a couple of things. host: lorenzo? simulac withthis the babies, in starts earlier when there are firstborn. think is morei healthy. also mothers nowadays are a lot younger and we need the fathers to contribute more. i know kids in high school do not have to take a whole year of physical fitness. one thing schools can do is to require kids to have a whole year of physical fitness instead of just half of the year. host: we will leave it there.

margo wootan you get the last word. guest: breast feeding is not something we talked about. but also this covers wic which is very important to providing good nutrition, nutritional education for low-income families. this bill would help to strengthen the wic program including the promotion of breast feeding. it is good for monster help you lose weight after having a baby. host: margo wootan from the center of sites and the public interest. she is the nutrition policy director of there. thank you we want to talk to you about what is going to happen on tomorrows "washington journal." , first we have the executive director for the campaign of

community change. and then the co-founder of american crossroads will be here to talk about his role in helping to create in raise money for the new american crossroads in crossroads gps. we will also have peter from the johns hopkins university study program. he is here to talk to us about the liability in the chinese economy as it affects other world economies. thanks very much for watching this edition of "washington journal." we will be back on tomorrow morning at 7:00 eastern. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] ♪ ♪

>> coming up, a look at the republican and democrat agendas after the election. first, words from representative john gainor and then nancy pelosi and several others. today one nation working together rally for jobs, justice, and education. more than 150 national, local, state organizations including the naacp, sierra club, and union groups are participating. we will also hear from human and civil rights leader, celebrities, and sports figures. watch live coverage from the lincoln memorial at 12:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span.

this weekend and through december, look at the landmark supreme court cases on c-span radio. >> it indicates that at no time during interrogation, he was a device of his rights to remain silent or his right to consult with counsel. >> that is today at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span radio. nationwide on xm satellite radio. it will also be on c-span.org. >> house minority leader john gainor presented his recommendations on the way congress should operate. now his remarks at the american enterprise institute. this is about 50 minutes.

>> some years back in ohio, i was making my way through a xavier university. while in night school, i entered a small business with an older gentleman. a family, some six or seven years later, he passed away. we had one customer left. there i was with a couple of more years of school and exec year before i graduate. i was tried -- is a year before i graduate. i was trying to will this business together. i fought for it. it was with everything i had. looking back on it now, i never thought about walking away. this was something that i

invested my name, money, and a reputation in. i have an obligation to that one paying customer as well as to my partner who was gracious enough to bring me in. a guy who had put his time and energy in this business for a long time. today i had the same sense of obligation and determination. that is when i look at what is happening to our government. i had seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. lately, there has been a lot of ugly. americans have every right to be set up. what i will not accept and what are refused to accept is that we can simply walk away and let our government continued to drift. this government, our forbearers, sacrificed everything. the mission of the united states

congress is to serve the american people. today, due to institutional barriers that have been in place for decades, that mission goes unfulfilled. these will 7 self-inflicted by both parties. if we do not take them, it is possible no one will be able to. the first institution of the first branch of government, the body closest to the people. it is an awesome responsibility. we should take pride in it. we should be humbled by it. the house, more than any part of a our government, is the most direct voice of the people. they should be afforded the most care in protecting its ability to protect the people's will. i'd like to talk to you about why this institution is broken and how we can make it function again.

we do not stand a chance of addressing ever deepest and most pressing problems. while i have a lot to say today, i want to begin this as a conversation with the american people and with my colleagues about how we fix the institution that we love. look at the congress that is not so much concluding as much as as this has collapsed. instead of tallying up output, observance in constituents are asking what went wrong tree and the answer should come easy to people in this room. the families of small businesses have let their problems go unaddressed. this week we had in my view, an obligation to bring both parties together and stop massive tax increases scheduled to take

effect january 1. we have seen this for years. even with an existence of a bipartisan man majority in the american people, we cannot get a single up or down vote. it is a sad but not altogether surprising instance to this congress. it has frayed the bonds of trust between the american people and their representatives. now the house finds itself in a state of emergency. the institution does not function or deliberate and seems incapable of acting on the american people. from the floor of the house to the committee level, the integrity of the house has been compromised. the battle of ideas, the very lifeblood of the house, is virtually nonexistent. leaders overreach because the rules allow them to.

legislators dodge their responsibilities, because the rules allow them to. there's no accountability. there are no consequences. whether we hear in washington believe it or not, the american people clearly do. think about our constant flounding of the rules and compare it to a small business owner in arica who has to spend his or her day complying with all of the mandates and regulations that the government from here in washington sends down to them. this function in congress inot new. both parties share the blame for this. but the dysfunction has now reached the tipping point at a point at which none of us can crediblely deny that that it's having a negative effect on the people that we serve. and consider this -- this is the first time since the enactment of the budget resolution in 1974

that the house has not passed a budget resolution. this is the first congress in our history that has not allowed one bill to come tthe floor under an open rule. the current freshman class has served almost their entire term without ever having the chance to debate a bill under an open process in the house. and the use of martial law, which gives the majority the power to bri up any bill at any time, and strips the minority of the few rights that we have, has nearly doubled. the three pillars of any democracy are the rule of law, transparency, and a functioning civil society. over the dades, all three of the pillars have been chipped away in the people's house. the working -- the work of making our institution function cannot be reduced to one reform

or one simple tool kit of reforms. the first -- let's talk about the rule of law. we always hear members of congress talking about swearing an oath to represent their constituents. when in reality the oath that we take is to the constitution of the united states. we pledge to support and defend the constitution of the united states no more, no less. but we have strayed far afield from our job description. members go out and promise their constituents theoon and come to washington and try to fulfill those commitments and they, as a result, agree to conform to a system that ememphasizes seniority and party loyalty. the ropes are shown lead them to passing more bills, microfging, more bureaucracies and raiding the federal treasury. this is why in the pledge to america the governing agenda that my colleagues and i issued last week, we state that every bill that comes to the floor of

the house should contain a clear citation of the constitutional authority that allows congress to do what they're asking it to do. we cannot do this much, we ought to put the pen down and just stop. congress has been most maligned over the past generation for its fiscal recklessness and rightly so. mindful of the dangers of xation without representation, the framers handed the power to tax and spend to the legislative branch exclusively. it's right there, article one, section nine. but having the right to do somethin doesn't necessarily mean it's the right thing to do. current congressional rules are rigged to make it easy to increase spending and when possible to cut spending. much of the law that governs this process, the budget act of 1974, is tied to rules instead of statutes and consequently we

waive the budget acts requirements to serve our own purposes. can't write a budget? well, you just waive the rules and move on. no harm, no foul. the pay as you go rule has been repeatedly ignored to justify billions of dollars in new spending and tax and fee increases. so we ought to start at square one and give serious consideration to revisiting and perhaps rewriting the 1974 budget act. and while the culture of spending stems largely from lake of political will on both parties to say no, it's also the consequences of, i believe, to be a structural problem. as kevin mccarthy, my colleague from california on says, a structure dictates behavior and by structure, the facilitate spending increases and discourages spending cuts, the inertia in washington currently is to spend and spend and spend.

most spending bills come to the floor prepackaged in a manner that makes it easy as possible to advance the government spending program and their agenda and as difficults possible to make spending cuts. again, it's not a new problem. and if we're serious about confronting the challenges that lie ahead for our nation, think the current structure is inadequate. today i would like to suggest a new approach. let's do away with the idea of comprehensive spending bills. let's break them up. it would encourage scrutiny and make spending cuts easier. rather than pairing agencies and departments together, let them come to the floor individually to be judged on their own merit. members shouldn't have to vote for big speing increases a the labor department in order to fund the health and human services department. members shouldn't have to vote for big increases at the congre department just because they support nasa. each department agency should

justify itself each year to the full house and senate and be judged on its own merit. for decades the word comprehensive has been used as positive adjective here in washington but i would respectfully suggest th those days are behind us. the american people are not well served by comprehensive. in an era of trillion dollar deficits, we need a tighter focus, one that places emphasis on getting it right and less emphasis on gettingt done quickly. and don't assume that i'm singling out the appropriars because i'm not. over the decades in my view the authorizing committees in the house and senate have advocated their responsibilit often authorizing billions of dollars knowing full well they'll ner actually be appropriated. interest groups then lobby congress to fully fund the program systematically creating pressure on legislative brarge

to drive up more spending. i think it just has to stop. authorizing committees should be held to the same standard as the appropriations committee. authorize what we can afford and hold agencies to account for results. we should also consider developing a cut as you go rule that would apply to any member who's proposing the creation of a new government program or new government benefit. and very simply under cutgo, if your intention is to create a new government program, you must also terminate or reduce an existing program of equal or greater size. in the same bill. just thi week the majority leadership brought 85 different suspension bills to the floor on one da now, consider this -- 85 separate bills under suspension to the floor of the house. many of them creating new government programs, some of

which never have been held up to any scrutiny or any light of day. now f. we had the cutgo rule if place, nearly half of the 85 bills would have ever made it to the floor. cutgo was conceived by my friend and my colleague roy blount from missouri. as he put it and i'll put i let's turn the activists for big government on each other instead of letting all of the activists gang up on the taxpayer. now, through this public discussion we might end up filing that neither program has a whole lot of merit in the first place. that may sound simplistic but sometimes that's the best place to start. of course, no a spending control can substitute for the critical role of oversight. and we should direct every committee to make its oversight responsibilities a top priority. and to make more apologies for it. both parties should work together to ensure each program iseeting the congressional

intent and serving the national interest. and republicans shouldn't start from the assumption that all government is bad, nor should democrats start from the assumption that all government is good. oversight, i think, should be conducted under a uniform standard. what's the purpose of the program? what's its responsibility? is this the best use of taxpayers time and money? of course, if we're truly serious about being responsible again on spending, we need to do something about earmarks. as we all no too well, earmarks are in the possible he spending project they slipped into bills with little or no oversight. they run the gamut on bridges to nowhere, sewer projects, art exhibits, they ride on authorization bills, they ride on appropriation bills, they ride on tax bills. there's an entire lobbying industry that's been created

around emarks alone and i watch this develop over the 20 years that i have been here. they have become a spending progress that has broken face with the american people. house republicans have voted to stop this process this year on our own without cooperation from colleagues across the aisle so we can begin reforming how washington spends taxpayer money. the future of the moratorium will be the collective decision made by our members. but on the question of earmarkings, my colleagues and my swepts know where i stand. i told my constituents in 1990 if you believe it's important to have a representative in washington who will go there and raid the federal treasury on your behalf, you should probably be voting for someone else. i have never had an earmark. i have a personal no earmark policy the 20 years i've been here and i always will have.

but i believe it's our obligation to end earmarking as we know it and to bring fundamental change to the manner in which washington spends taxpayer funds. and i'll continue to be an advocate for reforms to ensure that, that happens. . to insure that the minorities have some say in the debate. in return, the majority has responded by conjuring up new

ways to shut the minority further out. this is nothing more than a cycle of gridlock. here is my question. what are we so afraid of? the more we do to avoid risk and protect our members, the more ineffective and polarize the institution becomes. the house was designed to reflect our natural contentiousness as a people. i think it is a good system. it is my view that we should open this process up and that the battle of ideas helped break down this issue that has been created between the park -- parties. we're still going to try to outmaneuver each other, but why can we make it a fair fig?

