you compare that with seafood all over the world. but whether it is far raised these days or wild caught these days, there's probably something in your seafood that is probably coming from a power plant that is very far away. maybe it's because i cover environmental issues. [laughter] all of the tests have been abundantly clear and that is how wide base my answer to that -- how i base my answer to that question. obviously the more people are concerned, but i encourage them to go to the fda's web site and look at the results that are out there and compare it to some of the other warnings out there for fish in terms of mercury contamination and the other risks of eating fish. host: finally, how big is bp's footprint on there as far as the clean up those? guest: as far as the cleanup

goes, it is still under way. the federal government is in charge of the cleanup and they are building bp for the bill. they are getting checks cut from bp. is going to be ongoing. you talk to some perish president's down there -- an obvious that we have a lot of reporters in the gulf, and we still see a lot of oil. it can be a hard thing to get rid of. i remember after hurricane katrina and all that was left down there. tanks were floating like little injured tubes -- little innertubes. host: dina capiello is the environmental reporter for the associated press. she has a master's degree in environmental science and biology in biology -- and a degree in biology from georgetown.

thank you for joining us. this is a live picture from the auditorium in washington d.c. that we spoke of earlier. the director of the bureau of ocean energy management will be speaking. we're going to take you to this now. sitting here, what are you looking to hear? guest: we will be looking to see if he specifically talks about, reacts to this benaissa -- in a specific way. meaning, is he going to say, i like recommendation #five but we are going to do that with our oil leaking tomorrow i will also look to your him say we are not kosher with some of these

recommendations. initially, they said, we think we have done enough in reorganizing this agency to separate the powers for regulation. we're going to see if it is a push back or a broad skill recommendation -- broad scale recommendation andreyna host: thanks for being with us on the journal. this should begin in just a few minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> recommended increasing training and funding for officials. the head of the agency has technical expertise. we expected to get underway shortly. live coverage here on c-span.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> we are standing by for the start of this discussion on the future of offshore oil drilling. we will hear from the director of ocean and energy management, michael bromwich. coming up this afternoon, we will show you remarks from tim pawlenty. he starts a tour promoting his recent book. he is a potential republican presidential candidate. you can see his remarks starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern. on c-span 3, a discussion on

dwight eisenhower's speech on the military industrial complex. they are discussing whether people listened to dwight eisenhower's remarks.

>> if i could get you to sit down, we have a full house this morning. if you have not already turned off your cellphone, that would be a great time to do that. since we are going to be talking about workplace safety, in the unlikely event of an evacuation, the exit signs taking to the stairwells. you have got two choices.

one level down takes you to k street. one level up takes you to 18th street. i am be senior vice president at the center. it is my great pleasure to have with to michael bromwich, the director of the bureau of -- i am going to screw this up. the director of ocean energy management. it has been a bit of a roller- coaster ride. when you listen to the new administration coming in, the situation was transitioning to

a green, a low carbon economy. not a lot of discussion about low emission fuel. you started seeing it more and more because those in the administration started talking about keeping the ad -- keeping the conventional system robust. in march of 2010, the president acknowledged that oil and gas are part of our future and said that because of the success of the energy in the past because of their safety record, we should expand drilling in the gulf. less than a few weeks later, we were confronted with the horrible news of the macondo accident and the explosion and the tragic loss of people. then we dealt with the oil spill. we watched the flow rate on

youtube and prayed that it would not hit the beaches. secretary salazar announced a reorganization of the bureau in may. on may 21, our speaker, michael bromwich, was sworn in as the first director. you have been a busy boy. the bureau has launched an aggressive reorganization effort. they have a recruitment campaign to enhance the capabilities of the organization and to expand inspection. they have put in new drilling and workplace safety rules. they have begun a comprehensive analysis of drilling in the arctic so that we can be better informed on new leasing decisions. they have initiated leasing activity for commercial offshore

wind projects. that has been an effective six months. . over the course of the past 30 years, michael bromwich has had a distinguished career in the public and private sectors. he has been a litigation partner in a law firm. he served in the office of the independent counsel investigating the iran contra. he has most recently been inspector general in the justice department. he got his undergraduate degree at harvard college and his master's at the kennedy school. he is a graduate of the harvard law school. we look at a mid october date when we contacted his office. about one week before the expected date, we got a call

from the interior department that said, we will postpone this until january. about the time we were going to have the session, they announced the suspension of the moratorium. we did a session in -- we wanted a session in mid-october. we look at january with the full expectation that the oil spill commission report would be out. that was because we wanted to have something to talk about the case we ran out topics. please while come michael bromwich. the turnout today is a testament to how interesting this topic is. we will take some questions and answers at the end. thank you for coming. [applause] >> thank you for that warm introduction. good morning to all of you.

it is a real pleasure and a privilege to be here with you to discuss the profound changes taking place that involve drilling in the waters off our country's shores. these changes are long overdue. when it comes to serious reform anywhere and in any field, these changes are being spurred by a major catastrophe, the blocked by the macondo well, the explosion and sinking of the deep water drilling rig, the deaths of 11 workers and the spilling of oil into the gulf of mexico. the deepwater horizon tragedy has shaken government and i hope also industry out of complacency and overconfidence that has developed over the past several decades. that complacency and overconfidence -- hubris is not

too strong a word -- increased chances that drilling was not matched by concern for the safety of those operations. i want to discuss the steps our agency is taking to renew its commitment to the irresponsible stewardship of our nation's resources on the outer continental shelf. i will also discuss the reforms necessary in the government and the oil and gas industry to ensure this activity is conducted safely. not quite seven months ago, i became director of the bureau of ocean energy management. it was created by ken salazar after the deep water horizon accident to replace the former minerals management service. the mandate i received from president obamas and secretary salazar was as daunting and ambitious as it was urgent, to reform offshore energy

development starting with the agency responsible for overseeing it. since that time, we have been working to make the changes necessary to restore the public 's confidence that offshore drilling and production are being conducted safely and with appropriate protections for marine and coastal and diamonds. my remarks today will address the changes that have occurred and are ongoing in the oversight of gas and oil operation on the enter -- on the outer continental shelf. this topic could not be more timely. the national commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill released its report. the report is a comprehensive analysis of the spill and the history and development of offshore drilling and the regulation of offshore drilling. i want to commend the commission and its staff for their hard

work, their professionalism, and their willingness to cooperate with us and listen to different points of view. i encourage each of you to read the report. even though we had many discussions with the commission and its staff over the past six months, we are thoroughly analyzing the report and its recommendations. as the commission described in its report, regulatory and industry reform in the wake of an offshore disaster has happened before. the united kingdom and norway changed their oversight of offshore drilling and production following an incident in that area. austria is facing many of the same issues we are confronting following a blowout that occurred before the deepwater horizon. the specific challenges facing us are unique in many significant effect.

the scaling in the gulf of mexico are vastly greater than in the north sea. the economy of the gulf states are closely tied to the offshore industry. the gulf account for more than 25% of domestic oil production and approximately 12% of domestic gas production. one of the problems we are addressing and that cannot be avoided is this, how will government and industry make the fundamental reform is necessary to improve the safety and environmental protection in this mass of industry while allowing for the continuity of operations and production? to illustrate the problem, consider this. united kingdom offshore production, which is at a much smaller level than in the gulf, dropped off substantially toward two -- for two years following

their incident. we want to improve the safety of children in the gulf of mexico, particularly -- said the of drilling in the gulf of mexico, particularly in the -- particularly deep water drilling. let me be specific about what we have done and what we plan to do in the future. we have undertaken the most aggressive reform of offshore gas regulation and oversight in u.s. history. this includes the reorganization of the former mms to establish mission clarity and strength and oversight. it also includes the development and implementation of heightened standards for drilling practices and environmental safeguards.

these new rules set for prescriptive spenders that industry must meet. the also established for the first time performance based standards focus on the identification and mitigation of risks associated with offshore operations. these changes are substantial. more work is being done to ensure these changes are lasting and effective. the ultimate goal is to establish an industrywide goal -- industrywide culture of safety. both elements are necessary to keep pace with the challenges and risks of offshore drilling as those operations push into new frontiers and faced increased technical challenges. let me outline the main elements of our fundamental reorganization and reform of the former mms.

