do we have that testimony? were you troubled by this when you heard it? i don't know if you heard it all. >> no employee at moody's has ever been fired for market share issues, ever. >> have they been threatened to be fired? >> not that i am aware. >> have you look at these exhibits have listened to what just told you? >> as i testified earlier, ratings quality is paramount. >> it is supposed to be paramount. >> we look at other things irrelevant to running a business and includes market share and in particular includes market coverage whether we are paid for the coverage or not. we are operating a system in which become part of elements are important. being able to compare what security to another with a common view credit is expressed in the ratings.

i process i think that was important in terms of how exists today and the separation from the business and from the ratings business. market share can be a measure of the markets'' acceptance of the quality of the ratings. to the extent that market share declined, there could be many different things that would be looked into in terms of whether or not the quality of the ratings was in any way not useful to the. marketplacethe .

>> we drink the kool-aid, coupled with strong internal emphasis on market share and marchant focus -- market focus,

at this and does constitute a risk to gratings quality. that is his analysis. to follow what i was reading, on page 2, this constitutes a risk to ratings quality. do you agree with that? >> as i had commented before, the observation that our information sources, all of them, often times, have points of view, whether it is issuers or investors. they have the risk of causing us to think on a consensus basis with the market. we want to have independent views. so, i appreciate that a chief credit officer is thinking about these issues. i appreciate that he is bringing them to my attention, and i have

reacted by implementing many of the recommendations and thoughts that are included in his comments. >> you say you should operate from consensus. it says that there is a strong internal emphasis on market share. >> yes, as i said, we have market -- >> that constitute a risk to braidings quality, your emphasis on the market quality. -- eight risk to ratings quality -- a risk to ratings quality. he is saying that with a strong internal emphasis on market share this does constitute a risk to ratings quality. >> that is him. those are risks and they must be managed properly so that the ratings system is not

compromised in any way. >> it says coupled with a strong internal emphasis. are you saying that there is no such coupling? >> i am saying that that is a risk and it must be managed so that ratings are not compromised. >> you say that there is a strong internal emphasis on markets. you agree with that. >> i pay attention to markets. >> don't just pay attention to it. do you agree with him? >> i believe that attention to market share is one thing we must pay attention to in running the business. it is not -- >> that is not my question. >> it is not as important as ratings quality, but i pay attention to it, and i care about it. >> that was not my question. >> i apologize, years are trying to answer. >> let me try again.

he right that there is a strong internal emphasis on markets. >> there is a strong internal emphasis on market coverage. >> so you would not agree with him. >> i would say that market coverage and market share can be conflated. >> does that mean confused? >> used interchangeably. >> but you would not raise it that way. >> no, i think the market coverage issue is the more important issue. >> did he prepare this at your request? >> i do not remember if he prepared at my request or independently, but i do remember receiving it. >> were you aware that -- were

you familiar with an fbi report that came out in 2004 that said that mortgage fraud was becoming more prevalent? >> i am not specifically aware of that particular report. >> were you aware that the fbi in 2006 reported that the number of suspicious activity reports around the mortgage fraud rose by 6700%? >> again, is not -- i am not familiar with that report. >> are you familiar with the report on interest only loans? or you aware that there was a large use of interest-only loans during that time? >> i am not sure that i was aware of the amount, but i was aware that there were different types of loans being offered in the marketplace, yes. >> were you aware that there was

a substantial growth in interest-only loans during that time? >> but was not aware of the amount. >> for -- the i am asking if you are aware that there was a substantial growth, not if you knew the percentage. >> yes, i was aware of that. >> do you know what silent the seconds are? what i do not. >> -- do you know what silent seconds are? >> i do not. >> do you know what a second lien is? >> i am familiar with the term, yes.

>> there is an e-mail from standard and poor's, exhibit 14, up from richard koch. in the know who that is -- and do you know who that is? >> no. >> would you agree that there was great pressure to feed the origination and machine? >> i am not aware of the specifics. >> but in general, were you aware that there was a huge demand for securitized mortgages. >> i was certainly aware of the growth in net securitized mortgages, yes.

>> and the demand from investors and from wall street to securitized? >> yes. >> were you aware of this exhibit 5 -- i am not sure if i asked you specifically or not, version 6 could have been released months ago -- i do not know if i asked you specifically about that.

did i ask you what your reaction is to that? >> you did not. >> what is it? >> i am not familiar with the topics they are referring to or the people they are addressing. >> what is your reaction now that you read that? this is something that could not have otherwise been done because rider had to massage a the subprime and all the numbers. what is your reaction to that? >> is certainly troubling. again, and a larger context i am not sure what the subject might be addressing, but to the extent that that was a concern, i would expect that that would be reviewed and, to the extent that it was not addressed, it should have been brought to my attention. >> exhibit number 87 is the subject we talked about earlier. there is a message from mr.

warner, exhibit 87, pleading for resources. they are short-staffed, analyze rs are overwhelmed. these exhibits show an overwhelming shortage of staff to go to the ratings, but also to do the reviews. were you aware of that kind of shortfall of stab at that time? >> certainly in early 2007, the number of securities were again starting to show a deteriorating performance data that indeed, the number of employees needed for this particular group needed to be increased. as i understand from the testimony, this group received

the needed resources. >> that is not part of the testimony being acknowledged, which is that they were short of resources. they were shuffled back and forth. exhibit 90, mr. mcdaniel said, take a look at exhibit 90. this is from moody's back in 2006. if we are to remain short- staffed for another year -- or you short-staffed in a january 2006? >> we had stress on our resources in this time, absolutely. >> you are making a pretty good profit during that time, were you not? >> we were profitable, yes. >> take a look at movies in 2007, if you would -- moody's

in 2007, if you would. this is exhibit 91. second paragraph, our analysts are overwhelmed. >> as i remarked, there were definitely resources stresses at this point in time. people were looking to -- people were working longer hours than we wanted them to come the more days of the week and we wanted them to. it was not for a lack of having open positions, but at the pace of the market was growing, it was difficult to fill positions as quickly as we would have liked. >> did moody's reevaluate

wholesale, or just certain transactions? >> we monitor in our surveillance all transactions. >> but did you reevaluate an entire cdo or an entire r m b s? >> i apologize. i am not following. >> if you have a new metric, a new model that you are using too great -- to rate new securities, would you go back and use that model on the existing securities. >> it would depend. >> did you read-test the old deals?

>> in many cases we do, in some cases we do not. >> what about standard and poor's? >> there are two different processes. we look at actual loan performance data to determine whether there would be any impact to the rating. >> did you take a look at the entire rating, the entire issue? >> every issue was looked at in terms of the actual performance data. >> did you used the new model or grandfather the old rating? >> it was procedure to look at actual performance data, and to the extent the criteria was changed, new issues, it would always be disclosed to the marketplace as to what extent any past transactions needed any criteria change or modification. >> so you did not read-test your old deals, you just disclosed

the new at ratings to the marketplace. >> we discussed the new criteria and how it would impact securities that would be rated going forward. >> going forward. but did you go back and apply your new model to what you now new -- to what you now you could apply to the old models? >> no. >> or their reasons not to go back? >> [inaudible]

ok, this is exhibit 62. this is a standard and poor's exhibit. it is at the bottom of page one, how do we handle the existing deals especially if there are changes that can cause a material change? at the bottom of page two, i do not know if there were changes to wholesale ratings. under the new criteria, the two major reasons we have taken this approach is one, a lack of

sufficient personnel. were you familiar with this? >> i just read it this week. >> but this is not true? >> this is not my understanding of how securities or surveiled. >> will you please take a look at exhibit 92-day, mr. mcdaniel? >> yes. >> this is a focus group associates survey. take a look at page 3. you apparently were there at a series of interviews and focus groups. if you look at the findings, most indicated pepper -- most indicated that there should be increasing market share and or coverage. do you see that?

>> wii's. >> yes. >> now, after your mass and downgrades in 2007, during the last six months moody's rated about 500 subprime securities, and standard and poor's rated over 700, so you were still allowing these dubious mortgages to go into the market. had you not already decided that these securities were at high- risk in the july dax had you not already reached that conclusion? >> i do not believe there were

transactions in late 2007, not that i recall. >> i actually departed standard and poor's at the beginning of september, so i am not familiar with the last six months of transactions. >> well, moody's did a great -- did rate these securities. >> i did not recall that. >> in july, there was a massive downgrade of its securities. were you consulted when that happened? >> i was aware of it. >> were you consulted? >> i was not consulted from a credit perspective in terms of whether it should happen or not. i was informed so that i would have an understanding of the reaction of the ratings committees. >> it was not part of your job to determine that decision? >> that is correct.

>> did you see the impact of those mass downgrades on the market? were you aware of the huge impact that it had on the market? >> we were observing deterioration in performance of mortgages. that is what had the impact on the market, i believe. >> yes, the subprime market collapsed. >> and weaver recognizing -- and we were recognizing the deterioration of the ratings, but it did not cause the collapse. >> well if you had done it earlier, taken those warning signs in its -- those warning signs, there would not have had to be such a massive downgrading a year later. that is what we are looking at. nonetheless, i am sure that you would agree that you had this information. you were applying a new model

to securities ratings. you did not read-rate the old securities. according to one document, you did not want to apply the resources to do it, and some other reasons. in any offense, you did not do it. as a result, this was a massive way, and it had a huge effect. if you had done it when you first got the storm warning, a key argument is much more persuasive that you would not have had this massive downgrading that had such bed huge impact in july 2007. -- such a huge impact in july 2007. >> we are managing the ratings system to react to actual performance and data. when it deviated from what we had seen in previous recessions, that is when we took our action.