that is the extent of their inve house. structure dictates behavior. more debates, will mean more intense scrutiny and ultimately, better legislation. just as we have children membership from tough votes, we have also enabled them to write a very bad bills. with all the challenges that are fang our nation, it is absurd that congress spends so much time pt offices and celebrating the historical figures of the past. i know the drill. members get their good press at home. leaders get covered while they are stalling on the real priorities. often theseesolutions are fully drafted indicative of previously considered bills.

we should consider taking all these commemoratives, moments and handle them during special orders. i think it is time for the congress to focus on what the american people sent us here to do. the ultimate measure of whether we have a functioning house is not by partisanship. our focus should be on working across party lines for its own sake. the true test is whether our ideas, policies, and values are able to stand the test of a fair debate and a fair vote. sadly, that is something we have not seen in the house for some time. of course, it is hard to guarantee a fair debate when the majority has the ability to change the votes in the dark of night. without transparency, lawmakers can not hold each other accountable and the american people can not hold us to account. that is why we say that -- they

should all be published on line for at least three days before coming up for a vote. no exceptions, no excuses. this lack ofransparency speaks to a larger problem. the speaker's office has the capacity to unilaterally draft a bill and send it straight to the rules committee. woodrow wilson once said tt congress in session is on public exhibition. its president will send went from committee room to committee room today, he would take that statement back. the truth is, the much needed work of the committees has been coopted by the leadership. into many instances, we have legislators. we just have voters. we need to empower legislators

at the committee level. as members -- if members were more engaged in their committee work, they would be more invested to the final product that comes to the floor. printed thousand one-2006, i had the privilege to chair the education and work force committee. a ranking member of that committee was george miller. no one is going to confuse me and george miller for ideological soul mates. in just a few minutes -- in just a few years, you were able to work together to transform our committee from a backwater panel to the center of some of the biggest issues of the day. by focusing on our work, letting their members be legislators, and setting high standards, we were able to elevate the committee to its proper role. there is no reason why every single committee in the house cannot achieve the same thing. for those of you have watched

this for a while, for 50 years, it was the most partisan committee in the congress. while george and i did not agree early on that we could disagree without being disagreeable, much of this is up to the committee chairmen and ranking members themselves. if every committee chairmen started out with the mindset that there committee's bill could be the one tt actually comes to the floor, and better legislation would result. the chairman should not be content to churn out flawed bills and rely on the leadership to bill them out. the chairman to operate with the assumption that the bills that they are producing shoul go to the floor. they should assume tha they will be considered under an open and fair process. if all committee chairmen have

this -- chairman have this mentality, the result would be better legislation. at the education of workforce committee, we operated with a set of transparent rules that encourage deliberaon and landed the number of problems that we had. first we gave at least three days' note to the minority that we were going to move a bill. it was usually well beyond that, at least a week's worth of notice. that gave members plenty of time to gain the appropriate depth of knowledge. we also require that all bills the posted on line within 48 hours of being cast. believe it or not, there are committe that are not currently required to post these efforts at all. if we post these records on line, more members would be -- would do their jobs, attend

committee proceedings and weigh in on a bill before it gets to the floor. any amendment that has to be posted online within 24 hours of being adopted. after the committee process, and before it gets to the rules committee. i just do not think that is acceptable. we should require that all committees meet these standards. we should require that all committees, a special e rules committee, post complete transcripts online. with obvious exceptions for those panels dealing with classified information. to insure that there is propped brock -- proper oversight, congress should review its internal committee structure. this has not been done in 15 years. just think about that.

we cannot ask our members to be more engaged if they sit on three different committees and a handful of subcommittees. we currently have a rules require -- regarding member limitation, but they're always waved. -- waived. we need to rethink this. i know i have covered a lot of ground here and run at a lot of ideas. some of them may get off the ground in the next congress, some may not. but i do believe that it is important that we had a discussion and equally vital at that discussion starts right now. reform should always be an ongoing and inclusive effort. i did not have all the answers and i would not pretend that i had all the answers. i welcome ideas and helping hand from any law maker or any citizens about how to make this institution function again. americans too long for a better

government must continue to speak out. when they do, i believe it is our responsibity to listen to them. do not confuse my entsiasm for any dilution of how well much of this is going to be received by my colleagues. i was doing an interview earli today and the reporter said that they had spoken to one of the board men around the house and asked, what do you think it would be life if john boehner became the speaker? the doorman said, we will be working longer hours. the reporter said why is that? because there'll be more amendments. i can remember early on in my career, when i got long stairs from the members, many of them of my own party.

soone just what the other way and others would be some right smack in my face. i feel like i have a permanent brews at the top of my chest -- bruise. that is probably a reaction i will get to some of the things i talked about today. we cannot just keep kicking the can down the road. we are running out of road. it is time to do what we say we're going to do. from our constituents, our government, and the people are selling for the next best thing is no longer good enough. -- selling bore the next best thing is no longer good enough. he faced a insurgent revolt by both democrats and republicans. even though this fall from power was imminent, the speaker refused to resign, calling it a confession or a weakness or a mistake or an apology. that right there was his

mistake. those powers, they were not his to use as a personal guard or shield. they were given him to guard and shield the interest of the american people. the speaker -- until 1925, he told the house on the day, i want to effectively assist in bringing about the universal recognition of the fact that this house closer as it is to the people than any other similar body and more directly responsive to their will is the most dominant legislative assembly in the world. let that be our goal. a people's house that is quiet to in its effectiveness, but unmistakable in its pride and purpose.

we should pursue this work as if the future of the institution depends on it. because it does. let me thank all of you for being here today. i look forward to your questions. [applause] >> thank you for a splendid talk. the leader has time for several questions. the comments, i will call on people. if you could please introduce yourself, and give your affiliation before asking the question. >> thank you.

thank you for a very thoughtful and constructive talks. a call to return to the regular order. i want to ask you a two-part related question. you called for what would be a much larger number of appropriations bills and by breaking up be a dozen into a whole lot more. you've also appropriately called for more open rules. if you put the two of those things together, it will take a lot of time. i would like for you to discuss how to make that balance. i would like for you to discuss something a little bit further. i believe it would be much better if the house moved to a regular schedule, which would be three weeks in washington, one week off, five days a week from five -- from 9:00 a.m. -- from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m..

would you be willing to think about to or endorse something like that? >> the issue of scheduling the house is one that obviously affects every single memb. trust me, every single member will be way- will wait in. you have to understand that part of our job is here, representing our constituents. part of our time is to be in our own districts, listening to our constituents and trying to find the right balance is a subject of debate and discussion all the time. i do think that one of the most important things that we did in 1995 was published the schedule and about 99% of the time stick to the schedule that was published. that gives members more certainty about when ey are required to be in washington. they will schedule their te borat -- at home more effectively. it was one of the biggest changes that happened in terms of affecting members.

we never knew when the next trip was going to start. until the thursday before or friday. we never knew when the week was going to end. you cannot plan your life, -- you could that plan are life or time to see your constituents. it would bring dramatic change in terms of members and their lifestyles and the fact that most of my colleagues have families. they want to see their families. i do believe that things like this require a real conversation between the two leaderships that really happens so rarely. the other issue you brought up was the issue of time spent doing appropriations bill. i understand it would take more timeo break up some of these bills, or you could bring a bill to the floor and you could

consider certain sections separately from the others. yes, it may take more time. frankly, open rules take more time. around naming post offices and celebrating someone who died 100 years ago. we might have the time -- we're spending their money. >> [inaudible] >> i am with the hudson institute. thank you for your remarks. today it was annoced that bob donnell might be dropping its health insurance coverage for thousands of workers -- mcdonald's might be dropping its health insurance coverage for thousands of workers 38 how would you solve this? thousands more workers may be

using -- losing their health insurance coverage. >> if you believed like i do? obama-care will bankrupt our country, we have made it clear that we want to repeal its and replaced it with common sense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance. having said that, at if we are in the majority, there will be a bill to repeal its. i cannot speak for what will happen in the senate and i do not want to speak about what president obama may or may not do with the bell. secondly, there were $550 billion worth of medicare cuts in the health care bill. what would we use it to save medicare? instead of taking it from medicare that does not have it and starting a brand new program? i would repeal the five and a

$50 billion worth of medicare cuts. let's see how many votes that debt -- that bill gets in the house and senate. they will need money from the congress to hire 22,000 new federal employees to run it this monstrosity. i can just assure you there will not be one dime from this congress to expand this. wh i say we are going to do everything to make sure that this law does not go into effect, we will do everything. is that clear? >> [inaudible] >> i am from the american enterprise institute. i appreciate your personal opposition to earmarks and york leadership -- and your leadership. you had said that the decision will be one for the congress,

whether to continue that ban. the purpose oe pledge was to let people know in advance of the election what the republicans are going to do when they get into power. >> no. theledge was about a legislative agenda that can be enacted now. we will do evething we can to imement as much of that pledge as we can implement today. >> my question is, why wasn't earmark ban in the pledge? shouldn't people knelt before they going to be voting booth whether the republicans will continue the air mark band? >> the pledge s about and a legislative agenda that can be enacted today. day, republicans have unilaterally imposed an earmarked moratorium on ourselves. we have already taken care of that. there is an earmark moratorium in place. it will be up to the next congress, but i'm here to tell

you that we are not going to see earmarks of we have seen in the past -- passed under a republican majority find the speaker of the house. -- if i and the speaker of the house. >> american enterprise institute? -- most people see toxicity when looking at the congress. i think he gave a great speech about reforms, most of which will probably move us in the best direction. what can you do to bring the house back to where it was 50 years ago when people talked to each other, drawing together, and so on? >> there is no question that there is a lot of discouragement that has been created on both sides of the aisle.

both parties are to blame. you open up the legislative process. its members in the committee understand that it is their bill that is going to the floor, and the committee chairman understand that their bill that they have to defend, the leadership is not going to wait a rules and bail them out, you will haveore in gazed legislators from both sides of the aisle. but it comes to theloor, if there is a more open process, and members are alled to participate, guess what? it lets the steam out of the place. when you look at what is happening, there are about five people the determine the out, of the legislative process. -- outcome of the legislative process. that is dead. 430 of us stand on the sidelines and watch. i just think it is

reprehensible. wh people want to look up to us as the greatest legislative body ithe history of the world, and they see how it is working today, it will not surprise the american people. it may surprise those who he not watched a closer. -- watched it closer. >> good afternoon. we have about 200,000 employees in the united stat. you talked about oversight, the collective role in congress. oblast decade or so, oversight has been very partisan. -- over the decade or so, oversight has been very partisan. clearly, in our sector, we use science to measure the outcomes of these projects. if it is successful, you have metrs to show that it is. can you address the -- the

overght role of congres >> our committee did oversight. i think we did effective overght. it was not about driving some political agenda. it was about getting to the bottom of how our program is working. we were involved in an effort to bring the wheel trains -- will change and try to ensure that low-income kids had a better shot at a high-quality early childhood development. we had a series of hearings to get to the bottom of what was happening in the head start programs. i thought it helped us develop a much better legislation. i am talking about oversight here. i am talking about having a set of standards. i am talking about a uniform way to approach this. it is not about going after somebody. it is about getting to how we are spending the american

pele's money. where did not spend enough time providing scrutiny to the money that we give to these agencies and how they spend it. let's look at the stimus bill. it has been a rationale for 20 months. every single day, there is some nightmare story coming out about how those funds are being spent. where is the congress? why aren't they holding these agencies accountable? it is always easier to spend someone else's money. congress has to begin to understand that we have a solemn responsibility to our constituents to spendheir money wisely on a program that works. >> we are over our time. i am going to try to fit into or three more questions. -- in two or three more questions.

