you see a way to navigate these troubled waters to fulfill your obligations to your in families. that determination, that resolve, you are the best in america. next week, congress will start debating many of the jaws proposals i have outlined. many proposals to benefit small business. many to spur hiring. if dark bar additional ideas from either party, i'm happy to consider them. -- jetblue i would like to hear additional ideas from

either party. i am happy to consider them. thank you, very much. . . . >> the meeting will come to order. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, because of the snow, have asked to have their statements placed in the record. we may have others come in on the democratic side. many people have left because of the snow warning.

what a difference a year makes. today's report from the bureau of labor and statistics provides further evidence that the labor market has stabilized and that we have turned a corner. the economy is no longer hemorrhaging jobs. the unemployment jumped to 9.7% -- dropped to 9.7%. just over one year ago, the current administration took office taking the helm of a country suffering the worst crisis since the great depression. the council of economic advisers chair testified before this committee that the shocks we endured during this recession were even greater than during the great depression. during the last three months of the bush should ministration, 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 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 on february 17, the economy is growing. the bureau of economic analysis reported last week that in the final quarter of 2009 the economy expanded at a rate of five points 7%. average weekly hours are climbing, with indications that the manufacturing sector is driving that upward trend. since june, the manufacturing

work force is up 1.2 hours. job growth in the health sector has leading growth. health services have added 247,000 jobs, 52,000 in january alone. although the labor market appears to be stabilizing, too many americans remain out of work. more than 15 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 16.5% for african- americans and 12.6% for hispanics. today's jobs reports makes it clear -- today's jobs report makes it clear we are making progress. the road to recovery will be long and will not be easy.

while we have brought the economy back from the brink, we are not where we need to be in terms of job creation. the mission is to create high- quality private-sector jobs. in the last year, congress has enacted policies that support struggling families and encourage job creation. the $700 billion recovery act included a tax cut for 97% of american families while investing in clean energy, infrastructure, and education. last year, we extended the $8,000 first time home buyers credit that will expand construction jobs. we will help struggling families whether -- weather this economic storm. we will help small businesses hire new employees. we are boosting funding for small business loans by a -- for

small-business loans by the small business administration. i started the year reaching out to ceos's of fortune 500 companies and small businesses. i asked them to share ideas for new ways to create private- sector jobs. i am introducing an employer tax credit co-sponsored in the set by the colleagues sitting next to me, senator casey, and my fellow new yorker kristin jill bread. this idea was suggested by several responded to the survey. on tuesday, 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 cbo director -- from the cbo director.

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 after tuesday's up hearing -- and after today's hearing. i encourage all to be here for tuesday's hearing. i am pleased that my colleague, senator cummings is here. >> i want to thank our chair for gathering us today and for her comments about the challenges that are ahead of us. we are all gratified and that the unemployment rate has come down from month to month. we do not know what that means yet and will be interested to hear some of the analysis about what it means. i do believe that in places

around the country people are still very worried. there is a high degree of anxiety about what lies ahead. in pennsylvania, when we looked at the december numbers, not just statewide -- it translates into an 8.9% unemployment rate. that number went up in december by about 0.4%. the rate has gone up. you look at individual communities. we have 14 labor markets in our state. we have one that just went to 10%, here, in western pennsylvania. 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 bringing this unemployment rate down over time, i believe, as our chair just stated, is to have a job creation tax credit. economists across the board have made it clear that it is the right thing to do. it is the fastest way to create jobs, to increase our gross domestic product. this is not a theory. we have done it before. we passed a similar tax credit in the 1970's that created over 700,000 jobs in a program which was widely known to be under- advertised. if we could do that all those years ago without a lot of dissemination of information, i think a lot of employers would

take advantage of this opportunity to create jobs in the next several months, not the next several years. we have a challenge ahead of us. you need only go to places like a job center. i was in a job center in gettysburg, pa. about 10 days ago. i met eight unemployed pennsylvanian is out of the 560,000 who have yet to find work. you learn a lot by literally just listening to the struggles and the worries that people in our economy feel when they are out of work. many of them, i would say most of them, at least in this group, and i think this is true across the board, tend to be over the age of 50 or over the age of 60, and feel that they not only have an economic challenge but sometimes are facing discrimination because of their age.

but they obviously cannot prove that sometimes. but they feel it. they fill out application after application. not just five and 10, but 50 or 100. they are rejected outright or never hear back. we're going to continue to push forward to get a jobs bill passed, to continue every possible strategy to create jobs in the near term. i want to thank our chair for getting us together today. >> i want to thank the senator for his comments, particularly on creating new jobs. we passed a jobs bill in the house earlier. it is encouraging to hear the senate is taking up a focus on creating new jobs. president obama -- it was the main focus of his speech last night and recently. >> thank you, madam chair.

i would like to associate myself with the words of senator casey. the unemployment rate has lowered for four months now. i have to tell you that i am glad it did not go up. if it had gone up, we would have naysayers on the other side talking about how bad things are. that is not to say we do not have problems. as i have said many times, one job lost is one too many. there are so many people who are suffering. i want to take the few moments that i have, madam chair, to urge our republican colleagues to join in as we attempt to

address this problem. you know, people are unemployed in every district of our 435 congressional districts. last week, the president was in baltimore. he did two thanks. 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 there was that they have been getting some government contracts and other contracts from the private sector. they may very well be on the verge of hiring a few more people. it is not a tremendously large company. but when the president talked about a tax credit that you and senator casey talked about,

madam chair, for employers to hire folks and to incentivize them to do that, you could tell that the owners of the company were simply delighted. there are so many businesses right on the verge of hiring. it is a hard decision. i do not think it is the solution that is going to necessarily be the one silver bullet, but it is a part of a whole group of efforts that have been put forth on the part of the house and i know will be put forth on the part of the senate. the thing we have to do now is to what the president has said. folks have got to put the partisanship aside. as i say to my constituents, i told them we would get through the storm. this is the united states of america.

we have been through storms before. the question is not whether we will get through 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? will you have your health insurance? will your children have the opportunity to to go to school after they have done everything they were supposed to do from kindergarten onward. ? will they be able to go to college at that critical moment? those are the questions. i believe the things we have done are 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 that may be listening to this to merge their senators, be they republican or democrat, to stand up for them.

it is time the american people had people standing up for them , putting partisanship aside so that they can live the best lives that they can. finally, we have one life to live. this is no dress rehearsal. this is it. some people act like they have a live next door, a live over there. -- some people act like they have eigha life next door, a life over there. they are not voting so we can win an election in a few years. they are voting so we can immediately act. they expect that of us and nothing less. on behalf of my constituents, i urge all our colleagues to join to address this issue. i look forward to hearing from the witnesses.

i yield back. >> thank you very much. before i began, i would like to ask consent to submit to the written record the statements of any member of this committee. i would like to introduce commissioner hall. keith hall is the head of the department of labour. he served as the head of the white house counsel of the that -- the white house council of economic advisers. he spent 10 years at the international trade commission. welcome. we hope to hear some good news. >> madam chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the employment data we released this morning. the unemployment rate declined from 10.0% to 9.7% in january. non-farm payroll was essentially unchanged.