>> in july of 2007, -- do you know who david goldstein is? >> no, i do not. >> do you know who core alito is? >> no, i do not. >> how about david oman? >> no. >> how about david bonn? >> no. >> take a look at the next exhibit, if you would. this is an e-mail from march, 2007. 52-c is from an s & p 500 employee who requests that a

marketing campaign and be put together around the subprime mortgage. why would you want to put together a marketing campaign in march of 2007? >> i would not use the term marketing campaign. what i did ask was for more responsive communication and around the subprime of markets. this follows along with a teleconference, an investor teleconference, that we put on around this time, shortly thereafter. >> you did not use the term that they said the date used. >> i do not think i would have used that term. >> going back, on the question of what happened late in 2007,

in the last six months of 2007, after the crunch came. one of the last subprime deals a that was rated was called "citigroup mortgage loan trust." both standard and poor's and moody's rated this in 2007. this was a month after both of your companies had downgraded thousands of subprime mortgages. were you aware that each of your agencies gave a aaa rating to a deep traunches created by the citibank deal in september 2007? >> and no, i was not. >> i was no longer with the company. >> the press release when you

rated the citibank diehl stated that you expected heightened losses. as of today, day exceeded any expected losses when you rated the deal. does it surprise you that you were still trading in those subprime rmbs's after what happened in july? does that come as a surprise to you? >> i was surprised that there was a subprime security issued to the market, to the extent that we had updated our views and felt that those views would now be sufficient to provide protections to the ratings assigned. i fail to understand why the ratings committee would do so. >> [inaudible]

let me go back again to 24-a d. there are a lot of interesting things that your chief credit officer wrote in october, 2007. there were issues and weaknesses that the organization needed to address after the subprime market crash. one of the things he wrote, and this is under market share, he

says in paragraph 5, "ideally, competition would be on the basis of upbraidings quality, with a second component of christ and a third component of the service -- ideally, competition would be on the basis of ratings quality, with a second component of price, and a third component of service." he goes on to say that in some sectors the market actually punishes quality. "unchecked competition on this basis can place the entire financial system at risk. it turns out that ratings quality has a surprisingly few

friends. investors do not want ratings downgrades. short sighted investors want to gain the agencies for a few easy points on execution. ." >> would you agree with that? >> he was talking about ratings shopping. i would agree that that existed then, and it exists now. >> he is analyzing, in paragraph 7, he says that the market share pressure persisted in certain areas. moody's has erected safeguards to keep teams from solving the market-share problem by lowering the standards.

these do help protect credit quality. ratings are assigned by committee, not individuals, however, entire committees, and tire departments are susceptible to market share objectives. do you agree with that? >> in terms of financial incentives, analysts would not be rewarded for market share or penalized for lack of market share and. at management levels, there is more incentives associated with how the overall permit does financially -- overall firm does financially, to the extent that there is greater paid market share as opposed to just market coverage, which is why we need appropriate safeguards and

checks and balances. >> do you agree that entire committees are susceptible to market share objectives? >> i do not agree. they are ad hoc committees. >> he says methodologies and criteria are published and best -- and thus put boundaries on the ratings. do you agree with that? >> i do not know if i agree or not. >> ok. in paragraph 23, from a credit policy perspective we want to be

in a position to just say no to a market opportunity. it is imperative to do so from a quality perspective. we have done that in the past, and he gives examples, how to do it more gracefully without exiting whole market sectors is an unsolved problem. would you agree that it is an unsolved problem? >> it is an unsolved problem to the extent that the market is not rewarding gratings quality. if we do not have customers for the highest quality ratings, this is an ongoing problem. >> you have a town meeting,

exhibit 98. moody's director spoke at that town meeting in september, 2007. you said that what happened in 2004 in respect to traunches is that the s & p 500 went nuts with respect to investment grade. no one cared because the machine just kept going. what do you mean by that? >> i was talking about the subordinated traunches in the mortgage-backed securities area. we had a different opinion from our competitors. we were obviously not being persuasive with the investor community in our more conservative opinions, and it was having an impact.

>> on what? >> on our business. we did not have as much coverage as a result. >> does that mean as much market share? >> both, but really, i was talking about coverage. the reason i keep making the distinction between market share and market coverage is that i think most people would associate market share with paid coverage, and i am talking about the coverage necessary to provide a comparative ratings system comparing one security to another. >> you were part of the competition, ms. corbett. this says that standard and poor's went nuts. >> i do not know what he did was referring to. >> it did not matter because the machine just kept going.

boy is that true. i wish you would just say yes, i stand by that. >> for the sector i was talking about, i do stand by it. >> ratings kept churning out with port models. i will use your words. "i think the agencies went overboard here, went off the deep end." you had poor models, but too few resources, too much pressure from investment bankers, and it did not end until the massive and downgrades of july, 2007, that cratered the market. this is what one of your managing directors said at that town meeting. "what we did not envision was that credit would tighten,

housing prices would fall, and after all, economic events are cyclical and bubbles ultimately burst. " he asked then it too for the leaders to be candid, to acknowledge what the problems were, what had happened. i think you guys have a long way to go in acknowledging what happened to your agencies. this is what he is saying, and i happen to agree with him. moody's franchises' values were based on staying ahead of the pack. this applies to you both, you just happened to have a town meeting at moody's. he said, "moody's franchise value is based on staying ahead

of the pack, and credit analysis. instead, we were in the middle of the pack. i would like more candid answers from senior management about how we rate credit into the future." one of the best comment i have seen, and i hope you would see it that way. i understand that may not be the case. . the sec, ms. corbett, i think is conducting an investigation. they conducted an investigation, including problems at the staff level with the ratings process. is that true? did the sec make that finding? >> i do not know. >> sec made changes to its rating criteria without making

those changes public. moody's had undocumented policies and procedures for rating these ceos. were you familiar with that finding? >> i am not familiar with that finding. >> the sec found, relative to moody's, that you had inadequate staff levels that impacted the ratings process. moody's analysts or using unpublished models. you could be influenced by the fees charged to issuers. you are unable to find all of the record surrounding a rating from moody's. moody's failed to retain documentation of significant steps in the ratings process which made it difficult for the staff to assess compliance with ratings procedures. are you familiar with these charges? >> i am a familiar with the sec

examination and the overall findings, yes. >> do you agree with them? >> and the actions that the sec asked us to take, we are taking. we are complying. >> this is going to complete this panel, but i have won a very brief statement. the subcommittee now has completed three of its four hearings examining some of the causes and consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. last week, on tuesday, we looked at the role of high risk mortgages. last friday looked at the failures of the bank regulators. today we looked at the role of credit rating agencies.

it has not been a pretty picture so far, and i do not think it is going to improve, although getting a debate on financial reform next week in that the senate does give us some hope. the final hearing will be next tuesday when we look at the role of investment banks, with goldman sachs being the case history. our investigation has found that investment banks such as goldman sachs were not market makers. helping clients, they were selfish promoters of a risky and complicated financial schemes that were a major part of the 2008 crisis. they bundled toxic and dubious mortgages into complex financial instruments and got the credit agencies to label them aaa state securities, magnifying and spreading risk throughout the financial system, and all too often betting against the

financial systems that they sold, at the expense of their clients. i am introducing into the record now four exhibits that we will be using a tuesday's hearing to explore the role of the investment bank during the financial crisis. we will be put in those exhibits up on the subcommittee's website either tonight or tomorrow. weeping -- we thank this panel. we appreciate you being here. you have given us many documents, and we appreciated them. we stand adjourned. >> thank you. >> and thank you. [no audio]

>> live, tonight on c-span, a debate between the democratic candidate for the arkansas senate seat. senator blanche lincoln is facing two challengers from her own party. we spoke to a reporter from the little rock zero to find out more. >> the senate seat in arkansas is shaping up to be a competitive race this year. currently, the race is leaning republican. joining us on the phone this morning is andrew demillo of the associated press to talk about that race. enter, senator blanche lincoln, the incumbent, is being

challenged. why is this a key rates to follow up? guest: linkedin is currently viewed as one of the most vulnerable -- lincoln is currently viewed as one of the most vulnerable democrats in the senate right now. she has seen her ratings plummet as a result of her support of the health-care overhaul. she is in the middle of a war between the extreme right and the extreme left. bill halter got into the race late into the game. as going against the obama administration on some important issues like the public

option in health care and halter has the support of a lot of groups that are not happy with her, including labor unions and moveon.org. they are putting a lot of money into the race, and this is looking like one of the most expensive political race in the history of this state. host: moveon.org has raised about 1.5 million online to support the lieutenant governor. how has she respond to this challenge? guest: she has responded very aggressively. that is one thing that is very striking. this has become a very bitter battle, very quickly. if you live in arkansas and you turn on the television, you will

see advertisements between them and not to mention, other groups that are doing independent expenditures. they are going after either candidate. she is trying to make him look like he is supported by a lot of the outside groups. she has been making an issue out of the support that he has gotten from the labor unions. it is very hard to get over that period. guhost: she is part of the agricultural committee, and they rode a large part of this when it comes to the derivatives. some are surprised by what she brought to this legislation. guest: this is a move over to the left, especially for her. and this is something that many of the bank's do not like. they do not like what this puts

on the practice. and there has been some speculation that she was moving to the left on this because of the challenge from halter. she has got a lot of press out of this, and she has a lot of attention from this. this was approved in the agricultural committee and she was able to get one republican to support this. this is something that she has been mentioning more, and we expect this during the first debate, she will be talking about this as an example of working against wall street. the message against her has been trying to paint her as an advocate for wall street instead of main street. host: the first debate will be tonight and we will have this at 8:00 eastern time. the first democratic primary debate for the arkansas senate

seat. your story for the associated press have this headline. blanche lincoln says that she will not take the money from goldman sachs. guest: this is an issue that has been raised and we expect to hear about this tonight. and there will be another debate on saturday. i expect to hear about this message on friday and saturday. even though she is working on derivatives legislation, she has received money from goldman sachs. on january 1, she received $4,500 in contributions from the political action committee. another web site reported that she had a fund-raiser at their headquarters planned for monday. she had canceled this. the campaign says that they did not have anything scheduled but they had been discussing abor.

but they now say it -- because of the charges against goldman sachs, her campaign would not take any contributions from goldman sachs or the employees, or schedule anything related to the campaign. this was a change from what she had said before. but one thing is that alter -- alter -- halter is telling her to return the contribution. she has been talking about the derivatives legislation, and she says that this does not influence policy. this is something that goldman sachs of the other banks would not like. >> how are the opinion polls? >> there is some variation. one website recently did an opinion poll that shows that she has only a seven-point lead,

38-31. this was about 20% of the people have responded, they were undecided. and 10% were supporting the third candidate in the primary, and he has not been getting a lot of attention. he is a very conservative democrat. he is the only one calling for the repeal of the health-care overhaul. the other opinion polls have shown a greater margin for blanche lincoln. she had a 45%-33% lead with 6% undecided. this may be anywhere from seven%. -- digit lead. she is still below 50%. there was internal opinion polling that gave her a greater margin, above 50%. but there is definitely a variation, and the interesting

thing is that many people thought that this would be decided on may 18. there is the possibility that there may be a runoff, that may stretch until june. host: and there is the republican primary as well. who is running in that contest? >> there are eight republicans who are running. and the top contenders, the most well-known and the one conservative front-runner is john boozman. he got into this very late, not until earlier this year, and many of these candidates have been running for the past year. he is believed to be the front runner just because of his name recognition, and also, his fund- raising ability. there is also gilbert baker and

he was considered the front- runner. and he is still considered a front runner. he is well-known for working with the legislature. several other candidates, including jim holtz. -- holt. he was the nominee in 2004 and he lost against lincoln. he is experiencing -- either one of the maine democratic candidates he has experience against. >> the general election has been said to be leaning republican. does this mean that both of them would probably lose in the general election? >> it is difficult to tell, and it really does depend on how the primaries are.

