20,000 jobs. a year ago, the current edition took office, taking home of the

country suffering the worst crisis since the great depression. the council of economic advisers testified before this committee that the shots we endured during this recession or even greater than during the great depression. during the last three months of the bush administration, we lost an average of 727,000 jobs per month. in contrast during the most recent three months of the obama administration, we lost an average of 35,000 jobs each month. we are definitely trending in the right direction. there is no escaping the cruel mouth of recoveries. the recovery of the job market lags behind the recovery of the broader economy. businesses must have more customers before they have more employees. thanks to the recovery act which

became law a year ago, the economy is growing. the burrow -- bureau reported that in the final quarter of 2009, at the economy expanded at a rate of 5.7%. average weekly hours declined, with indications that the manufacturing sector is driving that upward trend. since june, the work force is up 1.2 hours. job creation in the temporary help sector is a leading indicator of progress. temporary help services has added 247,000 jobs, 52,000 in january alone. although the labor market appeared to be stabilizing, too many americans remain out of work. more than 50 million workers are unemployed. the overall unemployment rate masks how hard some groups have been hit.

while the overall unemployment rate is 9.7%, the unemployment rate is 61 pfizer for african- americans and 12.6% for hispanics. today's jobs report makes it clear we are making progress. the road to recovery will be long and it will not be easy. while we have brought the economy back from the brink, we are not yet where we need to be in terms of job creation. the mission is to create high- quality, private sector jobs. in the past year, congress has enacted policies that support struggling families and encourage job creation. the $750 billion recovery act included a tax cut for 95% of american families and created jobs while investing in clean energy technology, infrastructure, and education. last year, we extended the

$8,000 first-time home buyers credit that will help spur construction jobs. we extended a host of safety net programs that will help struggling families weather this economic storm. we extended the net operating loss carrying that provision that will help small businesses hire new employees. we are boosting spending for small business loans. in order to bring created the ideas and job creation to congress, i started the year reaching out to ceo's fortune 100 companies and leaders of small businesses. i ask the employers to share new ideas on ways to create good private sector jobs. in order to jumpstart job growth, i am introducing an employer tax credit, co- sponsored in the senate by the jec college to a sitting next to me, senator casey, and my fellow

new yorker. this idea was suggested by several of the respondents to the survey. on tuesday february 9, the joint economic committee will hold a hearing to discuss job creation ideas from some of america's best economists and business leaders. the hearing will include testimony from the cbo director doug. study showed that an employer tax credit similar to the one in my bill is one of the most effective and efficient ways to spur job creation. i look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses today. and to hear their different perspectives. i encourage all to attend and be there for tuesday's hearing. i am pleased that my colleague is here and congressmen comings

and senator casey. senator cayce's recognize for five minutes. >> i want to think harder for gathering as here today and the comments about the challenges that are yet ahead of us. we are all credit fight that the unemployment rate has come down . >> in pennsylvania, 5 kucinich 60,000 people were out of work. that translates into an 8.9 cent unemployment rate. unfortunately, that number went up in december by about 0.4%.

the rate has gone up in an opinion with that individual communities. we have 14 labor market in our state. we have one that just went to tenser. we do not know what this number that we are taking today means for the long term. one thing i am sure of, we need a jobs bill passed as fast as possible. we need a bill that tackles a number of the problems that we are discussing today. one of the solutions to bring this unemployment rate down of the time, i believe is our -- our chair to state it is to have a job creation tax credit. economist from across the board have made it clear that it is the right thing to it is the fastest way to create jobs and increase our gross domestic

product. we have done it before. we passed a similar tax credit in the 1970's. equated over 170,000 jobs. but it created over 170,000 jobs. it is known to be under advertised. if we could do that without a lot of information, i think a lot of employers would take it into this opportunity to create jobs in the next several months. we have a real challenge ahead of us. you need only go to places like a job center. i was in one in gettysburg, pa. about 10 days ago. i met eight unemployed pennsylvanian who of yet to find work. you learn a lot by listening to

the struggles and the worries that people in our economy feel when they are out of work. i would say most of them tend to be over the age of 5460 and feel that they have an economic challenge -- 50 or 60 until they have an economic challenge in discrimination because of their age. they cannot prove that sometimes. they feel it. they fill out application after application. 20 and 30 and 50 and hundred. we are going to continue to push for to get a jobs bill passed to continue every possible strategy in the near term. i want to thank our chair for getting us to get it today. >> i want to think the senator

for his comments. we pass a jobs bill in the house earlier. it is encouraging to hear the senate is well taking of a focus on creating new jobs. president obama was the main focus of his speech. congressman cummings. >> thank you very much. i would like to associate myself with the words that you stated. after a job losses in 2008 and 2009, and the national unemployment rate is lower for four months. i have got to tell you that i am glad that it did not go up. it had gone up, we would have some naysayers on the other

side. -- talking about how bad things are. that is not to say we do not have problems. one job losses one too many. there are so many people who were suffering. i just wanted to take a few moments that i have to urge our colleagues to join in as we attempt to redress this problem. people are unemployed in every district that the, the president was in baltimore. he did two things. one, he went to a company that manufactures all kinds of steel casings for things like water purification apparatus. he did a lot of wonderful

things. one of the things we found out was that they have been getting some government contracts from the private sector. they may very well be on the verge of hiring a few more people. when the president talked about a tax credit the u.s. senator casey talked about, for employers to hire folks, you could tell that the owners -- they are so many businesses on the verge of hiring people. i do not think that it is the solution that is going to necessarily be the one silver bullet. it is a part of a whole group of

experts that have been put forth on the part of the house. the thing that we have to do now is to what the president has said. folks have got to put partisanship aside. as i say to my constituents, i told them that we will get the storm. this is the united states of america. we have been through storms before. the question is not whether we will get the the storm. the question is, after the storm is over, who will be living in your house? who will have your job? will you have your health insurance? will your children, when given the opportunity to go to school after doing everything they were supposed to do, and a bank on the door of college, will they have been able to go to college at that critical moment?

those of the questions. i do believe that the things that we have been doing have been working. in the words of the president, "we can do better." we can do better. i take this moment to urge all of those people who may be listening to this to urge their senators, whether republican or democrat, to stand up for them. it is time the american people had people standing up for them, put in partisanship aside. so they can live the best light the camp. we have one life to live. this is no dress rehearsal. some people act like they have to live next door. this is it right here. i think it is our duty. people go to the polls and they pull the lever.

they are not pulling it so that we can win the next election in a few years. they pulled this so that we can win the election that they are voting in into the we could immediately act. they expect that of us and nothing else. on behalf of my constituents, i urge all of our colleagues to join together to address this issue. i look forward to hearing from the witnesses. with that, i yield back. >> before we begin, i would like to ask the unanimous consent to accept into the record a written statement from any member of this committee. now i would like to introduce commissioner paul. dr. keith hall is the commissioner of labor statistics for the u.s. department of labour. prior to that, he served as chief economist for the white house council of economic advisers. part of that, he was chief economist for the u.s. department of commerce. he also spent 10 years at the u.s. international trade

commission. welcome. we hope to hear some good news. >> thank you. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the unemployment that of the piece this morning but then the unemployment rate declined from 10.0% to 9.7% in january. non-farm payroll was unchanged. it has shown little movement over the last three months. in january, a job losses continue to -- unemployment increase in temporary help services. what revisions released today, a job losses since the start of the recession total 8.4 million. that is more than previously recorded. construction employment fell by 75,000 in january come in line with the average monthly job loss in 2009.

nonresidential special trade confecting accounted for much of the open market decline. the nonresidential opponents countered for the majority of the job losses. warehousing decreased by 19,000 in january. entire decline occurred in messenger services. employment in temporary help services grew by 52,000 over the month. this industry has added nearly a quarter of a million jobs. following two months of little change, retail trade employment increased by 20,000 in january. health care employment continue to rise in january. overall, manufacturing employment was little changed. motor vehicles added 23,000 jobs. since june, the workweek for all employees has increased by 1.2 hours federal government

employment rose in january partly due to hiring. the plummet as state and local governments trended down over the month. turning now to semesters from our house will survey. the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate declined in january. the share of this jobless were -- continue to rise. the climate to population ratio increased over the month. the number of persons working part time job from 9.2% to 8.39%. before closing, several changes were introduced today to the employment situation news release. three new survey tables provide information on the employment status of veterans, persons with disabilities, and foreign-born population of the in january, the unemployment rate from

veterans in the gulf war was 12.6% compared to 10.4% for non veterans. persons of the disability have a higher jobless rate could . the unemployment rate for the foreign-born was 11.8%. native-born was 10.3%. the tables have been redesigned to include the addition on debt for hours on all sector employees as long as employment information for women. women make up 4949% of total non-farm payroll employment compared to 48.4% when the recession began. additional information about the redesigned table is available on the website. i would note that there are annual adjustment to data from our to surveys.