it has shown little movement over the last three months. in january, job losses continued in construction, transportation, and warehousing. employment increased in health services and retail. job losses since the start of the recession in december 2007 total 8.4 million. this is substantially more than previously reported. construction employment fell by 75,000 in january, in line with the average monthly job loss in 2009. nonresidential trade contract accounted for much of the decline. the nonresidential component of construction have accounted for the majority of the industry's job losses since early 2009. employment in transportation and warehousing decrease by 19,000. the entire decline include -- the entire decline occurred in messenger services. health services grew by 52,000

over the month. this industry has added nearly a quarter of a million jobs since last september. following two months of little change, retail employment increased by 42,000 in january, with gains in several components. health-care employment continued to rise. manufacturing employment was little changed, although motor vehicles added 23,000. since june, the workweek for all employees has increased by 1.2 hours. government employee rose in january due to hiring increases associated with the census. excluding education, employment continued to trend down over the month. both the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate declined in january. the share of those jobless who are 27 weeks and over continued to rise.

the employment to population ratio in clay -- increased. those working part time who would prefer full-time dropped to the lowest level in a year. before closing, i note that several changes were introduced to the employment situation news release. three new household survey tables provide information on the employment of veterans, persons with a disability, and the foreign-born population. the unemployment rate of veterans from the gulf war was 6.2%. persons with disabilities had a higher jobless rate than persons with no disability, 15.2%. 21.8% of persons with a disability were in the labour force, compared with 70% of persons without a disability. the unemployment rate for the foreign-born was 11.8%.

the rate for the native born was 10.3%. the survey tables have been redesigned to include data on hours and earnings for aren't -- for all private-sector employees as well as women. women represent 43.9% of non- farm employment. additional information about the redesigned tables is available at our website. there are annual adjustments to data from our to surveys. the survey released today incorporate its annual benchmark revisions. each year, we we anchor our sample base estimates to a full universe count of employment derived from administration records of the tax system. the previously published level of non-farm employment for our december was revised downward by 1.4 million.

household survey data reflects updated pop elation estimates from the census bureau. further information is in our news release and on our website. returning to the labour market data, the jobless rate declined to 97% in january. payroll was essentially unchanged. >> what a difference a year makes. can you point to any particularly encouraging bright spots in this labor report? >> there are several things worth mentioning. first is that the unemployment rate went from 10.0% to 9.7%. people who are part-time for economic reasons declined this month. that means our broadest measure of labor under utilization,

those that are unemployed plus those who are discouraged plus those who are part-time who want to be full time -- that decline from 17.3% to 16.5%. that was a nice side. temporarily help -- temporary help added a quarter million jobs in the past four months. that is often a leading indicator of a strengthening labor market. the manufacturing work week increased 1.2 hours since june. that is an indicator of strengthening in the labour market. there is a number of other -- there is other non labor market data. there may be signs of strengthening in the labour market. >> can you comment on any

further indicators that job losses will continue to slow and turned positive in the coming months? >> without speculating too much , there are indicators of a strengthening labor market. i think some of the other data, the gdp number that just came out -- most of that growth was from inventories. a good proportion was equipment and software investment. that tracks very nicely with payroll jobs. when firms bring back investment in equipment and software, they also tend to bring back employees. the investment numbers are strengthening an increasing rate of demand. some economists have estimated that we need to grow our jobs just to meet the new payroll jobs that they estimate as between 100,000 to 150,000 new

payroll jobs. what rate is needed to lower the unemployment rate to what it was in 2007, before the recession began, at 4.7%? >> 100,000 to 150,000 is about accurate. that would keep up with growth in the labour force. going forward, if the labor market continues to improve, we expect people to re-enter the labour force. we might hope to get stronger payroll job growth. we probably need stronger than that to have the unemployment rate drop. >> some workers are likely to re-enter the labour force because they see greater promise of finding a job with these numbers. that is encouraging.

is it not true that those workers re-entering the labour market will bump the unemployment rate upward? >> it often does. if the labor market continues to strengthen, in the past what has happened is that an increase in the labour force has caused the unemployment rate to jump up temporarily. >> how big a factor is it? >> it has done that in the past. this particular time, we have a high potential for that because so many people are unemployed. we have lost so many people out of the labor force. as we go forward, if we start to see real improvement, we should not be too concerned if the unemployment rate hit a speed bump and goes up a couple of points. >> i want to preliminarily make a comment about where we are and where we have been.

i am pretty sure you are not allowed to make the kind of comments i will make. i think it is important to put it in the record. we have had a lot of folks in washington denigrating the american recovery and reinvestment act, the stimulus bill. the facts are clear right now. prior to the recovery bill, we were losing, between december and march, every single month, for four months, 30,000 jobs or more. here we are a year later. we have lost this month 20,000 jobs. last month was what? >> 150,000. >> at least we are moving in

the right direction. a strong case can be made that the recovery bill has had a positive impact and is at least -- any fair minded person would say it is beginning to work. that is important to put on the record. i wanted to know, in terms of the individual groups or demographic groups we look at -- i wanted to highlight one segment, one part of the population where the number went up, african-americans. the unemployment rate went up to 16.5%. that was up 0.3%. the only group, if you look at it is in terms of -- if you look at it in terms of groups, whether it is adult women, adult men, teenagers, white americans

-- the hispanic unemployment rate was 12.6%. one of the only groups, if not the only one, up was african- americans. >> i am not sure that number is statistically significant. >> that is not necessarily a trend? >> correct. 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 bit smaller. we over simple the group relative to the population, but it is not as large a sample as the overall number. >> we of course hope you are wrong and the number has stabilized or is going down. the other point i wanted to highlight was the new data. it is pretty significant that you are now tracking veterans

and persons with disabilities. i wanted to make sure i had that number right. this would be veterans for -- let me have you say it. veteran since the gulf war? >> gulf war era to, so that is since september 11. that number is 12%. >> what does that work out two in total number? >> in terms of unemployed veterans? it is about 213,000. >> that is a big number. i only have a minute left. if you are able to speak with great speed, are there -- i should say, are there disappoints that -- are there

data points that indicate there are growing sectors we should be encouraged by? >> the short answer is yes. i think one notable one is that we gained 11,000 jobs in manufacturing. >> a net gain in manufacturing. >> this is the first net gain we have had in three years in manufacturing. >> the first time in three years in a monthly number? >> that is correct. professional business services seems to be back, especially with temporary help and health and education continuing to grow. most job loss now is centered in construction. we lost 75,000 jobs in construction, which is more than the overall loss of 20,000. we had net gains outside construction. >> let us look at the african-

american numbers. you said it is possible that the numbers might not be -- might not be as bad as they appear. >> it is a relatively small sample. there might be some fluctuation that is due to our measurement rather than actual changes. >> if i were to guess, i believe it is probably higher. i think you have a lot of -- when i go to my district, right now, 40 miles away from here, you would see a lot of african- american men in my neighborhood who are unemployed. i do not know whether their numbers even register here. i would guess there are parts of my district where the african american male unemployment rate

