justice thomas would find that the right to keep and bear arms falls into that. but the four liberal justices might like privileges and immunities for the reasons that doesn't describe -- that doug described. the other four justices, perhaps scared off by a pandora's box or for other reasons, will just stick with the substitute process and there's no need to revisit slaughterhouse. in that event, you'd have five beds for privileges and immunities and five votes against -- and four votes against. that is what i am hoping for. thank you very much. [applause] .

>> i'm with the u.s. bill of rights foundation. whether this is -- with the due process clause prevails, what is this: the look like? what is the difference going to be?

what is the world going to look like and did you process? -- under due process? is it really going to change the way we identify substantive rights? exactly what will the world look like? >> i don't think immediately the world will look very different at all. one of the reasons why this is a good case to get the court to rethink these issues, because this is, i think there will be broad agreement that the enumerated substantive rights laid out in the bill of rights constitute privileges and immunities. it is a fairly narrow rethinking of the privileges of the immunities clause. i think that the court will

either -- at least initially -- retain its jurisprudence or not overturn it in is -- in this case. if they overturned slaughter cashouse, that will be a good dy for us. we have a report that is available at our web site, constitution.org, which lays out in detail the argument that we make in our brief. you can read the history and look at what the framers were looking at. i think that is where the debate about what the privileges and

immunities clause should mean begins. >> the other virtue of this case is that the hemmer case was a case of first impressions because there was so little for the court to go on. they had to look to the original understanding that surrounded the second amendment. and when it came time to consider the next question, whether it be of individual rights or applied to the state, you have a similar problem to go back to first principles. and that is why the principal and immunities clause was in the macdonald case, because we have just the kind of case that is appropriate for raising that question about whether slaughterhouse was correct from

the outside and whether the courts should have interpreted cases under the privilege and immunities clause more often than under the due process clause. this is the ideal vehicle for revisiting that fundamental question. up in the back, the council in the macdonald case for the plaintiff? >> a great panel here and now wanted to make a couple of quick announcements. a very impressive panel. i've chosen to give each of you five minutes of my time tomorrow. [laughter] you can ask them if you want. i just wanted to recognize the great people behind the case and i have a lot of help from

scholars and lawyers and other people that said it would not be possible without the work of so many people. i wanted to recognize some of the people who are actually the planets for the case. if you are a planned, will you please stand up? -- if you are a play to -- p lantiff, please stand up? these to the people that are going to get your rights back. >> thank you, alan. next person is the gentleman right here in the aisle. [inaudible] >> the one concern i have with the privileges and immunities clause is that unlike the due process clause, it applies only to persons born naturalized in

the united states which would mean it would apply to immigrants either legal or illegal. had either of you consider whether the limitations on the concepts of the difference between the scope of the privileges and immunities clause to the united states citizen -- whether that has little significance? >> do you want to address that? >> that is a serious concern. but to be clear, the citizenship clause says who are citizens, which includes naturalize, so what would not exclude all immigrants. it would appear to exclude from the protection of national rights when people are not citizens of the united states. to process and equal process

applies to any person within a state jurisdiction. and on citizen would still be able to get rights under those clauses. i'm sorry. as far as in corp., the court has made it very clear that it does not apply to non-citizens. that is already a part of binding law. >> i just got my green card 10 months ago. i am enjoying the fruits of the rest of the constitution. [laughter] there is every reason for having different types of constitutional protections for citizens versus non-citizens and legal immigrants versus illegal their centers, depending on what right we're talking about that applies differently. the equal protection clause -- all the sudden you can enslave

non-citizens are something like that? i think the reason the citizenship language was used was because it applies not just to natural rights and not to those rights enumerated in the bill of rights, not necessa do e

matter, tim? >> as far as the issue at the slaughterhouse cases are concerned, i think that most of that had expressed at least some discomfort with that condition. one case written by justice stevens, the majority in that case did not say one way or the other, but they -- seem to regard slaughterhouses questionable -- slaughterhouse as questionable. the real concern as the court might take an easy way out and incorporate gun rights under the due process clause. that is a serious problem because you can always use that excuse to perpetuate legal error. suppose the supreme court would say that the first amendment does not guarantee the right to freedom of speech and letter says, well the eighth amendment

does. anytime a free speech comes before the court saying that you are wrong, the court could keep using the aids amendment. the argument is that we do not have to reassess that old case because we cannot use this other area of law and continued to do so. then there is no way to correct the error. there is no better way to revisit slaughterhouse than to say that it was wrongly decided. i think that substantive due process is not invalid. it is as much of valid component of the american constitution as anything else. and part of the argument in the brief that we filed is that substantive due process is a well understood and generally accessible. the time the 14th amendment was

written. revising the privileges and immunities clause should not give the court an excuse to abandon individual rights. that is the really answer your question. -- that does not really answer your question. [inaudible] >> there is a front-page story in the "washington post" about this case which has a quote from justice scalia that i have never seen before, where he pauses -- calls the privileges and immunities clause as flotsam. he has also said in an interview that he gave to the hoover institute in 2008 that he believed that incorporation it's all -- itself is probably false.

the fascinating thing about this case is that you have a great or regionalist from the hell -- originalist from the heller case really badly misreading the original meaning of the 14th amendment. the question i find most fascinating in this case is the question explored in the "post" today -- howell are most public proponents of originalism dealing with the incredibly powerful argument that scholars and organizations across the political spectrum -- the original public meeting of the 40 the amendment spoke to

incorporation and required overturning the slaughterhouse cases. >> one of the fascinating aspects of this case is that it brings to the for the problems conservatives have had with judicial mischief and judicial activism on to this court. the conservatives on the court our textile --u are --alist -- textualists. they have to make sense of the text staring them in the face. for 150 years, they have ignored that taxed as if it did not exist. there is the text that says that no state shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the united states. and it has been inoperative for all this time. it is surely there for reason. it is not there for surplusage.

those who want to be t extualists must look at this. they have to do this and go back to the history of it, which all three of our speakers today have eloquently discussed, and when they do, it seems to me the statement that justice scalia has made will perhaps come in for some reconsideration. one would hope that they do. right here. [inaudible] >> i am unaffiliated. it seems to me that you're saying that if the court reconsiders the privileges and immunities clause, you are opening a pandora's box. you did not really explain why. >> that is the concern. i am saying it is not opening a pandora's box.

it is done properly, it will actually close the pandora's box and doc's breakfast, to mix metaphors, of jurisprudence that has come out of the zero warped substantive due process doctrine and incorporation and all the rest of it. our bifurcation of rights and other costs and all persons. the concerns -- if and on where you live on the constitutional spectrum. if you are progressive, you are worried about freedom of contract, property rights, and these sorts of things. these could strike down all sorts of potentially health and safety regulations, licensing regulations, prevent progressive a good government. if you are libertarian, you are worried that out of that pandora's box could come to

write -- the constitutionalized right to health care and education and what have you. going back to philosophy 1 01, all sorts of problems that we see with that. and conservatives sharing many of the libertarian concerns about economic growth rights, they also have the concern for triple midget polygamous marriage and various kinky sexual things with the invented privacy rights as opposed to properly protected privacy rights. the things they should not be there. there are all of these concerns. i don't think the concerns are unwarranted. i think the concerns on the progressive side are warranted it, but if you look at the original meaning of the privileges and immunities

clause and the protections, you really have to find that that right is equally protected as understood at the time. so lot of these worries could fall away. >> just to add to that, if it goes back to the first questioll philosophy which annotated the 14th government, not one is rooted in the constitution whatsoever.

and using due process, we refer to that. whereas with privileges and immunities, it becomes more historical and applies to think not necessarily in the bill of rights, like habeas corpus. i think it ought to confess -- comfort conservatives that this opens the door for the court to invent new rights, but is this indeed what historically has been the philosophical framework for this being a privilege or immunities framework? >> if there was a concern about of run amok court under the privileges or immunities clause , as much as there is under the due process clause, because the court is much more open-ended and history demonstrates that, because under that clause, we have had this nonsense like fundamental and non-fundamental

rights, a judicial review, and all the things that came out of that. >> all of this analysis keeps in mind there is no way to revise the constitutional document and prevent justices ready to usurp from using that power. they get up and say congress are going to do all these nasty things, and then if not, we are truly in a wretched condition. it has to depend on the people who are in the judiciary, and you have to depend on the philosophical flow in american society. we need to focus back on the philosophical principles of individual liberty, and that is the only way that this can work. >> i see stuart taylor back there. if you could give him the microphone, we could hear from one of the leading legal journalist in the country today.