the survey shows the incorporation of annual benchmark revisions. each year, we increase the estimate to a full count of employment derived from it mistreated records. derived from records. -- derived from records. household survey data for january reflects updated population estimates. further information about the impact of the adjustment is in our news release. returning now to the labor market that to be read these, the jobless rate declined to 9.7 term in january. the 9.7% in january. -- 9.7 in january. >> thank you. what a difference a year makes. can you point to any bright

spots in this month's labor report? >> i would say there are several things worth mentioning. first is that the unemployment rate went from 10.0 to 9.7%. in a related thing, part-time for economic reasons declined this month. that means our broadest measure of labor, those that are unemployed or discourage, that decline from 17.3% to 16.5%. there is an indicator of strengthening in the -- the work week increased by three hours

this month but a 1.2 hours since june. that is a leading indicator of strengthening in the labor market. of course, there are a number of other data that indicates that. -- that there may be some signs of strength. >> could you comment on any further indicators that overall job losses will continue to slow? enter positive in the coming months? >> without speculating too much, the temporary help workweek are both considered leading indicators of a strengthening labor market. i think some of the other data, the gdp numbers that just came out, although most of that growth in gdp was from inventory, a good portion was actually a software investment.

that action attracts very nicely. when firms brubecks software, they can bring back employees. i think the gesture and numbers are very strong. >> some economists have estimated that we need to grow our jobs just to meet the new payroll jobs. the estimated up to 150,000 new payroll jobs. i like to comment on that. what rate is needed to lower the unemployment rate to what was in 2007 before the recession began at 4.7%. >> the number seems about accurate for the payroll job growth that we keep up with the big -- keep up with. keeping up with -- the labor market continues to improve, we

expect people to re-enter the labor force. we might hope to get stronger payroll job growth. we would probably need stronger than that to have the unemployment rate drop. >> as you said, some workers are likely to re-enter the labor force because they see greater promise of finding a job now with the numbers. that is good and encouraging. isn't it true that those workers will bump the unemployment rate up for? >> it often does. if the labor market continues to strengthen, it does cause it to pump up temporarily. >> how big of a factor is it? >> it certainly has done that in the past. this particular time we have a

particularly high potential for that. so many people are unemployed. we have lost many. as the go forward, if we start to see real improvement, which to not get too concerned if the unemployment rate is a bit of a speech bumper defects my time is expired. center k.c.? -- speed bump. >> my time is up. senator mukasey? >> i think it is important to put in the record -- we had had a lot of folks in washington denigrating the recovery act, stimulus bill. i think the facts are pretty clear right now that prior to the recovery bill we producing between december and march every single month for four months of

the six and a thousand jobs. in january of 2009, 741,000 jobs. here are a little more than a year later. we lost, and one to make sure the numbers are right, 20,000 this month? >> 20,000 jobs lost. >> at least we are moving in the right direction. a strong case can be made that the recovery bill is having and has had a positive impact and is set least is beginning to work. that is important to put on the record. i did want to know, in terms of the individual groups or demographic groups such with the kantor, -- that we look at here, a one to highlight one segment

-- i wanted to highlight one segment where the number actually went up. african-americans, it went up to 16.5%. that is up 0.3%. the only group in terms of groups, whether it is adult women, but altman or teenagers, white americans hispanic unemployment rate was 12.6. one of the only groups was african-americans. >> i believe that is correct. >> in terms of not necessarily a trend? >> i think the uncertainty of that number is relatively large. >> why is that? sometimes with a group it is harder to get an accurate read?

>> our sample size is a little smaller. we do it relative to the population. >> we are hope you are wrong about this. the other point to one to highlight was the new data. i think it is pretty significant that you are not checking veterans and persons with disabilities. the veteran number, and this will be veterans since the gulf war -- >> since september 11. >> that number is what? >> that number was 12.6 deserve. >> do you know what the works out to be in a total number? >> in terms of the number of unemployed? >> unemployed veterans.

>> it is about to enter 13,000. >> -- 213,000. >> that is a big number. i only have a minute left. if you are able to speak. are there -- are their debts a point here that indicate that there are sectors that are growing that we should be encouraged by? >> the short answer is yes. i think one notable one is that we actually gave 11,000 jobs in manufacturing. >> a net gain in manufacturing? >> this is the first net gain we have had in three years in manufacturing. that is notable. >> in the monthly number? >> yes.

that is encouraging. professional business services seems to be back, especially temporary helalth. most of the job loss right now is in construction. construction is more than the overall loss of 20,000. we actually had net gains over all. thank you. >> let's go to the african- american members. you said then it is possible that the numbers might not be as bad as they appear. is that right? >> it is a relatively smaller sample. there may be some fluctuation. >> if i were to guess, i believe it would probably be higher.

i think you have a thought -- when i go to my district, and went there right now, you would see a lot of african-american men to riding through my neighborhood who are unemployed. i do not know the numbers even registered here. i would guess they are part of my dear chick with the african- american male unemployment rate is 45% or 50%. i know you look at statistics. others thinking of the census and how people get left out of the senses. that is not necessarily because the government. it is never counted. do you want to comment on what i just said? >> one thing i think we know for sure is that the unemployment rate is very high. it is high a relatively.

when i talked about the 0.3 increase, i was talking about the monthly change. it is true that this is a high number. the increase has more than doubled. perhaps a bit of what you are seeing as well is the workers to a trot out of the labor force. -- who have dropped out of the labor force. >> if the president were to call you and ask you for a 32nd explanation on what you have said on what we have here today and he said -- what does it look like? where is a look like we are going? i know you are limited with your opinions, even with the president. >> i will tell you where we have come vituperativto.

>> the past three months, we get that essentially no change in the payroll jobs. that is a dramatic improvement over earlier in the year. there are lots of indication in this that said that with temporary help that the labor market may be tightening up, which if that continues, would be incurred in for job growth. >> has there been any trend of dots moving from unskilled labor to skilled labor or vice versa? have we experienced any sort of shift like that? >> this recession was notable because of the job loss is significant across all groups. it is a very broad job loss. other recessions have been a little more centered. in this recession, it has been

so deep. we have had so much job loss. one of the very interesting things will be when we come to a recovery, how quickly it comes and how broad it will be. in terms of this recession, there is no real clear pattern. >> the labor department reported yesterday that worker productivity increased six. fourth term in the fourth quarter -- 6.4% in the fourth quarter. are these gains in certain sectors or across the board? would you have an opinion on that? >> it is pretty across the board. we do not have a lot to break out on the industries. it is across the board. that actually is a very good sign. it has been associated with early stages of economic recovery. one thing that was notable, we

attack three months of very strong productivity growth. this is the first month or we had strong productivity growth and an increase in hours. >> what does that mean? >> in the entire month, we had strong productivity because output dropped by less than ours dropped. it to a strong productivity in a negative way. >> americans are working hard? >> yes. >> thank you. >> that is a strong statement. it is very true. several months ago, the dls release the employment projections for 2008 through 2018. what does the dls project to the largest growth in employment over the coming years? where do you see the job growth?

is this different from past projections? >> alamance in some of the broad numbers. our projections are that the service providing sector will have something like 97 -- 9 -- 90% of the jobs. this is consistent with the past. we expect the largest employment growth in professional business services and health care. that is also pretty consistent with our past forecasts. inside it more detail, we are talking like management. >> how do these projections differ from the private sector projections that you read about now and then? >> one of the things that we are

doing here is we are projecting from inside of a recession right now. one of the reasons areour numbers change is that we are looking outside the recession. a lot of the numbers are looking at recovery out to the recession. do you want to add anything? >> i would say our projections do not differ from private sector projections. the typically use the same methodology that we use for hours. >> i am concerned about the duration of unemployment. is the duration of the climate longer in the recession? is there a relationship between this long time of unemployment and compensation and the degree

of probability of being employed? could you comment on this duration of unemployment that is increased? >> unfortunately, it does seem -- it does seem to be pretty strong evidence that the longer duration of employment, the lower probability of being rehired. >> is this different from prior recessions? in prior recessions have we had this long period of unemployment? >> this is by far the worst recession with respect to direction -- duration. is started and a higher level. it has been at record levels for several months. in past recessions, the unemployed typically grows well into the recovery. >> could you tell us anything about the demographic characteristics of the long-term unemployed?