is 45% to 50%. i know you look at statistics. i was thinking about the census and how people get left out of the census not necessarily because of the government but because they never get counted. do you want to comment on what i just said? >> one thing i think we know for sure is the unemployment rate is very high relative to other groups. when i talked about that 0.3% increase, i am just talking about the monthly change. this is a high number. it has more than doubled since the recession started. a bit of what you are seeing as well is discouraged workers who have dropped out of the labor force. that would not be reflected in the 16% number. >> if the president were to call

you after this hearing and asked you for a 32nd explanation on what you said -- and ask you for a 30 second explanation on what you said and where we are going, would you share what you can with us? >> i will tell you where we have come to. the past three months, we have had essentially no change in the payroll jobs. that is a dramatic improvement over earlier in the year. there is a lot of indication in this data that with temporary help and hours worked that the labor market may be tightening up. if that continues, that would be encouraging for job growth going forward. >> is there a discernible trend

of jobs moving from unskilled labor to skilled labour or vice versa? in past recessions, did we experience a shift like that? how about this one? >> this recession was notable because of the job losses that were significant across all groups. it was a very broad job loss. other recessions have been more centered in particular industries, particular occupations. in this recession, it has been deep. we have had so much job loss. one of the interesting things, when we come to recovery, will be how broad it will be. in this recession, there is not a clear pattern in skilled or unskilled. >> the labor department reported yesterday that worker

productivity increased 6.4% in the fourth quarter as companies did more for less. are these productivity gains centered in certain sectors or is that across the board? >> it is pretty across the board. we do not have a lot of break down on industries on monthly data. it is across the board. that is a very good sign. strong productivity growth, in the past, has been associated with the early stages of an economic recovery. we have had about three months of strong productivity growth. this is the first month of strong productivity growth and an increase in hours worked. >> what does that mean? >> we had strong productivity but it was because output dropped by less than ours dropped. it was strong productivity in sort of a negative way.

this is strong productivity in a positive way. >> americans are working hard if they can get a job. >> yes. >> that is a strong statement and very true. commissioner hall, several months ago the d l s released unemployment projections for the years 2008 to 2018. what do you project the largest month -- where did you see the job growth in coming years? is this different from past projections? >> i will mention some of the broad numbers. there is a service providing sector that should have 96 percent of the job growth. i do not mean service occupations but service industries. that is consistent with the past. we expect the largest employment

growth in professional business services, health care, and social assistance. that is fairly consistent with our past forecasts. when we are talking about industries like management, consulting, computer systems design, employment services -- >> how did these projections differ from private-sector projections you read every now and then? >> one of the things we are doing here, and jack will maybe talk about this as well -- >> we are projecting from inside a recession. the reason our numbers have changed is we are looking past the recession. a lot of these numbers are looking at recovery out of the recession in addition to normal economic growth afterward.

do you want to add anything, jack? >> i would say our projections do not differ from private- sector predictions. they typically use the same methodology that we use for hours. -- that we use for ours. >> i am concerned about the duration of unemployment. the duration of unemployment has been longer in this recession. is there a relationship between this long period of unemployment and degree of probability of being employed? could you comment on this duration of unemployment has increased in this recession? >> unfortunately, there does seem to be pretty strong evidence that the longer the duration of unemployment the lower the probability of being rehired. >> is this different from prior recessions? in prior recessions have we had

this long period of unemployment? >> no. this is by far the worst recession with respect to duration of unemployment. the long-term unemployed started at a higher level at the beginning of the recession and has been at record levels for several months. in past recessions, the long- term 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. we do have something. i am sorry. the duration is particularly high in certain demographic

groups. those without a high-school diploma are over represented in the long-term unemployed. african-americans are over- represented. even those with a high-school diploma but no college are over- represented. >> my time has expired. >> thank you, madam chair. one of the features often cited about this recession has been the fall in consumer spending. that is itself linked to consumer confidence. how does the fall in overall consumer demand show up in your data? >> consumer spending is the driver behind gdp. it is the driver behind employment. during normal expansions, the growth in consumer spending is roughly in line with the growth

of gdp. without a strong recovery in consumer spending, hopefully from consumer confidence and consumer spending, we are not going to see a strong recovery. it is critical. >> when we got the information a few days ago, the very good numbers on the gdp -- do you see a correlation between those numbers and what you found in your report? >> actually, a lot of the gdp growth was from inventory. the 5.7%, while it was a good number -- a good portion was from inventory buildup. that may be an indication of future growth but it is not an indication of current demand.

outside of inventories, gdp did grow 2.2%, which is reasonable growth. that is consistent. if that continues to grow at 2.2% or more, that is consistent with payroll job growth. >> we saw with ford, going to cars, and we saw they had significant rise in cars sold. we also saw that with gm. one of the things we were concerned about was that after the cash for clunkers sales were over that there might be a slight bump up in manufacturing of automobiles but a lot of us were concerned that would not last very long. can you tell from what you --

from your research hall --- do e a trend? people are buying cars and who did not buy during cash for clunkers? what are you finding there? >> motor vehicles and parts, i have 23,000 jobs added. >> that is significant. >> it is only one month. that was a nice bump up in employment. >> a general question. the month of january, year to year, has certain unique characteristics. for example, 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, going back to cars -- 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. >> that gain of 23,000 jobs is taking into account the normal seasonal patterns in motor vehicles. when we say 23,000, we mean relative to what we expect normally. >> in other words, if we were not in a recession you would expect 23,000 jobs? >> no. i am not sure what the expectation was for motor vehicles, but the way we can

isolate these numbers is that we have 23,000 more jobs than we would normally have expected. >> so you are saying the opposite of what i just said. >> yes. >> so we should feel -- i know you are limited to your opinions. i am sure that makes you -- if somebody were to ask this outside of your position and said, "how do you feel about that," i guess you would say you felt pretty good? >> yes. i would caution that it is only one month. but it is growth in jobs of motor vehicles. >> temporary health is often -- temporary help is often the indicator of a willingness to hire more employees. can you comment on the temporary help numbers and any trends you see over the past several months? >> the temporary help industry

has been and continues to be a leading indicator. for example, before we went into the recession temporary help services growth started to decline nine or 10 months ahead of the recession. it signaled early on that we were coming into a slowdown. in past recessions, a pick up in temporary health's -- a pick up in temporary help services has led a pickup in jobs. it has been up over the past four months. i consider that an indicator of potential payroll job growth. >> could you comment on how women have shared in this recession? you testified earlier that women employees are up from 48.8% to 49.9%. could you comment on this trend?