as has been previously announced, in place of the former mms, we are creating 38 strong independent agencies with clearly defined roles and -- creating three strong independent agencies with clearly defined roles. we will -- the reorganization of the former mms is designed to remove complex by clarifying and separating missions across three agencies and providing the agencies with new resources necessary to fulfil their missions. we are designing and implementing these organizational changes while lethally take into account the crucial need for information

sharing and the other linkages and interdependency among the former mms. this is critical to ensure the regulatory process does not succumb to bureaucratic paralysis. on october 1 of last year, the revenue collection arm of the former mms became the office of management and revenue. the next step in the reorganization and are more difficult -- reorganization is more difficult. on the one hand, we will have the new bureau of ocean in management, that will be responsible for developing the nation's offshore resources in an environmentally response

away. we will have the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement that will enforce environmental regulations. we have been gathering the facts necessary to complete the reorganization in the most rational and sensible way. we have been busy interviewing agency employees, collecting and analyzing data related to the bureau's processes and developing the various models for restructuring and reforming the bureau. this work has been painstaking and time-consuming. it is critical in informing the decision making in transforming the bureau. we are close to being ready to lay out the detailed framework for the reorganization. we will separate resource management from safety oversight to allow our permit engineers

and inspectors greater independence, more budgetary autonomy and clear leadership focus. the goal is to create a fair regulator that can effective lead guy with the risks of offshore drilling -- can be effectively deal with the risks of offshore drilling. we will create a stuck to that ensures thorough environmental analyses are conducted and there are given appropriate way to -- appropriate weight. plan approving activities must be properly balance. these processes must be read auras and eat fish and so operations can go forward in a -- processes must be rigorous so

operation can go forward in a timely way. we will also strengthen the role of environmental lead you and analysis in both organizations proof structural and organizational mechanisms. -- we will also strengthen the role of environmental analysis in both organizations to improve structural and organizational mechanisms. as part of our broad and continuing reform efforts, we have created a 11 implementation teams that have been hard at work for several months. they are the focus of our

efforts to analyze critical aspects, functions, and processes and to implement our reform agenda. these teams are entered world and are considering various recommendations -- the steam is our -- are integral and are considering the various recommendations. they are laying the foundation to lasting change in the way the successor agencies do business in the future. let me briefly describe the key areas and issues these teams are working on. we have 18, voted to reviewing the approval process -- we have a team devoted to reviewing the approval process. we do not want permits unduly

delayed by the process. they will address work load. they are also developing companies of handbooks up policies and practices which will assist permit reviewers in carrying out their responsibilities and bring greater consistency throughout our offices. we have a number of teams focused on various issues associated with developing effective risk based approaches. these teams are focusing on an analysis of alternative organizational structures, development of risk-based structures, the distribution of inspection personnel throughout the organization, internal management and oversight structures. the fighting near and long-term

strategies. this includes the safety measures imposed by the drilling safety rules published last fall. we are also developing infrastructure and will be recruiting expert personnel necessary to create -- to conduct real-time monitoring of deep water drilling operations. this is a capacity we feel strongly that must be developed and is consistent with the review by the national academy of engineering that secretary salazar commission. we are developing training programs and curricula for inspectors involved in our safety compliant and enforcement programs. as i recognize soon after arriving at the agency, substantial improvement in our training programs are critical.

the design and implementation of professional development programs are essential to our reform agenda. this team is working on developing appropriate in-house training programs, which we do not currently have, to give up refresher training curriculum and to give up a formal field training program. we also want programs to ensure government personnel keep up with ecological developments related to offshore operations. we're also discussing how to provide our personnel with greater inspection and enforcement tools, including technological solutions for improving the bureau's ability to conduct real-time monitoring of drilling activity. we are developing the use of

laptop computers by inspectors and environmental personnel. we are also beginning to analyze the potential of satellite imagery and live data feeds to enhance our inspectors' capacity and effectiveness. we have also introduced performance based standards for the advocation of environmental risks. these performance standards are embodied in our workplace safety rules that we published last fall. we have a team devoted to developing an oversight program and developing compliance for these new safety requirements. the third category of implementation team once you get from the multiple inspection teams is regulatory enforcement.

we are evaluating the adequacy of the enforcement tools, including the system for documenting and tracking systems for non-compliant or prospective --prescriptive regulations as well as a system for debarring and save operators. we are reviewing potential gaps in our operations. we are looking for ways to enhance the civil penalties. our view is that legislation is required to make these more meaningful. the current enforcement frame work permits maximum fines of only $30,000 per day per instance is inadequate to deter violations. we have 18 that is focused on designing new inspections -- a

team focused on designing new inspections. they are developing systems for obtaining information to support environmental enforcement. we have an investigation team working on developing procedures relating to specific accidents, including industrial platforms. we are identifying the type of expertise necessary to support these programs and design systems to track the status of these investigations and the implementation of improvement to safety and environmental regulations recommended as a result of investigations. finally, oil spill response. we have 18 conducting a comprehensive review of oil spill response and the adequacy

-- a team conducting a comprehensive review of oil spill response and its adequacy. as you can tell, the goals of these implementation teams are ambitious. the teams have become the main engine of our reform efforts. in addition to the important work of the implementation team, i want to mention some other significant reforms we have implemented. we are in the midst of our reform and we are working closely with the council of environmental quality. we announced a policy that will require that cite specific

environment assessment -- site specific environmental assessment will be conducted with all new build a plant in deepwater. to address conflict of interest, we have implemented a tough recusal policy. employees must notify their supervisors about any potential conflict of interest and requests to be recused from performing in official duty where a conflict exists. inspectors are required to recuse themselves from inspecting their former employers. inspectors must report any attempt by industry or other agency personnel to inappropriately influence, pressure, or interfere with their official duties. soon, we will be issuing a broader version of the policy.

i know that this policy will present operational challenges for some of our district offices in the region, which are located in small regions where employees are also in the company. but the need for boundaries is necessary and compelling. these rules are necessary to assure the public that our enforcement programs are effective, aggressive, an independent. we will continue to recruit internal and external candidates. a team of professionals whose mission is to do several important things, first response to allegations or evidence of misconduct by bureau employees. second, to pursue allegations of misconduct against oil and gas

companies and bob in --oil -- involed in oil and gas projects. i have discussed many of the reforms we are pursuing to improve the effectiveness of government oversight of drilling. these challenges and changes are substantial and necessary. as the commission's report makes abundantly clear, industry must change as well. my agency has a clear and important role in helping spur that chain. we are doing so with prescription of regulations to enhance safety. we have raised the bar for equipment, safety, and environmental safeguards. we will continue to do so in the

open and transparent ways in the coming months and years. we have also introduced performance based standards similar to those used by regulators in the north sea. we have done this by the implementation a two new rules. the first rule, the drilling said it will, was prompted by deepwater horizon. it has put in place tougher standards for well-designed and casing. for the first time, operators are required to obtain independent third-party inspection and certification at each stage of the proposed drilling process. an engineer must certify that blowout preventer is meet standards for testing and maintenance and are capable of severing the drill pipe under anticipated well pressures. the second rule is the workplace

safety rules, which aims to reduce him in an organizational errors that lie at the heart of many accidental oil spills. the development of this rule was in the process before the deepwater horizon. the promulgation of these standards was frustrated for a number of reasons. unfortunately, it took a major accident to provide the impetus necessary for these standards to be imposed. operators are required to develop comprehensive safety and environmental programs that identify potential hazards and production strategies for allphases of -- for all phases of activity. our reviews had demonstrated

that the percentage of offshore operators that have adopted such programs voluntarily was declining. in addition to the new rules, we have issued npl's that provide additional rules to operators. operator oil spill response plans must include a corporate statement from the operator that they will comply with all standards. we will evaluate as to whether each operator can s ployubsea

containment -- can deploy subsea containment procedures. these changes and regulatory enhancements have been rapid. there have been a number of questions from industry and others about our new regulations about how we will apply the rules going forward. we have held dozens of meetings. with federal and state representatives, non- governmental organizations and operators. last month, we issued a guidance document, which provides a comprehensive outline for the

way to issue permits in deep water. we have received input from industry on the guidance. we note this guidance will not resolve every question and operator may have about the deep water permitting process. we intended it to address significant questions we have heard and to provide answers for operators to resume work in deep water. the fact that continued that this is necessary is not surprising. with the volume of new rules we have issued in recent months, the need for additional clarification was inevitable and necessary. it reflects no more than the fact that these are complex issues to work through. that is exactly what we have been doing. we hope and trust this guidance has clarified some of the difficult and complex issues that have risen in recent

months. we are committed to working with industry to provide additional guidance on these and other issues as it becomes necessary. the one thing that the secretary and i firmly believe and that is reinforced and supported by the commission's report is that a retreat on drilling said he is simply not an option. as you can see, we have already put in place since it in pieces of our reform agenda. -- put in place significant pieces of our reform agenda. the complexities and risks will continue to evolve, particularly in frontier departments like ultra-deep water. we will proceed to the rule- making and know this process to implement further reforms like blowout preventers and the

vehicles. the bureau will promulgate additional safety reforms through the rule-making process including the verification a .m. programs.e these are among the issues discussed in the commission's report and the commission provides useful insight about all of these issues. over the past few months, since our new rules were announced at the end of september, we have heard from countless companies, trade associations, and members of congress about the anxiety that currently exists in the industry that we will change the rules of the permitted in the panache of the permitting process significantly. the- -- of the permitting

process sit in. barring significant and unanticipated revelations about the root causes of the deepwater horizon explosion, i do not anticipate further emergency rule making. at the same time, we can no longer accept the view that the appropriate response to rapidly evolving -- a rapidly evolving industry is for the applicable rules to remain frozen in time. the regulatory framework and specific requirements must keep pace with advances in the industry and with industry ambitious to drill in deeper water and geological formations that have greater pressures.

we will continue to analyze information that becomes available. we will implement reforms necessary to make offshore oil and gas production safer. in developing these reforms, we will balance the need for regulatory certainty, whose reports since --who is important we recognize. -- whose important we recognize. drilling plans will not be delayed while these reforms are developed. we must always remain open to improvements in our regulations to develop the necessary culture of safety. in the past, industry has reflexively opposed regulation. that is no more responsible than the-multiplication of new requirements for their own sake.

