our week-long special on energy issues focuses on electric cars. "washington journal" is next. . . host: house members came back from the august recess. we will talk about that later in the show. right now we have a question for you. how should the u.s. raise

college graduation rates? the u.s. is setting the goal of having the highest rate by 2020. how do you think that this can be achieved? for republicans, 202-737-0001. for democrats, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. journal@c-span.org, and we are on twitter, twitter.com/c- spanwj. "obama wants to rank first in college grads by 2020. the united states is falling behind other nations and the graph will bring competitiveness. obama highlighted a report last month from the college board the united states, which once led the world in college degrees for people ages 25 to 34, it now ranks 12th among its developed

nations. "it will require making college more affordable, taking steps to raise graduation rates, making sure the students succeed in the areas demanded by the economy." obama is setting the national goal for the u.s. to have the highest college graduation rate by 2020, meaning 60% of the population, compared to 40% right now. the u.s. must graduate 10 million students with two year or four year degrees, 8 million more than population increases would add." how do you think that graduation rates can be increased and improved? let's look at a "the new york times" story from today. "the best way to give high school feedback, in most school

systems what happens to students the struggle with math, after they obtain their diploma there is little concern. the new york city education department recognizes that many of the students' lack basic skills and is trying to do something about it. some of the students are being sent to college not quite prepared." let's look at comments from president obama. >> i would like to produce a million college graduates by 2020. america hasan have the highest share graduates compared to every other nation. texas, i want you to know, we are slipping. in a single generation we have fallen from first place to 12th

place in college graduation rates for young people. think about that. in one generation we went from no. 1 to no. 12. it is unacceptable, but not irreversible. we can retake the lead. if we are serious about making sure that america's workers and america's cells exceeds in the 21st century, the single most important step that we can take is to make sure that every one of our young people here in austin, here in texas, here in the united states of america, has the best education that the world has offered. -- has to offer. >> the president, speaking in austin, texas yesterday. from "the new york times," "at

least 70% of the graduates went to the city university of new york needed extra help. "you are very excited with the kids who are crying on graduation day, they are moving on to bigger things, but some assumptions have been largely untested." at the high school for public service in brooklyn, more than 90% of the 80 students to enter this freshman 2003 level graduated with the vast majority of enrolling in college, but more than half needed to take remedial math courses." the question today, how can we used college graduation to have -- hit the president's goals. before we get your calls on that, let's go to jim abrams

with the associated press about what is happening in congress and the recent charges against maxine waters. good morning, jim. what is the timeline of things? how is the house expected to act? caller: they are coming in this morning and they have three tests for this one day session. they have the jobs bill so that public workers can retain their jobs. there's also a border security bill. there will also be a proposal from tom price concerning the lame-duck session. host: do we have any idea how they're likely to vote on the state aid or jobs bill?

caller: certainly the democrats support it, it will likely pass with a comfortable margin. republicans are not happy with coming back from the recess, plus they do not like several aspects of the bill. host: do you expect republicans to gain any traction? get -- caller: republicans will make the point that they are spending money that they do not have and that the tax offset is another increase in corporate america, declaring the democrats to be spending money that they do not have to spend. host: what are the charges that maxine waters is facing? caller: yesterday the ethics committee announced three counts

of violations. she held a bank in california that her husband is associated with. she helped the bank bailout money in 2008. they called it a violation of health at -- house ethics rules. host: do you expect to see her in congress? caller: there is no indication that she will not be. she has been very aggressive in saying she has done something -- nothing wrong. host: will focus on her full the story away from the jobs bill? caller: i do not think so. this case has been around for some time in yesterday's announcement was somewhat of a formality.

it does compound democrat problems as they already have a case against charles rangel. once again giving fodder to the republicans to say that democrats have not kept their promise of ending corruption in washington. host: how unusual is it for the house to be called back during the august recess? caller: is fairly unusual, but it did happen a couple of times in 2005 right after hurricane katrina when they provided aid to the victims of the hurricane. earlier that same year they were called back to take up the case of the brain damaged woman in florida. host: it sounds like some members wish that this

legislation could have been taking care of before the august recess. caller: certainly, but the house has learned to live with the senate and the senate did not finish their bill until last thursday when i went into recess. house leaders decided that with the job situation like it is, democrats needed to show that they cared very much about jobs. democratic leaders did not have a lot of choice. host: does this show a lack of coordination between the house and senate? caller: certainly there is a lack of coordination, but the senate moves in their own way and it took them a long time to get the votes they needed, so it is just kind of the way that the senate operates. host: what do they hope to leave

with after today's vote? caller: they hope to show voters that they are the party that cares the most about jobs, coming back to washington just to make sure that there are enough teachers on the job when school starts in september and that police officers and health- care workers that might have lost their jobs through this financial crisis, that states will be able to help retain some of those people. host: you talk about rep. price not coming back after the lame- duck session. tell us more. host: republicans -- colorado republicans are concerned that they will make major gains but that the democrats will come back after the election, facing a much smaller majority and try to push through major legislation in that month after the election before the session

starts. rep. price has developed a resolution that might come up today where he will propose no major pieces of legislation being taken up in a lame-duck session. host: can you give us anything in terms attraction of buy and your perspective? caller: from a pragmatic sense, they might have to pass some spending bills and appropriations bills. there may still be worked to be done in a lame-duck session. they do not want to be handcuffed during that session. host: jim abrams, congressional

reporter for the associated press, thank you for being with us. caller: thank you. host: what do you think should be done to boost college graduation rates? lamar, california. caller: the same thing we have been doing for the past few years. if you look at the gi bill from 9/11, it was a great boost to graduation. just like after world war ii. that is one thing we did right. the reconciliation bill, taken from the banks, that is the second thing. top program is barack obama, high school and states have programs that have

accountability for teachers. i think that what we're doing right now is a positive win area of to educate republicans and democrats where they agree that barack obama is doing a good job. host: md., the morning. caller: good morning. the way to increase graduates by 2020, there is a multifaceted way of doing it and i think that one of those things is definitely having money available for people that want to go to college. the one thing that we need to do to get qualified, not having people graduate and go to parties, spending taxpayer money funding these awards or grants, we have to hold them accountable to the results, having a be incentive if a student gets a b

or better, giving them the incentive to hold their children accountable. that will love only increase the number of graduates, but the number of quality graduates. the last caller mentioned this, the department of education secretary did not have a great opportunity here in holding all of the schools accountable for the federal money that is being spent. even within the state's there is a great opportunity for accountability with state funding for the schools. a lot of schools need funding, but the accountability issue is not just throwing money at it. making sure that the money in this school is well used. they thing that is public funded, i would like people to

use that money wisely. host: manhattan, new york, we are looking at this story about new york city, sending many students to college not quite ready. what do you think about that? caller: i have a couple of sentences that i wrote down quickly. we need trade colleges. trade colleges working with different industry and manufacturing, like in germany. it will mean a reversal of our trade policy. we cannot open up on markets -- there was a guest on c-span yesterday whose argument was that we should be telling china and japan what to do, we have to tell our elected officials what to do. we cannot open up their markets, but we can tell our elected officials that we need to pass the imports in this country,

giving domestic manufacturing going. last week -- today you are having a guest about elector cars, which is a perfect example. make domestic cars a domestic manufacturing goal -- make the electric cars a domestic manufacturing goal and put taxes on the imports. host: -republican line. caller: i understand what your saying about those systems. i am from new york city, i went through the system. i remember registering for the engineering program at the state university. majoring in engineering, i noticed that when i got my textbooks and everything, 90% of the students were from the state of new york.

and we all had problems. when you went to the school of engineering, you would be surprised at the grades that happened there and how many students drop out. after graduating you begin to realize that the majority of stuff you pick up in the curriculum you do not use in the field. four semesters of calculus, physics, and i never used any of it in the field. the most important classes in my engineering curriculum were drafting classes and machine shop classes. that has helped me in my career. host: democratic line, texas. caller: how are you? thank you for c-span, i really enjoy your program. i think there are three good things that teachers could do. first of all, teachers know that

at every grade level, k-12, they need to pull aside their kids with their parents and tutor that kid after school to make sure that that kid is ready for the next grade level. we also have critical populations of students not attending college and something has to be done with them. the next thing that we need to do, students need to learn two languages. it takes five years to become fluent in a language, so five years of spanish. we also need five years of mandarin, chinese. that is one thing i would say to arne duncan if i saw him. since we are going to have some critical care areas lacking in

personnel, i think that we should mostly paid for areas like family practitioners, family care doctors, and mrs.. a lot of foreign countries do that, there is no reason why we should not do that. we truly need to invest in education. host: joe writes "schweid we want to boost college graduation? if college had a benefit, we would not have to do anything." ray, republican line. good morning. caller: i teach in the state university system up in buffalo. the problem i see with many of the students coming in as we are averaging only 20% graduation in six years. it takes longer because they need the remedial work.

it starts in the grammar school and high school levels. we have got to give them better prepared, perhaps going to make year-round school system. around the senior year, a lot of them do not take a lot of classes that allow them to college courses. we are bringing in courses at the high-school level where we start to get an understanding in different things. technical schools are a great idea. we need to do more hands-on where colleges are more theory based and hands-on. hoping that there are not too many programs or classis where they do not need to give. i remember that when they went to school they would have to take jim glasses that were eliminated.

certain schools were eliminating or cutting darrell so many electives that you need for graduation in the curriculum, so that is one of the places we need to start. they are not coming to college prepared. host: heather, independent line, manhattan. hello. caller: boosting college graduation and health care go hand in hand. we cannot allow med students, after they complete their education, allow them to get free services for the public, working of student loan debt that way. this is sure to boost college graduation at least in the medical field. host: looking at this story from

"the washington post," "thousands of defense jobs to be eliminated, including substantial chunks of private contractors as part of an ongoing effort streamline operations and stave off political pressure to slash spending in the years ahead. the secretary will recommend that president obama dismantle commands that employ 2200 military personnel, as well as 3200 contractors in southeastern virginia. he will also terminate 200 pentagon agencies, proposing to & cutts in contracts, slimming down and what he called a top- heavy hierarchy by a least 50 positions. the reduction in funding for contract employees by 10% annually excused of those in war zones. looking at other news stories right now, senator tim johnson

has been hospitalized with a fever. hospitalized over the weekend possibly because of adverse reaction to antibiotics, but in stable position now. and their plane has crashed in alaska, there is a possibility that former senator ted stevens could be on board. reporters are looking into that story out. friends of the u.s. senator said that he was traveling on monday to a lodge and they were concerned for him. the woman that answered the home of joe walsh, a good friend of his, said that they were converting his wife and trying to find out what was going on.