one of the interesting messages that you hear in both primaries is about how they are running similar messages in terms of saying that washington is broken. halter is using this on lincoln. baker had his campaign make the argument that if altar is given -- halter is given the nomination, it will be easier to use this argument. the match-up

>> again, we will have live coverage of the debate at the university of little rock in arkansas tonight at 10:00 p.m. senator evan by is stepping down after two terms. a debate between the five contenders for that seat will happen tonight as well. >> i think there is a huge vat of knowledge about how this town works. >> this weekend, award winning historians will talk about their works, their books, and to their profession, and revisit their first appearances on our network. that's sunday night on c-span. booktv.org is live at this

weekend from the l.a. times festival of the books. several featured authors will take your calls, e-mails, and tweets. follow the author discussions and panels live all weekend, on c-span it to -- c-span2. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> today at the white house, and naturalization ceremony for active-duty service members. president barack obama made remarks honoring the new citizens, and issuing the outstanding american by choice award. he also claimed that his

administration would examine violations of civil rights related to immigration. >> ladies and gentleman, the president of the united states, accompanied by janet napolitano. ladies and gentlemen, to sing the national anthem, please welcome sergeant first class harlan even. see by the dawn's early light, but so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming, who

attended the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there. oh say it does that star spangled banner yet wave. o'er the land of a free, and the home of a the brave. >> please be seated.

it is now my distinct honor to present 24 members of the united states armed forces from 16 countries throughout the world who have applied for their united states citizenship. all of these candidates have been examined by the united states citizens and immigration services, and have been found to be qualified to become united states citizens. third citizenship -- citizenship candidates, as i read the name of your country, please stand and remain standing. brazil, china, england, ethiopia, guyana, haiti, jamaica, kenya mexico, new guinea, peru, philippines,

poland, togo, trinidad and toboggan. at this time, please welcome the secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano, who will administer the oath of allegiance and admit these candidate to united states citizenship. >> good morning. please remain standing. candidates, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i, state your name, hereby declare on both -- on oath that i absolutely and entirely renounce all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty.

, of a home or which i have heretofore been a subject or citizen, that i will support and defend the constitution and laws of the united states of america against all enemies foreign and domestic, that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that i will bear arms on behalf of the united states when required by law, that i will perform non-combat service in the armed forces of the united states when required by law, that i will perform work of national importance under

civilian direction when required by law, that i take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me god. congratulations, new citizens. [applause] .

it takes a very special individual to serve and defend a nation that is not yet fully your own. that is what each of you are doing, and that his testimony to your strong sense of patriotism. our nation thanks you for your service. we owe the freedoms we enjoy to the sacrifices of men and women like you. since september 11, 2001, the united states citizenship and immigration services as naturalized over 58,000 members of our armed services. since last year we have offered non citizen enlistees the opportunity to naturalized and lely upon completion of basic training so they can graduate as american citizens. supporting this work is a group of immigration officers who work

directly with the military and their families. because many of these servants are veterans, they are keenly aware of the circumstances and deployments military families can face. i am proud to say we are working with the department of defense and hope to expand this to all branches of the services, no later than the end of this year. we will continue to do everything we can expedite the naturalization process for those who are already giving so much to our country. let me offer you my congratulations on your achievement today. we are all proud to call you fellow citizens. now it is my distinct honor and privilege to introduce to you the president of the united states. mr. president? [applause]

>> good morning, everybody. thank you, secretary napolitano, to be here to administer the oath. thank you for leading our efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform so americans keeps faith with our heritage as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. to the director and all the dedicated folks at the citizenship and immigration services, thank you for your help to these men and women and to so many of our troops to realize their dreams of citizenship. we are joined by susan davis, bill lynn, and the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. most of all, to america's newest citizens, it is a great honor to serve as your commander in chief, and it is my pleasure to

be among the first to greet you as a fellow american. to you and your families, welcome to the white house. today is your day. it is a celebration of 24 inspiring men and women and a remarkable journey that has brought you together on this beautiful spring morning to our nation's capital. the path that led you here began in more than one dozen countries. some of you came to america as children. you held tight your parents' hands. some of you came as adults, leaving everything behind in pursuit of a new life. while your stories are your own, today we celebrate the common spirit that lives within each of you. this is a spirit that has renewed america for more than two centuries. we celebrate our families, moms and dads who were willing to say

goodbye to the countries said they had the opportunity to give you the opportunity he never had. they worked hard, they saved and scrimped, said he could realize your dreams. today is a tribute to their sacrifice as well. i will chjoin you in honoring your family's who helped bring you to this day. we celebrate the spirit of possibility, an ethic that says if you are willing to put her shoulders to the wheel and apply your talents, if you believe in yourself and play by the rules, then there is a place for you in the united states of america. no matter where you come from, no matter what you look like. the spirit that brought a young woman from the people's republic of china inspired her to enlist the united states air force, where she excelled as a

specialist. we congratulate our fellow citizen. [applause] it is the spirit that brought a refugee from ethiopia and let us to and less -- and led him to enlist in the u.s. army because he wanted to get back to the country that had given him the opportunity to be all that he could be. today we congratulate him. th[applause] we celebrate the true meaning of patriotism, a lot of a country that is so strong that these men and women were willing to risk their lives to defend our country even before they could collect their own. the patriotism of a daughter of mexico who came to america and those first -- in this first terrible days after 9/11.

today we congratulate her. it is the patriotism of a young man from out: new guinea who joined the marine corps and deployed to iraq not once, not twice, but three times. that is why -- asked why he would choose to become a citizen, he said i love this country already. so we congratulate him. [applause] you represent all the members of your the distance -- fellow citizens here today, and we are grateful to you. in short, today we celebrate the essence of a country we all love, and america were so many

of our forbearers came from someplace else, a society that has been enriched from cultures from every corner of the world, a dynamic economy that is constantly renewed by the talents and energies of each new citizen. a people who understand that citizenship is not just a collection of rights, but a set of responsibilities. like so many others, these men and women met their responsibilities, and they played by the rules, and have earned their citizenship. on a day like this, we are also reminded of how we must remain both a nation of immigrants, and a nation of laws,'this includes fixing america's broken immigration system. passions are great and disagreements run deep. we can all agree that when 11 million people are living here illegally outside the system,

that is unacceptable. the american people deserve a solution. they deserve common sense immigration reform granted -- grounded in responsibility and accountability. government has the responsibility to enforce laws. under the city bus the issue, that is what we're doing. we have sent the -- we have strengthened the security at our ports because our borders must be secure. that is what these young people today stand for. businesses have the responsibility to obey law and not undermine american workers, especially when so many americans are out of work. those that eat nor the law and exploit and abuse vulnerable workers, we will hold them accountable. people who are in america

illegally have responsibility, to pay their taxes and that the responsibility to breaking the law, learn english, and get right with the law. or face removal before they can get in line and run their citizenship. responsibility, accountability, common sense, comprehensive immigration reform, and i thank the secretary for helping to lead our efforts, and i think senator shimchumer and senator graham. i will consult with democrats and republicans in congress, and i note that 11 current republican senators voted to pass immigration reform four years ago. i would hope that they would join the democrats again so that we can make progress of the american people deserve. our failure to act

responsibility at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. that includes the recent efforts in arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we church as americans. this is as well as the trust between police and their committees that is so crucial to keep us safe. i have instructed members of my administration to monitor the situation and the implications of this legislation. if we continue to fail to act on a federal level, we will continue see misguided efforts opening up around the country. as a nation, as a people, we can choose a different future. this is a future that keeps faith with our history, with our heritage, and with the hope that america has always inspired hope and people all over the world. just as the citizens cast their eyes on the country from afar, so today is a young boy or young

girl wondering if they might someday share in america's promised. the example of these new citizens and in the actions we take as a nation, let us offer our answer. this is with confidence and optimism -- yes, there is a place called america that still welcomes those yearning to be free. this is a country where if you work hard and beach responsibilities you can perceive your dreams, a society where out of many, we are one. one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. that is the promise for america, that is the spirit that all of you are renewing here today, and we are proud of you. god bless you, and may god bless the united states of america. [applause] now, we have one other piece of business.

with the sergeant please come forward -- would the sergeant please come forward? growing up in nigeria, ledume never imagined he would be standing on the stage -- on this stage state. thanks to the generosity of churches in virginia, he and his parents found a home in the united states, and he found his calling in united states marine corps. he deployed to iraq and was serving his second tour when his unit was struck by an improvised explosive device. in the weeks and months that followed, he battle to recover from brain energy in a medical center with his parents at his side.

he was presented a purple heart, and a few moments later he was made at american citizens. he is determined to help others. he has been a leader and mentor to his fellow wounded warriors. he will compete next month in the first warrior games at the u.s. olympic training center in colorado. for his distinguished service to country, for conspiring with his example of what citizenship truly means, i am proud to join the u.s. citizenship and immigration services and presenting this recognition, the outstanding american by choice award to sergeant ledume. do we have the award? [applause]

congratulations. with that, i would asks the sergeant to conclude our sermon by leading us all in the pledge of allegiance. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. >> thank you, everybody.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] ["stars and stripes forever" plays]

♪ [applause]

>> tonight, a debate between the three democrats running for the arkansas senate seat. live coverage begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. after that, a debate between the five republican candidates for indianapolis senate seat. the candidates include a former senator, a former congressman. that is at 9:00 eastern on c- span. >> there is a huge lack of knowledge about how this town works, how congress works. >> this weekend, richard norton

smith and douglas brinkley will talk about the work, their books and the profession. >> joe biden was among the speakers addressing a legislative conference of the building and construction trades department of the afl- cio. mark shields and stephen chu also spoke at this event. >> this is like christmas because we finally have all of our people back home with us in washington. it is great to be here with a bunch of building tradesmen and building trades women. ladies and gentlemen, today we meet in this great hall at pivotal time in american history and in the history of america's building trade unions.