do you see that more women could be employed in this recession than men? in what industries are they employed? in what industries are they losing or gaining jobs? >> men have lost jobs relative to women, something like two or three to one. women make up 49.9% of the payroll jobs in the economy. it is possible. we are within 350,000 -- the number of women employed are within three or 2000 of the number of men employed. -- the number of women employed are within 350,000 of the number of men employed. women could exceed men at some point. women have also lost jobs. women have lost 2.6 million jobs

out of the 8.4 million during this recession so far. they have lost -- it is particularly notable in professional and business services. education and health services and financial activities are also notable. more people have lost jobs -- more women have lost jobs in finance than men have. >> thank you for tracking that information. i would like to ask some questions about my home straight -- my home state of new york. unemployment in new york city jumped from last december. is this in tune with other states and the overall national average? are these changes similar to the changes taking place on national

unemployment? >> historically, the state of new york has had a similar pattern during a recession to the united states as a whole. 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 fairly similar to the overall numbers for the united states. >> what about manhattan, which is very dependent on financial service jobs? given the economy, has it had a particularly hard blow or is it in tune with the national average? >> i do not have manhattan with me. i can tell you new york broadly. new york has lost about 50,000

jobs and financial activity since the start of the recession. new york has been heavily hit by the financial activity losses. >> my time has expired. >> yesterday, ain't -- yesterday, a "new york times "a reporter asked me about the idea of african american unemployment being -- having a gap with unemployment overall. i am not going to ask you whether special thing should be done. i just want to know -- it appears there is an increase in the gap between overall unemployment and african- american unemployment. is that accurate? >> that is. it has grown during the recession. unfortunately, it grows during every recession. >> is that right?

do we have an explanation for that? >> i do not. there is probably some research on that but i am not familiar with it. >> what changes in the makeup of the labor force can you identify in terms of gender, race, or age? who is entering the labour force and who is leaving, and what is the significance of those changes? can you answer those questions? changes in the makeup of the labor force. in other words, we have people who are leaving the labor force and there are people who are entering. for example, assume -- all the reports are saying more people are staying in school because they cannot -- many of them do not feel they can find jobs.

do we have any statistics on who is entering, and at what rate, and who is leaving? do you follow me? how are you? >> fine, thank you. the first thing i would say is that the most important trend, in terms of the labor force, is that older workers -- labor force participation has been going up. it started going up before the recession and has continued to go up. that is at the same time that labor force participation has gone down for every other group. a lot of that is part of a long- term trend. part of it is also because, of course, a lot of people lost much of their access through the stock market and housing market fall -- a lot of people lost much of their assets through the

stock market fall and housing market fall. that is related to the downturn. we have not seen a lot of people coming back into the labour force, which you might see as people start getting more confident. at some point, you would expect to see that. it goes hand-in-hand with job creation. as job show up, people here that someone is hiring. they start looking for work and the labor force grows. we are not really there yet. >> based on what you have observed, a commissioner, in all your examinations of the census , do you anticipate any net government hiring attributable to the census? >> it should. we added about 10,000 government jobs from the census this month.

in coming months, i think the total hiring -- we should get at least half a million added to the government jobs when the census is fully hired up. >> half a million? >> yes. that might have a measurable effect on the unemployment rate. it might go down. >> is that a usual trend? is there usually a slight impact on the unemployment rate because of the census? >> that is normal. >> to be see any geographical changes with regard to job losses? -- do we see any geographical changes with regard to job losses? are there regions hit

disproportionately? >> job losses have been spread out. certain states have higher unemployment rates. it is a little hard to talk about. it is not as regional as it is with specific states. >> i see. thank you very much. >> many of my colleagues have left because washington is getting ready for a huge snowstorm. we are very grateful that you have weathered the storm to be here today and give us this report. it appears we are trending in the right direction. we are no longer facing an avalanche of job losses. we thank you for your hard work and for being here today. this meeting is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> the latest on the economic stimulus. of the $787 billion economic stimulus signed into law one year ago this month, over $132 billion have been committed to states to spend on stimulus programs. that is up $3 billion from last week.

$176 billion have been paid out for those projects so far. c-span.org/stimulus will give you links to government and watchdog groups tracking spending. up next on c-span, fox news contributor angela mcglowan at the tea party convention in nashville. house speaker nancy pelosi at the house democratic committee's winter meeting. following that, remarks by secretary of state hillary clinton. in-depth look as british historian and former adviser to margaret thatcher paul johnson, author of over 40 books. join our 3 our conversation with

your phone calls for paul johnson. members of the tea party are holding their first national convention this weekend in nashville, tennessee. this session features a discussion with fox news commentator angela mcglowan and joseph farah, founder of the website world net daily. this is about 50 minutes. >> a year ago, i did not know any of you all. my wife is supposed to be here but still not -- but still has not made it. i am looking forward to meeting incredible people. as we started planning this event, there was one special person i had the privilege of talking to on the phone, exchanging texts with. i finally got to meet her tonight. she is our first speaker.

she is truly amazing. i am not a big believer in long introductions. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome angela mcglowan. [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 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 conferences are great from

learning from each other and getting the creative juices flowing and strategizing. i don't know if you heard about the international medical conference that took place recently. doctors were sharing their success stories with one another. a french doctor says, medicine and my country is so advanced that we can take the kidney out of one man and put in another and have him looking for work in six weeks. not to be outdone, the german doctor said that that is nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another and have him looking for work in four weeks. a russian doctor said, in my country medicine is so advanced, we can take half a heart and put it in another and then we can have them looking for work in two weeks.

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 all the while, we have not noticed it is killing

us. this is killing us. it has been going on much longer than that, slowly but surely, americans have been turning their backs on the sacrifices that their forefathers made. why is that? back in the 1900's, there was an italian communist and 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 a long march through the cultural institutions, subverting them, changing their missions, taking them over. he believed that if socialist ideas permeated

education, entertainment, philanthropy, the press, that political power would literally fall into their laps. ranslated 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 should not question government. they fail to understand that the day is coming that not only individuals will be judged by god but nations as well. that will not be a pretty sight. if america was judged by this standard, they would not fare well unless of course we change our ways. but how? the answer is simple. you can find it in second chronicles 7, 14, "if my people

will humble themselves and seek my faith and turn from their wicked ways, then it will i hear from heaven and will for kids their sin and heal their land." do you think we're capable of recognizing we're headed in the wrong direction? this conference is a living testimony. 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 >> will continue our coverage tomorrow morning here on c-span. it covers the future of the gathering and organizing

practices. >> are you active with your local tea party? >> i am from brunswick. >> why come to this meeting? >> we are here to unite the tea party nation, the tea party patrons he has and to discourage big federal government and a return to the constitutional principles which this nation was founded on. >> when this weekend is done, "what do you hope is the result of the audience. >> our focus on the target for the 20210, , 2012 election.

we are going to git out with our local individual groups and a target all of those part of the political class that still thinks that they are necessary and we are going to kick them out if they are republican, independent, democratic, and replace them. >> what are your thoughts on the criticism? >> that is what happens when you have large groups where several different groups want to be in front and center of everything. this is a good thing. this is uniting the tea party nation, the tea party patriots. those that want to criticize, they can criticize. i would have preferred that we had this out in the field in the rain. we are having it here, let's encourage the dissolution of the tyrannical government.

what say you? >> well, thank you for your time. >> we will have more coverage from national with a sarah palin. that will get underway at 9:00, eastern here on c-span. >> this week, a discussion of the history of women lawyers and the challenges that they face in the legal profession and arguing in the supreme court. panelists include sandra day o'connor andelena cagan.