the national guard confirms that they did crashed in a rural alaska but they had not yet said who was on board and whether or not ted stevens could be among those that were traveling. gary, indiana, willie, republican line. losing graduation, what do you think? caller: first of all, i'd think that the no child left behind initiative was in the right direction. the first thing is staying on top of the initiative for high school. once they've did to college, there needs to be some kind of bailout or stimulus as far as graduates for college in their student loans. host: looking at a story from "

the hill," "president obama raised -- some pledged $60 billion, saying that raising the nation's education level is how we will lead the global economy this century. "we are directing that money to you to make college more affordable for 8 million students and families across the country. -- country." tennessee, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. you were also on last time a few months ago when i called. host: thank you for calling again. what is your comment? caller: the caller from new york mentioned about german trade schools. when i was in college in the

early 1990's i was taking german and learned that in germany, students pay a one time matriculation feet to colleges and colleges basically pay for everything else. the government directly pays for the education. in the united states the government still does that through student loans but they make the students become the middleman. i am in my late '40's and i just paid back all the money from my 20's. i've been this would yield tremendous results. in cuba. host: curtis, independent

caller, michigan. caller: i have been watching things, watching what they're doing. the president graduated of the top of his class in harvard, i think he is doing a great job. he just need some help out here. education is important. especially when we dropped from first place to 12th place. i simply do not understand what the republicans are talking about. they poll 100 people in 13 states, they start having parties, it does not make any sense. you have cable stations running entire programs about how

unpopular the president is. i do not think that these programs are good for the american people. host: one of the followers bottom twitter said even get a better education through self study your home schooling. taylor, harrisonburg. caller: i went to a high school where 98% of the class went to a four year institution. i was one of those few people that got sucked into extracurricular activities, developmentally i was not ready to go. i just was not mature enough. host: did you graduate? caller: i am back in now. i left after four semesters and did a stint in the military. i have done two more semesters

bell. jumping from 2.0 to 4.0 has been done. host: what can we learn from your story? of caller: you do not have to go to school right out of high school. even learn more from being an adult for awhile before going to school. host: mike, chicago, how can college rates be boosted? caller: a lot of it is politically driven. they want to get a lot of young voters. you want to boost college graduation, he could do a few

things, it's literate in their language, i am a trade school graduate from chicago, we have a very good trade system in this country. but there are no jobs right now. there is 30%, 40% unemployment everywhere. hello? host: thank you very much. our next caller, and democratic line, new jersey. caller: it would be helpful if the school year was extended.

struggling what to learn what they need to learn, the additional time would be helpful. i have a son with as burgers -- asphergers. i toured the school district court three-time for graduating him in 2007. no child was left behind except my child. host: do you see that changing at all under the current administration? caller: if they do not do something about the education system, this country will have a real problem. obama hit the nail on the head, it is one of the biggest problems right now.

host: sam, florida, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. he should take the internet, rethink it entirely, take it to pbs. you would have central monitoring of testing, the bulk of which could be done at home, from home. no books, you get your information online. host: who would be responsible for making sure that the kids learn? caller: we have got parents the need to be responsible.

we do not need to be in any state. if some people work with their hands. we have different aptitudes and skills with all types of information on the internet. host: if we pay successful futures what we pay rock stars and sports heroes, the country would change overnight -- that message is from twitter. "political parties are obsessing this year more than ever over the republican governor races. halfway through the year they have raised $28 million, more than its entire budget, bringing current reserves, intending to devote $15 million to these races, three times as much as ever. the democratic national committee has dedicated as much

as it has to the senate. here is the reason why, the new crop of governors will play a major role. across a swath of states, republican leaders have a key opportunity in which they have been nominated recently as democrats. "the new york times" has a swath showing which ones are in play and how they expect -- are expected to follow in red and yellow. you can see it there, how "the new york times" will be a battleground state in guba don't -- gubernatorial contests.

nathan, buffalo, new york. caller: in regards to no child left behind, there was a caller from buffalo lose city was a schoolteacher in the system. in various areas of the buffalo area there is a lack of concern for well-being and education to the high-school level in this buffalo region. along with high poverty, there is your issue. regarding the no child left behind act, of atlanta, ga., recently disclosing information as the difficulties regarding the no child left behind act with measures not acknowledged in certain regions, categories, and areas that need to be re- evaluated. regarding college education, it

really needs to be about zero and $100,000 before he can reap the benefits of going to school for those benefits. thank you for c-span. i would like to listen to anyone comment on that. caller: ought we are talking about the president's -- host: we are talking about the president's goal of increasing graduation rates for colleges by 2020. "president obama shared an enthusiastic handshake and hearty class on the shoulder with rick perry. while he is running for reelection of, his democratic challenger was nowhere to be

-- nowhere to be seen. as a moderate democrat, he could not afford to characterize mr. obama as a tax and spend. david, democratic line, liverpool. caller: how are you today? the caller from buffalo was correct. if you are from the suburbs, you are better prepared than the people from the city. i have a unique perspective on that. i went to school in my 20's. i was so much more prepared the second time around that i was the first time around. there is so much difference to being experienced and mature. when you are just out of school, you have no idea of what you

will be doing. boosting the college graduation rates, you have got to just hang in there and do it. that is it. it is just a grind. it is difficult and you just have to do it. host: kathy, virginia. caller: growing up i moved around a lot. we need to boost education through elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, to get our kids prepared, going back to basics. using 1956 standards and 21st century technology. turning out engineers, physicists, really remarkable people that create the technology that we use today. we had parents that were involved in how our kids studied.

my mother is an educator and was an agitator. i saw this firsthand. but we are not doing it now. we have lowered our standards as to how we educate our kids today. it is very sad that we are not paying attention to how our kids are doing in school and we really need to go back to these basics in terms of how our kids are doing today. host: this story from "the financial times," the magnitude of the problems facing the u.s. mortgage market, freddie mac said that they needed additional funds from the taxpayer. "rescuing the company and its sibling, coming to $183.4 billion since the financial crisis began.

for many people in the united kingdom, the budget cuts have proved to be quick and painful. it seemed shockingly abrupt, like a shipwrecked sailor on a starvation diet, shrinking down to the bare bones as the center is cut by $130 billion over the next five years, dramatically scaling back responsibilities. it will be the longest, most sustained period of cuts since world war ii. oakland, new jersey. caller: one of the major problems that we have, inflation

in the price with parents taking out home equity lines of credit. we have had a cost structure that leaves our students in bed. they think that in an economy where wages are shrinking, there is less incentive for students to go into that level of debt. i really think that the government should divert its support, sending it to public institutions, like state colleges and community colleges, where costs are lower and it is affordable for the students.

host: let's go to north carolina. caller: without leaving graduating high and $30,000 in debt. there is a problem there with the structure. i am here to say you are definitely not mature enough straight out of high school to handle what college is really all about. i have a sister involved in no child left behind who is learning on an eighth grade level and we are still graduating her. host: what inspired you to go back to graduate school to take on these big loans? getting a better job? ocaller: yes, even with my bachelor's degree i only earn about $40,000 when the economy is so inflated that you cannot

make it on that anymore and had a family. to be able to survive in our economy, we are going to have to do something to educate ourselves. becoming more marketable on the job market. host: south carolina, russell is on the democratic line. caller: i went from high school to college and did not have to discipline a lot of people. i ever actually heard people. a lot of the children today are not being disciplined by their parents. to be on discipline when they go to college, college do not always translate into a financial gain. increasing your knowledge and

becoming a more intelligent person, you cannot really put a dollar amount on that. host: is it worth it? worth of the debts that the students incur? caller: especially in today's world where we are on the edge of new technology. everyone needs to think of ways to be green and use energy in different ways. there are a lot of intelligent people dead drop out of college, which is amazing, you see so many types of people that did not graduate from college and did not have the chance to have a higher level of education. when i went to high school, they had shops where kids used to learn carpentry, and

electronics. all of those have been taken out of the school system everywhere, i think. i had been to texas, ohio, florida, south carolina. host: and you saw that in all those places? caller: in today's world the need to take a closer look at what they teach. they'd take all of these children, they lock up their telephones. why not have a class to teach children how to use their telephone? many of these children do not even use 10% to 15% of their telephone. actually be able to handle different acts fax -- aspects of a cell phone. host: thank you.

coming up, we will be talking to congressman sander levin. we will be right back. ♪ >> i would tell you, based on the review of hundreds of tapes, that they are not conspiratorial. they are not sitting there saying -- what do you think about this? what you think about that? if they really do not know what is going on. host: this week marks the anniversary of the resignation of richard nixon. 40 years later, watergate still

resonates in american memory. look back at the people, players, and events that made history. history, your way at the c-span video library. host: "book tv" in primetime continues tonight, starting at 8:00 with robert byrd. the former house speaker, newt gingrich, gives his assessment of the obama administration. charles rangel on his all 2007 memoir, and its trent lott on his life in politics. >> c-span programming is available anytime on c-span radio in the washington baltimore area on 90.1 fm.

on your iphone and ipad with your c-span radio application, online around the world c- span.org, and now listen on your phone. call 202-66-8 -- 626-8888. c-span available, and your phone. >> "washington journal" continues. host: congressman sander levin, thank you for being with us. caller: bled -- guest: glad to be with you. host: talk about the vote that you are facing over this aid package. guest: there is a critical situation at this stage.

teachers know they will be laid off if they do not act and we have to act. pennsylvania, i think, $600 million, maybe $700 million. 45 governors wrote nine months ago saying that we needed assistance. it has become very politicized. some of the governors that said they needed help just to bridge are now kind of less active. it has been unfortunately criticized. the need is there and it is a matter of jobs. it is part of the budgets of

states. other employees are affected. that is when we talk about firefighters and others, because in many states the money goes from states to local communities. it is teachers, money for assistance for people that need health care and beyond. host: what are you hearing from michigan if this is not passed? caller: the assumption in the past bills was going to be $300 million, put into the budget on the assumption that if the money does not come, it will get worse. this recession was so deep, the whole was so large as well as deep, this is so unusual for any of our lifetimes. digging out is a difficult

process. it has been controversial, as you might expect. if we do not act, if we had not acted with the stimulus program, it dead -- it would have been harder for the charge to prove. i remember the sessions of the 1970's. i came here in the early 1980's and there was a deep recession, nothing like this. i ran for governor before. it was deep but nothing like what we face here. we had to step up to the plate. look at the auto companies in michigan, there is criticism that action was taken. those are u.s. companies. what if it had not been? chrysler has reduced their losses, they are alive. general motors is going to put

of a public offering at some point because they are surviving. we might be surprised by the amount of profit. we are on our way back, but we had so far to go. this action is a reflection of the effort to fight back. host: republicans have been critical, but you say that this bill is paid for. guest: it is paid for. in a number of ways. one of the most significant ways is by closing a loophole that helps to encourage companies to shift jobs overseas. one company has complained about the senate increasing their taxes. we have a system where if you make money overseas, you do not

have to pay the tax until you bring the in come back here. we will give you a foreign tax credit for what you paid in that country's taxes. what some of those countries have been doing is bringing back the foreign tax credit and using it as other income. that is a loophole. for republicans to say that they're raising taxes because there is a loophole closing, whenever you close a loophole, those taxes will be increased. unfair taxpayers, they should pay their taxes. host: this is from matthew murray, "heading back to washington today for last-minute pleas from undecided house members."

