we're monitoring the situation very closely and working with the pakistani government to get the assistance that they request and to take a look at one of the requests that come in through official channels to make sure we're doing what we can to help alleviate the terrible human tragedy that's happening over there. .

and so much of their country is flooded and under water. but we're continuing to remain committed to rooting out insurgency. >> does the military have to change its focus of this this? >> for any specific military questions, i would just have you check with the pentagon. >> one other question, separately, on the schedule. thursday and friday, can you tell us about the schedule? >> not much at this point. we'll have more at the end of the day or early tomorrow, but not much at this point. >> getting back to the bill in the house what criteria will be used to count the number of jobs created?

>> >> i'm in the sure. >> are they going to be lumped in with some of the numbers you've talked about on the jobs stimulus plan? >> we're talking about a separate -- >> i know that. >> i'd say it's separate. laura? >> on border security, as you know, governors on the border have repeatedly asked, most recently yesterday, for more national guard troops on the border and the administration has responded with a list of what's characterized as an aggressive action. is the reason for not put manager troops on the border is because you don't think they're needed or because they can't afford to at this point? >> i'd start by saying that, as

you said, the president has done quite a bit to increase the assets of the government that includes troobs, it includes technology and all sorts of other things that we're doing to make sure that the border is as secure as possible. we're in constant consultation with the state governments a along the border and working as we can to make sure that we're doing what's necessary and to make sure that we're responsive to their requests. >> why not grant the requests for additional troops? is it because they're not needed or are they not available? >> well, i think that it's not as simple as saying, what are we doing on one specific request? we're looking at the issue more comprehensively than that. secretary napolitano and other folks involved with homeland security are making sure that, like i said, we're responsive and doing what's necessary to secure the border.

>> one question on the relationship with progressive community. do -- this article aside, what do you think -- >> would you ask the question if there was no article? >> that's hypothetical, i don't engage in hypothetical questions. >> way to go, laura. >> what do you think is the cause of the frustration of people on the left? if what you say so many times is true, why do you think there's so much frustration? >> you have to separate out what folks said on cable tv, from what progressives around the country think about how things are going. i think if you, and this isn't to completely just denigrate what people say on table tv, i think there's different measures of how people look at the issues and out in the

country, i think a lot of folks are pretty closed -- pleased we were able to get health care reform done and end the mission in iraq and do all the other things on top of a loot of issues that came up that we didn't know were coming, like pirates and h1n1 pandemic. i would just say that maybe the premise of your question, that the left is fundamentally unhappy, maybe doesn't look at the nuance that there are different sectors of our supporters and the american public out there. >> you don't think these chatterings on cable are reflections of the left? >> no. >> there is a united nations report out that talks about casualties in afghanistan and the notion that the casualties

-- i'm wondering if this administration thinks that is a message that will have political reper cautions, or if you do things to try to publicize them? >> well, for starters, the taliban has been known to kill indiscriminately. if you look at the 10 aid workers killed, americans died, europeans died and afghans died. it was a brutal and senseless attack. and it's because of those sorts of attacks that the taliban does not have widespread support in the country of afghanistan. we're going to continue to do everything we can to reduce civilian casualties. this is something that's very important to general petraeus, it's important to our mission over there and we are going to continue to make sure that the afghan people know that we're

committed to rooting out insurgency, dismantling al qaeda and doing it in such a way that is as safe as possible for the people of afghanistan. >> the first family has called upon people to visit the gulf, vacation in the gulf. does that show they are taking that advice and would the longer trip show a deeper commitment to the region and people in the gull snf >> i suppose a longer trip could show all sorts of things. the president has been down there, the vice president has been down there the first lady has been down there. more than half a dozen times so far. the president is deeply committed to -- committed to the folks in the gulf region, making sure we do everything we can to make sure people in that region are made whole after what was a terrible catastrophe and to make sure the oil is cleaned up and the gulf region is restored.

no one should doubt the president's commitment to that. he looks forward to going down to florida, spending time on the gulf, eating a little more shrimp and spending time with the good folks who live there. >> yesterday, david axelrod said to you michelle obama would be hitting the campaign trail for november. is she picking candidates to support or is the west wing advising her? is her schedule set? >> the schedule is not set. it's not quite put together just yet. >> i wanted to take one more crack at the rangel ethics issue. it's clear from his remarks that he's feeling heat from members of the party and even though you have repeated the line about allowing the process to go forward, i wonder if you could give us an idea of what

stance the white house has on other democrats trying to force him out. some say he's behaving selfishly and he thinks that members of the democratic party are also behaving selfishly in trying to force him out. what's the white house position on democrats putting pressure on democrats? >> i -- i know this is boring but i'm not going to be in the position of prejudging the outcome of this process or other people's actions. >> do you feel the process should go forward? do you feel that other democrats should take that position as well and let the process go forward? >> we're the democratic party. people have different positions from us all the time. >> for another question, you alluded to the fact that the left doesn't necessarily represent the entire left and you have some support there.

is it safe to assume then that you believe that by attacking the professional left you don't alienate the amateur left? for lack of a better term? >> i'm not going to accept the premise that there's an amateur left. for starters. but like i said, this is -- this is kind of a small issue. i don't think this is going to have a huge impact on the fact that the things, what this administration has done and what the president is setting out to do when we go forward and the commitment he has to keeping the country safe, i don't think anything is going to be obscured by those sorts of divisions. 6 >> an actual member of the professional left, keith ellison, told my colleagues he

thought it would be appropriate for rangel to step down because of the comments. then i have a different question on the other topic. >> i don't think there's any danger of that. >> the other question is, there's a vote on the democratic primary in colorado. the white house has been adamant in backing senator michael bennett. if he were to lose tonight, how would that not be interpreted as -- >> hypothetical. >> i haven't even finished the question. >> you already had the conditional sense of a verb. >> i guess i'll go to a different topic. a week ago, robert gates said he didn't want to weigh in on the issue no new york city, it was too local. we now have national figures from both parties, including the majority of potential candidates in the republican party weigh in on the issue. how come you're so reluctant to offer an opinion from the white

house about the cultural and religious debate in this country? >> this is an issue that's been thought through, it's gone through the process in new york city and a decision -- -- a decision has been made and it's going forward. we're not going to be in a position where a local government is going to make a decision that we go in and readjute -- adjudicate. the president made clear we are not at war with islam and that we can have these sorts of discussions well within the traditions of openness and religious freedom that our country is based on. >> are those discussions moving beyond the boundaries of openness? are you worried about the anti-muslim and islamic rhetoric that's been brought on by this debate? >> what president owaugh ma -- obama can do is make sure that we communicate exactly how we're feeling to the muslim

world and we're focused on that. i don't think the boundies have shifted in any way on that. >> will the president have a message for the world's muslim people as they begin their holy month of ramadan. >> we generally put out a statement, i'm pretty sure there'll be a message. >> more on the how the first family spent their summer vacation. given the criticism the first lady received for what some characterized as a lavish vacation, is there any talk about doing one day in the gulf and 10 days in martha's vineyard? >> no >> i'm wondering about the mexican drug cartels, the communities on the southern border of the united states? >> well, you know, obviously an

important part of securing our board every is making sure that drugs and guns are moving one way or another over the border and we're going to continue doing everything we can to make sure the border is as secure as we can make it. >> to my partner sam's interview again. there are many things this administration has accomplished that not enough people on the left have given credit for while there is frustration on the left with decisions like don't ask, don't tell. >> do you think maybe it's because of a member of the professional left? >> maybe. no public plan option in the health care bill. these are things people talk about. you state, this is a small

issue. do you really think those are small issues or legitimate beefs? >> i think we can have a conversation about the progress we made on important issues and the progress that needs to be made that doesn't mean we haven't effectively been able to advance our ideals in this administration. the president has spent time doing exactly what he said he would do and in some things we are making quite a bit of progress. are people going to have disagreements about pace? will they have disagreements about what goes in what order? yes, of course they are. and of course in the democratic party, there is a strength in the diversity of opinions that democrats have. that's not a problem. that's not an issue. that's something that we're proud of. >> you admit even from the left that there's some legitimate concerns on certain issues and a frustration -- >> i would say -- there are legitimate disagreements.

john? >> the congressman from california, george miller, today said the stimulus is not big enough, that it should have been over $1 trillion and raised the prospect of the double dip recession. there been any expression by the president that it should have been large her >> it's not a new position for congressman miller he said it should be over $1 trillion at the time it was first being discussed. we the white house is finding every fiscally responsible way we can to create an environment where we're creating jobs. >> do you think defending the bush -- repealing the bush tax cuts -- extending the bush tax cuts will help? >> if you extend tax cuts for middle class families, you're putting money in the pockets of those who will spend money in

places where you're creating jobs. >> do you think the job creation argument would extend to extending the tax cuts for the wealthiest? >> no, i don't. our economists have looked at this, independent economists have looked at this. extending the tax cuts do not guarantee the same kind of economic growth, the same kind of economic activity that it does for middle class. >> on the gulf coast trip, have they looked at how long the president and first lady and president are spending in the gulf coast and are spending the bare minimum of time to get credit for going there, what would your response be? >> they've spent quite a bit of time there, they're looking forward to spend manager time there. the president looks forward to getting down there, eating the seafood, hang ought with the folks who live there and taking

a look at how things are going for those folks. >> can you do that in one day? >> it's two days, and yes. >> regarding b.p. what kind of collateral dewpoint them to put up? >> this is an issue that's being worked at between b.p. and the trustees. >> any names you can tell us that you're considering to replace christina roemer? >> not at this time. >> former senator ted stevens was killed in a plane crash, i wondered if you want to update your comments? >> like i said, we have to have some information on that, our hearts -- our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families who suffered a loss tonight. we'll have more information

soon. thank you. >> "book tv" has been finding out about the new books coming out this fall. >> it's an interesting memoir. how did this pigtailed young girl growing up in the 1950's become the first black secretary of state? she's a health care expert and also very politically savvy, he's telling us about a major event in which voter registration came together to get reform. this is an account of what it was like to be on the road with her dad and from what we're hearing, it's going to be hot, hot, hot. >> learn more about these and other books coming out in our 2010 fall book preview this weekend. for the late nest nonfiction authors and books, watch "book tv" every weekend, get the whole schedule at booktv.org.

>> i would tell you based on review of hundreds of tape, hundreds of hours, that they're not con spirer to. they're not sitting there saying, you know, what do you think about this? why do you think -- how do you think that's going to play? they really don't know what's going on. >> this week marks the anniversary of the 1974 resignation of president richard nixon and almost 40 years later, watergate still resonates in american minds. look back online at the c-span video library, all free. it's history, your way. >> state department spokesman crowley told reporters today about disaster relief efforts in pakistan. he was joined by representatives from usaid and from ambassador richard holbrooke's office.