are there characteristics in terms of educational attainment? in terms of any category? >> we may have to get back to you on the details. >> ok. >> we do have something. i am sorry. the duration is particularly high and do certain demographics are overrepresented. those without a high-school diploma were overrepresented. african americans were over represented. even those with a high-school diploma were represented. >> my time has expired. >> thank you. one of the features often cited about this recession has been

the fall in consumer spending. it is linked to consumer confidence. how does the ball and overall consumer demand show up in your data? >> consumer spending is really the driver behind gdp and employment. during normal expansion, the growth is roughly in line with the growth in gdp. without a strong recovery in consumer spending, we just are not going to see a strong recovery. >> when we got the information a few days ago, when we got to the cheap -- good gdp numbers, do you see a correlation between those numbers and what he found

a new report? >> fembot if the gdp growth was from inventory. the predict a lot of the gdp growth was from inventory. -- a lot of the gdp growth wrist from inventory. it may be an indication of future growth. out cited inventory, gdp her about 2.2%. that is reasonable growth. that is consistent. this is consistent with payroll job growth. >> we saw with ford that we had significant rise in cars sold. we also saw that sawgm.

-- with gm > after the cash for clunkers, sales were over. there might be a slight bump up in many backing of automobiles. -- manufacturing of automobiles. some were concerned it would not last long. can you tell from the research, do we see a trend there? our people generally buying cars? what 3 finding there? >> the jobs grew by about

23,000, which accounted for all of the manufacturing job growth. >> that is very significant. >> it was only one month. it was a nice bump up. but this is a general question. the month of january has certain unique characteristics. it is coming after the christmas season. it is the first month of the year. maybe people are getting off to new starts with certain types of things. do you find, when you look at those numbers, is that surprising to you at all considering what we have seen in the past for january? i know we are in a recession. i understand that. but they gain in 20,000 jobs is

taking into account the normal seasonal pattern in motor vehicles. when we say 23,000, we mean regular to what we expect normally. >> if we were not in a recession, you would expect 23,000 new jobs? ? >> i am not sure with the expectation was for motor vehicles. the way we calculate these numbers is that with 23,000 more jobs than we would have normally expected. >> you are saying the opposite of what i just said. i see. i know you are limited to your opinions and everything. i am sure that makes you -- if someone were to ask you outside of your position and said, "how you feel about that?" i guess you'd say they felt pretty good. >> it is only one month.

it was growth and jobs. >> commissioner paul, temporary help is an indicator of an employer's willingness to hire more employees. could you comment on the temporary help numbers and any trends you have seen over the last several months? >> it has been and continues to be a leading indicator. before we went into the recession, temporary help services started to decline nine or 10 months headed the recession. it did signal early on that we were coming into an economic slowdown. in past recessions, and pick up has proceeded to pick up a payroll job growth. the fact that timber help services added 52,000 -- temporary help services added

to thousand jobs this month, i would consider it to be an indicator of potential peril job growth. >> can you comment on how women have appeared in the recession? he testified earl there that women fees are up. can you comment on this trend? do you see that more women may be employed in this recession than indmen? >> men have lost jobs relative to women. something like to t12 to 1.

it is possible. we are within 350,000 -- the number of women vs. men. it still is potentially possible that it could exceed the number of men in payroll jobs at some point. women have also participated in job loss. that is not to say they have not lost jobs. women have lost nearly 2.6 million jobs that is edit a 0.4 million jobs. [unintelligible] more women have lost jobs in financial activities them in half.

>> thank you for tracking that information. i would like to ask the questions about my home state of new york. in new york city, and a flat rate -- rose to 2.6% in december. is this in team with other state and the national average? are these changes similar to the changes taking place on the national an opponent? -- unemployment? >> the state of new york has had a similar pattern during a recession. it is a very diverse economy. i think that is roughly what we have seen during this recession with new york. the numbers have been very similar to the overall numbers.

>> what about manhattan? it is very dependent on financial service stocks givjob. it is in tune with the national average? >> i do not have manhattan with me. i can tell you with new york brought the. new york has lost about the thousand jobs in financial activities. -- 50,000 jobs in financial activities. >> my time has expired. >> yesterday, a new york times reporter had asked me about the whole idea of african american unemployment being such a gap between overall employment.

and whether special things ought to be done. i want to ask you your opinion on that. it appears there is an increase in the gap between overall unemployment and african- american unemployment. is that accurate? >> it is. it has grown during the recession. it actually grows during every receptiorecession. >> do we have an explanation for that? >> i do not. there is probably some research on that. i am not familiar with it. >> what changes in the makeup of the labor force can identify in terms of gender, race, or eight? who is entering the labor force? who is leaving? . .

>> the first thing i would say is that the most important trend in terms of the labor force -- >> we will go live to national tennis a -- nashville, tennessee. it will feature a discussion with fox news political commentator angela mcglowan and

joseph farah of worldnetdaily.com. >> my wife has not made it to the dinner yet. it has been so amazing over this year to meet so many incredible people. as we started planning this event, there was one really special person i have the privilege of talking to on the bone, exchanging e-mails. i finally got to meet yher. she is amazing. i'm not a believer in long introductions. please welcome angela mcglowan. [cheers and applause] >> god bless america. god bless america. we are patriots and warriors of truth. before i speak to you, let out

our heads. let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your site, oh, lord. did i join the tea party movement? it is the same reason i wrote my book. let me tell you something, the truth pressed to the ground will rise again. but allied will never stand. -- but a lie will never stand. when i hear people say this movement was about bashing of black president, i have to make a stand as a black conservative. [applause] this movement is not about blacks or whites, democrats or republicans. it is about freedom.

it is about the fact that we're losing jobs in america. we're about to take washington, d.c. back. [applause] i am so proud to be a part of this movement. i want to tell you that all lot of people underestimate this movement. i want to thank some warriors. mark skoda held the tea party of memphis event. please stand up. are you in the room? [applause] a lot of conservatives said, what is going on here? what is this movement about? even when we did the big movement in washington, d.c., i was doing the million man march.

we had more than a million people in washington, d.c. [applause] they do not want to give you credit. they want to dismiss you. the news media said, it was thousands, hundreds of thousands. it was about two million people. we are strong today and we will be strong tomorrow. this is only the beginning. [applause] while everybody is talking about what is wrong with america, what is going on with washington, d.c., the tea party movement is what is right in america. [applause] we are standing strong with our constitution. our forefathers said we have the right to state our grievances. we also have the right to vote people out of congress and out

of the white house. [applause] they hurt us in virginia, new jersey -- they heard us in virginia, new jersey, and massachusetts. i truly believe that we can take back the progress and put some folks in their from all walks of life that can actually make a difference. not peopled shucking and jiving, lying. we have congressmen representing my district who is about to lose his job. he is about to lose his job. [applause] he pretends like he is a blue dotted democrat -- blue dog

democrat, but has voted with nancy pelosi 95% of the time. we are about to vote him out. [applause] if you do not know, his name is travis childers. the one in georgia, too? we have them all over the country. i want to tell you, republicans in name only, listen to us. democrats, listen to us. the white house, listen to us. we are on the move. massachusetts is nothing. [applause] i want to tell you what you guys have done. i have worked on a very

wonderful channel. i have written a book, had a television show, and have been in washington, d.c. you guys have inspired me. on monday, i want to let you know, i am about to embark on another endeavor in life. i cannot make a formal announcement now, but i want to tell you that i am going to uphold your reputation, your integrity. i have done these events in town hall meetings -- in the town hall meetings. people are suffering. go back to washington and tell them that we do not want unemployment or public assistance. we want good jobs. we have that factories -- [applause] we have had factories close in my district and people selling kindling on the side of the road.

that is would that you start fires with. -- wood that you start fires with. it is sad that in the state of mississippi, our unemployment rate is way over 10%. i have people who can attest to that. i'm going to make a special announcement on monday. i want you guys to join me in a rebellion. [applause] thank you, guys. thank you. what we need to do, in closing, i am going to give my friend a

little more time up here. i'm getting all little emotional. i am living a dream. our forefathers meant for people like us to be able to go to washington, d.c. and make a difference and what in our community and educate people with this movement we have done that. what inspired people. we are about to make a greater movement. we need to continue to stand strong. no more tax bailouts. no more bailouts of auto dealers. no more funded stimulus bill. no more pork but -- no more pork barrel spending. no more earmarked. united's we stand, and united we're going to take this country back. god bless america. [cheers and applause]

>> u.s.a.! [inaudible] >> all right. i have had several requests that we do the pledge of allegiance. let's take a moment and stand and do the pledge. i am wondering if i can get into law back appear to lead the pledge. -- angela back up here to lead the pledge.