"america and the courts," mar. >> now for educators, c-span offers a new website which has been redesigned to be more useful for teachers. you can find the most watched video clips organized by subjects and topics, the latest in news, and the chance to connect with other c-span teachers. it is all threfree. >> now, house speaker nancy pelosi. you will hear opening remarks from the chair and former virginia governor tim kane.

>> please take your seat. a number of the officers and vice chairs are with us. let me acknowledge them. congressman mike honda is with us. 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 statevdemocratic 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. they so strongly advocate for all of us. 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] . .

to be out there on the field and the campaign because i don't know of any other better campaigner than nancy pelosi. nancy's vision and tenacity, resilience, patience and poise lead us into the next november elections. pi watch her every day and i don't think i ever seen a look of anger in her eyes. it's always determination. and asking -- what is your problem? [laughter] i know because she asked me

once that. [laughter] >> that was my first month. i learned quickly. so my fellow democrats, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce a former california democrat, my speaker, your speaker, nancy -- how do you say that? bogacious, you know, the fighter, pelosi. [applause] >> thank you all very much. thank you all very much. good morning. and a good morning it is as indicated by the job figures this morning. thank you mike honda for your

very generous and insightful introduction. let's hear it again for mike honda, a great champion for the middle-class of the d.n.c. thank you to our great d.n.c. chair tim kaine, a great leader. aren't we proud of our chair of the democratic national convex? alex german we go back over 30 years. don't say that. lotti same thing. so we have some history. donna came along later. but her years are serious years. but thank you to all of you who are here, and i particularly want to acknowledge something i'm very proud of, the california delegation. [applause] >> ros wineman, the dean of our

delegation. and one of the newest participants my granddaughter isabela here with her mother christine, pelosi. >> i want to acknowledge that a member our california delegation of the d.n.c. delegation is now going to be the speaker of the california assembly, john perez. aren't we proud of that? [applause] >> i specially want to acknowledge some o my colleagues of congress that are here from california and beyond. debbie wasserman shultz our great leader in the congress. we are so proud of deb bi-. congresswoman barbara lee, an unyielding advocate for social justice. i don't know if max seen is here but she is also a fighter for economic justice and together with other members as

well on the c.d.c. working together with congressman lee and waters leaders in the earthquake response to the earthquake in haiti. our president said it best to the people in haiti -- "you will not be forgotten. you will not be forsakeen." barbara lee is making sure that that's the truth. it's almost is if i'm coming home. many of us have been friends for decades. some for days. all of us concerned a better future for the american people. and so i'm very honored to have spent 20 years on the democratic national committee. christine is now on there. we're three generations of d.n.c., so i know full well the important work that the dem -- members of the democratic national committee our state chairs and vice chairs and others, i know how important

you are to our electorate success and for advances causes to improve the life of america's working families. i'm very honored to come to you as speaker of the house and on behalf of our great majorities in the congress including our majority leader steny hoyer. my marylander's here? i thought so. i'm here to say thank you. thank you for helping to elect strong democratic majorities to the congress that enabled us to make a difference in the lives of the american people. i know that senator reid traveled -- the snow prevented him to be here. but i must say what an honor it is to work with him on behalf of a better future. he's a great leader senator harry reid. [applause] >> and as i proceed i want to point out one area of special pride that is in the three years since democrats have won

the majority in congress. we are very proud that we have provided better support than our veterans than at any time in american history. [applause] >> as they say in the military on the battlefield we will leave no soldier behind. so too we say and when they come home we will 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 to our men and women in uniform. [applause] >> with your help, to end discrimination we passed the lily ledbetter equal pay, and

last week we received the news that president obama will repeople don't ask, don't tell. [applause] >> i know when you're out there, you get questions that i frequently have been getting for decades? what is the difference between the democratic party and the republican party? during his acceptance speech the democratic national convention of 1948, president truman said very succinct words. he said that the democratic party is a people's party. and the republican party is the party of special interest. it has always been and always will. that's what he said. it is true then and it is true today. democrats are the party of the people. and keeping in mind with president truman said about what the president being the party of special interest, doesn't that combine with this 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 fight ling for fairness and -- fighting for fairness and justice. never again will wall street's recklessness under mine main street's progress. never again will wall street jeopardize the job, the pensions, the homes and the life savings of the american people. and 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 especial us -- helping us elect a great

president to the united states, president barack obama. in his inspirational inaugural address president obama called for action, bold and swift. not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. with your help, it's all about you -- with your help one week and one day later, the house passed the american recovery and reinvestment act. the recovery act will mark its one year anniversary on february 17. and it has helped advance the education of our children by hiring more teachers and keeping teachers in our classroom. the recovery act provided for the safety of our neighborhood by putting more police and firefighters in our communities. the transformation of our economy through middle-class tax cut is an important principle of that recovery act. we began our investments as to create clean energy jobs and will continue to build on the

waxman-clean. it's 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 economy that have sprung from this recovery act. here's what i want you to remember, number one, jobs. january of last year before we enacted the recovery act, americans lost in just the month of january 741,000 jobs. 741,000 jobs in that month -- at the end of the month as we inaugurated our new president. one year later, the governor came and mentioned to you that

the job loss is 22,000 jobs. 22,000 job loss is too much. we know we have to do better. but it's a big difference. it's 720,000 jobs fewer than january of last year. number two, the growth domestic products -- in december 2008, america's g.d.p. decreased -- decreased by 6.2%. just one year later, december 2009, our g.d.p. 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. number three, the stock market, although yesterday wasn't a

great day, we still closed over 10,000. just a year ago, around this time, the stock market closed at 7,000, an increase of 3,000 points in the stark market. and fourth america's manufacturering group for the sixth straight month, america's manufacturering base grew for the sixth straight month and now it's at its highest level in five years. highest level in five years. [applause] >> so we talk about jobs, g.d.p., stock market and manufacturing base increase -- recovery act with an important part of making that change and we must recognize that in all of our communities across the country. but the biggest indicator for us and the president says it so well -- the biggest indicator for us is the progress that is made by america's family.

we know that far too many americans are still looking for work. democrats will continue to focus, again, not only on putting americans back to work but creating new, more and better jobs for the 21st century. we will measure our success and the progress made by america's working family. central to our fight to create jobs and strengthen our economy is our fight to reform health insurance for the american people. [applause] this is about the economic security of america's family. let us recall the course that was set by the president and the congress last january. with your help as was mentioned earlier by mike, with your help one of the first bills provides health care for 11 million children in america. so we're off to a good start. and the recovery act invested

billions of dollars in health i.t., health information technology. electronic medical records and the rest. so when we go down the path of health care we're off to a running start. and billions of dollars for bio medical research. research with the power to cureful research paid for by the taxpayer, benefits that should be able to every person in america. the most privileged person in america has better health care if everyone in america has good health. [applause] >> and there's more in a letter to president obama, senator ted kennedy wrote about the need for health care reform. he said "what we face is above all a moral issue." at stake is not only the

details of the policy, but the fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country." senator kennedy is our inspiration, but the leadership of barack obama and with your help we will pass health insurance reform this year. [applause] while the fourth is against us, for our misrepresentations, here's what i want you to remember about health insurance reforms. the bill is is about jobs creating 400 million good-paying jobs in the bill. it's about innovation. it's about using the health i.t., etc. in bio medical research it's about innovation of how we deliver health care to everyone in america. and to everyone who has personalized, customized care, sort of getting the right care.