together as americans, and as trade unions, we must decide whether to wither in the face of our current economic adversity or work like hell to wrestle it into submission. i am not want to stand at this podium today and tell you about the dreadful unemployment situation in our industry. you live this nightmare every day, and it is embodied in the faces of our members as they turn to you every day for help. our focus this week will be to address the higher hopes and the noble aspirations that we all have and draw a road map of how we, the mayor of's building trade unions, can help our members rise to renewed prosperity -- to a new prosperity. during far worse times,

americans have persevered, rebuilt, the deep in the, and lifted their nation up word, and we can do it again. -- upward, and we can do it again. in his first inaugural address, at the peak of the great depression, franklin roosevelt summoned the spirit of american resilience when he said, "we are stricken by no plague of locusts. compared with it perils that our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we still have much to be thankful for." indeed, we are not the night -- the nine the represent -- the

represent -- the reprehensible behavior is of the wall street people who had the hope of eradicating aeons. together, they have torn a keeping hole in the financial fabric of our nation and our very existence as the stallworth of the middle class. we are income -- we are not in the nile about the state of american politics that has less -- let us frustrated about trying to figure out who our true friends really are. as in the past, it will be the american working people -- you, me, and the good people we are privileged to represent -- whose spirit, skill, and determination will lift us up and deliver us to a better and more economically secure future. fdr realized this when he

continued, "these dark days, my friends, will be worth all the cost us if they teach us that true destiny is not to be ministered to, but to be ministered to ourselves and to our fellow citizens." the recovery will not be short term. i challenge each and every one of us to put our shoulders to the mw deal and work with renewed vigor on policies that offer our members real hope. let me outline a few of them for you. much of what the building trades have championed in washington is being distorted by not just televised tirades of the few

self-serving media figures. let's break to the just say no rhetoric and let's talk about the real world, the world in which our members live and see job opportunities to do what they do best, while the unemployment, along with the largest middle class tax cut in history of were enacted immediately. [applause] a lot of the construction- related benefits of the stimulus bill have been back loaded, meaning all the money was to be spent as one -- at once, and there is still money at this bill, talk it bills -- at projects that are near and dear to our hearts. we are finally seeing substantial projects get under way in all regions of the country.

at department of energy installations, thousands of our members are returning to work every day. thanks to president obama's executive order that encourages the use of pla on federal projects, we have seen jobs in three states again in the past few weeks. [applause] since last summer, 21 of 25 major department of energy construction projects were covered by projects. there will be many more.

that is what we are fighting for, and that is what this president is delivering for us -- jobs -- and that is what we want, is it not? jobs for our members. is that what we want? >> yes! >> and we want the right now. brothers and sisters, i am just as frustrated as you about the blockades in some federal agencies that exist because of hold-over bush-appointed bureaucrats who oversee procurement policies. take it to the bank. there is not any hesitation in the obama administration. last week, the final federal acquisition roll strongly favoring pla's was issued.

this is serious project -- progress after eight years of bush administration union bashing. if the president's @ mercedes -- adversaries would stop saying just say no, if that congress would quit focusing on political games and instead focus on confirmation of president obama's nominees, then brought obama would have his whole team in place and we could be rid of these bush obstructionists once and for all. [applause] of course, the biggest legislative gore lot of capitol hill this year was -- gorilla on capitol herill this year was the

health care bill. it will be great for stopping cost shifting that our plans, and providing a basic human right to over 30 million uninsured americans. [applause] we applaud president obama for taking on such a tough fight, but this fight is not over for us. we will continue to push for employer mandates in the construction industry that level the playing field for small union employers, the lifeblood of our unions. [applause] and for a public auction that will provide real competition to insurance companies. [applause]

ladies and gentlemen, the rancorous debate over health care has taken our attention off of other critical issues, issues that are vitally important to the building trades and vitally important to all americans. i am talking about legislation that will create urgently needed jobs for working families. for example, a balanced energy and climate bill that will generate tens of thousands of construction jobs for our members now and in the future has languished in united states senate. our unions are also working hard on several smaller, but finally important jobs bills, including legislation that contains extensions of our members' benefits under cobra, providing

longer coverage, and helping projects. one of those jobs bills was signed by the president on march 17 of this year. our union's stand firmly in favor of the financial reform effort now being debated on capitol hill. our industry will only see some of the growth when the spigot of private investment opens once again for commercial and residential development. major projects across this country are stalled because the spigot was turned off during the financial crisis. these projects stand in the skylines of our cities in complete and silent, like ghostly monuments to another age. we must get these projects were rolling again, and financial

reform legislation will provide the structure and the certainty that is necessary to attract private investment in all types of projects. brothers and sisters, the lack of capital and help the credit flow are strangling our industry, and it is exactly why we need our elected leaders to rise above politics and focus on jobs creation, and we need them to do now. as is often said in construction, it is time to knock off the bull. jobs are neither democratic nor republican. they are american, and american

workers are not asking for handouts. far from it. the labor movement has always asserted that the most basic civil right of all americans is the right to earn their own wage. as the late senator ted kennedy said 30 years ago, "let us pledge that there will be security for all those who are now at work, and let us pledge that there will be jobs for all who are out of work, and we will not compromise on the issue of jobs." brothers and sisters -- [applause]

brothers and sister, i know you agree with me when i say this, but, by god, we will not compromise either until everybody is working. [applause] we will fight for the rights to our and our own wage, and i am asking for your support and assurance that you and your members will proudly joined that fight. do i have that support an assurance from you? >> yes! > thank you. as we speak with elected leaders in the coming months, the first word in the final word must always be "jobs." while public investments, and

stimulus legislation are important to us, the fact is our industry is historically a private-sector endeavour. in better times, about 75% of all dollars spent on construction work private dollars -- were private do llars. we have spent years working for relationships with industry players. pharmaceuticals and many others, natural gas, and i have always believed that relationships create opportunities, and those opportunities are now paying dividends for us. in essence, we are building our own recovery act with the private sector. it began bearing fruit when we

announced at this conference two years ago the signing of a pla for the construction of twin nuclear reactors in maryland. then just a few weeks ago, we signed an agreement to cover the construction of two more reactors in georgia. now i am pleased to announce the signing of yet another agreement just last week that will cover the construction of two more reactors in texas, and in each instance -- [applause] and in each instance, we did not compromise wages and fringe

s. [applause] to get their, these projects constitute -- together, these projects constituted $50 billion and nearly 100 billion hours of new work for us over the next 10 years. this is in addition to thousands of perpetual construction and maintenance jobs for the folks we represent. some of those projects i am sure you notice are in very low union density areas. this represents a sea change for the building trades. that is the power of partnership, brothers and sisters, and believe me, there is much more on the horizon. we're working closely with these industry partners on many fronts on capitol hill, at the white house, and right out on the job sites. we have extended the hand of

friendship to them and they to us. we have also established or are in the process of pursuing additional labor management relationships, partnerships, in the petrochemical industry and the pipeline industry and with native american tribal governments. but it is no coincidence that these working relationships have blossomed at time when the building trades have allies the white house and the congress. i must say to this assembly and to all our industry partners, the building trades believed in permanent relationships, not relationships of convenience and not relationships of fancy. if in the future a political winds shift, we expect these relationships will floors and

endure over minish -- over many generations with the same commitment to collaboration as today. we continually to nurture those relationships with our found on display every day brand that many of our local unions in the united states and canada have adopted. and we continue to convince her rent and prospective customers of our pride, professionalism, and performance. that is a direct result of your commitment to deliver value on display every day. you are helping to change the culture of this industry, and for that i thank you from the bottom of my heart. [applause]

ladies and gentlemen, i am proud to serve a this room and see thousands of litereaders. i want to thank the leaders here on the dias. the general president of our great unions, thank you. and, yes, we are still missing two building trades unions, but we are working on that as well. many of you in this room today have had the opportunity to see close up the great skill and the vision of my very trusted partner, my very close friend co, secretary treasurer sean

mcgarvey. thank you for your strength, your loyal support, and your unwavering leadership. you know, this morning i also see leaders of local unions of building trades council's, and international unions. these are leaders in your own communities, leaders who helped give substance to the aspirations of your members and to give inspiration to them as well. you have a tough jobs. most of you are elected, and you work the balance the political necessities of office with the moral imperatives you bring to it. in years past, it was all too easy to slip into the full

employment meth in which the absence of members on the bench meant that there was no need to cast our next inning wider to recruit, train, and represent a new and more diverse generation. i want you to look around. look at me. look at the leaders seated next to you. look at all the people in this room. and i must ask, how many young people use see? -- do you see? this is not anything that you have not heard before, and it is becoming a very serious problem. we are aging, and if we want to keep this movement alive and vibrant, if we want to ensure

that the future of construction workers of this great nation have the same opportunity for a decent life as we had, then we need to look for new ways of doing this. -- of doing business. [applause] you also know that over the years that we have been stereotyped as male, pale, and stale. [laughter] nevertheless, we are still haunted from our local communities all the way to capitol hill by the exclusionary reputation that we earned generations ago. i spoke earlier about the need to build relationships within our industry. i speak now about the need to build solid relationships between our unions and the

communities in which we werork. there is great working in this area happening right now in many of our building trades councils. in new york, chicago, los angeles, the bay area, seattle, atlanta, cleveland, milwaukee, providence, and many other cities big and small. with their community partners, the building trades council's and their affiliates have created dynamic recruitment and apprenticeship programs that are delivering highly motivated and qualified candidate to our precision -- our apprentice ships.

[applause] these are not act of charity or social programs. in conjunction with our programs, we're delivering our youth are in unions. we're delivering value to our contracts. and we are delivering value to our customers whom we serve, and it is called a valued proposition. beyond the importance of all -- of finding new blood, there is even a greater benefit to be realized from these relationships. they are politically and

strategically smart, because as we build better, more collaborative relationships with communities, we also build power. when the interest of the committees in which we work converge, there is no power that can stop us, no adversary who will ever devide us again. -- divide us again. [applause] brothers and sisters, i believe that strategic relationships must not stop at the city limits or at the u.s. border. like it or not, our economy is now global. when companies like volkswagen comes to the united states to build huge plants using contractors that impose substandard conditions on construction workers, it is a

threat to the workers of america and in europe. some of our affiliates have been deeply engaged with the construction union counterparts, especially in europe for many years. but until recently, the building trades department was not actively seeking these trans- oceanic relationships. we needed to change that and change that we did. in january, several general president and i attended the congress of the italian federation of building and workers. during this visit, we had the opportunity to meet with construction union leaders from italy and many other european nations. i can tell you this with utmost confidence -- the european leaders with whom we met are eager to form strong, cross- border working relationships with the building trades in america.