how influential is union support in this one? guest: we do not discriminate about who is a union member and who is not. we do not discriminate, and here is, august, i went home and my grandchildren are almost in school. this is important everywhere. we are trying to prevent unnecessary layoffs. the notion that this is just pressure from unions, i think that this is pressure from the public that wants their teachers teaching, pressure from teachers that would be laid off. it is also pressure from public

employees who would benefit. 45 governance ask them to do this republican governors said they sent that letter, but it will less than anything more because they are in a struggle over the deficit. post a let's get to our calls. republican line, -- host: lets get to our calls, republican line. caller: i am calling in reference to the $26 billion for teachers. you are young folks, they are wasting their lives with bachelor's degrees, and joining

the military because they cannot find a job. take a pay cut to get rid of this deficit. i moved to charlotte to help get the vote, but i am so upset with these folks. host: the caller seems to be concerned with not being able to find a job and wants congress to take the cut. guest: i did not hear the question as it was repeated, but we need to step up to the plate to make sure that jobs are created in this country. we do not create jobs, we held businesses create jobs. it is interesting, there is a

bill in the senate to provide loan money so that the community banks to loan money to small businesses. the republicans have touted in the senate, after we have passed the house, everything they get politicized these days, even helping small business. host: the house returns to an empty stage. "democrats and republicans are eager to add spotlights. in the extraordinary session of the summer recess, meaning that both parties will be able to show what is the strategy they can use this week? guest: helping to create jobs

for people that were laid off through no fault of their own. it finally worked. we are now taking a further step to make sure that people do not lose their jobs. that is the message and we are paying for it. host: pete, independent caller, north carolina. caller: i have a question for the congressman. i hope that i do not sound angry, but i would like to know why, you say that this bill was paid for, but you are taking, you are propping up union teachers that are overpaid now. why are you not taking it out of the tar funds or economic

stimulus funds? of you could read-prioritize those funds. caller: -- guest: first of all, remember, we are taking money from companies that have, through a loophole, been avoiding taxes and misusing the tax credit that we provided for businesses in this country. more -- most corporations do not do that. that is the main point. the tarp is being overpaid. most of those funds have been

paid back. the automobile companies are beginning to pay back those monies that they received. that tarps situation is really a success story in helping the economy bounceback. we are not using those funds, closing a tax loophole, we have food stamps but not with the immediate name tag of we are trying to act to make sure that something was paid for. republicans have been voting against bills even though we paid for. they always complained about what we used to pay for these things. there is always an excuse to go against helping the people in this country, if they're unemployed, if small business

needs money and they can receive loans, there is always a note. i think it will mean -- that we need more yes in this country. host: democratic line, jane. caller: i do empathize with the good work being done in the house only to have it die in the senate uses a filibuster. i think that a big problem in our nation is instead of looking up at the problem, they'll looking down, blaming teachers for this problem. if it was a matter of red states against blue states, it is not, because the red states already won. when i started working it was 30% union, now it is less than 10% off. we cannot arbitrate for a living wage.

people forget what the unions did for us off. this is what they are focusing on. in addition, during the reagan administration we had the biggest middle-class tax increase and we have become waves laid -- wage slaves. tax cuts that were not paid for, it was a $1 trillion deficit. we must start focusing on what is best for us, realizing that corporations have to pay their share. host: thank you. guest: you know, the tax cuts, we want to extend middle income tax cuts. they should be extended, in my opinion. republicans are saying that we should extend tax cuts for

middle income families. if you extend the tax cuts for the people making over $1 million each year, you would have to borrow $30 billion to pay for it. it would go to $1,500 -- $15,000 -- 15,000 families in this country. some say that it will help economic growth. the middle income taxpayer, they pay the taxes and if they get a $1,000 cut, they would like to spend it. those making $1 million each year are not going to spend it. so, there is the issue raised

about what we do. host: as chairman of the ways and means committee, you have a role in these bush era tax cuts. the debate playing out over which tax cuts to expand. guest: the way out has been more difficult than anyone expected. , stirring up all kinds of feelings. we need to face up to the facts, whether or not there has been a turning of the corner, we need to take care of the deficit,

making sure that we continue growth and that we make sure that the consumers in this country are equipped to help increase growth in this country. that is what the tax cut issue is really about. it is also about fairness. we are going to argue this in the senate that comes back in september, the notion being that they will begin to tackle the tax-cut issue. it will become a major issue and needs to be argued. as i said, we just had this new data from the nonpartisan committee where if we borrow money to upgrade from tax cuts, about $100,000 would be benefited. it would cost us $30 billion. i think that is not a good investment for america for the

people that argue it out. september, when will happen? we will be back on c-span talking about it. host: will leave keep these tax breaks? guest: is more a question of how we promote economic growth in this country. we need to keep throwing off. where would we have been in this nation? domestic auto parts are beginning to bounce back and add workers. for those that say it was a failure, i say go to those clients that would not be here

anymore. general motors is adding production. ford has indirectly benefited fear reinforced they are bouncing back as well. there are rays of hope where we see rays of sunshine. host: pontiac, michigan. nick. hello. caller: if congress has failed to do anything about the tax system, it is the fault of congress. it has to do with the firemen. that is really the way it should be looked death theory 1/4 when you look at the staff -- the states that need them, they are

cutting budgets to the point of a freeze on hiring and a 5% cut on all wages. step up to the plate, i do not see them taking any less. guest: the number of employees in the state has been drastically reduced. that is why 45 governors asked for help, republicans as well as democrats. they have been cutting. they are asking for a bridge to their future. we have provided some help to the states. we have provided help for education in the stimulus package.

if that had not happened, there would have been massive layoffs before now. avoiding 100,000 further layoffs so that we could continue to walk over the bridge to the future. this is not a bridge to nowhere, this effort. this is a bridge to the future that we are placing over that bridge. host: jeff, ill., democratic line. guest: how are you? caller: fine, thank you. i am a fourth generation democrat. i am so disgusted with my party. i look at senators and i cannot believe that you unconsciously sleep at night leaving this debt to our future generations. all that you are doing with this bill is extending the situation that should be negotiated by the

state's. teachers should be willing to take pay cuts in times like this when they have one of the highest pension employee and levels in the nation. they do not work for five months out of the year. this money should have been used to help the unemployed. they keep saying that if they had not done this, it would be desperate. so hard to describe or defend. >> -- guest: talking about the auto industry, going back to the banks, most of the republicans and democrats say that if there had not been some action it would have been much worse.

surely it is true of the auto industry. in terms of mistakes, most of them have taken action. why do you think that republican and democratic governors are cutting back on our budgets? give us some help. it is not as if most states have done nothing. states have acted under this crisis. most of them, not all of them, have acted very actively. true in michigan, illinois, true throughout this country. we are in this together. we are in this together. it is not as if people think that we should have -- we have been worried about the unemployed. we have had trouble fitting and unemployment compensation bill through. finally the country votes and says look, you have millions of

people, 2.5 million people losing benefits. fired every four seconds and enough of the country said to republicans in the senate that we would finally get the bill. host: do you see room for states to go it alone? is there going to be a point where they have to do more of this? guest: look, if the states were not acting, we would have thrown the ball back to them completely. it is interesting, again, i listened to some of the republicans.

why were they doing this? they wrote a letter saying that they needed some help to take action on their own to help a bit. the danger in this town is that things have become so polarized and so politicized that everyone is working for the advantage in november. host: how do you fight that? guest: doing what is right, explaining what is right, going back home and explaining what is right. you say look, this is the democracy where you stand up for what you believe. that is what house members and senate members on the democratic side are doing. controversial steps have been taken. we have 50 million people without health care. we had 2.5 million people losing their unemployment benefits.

we could not get the republicans to support it. finally some house republicans came with us. they struggled for weeks to get two republican senators to step up to the plate. we stood our ground and said this is still a community and we want everyone to pull their share. but everyone has to join together. that is how we do it. coming here, just like today, saying clearly what we think our position is, republicans state their position, then we go back home and the people decide. host: republican line, california. guest: you are of early. caller: in your the one that looks tired, go figure.

[laughter] i saw a governor from montana, asked by a caller on this show how he balances his budget as he is one of the rare states these days with a balanced budget and he said that every day, know a lot. that that is what adults do when kids want to spend money that the adults do not have, they say no. it goes to what you said earlier about facing the facts. we want people that will look at the situation realistically. we do not dislike teachers and firefighters. we dislike unsustainable union contracts that are going to prevent me from retiring until i am 80. guest: i agree with you about

facing the facts. we have faced the facts of the worst recession since the depression. this was a near depression. the bush administration was in power than. many of the democrats have said look, they are republicans, but we will step up to the plate to help the country. the majority of us voted that way. we faced up to the facts of these unusual situations and everyone has to tighten their belts. everyone has to do that. the states are now saying that we need some kind of further temporary assistance and that if we do not provide it, there will be huge gaps in the budget where there has already been a cut. that is going to ripple through

not only teachers, but in many states it will ripple through four other public employees. that is what this is really all about. doggy dogg, but that is the way did you get out of a recession. i think that we are likely to dig the hole deeper. host: congressman sander levin is our guest, currently serving his 14th term, first elected in 1982. guest: there was a recession than that we worked to get out of, but it was not nearly as big as it was the day. host: george, independent caller, atlanta. caller: good morning. guest: nice to talk to you. caller: i believe in we the people, not we the corporations. i do not think that aig will be paying back that money.