>> i wanted to know, you have come up with some proposals about how you balance the budget. how do you actually reduce the by refusing to touch the defense budget? >> to balance the budgets, congress has to get its arms around the spending here in washington and we have to have a healthy economy bad debts americans working again so they can care for themselves and their family. you cannot have a healthy economy if you expect to reinvest in the economy and hire more people. i think that the way forward is very clear. to get our arms around spending and do everything we can t ensure that we have a healthier econy that is putting americans back to work.

>> i thi theiggest frustration that people have is [inaudible] the budget deficits, the unemployment. [inaudible] >> y del we start with a new microphone? -- why don't we start with a microphone? >> just speak up. >> you were saying frustration. [laughter] >> the frustration of not knowing information what's lead to those issues. i really appreciate that. back in combination with t

republican party purifying themselves has restored a good deal of my face. most people are still getting information from television. i am being one and% at serious. -- 100% serious. we can give the information to the population, so that the voter is educated. they will pick a fiscal conservative. >> i do not have regular conversations with him. it certainly would be beyond my job description to suggest to them how to run his network. i will say this. think about 1994 and think about 2010. in 1994, we had one radio talk show up in america that no one had ever heard of. we had 124-hour news channel.

we had an internet that only a couple of the antiques were using. -- geeks. the law is no facebook, et youtube. when you think about where we are today and the information age, the american people are getting their news from entirely different sources than they did in 1994. almost half of the american people choose to get their news all of the internet. when you looked at these studies about how people are informing themselves, they have got so many choices. they are choosing where they want to get their information. i just think the explosion of information available to the american people is at the hearts of the political rebellion that is going on in america as we

speak. they are gettingore information about their converse than they have ever gotten. -- about their congress than they have ever gotten. >> my apologies to those who have been waiting patiently. we have to get speaker -- leader boehner back to his agenda. thank you very much. [applause] >> democratic leaders talk about their agenda after the elections. some of the topics include health care and financial legislation. thurston, the house agreed by a one-vote majority to adjourn without extending bush era tax cuts until after the november elections. now remarks from house speaker nancy pelosi.

this is about 30 minutes. one week and monday after the president asked for bold action to take our country in a new direction, congress passed the recovery act. because of that, 3.6 million jobs were saved or created for our economy. they proceeded from there with a blueprint for the future. the statement of national values contained by this proposal. from overtaxes to the metal tags in creating jobs.

health care and innovation in the classroom were paramount. we are trying to make education more affordable for working american families. we are proud to stand with those that fought for social security and medicare and now health care for all americans. it is a right, not a privilege. health care, better quality low- cost. it needs to be more accessible to americans. recognizing innovation, it begins in the classroom and the way we -- the reason why we passed the education bill as well. we want pell grants to be increased in the help of institutions. following that, we pass the wall

street reform legislation with, -- which is something that has not been done in decades on wall street. including in that, however most sweeping consumer protection in the history of our country. the list goes on and on. we are very pleased with what we have done for veterans. a historic transformation of changes in terms of putting our veterans first every single day. our investments in small businesses. we started with the president on the steps of the capital. we have come to a point where the president signed a small business build -- bill. $300 million for our small

businesses, which is covered job creator. all of this in a fiscally sound way. economist told us if we had not acted, the recovery act, other initiatives we would have 8.5 million people unemployed. we would have even worse and a deeper deficit. we are very proud of the work of the congress. we work closely as a team and with the leadership to make this happen. none of it would have been possible without leadership president barack obama. as we go forward, a spirit of optimism, we are pleased about taking the message in fighting for the middle class in moving forward in not going back of

making it in america. and not shipping jobs overseas, giving tax cuts for all americans to create jobs which will increase the deficit and to preserve social security and medicare and not privatize it. these are the priorities we have going into the election. we are very proud of many of these issues that relate to our issues in america. having well paying jobs here and not shipped them overseas. a great leader in that regard. it is leading the effort to make it in america.

>> our agenda has been designed so that every american -- individual can make it in america. president obama and congress took the oath of office, america was facing the worst economic crisis since the great depression. we were losing almost 800,000 jobs per month. over a quarter of the personal wealth in america had been wiped out. we are in a record amount of debt. from the day we began our work. we have had the legal to create jobs and build a solid foundation for the future. there is no doubt that americans are still hurting and there is a long way to go. the economy is around -- has added a around 3 million jobs. we added 136,000 manufacturing

jobs during the first seven months of this year. that is the longest sustained growth in 13 years. democrats have worked hard to pursue the make it in america agenda. there are reasons for companies to create jobs in america and not take them overseas. not outsourced them. building an environment to encourage investment and innovation in america. the most recent make it in america bill was signed on monday. it was by the president. its provides an additional $12 billion for small businesses. some 60 never bills -- it

provides an additional $30 billion to help expand and create jobs. yesterday be created another make it in america bill which calls china accountable for its manipulation. this bill puts to to keep american jobs. in the long run, the economy will struggle with the children are drowning in debt. as president bush and the republicans brought up the deficit, the democrats are putting us back on a fiscal plan that is sound. we are making certain that congress will pay for what they purchase. president obama created a bipartisan fiscal commission and

we will vote on the recommendations. we have a great deal of work that has to be done, obviously, before the economy has fully recovered. on behalf of the working families, this contrasts sharply with the republican plans to deliver the exact same agenda. this explode the deficit and give us the worst economy since herbert hoover. we will want to read instilled confidence in every american -- we want to instill confidence in every american that they can and will make it in america. i will yield to the extraordinarily successful democratic whip from south carolina.

>> thank you very much. i do not think that there is anything more central to the families making it in america than for us to protect the people who protect america. this congress has been tremendously successful. we are focusing the fight against the terrorists. we give a pay raise to the soldiers and gave them body armor. and the armored vehicles that they need. we have improved health care for 5 million veterans. we have expanded the health care services for women and we have provided retroactive fitting for soldiers who had their service extended. and we made certain that vietnam veterans and survivors exposed

to agent orange will receive their long-overdue benefits. we have expanded the gi bill, from the democrats in the last congress, to provide to the veterans of iraq and afghanistan. this is for all the children cent -- of fallen soldiers since 2011. despite this rhetoric, the republicans failed to make necessary investments in the soldiers. they jeopardize the economic security of military families and we are also moving american families forward. we passed the historic health reform that makes coverage more affordable for the small businesses and families. we implemented the patient's bill of rights to stop the

insurance companies from denying coverage to children with different conditions, or dropping people when they get sick. this will end of the limits to lifetime coverage. and they will stay on these policies until age 26. health reform reduce the deficit with $43 billion in the first 10 years, and $1.20 trillion over the next 10 years. but unfortunately, republicans are prompted to repeal health care reform and benefits that come with us. we must continue moving america forward. to help us get this done, the next speaker is making certain

that every one of the people who voted for this landmark legislation will come back here next year and will keep moving america forward. >> thank you very much. as the speaker and all that colleagues have said, this is reflecting choices. this is the choice that is made about the priorities for the american people moving forward. the choice that we made was to rein in the power of some of the big corporate special interests that had their sway during the previous eight years. there was an economic agenda that served the interests of some very few special interests at the expense of american consumers and american workers

and american taxpayers. the choices that we made were in support of the american workers and taxpayers and american consumers. with the wall street reform bill, we will make certain that the taxpayers will never again be left to pick up the tab, and never again will the workers across the country be held hostage by reckless gamble in parts of wall street. this piece of legislation ended the -- the bank reshoot -- the bank rescue initiative, for the secretary. we pass this legislation, and not only did our republican colleagues oppose this but they have made this one of the central planks of their

platform repealing this. this is accomplishing what many of the lobbyists here were not able to do. to turn back the clock and give that power back to the big banks on wall street at the expense of the american consumers. we spoke about the higher education legislation, making certain that children could afford their college education. the choice that we made was to say that some of the biggest banks do not need to be taking a big cut of taxpayer dollars. not without taking any significant risk. we have to make certain that this goes to students struggling to get through college. the large banks do not need this. this choice was reflected what came to making certain that teachers -- this would have led

to smaller class sizes and we made certain that local school districts had the funding to make certain that this was in the classroom. we paid for this by shutting down these perverse loopholes in the tax code. these reword multinational corporations that shift their jobs overseas. on the other side of the aisle, they said not to do this. they were putting the interests and the profits of multinational corporations above the interests of american workers. the issue of outsourcing, one of the most popular recommendations made by the american people when the republicans that they're listening to or, you will not find one mention of outsourcing. not one of them in a 47-page

document. this did not fit with the economic agenda that they were wanting to pursue for the previous eight years. similar choices were made with respect to health insurance. health insurance premiums quadrupled, and profits went through the ceiling. under the new bill that we passed, with the cost of premiums, we will make certain that the kids in america will not be discriminated against because they have asthma or diabetes or some other pre- existing condition. finally, on the health-care issue, we saw that that the budget on the floor of the house last year. this would have cut medicare by 75% over time, turning this into

a program with no guaranteed benefits, to say, you are off on the private insurance market. this was their health care proposal. this would greatly benefit a lot of the same insurance companies that oppose the health care reform bill. let me end with this. we have seen the response to a lot of the special interests and their power has been reined in as a result of the wall street reform bill. and the end of special tax breaks and outsourcing. they are spending millions of dollars trying to defeat the people who are trying to rain this in. and to support the people that would return to the economic agenda for those particular entities. that is what is going on and that is why when it comes to the

disclosed bill, you can say whatever you want about the records of the members of congress for your opponents. just tell us about this. tell us who is paying for those advertisements. the voters have the right to know. the fact of the matter is that they do not want to tell the american voter who is paying for this. this is becoming more and more clear, served by the economic policies of the previous eight years. and by the measures that we took in this congress. as the american people look at the records, they will see the choices ahead of us. >> i thank my colleagues and my majority leader, and the

assistant to the speaker and the chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee for being here today, for the families every single day. and we would be pleased to take any questions. >> you talk a lot about choices, but there are some choices that your caucus was unable to make this week or this year, with no decision or budget, or voting on what to extend with tax cuts. what can you say about republican charges that he did not have the will to govern? >> do any of my colleagues want to take this? >> i think that i answered this. what does the budget do? this is in the congress with upper level spending.