this is very important and it's about the future. this bill is about prevention and wellness. it's about diet not diabetes. it's about how we can make america healthier, not just about health care but a healthier america. and this bill is about fairness that fairness -- that fire that burns within us. and the spirit of fairness under the legislation, you will not be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. [applause] >> and by the way, for the women, being a woman is practically a pre-existing conditions in most insurance companies, and also in the legislation domestic violence is not considered a pre-existing condition. [applause] you will not lose coverage because you become sick.

imagine you bought your insurance, you pay your premiums, you get sick. they cancel your policy. that's not insurance. that's not insurance. it may be the version that the insurance companies accept. but it's not what we accept for the american people. no longer -- families do so because of medical pills. a diagnose of an illness should not be a reason to declare bankruptcy in our country. and 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. and that is why next week the house will act to repeople the special antitrust exemption for health insurance companies. [applause]

>> from virginia tom is taking the lead on that, our freshman member. our freshman are leading the way. the bill will increase competition, increase consumer choice and lower cost for the american people. must be done -- long overdue. as president obama said during his state of the union address -- don't walk away from reform, not now. not when we are so close. let me just tell you this, on a campaign trail when i go out there across d country, i have seen grown men cry, people who are on the verge of bankruptcy because of medical bills, who have a sick spouse who don't want to tell their children

that they cannot longer afford prescription drugs that their mother or their spouse may need. they do not want to declare bankruptcy. they may have to lose their homes. they're desperate. the problem will not go away. we must pass this reform. the status quo is totally unsustainable. it's unsustainable for individuals for people who work their whole lives, done everything right and come to me in tears saying, i can't make it. my health care bills are taking our family down. i'm embarrassed to tell our children. they have their own economic challenges. i can't call upon them for help. image that this is happening in the greatest country in the world because we don't have health care as a right not a privilege, but we will before too long, banning together and working together, we will pass

health care reform for the american people. i'll say it again -- [applause] >> but recognize -- recognize your role in this. we can do all the inside maneuvering and legislating and the rest but without the outside mobilization, without your participation nothing really great or good can happen. so i thank you for what you have done in advance for what you will do. we talked earlier about the difference between democrats and republicans. anybody who wants to see the difference between democrats and republicans need only look at their budgets. president obama this week that you're here sent his fwouget the congress. president obama's budget is a true statement of our national values. what we believe in is what -- how we allocate our resources. barbara knows that and debbie

knows that on the appropriations committee. both of them leaders there. and mike honda as well. i was an appropiator too. we all understand that, huh? this budget provides a new foundation. once again, the new foundation for economic growth. creates jobs, strengthens the middle-class, preserve social security and medicare and it does it in a physically sound way to redew deuce the deficit. by contrast, the republican budget provides tax breaks to the wealthy, ends medicare as we know it and privatizes social security. here we go again rehashing the same failed bush policy. so i want you to take that home. the republican budget as they present it to the house earlier

this week, turns medicare into a voucher program ended as we know it today. it's important that the word get out. and we need you to spread the word. imagine what would have happened if we would have put america's retirement security when they wanted to privatize that. because of you and i thank you for helping in the effort to save social security in 19 -- excuse me 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 very succinctly presented, strongly led by president obama and aren't we proud of our president of the united states? [applause]

>> and then just harkening back to the president who brought us social security, president franklin roosevelt. >> some of the new -- i don't think -- well -- some of you may have heard a speech by franklin -- most of us have read about it. most of us have read about it in the history books. i happened to have been born in his administration. many think this is who. this president identifies with the aspiration of america's people. he knew that they needed jobs, that they needed a safety net. so one of my favorite storys that some of you have heard me tell before is that when -- it's important to knowing who we are as democrats. when president roosevelt died in georgia, he was taken by train to washington, d.c. to lie in state at the white house

and then on to hyde park to be buried. and along the way hundreds of thousands of people lined the tracks. there were farmers, black americans whatever the names were those days, large numbers of african americans, poor people, they lined the tracks to pay their respects. a reporter went up to a morner with tears in his eyes, the mourner, and the reporter said to him, "why are you here? " do you know franklin roosevelt? >> he said, no, i didn't know president roosevelt, but he knew me. but he knew me. [applause] that has always been what our purpose is in the democratic

party to know the aspirations, the challenges, the hopes, the dreams, the fears of the american people. today we know that people need jobs. they always do. and that is our commitment to ensure their economic security whether it's through the creation of jobs, making health care available, education of their children, the pension security. we know them. you again are our messengers the make sure that the democratic people knows them. we couldn't have a better messengerer than barack obama the president of the united states to convey that message. that's what we do every day to pass legislation to demonstrate that we know the american people. we just to convince them of that and you are very much a part of making that happen.

so i thank you my friends for your support and encouragement, if your in getting out the vote and promoting causes and candidates of the democratic party. i want you to know it really does make a difference. we have two different value systems here. and on behalf of the democrats and the house of representatives, i'm here to say thank you for what you have done. look forward to working with you to accomplish the goals that we set fourth for this next session of congress. and to say, god has truly blessed america i think by the successes we have helping american working families. good bless you. god bless america. thank you all very much. [cheers and applause]

>> cooming up next remarks from northern ireland by secretary of state hillary clinton. and then a political roundtable. and after that peter orszag on the president's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal. tomorrow on washington journal, nick baker of bloomberg news discusses the impact of the stock market on the economy. mark skoda member of the tea party talks about the convention, the goals and the