[applause] >> i pledge allegiance to the plight of the united states of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [applause] >> that is why this convention is so much fun. we are not on schedule and we never know what is going to happen next. [audience laughing] every morning i get up and i start up my laptop computer. i get my internet browser and i have a whole series of news website i go to. i looked at them every day, religiously, first thing in the morning. i make a copy, then i look at web sites.

and anybody guess what website is number one on that list? >> fox? >> tea party nation. can anybody guess what is number two? worldnetdaily.com. it is one of the most phenomenal news sites out there. it is incredible. you must read it every day. i bring up my browser and i have to look at tea party nation because i have things i have to do on there. right after that, i read worldnetdaily.com. i look for the columns that are penned by our next guest. he is an amazing author and writer. he is a professional journalist. he launched worldnetdaily.com in 1997. you're not going to get some of that anywhere else.

let's not have to belong introduction. joseph farah. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. angela told me she was going to out-radical me tonight. i will admit she is off to a pretty good start. let me say, first of all, this is a unique opportunity i have here, following angela, because i get to be the first person to officially endorse her quest for that house seat. how's that? [applause] you go, girl. first of all, i want to thank you for inviting me here. there is no place that i would

rather be than among fellow tea partiers. when i announced my appearance here, he explained why by saying that i was a tea partier before there was a movement. nobody has ever paid me a higher tribute than that statement. [applause] in fact, way back in 2003, i wrote a book that literally prophesied this movement that you have created. it was called "taking america back." that is what you are doing. that is the mission and goal, and it is the most exciting development in american politics in my lifetime. i got even more specific about what was coming in america in the book i wrote in 2008 called

"none of the above." in that book, i explained why neither major party presidential candidate would change the failed course america was on. the only difference between the two candidates was the speed at which they would drive the country to the brink of bankruptcy and disillusionment. more to the point, i explained what would happen if barack obama were elected. i explained that a freight train he was driving would result in a major grass-roots rebellion of ordinary, hard-working americans who had never marched in a protest or attended a rally and would get off their behind and filled the streets. you haven't fulfilled that prediction. -- you have all build that prediction. [applause]

you did it in numbers and speed i could not have imagined. our work is only beginning. that is why we are here this weekend. it is really great to be among like -- among like not law -- among likeminded folk. conferences like this are great for sharing ideas and learning from others, getting that creative juices flowing. it reminds me of a story. i do not know if you heard about this international medical conference. doctors were sharing their success stories. a french md said, you know, medicine, in my country, it is a solid bands that we can take the kidney out of one man and put it in another and have him looking for work in six weeks. not to be outdone, the german

doctor says, that is nothing. we can take a young -- lung and have been looking for work in four weeks. a russian doctor says, in my country, medicine is so a dance that we can take half of heart out of a person, put it in another and have him looking for work in two weeks. the american doctor gets up and says, you guys are way behind. we recently took a guy with no birth certificate -- [audience laughing] no brain, and put him in the white house and now have the country is looking for work. [applause] this is being broadcast by c-

span. this is the first time television in america is going to hear about some of this stuff. this is going to be shocking. it is going to be more radical than into law -- than angela's piece. my dream is that barack obama, if he even seeks reelection in 2012, that he will not be able to go to any city, town, and let in america -- hamlet in america without seeing signs that say, where is the birth certificate. it is a simple question and has not been answered, despite what bill reilly -- bill o'reilly will tell you. the media thinks it's ridiculous. it is one of the most important questions we can be asking. [applause]

it really hits the target. polls now show in california -- 33% of californians either believe obama was born outside the country or have doubts about his alleged the whole wide and birth. nationwide, it is closer to 50%. even significant numbers of democrats have their doubts. the media and politicians keep pretending it has been settled. it has all been proven. i say if it has been settled, show as the birth certificate. it is simple. just this week, you probably saw barack obama's appearance at the national prayer breakfast. he said, do not question my faith. do not question my citizenship.

why should his citizenship be a matter of faith? are we not supposed to see that evidence? some people think i am obsessed about this issue. [audience laughing] i am upset with the -- i am obsessed with the constitution. [applause] i think every american should be. i think every office-holder who takes an oath should be. i think every journalist should be. does the constitution mean what it says? does it actually limit what the congress and federal government can do? i had an interview with national public radio.

the lady was lovely. it was going pretty well. i mentioned the constitution. she said, but the constitution is a living document. that is why we have a supreme court to, to explain to us peons what it really means. i said to her, if you believe that, michelle, i would like to play poker with you under living rules. high-stakes poker under living rules. [applause] what about this constitution? congress constitutionally require americans to buy medical insurance? >> no. >> does obama have the constitutional power to appoint people to rule over virtually every aspect of our lives?

>> no. >> does congress have the power to limit talk radio hosts freedom of speech? do we have the right to bear arms or not? >> yes. >> you passed the test. what is wrong with being obsess about upholding the constitution? without it, america ceases to be america. [applause] some people say it is not important where barack obama was born. some think the constitution is an archaic document or worse, it is a living document that changes in meaning over time. i say there is a process for amending the constitution. [applause] it is the basis for all of our

laws and the glue that holds us together. we abrogate it and abuse it at our great peril. i take seriously its eligibility requirements for president. i admit it. rush limbaugh had a funny line when he asked, what do god and barack obama have been common? his answer is, neither one of them have a birth certificate. it is a funny line. as with all humor, it contains only some truth. let me preface this by saying, i am a christian. i make no apologies about that. i am a follower of jesus christ. [applause] i recognize that there are people of many faiths here with us today and in this movement. i want to share with you today how the most important birth in

history, that of jesus of nazareth, was so well documented, unlike barack obama's. jesus established himself as the messiah and savior of the world into separate and distinct genealogical records. one goes all the way back to adam, and another traces his kingly lineage back to abraham. even if there were no birth certificates maintained a 2000 years ago in ancient israel, there is no doubt about where he was born, when, and his parentage. teases recognized those qualifications were essential to establishing his right to his earthly throne as king of the jews. look at your bible. the first 17 bursa's of matthew are devoted to his genealogy.

the next nine versu are devoted toes -- verses are devoted to the details of his birth. the rest of the chapter are about joseph and mary. likewise, the first 15 versus of the third chapter of luke are devoted to jesus's genealogy through the line of joseph, his adoptive father. why all the genealogical detail? they were critical. jesus was in its unique position to claim the throne of david because he was a physical descendant through the line of joseph. he was also eligible through the line of mary, his biological mother, because he had no mothers and she married within the tribe of judah. all of these details had to be established and they were. tracing one's lineage back to

the time of adam was quite an ordeal, even 2000 years ago. it would have been far more challenging than producing a simple piece of paper, a document that every american is forced to produce at various points in life -- to play in little league, high school sports, to get a driver's license, a passport, enter military service, and so on. jesus did that. his disciples thought it was important enough to include in their gospels. god did not want there to be any doubts about his eligibility or qualifications to be the king of kings. there is a lesson in this story for barack obama. his nativity story is much less known. the people have many questions about it.

there are many inconsistencies in the official story. no one has been permitted to see the one document that might shed light on his claim it to the presidency as a natural-born citizen. instead, we are asked to accept on faith that he is. we are asked to believe that a substitute document providing none of this corroborating detail and eyewitness testimony we find on genuine birth certificate is all we really need. this brings me to my main point today. it is not the birth certificate. we are in trouble in america. we're losing our moral bearings , our respect for the rule of law. you look around america and things are bad and getting worse. we are broken, dispirited, scared.