[applause] brothers and sisters, developing solid international relationships is not just the right thing to do for the building trades, it is necessary if we are to protect and enhance the standards of living for our members right here at home. you know, when i look back to this time last year, i remember with great excitement, great excitement and hope that fill this conference. we were pumped up because of what our political activists had achieved. for the first time, first time in nearly a decade, we had a president and vice president of the the the state's who were not timid about during the word "

kenyan." -- "union." let us not forget that upon their inauguration, barack obama and joe biden walked into a burning house and that those fires were set by nearly a decade of anti-labour national leadership, and while those fires still smolder, we are beginning to bring america back from the brink. with renewed vigor and courage from president obama, vice president by then, and the congress, the political winds are shifting toward a better day in america. may god have mercy upon us if we allow the majorities in congress to change this november. let me remind you, there is much

that our shares with barack obama and joe biden, but the most important are the values of economic justice and shared prosperity for our nation. so let us move together with our president and vice president, who are the right man at the right time to lead america. in closing, let me leave you with these thoughts. for every waking moment from this before word, we must focus on one overarching mission, which is to influence the policies as well as create and nurture relationships that provide jobs for our members and that will expand our ranks. putting our members back to

work is our number one priority, and to succeed in this mission, all we need his courage, the courage of our convictions and the courage to withstand and indoor our presence troubles with an eye to the promise of the future, because from that courage will coming greatness that is beyond anything that we have ever dreamed. remember, as bad as it is today, tough times do not last forever, but tough people do. each and every day, i swell with pride because i am fortunate enough to be among the leaders of the movement that is founded upon toughness and resilience, and i hope that you feel that pride, too, because from this

day forward, right here, right now, we will and we must take it upon ourselves to believe with all our hearts that america's building trade ian's can be epitomize the hope of a new and better america, and through that belief we will stand up to and fight the charlatans and the purveyors of fear? for far too long have preyed upon those who are cold, hungry, and are scared. [applause] we're going to do that because the have seen all too often that when people are cold and hungry and scared they sometimes gather together in panicky herds.

we will no longer tolerate nor will we abide organizations or individuals, even in our own ranks, who played down to the lowest common denominator instead of up to the highest. [applause] we cannot and we will not stand silent in the presence of those forces of fear that cater to the hatreds of every class and every race and his singular objective is to appeal to the worst in people, not their best. [applause]

as american trait unionists, we believe and stand for something better, something that is uniquely american, but has been forgotten by those who let us into an economic abyss. it is brotherhood and sisterhood, and it is deep atomized by the simple yet powerful concept that an injury to one is an injury to all, and that a nation cannot ever be considered healthy when prosperity is the sole domain of a privileged few. we rejoiced in knowing that the american dream is not weekend, but rather strengthened through adversity.

america will grow stronger through conflict and heart, and our union will grow stronger because of the conflicts and hardships that we are experiencing today. ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sister, i say this to you, america's building trade unions will accomplish great things in years to come, but to do so we must not only act, but also a dream, because the poorest man is not the one without a penny. poorest man is the one without a dream and we must not only plan but also believe, believe in ourselves, believe in your families cannot believe in your country, and believe in america's building trade unions because we will always have a warrior's courage to face and overcome the enormous challenges that face our nation on a grand

scale as well as the simple private battles of everyday life. we cannot fail, and we will not fail if we have faith in each other, and faith in what we stand for and believe in. thank you. god bless you. and may god bless america's building trades. [applause] >brothers and sisters, it is truly great honor to introduce our first speaker. he served in the united states

senate for 36 years, and at every step of the way, he not only established himself as a national leader, but as a guardian. he continues that work as vice president of the united states where he supervises the implementation of the recovery act. he is also the share of that middle-class task force, the initiative that will raise the standards of living for all working families. joe biden knows that a strong middle-class equals a strong america, and he is in a class by himself, i can assure you of that. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce a

great american, a vice president of the united states, joe biden. ♪ [applause]

>> thank you. hey, guys! thank you. thank you. thank you all very, very much. thank you. [cheers] thank you. thank you very much. you are going to make me feel better, i am sure. thank you folks. thank you so much. mr. president, thank you for that introduction, and it really is an honor to be able to speak before a group of people who you know you agree with. [laughter] it is such a nice thing, i want

to tell you. i really came to see how old sullivan was just today, because i figured he is a trend setter. in case you wondered what i am doing, i genuflected before the father. i told him i needed and to supptipatory absolution. yes, i got it. father, you know, your flock here, god love you, no purgatory for you, taking on the building trades, i tell you what, i would rather be the chaplain to i do not know who, like you might get hit hard from the sky, i know a lot of you. mr. president, i am flattered to be invited back.

.

is the son of an automobile man. the truth is the first kid in the neighborhood who learns what recession is is someone whose father or mother is in the construction trades. that old joke goes on. the last kid in the neighborhood who learns what recovery means is the son or daughter of

someone in the writ -- construction or automobile business. the fact is that this has been really difficult time for you. i want you to know thathe thing that might be one of the few things that separates me from most elected public officials is, i genuinely appreciate the fact that you have to stand for election yourselves. you are out there, some of the folks who are on the elected side, they wonder why you just cannot do whatever it is that has to be done. you need votes also. you have to walk into the union hall. you have to walk in and stand before your workers who are, many of them, down and out, trying to figure out how they make sure to keep that house, how they make sure they keep that kid in college. i do not know anyone who does

not dream about sending their kids to college. you are trying to figure that out and you have to stand before them and tell them something that is about to happen. you have to tell them about this is going to get better. you have to tell them we will have people not sitting in the hall. there will be out and you guys already have a tough time to begin with. the average days of work on a yearly basis, most americans do not realize in the trades, you are not a three of 65 date -- 365 day of it. that is why i want to thank you. some of you were not able to. those of you suckied in and held her breath, i was straight with you. i told you will have to give some blood at the office. one of you said as long as you do not have me cut my throat, it

will be ok. [laughter] the fact that you stood up and took that difficult position and supported the passage of health- care bill will turn out to have much bigger payoff that you think it is. i know it is particularly tough in the trades for you to do that. i'm with you to know that i understand and i came to say thank you. it is about time that we continue to keep our end of the bargain. there's a lot on your agenda. there is a lot on the agenda that we've already got to. i would like to talk about that today. and if i could, again, what me -- i should have started with thank yoing you for support. if i hear anything about jimmy's was being better than mine, i will not ride with him anymore. it was anyway. as i rattle around the country and a lot of the guys behind me sat with me on aircraft,

airplanes, and buses, and rode with me as we were out there trying to harvest votes like my state of pennsylvania, homestead is delaware, where people were particularly hurt in iowa and missouri and up through the upper midwest. and you were there. every time i walked in to a phone bank, where people were trying to get out the vote for us, they were probably, half of them were union members running those phone banks. knocking on those doors. and what you to know and i know you do know. i never forget. i never forget your help. you were big help. you are the reason why i think we made the difference in the very stage we had to win in order to win the nomination. and win the presidency. i want to thank you for doing that. i want to thank you for something else. i spent an awful lot of time

traveling around the world into places where people are being shot at. in afghanistan and iraq. i spent an awful lot of time dealing with the aftermath. going to the veterans' hospitals and reaching out to those kids who came back without arms and legs and people who were badly wounded. here we are, you, many of you are veterans yourself. and you are an outfit that do not forget the veterans. the sacrifices that american men and women have made since 9/11 have been enormous. 5336 americans, as they say in iraq, fallen angels have lost their lives in afghanistan and iraq. more m.p. bushies pour --

amputees since the civil war. we made a commitment, and so did you. the employment rate is nearly -- unemployment rate is 15% and over 21% for veterans between 18-24. there is no surprise that you are one of the advance that stepped up, the building trades are struggling with high unemployment also. you came up with helmets to hard hats. trading veterans in skilled crafts. here you work, scraping for every job you can get in union halls. unfortunately more full than empty. you are out there bringing in people to take jobs in your outfits who are veterans. you are the real deal, folks. i want to thank you for all you do for the heroes who serve this country, but i also -- i think we fail to recognize the daily heroism of the people who build.

people who make things. not the people who create complicated financial products that only enrich themselves. people who build things. i am talking about people who come home with their hands dirty. i love it whenever i see a big american flag flying over your cranes with the tallest i-bar under construction. that work site from which you are flying that flag is as much a patriotic expression of all of you as the flag itself is. you are the men and women, you're the guys at the heart and soul and i might add, the spine of this nation. [applause] five years ago today, i came to this conference and told you that there was a war being waged

beyond afghanistan and iraq. it was a war being waged on labor's house. their wathe war waged to see tot that you do not get your fair share. a say in the share of the wealth. the wealth that you helped create. i might point out that from 2000 to 2007, the productivity increase 20%. middle-class people, their income diminished $1,500 a person. who created that productivity? you did? -- you did. the war they waged was not just about unionism. it was a war to reduce your benefits. benefits work against the bottom line of the chamber of commerce.

award to move jobs overseas because they do it cheaply. award to invest in investments rather than hard work. -- a war to move jobs overseas because they do it cheaply and a war to invest in investment rather than hard work. if there was a silver lining, the american people have learned, if they have learned anything, we have learned from this brutal recession that when you this, one neighbor loses, the middle class in this country loses -- when you lose, the middle class in this country loses. we use this phrase so lightly that the areas a middle class. i use the phrase so many times, it is almost taken for granted. the reason there is a middle class in america is because of unions. [applause]

that is a fact. [applause] folks, if i could ask the staff to hold. let me reiterate one point. think about the last time we have been in a position like this, guys. the last time we have been in a position where in order for america to lead the world, we had to not just do what we were already doing better. we had to do some new things. that was in the 1890's and 1890's, 1900, 1910, 1920. here is what i mean.

at that time, america was emerging in a way that we were creating a whole new industry. a whole new industry of automobiles. significant new industries in the production of rubber and tires. significant new industries. it was growing. the world was growing. this was not growing? american workers share what they'd -- american workers share. what they did nowas not growing. at the beginning of the 20th century, our gdp would have gone through the ceiling. as it did. but the living standard of the american people would not have materially changed. but you stepped in. you did not say that any job is ok. you said that workers are

entitled. they are entitled to a fair share of the wealth they create. we went through some brutal times, whether it was in the coal mines in the scranton region, where i am from, whether it was the steel industry, and the industry, or the trades. it was not until roosevelt came along and there was a deal made. the deal made lasted for a long time was that you get a fair share for you produce. that deal as i said in the beginning of my talk to you was undone. it began to become unraveled in the 1980's, but it was aggressively attacked in the 1990's. it took root in the beginning of the century in the last administration. five years ago, i came to you

and told you there was a war on labor's house but the war was being led by the white house. today i am here with a different message. today, we, this white house, are waging a war to get you back to where you belong. [applause] not just for your sake, but for america's sake. for the sake of the middle class. if you do not grow, the middle class will not grow. without a growing middle class, our ability to lead the 21st century is diminished. your growth is america's growth, and it is a long way to go. [applause]

we have a lot of ground to make up. we have a lot of ground to make up. and this recession, because of the lack of regulation, because of the breed that we saw, because of the economy -- the greed we saw and the economy we saw based on two different bubbles, the subprime mortgage manthey doc--- and the dot-com boom, we never put back in place the building blocks for how we will lead the 21st century. just think about it in basic terms, guys. let's assume we bring back and reinstate the industry'ies and the work that got us through

the 21st century. it is not enough. -- through the 20th century. is not enough. we need whole new industries. when you write on amtrak which i spent my life doing, -- ride on amtrak, which has been my life doing, you go by trenton and you go over a tributary of the delaware river. and to your left on the western side of the track, there is an old train trestle. some of you can tell me what it says. written in faded peeling paint it says, "trenton makes what the world takes." in order for you to be building