they addressed aid packages headed to the area and the joint projects secretary clinton announced last week. this is about an hour. >> good afternoon, and welcome to the department of state. we thought we'd bring back the briefing team of mark wood, the acting director of assistance, and our deputy representative for afghanistan and pakistan. we are obviously closely monitoring what is an unfolding and ongoing disaster in pakistan. the weather is again troublesome and the situation there is going to get worse before it gets better. and we are going to announce additional $20 million in assistance to pakistan with the

details on that, we'll turn that over to mark and then both he and dan can briefly answer the official questions you have about the situation on the ground. >> thanks very much. good afternoon, everyone. as p.j. said, today we're announcing an additional $20 million in humanitarian assistance from the united states for the flood-affected citizens of pakistan, bringing our contribution to date in monetary terms to $55 million. it's important to note that because the -- this disaster is so vast and we're seeing how vast more every day as we get access to areas and as the flood spreads. our contribution may well grow as we get better insight, as i said, into the scope. the weather has been the big

problem in terms of getting out and getting a sense of how big a challenge we have ahead of us. we in the pakistani government and the rescue international community, today was actually a good day. our helicopters were able to fly today and moved about 100,000 pounds worth of hue maynetarian commodities and transported more than 7,000 pakistanis out of remote areas -- areas so they could get medical attention they need. last week, when we met with you we told you that the beginning of usaid's efforts was focused on n.g.o.'s that had already been in the valleys because of the i.v.p. crisis last year and what we were doing to add resources to those organizations so they could expand their efforts to take on the flood. what we're going to be doing with this additional money is just as the flood is moving fast, we are going to move fast. we are going to expand those activities with new

organizations and existing organizations that we've been supporting so that they can move their activities as the flood goes south so they'll be following it. we will be using again members of the international humanitarian community through mechanisms at usaid and the foreign disaster assistance have in place just for disasters like this so we can move quickly. we are also going to be using pakistanny n.g.o.'s that have particular access to parts of the country where we have not been active before and we are reaching out to them now so they can join our response effort. the disaster assistance response team, the u.s. -- that usaid mobilized at the embassy in islamabad is growing. we are sending more humanitarian experts every day and the size of the team will be up to 11 by the end of the week. in terms of giving, contributions from the american public, let me remind you what

secretary clinton talked about last week when she pulled out her cell phone and demonstrated how you can text message to give $10 to the effort, we also encourage the american public to go to usaid's website and click on the flood response and you will see there links to the websites for the major n.g.o.'s that are working there, all of whom would gladly receive private contributions at this point to add to the effort. thanks very much. >> i just wanted to amplify as well from ambassador holbrooke's a office how dire the situation is and the fact that the additional $20 million, thereby bringing the financial commitment up to $55 million that the point, in addition to all the military assistance that's currently being provided with lift work food supplies, with other delivery, is a sign of our continuing commitment as this

drama continues to unfold. i think it's important to note that it's not just an immediate humanitarian crisis. it is that, and ambassador holbrooke and administrator shaw, millions are affected, millions could be homeless, the immediate repercussions are dramatic, yet almost more importantly is the fact that this is very much a medium to longer term issue with food security, with economic infrastructure and with needs that will be ongoing for many months if not years. we've seen reports of food crisis -- prices queue druping at this point, hundreds of roads and bridges washed out, the current agriculturele -- agricultural crop being destroyed without the ability to plant for next year and the situation hasn't yet crested, both literally and figuratively. we will have to see as the waters come south whether the infrastructure holds, the dams

and other aspects of road work. we'll have to see how it affects the provinces with the swelling and this could get very worse in the immediate short-term and then we are left with a very, very dramatic long-term problem. and the international community is starting to come together, we expect to see a u.n. plan very shortly which the international community can start feeding into. we are doing everything we can with the government of pakistan to make sure that the u.s. response is as robust and addressive and proactive as possible. you've seen on our consolidated press statements and fact sheets every day, yesterday's ended with how americans can give, including specific websites which, through that, through other mechanisms, we continue to hope to raise as

much money from americans as possible and we are particularly targeting the business community that may have investments and involvement in pakistan, the pakistan diaspora community, in fact the american diaspora community, local and international n.g.o.'s hand this campaign is still at its very beginning stages but the additional $28 million shows the degree of u.s. commitment. >> two things, one, do you have a figure on how much money has been donated by the -- via texting? secondly, when secretary clinton was in islamabad two weeks ago, she unveiled this new project, hydroelectric projects. has any of the u.s. progress, nonflood projects, that were already in the works, have any of those been affected by the flooding? >> on the texting, we're still

in the early days, just starting to launch that. the total amount collected, the most recent figures i saw were not far into five figures, but we hope that as we continue to publicize it, we'll get much more of a response. we're actually doing calls every other day or so with the n.g.o. think tank diaspora community, we're doing one today with the business community, that's one of the features we're hawking. hopefully we'll get much more on that. on the commitments, those are still pretty decent stages. >> not much more than that. the secretary announced, then the floods came, so i think something we'll have to consider as we move forward on what are bound to be long-term, multiyear infrastructure projects, particularly in the energy sector. those are still very important needs in pakistan. we'll have to take these

additional needs raised by the floods into account and see, you know, how this affects the planning and the beginning of the implementation of the other projects as well. they are no less important but there are some other now very critical needs on the table. >> can you give us an idea how that looks like in terms of combating terrorist groups and providing aid as well? >> we have a policy to try to brand as much as possible. certainly the u.s. military's assets in pakistan show the flag. and i don't know about the others. i don't remember if they have anything on them.

we do, however, consider exceptions to the branding, where it could have an impact on the safety of our aid workers in the field. and from time to time in pakistan we take that into account and we waive the branding requirement. but in this crisis, in the fiss of this disaster, we very much want the pakistani people to know the people of the united states are behind them, are helping, so we're going to push that policy as much as possible so that the pakistani people know that the united states is with you again in a very, very trying time. >> do you have any specifics you can offer on any particular -- any kind of assistance that's branded? >> for example, when we send in plastic sheeting, when usaid sends in plastic sheeting, it is branded with, you know, from the american people. it was interesting to hear last week that one of our offices at usaid in islamabad had just returned from checking on some of the construction work that

was done after the earthquake and he said, we still see the plastic sheeting being used by the people up in kashmir that were affected by the earthquake. they may not be using it for shelter anymore, they may be using it for other things, for example, holding livestock, but that branding was still working in that part of the country. plastic sheeting, certainly. military assets, the big ones, yes. our personnel are usually very well identified. so we try very hard. if tents become an issue, they will be branded. there was a request for tents, you might be interested to know. unfortunately, the tent making industry in pakistan was maxed out and there were no tents available. i can assure you they are working 24/7 now to catch up. >> as far as the plastic sheeting issue, there was a boeing 747 that delivered 1,100

rolls of plastic sheeting and 7,000 blankets that arrived in islamabad, benefiting roughly 65,000 people or so. what we can get clear on the branding, i think that's over 500,000 meals that have been provided at an in kind cost of over $3 million. it's a significant amount, i'm just not sure what's on the front of them. obviously, the most important branding is the six helicopters that continue to make rescue flights. >> maybe both of you can speak to this, i don't know, but talk more about the security situation as it relates to the floods and the fact that, you know, even the, you know, kind of extremist problem aside and what the government is doing, you know that these kind of natural disasters can lead to instability in a country and you know, given the situation in pakistan, that's even more so. i wonder if you could speak about the fact that beyond the natural disaster, this presents a security challenge because

angry people, people that need aid, get even even angrier, could get further disenfranchised. if you could speak to that a little bit and how you're dealing with that. >> that's a good question for dan. >> i was going to say it was a good question for you. security is always a prime concern in situations like this. and we are working closely with pakistani military and government to ensure that it's provided. yes, there are -- there have been reports of, you know, of large cruds gathering, prozests, because we haven't yet seen, i think, more dramatic incidents of violate, that's something that ought to be rare as people get increasingly desperate if there's a lack of food and shelter. it's something our embassy is working closely on with the government. i do think it's worth noting on the extremist point that we think that that is an aspect

that has been quite overblown. we've got a number of extremely credible, significant international n.g.o.'s and domestic n.g.o.'s, including u.n. agencies, i think there are 17 international n.g.o.'s and agencies along with key pakistani n.g.o.'s, particularly the pakistani red cross, which have operated for a very long time, have -- very, very credible reputations, already doing very good work and we have only seen kind of episodic reports of the islamic, more extremist charities. it's something that we have not been as concerned about and we'll continue to do everything we can to channel funding through these credible sources. >> just a quick followup, i was trying to make a point that, you know do, you see an inherent kind of even greater

urgency in making sure the needs are met so these people don't fall to the way of extremist recruiting. i wasn't necessarily talking about islamic charity, but especially in pakistan if people's needs aren't met, they could become further disenfranchised. >> i think that the -- that's a concern you have to have in a humanitarian crisis like this. we are focused as much as possible on meeting the needs we see and not creating those kinds of opportunities. i think the possibilities of those opportunities and the capacity, perhaps, for them is -- has been overplayed a little bit. >> can you talk about the number of applications? >> i heard 17. >> today, the u.s. government has grants with 134 n.g.o.'s and four international organizations. that number will grow as we expand the network we're working with to include some

pakistani organizations as well and i'm sure interadecisional international organizations. at last count, it was 17 organizations. >> none fall under extreme islamist authorities? >> there is one grant to an organization that has subgrants with pakistani organizations and that will be growing. whether any of the subgrantees are would fit the definition of an islamic chir tai, -- charity, i don't know. but i assure you we vet carefully and any charity that's a subgrantee receiving those pounds have been carefully vetted. >> can you talk more about the long-term food security, how much longer, is it years that pakistan will be relying on emergency food aid? and what's the u.s. long-term commitment when it comes to keeping people fed and helping

them rebuild their own agriculture? >> i think right now, that's a very good question, i think right now what we're waiting for is the views of the world food program. we need their assessment, their appeal and see what the immediate needs are to fill that gap today. long-term, absolutely, it's something we have to think about in terms of how much damage was done to the agricultural base in the country and what we can do to jump start that for the next planting season. the timing of this was terrible. but the facts are the facts. and absolutely that has to be part of our planning for the future. our immediate concern right now is filling the food gap that's there. we are doing very well there. w.f.p. estimates work a lot of funding coming from the united states is that we, the united states, is filling half the food gap right now. that's very good, given how early this is in the crisis and the fact that we have not had access because of the weather to much of the country. we give a lot of credit to

w.f.p. for moving a lot of food, even on days we couldn't get the helos in the air, they've been using four wheel drive trucks and they've been using mules. real ones. >> pardon me if this has been clarified. where is the aid money coming from? how is it being financed? do you have any updates on how many people are out there? and also the donations, do you have any more specific numbers? i heard something about five figures but if you have anything more specific that would be great. >> i can tell you that in terms of the opposite form disaster assistance on the ground, we have in place a dart a disaster assistance response team, led by a gentleman who also led the dart after the earthquake, he's the perfect gentleman for the job. we have 11 people on that team by the end of the week. where is the money coming from? the additional $20 million we're announcing today comes

out of resources of the foreign disaster assistance. >> so there's the $35 million of u.s. funding announced before, the additional $20 million. what i was talking about was the text donations. i think it's past telethe $10,000 threshold, but i'm not sure how much more. we have begun a robust engagement with the private sector. i know the pakistani american foundation made an additional pledge this morning to raise another $00,000. we've got initial pledges in from procter and gamble, which has donated $50,000 of in-kind contributions, including water purification tablets, we're looking at additional donations from boeing from coca-cola, from others, and we'll continue to grow that effort as well as work with the pakistani

-american groups. >> you mentioned the vetting of islamic charities. what's the vetting process? >> we don't vet islamic charities. we vet all charities. >> can you walk us through -- >> it's pretty simple. we look at who is on the board. we look at the source of the funds. we look at their bank accounts. we go visit their offices. and that's pretty much the extent of it. obviously, if there's any red flags that come up in that, we go further. but as dan mentioned, and this is important to remember about pakistan, it is a country with very, very strong civil society. there are n.g.o.'s working in the country, particularly in the provinces, the united states has worked with for decades and we're going to put them to work now in response to the flood because they are uniquely placed in these provinces to get access to communities that nobody else can really get access to.