-- than the mindless multiplication of new requirements for their own sake. our challenge in the months and years ahead is to insure that we do not become complacent, but rather that we continue to make progress in developing safety and containment response capabilities. government, industry, and the best minds in our industries, must collaborate to create cutting edge technologies in the area as such assensor -- such as sensor and b.o.p. operations. it is critical that in the event of a loss of well control, containment resources are immediately available regardless of the owner or operator involved. these are goals we must pursue

aggressively. as an important step, the department of interior is establishing an ocean safety institute. its form continues to take shape. the institute will foster collaboration among all key stakeholders to increase offshore energy safety. it will make recommendations on workplace safety, well intervention and containment and oil spill response as well as training and execution in these and other areas related to offshore energy safety. among the institute's objectives will be developing a collaborative research and development strategy in the areas of containment, say, and spill response. -- safety and spill response.

they will develop a knowledge base for preventing and responding to accidents. they will recommend joint training and response exercises and increased opportunities for communication and coordination among industry, government, academia, and the scientific community. this institute is a key component of a long-term strategy to address the technological needs an inherent risks associated with offshore drilling and deep water drilling in particular. a final, but important part of our long-term strategy, includes continuing our collaboration with our international counterparts. they stress the importance of sharing experiences across international systems in establishing global standards

and best practices. we agree wholeheartedly with that. the u.s. regulators can and should play a lead role in establishing those standards and elevating the safety of offshore operations around the world. we have taken positive steps in this situation. we regulate work with our counterparts. this summer, we hosted a special meeting in virginia to share our experiences on drilling safety. we are also a substantial player in the department of state's energy capacity to initiative, which provides capacity assistance to countries that are become oil and gas producers. we have also increased our by lot -- batter reached to our

counterparts. i met with my -- bilateral reach to our counterparts. the wing forward, it is my hope that we will continue to collaborate with our foreign come apart to give up more -- going forward, it is my hope that we will continue to collaborate with out foreign counterparts -- our foreign counterparts. i thank you for your time and attention. i am happy to take questions. [applause]

>> that was terrific, michael. thank you. that was a most comprehensive walk through from rationale to change. it was very informative. we have a couple of rules in terms of questions. we ask that you wait for a microphone. to the extent that you can, pose your question in the form of a question. that would be most helpful. the collaboration peace is extremely important. we can talk about the budget, because -- about the budget. that will be a question people raise. over the course of the summer, the department had been very ambitious and forward-looking.

there were equally ambitious steps from the joint industry task force. we have moved from a range of legally compliant operations to more streamlined practices grouping. the marine well containment corp. has been set up. when companies apply for permits and they identified their capability to intervene in a deep water well and to contain a spell, how does the sequence of these -- a spill, what is safe enough to get beat per minty -- permitting process going again? >> what operators are required to do is to demonstrate they have access to act quick --

adequate sub-sea resources. there is no adequate solution for that. we will look carefully and closely at all applications. we have a higher level of knowledge about the institutional solutions than ad hoc solutions. but we will not exclude ad hoc solutions. >> we will bring a microphone out there. right up front. >> jackie johnson with -- jack

johnson with "chemical engineering news." what is the cost? who is going to pay? is there going to be an additional cost to industry? >> we are involved in the discussions and with relevant committees in congress. i care far less where it comes from band that we get what we need. the president put in -- comes from than that we get what we need. we are still operating on a continuing resolution. we are realizing very little of that money. that stymied us in building what

we need to build. i am hoping we can get stronger commitment to resources so that we can build up the capabilities i view as essential. after some encouraging signals early this fall, the budging process scott -- process got stymied. that is where we are. >> i am from bloomberg radio. your comments that the gulf states are tied to the oil and gas industry -- they are complaining that a oil rigs are

going to friendlier places. what is your response to that? is the industry doing what it means to do? are they pushing back? >> good question. activity has not resumed as quickly as industry participants would like, as employees in the industry would like, and as i would like. we have some demanding new requirement and rules that need to be met in order for drilling to resume in shallow water and deep wate. r. we hope that with the consultations we continue to have, we will accelerate the process by which people will be able to get back to work and that activity will result. i think we have heard before the

concern backed -- that there has been outpouring from the rigs. i do not think that has happened. by providing more certainty and greater clarification on what the rules mean, that is providing certainty that operators need. much of this is black box activity. we do not know what decisions are being made by companies and what they are taking into account. we can only be responsive to the questions and concerns articulate it to us. we are doing a diligent and professional job of getting back to the industry. i think industry has been cooperative. i think we have good dialogue

going with them. i think they have different interests than we do. in the past, those interests have been clearly separate. they are now. we are determined to be objective, tough, and aggressive. some of the things the industry may have been accustomed to in the past are not happening anymore. that is a source of frustration. >> on redeployment, there was an additional concern. a lot of company -- companies took a government's word. my understanding that there are at least two rigs that are moving that would have been in the gulf. in the third quarter, other companies will reconsider. it is around the corner a little bit longer. >> i take it is fairer to say it

is around the corner, just a longer block. it would be unusual that we would wait until the third quarter. >> given the extensive reforms that are needed, do you give consideration to the alternative to deepwater production and security issues from importing more crude or environmental issues of tankers? does that factor into your safety calculus? >> it is not explicitly that it into it. our job is to regulate offshore drilling in shallow and deep water and to make it as safe and environmentally responsible as possible. we do not intend to impose

impossible or overly onerous costs on the industry. when i meet with operators, i asked them if any of the rules we imposed are reasonable or misguided. operator, none of them have said they are inappropriate or misguided. they say they make sense. there is general agreement that we are not where we should be. we are getting to be where we should be. we need to change the pace of the approval process. industry understands that. they are somewhat frustrated by it. as we are applying our new rules and guidance and as industry is learning about new roles and guidance, it is hard in the beginning. as we get more accustomed to it, and more importantly, as

industry gets more accustomed to it, the pace will speed up. but when the pace will return to the pre-april 20 level, the honest answer is probably never. >> i am with energy daily. director, i heard you speak about the congressman's role today. i wanted to ask you about that. in the commission's report, there is a criticism of congress, the parts that claim to have jurisdiction over oil and gas drilling the claim is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen. do you agree? you think that congress should streamline its oversight? >> the truth is, have been around a relatively short time frame and y have not had a deep immersion in dealing with -- and i have not had a deep immersion in dealing with these issues.

if i have experienced confusion and problems, the commission to study this very closely and they almost surely have the basis for that. in terms of my personal experience, i have not yet seen it. if you come back in two months, i may have experienced it and may have a different answer. but after the first few weeks, i was in office in which i testified, i have not had a lot of contact with the various committees. i do not know if that is going to be a problem for me or not. >> one of the reasons we agree to -- we can get speakers like michael to come here is we set timetables. questions of all. . will take one from the side -- we will take one from the side. this second row on this side and then the front. >> i am in post graduate school. this was an unbelievably impressive story and you told it

really well and i find storytelling really important in this sitting. >> thank you so much. [laughter] >> well, you are standing out compared to a great many other leaders in this. >> thank you. >> with things like this, the devil is in the details. part of my question is, things are not quite right. it will people be rewarded or punished for saying we ought to look at this? is there a mechanism in place that says we want people to let us know what is not happening? i think the cultural aspects of that can make or break where you are trying to do. i guess my question is, how are you doing that? >> it is a very perceptive question. i think the most difficult challenges one faces when you try to remake in agency or the cultural changes you are talking about, particularly when the locus of our operations is over

a thousand miles away in the gulf of mexico. the best thing to do is to communicate with people and the organization, let them know that whatever their past experience has been, that the leadership of the organization is open to the insights and observations and welcomes them. one of the key guiding principles behind developing the of the mentation teams that i talked about was to include a large number of -- develop the -- developing the implementation teams i talked about was to include a large number of experiences. there were no limits to the thinking, suggestions that we would consider. i hope that inclusiveness in that process has made people feel that their views are truly welcomed, that their voices are from being heard -- are being heard and the suggestions for changes in the operation areas that they know best have a decent chance of being adopted.

i have spoken to all the members of the inundation teams, letting them know this is my highest priority -- of the implementation teams, letting them know this is my highest priority. they have been very responsive on hold in making progress, meeting milestones, and showing that they are engaged in the process. >> the third row, white shirt. >> you mentioned one of the teams is working on regulatory enforcement, specifically the process for evaluating operator qualifications and the system for barring unsafe operators. the commission had said that a company's safety record ought to be considered when the government is considering leasing them public lands for offshore development. in a -- and a bill that passed

the house last year specifically would have barred companies with poor safety records from bidding on leases. can you give a bit more detail what you are considering? >> we are considering the full range of options. from among those is considering the safety record of complete -- companies, but it is a much one comprehensive examination than that. we really do not have a coherent, consistent enforcement program, nor one that, to my mind, is sufficiently aggressive. what we are doing is looking at things from soup to nuts and figuring out how we can figure an enforcement program that realizes and achieves its regulatory objectives and, certainly, figuring out whether there ought to be consequences and what kinds of consequences for serious predatory violations is on the menu. -- regulatory violations is on the menu.