>> i'll ask my question of the candle first. i am with the "national journal." if the court adopts your interpretation, down the road you would hope that this would influence legal doctrine not just in the way articulate it. what expansion of rights or what new rights would you hope to see coming along sooner or later in this way, and for example, same- sex marriage, would that be one of them? >> i think he would have to go back to what we have already said. the main reason we are in this is because this is an opportunity to make the

slaughterhouse, i think it will be a huge victory for the constitution and this country. even if it does not get to the pandora's box or opening a can of worms, it is a matter of text and history that the 14th amendment was intended to protect substantive rights and recognizes that the framers intended to do it through the privileges and immunities clause, that is a huge victory for the constitution. and it might not change anything about where the law is.

to answer your question, i think we have all been talking about the history. the treatment of slaves and unionists and the south is really at the core of what the framers were about. you can look through that history -- if the court starts with myers, which is about being routed in the treatment of the slaves, and i think that rulings like those to drop from the history of the slave families. one thing that we have not really talk about, the concern out of the left for opening up the privileges and immunities clause is that it will return

us to the gray areas. like citizens united, the answer to it is that -- as tim recognizes, privileges and immunities clause is limited to citizens and not corp. specifically, and two, there are economic rights traditionally, the right to contract, an individual's right to earn a good living, if they're living, labor and contract -- some of the cases that some groups have brought on economic liberty are powerful and routed in the history in the history of treatment of slaves and unionist

after the war. the idea that we cannot have laws, that congress cannot pass laws on the 14th amendment to protect labor's and workers from mistreatment, i think it is completely antithetical to the history of the 14th amendment and should never be stored under the privileges and immunities clause. >> question? >> i am bret thomas. a historical question. presumably when the supreme court essentially eliminated the core of the 14th amendment, many the man who it pass those protections originally were still around. was there historical reaction to what happened and was there any

response to its historically? >> as far as i know, surprisingly little at first. it was an 1875, some of the ku klux klan bills, and then there was a discussion in congress about what the privileges and immunities clause was supposed to mean. but i have not been looking in the newspapers and news -- and magazines and i do not know. slaughterhouse was 1873, the same year that the supreme court relying on its decision in slaughterhouse held that women had no right to practice law and that therefore the state of illinois could prevent one from taking the bar exam. it was a couple of years before the massacre case before the court relying on slaughterhouse said that the right to peaceably assemble and the right to bear arms was not a federal a protected right for purposes of

a case where -- the worst race riot during that era -- and therefore it signaled a general retreat from reconstruction. that was felled by the president, congress -- everyone backed away and condemned the people of this out to another century of oppression by their state legislatures. part of the reason -- remember in the 1870's, the republicans lost big time in the election. there was a huge backlash against the republicans for economic reasons. and democrats came into office, a poster reconstruction. it softened the al rage over the decision of slaughterhouse, because it was one among many such examples of the general retreat from the civil rights protections. >> one of the things that you mentioned in 1973, extraordinarily important.

in 1866-1868, it was the heyday of concern about the south and reconstruction. by 1873, the country was exhausted from reconstruction. it was proving to be much more difficult to address the recalcitrant in the south, and there's a sense in which the country really wanted to move on. >> particularly in louisiana. did you know that there is a monument to white supremacy in new orleans? it has been covered up and moved away to hide it. but it commemorates the whites only who died in a race riot over the transfer of government power from the democrats to republicans. it was this extremely violent, dangerous, and troubling times, and the beds were just ready to

lead southern whites suppress. >> slaughterhouse came out of what they called a still of corruption in new orleans. peewee long -- huey long said he wanted to be buried in new orleans said that when he died, he could remain politically active. [laughter] last question because it is almost time to retire upstairs. >> he said that reconstruction, if i might point a term. i ran across a speech from the author of the privileges and immunities clause. in that speech, he says that the rights of pro-union and anti- slavery activist in the south is being violated. if the states did fayalite these

rights, it calls for the reconstruction of the political fabric on a just basis. it's important to keep in mind that is why we use the word reconstruction. it was an effort to change the federalist structure to protect individual rights against the state governments. that was the whole purpose. and if we start picking at some of the language and forget about that being the crucial purpose of the 14th amendment, we are missing the forest for the trees. >> indeed, the great task of the framers of the 14th amendment was to fundamentally change that federalism relationships in the country to prevent against state violations of our rights which had not been possible since the baltimore decision.

when the majority of the slaughterhouse miss that rationale, they did not mean that change federalism relations in the country. i could not be further from the truth but that was what was meant by the ratification of the 14th amendment. thank you for joining us. please give a warm round of applause to our speakers. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> taking a look at these $787

billion economic stimulus plan come on over $343 billion has been committed to various projects. a little over $190 billion has actually been paid out. they said their latest -- the latest figures from february 24. a reminder that we have a web site devoted to this. c-span.org/stimulus. you can also find links to watchdog group -- watched all groups are tracking spenders. >> tonight on "the communicators," congressional internet caucus. it highlights emerging internet technologies for congressional members and staff at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> which former president live past 90 years old? ron reagan, herbert hoover, and find other presidential fax in the newly updated book, "who is buried in grant's tomb?"

>> a travelogue if you will, and also a work of biography of each of the president's. you can tell a lot about people at the end of their lives. >> our resources to every presidential gravesite, the story of their final moments, and insights about their life. "who is buried in grant's tomb?" a 25% discount from the publisher's web site. and now, president obama announced new initiatives aimed at improving education. this is hosted by the america's promise alliance founded by the former secretary of state: paul and his wife all month. it is two blocks from the white house and is 35 minutes. [applause]

>> i'm excited this tells the story of my transformation of the past years. i left high school before getting my diploma. i thought i did not need a decent education because i was making money at the time. i started hanging with the wrong crowd and consequently getting in trouble with the law. i found myself in one dead-end job after another, making no money and making bad decisions with the money at it had. my life was out of control. through all of my struggles, i cannot think my mother enough for sticking with me in supporting me through all of my questionable decisions. big difference. thank you. it was with her guidance and

support that i was in the program that transformed into the man you see today. i connected with more to help meet reach my results. a transition coordinator [unintelligible] these women pushed me to pose pass my short-term goals. i admit that at first i was not fully invested in the program, but with their lost in -- a constant love and support, i improve myself to get a ged and enroll in college. [applause] thank you. my mother and these women cleared a path for me to mature and grow into the person i am now. today i am scheduled to graduate early with a degree in liberal arts and communications. i am speaking at the annual martin luther king event on

campus. i must admit, even the day i wake up shock about how my life has turned around. justice those caring adults were there for me, it is time for me to help other people to help america's promises commitment to prosper and give back. i had the opportunity to serve others by bringing my voice of past experiences and informing people in power about how other support to make a real difference. i spoke at the massachusetts event, with bringing greater awareness to let young people like myself become successful. for speaking engagements like this, i want people to know how beneficial this is to help troubled teenagers improve themselves. i try to show my peers that it is possible and imperative to live a possible -- a positive light. i am trying to help as many

people as i can. i want to thank america's promise for allowing me to share my story. i also want to thank president barack obama and secretary of state powell for the support that dramatically changed my life. now it is my privilege to introduce him. there is nothing more important in this campaign on behalf of our country. please welcome the chairman of america's promise, general colin powell. [applause] >> thank you very much, patrick, for your testimony, i should say. i mean testimony in the right way and not the congressional way. [laughter] a great -- is great to have you here this morning.

this does she went america's promise is all about and why we started it 13 years ago. we came together with nancy reagan. in a nation with all of our well, how can it be that we have millions of children who wonder if the american dream is there for them. the wonder if they can get a quality education, where they are going in the future. we committed that ours -- we committed at that point to dedicate ourselves to the lives of these youngsters worrying about their future. we have been successful and expanded programs to the works of boys and girls club of america, the salvation army programs, and one program that you heard patrick described, many things that we accomplished. and the promises we made to ourselves and the young people of america are very simple. every young person should have responsible, caring adults in their lives. u-turn -- you heard patrick talk about the caring adults that

helped bring him back on line. second, second -- safe places for children to learn. in patrick's case, it was youth ville. you want to make sure that every child has health care and a healthy start in life. and make education feasible. every youngster early allied should be taught to serve the community that has served you, which you have heard patrick say that he is speaking and participating in service projects. there was one thing wrong with what patrick said. one thing really wrong. he had already dropped out any had to be captured and brought back on line. we have got to catch our kids long before they drop out. the whole purpose of america's promise, the reason we are here this morning is the focus on the simple problem that too many of our youngsters are dropping out.

the drop out when they get the high school, but they start dropping out in the second grade. in their home environment, nobody his talking to them. understanding that they might be of little behind. when they see other kids to have their family and community. kids are dropping out when they realize that they are falling behind and then they start acting like they are falling behind. one teacher said me in washington, kids all struck the same way, with white in the rise, but around eight or nine, that light starts to go out. america's promise is focusing on this with all the other partners that we work on, is special the department of education and so many wonderful non-profit organizations around our country. but there is more that has to be done.

we of a scaling up of america's promise activity, from the five prophetesses -- from the five promises to drop out summons are around the nation. and now we take it to another level8i graduation. make this a nation of graduates. so many of our youngsters are doing very well. all wonderful high skill going to universities, but the reality is that 33% of our students are not finishing high school and 50% of minorities are not. that is what we are focusing on now this morning. i want ask all of you to continue to do your part in this effort that we are involved in. we want to make sure that in the years ahead we can look back to this event as one of the changing events, one of the transformational events in our education and youth programs by starting them on a path to be a transformation, a nation of graduates.

we do not do it because it is the right thing to do it, but for our own economic future and our security. we americans in the world of 8 billion people cannot afford to lose a single youngster. we owe it to them and we owe it to ourselves. i thank you for your support. and now it is my great pleasure and honor to introduce the chairman of american's promise -- i used to be the chair, she is now the chair of america's promise and doing a map -- a fabulous job -- my wife, alma. [applause] >> thank you, colin. it is really a great pleasure for me to be here this morning and i'm very excited about our announcement today. when people ask me what america's promise means to me, i think about all the young people

in the world and what they need to succeed. i think about my own children who have had the sheer joy -- we have had the sheer joy of raising three people to adulthood who are now in the wrong way giving back to their community. but to whom is -- but to whom much is given, much as expected. -- much is expected. over the past two years since we announced that drop out summons, our lives have had these in every state in 55 cities, bringing to gather all sectors of the community to address this urgent problem. later this year we will issue a report on the progress that was made since our collaborative work again. but now it is time to turn awareness into sustained,

concerted action. i am happy to announce to you today the next phase of our work. we are undertaking at 10-year campaign to mobilize this nation to reverse the dropout crisis and ensure that our children are prepared for college and the work force. this campaign will be called grad nation. just 12% of our high schools account for over half of all dropouts. grad nation will focus on these 2000 lowest performing schools and their neighborhoods. duran national alliance partners and their network of local affiliates, we are harnessing the powers of community partnerships in places where the need and potential impact will be the greatest. especially in these 2000 neighborhoods. we will bring the power of promises into the lives of more

children in ways that change the odds and change futures. this effort would not be possible without the generosity of our partners and the support of the over 300 alliance partners that we have all around the country. i want to specifically bank brian gallager -- thank brian gallagher. he has helped to shape our work and the entire united way network and our shared goals. in these partners and so many others, we see leaders to recognize that all of us must be part of the solution. we have made goal of in listing 100 new business partners to join the grad nation campaign.