>> are you urging european and other governments to contribute to the relief effort? which ones have you contacted? >> absolutely. we had an aggressive outreach effort to the international community. early last week, as this was just begin we held a conference call with the other countries that have special representatives like ambassador holbrooke, there are about 40. we had conference calls with them, sent out a cable to all post encouraging them to approach their government and we are starting to see real dividends from them. the most recent data i have is that this morning, we've got roughly $115 million in pledges from outside the u.s.g. again, i think this will go much higher as soon as we have some sort of u.n. appeal or flood plan. whether that's announced, it will provide a key con duty for the international community to donate.

we have seen, as i mentioned in the last press conference, both from the o.i.c. muslim majority nation community leadership, from u.a.e. from saudi arabia from kuwait, but also very much so from the uk from the e.c., australia, just gave, i think, $5 million. we've got the breakdown to the point of stands, many countries are getting -- looking into it. we're looking to some specific countries for help with helicopter the government of afghanistan has provided, i think, four helicopters at this point. >> they've arrived? >> they've arrived. >> are you coordinating this or is it coordinated with the government of pakistan? >> we're working together with the government of pakistan. the official requests are sent by the government of pakistan. the government of the united arab emirates is trying to provide helicopters, there's a chance that japan may, though that's still being worked on.

then there will be a formal request in to nato for specific technical assistance they can provide. all this is being worked out right now, it's a very concerted push. >> [inaudible] >> one stoorry we saw this morning was that 23 afghan doctors, which are now, did they say -- with tons of medical assistance. so i think as we have seen this grow -- growing relationship between afghanistan and pakistan which is so crit c58 for everything we're involved in man testing itself with the authors which is very important. >> thank you. >> just a couple of things to mention before taking your questions.

obviously, the read-through do not just affect pakistan. they have affected india as well. we are tracking the situation there, roughly 100 americans affected by the floods in india thus far. we have no reported deaths or injuries at this time. we're working closely with indian authorities to ensure the safety and well being of our citizens across the region who are affected by this, a team of officers from the u.s. embassy and new delhi have been dispatched to leh to provide stens to u.s. citizens in the air what who have been mostly -- in the area who have been mostly affected by this. >> how many? >> officers? >> yeah. >> i don't have a number of the team, i'll get that for you.

most of them, not all of them. most of the roughly 100, the majority are -- let me put it this way. the largest -- a significant concentration of americans is in leh, they have been affected by this. there was a town hall meeting yesterday, roughly 00 people showed up. we are tracking the american citizens who have been affected by this. >> i'm sorry, but i have some familiarity with the area. were they in actually the city, the town of leh or were they out trekking around in the mountains? >> i think it's both. there are some citizens -- >> everyone that you know that was in the area has been accounted for? >> i think we're still looking, i don't think we have all american citizens that we're aware of in that area have not been accounted for. also, in china, flooding in china has been occurring for a couple of months and within the

authorities existing at the embassy, the ambassador has approved an additional $50,000 contribution to the red cross society of china, that brings up our total to $200,000 thus far we have provided to the red cross to support ongoing relief operations there. likewise, in russia, the ambassador has released $50,000 to assist populations affected by the fires. we do have, as announced yesterday, the ufda team remains on the ground, they have experts from the u.s. forest disaster assistance support program, they're working, continuing to consult with the russian government about how we can be helpful. we mentioned yesterday that we are evaluating an authorized departure of nonessential

staff, independents, we've approved that authorized departure and expect that roughly 100 people at the embassy in moscow will have the opportunity to depart if they choose and that departure is for 30 days. likewise, we have updated our travel warning for russia, given the state of emergency that's been declared by the russian federation, you know we highlight that people should take that into account as they determine their travel plans to europe. >> where do they go from moscow? can they come back here? or do they go someplace in europe? >> they can voluntarily return to the united states. and anticipating your questions, obviously, george mitchell met today with president abbas and he will meet with prime minister netanyahu tomorrow, now today

and george mitchell characterized miz heating -- his meeting with president abbas and serious and positive and indicated we'll continue our efforts in the coming kay to -- days to push the parties toward direct negotiations. i think we are getting closer, but since george mitchell is a baseball fan, as he would say, we have not yet reached home plate. and can't say anything bad about new jersey today. we have in the back of the room some interns from the senate foreign relations committee and the office of senator menendez of new jersey, welcome to the daily press briefing. >> you going to put in a plug for matt in here, since you have half his staff? >> george mitchell, serious and positive, why was the meeting with netanyahu pushed back to tomorrow? >> i don't know. >> when you say you're getting

closer, what exactly -- you're getting closer to direct negotiations? is that what you think? >> we are pushing the parties to agree to direct negotiations and we think after today's meeting, we are closer to reaching that point than we were yesterday. >> [inaudible] >> my understanding is he plans to come back to the united states after meeting with prime minister netanyahu. >> are we likely to hear plans for relief? >> he had one meeting, he needs a second meeting. >> so we should look forward to a statement right after -- >> i wouldn't -- i'm not here to predict there'll be a statement tomorrow. >> the march 19 statement, asking israel to halt constructing settlements, is that something they're willing to do? are we going to see a

reaffirmation or statement from them? >> in recent days, they've talked to secretary general and the quartet special representative tony blair. this was a subject that came up in her conversation on friday with foreign min -- with the foreign minister, and we are consulting with the quartet and looking too see how we can encourage the parties to begin direct negotiations. the quartet, we are contemplating how quay we can support it. >> in other words, there could be a quartet statement later today or tomorrow? >> i don't think there'll be one today. >> tomorrow? >> let's get through tomorrow. >> let's get through today. >> if a quartet statement can be helpful, obviously i think that's something the united states supports. >> can you address the issue of -- i don't want to say putting expectations on, but president abbas talked about wanting some

sort of clear sense of what the focus of the defense would be, does the u.s. have a position on what the talks should be about, parameters of the talks to use an old peace process word? >> i think today, you know, george mitchell referred to a defined timeline and agenda. these are things that we are -- we continue to talk to the parties about. we think we've spent a lot of time in proximity talks, laying a foundation for negotiation. but i'll leave it there. >> in terms of agendas, do you want to say what the agenda would be? >> the ingredients of a final solution are well known to everyone. jerusalem, refugees, borders, and security. so we do know to use a well

worn middle east phrase we do know the parameters. there are a lot of issues associated with that, but we remain firm in our position that the onlyy to successfully address the core issues is to get into that direct negotiation. that's why we continue to encourage the parties to do so as soon as possible. >> they are advocating in cairo last week and requested that -- a timetable on all these things be sort of, you know, agreed to by the administration to launch the direct talks. are you saying that these are issues that are now being discussed with both israelis and palestinians? >> i'm not going to get into specifics of what we are discussing with both parties. we want to see them get into direct negotiations as quick --

as quickly as possible. as we said, throughout the past few months we don't think it's appropriate to set conditions for the direct negotiations. a lot of work has been done to help pave the way for this point and all we'll say is the sooner we get into direct negotiations, the better. >> if there's some sort of agreement, consensus among israelis, americans and palestinians that these issues sought on -- ought to be discussed, will that take place in meetings preceding the discussions? >> as to, you know, put it this way if and when the leaders say yes, we would expect the united states to be a part of the direct negotiations. >> lebanon. there seems to be growing concern on the hill about the

military assistance to lebanese army. it came out yesterday, we have two people on your team, i.e., the democrats, two democrats, who are holding up this assistance and others from the other side of the aisle who are joining in the expressions of concern. what do you make of this? are you concerned at all that the program to spoort the lebanese army and by extension the lebanese government asserting its sovereignty will be damaged? >> well, first of all we continue to believe that supporting the lebanese government and the lebanese army, military, is in our national interest, it contributes to stability in the region. that said, you know, we expressed our concerns about the incident last week. we still have an ongoing dialogue ourselveses with lebanese officials, including

discussions with the lebanese military to try to fully understand what happened and how it can be prevented in the future. we do understand the questions that incident has raised about the nature of our assistance to lebanon and whether any of our assistance was in some way implicated in this instance. as we stressed, we have no indications that our training programs were in any way implicated in what happened, and we will continue to discuss our assistance programs with lebanon with congressional leaders. >> do you think that the action of holding up future military agents is detrimental to the situation in the u.s.-lebanon relations? and iran's ambassadors is saying they're read -- the iranians are ready to help the lebanese army. is that a serious proposition

or in any way a danger? >> we think that activities directly or indirectly by iran compromise lebanese sovereignty. that's one reason we've worked hard to build an effective relationship with the lebanese government and to help expand the capabilities of the government and thereby improve its sovereignty over its territory. so i think the statements by iran are exactly the reason why we believe that continuing support to the lebanese government and the lebanese military is in our interest. nonetheless we understand that this incident has raised legitimate questions on the hill and we will continue to engage our leaders on both sides of the aisle to try to help asquage -- assuage concerns that exist. >> the aid -- talk about the aid in the pipeline already, it's said that members of the appropriations committee is holding up that money.

what is your recourse to see that the money -- >> as you say, there is aid already in the pipeline so i can't say that a hold today necessarily has an immediate impact. we'll address the concerns that congressional leaders have rightfully raised about what happened recently and what its potential implications are, but nonetheless we continue to support our assistance programs to lebanon. >> can you say how long you have until the hold would affect? >> i cant say. it's hard to calculate. >> so -- are you concerned that there might be an overlap now with hezbollah involvement in the lebanese army? and in terms of looking at congress to alleviate their concerns, what are you doing

with the information provided? >> i think our concerns about hezbollah are very well known. one of the tests of sovereignty is the exclusive monopoly on the use of force. we recognize in recent years, key examples of where a subelement within lebanese society has drawn that country into conflict. that's expressly why we think that the solution for lebanon in terms of dealing with an armed element like hezbollah is in fact improving its own capabilities and professionalizing its military so it plans to extend its risk to areas that might not be fully under government control. we think that's a direct reason, it's not a reason to be concerned, it's a reason to actually work constructively with the lebanese government to try to reduce the impact that a group like hezbollah can have. >> on the army itself, are you

worried that hezbollah can disrupt and army you're countering? >> hezbollah is a fact within lebanese society and part of our effort in terms, much of our effort in dealing with, supporting the lebanese military is the professionalization that we think helps mitigate that risk. >> would you make, like vetting the process to make sure there's no infiltration of hezbollah into the army, would you make that conditional? >> any assistance we provide comes with regular reviews to make sure that our assistance is being constructively utilized. .

>> you can talk about reports that you're pressuring britain and other allies to launch their own criminal investigations about -- we had talked about this a little over a week ago, but there are more reports surfaced that you're putting pressure on allies to do something about that? >> yeah, let me take that question. i'm not aware of any specific conversations that we've had with some of the chris mentioned. obviously there's -- countries mentioned. obviously something has cropped up in different conversations that we've had, citing one in the secretary's call last week with president karzai. they did talk about wikileaks and she asked the president what his perspective on it was. i'll take the question as to whether we've had conversations along those lines, encouraging others to consider, you know, their own potential prosecutions.

>> tom there is a bilateral between the united states and arnl tina. -- argentina. you can talk about the topics, sop of the -- some of the things that will be included in the conversation? >> as you know, the secretary has herself traveled to arnl tina and it will be -- argentina and it will be an opportunity for her to follow up both on bilateral and regional issues. with argentina and her counterpart on -- and obviously among of the things we'll be taking note of is the current situation with respect to the pro motion of democracy in the region -- promotion of democracy in the region, but also i'm sure that they'll be taking note of the discussion going on today between president chavez and president santos of columbia -- colombia. >> [inaudible] >> iran could very welcome up in the conversation, yes.

>> from the ground zero mosque, there was some discussion yesterday. do you have any update on that? the ground rules of the trip, the relationship to fundraising and anything that it's doing? >> first of all, we will be traveling to qatar and the u.a.e. on a u.s. government-sponsored trip to the middle east. he will discuss mouse limb life in america and -- muslim life in america and religious tomorrow rans. this is part of the -- tolerance. there was an error, i attributed to our education and cultural affairs bureau, it's actually our international information program's, i.a.p., office that handles this program. we have about, you know, 1,200 of these kinds of programs every year of sending experts

in all fields overseas. last year we had, you know, 52 trips that were specifically focused on promoting religious tolerance. we expect to have roughly the same number of programs this year. for the imam, this will be his third trip under this program. in 2007 he visited bahrain, morocco, the u.a.e. and qatar. and earlier this year in january he also visited egypt. so we have a long-term relationship with him. his work on tolerance and religious diversity is well known and he brings a moderate perspective to foreign audiences on what it's like to be a practicing muslim in the united states and our discussions with him about taking this trip preceded the current debate in new york over the center. >> the fundraising issue. >> yeah, it is something that

we have talked to him about and we have informed him about our prohibition against fundraising while on his speaking tour. we do not expect him to fund raise. >> the first trip thunderstorm program was in 2007. >> that is my understanding. >> who was president then? you can remind me? >> i believe it was george w. bush. >> thanks. the other thing is, has this administration -- the obama administration, taken a position on this mosque at all? this proposal at ground zero? >> it's not usual that the federal government would get involved in what is i think a zoning issue in new york city. >> you can -- right. so you can explain why -- >> we are obviously supportive of religious tolerance not only around the world but in the united states. and, you know, but, you know, this is a particular decision for the city of new york and we

do note the fact that mayor bloomberg made a very eloquent appeal for freedom of religion and religious tolerance recently in the city. >> right. and you noted it so much that you decided it was -- >> we posted it on the america.gov. we did, yes. >> why was that not posted on the regular state department website? >> i think smith has as much to do about that as anything. this is the first time that this has come up in a domestic context here at this podium. >> why would smith want to prohibit this? >> it doesn't. but again part of our efforts to help people understand a vigorous debate that is going on within new york and around the country, we posted mayor

bloomberg's remarks on america.gov which is our website that is geared primarily to helping people overseas understand views on important issues here in the country. we did not think that it was necessary for us to make sure that american citizens are aware of mayor bloomberg's remarks. obviously through your colleagues and new york city, there's been ample reporting of that. so we posted it because we thought it was useful for people overseas to understand what -- >> in -- >> perspective on this issue. >> he made a quite impassioned defense of the rights of the people of the imam and others to build their mosque wherever they want. so don't you by posting this imply that you're supportive of the project? >> again, we -- you know, the obama administration nor the united states government have taken a position on this

project. the decision is up to the people of new york. we simply posted the mayor's comments as we do very frequently, helping people understand, you know we certainly support what the mayor was underscoring which is the history of religious diversity and religious tolerance in his city. >> ok. let me just -- >> hold on. >> i have one more on smith. you want to ask about him? >> no, i want to ask -- >> right. well, smith. the reason that that was passed in the 1940's was to prevent the state department or the u.s. government in general from spreading propaganda to citizens of the united states. >> that's true. >> the fact that you put this on the website that was basically created because of smith and not on the regular website imply that you think that bloomberg's comments were propaganda?