>> i am wondering if you can update us on the status of the specific environmental assessments for deep water that the bureau has been working on. >> they are ongoing. if we have a number of them that are in process right now. i do not recall the number. i think it is well over a dozen that we are currently working on. more.'s take one right here in the back and mittal. -- middle. >> is there any update on the increased number of inspectors and you are going to put on the industry? >> some of you know we had a very aggressive recruitment toward that i did in october and early november. we went to a number of engineering schools in texas and louisiana.

we had a job posting that was opened that was timed coinciding with the reporting to work and quite surprisingly, we got 550 applications, not just for inspectors, but for the inspectors and petroleum engineers. unfortunately, the process takes too long, an blogger that i would like, but we are already well in the process -- and a blogger that i would like, but we are already well in the process the ability to proceed full speed ahead is stymied by the uncertainty of the situation, but we are doing the best we can with the resources available. >> michael, thank you so much. cough if you would all join me in the thanking michael bromwich. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> coming up in about 50 minutes, we'll go live to the university medical center in tucson, where we will show you a briefing of rep gabrielle giffords and other victims. if we do expect to hear from doctors and others. -- we do expect a year from doctors and others. also, remarks from former minnesota gov. tim pawlenty, the

national press club. he left the governor's office and is now on a tour promoting his recent book. he has been listed as a potential republican presidential candidate in 2012. you can see his, as life and 1:00 p.m. eastern. >> later today, tavis smiley lievsay a discussion on the war, the economy, education, jobs and america's future. beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> lawmakers gathered on the house floor to pay tribute to representative gabrielle giffords and the other victims of the shooting in tucson. see what members said on line with c-span as congressional comical -- chronicle. it is washington your way.

>> last night, president obama spoke at a memorial service for the victims of the tucson, ariz. shootings. organizers of the gathering called this "together we thrive." he speaks for about 35 minutes. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. please, be seated. [cheers and applause] to the families of those we have lost, to all who call them friends, to the students of this university, the public servants gathered here, the people of

tucson, and the people of arizona -- i have come here tonight as an american who like all americans kneel to pray with you today and will stand by you tomorrow. there is nothing i can say that hole.fill the sudden in your hearts. but no this -- the hopes of the nation are here tonight. we mourn with you for the fallen, we join you in your grief, and we add our faith to

your so that gabrielle to giffords and the other victims of this tragedy will pull through. scripture tells us there is a river whose stream makes glad the city of god, a holy place where the most holy dwell. god is within her. she will not fall. god will help her at break of day. on saturday morning, gabby, her staff, and many of her

constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their rights to peacefully assemble and free speech. [applause] they were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders. representatives of the people answering questions to their constituents, who carry their concerns back to our nation's capital. gabby called it congress on your corner. the updated version of government of, and by, and for the people. [applause]

and that quintessentially american scene, that was the scene shattered by a gunman's bullets. and the six people who lost their lives on saturday, they too represented what is best in us, what is best in america. judge john roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. [applause] a graduate of this university and a graduate of this law school. [applause] judge roll was recommended for the federal bench by john mccain 20 years ago.

appointed by george h. w. bush, and rose to become arizona's chief federal judge. [applause] his colleagues describe him as the hardest working judge within the ninth circuit. he was on his way back from attending mass, as he did every day. he decided to stop by and say hi to his representative. john is survived by his loving wife, maureen. his three sons and his five beautiful grandchildren. [applause] georgian dorothy morris -- george and dorothy morris, dot

to her friends, did everything together. their friends call that a 50- year honeymoon. saturday morning, they went by the safe way to hear what their congresswoman had to say. gunfire rang out, and george, the former marine, instinctively shielded his wife. [applause] both were shot. dot passed away. a new jersey native, phyllis schneck, retired to tucson to beat the snow. in the summer she would return east where world revolved around her three children, the seven grandchildren, and day 2-year-

old great granddaughter. she often worked under her favorites tree. she would sell eight friends with the logos of the jets and the giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. a republican, she took a liking to gabby and wanted to get to know her better. [applause] dorwin and mavy moved apart. they started their own respective families. but when both were widowed, they found their way back. daughter puty's

it, to be boyfriend and girlfriend again. you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the mountain avenue church of christ. of retired construction worker, dorwin spent his spare -- spare time fixing up the church with his dog, spot. his final act of selfless this was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for her. [applause] everything gabe zimmerman did, he did with passion. [applause] his true passion was helping people. heby's outreach director, made the care is of thousands of our constituents his own. he saw to it that seniors got to

keep medicare benefits that they have earned. that veterans got the metals and care that they deserved. that government was working for ordinary folks. he died doing what he loved, talking with people and seeing how he could help. gabe is survived by his parents, his brother, and his fiancee who he plan to marry next year. [applause] and then there is 9-year-old christina-taylor green. christina was a a student, a dancer, a gymnast, a swimmer. she decided she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major

leagues. as the only girl on her little league team, no one put it past her. [applause] she showed an appreciation for life and common -- uncommon for a girl her age. she told her mother, we are so blessed. she paid those backed by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate. our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. our hearts are broken. and yet our hearts also have reason for fullness. our hearts are full of hopes and

thanks for the people who survive the shooting, including the congresswoman many went to sea on saturday. i have just come from the university medical center just a mile from here, where our friends gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. i want to tell you, her husband mark is here and he allowed me to share this with you. right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we let the room and some of her colleagues from congress were in their room, gabby opened her eyes for the first time. [cheers and applause] gabby opened her eyes.

gabby open your eyes alighted can tell you she knows that we are hurt, and she knows that we are rooting for her for what will undoubtably be of rough road ahead. [applause] our hearts are full of thanks for that could nays -- good news and full of gratitude for those who saved others. we're thankful to daniel hernandez. a volunteer in gabby's office. daniel, you may deny it but we

have decided you are a hero. you ran through the chaos to minister to your boss to help tend her once and help keep her alive. [cheers and applause] we are grateful to the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. [cheers and applause] they are right over there.

[applause] [applause] we are grateful for petit patricia maisch who wrestled away that killers ammunition and undoubtedly saved some lives. [cheers and applause]

>> and we are grateful for the doctors and nurses. and the first responders to worked wonders to deal -- heal those that had been heard. -- hurt. we are grateful to them. [applause] these men and women remind us that her wisdom -- heroism is

not only found on the fields of battle. heroism does not require special training or physical strength. heroism is here. in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens just waiting to be summoned. as it was on saturday morning. their actions, their selflessness poses a challenge to each of us. it raises the question of what, beyond prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. how can we honor the fallen?

how can we be true to their memory? you see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations. to try to have some order on the chaos to make sense out of that which seems senseless. already, we have seen the national conversation commenced. not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system. much of this process of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future is

an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government. at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time where we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we u-haul -- than we do, it is important to pause for a moment and make sure we are talking with each other in a way that heels. -- heals. not in a way that wounds. [applause]

script tells us that there is evil in the world. and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. in the words of job, when i looked for life, then came darkness. bad things happen. we have to guard against simple explanations in the aftermath. but the truth is, none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. the of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired. or what ought to work in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind. we have to examine all of the facts behind this tragedy.

we cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. we should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospect of such violence in the future. [applause] but what we cannot do is use this tragedy has one more occasion to turn on each other. [applause] that, we cannot do. [applause] that, we cannot do.

as we discussed these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, which use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations. to listen to each other more carefully. to sharpen our instincts for at the feet. and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together. after all, that is what most of us do when we lose somebody in our family. especially if a loss is unexpected. we are shaken out of our routines.

we are forced to look inward. we reflect on the past and we spend enough time with an agent. did we express our gratitude from the sacrifices that they made for us. did we tell a spouse just how desperately we love them? not just once in awhile, but every single day? so some loss causes us to look backward, but it also forces us to look forward. to reflect on the present and the future. on the manner in which we live our lives. and nurture our relationships with those that are still with us. [applause]

we might ask ourselves if we have shown enough kindness and generosity. had compassion. -- and compassion to the people in our lives. we might question if our priorities are in order. we recognize our own mortality and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth or status or power or fame, but how well we have loved. and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better. [applause]

and that process of reflection of making sure we align our values with our actions, that is what i believe a tragedy like this requires. for those who were harmed or killed, they are part of our family. the american family, 300 million strong. [applause] we may not have known them personally, but surely we see ourselves and them. . dot, -- to george, dot, others.