foreclosure problems would have been ended, americans would be driving new cars. start up businesses, this is a big rip-off. corporations and politicians together. guest: not quite sure how they answer, but i will try. the bailout that got us into trouble, we had terrible problems with foreclosures. some of the action was taken but it was not soon enough for effective enough. now further steps have been taken. most of the tarp money has been paid back. we will let history judge as to whether it would have been worse

if no steps had been taken. i think that what we need to do now is get after those corporations that made the mistakes. that is why we passed the financial regulation bill. unfortunately, even that became criticized and its struggle in the senate to get republicans to vote to make sure that corporations could not once again take america into a ditch. that is how politicized this is. getting republicans to crack down on abuses by corporations who have used the process. i am glad that we stood up and are vote -- and i'm glad that things did not fall apart entirely, taking the steps to make sure that because of read it does not happen again. this was a totally impossible situation with derivatives, swaps, and everything, that none

of us had ever heard of. we have to make sure it does not happen again and i am proud that the democratic party has passed the financial regulations bill signed by the president of the united states. host: we are talking about the house vote on the $1.1 billion aid bill, amongst other things. $10 billion for education jobs, $16.1 billion for the medicaid budget. something else on the agenda, coming to us from the hill, " face that surprise, the senate passed out the border security measure by unanimous consent, forcing house leaders to add another item to the agenda. this is a procedural item, the hill goes on to report that the problems stemmed from raising their own revenue bill in the

house. guest: as the chairman of the ways and means committee, it is in the constitution, which is an important provision that we will maintain it we are going to pass a bill through the house where revenue measures should start. there was a lot of wisdom in the minds of folks and our forefathers. i think that they had some help from the mothers as well. you know, it does not mean that the world has not changed. you cannot take every were literally. you have to see what it means the day. as a provision it made a lot of sense. host: this border security legislation will go before york chamber today, before going back

to the senate? guest: yes. host: walt, new jersey. guest: how are you? where is tom's river? caller: it is near the jersey shore, better known as snookie land. you know who that is? i know that you are up in michigan, but we have a girl here called snookie. caller: -- guest: i think i have some grandchildren -- caller: the president said he did not know. host: move on to your question. caller: the question is telling about the house vote -- a question is coming about the house vote, why take that money out of the stimulus when there is something like $400 million that has yet to be spent? talking about governors, i come from a state where the man has been corrected body parts called

chris christie. -- has be incorrect body parts called chris christie. guest: i do not know if he was one of the 45 governors, but there were 45 republicans and democrats in terms of taking that, as it was obligated, or will be obligated. since he would be robbing peter to pay paul, it is wise to step up to the blade for what we have done as a substantial part of this to close the loophole that leads companies to ship jobs overseas instead of producing them in the united states, which is an important step to make sure that jobs are produced here in the united states and that

there is not a manipulation of the tax code by any company that is essentially meaning that they do better shipping jobs overseas been producing them here, abusing the tax code. host: ohio, democratic caller, rose. caller: there are some things going on here in ohio, i have a granddaughter that work at the hospital here for a few years. she is legally blind right now and is 34 years old. her insurance at the hospital was $905 per month, about half of what she makes. now she has no insurance. we found out about the free clinic and they are helping her

with the things that she needs to work with. this insurance company that came to ohio, mutual of ohio, uninsured people with diseases that were free condition that they were talking about, $250, that was the first payment. they would have certain diseases. that was a wall street insurance company as well. guest: i am sorry, very sorry about the condition and the challenge faced by your family. we passed health care reform to make sure that people were

rubbed penalized because of previous conditions. that is now becoming part of the legal press packet. in terms of the specific details, i am not sure who your congress member is, but you should contact your congress member. i will be in ohio in a few days trying to help my colleagues that voted to make sure that someone with pre-existing conditions can continue to have their insurance. i am proud that we did that. the more that we did, the more support i think it will be for it. host: mike, republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. my family has a ford dealership from pennsylvania, my grandfather started in 1924.

during the depression, his father and brother struggled to keep the business telling. i started through the early 1970's in the dealership. we watched chrysler fall back then, the government bailed them out over and over again. chrysler fell at that time and the government dealt them out, through the early 1980's the government purchase their government cars in order to keep chrysler afloat. he just did it again. i do not understand why we do not learn by past experiences,

putting the stranglehold on the automobile industry, these cars are so expensive that the average american cannot afford a new car. guest: the automobile industry is somewhat different from the automotive industry. ford has done very well. they would be the first to say that the action to help chrysler and general motors help ford, i was just reading an article about the suppliers and howling number of them are back on their feet, getting back on their feet. if we had not acted to save chrysler or general motors, allowing them a chance to survive, many of the suppliers today would be out of business. one of the success stories of

the stimulus package is the american automotive industry. ford did not receive money directly, we should be proud of this. the president went to michigan to two plants. he went to chicago. if we had not acted, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people would be out of work today for not -- these supplier is getting back on their feet, they would probably be out of business. the government acted not to run these companies. save, private industry in the automotive sector. .

depressed and unemployed. guest: you're unemployed? caller: from the auto industry. guest: how long have you been unemployed? caller: 18 months. and i was listening to your comments. and couldn't be farther from the truth.

they paid off -- gave buyouts to a lot of employees in the auto industry. hundreds of thousands of dollars to leave the company. i wasn't one of them, because i'm just a little supplier guy. i would say that it's not going to work. i can't find a job. making more on my unemployment, and i don't receive unemployment anymore, because i went to work for a temp service. used that against me at my own liberty, i quit. so i'm not going to collect unemployment no more. i think that the government probably for the last 20 years, senate and house created this

hope that you'll find another job. by the way, we have in this country, because of the stimulus package, some increased training and retraining in this country. unprecedented. they are trying to focus on retraining where there are jobs. in terms of where we're going, it hasn't been a complete success when you're in this deep of a hole, complete success isn't going to happen over nigh. we're -- overnight. we're working our way back. mistakes were made. i was part of the congress when president clinton was president with tricky math. now we were able to turn around

a difficult situation, and have a projected surplus of $5 trillion-plus, then the bush administration came with its policies we voted against. and instead of a path towards no debt, we had a path leading to immense debt. and that was inherited by president obama. and we've been working our way, trying to dig ourselves out of a deep hole. that is fact. host: jim, republican? caller: good morning congressman. guest: good morning. caller: you made two statements today i'd like to follow up on. you said about not being able to afford tax cuts, and then you said you have to borrow money to pay for the tax cuts. following this line of thinking, you breeve all the money in the country is owned

by the federal government. they have all the money and are just giving people money. isn't that true? guest: no. no. i said if we're going to extend the upper income tax cuts, that in order to do that, money would have to be bar owed from other taxpayers because of the cost. the cost of it would be immense. we're talking about $30 billion if we extend it. in one year. and about $100,000 in tax cuts would go to 315,000 families. that's all. that would cost $30 billion. and the question is -- is that a wise use of taxpayers money, essentially transfering it from middle income tax pairs, in my judgment, to people who are making over $1 million a year.

that's a striking amount of money that would go to a relatively small number of people, who by and large, have done much better these past years, by and large, than middle income tax pairs, who by and large, have been standing still, economically. that's the issue that we have to consider. host: congressman levin represents michigan's 129 district and the chairman of the ways and means committee. thank you for being with us. coming up next, we'll talk god g.o.p. congressional issues and campaign strategy. first this campaign 2010 update. >> voters are going to the polls? four states today. joining us from politico's newsroom is casey hunt. let's begin with colorado. a lot of people are watching this race today both on the democratic and republican side.

let's start with the democrats. in the race between michael bennett and andrew roam number of, what is the lateest? >> well, as many 4 people know this has become somewhat of a showdown between barack obama and bill clinton. bill romanoff is being backed by clinton. and bennett is alleged to have abused money that was supposed to be used for the school system. then again, colorado voters have been voting for weeks now. so we'll see. >> and people are watching this to get a feel for how long the anti-establishment mood is in the country. why is that? >> absolute limit in this case you have a democratic challenger to a sitting incumbent. somebody who has the support of the senate and barack obama against somebody who was

discouraged from challenging him in the first place. and he's able to pull out takeover money and support bennett has institutionally, that will tell you how anti-incumbent voters are feeling. >> and what are the differences between these two candidates? >> on the republican side you have a man who is accused of plagiarism, a man who worked at one point for a think tank and was paid $300,000 for work it turns out was not his own and he had to return that money and on the other side dan maze who has made out allegations that the bike sharing program ising in like the u.n. so it's turn a little bit ridiculous. >> and the race between ken become and former lieutenant governor norton. what's going on in this race? >> norton and buck have been going back and forth. buck has been backed by the tea party group. and he and norton have traded

barbs back and forth takeover past few weeks and made a comment about the fact that norton wears high heels, that was not well-received. >> and the senate candidate to challenge democratic candidate bloomen that'll this fall. what's the thought on this race? >> well linda mcmahon is the former c.e.o. of world wrestling entertainment and is hoping to put the final stakes through mr. simmons whose campaign was resident rected in recent days. she's expected to pull out widely. but she has faced criticism for some of the things she did as wrestling c.e.o. including not paying proper health insurance to her athletes. >> she's also loaned her own money to the campaign has that helped her come out ahead so far in the polls? >> well, it certainly helped her sit on the air a long time. she's been blanketting the

airwaves and reintroducing herself as a politician as opposed to the c.e.o. of the wwe. >> and she's probably going to need her money if she's going to pull the race out. >> so candidates for governor in those states and also a republican runoff in georgia for governor between nathan deal and karen handle. why is this race so competitive? >> it's another proxy showdown. karen handle came from behind after sarah palin came in and endorsed her. she won the initial race a few weeks ago. this is a runoff between her and the second-place finisher who has been endorsed by mike huckabee. so this is -- >> some are saying this is a test of the strength of endorsements for 20 1. >> absolutely. >> sarah palin really brought

handle's campaign significantly behind in the polls then palin steps? all of a sudden she has all kinds of support. and mike huckabee endorsed late. >> casey hunt with politico. thank you. >> thank you. >> and you can watch tonight con cession speeches of these candidates on c-span and c-span.org. >> congressman tom price from georgia's sixth district. also the republican study committee chairman. >> thanks so much for allowing me to come. >> talk to us about the vote today for this $21 billion aid package. how are you feeling about it? what are your concerns? guest: well we believe it's simply another bailout. it's $10 billion for the education and $6 billion for

the medicare arena and paid for with permanent tax increases, so permanent tax increases to pay for temporary spending. and spending especially on the education side is really the federal government telling the states exactly what to do. so they are shackaling the states making it less flexible for them to use the money in the ways they see appropriate. so it's another bailout from washington and dictate from washington and frankly what the american people are sick and tired of. host: many governors called for more assistance and now governors are saying we don't like this bill. is that a critics? guest: i don't think so. because again, what it is is the federal government telling the states what they must do with the money. if there's flexibility, the states would say sure, let me have more money. but we can't continue to borrow and spend our way to prosperity in this country. it's not going to work.

no nation's ever done it. we're not about to be the first. so the programs we support are the ones paid for in a wise way and we also believe it's significantly important to decrease spending. those in the private arena are refusing to get into the mix from an economic stand point because of the federal government spending. >> you have a resolution that you've put forth that would call for congress not to come back during a lame duck session. from the election until the new congress begins in january. otherwise, you say don't come back. why? >> well, what we've seen out of speaker pelosi and majority reid in the senate and now from the administration. many voices in the administration saying look, don't worry about it. to their base on the left. if we can't get things like a national energy tax, the cap and trade legislation, the card check. increased spending and don't worry about it if we can't get

those things done during the election. at the time the new congress is sworn in. that's the lame duck period of time. the fact of the mater is i believe -- we believe and i suspect the vast majority of the public believe the -- so if you have another 80-100 potentially new members of the house of representatives coming to washington in january, and those seats will be filled, continue to be filled from november through the end of the year from those who happenedal their loss, then it's not fair of the american people to say ok. let's do major things between the elections and january 31. so we believe we ought not be addressing huge major fundamental changes and that's thence resolution. >> he had a column in "the washington post" called "beaware the lame duck" saying assuming the elections go as projected, barack obama's fall jan reforms are dead.