100-story skyscrapers, in order for you to continue building all the things that have to be built, the bridges and roads and the like, all the things that you transport all over the country, you need to be able to be making something in order to be able to build something. what is that we are going to make, mr. president, in the 21st century? we want to reinstate the steel industry and all these old industries. they are important elements. guess what? the 21st century, whoever leads the 21st century, is going to be some nation that has the best education policy in the world. the nation that has the best health care policy in the world. the nation that has the best energy policy in the world. how can you possibly lead the

21st century with the same energy policy, the same health care policy, and the same education policy we have had the last 35 years? all you got to do is look can come down to the situation room with me and the president -- a look and come down to the situation room with me and the president. what they are investing in, usually my staff goes nuts and the white house goes nuts. when i go to a building trades group or a labor group and i say green, they think loss of jobs. all through the 50 -- 51950's, 1960's, 1970's, when we said green, that meant to do not build. green is a different place. it is about who was going to

build tens of thousands of windmills that we have to generate so we have renewable energies so we do not have to spend money to go into the sands of saudi arabia and into the persian gulf and down to venezuela. the people who are directly and indirectly funding the people who attacked us? who is going to build and direct those $1 billion solar facilities in the middle of the mojave desert? who is going to make those panels that do that? who is going to generate all that geothermal capacity we have? who is going to build all those nuclear power plants we need? so, folks, we had better start thinking about what we have to make for the world to take. you have an investigation that is working like the devil to

keep this promise to what we made to you. -- his promise to what we made to you. what was one of the first things president obama did? he overturned george w. bush's ban on federal projects labor [unintelligible] [applause] you know, we know that pla's are good idea. we know they work because that is why they have been used in the private sector. we did not just undo the ban. we were promoting pla's. we are providing them with technical assistance they need to put pla's in place. we issue the most robust guidance in history to encourage federal agencies to federalpla

-- to use pla's. we put to gether gether a depart headed up by hilda sohilda soli. including patricia smith. [applause] the right people in the right places matter. the national labor relations board was a regular jury. instead of wearing striped shirts, they just wore black shirts. you think i am kidding. [laughter] you know as well as i do. i remember saying, we misunderstood just how much progress the other team is making the previous eight years by going at the heart of the

place where decisions are made. i am telling you, we're back at the heart of the position where they are made. [applause] for too long, it was a rigged jruury and the players got all the referees but not anymore. president obama appointed [unintelligible] to the national labor board. it is overdue. these appointees are aimed at rebalancing our country in favor of working americans rather than against working americans. that is where for the first time ever, the president has proposed to do something about the problem of worker misclassification. [applause]

that is when workers are classified as independent contractors and they do not have to be the same. companies that do this have gained an unfair advantage over folks who stick to the law. it hurts workers, it hurts honest firms, it hurts states and local and federal budgets. it is not fair, it is not right, and we do not want to see it continue. [applause] but of course, it does not matter how you classified jobs, as my grandfather would say, unless you have a job. unless you have a job. my grandfather phenergan used to say -- finnegan used to say, when the guy in manuco, which is

a suburb of scranton or the guy in [unintelligible] he mentioned the surrounding areas, when that guy is out of work, it is an economic slowdown. when your brother-in-law is out of work, it is a recession. when you are out of work, it is a depression. it is a depression for millions of americans. it is a depression. that is why the single most important thing we can do while we are trying to get the on the field here, the old lines, so everyone is in the boundaries, playing by the rules. the most important thing we can do is to create jobs. i know the unemployment rate for construction workers as laid knowledge is unacceptably high. and i kno-- as i acknowledged is unacceptably high. no one sat around the table and said, hey, did you hear the gdp

is growing? [laughter] great. gdp is growing, a good thing. what is the god -- did gdp mean? and they say stock markets are up. the neighborhood i came from, no one owned any stock. i know a lot more people who own stock and it is gooa good thing that is at. retirement is looking a little brighter. when we were looking at the stock market dropping below 6000. now it is over 11,000. that is a good thing. i am not pretending it is not. but to a guy out of work to a woman out of work, the only thing that mattered in the household i was in, did you hear we're still is hiring on 40 new guys? did you hear morton salt brought

back 50 people. they're going to build the bridge. did you hear that -- that is the stuff that matters. we know a job is a lot more as my dad used to say, more than a paycheck. it is about dignity. it is about respect. an awful lot of people, through no fault of their own, have been stripped of their dignity. stripped of what defines them. their respect. my dad used to say, the longest walk any man or woman can make up about -- is of a short flight of stairs to their child's bedroom to sit there and say, i am sorry. but dad or mom lost their job. we're going to have to move. there is nothing here for us. my dad made that walk when i

was 11. i remember him saying that is going to have to move and i thought, are they getting a divorce? he said there is no work up here for me. uncle frank is in wilmington and there is jobs down there. i will come home almost every weekend. when i get enough, we will get a nice place in wilmington. in the meantime, you will stay with your grandpa. my dad was a proud guy. and i did not realize how difficult that was to say. not until the gun to my 30 -- i got into my 30's did i realize the longest walk was when he went into my grandfather's pantry and said i am going to leave. i will get a job in wilmington. do you mind keeping jean and the three kids? i will be back. for proud man, that is a hard

thing to ask. for a proud woman, that is a hard thing to ask. too many people you know have had to ask that question of their in-laws. of their parents. so, folks, jobs, jobs, jobs. that is what this is about but it is hard. we invested millions of dollars in -- billions of dollars in infrastructure. not just in highways which a lot of your building. but also in this margaret, bridges, high-speed rail, housing retrofits. not enough. but without it, we would be in even deeper trouble. we will make sure that jobs we created are not just jobs but good jobs. you noticed and thank you for cooperating, but we insisted on

a strong davis-bacon protections written into the recovery. [applause] we got the same old stuff. without that, we could put more people to work. we could spread the money more. like they made in 1920, 1930. it is about to a decent job. it is about a job. you have a shot of raising a family on. it is about a job that allows you to live in a neighborhood that is safe, and a house that is secure, with a promise, a promise you may be able to do something orchid circumstances better than yours. -- something to make circumstances better for your

kids than yours. it will reach more people than any tax cut in history. at the end of the day, the president and i have two objectives. pick of jobs that have been lost in industries that need to come back, and finally get in the game and create tens of thousands of new jobs for the 21st century new industries. new industries like high-speed rail, creating jobs that are not exportable. what is a green job? it is building the panel and building the wind turbine, building this margaret, laying track for high-speed rail. if we do it right, we will building the train sets and those turbines as well. that is why we had a thing called 48cs. it gives for advanced energy

manufacturing at tax credit of 30%. a credit to any outfit that will build clean energy components. people say that is $5 billion. i hope we end up having to hand out $50 billion. t know what it means? it means new industry. -- do you know what it means? it means new industry. they're building new stuff here. we already have it. -- have it for erecting those new facilities. we ought to be able to encourage people, encourage them to build the stuff here. to me, it is a good thing if we get cleaner energy from a window. if an american worker builds the turbine, builds the gear box, a bill that all and you go and

build it and get paid a fair wage, davis-bacon wage, you're able to raise your family on. [applause] it is a way off. if we stick to it, we can do this. we're making another investment. and i knew. when is the last time you heard the president promised a nuclear power plant and come through on the nuclear power plant? [applause] that is what president obama did. now there is a billion dollars of a guarantee while standing in a ibw hall, going to [unintelligible] 800 permanent jobs to staff it when it is completed. that is the beginning. the nuclear plant is being built with the project labor agreement. [applause] it also means we have broken

through the reluctance of the country to invest in this type of renewable energy, which means safer facilities, producing cleaner energy, and more jobs in the days ahead. this is a new economy. where labor has to lead. this is how we're going to keep the promise we made to ourselves that we're not only going to create jobs, we will make decent, good paying jobs you can ways of thought -- a family on. they're not exportable. that is how we get back. we can do this. but folks, and you heard me say this before, this is about people's position. how they feel about themselves. their dignity, their respect. a lot of people have had that dignity ripped away from them. the least we can do is to make sure that they can keep their health care, keep their houses and their family and that is why the recovery act includes an extension of unemployment insurance and cover. it is not a job, but guess what? it is the people think -

it is what helps people hang on. those things are a lifeline. i am proud the president extended unemployment insurance and cobra through june. tomorrow when you are up in the hill, do me a favor. but my former colleagues knowle colleaguest m -- let my colleagues know, tell them about the need for jobs and what it means to the people you know and represent to be able to have that unemployment check extended so they can keep their house. tell them what it means for them to be able to keep their health insurance through cobra. make sure washington knows you want a clean energy bill. you want tough regulatory reform so we never have to bail these guys out again. [applause]

so the banks can do what they're supposed to do to get you back to work. lend money to people so you can do what you do best, build things. look, at the end of the day, it comes down to something i have said many times before. we do not have to accept the situation we cannot bear. we have the power to change it. and we have begun to change it. it is painful and it is slow. the hole was incredibly deep. let me just remind you. before i lowered my right hand on that cold january day, we had already lost 740,000 jobs that january. the economy shrunk 6.4% a year ago.

the fact of the matter is, the economy last quarter grew 5.8%. [applause] the last quarter, we're adding, it is not nearly enough. an average of 53,000 jobs a month. we will be adding an average of 200 jobs -- 200,000 jobs a month. inyou have been there. we have to give people hope. people are beginning to believe the path we set out to recover from coming eight years of neglect is beginning, beginning to take hold. it is not just joe biden saying that. democratic vice president. it is the wall street journal -- codey the wall street journal. it is beginning to take root. we still have unfinished business. we have an unfinished commitment to you. we want to make sure that when

you in fact, you should be able to sign of four unions just like you sign up to vote. -- sign up for unions just like you sign up to vote. [applause] folks, we have not forgotten. iyourr guys and ours have to figure when to pull that trigger. we cannot be down on our prospects this november. semel clemons once said, "the reports of my death are premature." the reports of our demise are premature. we still need you. [applause] we are absolutely determined to change the equation. absolutely determined that labor

comes back. absolutely determined that over the period of this time, we create serious jobs on which you can build a family and the nation. folks, ultimately, if we cannot do it through you come i cannot be done. we're going to do it. we are going to do it. these leaders are determined to do it. thank you for your patience and forbearance. i know you know it is a long way to go. it is hard to tell that to your members and it is hard to tell that two members. we will get this done. may god bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you very much. [applause]