we were passing this and the budget beyond this, this estimate the allocations. we have a budget resolution and we will follow this. the second part of the equation, we will make certain there are no additional tax cuts for americans -- no tax increases for americans. this goes up to $250,000. we will do this until the end of the year. this is when the phasing out of these taxes would have required an increase in their taxes. >> on the same note, it is more than one month until election day. and you are paid by the taxpayers. does it seem strange that the taxpayers are funding members to

go out and campaign for the next month? >> these members are called representatives. the title is one of these things. the constituents want to hear what they are saying about these issues. so that they can represent them. this is listening to what they have as their priorities, so that they can come back here and fight for those priorities. this is not just what happened in washington. there is the job in the district, and the job in washington d.c. to vote for this. the members who work very hard go to their constituents to make the judgment about this. and that is how they spend their time. >> across town, there is a

speech about reforming congress from john boehner. they said the institution does not function and does not deliver and does not support the people. i wonder what you think about those messages in the argument that he is cleaning up? >> i think that everyone is very aware of the fact that john boehner was part of the republican party in the house that engaged in a number of efforts that i think were not held in very high regard for the american people, beginning with the k street project which was an attempt to essentially have a fusion between special interests on k street and the legislative

agenda of the republican party. what we are finding out from the platform is that the fusion remains there to the state. upjohn dana invited a lot of wall street lobbyists down here to washington -- john boehner invited lobbyists from wall street down to washington to look at the reform bill and this is a major part of their agenda. the measures that were taken by the speaker of the house, represent a dramatic change from before. when it came to making certain that we held our members accountable, we had the outside group to review all of those cases, so that we have the independent bodies and we have

judgments about those and the recommendations. we have earmarked reform. there was a lot of talk about -- on the republican side about how they would have a moratorium on earmarks. i want for you to look at the 47-page document and i challenge anyone to find anything in their about these reforms. we have reformed the process and have reduced the number of these earmarks, at the time when john boehner was the -- the process is transparent and the numbers have come down. we no longer provide this for

the nonprofit operations because this is distorting the market. it is clear that the republicans would return to this. and i will be ending with us. when it comes to the process of holding people accountable, because when they were in trouble they would change the rules, retroactively, to protect them. it is their interesting to see this. i am the chairman of the ethics committee which brought serious charges against some of their members, i think that this is going to take a great leap of faith, for the american people to believe that one of the architects of the republican policies will be reforming them when their own documents that

they have released show the continued relationship between the policies that they express and -- >> the republican strategy continues to be creating gridlock, and failure. that is their objective. in the house and the senate. the result is that they failed. this is the most productive congress in recent memory. they failed, but they gave the impression to the american people that they could not work together because this was the local strategy. and now they have made a pledge to the american people, as has

been pointed out not by myself or by the speaker, or by the democrats. this is by the speech writer for george bush. this is when he said, speaking about this document, that there is a pledge to do nothing. the american people want performance. i have three criteria, we are moving america forward. this congress has been extraordinarily productive, contentious because not only because i have claimed the degree of credibility by working in a bipartisan fashion with what blood and others to make america secure. this is to make america have a

better democracy, for the security and the welfare of our nation. unfortunately, the party of "no" has been using obstructionism and now claims that there is nothing happening in the congress and the pledge is nothing. >> i will add one thing to that. when we talk about cooperating with republicans, it was the democrats in the house of representatives it took the lead to pull us out of the financial crisis. and we were told because we ask, not because we were asked, we were told that if we did not

act immediately, there would be no economy on monday. this was a thursday night. this is how far down the road the financial crisis had taken us. we understood that we would have to do reform and we would do this in a way that was different from the bush said ministration. this is almost where we are at right now. this was a very big level of cooperation. not even the republicans in the house of representatives gave this to their president of the united states. it is no wonder that john boehner wants to talk about this process. they have no issues to take to the american people. if they want to talk about process we can do that. we would rather be talking about progress rather than process. this is what the president's had

scheduled to measure about success. >> the president is expected to choose a replacement for rahm emanuel with pete rose. what do you think about this man going on to run for mayor? >> the first thing to say about rahm, he has a great reputation and affection among his former colleagues in the house of representatives. and he will be able to do anything that he will set his mind to. we wish for him to have much success. as far as raus is concerned, the only concern is whether he has the confidence of the president of the united states. he has served our country well.

and as the choice of the president, we salute temper and offer our cooperation. >> will you endrose rahm, madam speaker? [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> today is one nation working together rally with 150 state

and national organizations, including the naacp and union groups are participating and we will also hear from civil rights and labor leaders, and sports figures. you can watch live coverage from the lincoln memorial at 12:00 eastern on c-span. >> the local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look at some of the most closely contested house races leading up to the midterm elections. >> what is keeping you up tonight? >> all the money that the government is spending. i worry about what will happen to my grandchildren. >> and the small business owners? >> we have to have some fiscal discipline come into washington.

will we have the same opportunities that we had growing up. >> we have to make a change. >> i completely agree. >> this is mathematical. you have to pay more money in. i do not think that this would be a bad idea. >> if times were better -- >> we should put everything on the table. but if you start trading off, this the general philosophy that i have. >> you have dan seals running

for the democrats. he lost to mark hertz who is running with 47% of the vote. he was working for ge capital and then on the right, you have a political newcomer. he has a pest control company in chicago that is well known. he lives in highland park. they make over $100 thousand a year. this is traditionally a republican in congress and a democrat for president. this is one of three or four seats in the country that the democrats believe that they can get back from the republicans

even by losing as many as 40 seats across the country otherwise. this goes from the suburbs of the northern shore, very well educated suburbs. this goes a little bit west, into the more moderate suburbs. and this goes into more struggling areas, like north chicago which are heavily hispanic. >> on the bus line transportation -- you would never get a job. many people want to support their family instead of going to get food stamps or things like that. not everybody is wanting to sit down and not do any thing. many of us want to help out. we have no where to start right now. you have the programs that try

to help you and this is not successful. we have to have something successful to support the families instead of being here doing nothing. >> what are you going to do and what kind 04 lead will you take to address this regulation. this goes to china with is this -- the pacific rim. >> i think that the voters are focused on jobs. in addition to that, taxes. part of this group has really been hit hard by unemployment, above 15% in some areas. they want to hear the candidates talking about how they will be put to work. >> the business challenge is making certain that other people know the difference between myself and my opponent. we're working to get the economy back on track but we're not

willing to compromise on the social values. i want to protect a woman's reproductive rights. my opponent is wanting to make environmental law weaker. my opponent wants to privatize social security. i think that this is a terrible campbell and it will add $2.20 trillion to the national debt. >> we have to create an environment that will allow the private sector to expand. there will be contrast between myself and my opponent about how we will do that. my opponent has been working with the democrats to grow the government. but i believe that there is a better way. in powering the individuals and small businesses to grow, with the equipment and materials to expand their business. >> of the candidates are running into the metal and running into each other.

dan is going after him on social issues, showing him as anti-abortion, and dole says he is pro choice. he is talking about the environment and other issues that work well. he is trying to align them with health care bill, and other major government spending. he is trying to portray him as wanting to raise taxes. that is the other side of the district and they make up the number of voters who are socially moderate. they have to come apart from the party. these are not popular anywhere across the country and he is leading to stand aside from the democrats. obama is around 50% in the district but the voters deny

want to make certain that there is a democratic congress. they have to portray themselves as independents politicians. both of the campaign's focus on us. $10 million was spent on both sides in 2008. the candidates were there to raise between $2,000,000.3999999 dollars. this is a place where democrats believe that they can take over republican seats. and we will see the democratic congressional campaign committee and the republican committee -- is very expensive to purchase ads in the chicago market. >> the local content vehicles are traveling the country as we look at the most closely contested house races leading

to the midterm election. for more on what these vehicles are doing, go to c-span.org/lcv. >> this weekend and through december, listen to a landmark supreme court cases on c-span radio. >> in no time during the investigation, and prior to his confession, was the advice of his right to remain silent, his right to counsel, or his right to consult counsel. >> this is on c-span radio at 90.1, channel 132 on x-m radio and at c-span.org. >> issa spoke about his plans for the government and oversight reform committee. he spoke at the heritage

foundation for about half an hour. >> that is a pleasure to welcome you to the auditorium, and we welcome the people who are joining us on heritage.org. we will ask you to turn off your cellular phones. we remind people on the internet that questions can be submitted throughout the program. we will show the program within 24 hours. discussing this is the executive vice president of the heritage foundation. >> we may have had a first today. and congressman arriving on a vespa. he usually rides something bigger. he came over and they had to come back to cast a vote.

we're getting a new building over there. thank you so much for being here and on line, watching from your computer's and elsewhere. we are delighted to having this program on reforming broken government, with challenges to oversight. we are delighted to have one of our favorite congressman here to talk to us about this topic. he is a ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform and this is the main investigative committee of the house, and has the authority to conduct oversight and does everything that the government does. this is a growing number of activities. as the government grows, so does the waste and fraud and abuse of

taxpayer money. the larger that the government gets, the harder it is to get the government to do only what they are supposed to do. there was a report that was issued last week, talking about the constitutional obligation of the congressional branch. he has released this for congressional oversight in this area of growing government. this is the latest salvo in his battle to eliminate the misuse of public money to expose government overreach. the washington examiner said of the congressman and his oversight, he may be the most effective republican ever to serve on this panel that has the

power to change the course of government profoundly. >> and now i have to live up to this. >> we would like to thank you for your own personal support of everything that we do here. in the new building, although all over there, next to the family foundation, this is listed over there. it is great that you believe in this mission and we believe in your mission. we're happy to have their allies of -- we are happy to have darrell issa here today. >> for those who want to serve in washington, i advise that you have your staff to give you clippings to read every day about the unkind things that are said about you. the kind of things repeated far

too often. when you make a mistake around here, it is the other opinion of what your doing. this is not a mistake. we are able to read our own policy -- our own positive press, and we look at what we are doing for people rather than what we are doing to our democracy. i am dedicated to this committee because the american people have all the truth and access to greater amounts of real information about where the money is spent, where someone else's money is spent, since about half of the americans the longer pay any taxes. they will change the government in how they vote but they will change them every day. i work with the group that gives me tremendous access to information and thoughts into these ideas that make a difference. i work with a group called togo.

i assumed this was the democratic front organization, and they do lean to the left. but they go in the same direction with transparency and oversight. i want to give you a few thoughts on the constitutional obligations of the first branch of government. it is clear that the executive branch is doing what they should do. asking for more money to do more things and to make the executive branch more relevant. there is nothing wrong with that. the supreme court has done the same thing except they make decisions and if we did not stop them they will stand. we appropriately oversee. reauthorize and we over say.

or do we? -- oversee. or do we? in 2005 held hearings and used a subpoena to talk to leaders of the major oil companies because their organization, which was known as memorable -- mineral manage service was too cozy with the oil companies and did not care about the money of the american people. billions of dollars of these contracts were not collected. the oil company gave us documentation that they had informed the mineral management service that the contracts were faulty and the money would not be paid as a result and they were told not to worry, even though the statute called for this to be collected. this was 2005.

everyone should be ashamed that in 2005, we had an organization that did not care about the american people. and more about the parties that they had at the expense of the oil companies, we did nothing about this. we did not do the reform that was connected to oversight. five years went by and we know what happened in the gulf. we will find a couple of things for certain. british petroleum takes primary responsibility, and all the signs of those dangers were right there since 2003. they were well known and well informed. the organization was too cozy with them and they did not do anything and congress did nothing about this organization

until the oil spill in 2010. this is both overside, and oversight to the party in power is defined by what the president seems to think belongs to their political party. outside of power this is about one the other party is not doing. this will have to change once and for all. this will have to be bipartisan and this will have to transcend any changes with two is in charge. the loyal opposition has tremendous authority in oversight. this is because the party in power is said to have all the power and the only balance is what you create. we did not anticipate this with the size of government, knowing

where this was that. my committee cannot fix the problems of your government. from a financial standpoint. we collect 2.1 trillion dollars every year and this is miraculously the size of the entitlements with social security and medicare, to consume all the money that we collect. and we borrowed $1.40 trillion to take care of the building next door, the parks system and the irs and everything else that is considered discretionary, including the army, the navy, the air force and the marines. only through cuts and appropriation can we get to anything that resembles a balanced budget and a fiscally responsible government. why would you come here if you cannot do anything? i think that we can do something about this.