what we have to understand in this effort and as we go forward, and what i'd do to raise awareness, we have to understand that there is no date in facing this problem and working until it is eliminated, there is just us. so we have to think of that being it, keeping young people in school, reading them back, making sure they graduate with the skills that they need. there is almost no limit to how organizations can help. for example, one in the should have focuses on ethnic young people falling off the track for graduation. one is engaging volunteers in after-school education programs for middle schoolers. another is expanding its national school's program for students and grades k-5, and 4-

h reaches young people each year with learning experiences in science and technology project. but we all know that there are so many things that individuals can do in each ofñi us have to t every day with the question, what can i do? for starters, if you can become more it -- more involved in the education of your own children. =/%ñihelp connectçóñr them and o the resources that they need for success. tutor students after school. be a mentor. did youñi know that students who meet regularly withñi the mentor or 50% less likely to skip school? that caring adult that is always looking for them, ready with a smile or a shoulder to lean on. it does not take a lot of effort to do that, just the will.

you can be part of a career exploration program. this is a proven way to keep students engage in motivated. we can donate books to children, but more importantly, read it children. there are so many opportunities to do that are around us every day. perjure school district to participate in our gallup student poll which measures some of the most reliable indicators of whether students are ready for the future. school districts in communities across the country are already using this data to determine new ways to help students improve. in all of these ways and more, we need individuals and organizations to be involved. xdwe with your help have to mobilize all americans.

just the other day, they were holding a town meeting where educators and parents were coming together to talk about what we need to do to change that. that is good. we're glad that we have people talking about it, but now we want them to act on it. our campaign is more like a marathon than a sprint. we're not going to become a grad nation overnight. but working together, we will be a a grad nation and secure our future as a great nation. since taking off -- since taking office, president obama has made the education of our young people a priority even among the other urgent priorities that he has. he and secretary duncan know when fully understand the challenges that we face.

they know that this must be our goal. this is our goal here at america's promise, this is what we are dedicated to, and we want everyone to understand and accept the role that all of us can play in this crucial issue. and i am happy that our president embraces this need and is committed to making a difference. but is in gentleman, this morning i have a great honor to introduce to you, the president of the united states. [applause] >> thank you. thank you so much. thank you very much. everybody, please have a seat.

let me begin by acknowledging some of the extraordinary people who are working on this extraordinary project. first of all, i want everybody to know, in case you have not already met him, somebody who is working tirelessly on behalf of the young people of america, my secretary of education, arne duncan. [applause] >i want to a knowledge marguerie kondracke, the ceo of america's promise, who is going to be implementing so much of the terrific work that is discussed today. marguerite -- there she is, right there. i want to thank tom donohue for your hospitality in this extraordinary venue. thank you very much and thanks for the chamber support for this terrific effort. i want to a knowledge margaret

spellings, arne's predecessor, who helped to lead a lot of the improvement that has been taking place and that we are building on. and obviously i want to thank the powells, and i'll start with the more important powell, all month. -- alma. [laughter] i want to say a word about the remarkable woman who introduced me. a champion of children, a dedicated public servant, and the recipient of numerous awards. into america's promise alliance, helping to make it the largest partnership of a kind to improve education and help children in this country. and that is not slaves -- and that is not surprising, because being an educator seems to run in the family. b.jfxdparents was born into sly and the other just after

oblation, both with the college, became teachers, four for children followed them into the education profession. so her family has educated and enriched generations of americans and our nation is better off because of it. and so we're very grateful to you for your extraordinary leadership. thank you. [applause] there's not much more that we can say about the man that almost succeeds as chair of the alliance -- that alma succeeds as chair of the alliance. i will say that i am grateful for his friendship, for his counsel, and like so many americans, i continue to be inspired by his leadership and by his life's story. it is the story of the son of jqqpr(p' garment workers, a student from the south bronx, like me, was not always at his best in high school, but who went on to city college of new york thanks to the support of his family and friends and his

community. it is the story of an rotc cadet who went on to distinguish himself first in vietnam, then in the pentagon, andñr the white house, and in the state department. and who, after spending a lifetime fighting on behalf of america, have now taken up the fight for america's children to read some of their leadership that they are showing by spearheading the grad nation campaign to end america's dropout crisis is just the latest chapter in their service to this nation. so i want to publicly commend them and thank them for their extraordinary service. thank you very much. [applause] one last person i want to make mention of, because i think it bears on the extraordinary public-private partnership that is taking place here, we have the ceo for the corporation for national community service, patrick corvington, who is here. where is patrick? barry is back there.

-- there he is back there. we're hoping to make sure we get a whole bunch of volunteers engaged in this effort. it is fitting that we're talking about education here the chamber of commerce. after all, for america to compete and to win in the 21st century, we know that we will need a highly educated workforce that is second to none. and we know that the success of every american will be tied more closely than ever before to the level of education that they achieve. the jobs will go to the people with the knowledge and skills to do them -- it is that simple. in this kind of knowledge economy, giving up on your education and dropping out of school means not only giving up on your future, but it is also giving up on your family's future and giving up on your country's future. and yet that is what too many of america's children are doing today. over 1 million students do not

finish high school each year -- nearly one in three. over half are african american and latino. the graduation gap in some places between white students and classmates of color is 40% or 50%. and in cities like detroit and indianapolis and baltimore, graduation rates hover around 30%, 40%, roughly half the national average. now it is true that not long ago you could drop out of high school and reasonably expect to find a blue-collar job that would pay the bills and help support your family. that is just not the case anymore. in recent years a high school dropout has made on average about $10,000 less per year than a high-school graduate. in fact, during this recession, a high-school dropout has been more than three times as likely to be out of work as someone

with at least a college degree. right to waiting from high school is an economic imperative. that might be the best reason to get a diploma, it is not the only reason to get a high-school diploma. as alma mentioned, high school dropouts are more likely to be teen parents, more likely to commit crime, more likely to rely on public assistance, more likely to lead shattered lives. what's more, they cost our economy hundreds of billions of dollars over the course of a lifetime in lower wages and higher public expenses. this is a problem we cannot afford to except and cannot afford to ignore. the stakes are too high for our children, for our economy, and for our country. it is time for all of us to come together -- parents, students, principals, and teachers,

business leaders and elected officials from across the political spectrum -- to end america's dropout crisis. this is a problem that i have actually been fighting for years. way back when, when i was a community organizer in chicago, i saw what happened to a family or to a school or to a community when a student dropped out. so i helped work with local churches in the region and public school officials to get state funding for dropout prevention programs, and brought together african american and latino leaders to help set up after-school programs -- because when we help keep kids off the street, when we give them a productive way to spend their time, then graduation rates go up. that is a commitment that i have carried with me to the oval office. and today i want to announce steps my administration will take to help in the dropout crisis in the african-american community, in the latino community, and in the larger

american community. because we know that about 12% of america's schools produce 50% of america's dropouts, we are going to focus on helping states and school districts turn around their 5000 lowest performing schools in the next five years, and arne will be amplifying and providing details on how we can do this. we will not only challenge states to identify high schools with graduation rates below 60%, we're going to invest another $900 million in strategies to get those graduation rates up. strategies like transforming schools from top to bottom by bringing in a new principal and training teachers to use more effective techniques in the classroom. strategies like closing a school for a time and reopening it under new management, or even shutting it down entirely and sending its students to a better school. and strategies like replacing a school's principal and at least half of its staff.

now replacing school staff should only be done as a last resort. the public servants who work in america's schools -- whether they are principals or teachers or counselors or coaches -- work long and hard on behalf of our children and they deserve our gratitude. keep in mind i've got a sister who's a teacher, my mother spent time teaching -- one of the most important jobs that we have in this country. we have an obligation as a country to give them the support that they need, because when principals and teachers succeed, then our children succeed. so with a school is struggling we have to work with the principal and the teachers to find a solution. we have to give them a chance to make meaningful improvement. but if a school continues to fail its students year after year after year, if that does not show any signs of improvement, then there has got to be a sense of accountability. .

most dropout say the recent drop that was the were not interested in class and were not motivated to do their work.

that is why we will build on the efforts in places like communities and schools, the make sure kids who are at risk of dropping out have one on one support. i will follow the example of places like ryland -- places$çd like rhode island. ñipossibility of succeeding in a career. ñii will invest in exhilaratedxd instruction to help students who have fallen behind, make up credits, and graduate on time. it is why it will foster better schools where students whoñi hae dropped out and who are at risk of dropping out can return to the classroom and burn their diploma. that is how we can curb the dropout rates. -- and burned their diploma. it has schools -- and earn their diploma.