i cannot promise, when i am done with this speech tonight that you're going to be more prosperous than you were when you got here. among my job as speaker tonight is to give you some hope, some understanding, and hopefully, some inspiration. i mentioned the book i wrote called "taking america back." i was very excited about the book and considered it to be my finest work. i have written 13 books. that was my best. it came out just as the iraq war was getting started. abu i put this? it was not a runaway bestseller. i figured it was the war or the timing. i did not get my feelings hurt. i noticed toward the end of 2008, the book started to sell. i mean really sell. all of a sudden, as barack

obama entered the white house and became closer to reality -- they begin to want to learn how to take america back. this pace quickened even more into 2009. one day i looked at the sales of my book to discover that this literary flop had sold more than 85,000 copies, which is pretty darn good. it is not "going road." -- "going rogue." we have gone to reprint after reprint. why is this story important, besides plugging my book? it is indicative of a number of trends that i have seen it about what we are experiencing in america today. as bad as it is, as horrible as it seems, as unlikely as it appears that we can escape what we're going through --it can

actually be a vitally necessary experience for us, and one that is ultimately a very healthy and liberating for this country. this is the silver lining under the dark cloud of obama. you, right here. [applause] you know, we went through eight years of george w. bush. we went through his profligate spending. no one was interested in reaffirming just desperate that followed eight years of clinton and four years of george h. w. bush. each one promoted bigger government and less freedom. why the sudden wake up call in 2009 and 2010? have you heard the story about the frog sitting in the pot on top of the burner? in the beginning, the frog is enjoying the warm temperature, not noticing that it is getting

hotter. by the time he gets -- it gets unbearable for the frog, he is stuck pretty cannot jump out of the pot. it is too late. it is my theory that americans have been that frog in the pot -- for at least the last 20 years. we a been moving closer to socialism, further away from god, the constitution, doing what is right in our own eyes. all the while, we have not noticed it is killing us and our nation. we have been doing a slow burn. it has been going on much longer than that, slowly but surely. americans have been turning their backs on the sacrifices their forefathers made for liberty, on our history of self- government, the principles of limited government. why is that? in the 1900's, there was an italian communist.

he came up with the idea for achieving the goals of socialism without ever firing a shot. he suggested that he and his fellow travelers should embark on what he called a long march through the cultural institutions, subverting in changing them. --subverting and changing them. education, bladder be, entertainment, the press. political power when literally fall into their laps. his work was translated into dozens of languages. the most important task, in his long-term plan, for winning the hearts and minds of the people was to attack the notion that there is a sovereign god who

endows his creature with inalienable rights and establishes absolute rules about right and wrong. he wrote that it was a mistake to pursue communism through the linen -- leninist model. advocated taking over a leak cloistral institutions -- taking over cultural institutions. this was the work that was done to lay the foundations for obama, pelosi, and reid. what you consider your strategy here this weekend, let me remind you there are short-term goals and long-term goals. winning victories at the polls, which i fully expect us to do this year, is only half the battle. we have been battling forces

that have had political setbacks before. this movement is to last, we need a long-term strategy to do what our enemies have done over the last 100 years. we need to take over, not only the political institutions, but the cultural institutions like the press, the entertainment business, the schools, the universities, and even the churches. [applause] it is our duty. those of us who believe in god, liberty, security, responsibility --only he represents -- we have to begin another long march through the cultural institutions. it is not enough to criticize these institutions. they need to be taken over, redeemed, reborn. this is not a time for timidity

or compromise. it is not a time for defensiveness in conciliation. it is time to take the offense in this struggle. [applause] how anm i doing, angela? the cultural institutions that paved the way to this destruction of freedom -- we have to make a huge turnout on that road and take back those institutions. selecting the best politicians will never be enough. are you with me with that? are you ready to engage in a cultural war after we did back congress in november? we are on the same page. let me talk more about the tactics of our enemies so that we're clear on what we're up against. this is an area i have studied many years.

the question has been asked many times in the last year, what is obama doing? surely he is not dumb. why is he doing what he is doing fine knowing these policies have never worked in the past and are not working now and could never work in the future? the shocking answer is they are not supposed to work. at least not in the sense that you and i would have them work. the purpose of the policies is, for the most part, to increase missouri and create crises -- increase misery and create crises. it was taught by a marxist professor and his research assistant. it was published when barack obama was only 4 years old, we think. without the birth certificate, we really just don't know. [applause]

anyway, the professor and his research assistant offered what became known as a strategyi] but orchestrated crisis. i want everybody in this room to leave tonight understanding what this is. they specifically calculated their strategy as a way to end poverty by bringing the capitalist system to collapse through a series of escalating demands that could never be met. one of their principal demands was the establishment of a guaranteed annual income, just six years after they wrote their little manifesto, it became part of the platform of the 1972 democratic national convention. and they did not just argue that

these ideas should become political demands. they argued that action needed to be taken by like-minded people to recap on the system. that is the goal. to wreak havoc on the ssytem -- system. one way for that to happen was to sign up up for -- sign up the poor at such levels to tax the system. the new independent class would riot and rebel, creating chaos that would create a real crisis for the system. did you ever wonder what ron emmanuel meant when he said he never wanted to let a crisis go to waste? this is it. an example of how this strategy works quickly followed, when it

was actually implemented by the founder of the national welfare reform organization. in the early 1970's, he hired social workers with the express purpose of expanding the welfare roll as fast as possible. he was not about helping poor people. it was about expanding the welfare rolls. the strategy was so effective that the welfare recipients went from 4.3 million nationally to 10.8 million by the middle of the decade. in new york city, there was one welfare recipient for every two residents working in the city's private sector. in 1975, new york city went bankrupt as a result. many of you are too young to remember. there was a famous new york daily news headline. president gerald ford was between a rock and hard place

because of the strategy. these activities brought new york city to its knees. the disciple of his in 1970, after working for the organization, he formed a new organization called the arkansas community organizations for reform now. it became later known as acorn. the name was changed. the acronym remains the same. this was the organization that barack obama would serve as an attorney and trainer of its leadership. it was not just about registering democratic voters. it was about registering so many that it created a crisis in the system the same way that

they had earlier created a crisis in the welfare rolls. fraudulent voters were just as good as legitimate voters. where did the money come from for such abuses? it was heavily funded by the open society institute predicted the plan work? you bet. the idea behind the campaign, which continues to this day, even benefiting now from direct federal taxpayer support, was to register as many democratic voters as possible, legal or not, and assist them voting, the more times the merrier. the system had to be overwhelmed with multiple injuries, dead voters, random names, contrived names -- it all became impossible to police the lobbying for minimal identification standards for voters. that is where we are today with legislation right now being crafted in congress for

universal voting. everybody votes. nobody can be denied. just 18 years ago, obama headed the chicago operations for project vote. he boasts in his autobiography about how successful he was in registering voters in chicago boss south side. he was so successful that he was elected president in 2008, legitimately or illegitimately, remains to be seen. he is still employing the strategy, not as a community organizer, but as a community organizer and chief. he is still creating crises as a means of empowerment. nothing has changed. think about it. with obama, everything is a crisis. carbon dioxide levels. the banking industry. the automobile industry.

the health care system. the economy. he can effect all of them. how, by turning make-believe crises into real crises. the goal remains the same as when it was first outlined in 1966. it is, as the marxists explained, to heighten the contradiction of capitalism. bring the system to its knees and ultimately to collapse. do i exaggerate? >> no. >> i do not think so e ither. it is the only -- i do not think so either. it is the only paradigm that makes sense. they are following it delivered course to destroy the free enterprise system. if you try to fight back against this kind of political strategy just through electoral politics alone, you will win

some short-term victories. if you do not address the root cause, the constant tug of the cultural institutions pulling america in another direction, we will lose the war. americans tend to be too comfortable and to trumping -- too trusting of government. it is understandable. once upon a time, the u.s. government was the envy of the whole world. it presided over the greatest freedom the world had ever known. washington's power and reach grew well beyond its constitutional restrictions and something happened. it started to supplant god. it became an idol, a source of worship. did you ever wonder why the u.s. government has become less and less friendly to god? it is really obvious to me now.