we will create transparency where everybody who can use google and also research waste and fraud in government. we have to break through the tendency for web sites that are mostly propaganda when they are not putting up a data base that is searchable against the other databases. this has been bipartisan. we are working for integrity that is there in every part of government. individuals in some parts, have gone to the sec to do this. the chairman and i put forward amendments that were accepted by the house and the senate, -- we would have had the data necessary to tell people what

they were looking at. many of the people have gone to the images to see the person that you have googled. how many people have ever done this and done all the right picture is rather than somebody who was at the same conference or any number of other pictures? the difference between every picture being the person that you are trying to find, or somebody with the same name, the difference is that if we the government insist that things be put in in an orderly fashion and everything is unique and the reference material and the data base references this in a way that can be searched and as long as you have all the information, such as issa from cleveland, ohio, you will likely get the

same image. this is the difference that government can give you. we have 74 inspectors general in the united states government. those inspectors, only one of them has subpoena power. all 74 of them need the power. and they will need this more than i need this. the first obligation of government is to have people close to the store on the side of the taxpayers. now they do not have the power to get information but if they are asking too many times they will be fired. this will continue to happen without reform in those major areas. congress must be revised and consent before the firing of the ig and they should be able

to get the information that they want to have. these people were confirmed to know what is happening in this branch of government that they are dealing with. to prove how important that this is, the department of defense, being the only department that has this, because they have authority they have never had to use this. you will get compliance if this is expected. let me digress a little bit. growth in government is the problem and we want to take the large parts of government and not follow ronald reagan. sharing revenue and sending this down. this is great as a transition period but we have to take the entire parts of the government and give us back to the people. if you figure out how to raise the money to do what you need to

do. this includes major parts of roads, and the bridge to nowhere would have been a legitimate project of the people prioritized this with the revenue that they generated, rather than looking and saying, you have a powerful senator, and you will get more out of this. where will we be spending this? the same is true in public education and so many areas. we are going to have to tackle the $2.10 trillion that we consider entitlements but that all federal. we will grow things like the armed forces. i was in an airplane with a rare animal. this is one of 270 officers in the navy. he was upset with the growth of the size of government this is

double what it was 10 years ago. and after you deal with normalizing this for a number of reasons, they have said that we can get more money and once we get more money, we will not be able to live without this. i want to make certain that the military is strong and properly funded. there is waste in the military, and that is just people asking for what they want like in every federal bureaucracy. i said i would be taking a digression, but now i will close and take questions. but today they are talking about a tax increase against a non-tax increase. we have $1.40 trillion in the annual deficit. if we take the people with a quarter million dollars per year and give them a tax rate of almost 5%, this will somehow be

helpful to us. and this will. $1.40 trillion, 5% is $70 billion. this is real money and i will not tell a group of conservatives that this is not real money. where will you get the other $1.33 trillion in shortage? we often take more from the wreckage. we will assume that they did not pay any other taxes, that the rich people pay their taxes and so on. i was doing some arithmetic. if we take just over 108% of this, we still do not quite get there. but we will cut this by $910 billion. if we take the income of everybody over $250,000 and take

everything, we reduce the deficit from $1.40 trillion, to roughly half of $1 trillion. we will be able to do this and make certain that people pay their fair share. he will never have the opportunity to have over one quarter of $1 million or they will take all of this. californians expect this money and a little bit over 10% to pay their bills. this is how big the problem as if you take 100% of the top producers of income. 100% of small-business profit is over $250,000. with that, i will take your questions on any subject. that being the subject of the day. [applause]

>> those are great statistics. >> i wish that i had better statistics. >> i am using a microphone. it seems that in my adult life, the only time that this country was successful in running a surplus was under the democrats by cutting the military. is this politically feasible to cut the deficit by reducing spending without affecting the military? >> it is not. would you like a better answer?

i will comment on what you have said. this is under bill clinton and the republican house and senate. they have increased taxes more than any president before him, and only a couple of years after, the republican increased taxes and we had back-to-back unwinding of the 20% that of reagan left us with. this went from 28% to 39%. we stuck this to the rich, and then we had a period of austerity. how many years -- how many of you are pilots? i will tell you something. any airline can climb up. if you get up to full speed, you can climb vertically for some time. in the airplane at 10,000 feet will be able to fly without any

engine for some time. cutting back on the military has been up and down, excess deficit. i was in the army as a young lieutenant. under jimmy carter -- i watched a peace dividend. we would pay a price for this. ronald reagan built on the military as part of the cold war strategy. we were the winner of the cold war. this is the worst way to take care of a stable and secure america. if we spend $400 billion on the military, we could spend this on the same basis and form budgets super help the military and except for the real conflicts we would not have to do that this much. the $300 billion or whatever that this is, of $4 trillion, if

this is the most important thing that the government does for you, you are already getting this. you have 2.1 trillion dollars of entitlements. for the young people in the room, you all have the axiom in front of you, which is your number for security. if you do not change something, you will never correct this or we will be so punitive in what we take that this will further disable the government. you pay 15% in those securities. medicare now goes forever. the social security will go forever, this is a way for $210 billion because he will take the same group of people and after they get to $250,000 you continue taxing them around $70

billion. and you will get to $210 billion. we can fix social security today, by taxing and 15%. but if you cannot control spending, you are no different than the airplane. and eventually the airplane is going to stop because you have the desire to lift and airplanes did not want to rise straight up. is this a concerned citizen? i am asking about the microphone. >> we have about $100 billion from the defense budget and at the armed services hearing, it was explained that if there were able to cut $100 million, they would be able to keep those funds, said that the defense to be able to keep whatever they

want. you will get to keep $50 billion. my question is that, nobody is wanting to touch defense budget. we have the engine proposal and what are the solutions that can be done when the secretary of the joint chiefs say that we do not need this money to allow for a logical reduction. >> i will be answering this and a couple of parts. you have to have the real cost of warfare, with iraq and afghanistan. this is a crime to not spend one penny that is not being spent there, which is different than over bush or obama with the supplementals. they have thrown in things that do not belong there, and not doing this at low-cost.

the army and navy, the air force and marines, the most important thing is that you actually ask for them to go back for the review and tell us where you would make the cut. this would start in the beginning. where will we be able to look at this with limited capabilities and cost. if you do not start this way -- i represent parts of march airforce base. some of them are in the fourth deployment. they were drinking brown water, it was more like beer than water. they have had wonderful improvements, where they are living in base housing and this may be a little bit smaller than this is clean and has the some water. this is where the cuts will

come. this is going to come out of the back end. nobody will cut the bullets necessary to win the war. this is why you have to say, we will make those cuts or otherwise it will come out of the health care of the soldiers. do not take this where jimmy carter had taken this. he did not want to say that we had lost the capability to fight iran, but he was sorry proud to cut the military. i did not agree with robert gates because what he is trying to do is do something quickly on his watch and this is the worst thing to do. he will need to have a four-year plan to show how we are. to prepare for the real threat and saving money. >> you have about 5 minutes because there is a vote that is coming up.

what's my question deals with your -- >> you had time to prepare? >> hatch introduced a bill about government agencies. this requires that you will publicly disclose the number of employees all along with the salaries of each of these employees. i am wanting to hear your thoughts on such disclosure if this is what meets the definition of transparency. >> samir, this is the difference between what has been done in the past and what i would like to do. we will put up a web site status -- they will spend transparency. but we need to have as many to

have their prob data base be searchable, including social security numbers and personal information. you have the right to know that this individual, not their personal information, is making this with the job description and you should be able to take this entering this the route -- to bring this out against everyone else. making $50,000 per person. you will not get this from another mandate. . .

really great companies, the wal-marts and the best buys, i could go on line every day and see every single store, every single one of my products and how many sold and how many were on the shelf. as a result, i could see the winning store and losing store and send salesmen out there to find out why somebody was having so much luck and another guy had never unpacked the product so of course it wasn't shelling because it wasn't on the shelves. that kind of transparency and business helped me help my best customers. and the ones who had it are

still in business. but let's bear in mind, it's not just the guy at the post office, it's the thousands of people who are doing there's a 1-7 ratio for every person who delivers the mail or packs the mail, for every seven of them there's one that is just a supervisor. that's a ratio that is so unacceptable in the private sector we can save lot of money in government. but first, you have to get past a good staff giving me a few talking points and get to where 306 million americans all have access to it. thank you all. >> thank you. [applause] >> by the way, he is going to

take the vespa back and i'm going to take the car because it's raining. >> thank you very much, congressman. thank you for joininging us. >> thank you very much. >> you're looking at the national mall in washington, d.c. where a coalition of groups called the one

>> this is something a lot of my friends are thinking about. i represent the wall street community. we have felt like a piniata. we feel like we are being whaked

with a stick. >> wall street is connected. providing loans to buy products of all of that is very important. we have to do so in a responsibly way. i have been amused over the last couple of years the sense of me beating up on wall street. most folks in main street feel like they've been beat up on. host: do you feel like main street has been too hard on wall street. the numbers are on the screen. send us a message at our everyone mail. journal at c-span.org or on

twitter c-span wj. go to twitter.com. . representing the wall street community wearing a suit decidedly not polyester. host: has the administration been too hard on wall street? the first call from dallas, texas. caller: i think he's been far too easy on wall street. look at his relationship with

reuben. many of the democratic senators are too intwined with wall street. it seems to me dodd and frank both started watering their bills down when it was announced. i think he's been way too easy on wall street. host: in your opinion, how could he get tougher on wall street? caller: how would he get tougher? he ought to work to get some of the bonuses down. salaries are outrageous. way out of proportion of those in any other particular field.

i think probably since he has replaced it -- host: we'll move on to the democratic line. caller: i would like to say as a lay person in finance, i am amused that the one making probably half a million, a million in salary that they would complain that the president is trying to make wall street not so greedy of doing all kind of things. one of the thing that's really shocked me and woke me up, when aig, the insurance people paid all that money to city corp,

goldman sach and get tarp money. they were getting money to aig and directly from the federal government. that told me then, i always will remember that. these are some really slick, crooked people. host: mr. obama used the question to whach him --

you give people a chance to say their peace. i appreciate that about c-span. there's so many shows that interrupt and i do appreciate that. i think main street has been beating up and one of the things we have to remember is wall street is one of the main engines for our economy. it's one of the main sources for creating jobs in america. and one of the things that we need to do is not overreact to something that happened by, it's like taking the very thing that creates your economy and then not overtaxing it and

overburdning it with regulation and then saying why aren't any jobs being created. the thing is we have to have a balanced approach to government and wall street. you can't tax the machine that creates jobs by taxes and regulation and then expect it to create jobs. i think the pendulum has swung way too over for social and bailouts by -- for unions and teachers unions and government employees. pension plans. all that has to be looked at together so we have a balanced approach to creating jobs. host: carlos in lakeland, florida. we got this twitter message. s t from coco chef, saying he needs to get out anthony, go ahead. >> i think that it's been the absolute opposite. the line for

go ahead. caller: i think it is the opposite. wall street has been beating up on main street for a long time. the misuse of hedge funds and the manipulation of the economy that has rilted in this enormous bubble. i always knew that the bubble had to burst sooner or later. no other place can people be so rewarded for such unbelievable

income tense and miss management. wall street shows a serious reform. that is to stimulate the economy to develop and help and work with the government to spur growth for those people less fortunate. it is amazing that these people can receive bonuses for doing such a horrible job. host: back to the "new york times" story.