ñixdthis should be ready forñiñx or collegq=% successful schools whereñi students can take advanced and college-level courses. government has been ñiñiçóçóçóñiñigovernment can hee students to succeed in college in a career. government can help provideñr td ress)ces to engage dropouts and those at risk of dropping out. ñiñiwhen necessary, the governmt has to be critically involved in turning around the lowest performing schools.

nobody has the more passionate about this than arne duncan and. as i have said, educatiãis not and cannot be the taskñi of to take nonprofits and businesses doing theirñi part, through alliances like america's promise. it will take parents getting involved in their children's education consistently. going to parent-ñiteacher i children with a homer. i just went to my daughter's parent-teacher conference last week. she is doing very well, by the way. [laughter] it will take students showingçó up to school on time and paying attention and staying out of trouble. education is an active activity. educating our sons and daughters is a task for all of us. making sure none of us thinkxd

it's someone else's job. we all except our role to play in making sure that we have the best educated citizenry in the world. that's is what has made the 20th-century and that is what will make the 21st century the american century. there is an old story that collin is told. he lived about 100 years ago. george was a janitor. his job was to clean up after the artist, french. some of you may of heard of french. he carved the figure of abraham lincoln for the lincoln memorial. day after day, we carefully, he bled about his job, but barely uttering a word to mr. french

other than the occasional hello or goodbye. just when france had nearly completed his masterpiece, he spoke up. he said, i have a question. what is it? >> how you knew all along that mr. lincoln was sitting inside that block of marble. that wasn't a silly question. sometimes in this country we see blocks of marble and some people can see what is inside and some people cannot. it was a profound question about how we recognized the potential within each of us and chisel away at what is locked inside. i am confident that because of the work of colin powell and his wife alma, and worked that we're doing across this nation to give our children the best

education we have to offer, college to a career, we are chiseling away at the obstacles that lie in our path. the block. children's potential. we want to of what that potential. carved it upper so that our -- carave it up. -- carve it up. thank you so much. may god bless you and bless the united states of america. [applause] çóñi♪ ñiñiñi[patriotic music plays]

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ñiñr>> typeñi in grant's tomb at checkout. ® middle and high scho'- span studentcamñ!?dñidocumentary competition. we will announce the 75 winners on march 10 and showñrñi you the winning videos at studentcam.org. >> the state department briefing on the international narcotics trade. we will hear an analysis of the drug-trafficking problems. the briefer is david johnson, the assistant secretary of state. this last about half an hour.

>> been afternoon. it is my pleasure toñi introduce assistant secretary david johnson of the bureau of ñrnarcoticsht and law enforcemt affairs. he will bm rq#ing us on the annualçó this report covers the calendar year 2009. its conclusions reflect the department's analysis of the international drug control and money-laundering environment. the briefings are on the record and are available in the press office. we will also be bringing them in here to hand out and it will be

posted on the state department website. without further ado, i will let the secretary takeover. >> çó>> good afternoon. the wort to the congress. ñi of foreign government's efforts to do with their own domestic narcotics problems and to meet their international responsibilities as set forth in un treating is. the drug and chemical sectionñr covers 130 countries and jurisdictions. the second section describes the effort to amend strong anti-money laundering and

counter-terrorist efforts. this provides an assessment of the worldwide illegal drug and money-laundering situation. this report has been prepared in accordance with section 489 of the foreign assistance act from 1961 that requires us to identify major illicit drug- producing and transit countries. section 481 defines a major money-laundering country as one whose financial institutions engaged in currency transactions involving significant amounts of proceeds from international narcotics trafficking. that means both of the states having challenges and those with large and financials institutions. this report's conclusions reflect the analysis of the international environment during the past year. based on the analysis we identified challenges we face with partners. more importantly, it points to lessons learned which will help us all. the u.s. provides significant assistance and resources to

partner states to help develop effective law enforcement, judicial institutions, and anti-money laundering regimes. our cooperative efforts are essential to deter crime from reaching our shores. additionally, weak and partners are working to reduce our own demand for illicit drugs within our own borders in concert with other consumer nations. we view this as a shared challenge and responsibility as of you by the secretary visiting mexico. ñrif you will allow me one thing off the subject. last week in afghanistan when the bombing took place, one of our own dedicated afghan employees was seriously injured.

ñron behalf of all his colleagus here we want to wish him a speedy and full recovery. his condition is stable. he is making progress following surgery. with it that i will attempt to answer any questions you might have. if not, i will get out of your way. >> what is your chief take away on the narcotics imports? which countries are courting the most, which the least? where does the greatest ever need to be made? >> i think what i will do is stick to the script. we divide efforts here between the september report for we do what you say exactly. we identify the countries which

we say have failed demonstrably to cooperate. we will do that again in september. the chief takeaway is that this is a very challenging situation. it requires the cooperative efforts of all countries involved. those that produce, who are ultimately consumers themselves. and it requires efforts on behalf of all government. it is also -- illustrates the consumption of drugs is an international phenomenon. the country regrettably with the highest usage is iran has substantial efforts under way to help deter this. among the fastest growing cocaine markets are those in

europe. it is a global problem. it is one we work on with partners. yes, sir? >> could you describe the situation in afghanistan? >> i would say it continues to be a very big challenge. if you look over the recent times, production of puppies has declined by about 30% over the past two years. that is beginning at a very high plateau. it remains a significant challenge. i would also emphasize that the measure i cited is poppy

production. it gets to only one aspect of the problem. that is production of the raw material. trafficking throughout afghanistan continues to be a big problem. we with partners through the largess of the american taxpayer and others have been developed. we believe we're having more of an impact on the trafficking issue. it remains a large problem. where we have reshaped our assistance programs is to move away from a focus on eradication. to move more to one focused on interdiction and institution-

building. we're also trying to build an alternative livelihood's. there is a strong focus on agriculture. that will only have an impact over time. the battleship has turned over the past year. we expect it to have more impact going forward. also, some strong efforts have been taken by the afghans themselves. in particular program we and others have supported in hellmand in a very concentrated area. it brought combination of alternative livelihoods, economic support, provision of government services, and also the threat of law-enforcement action. it had an impact on low level of production in that area. it goes to, emphasizes a point everyone understands that this

is part of an insecure situation. where there is greater insecurity regionally there is a greater incidence of production and trafficking. >> when you say that it turned over the past year, the mean the broader situation in afghanistan, or are you referring only to pop the production? >> our policy has reformed, moving away from an eradication focus to focus on interdiction. there is also a much stronger focus on alternative livelihoods. in terms of the results of an area under cultivation, the change took place between 2007 and 2009, a drop of about 30%. due to the measurement. we're talking about here, by the end of calendar year 2009 our programs are just coming on

stream. yes? >> according to dhs, the mexican drug cartels have a presence in thousands of u.s. communities. also, there is reporting on the cultivation of marijuana by drug cartels even in national parks. how does the international strategy address things domestically connected to international concerns like this? >> of the strategy not so much, although -- the report, rather, the strategy not so much. the assistance program we have

with mexico is aimed at helping mexican partners develop a greater capacity to deal with then mexico with the use of drug cartels. i will leave it to domestic law enforcement agencies to describe the level of engagement here. an example was the take down under operation coronado by the department of justice a few months ago. the arrest took place in more than 300 locations. yes, there's a broad impact in the u.s. of cartel operations based or emanating from mexico. that illustrates another point that bears emphasizing. when people think about "spillover," you think of the border. it is not tending to be that way. it is more broadly into the u.s.

some of the border committees can be not nearly as effective as more inland areas. >> i have read the reports regarding specifically mexico. money-laundering continues to be a challenge. can we expect something to be done between both countries soon? >> money-laundering is one of the areas we're seeking to address, both in terms of domestic operations in both countries. my colleagues and i are responsible for providing equipment and training for mexican border authorities and mexican law enforcement authorities so they can better detect bulk smuggling. the motivation for sequestering

this is very strong. you see it in things as bizarre as the axles of non-industrial becoming. these are the devices you need to deal with that. we still have work we can and must do. we are dealing with millions in a problem better expressed in terms of billions. we need better progress in the finances. >> i have two questions. on the money-laundering, obviously iran and the uae, and i know that you're dealing with terrorist financing related to that, do you believe one of the reasons -- what are the

terrorist concerns, concerns about financing we should take away from this report? specifically in those countries. then on venezuela, last week the ambassador from this level was forceful in defending his country's efforts to combat the drug problem. he maintained that he gave specifics that were impressive. he said your charges in this report are political. >> the report on money

laundering deals with not a specific use of laundered money. it is based, it emanates from the legislation that requires us to look at money-laundering as generated by illicit narcotics trafficking. ineffective regime deals with all criminal and terrorist activities that might be financed for those causes. is there and the money-making or the use of moneys for nefarious purposes. >> you do not delve into the use of the money? >> no, we deal with frameworks in place to combat it.

on the issue associated with venezuela, i don't contradict -- the statistics in this report are based on the self-report of countries involved. the statistics you see for 2009 should not differ from what was cited by an official from venezuela. if you look at the evidence on the ground of where narcotics are emanating from, transiting into the kariba -- into the caribbean or africa, then into europe, you see an extraordinary path of aviation exports from venezuela, near columbia. his welcome to his point of view, but that is not political statement. it is based on evidence of the radar tracking. >> i am aware of the good cooperation of the u.s. with russia in fighting narcotics in afghanistan. russian officials are saying

that potentially, helped to increase the supply to the russian federation, sometimes. the think the u.s. can reverse its policy about stopping eradication of pop be in afghanistan and find some other solution? >> i'm familiar with the issue. it has been articulated by russian government officials. the level of production has continued to decline even in the face of our altered policies. it has declined more than any eradication policy we ever had. we found the eradication program was not a cost-effective way to deal with this. it was not having a material impact on the problem. we have refashioned our program. i don't think the program we had under way with eradication as a significant was really changing a threat to russia faced. russia does face a significant threat of opium products exported from afghanistan, as

do all of the neighbors of afghanistan even into western europe and asia. i don't think an eradication program will be an effective way to address it. not the one we had under way. >> on the northern hemisphere, have you seen any changes in theñr last year compared to previous years? >> of the three major cocaine producing states in the andes, colombia continues to have a significant declines even though it is still by far the

largest producer. peru had a modest increase. bolivia has a continuing trend of a step up the year by about 10% or 15% over the past several years. additionally, the method of production now being used by cocaine producers in bolivia

have adopted more effective production methods. it has nearly doubled the output of coca. there is at a significant increase in the potential of output because of that. >> [unintelligible] >> i don't attribute the letter to government efforts. i attribute that to the efforts of the producers. but on the former, the continuing growth in the area under cultivation, it is a disappointment that it continues to increase. and that they're not effective policies to limit the production over time. >> has a miss will increase or has it been the same?