>> no. it is to whom we were directing those comments. we were directing them to audiences overseas and we did that on one and tonight in the other expressly because -- on one and not the other expressly because of the obligations we have under smith. and this becomes a very complicated issue. we know that on state.gov, our state department website that is primarily geared toward audiences here in the united states, we do have, you know, people overseas who do tap into state.gov. and we have american citizens who also tap into america.gov. in fact, we are constantly trying to evaluate the relevance of smith mustn't given the internet age and the fact that information now cannot be really -- information that's channeled overseas can have the ability to return instantly to the united states. >> you're convinced that you're ok to be talking about

america.gov from this podium? >> i, from my position, can talk about both. >> got it. >> hold on. >> religious tolerance. there doesn't seem to be much of that in iran. they just sent leaders to 20 years in prison each yesterday. any comments on that and then i have a follow-up? >> we obviously have concerns, longstanding concerns, about the persecution of minorities inside iran. it is not a tolerant society. and we are concerned about that particular verdict but also about other actions that iran has taken. >> it has taken other actions, human rights issues, the major issue there. with the second p-5 plus one meeting with iran possibly coming back soon, would human rights be on the agenda aside from the nuclear issue?

>> the short answer is yes. in our encounters with iranian officials we have not hesitated to raise the full range of issues. we know that you go back 0 years we have a fairly long list of drn -- 30 years we have a fairly long list of concerns about iran. we recognize that iran has its own list of concerns about the united states. we are prepared to have a broad-based dialogue with iran going forward but obviously right now the nuclear issue remains the top of our list. >> [inaudible] fidel castro mentioned that he sent a letter to president obama. he's worried about a nuclear war. a the question is, did you receive the letter and are you going to respond to the letter? >> if you indicated he sent the letter to president obama, i'll defer whether the letter has been received to the white house. we took note of the speech. it was short.

>> [inaudible] briefing on blackberry rim issue. do you have any result on that? did they share with you any details on this compromise that -- >> there was a meeting with officials yesterday afternoon. and i was part of that for a portion of the meeting. we thought it was very helpful for room officials to help us understand their global perspective. they indicated that their services are offered in almost every country in the world, a handful that they do not have a presence. so they were giving us that kind of global perspective in the issues that have been raised in negotiations with multiple chris. they did not go into any specific details of any specific negotiations.

it was very useful for us and i think at the end of the meeting , you know, their perspective was that they believe that there are, again, broadly speaking, solutions available that, on a country by country by country basis consideration satisfactory address and a balance the regulatory security and access issues that are at stake. >> some of the possible approaches that they have, did any of them include providing foreign governments with the codes to individual blackberries? >> that's the kind of question that is better directed towards rim than the united states government. we recognize as they do that there are a range of interests and it's important to try to find solutions that balance out these competing interests.

>> [inaudible] ambassador palmer's nomination? >> no. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> book tv has been finding out about books coming out this fall. >> how did this pig-tailed young girl growing up in the 1950's become the first black secretary of state? she's a health care expert and he's also very politically savvy. so he's telling us about a mainly event in which our legislation came together to give us health care reform. this is an account of what it was like to be on the road with her dad and from what we're hearing, it's going to be hot, hot, hot. >> learn more about these and other books coming out in our 2010 fall book preview this weekend. for the latest in nonfiction authors and books, watch book tv every weekend. get the whole schedule at booktv.org. >> i would tell you based on

review of hundreds of tape, hundreds of hours, that they're not con conspiracytory. they're not sitting there saying, you know, what do you think about this? you how do you think that's going to play? they really don't know what's going on. >> this week marks the anniversary of the 1974 resignation of president richard nixon and almost 40 years later watergate still resonates in america memory. look back at the people, players and events that made history online in the c-span video library all free. it's history your way. >> the commerce department today announced a program expanding opportunities for minority-owned construction companies. the minority business development agency along with its private sector partners discuss the program for about 45 minutes.

>> thank you, everybody, for coming to this press conference. my name is david henson, natural director in the united states department of commerce. just a reminder, we're going to have a short program today. after the program we're going to have a q&a session so please hold your questions and comments until the end. today we're here to announce the global construction program. an innovative public-private partnership between the united states department of commerce and the private sector. this partnership is designed to support job growth by globalizing the minority construction community. with us today are our private sector partners who together are going to make this program possible and who we have with us today is dick rizzo, jennifer gratzki who is

executive director for the federal relations for the university of southern california, and ralph moore who is the president of ralph moore and associates. unfortunately davis is sick today. so she's with us in spirit. so, but before we get started and we hear from our private sector partners, i'd like to introduce to you deputy secretary for the u.s. department of commerce, dennis hightower, who will give opening remarks. president obama pointed secretary hightower on august 11, 2009. he is a seasoned business executive with extensive global general management experience. his distinguished career path spans the private and public sectors, including more than 30 years of experience in global marketing, strategic planning, operations and international general management. ladies and gentlemen, deputy secretary for the united states department of commerce, dennis hightower. [applause]

>> thank you very much, david. and good morning and welcome to everyone. we are here today to really announce a very exciting new program to prepare minority-owned construction firms to compete in the global marketplace. the department of commerce is minority business development agency, the corporation and the school of policy planning and development at the university of southern california are partnering with -- to provide about 150 minority entrepreneurs with the tools to compete and to have more access to the global marketplace and the international opportunities that they present. now, this program could not be more relevant in today's economy. where global economy tigs is tougher than it has ever been and one who has lived in asia twice, latin america twice, europe twice over the last 30

years, i'm glad i'm on this side of the problem as opposed to having to be out there competing in ways that we never thought we would have to, having been so u.s.-sentry fock -- sent rick for so many years. it's also at a time when president obama has set a goal of doubling exports over the next five years through his national export initiative. we all know that this has been really a tough stretch for the american economy. and minority-owned small businesses, as much as any other group, have felt the full force of the credit crunch and the economic slowdown. as you know, the economy has been recovering to some degree for some time now and if we look back over the past seven months the private sector is generated $6 -- 60,000 new jobs with about -- 630,000 new jobs. as an increased sign of confidence, businesses are also

beginning to invest more and consumer spending has been on the rice. however we i think also know that the economy still has a way to go to a full recovery. and that is why this administration is committed to promoting policies that will promote growth and further reduce unemployment. and that is why we need every stakeholder in america actively engaged in rebuilding our economy and creating new american jobs. companies that successfully complete the global construction program will work with one of the nation's largest global construction conglomerates to find competitive opportunities in overseas markets. for them, it represents a chance towork with a dynamic group of -- to work with a dynamic group of up and coming businesses. one thing you do learn when you run businesses, particularly global businesses, that you

never know where the next good idea is going to come from. you never know where the hidden gems are and this program we think will provide the opportunity to surface some of these things because in this environment we've got to put the best minds on these tough problems and those minds -- we have to do that irrespective of what color those minds come in, what gender they are, whether there are physical challenges associated. we just need bright people on tough problems to regain our international global competitiveness. so for the smaller minority entrepreneurs working into the supply chain, this will give them greater access to the international markets that are growing and a certainly of demand for their products -- certainty a demand for their products and services that will then allow them to grow, to hire new employees and to find even more opportunities for

sustainability. and as we were talking before, we came in this morning, too often growth is -- too often growth is associated with only high technology programs and products and services. well, that's not really what we're talking about here necessarily. we're talking about opportunities that have high growth and sustainability, that can include high-tech and it cannot include, there's some basic industries that are still promising if you repurpose those industries. we've got some concrete examples through some of the commerce programs, one particularly more commerce, would where we're using the one stop shop to bring all of the resources of commerce together to help companies. we started in the auto industry in detroit and it's now spread out throughout the u.s. a couple of examples, to give you an idea what have we're talking about here, is that there's a company in seattle, washington, that has a fiber

glass technology that was used to build pleasure yachts. in this economy, there aren't too many people buying pleasure yachts. so we got them to repurpose that technology and now they're providing solarblades. same fiberglass technology, second only to the top suppliers. that company was almost a half billion dollars of revenues with a couple hundred employees three years ago. a year and a half ago they were down to maybe $30 million and about 10 employees and now they're on the growth again because they've gotten a major department of energy contract to get them back in the game. using that same technology. in detroit there are only precision machine companies who are now making pros theses i for the medical device industry. same technology applying it differently. companies that were making weather stripping for cars are now using that same technology to provide lead qualified

weather stripping for home insulation or construction. we've got opportunities that are sort of latent, been below the surface, and we think that working with others will help us really bring a lot of this to the floor and when we do this, when this happens, then everybody in america wins. finally i want to extend my thanks and congratulations to david henson and his team at nbda who actually came up with this idea for initiating this really terrific program and to the company specifically because they will be the ones to put it into action. and underscore before i leave the word action. we sit around a lot, whether it's in government or private industry, talking about what we want to do, what we need to do, but really do we often take it

to the next step and that is we do something about it. this is the do something about it and i think once you hear some of the things and others talk about this morning, you'll see that we have tremendous potential here to unleash an opportunity that will help a sector that often does not get the type of attention or help because of -- under capitalization and pure access. if we can pull this off and think we will, then this may be a model for other industries, other sectors, within our economy. to get us back into the game in the global marketplace. so, david, to you and your team again, thank you very much. >> thank you so much.