host: you are on the line.

caller: i'm 90 years old. i wanted to ask colored man. why don't the colored people, instead of saying what we did to them but what we did for them. host: ma'am, this is more of a conference between administration and the people of wall street and not one based on race. caller: ok. i'm not a racist. that's just my comment. thank you. host: you think the administration has been too hard on wall street? caller: thank you. i think those have been too hard. business is going down.

now wall street is going up. he doesn't seem to like when anything goes up and he starts regulating more. we have sefrn seven pages of intrusion. this president has to be concerned more. union tempers are more in the public sector than private. it is time to clean up with what washington spends instead of looking into the private pockets

of what they can steal further. we have to bring down salaries in government. some are making $300,000, $400,000 a week. we have councilmen in california now going to jail because they were stealing money from the government. we have to clean up washington. leave the stock market alone. it's not all wealthy people. host: tell me about your developments in the stock market and how have you been doing? caller: very badly. very, very badly. i wish i was doing as well as washington. i'm not. i'm a senior citizen. my 401 k is a 201 k, medicare

advantage, this president is going to eliminate that. i can't afford a premium. host: we'll leave it there. in the wall street journal weekend edition.

host: north carolina on the line for republicans. has the administration been too hard on wall street? what do you think about our question? caller: my statement ask would be that there is no reset button when a new president takes office. no, i don't think that the president has done enough to wall street. you have to start out with higher regulations with regards to being able to come down to a

middle point. knowing where the bar is now is easier than having to bring the bar back up. host: shawn, how hard do you think the administration has to come down on wall street? caller: i think being able to move forward with being able to get wall street at a point where they are going to know how to control themselves and how to think of somebody oernl other than themselves. if you have a family member that is addicted, the first step is them admitting that they have a

problem. we raise our kids in a manner of wanting them to do what is morally right but when people are rewarded for doing wrong. it's no different than that mobster going out and being glorified. host: we'll leave it there.

host: florida on the line for independents. good morning. caller: thank you. past administration opened up the discount window. ben bernanke after martin luther king day lowered the discounty rate. we bail ourselves out of something that alan dpreen span and the previous administration had set up to lend money to people who had no money, no credit. the value of my home went from

$600,000 to $200,000. we sold all assets and stocks. we have been flat broke. i felt like it was a situation to bring down the loans we received from china and so forth on face value of 10 cents on the dollar for them. host: how do you want to see the administration moving forward in this administration with wall street and make things better for you? caller: they can better level out the playing ground by being harder on wall street and making it fair so that 90% of the

population isn't going to pick up the view made to bring down the playing field on the whole world. i see people left and right that have lost their homes and jobs. wall street should be picking up part of this tab. host: next caller. go ahead. caller: my first response is, are you kidding me. i'm an investor. if you get caught cheating, you pay a tenth of what you stole. host: what does the administration do?

caller: first of all, the fcc is a captured agency. second, they need penalties and new law that's say, if you steal, you pay ten times minimum of what you've stolen. if you are guilt you are watching live coverage here on c-span. >> for the national anthem, the stars spangled banner by angela brown. ♪ oh say can you see by the

dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ through the perilous fight ♪ over the ram parts we watched were so galantly streaming ♪ and the rocket's red glare ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ oh say does that stars spangled banner yet wave

♪ over the land of the freet ♪ -- free and the home of the brave ♪ ♪

>> we march for dreams deeply rooted in the american dream. >> we march for jobs, justice, and education. >> we march for an economy that works for everyone. >> we march for a nation in which people who want work can find a job which pays enough to support a family. >> we march to create a million new jobs right away because the national value that got us out of this great depression will get us out of this great recession. >> we march to build a world class public education system from public schools to community college because our nation must start unleasing the greats in of every child today. >> we march to racial profiling and resegregation from arizona to atlanta. >> we march to defend the voting rights act and 149sdz amendment. >> we march to advance human

rights, civil rights, equal protection, and dignity for everyone. >> we march to fix a broken immigration system because no child should live in fear that her parents will be deported. >> we march to a voice that works we march for green jobs and safe work places so no other will have to choose between theirlyhood and their lives. >> we march for a clean environment so our children will never have to be forced to drink the water, breathe air, and stay unhealthy. >> we march to demand full equality for all women in all communities and to end wage discrimination. >> we march to move our nation beyond this moment when a handful of senators can block urgently needed progress, fueling our national budget towards tax cuts for the wealthy, unjustified military

spending, and prisons. >> we march for peace abroad and job creation at home. >> we march for energy independence, public safety, and public transportation. because the nation we want to build most is our own. >> and on november 2, we will march again into the voting booths. >> we will bring our families, our friends, our neighbors. we will keep organizing. we will hold our leaders accountable and we will keep making our dream real. >> this movement will grow. it will put america back to work. it will pull america back together. and it will keep us moving forever forward. >> join us. we are one nation working together for jobs, for justice, for education, for all.

>> now welcome the urban nation choir as they present to us one nation working together. give them a hand. [applause]

♪ ♪ [applause]

>> one more time. ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> are you all ready? one, two, three. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ [applause]

♪ ♪ >> one more time. [applause] >> one more time for urban nation prior. ladies and gentlemen, now let me bring to you one of the most courageous voices in our nation today, a man who speaks with clarity and power, one that rocks power, one that understands power, and now represents a challenge to power. the one and only ed schultz. [applause] >> one nation. we are together. this march is about the power to the people.

it is about the people standing up to the corporations. are you ready to fight back? are you ready to stand up for your brothers and sisters? this is a defining moment in america. are you americans? are you americans? do you love america? it is time. it is a defining moment for this country. for us to look into our hearts and our souls, to really find out who we are as a people, as a country, as a family. the conservative voices of america, they are holding you down. they don't believe in your freedoms. they want the concentration of wealth.

they've shipped your job overseas. to our brothers and sisters who have fallen on hard times in this economic world, we stand with you today as one nation. to our brothers and sisters who have seen their jobs go overseas, we will not let it happen. we will fight back as one nation. to our brothers and sisters who have been discriminated against, this is not time to back down. this is a time to fight for america. you love this country. we love this country. we will sacrifice for this country. but that sacrifice cannot profit those at the top all the time. this is about the people. this is about one nation.

this is about our future. this is about our kids, our grandkids, the future of our country. we cannot back down. we will not back down. we must move forward. are you one nation? are you one nation? are you one nation? for the last two years president obama has had to put up with the word no. 40 people, 40 people in the united states senate have held down the working man of america. 40 republicans have decided to say no. while you suffer, while your jobs go overseas, while they strangle the money. they don't want to give toyota

the small businesses, -- to give it to the small businesses, they want to give it to the top. they want to see president obama fail. we cannot let that happen. we cannot let it happen. the lord is blessing this march with a great turnout and a beautiful day. i leave you with a message. we cannot give up on nober 2nd. we have not gotten everything we have wanted in the first two years. but we have to stand behind our leaders on the progressive agenda that is for the people and not always the corporations. it is for the family of america. the other side, they think it's about profit. they don't think it's about people. they don't want us to have

health care. they want it for profit. we will get universal health care some day in this country. we will create jobs. we will get the money to the small businesses. we will not let them ruin public education. if we let them do this to public education, we will be a different country. just remember, the great thing about public education is when the doors open, everyone is welcomed. the gifted, the challenged, the rich, the poor, those who need special help, those who get moved forward in advanced classes. this isn't about just a few people with the money. this is about all the people in

public education for the opportunity of america. we cannot let them cast down. we must fight. we must push back. our brothers and sisters, our union brothers and sisters across america. they have villified you. they don't want you to organize in the workplace. they suppress your vote. they delay the organization of collective bargaining. we will not stand by silent. we as one nation, we as one nation must stand together, must fight the forces of evil, the conservatives in this country across the board want it for them. they don't want it for the people. they talk about the constitution but they don't want to live by it. they talk about our forefathers but they want discrimination.

they want to change this country. and we as one nation stand up this day and say we will be there on november 2nd. we will not give up. we will continue to fight. are you americans? are you americans? do you love this country? then we must vote on november 2nd. god bless america. god bless our troops for keeping us safe. let's move forward for the country. >> in the current economic crisis, weaf sobering choice to make. we can let it pull our nation apart, or we can all pull together.

as vast and daunting as our problems seem to be, it is clear. we need more jobs. and we can generate those jobs as one nation working together. we need to value people over profits. so struggling families can become working families. we need to end economic greed on wall street and focus on the economic recovery of main street. working together, we can rebuild america. greener, more diverse, and fair. since our nation's founding, immigrant communities have always contributed to our nation's commerce and culture. wise, fair, and comprehensive immigration reform benefits everyone. working together we can curb the high cost of low wages. when people in poverty need social services they cannot afford, we all suffer. when millions of people lose their homes, we all suffer.

one nation working together. we can change lives. we can nurture businesses. we can educate our youth. we can empower communities. we can and will recover. working for the good of every individual and every family from our smallest towns and businesses to our biggest cities and corporations across the entire nation. we are one nation working together. >> on this historic spot and not be reminded of the 1963 march on washington which was organized by the great labor

leader a phil lip randolph. on that day, the nation was mesmerized by martin ludeser king's speech and all these years later it still inspires us. here to recall the steering words are jim dean, the chairman of democracy for america, chairman of the board of the naacp, roz lynn brock, lorne chambers. >> we have come to this halloed spot to remind america of the fires urgency of now. now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of god's children. now is the time to lift our nation from the africaions of racial injustice to -- frism of

racial injustice. >> as we walk we shall make the pledge to march ahead. we cannot turn back. >> go back to mississippi, go back to alabama, go back to georgia, go back to louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. >> i say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and the frustrations of the moment i still have a dream. it is a dream deeply rooted in the american dream. >> i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men

are created equal. [applause] >> i dream that one day in georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. >> i have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. i have a dream today. >> i have a dream that one day the state of alabama will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands will little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. i have a dream today. >> i have a dream today that one day every valley shall be

exhausted. every hill and mountain shall be made low. the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the lord shall be revealed and all shall fear together. >> this is our hope. this is the faith with which i return to the south with this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together. knowing that we will be free one day. >> there will be a day when all of god's children will be able to sing with a new meaning. my country tizz of thee, sweet land of liberty. of thee i sing.

land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims pride from every mountainside, let freedom ring. >> and if america is to be a great nation, this must become true. so let freedom ring. from the hilltops of new hampshire let freedom ring. from the mighty mountains of new york, let freedom ring. from the heightning alleghenys of pennsylvania, let freedom ring. from the snow capped rockies of colorado, let freedom ring. from the peaks of california, but not only that, let freedom ring from stone mountain of georgia let freedom ring. from lookout mountain of tennessee, let freedom ring. from every hill and from every

mole hill of mississippi, from every mountaintop, let freedom ring. >> when you let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of god's children, black men and white men, choose f jews and jen tiles, protestants and catholics will be able to join hands and sing in the worlds of the old spiritual, free at last. free at last. thank god almighty we are free at last. >> in almighty we are free at last. >> now two great americans,

karen, a human rights activist and president of the asian american justice center whose mission is to advance civil rights for asian pacific americans. and this gentleman, mark, the former mayor of new orleans and president and c.e.o. of the national urban league. god bless you. and welcome to the one nation march. [applause] >> the national urban league is the nation's leading civil rights organization dedicated to jobs and economic empowerment. we are 100 years young and we empower 2.1 million people across the nation each year. we empower children, we empower families, we empower young and old, black, white, latino, asian, and native americans and we connect them to good jobs, good schools, good housing, and

good health care. we are empowered in 100 affiliate cities across america. we march today. we rally today because people in our cities, in detroit and philadelphia, in akron and new orleans, in memphis, in peer ra, in richmond, in omaha, in st. louis, in nashville, in chattanooga, in columbia, south carolina, and in your hometown. too many people are hurting. and without good jobs to support their families. and without good jobs to support our families, our nation cannot recover from this jobs crisis. . .