2010 elections. kathleen christiansen on how the 21st century workforce. that's saturday at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. >> progressive talk radio host and author of 30 book, thom hartmann is our guest sunday night at 8:00. and now secretary of state hillary clinton on the agreement of the governments of the u.k. and northern ireland to transfer the police from british to local control beginning in the spring. during an answer and questions session, she also comments on

haiti kidnapping. this is about 10 minutes. >> well, good morning, everyone. today is an important day on northern ireland. it's political leaders have agreed on a road map and time line for the devolution of policing and justice powers and they've taken other productive steps as well. the accord they announced today will help consolidate one hard one gained over the past decade. this has not been an easy road. there were plenty of bumps in the way. i've been in regular contact with the parties during the past year and especially during my trip to belfast in october. and i know that the way forward was fire from clear. so i really want to applaud all of the parties for ultimately

choosing negotiations over confrontation and finally this deal peter robinson and martin mcguinness, displayed the kind of leadership that the people of northern ireland deserve. i want to recognize the leadership and the patient resolve of the prime minister as well as the secretary and irish prime minister. they have resolutely forcing this to go forward that will keep northern ireland with the peace and stability. this is not the owned the journey. so far the devolution process  has enabled northern ireland's leaders to act in a range of needed reform. from house to housing to environmental safety. now they have even greater authority. with that authority comes greater responsibility. they must continue to lead. the people of northern ireland

are poised to build a this arriving society on this stronger foundation, a country with neighbors can say they are free. this is a dream new churred for so long in the hars of people across northern ireland. it is also a dream that lived far beyond its borders where ethnic and religious conflicts persist. this latest success points the way for ireland. northern ireland gives us hope that despite sbrenched opposition diligent diplomacy and leadership can overcome generations of hostility. so now we join the world in looking to the leaders of northern ireland by promoting a new spirit among all of the parties. as they do, the united states will help. our economic convoy kelly will

continue working to help reap the dividends of success and other new opportunities. in the new future deckland will host deputy robinson. to discuss ways on which to agree on this agreement, i spoke with both sean and melall and congratulated them. i spoke early this morning with peter and martin and did the same and also pledged our continuing support for their efforts. so today we absolute this achievement. we recognize that a new partnership can now begin. and i am confident that the people of northern ireland will make the most of this moment. i want to reafrm the commitment

of the united states and my personal commitment to support them in every way we can as we continue on this very positive path into the future. i'll be glad to take your questions. >> yes, lackland. good morning. >> just a quick creation on the charges of the 10 americans in haiti. also if i may add, is the united states studying the idea of with holding iraqi legislation. the reason i ask is because the vice president told a few of our state department holders that that was the case. he heard it from you. >> on the 10 american citizens detained are now charged in haiti. we are providing counselor services. we have full access to them. the american ambassador is speaking with his counter parts

in the haitian government. obviously, this is a party for the haitian judicial system. we're going to continue to provide support as we do in every instance like this, two american citizens who have been charged, but i hope that this matter can be resolved in an expeditious way, but it is something that a sovereign nation is pursuing based on the evidence that is presented when the charges were announced. with respect to iraq, we were heartened by the decision earlier this week to reverse the deli shon of the 500 names from the upcoming list or the upcoming election. we care very deeply that this election be freed and fair and viewed by legitimate. this is an extraordinary opportunity if iraqis to

consolidate their democracy. we have not made any decision on reacting to events that might occur within the context of the election. but we certainly were heartened by the court decision earlier. yes, bob? >> may i follow up madam secretary, on that same matter, you said no decision has been made if you review the outcome of the election. are you considering the option of the ning advance that she would not accept the outcome if these 500 are not -- >> we are not actively considering any option, bob. we are very pleased that the decision for the iraqi themselves opened a way for these 500 individuals to stand for election. we think that is an important outcome and the iraqis made it on their own legal process. we do very much, encourage all

of the parties and leaders of iraq to ensure that nothing is done which under mines the legit massy of this election. we see an enormous amount of political ivet. >> which is now good. people are forming coalitions and seeking votes and reaching beyond their own community to do so that is exactly what we want to encourage. so obviously, thinking that would under mine the potential legitimacy would be a concern for us. >> they said that beijing thinks it's too early to be talking about sanctions. i'm wondering do you feel like we do need more time? and how important do you think

to be onboard? >> we have pursued diplomatic engagement with the iranians since president obama took office. as you know, we have always had a two track process. we hope that our colleagues and other peoples of the p5-plus one they wants -- they had helped to enable the negotiations to go forward by joining with very strong language about what was expected from iran. the fact sk, we haven't really seen much in the way of response. sometimes we see a response from a part of the government that is then retracted from another part of the government. so i think our position is that we have in good faith engaged

in a diplomacy with iranians. we've always had a two track process. and we think that it is important that we move now at looks at what pressure what sanctions can be brought brought here. as the process moves forward, we'll have more to report. thank you all. enjoy the snow. take care. >> coming up next, a political round table on the news of the week. after that, who white house

budget director peter orszag and then angela mclowland at the tea party convention in nashville, tennessee. >> tomorrow the first national tea party convention from nashville tennessee. we'll have two forums, the tea party movement. the organizers. >> here's a look at some of the people attending this weekend. >> you from georgia? >> i'm from bruns wick. >> are you active with your tea party? >> i'm the vice president.

>> why come here? why come to this meeting? >> well, because we are here to unite. the tea party nation, the tea party patriots and to discourage big federal government and return to the constitutional principles which this nation was founded on. >> when this weekend is gone, what are you hoping the result of all these meetings are. we're going to make sure that we're all united. we're going to all give sarah palin a kiss for her stand and support of the tea party on saturday night. and then we're going to get out with our local individual groups and target part of of the police cal class. we're going to get them all kick out and replace them with new people who understand the constitution.

>> when you hear about the convention, what do you think about that? >> that's what happens when you have large groups where several different groups want to be front and center. but this is a good thing. this is uniting, the tea party nation, the tea party patriots. and i would have prefered that we have this out in the field in the rain if necessary. but we'll have it here. so let's rejoice. have a good time. encourage the dissolution of this tyrannical movement. it comes 2010. what say yee? >> well, thank you for your time. >> a national tea party convention by sarah palin that will get here at 9:00 on saturday. >> paul johnson over author of

40 books. join our tree hour conversation. with our phone calls, live from london on book tv's indepth. on c-span2. >> watch c pan cease "washington journal" for conversations, comments and your calls about your calls. c-span, covering washington like no other. >> and now a political roundtable on the news of the week. from today's "washington journal" this is about an hour. journal " continues. host: we are back with tony blankley, a columnist at "the washington times," also or working with edelman public relations firm, and ttim fernholz, staff writer would "the american prospect." deficits, debt, budget, your

thoughts on that. mr. blankley, you go first. guest: we are seeing a around the world of fear over the viability of bonds. a crash and the market -- a crash in the market, and agree to bonds, and it is interesting to see people -- greek bonds, and it is interesting to see people by credit default swaps to protect that. i cannot remember the last time that normally reliable countries were in this kind of situation. there is no doubt that there is a debt and deficit threat to global economic well-being. guest: but not as big a threat to the united states well being. if you look where treasure prices are right now, the united states is running a pretty big deficit, but doing it pretty cheaply, because people trust the american dollar. in the president's budget this

week, we sought not enough focus on spending more to solve the host: you are critical of the president's budget when it came out. said that last year's, his first budget was with open and honest. it went away -- did away with trickery. this year you said it's full of smoking mirrors. why? >> last year the president's budget was very ambitious. but what it did is it didn't try to hype things off the budget. it recognized things that the congress does every year. this year, the old plus style budget trix weren't there. but the rhetoric that the president was using to describe it sort of focusing on this deficit freeze which really isn't a deficit freeze. talking about this as though it was a really conservative budget when in fact it's pretty liberal def when it is probably not liberal enough. guest: i agree with his analysis

of the budget. the question i have, which is more interesting, is has the white house lost confidence in their policy of spending, keynesian policies, or are they talking to the center -- c- span.ortacking to the center bee it is not as popular to spend this year? problem, because it raises the question about whether people have confidence in the authenticity of what people are saying -- what the president is saying. the president has to maintain credibility at least with his own supporters. host: "politico" has story this morning that democrats are grousing that obama is tacking to the center.