we sense them in our life partners. phyllis is our mom or grandma. gabe, our brother or son. and judge roll, we recognize a man that not only applies to family and doing his job well, but a man that embodied america's fidelity to the law. in gabi, we see a reflection of the public spiritedness that desire to participate in the sometimes frustrating and sometimes contentious but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union. [applause]

and in cristina. we see all of our children so curious, so trusting, so energetic. so full of magic. so deserving of our loved. and so deserving of our good example. if this tragedy, some reflection and debate as it should, let's make sure it is worthy. of those we have lost. [applause]

let's make sure is not on the usual plain of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drift away and the next news cycle. the loss of these wonderful people should make everyone of us strive to be better, to be better in our private lives, could be better friends and neighbors, co-workers, parents. and as it has been discussed in recent days, and their death helped usher in more civility in public discourse. remember that is not because a simple act of civility caused this tragedy. but rather, because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation in

a way that would make them proud. [applause] we should be civil because we want to live up to the example of public servants like those that knew first and foremost that we are all americans, we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other'' love of country, and that working together, we constantly

widen the circle of our concern. so that we bequeath the american dream to future generations. [applause] they believed and i believe that we can be better. those that died here, they held me believe. lehman not be able to stop all evil in the world. but i know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. and i believe that for all of our imperfections, we are people of decency and good as. the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

[applause] that is what i believe. in part because that is what a child believes. imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy. just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship. just starting to let the fact that some day, she might play a part in shaping her nation's future. she had been elected to student council. she sought public service as something exciting and helpful.

she was often the term congresswoman. someone she was sure was good and important. and might be a role model. she saw all of this through the eyes of a child. undimmed by the cynicism and vitriol that we take for granted as adults. i want to live up to her expectations. i want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. i want america to be as good as she imagined it. all of us, we should do everything we can do to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations. [applause]

as it has already been mentioned, christina was given to us on the timber 11, 2001. there were 50 babies born that day pictured in a book called "faces a vote -- of hope."

on the other side of her photo were simple wishes. i hope you help those in thneed. i hope you know all the words to the national anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. [applause] i hope that you jump in rain puddles. if there are rain puddles in heaven, cristina is jumping in them today. [applause] and here, on this earth, a year on this earth we place our hands over our hearts and we commit ourselves as americans to forging a country that is forever were the for gentle,

happy spirits. god bless and keep those we have lost. they love and watch over the survivors and may he bless the united states of america. [applause]

>>, coming up shortly, we will go live to the university of arizona medical center for an update on the condition of arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. as the president mentioned last night, she opened her eyes for the first time since the shooting. live coverage beginning at noon eastern here on c-span. until then, your phone calls from today's "washington

journal." qukly, the headlines. "the arizona daily star" -- a quote from president obama. here is "the arizona republic." here is "the denver post." "the washington post" -- "usa today" this morning -- and "the new york times" -- those are just some of the headlines from president obama's speech last night in tucson. gail collins, columnist for "the new york times."

"obama bringit home."

again, writing in "the new york times" this morning. i want to get your reaction to president obama's speech, specifically his call for more civility in public discourse. rhonda, a democrat. wilmington, north carolina.

caller: how are you? host: go ahead, we are listening. caller: i am deeply saddened about what happened in tucson. i just wanted to say that the discourse is horrible right now between the democrats, republicans, and independents. and if people don't come together and start changing some of the tone and the rhetoric they are using in order to incite violence among people, it is just going to get worse. we have to come together as country to resolve these issues without being violence. host: how would you suggest that happening? caller: they need to sit down like civil people, normal people in every neighborhood in america and discuss the issues without saying things like reload and putting the scope of a gun on a map where people -- there are crazy people out there.

that is my problem with it. host: stevis a republican in pennsylvania. caller: good morning. yes, we obviously need more civil discourse, and i think our politicians will probably try to do that. and i think what the problem will be is the media will continue will do their chart a course -- they will continue to try to build by sarah palin regardless of what she does. -- tried to vilify sarah palin. she was criticized -- criticized for not speaking out, then when she did after continual harassment by the media, she spoke herpes and she is vilified for that. -- she spoke her piece. i do not agree with everything she says but certainly not everything the media says. they are certainly complicity.

whether it be the people on the left who continually blame people -- things on people on the right and vice versa. but the president made a great speech last night. i think of the two years he has been in office it is the first time, in m opinion, that he actually looked presidential. he did a fantastic job. host: thank you for calling in this morning. this from "politico." john boehner turned down air force one ride to tucson.

bob, utica, new york. what do you think? caller: i think it has gotten out of hand. i thought it was very good speech that he gave. but i don't think it h very much at all to do with what happened to this individual. not to say that we shouldn't take this opportunity to tone thingsown. but i happen to speak from personal experience -- as far as this person, from what i can conclude, from what i have seen, he is totally mentally ill and delusional by the time he did this. st: florida,, on the republican line.

caller: i think the president's speech was excellent and it was a kind of a call to both politicians on both sides that we as a nation have to come together. it is easy for the democrats to say at now that the republicans are in power. but politicians -- and there are a lot of very, very good man who have dedicated their lives to politics -- if they would just consider the best for e nation and not the best for the individuals to get reelected, our country would go places. i am just very excited about politics in general right now. we are on the verge of a great prosperity and everything else in this country. i i'm very excited about what is going on in the country. host: sorry, i thoug you had finished suzanne in michigan. democrat.

caller: yes. i really appreciate president obama and the way that his leadership shone last night. i also appreciate the discourse hear about stability -- here c civility and the with th public discourse has gone so awry. i just want to encourage everyone, if you have never read "democracy in america" by the total -- tookville -- the d'toqueville. when you read this it gives you such a better sense of our

community and the americans. and our goodness, our sense of volunteerism, our sense of pulling together. and civility is so important from our constitutional perspective, to flourish. if we do not be civil and our political discourse -- in our political discourse and our political ambitions, we are going to lose it. host: here is just a little bit more from president obama in tucson. >> the process of reflection making sure we align our values with our actions, that i believe is what a tragedy like this requires. for those who were harmed, those who were killed, they are part

of our family. american family. 300 million strong. [applause] we may not have known them personally, but surely we see ourselves in them. george, dot -- we'd cents the abiding love we have for our own husbands -- we sense the abiding love we have for on husbands and wives. phyllis, she is our mom or granma. -- grandma. judge roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who it embodies america's

fidelity to the law. in gabby, we see a reflection of our public spirit nest -- spiritedness, the desire to participate in the sometimes frustrating and sometimes contentious but always necessary and never ending process to form a more perfect union. host: back to your calls on more civility in public discourse. new york city. rose, independent line. caller: good morning, peter. as many times as i attempted to get through to c-span, i could not have chosen a better time than this morning. my thoughts, my dreams, my sleep, was so roiled last night

by t president's speech >> we are going like now to the university of arizona medical center on an update of gabrielle giffords. >> we want to take a second to say that we appreciate all of the dignitaries coming to the memorial service yesterday, and obviously to the president and first lady for visiting us here at the hospital, the patients and employees and trauma team, as well as the entire population of tucson yesterday. as of today, we have one patient remains in critical condition. four in fair condition. and one of those patients are being discharged today. one of the patients will undergo a stage, planned surgery today. everyone is making fantastic for

progress. gabrielle giffords remains in critical condition, but it is true that she had spontaneous i opening yesterday, and she is becoming more and more alert at this time. she is making much more spontaneous movement as we have a completely stopped all of the medication that will block her mental status. she is doing fairly significant things with her left hand at this time. and also, her bright side of her body is also starting to make some very forward progress that we're happy about. today we are doing very aggressive physical care be with her and got her out of bed, so we're very happy about this progress. it seems like everything is going forward without any setbacks on this position. >> let me start back with the

basics. she is still holding her own. she is still following simple commands, and that tell me the high your brain center is working. and as you heard from the president, she is now starting to open her eyes spontaneously. i'm glad you heard that from him, because it really is important. i was there when she was surrounded by her friends from the congress and senate. and i think it was a combination of the unexpected but familiar that really prompted her to open her eyes and look around. that is important. let me tell you why from a scientific perspective, because it implies that not just the parts of the brand -- bring the process commands are there, of the parts that let us a week from sleeping, those are starting to work spontaneously. she is starting to become aware of her surroundings and all of the context of family, friends. that is a very important step on her next move forward.