>> a key partner in the program is the international trade administration led by -- under secretary of commerce, mr. francisco sanchez. francisco sanchez brings a wide range of experiences in the state and federal government and in the public and private sectors both domestically and internationally. i'd like to introduce mr. francisco sanchez. >> david, thank you very much and thank you forgiving me the opportunity and for the international trade administration to be a part of this press conference. i really can't thank you enough because i'm counting on you, as deputy secretary hightower pointed out, the president's national exporter initiative calls for doubling exports in five years and thereby supporting five million jobs. now, why would the president

use his time? he has to talk about a lot of issues. why would he focus on exports? would why he take up that time? well, for a very important reason. number one, exports create jobs and they create high-paying jobs. in 2008 exports represented more than -- supported more than $10 million jobs in our economy -- 10 million jobs in our economy in 2009 that took a hit. it dropped down to about 8.3 million. so we know that they do create jobs, but we've got to get back up there. why is this so important? well, first of all, we have about 275,000 small businesses that export in the world. that's only 1% of all the business in the united states. we can do better than that. and then you add to that that of those 275,000 about 58% of those businesses that do export only export to one or two

countries. we can do better there, too. and then if you focus in on what this program is about, the opportunities are immense. as the deputy secretary mentioned, while we think of exports often in technology and aerospace, health care also gets a lot of attention, the fact is that infrastructure is an increasingly important sector for us. i just took a trade mission to saudi arabia and qatar back in june. those two countries, just two countries out of all the countries in the world, will be spending, combined, approximately $750 billion in the next 10 years on infrastructure projects. so, you can imagine the opportunities that exist, if only those two countries are doing this. you can pick countries around the world that are investing in their countries, whether it's building hospitals, whether it's building up their core

industries, education alpha silts. but the opportunities are there. and then finally, if we're going to have a robust economy, it has to include a robust export sector. and why is that? because 95% of the world's consumers live outside u.s. borders. so it's absolutely critical that we have a strong and robust export sector and the infrastructure opportunities here are going to be a key component of that. so, i just want to say that we are going to work very closely with mbda and its partners and let me also congratulate the university of southern california and ralph g. moore and soshese for having the vision to partner with mbda to make this happen. you're going to help us double exports. you're going to help us increase the number of small businesses that are exports and you're going to help us increase the number of jobs

that are supported by exports. so, congratulations for your leadership in initiating this and let's get to work. [applause] >> the global construction program is the first of its kind in magnitude in the nation to globalize the minority construction community. as you know, the construction community in the united states accounts for about 7.2 million jobs in 2008. within the minority community, 8.7% of the companies are construction-related companies and of course these companies account for substantial number of jobs within the minority community. the global construction program is designed to strengthen the capabilities of minority construction companies so that they are in a better position to support job growth for all americans. the program will take 150 high

capacity firms and give them, and these firms are general contractors, subcontractors and venders, and provide them with the training and management skills so that they can compete for over a minimum of $1 billion of contracts that the company has decided to provide for these companies. i want to underscore this point. this is a minimum of $1 billion of contract opportunities. by providing minority construction companies for project management skills, access to business relationships and improved technical competencies, these firms will be in a position to better participate in the global supply chain of the corporation and other global construction companies. with these skirblings many of the program participants will be able to compete for construction opportunities within countries where they have a language skill capability, where they have family ties. and where they have a knowledge

of the cultural components within those countries. one interesting example is the company that i met when i was in philadelphia. this company was a construction company and they provided earth-moving equipment. they did business in pennsylvania, the state of new jersey and in costa rica. when i asked the president why are you doing business in costa rica? he indicated to me that that's where his family is from. that's where his parents live. and so he had this relationship that allowed him to create jobs in the united states through his partnership and through his relationship knowledge, language capabilities and understanding of the culture within the nation of costa rica. and so many of the firms that will be participating have those capabilities. so, as a nation, we want to take advantage and leverage those capabilities on behalf of job creation in the united states. and so this is a very powerful and very important program. this is a program that is going

to take advantage of the $75 billion that francisco sanchez mentioned in simply two countries. we want to make this bigger and take advantage of the hundreds of billions of dollars of international construction programs that these companies with the skills that will acquire in partnership will have an opportunity to take advantage of. now, as the president leads our nation more toward exports, it's critical, it's critical that we strengthen the technical capabilities of minority-owned firms across all industries so that these firms can be stronger contributors to the u.s. economy. the minority business community accounts for $1 trillion of economic output within the u.s. economy, creating thousands of jobs for all americans. what we need to do is take advantage of this underutilized asset, by strengthening their capabilities, particularly in the construction sector so they can create more jobs for all americans.

our research shows that minority-owned and operated firms are twice as likely to export than nonminority-owned firms. so this program is central to the expansion of job creation in the united states. and so with that i'd like to take a moment and allow you before we start the q&a session to hear from our private sector partners. first i'd like for you to welcome mr. dick rizzo, executive vice president for the corporation. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. on behalf of all of us at the corporation, i'd like to extend our -- both our enthusiasm and commitment to the success of this initiative. we bring to the program our experience and expertise developed through our two civil and infrastructure groups, our two international groups and operating in our public and

private entities. in addition we've been recognized as a leader in promoting diversity in many of our public and private construction programs. most recently we, along with m.g.m. and next level diversity, was a partner in this initiative as well, we created and implement and outreach in training program at city center in las vegas. the largest privately funded mix-used project in u.s. history which results in the reward of over $1 billion in contracts to 349 minority and women-owned contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. because of its success, we have incorporated many of these same program elements in this initiative. our objective is to help prepare minority contractors and suppliers to be better prepared, to compete and more

informed about opportunities nationally and globally in both the public and private sectors. our ultimate goal, to help further the effectiveness of the minority business development agency, and fulfilling their mission to deliver effective and meaningful assistance to minority-owned contractors. i consider this a very big step forward toward that end and we look forward to our partnership with them. >> thank you. [applause] jennifer gratzki comes to us from the university of southern california. u.s.c. is our third party administrator of this program and also an advisor on the academic portion of the program. we are very thankful to have u.s.c. as a partner. it's an outstanding academic institution. they are a leader in working with minority-owned and operated firms around the nation.

so i'd like to -- for jennifer to come up and make comments. thank you very much. jennifer. >> great. thank you very much. i just want to echo the previous comments and our gratitude to the department of commerce and specifically the minority-business development agency for really having the vision to make the global construction program a reality. we at u.s.c. are thrilled to be the education and training program partner in the initiative. u.s.c. is a private university located in the heart of downtown los angeles. and we have a long history of working to promote educational attainment and also community partnerships in our south los angeles neighborhood. and there are really two things i wanted to share with us from our experience, i think, that bode well for this project. the first is, as we look at our most successful public-private partnerships that we have at u.s.c., we find that a lot of them were forged in times of real challenge for the city of los angeles. for example, we have a ross minority program in real estate

development that was created in 1993, the year after the civil unrest in los angeles. that's been ancreditably successful program for ensuring that all residents in los angeles have a seat at the table when we talk about rebuilding los angeles. and i think that bodes well for where we are at today, that it's a challenging time for our nation and that's the time when we really innovate and we come together. you see these unique partnerships like we have up here at the table and i think the global construction program is a good example of that. the other lesson that we've learned is that educational attainment is more than just an immediate benefit. we're thrilled for the job creation and the economic development that this bodes for, but we know that educational development is a life-long benefit. and that folks that go back and get education and train willing a rely on that throughout their careers, will have better incomes as a result and better career possibilities. and so for us i think that's why we're so excited to be part of the program. because we see the future development as well as the current development. so as mr. hightower said, let's get to work.

thank you. [applause] thank you, jennifer. ralph moore, president of ralph moore and associates is a leading firm that works with minority-owned and operated companies in providing a high level of counseling and technical expertise relative to helping these firms expand their business model. ralph will be working with the g.c.p. companies on needs assessments to help them better understand how they can participate in the global markets. i'd like for us to -- ralph to come and make comments. ralph g. moore. [applause] >> i'm excited to be here. i bring -- the fact that i'm 61 years old, i bring history wherever i go, ok? and i see a few other historians in the audience. dick, i won't call you by name. but, i go back to 1979 where we started our business, 1981, we

had a contract with ambi, the -- which -- the forerunner to mbda. this is the most exciting project since i've been involved with minority business developments. our role is to work with our strategic partners to conduct the maximum practical outreach to minority businesses and minority advocacy organizations in search of 150 great participants. our objective is to ensure that we attract a diverse pool of qualified minority general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers for participation in this groundbreaking probably. we will achieve this objective through the use of an extensive assessment tool which will ensure that the participating minority businesses are in fact ready for the capacity building experience that has been designed by tutor perini and the university of california and mbda. i won't take you through the questionnaire, it will be too boring for you, but we talked about strategic management,

marketing, financial management, structural management, operation, technology facilities, again, making sure the company is ready. as a consultant who has worked in this area for over 35 years, i commend the obama administration, specifically deputy secretary hightower and director henson, for having the vision to conceive of the global construction project and the business and political savvy to execute on that vision. this is certainly a pro-business program. historically mbda has counseled minority businesses and kept score regarding collective revenues and employment. it was quite refreshing to discover that this leadership team has transformed mbda from cheerleader to quarterback. the hollow message to m.b.e.'s to go, team, go, has been replaced with a strategic directive. this is what it's going to take for you to win. this is a welcome change. let me also commend dick rizdo and tutor perini for their

understanding that minority business development is not just a right thing to do, but the smart thing to do. it's win, win, win. minority construction firms win by gaining the ability to work anywhere in the world. tutor perini wins by adding 150 ready, willing and able business partners to join their team anywhere in the world. and the american taxpayer wins by strengthening our minority construction firms which equates to more jobs for all americans, more business for the construction services industry and badly needed tax revenues for federal, state and local government treasuries. this project represents a milestone. this is the first time that the federal government has gone beyond rhetoric and implemented a viable strategy for a equipping a critical mass of eye north businesses for meaningful participation in the global marketplace. the global construction project has the potential to set the agenda for minority business development for the next 50 years. for minority c.e.o.'s, understanding that this project

goes way beyond an opportunity to make some money. participation in mbda's global construction project will take your business to the next level and enable you to build an institution that will last for generations. this is a game changer. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. there should be no doubt in the minds of all americans that the obama administration, this administration, is a pro-business administration. this program, this public-private partnership speaks to the focus that this administration has on bringing together the public sector and private sector towards business outcomes that will help all americans gain access to more jobs and more economic opportunity. we're going to segue into the q&a session. before we do, i'd like for deputy secretary hightower to

frame the q&a session for us so we can begin to ask questions in the context of that framing. deputy secretary. >> thank you. just a couple of points to provide some of the 0,000-foot view here, one, there are -- 30,000-foot view here. one, there are two numbers within commerce now that we spend a lot of time discussing and i want to make sure we get clarification on where the numbers sit. the number five and the number two. five is the fact that we've got to double exports in the next five years under the president's initiative. two is the two million jobs that we expect to be supporting by that. so i just want to clarify that. the other part of the context is that, in 2009 exports represented about 11% of america's gross domestic product and we've done some calculations which almost everyone now agrees that for

about every $185,000 of export value, one job here in the united states is created. so if you do the math on the 11% of the g.d.p., then you can sort of back into why, you know, two is not -- is a good number, but it's also a stretch number. the other thing is, even the broader context, if we want to take it up to satellite level and get up to 60,000 feet and above, and that is that having spent a lot of time in india and china over the last two years, all you have to do is, you know, go to india, go down to bang lohr, go into the technology centers there, and understand what's driving this. you know, the 30-year-olds with ph.d.'s, you really need dictionaries to understand what they're doing. that is a framer of why this is important. because there are analysis that suggest that by 2035, which is only another generation away, the generation of those, many

of who you are sitting here, this is going to be your generation, your challenge, those countries of india and china will probably represent close to 60% of all consumer spending in the world. in that time frame. in india, want next 15 years, they're going to have close to 250 million people moving from the rural communities to the major cities in and around those cities, infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. housing, hospitals, schools, jails, public transportation, roads, bridges, you name it. we do that better than anybody else in the world still today. so the extent to which this program can be up, running, proven, will not only bring these first 150 companies but more than to follow, but it will list, as the old adage,

all balances rise in the high tied -- tide. we expect that will be the high tide for to provide the opportunity for continued export success in the two regions of the world where -- or two countries of the world in that one region where a lot of that action will be occurring. so that's sort of the context. why don't we get started on it. >> good morning. so, i would like for media who have questions to please stand and state your name and the outlet you're with and we'll move from there. questions? sure. >> i just would like you to clarify the difference in the new release that the contracts are primarily international contracts and that the contracts primarily -- [inaudible] so, what's the -- [inaudible] >> the contracts -- sorry,

excuse me, the contracts will be international contracts. tutor perini is a publicly traded global construction conglomerate. they do a tremendous amount of business outside the united states and the contracts that we're referring to will be targeting global opportunities. you can comment on that a little bit more, dick? can we -- >> i don't know if it comes off. >> technology. >> hello. yeah. we currently have about $4 billion in backlog right now on our books. about 35% of that is outside the u.s. and most of it is guam