[applause] ♪ [applause] >> a little different than dick cheney, do you think? thank you, vice-president biden, for that's during mission -- stirring message of hope. thank you for your unwavering

support of the building and construction trades. ladies and gentlemen, like many of you, i am a proud vietnam veteran. [applause] i have visited the vietnam veterans memorial wall many times, and i am always deeply moved by the service and sacrifice of those americans who are memorialized in that sacred place. this year, we have the opportunity to honor those heroic americans even more. by building the education center at the wall, sponsored by the vietnam veterans memorial fund. please direct your attention to the video screens for more information about this historic project. >> she and is a city of monuments and memorials. but there is one memorial that stands out. -- washington is a city of

monuments and memorials. there is one that stands out. the vietnam wall. visited by more people than any money into or more of. this reflection of service and sacrifice has touched us all for 25 years. you see this black cookstown that reflects you, you see the names. there is no way around it. >> i feel my dad's presence there. i feel comfortable and safe. >> like an angel wrapping her wings around all these 58,000 plus men and women. >> it brought these troops, three and a half million of them, back into contact with each other. >> this part of my life and part of america's history will not be forgotten. >> the wall to veterans will always be our hollowed ground. >> i am general barry mccaffrey.

millions can claim a family member who fought. patriots who answered our call and to protect the values we share. loyalty, honor, respect, courage, integrity, duty, and service. for those millions of family members, this place is indeed hallowed ground. >> it was a couple nights before he was killed. >> he always stick up for the underdog. >> any onetime someone had to step up the plate and a responsibility he did it. >> he was ready to leave and he had to me and gave me -- told made to be a good girl. -- told me to be a good growth. he winterwent through a hail of

grenades and bullets. he saved his life. >> when you look at those names, you know there are stories there. you can see the names of fathers and sons, warner says, the diversity of our countries -- war nurses and the diversity of our country. they had the same hopes and aspirations. -- the same aspirations that you had. those dreams were cut short. >> those dreams were cut short, we have at least a chance to make sure their memory lives forever. i am standing on what will someday become a with your help, the entrance to the education center at the wall. it is sponsored by the vietnam veterans memorial fund. we're located close to the wall itself on the national mall. this moving underground facility pays tribute and

will educate the public about these honorable man and woman who gave their lives for their country. -- men and women who gave their lives to their country. more than 500,000 artifacts that have been left at the wall over the years. >> people began to bring offerings of poems and letters and medals. even though this was a public monument, it was a very private space for these individuals. >> dad, although we met briefly what before you left, i feel like i have known you all my life. >> perhaps your soul must leave on wings of steel into a burning blue where your father saw to free world of hate and oppression. >> you will always be my hero. nothing can take that away from us. thank you for making an open sacrifice and showing me how to stay strong. even during the most difficult times and until we meet again, i love you. your son, mike. >> the vietnam war is

compared to every other military engagement this country has been involved in. as such, we need to make sure that people know what the vietnam war was about. >> this is an education process. not to force feed anyone at conclusion but to educate them on the war as you continue -- on the war. >> as you continue, you will see a timeline of military events. it is not about the politics or refining that battle. that is for another place, not this place. this will show the events that occurred. >> the legacy we pass on to our children, and hopefully our grandchildren is that we're no different than any other patriot who served their country. as you leave the center, you will see the names of those who gave their lives of the

revolutionary war in gettysburg, photographs who gave their lives that you would jima, correa, and in iraq. -- in iwo jima, korea, and iraq. >> we will know that my son will always be there. people will still be looking at him and learning about him. for as long as there is an education center. i am very proud of him. i want his spirit and his memory to live forever. >> future generations must understand what service and sacrifice is all about. it will be a place that will enhance the vietnam war experience. it will keep it alive for years to come. i hope that all of you will understand the importance of having such a memorial. the importance of connecting it to future generations so the sacrifices will always be treasured, and these names will

never be forgotten. >> as it was with the construction, funds will be raised from the public at large. you and me and families, our co-workers, our companies, our goal is to raise $85 million and together, we can do it. we're thankful to the large corporations that got us off to a great start with some very generous contributions. the success of this project will depend on the thousands of people who take just a few moments to donate $10, $25, $50, or however many dollars you feel you can give to make this dream a reality. would you please go to our website to donate online? you can call. whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated. the education center, sponsored by the vietnam veterans memorial fund, will take its place on the

national mall as a fitting and cherished piece of american history. thank you. [applause] >> we are one-third of the way of having that $85 million. i have been working with the designer and architect of the vietnam wall. there is absolutely no question about it. when we get the money, it will be billed by union building tradesmen -- built by union building tradesmen. the website address for the education center is being displayed on the video screens. thank you for your generosity and your support. again, keep in mind that the vietnam wall was built on donation of $5.10 dollars. help them out. -- the wall was built on

donations of $5 and $10. help them out. many of you will recognize our speaker when he steps appear. he has been called the wittiest political analyst around. his insightsare first -- are first hand and up to the minute. grown from decades of covering and savoring this nation and its politics. since 1988, shields has provided analysis, and commentary on national campaigns for "trhhe ps newshour." he was moderator on "capitol group." he is a panelist on "inside washington."

ladies and gentlemen, please welcome one of the most astute and insightful observers of american politics, mark shields. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much, mr. president. it was a far better introduction that i received in baltimore when the mc said "now to the latest up from washington. -- dope from washington." i do not look to "the wall street journal" for a lot of compliments. it is an honor to follow vice-

president biden. i was confident i would get up here. [laughter] i found out we had the room until tuesday, said that was not a problem. -- so that was not a problem. seeing the vice-president reminded me of the 2008 campaign. it was a fascinating race in the sense that most of the press attention went understandably to the democratic side, where you had a number of historical first. senator obama and senator clinton and gov. richardson. the republican race in itself was an interesting race and it did not get the kind of attention i think merited. the first, the republican party was proud of the fact they thethe -- they opposed the " victoria's secret" catalog.

[unintelligible] they try and nominate candidates to reflect these values. it was a contradictory field. you had rudy giuliani, three times married, twice divorced, rather spectacularly. announced his last divorce to his current wife at the time at a press conference. he had two children, one of whom was not speaking to him and one of whom was volunteering for barack obama. [laughter] you had my old friend fred thompson of tennessee. fred had himself a brand new way for the campaign. how young was his new wife? his new mother-in-law is four years younger than fred. [laughter] waiting in the wings, you had did gingrich -- newt gingrich.

three times married, twice divorced. he was leading the impeachment of president clinton. he was carrying on an illicit affair with a young congressional staffer. this is a field of candidates who would have made bill clinton the family values candidate. [laughter] [applause] rudy was fastening -- fascinating. by the time of florida, he skipped iowa and new hampshire and michigan, skipped south

carolina and made his last stand in florida knowing there were a lot of new yorkers who lived in florida. 80% were democrats and not voting in the republican primary. his ratings had turned unfavorable. he went to mike huckabee and said, why is it that people take such an instant dislike to me? mike said "i, "because it saves them time." in the interest of savings of time, let me give you a sense of where we are politically. the race came down to two great competitors. you had a united states senator from illinois and a united states senator from illinois who had been born in a manger. the reality is, as we meet here

today, american politics follows fundamental rules. that is when the economy is bad, the economy is the only issue. that is an overwhelming reality that everybody lives with. i think it is important to put in perspective just exactly where, in fact, we have come from in this country. over the past 30 years, 28 years, actually, from the 1980's to 2008, we have in this country 20 years of republican presidency and eight years of a democratic presidency. those 20 years were eight years of president ronald reagan, eight years of george h. w. bush and four years of georgia bush

and a years of bill clinton. in those 20 years of republican leadership, including president reagan, president bushes, the u.s. created 15 million jobs. in the eight years of bill clinton, there were created 21,600,000 jobs. it is a remarkable contrast. [applause] the only balanced budget in the entire half century for which many of -- through which many of us in this room have lived. by bill clinton, a democratic president. it is important in terms of perspective to see where we came from. i do not need to be critical of ronald reagan. i enjoyed him enormously. i disagreed wihwith him on

three out of four issues. he truly had a great sense of humor. one facet was that ronald reagan from time to time used to say things that were not exactly true. there was no attempt to deceive. the section was not in the man's soul. he pick things up and they get on the five play cards and get in the speeches. sometimes, they did not have a strong research base is to them. we in the press bus used to call these tools factoids. -- these jewels factoids. one of them were that there was 207 taxes on a loaf of bread. a reporter said can you tell us your source? and the gipper with that grand

in of his said, "readers digest." we're in ohio in 1980. the day that ronald reagan delivered my all-time favorite. trees cause more pollution than automobiles. [laughter] we headed for the phones because we knew this is as good as it was going to get. it was a great concept. next time you'rr eyes are watering on the new jersey turnpike, blame a pine tree in maine. there was the worst pollution inversion in the los angeles basin. mr. reagan was going to speak at a college. a student had hung a sign on a

tree that said "cut me down before i kill again." [laughter] it was a remarkable time. reagan, we only had two presidents who served eight years and left office at 65% approval. they could not have been more different. ronald reagan, and bill clinton, a democrat and governor from arkansas, five terms. each of them in his own way represented what i think is central to our political reality of what americans are looking for. it was talked about earlier by your president and vice president of the united states. that is the element of hope. . .