>> and not a significant change over the past year. >> [unintelligible] >> it is from each country. yes, sir? >> a certain country is not included at this year. north korea was included last year. is north korea and volume i? is there any new finding there? >> no, there is no new funding with respect to north korea. we have not seen sufficient evidence to say with certainty that state-sponsored trafficking has stopped. the last high-profile incidents was in 2003.

kimmitt did impact of repeated incidents and other publicly acknowledged criminal behavior by north korea points to the likelihood of state-directed trafficking in addition to tracking by individuals. >> the reason north korea is not included in volume ii? >> i believe because the absence of a significant financial industry. let me check. i'm getting a not from one of my colleagues. >> i just want to go back to venezuela. [unintelligible] why is your report so different from others? >> because the facts as we observe them in terms of product emanating particularly by air from venezuela remains saddam to get. >> [inaudible]

you lot at the efforts of certain countries, but they're still major money-laundering efforts. >> we have seen some efforts in the seaborne in cooperation with some law enforcement agencies. >> you si no efforts by venezuela? >> not in the particular border area i'm talking about with aviation exports of cocaine. i have not seen any efforts or any significant efforts at least, of stopping that traffic. >> have you been in contact with venezuela? >> yes. >> and what did they say? >> we have some cooperation with them. particularly with the seaborne, but we have not found a willing

partner on the aviation issue, particularly in the border region. >> what can you say about the middle eastern states? >> your colleagues earlier asked about that issue. i explained that our concentration on listing individual states of special concern was something we dealt with under a program that comes to fruition in september. on the question of particular states in the middle east, i would refer you to the report. yes?

>> there is a press report in beirut saying that the u.s. embassy is asking the lebanese to provide them a list with foreign companies of all other data to the embassy. [unintelligible] are you aware of this? " not aware of the report. i would be glad to take a look at the report, but i am unfamiliar and do not want to speculate. >> a couple more questions? >> i'm just trying to understand. you mentioned it terrorist financing a lot. but then the earlier you said

that you do not look at the source. >> i'm suggesting the programs we have under way for cooperation deal with money laundering across the border. an effective anti- money- laundering regime which deals with proceeds of crime as well as terrorism is the same type of program. we're looking at the anti-money laundering program. that is our mechanism to gauge. we recognize that moneys that are laundered could be used for any number of nefarious purposes. our focus has to do with both counter-narcotics crime and terrorism. >> let's go back to money laundering. given the state of the world's financial crisis, are you seeing any substantive changes? >> cannot cite anything specific for you.

no. obviously, the pressures to use that could have an impact, probably more at the individual crime level. >> if i just follow that up with haiti, there is a lot of talk of its being a major transit point. most of the money that goes to haiti seems to come through the form of remittances. it has been a huge source bought for control of money laundering. they are such small amounts coming and going in the cash. can you address that? is there elevated concern or actions being taken? >> it is always to be encouraged that remittances or any other form of money transferred goes to recognized financial institutions so it is both safe for the sender and

recipient, as well as avoiding the taint of the situation that could mask nefarious transfers. with respect to haiti, we had a program on the ground before the earthquake assisting with building capacity and their policing of financial crimes. we intend to restart that as soon as we can. the source of much of the drug money coming into haiti goes back to the question concerning venezuela. a spaniel is one of the destinations, in fact the largest one for flights emanating from the border region in an as leverage espaniola.

auction in venezuela. -- in venezuela. >> even if you look at the report, decriminalize money laundering for narcotics? yes. it seems that this country -- venezuela, is taking more efforts then many other countries you are setting. if this report is about cooperation, maybe you do seem to make a distinction between brazil, whereas with venezuela you have some of the mouth as not having results. -- you have singled them out as not having results. >> this is not a political

report. >> it seems -- >> with respect if you look at the radar traps i don't think you can make that argument. >> that is just one specific area. >> it is one specific area which is a very destabilizing activity both in the caribbean and in west africa. it is a great concern. >> regarding mexico, you have it during the past months been very supportive of mexican efforts and the corporation with the u.s. the mexican public [unintelligible] the level of violence continues to increase. president calderon is down in polls. are you worried that the historic at strategy could be in peril? >> we see a broad commitment to

building the institutions of an effective policing system in mexico and reform of its judicial institutions. it has very broad support. cooperthank you. >> coming up at 1:00 p.m. >> an update on the situation in chile with the u.s. ambassador. he spoke with reporters be a video conference from santiago.

recovery efforts are getting under way after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake this past saturday. " i think we can get started. thank you very much for joining us today. we are very happy to have the ambassador to update us on the response to the aftermath of the earthquake. i will hand it over to you and then we will open it up to 2 monday. we appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. >> thank you, very much. i am delighted to be with you. the earthquake hit at 5:30 a.m. on saturday and our primary focus over the past 2.5 days has been to secure and insure the safety and security of american citizens in chile. within one hour of the

earthquake, we had mounted an operation center here. we have been working in two areas. the first husband to ensure that our 300 direct higher american employees -- the first thing is to ensure that our 300 direct highere employees are ok. is that reside in chilling -- into. -- in chile. çóthwy"have been reachingñi outo the wardens to locate americans around the country we have been fairly successful care. ñipartsçó of the country. up to now, we do not have any reports of any american

citizens who have died. or had any serious injuries. however, we have very limited reports from the area directly affected by the earthquake. this afternoon, we sent a three- person team to concepcion to have some eyes and ears on the ground to work with some of our contacts there to do a little bit more active job in terms of seeking out the welfare and whereabouts of the 1000 american citizens in the concepcion area. the area has really been seen two earthquakes. the situation here in santiago is returning to normal fairly quickly. electricity and water have been restored to most of the city.

the stock market was opened today. newspapers are being issued and traffic is fairly normal. there is a fair amount of internal damage to buildings, but not too much structural damage to clearly, -- structural damage. clearly, santiago is recovering. the situation in concepcion is quite precarious. in addition it, we are delighted that the secretary will be joining us tomorrow for meetings with the president of chile. we will have the opportunity to exchange views. the chilean government said that it is open to receive offers of assistance from the international community. the foreign minister has been in

touch with us on a continuous basis and we are seeing what it is that chile needs to match that up with some of the resources that we have available. certainly, that will be the focus of the secretary's visit. once again, i am happy to be with you. i would say that our embassy team has been working for almost the last 72 hours. they are tired. their morale is good. certainly, we look forward to answering your questions. >> this is bob burns from the ap. you mentioned chile being open to offers from the international committee. they made a formal request. i wonder if you can be more

exact about what they said they need? >> i am afraid i do not have all the details on that. i do know that we're looking at the issue of communications equipment. we are looking at a number of other areas as well. portable hospitals is one area. i think that some of the details will be worked out during the secretary's trip. certainly, we are taking a look at the items that they have indicated that they need and we are matching them up with what we have available. we are doing it on an expedited basis. >>ñr can you tell us whether the secretaries stop will be limited to the airport only or will she get a helicopter tour of the damaged areas? >> i believe the secretary will

be coming in and visiting with both the president and other officials. i believe that she will do the visit at the airport. >> thank you, ambassador. i was wondering if you could, in terms of the other obvious -- obviously this is not a situation like katie, but in terms of the scope of the earthquake -- like haiti, but in terms of the scope of the earthquake, do you see 18 going down for an assessment? are we going to be talking about a serious u.s. response? what do you anticipate right now about the kind of response that the u.s. will need to mount here? >> i think we will get into a number of those details tomorrow with the secretary. the chileans are focusing on

immediate response issues and it really has not been until today that they have focused on be going in a more comprehensive way through a list of those areas where they may need some international support i think that the secretary's visit is timely. we have had some preliminary conversations with the foreign ministry and i think the secretary will have quite a bit more to say on this tomorrow. >> there are some reports of that and l.a.'s search and rescue team has been mobilized and is headed that way in the end matter of hours -- in a matter of hours. have you heard anything about that? >> i do not have anything more on the specifics. >> is that report accurate, even

if you not have the specifics? >> i do not have anything on that for you. >> are there any updated totals on casualty counts, not just americans? >> i believe that the latest death count is 714. most of the deaths have occurred in the province on the beach. this is a small beach commuted -- small beach community. concepcion was completely destroyed in 1960 by the last major earthquake in july -- in chile.

their housing stock held pretty well. elsewhere, you have more adobe and more precarious types of structures that just collapsed immediately with the earthquake. a lot of the fatalities were related not to any kind of large building implosion like you might have seen in haiti, but a small isolated one or two people being killed inside of the house. >> can you discuss any of the ngo activities going on? do you have anything to share on that? >> i am afraid i do not have anything on that. >> are you aware of any american citizensñi that are being

evacuated? >> we have a lot of american citizens here in chile. a number of them are tourists and some are student groups. we have had meetings with them at the hotels and we have reached out to universities. one of the goals of our team is to meet with the students at the university of concepcion to see how they are doing and how they would like to move forward. one of our major priorities has been reaching out not only to the resident americans here in chile, but also to some of the transitory folks that come through. chile received one of the highest number zero of american students. ñia number of those folks arrivd at it right before the earthquake. there were a bit shaken up. we want to reach out to those

people -- they were a bit shaken up. we want to reach out to those people. >> can you talk a little bit about this area? santiago is a big city. just in terms of the area itself, how is it affected? >> i think that the metropolitan area, while it was affected, seems to be bouncing back pretty quickly. something like 90% of the supermarkets are back open. the banks are open and the stock exchange was open today and all of the daily newspapers appeared. this even occurred on sunday, less than 24 hours after the crisis. the phone system is back up and running.

cell phones are operating and electricity has been restored. life is moving fairly quickly to a more normal situation. and when you move further south, towards the epicenter, when you get into the other regions near concepcion and especially on the coast, where the tsunami hit, there was a major devastation, major loss of life and a major damage to infrastructure that is really where the cleanup effort is going to take a lot of time. that is where the focus of the government activity is and i think that is what motivated the government to come out yesterday and make this request for international assistance. the chileans are a donor

country. there were one of the first countries to provide search and rescue assistance in haiti. they are working with the west to coordinate assistance in central america. chile is a successful country. it is unusual for this country to be in a positionñr where they request assistance. clearly, the magnitude of the situation by day two got to the point that the government realized it needed to reach out to its international partners and that is why we are responding. the president indicated that we stand ready to move quickly to provide support. the secretary made the same statement. again, she is arriving tomorrow

and i am sure that we will hear more from her on the u.s. assistance effort. >> any more questions? >we appreciate you joining us. >> thank you, very much >> tonight, on "the communicators," senator patrick leahy kicks off the congressional internet caucus that is at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> over 1000 middle and high school students entered this year's c-span studentcam documentary competition. we will announce the 75 winners on march 10 and show you their winning videos at studentcam.org.