competition. the u.s. government does not want any competition. it does not want it from the auto companies or the health insurance companies, or the banks, or the private businesses. in fact, it does not want it from even self-governing individual americans who take care of their own affairs. in other words, government wants to be your god, you're one and only god. the god of the bible, abraham, isaac, and jacob, the got to lead people i of egypt and back into israel --he represents a real competition. the god of the christians and jews says thou shalt have no other gods before me. that is his first commandment. the second does not make him any easier to swallow. do not worship idols. that is what the u.s. government

has become for many americans. god says, thou shalt not bowed down myself to them or serve them, for i am i jealous god, visiting the inequities of the father upon the children and to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. it is the mutual conversion -- aversion. the impact is already being felt in america today. the government has become godlike in the lives of so many citizens. we are paying a price for it and will continue to pay a bigger price for it for generations. even many christians do not see it yet. most do not have their priorities in life straight. not putting got first in their own lives. to many christians and jews do not believe they are not to question government. they think that is somehow on local. they fail to understand --

somehow unbiblical. they fail to understand that nations will also be judged by god. will not be a pretty sight. if america were just by this standard, it would not fare well. unless, we as a people change our ways. you can find the answer in second chronicles 7:14. if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turned from their wicked ways, then will i hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. do you think we are capable of recognizing we are headed in the wrong direction? this conference is a living testimony to that. it is not just a manner -- matter of electing the right leaders. our leaders are a judgment on us. we have to get our spiritual priorities straight. we have to recognize our

government is a blessing or a curse on us. americans were blessed with some great years in the past. our citizens understood the limitations of government. they understood the fact that our all just an almighty creator has no limitations on his power. do you think we can find our way home before it is too late? >> yes. >> in closing, let me say this. do not wait for someone to lead you. do not allow any politician or demigod to hijack this beautiful movement. [applause] that is always a danger. i am so proud of the way this movement has so far distance itself from politicians who want to jump out in front of the parade. [applause]

there is another danger for this movement. it is that we start getting overconfident and believing we are already in the driver's seat. believe me, we are not. it reminds me of an old joke. a jewish guy is riding the subway, reading and not see -- reading z naz -- reading a nazi newspaper. he says, i used to reduce paper, but what did i find? jews living in poverty, israel being persecuted. i switched to the nazi newspaper where jews rule the world. the news is so much better. [applause]

and other words, we have to stay focused on the reality and not live in a fantasy world. i lived in that world of reality every day. that is what we try to bring you through worldnetdaily.com. many people do not want to hear the truth. they do not want to hear about the threats to their country, their way of life, there things, -- their things, the lives of their brothers and sisters in faraway places. that is part of shining a light that needs to be shown in all the dark places. the truth needs to be told. it is the truth that sets us free. god bless you all and thank you for taking part in this important conference. [applause]

>> joseph farah, thank you so very much. [applause] >> live coverage of the three- day national tea party convention in nashville, tennessee. we will get to your phone calls in just a second as we look at pictures of the convention from earlier this evening. if you think the tea party nation could become a third party, here is how you can reach us. the numbers are on the screen. we have split them for different ways, republicans, 2025853885, democrats 2023885853886.

our first call is from virginia. the republicans line. >> hey. >> thank you for calling you are on c-span. >> i do think that tea party nation -- i know it is really radical. i would like to see this as a third party. i think sarah palin would be a great candidate for the party in 2012. >> thank you for your call. madison, wisconsin, on our independent line. >> i am watching the tea party convention. i do not know where these people are going. they're shouting stuff out. it sounds like the ramblings of fascists. spread onto north carolina on the republican line. susan in summer field.

do we have you? we will move on to illinois. the democrats' line. our next caller, where are you calling from? >> albany, new york. >> what do you think about this? do you think the tea party nation has a chance to become a third party? >> i would rather listen to the green party or another independent party, but not the tea party. >> why is that? >> i think there are a republic -- a front for the republican national committee. >> on to denver on our democrat line. go-ahead. >> i thought i heard there were as 600 registered attendees of the convention. is that true? >> i am not sure how many are attending. >> i thought i heard that a couple times. it seemed like an incredibly low number even at the grass-roots level.

>> any interest at all in this party? >> i cannot say there really is for me. a lot of the folks seem to be kind of hanging so far to the right it is tough to take them seriously. >> onto corpus christi, texas. go ahead, james barrett >> i'm getting ready to switch to the tea party. they are more conservative and they believe in the word of god. they are anti--- they are pro- family in anti-establishment. i call the socialist party the democratic party. >> is there much tea party action in corpus christi? >> we have two or three people so far. it is going to start growing. i put the word out on the internet to watch this thing on c-span tonight. >> onto susan in north carolina.

you do not sound like susan. thank you for calling. where are you calling from? >> jim could love from oklahoma. i do not think they should switch to a third party. i think they should revamp the republican party to its original form. >> the bronx, new york, and the democrat line. >> you are on c-span. go ahead. i'm going to ask all of our callers to turn down the tv so that you can pay attention and make your comments. go-ahead. >> ok. >> we are going to move on. we are looking at pictures of

the as now -- of the snow falling in the nation's capital. record-breaking snow is expected this weekend. we will bring you coverage all weekend. we do not expect this note to be a factor. we're on david from los angeles on the independent line. >> thank you for listening. i am originally from new york. i move to california 35 years ago. i now live in new mexico. what this gentleman just spoke about --i will be 72 in two weeks, i have been listening to what is happening and watching this for 60 years. i have been telling people they took god out of the schools, the bible out of the schools -- they put us in little boxes by calling us african american, hispanic american, all to separate us.

people had better wake up and listen to what is happening to our country. when i grew up, i was called an american. i was brought here, loved this country, and served in the military for seven years. people better wake up. i was a republican but went back to independent. i will go back to republican if they have a worthwhile candidate. i would say they should look for our general serving in afghanistan -- he would be a perfect leader for the republican party if they would stand up and pick the man. giuliani would have been a good enough choice if he would get his head out of his butt and serve the country instead of being soaked up the -- being so uppity.

the people had better start waking up and listening to what these people are talking to them about. >> a reminder that this is the first of several light evens we will be covering from the tea party national convention this weekend. tomorrow, a discussion on the future of the movement and organizing practices at 11:15 eastern tomorrow morning. tomorrow night, tea partiers will hear from former alaska gov. sarah palin, the keynote speaker. remarks -- coverage of her remarks start at 9:00 p.m. eastern. back to your calls. any chance that tea party nation will become a third party? >> i hope so. >> tell us why. >> i have been a democrat most of my life. i voted republican in our primary this past election.

i have been watching the tea party. i want to belong in know how -- and know how and when it will be organized in this area. nobody is telling this country the truth. we have no country anymore. we have nothing to say. anything they put through, we are supposed to like. we all know that it is not the best in the world. >> on 2 indiana on our democrat line. >> i would like to see the third national party for the tea party. i think what it would do it would provide the republican vote and make it easier to elect democrats. .

caller: why don't the two parties that we have now do their jobs as elected and forget about this third party? why don't they do their jobs? host: we appreciate your thoughts and all of your calls.

a quick reminder that tomorrow we will continue our coverage of the first national tea party convention. it will begin at 11:15 on c- span. a quick look at some of the people attending the gathering. >> what is your name? >> and jeff mclean. >> how many people have signed end? >> about 200 people. >> are you part of the

organization? >> i am the designer of the flag. it is this flag here. a couple of weeks ago, it was the flight that you saw at scott rounds rally in boston, massachusetts. it was snuck into the rally and we had about 200 of them there. >> what role do you think that the movement played in his election? >> it was very significant so that people across america could see the significant contribution of the tea party. >> you will have more coverage from natural tomorrow night, a speech by sarah palin. she will be the keynote address. that will begin at 9:00 p.m. eastern.

up next, nancy pelosi at the democratic national committee winter meeting. after that, remarks on northern ireland by secretary of state hillary clinton. then president obama on job creation and small business initiatives. >> we welcome paul johnson, author of over 40 books. his latest is on winston churchill. join our 3 our conversation. -- our 3 hour conversation. >> now, house speaker nancy pelosi at the democratic national committee winter meeting. also here opening remarks from

the chair of the dnc. >> please take your seat. a number of the officers and vice chairs are with us. let me acknowledge them. i will bring him back up in a second. congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz.

also the vice chair and the share of the new hampshire party. also the state democratic chairman. the vice chair for voter registration. if you did not see, she was -- have we seen and the. our national finance chair was with us most of the day yesterday. in addition, we are glad to have body shackled third. -- lotti shackleford.

it is great to have the speaker with us. before i bring congressman honda up, i would like to say it that i don't know that there has been a time when congress has been working on some important issues as this past year. when you see the president put out the big tough challenges, not the small ones. this sounds like to move in the right direction.

the speaker has done the enormous work and the issues that they are tackling but also the work load. it has been intense. i have been impressed by the graciousness on the speakers addressed. i don't know what i did write but i feel like she has always watched out for me and i appreciate that. to really give for the california introduction, let's give her an applause for coming and speaking to us today. [applause]

>> i want to warn you, we should stay standing. i will bring up one of my vice chairs who helped me. he has held many candidates all over this country. congressman mike honda. >> good morning. thank you, governor. i think it is safe to say that no other job in congress is as difficult as the speaker.