>> things could be better. if one thinks about american politics, there is nothing more important than optimism. it has been the key to successful american projects, presidencies and leadership. that was certainly embodied in the great depression when the country had lost one-half of the gross national product and

ronald reagan, a man in a wheelchair, lifted the country of its knees and put it on its feet again. it was the ability to create a sense of confidence and to project optimism and to in fact and in fuse fellow citizens with it. make no mistake, we are the exception of those whose ancestors were here when columbus arrived. everyone in this room is either himself or herself an immigrant or a direct descendant of immigrants. much have -- a much has been written about this. to live among people you have never met and a land which spoken that you have never heard, it is an act of enormous courage is a belief -- correct

is a belief that i can make things better for those that come after me. that is the key to american politics. that sense of optimism and that we are all in it together. there was one characteristic of a former governor of new hampshire. he used to say that we are all in this alone. no, we are not. we are not all in this alone. we may have come here at different times and different ships, but together, we are all in the same boat. that is the reality o. [applause] i was thinking -- i heard the talk earlier about the deficit and i do not minimize the

deficit in any way, but there are a number of deficits. certainly, the the key party that we live with today is reminiscent of the movement of ross perot in 1992. he was a phenomenal political currents. the 18th of february, 1992, he led both president bush and bill clinton in the national polls and he had not spent a nickel on a regular television advertising. he did it on the strength of his argument. we have been through 200 years in this country and we had fought two world wars and won them and we have the great civil war and we lived through the great depression. we had run up a total indebtedness of one trillion dollars. just 12 years, from 1980 to 1992, we quadrupled that 24

trillion dollars. ross perot said that every penny of taxes was not enough to pay the interest on the national debt for one year. he said that what we have done was wrong and we knew it. he made this case and having made this case, he pulled out of the race for the fact that this -- the republicans would sabotage his daughter's wedding. i have been in politics for half a century. i have closed a few saloons that last call. we would call forward our opponents switchboard to new

jersey. this year, i will have been married for 40 years. i asked my wife how you sabotages a texas wedding other than by showing up sober. i do not know. [laughter] texas has been too generous to this country. they gave us a years of george philly bush -- george w. bush. i covered him the first time when he ran against ann richards and ann richards was the first woman governor of texas. it turns out that she was not. the first woman governor of texas was ferguson.

she came to the governorship in the early 1930's and she was a person of very limited education, but strong convictions. she took on the complex clan -- the complex plan -- kkk. she took on public schools and whether students could study in spanish and she came out against spanish as a foreign language. she said that english was good enough for jesus christ, it is good enough for texans. [laughter] so, people ask where great

projects and great american achievements come from. i will tell you a story about the greatest. you and your brothers and sisters were intimately involved in. without your involvement, it would not have come to pass. in 1919, 260 army enlisted men and 35 officers and 72 vehicles left the area of the white house to drive across the country they were commanded by a young army colonel. it took 62 days to get across the united states of america. there were breakdowns along the way. several of the vehicles never made it. the roads were so bad and so impassable in many places, some 41 years later, 40 years later,

but young army colonel, having commanded forces in world war ii in the invasion and liberation of europe, dwight david eisenhower had a vision and that was an interstate highway system carried -- highway system. that highway system was built and it has been built and it continues to be built. the economic benefits to this nation in growth, in safety, in health, and community, have been incalculable and remain so today. it was a reality that when more than one-quarter of the nation's bridges are either deficient or

obsolete, one-half of the locks to more than 12,000 miles of interstate intercoastal highways are defective, when three-quarters of the public schools are outdated and inadequate, we need your brains, your braun, you are imagination to rebuild america and make us competitive again. [applause] before i went into journalism, i used to work in political campaigns. i work for some wonderful people. from robert kennedy to -- i

actually set the new record for concessions beats -- for concession speeches given. i love politics. i think politics is nothing more or less than the peaceful resolution of conflict. i do not know how often and nation as big and developing and reversed as ours would resolve our differences, except to the political process -- through the political process. people like yourselves. i do not know how else we would force the compromises that are necessary for constituents -- for consensus in our nation. i like people who run for political office. most of us go to great lengths to avoid rejection of any kind. political candidates or brisket every time they put their name on the ballot.

-- political candidates or risk of that every time they put their names on the ballot. you know whether you have won or lost by 8:00 on a tuesday night. some candidates could lose with grace and with humor. in my half century in this business, i have not seen it done better than one candidate who only lost by a handful of votes. when asked how he felt, he said, "the people have spoken, the bastards." [laughter] but i admire the kind of political courage that i have

seen in my own lifetime. at the very first time i ever slept in the same quarters with african-americans or took orders from an african-american was in boot camp. the only reason i did that was because the president of united states said that it is fundamentally unacceptable and immoral that -- to ask people to fight and possibly die for their country and then to separate them by race. i admired the courage of ronald reagan when he would run and then lose. in 1980, he was going to be 69

years old, and in his home state, there was the ballot referendum question and this one was called the briggs a commitment. it would have prohibited any day or homosexual from teaching in public schools. -- any gay or homosexual from teaching in public schools. ronald reagan came out against it. all right and said that this is not helping. he turned it around. it had already passed in minnesota and oregon and kansas and florida, but reagan made the difference. i admire the kind of politics that has taken the terror out of old age for social security and medicare. the kind of politics that rebuild war-torn europe through the marshall plan and restored

democracy to that beleaguered continent. the kind of politics that has said to everyone in this country that you will have the chance to go as far as your ability and your initiative will take you. the kind of politics that knocks down obstacles for women, that knocks down obstacles for those minority groups and knocks down all obstacles that prevent us from reaching what we can collectively and individually breach. i know you are busy and i know your schedule on the hill, but if you have a moment, you should step down to the mall, to the monument for franklin delano roosevelt. was elected four times to the white house.

when he was inaugurated for a second term, he gave us words to live by. "the measure of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those that have much, but whether we provide enough for those who have too little." when he died, 65 years ago this month, he died in georgia and his casket was put on the train and brought 800 miles up to union station in washington and was drawn by eight courses to the white house. americans lined those sidewalks 20 d to expressed their sadness and sympathy of the loss of their great leader. the only record that we have of it are newspapers and newsreels.

it was remarkable to see people openly crying. a young reporter saw very well- dressed men with tears streaming down his cheeks. he asked him if he knew president roosevelt. he said that he did not know president roosevelt, but he knew me. that is the measurement of leadership. that is the test of leadership at every level. does the leader know his or her people? does he understand that their hopes, their aspirations and their dreams? everyone lives with an inescapable truth. that is that each and every one of us has been warned by fires that we did not build.

thank you so much. [applause] >> of thank you, mark, for your analysis of the american political scene. it is really a pleasure to have marked in our legislative conference. -- to have marked in our legislative conference -- mark in our legislative conference. in addition to being a distinguished scientist and cowinner of the nobel prize in physics, dr. steven chu is a

visionary leader. he shares with us convictions that america needs a balance, including nuclear, coal, natural gas and the growing renewable energy sector. can we hold it down out in the hall, please? moreover, he has championed a loan guarantee program to support investment in america's nuclear power renaissance. he also understands the need for skilled, experienced workers. please join me in welcoming a very good friend of the building trades, the united states secretary of energy, dr. steven chu.

[applause] >> thank you president erroraye. i used to be known as the president's -- the nobel prize winner of the administration. but i want to thank president ayers not only for your leadership, but for your service on the blue ribbon commission in america's nuclear future. i want to thank the entire board of presidents for the opportunity to talk to you. i would like to start by thanking you for everything that you do to build america. your dedication, your passion, your pride in your work has made

this country what it is today. you build homes that shelter our families and make our communities better places to live. your buildings house industries to make our country run. you're making a legacy to last for generations, so thank you. [applause] i am proud that the department of energy has a strong relationship with the building trades. these are tough, dangerous projects that require the best of highly trained workers. throughout the department, we have worked with the iron workers and with labor. lavers, electrical workers, plasterers and cement masons and a sheet metal workers. i want to thank you for the quality job that you do for the

american people. i am point to make two predictions. before i make these predictions, on what to remind you of what degree american -- what a great american said. just in case you want to know, it was yogi berra. he said the predictions are hard to make, especially about the future. with that in mind, here are the two predictions. first, the price of oil will go what in the long run. we do not know what it will go up next week or next year, but as a developing countries to develop, the price will go what it second, -- the price will go up. second, the science and climates are changing. we are seeing the demand for

technology. leaders in china say that if the world continues along this path, it will be devastating to china and the rest of the world. they also say that they have to decrease their carbon emissions. what are they doing? they are investing about $10 billion a month on wind and solar energy. they are building 21 nuclear power plants. it will give us clean energy that we need to grow our economy. china wants to lead this industrial revolution. i say that americans should be the one to lead it. [applause] when gretzky was once asked for his key to success.

instead of depending on foreign oil, we should depend on american resources. in this new industrial revolution, america's workers can lead the world. we made a down payment with the american recovery and reinvestment act. we are creating jobs. from are indeed to manufacturing to installation, we are unlocking america's potential. president obama recently announced a loan guarantee. last week, the building trades assigned a strong labor agreement for more than 3000

jobs. that gives me great confidence that it will be built right. if congress supports the budget request, the department of energy will be able to support six-nine nuclear reactors in the coming years. [applause] what about decreasing our oil dependence? we should invent batteries that will be needed for plugged in hybrids that would reduce the need for oil. buildings will be needed to house these factories. dependence in our oil dependency means that we will turned urban waste into the electricity that will bring wealth to whirl america. it also means response all -- in the coming decades, coal power

plants will need to be replaced and modern power plants will need to be constructed. this will require skilled labor to build these plants. finally, it means expanding renewable sources like son, when, soil and water. thanks to the recovery act, we are on track in the next several years. we are providing tax credits and the administration has called upon congress to fund an additional $5 billion for this program. these projects are being built in america by american workers. they will lead to a 1000 new jobs and a project labor agreement was signed in september.

we will build an entirely new industry, retrofitting homes to make them energy-efficient. the president has proposed a new program to spur improvements and save families on their energy bills. this will create jobs in the construction industry and provide opportunities to enter the skilled work force. we will make sure that this is done by trained professionals. i want to take this chance to make this a high priority in your job and your priority -- your personal life. whenever we move into a new home, i put in extra insulation. the reason i do this is because i want to save money and i am cheap. i also want to experience what

needs to be done. having crawled up in my attic, i recommend that people hire trained professionals. [applause] many of you have the opportunity to make sure that things are built right the first time. no matter what happens in washington, your work is incredibly important. when you are on the job site, you have america's energy future in your hands. i believe that energy efficiency is the new patriotic duty and i know that the men and women of the building trains are up to this task -- building trades are up to this task. [applause] the recovery act is a strong start, but to truly draw the changes that we need, we will need a comprehensive energy and climate legislation. i want to thank the building trades for your leadership on a comprehensive bill. the bottom line is this.

as long as they do not know what this will be, they will not make the investment. there is a lot of private capital sitting on the sidelines, waiting for a clear signal. an energy bill will drive new investment and new investment will create new jobs. suppose that you operate a utility company and you have an old coal plant that is near the end of its life. a new coal plant will cost billions of dollars. you would have to think hard about whether the new plant should run on coal or build a gas plant or in nuclear plant. you try to live along with the old cold plan, but meanwhile, there are no new jobs. this is what is happening today.

-- you try to live along with the old cold planned, but meanwhile, there are -- coal plan, but meanwhile, there are no new jobs. as you know, i am a scientist and not a politician. i chose my career because i wanted to make things and buildings. i focus on solving the energy problem because this is the defining issue of our time. it is the most critical issue affecting our economy. this is our chance to build something great. this is about your jobs,