the lame ducking session -- host: is that your motivation? guest: well, the motivation is to be responsible to the american people. the american people have said clearly over the last 18-19 months, we don't believe washington is doing the right thing. we think they are moving in a direction we frankly don't recognize as a direction that enormities fundamental solutions. so there's no reason we believe the congress ought to come back and act on fundamental issues, for instance, amnesty for illegal immigrants. the card check. the secret ballot destruction act. the bayoff to the unions on the other side of the aisle. we don't believe those things

ought to be done in the lame duck period of time. if the democrats want to do those things, do them honestly before the election and let the people know where they stand. >> from the c.q., talking about carol browner's comments saying a lame duck session was potentially an oppingts for resident recting a comprehensive energy and climate bill. you have some concerns about her comments? guest: yes. taxing everybody for the use of energy is a fundamental job-killer. it would do more to destroy jobs than this administration has already done. so the american people have loudly said, don't do that. and for ms. browner to say just this past weekend, to the left, don't worry about this. we poemly can get this done during the lame duck which is why people ought to support the resolution today which says do not do a lame duck session?

host: isn't part of congress' job to work while you can? guest: sure. that's why this is important. it would allow the house, itself, republicans and democrats to say we ought not have a lame duck session. we're not saying the house doesn't have the authority to do so. we're saying because of the will of the american people and because of what will happen in the election, we ought not. host: republicans can join the conversation and democrats and independents. call the numbers below. host: and our guest, also serves on the financial services committee, education and labor committee and he is the chairman of the republican 120eud committee. tell us about the study committee. guest: study committee is the largest caucus, 115 members. our goal is to make sure we put forward positive, upbeat

optimistic solutions to everything that embraces fundamental solution. whether it's health care or spending or deficit or the challenge of the budget. all of those kinds of things have positive solution that is embrace funnel mental dwhrads ought to be put forward. caller: good morning. congressman, i have two questions for you. number one, republicans don't want to work during the lame duck session, so i'm assuming you're not going to take your salaries during that lame duck session, those four months? if you're not working, you shouldn't be paid. so i'd like ooh response to that. -- so i'd like a response to that. and well, you know what? i'll leave it at that, because i think that's really key here. you guys have said no to everything that's come down the line. you've blamed everything on the

democrats. you just said that obama has had the greatest job-killing policies, however, we're producing very little jobs, but we're producing jobs now. where when he came into office, we were losing three quarters of a million jobs a month. guest: thank you for your comments. this administration and that congress has spent more than any administration and congress in the history of this nation. the last two fiscal years under this administration and this congress has seen deficits of $1 trillion. more than ever in the history of the country. it has a philosophy, and it's a heart felt philosophy. it's an ideological philosophy that we can borrow and spend our way to prosperity. we simply don't believe that's the case. we believe you have to be fistically responsible which is

why we support a balanced budget. and have offered through the committee a balanced budget. the challenge is we've got to get our fiscal house in order so bad so there's a certainty out there in the private sector and then money in the private sector will begin to flow. right now people are just hunkering down and sitting on the sidelines until they see what this federal government is going to do next. host: comments our previous guest sandra levin made earlier on the program who said it's wrong to argue a $26 billion

guest: yes. the whole issue of whether or not this amount of money ought to be spent at this point is really fortunate talk about. because as one of the callers in the previous segment mentioned. there's still $30 billion remaining from the previous quote stimulus that was ear marked for education. and it's simply just sitting there. so why another $10 million is really begging the question how much money are we going to spend and borrow in order to accomplish whatever the end game is, and also in this bill there's very prescriptive mat in which the government is predicting so for one state, for texas it says you must not only comply with what we tell every other state, you have to do it for another two years. so they separated out texas and said your flexible, what you've done in the education arena is

not acceptable to the federal government. not that it's not acceptable to texas but for the federal government. therefore you must do what we tell you to do. so even if the states don't want it, the federal government will find an entity within the state to give it. so the federal government is forcing the stace to take this money. and it's un-wise. it's not the appropriate role of the federal government to dick stathes tate to the states in this arena. host: some said the states need to figure out the budget problems on their own. is there a concern about that? guest: absolutely. but we've got to towards fend mental issues. it's not that the government isn't spending enough money. it's that the government has not allowed the states and local governments to succeed. so the issue is the issue of jobs spend aing at the federal level so, calling us back to washington for one more day to

bail out another portion of our economy and spend another $26 billion of our money we don't have simply is irresponsible and wreck less. host: clyde in georgia. caller: carolton, georgia. i voted for you and worked for you a little bit before the change of districts down here. i just wanted to tell you a couple things. democrats keep griping and saying bush is the cause of all this but remind them democrats had the house in 2007 an 2008 and when president bush left office the definite was $1.4 trillion. it's now $14 trillion. remind them that the house and senate's the one that passed this spenting bills, not the president. and remind them that president bush wasn't allowed to say clinton had anything to do with the 9/11 tragedy when bush was only in office six months. they kept saying you got the

office. it's your problem. guest: well, thanks, clyde. i think what the american people want is for us to look forward and not backwards. when we look forward and see the proposals on the table now, and the trajectory that puts us on as a country is unacceptable to the vast majority across folks in this country. so you're right. we do need to decrease spending. $1.4 deficits in this administration alone. i objected to much of that. but the annual deficits of the previous administration are now the monthly deficits many this plfplgts absolutely unacceptable and reckless. and it's going to saddle our kids and grandkids with money they don't have. host: hello? caller: i called this morning to talk to the congressman there for just a moment. guest: hey, hal.

caller: i'm doing fine, and i just wanted to let you know. and i'm not an ugly person or a mean person, but you people in congress are the most fraudulent people on this earth. i'm not just talking about you. i'm talk about the whole bunch of you. we just had mr. levin come on and he told his side of the story. you come on. you tell your side of the story and ole ignorant boys like me out here in athens, texas have to decide are you lying or is he lying? and the only answer you all have is it's just a fundamental difference. well, this is the most fraudulent way of doing anything, to criticize and condemn and say things about someone else so you can keep a job. host: hal, how would you like to see things change? caller: hear out and out honesty. not criticizing someone else so

you can keep your job in congress. guest: hal, thank you so much. i'm in my third term in congress. before i came to congress i was a physician and spent of 20 years practicing medicine. this wasn't a grand design of money. i came to congress to help solve big problems. can i fight with congress? yes. but i came to help solve the big problems facing us. and the challenge we have are there really are philosophical differences about how we ought to address these fundamental issues. you say don't talk about them. but that's the crux of everything. how much should we indebt our children and grandchildren what happened should the role of government be in health care or the economy itself? should it own private zpheans those are fundamental questions we have to answer as a country, and i believe the past 18 or 19 months, what we are doing is answering those questions.

we've got an election coming up in november and i can't wait for the american people speak and i look forward to you going to the poles, hal, and speaking loudly. host: good morning. guest: hey, anne. caller: hey. i want to say this about the republicans. i was a republican, but i switched. because it became more and more obvious to me that the republican people are not interested in the working person. they are interested in big business and war. since i was a child, my ma'ama always said they are going to give tax breaks to people who are already rich, spend a trillions and trillions on a war that the american people made plain they don't want. telling people whether they should have babies and who they should marry. all this kind of crazy stuff. i voted for people to help the working class.

the working class is being squeezed to the point where we have no where to go. guest: and anne, you're absolutely right. the working class have been squeezed. all the american people have been squeezed with the policies nut place takeover 3 1/2 past years. we agree all americans need to be helped. the way you do that is to athrow greatest opportunity for the greatest number of people to succeed not to have the federal government dictate what you should do from a health or economic stand point or anything else. you're absolutely right in your premise in that we ought to be helping the working folks and all folks in this country. i believe and we believe on the republican side you do that by freing up the american people and allowing them to do what they want to do not what the government wants them to do. host: republican caller? guest: hey nicole. caller: thank you for having me

on here. real quick. the previous gentleman who asked if you guys were going to accept pay during the lame duck session. i don't believe you answer that had part. but that's a lesser part. 34 i other point was do you really believe that the last 3 1/2 years were the only years where the economy has gone down? where we had unfunded wars not put into the budge set in and also the intrusiveness that you mentioned of this federal government. i don't think it's the democrats that are saying that you can't have an abortion or that you are -- that health care isn't a right or anything any of those things, so i was wondering how do you equal out intrusiveness in your book. guest: in terms of the lame duck session, the past lame ducks have been cuddle, you

make certain the government continues to run. what we're objecting to is a lame duck that speaker pelosi and harry reid may be full of all sorts of issues that are really fundamental in the way they would affect our country and the way the american people don't want affected. increased taxes and spending. so in temperatures of salary the lame duck session has been used for those. host: does that mean you would do a salary freeze or anything during the lame duck session guest: i'm open to talk about that if the other side is willing to sit down and talk. host: we'll be right back with congressman price. >> the chair now recognizes members from lists submitted d. alternate ll recognition between the parties with each party limited to 25 minutes and each member other e

limited to five minutes each. but in no event shall debate continue beyond :50 a.m. -- 9:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly. for five minutes. mr. connolly: thank you, madam speaker. according to independent economists, the action of this congress pulled the economy back from the brink of falling into anoer great depression. i hope my colleagues have had a chance to review the recently released study by former federal reservvice chairman alan blender and mark zahndy and former economic advisor to john mccain's 2008 presidential campaign. we have heard some from the other side of the aisle demagogue on the value of the recovery act and other actions we took to stabilize this economy. republicans loudly claim these programs were failures, but what do the tual economists say? from the study, i quote, there

is little doubt that in total the policy response was highly effective. madam speaker, after careful analysis, the studies by -- concludes the gross domtic product would have been 11% lower today than without government intervention. they conclude 8.5 million working americans would have lost their jobs. when this congress took office in january of 2009, we were facing an economyn free fall with the second great depression in clear sight. we were in the misof a deepening recession, the worst in 8 o years. increasingly monthly job losses had peaked in january of that year at 741,000. housing prices were in 22 straight months of decline, foreclosures dramatically increased, the economy was worsening. bank failures accelerated

threatening families' sanchingse. all combined americans lost 17.5 trillion dollars in net worth because the bush recession. in the misof this -- midst of this economic maelstrom, we took action, immediate action and passed the recovery act to stabilize th economy, protect teachers, firefighters, police officers, boosted the prive sector payroll, invested in america, and spurred growth. according to the experts from both sides of the aisle, it worked. again, quoting from the study, the effects of the fiscal stimulus alone appear substantial. madam speaker, they found that the recovery act raised g.d. by 3.4%. reduced unemployment rate by 1.5% below where it otherwise would have been and most importantly added or protected 2.7 million american jobs. the proof is more than just the study. look at the g.d.p. before we passed the recovery act, g.d.p. was declining for the third straight quarter, including a 2.7% drop in the