speaker pelosi. no one shows more responsibility to shape the debate and policy. no one can say that. no one else so devotedly listens and brings together the demands for the large diverse and opinionated democratic caucus. and someone who strongly advocates for all of us with the administration and the senate. the no one spends more time campaigning than speaker pelosi. i know that because when i was campaigning, every time she called me, she said she was going down the stairs of the plane. i got a lot of those. then it is no surprise that

historians, pundits, friends, colleagues, opponents consider nancy pelosi the most powerful speaker in history. [applause] it is because of her leadership and dedication to getting things done for the american people, the legislative accomplishments of the 111th congress are extraordinary. think about it. president obama's economic recovery act to create millions of jobs and cut taxes for the middle class. historic health care legislation to provide coverage for 11 million children from working families. [applause] the bill to limit greenhouse gas emissions and create millions of

clean energy jobs in america. the acts to create jobs on main street. when the speech he passed the house bill, she said that -- when the speaker passed the job bill, she said that she was ready to hit the campaign trail. we need ther and her strategy is to be out of there. i don't know any other campaigner than nancy pelosi. her vision and tenacity, resilience, patience, poise.

i watch her every day and i don't think that i have seen a look of -- in her eyes. it is always determination. that was my first month. i learned quickly. it is my distinct pleasure to introduce a fellow california democrat, my speaker, your speaker, nancy pelosi. [applause]

>> thank you all very much. thank you for your generous and insightful introduction. let's think mike honda. we are also proud of the chair of the democratic national committee.

thanks to all of you who are here. i want to acknowledge the members of the california delegation. a member of our california delegation is now going to be the speaker. some members of the congress are here from california. and that the wasserman schultz, we are so proud of her turned dowr.

we have congresswoman barbara lee. as you know, maxine is a fighter for economic justice. together and other members, we are working together with mr. cliburn. you will not be forgotten, he will not be forsaken. barbara lee is making sure. it is almost as though we are coming from.

there is important that the democratic national committee, our state chairs, vice chairs and others. çn on behalf of our majority leader, steny hoyer. i am here to say thank you. thank you for helping to elect strong democratic majorities in congress that has enabled us to make a difference in the lives of the american people. i know that senator reid's h

travel plans have been prevented by snow. he is a great leader in the u.s. senate. i want to point out one area of special pride. we are very proud that we supported greater support for our american veterans than any other time in history. on the battlefield, we will leave no soldier behind. we say, when they come home, we will leave no veteran behind. [applause] let us recognize their service and the service and sacrifice of our courageous men and women in

uniform and their families and their patriotism to our country. thank you. [applause] do with your help to end discrimination, we passed the equal pay legislation, also we received the news that president obama will repeal don't ask, don't tell. when you are out there, you have a question and i have been getting them for decades. what is the difference between the democratic party and the republican party? during his acceptance speech to the democratic national convention in 1948, president truman said "the democratic party is the people's party and the republican party is the party of special interests. it has always been and always

will. that is what he said. it was true then and it is true today. democrats are the party of the people. keeping in mind what he said about the republicans being the party of special interest, doesn't that combined with the latest supreme court decision insist that we pass public financing of campaigns? isn't that long overdue? democrats are the defenders of the middle-class and all who aspire to it. democrats are fighting for fairness and justice. democrats are leading the fight for main street. never again will wall street's recklessness undermine main streets progress. never again will they be allowed to jeopardize the jobs, homes, pensions, life savings of the american people. democrats are for health care for all americans as a right,

not a privilege. [applause] fairness and opportunity, that is the fire that burns within us. thank you for helping to elect a great president of the united states, president barack obama. [applause] in his inspirational inaugural address, he called for action bold and swift not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. with your help, it is all about you. with your help, one week and one day later, the house passed the recovery and reinvestment act. it will mark its anniversary on february 17th. it has helped to advance the education of our children by hiring more teachers and keeping teachers in our classrooms.

it provided for the safety of our neighborhoods by putting more firefighters and our community. middle-class tax cuts are an important part of this. we also were looking to create a clean energy jobs and we will also build on this with the climate change a bill. we will have a new clean energy jobs for the future. it is not just about putting people back to work, it is about having more and better jobs for the american people. [applause] there are a few things that i want you to remember, to take home. according to major economic indicators, we have already seen signs of recovery that have sprung from this recovery act. here is what i want you to remember. first, jobs pentode january of last year, before we effected

the recovery act, americans lost 741,000 jobs. one year later, the job loss the day, january, 2010, is 22,000 jobs. 741,000, 22,000 jobs. we have to do better but this is a big difference. it is 720,000 jobs less than january of last year. [applause] number2, the gross domestic product. in december, 2008, america's gdp decreased by 6.2%. just one year later, december,

2009, our gdp grew by 5.7%. a remarkable 12 point swing and the fastest that our economy has grown in years. 12 points from december to december. yesterday was not a great day but is still closed over 10,000. just a year-ago, around this time, the stock market closed at 7000. it was an increase of 3000 points. fourth, america's manufacturing base grew for the sixth straight month. now it is at its highest level in five years. we talk about jobs, gdp, stock markets and manufacturing base

increase. the recovery act was on important part of making that change and we must recognize that in all of our communities across the country. the biggest indicator for us is the progress that is made by america's families. democrats will focus on putting americans back to work but also creating new, more, and better jobs for the 21st century. we will measure our success and the progress made by the working family. central to our fight is our fight to reform health insurance.

let's recall the course that was set forth by a the president. with your help, one of the first bills that we sent to the president provides health care for 11 million children in america. 5we have more for investments d by medical research. the idea thais that the most

privileged people in america have better health care if everyone has health care. in a letter to president obama, ted kennedy wrote about the need for health-care reform. he said "what we face is above all a moral issue, at stake are not just the principles, the details of the policy but the fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country." with senator kennedy as their inspiration, with leadership of barack obama, and with your help, we will pass health insurance reform this year. [applause] while the forces against us have misrepresentations, here is what i want you to remember. the bills about creating jobs.

it is about innovation on how we deliver health care to everyone in america and for everyone to have personalized care and get the right care. this bill is about fairness. in the spirit of fairness, you will not be denied coverage because of precook existing conditions. -- because of pre-existing

conditions. being a woman is practically a pre-existing condition and most insurance. domestic violence is not considered a pre-existing condition. [applause] imagine, you get sick, they cancel your policy. that is not insurance. that might be the version that to they accept, but that is not what we except for the american people. most of the families are declaring bankruptcy do so because of medical bills. a diagnosis should not be a reason to declare bankruptcy and our country. on we will not allow insurance companies to come between you and your doctor. it is time for us to end the

unfair advantage that insurance companies have over american families. that is why next week, the house will act to repeal the special antitrust exemptions for health insurance companies. [applause] the bill will increase competition, increased consumer choice, lower costs for the american people in. let me tell you, one of the

campaign trails. i have seen grown men cry about this. people are on the verge of bankruptcy because of medical bills. they have a sick spells. they don't want to tell their children that they can no longer afford to buy drugs or that the things they may need. they don't want to declare bankruptcy. the problem will not go away. we must pass this reform. it is unsustainable. the status quo is unsustainable for individuals, for those people who worked their whole lives and they play by the rules, they have done everything right and come before me in tears and say they cannot make it.

imagine, this is happening because we don't have health care as a right, not a privilege, but we will before too long. standing together and working together, we will pass health care reform for the american people. recognized your role in this. we can do all of the inside maneuvering and legislating but without the outside mobilization, without your participation, nothing really great were good can happen there. anyone who would like to see the difference between democrats and

republicans need only look at their budgets. president obama sent his budget to the congress. president obama's budget is a true statement of our national values. what we believe in is how we allocate our resources. barbara and debbie know this. also mike honda. the new budget preserves social security and medicare, preserves jobs, and it does it in a fiscally sound way to reduce the deficit. by contrast, the republican budget provides tax breaks for the wealthy, it ends medicare as

we know it, and privatize social security. here they go again, rehashing the same failed bush policies. i want to takeyou to take that . they presented it earlier this week, it privatizes social security, turns medicare into a voucher program. it is important that the word get out and we need you to spread the word. imagine what would have happened if we had let america's retirement security when they wanted to privatize social secure the last time at the risk of the recklessness of wall street. because if you and i think you for your effort to save a social security in 2006, not only save social security, it elected a democratic majority to the congress of the united states.