, afghanistan and iraq, unfortunately. we are pursuing work in other parts of the world. we've worked in over 300 countries in our company's history. so, as we pursue further federal funded projects overseas we will certainly incorporate this program in that pursuit. >> [inaudible] -- just be able --er design the house -- >> most of my mortgage is large commercial. and in the form of building construction, it's military housing, military facilities, airports, runways in guam particularly it's for the navy and expansion of the naval presence in guam. there's about $13 billion of potential opportunity there in the next four to five years as

projected. so, that's generally the nature of the kind of work. and also mexico and canada. we have interests as well. those are in commercial developments more, in resorts and destination resorts. >> you mentioned that opportunity in india and china is so huge. but i just wonder if the construction market in china now is open to the -- [inaudible] population or -- you know, the labor costs in china is so low, so how minority construction firms in the united states could compete with the local firms? >> that's a good question. and i think the answer is that it's an emerging opportunity for the reasons you cited. when i was in shanghai last year, before coming here, i think there were more crane in shanghai than in any other city

in the world today. but there comes a time when the type of construction becomes a bit beyond the capacity, whether you get to the area of telecommunications, you get to the area of mobile high speed transportation, these are areas that china will begin to look outward as opposed to inward. now, there may be a business in china since 1987 and often times that results in join ventures as opposed to being able to come in and do, know, sole sourcing. so i think there's going to be a combination of opportunities depending upon the specific sector that we find. but it's emerging, it's not there yet but i think there will come a time because the capacity, when you step in china, they're going to be close to 350 million to 500 million people coming in from the rural areas in the next 15

to 20 years to support a lot of the activity that's going on in shanghai and areas like that. >> thank you. any other questions? >> my name's christina. i would just like to follow up on that question. you say that these construction -- [inaudible] it involves more high-tech, high technology than telecom. you're basically not worried that -- [inaudible] >> i'm sorry, if would you please repeat your question. >> before --

[inaudible] is there concern that before they start building to capacity , what you just talked about, there will be a crossover by the cheaper laborer this china? >> thanks for the question. i don't think there's a concern. i think as deputy secretary hightower said, this is an emerging opportunity that we have and we are moving aggressively to prepare u.s. firms. that's why we have this program to. prepare minority firms to compete in the global markets. big picture isn't a question that the relationship between the united states and china is an important relationship for both nations -- nations. so we believe this relationship and this partnership will continue to open up economic opportunities for minority-owned firms in the united states as it will open up opportunities and continue to open up opportunities for chinese firms across industries. what we're here toad in this

particular program --ed into this particular program is to prepare the minority-owned business chuent to take advantage of the economic opportunities that are in the global markets, keep in mind that minority business community contributes $1 trillion of economic output to the united states. what we're here toad is to expand the -- to do is expand the capability and leverage the unique relationships, partnerships, family ties, lalings language capabilities of u.s. minority firms in countries that they would consider in many instances their home countries. so, when we start talking about minority, we're talking about asian american firms, african-american firms, hispanic american firms, native american pharmaceutical firms. within our space, the what sidic jewish community is considered a minority in as far as mbda is concerned. so we provide services for them. again, the alaskan native firms, firms from the pacific islanders guam and so forth.

these are the firms that we're referring to. what is unique about the united states, unlike any other country, is that many of these companies, many of these management teams still have close relationships to their home countries. so a chinese american firm we believe with the right skills, which we're going to provide through this program, will be in a position to leverage their relationships, to take advantage of opportunities in china and so that's one of the benefits of the united states that we want to leverage here. ralph, would you? >> if i may, and again i apologize, i didn't clarify this in my comments, we're not looking at startup companies here. these are established companies, at least three years in business, a minimum of 25 employees, already with experience in major projects under their belt. so they're not going to be going to the marketplace with their hat in their hand. these are capable firms that have demonstrated success in

the united states, that when they take their fatigues off, sure they'll be able to compete, day one. >> any other questions? >> will there be any type of language -- [inaudible] as a part of the training -- [inaudible] >> the training program is going to be very detailed, specific to providing the technical capabilities to actually execute on global contracting opportunities. the training program will be taught by senior executives at tutor perini in conjunction with the team at university of southern california, as advisor to the program. the program is really centered around providing these companies with the very unique skills that currently doesn't exist in the minority business

community. from the standpoint of cultural training, that's not contemplated as a skill set provided from the training and from our vantage point, that's something that's imbedded. what's more important is building the relationships with senior managers within the tutor perini family of companies, gaining the technical knowledge to really understand how to actually execute on a construction project that's offshore. that's a very unique, very sfiftcate skill set that frankly is not imbedded in the minority business community. and also the $1 billion of contracts that are available for these firms will give them an opportunity to gain actual on-the-ground skills so when they then complete this program and complete these contracts they'll be in a position to really be a partner with tutor perini corporation and their global supply chain. as well as other global construction companies.

these are the as if -- facts that are critical to build these firms to size and scale. >> if there's no other questions from the media, we'll call it a day. >> i have a question. how do the skills kind of differ from what they're doing over here to what they're going to do globally? would you briefly outline that? >> you want to take a stab at that? >> i think that it's the difference between the technology that we're going to transfer through these companies and the actual physical labor. i think depending on the country that we're dealing with , the use of local labor generally is practiced. the supervision and the technical support is what our companies, the minority companies, we're expecting them

to deliver. the majority of the local labor is going to be local. and either through custom or tradition in that particular country or usually when we go abroad we'll have a local partner who will also add that dimension that you had mentioned about the language, the language challenge and the cultural challenge. we'll never go into a country without a local partner that's familiar with all of that and the workings of that particular country and that will be transferble to those minority firms that we're working with and encouraging to work with us in those locations. . ?

>> former alaskan senator ted stevens was killed in an airplane crash. he was one of five people killed when the plane went down on a remote alaskan hillside in bad weather. sean o'keefe, former nasa administrator, and his son were also onboard and came -- survived the crash. the house came into session for one day today in the middle of

their summer recess. among the measures voted on was one on national security. this debate is 30 minutes. ecogn. mr. price: madam speaker, i ask to urge the adoption of h.r. 6080. violence on the mexican side of the border has intensified because of turf battles among murderous transnational criminal organizations competing for drug, alien and weapon trafficking business. the bill would provide $600 million to enable the department of homeland security, the department of justice and the judiciary in cooperation with the national guard to counter this threat building on the current border enforcement surge. this funding is urgently needed to counter the pressures our law enforcement agencies on our border communities currently face. madam speaker, the bill is fully offset. it includes a $100 million reduction in the department of homeland security's border security infrastructure and

technology account due to an ongoing reassessment of the s.b.i. net program. the bill also increases for five years the costs for two visas which permits foreign workers to come and work in the united states. these fee increases would apply only to companies with more than 50 employees and for whom the majority of their work force is visa-holding foreign workers. the house passed a very similar version of this border security supplemental two weeks ago partially offset and partially on a well-justified emergency basis. because the senate amended the house-passed bill we're voting on it today. the senate added the visa fee increases. because of the constitutional requirement that revenue generating bills initiate in the house, the bill before us today has been introduced as a new bill but with provisions identical to the senate-passed bill. therefore, should the house approve this bill today, it will need to be taken up by the

senate, hopefully at the earliest possible date. for the department of homeland security, the bill provides a total of $394 million, including $176 million to hire 1,000 new border patrol agents. that funding will bring us to a total of 21,370 border patrol agents, a 70% increase since 2006. $68 million to retain 270 customs and border protection officers and hire 250 additional officers. with this bill there will be over 20,700 c.v.p. officers working to enhance port of entry operations. $32 to procure two additional unmanned aircraft systems. $80 to u.s. customs and immigration and customs enforcement, i.c.e. this includes $30 million to pay for four new border enforcement security task forces, training and support for mexican law enforcement partners and a staffing surge for i.c.e.'s criminal alien removal efforts.

the remaining $50 million will be used to hire additional i.c.e. investigators, intelligence analyst for a permanent expansion of i.c.e.'s presence on the bothered. -- border. $6 million to construct two forward operating bases, new forward operating bases for the border patrol. for the department of justice, the bill provides $196 million in support of investigations and crime control along the southwest border, including $38 million for the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, $34 million for drug enforcement administration, $30 million for the u.s. marshal service and $24 million for the federal bureau of investigation. finally for the judiciary, the bill provides $10 million to have increased workload requirements. i want to recognize especially, madam speaker, the hard work of our border state

representatives who were instrumental in getting the supplemental border security bill initially passed. they have signaled their full support for the house to take up this latest version from the senate and we will hear from a number of them during this debate this morning. madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to adopt this bill to address these critical border security challenges which while they are most acute on the southwest border constitute a serious national threat which we ignore at our peril. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may >> this is today's debate on border security in the house, which you can see at c-span2 and c-span.org. we'll move on to other debate from the house today on a bill for medicaid and education job that bill passed by a vote of 247-161. minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin. mr. levin: i yield myself two

minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: the minority comes here and talks about wishing to be back at a js fair for those who are unployed looking for work. having voted against continuing unemploymentompensation for those out of work and looking for it. the minority comes here talking about help for small business, having voted against democratic bills to help small business. on this bill this is not an increase in taxes on job creation. what it is is closing a tax loophole, used by some, to escape taxes and thereby encouraging them to ship jobs overseas. purely and simply. this is the fact. u.s. companies that operate overseas owe taxes when they return that income to the u.s.

they get a foreign tax credit for the taxes they pay overseas. what some companies are doing is using those tax credits not against income brought back home but against income obtained elsewhere. this is a tax loophole, purely and simply. in closing a tax loophole, used by a few, is fair taxation, policy for everybody else. that's what the people of this country demand. close tax loopholes that help shift jobs overseas. we are doing just that in this bill as we have done in several others in the house of representatives. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan,

mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: thank you, madam speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. and ask unanimous consent to revise andxtend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. camp: last friday we learned the unemployment rate is still at 9.5%. and it would be much higher if the official calculations also looked at the growing number of americans who have become so discouraged they have given up looking for work. so while congress should be here trying to find ways to get americans back to work, we are here instead to complete action on another extension of stimulus that will also do nothing to reduce the unemployment rate in this country. in fact, this bill and the tax increases in it will hurt job creation. according to the meth tholgi of dr. christina roemer, the president's chief economic advisor, the tax increases in this bill will destroy over 140,000 americans jobs. in an open letter to congress this week, the national

association of manufacturers warned, and i quote, imposing $9.6 billion in tax increases on these companies will jeopardize the job of american manufacturing employees and stifle our fragile economy, end quote. similarly, the u.s. chamber of commerce warned they would impose draconian tax increases american wordwide -- worldwide companies that would hinder job creation, decrease the competitiveness of american businesses, and deter economic growth. these tax increases are a mistake and as i noted durin debate two weeks ago, most of these have never been the subject of a committee hearing or markup. it's impossible -- it is possible that upon review some of these provisions might make sense if packaged with other changes to address the facts that our corporate tax rate is soon-to-be the highest among all industrialized nations. our international tax system is deep flawed and our tax code is increasingly putting our companies and their employees at a tremendous competitive

disadvantage. but we never got the opportunity to hear from the american employers or to offer any amendments. it's truly a disappointing breakdown of the committee system which is supposed to ensure that policies are vetted and reviewed before passage. i also want to mention the phantom tax increases that aren't in this bill but will soon see. the speaker has already indicated she opposes two of the spending offsets included in this bill, one relates to food stamps, the other is a cut in funding for renewable energy spending programs. together those items total $13.4 billion, more than half the total offsets in the bill. next mth when the house considers some other legislation, don't be surprised to see another $13 billion in higher taxes to prevent those spending cuts. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield o minutes to the very

distinguished gentleman from texas, who has been a champion on the issue of tax loopholes, mr. doggett, a member of the ways and means committee. thspeaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggett: today we close international tax loopholes and open more educational opportunity. last year in texas governor perry and his cohorts misdirected $3.2 billion in federal aid to education simply to replace state education commitments leaving our schools not one dime better off than if we ner offered them that federal aid to education in the first place. given this very unfortunate history for our school children, and the many unique educational challenges that texas faces, we have good reason to include in this legislation texas specific safeguards to prevent more such shen nanny begans.