third quarter of 2008. a 5.4% drop in the fourth quarter. and an astonish.4% decline in the first quarter of 29 when we came into office. the recovery act slammed the brakes on that free fall. the very next quarter g.d.p. posted only a 0.7% decline, quickly followed by four straight quarters of g.d.p. growth. the rovery act also stems the ever increasing monthly job losses. it's no coincidence the job losses peaked before we acted and immediately began to drop. currently we are in theseventh straight month of private sector job growth with 600,000 net private sectorobs created this year alone. the manufacting sector continues to expand, in fact to its highest levels in a decade. american automobiles sales initially spurred by the successful cash for clunkers program continue to improve. the stock market which plummeted in 2008 and hit rock

bottom in 2009 has increased ever since. we have recovered $6 trillion of the $17.5 trillion lost by american families. madam speaker, the study illustrates our intervention and investment to the recovery and reinvestment act saved the u.s. economy there the second great depression. as the recent study demonsated, we averted the worst outcome but we still have work to do. make no mistake, despite the fragile economy, our economy is growing again. and that growth is a direct result of the actions of this congress to save american taxpayers and to save this economy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the lance of his time. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much, mr. speaker. and i rise today to recognize the extraordinary efforts and continuing success of alpha international in the fight against global illiteracy. founded in 1961 and

headquarred in my hometown in miami, florida, they have helped over seven million adults and children learn to read and write. currently they serves people in 25 different countries around the world with literacy programs in english, spanish, portuguese, and creole. the basic ability to read and write is the gateway to education and training. to higher earnings, and more productive life. with the hp, millions of people in countries worldwide are able to break the cycle of poverty, make better lives for themselves and their children, d play a larger role in the local and regional economy. moreover, basic literacy skills also help people to better derstand the rights they have and the rights tat they have been denied and it empowers people to participate in the local and national political

process. their approach involves teaching the basic skills and education that people need to become independent and productive members of society. their approach is an efficient and cost-effective method that needs only $60 and 10 months to teach a completely illiterate adult to read and write at a fourth grade level. i am certain much of the reason for this low cost approach, the basic education, lies in the fact that the majority of the teachers are compassionate and supportive volunteers. as a former educator and florida certified teacher, i recognize the difficulties that they face in helping those most in need. i commend its many volunteers and encourage them to continue with their badly needed effort. their tremendous success over the past 50 years is a great inspiration and i hope to hear

more about its great work in the future. i wish them also much success for an upcoming dinner in miami, florida. mr. speaker, i would also like to spotlight the contributions of dr. philip bronze to our south florida community. a physician, businessman, philanthropist, he s been a long-time supporter of the arts and education. his work with the smithsonian institute has helped keep the institution vibrant and growing. philip's passion for music led him to make generous contributions to the university miami school of mic and to the florida international university art museum. his philanthropy has helped fund much needed medal research. as a trustee at the scripts research institute, he has helped one of the world's largest independent, nonprofit, biomedical research organizations. his lasting legacy will

certainly be to inspire others to match his selflessness and generosity. thank you for your service, for your humanitarian outreach. you are an inspiration and example to our entire community. much success for your upcoming event for the american friends of the hebrew university in miami, florida. thank you, mr. speaker, for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yield back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. defazio, for five minutes. mr. defazioi thank the chair. there are many in this chamber who say, and i'm among them, we must be careful with running up the deficit and debt because we are borrowing from the future. dollars we borrow today will be paid back by our kids and grandkids over the next 30 years. that's why i voted against the so-called stimulus bill. i felt it borrowed too much, and invested too lite in the future.

cut wa back on the transportation infrastructure investments in favor of tax cuts of the borrowing money for tax cuts doesn't make sense. there's no benefit to be passed on to the future generation and it certainly didn't put people back to work. so as we approach the bill today we have to keep that in mind. are we borrowing from the future? and will this provide benefits to people in the future? the bill before us today would fund education in my state we are headed toward having the shortest school year in america. we are stealing from our future. we are stealing from our kids. if they don't get those school days this year, they can't make them up this year or after they graduated. we are shotening them the rest of their lives for good education. we'll have some of the largest class sizes in america. you can't teach a cls of 38 or 40 kids in middle school. it isn't a good educational experience. we are stealing from their

future. i'm hoping today that the funds we vote for will be used by my state to plug the hole this year. i n't want to see them thinking maybe things will be worse next year. we'll avoid future cuts. no, the cuts are today. they are hurting kids today. they need to flood those holes today. put teachers back to work. clower the class size. get the school year back up to a reasonable length. there are other cuts that can be taken care of by this vote again today. in my state, we are cutting back on state police, even though we have one of the lowest ratios of policing in the united states of america. we have a epidemic of people in our rural areas who do not have adequate law enforcement and being plagued by crime and drug dealing and other things. we need more state police on the road. our seniors need to be maintained in their homes. our community colleges are cutting back at the same time when they are seeing record employment for people trying to get trained to get a job in a bad economy. those holes can be plugged

today. are we borrowing from the future with this legislation? well, no, actually, for once we are paying for it. now, we are going to hear a lot of whining on the republican side of the aisle about this is bad and we are -- more just borrowing and spend. no. what they are going to be whining about is the fact we ar closing some very juicy foreign tax loopholes for u.s. corporations. we have little things that are called the hopscotch of deemed dividends. we have the kaymen islands, bermuda, sound familiar? and we have daisy chain investment overseas so they can avoid u.s. taxes. when we built the greatest nations on earth, corporations paid 40% of the taxes in this country, today they pay7% because of loopholes like this. this bill will close those loopholes. now the republicans will gnash their teeth over that because there's never been a loophole too good for them. they want more loopholes t will also, they should like this part, d i have some doubts about this, but it's going to

reduce food stamp benefits in the future by $12 billion. they like to carry on about welfare. i have a lot of people dependent on food stamps who were formerly hard working in my district and state. but the balance here of essential public services, of a decent education for the future, and those cuts i can accept. and getting rid of the corporate loopholes, i'm with that every day of the week. the republicans are for loopholes. we are against them. we are for education. we are for kids. we are for vital public services, they're not. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balae of his time. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. mcclintock, for five minutes. mr. mcclintock: thank you, mr. speaker. many people are asking why congress is here today. i think the answer's pretty simple. we are not bankrupting the country fast enough and so we need to come back and spend even more. in the merciful week that congress was not in session, my

constituents had one message -- stop the spending. obviously congress isn't listening. over the past two years this ministration and this congress have intercreased spending by nearly 18% and run up more debt in two years than the irresponsible bush administration did in all of its eight years comned. meanwhile unemployment has increased from 7.6% to 9.5%, yet the problem in the view of the house democrats that we just aren't spending enough. so we gather here today to shovel another $26 billion at the problem. that comes to about $330 from an average family taken dictly out of the nation's struggling economy. the gentleman from oregon just told us, don't worry. it's paid for. how is that? $10 billion from increase in taxes on business was foreign

subsidiaries. remember this. businesses don't pay business taxes. business taxes can only be paid in one of three ways. by us as consumers through higher prices. by us as employees through lower wages. anby us as investors through lower earnings mainly on our 401-k's. another $12 bilon comes from cuts in food stamps starting in 2014. but we are going to use the savings starting now. i tried that one out on my wife the other day, honey, sure, we can afford that new jet ski this year. i'm planning to cut our grocery budget by $10,000 in 2014. i'm sad to report she didn't buy it. we are told this is part of the plan to save or create jobs. mr. speaker, this is not saving jobs. it is destroying jobs. government cannot inject a single dollar into the economy

that it hasn't first taken out of that very same economy. we see the jobs saved or created when the government puts the money back into the economy. what we don't sees clearly are the jobs that are lost or prevented when the government first has take that money out of the very same economy. we see the loss or prevented jobs through chronic unemployment rates and stagnant job market at a time when we should long ago have moved into a normal v-shaped economic recovery. nor does this even guarantee saving teaching jobs. good school boards, faced with the choice between a couple of good teachers or a pointless and overpaid bureaucrat are probably going to keep the teachers and fire the bureaucrat. but this bill says they don't have to make that choice. . indeed, this bill says they are

prohibited that would reduce their spending below last year's level. what about medicaid? you know, a bipartisan group of legislators in my state of california tells us that they need this bailout money to save the state's medicaid program. but bailing out bad management doesn't improve it. at the peak of the good times when california was taking in more money than ever before it was already running a deficit of over $9 billion, almost 10% of its budget. just four years ago those same bipartisan legislators voted medicaid expansion that have increased its share of general fund spending from 14% to 19%. california offers such medicaid options as acupuncture, chiropractic services and counseling. and they're shocked that they're running out of money. i love my state but deficits made in california should stay in california.

mr. speaker, with the nation now some $13 trillion in debt, that's about 93% of the entire u.s. economy, it's time to invoke the first law of holes. when you're in one, stop digging, and if congress doesn't invoke that law now it is becoming increasingly clear that the american people will invoke it in november. the speaker o tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much. i rise this morning because three teenagers are dead, and i've made a commitment as a

mother to reconcile tis horrific tragedy and to ask our government for help. i believe every american should have the opportunity to have the feeling that when all else fails our government will stand there and assist us where they can. americans don't ask for handouts, they don't ask for their lives interrupted. they want to know that the is a federal government that will stand up for them. whether or not it's a young man or woman in the united states military, whether it's a senior who needs medicare or social security, we need to know that when there is a need that the federal government can fulfill they will do so. in the middle of july in houston, texas, a native of that pal decided to drive his car through -- napal decided to

drive his car through a red light. in the course of that he hit a family that were bringing their teenagers home from a legitimate night out in a legitimate teenage club, if you will, picked up by their parents and being dren home as families would do across america. rashonda, 17, abianca, 13, detrihana, 13, were talking about the fun they had and the right way it was done where the parents picked them up and took them home. but he decided to drink and run the red light and now three teenagers are dead, expelled from the car, laying on the hard cement. the police came and looked at the situation. he refused to take an onscene

breathalyzer, so was taken to the hospital and as you know chemical tests were taken. the police even callhe district of attorney who came to the scene and decided h could be released. my heartaches for that decision because i asked the question, mr. speaker, three dead children on the ground. does that at least require some common sense and judgment to hold someone overnight? rents are asking now for justice. and i'm asking our nation for justice. the police department said they contacted the u.s. marshal. there is an investigative arm of the state department, but, yet, we look like the most powerful nation in the world and we have our hands tied. you cannot reach the u.s. marshal's office. they will not respond. they are talking about maybe something will happen because he's in napal, there's no