>> the new c-span video library is a digital archive of c-span programming. over 157,000 hours of c-span video is now available to you. it is fast and free. try it out. >> an update on the status of u.s. banks from this morning's washington journal. a moment. we are joined on the phone by kevin hall who writes for the mcclatchy newspapers as their economics correspondent. thank you very much for joining us. you wrote extensively last week about the news of bank failures in the u.s. what can you tell us about that? guest: federer about insurance (-uá outç its 2009 final year report -- the federal deposit insurance corporation. certainly the biggest contraction in lending since

1942, the first year the united states fully engaged in world war ii. a dramatic drop in lending. 7.4% retractions. oddly enough, two factors. the banks are impaired and are having trouble landing, needing to those balance sheets, and consumers, 10% unemployment, but uncertainty about the economy, people are not looking for loans -- the banks are not giving them and people are not looking. host: you wrote 700 u.s. banks are distressed. one out of 11 on this list. underlying this is a failure resulting from commercial real estate loans going sour is this issue in the commercial real- estate market mirroring what happened in the residential real-estate market?

guest: it is in a way. not completely. the difference is it is a the difference is it is a problem, kind of like slow- i did a little research and there was a number that was pretty interesting. on a year-to-year basis, non current loans that are now past due at a 67.5% increase across all banks. by comparison, there were just 252 in the prior year. that gives you an impact of the snowball effect. the telling number shows the slow-moving nature of this crisis and it is 144% increase in restructured loans. that shows you that banks, rather than taking losses, or

restructuring alone in trying to keep some sort of incomes during on alone. that shows us how impaired the economy is. >> tell us about another issue. youñho)biññimpxdçóçzoñwrotea!zs e1ñrscrutiny.d and being und!jdj ñi. . lpxvóçóçóçó. . . xdçóñiñrñiñxdñr can hide the true size of your deficit. it is something that has been in

practice for a long time. it it has been found out that goldman getting the headlines, by no means alone. but why goldman is under attack now is in addition to doing that, there are indications and allegations of the also took out what are called credit defaults swaps, like insurance. you don't even have to own the underlying assets. and you can bet against it. when general motors and chrysler was about to go bankruptcy, there was pressure on ford and when ford tried to renegotiate the debt the owners of the credit defaults swaps were trying to -- the only when when they go into default. that is what is happening with greece, international investors are betting against greek debt, sovereign debt, and doing it with spain and portugal and other countries that have deficits about to bid. the greeks are going to get the book down and severely slash

public finances. that will have a social consequences, the european nations seem unwilling to lend a hand in the form of a bailout. that is the risk for the united states economy, it further impairs banks and slows the global economy that is just coming out of a recession. and it hurts the u.s. dollar by weakening the euro which makes our exports more expensive. exports are one of the few bright spots we have pared host, one more issue. what can you tell us about senator dodd's efforts -- there is a report he will unveil a revised bill. guest: there is a lot of discussion about how to get here to there. the administration has been pushing for what is called a consumer finance protection agency. senator dodd seems to be finding a compromise with republicans that appears to have that located, not as a stand-alone agency, but within the treasury department.

removes an obstacle, it happens, of getting something passed. the house and december passed its version of financial reform. there will still be a job mary up the the two different provisions. the senate moves at a glacial pace. if it happens this week it raises the chance something gets done. the further we get from epicenter of 2008 the less urgency there is to make real change. it is a race against time, in and away. >> taking a look at the $787 billion economic plan, over $343 billion have been committed to various projects. $190 billion have been paid out. these are the latest figures released on did you worry 24th.

we have a web site devoted to following the money. you will find news conferences, hearings, and congressional debates. the next step in the health care debate was the main topic of today's white house briefing. press secretary robert gibbs talked about reconciliation. other topics include the results of president obama's recent health checkup. this is about 50 minutes.

>> is that somebody's birthday? we are in the process of getting the hockey sweater. thank you, major, for the correction. it is on its way. the canadiens have kept in very close contact. we are working on delivering that and figuring it the best way -- i'm definitely and medium -- i am definitely a medium. before the week is over, you have the opportunity to see that. it was a fabulous game. one quick announcement before we get going -- on monday, march 8th, president obama welcomed the president of el salvador for a meeting at the white house. the president looks forward to discussing a wide range of

issues that comprise the dynamic relationship between our two countries, including economic security and immigration-related topics. >> can you tell us what the president has been doing since the health care summit to get a bill to his desk? who has he been lobbying? >> i can look and see what calls he has made. i don't know if he has talked to members of congress or not. >> is he involved in the tax proposal? >> absolutely. this has been brought up in a number of meetings over the weekend and this morning. >> when the white house calls for an up or down vote on a bill, doesn't that mean it reconciliation? isn't that one and the same? >> the president will speak on this later in the week, likely on wednesday. i will wait until we have something from the president

then. i do believe the president believes and upper down vote is necessary -- and up or down vote is necessary. i think the republicans could decide not to filibuster and that would be one way. >> does the president believe the american people care about process or that the bill itself is important regardless of how it gets done? >> the bill that passed -- the basic bill has passed the senate and passed with 60 votes. that legislation passed the senate with a super majority, not just a majority of votes. again, we will have time to discuss this later in the week when the president makes an announcement on moving forward. >> on that broader issue, regardless of how this gets

done, does the president think the american people are watching this and they care about process congress uses? the process they used to get a bill passed? >> i think the american people care about what is in the bill. that is why you have seen them take out a number of things added in the process and changed it to make it more to his liking. >> 1 follow up on that and then a question on financial regulation. can you get -- can you give us any idea what is in the wednesday announcement without giving details which are >> that would be hard to do. >> what does the president want -- >> i think the president will outline what the next steps are and what the way ford is on health care. >> does that include a revamped proposal? >> your first question, i found it harder to do.

>> moving on to financial regulation, the concept of the consumer financial regulation agency -- center shall be suggested that it be housed in the fdic. is that -- senator shelby suggested it should be housed in the fdic. >> there has to beçó strong independent authority, an independent head and an independent budget. an independent authority to do what it needs to do. that will be the test we will look for as this legislation moves forward. the president's -- a president is very serious about this proposal. if you look back over the course of what has happened as a result of and what may have caused a good portion of our financial downturn, subprime lending, the easy availability

of credit cards, these are things that should come under greater per view in a consumer financial protection agency. >> can that -- >> i don't know the degree to which we have looked at what senator shelby has discussed. to my understanding, at some point this week we are likely to see legislation unveiled. we will certainly evaluate that, but our test and the president's test is to ensure strong independence for consumer financial protection. >> even without commenting specifically on his suggestion of the fdic, the crux of the debate that might lead to

financial regulation bill getting through is will the white house allow or support this being in another agency all? >> i don't think the address is the seminal test for this proposal. i think we have to determine whether or not the proposal put forward has sufficient independent -- is sufficiently independent. can it sufficiently make the decisions it needs to do and affect consumer financial policy in a way that helps consumers, not just the development of loans and the easy availability of credit cards that in many ways penalize consumers. >> the president told diane

sawyer that not having health care negotiations been more public was a mistake because he campaigned on process just as he campaigned on the substance of health care reform. i'm wondering if going forward, as there will be serious lobbying to get 216 votes in the house and 51 votes in the senate? are you guys planning on any additional steps in the name of transparency, whether it is releasing names of members of congress that the president or whoever -- is there anything you are planning on doing in the name of the form you had on thursday to continue that kind of transparency or are there additional steps are planning on taking? >> i can check. >> in terms of the president's health report, i know he was given a clean bill of health,

but there was talk about his cholesterol being hire and smoking cessation needing to continue. is there anything for the americans struggling with cholesterol and cigarettes you or the president want to say about either? >> the bad cholesterol measure was slightly elevated from where it had been previously. i think the doctor had told me that he is a few years older from when it was last measured. candidly, if you ask him, the diet the campaign is not asxdçó conducive -- we were all living and breathing examples of that.

i think he would be the first to tell you that he has probably had a few more cheeseburgers and i think you it admittedly tell you he has had than i've seen him meet prior to this. >> because of fancy events or because he has his own kitchen? ñi[laughter] >> i think most people will tell you that if it is available, you are more likely to eat it. i think he has had more access to sweets and deserts in the past year -- those guys make good desserts over there. he has come on more than one occasion, sampled more than he needed to. the good news is the number is only slightly above where the

doctor would like to see it. ñrçówe were talking on the helicopter on the way back that he probably had to push away from the table when the pie came more than he had in the previous on smoking, the president continues to chew nicotine gum and i. you to the comments he made in june -- that point you to the comments he made in june of last year, that while he has quit smoking, he occasionally falls off the wagon when it comes to that. like many who have struggled with kicking that have it. >> is it more difficult because it is the most stressful year has ever had? i would assume. >> i can't imagine that helps.