we would not be able to dangle her by the bedside of we did not have those responses. even the reports that last night she was beginning to open her eyes with nothing more than the tv on in the room. this is all very encouraging. she continues to do this consistently. we want to see people repeat things over and over again. i am very happy that family was able to witness this. this is very important. going forward, we want to make sure she does not backslide. we still lists her as critical, because we worry about potential turns back or -- [laughter] yes, it is. we always worry and we're always vigilant, because even as we get outside of the window of

problems neurologically in patients to have breathing tubes we worry of all sorts of other medical complications. i have to say, this is a major leap forward, a major milestone for her, and we're hoping she crosses through many more. >> i think we're very happy about it. her doing this has been great. we will open up for few questions at this time. the breathing tube is the next major milestone for us at this point as well. we may or may not take it out in the next several days. one of options is to do tracheotomy so we can get to her lungs, but we will probably we at this time. it is hard to say what will happen, but we are optimistic about the fact that we will be able to get her off the machine. >> on sunday you said she was

opening her eyes. [inaudible] >> when we examine patients, protectively in the state, we often have to wake them up, give them stimulus. with the stimulus they may crack their eyes. that is very different from speaking to someone and opening their eyes or are opening their eyes in familiarity. response to stimulation of a different kind. >> is there any indication that the congresswoman is communicating with those around her? >> i think she is. they have asked her very simple things, and she has communicated with them. i think that communication is going on, yes. >> [inaudible] >> that is harder to assess.

what i will say is we have seen eyes begin to track. when you first went up in the morning your bleary eyed in your eyes are not focusing and then they come together and start to focus. we're just 30 to see those signs and heard tracking the gays to wherever she wants to look. that is very encouraging. it reflects on a level of alertness. >> [inaudible] >> she still has the breathing tube and it. we're doing maneuvers like physical therapy and dangling her on the side of the bed. she still has the tube in her throat. she is still on the machine. even though she is on the machine, it is not pushing her. she is breathing on her own with warm air that is going in there. >> do you know for sure that she does have vision? >> she has visions, but it is like in the morning. she is yawning, starting to

rubber eyes. then she will spontaneously wake up. before she would just go back to sleep right away. it is like in the morning when you get up for work and you are about to have your cup of coffee. but i stayed open for long periods of time. -- the eyes stay open for long periods of time. >> [inaudible] of her leftout upper left eye. >> instead of displaying on the bed, we do physical therapy so her leg there off the side of the bed. reassert exercising her muscle and didn't stimulus to her brain. -- and getting stimulus to her brain. >> when people are dangling, we are able to assess the strength in her laegs.

she is moving bulk of her legs. and-- both of her legs. >> we will say lift your legs up, and she will let both of them up. >> what happened at the moment when she opened her eyes and what went through your head? >> i was in the room when some of her friends and senators were visiting. they know her personally, so there is a dimension to her relationship, something that i am not privy to. just in the time. she was speaking -- or they were speaking to her in there were holding her hand, you could clearly see you're becoming more aroused and literally opened her eye. first, it was almost disbelief. within a couple of seconds there was no doubt. again, i do not want to say it

is just a familiarity, but i think it was a combination of the unexpected from malaria r.d. -- unexpected familiarity. we cannot really quantify that component that family and friends bring, but we know it exists. this is a true example of that. >> one of the congresswomen [inaudible] she said it was like watching a miracle. i know you are doctors. does it ever feel like a miracle? >> we saw signs of this coming, so we were just talking amongst ourselves saying it would be great if this would happen as soon as the president came into the room, because it is not like she was out all of the time. the eyes were flickering and use

of this occurring in the fact that the timing was so great was good for everyone involved. >> but to your point, yes, and miracles happen every day, and in medical we like to contribute to what we do or what others do around us, but a lot of medicine is outside our control and we are wise to acknowledge miracles. >> [inaudible] >> her left eye is the one that opens. >> has she been able to move her arm? >> i do not want to get into specifics, but we have seen some movement there. >> the response to that from the crowd outside was unbelievable. >> it is crazy. [laughter] it is humbling, because we do this every day, we can, we

doubt -- week in, week out. it does not change what we would do or that we would do it. if you were injured, we would do the same for you. that is what got into medicine, and it does not change anything. >> i was talking to my kids about this. i think it is an indication of hope that the city has, an appreciation of the good parts of life, not specifically through one person or anything like that i think like you said, in this country it is humbling. we're very appreciative about it. >> [inaudible] >> without getting too technical we have reading skills that we apply to all head injury patients, and this does

bumper up significantly on the scale, being able to open your eyes and being aaware of her surroundings. i was there for at least three to five minutes when she was doing that. one thing i do want to stress is just like if you had a hard day or a professional athlete played a very strenuous ball game, they will be tired the next day. it is no different with her. in every milestone is a major exception. she will have her ups and downs. it is what we expect with neurologic recovery. >> [inaudible] i believe you have told us she has move both of her legs and other arms and open both of her eyes. tell us what this means. >> it means that she is making

the progress that we could hope for her. >> is there another milestone you are looking for? would talking about what be the next thing you would be looking for to be progress. >> in the assessment we look at whether or not someone is able to move would we ask them to. and we ask what is their verbalization? we cannot address that with a breathing tube. >> [inaudible] >> the breathing tube is the next major hurdle. i know as far as the brain swelling goes, we will check on that with that stance. i think we're starting to get out of the window, and that is important. now we are moving into the medical window where we watch for things like pneumonia and

blood clots, and problems like any patient would have. they are something we have to watch very carefully for. >> thank you very much for coming this morning. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> coming up soon on c-span, remarks from the former minnesota governor at the national press club. he left the governor's office earlier this month and now began a tour promoting his current book. he has also been listed as a potential presidential canada in 2012. you can see his comments live starting at 1:00 eastern right here on c-span. also today, a forum on small business lending practices. you will hear from federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke,

and sheila bair. they are expected to address ways in which credit can be made more a sensible to small business. the event is hosted by the fdic and you can see that live at 1:00 eastern on c-span to. next week, the chinese president, food gentile, will make a trip to washington. -- hu jin tao. c his remarks live at 1:00 eastern. that is on c-span 3. -- see his remarks live at 1:00 eastern. later, tavis smiley lead discussion on the america's future beginning at 6:00 eastern on c-span. s "s weekend on c-span 3' american history tv" an oral history on pop culture.

a visit to the bureau of engraving and printing to learn about creating currency. and a discussion about the first states to secede from the union, south carolina. see the complete we can scuttle online at c-span.org/history. you can also press the scheduler button and have the schedule e- mail to you. tim plenty is at the national press club coming at 1:00. to get us there, a segment from this morning's "washington journal." continues. host: paul -- april 2007, virginia tech shootings. have there been any changes in federal gun laws or state gun

laws since april of 27 -- 2007? guest: congress passed an act to basically encourage the states to send more records into the background check system. one of the lessons directly from the virginia tech, the shooter had actually been found by a court in virginia to be a danger to themselves and others but va -- which would disqualify him -- but va never said that record into the background check system. after virginia tech and congressional hearings, we learned that not only about 25% of the felony records not in the system, but they were missing about 80% to 90% of the dangerously mentally ill. carolyn mccarthy spearheaded it. it was signed three years ago to the day of the tucson shootings. since that time, about a million more records of mentally dangerous people have gotten into the background check system. various states have taken steps

to improve reporting. arizona, before virginia tech, had sent in zero records of dangerously mentally ill and now they said about 5000 but they are still missing 120,000. host: john lott, how would you change america's gun laws? guest: i think a lot of the rules we have right now are counterproductive. we have things like the background checks, maybe we can strengthen those but they have not really prove to be very effective. i do not know anyone who found that they could reduce crime and anyway. host: they prevented gun purchased -- purchases, haven't they? guest: 1.8 million denial's but 99.9% have been false positives. people may be familiar with the no-fly risk -- list, senator ted kennedy was flat and not able to go and fly on a plane.

the problem is virtually everybody who gets the night -- they used the term initial denials -- even those can go back to the system and by the gun once it is found out. in 2007, the last year we really have numbers for, there were 50 convictions. only about -- under 90 cases that they thought might be prosecuteda -- prosecutable -- host: you mention a lot of the current gun laws are counterproductive and. how would you change it? guest: make it easier for people to carry concealed. -- handguns. policing is the most important single factor for people to be able to stop crime. but please understand themselves that they virtually always arrive after the crime has been committed. and many of the cases, how can you get somebody there with a gun faster because the amount of damage and harm done in many of the crimes is, in fact, related

to how long it takes from when the crime starts and someone is able to get on the scene with a gun. host: john lott is a ph.d. from ucla. paul, what is your response to what he had to say? guest: first of all, the background check system, although it does have loopholes, it it has stopped 1.8 million people from buying guns. maybe some got guns other times. but people who have had outstanding murder warrants have been stopped. when the brady bill was first passed it required a background check. people said the criminals will not go in because they know there will be a background check. a lot of people with criminal records have gone in. the argument that making the concealed carry laws easier and not help but -- helping to solve crime, i think arizona in the shooting in tucson shows it does not work.

arizona allows anyone who has a gun to carry that gun hidden and loaded in public anyplace but only one of three states that does not even require a permit. but still on the shooting occurred, it did not stop the shooter from firing more bullets. if we had restrictions on the number of bullets he could have held in the magazine, that could have stopped some of the bullets from flying. but the fact that arizona basically allows any bike -- anybody to carry a gun, did not prevent or stop or deter the shooter. host: i question to both of you. what do you think about this. i did not know if it -- this is a blip or increase in gun or magazine sales following the shooting. guest: not surprised. just after obama was elected, people start buying. supplies are limited -- let us by now. president obama in his first two years in office did not do anything to restrict gun sales but there was a great advertising campaign into thousand eight that he would take their guns away.