>> and to rebuild our bridges, our libraries, our schools, our community centers, our parks, homes, and families. let us create those jobs in the

neighborhoods, in the big cities, in the small towns, in the rural areas, in the ghetto, the bar real, -- barrio. and this -- we must rebuild boston and baltimore in richmond and pittsburg, and birmingham, and el paso and los angeles, in your hometown. we are one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty, justice, and economic empowerment for all. we are one nation working together. [applause] >> asian-americans are joining with others for advancing justice.

this is part of one nation working together. we are marching because we understand that america faces an important decision this november. we want leaders who believe in building a new economy in this country that provides for everyone. for leaders who are satisfied with the old economy. the old economy can only work for a few. we want leaders to give a stronger safety net that extend unemployment benefits and access for affordable health insurance and the leaders -- or leaders to turn their backs of those struggling in this economy? do we want leaders who will roll up their sleeves and their resources necessary to make our schools work and provide training and summer jobs for all of america's youth or leaders who would rather play the -- be

blamed then place the blame game. we want leaders who believe that government has a responsibility and that they have purchasing influence on homes. we want leaders who understand that our economy cannot work and tell our immigration system works, where an immigrant is out of the shadows in reunited with their families. we are one america working together to elect leaders who lead in the vitality of the american people and will choose hope over fear, community. so let's work together to demand an investment in the american workers that will have a strong economy and a healthy community. let us work together to demand a top-notch education that is

accessible to all and end discrimination. let us be one nation working together to ensure that we live in an america that provides opportunity and equality for all. [applause] >> we welcome eli and a guest. >> ladies and gentlemen, my name is a bishop garrison. i am from the commonwealth of iphigenia. i am here to tell you today that you are not alone. in the frustration and disappointment that has led many of you here today to this very

rally, you are not alone. i attended the united states military academy at west point. when called upon by my country, i traveled to iraq with my unit on two separate yearlong deployment. when i returned home and made the decision to move onto the next stage in my life outside of the military, i found an opportunity in the job force was mayor -- more than simply lacking. with the support of my family, i became one of the lucky ones. four months of falling the completion of my graduate studies, i struggle to secure adequate work. i was in the elmira in america's downfall. my story has become the norm for the job market. for many that served admirably on multiple deployments are forced to choose between the condition of cold nights in the desert away from their family and loved ones, or ensuring that

their families are properly provided for. without a second thought, without so much as a sound, the fighting men and women chose the latter. even though blessed with the opportunity to return home and found themselves left out in the cold, but today are not alone. servicemen and women are not the only one suffering today. the administration of this government aided in this country in to thousands of debt, up to support wars abroad while the working class continues to pay the bill in our society fights for their very well been. they are not alone. the government has stressed the necessity of a fight thousands of miles away from our shores while gang members maim and murder in broad daylight --

daylight under the streets of this capital. banks are left under regulated and will lose billions from the savings of good and honest working -- honest, hardworking american families. this is the america that we fought so diligently for. we were looking out for america, but when america -- when we came back, america was not looking out for us. do not misunderstand my words to you today. our society made great strides in recent time. things have begun to progress. we have helped our president with strong leadership. this began the early steps to bring our troops home. that is no small accomplishment.

this government has fought hard and won the right for every man, woman, child to receive adequate health care for their lifetime. [applause] so much has been accomplished, yet we still have so far to go. that is why we are having this rally here today. this is why i am proud i wore the uniform in the united states army. this gathering today is why i am honored to say that i am a veteran who fought with pride and dignity on behalf of my country so my fellow americans could come together as one nation and proclaimed in one of force that no matter your race, ethnicity, their social and economic status, your religion or sexual orientation, we are all one people. we will fight to support those men and women who risk their

lives in defense of our freedom. america should not pay lip service to our military men and women. we should embrace them wholeheartedly. they continue to fight for their family's financial security. here at home, even though they have less on the battlefield. just as they support the fight together overseas, we must continue as one nation in these difficult, economic times to stand together and support each other. let not this adversity shatter our spirits, but in galvanize us as a people. as one nation, we will kraal let the world know that the united states of america is now, has always been, and shall forever be the land of opportunity, hope, and freedom. thank you. [applause]

where are my young people in the house tonight? where are the young people at? [applause] i do not just mean a young physically, but i also mean where are the young in spirit? [applause] i come here today not only representing my people of los angeles, california, but also representing young people from all across this nation. many times, we are the most forgotten population, the population most affected by failed public policy. by institutions of incarceration. unemployment hit us way before the recession hit this country.

we are also the population with great historical significance. we have a history of young people standing up for what they believe is right and just. in belize -- east los angeles, we demand equal education. we demanded civil -- the same way as in the '60s when the demands of a rights. we are on the front lines of every major social movement of this country's history. i am fortunate that at the age of 23, i not only have a job in helping to bring my planet, but i have a lifelong career in social justice and social change. this person that you see today

was almost lost to incarceration. this person you see today could have been a mere statistical failure. this person has -- this person here today could have continued on a path the discussion. this person here today asset on the path of michael -- malcolm x for social justice. [applause] i was one of the fortunate ones who found a chance to continue my education and belong to a community appears seeking to make community transformation through a program called youth build, where the entire staff invested themselves in helping us take ownership and responsibility for our families. our government needs to invest in people again and recommit to the investment -- to the young people of america.

just because i have a steady income does not mean i will relax and let myself out or be forced to believe that everything is ok. if i am doing well and my brother is starving, then i am starting as well. [applause] if i have a home, but my sister is homeless, then i am homeless as well. if i have total civil rights, but others around me do not even have human rights, then something is not right. if my gender is respected, but other genders are pushed into seclusion, then something is not right. [applause] until that something becomes right, we young people must stand and will continue to stand up, just like our history has

proven that we have. in justice somewhere is injustice everywhere. oppression somewhere is oppression everywhere. social justice and reinvestment of people should not just happen somewhere, but everywhere. [applause] i am from los angeles, california. i thank you for standing up with me today. the real challenge will be for us to continue standing when you return home. will you stand when you go back home? [applause] ♪ >> wendell pierce starred in all five seasons of the great hbo series "the wire. " now he is back on hbo in a new

series. he is working hard to rebuild his hometown of new orleans. please welcome mr. wendell pierce. [applause] >> good afternoon. one nation working together. one nation working together. now people remember him for i have a dream. after the march on washington and the passage of the civil rights bill, martin luther king shifted his attention to another dream. economic justice of all americans. in a speech at the southern christian leadership conference in atlanta, georgia, he said a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. as we talk about where do we go from here that we honestly face

the fact that the movement must address the question of reconstructing the whole of american society. there are millions of poor people here. one day we must ask the question, why are there for a million poor people in america. in america. when you begin to ask that question, you are raising questions about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. when i say question the whole society, it means coming to see the problem of racism, the problem of exploitation, and the problem of war are all tied together. these are the triple evils that are interrelated. so i conclude by saying again today that we have a task. let us go out with a divine

dissatisfaction. let us be dissatisfied until america will no longer have to [unintelligible] let us be dissatisfied until the tragic falls that affect our areas shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. let us be dissatisfied until those that live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of security. let us be dissatisfied until every family is living in a decent, sanitary home. [applause] let us be dissatisfied until the

dark yesterday's of segregated schools will be transformed into the bright tomorrows of quality integrated education. let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity. let us be dissatisfied until men and women however black they are will be judged on the basis of the content of their character and not on the faces or the color of their skin. let us be dissatisfied. [applause] let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, substance roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. let us be dissatisfied that men will recognize that out of one of blood, god made all men to dwell upon the face of this earth.

that is dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout white power or black power, but everybody will talk about in god's power and human powered. one nation working together. one nation working together. thank you very much. [applause] >> and now from our union brothers and sisters, the president of the service employees national union. [applause] >> i stand here today to represent the 565 sites across the nation. as tribal nations coming together within this nation with one nation we create ever union and our strength. our strength is your strength.

our strength is your strength. say it together. >> our strength is your strength. i am proud to stand with jackie in from the national congress of american indians today. we met each other yesterday. i am sure you are meeting each other today. we know as one nation that we are stronger together. is that right? and we know as one nation that when we join hands as health- care workers, public service workers, janitors, security officers, all of our union brothers and sisters, young people, old people, all across this nation, that we can make change happen and that is why we are here today. is that right? [applause]

our brothers and sisters are here today because we have had it. we have had it with a corporate america gives higher and higher ceo pay and bonuses while workers are losing their jobs. we are not going to stand for it any longer. we are standing up and speaking out against corporate greed. [applause] we are here standing together because we care about a health care delivery system to make sure that even the first americans have access to health care. we care about equal education and the fact that the next generation are our future industry leaders, educators. we care about our veterans who have gone across the seas to fight our wars, only to come

home where poverty and crime has wounded our community. present together as sisters. we are your neighbors. we are one nation. we are coming together. we are one nation. we are one nation coming to gather. thank you brothers and sisters. [speaking foreign language] we are coming together. >> cover next artist was featured on russell simmons' def

poetry jam. his poetry stage performances bridge the gap between hip hop and poetry. his presence continues to bring poetry to the mainstream. ladies and gentlemen, here he is. [inaudible] >> what happens in neighborhoods where the double theme has been overshadowed and the children do not play the way they used to? when young boys choose to follow figures that had no father figures. most of much of good friends died of for some dumb stuff. what ever happened to that we shall ever come -- overcome stuff? a place for the joys pot -- boys plunders is injuring -- boys put

on jerseys and dream for bigger things. the deconstruction of the poor family has been in perpetuation. the characterization of self- promotion, if you take the basketball out of one place and coke and its place, he was still score. [unintelligible] no one has told him what to fight for. many of our families are fatherless and quite poor. you have the audacity to cut the funding for the facilities that keep us off the streets and then ask is why we sell drugs. imagine if we put our pipes and guns and put a little love right there where the case is. imagine if we had the chance to become accountants and are taught the difference between

wet and dry weight. imagine if we had the same type of schools that these rich white kids had out. imagine if that little black girl could go to that school for free and lowered the dream of the broadway show. imagine if she were taught to love herself. imagine if she could do that and not be a four-o'clock video face. imagine. [applause] ♪ ♪