diplomatic relationships with them. three teenagers are dead. the letter says, unfortunately the united states does not have a treaty for napal that could secure his extradiction. in some cases in the absence of an extradiggs treaty, countries may otherwise remo from their territory persons wanted for prosecution in another jurisdiction. however, expulsion or removal usually are not viable options when the person sought is a national of a country of refuge. as he appears to be a national of napal. it is highly unlikely that an expulsion or removal from the country will be move. the criminal division works closely with the federal and state and local prosecutors to seek extradiction or other lawful return of a fugitive wanted for prosecution in the united states. in cases involving state charges, wecks initiate an extradiction only upon the ok

of the state prosecutor. just a benign conversation doesn't matter. three teenagers are dead. well, i say to the justice department, wake up and do something. the u.s. marshal needs to stop hiding fromy office and get over to my office to discuss why yocan't do something. you can engage in diplomac dialogue. you can ask the untry to be able to work with you to return this individual. he will not be getting the death sentence. maybe 60 years. you are leaving crying parents with no justice because you let someone go. to the district county of harris county, what a ridiculous thing to see three dead individuals and refusing to hold an individual whose alcohol was 1.67 to 1.62. he's legally drunk. the legal amount is .08. when are we going to understand that drunk driving can cause death and to those of you who

drive while drinking or drive under the influence, you are a menace to society. three dead teenagers. i'm calling on the justice department and the attorney general of the united states to recognize that they are here to protect the people of the united states. and these three dead teenagers are in need of their protection in their loss and their families want justice. i'm asking for the u.s. marsaals to show up and work us -- marshals to show up and work with us. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 3509, an act to re-authorize state agriculture mediation prrams under title 5 of the agricultural credit act of 1987.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in r

tell us about what some of these numbers mean. if the cost drops what does it mean to your industry? guest: oh, it will make it sustainable because as you know today, because of the battery cost, electric vehicles cannot be mass produced and this is something we absolutely need to do. the electrification of vehicles to reduce our depends on energy to shift away from petroleum but the only way we can do that is by growing the numbers of electric vehicles and that's not going to happen on its own. so one part of it is helping to grow that market initially, the second part is also trying to

establish battery leadership, particularly for lith yom ion batteries in the u.s. host: mr. patil, tell us about your company, compact power. what do you do? guest: we make lithium ion batteries, whether it be hibeds, the regular hibeds like you find in the escape or the prius, the plug-in hibeds, the range extended electric vehicles like the chevy that will be launched later this year or the full leak like the ford focus launched the end of next year. and the critical component for electrification are the batteries and i think lithium eye on in -- ion is poised to dominate that space as it's doing today in consumer electronics. that's why it's such a critical battery technology for us to

have in the u.s. and that's the business that we are in, is -- currently our focus is on making battery packs but we are setting up a factory in holland, michigan that starting in 2012 will also start to make cells. host: some other numbers from the department of energy, they say by 2015, u.s. factories will have the capacity to produce batteries and car components for 500,000 electric vehicles a year and that could potentially create tens of thousands of u.s. jobs. tell us more about the jobs front. what would this mean to your company and what would it mean nationwide about job creation? guest: first of all, just for my company, which is actually a very small, started out as a start-up, and i joined in 2005, they were -- there were just five of us by 2006 there were 15, 2007, there were 30, today

it's about 120 plus, and this is strictly we're still not in production. basically doing engineering and development, but that in itself has resulted in a significant number of jobs particularly in michigan, tapping the talent pool that already existed from the regular automotive industry. when the cell facility that we are putting in in holland becomes operational, it will have created at least 400, and this is -- i'm just talking about the direct jobs. there will be many more associated with the people who will be supplying the material for making these cells. so there is -- it can serve as a significant growth engine for generating sustainable jobs in the country. host: what type of workers are needed for this industry and what sort of education do they need? guest: it's actually a variety

of skills that are needed. starting from assembly line workers that would be needed both at the cell facility as well as where we will be making packs, so that actually can draw directly upon people who already have that kind of an experience from the automotive base. then there is a significant demand for engineering campaign built, electronics engineers, mechanical engineers, as well as electric trow chemists. because the battery depends heavily on knowledge of chemistry and materials. it's a whole variety of disciplines and in fact one of the things that we are doing is actively working with universities to ensure that we have programs in place that will develop graduates with the right kinds of skills because one of the difficulties that i have right now is we have to do our own training for some of the specific skills that we need.

host: we talked about this $2.4 billion in stimulus money for the electric vehicle industry. why in your opinion is that money needed and can the industry do it alone? do you need government funding to propel things forward? guest: yes, that's a very good question. this is something that we've been struggling with. personally i've been involved with electric vehicle development for over 20 years and one of the challenges always was how do you make it sustainable? first of all, there wasn't a good battery because you can never make it work with lead acid which is the kind of battery in the car today. now we see at least a line of sight that the lithium ion batteries have the capability to provide a solution that is workable in the vehicle, in other words the battery has to be small enough so it can fit in the vehicle and do what it needs to do, providing the range without taking away from people space or cargo space and

lithium ion provides that capability. however, the challenge --, challenge is the cost and that's always been the chicken or egg because people would not put the investment unless there was a sustainable market and of course a sustainable market wouldn't be developed unless you had a supply of a reasonably cost batteries. and we haven't been able to break that cycle. and i think there is evidence to say if you look what happened in japan, particularly related to hibeds, the hybrid vehicles got started in japan with involvement from the government and now of course that's why the battery industry went there. china as you know is trying to put a substantial amount of investment, so that kind of an investment is needed in the beginning to get the market kickstarted, to set up the facilities that helps the industry in terms of making the investment decisions and also

helps on the consumer side by making the vehicles and the technology affordable. when that market develops over the next three to four years i expect the battery technology itself will bring the cost down as indicated by at least a factor of two and then it will be self-sustaining and there will be no more need for additional support or help from the government. host: let's take a step back and talk about the electric car. why do you think this is a viable and also a positive development and give us your vision of the future. what would electric cars really mean on a mass consumption level? guest: yes, i have to say the electric car electrification is not the silver bullet that's going to fix everything and cost nothing. but it's sort of the best solution we have on the table because if you look at what's happening in terms of the supply and demand of gasoline,

that's not a sustainable solution, particularly with the kind of growth that's happening in countries like china and india and recognizing that the supplies are limited, different numbers, some of the projections i've seen from the department of energy says that the supply and demand will cross somewhere around 2040 and that will wiggle around a little bit depending on what new discoveries are made but nevertheless it's very clear that that's not a sustainable solution. the second element of it is what's happening in the atmosphere. you can argue with the global warming, it's real or not but the point is you cannot keep adding about -- billions of tons of fuel to the atmosphere on an ongoing basis and not have any consequences. these are factors that are such you have to control them before they get out of hand. otherwise they can impose a solution on you that you cannot

afford or control. and electrification is kind of the best solution on the table, part of the reason that it makes sense is it decouples what you have to do in the vehicle from the production of the energy. you can have the energy coming from different means whether it's hydro, whether it's wind, whether it's solar, and we have the infrastructure to transport that energy to wherever it's needed and that's what electrification enables, it gives you a lot of flexibility and therefore security in terms of your transportation energy needs. it's not the perfect solution, but it's the best solution and as you can probably tell, i think that's sort of a consensus, governments around the world have essentially voted that electrification is the best solution going forward. so that's kind of the basis for why we need to go after electrification with a sense of urgency. looking forward, some people would raise the issue of saying

do we have the capacity, and we absolutely do in terms of the generation capacity. actually for the short term, having electric vieques helps the utility companies because right now the difference between day and night, they have to do something special at night to save the excess energy they make and electric vehicles being plugged in at night will help address that situation. and furthermore, the rate at which the market is going to grow we have more than enough time to be able to put the capacity that is already going on to make the grid smarter and all of those factors are starting to fall in place. part of the reason that hadn't been done until now is again, the grid people are waiting for the vehicle market to develop. host: to get some context to our conversation, "the new york times" has a story on portugal, it says by 2025 it's projected that ireland, denmark and

britain will also get 40% or more of their electricity from renewable sources if four from large scale hide hyde row electric dams and older types of renewable energy is included, countries like canada and brazil join the list. the united states which last year generated less than 5% will will lag behind at 16% or just over 20% if you include hydroelectric power. diana, democrats line in baton rouge, louisiana. how are you? caller: hi. host: you're on with dr. patil. caller: i missed a little bit of the beginning of this, because i had to take my dog out, i don't know if anyone has mentioned the documentary called "who killed the electric car." it's brilliant. it's about g.m.'s electric car that everybody that had it loved it but they wouldn't let anybody buy it. they were only allowed to lease it. and they took them all back

sometime around the year 2000. they had to -- they were begging to let them -- we got all this money, let us buy them. they wouldn't let them buy them and then they -- host: i think we lost diana. can you respond, dr. patil? guest: i wasn't quite sure what her question was. i guess the only comment i would make was that that was the vehicle that was done with lead acid batteries. as i mentioned before, that was not going to be a sustainable solution for a mass-produced vehicle. up with way that i describe it is saying when you try to make electric vehicle with lead acid batteries you to to hut more batteries to carry the batteries you just put in. that's not going to work in terms of a mass production vehicle. wyatt work for a very limited

range, limited customer base but that wasn't sustainable because it would continue to remain unaffordable. so without having the lithium ion battery technology, electric vehicles were not going to be a sustainable solution. host: let's hear from thomas, republican in exeter, new hampshire. caller: good morning. how are you today? guest: good morning. fine, thank you. caller: my question is very simple -- it takes oil to make gasoline to run a car. it takes oil to make electricity to charge the battery. could you tell me what percentage of oil is saved when you use an electric car versus gasoline? i'm going to leave now so i can hear your answer. thank you very much. caller: yeah, you're right, that if you use oil to make electricity to run electric cars, that's not a very good

solution. it is a solution because it does two things. one is generation of electricity from oil in a large scale set up is much more efficient than what the engine does in the car. secondly, you're restricting the emission generation to the one location as opposed to distributing it through the cars. but i think a much better solution and that's the direction we are headed, is to have the generation of electricity come from renewable sources like wind, like solar, hydro and so forth, and that's the flexibility you have by going to electric vehicles. host: tucson, arizona. independent caller. go ahead. caller: i have two questions for you. one is are you going to be getting all your components made here in america or -- and are you going to keep all the jobs created here in america? i'll take my call -- my answer

off the phone. thank you. caller: yeah, right now everything except the cells is being made here. but as i indicated, we are setting up the cell facility or factory in holland that will start making cells middle of 2012, by 12 to 13 it will be fully operational and then the cells will also be made here. the other thing that we are trying to promote is to have the supply base for even the raw materials for the cells to be made here. dow chemical, for example, is getting engaged, there are several companies that are getting engaged in developing and making the materials. so it's going to be a gradual transition process. we'll take the components we can get here and then work on ways to move the production of other components here.