most of the people buying guns already have guns. most of the people buying these extended magazine clips -- there is something that might be restricted in the future. something i hope they restrict. no reason to have a 30-round clip. it concerns me because, again, there are risks involved and having guns and i think if there are people buying guns that do not already have them, that is certainly something they should be concerned about. guest: well, i think there are people who have permit concealed handguns -- 1.5 million people in the u.s. that currently do. but i think it is important to try to increase the number that we have. a lot of states have training requirements. in arizona there was at least one person nearby but even it took him a little while to get there. i would hope in the gun sales that we have -- one of the reasons why people are doing it is because they realize the limits for public officials to be able to protect others.

if more people had taken a vantage of the opportunities they had in arizona and others to carry concealed, if somebody had been there, hopefully they could have stopped it. there have been a number of multiple-victim shootings that have been shot -- stopped by citizens with handguns. those denied the a lot of attention when they occur even all -- even though the overall case does. there have been many other types of mobile as victim public shootings, and i think in this case if somebody had been closer by about harm could have been limited. you mentioned the clips, for example. we had the assault weapons ban from 1994 until 2004. i do not know any academic studies by criminologists or economists showing they reduce crime and anyway. there were lots of predictions by politicians -- when it sunset in 2004 and people from gun- control groups, that murder rates and robbery rates would soar after it sunset -- the

murder rates are now down 70% from what they were in 2004. it just seems at some point, when we talk about these types of gun laws, somebody has to say, what about your predictions. you were predicting certain things. it did not happen. why would it be different this time when you are proposing to enact similar laws that you were predicting things would happen before, in this case? guest: they have seen an increase in the use of assault weapons. part of the problem is is tough to get research done because congress basically seals off much of this information about shootings. the clear think about tucson, ariz., is that this individual had 30 bullets in the clip. that was a legal -- illegal.

he was stopped after he had to reload. 19 people were hit on saturday. it is hard to hit 19 people with only 10 bullets. other people would of been hit, but there would of been less people hit or dying. host: gun rights groups donated $22.5 million in political contributions, 85% to the gop. total contributions from 1990 through august 2010 election cycle. the nra has been very quiet since the shooting. tesco i think they often are for these types of things. but they seem to believe there are certain up corporate times

when you do not comment on certain things in a political way after these even happen. you should let things calmed down a little bit. paul and i were on fox news on sunday talking about this. when i was called up, my first reaction was we really want to talk about gun control issues for 24 hours? it did not seem appropriate to meet to do that. host: you sent out a fund- raising letter. guest: we said we needed help to do the fight. host: the numbers to call in are on your screen. our guests are paul helmke and john lott. richard is on our republican

online. caller: hi, yes. mr. helmke, mr. lott. how are you? can you hear me? host: please go ahead with your comment. caller: i am an attorney. why is [unintelligible] the second amendment right now? why are is there even guns allowed in the country right now? guest: i can't find a country where we have banned guns were murder rates have gone down. people are familiar with cities and how murder rates went up when those bans went into effect. murder rates in d.c. have fallen

by 36% in two years, a huge drop. it is around the world. often people will say it is not a fair test in washington, d.c., and in chicago because people can get guns from neighboring places. there are gun bans for entire nation's and yet every single time, whether it is in the u.k., ireland, jamaica, island nations that cannot go and blame some nearby country for problems ends up having increases in murder rates and find crimes afterwards. if you could point to some country that has banned guns when murder rates have gone down significantly afterwards, maybe we could have a debate on this type of thing. at some point, there is something fundamental that goes on. who is most likely to turn in the guns? the law-abiding good citizens are not the criminals.

rather than reducing crime, we make it easier for the criminals to go and commit crimes. guest: we are looking for comment sense steps to take. homicide rates have dropped 50%, suicide rates have dropped 50%. what is the effect of the second amendment on this discussion? it is relevant. even with the cases of notes total gun bans, the supreme court made it clear that that right is limited, how they are sold, stored, carried, and what kind they are. when we talk about high capacity clips or background checks, it is really not anything that should be -- guest: can i make one comment?

homicide rates for australia have fallen for decades. as soon as they instituted their gun rules, they stopped falling. when you talk about the 50% drop, you are taking this long drop over 20 years. i just wanted to make that clear. host: you are not about the second amendment? guest: we are about reducing gun violence. we think the courts have interpreted the second amendment wrong. what is clear is that the supreme court even with recent decisions allow reasonable limitations. by taking the extremes of the table, it allows us to have a discussion in the metal on where we draw the line on what type of weapons or what type of people or where you are taking things. host: if you could make one

change in the gun laws, what would it be? guest: i would strengthen the background system to more easily spot the people who are dangerous. i would say that some types of clips should be off of the table. combine that with strengthening law enforcement, i think we can make a difference. caller: hello. i was raised in a hunting family. guns were always are round, and then learned how to shoot them, and that sort of thing. in this day and age, with all of these new clips -- i think the clips are the problem. and i also think the background checks are a problem. background checks are a problem for a lot of things, and i do not understand why. host: when you say -- use a background checks are a problem? caller: they are because they do not do them right.

at the beginning of the show, they mentioned all those documents that were supposed to be sent that were never send or something. even in things like bus drivers, when you have a pedophile problem, in michigan, twice in the last probably 15 years, there has been a problem with pedophiles even -- either in the foster care system -- host: let's stick with the gun issue. she talked specifically about the extended clips and the background checks. what are your thoughts? guest: i wish background checks or something that worked well. somebody who is willing to go and plant these attacks will in advance -- planned these attacks will an advance, he bought these guns months ago in this case, background checks are not going

to stop them from going and getting a gun. when you are talking about a tiny fraction of a 10th of 1% of people who actually are stopped, -- most of those are not really violent criminals. a lot of them are people who maybe 40 years ago had it a misdemeanor and try to go and buy a gun and did not realize it was an offense. so, criminals are just not going to gun stores and buying guns because they know they are going to be stopped from doing it. as far as the clip goes, look, we have had a lot of experience with this. if you can find one study by a criminologist showing this has had a beneficial effect on

crime, i would like to see it. with these magazines, what they are actually called, they are little, small metal boxes with a spring in them. they are very easy for people to go and make. if there are benefits to people having logger clips, benefits to everybody, but there is no reason to allow criminals to have them. guest: the only thing these extended clips are good for is killing more people. if brandishing a 10 crown -- a 10-round clip scare's just as many people. this is a very simple narrow thing to make things better.

guns start out as a legal product. if we could stop and figure out how they get into the hands of criminals -- but we don't focus on that issue. we don't deal with illegal trafficking or reporting requirements. maybe we ought to treat this as a consumer product like we do it toy guns or tobacco and other things to try to figure out how to make our country safer. right now, guns are on regulated. host: what kind of problems did you face when i came to criminals and guns? guest: i am a western republican. my community was seeing an increase in drugs and violence. we were adding police officers, doing neighborhood policing, all of these things. all laws in the books to mr. dangers people from getting guns

were [unintelligible] when i started hearing from my police officers the stories about how they're being out-shot by the criminals, people passing background checks because of the lack of information, that is when i started indoors in things. host: you were asked to -- if you would be asked to consult on how to cut down on gun violence, what would your advice be? guest: i think the more important thing is punishing people for the crimes they commit. if you want to go and punish somebody for murder, you have a high probability of a convention in certain prison sentences they are going to face -- conviction in certain presence and it is they are going to face.

guest: we want to prevent in the first place. i am all for throwing the book had these folks. having more guns around is not the answer. gabrielle giffords bones a gun. those shots are occurred so quickly, 30 rounds in about 15 seconds. nobody had time to react. guest: guns make it easier for bad things to happen but they also prevent bad things from happening. and that is inside the store you have to take into account. if you look at department surveys, 400,000 times a year right now americans commit crimes with guns. about two artists thousand -- -- year.2 million tons a that is four to five times more likely that people use guns to stop crime each year. what you have to look at is in

these different gun control laws. just as with the gun ban, which is a very simple example of the gun-control law, who was most affected by that? law-abiding citizens in washington, d.c., or in chicago, not the criminals. when you make it harder -- my research finds police are the single most important factor, but when you disarming law- abiding citizens are relative to criminals, you can see an increase in crime. guest: trying to make it harder for dangers people to get guns, and that is trying to find the argument in the middle. host: you are on with paul helmke and john lott, good morning. caller: john lott, i think your ideas are appropriate.