is he risking alienating the liberal base? guest: i think the second part of your point is right, that they are sticking with the policies but trying to sell it in a more centrist manner. the administration projects by the end of this year that unemployment will be at 9.8%, and that will have severe consequences for democrats in the midterm elections, and they are worried about it. the story this year is going to be progressives disappointed that he has not been able to achieve what he promised may be sitting on their hands at election time, and the election team needs to be looking at doing things to energize them. host: people like paul krugman and tim fernholz are saying that you need to spend more, you need to spend more in order to help out the economic situation. why shouldn't the u.s. government be spending more, and

yes, it will raise deficits in the near term, but long term, help out the economy? guest: this has been a debate that has been going on for 70 years now, since keynes suggested that the government could step in to fill the void in spending that consumers were not able to fill because of the economy. that has been the theory, and sometimes it seems to work for awhile, and sometimes it does not. the debate goes on. the argument against that thais that the level of deficit to gdp and debt to gdp as well undercuts the currency and raises the interest rates on treasury bills, which will tend to drive out money for the private sector, undermine our ability to expand, and increases the public sector, which is not a productive part of the economy, and take that money out of the private sector, which is where growth occurs.

we can debate forever and would not reach a conclusion. those are the two series. there is and it was evidence to support both. -- there is evidence to support both. we have something of a command economy and it was not just a pure deficit-spending phenomenon. i think it is ambiguous. i come on the side of keeping public debt relatively low to gdp. host: mr. fernholz, why not tax cuts? guest: you look at what congress is proposing to do on jobs, it is a lot of tax cuts. what we are debating right now is tax cuts for small businesses. one of my favorite talking points from the american enterprise institute, a conservative think tank in washington, is to look at the fiscal stimulus last year and say that added 4% to gdp, helping to spur growth, i think

that is unequivocal among most economists. and there is a long-term concern about crowding out private investment, but i think the president and his team and people in congress are cognizant of that and i think that what they are trying to do with the new bill is to make the conditions so that the private sector can grow again. guest: i think the fear is for the medium and long term it co-- medium and long term. in the budget the president just introduced, it proposes long- term trend lines down in entitlement spending where it gets to where it is no more than 3% of gdp as long-term debt. he never gets even briefly below 3.6, or something. what this budget has is an unsustainable deficits and debt bubble. -- level.

if you combine spending with a tenant policies designed to reduce spending on entitlements in a way, you might have a balanced policy. host: we are talking to 20 blankly and tim fernholz. -- tony blankley and tim fernholz. on entitlement spending, how do you get republicans -- a coalition of republicans and democrats to come together on entitlement spending and tackle social security, medicare, medicaid? guest: i honestly think it will take a pretty big crisis. when you look at what happened in the last year, the president tried to tackle entitlements, with the health care reform bill, and over the last year, and last summer, with the negotiations with max baucus, they have really tried to work with republicans on this. when you look to the bill, despite what you hear about, it is a very centrist bill that maintains the private sector and

the bill that bob dole proposed in 1996 and further to the right of richard nixon in the 1970's. but even if there were some place they could come together, the republicans are happy to say that we will wait until 2010 and get congress back weekend and do it our way. -- that congress back if we can and do it our way. guest: it is like the difference between the arabs and the israelis on the west bank. the problem is, the president proposed reform on health care this year, but his reforms to expand the amount of benefits. i suspect that at some point we will have to reduce the amount of benefits by moving the initial benefit eligibility age from 67 to 70, 71, 72, because after all -- guest: for health care --

guest: i am talking about health care as well. when roosevelt set the average retirement age -- but not the life expectancy out near 80. people are help it -- we have a life expectancy now near 80 people are healthy and want to work longer. every year did you lose, the eligibility. eventually you get to a point where you have to work until 71, 72, and you have more income coming in because people are working longer. host: would take a grass-roots movement outside of washington that specifically focuses on a social security and medicare -- could the tea party movement, for example, take that up? guest: it would have to be a very powerful movement. i agree, we would probably have to have a crisis before this is

capable to coming to terms, because the issues are so easy to exploit every party to say let's been one more election and then we will deal with the issue. i've been in town for 30 years, and every cycle, one party wants to do it and the other -- guest: i think you are avoiding the real problem, which is the growth in costs. we have been spending most of any developed country, but we are getting some of the worst outcomes. what we really need to see, and what the president has proposed, are ways to actually change the game to make health care spending less, both in the public and private sector. it is funny that you mentioned the deficit issue, because one of the things that has been a really surprising over the last year is that republicans are suddenly the defenders of medicare and medicaid, and a democratic president is proposing to expand the coverage

but not the cost. guest: the two parties play do- si-doed and take advantage of the other parties. that is why we never get the solution to the problem. not to have a big debate on health care, but it is noteworthy that we have this wonderful system in canada, the premier of nova scotia coming to the united states for a heart procedure -- guest: partly canadian system -- guest: that is later down the line. .

caller: thank you for c-span that let's us get our thoughts out here. but greta, i wish y'all would go back over your law for the guests that you have had on for the last few months. host: ok. caller: you've had fox news commentators, fox news guests on, and american enterprise institute. everything is anti-middle of the road. i don't know what's happened to brian. but they need to change some of that. thank you very much. host: all right. we do our best to balance our guests. sometimes it may tilt one way or the other.

we look at our programming across the board of our network. and you think you'll find this balance. portland oregon, sarah. on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. host: good, sarah. . caller: my concern is that there are too many people that are falling for this idea that if we keep putting money into this or that, it's what the president wants to do is willing to spend more money and thinking that whole idea about, you know, this working and the deficit will -- the debt will come down. that's so absurd. nobody in their you know right mind when they're doing their books at home thinks that way. so why is the president thinking this way if he's serious about lowering the debt in this country?

guest: during a recession the family shouldn't spend on things that it can't pay for. otherwise the recession is going to be much, much worse. the president is cutting 1.25 trillion over the next four or five years. but you're going to see the most deficit reduction come from the economic recovery that's going to be 5% of g.d.p. i want to hear what tony thinks about this is the bipartisan deficit reduction because everyone in congress has decided they can't solve this problem, which is probably true and they want to kick this to a commission that hopefully it can gain partisan support. any time you this discussion it's not enough to say we need

to cut spending or you need to raise taxes. you need to say what do you want the government to do? what do you not want the government to do? i think you can't talk about these -- this without discussing the problems. guest: i think that taps into a profound american instinct that has been from the founding to this moment. overall it becomes a dubious -- washington dubious government, they believe that people should be responsible for their own activities and the government shouldn't spend too much of the people's government. what i'm saying is people can hold two conflicting thoughts in their head at the same time. and we do. we all have conflicting views if you pass t