>> here is mr. van jones. [applause] >> it is our turn now to put our vision for. as you live -- beautiful as the day is and as we're here together, it has been quite some time. we will go home soon. right now, there is somebody in indiana or michigan, ohio,

somebody who is in in industrial work in knows how to build cars, the best the best training in the world and they do not know when there. to work again. the mother is watching her child go to a dangerous neighborhood with there is not enough opportunity program. she does not know if she will see her son again. he may be going to jail tonight or on his way to a great. they are hoping that there will be in answers for her. one person has a family farm. they do not have enough income. they do not need rhetoric but real solutions. we have real solutions. right now, [unintelligible] that there are some in an avalanche of trying to --

appalacha and some are risking their lives trying to drill our coast. those heroes that happened powering america by drilling those holes, we respected them. they are our heroes. they have got us this far. america's future is not down those holes. look at the sun. look at saudi arabia. let the sunshine that can help power america. if you want to see the future, look up. but at the wins, the sky. imagine the solar power that we can have. that has put america back to work. if we do not weekend to move up, we are going to bake the planet. we must read power america in a

clean way. connect with people who most need work. fight pollution and poverty at the same time. the global warming at the same time by putting america back to work. that is what we can do together. build winter by. 8000 machine parts, buying as much steel to build cars. we can put america back to work, our steel and auto workers back to work. if we had windfarms off our coasts, you never have a wind flick that comes into messes up the environment. i have never heard of that. there is a smarter way to do this now. we can do that. let the children of america be

trained with special analysis to put in new windows and installation and solar panels on top of homes. we want to save granma our energy bill but also create jobs for those kids in the community. there is a smarter way to do this. real solutions. farmers have a new business to be in. they do not always have to be in the food production business. let them put those wind turbines on their property. let them caption -- capture the carbon market. we have real answers for them. [applause] in conclusion, let me say this to you.

we have an environment in a crisis and an economy in crisis. the earth is overheating. the temperature is going up. job prospects are going down. we can fix them both at the same time. we have the opportunity to put one thing in place at the same time. if we do that, we will help our movement in america. we do not have to throw away aluminum cans and newspapers. we should be recycling those materials. we should not throwaway children of the neighborhood or locals either. thanks very much. [applause] ♪

[unintelligible] [applause] >> good afternoon. you all know this man. he has been an ordained minister since the age of nine. at age 15, the use director of operation breadbasket. and he founded a national youth movement. he has been a presidential candidate and a tireless defendant of the poor and the depressed.

rev. al sharpton, thanks for being with us today. >> thank you. thank you. she is a recent graduate of the university of massachusetts. she earned her bachelor's in anthropology. she has been organizing for increase in college affordability -- increase in college affordability. she has a share in united states student association. >> young people in this country have been organizing in fighting for college affordability for decades. both federal and state have continually put education funding on the chopping block to get cut. investment from higher

education it has endangered the future of college from this country. it leaves the starting power at least $25,000 in debt. graduates will have to enter into one of the worst job market for young people. the cost of paying for all students enrolled in public colleges and universities is approximately $50 billion a year. this is about 5% of what is spent each year on the military budget. less than 2% of the annual federal budget. my generation is paying for our nation's work priority and we can no longer afford to pay for them. our elected officials have begun concerned with political expedient at the expense of creating the kind of change we need. we can no longer avoid -- afford

to be unemployed. we cannot graduate saddled with debt. if our elected officials are responding to us -- are not responding to us, we can choose new leadership. we realize our collective vision through collective action, action that calls for increasing demand to change our education system in and rebuild it in this country tick that works for america. it should leave my generation would hope so we can build a future for this country and find where for all the fog. >> today i join lindsey, because we need america to deal with the issue of jobs. our young people need the education, but we need jobs. we bailed out the banks, the

insurance companies, and it is time to bail out the american people. [applause] we need to provide jobs for the american people. [applause] this is what america looks like. this crowd. it is not one gender or one color. this is what america looks like. [applause] lindsey, i spoke with someone in the community that we can stand and fight for an america that will provide decent wages, jobs, decent education. we cannot scapegoat teachers. we need to hold them accountable. there is a difference between accountability and the union

cover-ups. we need teachers and parents and students to work together. [applause] when i was in school, we had midterm exams. what we had in 2008 was not an end but a beginning. it went from one place in america to another. in a few weeks, we will have a mid tournament draft. i have to turn a light on in my study and tell my friends not to comment. i have to turn my tv off and get ready for my midterm exam. we have to go home and we have to hit the pavement.

we have to get ready for our midterm exam. [unintelligible] we are going to pass the midterm exam. they say we are pathetic. there is a saying in the bible. it is about a man named ezekiel. dry bones. someone said, can these dry bones live. he started connecting them together. we came today in the shadows of the lincoln memorial. if we can get connected, black

connected to white, latinos connected to asians, straight connected to gays, immigrants connected to those born in the backstretch barns, if we can get connected, we can make america live. one nation. one nation. [applause] one nation. one nation. [applause] ♪

>> good afternoon, everybody. god be with you. a youth minister in baltimore, but i am irish. i was born in dublin 44 years ago. i came here nine years ago. i love it. the city has charmed me as only baltimore can. i came to follow a dream. i came to follow a call. i am a teacher and a listener. i love this great country.

i came to give to this nation all that it could give to me. anyone can come to this society if contribute. i saw what i saw the first day i arrived. one america. [applause] i do not need a country with its problems, but a country that is not afraid of its problems. america has no need to be afraid of immigrants. we came to bring all of our experience and our expertise to you. as immigrants become too share

and to give, to grow, to prosper, not at anyone's expense, but our own. homo for some of us does not exist anymore. cause us to find a life of quiet terms and to give to this country, because we can. i am very lucky to be here today. some are afraid to speak or who cannot speak, because they live in the shadows. keep america's children and very

america's dead. some of the best inventions of the 20th-century. henry ford was from ireland. was fromerson's father canada. the inventor of the submarine was from afar. all of them have given to the world. they have come to this world and to a society that has given them the space and opportunity to do so. in 2009, the combined purchasing power of latinas -- latinos was $23 billion. that is within the same year that the war in iraq cost us $1.8 billion a week.

time for us to look at immigration reform. if their work environment for all workers. [applause] of wanted such a story. there was an irishman standing at the bottom of a hill. and he wrote -- arrived at the door of a huge margin. the occupants got out and went to the door. the irishman says, who does he think he is? imagine the same scene with an american at the bottom of the hill. the door is open, the person gets out. the american bases up and says, if i work hard enough, i will

get what she has. so let's get a gallon. we will make you proud already. immigrants make you proud. we already disappeared with comprehensive immigration reform, we will continue to help make this country great again. i love you, america. working together. [unintelligible] thank you very much indeed. [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, comedian charlie hill. >> thank you. my name is charlie hill. youlike to do something for this afternoon. this land is my land. this land is your land.

get the hell off of my -- you may need a little spirit of spanking. i am glad to be here today. all these beautiful people are here. it is better than b airing27, i 19. -- then hearing b27, i 19. it is really nice being here. my people are from wisconsin. i was a member of the republican party.

there is a tea party a month ago with glen beckett, sarah palin sharing a brain. i think if she had a bright idea, it would probably be beginner's luck. [laughter] it is all about healing. when you get right with the indians, it is going to have a ripple effect on everything you are doing here. it will elevator spirit. that is what is going to happen here. if you want to fix america, come to us. we have a manual. we did this already. we survived the recession. immigration problems started at plymouth rock. [laughter] we have been fighting terrorism since 1492.

if they had metal detectors at plymouth rock, we would have net it right in the bed. [laughter] -- bnipped it right in the bud. [laughter] i just came from venice, california. where the sewage meets the sea. there was a beautiful neighborhood on the corner of grab and stabbed me. so much crime at night, the women sing their babies to sleep by going [makes a siren noi se]. i just want to say this is one nation. there is only one approved landlord here.

if it were not for native american people, white people would be lost in the woods. i have seen the blair witch project. we taught you how to survive. we taught you how to fight the british, which was the mightiest nation in the world. hide behind the trees. then they told the indians george washington was the father of our country. we looked at a man with high heels, pedal pushers, and they weigh it, not that there is anything wrong with it. we all have to come to all these beautiful things here. i am not here because of you. thank you, sir. no bill cosby, and a richard pryor, but he is the man. [applause]

♪ he says, charlie, my great- grandfather was african-american and native american. they stole his land, they made him work on it for free. this is the first day of the healing. mark -- martin luther king was here, and he was in line with the spirit. he proved that the young in spirit cannot be destroyed. just like martin luther king,

there was gunned the. there was crazy heart. we are all related. ♪ the blues came from the african americans to express their sorrow and sadness. with indian people, we played the blues, it cheers as up. [laughter] ♪ [harmonica playing] i got those reservation blues. traded my moccasins for those white man shoes. [unintelligible] i got two canoes. reservation blues. ♪ [applause] i left my family back home on the ranch.

been gone so long i do not know who i is. when i feel blue. all i can do, reservation blues. ♪ [harmonica playing] stay strong. keep the love killing. you are the mightiest nation in the world. i love you. thank you. [applause] [unintelligible] [applause]

>> i work in the call center part of xerox in staten island, new york. i have been organizing and -- a union at work. we need jobs for justice. we need real organizing rights, not imaginary rights of the national labor is three h -- relations act. xerox filed objections to the election. only a few weeks ago, the election was conducted fairly. management objections had no merit. yes. [applause] they spent huge amounts on up lawyers for delays. we have benefits that are out of reach for most of us and the company no longer contribute to cover for 1 k. i am proud to be a member of the communication workers of

america. my sisters and brothers have many elected officials that have backed us up. i am proud to introduce our international president larry. [applause] >> thanks, barbara. i am proud to be here with all of you build one nation working together. the leaders like barbara are an inspiration to our union, our movement, and asian. what is exceptional is that her leadership has given courage to her co-workers, even those that have lost their jobs in this fight. they should not need courage to have a union in america. it should not be a fight. it should be not exceptional.

in many ways, this is that the height of u.s. workers. there is a playbook this as workers like barber cannot organize in the united states and when they do, they will pay an awful price. 47 years ago, our predecessors stay here fighting for the dreams to end jim crow. one out of three private-sector workers in the united states had a union contract. companies like xerox agreed voluntarily to recognize unions and the government with their workers. it -- in 47 years marked by significant advancement in the many human rights in our nation, workers' rights have been all

but crushed. today, only one in 16 private sector workers have bargaining rights. this story at xerox tells us why. the united states is at the very bottom of the global economy in protecting workers' rights to organize and negotiate. >> we want to inspire and not discovered. we came here today to rebuild our movement. our commitment to stand with other organizations. we have not given up on our union or our nation or each other. it does not protect workers like me. the company controls virtually every aspect of the organizing process. that is why will change like the employee free choice act is so important to me and my co- workers. [applause] >> we will build one nation

working together. we know that a minority in the u.s. senate has prevented even discussion of fortune bills passed our representatives including this act. we also know that working together, we can work for progressive change. as barbara's story demonstrates, real change is hard. we're united, determined. we are working together. [applause] ♪

>> labor unions are the hearts of working america. here is a special message from some of their hard working members. >> good afternoon. today we as one nation we stand. i am proud to look out and see all of us did the other. we're not leaving. this is our land, our nation, and we deserve our jobs. >> i am proud to be a registered nurse in massachusetts. today, i am most proud to be standing with you as one nation. today, i