[applause] urged on by president truman and his definition, strongly led by president obama, aren't we proud of our great president of the united states? [applause] [laughter] harkening back to the president who brought us a social security, president franklin roosevelt. this president identified with the aspirations of the american people. he knew they needed jobs.

one of my favorite stories is that it is important know who we are as democrats. when president roosevelt died, he was taken by train to lie in state and then on to hyde park. along the way, hundreds of thousands of people lined the tracks. there were large amounts of african-americans, poor people, they lined the tracks to pay their respects. when the train came into union station, a reporter went up to him -- went up to a mourner. the reporter asked him, why are you here?

did you know franklin roosevelt? he said, i did not know president roosevelt but he knew me. [applause] that has always been what our purposes and the democratic party, to know the aspiration, the challenges, the hopes, the fears. we know the people, they would like security. you are the messages to insure that the american people know that the democratic party knows them.

it really does make a difference. we have two different value systems here. on behalf of the democrats and the house of representatives, i am here to say thank you for what you have done. we look forward to working with you to accomplish the goals that we set forth in this next session of congress.

god will bless america by the successes that we have had. god bless america. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] calle[captions copyright nationl cable satellite corp. 2010] >> coming up next, comments on northern ireland by a secretary clinton. then, president obama discusses jobs.

this week, a discussion on the history of women lawyers. the challenges when -- woman face on the legal profession. panelists include sandra day o'connor and alain akkadian. -- e and elena cagan. >> now for educators, we have redesigned our website. there are videos for use in your classroom. you can watch the mo video clip. also the chance to connect for other teachers. signup at c-span.org. >> secretary of state hillary

clinton on ireland. she will discuss the transfer of control from britain to irish control -- from britain to ireland. >> northern ireland has taken another step towards a full and lasting peace. its leaders have agreed on a road map and a timeline for the transfer of powers. the accord will help to consolidate the hard-won gains of the next decade. this has not been an easy road.

there were plenty of bumps along the way. i has been in regular contact with at the parties in the past year especially in our trip to belfast. i know that the way forward was far from clear. i really want to applaud all of the parties for ultimately choosing negotiations over confrontations. finalizing this deal, peter robinson and martin mcguinness and their teams displayed the kind of leadership that the people of northern ireland deserve. i want to recognize the leadership and the resolve of prime mr. brown as well as the northern ireland secretary sean woodward. they have focused on moving this process forward, forging common ground, and reaching an outcome that will keep northern ireland on the path of peace and stability.

this has enabled the leaders to enact a change of needed reforms from health, housing, environmental safety. now they have greater authority. they must continue to lead. the people of northern ireland are poised to build a thriving society on this foundation. it looks like they will be freer -- free from fear and they will be able to have their god-given rights. this was nurtured for so long in the hearts of people across northern ireland. it also lives far beyond its borders where religious conflicts persist. the latest successes points the way forward. not only for this conflict. northern ireland gives us hope that despite entrenched opposition and enumerable setbacks, diligent leadership

can overcome suspicion and hostility. now we join the world and looking to the leaders of northern ireland to build upon their efforts by building a new spirit of cooperation. as they do, the u.s. will help. our economic on a point will continue working to help northern ireland to reap the dividends of peace. -- our economic on voic♪envoenvl continue working to help northern ireland. i spoke very very late in the evening in northern ireland. we pledged support for

their efforts. we recognize that a new chapter of a partnership among the political leadership can began. i want to reaffirm our support. >> is united states studying the idea of withholding recognition of the iraqi elections in march if the 500 sunni credits are excited -- sunni candidates are excluded?

>> on the 10 american citizens who had been detained in haiti, we are providing them with some services. we are providing services to those that are in the situations. we were heartened by a decision.

there is an extraordinary opportunity. we have not made any decisions about what has occurred within the context of the election. >> would you recognize the outcome?

>> we are pleased that the decision opens the way for these 500 individuals to stand for election. we think that is an appropriate outcome. we would like to make sure that nothing is done that undermines the legitimacy of this election. obviously, anything that would be undermining of the potential legitimacy would be concerning. >> the chinese foreign ministry.

do you feel that we need more time on the diplomatic side. do you feel that they are going forward on sanctions. >> we hope that other members recognize this process. they have helped to enable the negotiations the fact is that we

have not seen much in the way of response from iran. sometimes we see some from a part of the government that is retracted from another part of the government. we have always had a two-track process. it is important that we look at what pressure, what sanctions can be brought to bear on the iranians. thank you. enjoy the snow.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> coming up next, president obama on job creation and business initiatives. then the joint economic council discusses the january employment figures. then a fox new contributor at b the top tea party convention. tomorrow, nick baker discusses the impact of the stock market on the economy. mark skoda talks about the convention, the goals of the party, the legislative agenda, and their role in the midterm elections. then the co-editor of "workplace flexibility," how the structure needs to be realigned for the

21st century workforce. >> it's easy to complain about the issues and the peoples and the politicians. >> tom hartman is our guest sunday night at 8:00 on c-span. >> president obama was in maryland today just outside of the capital meeting with small business owners. he discussed job creation and small business initiatives including a proposal to extend small business administration lending programs. his remarks came on the heels from the labor department that the unemployment rate fell last month. this is about 10 minutes.

>> thank you. i appreciate the warm welcome. they are experts in cooling and heating systems. after my time in washington, i am very familiar with hot air. that does not apply to the head of the small business administration. she has focused like a laser on helping businesses survive and thrive amid the economic storm. we are also joined by the owner and chef of pizza paradio. also we are joined by the owner

and the operator of the potomac river boat co. in alexandria, virginia. these folks know as every soul in america does, that these has been a rough couple of years for our economy and for our country. the deepest downturn since the great depression ripped through our economy costing more than 8 million jobs and. we are climbing out of the huge hole that we found ourselves in. last january, almost 800,000 americans lost their jobs. today, we learned that the job losses for this january were 20,000.

the unemployment rate dropped below 10% for the first time. there was increased activity in the production of cars and trucks and auto parts. these numbers, while positive, are a cause for hope but not celebration. far too many of our friends and neighbors are out of work. we cannot be satisfied when 20,000 have joined the ranks and millions of americans are underemployed picking up litter -- what work they can. it is encouraging that the job loss in january was a small fraction of what it was a year ago and that to the unemployment rate last month went down and not up. understanding that these numbers will continue to fluctuate four months to come, these are welcome if modest signs of progress along the road to recovery. now, even as we take additional

steps to hasten the recovery, we know that there are limits to what the government can do to create jobs. 82 engine of job creation will always be businesses. what government can do is to fuel engine by giving on to the north and companies the support to open their doors and to expand and hire more workers. that is what this administration intends to do and what we have been doing working with the small business administration. over the past 15 years, small businesses have created roughly 65% of new jobs in america. these are companies formed around kitchen tables, family meetings. an entrepreneur takes a chance on a dream. a worker decides it is time that she became her own boss. it is worth remembering every once in awhile that the small business becomes a big business and changes the world.

that is why last week i proposed a new small business tax credit, $5,000 for every new employee you higher this year. a couple of these people here, the small business owners, said that they would be interested in using that tax credit. this week, proposed a new small business lending fund that it take a $30 billion of the fund a originally used to rescue big banks on wall street and use it to provide landing, community banks on main street. we have capital one bank here who has been a lender to oasis. we appreciate the good work you have done supporting this. -- capital bank, excuse me. the sba has reduced fees. we have called for legislation

to increase the loan limits and to allow us to guarantee loans of up to 5 million compared with 2 million now. today, i'm taking yet another step to assist small business owners to get the capital that they need. i am proposing legislation that allows firms to refinance their commercial real estate loans and mortgages under the small business administration. right now, even companies with great credit histories are facing challenges and the historically low rates. the property values have fallen. many businesses that were otherwise in -- surviving the downturn are at risk of defaulting which will lead to lower property values, not to mention lost jobs. in addition, i am proposing that we increased the limits for loans used for lines of credit and working capital. something i know can benefit businesses and others.

it is not easy to run a small business. it is not easy to stay ahead of your competitors, to keep your costs down, to constantly innovate and adapt in a changing world. ruth reminds me if it's not easy to keep up with health care costs. we are very anxious to see health care reform passed so that small businesses can pick up the cost for their employees. in this deep and lasting recession, a hard job has been trouble. for much -- for much of the past year, people were not calling and banks were not lending. even in the face of these objects, all across the country there are people who have not given up.