doctor, you saw the report, he continues to chew gum and works hard at it as well as struggle with the each and every day. >> [unintelligible] -- >> where does he bumps smokes from? -- where does he bum smoksñres from? >> i don't smoke, so i don't know the answer to that. >> of the minority whip told the speaker that if in fact they rammed this bill through the house, the democrats would lose their majority. does the white house believe that is true and is there any sense of the calculation -- >> when you say ram it through the house, what do you think he meant? >> reconciliation -- not reconciliation -- but put pressure on the numbers to get

this thing through. >> i will let eric try to explain what he met -- what he meant. the president's -- president believes strongly that he was elected to make progress on issues. issues that come founded and conducts -- compounded and next congress for years and health care is one of the bigger ones. congressman kantor is probably focused entirely on theñr nextñr probably focus on the next election. the president is focused on the next generation and making progress on some of these issues. i'm sure a number of you sawñi$s this weekend -- it was about the cost of doing nothing. what happens ifçóñiñi congressmn possible ca -- if congressman cantor's of the play went out? a nonprofit health care group in new york says we will have

substantial deterioration in what we have. this is bill -- nearly every mainstream analysis calls for medical costs to continue to climb over the next decade, outpacing the growth of the overall economy and increasing faster than the average paycheck. those higher costs will translate into higher premiums which means fewer individuals and businesses will be able to afford insurance coverage. more of everyone's dollar will go to health care and government programs like medicare and medicaid will struggle to find the money to operate. it will break all of our banks if we do nothing said peter lee, who oversees the pacific business group on health. it is a course that is bankrupting the federal government, businesses and individuals across the country. the fact that the typical price

of family coverage now runs about $13,000 a year and premiums are expected to double to $24,000 for a family by 2020. if we do not act, this is what the future is. if we do not act, insurance companies like and some that are sending letters to individuals on the market saying they will rise 39%. that's what will happen. congressman cantor says let's start over, but health care inflation is not starting over. being dropped because you have a pre-existing condition is not starting over. xd>> is their analysis from the white house that the possibility of losing a certain number of seats -- is there a political calculation? >> that is not being discussed, if you do this than this. we're focused on trying to move forward for the millions of

people struggling with high cost of health insurance each day. >> why did the president not give any voice to the single payer and the government plan during the whole debate? second, why are the republicans and some democrats so solidly against everything proposed? >> an excellent question. but they take the second question. i was reading an article before i came down about the fact that the filibuster is on a record- breaking pace in this congress. we have seen that the notion of either actual filibuster or the

threat of a filibuster use and like we have never seen before. we mentioned this on friday -- we cannot even get an emergency extension of health and unemployment benefits for those whose benefits expire at midnight. we cannot even get agreement on moving forward on that. you can't even get an agreement with the person holding that up to let the senate vote on what he wants to hold up. >> [inaudible] >> i'm trying as best i can. the senator from kentucky -- sometimes even using their names does not create the shame you think would normally engender when there are people that lost their unemployment benefits because one person

decided they're going to go up the works. it's just not how it's ever worked. i don't know why. >> why did he not fight for a government plan? >> we have debated this number of times. >> he never explained. he always acted like it was out there. >> i think president put forward a plan he thought was best for the american people. >> and he doesn't think government planned -- >> i think there are strong elements in the exchange that would set up the types of choice and competition the american people need to get access to affordable health care that creates a benefit and a plan that works best for them. there were a bunch of different options for this and the president has landed on one that not only does he think will be effective, but he thinks that the ability to become law. >> does he think medicare and

social security do not work? >> i think he believes thereñr are programs that have, forñr many decades, worked enormously well. ñiwe have to put them on a sounder financial past. but there is no doubt that whether it is through measures of senior citizens that are no longer either in or facing the threat of poverty or no longer have or face the threat of not having health care at the time in which they need it most, those are tremendously valuable programs. >> i think some people think it's a trivial issue -- since he is setting an example for our entire nation when it comes to smoking. health is obviously a concern. have you ever heard him talk about smoking from that point of view of setting an example?

what it means for those -- but it means for his health? >> in the remarks i pointed you toward, he says i don't smoke in front of my kids -- i think he understands that what he struggled with this not a good thing for his children to see or for anybody to see. i do not doubt he would tell you he wishes one said for all he could wipe away that struggle. i know that he works on it each and every day. he understands. >> do you know where and when he does it now? he manages to avoid the cameras and children -- >> we are all running around here, so i'm not with him 24 hours a day. >> is still at 95%?

>> yes. >> he hasn't made any progress since then? >> staying at 95% doesn't change the percentage, but he is controlling the problem and an addiction that i think he has talked about struggling with and, in all honesty, millions and millions of people across the country do. my father struggled with quitting. he was not as good as sneaking it as some people have, and he did not quit until a doctor told him he had lung cancer. so i think there is a lot of struggle that goes on with this and i think he is one of those whose troubles. >> he said at one point during the campaign that he smoked five or six a day. he is not doing that?

>> not that i'm aware of. i don't remember when he said that. >> on the campaign -- >> let me take a look. >> on health care, is it wednesday about the way forward on process or the way forward on [inaudible] >> my sense is both. >> so we may hear some new proposals we haven't heard before? does the president feel it is part of his job to explain or justify the use of reconciliation or educate the american people on what that is, given the fact republicans are referring it as -- referring to it as ramming the bill through. >> i think he would hope that would be the cause many of you would take up. i think he will discuss process and policy as we have discussed

in here. i don't want to get ahead of with the president might decide. -- get ahead of what the president might decide. i think we have spent a lot of time over the last two months, whether on the issue of are we serious about creating a deficit commission, how and where are we going to try certain terrorists in this country, and things like reconciliation. it is enormously informative to watch a group of people to go through each of these examples, but we ought to set up a deficit commission until it came time to vote on it and then decided they were not for what they were co-sponsor in just a few weeks earlier. or, when criticisms about how asia ballmer are dealt with --

how a shoot ballmer are dealt with and don't get called out for eight years and an analogous situation happens in detroit and suddenly everyone wants to handle it differently than they said they wanted to for the previous eight years. then you take the view of something like reconciliation, something that has been used, it was the vehicle for welfare reform. it was a vehicle for the bush tax cut in 2001 at a cost of 1.3 trillion dollars. it was the vehicle for the tax cut in 2003 at a cost of $350 billion. it is how schip came to be. it is how cobra came to be. that provides the ability for an individual loses their job to continue their health care coverage when that happens. ñii think there are virtuallyñit

limitless quotes on why this was good been as opposed to what they view it differently now. ñi>> i was wondering whether he thought he needed to advocate that? >> i do not know whether he will address it specifically, address the specific hypocrisy or not. >> is he irritated at all that's his medical report has to be made public and the whole world knows about it? >> i don't think so. i spent time with a doctor friday and saturday going through the release of this. it's obviously important for those concerned about medical privacy to understand that the president had given permission for me to have a discussion with the doctor about his medical records as well as for

the doctor to release that memo. the president understands that his health is more than just something that should be of concern to him and those who know and love him. that his health is important based on the responsibility the american people gave him in the election. he might not want to explain why he had a few more desserts last year that he did the previous years. >> he is so skinny, you know. >> i was joking with the doctor about this -- you guys think that he eats carrots and celery. there's more cheeseburgers, fries and by the previously knew. >> when senator michael but got a primary challenge, [inaudible]

are you going to take a position in the lincoln senate contest? >> we support center lincoln as an incumbent senator. >> does the president fielded a responsibility [inaudible] -- a responsibility to help nancy pelosi to get the votes? >> the president helped get votes in all the go-arounds. i don't doubt he will do the same thing this time to get the votes necessary to pass health care. >> candy participants in last week's meeting expect to hear from the president -- can the participants in last week's

meeting expect to hear from the president? is he going to talk to both sides and tell them what he intends to say? >> i don't know whether he will call each and every one of them are not. >> but the leaders on both sides? >> let me check and see what the plan is for notification. >> is this part of the agenda tomorrow? is he going to talk about healthcare reform in georgia? >> no, he will focus on jobs and visiting a couple of businesses to borrow, talking specifically about details for whether its asian and retrofitting as part of the economic plan. that's an idea we rolled up in december, but details will have more of later today. >> does the white house subscribed to the notion that there is more than one way to

register bipartisanship on health care? mainly that it some republican ideas are inc., it doesn't matter whether the bill ultimately get any republican votes? >> ultimately how republicans vote on their ideas is up to them. obviously there is a part on our website where we posed the bill that shows the number, a sampling of the number of ideas that had been accepted as a result of the committee process. you saw some agreement last week on additional ideas. quite frankly, taking individuals and individual small-business and putting themd into a collective pool isçó an idea by many republicans which is in many ways a foundation for a great part of the bill that governs individual insurance coverage.