with a formula that ensures that this year federal education aid will get directly to our local schools. our approach enjoys the support of school trustees, of superintendents, of principles, of teachers. we have been listening across texas to our parents at this time of excitement as so many young people are going back to school, some for the first timeand we are offering those families and those local schools the important support they need for local education. paying for every dime of it. and we are supporting those local education decisions by local school trustees to achieve quality education free of interference from the state. we are demanding accountability from the state of texas. for some reason accountability seems like a good concept for everyone except some republican leaders and some international

corporate tax avoiders. i want to be sure that there's a level playing field for taxpayers so that the small business down the street that could face a property tax increase if we don't have adequate support for educati, that that business isn't -- doesn't continue to have to pay a much higher rate than some international corporate tax group that has all the fancy c.p.a.'s to avoid paying its fair share. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recognized. mr. camp: i yield one minute to the distinguished member from tennessee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mrs. blackburn: thank you, madam speaker. i think it is important for us to realize what is happening he today. i do oppose the legislation that the majority is bringing forward today. today we are being asked to raise taxes for 10 years in der to pay for mdicaid for six months. now, think about that. only here in washington would an action like that seem to

make sense or even be thought to be sustainable. 10 years to pay for six months. now, this is why the people across this nation oppose this type action. and i think if my friends were home listening instead of here in d.c. spending some more, that what they would hear from people is they are sick and tired, they have really gotten eir fill of continuing to ta continuing to spend, robbing peter to pay paul, and going through this process of kiing the can down the road but not addressing the problem. the spending is out of control. the american people are overtaxed, this government is overspent and it is time that we demand accountability. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my true pleasure to yield one minute t our very distinguished majority

leader, the colleague from the great state of maryland. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank my friend for yielding. the hour is late. members have come back, properly so, to address an issue that we addressed months ago. the senate sent it to us. and we were gone. we thought it our responsibility to ask members to come back because if we hadn't come back, if we didn't pass this bill, what would happen? 160,000 teachers would be at risk of being laid off and probably would be laid off. what would that mean? it would mean larger class sizes for teachers to deal with. children not receiving the kind of education that they need. they need to be competitive in the global marketplace. what might have also happened? some 160,000 police and fire personnel, emergency response

teams may have had to be laid off. that's why we came back. that's why we believe this is so important. and how have we paid for this? because we do not add a nickel to the national debt, notwithstanding the previous speaker. we paid for this because we believe if we are going to invest in our future, we also are going to pay for it. not ask our grandchildren to pay for it. now that's a concept that was jettisoned under republican leadership but we re-established it. so we pay for this. one of the ways we pay for it is to ask people, look, if you are going to send jobs overseas, we are not going to give you a tax break. i know there's some apparently not for that and they are going to vote against this bill. my view is what we are doing is making sure that our children have the proper education that they need. making sure that our communities are safe and, yes, making sure that we try to keep every job in america so that we can continue to make things in

america so people can make it in america. that's what this bill is all about. the hour's late. i think everyone knows the issue. and i ask my colleagues vote for this critical piece of legislation. keep our teachers, our police, our fire personnel on the job. that's why the senate passed this bill with over 60% majority in a bipartisan vote. let's follow suit. pass this bill. make america better. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from michigan, mr. camp, is recogned. mr. camp: at this time i yield two minutes to a distinguished member of the ways and means committee, the gentlewoman from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewomafrom florida is recognized for two minutes. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman. madam speaker, congress

adjourne without doing anything useful over the last year and a half to get this economy turned around. america knows it. sadly this bill isn't going to change that fact. my colleagues know that they bankrupted the states with obamacare and they kn full well this won't be the last time the federal government borrows money to bail out the states. as for the education jobs funding, the money provided in the stimulus, the $54 billion, provided in the stimulus was supposed to do the trick, but like the stimulus as a whole, it just didn't work, did it? this $10 billion is a transparent handout to the teacher's union who, not only tip to insist on greater pay, but actually got their democrat buddies to put it in the bill. if states take the money, their hands are actually tied on making a tough budget decision

choices. including pay. as a result, the states will be back here again and very soon asking for more federal bailouts. which the current majority will probably be very happy to give to them. . my democrat colleagues are incredibly generous wn it comes to spending ofrpblt p.m. that's other people's money. the problem is, the other people, the taxpayers in our country, already owe $130,000 apiece in federal debt. that's why the american people are fed up. finally, any claim that the bill is paid for, and i'm putting that in quote, paid for is utterly nonsense. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that. this bill before us represents another $14 billion in sham accounting gimmicks that the majority cannot resist using. never mind that you used the

money that tax revenues several times to pay for three different spending bills. we all know that the $14 billion in food stamp cuts will never actually -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman from michigan. we all know the $14 billion in food stamp cuts will never actually really take place so it is a sham, can't it, folks? just like the doc fix and everything else you kick the can down the road far enough so far, in fact that it won't have to be counted in today's budget. the bailouts must end. the borrowing must end. the gimmicks must end. and if we are ever again to have a competitive country, the relentless tax increases on job creators also must end. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired.

the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from ohio, ms. kilroy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. ms. kilroy: thank you. across america, summer is coming to an end and -- and parents are thinking about their children's return to the school. they have hopes and dreams for their children's future and they want them to succeed in school, to be able to go to college and get a good job in a competitive global economy and they know they need a dedicated teach for the that classroom guiding their children's learning. but school boards across the country have been making cuts and laying off teachers. schools in ohio have been facing cuts. schools have seen their revenue decline. schools also rely in state assistance --' rely on steat assistance and ohio, like many

states, has budget problems. in ohio that means 5,500 teachers. it will provide the necessary funding for medicaid assistance as well, responding to urgent requests from republican and democratic governors. in order to pay for this bill, we are closing tax loophole that was been abused that have sent jobs overseas. not only will it help pay to keep teachers in the looseroom, wit ill end a job drain and help us keep jobs in america. why are my colleagues so opposed? they don't seem to understand that investing in our nation's future means investing in our nation's schools. they call it children's special interest. children don't have special lobbyists like wall street does they need us to stand up for them. but those who have been enjoying tax loopholes are special interests with those lobbyists. perhaps opponents of this bill are listening to them. that's the wrong way to go.

that's the way of the past. it's time to end business as usual and politics as usual and stand up for america's workers and stand up for america to keep jobs here and it's time to stand for america's children and america's teachers and america's schools. it's time to keep our communities sa and keep firefighters and police i -- i thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman mr. camp is recognized. mr. camp: i'm prepeered to reserve or prepared to close if the gentleman has no further speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, has the right to close. mr. levin: if the gentleman is inquiring whether we have one more speaker other othan to close, the answer is no. mr. camp, why don't you close and then our speaker will close. mr. camp: thank you. i yield myself such time as i

may nsume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. camp: i have before my letters from the chamber of commerce, the business round table as well as pace, promote america's competitive edge, and the u.s. chamber of commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million busess organizations of every size. they strongly support the legislation because it would place draconian tax increases on the companies and deter economic growth in the jobs that come from that. likewise, the national association of manufacturers, the nation's largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector in all 50 state they also oppose this legislation. they represent 22 million workers in the united states, more than 19% of the private sectorork force. and 50% of -- and 53% of all

manufacturing employees are employed by companies that have operations overseas and they oppose the tax increases because it will jeopardize the jobs of american manufacturing employees and stifle this very fragile economy. likewise the business round table, which again is an association that represents more than 12 million employees, has also sent a letter opposing this legislation because they say that this legislation will again only make matters worse, make it more difficult for u.s. companies to compete in the world economy and then actually puts u.s. jobs at stake because of that. and again, pace, which represents more than 63 million american jobs that depend on the competitiveness of american employers worldwide says that at a time when other countries are taking steps to attract business, this legislation actually does -- sends the

exact opposite message, discourages investment in the u.s. and job creation here in the u.s. i ask unanimous consent to submit these letters f the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. camp: i thank it's unfortunate that again here on the floor i'm having to submit these letters here when actually the appropriate place would be in the committee on ways and means. but unfortunately, the committee on ways and means has never had a hearing on these provisions. never had a markup on this legislation. we've nod hat a process that's been open to employers to come forward before the committee and be heard on the record so that we might be able to adjust this or put this in context. as i said we need broad based international tax reform in the u.s. this piecemeal approach couldn't -- count work, hurt ours competitiveness and again, i think if we had a system where there was a committee hearing or mark yum, on review you might improve on this or

find a way to address the serious issue that pretty soon our corporate tax rate will be the highest amon -- among all the industrialized nations and we could put on the record the deep flaws now international tax systems and the flaw nours tax coat. instead what we're doing today is rushing to the floor again without transparency, without hearings, certainly no opportunity for american employers to come forward and be heard on this issue. we're putting them at a tremendous comtitive disadvantage at a time when they need to be competing around the world for jobs. i urge opposition to this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield the balance of the time to our distinguished speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. the speaker: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank the distinguished chairman of the ways and means committee for

bringing this important legislation to the floor, working closely with the chair of the appropriations committee. this must be about the third time, mr. chairman, that we have brought this to the floor, the provision that repeals that provision of the law which rewards businesses for sending jobs overseas. this is not a new subject to the congress. it is not a new subject to the floor. thanks to your leadership. today, mr. speaker -- madam speaker, we have an opportunity to create jobs. the press of a button, each of us will play a role in creating over 300,000 jobs. saving over 300,000 jobs across the country. they're jobs, these people are consumers, it's important to our economy that they are employed. it goes well beyond that, to jobs for teachers, the education of our children, it's about the innovation of our

nation, it's bigger than just a job. it's about the future. these are jobs that firefighters and police officers, about the safe i have to our neighborhoods and our communities. ere our children can thrive. it's about nurses and health care providers to keep our country strong in terms of the health and well being of the american people. it's about the stability of state budgets. economists have told us that if this legislation were not passed and these jobs are not saved and the budgets of the states were not stabilized, we would go into another deep recession like the one we inherited from the previous administration and it would be a much longer path out of that recession. so i thank the distinguished chairman for bringing us to the floor with this legislation.

i thank the members on both sides of the aisle for respond so quickly to the call to return to washington to save and create jobs for the american people. this is part -- this pay-for in this legislation which repeals the opportunity for businesses to get a tax break f sending jobs overseas is part of our make it in america agenda. make it in america means manufacture it in america, it also enables people to make it in america. this is about innovation. innovation tt's created here with our creativity and the benefit of our education system and our entrepreneurial spirit and the rest and then it says, when whave the idea and we create the innovation, that we create the jobs here to produce it to manufacture it and not to up-- to scale up overseas.

invent here create the jobs overseas -- no. invent here, manufacture here, and market to the world. this is really important legislation also because of the way it is paid for. while i don't support all the provisions, i'm not happy about the taking money from our energy sector or from food stamps, but i hope we can, mr. chairman, make that up in another way, i am very pleased about the funds that are obtained by repealing the provision to send jobs offshore. this legislation is fiscally responsible and fully paid for. it is -- it invests in america's communities, again by closing that tax loophole that allows corporations to ship jobs overseas. have i said that enough times? ose who claim that the legislation will add to the deficit are simply wrong. in fact, according to the

nonpartisan congssional budget office this bill reduces the deficit by $1.4 billion. madam speaker, it's about time that we got this bill passed. we first passed it in the house last year, the end of last year. we passed it again, some features of it, in the spring, finally, the senate acted last week. finally, they were able to get enough votes to pass it with a supermajority in the senate. the minute we anticipated that that would happen, the word went out that we called to the house to come back to washington so that not another day would go by without our, again, pressing at button for over 3,000 jobs. my grandchildren, ones who are in public school, went back to school yesterday. so this is -- it's about time,

again, that we -- children in other parts of the country may be preparing to go back to school in another week or so, or the beginning of september. they cannot afford to wait for us to put teachers back into the classroom. that's why it was urgent that we act. communities struggling to keep police and firemen on the beat and firefighters on the job that were on the brink of layoffs, this is good news for them. and tens of thousands of americans will not be joining the ranks of the unemployed. so thank the gentleman for -- again for his leadership, for making this part of what we have been doing for a matter of months, so we wereeady, we were ready when the senate acted so that we an educate our children, innovate for our country prork tect our neighborhoods and our homes, as well as keep the american

people healthy in a fiscally sound way. again, we are doing so in a way that helps people make iin america, and for that, i am grateful to the chairman and to my -- to the distinguished democratic leader, mr. hoyer, who coined the phrase, but for all of our members who work sod hard to make america -- to have america continue to be the shining star, the lead competitor, the innovator, number one, president kennedy when he launched a campaign to send a man to the moon and back safely, many, many decades ago, he said he would do so within 10 years and he did. but when he did it he said if we are to honor the vows of our founders, we must be first and therefore we intend to be first. this legislation is yet another

piece of legislation that enables america to be first. >> book tv has been finding out about the new books coming out this fall. >> it's a really interesting memoir. how did this pigtailed young girl growing up in the 1950's become the first black secretary of state? >> he's a health care expert and he's also very politically savvy. he's telling us about a major event in which legislation came together to give us health care reform. >> this is an account of what it was like to be on the road with her dad and from what we're hearing, it's going to be hot, hot, hot. >> learn more about these and other books coming out in our 2010 fall book preview this weekend. for the latest in nonfiction authors and books, watch book tv. get the whole schedule at book

tv.org -- at booktv.org. >> here you are, senator. not a bad desk, either. daniel webster used to use it. >> daniel webster sat here? >> harry true moon in 1939 when he saw this movie hated the movie. at the time, harry truman was seen as the senator from the pender grast machine in kansas city and i wonder if he didn't think at that point at least was looking at him and his relationship with the political machine back home. >> senate historian donald ritchie looking at the movie and a look at the book just coming out. >> i would tell you based on review of hundreds of tape, hundreds of hours, that they're not con spirer to. they're not -- con spirer to. -- conspiratory.