host: the energy department is into to spend $10 million on developing advanced batteries. let's look at some of those numbers. wyatt cut prices up to 90%. it would expand electric vehicle range sixfold and reduce the upfront cost of electric cars to that of gas-powered cars. these numbers come to us from the obama administration's energy department. what would those numbers mean? cutting prices by 90%, that certainly seems like a significant number from your perspective. guest: well, let me maybe give you a little historical perspective and i'll make two comments. one is lithium ion batteries themselves. the ones used in consumer electronics, if you look at their cost in terms of dollars per kilowatt hour which is a unit of energy, the dollars for a given amount of energy, that cost has actually fallen by something of a factor of 15. since it was first commercially introduced back in 1991.

so what appeared -- over a period of roughly 19 years it's gone down by a factor of 15 which is like a 94% reduction in cost. it's not that it will continue coming down at the same rate, but there is substantial opportunity for cost reductions to happen, through multiple facets. one is the cost of materials themselves because of volume production, the other is improving the properties of the materials which is through r & d. i have a high level of confidence we'll continue to see aggressive cost reductions, our own internal target is to get costs down by at least a factor of two, maybe up to four in the next five to 10 years. so that's one based on historical perspective and what's going on. the second thing that i want to mention, you may have seen the announcement that ford just announced that their lincoln

mpz, the hybrid version will be priced at the same price point as the gasoline version. so in some sense it's already happening, it's not a pure electric vehicle, it's a hybrid , but that clearly was not the case just a few years ago. so i think as the technology improves, as the volumes build, there is a significant opportunity for cost reduction and making the technology competitive with what we have on the road today. host: let's look at hybrid vehicle tax credits, up to $3,400 and available for hibeds purchased or placed into service after december 31, 2005. the credit phases out once over 60,000 eligible vehicles are sold. and the price tag ranges from $20,000 to more than $100,000 for a hybrid vehicle. raymond, democratic caller in

southfield, michigan. hi, raymond. caller: how are you today? guest: i'm fine, thank you. caller: i have a -- i am a fan of taking a taking a chevy volt from new york to l.a. on one charge, and basically i would like to power interstate lanes and using solar power and wind power to power up that lane. what do you think about that? guest: well, i'm not quite sure off your concept, but the chevy volt as it will be produced will actually be capable of going from new york to l.a. without having to make any

special stops and i think that's one of the advantages of that concept is that it will run on electricity for a certain distance and then the gasoline engine will come on, it will generate electricity on board if you don't have access to an external means of charging the battery. it does not inconvenience you in any way. but if you're trying to do it off of other means, you know that's something i can't really comment on. it will depend on the type of system that you have in place. typically what we've seen for solar power, first of all you have to have the sun available and secondly, the amount of solar panels that you need is very large in terms of surface area. and i think you've seen some of the concept solar vehicles and so forth. so conceptually it's feasible, but that's about all that i can say.

host: the story from slate called the chevy volt, and talks about how your company received a $154 million grant and now is building a $300 million battery vacttri in michigan to supply the volt. there are likely toosh more investments to come. the volt available for lease at $350 per month, may not be as out of reach to consumers as we think. last friday, g.m. announced it would increase production capacity to 45,000 units in 2012 from 30,000. can you comment on that? guest: oh, i think all of the things that you stated are very factual. we are absolutely you know, thrilled to be part of the solution with g.m. in terms of the volt because i think as you may know, when g.m. first announced the volt back in april of 2007, they essentially did a contest with all of the battery manufacturers, and

anybody who is anybody in the battery business bid, and we -- we are very happy that we were the ones that were finally selected. as i indicated before, lithium ion is the technology that gives us a lot of hope and confidence that it's going to provide a sustainable solution, and i think the volt itself is a very significant step in terms of the shift in paradigm as we try to move from gasoline based to electric, i think it's going to give people a sense of confidence that this is a technology that works, it's not going to cause if them inconvenience and at the same time allow them to get the -- independence from petroleum. host: vivian writes on transit twitter, every wal-mart should have a battery changing station. this gets to the chicken and egg conundrum you mentioned. what would it take for companies like wal-mart to have these battery changing stations? guest: i think that's something that can be done and is being

done in some selective places. but as you mentioned, it can only become self-sustaining if you have enough of a volume of business that uses those kinds of stations. and as you know, this is an experiment being carried out in israel with project better place, and that's something all of us are watching very carefully because in some sense the conditions are ideal for that experiment to succeed in israel because of the size of the country, you can have a single type of battery so there's a lot of things in favor of making it work and so we are very interested in trying to see how that goes. and whether that model therefore can be replicated elsewhere. host: let's go to chuck in ocean city, new jersey. independent caller. caller: good morning, dr. patil. i was just wondering on the design of the batteries as they stand today, how many kilowatt hours would you expect out of one full charge?

i know it depends on the weight of the vehicle and the distance and the wind resistance and all that, but what would be the average? guest: yeah, i mean the best way to put it is about in watt hours per mile of range. for the chevy volt and vehicles of that size it's somewhere in the range of 200 to 250 watt hours. or a quarter of a kilowatt hour per mile. and as you probably know, the kilowatt hour is a unit by which the electric companies bill you and typically the rate today in the country is somewhere around 8 to 10 cents. that sort of gives you a feel that to run these vehicles it will cost you maybe 2, 2 1/2 cents a mile. host: ken is a republican in huntington, new york. hi. caller: hello. okay. i would like to ask him about maintenance on these vehicles. for the average person, like to

keep -- put up maintenance or if i needed to go to someplace you know, to actually go to someplace to maintain these vehicles and how much would that be. guest: yeah. and that's actually a very good question. i think most people don't realize it, but maintenance required for an electric vehicle is much less than what you would need for a gasoline powered or diesel powered engine. the simple reason for that is it has far fewer moving parts. because the electric motor and a much simpler device to begin with. so the maintenance costs for electric vehicles are going to be significantly lower, but i do have to say that just as it's happening with the gasoline powered vehicles, so much of the operation is computer controlled that it's not something that you can go to a back yard mechanic to have your vehicle serviced for the

electric part. but again, we are designing them so that there is not that much maintenance required and providing you know, good warranty as you've seen g.m. announced two or three weeks ago that the warranty that it will be offering, eight years, 100,000 miles and that's partly to help the customers feel comfortable that this technology is going to be reliable and it's not going to cost them maintenance or other issues. host: our guest, dr. prabhadar patil was with the ford motor company for 27 years where he held various positions, he has 12 peants to his credit and in 1991 received the henry ford award for his work in electric vehicle power train development. and is now the c.e.o. of compact power, incorporated. let's go to greg in santa fe, new mexico. caller: hi.

if you take a 50 to 100-year time frame for a minute, can you tell us about what countries of the world have the lithium reserves and is there enough lithium in the earth's crust to envision a world where substantial fraction of the world's population has personal transportation? thank you. guest: yeah, that's also a very good question. the known reserves of lithium, we went through a simple calculation, and just to give you a feel, it's about -- you need maybe a quarter of a kilogram or half a pound of lithium for a hybrid like the escape or the pry us, and maybe -- prius, and maybe one to two kilograms for a plug-in hybrid and maybe a little more for a pure electric vehicle. but the known reserves of lithium is something like 7 billion kilograms. that's if you could make

something like you know, six or seven billion plug-in hybrid vehicles over 30 billion off the regular hibeds and to put that in per expect jiff the total population of vehicles on the road today is under a billion. the annual production is something like 75 to 80 million. there is nothing that we need to be concerned about as i say there are a lot of things i lose sleep over but that's not one of then. in terms of the countries, some of the top four or five are bolivia, brazil, argentina, china. however, the u.s. is number five and canada is number six. and even the reserves that we have within the u.s. and canada are going to be more than enough for the foreseeable future to support the need for vehicle electrification. host: gene is in chicago, illinois, independent line. go ahead, gene.

caller: yes. what i would like to say has your guest heard about the morgan automobile in england which is developing a diesel car which will go 1,000 miles with 10 gallons with the fuel being made out of algae oil, not petroleum oil? and this car is very lightweight, and much, much lighter weight than these electrics, full electric cars will not be really feasible for the vast majority of cars in the world for at least 50 years. guest: i can't really comment specifically on the one that you mentioned, the morgan. i don't know enough to be able to comment on that. the only thing that i can comment on is related to electric cars, and as you alluded to with the lead acid batteries, indeed there was a significant issue in terms of the additional weight that the

batteries would add and the space that they would take. but with lithium ion, again to give you a feel, it reduces the weight and the size of the battery by about a factor of four compared to lead acid and it will continue to get better to a point where the batteries essentially become unobject strewsive from a passenger and cargo point of view. as this technology gets better, it will become self-sustaining and high volume as the cost equation also falls in line. host: democrat in maryland. go ahead, tony. caller: yes. my question is the electric batteries. since the cars will have a plethora of moving parts will they capture that electricity to have that recharge the car and reduce the amount of time, is there some kind of r & d

going on in that area? guest: absolutely. in fact, today the batteries are capable where you could charge them in 15 minutes. the challenge becomes the amount of the wiring that you would need to be able to sustain that kind of a power is not available in individual homes. in fact, i'm not sure you want to put that kind of wiring in individual homes. but you could put it in charging stations because the place where you would need that kind of a fast charging capability is when you are going on long distance trips, and you didn't want to interrupt your travel for very long. so that's not something you need in individual homes. but there will be a place for having those kind of charge stations. so the battery technology is capable today of being able to sustain that level of that fast charging. that is also something that is being addressed further. the second part of it is the

capability of the grid and the charging stations that need to be put in place and thals that's also something that's being actively looked at. host: what do the roads or park being garages of the future like for electric vehicles? guest: we are trying to make them look as much like today's as we can. the technology that's being developed is trying to, again, make it somewhat of a maintenance-free. one of the comments i get from customers of the electric vehicles saying what happens if i forget to plug in my car and the example i forget to feed my dog, how do you expect me to remember to plug it in every day? one of the things that can happen is inductive charging where you actually park the vehicle and it will -- in the garage, and it will sense that the vehicle is in there and would engage the charging function without the customer having to do anything explicitly. that's being looked at even for parking places where they would

have the same kind of a capability. that technology is being developed and being put in place to make it as hassle-free for customers as possible. host: roy, republican line in florida. good morning. caller: good morning. i was curious about the silent ness of the car as its traveling down the road. it seems to me as i walk down the highway and bicycle down the road i audibly am alert to things coming and going. host: there is that concern. while some people have said how wonderful not to have so much noise there is the concern of safety. you are alerted to a car coming as a cyclist or a pedestrian because of the noyes noise. guest: and a couple of things on that. there again, you are absolutely right. right now the way we are, we get our clues when you're at a stop sign based on audible noise coming from the engine in