i do think that the clips need to be of the mandated from the public. i don't think they need to be a part of anything about guns because they do cause more problems. you can rapidly fire off. consequently, i believe the bill in congress right now needs to go forward. it is not about limiting guns or the purchase of guns. certain types of fish ammunition are more used toward a person as opposed to going hunting and protecting yourself. so those two uses are the uses for a person who has that gone. host: are you currently a gun owner? caller: yes. host: thank you. guest: let your congressional

representatives know that. that is the sort of talk that we need to start having. we can have reasonable restrictions to make dangerous people to get guns. host: reasonable restrictions? what do you think about that phrase? guest: it is used for a lot of things. i think it is a catch phrase. it is always thrown up to justify any regulation that is put up there. i don't do second amendment stuff. that is not my issue. i am an economist by training. my approach to this is in peril ". if you have a lot -- the one nice thing about the united states, in 50 states, you have

different states trying different laws at different times. you can see what happens to crime rates. i look at that, and i wish there were simple solutions to these things. i wish we could find evidence that background checks actually stop crime in some way. but it does not do that. i don't mind the background check if it makes people feel better, but i just think people should realize it is not going to be a panacea as some of these other regulations are. if you want to go and then something, you have to ask yourself who is this going to affect? is it going to make more costly for them to go and get them? relative to criminals. if it affects a law-abiding citizens more than criminals, you can opt what you would like to occur. host: you are on the air. we are talking about federal and

state gun laws. called a " good morning. you keep infering the fact that if someone had been in that tucson shooting with a concealed gun that they would of been able to stop the shooter from maiming or killing the number of people that he did. if i am not mistaken, the retired military man had a concealed gun on him. guest: no. host: let her finish. caller: someone had a concealed gun, and they either chose not to use it or did not have time to use it. in fact, the shooter was subdued by the usual kind of methods physically. host: what is your point on this? caller: he keeps saying that if someone had been there with a gun, and that the carnage could have been decreased.

guest: there have been many multiple public shootings, some of which have been stopped by citizens with guns. in this case, there was a young man, 24 years old, who was legally carrying a concealed gun it in walgreen's nearby. it took a walk to get here. by that point, the person was not firing the gun anymore and he wisely chose to not go and fire his gun. the military gentleman she mentioned and send this guy to finish the job by tackling him. there was a large church shooting that was stopped in colorado, a couple of mall shootings that were stopped. appellation law school that was stopped by to people with permit

concealed handguns. you have mississippi, kentucky, pennsylvania school shooting. they were stopped by citizens who could legally go and carry a concealed handgun. when you look at the huge amount of news attention that occurs on these cases, when a citizen stops an attack with a handgun, only about 1% of news stories will mention this. guest: the tucson shooting -- the caller had a right. arizona has some of the loosest laws in the country with concealed weapons. you do not need a permit in arizona. anybody who has the gun can carry the gun with them. that is the nirvana that john lott wants in terms of a

concealed gun laws. the young man -- i heard him on tv talking about it. he did the right thing. it shows how close it is. he goes around the corner, sees someone with a gun in his hand, he did seas -- he decides not to pull his gun out. the person he thought was the shooter had already taken the gun out of the shooter's hand, so if he had made a mistake, we could've had an innocent person being killed. his first reaction in one of the interviews i heard was that he said yes i would've killed the person with a gun. the person that he saw with the gun was not the shooter. host: did you grow up in a gun- owning family? guest: i do not own a gun to date. i did not grow up in a gun- owning family.

host: did you worry about your safety as a public official? guest: in my first month of office, i had death threats. i learned if somebody was going to do your harm, it would be tough to stop them. host: do you own a gun today? guest: nobody even in my extended family that i knew own guns. i did not own a gun until after i started doing this research. my kids have toy guns. when i did my research, i realize these are benefits that we not only produce for the owner of the gun but for the people that care. host: john is on our republican

line. please go ahead. caller: this is all about the shooting in the tucson. it seems to me that the county sheriff [unintelligible] contact with his young man over several months -- not over several months but over several years. because his mother was part of the local [unintelligible] they added of the information and they got the proper laws out there, but they could've done something for this young man. host: jared loughner -- should there have been some way of preventing him from owning a gun?

from what we have been learning about him? guest: he did not get accepted it into the army because failing test for marijuana. guest: he just said he used marijuana. guest: he was not convicted of any crime. the question you have to ask yourself is where do you want to draw the line on these things? do you want to have a legal finding that somebody did something wrong? guest: this shows is obvious that we have drawn aligned to tightly. this was somebody who was too dangerous for algebra class, too dangerous for the military, but that information did not get into the background check. we need to do background checks. guest: would you do it without

having -- there is one thing i wanted to say before. i just want one case where a multiple victim public shooting was stopped with a person with a concealed handgun when the person shot somebody other than the bad guy. in just one case. rather than talking about hypothetical things that could go wrong, just one example where they shot the wrong person. host: back to the background checks, you ask where do you draw the line? guest: again, if i thought that these background checks mattered, i would spend a lot more time on trying to draw the line on different places. if you want to go and make its director, fine, we can talk about it. -- if you want to go and make it

stricter, fine, we can go and talk about it. guest: that is why congress brings in people who have dealt with this, the researchers and the academics. let's figure it out. right now, if you have a violent misdemeanor, that does not stop you. guest: a violent it -- a violent misdemeanor would be a violent crime. guest: that is how narrow our background check system is congress needs to admit we have a problem. we can try to do something about gun violence. let's have hearings and figure this out. host: you are on the "washington journal." caller: i would like to say one thing.

in arizona, if they had some of all laws that new york has, because we have the most rigid andhandguns in the nation, as far as arizona is concerned, i would not go after it magazines because of the problems they have on the border. the mexicans do not care how many bullets they fire across the border. in any case, i know it was a tragic incident. the thing is i believe the gun deal who sold this guy the gun knew him and he should have known that he was a little bit mental or radical or whatever. somebody should have had -- because he got thrown out of school. the military would not accept

him. i mean, people had to know this guy was not right in his mental state. guest: good point on the gun dealer. i heard a report yesterday where apparently of a gun dealer had concerns about the person but felt they were required to sell the gun because he passed the computer background check. the dealer does not have to sell the gun. we encourage dealers to look for signs of danger. there is no legal obligation for a gun dealer to sell to somebody even if they pass the background check. host: any response for that call? guest: i suppose we all wish we could go and determine whether somebody might commit a gun crime beforehand. you are talking about less than 0.1%. it is pretty hard to go and know

beforehand whether something is going to happen with it. the point is, these background checks, these other things are not successful. we are talking about virtually everybody who is flagged is a falsely and flagged. we see the problems there. maybe, you think psychologically some gun dealer -- they do not sell to people from time to time, but to go and say they should be able to guess beforehand, i wish we were all that magical. guest: 1.9 million people stopped with background checks. more of those people should be prosecuted. that is a failure in the criminal justice system. part of our problem with a background check system is that we do not do enough of them. the states to not send enough records in.

the bottom line on gun-control, we have not tried it. we do not have many gun laws on the books. guest: read the obama administration report from last year. they said it themselves there are 190 cases where it might be possible to prosecute. 122 of them they actually tried to do it. they admit that 99.9% are for false positives, people that were improperly a flack. host: our guests are john lott as well as paul helmke, who is the head of the brady center. the next call is huntington, west virginia. go ahead. caller: wow. can you hear me? i have been waiting here for a

while. what wanted to say is that i do agree with mr. paul helmke. one word -- risk. we need less crime with respect to these guns. they are a risk. i know a young man who went to school with my daughter. she felt compelled to go out and get a gun -- he felt compelled to go out and get a gun. he lost his leg from an accident. this guy might of gone somewhere in his life. i had a brother who got stranded in louisville, kentucky -- host: given your examples, what do you think should be done about guns, 300 million of them

currently in the u.s.? caller: we need to know how to get rid of 200 million of them. we don't need people are around on the street running all around with guns. i don't like guns. guns scare me. you need professionals that can get in there and make some serious rules and regulations, follow them, and in force them. guest: look, guns make it easier for bad things to happen, but the problem is, police cannot be there all the time to protect people. people use guns to protect themselves when the police are not there. what do you advise someone to do wednesday or having to confront a criminal by themselves behave passively? the people who benefit from owning guns the most -- women

and the elderly benefit more than men to come up and poor blacks, the people who live in violent crime areas. host: last call, doug, go ahead. caller: i would like to step back for the second and discussed a number of bullets in clips. i do a ton of work for a gentleman, and i knew him for some time. you might know the name, ruger guns. bill ruger was an advocate, of course, for all types of guns, mostly for hunting. perhaps your guests would be able to help with this, but i recall -- i believe it was in

the 1980's when mr. ruger came out in direct opposition to the rest of the gun industry, supporting a limitation on the number of bullets in a clip. i believe he recognized that there was no reason, ever, for a hunter or for a responsible gun owner, even if they were to protect themselves, to have more than 10 bullets in a clip. host: we only have a minute left. final words. guest: again, i guess we have two points. we have tried this before. are you going to be able to prevent criminals from getting longer clips? the only people that could be prevented are law-abiding citizens. these are things that are very easy to make, just a small metal box we are talking about