ñras the president said a few weeks ago, bipartisanship can be all of your ideas and of our ideas. that's not bipartisanship. whether it is getting our economy moving again, whether it is health care, whether it is energy, you will see the president has ideas republicans have said they supported and enunciated in the past. whether that drives them to supporting comprehensive reform will be up to them. i said this on friday -- what you saw in many ways last week, there was no doubt a fundamental difference in the regulation of insurance and the regulation of the insurance

market. i think you have a plan from the president that, through the exchange, will allow policies to be purchased across state lines. the plan the president proposed has a minimum standard for what that insurance has to entail. i think that is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which, consumers have to feel confident that when they are purchasing insurance, it is not something that is too good to be true. it also matters for the rest of us because those of us who do get access to affordable insurance, if their insurance to continue to not provide them with the ability to get the treatment they need, that cost it passed to you and i.. >> can the white house claim bipartisanship on content is not on votes? >> i think without a doubt i can say quite clearly the

legislation includes the ideas of members of both parties in washington. >> [inaudible] it will be a much smaller proposal that we had in the house. that is where we can gain consensus, but it will be a big enough one to put us on a path of affordable, quality of care. does of the speaker have that right? a smaller proposal coming from the president that will put us on the path toward these goals? >> i don't think i would disagree globally with what she's talking about, keeping in mind that there were differences between the house and the senate in terms of the viewpoint of the house on their bill. >> would you disagree of locally? [laughter] >> i would think globally and act locally. [laughter]

i don't -- i think a summary is about right. >> and much smaller bill -- that encompasses taxation and all these sorts of things. >> i have not seen this does of the quote. i'm not saying you don't have a right, but not having talked to her staff, i don't know what she is predicated on. >> [inaudible] >> i think you will see a decent amount of overlap. >> is this going to be the new bill? ñiboth sides are saying we don't have a bill right now so we can i get a whip count. >> i don't know -- i think it will be the next thing for them to consider, but i doubt it will be in late legislativese.

i think one can evaluateñi the broad outlines of where you would be based on the specificity on the internet now. >> you said on friday that one of the tasks of the weekend was to look republican suggestions from thursday's summit and see if they fit with something the president wants to endorse. can you update us on that cluster >> that -- can you update us on that? >> that is an ongoing process. >> warren buffett says we have that fundamental change that will and the constant increase in medical costs as a percentage of gdp. he was asked if he was in favor of scrapping this and starting over. i would be, if i were president obama, was one of the's answer. -- was warren buffett's answer. >> in the same interview, he

speaks equally eloquently if not more so about the notion of doing nothing, about the notion of what happens. as i said earlier, the cost of doing nothing on health care, we know what that means. it doesn't mean a lot for warren buffett because he's ok. but for somebody that lives in michigan, they're watching a lot -- they're watching their health-care premiums go up and watching the small business there working for a drop their health insurance. he says clearly in there that if it is where we are as opposed to nothing, the senate bill is a good place to start. >> he says that he would vote for the senate bill but he

would rather see a plan that really a tax cost. ñi>> -- >> do you think what he -- do you think he is saying what the republicans are saying? >> i think mr. buffett -- i don't think he would evaluate the proposal the house republicans put forward and think -- i don't think it scratches the surface on dealing with virtually every issue, including costs. ñrñiit does virtually nothing on costs, does nothing on coverage, it leaves regulation up to insurance companies. if the choice is between the senate bill and nothing, he supports the senate bill. >> the president is not persuaded by his suggestion? >> what has animated his actions from the beginning is

dealing with cost. i do not think the last word on health care will always be just be the legislation moving forward. i think the president will continue to look at ways to cut costs in health care. >> on financial regulation, does the white house consider it somewhat of a victory that republicans are talking about a consumer protection agency when it appeared to be a potential sticking point? can there be some headway here even if there is one without its own address? >> honestly, what is most important is the authority that entity has. if that authority is something that is not constrained by

other forces, that is the judgment the white house will ñr . if you have republicans likexd senator shelby and others beginning to understand the importance of protecting consumers against various financial instruments, i think that is progress. ñiñri think this is many steps o get to where we need to go. the bottom line for the president is we have to have a very, very strong mechanism for protecting consumers. >> i was wondering if president obama was concerned about the three vacancies in coming up on the federal reserve board of governors and how quickly he

plans to pass -- how quickly plans to act on all three? >> i know on the current vacancy, the one announced today, the plan is to nominate confirmation prior to the term expiring. xd>> in terms of three vacancie, i think [inaudible] is this of concern to the president that this is a seven member board and is quickly evaporating? i think the president will seek to have nominees -- he will seek to nominate somebody quickly in hopes they can be quickly confirmed. obviously we spent some time and energy earlier in the year working for ben bernanke's confirmation. as the continuity and stability

in the financial system, the president and the economic team believed to be very important. same can be said for the board of governors. >> do you think this will be a difficult way forward as it was with ben bernanke? what he liked to hold off -- would he like to hold off until he can get some other legislation through? >> the goal is to, particularly in the most recent announcement, is to get somebody there nominated in time to and confirmed in time to take up the seat as the term expires. >> in his speech on health care wednesday, what kind of venue is that? is it an address to the country? >> it will likely be off campus, but in the d.c. area. >> in the form of a speech? >> yes. >> last monday, you were asked

twice about the claims of congressman sestak that he had been offered a high-ranking position? >> i have not made any progress on that. >> just to let you know, i was in touch with someone at the pentagon is said there was no discussion at all. but a spokesman for mr. sestak says the congressman sent by his story. >> i was remiss on this and i apologize. there's not much to follow up on. let me check into it. >> thank you very much. >> does at the white house see [inaudible] >> i think we are trying to draw attention to is the fact that hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their jobs and health care because of that,

all that is threatened because one person has decided to stop the entire process. normally, the way this can be dealt with, they can talk about this and -- i can't imagine a scenario in which in almost every other aspect of life, offering that individual a vote on what they proposed to do with not remedy the situation. it's hard to bargain with somebody when you say i won't do that because of this and you say how about we vote on it and then you say i object. what we are trying to do is highlight the fact that because of the games of washington, hundreds of thousands of people

are without the benefits they need to continue as they look for work. it seems to me to be pretty common sense. >> over the weekend, the speaker gave herself and a four effort. given that capitol hill has they have yet to pass capt. trade, health care and financial reform, what grade would you give capitol hill and the speaker? >> as it relates to the health care, financial or foreign, and comprehensive energy legislation, none of them are in law, but understand the house has passed all three of those. it's hard to argue they haven't accomplished their end of the bargain. i think that is what the speaker was mentioning. if you look at credit card legislation, cutting funding for wasteful defense projects, an economic recovery plan, i

think there are a host of things with which the house has played an enormous role and becoming law. in addition to making progress on the president's priorities that you mentioned. >> what about the senate? >> we're working on getting them caught up. >> there has been a lot of focus on the issue of broken government. does the president believed paralysis in washington has raised -- has reached a point where systemic reform idea worthy project, worry focus on redistricting? term limits or maybe even changing the filibuster rule? >> i have not heard specific conversation here about the issues that you mention.

the presidents of the point, and i think last week demonstrated some progress on these fronts, until friday. but last week, the senate passed with 70 votes on a bipartisan basis, passed the plan to provide tax cuts for businesses that hire the unemployed. the house, with over 400 vote%ñi ñiñi companies, thereforeçóñi increag competition available for individuals. as is true for most things in washington, is that and start. one step forward and one step back for two steps back. as it relates to some like center bombing, -- senator bunning, what confounds 99 other senators is when one

decides to stop the entire process whileñrçiñiçóñrñiñ majority or supermajority continues to exist. ñrxdthe comments from senator kl over the weekend we are goingñi xdñr -- was an inter bunning has done has frustrated all lot of people across the spectrum. >> [inaudible] as far as the wednesday thing goes, will we have a definitive answer on whether or not democrats will consider reconciliation? >> it does not make sense for me to give you the president's announcement wednesday on monday except to say -- what i said earlier is that what he discusses will point toward not

just a policy, but a process moving forward. >> [inaudible] >> i think you have a good idea of how we will proceed. >> he mentioned a number of items that passed under reconciliation. but republicans say there was bipartisan support for that. this is strictly a partisan deal. what is your response to that? >> my response would be a continued to move the goal posts. when judd gregg says of the have 51 votes for an idea, it passes. what did he mean? i think he meant reconciliation was fine for what i want to be reconciled and it didn't mean it if i didn't want it, therefore pay attention to not what i said in the past but what i say in the future in hopes of you not catching the hypocrisy of my argument.

>> are you talking about the objection [inaudible] >> the base set health care bill passed the senate not with 50 or 51, but with 60 votes, right? >> [inaudible] >> i said i would check on this. it's hard to me to do polyps -- >> [inaudible] >> i said i would check on the situation. >> it is march 1st and the national black farmers' association says this appropriation is a 1.2 $5 billion appropriation for this appropriation -- a $1.25 appropriation has not been attached and they're concerned

their moneys will not be approved by congress, pushing this to another year or two. >> let me check on where the process would be from our end. i cannot speak to the appropriations process on the hill. >> has the pastry shell -- as the pastry chef been given a mandate? [laughter] >> the president of the pastry chef. >> that's the problem. >> mrs. obama is the woman of the house and she has talked about healthy eating and has a garden outside. >> on behalf of the president of the united states, i will do this -- he doesn't look like me, right? he's doing just fine. i would love to go to bethesda and have them tell me i was

where the cholesterol was on him. let's not -- the doctor would like to see it lowered -- >> are there going to be more of fruits and vegetables in his diet? >> i love this. >> it's a real issue. >> first you guys sound like there is our rugalach in his pocket to snack on and now he is breaking into my office looking for quarters for the vending machine. >> but the potato chips down. >> will there be apples and in the oval office? >> which she eats a lot of. i had an apple today. i'm going to get myself in trouble. in all seriousness, i think the health report is important. on helicopter ride back, he was

the first one -- he said i just have to say no to desert more often. i don't think there is a magic formula accept, as he said, pushing away from the table before they put pie in front of them. >> said the pastry chef has not been given a mandate? >> to keep baking, but use more presidential restraint. >> it's a demand problem, not a supply problem. [laughter] >> not untrue. >> going back to the cfta, if it's not given sufficient authority, is that not a reason for president to threaten or conduct a veto? >> i don't want to get that far ahead of the process given the fact we have not yet seen all of what the senate bill will be?

the house is on record with a strong cfpa. çóñrlet me just leave it at the dq strongly that final legislation must ñrinclude strong consumer financial protections. this is something he outlined earlier. it has been through the house. he is enormously serious about ensuring that as part of the final process. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

ñr >> over 1000 students entered this year's c-span student cam competition. we will announce the 75 winners on march 10 and show you their winning bids at studentcam.org. >> you are watching public affairs programming on c-span, created by america's cable-tv company's common offered as a

public service. in a few moments, steny hoyer will speak on fiscal responsibility. in about 45 minutes, a cato institute preview on tomorrow's supreme court gun rights case. later, a director of national intelligence will speak. >> the new c-span video library is a virtual library of c- span's archives. over 157,000 hours of c-span video is now availablq=to you. kit is fast and free. try it out. >> as washington post international correspondent, t.r. reid has traveled the world.