they don't know how that's going to play. >> this week marks the anniversary of the 1974 resignation of richard nixon and almost 40 years later, watergate still resonates in american history. look back at the people and events that made history. at the c-span video library. it's all free. 4ist i -- history your way. >> house speaker nancy pelosi held a ceremony shortly after the passage of the $26 billion aimed -- bill aimed at preventing teacher layoffs. the vote was 247-161, with two republicans joining most democrats to vote in favor. this is about 20 minutes. >> good afternoon. this is a happy afternoon for us because the house just passed legislation that has a

direct relationship to the strength of our communities, the education of our children, the safety of our neighborhoods, the stability of the economy of our state, and really points directly to our prospects for the future. we voted to keep over 300,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters and private sector workers on the job. members of congress rushed here today. as soon as we heard that there was a prospect that the senate might be able to pass this legislation last week, we went -- word went out, members were here in full force to press a button in support of the hundreds of thousands of jobs. [applause] >> we passed the bill last december, passed it again in the spring. there you are. and we were please that the senate finally took the action that we did. this legislation was necessary,

not just from a legislative standpoint, but because we heard from americans like those who join us here today, kathy johnson a school board member from columbus, ohio, who knows the impact this investment will have on the education of the next generation of teachers. laura -- lawrence welch from pers ams be boy, new jersey, who worked on behalf of the education of our children for 20 years and understands the impact this economy has had on teachers and students. stilla edwards, raise your hand, so everyone sees you. stilla edwards, president of the chesterfield, virginia, county council of p.t.a.'s and a powerful voice on behalf of keeping america's teachers in their classrooms. i know there are many p.t.a. families here, if you can wave so we can acknowledge the

presence of some of our p.t.a. families here today in the audience. officer dave stokes of the indianapolis police department who understands what this -- of the annapolis police department who understands what this will mean to the safety of our towns and we are joined by children who are examples of our future leaders and innovators and the clearest example of what we need to support, president kennedy called them our greatest resource and hope for the future. i would like to thank the children and families here today, give yourselves a nice round of applause. today, again, we will create over 300,000 jobs, or save them, not just any jobs but jobs that are the most significant in our country. the sense of community that our teachers, our police and firefighters, our health care workers bring and we will do in

it a fiscally responsible way by closing costly tax loopholes that allow corporations to ship american jobs overseas. this is part of what our distinguished majority leader, mr. hoyer, called our make it in america agenda. make it, manufacture it in america and make it, so people can make it on their own in america. and we believe that repealing that provision that enables businesses to ship jobs overseas is a very important step in that direction. [applause] i acknowledge mr. hoyer, our distinguished majority leader, the two chairmen who brought the bill to the floor today, chairman david obey, chairman of the appropriations committee, thank you, mr. obey, and then the bill was passed to the ways and means committee chairman, chairman levin, who has brought this tax provision to the bill on any number of

occasions, as mr. obey brugget the education and first responders piece a number of times as well. and we're joined by the chair of our policy committee but also the chair of the education and work force committee who has been a fighter for keeping these teachers on the job. chairman george miller. he is joined, before you applaud for him, i want to acknowledge a member of his committee, the chairman of the subcommittee on elementary, secondary, and -- >> early chidehood. >> early childhood education, elementary and secondary education. now i'm pleased to introduce kathy johnson who will tell us what this legislation means to her school district in ohio. kathy? >> thank you. good afternoon. i am kathy johnson, a school

board member from the southwest city school district in ohio, which educates nearly 21,000 students and is the sixth largest district in the state. in spite of a governor who champions education and a state legislature that work with him to pass a comp reshens -- comprehensive else reform law called the education opportunity act, the economy has forced school districts, including mine to make budget cuts. in my case, that includes two school closures in the last school year and teacher and staff reductions for the current fiscal year. however, the house's passage of the education jobs fund today will enable school districts like southwestern city schools to maintain key services that help advance student achievement. for example, my district can benefit from today's legislation as we look for -- to hire teachers and school personnel to implement

intervention students and other programs for students who need added support to assure they receive the help that will allow them to be successful. the education jobs fund will help the district maintain the continuity for core instruction that is needed with appropriate class sizes and an enriched curriculum with support services for reading, math, and the language arts. other districts are finalizing budgets this month, so assurance of knowing that funding will be available soon at the beginning of the school year to help mitigate layoffs and also reinstate teachers and staff in some communities is of significant importance. opportunities for students will not be lost. this legislation will also help a number of school districts avoid or reduce the cost of borrowing funds in order to sustain programs and faculty. so on behalf of the southwestern city school district, the ohio school board association, and the national school boards association, i convey our sincere appreciation

to speaker pelosi, the members of the house of representatives, and the united states senate for your action to help save thousands of jobs for teachers and staff throughout the country. the education jobs fund represents strong support for our students and our schools as a vital investment in the economic recovery and american competitiveness. thank you very much. i would now -- [applause] >> i would now like to turn it over to lois welsh from perth-amboy, new jersey. >> good afternoon, everyone. i am a schoolteacher in perth-amboy, new jersey, i teach at the high school and my focus is special education and

language. thank you, speaker pelosi and all members who took a stand for students and education. for 20 year, i worked in the public school as a secretary in new jersey and loved my job throughout that time. however, a number of years ago, i made the decision to return to school and get an -- and gain experience and education i needed to serve the students of my community in a new capacity. after seven years of attending school at night, working full time and raising three children, i fulfilled my dream of becoming a high school teacher of special education students and proudly accepted a position at the perth-amboy high school. sadly, only after two years of teaching in school, along -- i, myself, along with 86 other teachers in the district were given pink slips not to return in september.

when teachers are laid off, the class sizes and the -- the class sizes grow, and students get no one-on 46 one attention, schools go without -- one-on-one attention, school goes without librarians, important programs are cut, school days and weeks are shortened. today i am the only one of eight teachers in our district who received a pink slip in june that is recalled for september. none of my colleagues in perth-amboy high school have been so fortunate. for more than 75 of my colleagues, their future is in limbo and it's not just about them. that is, since fewer teachers will be available in the classroom when school reopens in september. that means fewer teachers giving our kids the full -- the

fundamental skills they need to compete and succeed in the global community. i am here today to speak for them and the children that we love to teach. the money approved by the house today will allow our district to rehire and bring more of our colleagues back into the classroom where they belong. i am thankful to our representative for passing this bill. which is not -- which is a shot in the arm for public education across the country. thank you for putting our children first. [applause] i would like to now turn it over to stilla edwards from chesterfield, virginia.

>> thank you for allowing me to join you here today. hello, my name is stella edwards, i'm president of the chesterfield county council of p.t.a.'s, where i work with nearly 40,000 members and provide training on family engagement and education and advocate for education reform to ensure academic success. i have served the virginia p.t.a. for over 17 years and i'm a proud member of the national p.t.a., the largest volunteer child javo kacy organization in this nation. the national p.t.a. was key ated to meet a profound challenge to better the lives of children. today, p.t.a. continues to flourish because we have never lost sight of our goals, to change the lives of children across this great nation to be a better place for them to live. my role in p.t.a. is informed by the many other hats i wear from day-to-day as mother,

wife, substitute teacher, community organizer and former united states army officer. each of these pages in my own personal history has led me to give a great understanding, a better understanding, rather, to the unique and critical role that parents and teachers working together can have on the lives of our children. that's why i'm here today. last week, the senate passed a comprehensive jobs package that includes $10 billion in funding to prevent the layoffs of approximately 140,000 teachers. today i'm proud to stand along with speaker pelosi and others that were vital in this effort in order to celebrate passage in the house of representatives. i commend the members of the house for coming back into session to pass this education funding package and finish their unfinished business. the business of children's education. our children, my children, your

child and your neighbor's child. what does this all mean? over the last two years, chesterfield county public school division has laid off approximately 500 teach evers and classroom support personnel this law brings -- this law being signed today means that they and thousands of other teachers around the country will be able to step out of those unemployment lines and back into the classroom where they belong. we see that the national p.t.a. has for a long, long time said that families and teachers and school districts and communities all have a shared responsibility to work together to close the achievement gap that affects so many of our communities. it's simply -- it's very simple, really. children benefit, as we all know, for having engaged families in their lives. we now know that family involvement is one of the

strongest predictors of children's school success and families play a vital role in this -- in a child's cognitive, social and emotional development from birth to adolescence. and teachers, the very same teachers whose jobs need to be saved, know and understand and continue to emphasize the importance of family engagement in education. i want to thank congress for protecting these teachers, for protecting the jobs and protecting our children. from overcrowded classrooms, which we all know will negatively affect their learning. i want to thank you again for having me. at this time, i would like to turn it back over to the speaker. thank you. >> in her remarks, stella asked the question, what does this all mean? what this all means, as she described, is that this is good news for children. when people ask me what are the

three most important issues facing congress, i say the same thing, our children, our children, our children. many of the leaders you see here have been champions for our children. their health, and that is affected by the health care workers who will be put back to work, their education, we've heard our distinguished speak erica thi johnson, loris welch and stella edwards speak so eloquently about what this will do for our children's education, safe and clean neighborhoods in which they can thrive. i'm pleased we have officer dave stokes here repting our first responders, the people who keep our neighborhoods safe and have us have an intact sense of community. so our health, our education, the safety and security of their homes and neighborhoods and the economic security of their families, and by the offset that is in this bill, to repeal a provision in the law

that enables businesses to send -- gives a tax break to businesses to send jobs overseas, we repeal that and we say, we want to, as steny says, make it in america. and we want to manufacture it in america, let's bring those jobs home. that speaks to the economic security of our children. i want to commend senate leader reid and the members of the senate for the action they took. i'm so proud of what the house of representatives has done today. and i'm very honored now to sign this important legislation so relevant to the lives of america's family, so important to our sense of community. i just want the children to know, after i sign the bill, our distinguished clerk of the house will make sure that the signatures are in order in the house and senate and she will personally deliver it to the president of the united states for his signature, which i believe will be later this

afternoon. so before you all probably get home this evening, this will be the law of the land. cause for celebration. [applause] >> this is how it is. this is the bill. this is the bill. it gos on and on. it's written on parchment paper, special parchment paper and then, i'll sign the bill here. now wait a minute. then we'll send it over to the president and he will sign the bill.

have to go over this. not yet because i have to use these pens on the first part here. on inauguration -- just as inauguration day, the president comes to the capitol to be inaugurated, today we send the bill up pennsylvania avenue back to the white house for the signature of president barack obama. >> speaker pelosi. >> i just want to say something about the president, education has been such a key issue for

the president that i want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership in making today possible as well. his vision, his leadership and now today with his signature. >> [inaudible] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> did i give you one? >> going to have to use a pen to go over the signature again. thank you all very much.